~Jfie Salemite
Volume LVIll
Salem College, Winston-Salem, N. C., Thursday, October 16, 1975
Number 2
Tensions Canse Break
I By Kathy King
For the first time since any-
' one can remember, Salem Stu-
‘ dents will have a fall break from
' October 22-26.
Why are we having a break
in October? According to Dean
’ Somerville and Dean Johnson, the
' issue culminated last year. Those
: present at Salem last fall may
remember the tense atmosphere
that pervaded Salem right after
' mid-terms. There was a high in
cidence of illness and tempers
flared. An epidemic of the “blahs”
' hurt the academic production. In
' short, it was a trying time for
■ all involved — faculty, students,
’ and administration.
With all of these events trans
piring, the administration decided
that things needed investigating.
In doing this, they discovered
that on the old system, school
didn’t start until later in Septem
ber, thus Thanksgiving break
came just about in the middle of
the term. But, when Salem creat
ed the January interim, the begin
ning of school was moved to early
September. Therefore, Salem Stu
dents were at school ten to twelve
weeks before they ever got a
vacation.
This information, plus the pro
blems of last fall, convinced the
administration and the faculty
that everybody needed a break
sometime before Thanksgiving.
Thus, the October 22-26 break was
established.
For the most part, both teach
ers and students seem to think
the fall break is “great”, or at
least “necessary.” The following
are comments concerning the
break:
Ann Rendelman—“I think it’s
great! Last year, near Thanks
giving, everybody was so tired
and ready to go home that we
were at each other’s throats.”
Darcy Camp—“I think it’s need
ed, because the time between
orientation and Thanksgiving is
too long. I hope it will relieve
that mid-term tension.”
Dr. Meehan—“I think it’s a
good idea.”
Kitty Kuhn—“Alt the other
breaks, dorms are closed; but
for this, you either leave school
or just stay here and have a
long weekend. I think it’s good.”
Miss Garcia—“I think it’s
necessary.”
Obviously, fall break has its
advantages. However, two ques
tions have arisen:
1. Will the i n t e r r u p t i on of
classes cause problems in work?
2. Will we have problems with
a lot of students cutting classes
in order to leave early?
Both Dr. Meehan and Miss Gar
cia foresee the possibility of hav
ing the problem of a lot of girls
cutting classes, but hope that this
won’t happen. As to whether or
not the interruption of classes
will cause problems with work,
this can only be determined later
in the year.
For now, most people appear
to be looking forward to fall
break. Dr. Kelly sums up every
one’s feelings by saying, “Never
having had it (fall break) before,
I don’t know if it’s good or not.
But I’m anticipating it with great
joy!”
Pierrettes Stage Comedies
By Ellen Johnson
Students at Salem have a treat
in store for them as the Pierrette
Players and special cast members
put on their annual three one-act
plays. The three plays, character
istically 19th century French
farces, have all the zane and wit
to keep the audience rolling
with laughter.
“Box and Cox,” directed by
Zel Gilbert, is about two men
who, unknowingly, rent the same
apartment from the same land
lady, Mrs. Bouncer. Mrs. Bouncer
(Francien Nlekus) tries, with
little success, to keep Box (Ellen
John), a printer who works by
night, and Cox (Jan Guiton), a
hatter who works by day, from
becoming entangled in each
other’s belongings. It is some
surprise that the two men are
betrothed to the same woman, and
certainly the way in which they
finally establish that they are
long lost brothers is hysterical.
The second play, “Pierre
Pathelin,” under the direction of
Janet Jones, is equally as funny
as “Box and Cox.” There are
five main characters: Pierre
(Susan Bingham), the Wife
(Dolly Vrana), the Draper (Lynn
Hill), the Shepherd (Julia Mc
Millan), and the Judge (Freda
Mach); as well as seven villagers
and two clerks. The story be
gins with Pierre and his wife who
need cloth to make clothes. Pierre,
a lawyer, does not pay the draper,
whom he buys the cloth from;
and, even more, he tries to out
smart the poor draper by con-
Team congratulates “Wat” after scoring.
See sports section, page three.
Photo by A. Kincaid
New Changes In Faculty
Rhett Huber
vincing him that he is insane. In
the course of events which
proceed, everybody becomes in
volved; and events intermingle
as the characters find themselves
as much a part of others’ twisted
lives as of their own.
Perhaps the play with the most
unexpected conclusion is “In
the Suds,” directed by Cindy
Parker. The story centers around
Jacquinot (Becca Lasley), a man
who is com.pletely dominated by
his wife, Jeanette (Jill Gledhill)
and by his mother-in-law, Jac-
quette (Lisa Tilly). The way in
which Jacquinot manages to be
come master of his household
will undoubtedly have the audi
ence in stitches.
The cast members have been
working hard, and all three
directors anticipate great per
formances! The three plays will
be presented November 6-8 at 8:00
p.m.
Fall is the season of change.
It is also classically the time
of year when colleges re-open
their academic arms to admit
returning old timers and fresh
new faces. At Salem this fall, the
new faces are not only present
in a large freshman class, but
are also cropping up in the form
of new faculty members.
At Salem this year these
changes range from the acquisi
tion of a new chairman of the
Biology department to an Art
department teacher who was
switched from part-time to full
time on the staff.
grams for students, she said,
with little friction between
teachers and administration.
WHO: For You . . . sold by the
“Y” representative in your
dorm.
WHAT: ABC Movie tickets.
WHERE: Good at any ABC movie
theater in North Carolina,
Virginia and South Carolina.
In Winston-Salem, the ABC
movie theaters are the Thru
way, Winston, Carolina, and
Thunderbird Drive-in.
WHEN: The tickets are good ’til
31, December, 1975.
WHY: To save you money—they
are $1.25 for a regular $2.50
movie.
Dr. Valerie Chase, a 31-year-
old native of California, opened
her office last week as the new
departmental chairman in Bio
logy. She received her undergradu
ate degree, a B.A. in Biology,
in a liberal arts branch of
the University of California at
Riverside. From this 1,800-stu
dent college she proceeded
directly into graduate school at
Stanford to earn her Ph.D. in
Biological Studies via a govern
ment-sponsored program estab
lished through the National
Science Foundation. She describes
graduate school as a “very
pleasant experience.”
In spite of the recent trend in
students choosing to defer grad
uate school for one year or
more. Dr. Chase believes the
most valuable time to spend a
year out of school is between
high school and college. Having
seen people go to Big Sur to drop
out for a while, she says there
is no better student than the
“reformed hippie” who has en
dured the experience of being
unable to get a good job and who
finally enters college with a clear
idea of what he wants to study.
Her previous teaching experi
ence involved both the good and
the bad. She said that she en
joyed teaching in a junior col
lege on the west coast where,
because of teachers’ unions, the
salaries were very good. The
college also placed major im
portance on developing good pro
From there, she migrated to
the east to take a job with a state
college in southern New Jersey.
That situation proved very un
satisfactory, she said. Although
the college was aimed toward her
major interest of environmental
science, she found that the low
quality of students prevented her
from successfully transmitting
her knowledge.
In addition to functioning as
chairman of the department. Dr.
Chase is carrying a heavy course
load that includes Biology 10,
Evolution, Morphology of non
seed plants, and botany. She has
some help in that Biology 10 is
team-taught by herself. Dr.
Jim Edwards, and another new
faculty member, Mrs. Miranda
Dungan.
Mrs. Dungan has a B.S. in
Medical Technology and a masters
in microbiology from Indiana
University, and has done research
at the National Cancer Institute.
Besides Biology 10, she is teach
ing microbiology at Salem this
semester.
she wanted an inexpensive liberal
arts college and found what she
wanted in Elon College. Although
she says Elon has greatly declin
ed in academic strength over the
past few years, she was able to
acquire a B.S. in Chemistry be
fore things worsened. After grad
uation, she remained in North
Carolina for a masters degree in
Analytical Chemistry completed
at the University of North Caro
lina at Greensboro.
At Salem this semester, she will
be supervising the lab work
that accompanies Chemistry 10
and will also teach Quantitative
Analysis, a course which is re
lated to Organic Chemistry. As
for what she expects from stu
dents, Ms. O’Neil says that she
has no patience with students
who do not make an effort to do
their work, but “will go to all
ends” to help those who do. She
attributes the academically
advantageous atmosphere of a
woman’s college to the lack of
performance-inhibiting males in
the classroom.
Although this is her first experi
ence in teaching, Mrs. Dungan
has worked in microbiology at
Bowman Gray School of Medicine.
Her husband is a second year
graduate student in business at
Wake Forest, and, after living
in Maryland and Virginia, they
have enjoyed seeing Nags Head
and the Outer Banks as well as
having been camping near Mount
Mitchell. In her off-campus time,
the smiling red-haired, freckle
faced Mrs. Dungan enjoys “fool
ing around with house plants.”
Another believer in the beneficial
qualities of student life at Salem
is Penny Griffin, past part-time,
now full-time instructor in the
Art department. She initially
taught at Salem some five years
ago when Mr. William Mangum
went on sabbatical; then trans
ferred to Wake Forest where she
noticed an increased tension in
the students compared to Salem,
which she attributes to the ex
treme amount of competition
among students.
Moving into another scientific
field, one finds Ms. Susan O’Neil,
a transplanted native of Massa
chusetts, in the Chemistry de
partment. She is the no-nonsense,
frank-but-friendly replacement for
Roy Gratz, who departed Salem
this summer for a job at Mary
Washington College.
Ms. O’Neil moved to North
Carolina when she decided that
Her own background in educa
tion includes undergraduate study
in Spanish at Appalachian State
University, and undergraduate
and graduate study in Oriental
Art history at Florida State Uni
versity. While with Florida State,
she spent some time in Florence,
Italy, teaching and studying with
people from other colleges and
universities. After completion of
her masters, Ms. Griffin returned
to the mountains of North Caro
lina to teach studio art in a junior
high and high school.