Booml Bang! Bing!
Spend an evening with Campus Safety after
the gates close
See page 4
My country 411 when?
Opinion editor weighs in on the banning of flags in
light of immigration debates
See page 3
Garden of secrets
Theater department leads students into
mystical mysteries
See page 5
m
Samford Crimson
Serving Samford University>SiNce 1915
Birmingham, Alabama
One-day
visit from
the Post
Melissa Jordan and
Lauren Welty
The Samford Crimson
The “high priest of political
journalism,” Washington Post
columnist David Broder, visited
Samford Tuesday to give the inau¬
gural Timothy Sumner Robinson
Lecture.
The topic of nationally syndi¬
cated columnist Broder’s lecture
was “The Press and Politics: The
Current Mess,” which discussed
the need for public responsibilities
to be met in both journalism and
politics. He emphasized the
responsibility leaders have in ful¬
filling what our founders envi¬
sioned with the First Amendment,
to serve the public interest, not
simply stockholders.
“When we look at ourselves as
citizens, consumers of news, as
voters, we’ve met the enemy, and
he is us,” Broder said.
In addition to the lecture,
Broder and Post deputy managing
editor Milton Coleman visited
JMC classes, met with Kappa Tau
Alpha, the journalism honor soci¬
ety, and talked with members of
the Samford Crimson.
“I think it is great that the jour¬
nalism department was able to get
such high-profile names to come
and spend time in our classes and
answer our questions about the
industry,” senior journalism major
Bailey Sexton said.
“Coleman discussed a lot of
things that we had been covering
as hypothetical situations in our
ethics and management class, and
it was interesting to see it parlayed
into real-life situations,” Sexton
said.
“Any opportunity we have to
take things out of the textbook and
see them illustrated in the real
world is important and makes my
Samford education worthwhile.”
After giving his lecture, Broder
said he had no fear of journalism’s
future. “After meeting with jour¬
nalism students, who will be the
future journalists, I have every
confidence that his (Robinson]
morals and legacy will be in very
good hands,” Broder said.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Volume 91 I Number 20
Dana Kaita I Thf. Samford Crimson
David Broder contemplates
a question from a student after
his lecture Tuesday night.
This forum was created to
honor the legacy Robinson left
behind.
Robinson, a 1965 graduate of
Samford University, accom¬
plished his greatest dream by
working at the Washington Post,
where he was a court reporter dur¬
ing the Watergate scandal.
Robinson’s widow Jan Andrew
remembered her husband’s pas¬
sion for journalism by addressing
students before a film highlighting
Robinson’s career was shown.
“I dedicate this film to the stu¬
dents of Samford. You too can help
change the world by running down
your dreams,” Andrew said.
Big man
on campus
“It's a dream come true. It really is. Ever since I was a little kid walking
Samford’s campus, I always thought one day this would be my kingdom.”
Dana Kaita I The Samford Crimson j
The Frat Pack, composed of freshman business major Dylan Scroggins, junior history
major Ben Weber and freshman music major John Mumane, pose after Weber won Mr.
Samford Tuesday. He performed a rap, with the help of the other two, forlhe talent portion.
Danger slithers into
Beeson Woods
Melissa Jordan
Campus News Editor
Signs warning students about
the risk of snakes in Beeson
Woods will now be taken more
seriously after Resident Assistant
Canaan Helms, a junior communi¬
cation studies major, was bitten
last Monday and hospitalized for
four days.
Helms was rushing back to her
dorm at night when she felt some¬
thing bite her on her left foot. She
didn’t see what had bitten her but
quickly felt the pain.
“It was just crazy. It was the
weirdest experience,” Helms said.
“I was startled and screamed out
while grabbing my foot. I was
afraid to pick up my things I had
dropped, so I just grabbed my keys
and hopped inside to the lower
level of Ethel."
Helms was taken to the hospital
the next morning when she woke
up and saw that her whole ankle
was purple and everything from
her knee down was swollen.
The doctors did tests to deter¬
mine what it was that had bitten
her and why she was having such a
bad reaction to it.
“At one point they asked me if
it was a cat. I explained to them, I
would have seen a cat,” she said.
The doctors don’t believe the
snake was poisonous, but it was
the bacteria from the bite that
caused the swelling.
While Beeson Woods is known
as a . likely home for snakes and
other creatures, most students say
they don’t take the warnings Resi¬
dence Life gives them too serious¬
ly. Since last semester, signs have
been up in each dorm saying
snakes had been spotted both
inside and outside the dorms and
to not prop doors open.
Students even made their own
sign mocking the warning that
reads, “Polar bears have been spot¬
ted in James Hall. Do not prop
doors open.”
“I would like to tell students
that 1 know some signs make us
laugh, and we even create signs of
our own, like the polar bear spot¬
ting, but they really need to take
the information you see posted for
real," Helms said. “When signs go
up they are posted because some¬
thing has happened, and [Resi¬
dence Life] doesn’t want it to hap¬
pen again.”
Beeson Woods Senior RA
Katherine Manget, a senior exer¬
cise science major, doesn’t believe
the bug problem has been especial¬
ly bad this year but says being in a
wooded area increases the amount
of snakes, spiders and other pelsts.
“In Central Campus there is just
grass and trees,” Manget said.
“Here, there are a lot of wooded
areas, and it’s not overgrown in a
bad way, but it’s not flat. And we
have the creek under the bridge.
That’s a big area where [snakes]
are in too.”
Helms’ injury was the first
reported incident of a bite this
year. Last semester, a snake was
See SNAKES, page 2
Dana Kaita I The Samford Crimson
Canaan Halms keeps her
foot elevated while working.
To live or not to live on campus: a student question
Annie Murphree
The Samford Crimson
Students are split over whether sopho¬
mores should be able to live off campus but
voice support for on-campus apartment-
style housing, according to a recent SGA
survey.
The survey, created by the Student Opin¬
ion Concern Committee of the Executive
Advisory Board, showed 49 percent of Sam¬
ford students think sophomores should be
able to live off campus, while 46 percent
feel only juniors and seniors should have the
option.
Of the approximately 1 ,000 students who
responded, 68.5 percent agreed to the build¬
ing of apartment-style housing on campus,
21.3 percent disagreed and 8.7 percent had
no opinion.
“We have more students living on cam¬
pus now than we’ve had in past years,”
Garry Atkins, director of residence life, said.
Students like junior business major Drew
Rouse And the campus's housing situation
has more to do with rules rather than a
growing population.
“The number of students living on cam¬
pus is obscure, because it could have noth¬
ing to do with the fact that students want to
live on campus but more to do with the
tightened rules that have left them with no
other options,” Rouse said.
Atkins said ideas about constructing new
housing buildings are still far away, while
efforts to refurbish the residence halls are
beginning now.
“In the distant future, there are thoughts
and ideas about building new housing,”
Atkins said.
“When we reach that point, the Vice Pres¬
ident of Student Affairs and the Board will
handle that decision. As for right now, we
are beginning a two-year refurbishing plan,
which calls for a replacement of all furnish¬
ings in Beeson Woods and West Campus
residence halls,” be said.
John Marc, Price, a junior history major,
lives in student apartments.
“I am a Beeson scholar and am required
to live on campus as part of the scholarship
agreement. Unfortunately, the apartments
need a lot of renovations such as new carpet,
new ventilation, and new air-conditioning
and heating,” he said.
While many undergraduates seem to be
anxious about moving off campus to gain
a sense of freedom, a change of scenery,
or a little more space, a lot of Beeson
Divinity School students would love to
live on campus.
Their request is for housing for graduate
students, said divinity student Spike Burt.
“The way it is set up right now, Samford
See HOUSING, page!
Minority representation questioned
Josh Rutledge
The Samford Crimson
If seminaries want to increase minority
enrollment, they will need to increase the
number of minority faculty members too,
Joseph Scrivner, a religion professor and
member of the University Diversity Com¬
mittee, said.
“I think one of the biggest problems is
that seminaries don’t have enough minority
faculty,” Scrivner said. “If a seminary shows
a commitment to having a diverse faculty,
that will pay off in attracting more diverse
students. Minorities will feel more comfort¬
able if they see that the seminary is making
an effort at bringing in more diverse teach¬
ers.”
One organization attempting to address
the problem and aid many minority students
is The Fund For Theological Education.
Scrivner received aid from them to earn his
PhD from Princeton.
The fund gives aid specifically to minori¬
ties but also has many scholarships set up to
aid anyone interested in pursuing ministry.
In addition to providing funding, it also
offers various workshops throughout die
year, where students and faculty are brought
together.
During these workshops, they experience
an atmosphere of encouragement, mutual
support and direction.
In the U.S., one-third of all theological
schools and seminaries have no minority
faculty on staff.
At Beeson Divinity School, there are 16
full-time faculty members, not including
administration.
Only two of those members are African-
American, but Beeson is considered one of
the more diverse seminaries available.
Over 15 percent of all students are
minorities.
However, on a national scale» the lack of
minority students is a particular issue in
Christian seminary settings, where they are
made up predominately of white faculty and
students.
According to the Samford Committee on
Diversity, one of the rationale for diversity
is that too much homogeneity within an aca¬
demic community can lead to ideas being
accepted or rejected on the affirmation of
majority rather than through rigorous ques¬
tioning and analysis.
“Diversity should be a huge part of any
seminary, because missions is such a vital
part of Christianity. The Church is global, so
at any Christian seminary, diversity should
,bp something that is natural and assumed,”
first-year Beeson student Kaelan Clay said.
Scrivner said that not only does a lade of
diversity discourage minority students from
attending seminaries, but it also adds increased
pressure to the few minority faculty members.
See SCRIVfMER, page!
Dana Kaita I The Samford <
challenglngradal questions.
*