VOL. 2, NO. 5
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14,1986
Guest speaker
presents first
Staley Lecture
By SANDY MITCHELL
On November 3, North Carolina
Wesleyan College, in association
with the Thomas F. Staley Found
ation, presented the first of the annual
Staley Lectures, entitled, "God's In
vitation to Shalom." This year the
speaker was Dr. Ronald F. Sider.
Dr. Ronald F. Sider explained,
"the title of my message means,
God's invitation to the people of the
world for peace, happiness, and to
live in the land of milk and honey.
The problem is that most people
have rejected His invitation. This is
why we have war and poverty in the
world today."
Dr. Sider put it in these terms,
"the world is a beautiful gift, but we
have tragically broken it." He said
that the very presence of God's people
prevents hunger, poverty, and war,
and we should strive for the absence
of these things. Dr. Sider experienced
this in South America, when the
presence of his group gave the cit
izens of a small town a night free
from gun fire.
The Thomas F. Staley Foundation
is an independent, non-profit organi
zation that funds programs in col
leges all over the country to spread
the word of Jesus Christ. In order to
receive the grant for the lectures, the
college must apply for the grant and
also request a speaker, who must be
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Professors set up
tour of Indonesia
for next summer
RONALD SIDER MAKES POINT DURING LECTURE
By LINDA SMITH
Pending the reception of a Full-
bright Grant, Dr. Allen Johnson, pro
fessor of history and geography, and
Dr. Marvin Weber, associate profes
sor of criminal jus tice, are planning a
trip to Indonesia for college and
university faculty members from
North Carolina and other southern
states. Twenty applicants wiU be se
lected from the Humanities and
Social Sciences fields and will spend
six weeks during the summer of 1987
in Southeast Asia.
Their objectives are to acquaint
participants first-hand with the major
symbols of cultural heritage and to
create in them an awareness for the
history, language, culture, ethics, and
contemporary situation in Indonesia.
They will observe, study, and exa
mine the pattern of education in the
development and modernization of
Indonesia by exposing faculty to the
opinions of native scholars, govern
ment officials, businessmen, politi
cians, educators, and artists who are
concerned with the effects of change
on culture.
They want to help participants in
understanding the regional nuances
and the cultural norms and enable
them to comprehend the difference
Students give reasons for leaving
By TERESA WATKINS
Once again, as with every other
year. North Carolina Wesleyan Col
lege faces the problem of students
not returning for the second semester
of school. Why are these students not
returning? Are there financial pro
blems, is the academic degree not suf
ficient, or are these students just not
happy here?
Jodi Crawford, a sophomore from
Palisades Park, NJ., is not planning
to complete this first semester. Craw
ford bluntly stated, "I don't like
school, and this place doesn't help."
She will be leaving campus Nov. 7.
Crawford is going back home to
enroll in beauty school. She is pur
suing her goal in life and has con
cluded that attending Wesleyan is not
assisting her ambition.
Pamela Miller, a sophomore at
Gerge Mason College in Fredericks
burg, Va., did not return to Wesleyan
this year. She said "the college
tuition is outrageous. I had to take
out several loans to attend last year,
and I could not afford to owe
$20,000 when I graduated. (The cur
rent tuition and fees are $7,430 —
higher than most major universities.)
One can attend UNC-CH cheaper
than they can Wesleyan, and a degree
from UNC-CH would be much more
impressive on a resume, when you
are trying to get a job in the future."
Okadaya is a transfer student from
Japan. Miwa is indecisive about
whether or not she will be coming
back next semester. "The college is
rather secluded, therefore since I have
no transportation it is difficult to go
off campus." She comes from a large
city and is planning to attend school
in a metropolis, maybe Boston, if
she does not come back next semes
ter.
Marshall Brooks, the academic
dean, said "the name of the insti
tution is not important, it's the
quality of the education that counts.
We here at Wesleyan pride ourselves
with our teaching staff." Sixty to 65
percent of the faculty have Ph.D.
degrees in their fields. "The average
class size is 10 to 20 students, com
pared to a class of several hundred at
UNC-CH." At this student-teacher
ratio, the students here are known by
name and not number. The students
also have the opportunity to have
individualized counseling.
"The college is very concerned
about having to raise tuition. We are
trying to get more students to enroll,
so tuition can be kept to a minimum,
because 70 percent of our budget is
based on tuition alone," Brooks said.
"Financial Aid is always available,
and 90 percent of the students receive
some type of aid."
Brooks said "50 percent of our
freshman class, last year, did not re
turn. The college holds a special em
phasis to better serve the students,
and hopefully they will pursue a four
year degree here." Students say that
anyone gets into Wesleyan if they
can not attend elsewhere. Brooks dis
agrees: "Wesleyan is not an open-
door college, admission standards
will be raised according to SAT
scores and class rank."
between Western and Southeast
Asian culture.
The main purposes of the In
donesia visit are to widen the base of
teaching about Southeast Asia in
general and Indonesia in particular
on the college and university level
in North Carolina institutions by
developing materials for new cours
es; to lay ground work for develop
ing a series of interdisciplinary cur
riculum modules; and to prepare par
ticipants to act as leaders in a service
workshop at the college and grade
level and for community organiza
tion.
Dr. Johnson says, "80 percent of
the money will come from the Full-
bright Grant and 20 percent will
come from the participants them
selves in order to go to Indonesia."
Program aids
top students
By PAM HIGGINS
The North Carolina Wesleyan
Honors Progam is directed at the
college's most promising academic
students. Students in the program,
which have been at Wesleyan for
two years, take specially designed
honors courses in each of the eight
semesters that they are here.
Director of the honors program.
Dr. Steven Ferebee, says that the
program's purpose is to "create a
community of academically enroll
ed students within the greater Wes
leyan community." In order to par
ticipate in the Honors program, stu
dents must have a high SAT score,
a high grade point average, and
leadership qualities.
There are presently twelve to
fifteen students in the program. Dr.
Ferebee stated that this is the
number of students he likes to
work with each year because the
smaller classes provide the students
with a better sense of Wesleyan
and because the students get to
know their professors better in the
program.
Honors students are able to
choose any major offered by Wes-
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