THE TWIG
NEWSPAPER OF THE STUDENTS OF MEREDITH COLLEGE
VOLUME LXII NUMBER 8
MEREDITH-COLLEGE
NOVEMBER 14, 1983
Modular unit provides unique housing for students
By Linda Sellers
Twenty-one Meredith Col
lege stud^ts are experiencing
a unique housing situation this
year.
They are the occupants of
an eleven-bedroom modular
unit erected this fall on the back
edge of tl^ campus.
According to Meredith
Dean of Students, Dorothy
Sizemore, the moduia* unit,
known as Carroil Annex, was
erected when it became clear
that a larger percentage of ap
plicants wouid enroil-tliis fall
than expected.
“There was concern aii over
the United States that enroii-
ment wouid be down,”
Sizemore said. She added that
the Admissions Department ac
cepted more students this year
based on that prediction.
The modular unit was
chosen to compensate for the
shortage in housing.
"There was not time to
build a residence hail,"
Sizemore said. “We felt a
modular unit could be used for
many kinds of college activities
beyond using It for a residence
hat I.”
Twenty freshmen and one
junior moved into Carroll Annex
on September 6 from'their tem
porary residence at the Crabtree
Ramada inn in Raleigh. The de
lay in moving was because of
city regulations, including
regulations for handicapped oc
cupancy, which had to be met.
Besides the eleven dorm
rooms, the air-conditioned unit
has a targe bathroom with a
laundry area, a storage room,
lounge and small foyer.
Mamie Stone, a freshman
resident of Carroll Annex, said
that although everyone felt iso
lated from the rest of the
campus, the girls felt like a
family. “Everyone knows when
someone strange walks in," she
said.
Students^ lives on Grenada went
from ^bad to worse^
by Jose Ordonez
(CPS) - Jeffrey Hough was
scared. He was away from
home and his new wife back in
Baltimore. Six days before, he'd
seen the Evidence of a bloody
coup on the tiny Carribean 1^
land on which he went to
school. He was later tcdeam the
deposed . leader of the island
had been murdered. The new
government had ordered Hough
and his med school classmates
not to leave campus without
permission, and to be in bed by
a new curfew time. It threatened
to shoot violators on sight.
And on October 25th. the
shooting did t«gin on and
around St. George's Medical
School's Grenda campuses.
The school Itself is head
quartered In New York, and
caters generally to American
students who cannot get into
med schools here. St. .George's
maintains two campuses on the
•Island,,iine, cal.led True piue,
the other Grand Anse, near the
now-famous 10,000 foot airstrip
built by the Cubans. Ninety-five
percent of the students are
American. None expected an
invasion for midterms.
But life at the school had
"Just seemed to go from bad to
worse” after the coup in which
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop
lost his life, says Tom Fioretti,
another American on the cam
pus.
A week after the coup, "the
local govemment Instituted a
martial law with curfew," he
adds, '‘The order they issued
was very severe. They said vio
lators would be shot on sight.
There was a lot of unrest oh the
island. As far as the school
went, people were becoming
very scared, scared to the point
where half the school wanted to
pack it up «nd go home.”
Fioretti, who did his under
graduate wori at the University
of Maryland's main College
Park campus before emigrating
to St. George's, s^s the med
school faculty decided "to see
how things went" the week of
October 24th before deciding
whether to call the isemester
off.
Things did look brighter at
the beginning of the week,
when the govemnient lifted the
curfew.
President .Reagan, in his
subsequent explanation of the
American invasion, said
American troops had uncovered
evidence on the island that the
Grenadian government had
been considering taking the
med students as hostages.
Hough was asleep when it
began, awakened by wfhat he
Mary Dixon, another fresh
man resident, agreed, but
added, “It gets very noisy in the
lounge." Most of the rooms
open off of the lounge area.
Both girls said that they
enjoy the air conditioning and
the carpet, two things many of
the older dorms do not have.
• Several of the residents,
however, question the security
of the building. The unit has
three dorms wfhich open to the
outside, aii of whic^ are locked
at 1 a.m. on vkreeknights and 2
a.m. on weekends. Most of the
dorms on the back of campus
have doors that are locked at 7
p.m.
"if anybody wanted to get
in (Carroil Annex) he probably
could," Mamie said.
Dean Sizemore responded
that the security at Carroll
Annex Is the same as other
buiidincs, “if students keep the
responsibility, it's as secure as
any building on campus,” she
said.
Sizemore said that future
plans for Carroll Annex include
adding a microwave to the
lounge and expanding the
foyer.
According to Sizemore, an
investigation is undenway into
renovating the fourth floor of
Heilman dorm for living space.
This proposal is now in a com
mittee of the Meredith Board of
Trustees.
And what if Carroll Annex
is no longer needed as a resi
dence hall? "It could be used for
a classroom, lab or offices,"'
Sizemore said. Next year Carroll
Annex will most likely t>e a
dorm again.
She added that there are no
plans to I ncrease the overall en
rollment at Meredith signifl-
cantly in. the next few years.
thought was thunder.
"For a minute, I just sat
there. I wasn't sure if it was just
a Grenadian drill, but then some
heavier guns opened up. Right
after that, 1 could hear someone
.running into the building who
had started Isanging on doors,
and that's when I figured it was
something reak-Ji^- ,t
"At that point, a lot of
people were getting up, and
coming out to the hail. A guy
announced that it was indeed
an invasion, and that our
govemment was trying to get us
out, but it wasn’t confirmed.
But, he said for sure there was
someone landing on the is
land.”
The students knew it was
probably an American force,
which they’d seen stationed off
the island,.and even watched as
a sort of, grim recreation.
Hough says students
began turning over beds and
piling mattresses against the
windows, peeking out to see an
occasional American plane fly
across searchlights’ paths as it
drcipped paratroopers onto the
island.
As the invasion unfolded
and the American forces gained
a foothold on the island during
the next 48 hours, the students
had only rice and popcom to
eat. Hough oversaw the gather
ing of water in the eyent it was
shut off - it eventually was -
and the collecting of Americans
who didn’t reside on the
campus.
“We-had some tourists” in
the building, he says, “and one
of them was really freaking out.
They were giving him Valium to
..cal{n,tunujawn. We a|so had a
Grenadian student who want^
to get out of there. He was a
diplomat's son under the old
regime, so he figured he was
very much at risk if they got
him. There were also some stu
dents from Trinidad and Bar
bados and a couple of British
people."
The U.S. Rangers storm^
the campus W^nesday, Octo
ber 26th, demanding that every
one freeze while they checked
the nationalities of the frighten
ed occupants. As soon as they
finished, they began airlifting
the students out.
Only two nights before, be
fore curfew, Hough remembers
walking up the beach from, the
school to make a call from the
Spice Island Hotel because “it
was Impossible to call out from
the campus."
" Rough end--f iorelti are
both back in their native Balti
more now, unsure of their fu
ture schooling plans.
History dept, hosts historical society
Dr. Elliot Engel of N.C. State will perform in "A Ditdtens
Christmas Sampler" which will be presented along with "A
Christmas Concert" on December 3and 4 at 2 p.m. and December
4 at 8 p. m. The performance is part of the Meredi th Performs 83-
84 series.
The Meredith Department
of History and Politics on
October 21 hosted the biennial
meeting of the Historical
Society of North Carolina. The
organization is made up of
scholars with a primary interest
in the history of North Carolina,
At an afternoon session,
papers were delivered by Dr.
Marvin L. Brown, Jr., professor
emiritus at NCSU, on “Cardinal
Gibbons- in North Capoiina,
1868-1872’' and Dr, Lindley S.
Butler of Rockingham Com
munity College,on “A Century,
of Navigation on the Dan River,
17^-1892." The latter paper
was illustrated by slides of the
Dan River and its historical arti
facts.
After dinner in the Presi
dent's Dining Room at Belk
Dining Hail, the group heard the
presid^iai address of Dr.
Wesley H, Wallace, emeritus
professor at UNC-Chapei Hill.
Dr. Wallace, son of fonner
Meredith History Department
head Dr, Lillian F^rker Wallace,
talked on "The Hillsborough
,Brass Band: or,.facets,of.North
Carolina in the 1850's as Seen
Through Newspaper Advertise
ments.”
Members of Phi Omicron,
the Meredith chapter of Phi
Alpha Theta honor society in
history, and the History Club
sen/ed refreshments and helped
with name-tags at an afternoon
coffee hour in Joyner Lounge.
Dr. Frank Grubbs, chairman of
the Meredith Department of
History and Politics, and Dr, T,
C. Parramore attended the ses
sions.