GThe
UILFORDIAN
Ceremony Cancelled, Forum Held in Wake of Protests
Courtney T. Roberts
News Editor
In the fall of 1991 there will be six new
apartment buildings on a five-acre plot
north of Milner Hall. Each building will
house four furnished apartments. Each
apartment will contain four bedrooms, a
kitchen, a dining room and a living room,
according to members of the Residential
Life staff.
The amount of money these apartments
will rent for is still under review. For those
with financial aid, rent will be included as
part of the package.
Despite the fact that the addition of the
new apartments will mean more student
housing and evidence of Guilford's prog
ress, the construction of these apartments
has caused a great deal of controversy.
The opposition toward the apartments
resulted in the cancelling of the ground
breaking ceremony last Wednesday. When
asked why the cancellation decision was
made, Nancy Cable-Wells responded, "It
would have been a false sense of commu
nity."
Questions students are asking include:
Are these apartments necessary? Are they
worth the destruction of part of Guilford's
Three Pipers Resign Over Rape Poem
Peter Smith
Managing Editor
Three female members of the Piper liter
ary magazine resigned last week in protest
over a poem selected for publication in the
fall issue of the Piper.
The poem, written by senior John
Toivonen, is entitled "The Rapist," and
describes an act of rape by comparing a
rapist to a mosquito.
The three members, two of whom were
members of the Piper editorial board, re
signed after Toivonen refused to remove
the poem from the magazine.
TheGuilford College Publications Board
convened last Monday to hear the con
cerns of the three members, and of other
students in the community. The Board did
not meet to consider censoring the poem,
but only to hear the individuals' concerns
Hot Four-Page Pull-Out Guilford Basketball Preview Section
Vol. 75, No. 8 Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. Nov. 19, 1990
woods and the removal of trees?
On Tuesday night a forum was held in
the cafeteria allowing students to pose
these and other questions asked about the
apartments to a panel of administrators
involved in the construction of the apart
ments.
Cable-Wells began the forum explain
ing the history of the plan for the apart
ments. "The loudest complaint Guilford
was having was about residential life," she
said. "Residential life has been identified
as Guilford's top priority." Along with the
improvements to the current residence
halls, (which includes giving each hall an
overall facelift, bringing bathrooms and
lounges up to standard, making them en
ergy efficient, reducing vandalism—as well
as giving hall council more voice and
improving the residence hall staff), the
addition of the apartments to the campus
will "contribute substantially to an im
proved quality of life for students," said
President William Rogers.
Some students questioned the necessity
of the apartments. They identified them
selves as advocating the survival of trees,
land, and ecosystems that may be sacri
ficed for the progress of the college. One
student expressed concern because several
Toivonen se y "Those
who had concerns thought the poem glori
fied rape and made it sensual. They are
upset that it only represented a male point
of view."
Toivonen said the issue was "definitely
a case of censorship." He also said that the
poem is strongly against acts of rape and
that people w ho are opposed to his work do
not understand its meaning. He indicated
that the poem was misinterpreted, and that
of those opposed the construction as sen
iors: "What will happen after we gradu
ate... who will be concerned with preserv
ing our woods after we graduate?"
Senior Elizabeth Burke, along with other
Men's ensemble sings about the "Fatherhood Blues" in Guilford's
Production of the Broadway musical Baby. Review on page 9 /
photo by Charles Almy
the poem's imagery is so graphic and pow
erful that some people just didn't want to
deal with it.
Said Toivonen, "I was told that I was an
egotistical, chauvinistic, linear male be
cause I wouldn't take the poem out. The
people who opposed this put as much psy
chological pressure on me as possible to
pull it from publication. If they had had the
means to prevent it from being published
they would have censored it"
"I think rape is an issue we should be
talking abouL This poem is a strong state
ment against rape. I guess there are always
a small group of people who just don't
know what you [as an artist] are doing."
The three members of the Piper staff
who resigned are senior art major Eliza
beth Mills, senior English major Emilie
see POEM on page 4 >
students, suggested that the college con
struct some type of written contract guar
anteeing that parts of Guilford's woods
see APARTMENTS on page 4 >■
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