EDITORIAL
1975-1976: The Record
In the last 1974-1975 issue of
THE LANCE those of us who
had assumed control on the
paper two and a half months
earlier described the actions
we had taken to stabilize the
paper’s chaotic financial
status and to win back our all-
but-lost reader audience. We
made several cautious
promises at that time as well
about what we wanted to ac
complish in the coming year.
Now that year is ending, and
the subject of the last editorial
of the 1975-1976 year is, once
again, an account to the
readers of our stewardship in
our first full year of
management.
When the current leadership
of THE LANCE assumed
direction of the paper’s af
fairs, we set a number of goals
to be accomplished by the end
of the 1975-1976 year. These
are the goals we set, and what
we did about them:
1. TO RAISE THE LANCE’S
OPERATING BUDGET
ABOVE THE $5000 MARK.
Our 1974-1975 budget totalled
$3300, of which $2280 came
from the Student Association
and $920 from advertising
revenus. Thanks to the vision
of the outgoing Cabinet and
Senate, THE LANCE’s ap
propriation for this year was
raised to $3200 , to which we
were able to add $2000 in ad
vertising and other revenues
for a total budget of ap
proximately $5200. This
enabled us to print four more
issues and fifty more pages
than we did last year, thus
greatly broadening our poten
tial for coverage of events in
the St. Andrews community.
2. TO SHOW A PROFIT. We
were able to reduce an ex
pected deficit of $800 to $148 by
the end of the 1975 school year.
This year we expect to show a
profit of somewhere between
$100 to $150.
3. TO PUBUSH EVERY
WEEK. Skipped weeks were
all too common last year. Ex
cept for the weeks following
holidays (in which half the
week was in the holiday and
there was not enough time to
get out an issue), and this
coming week-in which our
publication date falls the first
day of exams-we have
puWished every week this
year and have been late with
an issue only once. We revived
the discontinued practice of
publishing during Winter
Term, and began the
publishing year on September
4,1975, the earliest issue in ten
years.
4. TO SET UP AN EF-
FECTIVE STAFF
RECRUITING SYSTEM.
Prior to the current leader
ship’s accession there was no
organized effort to recruit
staff members. Since then we
have instituted a mail
recruiting program. It was
begun in the sunmier of 1975
when the names of all the
freshmen due to enter St. An
drews in the fall who had
backgrounds in writing,
newspaper, or yearbook work,
advertising and {iiotography
were collected and listed by
the Registrar’s Office. Each
one was contacted by letter by
the editor about joining THE
LANCE in the fall. A foUowi?)
letter went to all \rtio respon
ded; these people are con
tacted in person during orien
tation. This past summer’s ef
fort generated thirty-three
names, of which sixteen
replied and eight joined the
staff in the fall.
Because the staff has grown
we are better able to
distribute the work load to
coincide with staff members’
class schedules and work load.
This has reduced attrition
greatly. From a staff of six
last spring we have fluctuated
between twenty and thirty this
year, with the current total
standing at 25.
5. TO WIN BACK OUR
READERS. With the extra
space our extra dollars
provided we were able to
provide more stories on the
subjects than in the past,
stories in all parts of the St.
Andrews community. With
our expanded photographic
staff and the establishment of
a photographic coordinator’s
position to better utilize our
available talent, we have been
able to supplement our news
and feature storeis with
photos and special photo sec
tions which, combining the
printed word and the visual
appeal of the pictures in a
carefully designed format,
makes for an interesting and
often beautiful product.
Examples of this include the
two page section on Marion
Cannon in the fall, the
Japanese Festival of a few
weeks ago, and the Faces of
St. Andrews section in this
issue. Our November 9 issue,
which carried a full page
blow-up of the celebrated BIG
PICTURE, was gone-all 1000
copies-within a few hours af
ter publication. This January
we featured reports and
photos from a St. Andrews
group studying in Greece.
6. TO BE AN ACTIVE IN
FLUENCE AT ST. AN
DREWS AND THE AREA. To
be content to fill the passive
role of reporter of events alone
is to invite stagnation and the
“you read it last in THE LAN
CE” remarks that plagued the
paper last year. We have tried
to make THE LANCE maker
as well as reporter of news
and reestablished weekly
editorials on campus topics, a
feature that had langui^ed in
the previous year. When you
cut toough all the vilification
THE LANCE has endured this
spring, the personal abuse
members of the staff have
been unjustly subjected to in
print and in verbal con
frontations brought about by
those who felt sid^ were
being taken in the Smith
tenure case, and demands that
the editor trim and snip at his
conscience to fit this year’s
fashions it cannot be denied
that THE LANCE’s coverage
of the case and reproduction of
as many of the pertinent
documents as we could
secure-coverage that if com
piled would completely fill a
twelve page issue of the paper-
-enabled the St. Andrews com
munity to deal with the issues
raised in a far more informed
and judicious manner than
would have been otherwise
possible. This coverage, the
most extensive in the history
of THE LANCE, is indicative
of the current leadership’s
committment to active and
constructive involvement in,
as well as the accurate repor
ting of, the vital issues of the
day.
Another area of in
volvement in campus life by
THE LANCE has been that of
cooperation with other
organizations in a number of
^eas. We are pleased to have
been able to contribute a half
the cost of harpist Elizabeth
Roth’s performance here last
fall, and $50.00 this spring to
help the Black Student Union
bring Arthur Hall and the
Afro-American Dance En
semble at St. Andrews two
weeks ago. We have run
weekly advertisements for
and reviews of College Union
Board films, and there have
been similar notices for events
sponsored by WSAP.
We established “This
Week,” our front page calen
dar, to provide a handy
weekly summary of activities
at St. Andrews. We
established free classified ad
vertising as a serivce to our
readers. We have made ad
vertising available to college
organizations at half our
regular rates. We have ex
panded coverage of events in
Laurinburg and Scotland
County. Members of the staff
are also involved as volun
teers in the production of a
monthly newsletter for the Ex
ploring Division of the Boy
Scouts, running from Laurin
burg to Wilmington.
We have expanded the cir
culation of THE LANCE in
Laurinburg. We have sent it
weekly to the College’s
Trustees, and, starting this
spring, to all students ap
proved for entry in this fall’s
freshman class. We are now
discussing avenues of
cooperation between THE
LANCE and the Freshman
Orientation Committee.
7. TO REVIVE A LAGGING
SPORTS DEPARTMENT.
Assistant Editor Mick Meisel,
who unfortunately graduates
this year, deserves all the
credit for the strength of that
vital department this year, for
he built it himself into what it
is now, the largest single
department of THE LANCE in
terms of personnel.
These seven goals we set for
ourselves a year ago. These
seven goals we have met, and
hope that you, the readers, are
pleased with toe result.
With this issue we begin
preparations for next year.
Among the features you can
look forward to (assuming our
funding level is not reduced)
are a twenty page Fifteenth I
Anniversary Issue in late S®.
tember full of the best of a
decade and a half of St. An- L
drews people and events, and)
a story and photo report W
Lin Thompson, who wifll
be a congressional intern this!
surimier, on Washington, D.C.I
and the Congress in the sum-I
mer of the Bicentennial andal
presidential election, not to|
mention a host of other sur-l
prises we aren’t ready to l._
you about yet. See you in the!
fall!!!
Ij©ttd^s • • •
The Annual Thanks List
To the reader:
As I did last year, I want to
briefly take note of and ex
press my thanks to a number
of people who have been of
special assistance to me and
to THE LANCE over the 1975-
76 year.
Michael Greene became
Managing Editor in February
after running the whole
operation during my absence
Winter Term, and has
distinguished hinself in that
capacity.
Doug Mushet signed on in
December as Layout Editor
and was always able to find
time on Wednesdays to help
put the paper together.
Mick Meisel, as is noted
elsewhere on this page, rebuilt
the sports department this
year. He is a good writer and a
good friend and I am sorry to
see him graduate this year.
Bill Wilmot, who was Sports
Editor from 1973-1974, has
been an invaluable source of
advice in matters both within
and without the newspaper
business. Bill is almost always
right and most of the times I
have disagreed with him it has
been to my disadvantage
(“Should I run for vice-
president, Bill?” “No.”). Bill
will be off to the University of
Virginia Law School this fall
and will undoubtedly
distinguish himself there as he
has here.
President A. P. Perkinson
has put up with my frequent
encroachinents upon his time
and patience since about five
minutes after the was presen
ted to the college community
last spring. He has always
Deen (pen and honest with I
with me, which has made for|
many good news stories.
Dr. William Loftus has been I
THE LANCE’s advisor for two]
years now even though a year]
and a half of the time meanj
coping with me and the]
gnawing annoyance that!
comes from the knowledge]
that the desk in my office is I
bigger than the desk in his. He I
has been a constant help and I
source of advice to me, par-[
ticularly in the more difficult j
times this year has brought (
along.
Nanci Boggs singlehandedly j
handled our mail circulation j
which, when we started sen
ding THE LANCE to the ad
mitted freshmen as well asj
our own list, jumped to about j
300 copies a week.
Rowe Campbell, my room-1
mate, kept THE LANCE'sf
books in order and kept me I
from spending us into a sea of j
red ink with my fondness for j
expensive eight and twelve j
page issues.
Tom Sweeney, Mary Jo l
Call and Gloria Stanley of the j
News Bureau have helped out!
in more ways than I
recount here. , |
The staff of The Launnburjj
Exchange put up
ner of outrageous deman®!
that arose from screw-ups |
our part.
That’s all.
Sincerely,
L. T. Thompson
Editor, THE LANCE
SA Invited To Former Prof’s
Installation
(Staff Photo)
Dr. Douglas Hix
...to be installed
To The St. Andrews Student
Association:
The Session, the
congregation and Pastor-
Elect, Douglas Wiley Hix, of
Laurinburg Presbyterian
Churdi, cordially invite you
to unite with them in the Ser
vice of Installation
May 16, 1976 at eight m
Tyou are unable to
in the service, we a I
presence in prayer.
Reception
followmg in the r I
Hall.