FORUM
11
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
Campus Life offers
vague charges
By Landry Haarmann
Staff Writer
Over break I received an email from
Campus Life about an upcoming man
datory judicial hearing. My infraction:
Failure to Comply.
For further questions about my "Failure
to Comply/' the e-mail suggested I go to
the online handbook. I did. Apparently
Failure to Comply has something to do
with the guidelines and requests set out
by Campus Life while performing their
jobs; the answer was completely useless.
Unsure of what I had done and frus
trated by the utter lack of clarification,
I decided to email the person who sent
the letter and ask for a meatier charge
than Failure to Comply. If I was going to
face judicial charges, I at least deserved
something more concrete than "failure to
comply."
It was nearly a week before I got a
reply, and even then I was not told what
the charges were.
I was later told that I could have
always just emailed the person presiding
over my hearing. However, the e-mail
in no way stated or suggested that as an
appropriate course of action. Rather than
giving students an e-mail address where
they can send their concerns or ask some
one knowledgeable a question. Campus
Life gives a link to a page titled "Judicial
Affairs at Guilford College," a page of
generic questions and answers about the
Guilford's judicial policies.
"We sent out 191 e-mails for Health and
Safety charges. The same e-mail is sent
to every person. It's not feasible," said
Administrative Coordinator of Campus
Life Tanisha Sutton of possibly contact
ing a person with concerns or questions.
"We're not trying to be sneaky."
The whole affair, e-mailing students
with a vague charge, leaving links
instead of an e-mail address or phone
number of a real person, while it might
not be sneaky, it is extremely informal,
impersonal and detached. Formality is
achievable without coming across as dis
engaged, especially at a small school that
claims to value community. It's impera
tive for Campus Life to reevaluate one of
the first steps of the judicial process, how
they inform students of a charge.
The administration is here to help us
along during our college tenure, and
while that does mean keeping us safe, it
also means not leaving the student body
in the dark with vague charges and a
more unclear online handbook.
The most obvious way to go about
this is to supplement the link to judicial
Q with an e-mail address of someone
at campus life. Keep it formal, but put
a person at the other end of the e-mail
to give guidance, answer questions, and
soothe the concerns of high-strung stu
dents charged for the first time.
One year after die Bryan Incident
Jan. 20 marked the one-year anniversary of the violent
fight between Guilford students that came to be known as the
"Bryan Incident." Those of us who were here to experience it
remember the shock that swept the community and the out
pouring of emotions—fear, anger, sorrow, frustration—that
followed the fight.
Life was different in the wake of the Bryan incident; the
commujiity was both brought together and pushed apart. We
shined when we met at the New Garden Meeting Flouse to
share our opinions and feelings in an appropriate, respectful
manner. We excelled when we rallied in front of Founders to
express disbelief and propose solutions for our huge problem.
We floundered when we constructed walls and divides—polar
izing groups like athletes and non-athletes.
We have physical reminders of the Bryan Incident, represen
tations of its wide-reaching impact on our campus. Metal gates
bar the entrance ways to Bryan Hall. Professional hall directors
replaced their student counterparts in the residence halls as an
extra safety measure. But, these are reminders of the worst part
of the Bryan Incident, the grotesque, inappropriate actions of
a few students.
It is important for us, a year later and for years to come,
to remember the best parts of the Bryan Incident—the New
Garden Meeting Houses, the Founders' rallies. Our ability to
come together as a supportive community to try to find solu
tions to our problems was important and remarkable.
It is particularly important that we remember our com
munity reaction because we continue to have violence on our
campus. The third-floor bathroom in Milner was smeared with
human feces and a disparaging and insulting note was written
to the cleaning staff in tandem. A swastika and "death to fags"
were written on a professor's office door in Dana.
Though no punches were thrown, these are acts of deplor
able violence that, like the Bryan Incident, have no place in a
community that prides itself on peace, tolerance, and accep
tance. Again, like the violence in Bryan Hall, the events in
Milner and Dana deserve the reaction of a supportive campus.
We need to make it clear that violence in any form does not
belong at Guilford.
' Vf ir\ A.U—■
r , -L ■
On Jan. 25, 2007, one year ago today, students ex
pressed THEIR FEELINGS AND REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE BrYAN
Incident through several media, such as the ban
ner ABOVE THE FOUNDERS HaLL PORCH (BELOW) AND THE
CLOTHESLINE OF PERSONAL MESSAGES (ABOVE).
Photos by Jeremy Bante/Guilfordian