1 ' i Zf
GWU
Sports
Softball p. 11
Javelin thrower p. 12
Big Rich p. 12
77,^piter
Gardner-Webb University
other
News
student arrests p. 5
Henderson leaving p. 7
Weekend excursion p. 9
Friday, April 19,2002
WWW. gwupilot. com
Volume 5 No. 13
Making ‘cents’ of Gardner-Webb scholarships
Focus
I
Future
1905 — 2002
Part 4 of a 5-Part PiT^ series on the past,
present and future of GWU
Jennifer Menster
Pilot web editor
What draws students to
Gardner-Webb University?
Is it the Christian environ
ment? The faculty and staff?
The Caf food?
For the majority of students
it is not the Caf food, but the
help of scholarships.
According to Patty Cope,
director of financial planning,
80 percent of Gardner-Webb
students receive non-need-
based scholarships. Of that 80
percent, three-fourths receive
academic money and the rest
receive athletic money.
In the 1999-2000 school
year, which happened to be
Gardner-Webb's fmal year of
Division II, there was $5 mil
lion budgeted for scholarships.
Fifty-five percent of that $5
million went to academic stu
dents; the other 45 percent went
to athletes.
Over the last two years,
however, the numbers have
flip-flopped, according to
research gathered by Jeff
Tubbs, GWU's assistant vice
president for institutional
research. In the 2001-2002
school year, there was $6 mil
lion available for scholarships.
Fifty-seven percent went to
athletes and 43 percent went to
academic students. Of the total
scholarship money, athletes
received $3.4 million, a $1.1
million increase since the
1999-2000 school year.
Many may speculate that
the scholarship reversal is due
to the move to Division I.
However, GWU president
Christopher White, believes the
figures can be misleading.
According to White, under
Division I rules, the academic
money athletes receive is
counted as athletic money. So,
when the school went under
Division I rules two years ago,
an increase was expected. “Not
all the money athletes receive is
athletic money,” White
explained. “It is ‘stacking’ dif
ferent kinds of money and just
added together.”
The ‘different kinds of
money’ athletes receive include
athletic money and grants from
Gardner-Webb. If, for example,
an athlete receives 75 percent
of his/her scholarship from ath
letic money, academic money
may be used to cover the other
25 percent. This increases the
number of full-ride scholar
ships for athletes.
The academic money is
then counted under athletic
scholarship spending while the
money is taken from the acade
mic scholarship budget.
According to White, the
apparent increase in athletic
scholarship spending will bene
fit the university.
“Almost every good school
in the nation is Division I,” he
said. “Becoming a Division I
school has nothing to do with
athletes. It’s about marketing
for the University.”
Tubbs speculated that of
Gardner-Webb's' more than 350
athletes, only about 15 are not
receiving any scholarship
money.
Currently an equivalent of
180 full-ride scholarships can
be given out to Gardner-Webb
athletes (Equivalent does not
mean that all 180 scholarships
are given as full rides. They
may be divided up amongst the
athletes). When full rides are
rewarded to athletes, they
include tuition, room and
board, meal plan and books.
Currently, there are no full-ride
scholarships available for non-
athletic students.
“We have to spend money
on athletes to compete in
Division I,” said Tubbs, who
agreed with White that the
University is not overspending
on athletic scholarships.
In fact, they believe the
school may be underspending.
“We are still spending less
[on athletic scholarships] than
most schools at this level,” said
Please see
Scholarships p.2
SGA petition hits stand still The boc makes house calls
Emily Killian
Pilot staff
Before spring break, SGA
proposed drafting a petition to
represent the complaints and
desires of the student body and
to present it to the administra
tion. Thus far, however, SGA’s
petition has not gotten very far.
At first, it seemed that
SGA was dragging their feet.
As of April 10, the presi
dent’s office had only been pre
sented with a preliminary draft
of the petition.
“I talked to Dr. White
today [April lOJ and he said
that he hadn’t seen anything,”
said Walter Miller, assistant to
the President.
According to Miller, SGA
only turned in a rough draft
directly to him, and White’s
office wasn’t presented with
the completed document until
April 11, at which time he was
out of town.
Patrick Woody, SGA vice
president, dratted the petition.
which addresses student con
cerns ranging from relations
with the administration to the
deterioration of classroom and
laboratory facilities.
The petition spells out stu
dent concerns about staff
reductions in Campus
Ministries, reductions in the
Dimensions budget, lack of
adequate funds for Student
Activities and Development,
the library and Residence Life
and problems with Academic
Advising.
Even so, some students are
skeptical that the administra
tion will act on the petition.
“I don’t think it’s going to
have a profound effect on Dr.
White because students don’t
have a profound effect on him,”
said junior Charlie Baber. “I
believe they [SGA] will submit
it though.”
As a part of the submis
sion, SGA made proposals for
the University to promote the
Academic Advising department
and that they give other depart
ments more freedom regarding
paperwork and how their funds
are spent.
In the petition, SGA
addressed Scholarship Equality
and the possible addition of a
Scholarship Coordinator for the
University. They hope that by
adding a Scholarship
Coordinator, there will be a
greater number of students
awarded scholarships, in an
effort to reduce the cost of
attending Gardner-Webb and
increase the retention rate for
the school.
The petition also expresses
concerns about the perceived
lack of administration-to-stu-
dent communication, student
budgetary concerns and the
general feelings of hostility
between athletes and non-ath-
letes.
Woody stated that the peti
tion suggests increasing student
representation on the Board of
Trustees. "We don’t feel like
the alumni representatives are
adequate,” he said.
Photo fay Lm Adam*
Doc Watson brought his Grammy Award-winniri}’ coiintry hluegrass
soitiuh to Dover Theater on April iS. See stoiy on page 10.