ALETHEIA
Volume XXVII, Number 16
Montreat-Anderson College
March 4, 1994
Communication
Errors
Endanger
Scholarship
By Daniell Hartness
Misunderstandings about the
Leadership Scholars attending
meetings have gotten student ac
tivities in a bind.
Leadership Scholarships
were awarded to students who in
volved themselves in extracurricu
lar activities, maintained a high
academic record, and held a lead
ership position. To keep these
$2,000 a year scholarships, recipi
ents must meet certain require
ments.
The requirements in the con
tract agreements are: one must
participate in the student activity
committee and attend student ac
tivity meetings, one must main
tain an average of 3.0, one must
maintain one or more leadership
positions, and one must accept the
supervision of the Director of Stu
dent Activities Cary Willcox.
During the first Student Ac
tivities meeting, Willcox told the
leadership scholars that they were
no longer required to attend the
meetings.
Willcox explained, "I wanted
people to have the desire to help
instead of making them."
Co-Chair of Student Activi
ties Jennifer "Bull" Stinnett men-
Business Department Shaken by Changes
Batson, Kaminer, Pate Dismissed
By Jeff Lang
Two Business Professors are
resigning and one is being laid off
in a major redirection of the Busi
ness Department at the end of this
semester.
Dr. Bill Kaminer, Dr. Chuck
Batson, and Mr. Glenn Pate will not be
teaching at M-AC next semester. In an
effort to attract more students to the
major, new faculty are being added to
replace the resigning ones; two Ph.D.'s
and one Adjunct professor with either
a Ph.D. or an MBA.
Glenn Pate, Accounting Profes
sor, is being laid off because of the low
number of Business Majors with an
Accounting concentration. Pate stated,
"I think they're trying to put it in pro
portion to the student body majoring
in Business, which is a logical step."
In response to the departure of Pate,
Batson, andKaminar, Senior Business
Administration major Tracy Job la
mented, "I don't know what to think of
the whole issue, they're wonderful pro
fessors."
For a response to their resig
nation, Kaminer and Batson could
not be reached for comment. Re
action from Business majors in re
sponse to the shake-up has been
strong, initially fueled by rumors.
After a departmental meeting
with students last Tuesday, feel
ings among Business majors have
turned positive. News came that
the new professors and programs
will not raise tuition or fees and
student participation was encour
aged.
Senior Business major
Jonathan Woody remarked, "My
concern is that the degree is still a
challenging degree."
Professor Pete McDanel has
been placed as Interim Chair of the
Business Division. He has devel
oped a new direction for the de
partment which will include: fo
cusing on a new management and
leadership degree which will inte
grate "Servant Leadership" prin
ciples into business, bringing in
guest expert lecturers, developing
a business center, and using ad
junct professors and other new pro
grams.
McDanel asserted, "You have
to have 15 to 20 people just for the
interaction of the group." It is
expected that the new focus on ex
pansion and growth of the major
will attract more students. Cur
rently the teacher/student ratio is
1:6, with a M-AC ideal ratio of
1:15.
tioned that people not attending
the meetings was not a problem
until recently. Willcox further
added that less and less people were
showing up for the meetings. Help
for before and after events also
dwindled.
Names of those who were not
fulfilling their requirements were
sent to Director of Financial Aid
Lisa Lankford. Letters were sup
posed to be sent to all of the lead
ership scholars, informing them
that they were in danger of losing
their scholarships if they did not
start attending meetings.
Lankford stated that there has
been a miscommunication within
the Student Activities Committee
and the leaders.
Student Activities Chair Rena
Sawyer concurred with Lankford,.
"Communication is poor. The re
sponsibilities are being tossed from
person to person and things just
aren't getting done."
Willcox admitted that this has
been a learning experience and that
he erred when he stated that the
meetings were not required. He
also explained that because of what
the contract states, he had to re
tract what he originally said.
The problem has been re
solved, however. The Student Ac
tivities meetings are now required
and Stinnett remarked, "Going to a
half hour meeting every week for
$2,000 is not much."
Fifth in our Religious Issues Series.,.
Secular Music Questioned for Christian Ethics
By Chad Smith
The issue of secular music
being played at dances and during
other student activities stirred
complaints as well as compliance
to the ethics of Montreat-Ander
son College.
The issue is divided into pri
marily two sides: those that feel
that the secular music is offensive
and those who are not offended
and see no problem with secular
music being played.
Freshman Kelly Maumenee,
who has attended the majority of
the dances, stated, "I was shocked
at the first dance I went to when
secular music was being played. I
couldn't understand why a Chris
tian college was supporting secu
lar music over Christian music."
Other concerned students ex
pressed that they were discour
aged from going to dances in the
future because at previous at
tended dances, some of the music
contained offensive sexual over
tones.
Freshman Sheri Rodgers ex
plained that after going to one
dance, she found the music con
tradictory to her world views and.
as a result, decided not to attend
any more dances.
Off-campus student Frances
Domingues defended, "No one re
ally listens to the lyrics or what
they mean."
Student Activities Director
Cary Willcox remarked, "If stu
dents want Christian music played
at the dances, [we welcome them]
to come to the student activities meet
ings ...to voice their concerns."
Willcox added that dance disk
jockeys who come to Montreat-
Anderson College sign a contract
agreeing not to play songs with
vulgar language and profanity.
However, he also admitted that
guidelines concerning sexually
explicit lyrics have not been thor
oughly established.
Although a few students
voiced that they would prefer
Christian music over secular mu
sic, the majority of the students
stated that they prefer dancing to
secular music. In fact, many ar
gued that it would be difficult to
play solely Christian music to
which people could dance.
Copenhaver Promotes SAFE Choices
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Format Changed
By Kerie Peterson
Every spring, Montreat-
Anderson College promotes Drug
and Alcohol Awareness, however
this year, a new twist was added.
Through Convocation, a concert,
and a w"rap"-up forum, the focus
was taken off of the adults and put
back to the students.
The state of North Carolina
mandates that every institution
must devote time to the education
and prevention Of drugs and alco
hol. However, instead of focusing
on the adverse effects on daily liv
ing, the forrhat was changed to
make the issue more personal. The
focus was more on the consequences
of choices that an individual makes
and how it affects him.
The week took on a pro-active
stance on drug and alcohol use.
The program was student led and
those students were available to
aid their peers in making wise
choices that were best for that par
ticular individual.
Chairperson of the event
Carmen Copenhaver explained that
the reason she changed the format
and chose the title Choices '94 was
because "the choices that we make
now will shape our tomorrows."
Substance Awareness for Ev
eryone (SAFE) not only promoted
a drug-free spring break, but em
phasized that being drug-free
should carry over throughout the
entire year.
Senior Penny Chenault re
sponded, "Making safe choices glo
rifies God, however, the choices
that we do make help us to learn
and to grow in more ways than we
ever thought imaginable."
Chenault further added, "Not
only [do making safe choices] ef
fect yourself, but will also effect
those you come in contact with."