THE GUILFORDIAN Greensboro, NC State NAACP president visits ♦Alston talks with administration, staff BY MARJORIE HALL News Editor Melvin "Skip" Alston, the president of the state NAACP, came to campus on Monday, February 23. to meet with several prominent members of the Guil ford community and discuss possible mea sures that the school could take to in crease awareness of race issues on cam pus. The meeting was attended by Presi dent Don McNemar, recently instated director of African-American activities Santes Beatty, Board of Visitors member Robert Brown, and local NAACP president Harold Cotton, among others. Alston and Cotton co-wrote a press release last week demanding that Guilford and the Greensboro Police Department find a suspect within two weeks or he would call in the State Bu reau of Investigation. The press release also included a list of suggestions for the Guilford community. The meeting proved to be positive. "We came here in a cooperative spirit in order to try and bring a good resolution to this unfortunate matter," Alston said. "We arc very excited about what we are going to be doing from here on out." Alston rescinded his prior threat to call in the SBI. "After gaining more de tails and discovering that not one but four detectives are working on this matter, we feel confident that they will bring forth whoever is responsible for this," said Faculty holds meeting to discuss race relations on campus News pg. 3 "We always did feel the same ; we just saw it fro — Mob Alston. The investigation is now also prob ing into the most recent incident on cam pus, when two black female students re ceived threatening phone calls in which racial slurs were used. The group discussed spearheading a race relations institute on campus, co sponsored by Guilford and the NAACP, which would not only be a resource for those on campus but for the greater Guil ford community. The group stated that Guilford has a zero tolerance policy towards racism. "We came here in a cooperative spirit in order to try and bring a good resolution to this unfortunate matter." —Melvin "Skip " Alston to report racist incidents and to encour age students to report them. McNemar also emphasized that the school is cur rently trying to build values into the new curriculum to help students understand issues such as racism and sexism. The group was not able to discuss all of Alston and Cotton's suggestions at the meeting, but plan to continue work ing together to develop more concrete initiatives. Alston commended McNemar and the staff for sitting down and talking. "The Quakers in this area were a part of the Underground Railroad," he said. "Our ancestors worked together in the past, and we want to work together in the future." Since 1914, but never quite like this "We have a history' of good race rela tions in this commu nity and we want to keep that tradition," said Brown. "We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law." The college is looking at instating a hotline for students Molly Martin looks to the past for lessons for future Features pg. 6 ißfe.- _ u B gi . * HI (98 r 1 # w I r ; ' V/- ' " ' Senators discuss the possible reelection at Thursday's called Senate meeting. PHOTO BY CHRIS CARLSTROM Senate almost calls for new election BY MARJORIE HALL News Editor The controversies surrounding the 1998 elections did not end when stu dents voted Tuesday, February 17. One more was added to the list at the Sen ate meeting the following day when some Senate members called for a new election. Current Senate treasurer Colin McFadden-Roan, who ran for both Union and Senate, read a statement raising several concerns about the elec tion procedure. After Senate discussed the issue for almost four hours, the senators decided to reconvene on Thursday night to finish the discussion. The Senate constitution states that student I D must be presented before a student can vote. The constitution is not completely clear on whether or not drivers' licenses arc acceptable. In the morning, election committee members working at the voting table in the Founders lobby turned away students who only had drivers' licenses as I D. In the afternoon, elections chair Steve Changes in financial aid and the effect at Guilford Forum pg. 14 Karakasidis decided to begin accept ing drivers' licenses as I D. A list of all eligible student voters is at the table with the ballot boxes, and as each person votes, his or her name is crossed off the list, so no non- Guilford students voted and no one voted twice. In 1996, a similar controversy arose when there was only a two-vote difference in the results and it was dis covered that some people had voted without showing ID of any kind. The election results were allowed to stand. "I think Senate's failure to face the issue two years ago has contrib uted to the problem now," said McFadden-Roan. MeFadden-Roan also claimed that Karakasidis was biased against the Thomas ticket, which he ran on in the Union election. He claimed that Karakasidis made several disparaging remarks about Thomas and had actively searched for another candidate to run against her. Karakasidis said that al though he might have made negative please see ELECTIONS on pg. 2 Five senior women bid farewell to the Quakers Sports pg. 16 February 27, 1998