PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — OCTOBER 25,1991
The Decree
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Co-Editors — John Fentress and James Oakley
Staff— CeciKa Casey» Nicole Cox, Trey Davis,
John Hearne, Kevin Hambrecht,
Stewart Crank, Joanna Holladay
The Decree is located in the Student Union, Ncn-th Carolina
Wesleyan College, Wesleyan College Sta^n» Rocky Mount, 1
2780Ll*«rficyisdet«inlnedbylliejedi “ ‘
aee. Re-publication of any nt£^ter herdt^ 'tvHSbttt^
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.
Life at Wesleyan
what vou make it
The most disturbing
phrases we hear on campus
often and from many students
are “I’m so bored. There's
never anything to do” and
“This school is so small, I’m
transferring to a bigger school
so I can have an easier and
better education.” These
statements are both untrue
and vmjustified.
First of aU, there is some
thing to do here. You simply
have to look aroxmd. There
are more than 15 clubs and
organizations on campus.
There are four fraternities and
two sororities. Intramurals
are played almost every day.
Our soccer and volleyball
teams each have home games
at least once a week, and
basketball season starts in just
a couple of weeks. Or how
about even getting a job on
campus?
Understandably, we do
realize the problem many
students might have with
getting involved in any such
organizations. Yes, you do
have to get out of bed or turn
off your Nintendo games or
put your beer down and ac
tually attempt to find some
thing going on. Although this
may be a difficult task, it is a
necessary step.
And after an exhaustive
search for something to do
that interests you and you stiU
remain bored, then start
something up yourself. Once
again we realize that this calls
for some initiative on your
process. The Director of Stu
dent Activities, Pam Gourley,
is always ready and willing
to help anyone get an idea
organized. The Student Gov
ernment Association is a very
useful tool in aiding anyone
who wishes or needs help.
Second^, to all those
people who think that they
are going to transfer to a
bigger school in order to get
a better or easier education,
good luck, because you’ll
have a hard time finding one.
The “small” number of stu
dents attending Wesleyan
makes it unique and more
appealing. Although a larger
school may have more to of
fer course-wise, Wesleyan
makes that up in offering a
more involved and intense
class.
Professors at Wesleyan go
out of their way to make sure
they know each of their stu
dents and they also give an
extraordinary amount of time
to go over problems which
might occur, where in most
other schools professors
couldn't care less. Students
don't realize the many ben
efits that are offered at our
school that would be lost if
they attend another school.
So remember, it is only the
lazy and ignorant who com
plain about not having some
thing to do here. Go to the
Student Life Center and find
out what's going on. Get in
volved. Learn to love Wes
leyan, and try to make it bet-
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31—'—
Senate was manipulated
Thomas used symbols to win
By DR. STEVE FEREBEE
Each of us develops symbols
from our particular experience
which can help others understand
us.
I, for instance, hate winter, so
I look in my garden for images of
other seasons. When I find cro
cuses, I know spring will soon
allow daylilies to announce early
summer; the sultry scent of moon
flowers to signal mid-summer;
Mexican sage blooms to herald
summer’s end. Even a picture of
these plants reminds me of these
seasons. They have become per
sonal symbols.
Since Judge Thomas used
“high-tech lynching” to describe
the Senate Judiciary Committee’s
treatment of him after Rofessor
Hill’s allegations, I have been
wondering about our national
symbols.
That we all understood what
image Thomas referred to prob
ably humiliates us. I thought of
the Faulkner story about a lynch
ing in which sex and^iolengi^e
inextricably coupled. And then I
remembered Lester Maddox,
running for governor of Georgia,
holding aloft a pickaxe handle as
a campaign image. Thomas had
successfiiUy diverted my attention
from Hill’s charges.
Symbols work. An image takes
on added meanings until it be
comes symbolic;"Md one symbol
leads to another. That’s why art
ists like symbols. Think of the
velvety but thorny rose; of the
comforting and eternal but awe
some and metamorphosing ocean.
Artists’ symbols generate mean
ings beyond the lines on the page
or on the canvas. The symbol in
art liberates rather than manipu
lates.
Because symboUsm is a pow
erful tool, we should not let our
politicians (or our artists) use
them when they are unwarranted,
^^tt'make no mistake about it,
t^^nce Thomas is a politician,
n® |(|u^e. He^ has spent most of
his professional life working as a
politically-appointed bureaucrat
and very little of it judging with
out direction from a White House
staff.
In order to ensure his position
on the Court he used an incendi
ary national symbol. He drove a
wedge between the people who
(Continued on Page 3)
Alcohol policy is dangerous
By JOHN HEARNE
In December of 1917, the
Congress of the United States
passed the 18th amendment
making the manufacture, distri
bution, and sale of alcohol ille
gal. What followed were some of
the bloodiest days in American
history as this badly conceived
law gave rise to organized crime
and the associated bloodshed as
rival gangs battled for territory.
Finally, in February of 1933,
Prohibition was repealed as a
complete policy failure.
Starting in September of 1991,
the administration of this college
began a policy of de facto prohi
bition. liie Office of Student Life
has severely limited the con
sumption of alcohol by all of it;,
students, in some cases even tliosc
who are over the legal drinking
age.
Just as the original Prohibition
produced bloodshed by gang
wars, this prohibition wiU produce
bloodshed as students begin to
drink and drive in increasing
numbers.
At the beginning of tliis school
(Continued on Page 3)