PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — NOVEMBER 14,1986
Opinions and Editorials
Don’t be quick
to sell all texts
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How can we keep students?
They're a part of everyday
college life — textbooks. At the
start of each semester, we buy
our books from the college
bookstore for the full retail
price. One semester's texts are
likely to cost, on the average,
between 100 and 130 dollars.
After a hard semester of study
the college bookstore buys back
your books and subsequently
sells them again for a higher
price.
The bookstore is performing
a great service to the students by
buying back textbooks, but they
are making a profit both the first
and second times the books are
sold. Sometimes the buyback
price is even too low to make
By The ARCHBISHOP
I wake up on a Monday moming,
crawl out of bed, not really aware of
where 1 am. Eyes pasted shut and
origins unknown. You know the
feeling. I am quick to shut that
blasted alarm off. Oh my goodness
the day has begun. 1 grab my towel
and open my door en route to the
shower, but what in the world is all
that in the hallway. Am 1 hallu
cinating? 1 don't think so!
1 shake my roommate's bed to
awaken him to the reality that I have
just disco vered. After he finishes cus
sing me out for waking him from his
fantasyland dreamworld he tells me
that 1 am seeing what I thought I was
seeing. In our groggy stupors my
roommate and I contemplate the
situation of the hallway as we stand
in our tofwels peering out of the
doorway.
He turns to me and says, "Either
in the middle of the night someone
moved our dwelling to the city dump
or someone has taken for granted
that this is the city dump." I turn my
head toward him slowly and murmur,
"Oh, really!" Finally we notice a
janitor coming down the hall on a
bulldozer clearing the way, so my
roomn^ate and I hitch a ride to the
shower. Good Moming!
Do you ever wake up in the
middle of the night to a screaming
fire alarm? How many mornings do
you tip-toe down the hall to the
shower trying to avoid the glass from
broken beer bottles? Have you ever
needed a shovel to clear the debris
from your hallway after a big week
end bash? Answering No!
Well, you have obviously never
selling the book back worth
while.
Students are far better off if
they keep all of their textbooks
and sell the ones they do not
need to other students. Both par
ties would benefit: the seller gets
rid of his unwanted book for a
price better than the bookstore's
buyback price, and the buyer
gets a lower price than the book
store’s retail price.
However, books that have to
do with your major field of study
should be kept for future refer
ence. In addition, learning does
not stop when you turn your
tassel. So think it over before
you sell all of those books at the
end of the semester.
experienced South Dorm at NCWC.
Better known by its occupants as
"The Ghetto." 1 like to call it "The
Zoo." It reminds me of a condemned
apartment building that is being tak
en over by "Ex-Cons." You know,
the kinds where rats roam the halls
and drunks are seen lying in door
ways.
OK! OK! It is not quite that bad,
but we do have our own pyromaniac
and some very destructive vandals.
Why are these people trying to
destroy "The Ghetto?" Burning down
the house is some serious stuff. I
mean criminal stuff! We almost
caught the pyro, but Dr. McKita
backed out on the lie detector test.
(Oops! Did I say that? Sorry "Brother
McKita," I'll get back to you on
that!)
South is really a filthy place to
live. The halls are only mopped
about once a week. The bathrooms
are not even cleaned on a daily basis.
Very disgusting! There are parties in
the other dorms, and they are still
kept pretty clean. I mean, of course
they party, everyone does.
Well then, why is South Dorm
so repulsive? I do see the janitorial
crew is South each day. What are
they doing? Not much cleaning! The
janitors clean the other dorms so why
don't they clean South? I don’t know.
I will tell you one thing, I have
really picked up some strange pets
due to the amount of filth in "The
Ghetto." I own the largest cockroach
collection in the entire dorm. Pretty
impressive!
Well, that is enough for now. If
you are ever near "The Ghetto" tunnel
your way through and give me a
buzz. So Long Suckers!
Dear Editor;
It has now been several weeks
since the faU semester began, and
during this time we have used vari
ous ways to express our joy of being
at a college with "a house full of
students" for the first time after six
years. However, I believe the time is
here for us to think seriously as to
how we can keep this house "full" in
the next years, if not eternally!
Although debated several times
and kicked practically to its death,
one thing that still comes to life
again and again is the importance of
student retention; it is as vital to
retain as it is to enroll. It is just as
unwise to claim victory, in an elec
tion, based on reports from only half
the precincts! Therefore, we should
exercise somewhat of a constraint in
these felicitations and jubilations un
til we are proven successful also in
retaining a good percentage of them.
So, the next point is how do we
exactly achieve that? Personally, I
strongly feel that classroom experi
ences of our students are not likely
the main cause of their disenchant
ment. Of course, being a faculty
member myself, what else could I
say, you might murmur!
In fact, I may be partial to my
peers and, as a result, may not be
able to see some of the inadequacies
in classroom instruction. And you
may be right. However, I feel that
there must be a simple solution to
this problem viz; to see the in
structor, discuss the problem, and if
it is not resolved, take the case to
the Dean, or even to the President.
In most cases, I would imagine, this
approach would work.
Of course, if that is not the
problem then what is it? It has got
to be the "Student Life" side of it; by
that I mean life of a student on this
campus, outside the classroom.
I think the main inadequacy,
there, is being away from one's own
family. One may not want to admit
it; in fact, one may even portray
oneself as someone who had been
eager to get away from the family.
And one may indeed have been; but
that does not mean one doesn't miss
one's family.
Fun and games, independence and
parties, and other "social things" are
rapidly climbing up the ladder of
priorities of today's students. Yet,
there is that tremendous need to be
near your family, more at times than
a constant one.
Of course, for most that need can
be satisfied by a telephone call, a
letter, a "CARE" package, a frequent
visit, or all of fte above. And to
them, it might seem like adequate
bond with the family. But, then,
there are others for whom there
might not be any such affection
available, or this may not be an ade
quate expression of love and affec
tion.
I suggest that for such peopel we
introduce the Local Family Program,
similar to the Host Family Program,
run by many colleges and universi
ties which makes it easy for foreign
students to adapt to the new envi
ronment and gradually makes them
feel at home. If we can care about
such problems for them, we should
certainly care about problems of our
own students to the same extent, if
not more!
It is possible that many students
might just find this idea of having a
family here in, or around Rocky
Mount worth looking at, notwith
standing Rocky Mount, if not the
entire North Carolina, can indeed be
like a foreign country to some. They
could then go to meet their local
families whenever it is possible, and
thus be a part of it much the same
way they would be back home.
It is fair to assume that the local
community, including families of
some of the college staff and faculty,
would also be willing to be part of
such a program. While nothing can
be guaranteed, we should explore this
avenue seriously. To say the least,
this would perhaps kill the weekend
boredom and also the unending quer-
ries about what to do next.
Himanshoo V. Navangul, Ph.D.
Students misbehaved
Dear Editor:
soph-o-mor-ic adj. 2: conceited
and overconfident of knowledge but
poorly informed and immature.
I will begin this letter with an
apology to the sophomores because I
believe my annoyance is directed at
freshmen and freshwomen. I now
understand the source of the word:
fresh adj. 16: Bold and saucy; impu
dent.
The incident that has led to my
writing this letter is the (mis) be
havior of many of the Liberal Stu
dies students Thursday night at the
Wesleyan performance of the play,
Equus. The students talked, laughed,
giggled, hooted, and called to the
performers during the play.
One of the stated purposes of the
Liberal Studies course is to expose
new students to cultural events in
order to broaden their knowledge of
the arts. I doubt that Wesleyan's
faculty realized that some of the
students would need to be exposed to
socially appropriate behaviors as
well as to cultural events.
Dolores Wood
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Editorial Board — Eva Bartley, Donald Martin, Matt McKown,
Barry Nethercutt, Christopher OsUing, Tom Rivers, Linda Smith,
Laura-Lee Spedding, Greg Williams.
Illustrator — David Gilliam
Photographers — Glenn Futrell, Steve Wiggins
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