THE
LANCE
OCT 5
1990
September 19, 1990
Vol. I, Issue I
4
\
Opening Convocation - Koy Parker, Jr., contributing
editor for the Fayetteville Observer-Times, spoke at the Sept.
4 Opening Convocation.
St. Andrews Receives Grant
Scotland County residents
stand to benefit from a
$83,000 grant received by
St. Andrews. The federal
grant will finance the crea
tion and operation of a drug
prevention program for
college students and com
munity residents.
Dean of Students Cyn
thia Greer is excited about
the funds and believes the
education program will
benefit a wide variety of
people. "Our focus is not
to preach against drugs,
but to encourage people to
develop a healthy lifestyle.
For college students, a 'just
say no' program doesn't
work. We want to be able
to do more as far as drug
education and prevention.
"We decided to apply
for the grant because we
wanted to do more on our
campus in the way of drug
education and prevention,'
Greer said. "We wanted to
be able to tie drug educa
tion and prevention into
the wellness concept.
There are many aspects to
wellness: physical, spiri
tual and mental."
"This grant will allow
us to hire a drug education
coordinator who will be
responsible for various
programs," she continued.
Programs will include:
training of a core group of
students to do peer inter
vention and talk at Scot
land County schools and
(SeePg.3)
Enrollment
Drops at St. Andrews
By Joy Berry
While you may not
have noticed it—the halls
appear no less crowded
than in the past and the
lines at SAGA are no
shorter—present enroll
ment at St. Andrews is
lower than in past years.
Joe Rigell, St. Andrew's
Director of Admissions,
reports that the drop in
enrollment for this year has
been a nation wide issue.
"Many schools in the
United States suffered a
decrease this year," said
Rigell. "We experienced
the same kind of situation
that other schools did."
According to reports
from the College Board,
the number of high school
seniors taking the SAT,
which is required by al
most all colleges as a part
of the admissions process,
has dropped considerably
in the past year. The
number of students taking
the test nation wide has
fallenoffby 12%. InNorth
Carolina, from which St.
Andrews drew 42% of all
new students this year, the
number of high school
seniors taking the test
dropped 16% from last
year's total.
Such statistics are re
flected in the comparative
totals of the freshmen
classes of 1989 and 1990.
In the fall of last year, there
were 216 new freshmen
on campus. This year, only
145 incoming freshmen
were introduced to St.
Andrews-a33% decrease.
The number of transfer
student is also down 22%
from 1989. The number
of what the Registrar's
Office refers to as "special
students, " meaning
wheelies and other handi
capped students, has drop
ped 48% as well.
Rigell feels that
changes that have taken
place in the Admissions
office over the past two
years inay have affected
the level of production.
Since the summer of 1989,
the office has had three
directors, Mr. Rigell being
the third. Before his arri
val, Peggy Crawford held
the post, and then Mary
Kay Ollis stepped in as
Acting Director. "Having
three directors in that
amount! of time makes it
difficult to keep the proc
ess in good shape," said
Risell.
Another obvious rea
son for the decrease in
enrollment may be the
growing cost of higher
education. Colleges all
over the state and nation
wide increased the price
of tuition as much as 16%
"I can see that enrollment
would fall off," said sen
ior Susan Gumm. ""The
cost of going to college is
so high that many people
that truly want to go and
have the potential to do so
simply can't afford it. Why
take the SAT if it won't set
you anywhere?"
Understanding these
factors and problems, the
Admissions staff has made
changes to accomodate
situation. Startingthisfall,
the counselors, most of
whom are new in their
positions, will be touring
the country's secondary
schools for ten weeks each
in order reach a record 750
high schools by Christmas.
Of the seven counsel
ors in the office, five are
recent St Andrews gradu
ates. With the exception
of Walter Krauss, who was
hired in the summer of
1989 , Lisa Gaw, Malinda
Powers, Wendy Phillips,
and Toni Smith were all
hired last spring. "Who
could be better to sell the
school than a recent gradu
ate?" asks Rigell.
Another change that the
Admissions Office has
implemented has raised
some brows and become
somewhat of a "silent' is
sue of controversy. In an
effort to increase the re
sponse of students that are
not affiliated with the
Presbyterian Church, the
word "Presbyterian" had
been omitted from the
(See Pg. 4)