Half of SOAN department leaving
Matthew Geiger
STArr WRITER
The Sociol
ogy/Anthropology
(SOAN) depart
ment appears to
be in a state of
flux.
With ap
proximately 100
hundred students
in the SOAN de
partment, it has
become one of the
most popular ma
jors at the school
and by the end of
this year, of the
four professors in
the department
(two sociologists
and two anthro
pologists), two
will be gone.
Even now,
many SOAN majors say they are
unable to get the classes that are
necessary to major in the field.
Professors are becoming in
creasingly frustrated and stu
dents are becoming equally frus
trated. The problem underlying
everything is that many people in
the school community feel that the
school itself has not done enough
to support the SOAN department.
In the spring of 1999, the
SOAN department requested a
third sociologist, and the same
request was made in the spring of
2000. No new positions have been
added.
As sociology professor
Laura O' Toole said, "How can you
claim to be student centered when
you don't support the students?"
After this semester, O'Toole will
Sociology professor Alejandro Cervantes-Carson
will be leaving Guilford for a position at Mary
Washington College in Virginia.
BJ
hS
Sociology professor Laura O'Toole will be leaving Guilford for a position in the sociology depart
ment at Roanoke College in Virginia. With the depature of both O'Toole and professor Alejando
Cervantes-Carson, the size of the SOAN department will be temporarily halved.
be leaving to head the sociology de
partment at Roanoke College in Vir
ginia.
Also leaving is sociologist
Alejandro Cervantes-Carson. He is
taking a position at Mary Washing
ton College in Virginia. However,
Cervantes-Carson is on a leave of
absence. He was going to turn in
his resignation, but was convinced
to take only a leave of absence after
talking to the school administra
tion.
He expressed optimism about
the possibility of returning to
Guilford after next year. He says,
though, that the only way he would
come back is if he saw that the
school was taking definite steps to
make the SOAN department "a top
priority."
He points to the fact the Mary
GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
wasnington nas almost
the exact same number
of sociology students
that Guilford does but
keeps six sociology pro
fessors on the faculty.
This is nothing
new for this depart
ment. Over the past
years, it has become
common that profes
sors in the SOAN de
partment leave after
only staying for a short
while. Anthropology
professor Vernie Davis
asks "Why is the turn
over so high for SOAN
compared to the some of
the other departments
in the school?"
He also shared
feelings of being unappreciated
and of not being supported by the
school. Whenever a professor
leaves a department for whatever
reason, the remaining members of
the department must write the
equivalent of a report to the school
on why a replacement professor
should be hired.
Davis also wondered why they
have to "defend" the hiring of an
other teacher when "we should be
talking about hiring more teach
ers."
"The college has been respon
sive to what is going on. The fact
that I am here shows that the col
lege is doing something," said sec
ond-year professor Laban Gwako.
However, he pointed out that what
satisfies him, might not satisfy ev
erybody.
"What other faculty members
might think about how the college
is handling the department is a dif
ferent issue," said Gwako. "It's a
highly subjective issue. Different
people will want
See SOAN, page 4
The Guilfordian
c/o Student Activities
5800 W. Friendly Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27410
April 20, 2001
Meal plan now
required for
Cadre workers
James Hart
STAXT WRITER
Until this year the sum
mer Cadre program has
given students free meals in
the package. But at a bud
get meeting earlier this se
mester, it was discovered
that the college could no
.longer afford to provide this
service.
For years, the summer
Cadre program has pro
vided students, of both
Guilford and other local col
leges, an opportunity for
employment and college
credit. In past years the
college has provided select
students with two courses
and room and board, in ex
change for 30 hours a week
of work at secretarial, land
scaping, and renovating jobs
on campus, for which stu
dents were paid minimum
wage.
It was further discov
ered, more recently, that in
order for the college to get
affordable rates from their
food service, Sodexho-
Mariott, throughout the
summer, they needed to
have at least 100 "subscrib
ers" on the meal plan. To
preserve reasonable rates
for the students and staff
who wanted to be on the
meal plan, the school de
cided to make the meal plan
mandatpry for all Cadre and
summer school students
during the first five weeks,
See Cadr t, page 3
Phinini
recycle
thijS
paper.