since 1960 “of, by, and for the Wesleyan community.”
March 31, 2011
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA 27804
Cost of Wesleyan Education To Rise 6.88 Percent
■ Olive College admissions counselor, their who’s from Germany.
Leila Heinonen
Carl Lewis, NC Wesleyan's faculty athletic representative, accepts the college's
first ever All-Sports Trophy for men's athletics from Rita Wiggs, commissioner of
the USA South Athletic Conference. See article pn page 3. si photo.
Bishoops Take USA-S Tourney,
Season Coiiies to End in NCAAs
Decree Staff Writer
NCWC will increase tuition and room
and board 6.88 percent for 2011-12,
pushing the total costs from $30,940 to
$33,070 per year.
Total educational fees will rise 8
percent, with 5.17 percent of that increase
going toward tuition and 2.83 percent
financing a new textbook program. Room
rates wUl increase 3.43 percent and board,
3.9 percent, college officials announced.
The increase is the highest in three
years. President Gray said he was not
happy to announce the increase but
believes that it will improve the college
and the student leaming experience. “Our
mission is to provide a better school
every semester,” he said.
According to President Gray, NCWC
is going through many changes and
improvements to become the “America’s
next great college.” One of the big
changes next year is to include the cost
of books in the tuition fee. Wesleyan is
going to purchase books for students and
rent them each semester. “It has become
a problem that students don’t buy books
or they get them too late,” said President
Gray. “It,’s our responsibility to provide
tools to leam.” The book charge per
semester is $325, calculated into the
tuition increase.
President Gray emphasized that
NCWC is not the only school that has
increased Uiition. Mount Olive College
and Barton College both are increasing
the tuition as well, he said.
According to Jazmine Wheeler, a
Barton College admissions counselor, the
tuition will increase 5.2 percent next year.
And according to Tiff'any Grandi, Mount
Taal Appointed
Soccer Coach
By Decree Staff
Frankie Taal has been named men’s soccer
coach at NC Wesleyan following the an
nouncement that Jasrai Kilby has accqjted the
head positicm at Mary Washington University
inVuginia
“He’ll do a tremendous job. He knows
the ins and outs. He’s been instrumental in
building our program,” Kilby said of Taal,
adding that his long-time assistant has been
“like a family member. Til miss him.”
Frankie Taal will now lead the NCWC
mens soccer team. si photo
Taal, a native of Gambia, has been an
assistant fcr the past seven seasons. Prior to
joining Wesleyaa he was an assistant coach
for the Bethany College men’s team. He
saved two seasOTS as head women’s coadi at
Bethany, his alma matff in West Viiginia
During his playing career, Taal was a
two-time Presidents’ Athletic Caiference
all-confetence selection. He was a member of
the Biscms’ 1994 national championship team.
Kilby leaves after nine seasrais at the
helm of the Bishqjs. His teams have posted
a 12043-13 overil reccsd. Last season, the
Bishqjs won the regular season USA South
championship with a 5-0-1 leccmJ, including
a 3-2 upset victray oi Octoba 13 against rival
Christcpher Newpwt, vittch was then ranked
numba cme in ttie countiy. The Bishops lost to
CNU, 3-1, in the conference tournament, and
failed to gain an at-laige bid to the NCAAs
despite its 13-4-2 ovaall lecrad.
Under Kilby, the team’s most impressive
season was 2007, when the Bishops—
ranked number two in the nation for most
See TAAL pg 3
tuition will increase 5 percent.
President Gray noted that the national
recession is stiU affecting Wesleyan and its
students. ‘XDur cost goes up every year, and we
also want to improve the campus,” said Gray
According to President Gray and Vice
President of Finance Loren Loomis-
Hubbell, the school will improve in many
ways. The plan is to replace carpeting
and conduct other renovations to some
sections of the residence halls, improve
the cafeteria, upgrade technology,
enhance class room environments, as
well as providing textbooks.
Some Wesleyan students were not
pleased about th^ tuition increase. Some
international students said that they will
now face problems with financing their
studies next year. “I’m already struggling
to pay the tuition this year and I don’t
know if I can afford to come back next
semester,” said junior Kristin Seidel,
By Leila Heinonen
Decree Staff Writer
The pink Wesleyan Villas sign
welcomes you to the new clean
neighborhood, north of campus. The
front sides of the light yellow and beige
townhouses are packed with students’
cars. I ring the doorbell while admiring
the fresh light yellow paint on the walls
and the beautiful front porch. Melanie
Rhodes welcomes me in. I am facing
the large open space with a chestnut
colored hardwood floor and a new big
kitchen with granite countertops. The
big windows on both sides of the house
create natural bright light to the kitchen
and living room area. The furniture
was still missing but the baby grips
and car seats catch my eye. Rhodes
tells me that there are six students and
two babies, 9- and 18-month-old girls,
living in this townhouse.
According to Steve Myszak, director
of residence life, there are 17 students
living at Wesleyan Villas. There are
three different townhouses; one is hous
ing six male students, the second has six
female students and two babies, and the
last one consists of five female students.
There were more than 35 applicants
but only 17 of them were chosen. “We
didn’t really have any particular criteria
but we emphasized the GPA, number of
credit hours, and their classification,”
said Myszak. “We wanted to get the
commuters back to campus area.”
Commuters Rhodes, Jessica Jackson,
Nicole Drake, and Malaika Mussa
moved back on campus for a number
of reasons. “I moved here because of
the easy access to school, work, and
everything I need,” said Rhodes, “and
it is cheaper to live here than renting an
apartment alone in Rocky Mount, and
paying utilities.” Mussa agreed with
Rhodes: “I moved here because I lived
in Goldsboro and it was really expen
sive to drive back and forth or rent an
apartment alone.” The commuters were
also promised $1,000 towards their
, financial aid if they return to campus.
“The townhouses are nice because it’s
included in financial aid and you do not
necessarily have to cough up money
every month,” said Drake.
Jakob Aronsson, Morten Granan,
Kieran Bertsch, and Brittany Holiday
agreed that the Wesleyan Villas are
better comp'ared to dorms. Bertsch
wanted to move away from the dorms
but still be able to socialize and have
fun with roommates. “And of course to
get away from the caf food,” he said.
The students at Wesleyan Villas are
required to get the commuter meal plan
of 50 meals for $260 instead of the full
meal plan for $2,050 which is manda
tory for the dorm residents. “We save
a lot of money because we don’t have
to pay for the full meal plan at school,”
said Bertsch. Holiday was glad to move
out of the dorms. “Dorms were noisy
Swedish student Jakob Aronsson
agreed with Seidel. ‘The tuition increase
doesn’t sound good, and it will definitely
affect my decision to come back,” he said.
Tija Riley thinks that many students will
not come back or will transfer because they
can’t afford to attend Wesleyan. She added
that she would like to see where tiie money
goes. “It’ll be tough to pay the increase but
I want to finish my degree,” said Riley.
Junior Justin Wolf thinks that the
school is overpriced. He said he’ll be able
to pay the tuition next semester, “but it
will hurt in the long run, because I have to
pay all my student loans back,” he said.
President Gray has faith in NCWC
and believes that the college can be
“America’s next top school.” Emphasiz
ing the importance of education, the
president said he feels that it is a smart
investment. “It’s worth it,” he said.
and full of drama,” she said. “I couldn’t
study or eat at the caf.”
The town houses have two and a half
bathrooms, one master suite, and three
bedrooms upstairs. They are spacious
and bright because of the open floor
plan and big windows. There are two
different types of rooms: single rooms
that cost $2,635 and double rooms for
$2,550 per serriester, including utilities.
For the dorms, the single room rate is
$2,350 and double room rate is $1,895.
Even if it looks hke living in the villas is
more expensive, the students save a lot
of money when they are not required to
take the full meal plan.
Rhodes is sharing the master suite
downstairs with Drake. “I really like my
room, and especially the bathroom includ
ing the hot tijb,” said Rhodes. Bertsch also
enjoys the master room in his place. “I love
our room. It’s spacious,” he said, “and the
walk-in-closet is really big but I guess it’s
more important for girls than for guys.”
Jessica Jackson and Malaika
Mussa wanted to have the single rooms
because they both have baby girls hving
with them. “I have an 18-month-old
daughter so I wanted to get the single
room for us,” said Jackson. Mussa is
also happy that school provides the
opportunity for the mothers to live with
their kids. “It would be great if we could
have one whole house for students who
are also mothers,” she said.
_ It is not a surprise that all the students
enjoy living at Wesleyan Villas. “I really
like living here,” said Rhodes, “especially
the home feeling.” Rhodes is also happy
to have polite and friendly roommates.
“I really like the girls, and especially the
kids,” she said. “I have grandchildren so I
love to be around kids.”
All the students were excited about
having their own kitchen, where they ■
can cook and hang out together. “We
cook a lot in this kitchen,” said Mussa.
“Sometimes we cook and eat together
with our friends.” Bertsch, Aronsson and
Granan emphasized the flexibility. “We
have more flexibility when to eat and what
to eat,” Bertsch said. “At the caf there
are stiict eating times and not tiiat many
dinner options,” he said. Granan added,
“We also have a great group of guys living
here and it makes it more fun.”
Even if the life at Wesleyan Villas
looks new and exciting, there have been
some problems with the houses, rules, and
the neighbors. As late as mid Febmary,
students were complaining about the miss
ing living room furniture and appliances.
In a more recent interview, Myszak
reported that it took up to eight weeks
to obtain the custom-designed furniture
needed for the town houses. He said
that he was notified late last semester of
the finalized plans to move Wesleyan
students into the Villas.
See VILLAS pg 4
By Kevin Quicker
Decree Sports Writer
One member on the USA South
all-conference first team, two '
members on the all-conference
second team, conference coach of
the year, regular-season conference
champions, conference tournament
champions and a trip to the NCAA
tournament. This was the impres
sive resume of the NC Wesleyan
men’s basketball team for the 2010-
11 season.
The team finished with a 21-7
record over all and art 11 -1 mark
in the conference. The Bishops
took advantage of their home court,
winning all 14 of their games at
Everett Gymnasium. But their hopes
of a NCAA championship ended in
the first round against Franklin and
Marshall as the team lost by a score
of 69-56 in Norfolk, Va.
Junior Matt Dougherty (15.3 ppg)
was selected as a member of the
USA South all-conference first team,
juniors Alex Murray (12.4 ppg) and
Domarius Thomas (14.1 ppg) were
on the second team, Ric Yarbrough
was placed on the all-sportsmanship
team, and head coach John Thomp
son was the USA South coach of
the year for the second consecutive
season. Thomas was chosen the
MVP of the conference tournament.
Coach Thompson saw the poten
tial in his team early on. “As soon as
the first practice began, I knew we
could become the team we were,”
said Thompson. “We were always
evolving and getting better every
Contested Elections
For Wesleyan’s SGA
SGA elections are in progress, with
winners to be announced by April 1,
current board members announced.
Running for president are three juniors—
Jamie McClease, Megan Simpson and the
current SGA secretary, John Williamson.
The winner will succeed Jacob Strick
land, who has served an unprecedented
three consecutive years in office.
The other contested race is for vice
president, with Erick Higginbotham and
Marcus Wright as the declared candidates.
Unopposed are Vivian Brown
for treasurer and Sharise Jones for
secretary.
day and we became a great team by
the end of the season.”
This Wesleyan team achieved two
“firsts”—the first Wpsleyan men’s
hoops team to win back-to-back
regular season champions and the
first to claim both the regular season
and the conference tournament titles.
It was not an easy road for the
Bishops. The preseason poll pre
dicted Wesleyan would finish fifth
in the conference. On hearing that,
Murray wanted to prove the doubters
wrong. “I knew we had a good
team before the season started.” he
said. “With the great teammates I
have, I knew we could play against
anyone.” And that they did, beating
last year’s tournament champions
Christopher Newport twice and
beating preseason-favorites Ferrum
two of three times. After losing
their first meeting with Ferrum on
the road, the Bishops claimed the
regular season title by winning their
season finale, 74-71, as Dougherty
hit a last-minute three-pointer from
the left flank. Then, in the confer
ence tournament title game, the
Bishops vanquished the Panthers in
overtime, 74-70, after the team blew
a fourth-quarter lead.
The Bishops’ dream season ended
in the first round of the NCAA tour
nament to Franklin and MarshalL
“It’s always tough to lose your last
game of the year,” Thompson said.
“Franklin and Marshall was a solid
team and we weren’t as sharp on
offense like we were all year.”
Murray believes that nerves af
fected the Bishops early in the game.
“Being in the tournament was very
exciting,” he said. “Adrenaline and
nerves affected our young team but
we were able to settle down as the
game went on. What we gave just
wasn’t enough.”
Next year, with all their starters
and a total of nine juniors return
ing, the Bishops look to repeat as
conference champs and play farther
into the NCAAs. There is plenty of
optimism. “We have high expecta
tions for next season,” Thompson
said. We will come back better next
year than we are now. We are very
determined and hungry to make that
next step.”
Students Receive New
Option in Wesleyan Villas