Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Feb. 22, 1991, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — FEBRUARY 22,1991 The Decree OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE Editors— Dhana Chesson and John PerneD Staff—Jamie Stump, James Oakley, Alan Felton, Trey Davis The Decree is located in the Student Union, North Carolina Wesleyan College, Wesleyan College Station, Rocky Mount, NC 27S01. Policy is determined by the Editorial Board oiThe Decree. Re-publication of any matter herein without the ex press consent of the Editorial Board is strictly forbidden. The Decree is: composed and printed by Ripley Newspapers of Spring Hope, Opinions published do not necessarily reflect those of North Carolina Wesleyan College. Wesleyan needs major in theatre The North Carolina Wes leyan College charter states that the “liberal arts are the foundation of its degree pro gram.” The absence of a major in the theatrical arts causes the college to be unable to fulfill the purpose of providing a well balanced liberal arts education. The installment of a theatre major will benefit the student body, faculty, and the entire Rocky Mount community. Ten smdents currently en rolled at NCWC are interested in pursuing a degree in theatre. These students will be forced to leave the college over the next year in order to study theatre unless the administra tion of NCWC moves to insti tute the theatre major. In addi tion to students currently en rolled, the college would be able to attract a number of prospective students with the mtroduction of a theatrical aits major. Hence, installing this program would help with stu dent retention as well as in crease prospective enrollment. The entire community of Rocky Mount would benefit from the theatre major. NCWC would be able to offer an im portant and culturally signifi cant addition to the fine arts facilities of the area. NCWC is already a leader in the growth of eastern North Caro lina and instituting a theatre major would add to this lead ership. NCWC would be rec ognized as a true center for the pursuit of the liberal arts and therefore would be in ac cordance with its charter. A theatre major is neces sary at NCWC. Student inter est in the program is great and faculty su{qx)rt is growing. The editors of The Decree wish to add their voices to the in creasing movement in favor of this much needed field of study. Qeorge CBusfi's ^op ^en Reasons Qoing to ^ar Irac^ 1. Latest census information sfiowecC tfiat 90% of the Ira^ipopuCation enjoyed SroccoCi 2. SacCdam saicC fiis missiCes were Bigger 3. 9{aped Tfan Qi^ayCe lUouCd Se drafted 4. The ‘fuCe Log toCd fiim that Saddam murdered Laura ^aCmer 5. Was Sored zdth his 9\(intendo 6. Oil, oiC, and more oiC 7. CharCes gating said Iraq had investment potential 8. (Bet (jorSachev that he coutdf^CCmorepeopCe in the month of January 9. IsraeC adopted new zoning taws 10. ^red cf Iraqi rumors that he wore ‘BarBara's underwear A richness of differences Human diversity special By DR. STEVE FEREBEE Once I was in Miami at a con ference. I was talking to a woman from South Africa about Nadine Gordimer’s novel July’s People. We suddenly noticed that we were surrounded by Miss Teenage America contestants and their mothers discussing proper lM«ast positions for the stage show. This incident has become one of my favorite examples of ironic juxta position. Do some migrating geese want to fly south instead of north? Do polar bears suddenly decide to try Jamaica? Do preying mantis wives throw off evolution and not eat their husbands? Does adaffo- dil indulge in a desire to dye it self Uue? Certainly other creatures of nature have options and must make changes in order to adapt, and surely we all know that ani mals (and some of us know that Dr. Steve Muses plants) have personalities which distinguish them from one an other. But the human being? Good grief, what a boiling cauldron of iireccHicilable disparities we hu mans be. Contrast Jesse Helms with Harvey Gantt. Pro-lifers with pro- choicers. Donald Trump with Ralph Nader. Well, all this {Heambling is by' way of telling you about my weekend. I spent Saturday list^- ing to peqple gathered togeth^ to figure out how to m^e AIDS research and drug experimenta- ticNi more available. The wildl^r mismatched proposals left me despairing of |inraediate progress. But the variety of people is what I went away thinking about. I met a mother who has lost both her daughters to AIDS. They left three HIV-positive children. The medical biUs have destroyed her life; her husband committed suicide. She and the three grandkids lived on the street for almost a year. Greg is a a gay man who has been sick with AIDS for seven years, an extraordinarily long time. He has a list of several drugs that the government is blocking; he has in his other hand a list of used for body building the government approved durinife^^e h^as b^n sick. Patni^TO a lawyer who lives in a fancy condominium and spends most of his professional life pushing the legal system to protect AIDS patients and urging the medical profession to experi- (Continued on Page 3) No one language should be superior to another Dear Editor In a recent article (the Triangle’s Independent Weekly, Jan. 23), Hal Crowther wTote, “I have to assume that each human being with the gift of language loves and values his native tongue as much as I do... Language isn’t some dispassionate choice, a neutral tool you can trade up for advantage like an automobile. It’s your lifeline, the umbilical cord that connects you to everything around you and everything that came before; it’s in your blood.” I think this relates to one'of the issues raised in the English lan guage controversy in your col umns. Whether or not the use of Standard English empowers mi nority speakers, the “authority” of Standard English should be very carefully advanced. I sus pect some of the defensiveness of English instructors derives from die tenuous nature of the language. All academics watch in horror as “doing good” replaces • “doing well” in common speech, as in an earlier time “due to” was 1 allowed to be used for ‘‘because Letters to the Editor of.” It is hard to stand guard over so fickle a treasure as language. I must agree with Margee Morrison that instead of con demning non-standard usage in an authoritarian manner it would be better to teach how the “error” correlates to the minority lan guage just as all teachers of sec ond languages explain the struc tural differences between the two tongues. The use of clear and coherent Standard English is not hurt by accepting the validity of other forms of English — Hispanic, Cockney, Black, Pidgen, Welsh, or Appalachian. These languages are often the artful, poetic ex pression of peoples deprived of a wealth of creative expression. Similarly, one recognizes the riches Native Americans and Af rican-Americans have added to present /^eriq^ ]Rnglish. . It is essential in our time of growing bigotry, patriotism, and other excluding processes to as sert an equality of all language. Suzanne Langer made much of the power of language as that which makes us human. However imperfect or diverse, all language is the natural achievement of our species. Unlike Mortimer Adler who asserts that non-western peoples have not as yet produced any literature worthy of entering the canon as “great literature,” we are able to appreciate the influ- (Continued on Page 3) r J '
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