the lance
Volume 15. Number 2
sr. ANDREWS PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE
LAURINBURG, N.G.
FRTOAY, SEPTEMBER 12,1975
Student Association Budget Passed
President Speaks At Convocation
As the waiting crowd
sweltered in the heat and
humidity that engulfed
DeTamlie Terrace last 'niur-
sday night, the faculty of the
college, in full academic
regalia, joined the freshman
dass in a march across the
causewaUc from Wilmington
Hall for the annual fall om-
vocation.
Led by noted North Carolina
bagpiper Harvey Ritdi, the
assembly moved across the
lake in a solemn irocession
marking, as Dean ^ Students
Malcolm Doubles expressed it
in his statement of per
spective, “the welcoming (rf
new adherents to the world of
higher education.”
After an invocation by Dr.
Leslie Bullock and remarks by
Orientatioi Committee Chair
man Terry Clark, Student
Association President Keith
Gribble and Dean of the
College Victor Arnold,
President Alvin Perkinson
ddivered his first major ad
dress to the college com
munity on the subject of
“Potential.” Noting that
“unrealized potential is one of
the tragedies of American
society and in the lives of
many institutions and in
dividuals.” He went on to ex
press his belief ttiat “As a
cdlege ... a cranmunity of
scholars ... we have aior-
mous potential” in a number
of areas of personal and
academic achievement.
With the self-confidence that
has set the tipie of his brief
tenure as the college’s third
president, Perkinson closed
with an admonition to his
audience; “Let us assess our
strengths,” he said, “Iwtlet us
not indulge in self-
congratulation. Let us assess
our weaknesses, but let us not
fall prey to hand-wringning.
Let us assess our purpose, but
not become lost in
generalities. Let us assess our
method, but avad making an
end out of our means.”
To a standing ovation
Perkinson left the podium and
led the assemblage to a recep
tion in the Vardell Gallery as
scores of theori« and reac
tions to the address floated in
the evening air. Then the
students went back to their
rooms, the Senate went to
wcffk (HI their budget figures,
and the administration
prepared for another day of
turning potential into reality.
Beset by a reduced overall
budget allocation, escalating
funding requests by campus
organizations, and a host of
lobbyists clamoring for their
causes, the Senate met after
convocation last Thursday
night to draw iq) the Student
Association budget for 1975-
76.
Meeting in a double
classroom in the I^ysical
Education Building whose
folding wall had been drawn
back to accommodate the
overflow crowd, the Senate
was called to order by Student
Association vice president
Steve Elkins, its presiding of
ficer. Prior to addressing it
self to the natter of the
budget, tiiough, the body ap
proved two nominations by
Attom^ General Bill Wilmot
- Sharon Hall and Fred
Hovey — for the two Assistant
Attorney Generalships
created by last year’s
revision of the ccmstitutiwi.
■Riey also approved the draft
of a letter drawn up by Steve
Chasson of Mecklenburg Hall
expressing the Senate’s
disagreement with the recen
tly announced plan to convert
the dormitories to a private
teleohone system. (See
related story, page 2). Mter
approving the leUef, the
Senate then appointed a com
mittee of three—Chasson,
Fran Newbold, (Wilmington)
and Lin Thompson (Gran
ville) to accompany the letter
to the president and discuss
with him any possibile
avenues erf compromise in the
matter,
matter.
The Senate then turned its
attention to the principal item
on the evening’s agenda-the
budget. A working budget
drawn up by Treasurer Rob
Howard and approved by the
Cabinet on September 3 was
presented to the group as
Student Association president
Keith Gribble discussed v4iy
the overall Association
budget, whidi has, for the last
few years stood at $30,000,
was reduced to $27,000.
Each item on the budget
was then scrutinized
separately, with any
rq>resentatives of that group
making any presentation they
wished to explain or darify
the request. The first two
items on the list, the budgets
of the College Unicnt Board
and the College Ouistian
Council, were passed with lit
tle or no discussion, as was an
appropriation of $500 for
payment on the Association’s
stock of rental refrigerators.
A major snag developed,
however, over the Black
Student Union’s $2000 r^uest
and subsequent allocation (tf
$700. Out in force, the BSU
members argued that by
being forced to raise money to
supplement their allotment,
they could not adequately
plan ahead in such areas as
invitation of guest speakers
for BSU events. “You can’t
call up someone like Dick
Gregory (who ^oke at SA
last year) and say; “Wdl,
come on down and maybe by
then we’ll have enough to pay
you’”, one perswi noted. Op
ponents of the $2000 figure
argued that the KU had ob
viously been quite successful
in raising funds in the past-
over $2000 last year-and that
to grant the full amount from
Student Association funds
would be an unfair ap
portionment of funds in
relation to the number of
blacks on campus. After con
siderable repititious debate a
compromise was r^ched un
der which the BSU was allot
ted an additional $300 from
the Senate contingency ac
count to give them a total of
$1000.
(Continued On Page 3)
Wilmot Calls New Judicial System An Improvement
One of the most significant
aspects of the Student
Association constitution ap
proved last ^rmg is lis
®tablishment of a centralized
judicial system. Hie new con
stitution does not include
^idence (Courts, though, it
rather serves to extend the
jurisdiction of the popularly
elected, seven member
Judicial Board to include
casffi formerly tried by those
Residence Courts, as well as
continuing the board’s
Ijuisdiction over Hwior Code
violations.
Another change brought
about by the new constitution
IS the expansion of in
vestigative and prosecutorial
orces at the disposal of the
1 Geieral. In the past,
I functions were left ex-
l^usively to the Attorney
of the Student
I Association; the constitution
I provides for the appdntment
1 ^ two assistant attorneys
general and a Judiciary Com
mittee, whidi, not to be con
fused with the Judicial Board,
is essentially an investigative
entity composed of the At
torney General and one
representative of eadi class.
The student members
chosen by the self nommation
process employed in the
selecting of members of most
student Association com-
mittees.
“The expansion of tne ai-
torney General office sho^d
provide for a more responsive
and efficient judicial system
this year,” said Attorney
General Bill Wilmot told
the LANCE. “In the past
couple of years the judicid
system has been quite
stagnant and inactive, with
the result that in sever^
cases students were not ^le
to aijoy their guaranteed
right to a trial by their peers
because of the inefficiency of
the system.
“We hope to diange tna
this year. With more m-
vestigators to ascertain the
facts of cases that come
before us, we should be able
to investigate cases more
thoroughly. Intend to give any
accused person the due
process of the system; every
diarge fUed wUl go to trial. In
the past peojde have initiated
diarges in a fit of anger, for
example, and then withdrawn
them before the trial. In
nocent people have been slan
dered and suspected unfairly
because of sudi actions, and
were, not given the op
portunity to vindicate them
selves in court. - ye
plan to see every charge fded
through all the way to a
decision, in the hope that it
will serve to lessen the num
ber of unfounded accusations.
“At the same time,” con
tinued Wilmot, it is alwa^
best if disputes can be ^ttled
outside the judicial system. I
can’t stress enou^ the im
portance of dorm autonomy.
that is, of the government of
the dorm by its elected
leaders and suite leaders.
Ideally, disagreements and
problems should be solved
within the suite. If this cannot
be accomplished,” said
Wilmot, “dorm officers
should be consulted and
should try to mediate the
dispute. If nothing can be
agreed ipon even then, a
dorm council should be
assembled.
“Only whai every avenue
of settlement within the dorm
have beai exhausted should
the president of the student
association or the attorney
general be contacted.
“Of course,” said Wilmot,
“violations of the Honor Code
will be brought directly to me
for immediate action.”
me
Attorney Geneiiial
the importance ot an
,lfiid«Und impartial
judicial system. “In a setting
like that of St. Andrews,” he
noted, “trial by a jury of one’s
peers can be extremely im
portant. niey can be sensitive
to the conte^ in which the of
fense is supposed to have
been committed, and weigh it
in their decision. Being
judged by seven people in
stead of one gives one a better
chance of a fair verdict.’
Still one more avenue of ac
tion exists, he said, should a
defendant be dissatisfied with
the decision - an ^peal to the
Student-Faculty Appelate
Board. The Board, consisting
of two seniors and one junior,
each elected at large, one
faculty member and one
representative of the dean of
students, reviews sudi cases
and eitlter upholds or over
turns the decision.