Wilt Bierteje
VOL, 4, NO. 12
NORTH CAROLINA WP]SLEYAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1989
Convocation honors students
I
TOP AWARD WINNERS — Wesleyan College President Dr.
Leslie Garner (right) presents Bobbie Jones (center) the Presi
dent's Cup Award and Graeme Stewart the Algernon Sydney
Sullivan Award during last Sunday’s Honors Convocation.
Proposal ties aid to service
Democratic leaders ended a
three-day conference in Philadel
phia March 11 with a talk not
about the budget, the Middle East
or the greenhouse effect but
about college students.
They want students to join the
military or perform a community
service in order to get financial
aid in the future, they said.
The aid, in turn, would be
grants — not loans — that, of
course, would not have to be re
paid.
And while the idea of swap
ping college grants for “national
service” is an old one, a number
of plans now before Congress
seems to have a chance of pass
ing this year, observers say. The
prospect, however, scares most
college groups.
“Our group is opposed to any
bill that would tie national serv
ice to financial aid,” said Janet
Lieberman of the U.S. Student
Association, which represents
campus governments around the
country in Washington, D.C.
“I don’t like it at all,” said
Daniel Martinex, financial aid
director at New Mexico High
lands University (NMHU).
Critics worry campuses will
become the exclusive property of
rich kids because everyone else
will be working in hospitals or in
the armed forces to get money for
college.
Yvette Torres of the National
Education Association, the
country’s biggest teachers’ un
ion, charges the idea presents
“serious obstacles to higher edu
cation” for middle and lower in
come students.
But some collegians like
NMHU student Suzy Chavez
says they like the idea, and the
political leaders like House
Speaker Jim Wright, Senate Ma
jority Leader George Mitchell,
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and
Democratic Committee Chair
man Ron Brown who promoted
the idea in Philadelphia March
11 called it a great way to feed
volunteers into the public sector
while teaching students that de
mocracy has a cost
Students also would graduate
debt-free, the Democrats said in
their two-hour presentation.
The most popular plan, spon
sored by Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.)
and Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-
Okla.), would junk the existing
financial aid system in favor of a
“Citizen Corps.”
Students would perform at
least one year of community
service — at, say, a hospital —
or enlist in the military for a
minimum of two years. They
(Continued on Page 4)
S.G.A. President Bobbie
Jones was the winner of the
President’s Cup and Graeme Ste
wart won the prestigious Alger
non Sydney Sullivan Award dur
ing North Carolina Wesleyan
College’s annual Honors Convo
cation, held last Sunday in the
Student Activities Center.
A special church service and
Sunday brunch preceded the
event, which drew approxi
mately 200 people.
Other top winners were Lev-
erett Tyrrell Smith III, who re
ceived the Outstanding Senior
Accounting Award, the Marc M.
Harris Accounting Award, and
the Alternating Cooperative
Education Award; and Lisa
Brumble-Griffin, who received
the Planter’s National Bank and
Trust Company Award for the
highest GPA for a graduating
North Carolina senior and the
American Institute of Chemists/
N.C. Institute of Chemists Foun
dation Award.
Other awards presented dur
ing the convocation were:
Freshman Writing Award:
Melissa Carey Joplin.
Planter’s Bank Award for
highest GPA for graduating sen
ior transfer: Michele Hill.
People’s Bank Business
Administration/Economics
Award: Daniel Glenn Wilson.
Computer Information Sys
tems Award' Wendy Dew Bass.
Outstanding Food Service
(Continued on Page 4)
Open Forum
stated April 20
A second Op«n Fo
rum ha.s been scheduled
for April 20 at 8 p.m. in
the Student Activities
Center,
The President’s Cou
ncil will once again field
questions from students.
The last open forum on
March 28 was attended
by 62 students.