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Martha Lang, who is also LGBTQA resource
coordinator and co-advisor of Pride.
The South has become an important arena
for debates about same-sex marriage, and
other LGBTQA-related issues.
"There are more openly gay people in
the South than ever before," said Assistant
Professor of Political Science Maria Rosales.
"Additionally, gay people who live in the
South are more likely to have children than
gay people who live elsewhere in the U.S.,"
according to Rosales.
Though same-sex marriage is already
illegal in North Carolina, proponents of this
bill argue that a constitutional amendment is
still necessary.
"Legal developments from other states
require that this policy be in the constitution
in order to be fully effective," House Majority
Leader Paul Stam told The Dispatch.
Other proponents stress that the bills do
not amend the constitution, but instead ask
the voters to decide.
"If you step back from the subject itself,
we are doing what we told the people we
were going to do," said Representative Dale
Folwell, according to the Salisbury Post. "At
the end of the day, we are not changing the
constitution. We are pushing power to the
people that the constitution belongs to and
asking them to decide whether they want to
change it."
"The problem with that is that it's
the majority voting on the rights of a
discriminated minority, and historically that
has not turned out to be a good idea," said
senior and Vice President of Pride Nicole
Guilfoyle about Folwell's comments.
The bills will also have consequences
beyond the ability of same-sex couples to
marry.
"Consequences of the Senate bill are
profound on so many levels," said Lang,
"Both tie up state funds and will ban
domestic partner benefits."
Some also argue that the amendments
will have detrimental effects on the state's
job markets. Some corporations settled in
North Carolina consider the bill a restraint to
employee benefits and rights.
"Major corporations, including locally
based Bank of America Corp., are increasingly
extending same-sex benefits as the pursuit
of talent trumps lingering prejudices over
sexual orientation," Bank of America CEO
Hugh McColl told the Charlotte Tribune.
To help garner as much support as possible
in order to stop the bills. Pride has reacted
quickly. On Sept. 2, Pride began phone
bank training on calling North Carolina
constituents about the legislation.
"This is important because you're reaching
out to people who don't necessarily know
that this legislation is on the table right now,"
said Guilfoyle. "When you inform a lot of
people, then those people might contact their
(L-R) Hall Director Justin Shreve '10 takes notes while Pride President Kim Parmenter,
senior, leads members in a discussion of the bill Monday, September 5th.
senators and representatives."
On Monday, Sept. 12, the Greensboro Vigil
for Equality will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the
Greensboro Courthouse Plaza at the comer
of West Market Street and West Washington
Street to protest the legislation. For those
interested. Pride is organizing carpooling to
the event. Those who are interested in the
carpool should email Pride at guilfordpride®
guilford.edu or Pride President Kim
Parmenter at parmenterkd@guilford.edu.
In addition to the Sept. 12 vigil, there will
be a rally outside of the state capital on Sept.
13 to protest the legislation.
Lang, who will be speaking at the vigil,
hopes that opponents of the legislation can
calm the fears of the legislation's supporters.
"If people could understand that it's about
love and people coming together in a public
declaration of love, maybe that will make
it less scary to those people supporting the
bill," said Lang.
Semester reboots with new technology across campus
By Victor Lopez
Staff Writer
As the summer winds to an
end, some items on campus are
finding new beginnings, such
as the many new technology
changes at the college.
Vice President of
Administration Jon Varnell said
that those changes included
computer deployments, yearly
replacements of Mac's and PC's,
new Xerox printers, a modified
wireless service, new door access
points, and a newly designed
website for the college.
These changes have been
celebrated by some and loathed
by others for myriad reasons.
"The printing portion of the
copy machine installation has
been frustrating, but is getting
better by the day," said Varnell.
Following the summer's end,
the leases on the copy machines
throughout campus were up
for renewal, and the old copy
machines had to be returned.
DirectOT of Information
Technology and Services Teresa
Sanford said that, while the new
printers installed throughout
campus provide superior
print quality, there have been
complaints about the software
platform.
"Before, only students had
to swipe in order to print," said
Sanford. "Now all faculty and
staff — along with students
-— have to swipe in order to
print, which some feel is a slow,
complicated process."
CCE students and staff, like
Rita Serkin Dean and Vice
President of the Center for
Continuing Education, feel
lukewarm and yet hopeful about
the new machines.
"My staff and student reaction
to the new printers is hardly
printable, although everyone
admits that when you finally get
your printing job it produces a
connect to the intranet and that
had to be solved," said Sanford.
In a survey of 42 students, 43.9
percent rated the wireless system
good and 9.8 percent said very
good.
However, there were mixed
reactions to Guilford's new
website, which, according to
President and Professor of
Political Science Kent Chabotar,
took a lot of work and input to
erect.
"A special subcommittee of
four trustees worked with the
Education Holly Wilson said
that some students have
concerns about the website being
misleading.
"Some people are concerned
that the website is too polished,"
said Wilson. "And it is not a
good representation of what our
campus really looks like."
Wilson said many Caucasian
students shared the concern
that the website makes the
campus look more diverse and
multicultural than it is.
Students such as junior Nicolas
"Of course at first it was a little tricky to find the email part, and logging
into GuilfordNet, but after becoming more familiar, I think the website is
great."
Jazlyn Gibbs, senior
nice copy," said Serkin.
IT&S is working with the
contractor to make these changes
more convenient, according to
Sanford.
There was also a wireless
system upgrade at the end of the
spring semester.
"We had all kinds of problems
having Macs and other devices
college on it," said Chabotar.
"It's a work in progress with
more changes and improvements
coming. It's not done yet. The
Board of Trustees like its more
direct approach to marketing the
college for admissions and fund
raising and emphasis on Quaker
values and tradition."
Director of Multicultural
Moore think the old website had a
more straightforward approach.
"They are doing too much
with the new site," said Moore.
"There is just too rhuch mess to
look at. The old site was easier to
navigate."
80 percent polled by The
Guilfordian said that the website
is very clean-looking, but most
said that it is confusing and very
slow.
Senior Jazlyn Gibbs said that
after a spell, the website did not
seem daunting to navigate at all.
"I personally love the new
website," said Gibbs. Everything
is simple and easy to find. My
friends also like the website.
Of course at first it was a little
tricky to find the email part, and
logging into GuilfordNet, but
after becoming more familiar, I
think the website is great."
Associate Vice President for
Communications and Marketing
Ty Buckner said that Guilford's
new website supports the
marketing needs of the college.
"The website project included
not only a new home page but
new architecture and navigation
and new or re-purposed content
on the primary pages throughout
the site," said Buckner. "As part
of reorganizing and streamlining
content, we developed Guilford
Net to contain information
relevant to campus users. The
main website is focused on future
students and other external
users."
Both Buckner and Sanford
said that there would be constant
additions and improvements.
"It is important to know that
with technology it is not sit and
fix, it is consistently evolving
and we are evolving to meet
technology needs," said Sanford.