Page 2 October 27,201)4 CAMPUS NEWS
Meredith alumna returns to
recruit new students
It's time...
JACKIE BULLOCK
Staff Writer
According to Blair Briggs,
she once was too shy to talk
to anyone. Coming to Mer
edith changed that. Before
becoming a Processing As-
sistantintheOfficeofAdmis-
sions, Briggs was a Meredith
smdent, graduating this May
with a degree in Business
Management. She is from
a “three stop light town” in
Caswell County and says she
went from being a shy fresh
man who would not talk to
anyone to being president of
the Meredith Entertainment
Association (MEA) during
her senior year. She also
gave tours and led meet
ings. “Relatively” speaking,
Briggs has company in be
ing a Meredith alumna - two
aunts, two cousins, and a
second cousin preceded her;
her younger sister, Beth,
is a senior at Meredith and
plays on the volleyball team.
Briggs started in the Office
of Admissions this June. As
a Processing Assistant, she
processes the applications
of prospective students. She
also supervises eight current
students who make telephone
calls to prospective smdents.
Briggs was a student work
er in the Admissions Office •
since August 2001, where
she was a telecounselor and
gave campus toiirs. She says
of her CO workers in the Ad
missions Office that “we
are definitely a team. Ev
eryone’s job is important to
help bring in the next class.”
One of Briggs’ favorite
memories as a student is the
traditional production of Al
ice in Wonderland. She said
that it was fun to see the
faculty and staff outside of
class being relaxed and that
it is nice they would care
enough to take the time to
do this for students. She also
said that she appreciated it
more as a senior than she
would have as a freshman
because she had the oppor
tunity to build relationships.
. As a student, Briggs says
that she fell in love with the
campus as soon as she got
to Meredith and was never
homesick. She said that she
learned to be very indepen
dent and that the environ
ment at Meredith encourag
es it. She had goals in mind
when she came to Meredith
and says, “Meredith helped
me to achieve them and
work toward them. Mere-
diA does a great job in edu
cating women to strive for
the best that they can be.”
What: 5' Annual WiI.D Confea'nce
(Women In Leadership Development)
When; Saturday, November 13. 200*^
8;30am-2pm
\\ here: Nonh Carolina Ceniral University
Durham, NC
Why: Because you are a woman with greater Icadersliip
potential.. ..because you want to nieei other student
leaders.. .because you want to share your leadership skills!
How: Register in ihcOlTice of Student Activities &
Leadership Development before Oct 27 in 202 Cate
Cost: $15. This includes continental breakfast^lunch,
leadership sessions and a keynote address
Qucsiitnu??'’ c:onMi; NiUi Curliu, ur 7M)-S.138
Joseph Nye addresses Meredith community Monday,
TIFFANY STOKES
Staff Writer
In an effort to increase
awareness among the Mer
edith community, and to
advocate civic engagement,
several convocations have
occurred this month for the
October Convocations se
ries, including presenters on
the women’s movement, re
productive rights, anti-Sem
itism, and ‘soft power’. Last
Monday, October 25, Joseph
S. Nye, Jr. spoke to Meredith
College about the phased he
coined, “soft power”, and tfie
struggle against terrorism.
Joseph Nye is a Univer
sity Distinguished Service
Professor at Harvard Uni
versity, and the author of
several articles and books,
including Soft Power: The
Means to Success in World
Politics (2004). Nye re
ceived a bachelor’s degree
from Princeton University,
did postgraduate work at Ox
ford University on a Rhodes
scholarship, and earned a
Ph.D. in political science at
Harvard University. Nye is
an expert in the field of in
ternational security and poli
tics and has served several
positions on the National
Sectarity Coimcil Group and
National Intelligent Coim-
cil. In the past, he served as
Assistant Secretary of De
fense for International Se
curity Affairs, where he was
awarded the Distinguished
Service Medal with an Oak
Leaf Cluster. Currently, Nye
is a professor of Internation
al Relations at Harvard, and
is working on another book.
Nye addressed the Mer
edith community to explain
and teach the ways in which
soft power can help interna
tional politics and the Unit
ed States’ relationship with
other countries. Nye coined
the term “soft power” in the
late eighties; he defines soft
power as the ability to get
what we want through at
traction rather than coercion
of payments. He stated that
the mentality was that, “That
the United States was so
strong; that we can do what
we want and others have
no choice in it.” Now, that
is no longer the convention.
Nye explained how the at
tacks that occiured on Sep
tember 11 are “like a flash
of lightning in a summer
evening, when you are out
biking and you let it get too
dark and all of a sudden you
see before you a strange and
difficult landscape, and then
it goes dark again - and now
you have to pick your way
through that landscape. And
that’s where we Americans
are, we are trying to find our
way around the world to
day.” Nye further said that
the two great changes of the
twentieth century were illu
minated on September 11;
globalization and the infor
mation revolution. It was not
until September 11 that we
saw these changes, although
they have been around for
thirty years. Nye sees glo
balization, in the latter part
of the twentieth century, in
creasing more rapidly than
before; and also the infor
mation revolution, all hav
ing huge changes - the price
of exchanging information
through computing, as de
creased immensely. Before,
you needed a great deal of
money to gain access, now
someone could walk into
an Internet cafe and access
the Internet for very little.
Nye talked about the Bush
administration, and President
Bush’s policies that affect in
ternational relationships. He
explained, “President Bush
was elected in the year 2000
on a policy which he said that
we are going to avoid nation
building, and we are going to
focus just on the great pow
ers. By September*2002, his
new national security strate
gy says we have more to fear
from failed states than we do
from great powers, and we
need the help of great pow
ers, like China, to help us
deal with this.” Nye agrees
with Bush’s goals to reor
ganize our foreign policy,
but he feels that the Presi
dent was less successful in
the means of implementing
these goals. He feels that the
administration put more em
phasis on our military, or our
hard power, and neglected
our soft power. A power is
simply the ability to get oth
ers to do the things we want.
There are three ways this
can be done; threaten some
one, pay someone, or attract
others to do things. Lastly,
attraction is soft power. Nye
feels that there has been
a tremendous push to fo
cus on the country’s hard
power, when the adminis
tration really needs to focus
on the country’s soft power.
There has been a decline on
America’s soft power, or
oxir ability to attract others,
including countries in Eu
rope and countries that are
a part of the Muslim world.
Nye’s convocation was
welcomed by Dr. Rosalind
R. Reichard, the Senior Vice
President and Vice President
for Academic Affairs, and in
troduced by Caitlin Spicola,
Class of 2007. A reception
immediately followed the
presentation.. Later on that
day, at 2:00 p.m., he met with
several students and faculty
to address specific questions
on soft power, and how our
country can implement this
particular power of ours.