THE LANCE
VOLUME 48, ISSUE 1 Week of November 3, 2008
St Andrews Celebrates
50th Anniversary
By Blair Garnett
NOW & THEN: Two snapshots from different decades outside of
Wilmington Hall.Above. circa late 1970s: Susan Mann, Margaret Wilson
(Hill), Donald Mckensie, and Stewart Dansby. Below, circa 2005: Blair
Garnett, India Hill, Mitch Cooper, and Adam Vick. Photos courtesy of
India and Margaret Hill.
Take a look around our campus.
How many of you have ever won
dered how St. Andrews came to be?
I’m sure it must have crossed a
mind or two. Yet many students do
not even know the basic history of
the institution in which they stake
claim. This, I feel, is a tragic flaw,
for if we do not know the basis of
our own college, how can we fully
take pride in our school and all that
we have accomplished? This year
St. Andrews celebrates the 50th
anniversary of the merger among
; several prominent North Carolina
institutions that resulted in the cre
ation of our school. On Thursday,
October 16th a historic speech was
given on the formation of St.
Andrews entitled “Sketches of Our
Beginnings,” the first in a series of
four such talks. In lieu of this histori
cal event, I find it quite appropriate
to delve into the past and bring to
light a better understanding as to
how and why our college was
formed.
In the early 1950’s the Synod
of North Carolina, run by Executive
Secretary Dr. Harold J. Dudley,
sought to stabilize several of the
institutions founded by
Presbyterians in search of higher
education. Lees-McRae, Glade
Valley School, Queens, Davidson,
Mitchell, Flora McDonald, Peace,
and Presbyterian Junior where all
schools under control of the Synod.
Perhaps you recognize a few of
these school and not others. Peace,
Davidson, Queens, and Lees-
McRae all still exist today as a
result of the changes in the 1950s—
these schools did not join the merger. The
rest, however, ceased to function inde
pendently and were absorbed into one,
larger, more stable school—St. Andrews
Presbyterian College.
The decision to create one school
out of many resulted from the immense
increase in enrollment for these institu
tions. “The ‘baby boomers’ were just begin
ning to arrive at college,” comments Dr.
George Melton, “There came a need to
anticipate a very large student population.”
To cut down on competition from neighbor
ing schools, as well as to ease finances,
the Synod decided on a merger. The next
issue at hand was deciding where, exactly,
this new college would reside. Since so
many different schools contributed to the
creation of St. Andrews, naturally there
arose a conflict as to which city in North
Carolina should serve as the new host.
Today we obviously know the choice was
Laurinburg, but do you know exactly how
many cities in North Carolina vied for St.
Andrews? A total of seventeen cities
stepped up to claim our school—Raleigh,
Durham, Sanford, Southern Pines,
Laurinburg, Goldsboro, Wilmington,
Fayetteville, Lumberton, and Rocky
Mount are just a few of the more
well known cities. In the end, five
made it to the final round
(Fayetteville, Lumberton, Rocky
Mount, Wilmington, and Laurinburg)
the news of which was published on
the front page of The Charlotte
Observer.
Laurinburg won the honor
due mostly to the city’s strong
Presbyterian roots. “It didn’t start in
.j»M«Laurinburg, that’s for sure. It stated
because Presbyterians in this area
twr ‘were always interested in higher
education,” comments Professor
^ Emeritus Roger W. Decker. The
remaining cities—many of which
I had formed committees dedicated
•to funding and recruiting our school
to their area—dropped their support
once the location was announced.
In fact the University of North
^Carolina at Wilmington, which has
grown immensely over the past
decade, was founded with money
'• originally set aside for St. Andrews.
Once the location was set,
the college began to take on a
unique form, thanks in large to the
Presbyterian influence in formatting
the basic structure of the college.
St. Andrews, as many of you may
know, is one of the few institutions
(even today) that provide full acces
sibility for handicapped students. In
^ * regard to women and other minori
ties vying for higher education in
the late 1950s, St. Andrews was
breaking new ground. Dr. William
Alexander remembers arriving at
the school in 1958 with his wife,
thinking, perhaps, what many of you
thought upon first arriving at St. Andrews.
“The first thing that stands out when I
moved from Princeton to Laurinburg was
the size. In five minutes we drove all over
the place and we said, is this it? We’d
come from big cities but the college made
it clear it wouldn’t discriminate based on
race, religion, ethnic orientation, or gender
preference...St. Andrews began here on
this campus in the right way.” Consider the
Civil Rights Movement and the fact that St.
Andrew’s ('See ANNIVERSARY, page 6)
SAPC NEWS;
Knight’s Fest: Inside the Events
Rocky Horror Show: A Rave Review
PAGE 2
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Smoking: Know Your Risks
Monthly Awareness: This Month’s List of Ailments
PAGE 5
EDITORIALS
Rock the Vote: Assuming Responsibility
Education: Making it Worth Your While
PAGE 3
SPORTS
Equestrian Updates: The Latest Results
Fall Ball: Results from Fall Sports
PAGE 6, 7
NOTABLE KNIGHTS
Featured Student: Alyson Trovato
Featured Professor: Dr. Edna Ann Loftus
Featured Club: The GREEN Club
PAGE 4, 5
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Lance: The Latest Changes and Updates
SAPC Events: Master Calender
Support a Cause: T-Shirts for Breast Cancer
PAGE 10