President talks campus changes
By Patrick G. Veilleux
Editor in Chief
Brevard College President David Joyce
met with Clarion staff on Sept. 10 to discuss
the ongoing construction of the student plaza
between Moore Science Building and the
Myers Dining Hall, as well as some other
changes that the BC Community may want
to know about.
The construction projects have been
significantly delayed because of Brevard’s
infamous weather. The construction was
started in May with the intention of having
a grassy knoll waiting for the returning and
incoming members of the college, but there
were obstacles.
Joyce said “the dirt is from the bottom of
a creek, so when it rains, the machines can’t
work with it. We had hoped to have it ready
for you when you came for the Fall, but any
thing that could go wrong did go wrong.”
While areas had been marked off for dig
ging and groundwork, the construction teams
hit many unmarked areas that had been un
accounted for. Power lines, computer lines,
water lines, gas lines were all being avoided
but they couldn’t locate all of them until after
problems began to arise. Joyce has said that he
doesn’t know when it will be done, only that
it will get done. The new plan is to plant grass
in the Spring when the next growing season
begins. Soon it will be something other than
a mud pile, and the BC community can count
on the plaza being there in the future.
The road work continues, though weather
has run interference here as well. Joyce said
“We’re going to do some paving, I don’t know
how much; it all costs money, we have to see
how much. We are going to fix potholes.”
There has been work on the road leading
by the track and the baseball field, though
Joyce and his staff are still observing to see
how effective the road work has been. “They
took up the asphalt and stones, mixed it with
an enzyme and laid it back down,” Joyce said.
“So what looks like a dirt road is supposedly
not like a dirt road. It takes a while to settle,
so we’re waiting and seeing. If we have to do
more, it’s a better base now.”
Not all of Brevard’s changes have been
things we can see as we walk around campus.
Soon the Board of Trustees will be meeting
to discuss and learn with a facilitator about
practices as a governing board. “In this pro
cess, they will also talk about what we call
‘the vision’ or how we live the mission of the
college,” Joyce said. “It creates a framework
so we as an institution can decide what we
will become, how big we want to be and what
we want to be known for.”
Eventually Brevard can hope to see a new
mission statement, representative of the excit
ing times of change that we are seeing this se
mester and the changes that are yet to come.
“A good mission statement has to be com
pelling, succinct and it has to last at least a
hundred years,” Joyce said. “It’s our purpose,
it’s why we exist. It’s not descriptive, it
doesn’t describe what you do, how you do
it. It’s a statement to say ‘why we are here.’
Then we develop a vision with the trustees,
to determine what it will look like to be liv
ing that mission statement, descriptive and
visual.
“How big are we, what our buildings like,
what is our endowment, and what are all
of the components that make that up. Then
comes our strategic plan, which is how we
get from where we are today to the things that
we want to there. We will also determine core
values and principles things like transparency,
showing respect to the worth and value of
others. We will conform everything around
our values. The ends don’t justify the means,
the means will justify the ends.”
The mission statement usually only changes
at pivotal moments—this is the first big step
into broad change. Joyce emphasized that
despite our motto Learn in Order to Serve
is not subject to change; the motto is part of
BC’s values. It’s something that the school’s
new skin will be molded around. “We’re
not just graduating people to get jobs,” he
said. “We’re graduating people to make a
difference.”
Brevard College Hosts 11th Congressional District Debate
By Caleb Welborn
StaffVVritei^^^^_
Republican Mark Meadows and Democrat
Hayden Rogers found many issues that they
agreed on at a debate on Wednesday night at
Brevard College, but clashed on the issues
of social programs, political gridlock, and
education. The two candidates are vying for
the US House seat currently held by Heath
Shuler, a Democrat.
The debate, sponsored by the Brevard
College Debate Society and Young Politicians
of America, took place in the Porter Center
for Performing Arts. Around 400 people,
mostly older community members, attended
the event. See 'Debate,' page 8
Meadows