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NEWS
Republican National Convention rouses right-wing spirit
BY DANIEL GASKIN
Staff Writer
Simon & Garfunkel, Thelma & Louise and Itchy & Scratchy
have met their match in an unlikely duo that came to the
forefront at the Republican National Convention.
That new duo is Clint Eastwood and Governor Mitt Romney.
"I remember three-and-a-half years ago when Mr.
Obama won the election and, though I wasn't a big
supporter, I was watching that night when he was having
that thing," said Qint Eastwood in a speech for the RNC,
"And they were talking about hope and change; and they were
talking about, 'Yes, we can,' and it was dark outdoors and it
was nice and people were lighting candles. I just thought this
is great. I mean everybody is crying. Oprah was crying. I was
even crying. I haven't cried that hard since I found out that
there's 23 rnillion unemployed people in this country. Now, that
is something to cry for. That is a disgrace, a national disgrace."
Eastwood's speech at the RNC surprised many because
of the candor with which he spoke, and the fervor that he
generated from a crowd that was surprised to see him.
GOP strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos said
Eastwood "proved he cannot do improv. But he did something
that is rare in politics. He made it socially acceptable to be able
to laugh at Barack Obama."
Romney's speech that followed Eastwood's focused on
criticism of President Obama and his inability to create jobs.
"The President hasn't disappointed you because he wanted
to. The President has disappointed America because he hasn't
led America in the right direction," said Romney. "He took
office without the basic qualification that most Americans
have and one that was essential to his task. He had almost
Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan and Republican nominee
Mitt Romney wave to delegates at the convention in FL.
no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about
government."
In his speech, Romney harkened to a shared sense of
perseverance in Americans and wanted the audience to know
that he was going to be a better president.
"We are a nation of immigrants," Romney said. "We are the
children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the
ones who wanted a better life, the driven ones, the ones who
woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life in
that place called America could be better. They came not just
in pursuit of the riches of this world, but for the richness of this
life. Freedom."
After Romney's speech, a Gallup poll released on Sept.
3 indicates that four in ten adults say they are more likely to
support Romney based on what they read or saw from last
week's convention in Tampa, Fla.
"I thought Romney's speech was well crafted and showed
that he is a good speaker, but he did not show me any great
alternatives to the current economic problems that we have,"
said sophomore Chris Ross.
Thirty-eight percent say they are less likely to vote for the
Republican diallenger and 22 percent say they did not know or
the convention did not make any difference to their vote.
These numbers are similar to John McCain's numbers in
2008, and show that the Republicans may have some work
to do before the election in November if they want a different
result.
All in all, the RNC showed an intention to bring the fight to
the Democrats this November. The Republicans did much to
discredit the Democrats and had many Republicans thinking,
"Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"
J-TERM
J-term expands classroom boundaries
Continued from Page I
and
internships, service learning projects,
independent and group projects.
The faculty and staff have high hopes for the
experiment and its effects on students.
"The January term's experiential and
integrative learning projects and activities
promote self-motivated and applied learning on
curricula, co-curricular and also extra-curricular
levels," said Jeff Favolise, assistant to the president
for planning and management, via email. 'The
January term provides opportunities for students
to learn through experiences and connect
classroom lessons with real-world activities."
Students are also enthusiastic about the new
term.
"I think it's a good opportunity to study
things that aren't required and do experiment^
learning, which I thirik is really important," said
sophomore Raina Martens.
Guilford is offering a multitude of options
for the semester. These are just a few of the
opportunities.
Study Away — International
"The Oxford Fantasy Writers" program will
allow students to experience the places that
inspired Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien
and Phillip Pullman, known as the original
fantasy writers.
'The beauty of it is the idea of seeing how
writers respond to a place; to everything from
the lamp post Lucy sees in 'The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe", to the Imperial War Museum
that affected Tolkien," said Caroline McAllister,
professor of English and the program's faculty
leader.
This study opportunity is ideal for English and
history majors or anyone interested in fantasy
literature.
Students can also study religion in France,
attend the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin,
Ireland, or study marine biology in the Caribbean.
Study Away — Domestic
One of the major options is the "Ghost Ranch
Experience." This will be held in New Mexico and
will offer many different study opportunities for
people of different interests.
Some of the programs offered at the Ghost
Ranch will be arts related, such as black and
white landscape photography or Southwest
weaving. Other programs indude a camping and
wilderness trip and an archeological study.
On-Campus Seminar
"Woodworking and Furniture History," led by
Jim Hood, professor of English, will give studente
an opportunity to learn a hands-on skill.
"TMs is a dass for anybody, from environmental
studies majors to art majors to business majors, or
anybody interested in a craft hobby," said Hood.
This seminar will indude dasses and field trips
to places such as Old Salem and the Museum of
Early Southern Decorative Arts.
Other on-campus seminars indude developing
apps for iPhones, exploring the logistics of a
college pep band and learning fly fishing.
Internships
Internships will also be offered based on
individual interest. Students can contact the
Career Development Center with ideas for
internships, or experts at the center can brainstorm
with students.
"Students can do short term research for a
museum or company like Syngenta, or work for a
nonprofit like Downtown Greensboro Inc.," said
Megan Corkery coordinator of internships and
career counselor.
The exdting opportunities of the January
term do not come without a price. Study away
opportunities can cost over $6,000.
These high costs worry some students and
discourage ffiem from partidpating.
"My number one concern is just the cost. That
makes me really frustrated. Many of the options
look so awesome, but I can't do any of them," said
Martens.
"I'm personally not going to do it because of the
cost," said early college junior Kristen Witkemper.
January term gr^ts will be offered, but will be
given based on demonstrated need and merit.
Despite the high costs, January term will be an
exdting change for Guilford.
No butts about ft: new
smoking policy ignites ire
BY JOSH BALLARD
Staff Writer
Behind King Hall. Behind the Mail
and Print Services building. Behind
the Community Center. On the North
Apartment porches, but only when the
proper forms are signed.
If you are a smoker on campus, you
would do wdl to know these plaos.
Recent changes to Guilford's smoking
policy have coindded with a change in
designated smoking areas on campus.
Students who are found smoking
anywhere except the aforementioned
areas will now receive a $25 fine for their
first two offenses and the third will result
in a judidal hearing.
'The new policy is ridiculous," said
senior Geoff Merwin. "The fines are
dassist because they create situations
where people with more money can pretty
much ignore the rule. They'll worry about
getting caught less, so virtually there is a
rule for some but not for all."
Vice President for Student Affairs and
Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow said the
fine was added to curb smoking outside of
the designated areas.
"We had to turn to a more draconian
method to stop people from smoking
where they are not supposed to," he said.
"It's more of an enforcement policy.
CCE senior Atia Ahmed took issue less
with the fine and more with the prindple
of the change.
"Because I smoke a dgarette I'm
diverse," said Ahmed. "How can you
deny that diversity on campus? It really
seems to go against the core beUefs."
Part of the issue was litter from
dgarettes in high-traffic areas. As such, the
smoking areas were moved to more low-
traffic spots. The main impetus for getting
rid of the spot near Bauman was because
of its location near the Early College.
"There are some legalities with smoking
being so dose to a high school," said
Fetrow. 'The Early College prindpal
received something along the lines of
20-25 letters of petition finm the parents of
Early College students."
However, some students feel that Public
Safety is partly to blame for the new rules.
"Dedsions on the smoking policy,
induding locations of the smoking areas,
are made completely independently of
Public Safety," said Director of Public
Safety Ron Stowe in an email interview.
"Our role is strictly to help enforce the
policy once dedded upon."
Other complaints are more about the
new spaces than anything else.
"It's inconvenient tiiat the/re so
sparsely situated, but I imderstand that
some people don't want to be around
(smoking)," said junior Fhalyshia Orians.
"I just want protection from the sun and
the rain."
The only complaints we've really
received about the new areas are about a
lack of cover and lighting," said Fetrow.
'We're working on getting lights and
covers for the areas."
Fetrow said that these new polides
are part of a "continued progression to a
smoke-free campus."
"We don't want to be overly friendly to
smoking," he said. "Many schools have
become smoke-free."
Many are even wondering what is
going to happen to the covered smoking
areas near Bauman and behind Mary
Hobbs. Fetrow says that plans are in the
works to convert them into covered bike
racks.