The Clarion Wednesday. April 27. 1994 Page. 1
Kim's Komer
Trustees get more respect than students
Commentary by
Kim Button
Recently the Board of Trustees
came to the campus for one of their
annual dinners. Anybody who has been
at Brevard long enough can tell when
the Trustees are coming. Suddenly, the
grass is being cut, the campus is cleaned
up, flags start appearing and the faculty
and administration dress in their nicest
clothes. In other words, the whole
college scurries around to present some
kind of wonderful image.
I don’t see any problem with this.
It’s kind of funny to see the faculty and
administration running around tying to
impress these people. And it’s true that
the Board of Trustees are important.
Their contributions have helped out the
college in several ways that benefit all
of us. But I don’t think that they are so
great that when they come to campus
the students’ needs should be ignored.
Any time that any “important”
group comes to the campus, whether it
be for commencement, homecoming, or
the trustee meeting, the college
basically shuts down for the students.
The Student Union is guaranteed to
close for some sort of reception, which
means that the students have no place to
socialize and one less place to eat. Then
the cafeteria closes early and tries their
hardest to throw you out as soon as they
are closed so they can start setting up
for the trustee dinner. This past time the
trustees came, my friends and I were
rudely asked if we could please leave the
cafeteria after we had only been in there
for 15 minutes. Personally, I don’t
enjoy trying to force down my food in
15 minutes while having the cafeteria
staff glare at me from across the room. I
understand that the college needed the
cafeteria for its dinner, but since when
have the trustees become more
important than the students, whom the
college is here for?
-I realize that the trustees are
important people, but the general
consensus with students on campus is
that we don’t count once they come
around. And that is an awful way to
treat the students, when the trustees are
supposed to be making this college a
better place for us.
Ansie' Peace of Mind
Artists educate the world through their art
Commentary by
Angie Clark
It has been roughly ten years since
AIDS first caught the world’s attention.
That is not a long time in the span
of the arts, but it has caused so much
suffering throughout the art community
that artists feel it is an issue that must
not be shied away from. Today, artists
are using their mediums as a tool in
battling this unspeakable disease. With
a sobering blend of grief, anger, and
activism to help acknowledge that life
must indeed go on, this work shows the
art world’s response to the epidemic.
There is no doubt that this disease
has taken its toll on the cultural
community. Initially, the art world
responded with an outpouring of grief
and an unleashing of anger.
Artists now realize they have a
responsibility and an opportunity to use
art to raise awareness about ADDS and to
educate people. Artists are dying in their
20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. There will be a
cultural hole in the 20th century, with
an already lost generation.
This work is very valuable in
raising social consciousness as well as
intense emotional feelings.
The entire art world will never be
the same, but by going out and taking a
look at the raw emotion portrayed in
these artist’s images, you may yourself
understand what the AIDS patient goes
through day to day, and the emotion that
these works of art can bring out in
everyone.
Thank you, Clarion staff,
for teaching the advisor
by Brad Kimzey
Clarion Advisor
rLARION
Kim Button & Casey Marshall
Co-Editors
Angie Clark
Assistant Editor
Ben Voegele
Sports Editor
Henry Stepp II
Photo Editor
Brad Kimzey
Advisor
After three years and 30 issues.
The Clarion and I are parting ways.
I don’t really know how I feel about
this, because it is such a double-edged
sword.
It will mean no more late nights
after a full day of work or sunny
Saturdays and Sundays spent laying out
the paper. It’ll mean no more imminent
crisis about articles or photos that were
not turned in. It’ll mean no more frantic
editing and typesetting. It’ll mean no
more worrying about whether I’ll have a
job after the paper hits campus because
one of my editors ripped administration
or because we decided to put a photo on
the front of students drunk in the hall,
students confronting cops in the forest
or drugs spilled out on a college logo.
It will also mean, however, that I
won’t get to work with those
outstanding, hard-working people who I
owe so much to; the student staff
members of The Clarion. People like
Henry and Kim and Casey and Angie
and Ben are just the latest in a long line
of people who cared about putting out a
student-oriented newspaper for the
students of Brevard College. Hopefully,
they are also just another link in the
chain; more outstanding students will
work on The Clarion in the future, and I
will miss getting to know them.
We have strived to make The
Clarion a true student newspaper over
the past three years, and I think that we
have succeeded. Virtually everything in
the paper, from the photos to the
articles and editorials, have been
produced by the students (with a little
help from the Brevard College News
Bureau). It has been the students who
have decided what kind of editorial
stance the paper has taken, what articles
were pursued and what was appropriate
for publication. The paper has not
always been a spit-and-polish
publication, but it has reflected what the
students wanted it to reflect.
We have tackled the tough issues,
ranging from drugs and alcohol on
campus to date rape and racism, and I
am proud of our various incarnations of
the editorial staff for being willing to
pursue these stories objectively.
In the long run, I learned a lot more
from The Clarion than I was able to
teach, so I came out pretty well. Again,
it was the students who taught me,
rather than the other way around. But
they taught themselves as well; they
learned what it means to have to deal
with sticky issues that they and they
alone would be responsible for when the
paper hit campus. I cannot begin to
express how proud I am of all of them.
Thanks go out to what seems like
an endless list of people, but topping
that list is Dr. Clara Wood, who always
stood behind The Clarion, even through
rough times, and allowed us to operate
without fear of censorship from the
administration (and who showed that she
has a great sense of humor in the
process; anyone remember Doc Wood in
her bikini on the front page?)
To this year’s staff; good job, dudes.
I am very, very proud of you all (even
Ben).
To next year’s staff; good luck. You
have some big shoes to fill.