Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Nov. 16, 1994, edition 1 / Page 2
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November 16,1994 2 Campus Opinion Editorial; Meredith needs to acknowledge lesbians in policy by Teresa Latham I think it is time that we open our eyes and begin to see the reality of our student population. Let me get straight to the point — it is no big surprise to most of us that lesbian students exist at Meredith. But what is new is that this population is now becoming more vi sually evident. This is causing some uneasiness in the hearts and minds of students, staff, and faculty alike be cause maybe now it will no longer be possible to deny their existence. And they do exist. 1 personally know girls that are homosexual and/or bi sexual that are/were resident stu dents. Not only that, but a few have identified themselves on Dr. True- Weber’s graffiti board where the issue once dealt with sexual orientation. The question is, who in Johnson Hall is willing to accept this? Besides campus life, sexual orien tation has become an issue on the faculty and staff level as well. During the last school year, the Faculty Affairs Committee put forth a proposal that suggested adding sexual orientation and marital status to the non-discrimi- natory policy statement of Meredith College. The Board of Trustees re jected this proposal without specific written reasons from the committee for taking the action. If you take time to think about this, you will realize that this proposal from the Faculty Affairs Committee prob ably did not arise out of nowhere — there most likely is a reason that the majority of faculty thought this was a necessary step to take. If it was not a problem in the past, then a solution would have never been needed. Now, I can’t officially say Oike many others I’ve spoken with), but I have to specu late that this probably means that some one on the Meredith faculty or staff has been demeaned or restricted from higherachievement due to their sexual or marital status. So why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to realize that the issue of sexual orientation on this cam pus is a problem. Homosexuality is not Meredith Herald Editor in Chief Christina Peoples Layout Editor Shannon Peterson Copy Editor Melissa Massengill Features EdHor Clarky LUcas News Editor AddieTschamler Photo Editor Jetson Business Manager Carrie Shaw Reporters .Arinn Dixon, Ashley Peay, Kimberly Zucker, Keri VanDoren, Kristine Stagg, Melissa Cloer, Teresa Latham, MeaganCronauer.MarshaTutor, Shannon Smith Photographers Laura Ross, Jan Seate Faculty Consultants Garry Walton, Rod Cockshutt, Nan Miller Adviser Paula Daniels Editorial Policy; The Meredith Herald is published by the College throughout the academic year. The paper is funded by the College and through advertising. The opinions expressed in editorial columns do not necessarily reflect those of the college administraiton, faculty or student body. Letters to the Editor Policy: Everyone in the Meredith community is invKed to write a letter to the editor. All published letters must be typewritten with contact name, address and telephone number. All letters must be signed by the author, but names will be withheld upon request. The Hera/d reserves the rightto place any other article submissions on file until needed or to choose not to print them. the problem - attitudes are. Whether 1 or anyone else agrees, homosexuality exists in our society, as well as in our campus community. I think that it is time that we, as a college, recognize this fact. It really should not matter whether we agree with homosexuality or not. If we support individual freedom and self-exploration, then we should be able to accept their choices and not deny this reality. Yet, there are people who want to shut the sight of homo sexuality out and not see any of it. Please, shutting your eyes does not make it go away - it only delays the inevitable. I just would really like for people to give this issue some serious thought. Meredith College, even though it is a Baptist school, allows for religious tolerance. Shouldn’t we allow for tol erance in our moral beliefs as well? Besides, isn’t a good Christian sup posed to be tolerant and accepting of others? I have always been proud of the fact that our faculty encourages and promotes critical thinking in the class room — I just wish that it was pro moted in the administration as well. Aren’t thinking, understanding, and decision making what college is all about? Isn't the college campus a good place to begin to be the kind of citi zens that we want to be? It reminds me of the old saying, let's "practice what we preach.” Well, hopefully, we can apply the skills thatwe have gained and the insight and intellect that we possess to make this campus a better place. Meredith College has always played its bets safe. When the topic of race discrimination became a large issue, Meredith was definitely not the first to state a non-discriminatory attitude. It would be appalling now if we didn't. It took 22 years to get the Open House policy we have now. I hope it doesn't take until 2017 for Meredith to recog nize the existence of lesbians because the time is now. It will probably be appalling in 20 years not to have a statement concerning sexual orienta tion, so let's just do it! We would definitely not be the first academic institution to do this, but, please, let us not be the last. In the words of another person on our campus, "Do we really trant to live under non-dis criminatory policy that discriminates?" The students and faculty of this cam pus make the spirit of Meredith what it is, and I challenge everyone to make it what they want it to be. Editorial: Cornhuskin' aftermath by Melissa Cloer Now let me tell you a tale...when I first came to Meredith and heard about Cornhuskin’, I could not wait. I thought, what a great way to get the school together to unite in carrying on a Meredith tradition. During Cornhuskin’ practice everyone’s spirits were up and ready for the big night. The class meetings, big sis’/little sis’ serenades, bonfire, and scavenger hunt got everyone hyped for Cornhuskin’. I did not think the competition would be so intense and little did 1 know that some people would not be able to handle the heat. The freshman class was really ex cited about Cornhuskin’, and no one expected us to do as well as we did, especially the sophomores. Trust me, we were just as surprised as the sopho mores when we heard we came in third place overall. We would have taken fourth place gracefully and not have left the amphitheater. I under stand the sophomores worked hard on their skit for Cornhuskin', and they need to realize the freshman class did also. After Cornhuskin’, when many set out for a night at the fraternity parties, the sophomores acted very immature. Could they not swallow their pride and remember that although we may be new here, we deserve the respect they thought they deserved as fresh men. Even though I did not attend the fraternity parties, I heard many unruly stories of how the sophomores acted towards the freshman, such as spit ting on them, chanting things to them CORNHUSKIN’ see page seven
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