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Founders Day brings the
“Old Rats” out of the barn
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Founders Day 2003, A Day to
Remember Our Past and Look
to our Future
By Ron Fitzwater
Ceremonies, celebrating the forty-
seventln anniversary of tlie founding
of North Carolina Wesleyan College,
were held on October 23'^'^ 2003, in
the Dunn Center for Performing Arts.
Festivities opened at 9:30 am
with the Scholarship Recognition
Ceremony held in the Mims Gallery,
which gave students and donors
an opportunity to meet one another
and exchange pleasantries. The
recognition ceremony was opened
by Dr. Philip Ellmore, Vice President
of Development. College President,
Dr. Ian Newbold then announced the
scholarship recipients and introduced
the donors present. Following the
Scholarship Recognition Ceremony,
the Founders Day Convocation
was held in Minges Auditorium.
Following the invocation by Rev.
George Jones, Pastor of Englewood
United Methodist Church, President
Ian Newbold welcomed the assembled
crowd and introduced two of the
original founders, Mr. William Harrison
and Rev. Thomas Collins, Wesleyan’s
first President, who were in attendance.
Speaking on the mornings Scholarship
Recognition Ceremony, President
Newbold said that, “It was fitting
that we recognized the scholarship
A
Wesleyan Football
Pres. Newbold Answers our
Questions
Over the past few weeks, the Decree
has been receiving some e-mail and
face to face requests to look into
concerns regarding the introduction
of football to the Wesleyan athletic
program. Previously, an article ran that
had a supportive slant to it regarding
the football program, (Oh Happy
Day!!!, Decree Vol19 No. 1), In this
issue, we offer the other side of the
topic, submitted by Jason Rice.
Given the fact that there seem to be
differing opinions and countless rumors
running around campus, we requested
interviews with President Ian Newbold
See “Founder’s Day” p.8 Allen Johnson Delivers The 2003 Founders Day Convocation Address
A Football Team,
Indeed
Another point of view
■A-
I
inside
Page 2
Editors Corner
Page 3-4
Commentary
Pages 5
Events
Page 6
Student Life
Page 7
Sports
Page 8
Leftovers
and Athletic Director John Thompson
to try and confirm or put to rest some
of those rumors. They were both
quick to accept our request and on
Tuesday 18 November, I sat down,
separately, with them to try and clear
up some of the confusion. This issue
we are happy to run the interview with
President Newbold. Please look for
Coach Thompson’s interview in the
next issue of the Decree.
Q&Awith President Newbold;
RF - There seem to be many rumors
around campus about whose idea
it was to bring football to Wesleyan;
some people say that you came here
with it part of your agenda, some are
saying that the Board of Trustees
gave you a little arm twisting to get
you to come on board with the Idea.
See “Football” page 7
By Jason Rice
When it was official that N.C.
Wesleyan was indeed going to have a
football program beginning in the fall of
2004, I was happy.
I was glad to learn that we have
enough money in our budget to fund
another athletic team. I’m glad to
know that our classrooms are as
technologically sound that we cannot
improve any further. I’m
glad that I like sitting in the old wooden
desks in Pearsall that
squeak so loudly some times that it is
difficult to hear the professor, i’m glad
that the window air conditioner units
function just fine. I’m glad the money
set aside for athletics isn’t going to
be spent on academic programs;
who came here to learn anyway?
Wesleyan is constantly making the
list of the best small colleges in The
Princeton Review, Book of Colleges.
I’m glad that our academic curriculum
is so rigorous and diverse that I can
take a course in anything that I may
desire. I’m glad we are going to have
an additional amount of football players
attending,because historically football
players have always been known to
elevate test scores. I’m glad that we
aren’t going to spend money on any
renovations for the residence halls; it’s
not that bad to live here. The library
has always had every book I have ever
wanted to consult, so there is no need
for improvement there.
With that being said, you can bet
that I will be cheering the loudest
when the football team hits the field
for the first time in 2004. Thank You
Wesleyan.
Sarcasm is a beautiful thing.
It is clear with the addition of
the football team that Wesleyan is
committed to the quantity of students
and not the quality. I understand
economics; more students equal more
money, but we do not need to focus
on bringing more students here by
creating more programs when the
programs that already exist are only
functioning on a mediocre level. The
main focus of any college should be
academics.
But, if mediocre is the level that we
are comfortable with, then we are well
on our way.
Please address coments to:
ncwcdecree@journalist. com
if full, use:
ncwcdecree2@journalist. com
NoRTh CARoliNA WEslEyAN CollEqE Rocky Mount, NoRih CaroUna 27804