www.samfordcrimson .com
Volume 92 1 Number 17
March 7, 2007
Sorority scandal
DePauw University’s Delta Zeta chapter
becomes center of national controversy
Step up to tho plate
Baseball team improves its record and
>■ envisions season on the rise
which?
Lauren Welty
The Sam ford Crimson
The Board of Trustees voted
Tuesday morning to increase
tuition 12 percent for undergradu¬
ates, implementing the highest
tuition increase in recent Samford
history, according to Vice Presi¬
dent for Business Affairs Bill
Mathews.
“We’ve held tuition down to
the point that we can’t hold it
down anymore,” Mathews said.
The change will be effective
beginning in the Fall 2007 semes¬
ter for all students.
Cumberland School of Law
students will pay 6.5 percent
more, while McWhorter School
of Pharmacy will have a five per¬
cent increase.
Metro Program tuition will
increase four percent.
"[The change] will make me
take out more loans and owe even
more ‘money after I graduate,”
junior nursing riiajor Ali Whyte
said.
In addition to the tuition
increase this year, room and
board fees Will rise four percent.
“Running this campus is like
running our own town,” Mathews
said.
In order to more effectively
operate the campus, Mathews
said the school is trying to "be
better stewards of energy use” by
converting to regional boiler
rooms, instead of individual boil¬
ers for each building.
Despite the efforts to save
money, in some areas, Samford is
not willing to compromise.
“We’ve looked at the idea of
distance education. The best edu¬
cation is face to face,” Mathews
said.
“We try to keep the faculty-stu¬
dent ratio low and have all teach¬
ers in the classroom. There are no
elite teachers in the lab or gradu¬
ate assistants teaching. But we
have to pay them a decent
wage— we don’t pay extravagant¬
ly— but they will leave [if we
don’t].”
For the administration, there is
a delicate balance between offer¬
ing quality education and main¬
taining affordable tuition.
“I think we’re always con-
The Samford University Wind Ensemble/Symphonic Band performed Tuesday night In fcrbcfc Recital
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Group to share its
‘Soul’ with students
Nick Holdbrooks I The Samford Crimson
Higher calling for
Honors Program
Brittany Thompson
The Samford Crimson
*
The Samford Honors Program
is on the verge of drastic changes.
In die' spring of 2006, a group
of six honor students began a dis¬
cussion (Mi academic excellence.
According to senior history
major and former Honors Presi¬
dent Mary Kathryn Covert,
changes in the program hadn’t
previously been pushed because
of a fear of elitism.
“We saw that ail pursuits of truth
in acadenija lead to the Truth,”
Covert said. “We wanted a raising
of academic standards overall."
Covert was part of the group of
six students that grew to 30 and
then to 70 who felt the pursuit of
academic excellence should be a
priority at Samford.
When these students first pre¬
sented their ideas to Provost Brad
Creed and Associate Provost
Mark Bateman, they were encour¬
aged not only to voice
but, also, to offer a
Covert said these students spent
ing academics, beginning with the
Honors Program.
“It was this really organic
movement for all of us who saw
that we needed to pursue academ¬
ic excellence in order to pursue
Christ, most importantly, and to
be where we need to be academi¬
cally as a Christian institution,"
Covert Bald.
In response, the administration
is reviewing a proposal that, if
accepted, will entirely transform
the honors experience at Samford.
The primary proposal is the
result of input from multiple
sources, including several meetings
in the past year among honors stu¬
dents, faculty and administration.
A common criticism that sur¬
faced during these discussions
was that the Honors Program felt
like a “series of hoops” rather
than a learning experience,
according to
and JMC major
President Andrew Westover.
“Our Honors Program right
is a great beginning,"
said, “but I feel like it
a long way to go before it can*
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Jessi Lee
The Samford Crimson
Soulforce, which is a gay/les-
bian/bisexual/transgender rights
group, will be visiting Samford
University Mar. 30 as one of the
stops of the 2007 Equality Ride.
According to the Soulforce
Web site, Samford is merely one
among the 32 Christian colleges
and universities Soulforce has
announced they will make an
appearance at in March and April
in order to discuss with the stu¬
dents the negative effects of
“homophobic doctrine.” ..
Equality rider Casey Chandler-
Alexander said the group chose to
visit Samford specifically because
of the sexual misconduct section
of the university’s code of values
that states the definition of sexual
misconduct as “sexual inter¬
course, adultery, unwanted
fondling, rape and homosexual
acts.”
The group first contacted Presi¬
dent Andrew Westmoreland by
letter last fall.
“[They advised] me that it was
likely that die members of the
group would attempt to visit our
campus this spring,” Westmore¬
land said. T did not receive word
that we Were definitely on their
list until earlier this semester.?
Even before the visit was made
Campus joins the Relay
definite, Westmoreland decided to
take the possibility of the visit
before the members of his senior
staff, a group of pastors from the
area and presidents of universities
visited by Soulforce during the
2006 Equality Ride.
T informed the members of our
Board of Trustees that 1 assumed
we might be added to the Soul¬
force list for this spring, and I
asked for theirprayers in the deci¬
sion-making process,” Westmore¬
land said.
“Ultimately, the decision to
proceed in this manner was mine,
but it was made as the result of a
careful process _ and after much
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prayer.
Westmoreland asked University
Minister Matt Kerlin to serve as
the contact between Samford and
Soulforce.
Keilin said a variety of things
went through his head when West¬
moreland first approached him
with this.
“I was honored to be trusted
with such a complex task, curious
to know how our various con¬
stituents would respond, cautious¬
ly hopeful that the events of Mar.
30 would go* well for all involved,
and, truthfully, a bit nervous about
all of tbe above," Kerlin said.
Sb far he has been working on
See SOULFORCE, page 2
CRIMSdN
Tuesday night, Relay For Life kicked off
their local event in the Flag Colonnade.
“Relay For Life is a 12-hour, overnight
event created to celebrate cancer survivors
and honor those who lost the struggle,”
Amy Addison, American Cancer Society
representative said.
The American Cancer Society’s mission
is to help raise awareness to aid in elirainat-
Relay is a fundraiser whose money goes
oograms for the
Society, individual, or
“Everybody’s been touched by cancer in i
явят-
fust child, and they didn’t think -I had ft
good chance. My father passed away from
melanoma,” May, a senior international
relations and Spanish major, said. ' : i
Samford has not participated in Relay far
the past four years. The discussion to bring
it back began last spring. To start it up
again, Samford ia working in collaboration
with the Homewood communityi
May was also chair of her high school’s
Relay,
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“It's a great way to raise awareness,"
May said. “By working with Homewood,
we can break out of the S-mford bubble
do care about our
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