^ecree
VOL. 13, NO. 1
S^udcfe^ ^o^cce Scftce /9^4'
North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22,1997
‘Dissenter’ yearbook
raises some eyebrows
TEAM SPIRIT — Joyce Bobbit, back in the cafeteria kitchen,
says it was the Marriott’s Food Service team spirit that enabled
the staff to overcome problems caused by storm damage.
Storm damage leaves
havoc inside cafeteria
By ANNE BASULTO
It is not unusual for this area
of North Carolina to be hit by
torrential rainstorms during the
late summer; however, on Aug.
20 Rocky Mount was hit by a
raging rainstorm that caused nu
merous problems.
The Wesleyan campus was
particularly hard hit. The roof of
the cafeteria suffered enormous
damage. The roof was undergo
ing repairs at the time and part of
the temporary covering was
blown away. Huge sections of the
remaining roof capsized. Tthe in
terior of the building was flooded
with rainwater and extensively
damaged by falling debris.
It was immediately clear that
(Continued on Back Page)
By ANNE BASULTO
Wesleyan’s yearbook. The
Dissenter, is published every year
to provide students, faculty, and
staff with a record of the year’s
events and activities. Memories
are captured in pictures and in
articles which become part of the
college’s history. Unfortunately,
the 1997 issue which was released
at the beginning of this semester
was discovered to have several
blemishes.
Apparently a graduating staff
writer, a member of the Sigma Pi
Fraternity, was assigned to write
a mission statement setting out
the aims of objectives of the or
ganization. It is believed that a
possible dispute with fraternity
brothers caused the writer to make
unfavorable changes to the docu
ment before the yearbook was
sent for printing. The original
statement and the statement pub
lished in the yearbook were not
identical.
Members of the fraternity and
other students were outraged and
offended by the statement pub
lished. The Dissenter staff and
advisor were dismayed at their
attitudes. The angry students went
immediately to Dr. John White,
Wesleyan’s president, and com-
College binge drinking on rise
By ROCHELLE ROSEN
'Three Wise Men” has been
iinplicatcd in the death of one
Louisiana Stale University stu
dent and the hospitalization of
three others.
In this case ‘Three Wise Men”
i5 a popular bar drink that com
bines Bicardi 151 rum,
Jagermeister liqueur, and Crown
Royal whiskey usually consumed
in the form of a "shot.”
This recipe could spell disas
ter for anyone, but for the 20 year-
old LSU student it spelled death.
Benjamin Dayries Wynne is.
estimated to have consumed 24
drinks in one sitting. His blood
alcohol content was 0.55588 —
six times above the legal limit to
drive. Wynne was said to have
been celebrating fraternity pledge
night with 12 others at a bar near
the LSU campus. After an inves
tigation, hazing was said not to
have played a part.
As colleges across the country
welcome new freshman, the con
cern over binge drinking height
ens. Recent studies by national
organizations have shown good
reason to be concerned.
Recent studies show that binge
MARSHALL MURRAY, edi
tor of the 1997 Dissenter year
book, blames lack of student
communications for this year’s
problems with publication.
plained about the problem.
The yearbooks were recalled
and returned to the printers, Herff-
Jones. In each yearbook the pub
lished mission statement was cov
ered by a sticker which showed
the original statement. The cost
for the change was $100.
Then another staff member
came forward and offered infor
mation which suggested that per
sonal revenge was the reason for
the mission statement being
changed.
It seemed that The Dissenter
staff had noticed — but not ques
tioned — the content of the
changed statement. Marshall
Murray, editor, explained, “If we
would have known that this was
going to offend anyone we would
have changed it.”
“The page that represented the
organization did not seem offen
sive at first because much of the
information was inside informa
tion that only certain individuals
would understand,” Murray said,
adding, “The school needs to
come together to prevent this kind
of problem from occurring. Or
ganizations, athletic teams, the
staff, and students should com
municate better both with us and
with each other.”
What will The Dissenter staff
do to prevent this happening
again? According to Murray,
“Next time we will be more care
ful to ensure this won’t happen
again. We need the help of stu
dents.”
In the future, all copy submit
ted to The Dissenter will be re-
view'ed before going to print.
drinking is down across the coun
try but in one group — college
students. Binge drinking is de
fined as drinking five or more
drinks in one sitting.
One study by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
showed that 34 percent of college
students admit to binge drinking
in the past 30 days. The CDC
study showed that the epidemic
of drinking too much nowadays
presents a lot more problems than
a hangover the next morning. The
potential side effects of binge
drinking include date rape, HIV
(Continued on Back Page)
iii
Inside
Turn to pages 4-5 to take a look at improvements
being made to Wesleyan College’s quality of life.