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GVILTO&S'S SEW FACE
Honor McElroy and
Sarah Byrne
STAFF WRITERS
Guilford 2004. 1,600 stu
dents. Upgraded the athletic fa
cilities. Hired an onslaught of
coaches by August 2000. Better
dorms. Academic attention
placed on Management and Jus
tice and Policy Studies programs.
Upon reading the strategic
plan, we found that it exemplified
a feared "new vision" of Guilford.
This vision is a Guilford that be
comes a "resort school" in accor
dance with recent trends in the
college market. Instead of
strengthening a majority of our
academic departments, Guilford
will attract students by massive
recruiting efforts and a face-lift
of the campus. We will lure stu
dents with our swimming pool,
nice furniture in the dorms, and
better common areas.
Once there was a myth that
a student went to school for an
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Statement ot Purpose: The Forum exists to facilitate dialogue and
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the editor must be no more than 250 words. The Guilfordian reserves the
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Editor-in-chief. Will Dodson 274-5893
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Forum
education and tuition paid
for pithy little things like a
teacher's salary. The place
that Guilford occupies in
the college market as a
highly selective school de
pends on successful student
teacher relationships.
English Professor Beth
Reiser wrote a memo di
rected to the humanities fac
ulty which urged everyone
to examine the plan closely.
She warns, "Guilford Col
lege attracts idealistic,
highly motivated teachers,
but it is unlikely that even
this faculty can make peace
with a plan that pays such scant
attention to such embarrassingly
low salaries." If professors are
Guilford's most valuable at
tribute, why does the plan make
it so emotionally and economi
cally exhausting for them to con
tinue as members of our academic
community?
Besides the "scant attention"
allotted to the improvement of
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faculty financial support, the
plan also neglects the humanities
departments. Not only did the
English major generate the most
interest from prospective stu
dents in 1999, it is also one of the
cornerstone majors at Guilford,
complementing our writing-in
tensive curriculum. This informa
tion contradicts the research be
hind the strategic plan, which de
mands an improvement in man
agement and business courses.
If anything, it seems as if the
administration has done very
Dear Editor,
Matters of freedom of ex
pression on a college campus—
indeed, in our whole culture—
are difficult and complex. A fine
line has to be walked between
yelling "Fire!" in a crowded
movie theater and suppression
of our rights of free speech.
When I saw Adam Thorn's
cartoon in last week's issue of
The Guilfordian, I had the ini
tial reaction of "Oh, goodness;
that is tasteless. Why did the
paper publish that?" When I
read the accompanying article,
I was actually heartened by the
opinions expressed about the
"miraculous" of the everyday
and the criticism of a scientism
that denigrates the non-quanti
fiable. Of course, Adam had me
eating out of the palm of his
hand as soon as he spoke of his
attendance at the Religious Em
phasis Week Huston Smith lec
ture!
That said, however, I feel
that it was ill-advised on Adam's
part to choose that cartoon to
capture people's attention, and
it was ill-advised of the paper
to publish it. Whether or not
one agrees with the Christian
February 18, 2000
little to get a true grasp of the
student's desires. This editorial
is a warning. Everything that this
plan suggests uses the supposed
desires of current and prospec
tive students as validation for
these changes. Read the plan. Fig
ure out if it will improve your edu
cation. When registration rolls
around and you can't get into the
class that you want to take for
your major, don't worry. You can
always go lift some weights to
work off all of that frustration.
belief in the substitutionary
atonement of Jesus Christ
through his death on the cross,
it is a fact that the cross and
Jesus' shed blood are deeply
meaningful concepts and sym
bols to millions of Christians—
including hundreds on this cam
pus. To show someone urinat
ing on the cross —even to make
a valid point—is tremendously
offensive.
I HATE to parrot the words
of syndicated columnist Cal
Thomas, for whom I have a long
history of disgust, but would we
even dare do a similar cartoon
in which the central symbols of
Islam, Judaism, or various dis
enfranchised minorities were
being urinated on? We need to
remember that even if they are
the "majority" culture in our
culture, Christians still deserve
some respect.
The cartoon, because of the
accompanying article, did not
"piss me off." I wonder how
many others, though, failed to
read Adam's good words be
cause they couldn't see through
the tears in their eyes.
Max Carter,
Campus Ministry Coordinator
GIGI BURKHALTER