Rushed
To rush or not to rush? Brian Willett discusses
the thrills of fraternizing
Seepa8e4
Dorm decor
An interior design major offers tips on how to
give your dorm a decorating facelift
S«* P«ge 6
One for all
A new program encourages greater
support for student athletes
See page 7
Samford Crimson
Serving Samford University Since 1915
Birmingham, Alabama
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Volume 92 I Number 2
, I
Dana Kaita I The Samford Crimson
Students sit outside the unfinished coffee house in the
Food Court.
O’Henry’s! O’ Hurry!
Coffee house and
recital hall experience
construction delays
Hayden Hamrick
The Samford Crimson
If patience is a virtue, Samford
students must be fairly virtuous.
Over the course of the summer,
construction began on a new
O’Henry’s Coffee House, located
next to the food court. In addition,
building continued on Jane
Hollock Brock Hall, a new
recital auditorium.
The construction for both proj¬
ects was scheduled to be done
before the start of the fall semester,
but a few minor delays have led to
a suspended opening date.
“Both projects to date are defb
nitely going to be worth their wait.
We are fortunate at Samford to
have facilities such as these,” SGA
President Taylor Clement said.
In the construction of O’Hen¬
ry’s Coffee House, David Whitt,
Samford University engineer in
facilities services, said there were
several delays that are typical for
construction projects.
“The final design drawings
were delayed before we could
issue them for bids, and the bids
were higher than expected, which
required additional budget
discussions and commitment,”
Whitt said.
Expected completion of the cof¬
fee house has now been tentatively
set for the first week in October.
Like O’Henry’s, Jane Hollock
Brock Hall also had difficulty in
reaching its anticipated completion
date. When the construction of
the recital hall first began in the
spring, the building was scheduled
to be open for use at the start of
the fall term.
“The new hall is going to be
amazing,” sophomore piano
performance major Jessica Terry
said. “Right now it is a little frus¬
trating waiting for it to finish, but
when it does get done, it’s going to
be a great experience to perform
in that setting.”
Unfortunately, while construc¬
tion for O’Henry’s was delayed
due to typical construction issues,
the delay for the recital hall was
very unexpected.
The plan was to have rare
stonework encompassing the
recital hall, which would aid in the
acoustics. However, this was
delayed when the manufacture’s
plant burned down. Rather than
change the original plans, the
opening date was pushed back.
“In short, the delays are related
to our efforts to build a first-rate
building. As for the School of Per¬
forming Arts, our first concern is
that the building is finished well;
we can be patient,” Joseph Hop¬
kins, dean of the school of per¬
forming arts, said.
Concerning the delays for both
O’Henry’s Coffee House and Jane
Hollock Brock Hall. Dean
Franklin, vice president and dean
of students, said, “When it is all
said and done, I think the Universi¬
ty community will be pleased.
There is more excitement than con¬
struction progress but well eventu¬
ally get there.”
Thanks to University Ministries, community service
such as Habitat for Humanity, will now count for
#10
Alternative Lifestyles
Not an Alternative
Demographics
#12
Homogeneous
Student Population
Demographics
Students Pray
on a Regular Basis
Demographics
#12
Don’t Inhale
Parties
#
15
Got Milk?
Parties
no
t
Scotch and Soda,
Hold the Scotch
Parties
#12
Students Most
Nostalgic for Reagan
Politics
*6
Future Rotarians
and Daughters of the
American Revolution
School Type
ng
Town-Gown
Relations Are Great
Social
Information reprinted from
The Princeton Review
What’s in a
ranking?
Samford makes nine
Princeton Review lists
Megan Voelkel
The Samford Crimson
The Princeton Review’s recently released college
rankings typify Samford as a haven for narrow-mind¬
ed Caucasians still smitten with Ronald Reagan, but
the response from the campus community to the
merits of the categories has been nothing short of,
well, diverse.
University President Andrew Westmoreland said
the 2007 rankings, while naming Samford as one of
the 146 Best Southeastern Colleges, do not illustrate
the university’s complexities.
“I would give them a high grade for creativity, but
their approach to evaluating universities appears to
prompt emotional rather than intellectual discussion
Of the key issues,” Westmoreland said.
The Princeton Review bases its lists on surveys
and interviews with current students, considered by
the college guide to be the experts on the academic,
demographic, social and political atmosphere that
surrounds them. Catchy titles then spice up the 62
categories, which are designed to aid prospective stu¬
dents in their college searches.
According to The Princeton Review, which has
been compiling the rankings in its “Best 361
Colleges” book for 15 years, an average of 300 stu¬
dents per school respond to the 80-question survey
each year.
This year Samford earns three Top 10 nods, specif¬
ically in the “Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alterna¬
tive” and “Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch” cate¬
gories.
Its highest mark, as the sixth-ranked school type¬
cast for “Future Rotarians and Daughters of the
American Revolution,” was based on a variety of sur¬
vey responses concerning drug use, political persua¬
sion, student government popularity, acceptance of
gays and the prevalence of religion.
Other Top 20 mentions depict Reagan nostalgia,
regular prayer and a homogeneous student popula¬
tion.
“Many members of the campus community may be
nostalgic for Ronald Reagan, but others would prefer
that Bill Clinton was now serving his fourth term as
president,” Westmoreland said. ‘To paint with a
broad brush, as the Princeton Review does in the sub¬
categories, tends to reduce universities to comic
books.”
Freshman political science major Bryan Kessler
also found the rankings present a myopic glimpse of
the campus, publicly responding to a Sept. 1
“Birmingham News” article that linked Samford to
Auburn and the University of Alabama as conserva¬
tive, prayerful campuses in The Princeton Review
lists. He said in a letter to the editor published last
Friday that the article portrayed Samford as “a bas¬
tion of drone-like insularity” by failing to mention
Jewish professor Amy-Jill Levine as the speaker of
the convocation it described.
“It seemed as if we all shuffle in and pray togeth-
Nick Holdbrooks I The Samford Crimson
er, when it's a very independent thing, and we don’t
force it on other people,” Kessler said.
In response to The Princeton Review. Kessler said
he thought the rankings create preconceived notions
that affect prospective students’ decision to visit a
school or not.
“I don’t mind that they [Tlje Princeton Review]
say students here are most likely to pray; the problem
is the way it’s presented as a negative thing, that stu¬
dents aren’t open to anyone who is not a Christian or
has a different opinion," Kessler said.
To senior international relations major Kristine
Pham, The Princeton Review’s inclusion of demo¬
graphics is reflective of the educational experience a
school can offer. Samford ranked 1 2th in the “Homo¬
geneous Student Population" category, determined by
responses to the survey question, “Is your student
body made up of diverse social and ethnic types?”
Pham, a Vietnamese student, said, "It adds to your
education to know people from different backgrounds
and who have different ideas that can challenge your
own.” She added, “You crave to be around people
from different places. You ache for it. It’s hard to get
my Asian fix here.”
Though she didn’t use The Princeton Review rank¬
ings to decide to come to Samford, she said she
would have been more apprehensive if she had.
Nancy Whitt, chair of the English department and
co-chair of the Faculty Diversity Committee, a divi¬
sion of the Faculty Senate formed five years ago,
said, “My sense is we have a long, long way to go
before we are truly diverse.” She cited Samford’s
need for more international students and faculty as
well as an academic curriculum that is more inclusive
of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic groups, among
others.
“I’ve been to women’s colleges and black
colleges, and I see what we’re missing out on.
It’s healing to hear your own story and history,”
Whitt said. “You don’t want to silence voices but add
more to the mix.”
A new definition of convocation
Mallory Siler
The Samford Crimson
. For some students, Shiloh pro¬
vides both the opportunity to wor¬
ship and receive Convo credit.
However, if students want the lat¬
ter, they are going to have to start
looking elsewhere, possibly off
campus.
As of the start of the fall semes¬
ter, University Ministries has
decided that Shiloh will no longer
count for convocation credit, but a
number of other opportunities are
set to fill the void.
“The purpose behind this is to
enhance the experience of Shiloh.
If people feel like they are forced
to worship, it is
• to the
though we took Shiloh away,
we are offering more opportunities
in its place.”
One of the areas Kerlin wants to
integrate into the credit opportuni¬
ties is community . service.
The university used to offer
Convo credit for community serv¬
ice, but the idea was taken away
due to both the lack of organiza¬
tion and an unclear definition
In an attempt to clarity and
broaden the definition. University
Ministries has developed a new
program entitled, “Faith-Based
Service Learning”.
“All sorts of connotations are
to community service.
Faith-Based Service Learning
what we want this
F community service
with both spiritual and educational
objectives,” Kerlin said.
In addition to community serv¬
ice, University Ministries hopes to
make even more opportunities
available to students in the spring.
Many students are already
involved in community service
projects, even though they are
receiving no credit for their wok.
One such project is Habitat' for
Humanity. According to sppho-
more undeclared major Lauren
Ford, a coordinator for Habitat, the
Convo credit incentive will help
get more students involved and
give them a chance to impact the
community.
“I really like the
service idea for Convo because it
- - . .
Ш
go. It
they never knew they had. Plus, it
gets you out of the ‘Samford Bub¬
ble’.” Ford said.
While Kerlin and the University
Ministry staff are in the process of
redesigning Convo, they are
encouraging students to offer feed¬
back. However, according to Ker¬
lin, the budget allotted to convoca¬
tion makes it difficult to implement
those changes.
“The convocation budget is piti¬
fully low, and it would be helpful
to have more money to devote to
Convo,” Kerlin said. “However,
in the meantime, it is important for
us to do a good job now. My
r one goal is for Convo to be
so good that people get their
: easily and early,
and then keep coming because it
is so good.” '
3 43
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