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V
The Norm Caro&w School of $cfence crd Mathematics
Vol. XVIII, No. 1
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
1219 Broad Street Duriiam, NC 27705
Editors-in-Chief: Alison Goss and Carrie Hamby
Department Editors: Daniel Adams, Layout; Diana Movius, Opinions;
Mimi Wu, Features; Heidi Yoon. News; Jesse Wharton, Sports; Cindy
Lee, Photography
Staff writers: Roshan Baliga, Saugabh Desai, Steve Carpenter, Benita
Jones, Kyle McLaughlin, Becky Ballard, Hollins Cause, Couttney
Tolmie
Layout Staff: Jennifer Newport, Frank Menius. Addie Ogunwole,
Richard Bruns
Photographers: Caroline Nguyen, Conor Boing, Zev Friedman
Advertising Manager: Megan Coates
Art/Design Editor: Court Wilson
Web Design: Chunghau Lee
Special thanks to David Stein for file photos
httpy/iluvatar.ncssm.edu/stentorian
Encouragement from
support staff appreciated
It is one o’clock in
the afternoon and you have
already had two tests and
a pop quiz this morning.
Your stomach is growling
because you skipped lunch
to finish a Miller paper due
by 5, and you can still look
forward to sports practice,
club meetings, and
tonight’s homework.
You walk down
the hall, wondering if there
is any possible escape from
the pressure that only stu
dents here know, when you
hear a friendly, “Hey! How
you doin’ today?” from
behind you.
It may be Chris
Taylor, looking up from
fixing a problem outside
the hall, or Mervin
Upchurch mopping the
floor outside the Watts el
evator, or Bobby Jackson
standing outside the secu
rity office (but only if the
greeting is followed by
“little brother” or “little sis
ter”). All of a sudden you
start to cheer up, and you
realize how much a little
kindness can brighten a
person’s day. And if there
is one group of people you
can always count on get
ting a friendly greeting or
a little help from, it is the
security and maintenance
staff at school.
These employees
work hard everyday in or
der to keep things running
smoothly on campus. If
you need a bench or an air-
conditioner fixed, you just
need to send a simple e-
mail, and the problem will
normally be fixed within
the next few days. Even
with matters that seem as
trivial as a squeaky door,
talk to a maintenance per
son, and if they are not in
the middle of a major
project, they will help you
immediately. They make
an RLA’s life easier by de
livering housekeeping sup
plies almost as soon as a
request form is turned in.
The security officers spend
a great deal of time each
night making sure that
doors are locked and no
one is roaming around
school who should not be.
When you are be
ginning to feel out of touch
with the real world and
trapped inside the NCSSM
bubble, talk to one of these
people. And while you are
talking to them, thank
them for all that they do.
They are so oftert taken.for
granted, and tbis school
would be a less friendly
place without them.
Note of apology
Due to the lack of response to the smoking survey from last
issue, there arc no results for the students opinions on smoking
that would accurately represent the entire NCSSM community.
December 1998
Destroying the hall
Steve Carpenter
“Does your mom let you
play rugby inside at home?”
your SLl asks shaking his head.
Even though you know he’s
been standing around the cor
ner long enough to see you
break three lights and put a hole
in the wall, you still say,
“Rugby? We weren’t playing
rugby. How can you play rugby
with a football?”
Everyone laughs at your
sarcastic comment, everyone
except your SLI. Is this really
funny? Besides laughing at the
man who could snap his fingers
and make a Level 11 appear on
your door, you are VANDAL
IZING your own hall.
All over campus, stu
dents have been desecrating the
ceilings, floors and walls of
their residence halls. Writing
obscene and insulting com
ments on people’s dry erase
boards, drawing graffiti in the
Hunt stairwell, and vandalizing
bulletin boards are just some of
the things that students do that
make residence halls look like
inner city alleys.
Add imprints of people’s
bodies found on some walls in
Hill House and dirty laundry
that is kicked around for a few
days, and our residence halls
turn into hallways reminiscent
of Compton after an earth
quake.
No apparent reason for
this vandalism exists, and it
needs to stop.
Recently, junior James
Grant’s grandparents visited on
a Sunday afternoon. At the
time Second Hill North only did
housekeeping Sundays through
Thursday, so as you can imag
ine, on that afternoon the hall
was not in it’s cleanest state.
bn top of all the normal
weekend wear, some people
were so careless that the hall
was littered with soda bottles,
dirty clothes and various graf
fiti. Instead of just cleaning his
room, James had to clean up the
entire hall for his grandparents!
Put yourself in James’s
shoes. Your parents are due to
arrive in an hour. You quickly
clean your room, so you aren’t
yelled at, and you go downstairs
to wait for them. On the trip
up to your room, they notice the
insults, conveniently inserted
next to the name of your hall.
Then, you pass your hall bulle
tin board, where someone has
amazingly arranged the names
of you and your hall mates to
spell out curse words. Finally,
after dodging a barrage of trash,
you arrive at you room, and a
note on your dry erase board
reads ‘Call your [derogatory
female term] back’. Have a
happy car ride home!
So, next time you want to
play rugby, THINK, heed your
mother’s advice and go outside.
And if you want to wnte some
thing on a wall, try something
not offensive for once.
I hate to say it, but that
SLI might be right for once.
Try to do what he/she says and
treat your hall like your home,
because, after all, that’s what it
is to you and your hall mates,
home.
SGA Smoking Survey Results
Did you smoke before you
came to NCSSM?
YES-16.23%
NO-82.55%
UNSURE-1.11%
NO OPINION-0%
Do you smoke now?
YES-18.28%
NO-79.26%
UNSURE-1.23%
NO OPINION-0.56%
Do you think that students
should be allowed to
smoke on campus?
YES-44.39%
NO-42.26%
UNSURE-8.35%
NO OPINION-4.90%
Do you think students
should be allowed to
smoke in designated areas
on campus?
YES-64.31%
NO-25.94%
UNSURE-5.29%
NO OPlNION-4.36%
Do you think that smoking
should be allowed off
campus?
YES-76.96%
NO-10.97%
UNSURE-6.68%
NO OPINION-5.39%
Do you think students
should be allowed to smoke
off campus if they walk
around?
YES-72.45%
NO-13.97%
UNSURE-6.60%
NO OPINION-6.81%
Do you think that students
shoould be allowed to
possess tobacco products?
YES-67.04%
NO-21.69%
UNSURE-5.36%
NO OPINION-5.91%
Do you feel that a person’s
safety would be compro
mised if he/she had to leave
campus to smoke?
YES-50.88%
NO-33.44%
UNSURE-10.97%
NO OPINION-4.72%
Are you bothered by other
students smoking?
'raS-35.26%
NO-57.08%
UNSURE-5.88%
NO OPINION-1.78%
Do you think that faculty/
staff ought to be allowed
to smoke on campus?
YES-38.11%
NO-43.81%
UNSURE-9.91% ’
NO OPINION-8.17%
Do you think your parents’
opinion on smoking should
influence whether or not
students at NCSSM are
allowed to smoke?
YES-34.96%
NO-51.87%
UNSURE-8.41%