THE
JAN
Volume 28 Issue 5 St. Andrews Presbyterian College January 26,1990
Admissions Director Hired
Chad Esposito
Joe Rigell has joined the St.
Andrews staff as the new
Director of Admissions.
Rigell, who had previously
been the Director of Admis
sions and Financial Aid at
Western Maryland College,
stated that he sees St. An
drews as an excellent oppor
tunity to further his career,
and be in an environment
that he had once been asso
ciated with in his college
years.
Rigell stated his three
main goals to be: 1) Increas
ing the number of admitted
students. 2) Elevating the
quality of admitted stu
dents. 3) Increasing the
diversity of the student
body. Rigell feels the best
way to produce good results
is through interaction with
students, whether it is
through athletics, social',
events, or simply talking
one on one with them.
Rigell received a degree in
Business Administration in
1978 from Maryville Col
lege in Maryville, Tennes
see, a small Presbyterian
college with about 800 stu
dents. He has worked in
admissions at several
schools, including Phillips
University in Oklahoma,
MacMurray College in Illi
nois, and at Western Mary
land College.
Rigell feels that the next
few years for smaller col
leges and universities will
be difficult ones because of
the lower number of high
school graduates. Rigell ex
pressed a desire to make St.
Andrews a "hot" institution
by promoting the finer
qualities that St. Andrews
has to offer. He said he feels
that the opportunities St.
Andrews has, especially the
school's overseas pro
grams, enhance his chances
for success. "Ideally, I
would like to bottle and sell
the excitement that the stu
dents have towards St. An
drews."
Course On Black Writers
Offered by Dean
Eric Eubank
In recent years, there has
been a large fight in higher
education circles concern
ing curriculum. Books,
such as The Closing of the
Atnerican Mind by Alan
Bloom of the University of
Chicago, advocate a return
lo learning the "Great
Books" of Western Culture.
Some schools, notably Stan
ford University believe that
such a curriculum leaves
out much that is crucial to
our culture. They have in
cluded works from women,
Afro-Americans, and from
other cultures into their cur
riculum that they hope will
broaden the education of
their students. At St. An
drews we have courses,
such as Dr. Cynthia Greer s
course on Black Women
Writers, that listen to the
voices not often heard in our
culture.
1 don't believe in Black
(Afro-Amcrican) studies or
women’s studies.", says Dr.
Greer. "1 do believe in stud
ies however, and I think that
blacks and women have
contributed a great deal to
what is worth studying. 1
think of my course as an
interdisciplinary course,
because by studying the
writings of Black women
Continued on pg- 3
White Invited
to Conference
Michael Roberts
Dr. W.D. White recently
served as lecturer and mod
erator at a Biomedical Ethics
conference at Horida State
University. This was the
fourth year that Dr. White
has been invited to speak at
this annual conference,
which discussed the topic
"Who Shall Live and Who
Shall Die?" at this most re
cent meeting.
The Tocus of this year's
conference was to examine
intensive questions about
how a society with limited
medical resources will dis
tribute these valuable re
sources, according to White.
Ethical questions and issues
were examined from reli
gious, philosophical, and
theological viewpoints.
Questions of public policy
concerning health care were
also examined.
White reported that 12%
of this nation’s Gross Na
tional Product is spent on
health care, which is the
most in history, and com
pares to aprroximately 5%
for Japan and 2.5% by
Greece. White stated that
for this enormous expendi
ture, "We don't get much in
return." Countries such as
Japan, Greece, and West
Germany spend considera
bly much less of their GNP's,
but enjoy a better quality of
health care. The figure of
12% spent by the U.S. com
pares to 4.4% in 1955, and is
expectcd to reach 15% by the
year 2000. Despite the ex
penditure, the U.S. ranks
20th in infant mortality in
the world, and has a very
high morbidity rate.
White stated that a pos
sible reason for the dispro-
potionate return of health
care investment is the im
portance placed on health
care, as compared with with
other aspects ot tiealth, such
as environment, lifestyle,
genetics, and social aspects.
"Health care is at best fifth or
sixth in importance," said
White. He also asserted that
more money is being spent
to care for persons who are
ill than for prevention of ill
ness. He pointed out that
1% of our GN? is spent on
Intensive Care Units, which
are used to sustain the life of
catastrophically ill people,
infants, and the terminally
ill elderly, "in most cases,
these people never return to
functional life, and many
die in the ICU's, stated
White.
According to White, part
of the problem with medical
health is Medicine itself. He
pointed out that technology
in the medical field has be
come extremely sohisti-
cated to provide service that
is of public expectation. He
added that "high-tech" is ex
pensive and has a high dis-
proportinate return for the
costs. Another problem
cited by White is public
mythology. He stated that
because every life is of ines
timable value, no expense is
spared in saving identified
lives. The government,
however, does not save sta
tistical lives, according to
White. "Another problem is
that society expects medical
technology to save us," said
White. Society puts pres
sure on Medicine to do what
society expects. "We are just
now beginning to see that
we indeed have limited re
sources," said White.
The U.S. spends approxi
mately $2,051 per person on
Continued on pg. 4