YMCA and Guilford College cancel joint
expansion plan, will separate instead
Daniel Fleishman
NEWS EDITOR
Over the summer, Guilford
College and the YMCA scrapped
their plans to jointly renovate
and expand the Ragan-Brown
Field House, where the YMCA
is currently housed. Instead, the
two sides will separate, leaving
the current facilities for the sole
use of students and faculty.
Both sides searched for al
ternate options for the YMCA
and produced two distinct pos
sibilities, one more likely than
the other.
The most probable plan
puts a new YMCA facility off
campus in a brand new, as yet
unbuilt structure. The YMCA
would not, however, sever its
ties to the college. Guilford
would still host day camps and
lease its athletic fields to die"
YMCA on a monthly basis, as
they do now.
The second idea calls for
Guilford to lease three to five
acres of land to the YMCA for the
development and construction of
a new building, which would be
Leonard Pitts speaks on moral values
Smiles Smith
STAFF WRITER
What do Oprah Winfrey,
Frank Sinatra, Sylvester
Stallone, and Bob Costas have in
common? They
are all or have
been fans of
Leonard Pitts.
Pitts, a na
tionally syndi
cated columnist
with the Miami
Herald, has fans
all around the
country. He
spoke to a full
house at the New
Garden Friends
Meeting Wednes
day night.
After a mo
ment of anxious
silence followed by wild ap
plause, Pitts began by asking an
important question: "What's our
topic today?"
Pitts' message was about do
ing the right thing. He went on
used by commu
nity YMCA mem
bers only. The land
in question lies
along New Garden
Road, north of the
soccer fields.
Bobby Wayne
Clark, Special As
sistant to the
President, said
that the latter idea
is less likely be
cause the college
is reluctant to
give up its land.
"President
McNemar talked
about these mis
givings and some
concern about
leasing such valu
able land for that
kind of purpose,"
"said dark. "Our
land is really our endowment for
the future, and it's best to be used
for important institutional pur
poses."
The Board of Trustees, con
vening on campus later this
month, will be presented with
to express his opinion about fam
ily values, social issues, and vio
lence. According to Pitts, parents
need to act as role models. They
are the most important influence
for children. Pitts' most recent
JiippaPMppp^
SHI
V I
Pitts at New Garden
Friends Meeting Hall.
borhood. If he got in trouble three
blocks down, his mother would
eventually hear about it. As a re
sult, he fells he grew up knowing
the difference between good and
bad.
GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
book, entitled Be
coming Dad, ad
dresses the issue
of fatherhood.
The responsi
bility does not
stop there, said
Pitts. He used the
old African Prov
erb, "It takes a vil
lage to raise a
child," to illus
trate his point.
Pitts grew up in a
neighborhood
where he was an-
BRENDAN WEDEHASE
swerable to every
one in the neigh-
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The YMCA and Guilford College will end a 100-year partnership, leaving the Ragan-Brown Field
House for the use of Guilford students and faculty only.
both proposals and asked to
make a final decision in the mat
ter.
The plans for the building
shifted dramatically only a few
months ago, coinciding with the
departure of former Chief Finan
Pitts gained much life
knowledge from these early ex
periences. By the age of five he
knew he wanted to be a writer.
At the age of seven Pitts bought
his first typewriter. Unfortu
nately these days it seems some
seven-year-olds have already
bought jail time with murder con
victions. Pitts explained that we
don't live in a world where every
one does like Roy Rogers and
thinks like Ben Cartwright. "[ln
today's society] evil is in the air.
Hatred lurks looking for justifi
cation," Pitts said.
Pitts mentioned case after
The Guilfordian
c/o Student Activities
5800 W. Friendly Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27410
September 15, 2000
cial Officer Art Gillis.
For the past two years,
Richie Zweigenhaft has been the
Chairman of the Facilities Com-
Please see YMCA, page 2
case of unbelievable cruelty
where kids were the criminals.
"Today's society is plagued with
the 'lf it works for me that's all
that matters.' mentality," said
Pitts. At the height of emotion,
Pitts repeated, "We have to be de
cent."
One audience member, a
Greensboro resident, said, "He
fielded many questions. I was
very glad to hear him. He used
humor very well." Many others
were pleased with the plentiful
time for questions. Pitts, however,
Please see PITTS, page 2