Newspapers / Salem College Student Newspaper / March 2, 1988, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials Page! Conversations Behind Administrative Doors by Susan Webb To many students, the Salem College trustees are a mysterious group of people. Trustees make management decisions that effect student life in many ways: tuition costs, new programs, politics. They visit campus a few times during the year; they are, however, seldom seen and seldom heard by the majority of the student body. One may be pleased to know that these trustees come to the student/faculty/trustee committee meetings with ready ears. The last Student Affairs Committe meeting was indeed a shining example of my previous statement. It has not always been the general consensus that the trustees were willing to listen to the students' grievances about various situations on campus. The trustees have been judged, perhaps unfairly, as only wanting to hear positive reports about Salem. The preconceived idea that they only wanted to here light and nice things about Salem has hindered the conversations I've participated in over the past four years. The trustees have been ushered in to hear reports about student services, student organizations, dorm life, student government and the list continues. Reports are prepared prior to the meeting and distributed to each member beforehand. I've been a member of the Student Affairs Committe meeting since my Freshman year, and every meeting has been the same. Members would rehash what was said in the report they submitted, a few general comments would be made, and we'd go on to the next topic at hand. The last meeting took a very interesting turn. The long stored desire to discuss some real concerns of students suddenly developed wings. How the discussion began is inderterminable. The students on the committe decided that it was important to get certain things out in the open. We made it known that the student body wanted to be informed about events and conversations that transpired behind administrative doors. We expressed that students felt too often that they were the last to hear about decisions that had a direct bearing on their expjerience at college. The evening college plan was cited as a good example of this complaint. Students were only vaguely aware of how the evening college would effect their daily experience at Salem. Other issues were brought up and discussed as thoroughly as time allowed. The most important thing to understand about this report on the Student Affairs meeting is that we have cleared a path for more productive communication. The trustees were very responsive to the issues that we specified to be major concerns of the students. They agreed that these issues needed to be discussed, and they expressed that this meeting was the "healthiest " meeting the committee had had in many years. A different rapport needs to be established between students and the administration. The Salem administration needs to recognize that students want to be informed as they are about activities taking place in our community, because it is just that - our community. They also need to realize that if for some reason they don't have the answers to all our questions or if the answers are not always pleasant, it is necessary and even commendable for them to share this information with us as well. Contrary to what some may think, the students at Salem are adults and thereby, equipped to handle the bad news as well as the good news. By the same token, students need to refrain from judging administrators as the enemies. They do have responsibilities to their jobs. Salem would indeed be a much healthier place if administrators and students kept these thoughts in mind. Problems need to be brought up on an adult level, and where there are groups that address issues in this vein, there are still others that are combative and defensive in their approach. Letter to the Editor: Salem as Lasting Monument to Dr. King by Julia Carpenter Dear Editor, In our society, there have been few Americans who have contributed to or influenced the conscience of this nation. However, a simple southern preacher helped awaken the spirit of justice for the underdogs in America. His fiery and thought-provoking sermons touched not only the souls of Americans but the hearts of the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired his people to follow the peaceful dissent of Ghandi to seek the civil liberties guaranteed them under the United States Constitution. His determination and courage in the fight for black civil rights should serve as examples of the best characteristics of that global people-Americans. The black civil rights movement gave rise to the civil rights movements of the American Indians, women, the handicapped, and many others—all American underdogs. Indeed, Salem College can serve as a lasting monument to the work of Dr. King, for here any student can aspire to any campus office; to the highest academic pursuits. We know that we will be judged for our inner qualities and not our outer features. And so, we all owe a great deal to Dr. King for helping pave the way for all American underdogs to assert their civil rights. But we must not forget that the fight is not over but still underway. And while the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s is dying out, the underlying tensions are still quite alive. To ask oneself why 1 should honor the King holiday is to ask why I want my constitutional rights protected. Dr. the dream today of a better King's birthday was celebrated America tomorrow. January 18th but deserves our Julia Carpenter constant observance, for all share 'EcCitor-in Cfiief CZTte SaCemite Salem College Winston-Salem, ffC 27108 (919)721-2825 Stisan WeBB Slssistant Editor Jimy WaskBum eBusiness Odanager J^drienne Sekerer Jidvertising Manager Michelle Jaynes Staff Writers ElizaBetk (Betts, JuUa Carpenter, Contributing Writer Sllison CroTOson, Suzan Ecmekci, Liz IFcnvCer, lingela Ingram, Jenny Muenck, (Paige (Parker, Julie Stone, "Katie "Ikomas Judy Jianstad
Salem College Student Newspaper
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March 2, 1988, edition 1
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