u
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 12 // DECEMBER 11, 2009
Q III L F,0 Rfel> C OIL E G 1 / / G l| I E F O^C| I C Q M» / / Q JEGIfoP . N#C
Football team struggles with
low retention rates
By Patrick Childs
Sports Editor
At the end of the 2008 football season. Head
Coach Kevin Kiesel expected 14 juniors to re
turn for the following season. Before the last
game of the 2009 season on Nov. 14, just four
seniors remained of the class of 2010.
Retention rates have been low for Quaker
football in the last few years, which has caught
the attention of many students and faculty on
campus. There is confusion as to what the rates
are, and what they mean. Depending on where
the rates comes from, there may be varying fig
ures.
According to admission's figures, which are
collected Oct. 1 of each year, the number of
football players who entered Guilford in 2006
and are still enrolled in 2009 was three points
higher than Guilford's entire 2006 entry class
(50 percent). This rate suggests that students
who play football as first-years are slightly less
likely to leave Guilford before graduating than
non-football players.
In the 2006 ODAC Football Media Guide,
there were 40 first-year players on Guilford's
roster. The guide came out in August, before
the season started, but by the end of the 2009
season, three of those 40 players were left on the
team — retention rate of 7.5 percent. Of the 37
who quit the team from 2006 to 2009,16 stayed
at Guilford to continue their education — a 40
percent retention rate.
The data from the Media Guide suggests that
32.5 percent of 2006 first-years who played foot
ball quit the team but remained at Guilford as
of 2009. This statistic, and the rates of the 2009
junior class (13 percent stay on the team, and 27
percent remain at Guilford) raise questions as
to why retention rates for the team are so low.
An opinion among many players who have
recently quit is that the coaches are to blame.
Faculty and
students par
ticipate in Dec.
2 Community
Sente meeting.
Vice President
for Enrollment
Randy Doss
fielded ques
tions from
the group for
more than
two hours.
See "Football” on page 14
FOOTBALL PLAYER RETENTION FOR CLASS OF 2010-12
Class of 2010
Class of 2011
Class of 2012
[Still on football team
I No longer enrolled at Guilford
Still attending Guilford, but
no longer on football team
Doss engages students
during Senate meeting
By Alex Thibadeau
Staff Writer
Students, faculty, and administrators
squeezed in shoulder-to-shoulder on
couches, chairs, and floor space, as they
filled Boren Lounge last Wednesday,
for a special edition of Community
Senate featuring much chalked-
and talked-about Vice President for
Enrollment Services Randy Doss.
The attendees huddled close, yet
could not have been more diverse
in their differing concerns and
opinions of the admissions process
and athletics, which the meeting
specifically addressed.
"I once read a book that said if
you don't have friction on a Quaker
campus, then you don't have a very
good Quaker campus," said Doss. "If
you're not talking about tough things
in an educational environment, i don't
think you're doing what you should
be doing. I thought we talked about
tough things on Wednesday night
and that's good. It was a dialogue —
an exchange of thoughts, ideas, and
concerns."
Junior Grady Gamble, president
of Blacks Unifying Society (B.U.S.),
who attended the meeting, said, "The
meeting allowed us to touch base on
some issues, but it didn't allow us to
go into much depth. It was a chance to
express all these things that students
have been talking about openly to his
(Doss') face in a productive manner."
Doss answered a set of questions
devised by Senate, featuring
questions, such as "how are the
Quaker testimonies and values
See "Discussion" on page 3
Fully funded Diversity Plan to be
implemented spring semester
By Burke Reed
Staff Writer
After the Strategic Long-Range Plan
(SLRP) hit a speed bump last year, fac
ing a deep cut in funds, its original
amount has been restored and the Di
versity Plan's (D.P.) implementation for
next semester looks promising.
President Kent Chabotar said he
asked the budget committee to restore
the original $137,000 for 2009-10 as
a means of keeping the plan on track
after they had been slashed to $68,000
last year.
Chabotar said that funding was
a necessity if Guilford wanted to see
improvement and transformation
through the D.P.
"The fact that we're spending so
much time and money on diversity
amidst very uncertain times is a sign
of its priority", said Chabotar. "When
the college made anti-racism a priority
before I became president, no money
allocated making it difficult
was
to
progress. You cannot travel in an auto
mobile without gas."
Jeff Favolise, assistant to the presi
dent, said that the plan is no "pie in the
sky."
"There are specific steps and tasks
we must fulfill and we are meeting our
goals," said Favolise.
The plan states that by 2010, the per
centage rates for faculty, staff, and stu
dents of different race, gender, nation
ality, and traditional and nontradition-
al must increase to meet specific goals.
According to updated percentage
Islamic icon banned in Switzerland
By Abbey Dean
Staff Writer
See "Diversity" on page 3
On Nov. 29, about 400,000 Muslims in
Switzerland awoke to shocking news: 57.5
percent of their Swiss countrymen had decided
to ban the construction of minarets, an iconic
symbol of Islam.
Discontent and anger soon began to brew as
the news reached the ears of a growing European
Muslim population.
Reactions around the world to this surprising
vote mounted, as did accusations of intolerance
and anti-Islamic bias. A neutral country known
for its humanitarianism, Switzerland responded
to these allegations of discrimination on a world
wide stage.
According to CNN on Nov. 29, the decision to
ban the construction of minarets was not based in
anti-Islamic sentiment.
"It will be possible to continue to construct
the mosques," said a statement from theSwiss
government. "Muslims in Switzerland are able
to practice their religion alone or in community
with others, and live according to their beliefs
A sign for the new Swiss campaign to say "Yes for
the ban of minarets" is displayed in public places.
just as before."
Minarets are tall, ornate spires that rise high
from the tops of mosques. Because of their
enormous height, they are visible ,from far
See "Minarets" on page 6