Volume 14, Number 4
Murfreesboro, North Caroline 27855
Morch 22, 1983
Studying or SpendingTimeTogefher,Spring Is Here
Student Stress Epidemic Widens Nationally
By David Gaede
(CPS)—CoUege counselors report
another epidemic of students stress this
year as more and more students worry
themselves into depression over the
sluggish economy, depressed job
market, and mounting academic
pressure.
Counselors first noticed last year that
money and career related worries were
contributing to a dramatic increase in
the numbers of students using campus
counseling centers.
The same worries pushed campus
fighting, drug and alcohol abuse, and
even suicide statistics up to record
levels.
While it’s too early to assemble
statistics for this year yet, counselors
across the country say the pattern has
continued into the fall of 1M2. But the
patterns are changing subtly, they say.
Some even see hope that increasing stu
dent poltical activism may signal bet
ter campus mental health in the near
future.
■'We are indeed seeing more stress
again this year,” says Susan Bowling,
president of the American Personnel
and Guidance Association’s college
counseling division.
“With the countlnuing increase in
employment and more and more com-
Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Singleton of
Raleigh have established the second
scholarship to aid students from Nor
theastern North Carolina at Chowan
College in memory of Lecausey P. and
Lula Harmon Freeman, Mrs.
Singleton’s late parents.
The first scholarship was establish
ed in 1979. Mrs, Ruth Singleton receiv
ed degrees from Chowan College,
Class of 1921, and the Unversity of
North Carolina at Chapil Hill. She
taught on the secondary educational
level for three years.
Singleton, who retired in 1960 as
manager of the former Wake
Farmer’s Cooperative, taught in the
public schools for eleven years. He
received his B. S. from Clemson
University and M.S. from Rutgers. He
attended both schools on educational
scholarships.
Chowan President Bruce E.
Whitaker stated, “This second
scholarship in memory of Lecausey P.
and Lula Freeman will benefit young
people particularly through Christian
higher education here at Chowan Col-
Have things piled in on you yet? Well,
here are some dates to jot down bet
ween now and the end of the semester
that are of importance.
Spring Break starts at the close of
classes of April 1 and runs through
April 10.
Sophomore Judy Lingard of Oviedo,
Fla. won the Chowan College Spring
Festival talent show competition in
McDowell Columns auditorium Mar. 1.
A pre-education major, Judy, Miss
Belk Hall, sang “Don’t Throw It All
Away.” She was co-captain of the
volleyball team and named to the
Regional All-Toumament team.
Two other sophomores, Marian Leigh
George of White Stone, Va. and Alison
Roberts of Richmond, Va., placed se-
petition both school and in the job
market, students are realizing that a
college degree doesn’t necessarily give
them more stability in life,” she ex
plains.
“Students are seeing their friends,
neighbors and even their parents out of
work,” she adds. “They see more and
more that it can happen to them.”
“Things are a little heavier and a lit
tle tougher this year,” confirms Don
Kees, director of the University of
Idaho counseling center. “We’ve had
funding cuts, raised student fees, and
we have 600 more students.
“It’s like jamming a few more
pounds into the pressure cooker.”
At Yale, Counseling and Placement
Director Ed Noyse is seeing more
“frantic“ students and thinks “this is
going to be a particularly tough year for
students.”
And after a dramatic increase in
counseling visits last year, University
of Wisconsin-Madison Dean of Students
Paul Ginsburrg doesn’t “see any
diminishing of student stress this year.
“Our services are being used to the
max and taxed to their limits,” he
reports. “Tuition has gone up, jobs are
very hard to get, and therd are fewer
student loans available.”
At Arizona State, “we’re seeing about
cond and third respectively.
Miss West Hall, Marian is a
secretarial administration major. She
performed a baton routine to “Let’s Go
Dancing” by Kool and the Gang.
Alison, a clerical administration ma
jor and Miss Mixon Hall, performed a
ballet dance.
The talent show is included among
the competition leading to the naming
of the sophomore queen of spring and
2000 people a year, and we expect that
to go up this term,” says Thomas Cum
mings, counseling center director.
“We’re seeing more depression and
frustration. Students are walking up to
the fact that just getting a degree isn’t
enough any more. They see very clear
ly that they can’t just go to class, but
must come out knowing something.”
UCLA counselors have “also seen a
big increase in the numbers of students
reporting physical side effects from
stress: high blood pressure, headaches,
stomach problems and a lot of
psychomatic problems,” says
counselor Bill Hessel.
Indeed, violence among students con
tinues to increase as tempers shorten
and anxiety builds, counselors report.
Bowling has even noted students
show “a greater intolerance of diversi
ty. The pressure and frustration seem
to be causing some students to resent
minorities, who they feel get special
treatment through affirmative action
programs.”
On the other hand are students who
Bowling says essentially deny stress.
“It’s what’s been called ‘the Titantic
Effect’”she says. "We have some
students saying, ‘Yes, the world’s gone
to hell, but I won’t. I’ll survive.' They
under-react. Which can be just as bad
freshman princess during Spring
Festival Saturday, April 23.
Judges were Howard Hunter, Jr. and
Craig Laughton of Murfreesboro; and
Kae Aycock, Mrs. Dorothy Poulk and
Vivian Fly the of Ahoskie.
Spring Festival activities are spon
sored by the Student Government
Association. Last year’s queen of spr
ing, Yvonne Elliott of Richmond, was
present to assist with the naming of the
winners.
as over-reacting. In essence, they’ve
built for themselves a first- class cabin
on the Titantic.
Other students cope by staying home
longer, a phenomenon Bowling calls
“extended adolescence.” More
students “are living with mom and dad
all the way through college.”
Student suicides have also increased
dramatically in the last several years.
Campus counselors worry that the
stress epidemic could push the suicide
rate higher.
“Changing family situations,
pressures to achieve, increased mobili
ty and a lack of intimate contacts” all
contribute to suicidal impulses, says
Julie Perlman, head of the American
Association of Suicidology in Denver.
Therefore, college students make
almost perfect suicide candidates.
“We’ve haven’t had a serious in
crease in suicides this year,” reports
Murray DeArmond, student health ser
vices Erector at Arizona, “but we’re
averaging about two or two or three a
year.
An Arizona suicide early this fall,
notes Dean of Students William Foster,
“made everyone a little more sensitive
to the problem, and caused us to be ex
tra watchful for depressed and suicidal
students.”
The award-winning North Carolina
writer Fred Chappell will be on campus
to discuss his art on Monday, 18 April.
Mr. Chappell is the author of fourteen
volumes of poetry and fiction which, ac
cording to “Who’s Who in America, ”
have won him the Prix de Meilleur Des
Lettres Etranger, North Carolina’s
Award in Literature, and Rockefeller
and National Academy of Arts and Let
ters fellowship.
While his visit allows students and
Michigan State just had a student
suicide, although officials there are still
investigating the reason the 22-year-old
engineering sophomore took his own
life after a drunk driving arrest.
And at Idaho, student suicides in
creased 30 percent last year. Counselor
Kees sees “no change in the tempo this
year.”
The national average is two-to-four
suicides per 10,000 students, with 15 to
20 attempts. Suicide is the second
leading cause of death — behind
accidents- in the college-age popula
tion.
“But we are seeing some hopeful
things this year,” Bowling cautions
from the gloom. “Students are venting
their frustrations and trying to get con
trol of their lives by getting involved in
issues again. We’re slowly seeing the
re-emergence of campus protests on
things like nuclear energy, student aid
cuts, and the draft.”
Arizona’s Foster also notes ‘More
political activity. The stress and the
problems have also galvenized the stu
dent body. This is the first year in a long
time that I've seen a lot of political con
cern and involvement.”
“More students are talking about
their frustrations and problems,” Bowl
ing adds. “We have a very
psychologically-aware generation of
young people coming into college, and
they aren't afraid to seek assistance.”
would-be writers to hear his insights in
to the art of writing, it also provides
them with the opportunity of meeting
and talking with a successful, publish
ed, author sho is, as we like authors to
be, an interesting man.
Mr. Chappell will discuss his writing
at 11:00 and 2:00, then will read from
his work at the monthly meeting of the
Lyceum (which is open to everyone).
The discussions and the reading will be
in Marks Hall Auditorium.
Spring Events
Scheduled
Many activities and special events
are scheduled for the student body
during the spring semester.
Movies sponsored by the SGA and
shown in Columns auditorium are:
April 21, 22 - “Seduction”; and May
5,6,8-“Taps.”
The Broadway play, “Guys and
Dolls,” will be presented by the
Chowan Players March 22-26 in Col
umns Auditorium. Religious Emphasis
Week is March 28-April 1.
Easter holidays will begin at the
close of classes on April 1. Classes
resume April 11. Spring Festival is
scheduled for April 23. During the
week, two bands will perform in
l.akeside Center, “Voltage Brothers”
on April 19 and “Lightstreet” on April
23. A talent show will be presented on
April 20 in Columns Auditorium. All
students are invited to participate by
Bob Brown, the director.
On April 21, the Fourth Annual High
School Choir and Stage Band Festival
will be presented during the morning
and afternoon in Columns Auditorium.
That evening, the United States Naval
Academy Band will present a free
concert in Helms Center.
Honors Day will be held April 29 in
Helms Center. Examinations will be
held May 6-12, with graduation May
15, concluding (Thowan’s 135th year.
During the semester, Chowan
athletes will compete in men's and
women's basketball, wrestling,
, baseball, golf, and tennis.
Pakistani
Likes Chowan
Ansari A. Hameed is the only student
from Pakistan to attend Chowan since
1976. Other things also set him apart.
Not yet 18, Ansari has attained an A
average in high school and a B average
in a junior college. It is hard to imagine
a student just 18 with two years of
college already behind him, but Ansari
explained that in his ' country an
elementary education only goes up to
grade ten. Students then go on to
college. Ansari is also ahead of most
people his age because he skipped
grades three and four.
Hameed
After finishing high school, Hameed
took two six month courses in Office
Managment and Business Writing,
sponsored by the Pakistan-American
Cultural Center. He has also received a
two-year diploma in English there.
Hameed attended the University of
Karachi which is affiliated with the
University of California. There he took
courses in Financial Accounting and
Business Communications. He has also
acquired a certificate in Hotel
Management and Public Relations at
AUama Iqbal Open University of
Islambad. Ham^ is enrolled in the
Business Administration curriculum at
Chowan. He would like to attend the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
Ansari cannot return home for five
years. He has a one way visa which
enables him to stay in the U.S. as long
as he does not return home during the
five year period.
Being the youngest of three boys and
two girls, Hameed misses home very
much. A one minute phone call cost him
$15.00. So far he has spent over $100.00
on phone calls.
He says Americans like to wear
cotton clothing and Pakistani’s like to
wear polyester. He explained that
cotton was very expensive where he
lived. It is usually only worn in their
national dress wardrobe.
The food is also different here to him.
Since he’s been at Chowan he has eaten
a lot of chicken. Chicken is very ex
pensive in Pakistan. It cost about
twelve dollars for a pound and a half.
As far as the people are concerned,
Hameed has found them to be very
nice. “I did not expect them to be as
friendly, since they are not as friendly
in my country,” he said. Hameed has
been especially grateful to Sp^ial
Services and the help they have given
him with his studies.
Second Freeman Scholarship Set
Sears provides unrestricted grant
Chowan has received a $600 unrestricted grant from the Sears-Roebuck Foundation, os one of over 30 privately
supported colleges and universities in North Carolina to receive such grants totaling more than $43,000, The check
was presented to Dr, Bruce E. Whitaker, right, by Foundation spokesman, John Boston of Roanoke Rapids and
Doug Cox of Murfreesboro. The North Carolina colleges and universities are among 946 private accredited tvxo
and four year institutions across the country w/hich are sharing in $1,565,000 in Sears Foundation funds for the
1982-83 academic year. Funds may be used as the colleges and universities deem necessary.
Lingard Wins Talent Show Poet/Novelist Coming
Dates To Remember
lege. We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs.
Singleton for the good which will come
from their thoughfulness in giving to
help future generations.”
Lecausey Freeman served as a
member on Chowan’s Board of
trustees from 1913-19. He was a leader
in education, and in his church and
communtiy. He was a pioneer leader
in Mars Hill Baptist Church. The
Freemans were survived by 13
children; as a deacon at Mars Hill
Bapist Church five daughters
gradated from Chowan and taught in
North Carolina public schools.
The recipent of the Freeman
Memorial Scholarship Fund scholar
ship is chosen by the college’s Scholar
ship Committee on the basis of
scholastic ability, leadership,
character, integrity and financial
need. The scholarship is reserved
from residents of Hertford, Bertie,
Norhthapton and Gates County. A one-
year award, the scholarship may be
continued for a second year on the
recommendation of the Scholarship
Committee.
The American Red Cross Blood-
mobile will be here on April 12.
Spring Festival is April 23rd.
Honors Day is May 2nd.
Spring Semester Exams begin on
May 6.
Baccalaureate Service and Gradua
tion Exercises are set for May 15th.