Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / March 23, 1976, edition 1 / Page 3
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TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1976 THE DEGREE PAGE 3 The Comer Cop With A Desk Job Amidst the clamor of ham mers and electric drills futilely trying to renovate a dilapidated building. Rocky Mount Chief of Police Art Butler welcomed me into his office. “We’re trying to get a confession out of somebody back there; excuse the noise,” he said. I mentally chalked up one for a sense of humor and sat down opposite a Norman Rockwell print. Anoth er point for artistic taste. Never having interviewed anyone before, and stifling an immense distaste for police officers, I mechanically began to ask the questions I’d prepared ahead of time. Due to the fact that he’d only been police chief since February 2 of this year, his answers to most of my questions were necessari ly brief. I discovered that all of his impressions of Rocky Mount have so far been positive, and that being from mid-Texas, he especially likes the trees. After he imparted this bit of information, I felt more at ease. (Continued from Page 1) right the wrongs of our political system by Xing the proper box of the proper person. It will be fun and some hopeful Democrat could sure use another X. The Republicans wouldn’t mind a few lead tattoos on the right ballot. Or you may ignore me and stay in your barren room confined to the world of another tallboy. Miss September and illusive visions of that hot lookin’ chick in your American Studies Class, you know the one you’d like to talk to, but never get to see out of class. As for us, please excuse our apparent lack of pages and lustre, but the rigors of college studies, tight schedules, and a bit of apathy have kept us from launching another cynosure of student literature, but we offer you our momentum, skill and the promise of a hotter issue to come. Dear Editor . . . Dear Editor— My, my what wailing and boo hooing from students and faculty over such minor admini strative changes. Admittedly, the bureaucratic administration lacks some luster and finesse in its changes, but bureaucracy is always unwieldy. If Wesleyan’s administration intends to correct the wrongs of the past, efficiency within the bureaucracy and a sound economic base for the college must be established. Unfortu nately academics may have to take a back seat to the changes, but maybe that is where they belong. The administrative bureaucracy is here to g^ide students and faculty to a profitable education. Obstacles such as open dorms and alcohol on campus only interfere with the administration’s task of establishing order and disci pline. Accusations that the admini stration is operating a giant A police chief who likes Norman Rockwell and trees couldn’t be all bad. Being a Wesleyan student, I naturally asked him his im pression of the school. Admit ting that he’d only driven around the campus once, he nevertheless generously credit ed Wesleyan with being one of the strong points of this area, and added his belief that the college would help shape the future of growth of Rocky Mount. Chief Butler expressed a strong desire to meet the administration and, especially, the students of Wesleyan. He assured me that he has always worked with young people and enjoys it immensely. Warming to the subject. Chief Butler insisted that it is an adult’s responsibility to convince young people of a sincere interest and desire to help, and that mutual trust is essential. He feels assured that time wiU prove his own interest. In reply to my next question. Chief Butler informed me that he believes the education of police officers at Wesleyan is beneficial to the department as a whole and to the officers themselves in their relation ships with other students. He is concerned about the class-duty conflicts of his officers, and would like to work out an arrangement with the college about the matter. He does feel, however, that the officers’ first responsibility is their job, not their classes, explaining the difficulty of justifying to the public a situation in which an officer’s educational obligations interfered with his police duties. He deeply regrets that the shortage of manpower in the department makes his position necessary, but explain ed, “I haven’t seen a city yet that could afford the number of policemen they need.” Turning the conversation to contemporary controversies, I asked Chief Butler his opinion of marijuana. Without hesitat- baby pen with babies-students- and faculty rattles sounds remarkably like another infant- il temper tantrum. Even baby pens are semi-permeable, and the pens are rejected after the baby matures. The administra tion of this campus must operate a college, not provide the baby with new toys to play with. If the rattles make too much noise, then they will have to be removed. Too much noise hurts the baby’s ears ... or is it the sitter’s? Still the sitter must control; the baby is too immature and underdeveloped. Rattles can pacify until full maturity is reached. Only the administration is capable of meeting your true intellectual needs by encourag ing the faculty and students to yield to discipline and order. Only the administration is powerful enough to protect you! Sincerely, Dr. Jose Prod Rhodes Lup Professor of Infantile Studies, NCWC ing, he replied, “It’s against th'e law.” Temporarily stymied, but only temporarily, I pushed for a more verbose response. I finally extracted the comment, “If it isn’t a good law, let’s change the law; let’s don’t just violate it.” He then hastened to explain that he does not feel the law should be changed, but does however consider the situation worthy of further study. Disclaimingly, he added, “I’m not going to tell you I don’t think we should have the law; my job is to enforce the law, not to pass law, or to judge it.” As the last issue of this paper dealt rather extensively with the beer-on-campus controver sy, I explained the situation to him and asked him his opinion. Police training and department al atmosphere are evidently rather effective. “They should first change the rule before they start violating it,” he explained. This brought a flurry of explanations from me, which ended rather suddenly as he quoted, “A person should first graduate from school before he starts running it.” I Over the course of the 1975-76 academic year this college campus has been rip- ped-off while the students have been harassed and annoyed by “visitors” of the immediate area. This type of visitors does little for the school except cause trouble. I suggest that security is one of the advantages to a college student and that we students pay for the right of protection each semester. I also suggest a more intelligent means of security. It makes little sense if any, to drive around the campus once and then return to the Power Plant. The only accomplishment is the wasting of gasoline and time. How many break-ins have been discovered after the crime was committed? The personnel are also an important factor, which until now, have been rather poor in their efforts. Watching televi sion, reading magazines, and “catching one around the drive” are not efficient ways of securing the campus. The gracefully considered the sub ject closed. As my controversial ques tions seemed to be leading nowhere, I searched for more neutral ground. I ventured the opinion that police training procedures tended to eliminate all vestiges of emotional res ponse in police officers. Chief Butler eagerly explained to me that police officers are servants of the public and often community representatives of authority and control. Frequ ently, he continued, an officer tended to indentify himself with that role, and if not careful, to over-identify himself with that role. As a result, the officer sometimes does what he considers is expected of him rather than what he would really like to do. At this point the tables turned, and I found myself being interviewed. Chief Butler was interested in “how God is treated” at Wesleyan. In the course of my reply (which I omit here in my own best interests). Chief Butler inform ed me that he would welcome the opportunity to talk with seclusion of the Power Plant from the main part of the campus only compounds the problem I discussed the problem of security with Dean Horne and he said, “The administration has been very concerned and are trying to devise a plan for a better security.” It sounds encouraging to hear, but I won’t believe it until I see it. The two of us also talked about the possibility of building a station near the main gate to check only student I. D.’s. Of course, those “visitors” will stLU come to the school, but they must receive a visitor’s pass and their entrance logged. A specified time could be set for them to leave, with the exception of overnight stops. This is only the beginning of a better means of protection for the students and their posses sions. Please give your support and ideas to this paper by writing on your opinion. Help out friends by turning in the license numbers of strange cars on Tyler Drive to Ben Gregory or Mrs. Reeves. Thank you. (not to) the Wesleyan students if the student body were> interested. He sees the role of a chief of police as a “servant of the public, and therefore subject to analytical study by any part of that public.” He feels it would be terrible if the chief didn’t take advantage of any opportunity to meet people and to understand their prob lems. He explained, “I don’t think he could be as effective. He needs input.” He then offered to buy me a sandwich for lunch, but I didn’t feel as if I should take up any more of his time. I left his office quite impressed, and feeling it could be extremely beneficial to both parties should he indeed talk with the student body of Wesleyan. I also left with somewhat a renewed faith in the police department: the corner cop hasn’t disappeared; he’s just been promoted to a desk job. Beefy's Bag The bag is full of things this time around. Beefy has been collecting interesting bits of information from around the campus to pass on to you. One “big one” in the bag this time is rumors. Come on now all you adults—faculty, staff, and administrators included, “Ru mor Mill” is not a game to be played on our campus. “Can” those rumors! Don’t let them get into Beefy’s Bag. “Chicken in the morning, chicken in the evening, chicken at suppertime,” is the title of an unpopular tune here. Student complaints to Dean Horne, indicate that the food situation is a bit “fowl.” Some students’ suggestions for improvement include; a change from potatoes (in whatever form) at lunch, a hot lunch day each week with sandwiches at the evening meal, hold down immediate repetition of the same meat (even in a different form) and finally VARIETY. The Supreme Court of New Mexico has ruled that New Mexico State University has the authority to prohibit visitation in residence hall rooms by members of the opposite sex. The Court stated that the regulation did not appreciably interfere with the intercommunication among stu dents. “To require students to adhere to generally accepted standards of conduct is an inherent part of the Regents’ power and duty”, reports Dr. Parker Young, the case review er. The Court stated, “We believe, and certainly would not dispute, that the regulation in question is consistent with generally accepted standards of conduct.” One final note, make your plans now to see the WCT production of “Oklahoma” the last weekend in March and the first weekend in April. Beefy says it will be great. Campus Security! By BISMARK
North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper
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March 23, 1976, edition 1
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