GThe UILFORDIAN Vandalism Down at Guilford; Plans for Improved Campus security Courtney Roberts News Editor Vandalized cars, stolen license plates and stereos have been the most recent crimes plaguing the Guilford College campus. Luckily, these crimes have been few and far between. Last year several stereos were stolen from residence halls when students were returning from spring break. There was also a rash of car vandalism: windows were broken and tires were slashed. This year the crime around campus has declined, as it has been doing for the past three years. "I'm tickled pink," said Bob White, director of Guilford College secu rity, referring to the dropping crime rate. The most recent security-related inci dents occurred this summer when con struction workers arrived drunk for work Positive Outlook for Representative Judicial Boards Darma Jeter Staff Writer The new, revamped Guilford College judicial system received its official start last Sunday, October 7 as 18 students from the Judicial Board, Academic Honor Board, and Appellate Board met for an extensive training seminar. The new system is highlighted by more student representation as a result of policy changes and the Judicial Committee's jB Rp |gg£ ' V ':;w A w A Dick Dyer, assistant to the dean of students /photo by Charles Almy The Guilfordian Will Return Nov. 12 Following Fall Break Vol. 75, No. 6 Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. and smoked marijuana while on the job. Also earlier this fall, numerous license plates were stolen from cars located in residence hall parking lots. These crimes have been the only recent ones to occur. "Most of the petty crimes that occur on campus are pure acts of vandalism, proba bly done by high school students," said White. With recent campus renovations, van dalism occurring in the residence halls has also declined. White has his own philoso phy about students and residence hall vandalism. "If you put people in a slum, they will treat it like a slum. If you give them something nice, they will treat it with respect." So far the new rooms in Milner have received no reported abuse. Because Guilford is expanding in both academic endeavors and size, improved selection of members for each board. The Judicial Committee is a branch of the Community Senate, and a new judicial policy requires that each member of the three Boards be approved by Senate. "I have a lot of confidence in this new system," said Dick Dyer, assistant to the dean of students. "I think with Senate's involvement the Boards will now be more student representative and diverse." The new judicial system and policies are a result of more than a year of evaluations and proposals from the Judicial Review Task Force, which was charged by Presi dent Bill Rogers to find a more effective and workable judicial system at Guilford. A major component of the Task Force's work centered around improving the Judi cial and Academic Honor Boards, as well as student involvement and representation within the system. The Task Force also closely examined the appeals process, the question of election versus appointment of judicial board members, and the stiffness of penalties for violations of the judicial code. The 1989-90 Senate voted to implement several of the Task Force's final proposals in the spring of 1990. Included in these proposals was the increased role Senate would play in selecting new board mem bers. According to the revamped process, the campus security is becoming necessary. "We want people to feel as secure as possible without making [campus] feel like a prison camp," said White. Security improvements that have been considered include better lighting around campus, especially in the parking lots and behind Dana Auditorium, and the installa tion of drive-up security phones in parking lots —where students in need could pull up to the phones, touch a button and talk directly to an emergency switchboard in the Telecommunications building. By moving into the new telecommuni cations building, security will be able to offer a 24-hour switchboard operator and dispatcher. Other ideas for security improvements include the pinning shut of Ist floor win dows in residence halls having central air conditioning. This would force a would Senate vice president chairs a Judicial Committee which is responsible for se lecting student members of the Boards. The Judicial Committee chooses members by first making an open call for nomina tions, then selects qualified applicants by examining formal written applications and interviews. Last Sunday's training seminar marked the first official function of the new sys tem. Training seminars were also imple mented in proposals by the Judicial Re view Task Force last spring. "The training seminar was a definite improvement from last year," said Jen nifer Brooks, a sophomore Appellate Board member from Raleigh, North Carolina. "The discussions were student-oriented and much better organized from the previous year." Said Dyer, "It was our concern that since the new Boards would be more representa tive of students, we had an obligation to ensure that students would receive train ing in issues beyond just questions of poli cies and procedures." Dyer also said that the training of the new board members will help the judicial system receive more credibility and re spect from the Guilford Community. see BOARDS on page 5 >- Oct. 15,1990 be thief to break out the whole window, thereby drawing more attention. A type of alarm-delay panic hardware may be in stalled on residence hall entrance doors, preventing the doors from being propped open and thus al lowing anyone to roam the floors of the halls. If a door were propped open an alarm would sound both in the residence halls and at the security switch board. A guard would then be dispatched to the hall. "We are trying to move toward a secure campus and still retain a warm, homey atmosphere," said White. In recent years the amount of walk and drive-in traffic on the campus has greatly increased. This is due partly to campus expansion, and partly to the heavy traffic drawn by the YMCA on campus. Because of the rapid rate of growth the campus is experiencing, the idea of professional security guards has been an issue in exami nations of campus welfare. A professional security staff is the next possibility for improved Guilford secu rity. White said, "I am very much an advocate for continued student roles in security; they know the students, build ings, and campus better than anyone." White said that he would like to see student security guards paired with profes sional guards. "Students can deal with the students; outside people who come in is where we need professional guards," said White. All the ideas for improved campus secu rity are open for community discussion. Lots-o-letters 3 Jack Zerbe sends encouraging mes sage to students 7 Football meets Fei rum, now 4-1 10 i

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view