The Pen
Student Newspaper of Saint Augustine's College
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Volume 7, Number I
November 1998
Raleigh, N. C,
St. Aug’s moving up in technology with NC Live
By Edward Ward
Opinion Editor
There is a new and impressive way
in seeicing world knowledge and it
is right here on Saint Augustine’s
College campus.
The NC Live program is com
prised of nine members and one li
brary director position in North
Carolina.
“NC Live is a partnership of NC
libraries to provide students and the
public access to a new world of in
formation and education,” said li
brarian director Linda Simmons-
Henry.
Universities, community colleges,
state, public libraries and indepen
dent college are involved with this
program. Schools such as NC
State, Shaw, NC Central, Duke,
UNC-Chapel Hill and many oth
ers are associated with the program
as well.
Many students here on campus
feel that the program could have
been promoted in a better way.
Mike Nelson, sophomore, busi
|y|
Photo by Neice L. King
The fountain in front of the Seby Jones Fines Arts Building is being covered
up with dirt and mulch to finish off the project.
Campus gets face lift
By Shontia Taylor
Correspondent
Recently there have been some
changes on the campus of St.
Augustine’s College.
The first change took place with
the filling of fountain in front of
the Seby Jones Fine Arts building.
According to Stephen Sylvester,
head of physical plant, the foun
tain was closed due to the dete
rioration at the base of the foun
tain. To restore the fountain to
full working condition, it would
cost 17,000, an amount too expen
sive for St. Aug’s already tight bud
get.
The problems with the fountain
consists of a cracked liner, which is
causing the chemicals used to clean
the fountain to seep through the
cracks. To take away the problem,
increasing tuition a few dollars can
help, or squeezing out an over ex
haust budget is even better, but
Sylvester and his crew has decided
to fill the fountain to save from re
sulting to such actions.
Bryan Gaddy, senior said, “the
school should allocate it’s funds to
help beautify the campus, be
cause some things are well worth
the money!”
“I think that they should level
off the fountain and put bricks
down for concerts and events of
that sort,” said Dr. Frank
Godfrey, professor of business.
Yet, Lake Gause, senior, says
that, “the college should repair
the fountain, because it is part of
the schools historical founda
tion.”
In addition to filling up the
See Revision, page 4
Greenhouse restored for next semester
By Billy Williams, Jr.
StaffWriter
The greenhouse, on the backside
of the Penick Hall of Science build
ing, which has not been in opera
tion since the early 1980’s, is being
cleansed and renovated, and should
be ready for use in Spring 1999.
The greenhouse will be used by
botany and ecology classes, as well
as by middle school students par
ticipating in the science program on
campus on Saturdays.
“The purpose of the greenhouse
is to provide and grow plants for
buildings and offices on campus,
and they are also for sale to the com
munity,” said Dr. Kenneth Alston,
Chair of the Division of Natural
Sciences, Mathematics and Allied
Health. “I have also initiated the
Saint Augustine’s College Environ
mental Program, with one of its
goals being to enhance the knowl
edge of student, faculty and stafF on
plants.”
See House, page 5
ness stated, “Some of the teachers
should talk to their classes and give
assignment in order for them to
learn the new program.”
“NC Live is one of the greatest
tools that I have used for my re
search, it is less time consuming
then going through the card cata
logs and books,” said Jeffrey
Lunsford, senior, Office Manage
ment Systems.
“North Carolina libraries shared
a vision for each library in the state.
It is served as a gateway to the total
library resources in the state as well
as to a rich array of electronic infor
mation which carries a great deal of
electronics resources,” says Henry.
See Technology, page 8
SGA President on
the move this year
By Billy Williams, Jr.
StaffWriter
Even though many still don’t
know who Carmela Cohen, student
body president is, she is making an
impact on the student government
this year.
Some of her plans for this year
includes, helping in restructuring
registration, seeing that the library
gets automated and help to build
student moral.
Cohen stated that leaders from
organizations, including herself,
have already met with Dr. Bernard
W. Franklin, president of St.
Augustine’s College, to discuss ways
to restructure registration. They also
heard Franklin’s plans to get the li
brary automated, hopefiilly by the
next academic year.
Cohen said that building student
moral would be easy to plan for, but
it is the individual student who has
to show the spirit.
One example would be a spirit
week, in which students do some
thing different each day, such as
wear the same colors to show unity,
as well as spirit.
“Personally, I started out with ask
ing students what they expect from
school,” stated Cohen. It is by this
way Cohen figures she can see if stu
dents really want something out of
St. Aug, other than a degree show
ing that they graduated from here.
“I can’t do it all on my own,” said
Cohen. She is looking to student
body forums and possible sugges
tion boxes, as ways to help her get a
sense of student issues and what the
students want to see done.
Another avenue Cohen wants to
utilize is her student representatives
and student government officials.
The last few years have been hard
for the student government.
Two years ago, the student gov
ernment was shut down by Rachel
Pridgen, assistant to the vice
See President, page 4
Enrollment take St. Aug
$ I million under
By Neice L. King
Editor-In-Chief
St. Augustine’s College has lost $ 1
million in annual revenue due to
higher standards in enrollment.
This year’s freshmen class is 90
students short of last year’s 1,545
enrollees. Due to changes in the
admittance policy, which went into
effect in May of this year, the open
door policy was dismissed.
The new policy consists of, 20
units of the required courses in high
school, 2.0 grade point average and
a least a 800 on the SAT.
According to President Bernards
Franklin, this success had to come
with a price.
The price being in the fiscal im
pact, which required cuts to the
College’s budget. But Franklin says
that, “the loss of revenue will be
made up with a reduction of ex
penses in physical supplies, academic
programs, unnecessary travel, and
laying off nonessential positions.”
The results of the change has at
tracted talented students to the Aug.
For example, the SAT scores for
first-time freshmen is up ten points
See Enrollment, page 5