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NEWS
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
Citizen committee
reviews police actions
BY AUBREY KING
Staff Writer
A police force protects. The Crown Victoria sedans, sirens and uniforms
are meant to symbolize safety and order.
Unfortunately, long-standing racial tension surroimding the Greensboro
Police Department has pushed a group of citizens to create their own
police review board.
This is happening at the same time as the police department seeks to
revitalize its own system.
Trust in those who protect is essential for a content populace, but not
everyone in Greensboro feels they can trust the police force.
"I don't trust them at all," said Early College junior Yasmine Bytmgura.
"I think they are really biased, and there are certain things I do not feel tihey
take seriously enough."
This lack of trust has been an ongoing problem.
"(You'll) be driving along and see a cop car stopped, and it turns into
a kind of joke that (either) a woman or a black man (will) be inside," said
Jeny Phifer, longtime Greensboro resident.
Feelings like this have only been amplified by the retirement of former
Police Chief Ken Miller, whose departure after four years of service led
many to believe something had gone awry behind the scenes of the police
force.
A history of radal profiling and a suspicious retirement did nothing to
bolster trust in the Greensboro Police Department, but many residents are
not aware of the extreme cases of police brutality.
According to beforeitsnews.com, Greensboro resident Tawana Sampson
was brought in for a hit-and-run and then brutally beaten in a police
department elevator in March 2012.
Later released, Sampson suffered a severe brain injury as a result of the
attack and was forced to seek medical attention.
The police were unable to link her to the crime.
In response to the lack of trust and the presence of violence, an interim
civilian police review committee has emerged in an attempt to bolster
confidence in the police force.
Barbara Lawrence, associate professor of justice and policy studies,
chairs the committee.
"1 have big hopes that the leadership of Greensboro will continue to
try to be progressive," said Lawrence in an interview with The News &
Record.
City leadership has not acted kindly toward the new board. Instead,
they have staunchly defended the city-run alternative, the Complaint
Review Committee.
The CRC, according to the city's website, steps in only after the
Professional Standards Envision of the Police Department investigates a
complaint and reaches a verdict on its own.
Once the board takes on a case, a majority vote must be reached in order
to reconsider a verdict before they can begin talking to the Chief of Police.
From there, an agreement must be reached between the Chief of Police
and the board.
If an agreement cannot be reached, the dty manager is brought in to
make a final decision.
Though many citizens may feel more comfortable with a dvilian-run
board, the police department and the dty stand by the CRC.
"The Greensboro Police Department believes the dty currently has
suffident and effective systems of police oversight," said Greensboro
Police Department Public Information Officer Susan Danielsen in a text
message response to a phone query. 'Tt remains our position that any
finding rendered by an organization that does not have access to facts is
flawed and, therefore, meritless."
Mayor Nancy Vaughan elaborated on the sentiment in a phone
interview with The Guilfordian.
"I don't think, such a board is possible quite frankly," said Vaughan.
"There are certain things the dty can do with personnel records, (but) we
can't give them to an independent group."
Only time will tell if either one of these systems, the dvilian review
board or a refined CRC, will help rebuild trust in the Greensboro
Police Department.
Fire in Mary Hobbs draws attention across campus
BY AUBREY KING & MATTHEW JONES
Staff Writers
A fire truck parked in front of Mary Hobbs on
the quad and smoke billowing from the building's
roof turned a few heads on campus last Thursday
morning.
According to Greensboro fire chief Greg Grayson in
an interview with the News & Record, the two-alarm
fire started due to a problem related to the renovation
of the historic residence hall.
Construction worker Carlos Odom told the News
& Record that he and his fellow workers realized a
fire had broken out during a break around 10:15 am.
The workers stopped to investigate a smoky smell
that had lingered all morning and found a blaze
burning in the attic.
"We went up to try to see what it was, and a big
plume of smoke came out," said Odom.
The workers then called 911. Emergency personnel
arrived soon after.
Along with the firetrucks, a Fox 8 News van, an
ambulance, and even a mobile command center made
the Hendricks Parking Lot look like a fairground.
For the next couple of hours, the Fire Department
and Public Safety personnel surroimded the building
like a group of fire ants.
"Oiir crews made an offensive attack into the attic
area looking for the fire," said Grayson. "Once they
got into the attic, they determined the fire was not in
the attic: it was on the second floor."
Immediately after the fire was imder control, the
investigation of the fire and cleanup began.
Many people on campus were relieved that the
building did not suffer more damage than it did,
given its long and interesting history.
Mary Hobbs Hall, built in 1907 at a cost of
$18,323.26, replaced a handful of wooden cottages
that female Guilford students had previously
lived in. It was intended to be a cooperative living
community for women that would encourage them
to receive an education in modem homemaMng. In
1933, the college renamed the building after Mary
Mendenhall Hobbs, an advocate for its construction
and mission.
However, rumors of mischievous spirits have long
haunted the dorm.
"On one occasion, students I know were
exploring the attic of Hobbs," said Campus Ministry
Coordinator and Director of the Friends Center Max
Carter in an email interview. "They noted that as soon
as they climbed into the attic, their cell phones shut
down. They left in a hurry, quite spooked, and their
phones came back on."
Some people familiar with the stories have
speculated that the ghosts may have had something
to do with Thursday's blaze.
"The ghosts are angry," said senior A.C. Canup,
who lived in Hobbs her sophomore year. "Mary
Hobbs is an all female dorm so she's probably like,
what the f— are all these males doing here?"
One legend claims that a fire started in the attic by
mischievous boys killed Hobbs's daughter and that
she continues to haunt the building to this day.
However, that story is mostly false, according to
histories of the college available in Hege Library.
Although two fires have occurred in the building, one
in 1911 and a more serious arson in 1976, Mary Hobbs
never had a child killed in either incident.
"The ghost stories about Hobbs have been aroimd
for a long time, and some associate them with an
earlier fire in 1976 that burned the third floor,"
said Carter. "However, no one was lost in that fire,
although it did reduce the building to a two story
stmcture."
Additionally, Carter says that it is unlikely that
these particular ghosts would have had anything to
do witiK a fire.
"As I've heard the stories, the ghost in Hobbs is
pretty benign," Carter added. "It moves furniture,
locks doors from the inside, opens drawers and
otherwise just plays aroimd with folks."
Whether it was a construction accident or
paranormal happening, Thursda/s fire in Mary Hobbs
created quite a stir around Ccimpus. No casualties and
relatively minor property damage mean students
and staff will mostly remember the incident as an
interesting and surprising change of pace.
QEP committee works towards developing the ideal plan
BY HENRY SMITH
Staff Writer
Did you know that there is a
committee, consisting of students,
faculty and staff, that spend two
years developing a plan to make
your life better?
The time has come. Guilford
College is part of the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools. Every 10 years, the schools
overseen by SACS are due for
reaffirmation of accreditation. A
vital part of a school's application
for continued accreditation is the
Quality Enhancement Plan. The
development process of a new
QEP has begun.
The QEP is the component of the
accreditation process that reflects
and affirms the commitment
of SACS to the enhancement of
quality and the proposition that
student learning is at the heart of
the mission of higher education.
Faculty and staff have been
invited to submit possible ideas
for what the new QEP will be.
On Sept. 17, a forum was held in
which community members met
to discuss the 29 ideas that have
been submitted.
Professor of Physics Steven
Shapiro leads the QEP committee,
which has begun developing a
pim. Shapiro gave insight on the
general criteria regarding what
lies ahead for the QEP committee.
"This will be a plan that's
doable," said Shapiro. "It will lead
to enhanced student learning and
line up with the mission of the
college. It will be assessable and
sustainable."
Reaffirmation takes a long time
and is a difficult process.
"The idea is that SACS cares that
you are taking steps to improve,"
said Shapiro. "They care that the
educational experience is always
being improved."
Shapiro is not the only one
who expresses passion for the
development of a new QEP.
"It is important to me because
it could be an opportunity to
coordinate and strengthen the
educational experiences of
our students," said Professor
of Political Science and QEP
committee member George Guo.
One of the most important
aspects of the plan is that it needs
to have data to assess it. In other
words, the improvement must be
measurable.
The committee has decided that
the QEP will be something that is
beneficial to not only students and
faculty, but also expand to include
Greensboro. Guilford College
prides itself as being active in
the greater community in terms
of internships and community
service.
"Whatever plan we come up
with, we need to make sure we
have been in contact with all
of these constituencies," said
Shapiro.
There are six categories
of proposed topics in which
the QEP might qualify. These
categories are literacy, learning/
teaching modalities, thinking and
communication skills, principled
problem solving, wellness and
entrepreneurship.
The categories were developed
around the 29 proposed ideas
that were submitted. Such ideas
include implementing universal
design for learning, developing
information literacy as a state of
mind and creating real world work
opportunities for students.
Associate Professor of Business
Betty Kane expressed her support
for combining the QEP plan with
the coming revision of the academic
curriculum.
"I'm sort of a big dreamer, a big
picture kind of person," said Kane.
"So I was thinking, what better way
to bring unity to our community
around this vision of what a practice
liberal arts curriculum looks like."
Junior Will Whealdon expressed
his anticipation for the new QEP.
"I'm excited to see which of the
proposed ideas gets picked and
what kind of tangible eifect we are
going to see," said Whealdon.
What the school is going
through at this juncture is unique
in that it occurs once every 10
years. According to Shapiro,
disaccreditation, while a possibility,
is highly unlikely. Last time, with a
QEP focused on writing through the
disciplines, Guilford distinguished
itself with high marks, and
reaccreditation.
This process moves forward
with continued feedback and more
community discussion. A proposal
for consideration shoulcLbe ready
by December 2014. It should take a
year to then flesh out the idea and
make it presentable to the faculty,
who, it is hoped, will then approve
it by May 2016.
If you have ideas or
suggestions for the new
Quality Enhancement
Program visit:
itb^rary.guilforcl*
(Search ‘QEP’)