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LIBRAkY
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FEB 18 1991
ST. ANDREWS PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE
VOLUME 29
February 14,1991
Issue 7
Community Begins
Recycling Program
¥ ’'1
By John Cohen
Staff Writer
In response to the growing amount
of garbage and shrinking amount of
landfill space in which to put it, many
cities and towns across America have
initiated mandatory recycling pro
grams in which certain throwaway
items are separated from other trash
and taken to recycling plants. Re
cently, the City of Laurinburg has
started such a program.
This program, which took effect
on December 3, 1990, requires “all
Laurinburg residents and commercial
complexes not being served by
dumpsters” to put glass, aluminum,
newspapers, and plastic into four dif
ferent marked bins which are pro
vided by City Council. Once a week,
a recycling truck will come through
different parts of town, empty the
contents from the containers, and take
them to a nearby recycling plant. The
program was started in response to
shrinking landfill space, and to com-
■ ply with a North Carolina law requir-
; ing counties to start such programs.
Thanks to Abe VanWingerden,
; DoniaHenderson, JuriKirs,andDavid
■Giesel, who met with city officials
: during Winter Term, St. Andrews will
soon be able to participate in the recy
cling program. As with everyone else
involved, students will be asked to
separate all recyclable items from the
rest of the trash and place them into
the marked bins which will be pro
vided for each suite lounge. Every
Tuesday night, suite leaders will be
responsible for taking the bins out to
the curb by the Circle, (near Belk
Center) and for bringing them back
the next day. There will be instruc
tions on each bin as to what should
and should not be put in them, and the
bins will be brightly marked in order
to prevent vandalism.
Currently, bins are located only in
the suite lounges of Orange Dorm, but
they will soon become available to the
rest of tiie campus. If the program
succeeds in the dorms, bins will be
provided on the other side of the lake.
The program is directed by Beau
tification Director Shannon Newton.
She started the program because she
thought the city could get a “much
better participation” in the recycling
effort from those who live and work
in Laurinburg. Shannon also cited a
“huge demand on the part of the citi
zens” to get involved in recycling,
and compliance with North Carolina’s
new waste reduction law as reasons
for curbside recycling.
Shannon Newton said that the
program was easy to start. The City
Manager, Peter Vandenburg, pro
posed the idea to City Council on July
1. The council approved the program
that same day when voting on the city
budget for that year. The next few
months were spent getting the trucks,
containers, labor, and other things
needed to run the program. As men
tioned earlier in this article, the pro
gram was started on December 3,
1990.
Shannon and other city govern
ment workers are confident that the
new program will succeed in its goals.
She mentioned that “before the pro
gram started, residents took their re
cyclable goods to two drop-off points.
One was located at the Municipal
Building in Laurinburg, the other one
was near the Scotland County gov
ernment complex.” She said that “It’s
easier to recycle at home rather than
take materials to the drop-off cen
ters.” She is also hoping that children
will want to recycle more, and will
encourage their parents to do so. She
added, “Back when parents were kids
the ‘3 Rs’ stood for ‘reading, ‘riting,
Continued on Page 4
I
'MAME' OPENS TONIGHT - Encore! Theatre presents its first adult
production at St. Andrews this weekend. Members of the St. Andrews and
Laurinburg communities have been practicing hard since December for this
musical comedy.
The show has been held over until Monday evening, however, tickets are
going fast! Tickets may be reserved by calling the Scotland County Memorial
Library, 276-0563. Adults, $5 each and students, $2.50. (Photo by Rooney
Coffman)
School Receives
Reaccreditation
St. Andrews Presbyterian College
was recently reaccredited by the
Southem Association of Colleges and
Schools. President Tom Reuschling
received word two weeks ago from
the Association that the college satis
factorily completed the Institutional
Self-Study Program and that its ac
creditation was reaffirmed by the
Commission on Colleges.
Every ten years, the association
examines all facets of each school in
the southeastern United States, in
cluding academic programs, faculty,
finances, and physical facilities. Part
of the reaccreditation process is a
rigorous self-study of programs by
faculty and staff and an indepth evalu
ation by a dozen faculty and staff
from out-of-state institutions.
Dr. James Stephens, registrar and
associate dean for academic affairs,
headed up the self-study, which took
three years to complete. “The accredi
tation went very well. Each of the
academic units came through in good
shape,” Stephens said.
Reuschling said the self-study
proved to be valuable to St. Andrews.
“The self-study was an educational
process in that we learned about our
selves. Also, getting consultation from
other institutions was beneficial.”
National Condom Week Hits Campus
By Joy Berry
Staff Writer
It is the week of romance, the
week of chocolate candy, the week
of hearts beating furiously at the
sight of a lover. It is the week of
Cupid, the week of foolish acts in
the name of love, and the week of
those familiar plush, satin hearts
found in card shops. It is the week of
Valentine’s Day. It is National
Condom Week.
And how will St. Andrews cele
brate this glorious and festive occa
sion? Let me count the ways:
Beginning late last week, the ath
letic training department, which con
sists of many students majoring in
pre-physical therapy of physical
education, began selling Condon-
O-Grams. Yes, condoms indeed. For
the small fee of fifty cents, any
student can send a Prime brand
condom to a fnend, foe, mate, or
perhaps even a professor. Attached
to the condom is a message from the
sender and a safe-sex slogan such as
“Abstinence is always a choice, but
should you not choose it, practice
safe sex,” which was written by the
Dean of Students, Cynthia Greer.
At first glance the idea of a Con-
dom-O-Gram, which is designed
almost exactly like the familiar Hal-
loween-O-Grams and other seasonal
candy packages sold by various
clubs and organizations around cam
pus, appears to exemplify a sharp left
turn in St. Andrews politics. Not so,
Lisa Wheeler and others involved in
this project were required to go through
the usual channels of approval in order
to sell the condoms. Lisa Wheeler and
the student trainers presented the idea
to Dean Greer and came up with the
idea of the additional message to make
a stronger statement.
The concept of selling the Con-
dom-O-Grams originated at
Wheeler’s sorority when she was a
student at York College in Pennsylva
nia. According to Wheeler, the York
campus was more conservative than
St. Andrews, a fact which gave her
and the student trainers confidence
that the project would go over well
here.
Dean Greer, while she admitted to
having reservations about the project
at the start of the project, said that the
Condom-O-Grams are “a good way
to get the word out that they’re (con
doms) here and that if people choose
to be sexually active they should use
them.”
President Reuschling agreed that
the motive behind the selling of the
Condom-O-Grams is justified, though
it seems somewhat taboo. “If you can
get somebody’s attention...I think it’s
worth trying once. If for some reason
people get concerned or upset about
it, we’ll review it,” he said. “The
biggest issue is awareness and the
main motive is appropriate. We’ll see
what happens.”
Both the Dean and the President
agreed that the main concern was not
that the selling of condoms was taboo,
but that the Condom-O-Grams con
vey the importance of practicing safe
sex. The messages attached to the
condoms are strong innature, designed
to catch and hold the recipient ’ s atten
tion. Also, they reduce the chance of
the meaning being misconstrued as
condoning promiscuity. “We didn’t
want it to look as if we were in the
business of selling condoms. You can
go th the Health Department for that.
We wefe'cbncemed with offering a
service with a message: think about
your decision to have sex. Should you
still choose to do that, that’s fine but
do it carefully,” she said on Monday.
Way Number Two:
While the Condom-O-Grams will
be here only for a short time,
St.Andrews has purchased two con
dom machines that will be here for
good. On Thursday, a ribbon cutting
ceremony will be held in the Burris
Center to officially declare the arrival
of the machines. They will be ready
for operation on Thursday as well.
The condoms will cost fifty cents
each and can be found inside the
women’s and men’s bathrooms in the
Burris Center. A vendor from out ot
town will stock the machine and
maintain it. “It was hard to find some
one to stock it,” said Greer. “We’re
not a high-use campus, as compared
to some of the other schools in the
state.” Many of the state funded col
leges and universities in North Caro
lina have had machines on campus for
up to a year now.
When you speak of having several
accessible condom machines on
campus, many people argue that there
are ethical reasons not to have them.
Abe VanWingerden, SG A Vice-Presi
dent, expressed this view in a context
that involves the Presbyterian church.
“Although the Chiffch probably wouM
not celebrate the addition of condom
machines, it would seem that the health
concerns would supersede any type of
ethical dilemna that may be encoun
tered. The Presbyterians have never
made a public statement concerning
birth control like the Catholics have.”
Dean Greer and President Reuschling
seem to agree with VanWingerden. In
fact, they argue that the machines,
like the Condom-O-Grams, are a
health issue, and not so much an ethi
cal issue. “Anyone could have
come up with a whole range of
ethical concern, but we determined
that it was a health issue, life or
death in some cases, more than
anything else,” Reuschling said.
“If I could take a magic wand and
make all of this unnecessary, I
would. But no one has that power
and this sort of thing is important.”
Reuschling also stressed the
presence of the machines on cam
pus as a symbol of the danger of
unprotected sex nad sexually trans
mitted diseases. The existence of
the machines, he feels, will serve
as a reminder to students, both those
who abstain from sex and those
who do not, that there are dangers
involved by which they can be af
fected, “I’m still old-fashioned
enough to think that sex is some
thing that should be entered into
cautiously, but I don’t think that I
can presume that I’m going to
change a lot of people’s perspec
tive on that issue. So for those who
already entered into this type of
thing, we’re giving them this,” he
said.
“ Happy Valentine’s Day, St. An
drews.