Pages
The Clarion
Tuesday, February 17,1981
Dean Don
-Continued From Page 1
“Many felt that section B of the February 3
memorandum was brought on by section A. They
were separate concerns. We will put an end to the
misuse of fire extinguishers and fire alarms. We
will also no longer tolerate the actions of an in
dividual to abuse the rights of a roommate,
suitemate, etc. Students have the right to feel
comfortable in their own room, suite, floor, or
residence hall. Why should one student have to
sleep on a neighbor’s floor, in a study room, or
lobby because someone is in their room? We have
the responsibility to assure that this does not
continue.”
Q. What about these room searches. Are they just going
to be called fire drills?
A. “Well, if you’ll note on this (new guidelines
information) it changes from “a room search” to
“an inspection of the area”, which could be
anything from one of these room searches or a fire
drill to having people placed at the doors. ’ ’
Q. Still, is it not against the law?
A. “No.According to the regulation when they (fire
drills) are done, they have to be done at different
hours, different days, and using different fire
boxes.”
Q. Why then, in part Bydoesn’t it say anything about
being called afire drill? A lot of people ar6 not taking
this as a fire drill. It states specifically in the notice
that the “searches” will only be conducted between
12:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Wouldn’t that be telling
students when to expect their fire drills? Why not have
afire drill in the middle of the day?
A. “We may, in fact, have them during the day.”
Q. Then why is “between 12:00 and 7:00” written on
the memo?
A. “Because when we wrote this, our intentions
were to help the students who have had to spend the
night in study areas because they couldn’t go into
their rooms. Maybe we worded it wrong. Maybe we
could have worded it a little more creatively. We
did this with the intention of informing people so
that they could make a decision ahead of time
whether or not they wanted to get caught, with
regards to spending the night. We were probably
too honest with everybody, if you want to know the
truth.”
Q. In the memo, you’re calling it a room search, saying
that the fire bell will be rung and the occupants must
move into the halls. If we’re just moving into the halls
then it’s not considered afire drill because in order for
it to be afire drill we must leave the building.
A. “Whatever we do will be a fire drill.”
Q. So we will have to leave the building?
A. “You will have to leave the building even if it’s
4:00 in the morning or 10:00 in the evening. ’’
Q. We can say that this (Part B of memo) can be
disregarded. Is that right?
A. “Well, you can, but if we have a fire drill and
find somebody in the dorm they will have to go
home.”
Q. Why wasn’t the memo signed by anyone, or rather
why did no office take credit for it?
A. “It was an oversight. I take full responsibility
for the memo. It came from this office.”
Q. When you say students will be suspended, do you
really mean it?
A. “We have entered into a contractual agreement
with every student now attending Brevard College.
It is our responsibility to the students at large to
enforce our Uniform Guidelines. Therefore, if a
student violates a regulation which calls for
suspension, it is my duty to see that the college
follows through on its commitment to the student
body. Yes, when we say that we will suspend a
student for violating a particular guideline or when
s(he) accumulates a certain number of points, we
will suspend that student.”
Q. What are the effects of inhaling or coming in
contact with dry' nitrogen?
A. “According to OSHA, unless it is liquified gas or
carbon dioxide, the effect should be minor skin
irriation or respiratory irritation.”
Q. How long has the recent visitation guidelines
change been “in the works” and who had input into
this change?
A. “Dean Wray and I have talked about the idea
since the semester began, and the Student
Government officers, Dean Wray, and I had a
meeting on February 3 to discuss it. The officers
had been discussing it earlier also.”
Q. Was President Martinson or the trustees involved in
the decision to change interhouse visitation?
A. “President Martinson had to approve of it; I
don’t know if the trustees had anything to do with it.
The President has been involved and Dean Wray
has and all the resident tutors have and the Student
Government officers and indirectly, the Student
Government has.”
Q. A lot of people don’t like the idea of feeling like
they had to sign the new rule sheet. What are your
views towards this?
A. “If you don’t sign it, you’re in worse condition
than if you do. All the signature is really saying is
that ‘I understand what it says’ and that ‘I un
derstand that this is a new rule at Brevard College’.
You know, anytime we start something new
everybody’s going to say ‘Oh, I didn’t know.’ ”
Q. Why was it instituted now?
A. “We saw that basically the fire extinguisher
situation had been solved. We thought we had a
perfect time in lots of different respects to in
troduce this. It’s a way of allowing the students or
causing the students to take the responsibility.
They can deal with this instead of us having to deal
with it. We were planning to open the dorms up, and
instead of going back to what we had, we thought
this would be the perfect time to introduce this.”
(the new guidelines)
This interview was done in an effort to air a few
of the common questions that have surfaced in
recent weeks and to receive a few “on the record”
replies from Dean of Student Affairs, Don Scar
borough. Edmiston