Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Oct. 19, 2022, edition 1 / Page 1
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(g)meredithherald (a)meredith_herald @meredith_herald EiHERALD October 19, 2022 meredithherald.com Wings Students Left Out of Ring Dinner By Riley Heeb, Contributing Writer Ring Dinner is a milestone tradition at Meredith College. Meredith Alumnae can be spotted worldwide by the Onyx ring that they received at their Junior year Ring Dinner. Unfortunately, many Junior Class Wings students were unaware that they were eligible to participate in this tradition. By the time they were made aware of Ring Dinner being so soon, it was too late in the year to buy a ring and RSVP for the Dinner. This Meredith Onyx ring has been the Meredith Class Ring since a student committee de signed it in 1953. The ring includes a black onyx stone engraved with the Meredith seal and an oak leaf impressed on the band. While all students with sixty credit hours are eligible to buy the ring, most will wait until the standard time of Junior year so that they are receiving it with their class. Non-traditional students usually come in with many college credits. Still, they are considered first-year students, which leads to them not being added to the cor rect class email lists to participate in traditions. The Herald reached out to the Wings Program president, Valerie Rodriguez-Jusino, who stated that they “did not know that [they] could ask to be added to the Class [of] 2023 email group until last spring semester.” An anony mous Wings student shared that they “wish [they] had automatically been included [in the email list] and then given an option to opt-out,” when asked about the email deliveiy system. The Herald also spoke with the Director of Student Leader ship and Service, Cheiyl Jenkins, to inquire more about this situation. Jenkins stated that she was “made aware [on Oct. 4] in [the] SGA Ex ecutive Board meeting that a Wings student attending [the] meeting was not aware of Ring Dinner or ring sales.” Jenkins said a message was sent out later that week that “encouraged any Wings student interested in Ring Dinner to attend and provided key details about the event, including ticket sales, attire Campus Police Experiences By Aminah Jenkins, Editor in Chief On Oct. 13, two anti-abor tion protestors came to Meredith’s campus. Both protestors, as The Herald reported in an article on the incident, were not Meredith students. The men were escorted off campus by a Campus Police officer, but the incident sparked concerns about campus safety. Students expressed concerns about how the protestors were able to access the campus so easily and how long it took Campus Police to arrive. Concerns about Campus Police have been ongoing for quite some time on campus. Back in 2020, when the Instagram account @dearmereco was still active, students shared their negative interactions with Campus Police officers. One student shared that two campus security guards closely inspected her car for a parking de cal, but didn’t to others. Lex Hanson, ‘23, experi enced communication issues with Campus Police this past summer. She was unable to use her Cam- Card to get into The Oaks. Hanson sent an initial email to Chyna Mc Queen, the Apartment Manager, for assistance but did not hear back. She then reached out to Campus Police for help. It took them 45 minutes to get there, and, in that time, Hanson “was already in [her] hall (someone else had let [her] in), took a nap and was getting ready to leave again for work.” “They were very unapolo- getic for how long it took for them to get there and did not help me whatsoever,” she said. The interaction made Han son feel like she wasn’t seen or heard. “I felt that if they couldn’t show up for something unimport ant, then they wouldn’t show up if I actually needed something,” she explained. Amanda Duran, ‘22, shared a similar experience. Duran was locked out of her apartment around 1 a.m. on a weeknight. According to the Apartment Guide to Community Living, students locked out of their apartments on Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m, on weekends and during campus clos ing should contact Campus Police. However, when Duran did this, they received no response. “I called them three times within the and how to find more information about the loaner ring program.” The Herald also talked to the Director of Alumnae Rela tions, Hillary Allen, who was not aware of the exclusion of Wings students, stating that they are “so sorry to hear about [it] and would welcome ideas and recommenda tions on better methods of shar ing information about ring sales.” Anon)Tnous Wings stu dents shared how they felt about the whole mishap after the email was sent out. They stated that they “wish that more of an effort would have been made to make us [Wings Students] feel welcome and included once the mistake was realized.” Efforts are being made to prevent this from happen ing in the future. Jenkins stated that “moving forward, [they] will work with the Wings President to provide information that she can send out regularly for all Wings students to see. Also, [they] will have her send out a message to - ask Wings students to join the span of an hour, and they never answered me,” she said. Though Duran wasn’t in any danger, they said it was concerning that no one picked up. “If I was actually in danger, they were not answering,” she said. Another student, who wanted to remain anonymous, shared her experience of a car accident that happened close to campus in January of 2021. Dur ing a storm, she hit a guardrail on I-440 and hydroplaned. She explained that her car was visibly damaged, saying, “My radiator was hanging by a thread, and my bumper had [torn] off complete ly-” Though her car was dam aged, she decided to drive back to campus. When she arrived at the front guard house, the security guard at the front “just stared at [her].” “She never once asked me if I was okay or if there was any thing she could do to help me,” the student said. “All she did was lift the gate and let me in.” Looking back, the student wishes that there had been more mi Photo by Aminah Jenkins class [email] listserv that most closely matches their class affili ation for receiving information about traditions.” Everyone involved is sad dened to hear that some students were unaware of the Ring Dinner and ring sales. Jenkins stated that the Office of Student Leadership and Service “want[s] all Wings students to know that they are invited to Ring Dinner whenever it fits best for them as they reach that milestone in their lives. [...] Wings students are invited to all traditions, and we will work to ensure that invitation is clearly communicated in a timely man ner.” Photo by Elisabeth Sinicrope concern about her wellbeing. “It really made me feel like I wasn’t cared about at Meredith,” she stated. More than anything, all three students want Campus Po lice to show up when students call them. “That’s their job,” Hanson said. In the future, the anony mous student hopes that incidents like this are taken more seriously. “I hope that if someone came through the front [gate] with the hood [of their car] messed up that they \yould take some consid eration in asking if we’re okay,” she said. “If we are supposed to have top security, they aren’t act ing like it.”
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