The Bdles
of
St. Mary’s
Collese
VOLUME XLIII, NUMBER 7
900 HILLSBOROUGH STREET
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE, RALEIGH. N.C.
MAY, 1982
A REVEALING WORK AT OUR CAMPUS
by Foo Vaeth and
Mary Glenn Barwlck
Perhaps you have
reflected on the processes
involved in operating St.
Mary’s College campus. If you
haven’t, you should. What
happens at this institution,
regardless of its size, pertains
to all our lives. As Robert J.
Miller, Dean of the College,
pointed out, these are not
things that you need to know,
“these are things that you
should be interested in.”
Basically, two areas lack
student involvement. The
administrative processes
involved on the academic
level and the monetary
decisions on the business
level.
The faculty meetings
occurring the first Friday of
each month are generally not
open to students The Belles
staff was granted the
opportunity to read the
minutes from those meetings.
After being called to order.
President Rice presents
“several items of interest and
significance.-’-^-If- necessary,
there will be a report from the
Board of Trustees. The faculty
is also informed of important
upcoming events, staff
changes and committee
reports. The meeting is then
turned over to Dr. Miller, who
presides. The academic
matters are presented by
academic council, which does
call for student
representation. Yet the
council can only recommend
to the faculty and ultimately
the President. All issues must
be approved by them before
they can take effect the
following academic year.
Usually, this presents no
problem since the majority of
academic council members
are faculty representatives
for their various departments.
Recent issues also included
the developments of the newly
formed computer committee
and the upcoming
reaccreditation for the high
school.
According to Dr. Miller,
applications are increasing by
25 percent, although the
returning rate of juniors is
down. According to the
minutes, “The college needs
to improve its retention rate of
graduating high school
students.”
Students also lack
information concerning the
college budget. While this
information is valuable, it is
not helpful unless we
understand how the overall
operation works. The Belles
was granted an interview with
the business manager and
asked the questions many
students want answers to.
The overall tuition was
raised $625 for boarding
Students, making the cost to
attend St. Mary’s next year
$6250. The day student
increase amounts to $375. This
is an 11 percent increase over
the 1981-82 tuition. Mr. Conrad
pointed out that in comparison
to other prestigious women’s
colleges, St. Mary’s has
managed to keep its tuition at
a lower level. For example,
students at Hollins pay $8,050
and Sweet Briar tuition stands
at $7,950. The cost of attending
those institutions would
naturally be higher. They
offer the complete four year
B.A. degree program. The
range of study is a great deal
broader, and since the schools
are larger than St. Mary’s,
more funds would be required
for its operation.
We also discovered that
the school has no immediate
plans to undertake any dorm
remodeling with the exception
of minor changes in 1903.
Conrad explained that
minimal remodeling occurs
every year in the form of
maintenance. This money
comes out of the operating
budget - a combination of
student tuition and gifts.
The campus has a utilities
bill that runs close to $300,000
a year. An example of the
electricity cost during the
month of January is $25,000.
The campus electricity usage
is regulated by a compulfer
that controls the demand load
so it will not soar to the peak
level. The school pays the
highest point of electricity
usage, but the computer
controls that amount.
Of further interest, the
landscaping project in front of
the library has certainly
improved ^e looks of that
area. The $30,000 venture is
the first attempt towards re
landscaping the entire
campus in the next five years.
It is an example of what the
entire campus will look like if
the $500,000 to complete the
job is raised. Conrad denied
knowledge of it disrupting the
natural ecosystem of the area,
while one can guess that
paved sanitary-looking
walkways and computer
planned flowers must be
disruptive to the environment
(top soil, etc.) and not
necessarily more appealing.
St. Mary’s hopes to
demonstrate to the entire
Cameron Village area that we
intend for our campus to be an
asset to the area. Overall, the
goal is “to maintain and
improve so it (the campus)
doesn’t depreciate.” Is this a
necessary goal? Trees are
prettier than paved
walkways.
The food service is always
a questioning student’s
concern. St. Mary’s is under
contract with ARA Food
Services. Their company
supplies the food and labor,
and St. Mary’s provides the
facilities and equipment.
Food operations cost you
roughly 16 percent of your
tuition, or about $1000 a year.
Never^eless, this figure is
ST. MARY’S STUDENTS HONORED
by Karen Lado
While a brass quartet
played and the chorale and
ensemble sang, the St. Mary’s
faculty pranced into Pittman
Auditorium April 23,1982. The
third annual Honors
Convocation had begun.
Every year, St. Mary’s
recognizes at this special
assembly the high school and
college students who have
shown exceptional interest
and academic excellence in a
specific area. After a short
prayer and some introductory
remarks by Dr. Miller, the
chairmen of the different
departments rose to present
their awards.
Kathryn Goode won the
first award, in Art at the
college level. In Drama, Kate
McCrary and Ashley
Dimmette received
recognition for their
outstanding work. The music
awards went to Frances
Ellerbe and Elizabeth
Williams.
Dr. Rollins presented
each of the winners in
English; Lisa Maloney,
Virginia Hodges, and Jean
Schaefer a copy of Riverside
Shakespeare. Virginia and
Jean went on to win
recognition with Florence
Norris and Mary Jacque
Holroyd for their achievement
in Religion.
The Language, Math and
Science departments gave
awards only to high school
students. Shirley Fawcette
was honored for her
achievement in Math, I^^en
Lado in French, and Ellen
Reynolds in Science, the first
of her three awards. Ellen
also won the high school
physical education award, the
college one going to Gina
Ellis.
St. Mary’s presented
several other non-
departmental awards. L3mn
Jones won the CRC Freshman
Chemistry Achievement
Award. Karen Lado received
the Mount Holyoke Alumnae
Award, and Ellen Reynolds
who is first in her class, was
honored by the Phi Beta
Kappa Association.
Becky Rogers won the
Robert Ice Green Connelly
Award, which carries a $1000
scholarship for her work in a
foreign language. Foo Vaeth,
recipient of the Jane
Augustine Rebon Belles
Award, will have her name
engraved on a silver platter.
And once again. Miss Birch
received the Outstanding
Teacher Award, as chosen by
the students.
Congratulations' to all
CAREERS..
Options for women
in the 80’s
by Rebecca Rogers
All of us think about
having a career at some point
in our lives. As the eighties
progress, it will become more
and more, necessary for
Women to hold some sort of
job. The U.S. Department of
t^bor estimates, by 1990, over
53 million women will wcu^
places in the work forM. 'T^
following is a list of nine job
Segories, including tte t^
Sr J specific jobs which wm
offer the most openings in the
eighties. To compare the
various categories, a ranking
(Continued Page 2)
May Court 1982
easily misinterpreted. We
have three meals supplied per
day, 260 days per year, so
taWng the money ourselves
would prove disastrous. It also
depen(ls on the individual
because many of us don’t eat
three meals a day. Conrad
explained that in order to have
a food service plan, all
students must participate.
The school controls the quality
of that service. If ARA fails to
provide something and it
proves to be a legitimate
request, it is insisted upon.
Naturally, (supplying)
the various departments with
funds to operate their
department is an allocated
part of the budget. Each
department head submits
their documented request
forms. The business
department sees how much
income is necessary to meet
those requests. If the cost is
too high, the budget request is
cut. This year only three
departments received less
than their anticipated
budgets.
Next year’s budget is in
excess of 3.5 million dollars.
More money will be available
for scholarships and college
debts.
Questioning processes
and changes is a part of acting
as a concerned student. Your
campus is your concern, if you
have any more qustions,
suggestions or opinions, drop
them in the mail box
addressed to the editor. Let’s
make this school our business.
St. Mary’s 1982 Spring Queen,
Sarah Cunninham Rice