Volume 67; Issue 2
Brevard College
For hearts and minds as large as the mountains.
Tuesday, November 4,1997
BC Takes Extra Measures to Deal With Violence
by Walter Hackett
In the first part of Brevard
College’s ‘97 fall semester rumor has
fallen ill with talk of violence and even
bloodshed. A number of quarrels lead
ing up to violent action have taken place
on our campus leading school officials,
teachers, and students to wonder why
this sudden shift in attiUide, what we
as a community can do to handle vio
lent offenders, and how we can keep
the peace that most of us are used to
here at Brevard College.
The first offense we heard of
this year was one of a truly extreme na
ture. On Wednesday, September 17, a
student actually walked into a class
room while class was being taught and
bludgeoned another student with the
heavy end of a pool cue. Students in
the class were shocked into disbelief
that an action such as this could hap
pen at a place like Brevard College,
whose safety record is close to impec
cable. The quarreling students had to
be pulled apart by other students and
held apart by Dean Martin and Rachel
Harris, who were immediately called in
place of a security official. The case re
ceived scrutiny from the BC student
Judicial Board as well as from the Stu
dent Life offices, and a decision was
reached to expel one of the participants,
who had apparently been badly hazing
the other to his fmal breaking point. The
other student, who actually instigated
the brawl, was placed in an academic
program in which the student will at
tend tutorial classes by himself on a
probationary basis. This situation was
apparently very hard to judge, though
it seems that justice did prevail through
understanding and caring for those in
volved.
Violence has also reared its
ugly head on two separate occasions at
dances in Coltrane Commons. The first
problem was a minor scrap involvmg
two freshmen that lasted all of twenty
seconds. After the fight the two shook
hands and admitted their fault to each
other then went about their night. The
second “Dance fight” was a little more
involved and with more consequence
but just as pointless. This fight took
place on September 26, and involved
not only BC students, but also a group
of Brevard natives who were attending
the dance. Rumor would have it that
one of the young men from town mis
took a Brevard College girl for his girl
friend and “caught” her dancing with
another fellow. Outside of the dance,
with some possible provocation, the
young man took it upon himself to
prove his manhood to “his” woman by
starting a fight with a guy who had not
even been dancing with the girl in ques
tion. A number of people joined in the
fray, which was quickly broken up by
BC PubUc Safety and the “townies” fled
from the campus to avoid arrest. A
couple of hours later the young men
returned in search of the fight that they
had left, and again were scared off by
BC Public Safety and Brevard City Po
lice.
In answer to the fights at
dances, Brevard College has taken ex
tra measures to police and oversee stu
dent activities. According to Steve
Martin, dances will be chaperoned by a
Public Safety officer inside Coltrane, a
roving Public Safety officer on patrol,
and a member of the Brevard City Po
lice Department will be on duty outside
of the dance. It has also become a rule
that student ID’s be shown in order to
attend dances, and those without ID’s
will only be allowed in as guests of BC
students.
President Tom Bertrand has
called for a Task Force comprised of fac
ulty, staff, and students to discuss and
examine violence on campus. Major
topics to be considered are how the
Judicial board should handle fights and
violent offenses, and the actual place
of and reason for violence on a college
campus. The college’s firm standpoint
on the latter is that yes, there are rea
sons for fights and that fights do hap
pen, but that there is no plac^ Brevard
for violence.
The weekend of October 10
ind 11 was Homecoming at Brevard. It
ivas full of exciting events including,
Dn Friday, a Homecoming dance which
ivas full of excitement and music, and
jn Saturday, soccer games. Homecom
ing Court,
Inergy Runs High for Honiccoiniiig
)y Kristen Grice
Davis, Thomas Howard, Ronnie Ward
Jean-Paul Cosse, WiUiam Dickey, and
Austin Ortiz for King; Suzette Cooper
Trish Duncan, Julie Jankowski, Robin
Ingram, and Amanda Gardin for Prin
cess; and Steve Mercer, Jeremy Davis
Ken (Andre) Robertson, Kory Benken
Shaun Ward, andPaul Zinke for Prince
The winners
were:
Queen: Jenni
fer Neal
King: Willian
Dickey, Prin
cess: Suzettt
Cooper, anc
Prince: Shaur
Ward.The
class of 194
had their 5(
year reunion and almost 50 alumn
^arnes. ^^^Homecon^g Court ^orm- that the grourf
ax; U wi full of »d kep. h™ on h_3
Fessica Raper, Amy Bressom, and toes
kydivers,
md champi-
snship rings
for the Na-
i o n a 1
Women ' s
Soccer Team.
The court
ivas pre-
;ented be-
ween the
It was a great Homecoming and
Fessica Raper, Amy Bressom, an UaH energy all weekend.
\mber Parmele for Queen; Durbm the campus had eneigy
Brevard To Consider Honor Code
hy Andrea Messenger
“Brevard College is like a con
tinuation of high school,”says Selome
Bekure. Mr. Tim Long and Ms. Choate,
along with a few students, hope to
change that. They want to set up a stu
dent led honor code that will handle
academic violations. Currently, the in
structor or the Dean enforces the honor
system, which all students sign upon
admission to college. If a student
chooses to appeal a violation, he or she
must go to the Dean, who is generally
in agreement with the faculty.
Long says, “I believe that stu
dents and faculty should work together
to create an honor system and work
together to maintain the honor code.”
He tViinks that by working together with
the students, an honor court could be
established to determine punishments.
The honor court would consist of stu
dents who show interest in being a
member of the court and are nominated
by faculty members.
The honor code might give
students a feeling of responsibility to
ward each other, their teachers, and
themselves. Any violation, which would
not only consist of cheating, but failing
to report someone for cheating would
be grounds for dismissal. Long hopes
to have a rough draft of the code by
January or February. The code might
be in place by the fall semester.
Anyone interested in helping
to set up the honor code should see
Mr. Long or Ms. Choate for more infor
mation.
Voice ot The Rivers; Update;
Brad Kitozey bfCwght back great
news from the Fall trip to
with the VcMCe of the Rivers leam in
Missouri, He is happy to report flgl;
the team was doing very well. The?
trip was emotional and spiritual for
everyone. The team remains clear in
their drive and commitment to speak
for the Rivers. They are scheduled to
be at the Australia Landing in Round
Lake, Mississippi on November 4.