Page6-CROSSROADS- May, 1975
Campus Organizations Fulfill Students' Lives
On a campus of ap
proximately 621 students,
434 of which are
residents, you might
wonder how their free,
time is occupied. Since
most residents do not
have cars, and bus
service to Gastonia and
Charlotte is virtually non
existent, the College and
its various campus
organizations have the
primary responsibility to
provide leisure activities
for Belmont Abbey
students.
Apparently this
obligation is being met,
since an estimated 66 per
cent of resident students
at BAC are currently
involved in one or more
campus activities.
Here’s a look at where
the action is as we near
the end of this school
year:
Some student
organizations are
financed by student
tuition fees, while others
are either wholly or
partially self-supporting.
For instance, each
student pays a
“publications fee” of $9
per semester. This
money supports the
student newspaper. Free
Lance; the literary
magazine. Agora; and
the college yearbook.
Spire. Free Lance boasts
a staff of twenty-five
students. In addition to
money received from the
College, the newspaper
supports itself through
advertising. This year.
Free Lance set a campus
record by' publishing an
unprecedented fourteen
issues.
Agora, the second
beneficiary of the
publications fee, is a
literary journal that is
published once each
year. All of the writing
and editing is done by
students. Spire, with 20
members, semi-supports
itself through ad
vertising.
Students also pay a $20
College Union fee per
semester. This money
supplies the campus with
such activities as the
weekly “Friday Night
Things,” entertainment
for the big weekends, and
a bi-monthly showing of
Saturday night movies.
In addition, the Union’s
fine arts committee has
provided members with
such entertainment as
the St. Louis Jazz En
semble, a presentation of
Shakespeare’s Lovers,
and the Mad Mountain
Mime Troupe. There is
also a recreation com
mittee which sponsors
camping trips and other
outings.
The Campus Ministry
also receives tuition fees,
with which to carry on its
religious and social
activities. This group has
hosted two coffee houses
and four retreats in
conjunction with the
College Union’s
recreation committee.
The Student
Association receives $3 of
each student’s tuition,
which has gone this year
toward stipends for
student officers, fuf-
nishings for Poellath Hall
lounge, and expenses of
students who attended
various conventions as
representatives of
Belmont Abbey College.
A new constitution,
drawn up this year by the
48 members of the
Student Association, will
be in effect as of the Fall
semester. This
organization presents the
students’ opinions to the
administration through
■i.
Ohnesorge photo
Obviously happy with the results of the recent student government elections at
Belmont Abbey College are these new Student Association officers (left to right)
Dan Farrell, vice-president; Robbie Lake, secretary; Robin Roberts, president;
and Stella Ferris, treasurer.
Student Officers Elected
Students at Belmont
Abbey College have
elected their Student
Association officers for
the 1975-76 school year.
Robin Ray Roberts, a
junior from Jacksonville,
Florida, was elected
president. In this position
he will be the student
association’s chief
executive officer, and
will act as liaison be
tween the student body
and the faculty and ad
ministration, and the
community at large.
The new vice-president
is junior Daniel Joseph
Farrell of South Amboy,
New Jersey, who will
preside over the Abbey’s
Student Assembly.
Robbie Lake, a freshman
from Delran, New Jer
sey, is the new secretary,
and Stella Ferris, a
sophomore from
Colorado Springs,
Colorado, was elected
treasurer.
The Belmont Abbey
Student Association
serves as the official
voice of the student body
in college affairs. It also
sponsors on-campus
projects and will ad
minister programs
within the college dor
mitories.
the efforts of the
executive and legislative
branches of the
association, which meets
every two weeks.
Also financed by the
college is WABY Radio,
which, with a staff of ten,
broadcasts from 7-9
a.m. on weekdays and
every day from 10 p.m.
until 1 a.m.
The Abbey’s Athletic
Department, in addition
to supporting the
College’s intercollegiate
sports program, also
sponsors the eight-girl
Abbey cheerleading
squad. Intramural sports
on campus are also the
responsibility of this
department, and include
football, baseball,
basketball, volleyball,
handball, and various
track and field events.
Other groups on
campus that are self-
supporting include
Rotaract, Circle K,
ROTC, and the Science
Club. Rotaract is a junior
division of the Rotary
Club, an international
organization for
businessmen. Belmont
Abbey’s junior club has
twenty active members
who sponsor speakers
and campus en
tertainment.
The Circle K Club is a
branch of the Kiwanis
Club, which organizes
service projects to collect
money for charity. Circle
K has a membership of
fifteen.
Although relatively
small, the Abbey’s ROTC
program nevertheless
can boast three coeds
among its list of ten
members.
For the Science majors
on campus, there is the
Science Club, which
meets every two weeks
for movies and guest
speakers.
The objective of the
Black Student Union is to
provide an atmosphere of
communication and
harmony among students
on campus. There are
approximately 25
members and, through
various fund-raising
activities, they are able
to host such events as the
Oriental Art Show, being
presented this month in
the College library.
The Monogram Club,
for those athletes who
have been awarded
varsity letters, serves
refreshments at the
Abbey’s basketball
games and recently
sponsored a C.Y.O.
basketball tournament
for boys ages 13-18 in the
Charlotte area. The club
has thirty members.
Last month the
Monogram Club was
reorganized and became
a branch of the
Fellowship of Christian
Athletes.
Four social fraternities
and one service frater
nity, plus their little
sister groups, round out
the list of organiza
tions available to
students at Belmont
Abbey College. Alpha
Phi Omega, a service
fraternity of twenty
brothers, has par
ticipated in such national
drives as the March of
Dimes and the
Shamrocks for
Dystrophy campaign.
They have also held
clothing and book auc
tions for local charity and
sponsored three visits of
the Red Cross Blood-
mobile.
Relocated recently in a
new fraternity house,
Tau Kappa Epsilon social
fraternity has twenty-
five members on its
roster. In collaboration
with their little sister
group, the Order of
Diana, the Tekes have
given a succession of
parties for the children at
Holy Angels nursery
throughout the 1974-75
school year.
Phi Kappa Theta and
their little sisters held a
Thanksgiving food drive
and raised money for
cerebral palsy. Another
community service
activity for the sixty
brothers and sisters was
painting a church in
Mount Holly.
Over $1000 was
collector for muscular
dystrophy by the
brothers of the Sigma Phi
Epsilon social fraternity
and the sisters of the
Golden Hearts. The
Golden Hearts also work
with the elderly at Beams
Nursing Home in Lowell,
N.C. Last February, the
brothers hosted a sports
day for sixteen Sig Ep
chapters from North and
South Carolina colleges
and universities. There
are seventy students
involved in the Sig Ep
chapter at the Abbey.
Pi Kappa Phi com
pletes the list of social
fraternities and has a
membership of fifteen.
Altogether, there are
408 members in the
various organizations on
the Belmont Abbey
campus. Obviously,
there are some
duplications in mem
berships. Even a 30 per
cent duplication factor,
however, would net 290
Abbey students, 66 per
cent of the resident
student population, who
have found an outlet for
their leisure-time talents
and energies.