Volume XXI, Number 5 and for the Wesleyan community.
5 February 2006
N^^TH^A R O LI N A WESLEYAN COLLEGE ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA 27804
NCWC To Be Slmimer, Smarter, Giving and Forgiving in 2006
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By Jessica Bowen
Decree Managing Editor
Members of the Wesleyan community set
goals for 2006 by making resolutions that range
from getting more exercise to strengthening
relationships.
Improving health was a common resolution
for students, staff and faculty. Freshman Sarah
Smith plans to run daily while assistant football
coach Gerald Jones has resolved to lose weight.
Junior Cornelius Grimsley noted that his resolu
tion was “to lose weight and overall be healthier.”
James Parrigin, reference and instruction
librarian, and senior Charity Gray plan on getting
more exercise in 2006. Besides devoting more
time to prayer. Chaplain Barry Drum intends to
hit the weight room four days a week. Senior
Morgan Cable set a goal to “stop smoking
completely.”
Along with becoming healthier, many
students pledged to concentrate on schoolwork.
Cristin Jones, a junior, says her resolution is
to “try to get a 3.0 GPA for the semester” and
freshman Michael Williams says his goal is to
“get schoolwork done, better than I did last year.”
Walter Whitman’s resolution was simple: he
just plans on doing better in school. Added Gray
“I want to focus on my last semester and prepare
myself for graduation and my future.”
Some resolutions were automotive in nature.
Junior Megan Barrett wishes to keep her car
cleaner while sophomore Jamal Meekins wants
to get both his license and a car.
Many respondents created mottos for the
new year as sophomore Laveme Scott shows:
“Live every day until it’s your last and leave no
stones unturned.” This year freshman Jordan
Sanders’ motto is “to learn to forgive, but not
forget.”
Many resolutions were aimed at making
small gestures toward self-improvement. “My
New Year’s resolution is to cut out profanities,”
said sophomore Kyle McCandless. Sanders said
she is going “to try being a better person and
leam to let go of grudges.”
“To be faithful in minute things” is junior
Kimla Brandt’s resolution, and senior Kathleen
‘Miss Beulah’ Grateful
For Holiday Blessings
By Erika Stallings
Decree Staff Writer
Security officer Beulah Guion ex
pressed gratitude to her co-workers at NC
Wesleyan College for helping to turn a
bleak Christmas 2005 into one to cherish.
Known to many on campus as “Miss
Beulah,” Guion was already taking care
of one grandson when, in October, she
welcomed two more young grandchildren
into her home after a social services agency
removed them from their mother’s care. “I
didn’t want them to separate the children
from each other,” Guion explained.
Already balancing work and child care,
Guion suffered a new setback in December
as she was hospitalized for seven days with
an illness. “I began worrying about the bills,
the gifts for the children, and food,” Guion
recalled. “And so I prayed to God and asked
him ‘What am I going to do?’ He answered,
‘I got you covered.’”
Responding to a call put out by Dean
of Students Peter Phaiah, the NC Wesleyan
athletic department, faculty and staff donated
cash, a Christmas tree as well as Barbie
dolls and other presents for the children.
“On Christmas morning,” Guion said,
“it was very overwhelming for me and the
kids. I cried on the day of Christmas and I
still do until this day. I’ve realized there are
people who do care and love me.”
Judd plans on “getting her life together.
Assistant Professor of English James
Bowers says he is going to try to “make more
time for my wife,” and freshman Jamie Sanders
says “My new year’s resolution is to let separa
tion strengthen my relationship as opposed to
hindering it.”
New Year’s resolutions can often be
beneficial, according to Assistant Professor of
Psychology Fred Sanborn. “Studies have shown
numerous times that behavioral strategies work
best when people are trying to make changes,”
Dr. Sanborn said. “Often, that means setting up a
positive reinforcement or reward system.”
Dr. Sanbom went on to explain that the
reward system will work for most people with
goals like losing weight. It’s often effective, he
said, to reward progress in meeting intermediate
goals, for example: ‘I will buy myself a new CD
if I lose three pounds by February 15.1 will re
ward myself with another CD if I lose two more
pounds by March 1.’” Explained Dr. Sanbom,
“That kind of system seems to work much better
than when people, for example, just try to force
themselves to go exercise.”
The Rev. Dmm agreed that it’s important
to set “realistic goals” for the new year. “Many
Americans have blown off their resolutions
by Febraary,” he said, “because they have set
unrealistic goals.”
Although many respondents made resolu
tions for 2006, many said that they either don’t
believe in resolutions or that they have stopped
making them.
“I don’t make resolutions, but try to be the
best person I can be all the time,” explained
Kathy Wilson, assistant professor of business.
Mel Oliver, an assistant professor of busi-
Legacy of Dr. King Lives On
By Shannon Williams
Decree Editor
“I am happy to join with you today in
what will go down in history as the greatest
demonstration for freedom in the history of
our nation.” So begins the speech written
over 40 years ago by civil rights advocate Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., entitled “I Have a
Dream”. The speech, urging America to leam
to live together as one, was and is still revered
as one of the greatest speeches ever written.
Dr. King, bom January 15,1929, was a
dominant force in the civil rights movement
beginning in the late 1950’s. During this pe
riod, minorities were treated as inferior to the
whites, being denied freedoms ranging from
attending school together to drinking out of
the same water fountain. Dr. King worked hard
until the day of his death, hoping to promote
unity among a divided people.
North Carolina Wesleyan College cel
ebrated the life and achievements of Dr. King
during a memorial service held January 16 in
the Leon Russell Chapel. At the beginning
of the ceremony, William C. Jones, a senior
and member of Phi Beta Sigma, recited the
poem “Invictus”, written by William Ernest
Henley. The poem stresses the struggle of
the individual, which symbolizes Dr. King’s
struggle towards unity. The guest speaker was
Dr. Donaldson Jones, pastor of Mt. Zion First
Baptist Church of Rocky Mount.
The Rev. Barry Drum, NCWC chaplain
and religious studies professor, introduced
the speaker, who happened to be an old friend
of his. Drum recalled a lunch he recently had
with Dr. Jones, expressing amusement in the
irony of “a black man and a white man having
lunch in a Mexican restaurant.” Then, on a
serious note, he told the audience of about 75
that it was a display of the camaraderie that Dr.
King would have wanted, because despite the
race difference, he and Jones were “brothers of
the same struggle.”
During Jones’ speech, he constantly
reminded the audience of how great Dr. King
was and how hard he worked towards equality
between all men. “He sought the redemption
of our society that was going down the drain
of segregation,” Jones said. Jones referred the
audience to King’s “Letter from Birmingham
Jail,” a response to a published letter in a
Birmingham newspaper written by eight
Alabama clergymen, calling the African
American’s unity demonstrations “unwise
and untimely”. Jones said the letter was even
more articulate than the “I Have a Dream”
speech. “It represents the eloquence of the
greatest theological, philosophical, spiritual
mind in the worid,” he said. After the speech,
the audience, led by the Mt. Zion First Baptist
Church choir and NC Wesleyan’s own Voices
of Triumph gospel choir, joined together in
singing “We Shall Overcome”.
One student expressed his personal
thoughts on the holiday set aside for Dr. King.
“To me, it is a day that African Americans
can proudly celebrate the fact that an African
American man is remembered for his positive
influence on America,” said junior George
Lassiter. “As a black person, I notice that
society and the media stereotype blacks as
negative influences, so it’s a nice change from
the norm.”
But as Drum stated at the end of the
ceremony, “It’s not just a ‘black’ holiday; it’s a
holiday for everyone.” He wanted the audience
to remember that although recalling the prog
ress blacks have made in society is important,
it’s equally important to recognize the progress
the nation has made in uniting as one.
OBITUARY
Rev. Dr. Thomas Collins:
First NCWC President
The Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Collins, the first
president of NC Wesleyan, died December 12
at Duke University Hospital following a stroke.
He was 84.
Dr. Collins had been in good health and,
with his wife, Anna, was an annual visitor to
NC Wesleyan’s Founders’ Day. He and Mrs.
Collins had attended that event most recently
last October.
Dr. Collins was named president in 1959
and served for 16 years. At his inauguration,
Dr. Collins pledged himself to see “that the
torchlight of tmth may be kept burning with
increasing brightness.”
Under his leadership, capital investments
made possible the construction of the college’s
main buildings on the 200-acre site donated by
the M.C. Braswell heirs of Rocky Mount. In
1964,33 students received their degrees at NC
Wesleyan’s first commencement.
The next decade saw the completion of
principal construction on campus as well as the
addition of Everett Gymnasium, the Elizabeth
Braswell Pearsall Library and Spruill Infirmary.
Collins Hall, one of the residence halls, is named
in his honor.
Dr. Collins’ wisdom, humor, and dedication
to the Lord inspired and touched many lives
throughout his 61 years as a Methodist minister
in the North Carolina Conference. He was pastor
in eight churches and secretary of the Board
of Missions of The United Methodist Church,
during which time he established more than
72 new churches. He served as assistant to the
Bishop and Cabinet for Extension and Church
Development, and district superintendent of the
Raleigh District. Earlier, he served pastorates in
Atlanta, Raleigh, and Gatesville, N.C.
ness, remarked that it’s pointless for him to make
resolutions each year. “I don’t make resolutions
because 1 never keep them,” he said.
Added Scott Marsigli, WesBridge coordina
tor and pre-major advisor in the Student Support
Center: “I used to promise to quit smoking every
year, but I always fail to keep that, and many of
my other New Year’s resolutions. Now my resolu
tion is more general, to live to see another year.”
Unrest Leads
To Expulsion
Of 7 Freshmen
By Ron Fitzwater
Decree Editor-at-Large
Over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
weekend, the campus of NC Wesleyan was
the scene of violent incidents that left school
and personal property damaged, nerves
rattled, a hamster dead, and seven students
expelled from the college.
Beginning shortly after 11:30 p.m. on
Sunday January 15 and ending in the early
morning hours of January 16, a group of
freshman males from Petteway Hall were
involved in what Petteway Residence Direc
tor Paul Seeley described as “unauthorized
intrusions into a women’s residence hall,
a violation of campus rules.” According to
several sources, each of whom requested
anonymity, the male students “came in
Edgecombe by putting one of them through
a window. He crawled down the hallway
and opened a door to let the rest inside.”
Once inside, the group began to set off
firecrackers before fleeing the scene. The
action was repeated in Edgecombe three
times, with the Rocky Mount Police Depart
ment being called by uneasy students, the
sources said.
Sometime after the incidents at
Edgecombe, a different group of students
vandalized the lobby of Petteway, resulting
in overturned furniture and ketchup- and
mayonnaise-stained floors, said Seeley who
added that the investigation is continuing.
At one point duing the string of events, a
student, whose identity is being withheld
by this reporter, had personal items thrown
out the window of his room, including
clothing, a television and a mattress. During
the incidents, the student’s pet hamster
was killed.
Security officer Jackie Jones confirmed
the vandalism, which was reported to her by
campus security officer Brown, who had
been on duty during the time of the incidents.
So far the college administration has
identified and expelled seven students. “The
investigation is not complete” commented
Seeley, “and I have full confidence that the
administration will deal with developments
in a way that best fits the Wesleyan com
munity at large.”
NC Wesleyan President Dr. Ian
Newbould commented on the incidents,
saying, “Unfortunately, sometimes students
do dumb things, and sometimes they do good
things, and in this case seven students crossed
the line.” When asked if the incidents could
have been prevented. Dr. Newbould stated,
“You can’t turn dorm life into a police
state. Students violate the rules all the time,
and sometimes they are more serious than
others. So, short of creating a police state,
which no one wants, or intends to do, stu
dents have to leam to live in a community.”
As the college continues its investiga
tion, the Decree is looking into reports that
perpetrators of the vandalism posted photos
of the incidents on Facebook.com.