The Decree
VOL. 7, NO. 3 North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25,1991
Founders Day
convocation
held Thursday
Wesleyan’s 35th Founders
Day celebration was kicked off
Thursday with a morning convo
cation on the front lawn of the
Braswell Administration Build
ing.
Dr. Allen Johnson, professor
of history, was the convocation
speaker. Special awards were also
presented during the hour-long
ceremony.
Winning the Algernon Sydney
Sullivan Award was J. Richard
Futrell, Jr. of Centura Bank. The
Distinguished Alumni Award for
a professional went to Robert S.
Cairns (‘67) and for service to
the community to Patricia G.
Martin (‘69).
The Alumni Distinguished
Professor Award was given to Dr.
Richard L. Watson III, and the
Distinguished Staff award went
to Carolyn L. Whitener.
A special presentation was
made to recognize Poyner &
Spruill for the law firm’s
$125,000 contribution to the
Coital Campaign. The Board of
Trustees voted to name the major
conference room of the new Per
forming Arts Complex the “J. Phil
Carlton Room” in honor of former
Judge Phil Carlton who has served
on the board since 1969 and has
been chairman since 1974.
Service awards were also pre
sented. O.F. Dumas, a trustee
emeritus, was honored for 35
years, and 25-year awards went
to Lionel L. Bishop and Dr.
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f
Master storyteller to visit campus
Eastern North Carolina’s master storyteller Louise Anderson
wiU return to North Carolina Wesleyan College on Monday to
tell her stories as part the 1991 Visiting Writers Series. She
win be joined by the Wesleyan Singers and the Oak Grove
Inspirational Singers for an evening of stories and songs begin
ning at 7 p.m. in the Student Activities Center. The performance
is free.
SGA requests
extended hours
for visitation
The Student Government
Senate, responding to student
concerns over the current visita
tion policy, has asked Dean of
Student Life Pam Derrick to ex
tend visitation hours.
“The Senate agrees that the
extended visitation hours would
be a privilege which would pro
vide social and academic devel
opment for the resident students,”
said SGA President Carl Turner
in an Oct. 10 letter to Derrick
requesting the change.
With some stipulations, the
Senate requested Derrick to ex
tend room visitation on Sundays
through Thursdays until 1:30 a.m.
and on Fridays and Saturdays for
24 hours, with lobbies open for
visitation 24 hours every day.
The stipulations are that quiet
hours would remain in effect, the
residence halls exterior doors
would remain locked for security
purposes, that the roommate at
any time can ask the third party
to leave the room, and that the
opposite sex is not allowed to
sleep in the room but may visit or
study during the visitation hours.
Turner said that a review of
visitation policies at other col
leges and universities showed that
“many schools have begun to ex
tend visitation hours... as a result
of Co-ed residence halls as well
as Co-ed study partners which are
becoming more frequent on the
campuses across the United
States.”
The Senate conducted a cam
pus-wide survey of students who
live in residence halls, witii a
participation rate of 83 percent,
and found “the majority of the
resident students are in favor of
extended visitation hours,” Turner
wrote Derrick.
‘The Senate believes that no
major problems will arise as both
of the Co-ed halls (South and
North) have a student life staff
which is able to provide a safe
and quiet environment for its
residents, with members of the
opposite sex in the hall,” Tuma
wrote.
Turner also said that, except
for Edgecombe, the residence
halls had no isolated study room
for use of students of the oppo
site sex “except for the congested
and noisy lobbies.”
“Extended visitation would
benefit those who wish to study
in a peaceful environment with a
p«son of the opposite sex, as they
would be able to do so in the
privacy of their own room during
ajqnopriate visitation hours,” he
wrote.
Annexation expected to enhance campus security
By NICOLE COX
North Carolina Wesleyan
College was annexed into Rocky
Mount this year. But what exactiy
does annexation mean for the
students at Wesleyan? The col
lege administration says there is
nothing to worry about.
Being annexed to Rocky
Mount simply means that the
Rocky Mount Police Department
and Fire Department now serve
the Wesleyan campus, where in
the past Wesleyan had been
served by Nash County.
According to Assistant to the
President Fred Moore, “there is a
tremendous benefit to students,
faculty, and staff to be annexed
to the city.” For one thing, he
said, the Wesleyan campus will
receive a much faster response
time in the event of an emergency.
Wesleyan will also receive city
fire protection where before it was
served only by Nash County vol
unteer squads. In addition, the city
police and fire department will
assist campus staff with education
and safety programs.
Many students have been
concerned that annexation to the
city means “police can search our
rooms and arrest us,” as one stu
dent put it. But this is definitely
not the case. Dean of Student Life
Pam Derrick said, “The city
policy will treat our campus like
they would any apartment or
house.”
This means that police must
have a search warrant in order to
investigate a student’s room.
“The most efficient way to
understand this is to say that
Rocky Mount police are bound
by the Fourth Amendment on
search and seizure,” said Moore,
who is also an attorney. “They
will observe the Constitutional
protections that all of us have.”
Only if the police have probable
cause to believe criminal activity
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