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REZONING
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housing. So this becomes a real positive in try
ing to keep students here near campus," said
Jonathan Vamell, associate vice president of
operations and facilities for the college and
Guilford's representative at the Council meet
ing. "There are a lot of positives to the land
being developed."
Otiier proposed changes to the property
include adding a lighted walking and biking
path to the college, potentially connecting
Dolly Madison to George White Road, and
expanding a portion of Dolly Madison to
handle the increased traffic.
Dixon asserted during tire meeting that he
had been very transparent with his intentions
throughout the planning process. Vamell
affirmed Dixon's claim.
"Randy Dixon contacted the school, like he
did the other neighbors," said Vamell. "I sat
down with him dong with \lc Cochran, the
vice chairman of the board of trustees. The
three of us met, and Dixon showed us his
plans and we talked through them."
The neighbors did not, on the other hand,
feel that Dixon had been transparent and
operu
"There was never a time when the property
was posted for sale and we were never direct
ly notified about the development plans,"
said Les McCaskill, Fox\A^ood Drive resident
and husband of Pamela Robertson. "We were
told by our neighbor, Gary Neustel. He w^
the only one in the neighborhood to receive a
notice of the rezoning meeting."
Greensboro regulations require zoning
notices to be sent to houses within 150 feet
of the property line of the proposed develop
ment.
Other neighbors had similar experiences
to McCaskill's. Guilford junior and Foxwood
Drive resident Gabriella Spang found out
fi"om her neighbor Jim Newlin, who had
also learned of the development plans from
Neustel.
Spang joined the fight against the devel
opment both to support her neighbors and
because she sees this as a microcosm of
greater land rights issues. She gathered 115
signatures from Guilford students and faculty
in opposition.
"My experience with political science,
peace and conflict studies, and environmental
studies has exposed me to a lot of information
about land rights conflicts around the world,"
said Spang. "Though this is smaller, it feels
similar."
Other students voiced strong opposition to
the developmmt.
Sophomore Katrina Siladi, president of
Forevergreen, was one of the seven Guilford
students who attended the Commission
meeting.
"I'm opposed to the idea that progre^
equals more apartment buildings on top of
beautiful, historic woods," said Siladi.
Dixon says that their development plan
will leave 1.3 acres undisturbed and leave as
many of the trees alone on the property as
they can.
"Given the density he's planning to con
struct, and given the requirements he has for
parking and just to get tiie job done. I'm sure
he doesn't intend to clear-cut the property,"
said Robertson "But, the practical result is
that he isn't going to be able to construct what
he wants to construct without taking down
nearly every tree on that property."
Guilford has decided to support Dixon in
his development efforts. The combination of
needing to provide more accessible student
housing and their belief that development is
imminent on the property have weired into
their decision.
"If the property stays woods we're cool
with that," said Vamell. "But, we're pretty
convinced, based on a lot of different experi
ence, that that property is going to be devel
oped. In that case, we want to have a lot of
say about that. That's why we decided to
affirm what Dixon has agreed to do, because
the guy really has been outstanding. He has
acquiesced to our requests."
"Guilford's always been, by virtue of the
Quaker side of the school, a very positive
fores in the community," said McCaskill.
"The lack of support now, just indicates a
change that I'm somewhat bewildered by."
Dixon's appeal case goes before the 2foning
Commission on Dec. 18. The meeting will
be held in the City Council Chamber in the
Melvin Municipal Office Building, 3(X)
Washington Street. The meeting starts at 2:00
p.m. and is open to the public.
Isabel Allende speaks en life, less and leve
By Nasimeh Easton
Senior Writer
'1 am a writer because I was blessed with an
ear for stories, an unhappy childhood, and a
crazy family," said author Isabel Allende.
Allende spoke at the Greensboro Coliseum
on Nov. 13 as part of the 2007-2008 Bryan series.
1,600 Guilford students, faculty, staff, and com
munity members filled the Coliseum to hear
the Chilean author speak about love, life, loss,
and the role of women in toda/s world.
'Tt is from memory and a sense of love that
a passion for writing emerges," Allende said. "I
wTite because I need to remember."
The idea for her first book, "The House
of the Spirits," came directly from memory.
It began as a letter to her dying grandfather,
eventually evolving into a manuscript then a
published novel in 1982.
AUende's writing career did not begin with
her first book. In the 1960s, she briefly held a
job translating romantic novels from English
into Spanish. She was fired once the editor
noticed that she had been altering the stories'
"Cinderella" endings to ones where the hero
ine found not a prince, but instead her own
sense of independence.
In her spe«ii, Allende was just as assertive
about the role of women in today's society as
she had been with the heroines of the stories.
"The time is right for women to partid-
pate fully in the management of this endan
gered planet," Allende said. "80 percent of the
women of the world are still treated like cattle.
Ladies, itis time for a massive rebellioa"
What women can use to promote this change,
Allende said, is something called "mantisma."
"Mamisma is the wild mother energy, the
passionate, loving energy of the mother. It is
love at its very best - warm and reassuring."
Allende said.
At the core of "mamisma" is the topic ffiat
Allende focused most of her attention on
throughout the evening: love. Every point she
made came back to the importance of love and
its inevitable presence in everyone's life.
"Love first trapped me when I was 11. Since
then, I have always been in love," Allende
said.
Love led Allende to take a step away from
writing and do her part to help others. After
her daughter died, Allende created the Isabel
Allende Foundation in her memory. The foun
dation supports nonprofits that provide health,
education, reproductive, and anti-violence ser
vices for women.
Allende stressed the importance of helping
others in love and life - an idea very familiar to
the Guilford community.
'It is a wonderful truth that the things we
want most in life, happiness and hope, can be
obtained most easily by giving them to others,"
said Allende. 'Tm going to be generous and
helpful because it makes me feel good. That is
practical love."
NEWS
Budget forum tells
of spending woes
By Jake Blumgart
Senior Writer
Guilford ended the 2006-07 fiscal year in
June with a $1.4 million deficit, but now, after
a $600,000 budget cut, the college's budget is
back on track.
The 2006-07 deficit and the resulting bud
getary modifications are at the center of the
ambiguous state of Guilford's economic for
tunes, which was the focus of the annual bud
get fonorn, held Nov. 14 in the Leak room.
Members of the budget committee were
scattered throughout the moderate-sized
crowd that trickled into the room throughout
the hour-long forum session. Various faculty
and staff made appearances. President Kent
Chabotar slipped in mid-way through and sat
in the back of the room for the remainder of
the forum.
"One of the most common questions we get
in bi'dget meetings is how did we get here?"
said ] leather Hayton, budget committee chair,
as she began her introduction to this year's
forum. "Ctoe of the things that has contributed
to where we are financially is that we commit
ted as a campus to building new student hous
ing a couple years ago ... which has limited
our ability to borrow more money."
But the new apartments are just one of
several constraints upon Guilford's financial
situation. Hayton detailed the hiring of new
faculty, the delayed launch of capital cam
paign outlined in the Strategic Long Term Plan
(SIJ^), rising inflation, the massive renova
tions of Duke and King Halls, and a decrease
in both CCE and summer enrollment. All have
taken their toll on the budget.
The college projected continued growth for
the 2006-07 fiscal year but growth, (specifically
CCE growth) dropped, leaving a sizeable gap
in the budget. The resulting $600,000 budget
cut was taken out of every department from
campus life to FT&S.
"Last year was the first year we have had a
deficit in a long while," said Brennan Aberle,
treasurer of Community Senate. "We only get
income three times a year (at the beginning of
fall, spring and summer sessions). We spend
money every day and we need to keep track
of that."
Aberle was one of five studente at the
forum, the highest student attendance rate in
the last four years.
After Hayton's brief introductory presenta
tion, the floor was given over to the audience.
Many topics were touched upon including the
potential for a large increase in tuition pric
es. An enormous price increase was deemed
unlikely because tJie school wants to remain
affordable for as many potential students as
possible.
"This may be a strange question," said
Jim Hood, associate professor of English and
current head of the English department. "But
if this were your home budget, what would
you do to fix it? Would you get a new job, cut
back expenses, go and sell lemonade on the
comer?"
"There is no silver bullet that is going to
solve our current financial situation and make
(us) look like we are Earlham," Hayton said.
"(But) the path we are on is a good one ... we
are increasing the value of the college in the
long term. That doesn't mean (we) can ignore
the short term. If this were my home budget
it would mean I was eating ramen a little bit
more."