NOVEMBER 20,1992 — THE DECREE — PAGE 5
Conversation leads to new perspective
By JUDITH BOYD
I had a remarkable conversa
tion with one of Wesleyan’s 262
commuter students the other day.
During the course of our conver
sation, we shared our different
perspectives about life as a Wes
leyan student There is an old In
dian proverb that you should
never judge a man until you have
walked for many moons in his
moccasins. When our conversa
tion finished, we both walked
away saying, “Wow! I never
thought about what it was actu
ally like to be in her shoes!”
Posters reflect
their candidate
(Continued from Page 4)
of the posters tries to stick out of
the garbage headfirst.
The Clinton/Gore signs are, of,
course, still running (in the rain).
The environmentally safe soy ink
on recycled newspaper
posterboard immediately begins
sliding off the paper and the old
words from the newspapers would
start showing through again. Un
fortunately, the newspapers con
tain the old stories about drafting
and waffling. These posters be
gin creating a wet blanket which
eventually suffocates everything
beneath them.
Now Perot’s posters turn out
to each contain a small listening
device with a camera first con
structed for Desert Storm but later
bought up by Mr. Perot and in
stalled on each of his posters so
that he could keep eyes on his
woricers. The computer back in
Dallas is now reccarding the de
mise of the Clinton/Gore posters
and the sticking-up of Quayle.
Suddenly the tape recorders also
installed on each poster begin
playing the national anthem and
a general rustling among aU the
posters begins as they try to stand
at attention.
Unfortunately, a wire in one
of the Perot posters shorts out and
starts a small fire. The hot air left
over fi'om the campaign blows
this small fire into a growing con-
cern. But not to worry, the
Clinton/Gore wet blanket effect
soon stops any possibility of
Perot’s conflagration.
Back in Dallas, Mr. Perot says
he finds it fascinating that his
small fire isn’t allowed to catch,
and he orders the attack helicop
ters protecting his home to speed
to Rocky Mount to raze that little
chicken farmer’s garbage dump.
As a resident student at Wes
leyan for the past four years, I
have become accustomed to cer
tain aspects of life here on cam
pus. My school day does not just
end with the last class of the day.
I am surrounded by Wesleyan, as
I go to class, meetings, and ac
tivities on campus; eat all of my
meals in the cafeteria; and am
surrounded by faces made famil
iar after spending long days and
nights together.
The only contact I have with
Rocky Mount occurs when I go
to the mall or movies, am invited
to someone’s home, or am par
ticipating in a community service
project. My life for the past four
years has revolved around Wes
leyan, and that wavy wall pro
vides a boundary for my exist
ence here in Rocky Mount.
My commuting friend was
amazed to hear how small my
“world” was. Wesleyan is just one
part of her life. She could not
imagine not going to a Little
League game, having neighbor
hood barbecues, or meeting
fiiends at church suppers. Her life
revolved around her community
of family and fiiends that came
from the neighborhood, work, and
church.
Opinion
When she comes to Wesleyan,
she arrives just before class and
leaves as soon as it is finished. If
she has to wait awhile for her
next class, she either sits in the
lobby at Braswell, goes to the li
brary, or else sits in her car. Dur
ing her four years at Wesleyan,
she has received a letter one time
from a SGA Commuter Repre
sentative. The most frustrating
aspect of being a commuter stu
dent at Wesleyan is that she does
not feel included by the majority,
which are the resident students.
She then asked me to think
about what it would be like to be
a commuting student, and what
would draw me to this campus. I
realized how lonely it could be,
unable to participate in the con
versations that resident students
would have about an event that
occurred in the residence halls or
cafeteria I would soon tire of sit
ting in the lobby or in my car in
between classes. It would also be
hard if I had a child and had to
get both of us up in the morning,
fed, dressed, and to the day care
center before my 8 a.m. class, or
else try and find a babysitter who
is willing to watch my child from
9:30 until 11 p.m. when that big
name comedian came to perform.
Our worlds are defined as we
wish them to be. I had sympathy
for my commuter friend and all
of the obstacles she faced in ob
taining something that is known
as the “traditional” coUege expe
rience. What surprised me was
that my friend in turn had sympa
thy for me! She showed me how
life on a college campus is a dif
ferent experience for each of us,
and that the “traditional experi
ence” may not be the best experi
ence.
I never realized how much I
had let that wavy wall around the
- campus become a wall around me.
Thank you for opening my eyes.
1 1
Re*i> The _
STOR.Y OM rw-,
PA&t 10. *===7*^
UiVtKK the ^
owesTioMs CM V
PA&e Z.O.
TH£N, THlKK
^BOUr vAIAT —
"FRiEHSSHIP"
HEABS TO C 3/
@
NeXT, WRITE A
PARAWUPH
«OOT
friendship, o—
©
VfhEN Yow'KE. cone
WITH the
RE» IT OVER,
COWCTtW?,
REViMlirE
ANV '^S^\
OotSTioUS?
(D '!
( WHAT N. Vid a 5
i
4Hi 1
1
Judicial Board defends work
(Continued from Page 4)
considers irrelevant. The cases
that we hear are often very diffi
cult to interpret and tend to
present conflicting testimonies.
For this reason we often have dif
ficulty sorting through the infor
mation to determine the truth.
niis brings me to the particu
lar case mentioned in The De
cree. The board offered advice to
the parties involved. However, in
the letters this non-threatening
advice was construed, misquoted,
misinterpreted, and taken grossly
out of context. The board’s main
point to the students was that you
must be aware of the situation
you are in and the actions of the
people around you. Hence, if you
realize their actions are inappro
priate or unacceptable, then re
move yourself from that situation.
And as many of those that know
me realize, I like to simplify and
clarify phrases and be as straight
forward as possible. Thus, I as
sure you, I was harmlessly restat
ing what the entire board was try
ing to say more subtiy.
Also, I would like to inform
everywie that your Judicial Board
does not choose which cases they
want to hear. We are given the
case on the day of the meeting
and have no previous knowledge
of the case nor of the situation.
Additionally, I want to explain to
the readers that the entire Judi
cial Board spent a total of nearly
six hours in two days hearing and
reviewing the information pre
sented from that case only; and
almost 10 hours in those same
two days hearing an additional
two cases. We all sacrificed a
great deal of our own time and
demonstrated our dedication to a
student’s right to due process.
We chose not to delay any of
the cases until after the weekend
so we had to meet on the next
day regardless of our busy sched
ules and previous commitments.
On the other hand, we aU made a
commitment to tlie Judicial Board
and I believe we did all we could
possibly do to act appropriately.
Unfortunately, it seems as though
our efforts and devotion were met
with extreme ridicule and unnec
essary chastisement. Neverthe
less, I am still proud to serve on
this year’s Judicial Board, and
will continue to respect, honor,
and uphold my position.
Matthew Snyder
‘Decree’ should
be more positive
Dear Editor:
Which is the blacker, the pot
or the ketde? In the Oct. 2 edition
of The Decree there appeared a
letter to the editor which was writ
ten by Joanna Holladay in which
there were four major themes. The
first of these was a complaint
about noise in the library gener
ated by student athletes. I have
no problem with her stated com
plaint. If there is disturbing noise,
the offenders should be identi
fied and the problem corrected.
I, too, have a complaint, but it
is conceming the judgment of the
editing staff of the newspaper. In
that same Oct. 2 edition there was
an editorial placing much empha
sis on “discriminatory” policies
within the athletic department.
Your editing staff then proceeded
to select one of the themes from
Ms. Holladay’s letter to use as a
basis for the letter headlines. The
connotation is that only athletes
make disturbing noises in the li-
brary. I hardly think so.
Why was that particular theme
of the lettCT chosen for headline-
making when there were three
other very positive themes within
the letter? Could it have been a
discriminatory act?
We live in this world such a
short time and I would suggest to
you that, when given a choice,
you dwell on the positive things
that happen in this community
rather than dig out the “dirty laun
dry.” A divisive element in a
small community such as ours can
leave large wounds. We don’t
need the pot calling the kettie
black.
Donald L. Scalf
Assistant Professor,
Physical Education