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