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VOLUME I, NO. 4
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, N. C.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25,1985
Communications Major Proposed
By REGGIE PONDER, JR.
North Carolina Wesleyan’s
curriculum committee is cur
rently considering a proposal
for a new major in Communica
tions.
The proposal is in response to
suggestions from students and
prospective students. Dean Ste
phen Fritz calls the proposal
“long overdue.” Scott Booker,
Wesleyan student, says of the
proposed major: “It definitely
would be an asset to the col
lege.” Another Wesleyan stu
dent, Steve Mac Eachern,feels
that a Communications major
“would be more flexible” than
some majors presently offered.
No formal action has been
taken yet on the proposal. How
ever, Dean Fritz says: “Proba
bly, by the end of November, we
will have a new major in Com
munications.”
Dr. Paul deGatengno, chair
man of the Department of Eng
lish, has some reservations
about initiating a Communica
tions major at Wesleyan. Such a
major is, according to deGateg-
no, “very difficult to initiate, “
and “requires a great expendi
ture to hire new faculty and to
buy new equipment. I think we
can address the kinds of things
students want with what we
presently have.” deGategno
adds, however, that “We always
have to look for ways to improve
what we are doing.”
“I think a Communications
major has an attraction for stu
dents,” said Carl Pagles, Dean
of Admissions. Pagles adds,
however: “I don’t think there is
a major we could design that
would be a panacea. Ultimately,
what people come here for is the
environment. When we look at a
potential major,” said Pagles,
“we have to study it to see if it
will service the students better.”
Council Working
To Help Improve
Life At Wesleyan
By WINDY CHAMBLESS
The Community Council is
quietly working on making
Wesleyan a better place. Almost
unnoticed, the Council is work
ing to aid the entire college
community.
It is a fact that students at
Wesleyan have been unaware of
the importance of the Commun
ity Council.
Pat Vyas, president of the
Community Council, said that
“so far the Council has done
pretty well, especially the Activ
ities Committee. People have
been more responsive and are
putting more effort into the or
ganization.”
The Community Council acts
as a major governing body for
the campus community, and
acts upon academic and social
concern. The concerns of the
students are a high priority.
However, because it is com
posed of students, faculty, non-
academic personnel, and ad
ministrators, the Community
Council handles, either in part
or in whole, all matters concern
ing the community of North
Caolina Wesleyan College.
The Student Life Committee
is perhaps the most highly vis
ible part of the student govern
ment. They make suggestions
concerning social and enter
tainment events.
Vyas and other committe
members are trying to get on
settled ground so that student
life will be better next year. “So
far there have not been any ma
jor problems that cannot be
ironed out,” Vyas said. “The
Council is going through its
birth period.”
Vyas hopes that the entire
campus community will take
part in the Community Council.
“It is a community effort and
everybody should pitch in and
act as one, otherwise you have
too few people doing too much. I
want to jump into the situation
with both feet and make this
college a better place,” Vyas
said.
1
ALL THAT JAZZ — Members of the North Carolina Wesleyan College Jazz Ensemble
perform at Rocky Mount’s annual Dovk^n East Festival of the Arts on Oct. 12, The ensemble,
made up of students, staff members, and community residents, performed for about 45
minutes and warmed up the crowd for “The Association.” (Photo by Joyce Bonomo.)
Freshmen SAT scores increase
NEW YORK, NY (CPS) -
This year’s college freshman
pushed the average Scolastic
Aptitude Test (SAT) score up
faster than any year since 1963,
the College Board annouced.
While board officials, who
oversee the administering of the
test nationwide, attribute the
increases to more scholarly
high school students and harder
high school courses, some critics
think it’s because more students
are taking SAT coaching
classes.
Whatever the reasons, the av
erage verbal test score was 431,
up from 426 last year. The aver
age math score was 475, an in
crease from 471 a year ago.
According to Director of Ad
missions Carl Pagles, the aver
age total SAT score for Wes
leyan freshman this year is 796.
“1985 is the fourth consective
year in which at least one the
scores went up,” says George H.
Hanford, president of the Col
lege Board.
The increase has been even
more dramatic at Wesleyan.
Pagles stated that six years ago
SAT scores ranged between 720
and 740.
All ethnic groups and both
men and women recorded
higher average acores, Hanford
points out.
“All of these trends would
seem to indicate that there is a
more positive attitude toward
academic pursuits in our high
schools and that many efforts at
the local, state, and national
levels over the past decade to
improve the education of col
lege-bound students have begun
to bear fruit,” Hanford asserts.
He adds more high school
students have been taking ho
nors courses in recent years.
While the trend is encourag
ing, Hanford says “it is also
clear that we have no grounds
for being complacent about the
state of education in this coun
try. We still have a Ipng way to
go.”
Hanford adds that approxi
mately one million college
freshmen who took the SAT
made up only 37 percent of the
students in the high school class
of 1985.
Others don’t credit school re
form for the increases, however.
Average scores rose primarily
because more students are tak
ing SAT tutoring courses,
claims Allan Nairn, Co-author
of a 1980 critique of the test.
“Some people benefit from the
coaching privilege,” he says,
implying students who can af
ford to take coaching courses
have an advantage over others.
Various studies, all of them
disputed by the College Board
and the Educational Testing
Service (ETS), which actually
writes the SAT’s and computes
the scores, assert preparatory
courses can improve students’
scores by as much as 100 points.
As a result, “coaching is a
growing industry,” says David
White, who has written two
books about how to take college
admissions tests.
“At the moment, I’m going
through the Graduate Record
Exam with a student,” White
said during a phone interview,
“and we are getting the right
answers without even reading
the passages.”