2 • December 1998
WSSU patrol members
help keep students safe
BY SHARONDA WILCOX
Kdiior
440ccasion-
aliy we get the
jokes: ‘Oh
look at the
flashlight cop
or look at the
NARCS, but
it’s all in fun.’
- Rasheed Oluwa -
They patrol ihc dark and dismal streets
of campus armed with nothing but a flash
light, a walkie-talkie and the idea of getting
a fellow classmate or friend to iheir desti
nation safely and unharmed. Although lit
tle is known
about their
existence and
their contribu
tion to cam
pus, their
presence is
felt every
night from the
hours of 6
p.m. to mid
night.
Who are
these brave
men and
women that
patrol our
campus
streets?
They arc the Student Patrol.
The group of 13 Winston-Salem State
University students — both male and
female — is broken up into three-member
shifts with a dispatcher and two patrol offi
cers.
The program began Oct. 26 to provide
protective escort services to students.
The program was started at
Fayetteville State University by current
WSSU campus police Chief Willie Bell in
1993, who later moved the program to other
campuses. Bell had plans of making WSSU
part of the program as well.
“It’s a positive thing,” says Bell. “It
allows students to get involved in the cam
pus’ security.”
Students who participate in the pro
gram 90 through an application proccss and
arc required to have a 2.0 grade-point aver
age and not be involved in any work-study
jobs on campus.
Although they arc not the real 5-0 with
guns and badges, their presence makes stu
dents feel a little bit safer.
“Occassionally we get the jokes: ‘Oh
look at the flashlight cop or look at the
NARCS, but it’s all in fun.” said Rasheed
Oluwa, a student-patrol officer and the
News Argus sports editor. “I feel that we’ve
made a difference and the people we escort
appreciate the things that we’ve done for
them.”
Whether someone is in violation of co
ed or going to the library, regardless of the
situation, people who call the Campus
Police extention for the patrol officers are
taken safely to their destinations.
The Student Pauol’s duties not only
includc escorting students, but they patrol
the campus to make sure that nothing out of
the ordinary is happening and that students
arc given assistance when it is needed.
“Once we had a female student call for
help with a flat tire and we assisted her by
changing it and providing her with a flash-
light,” said Yardine Murphy, the assistant
supervisor of Student Patrol.
The Student Patrol, though fairly new,
proves to be a helpful tool to the students of
the university, particularly the female stu
dents.
“Female students don’t have to worry
about anything happening to them while
they are walking to their cars at night
because of the Student Patrol,”said Murphy.
“She adds, it’s a good feeling that we are
needed by the students and it’s motivation
as well. It feels good to help somebody.”
// you are ever in need of assistance
give the Student Patrol a call at 750-2900.
Sunday through Thursday nights, between
the hours of 6pm and midnight.
Glenn makes his second mark
BY KYI^ Al^TON
Reporter
Thirty six years ago John Glenn made
history when he strapped himself into the 9-
by-7-foot capsule of an experimental rock
et and became the first American to orbit
the Earth.
Glenn asked NASA if he could fly
again to conduct space-based research on
aging. His wish was granted, however, the
physical and mental requirements. Glenn,
now 77 and the Democratic Senator of
Ohio, would fly aboard the space shuttle
Discovery. The flight made history in that
he the oldest man in spacc.
Eighty-three experiments were per
formed aboard Discovery during its nine-
day mission. But Glenn’s presence on the
shuttle and his participation in aging-relat
ed experiments received attention for good
reason. The prospect of a 77-year-old man
going into space has revived interest the
space program like nothing in recent years.
While Glenn did not meet the criteria
for one of the experiments, some of his
responsibilities included: participating in a
study of sleep disturbances, a common
problem for astronauts; wearing a heart
monitor to check for fluctuations during
various activities in microgravity; and
being tested before and after the mission for
the effects of weightlessness on his equilib
rium and the amount of muscle he loses
during the mission.
When Glenn and his six crewmates
relumed, they were welcomed by a parade,
courtesy of the city of Houston. Glenn was
also honored with a parade in New York.
From the editor
Should the Christmas
spirit be just once a year?
Sharonda
Wilcox
As the scary encounters and
ghoulish fun of Halloween
end, the Christmas season
begins. Although the Christmas season is
less than two months away, advertisers and
deparunent stores begin to advertise early
for the festive season, and Thanksgiving is
hardly ever given a second thought.
Christmas shopping here in Winston-
Salem has already begun, and many people
are getting caught up in the hustle and bus
tle of trying to find the action figure that
their son begged them for in May or the lit
tle Baby So Real
doll that their
daughter has
cried about for
months.
As shoppers
go and spend their
hard earned
money on toys
and other gifts,
how many are
actually celebrat
ing the true mean
ing of the season?
How many are celebrating the birth of
new beginnings and accomplishments and
giving to those who are less fortunate than
themselves? What about the hundreds of
people all over the world who are homeless
and starving, barely making it from day to
day — are they receiving the benefits of the
“true” Christmas spirit?
Is society just embracing the home
less during the holiday season with
soup-kitchen meals or are we doing
it throughout the entire year with acts of
kindness and love?
As a child I never really understood
why my father, when asked what it was that
he wanted for Christmas from my sister
and I, would always reply: “Nothing, I
would just be happy to live to see another
Christmas and to spend it with the family;”
or why every year he and my mother would
put together fruit baskets to give to the
elderly in the neighborhood during the hol
iday season.
At the time I thought that it was a pret
ty dull answer to a question that everyone
loves to hear each year and that putting
together the baskets took too much work,
but as I became older, 1 started to under
stand my father’s answer more.
Christmas wasn t about receiving
materialistic gifts for my father. Giving
The News Argus
Sharonda Wilcox - Editor
Keisha Leach - News Editor
Jason Smith - Entertainment Editor
Rasheed Oluwa - Sports Editor
Reagan Bolden - Advertising Manager
Tanya Wiley - Adviser
Emily Burch - Assistant Adviser
Dr. Ruby Rodney - Copy Editing Adviser
fruit baskets to the elderly and seeing a
smile come across their faces when it
seemed like no one else cared was his gift.
The joy of seeing his family happy and
healthy was the greatest gift of all for him
and I truly understand that now.
At times I feel the American society is
more concerned with helping people in far
away countries on a regular basis and help
ing the less fortunate people right here
under our noses only during the holiday
season. Of course we do what we feel is
right and have hot meals served to the
homeless during Thanksgiving and
Christmas, but what about the meals that
were missed before then? What about the
people who went to bed in a cardboard box
with nothing but knots in their stomachs
from terrible hunger pains? Hunger and
homelessness isn’t just a one time, one hol
iday season problem: People are hungry
and homeless all year, every day.
At the birth of Christ, shepherds came
bearing gifts, not expecting anything in
return but the blessing of a great leader. Far
too often when we give during the holiday,
we sometimes expect too much in return for
our actions.
The season isn’t about the gifts that
you receive or don’t receive but the ones
that you give. It’s not about fighting to get
that last sweater on the clearance rack for
one of your relatives and it’s not about the
catchy advertisements from department
stores shown on television.
The season for so many years has
been looked upon as one where
department stores, restaurants,
and other businesses can make big bucks
from its consumers, spending money on
practically anything. Christmas is about the
love of family, the love of oneself and the
love that you demonstrate towards others.
We should demonstrate the Chrisunas
spirit every day by helping someone who is
less fortunate than ourselves, volunteering
just a little of our spare time to help some
one do something that can make a differ
ence in their life and yours.
Christmas doesn’t have to be just once
a year, when you show that you have a heart
or that you care about the next person it can
be on a daily basis where you demonstrate
good Samaritan tactics and show everyone
that in your world Christmas comes every
day.
The News Argus is a monthly publica
tion prtinted by students for students and
faculty/staff of Winston-Salem State
University.
Opinions expressed in The News Argus
are not necessarily those of the staff at
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