By Maegan Clearwood
Editor in Chief
Saturday, Dec. 3, 1932
- Jubilant Freshmen, disappointed but good natured Sophomores, upperclassmen, and Faculty Members, all combined last night in an informal dance in the gymnasium. The dance sponsored by the Fresh and Soph classes was one of the nicest held at Washington College in quite a while.
Celebrating a decisive victory over the Sophomore football warriors, the Freshman team and classmates enjoyed themselves to the greatest extent, while the not too large group of upper classmen intermingled in friendly feeling. The Sophomores, though badly beaten, were willing to offer no alibis, all helping to make more firm the calling of Washington College a Friendly one.
- The Phi Sigma Phi Fraternity held its annual “rush function” in the form of a dinner in the banquet room of the Kitty Knight House, at Georgetown, Md., on the evening of Monday, November 28. More than forty of those affiliated with the Fraternity and their first-year-men guests were present at the occasion.
- One enterprising freshman has established himself in the art of bottle collecting. His inspiration came out of the “Dance of the Resumes”—or to be more exact, out of the windows and lockerrooms. To date, his interesting collection numbers twenty-three bottles, of all sorts, sizes, and labels. Oh yes! They are all empty!
Friday, December 15, 1967
- President Gibson was presented this week with a list of proposals by the Women’s Residence Association. Among the several revisions in WRA policy being considered are: A proposal to change women’s curfew hours from 1:30 a.m. on weekend evenings to 3:00 a.m.; a new system for the sign-out card system; open houses every third Sunday of the month, followed by coffee hour sponsored by each dorm (in rotation); and WRA meetings are to be held twice monthly, open to all students (including males).
- Santa will arrive early this year for children from the Elizabeth Murphy School in Dover, Delaware. Saturday, December 16, will be the date of the Kappa Alpha fraternity’s annual Christmas Orphans Party. The children arrive at Washington College early in the afternoon. Each Kappa Alpha member and his date are then responsible for entertaining and befriending one of the children.
- Returning to the mat after a fifteen-year layoff, the Sho’men grapplers dropped a 27-7 decision to Susquehanna. The defeat was not overly disappointing for the matmen due to the fact that Susquehanna is one of the toughest opponents that Washington College will face this year.
Friday, Dec. 3, 1982
- Having met with the Alcohol Task force on Tuesday, November 23, the Deans of Student Affairs decided to suspend the recently instituted policy banning the sale of six packs in the Coffee House until the end of this academic year.
- In its second case of the academic year, WC’s Student Judiciary Board found defendents Harry Goodrick and David Mailne guilty of breaking and entering as charged by plaintiff Scott Behm.
The alleged action was said to have taken place between the hours of 10:30 and 4:30 on November 4th, 1982. It was most evidently intended as a joke or harmless prank on the part of the defendents, Goderick and Milne, however, plaintiff Behm felt stronger action should be taken and presented the case to the SJB.
Goodrick and Milne are alleged to have entered Behm’s room in Cecil House via an open window and proceeded to remove the hinges from the door into the room and then exited through it. According to the defendants there was no harm intended. However, after a short period of time, the defendants began feeling reprehensible and after discussing it with Milne, Goodrich returned again via the window, replaced Behm’s hinges and promptly exited through the door. The two returned again later in the day and offered Behm a complete and sincere apology for their actions and explained the fact that it was intended entirely as a joke. Afterwards, Behm informed them that during the course of the day, while the room had been unattended, four blank checks had been taken from his checkbook. He had called the bank and cancelled the checks. It was then that Behm decided to lodge a formal complaint against the defendants.
- For most, a maximum security prison is a place one neither wants to visit nor live in. On Wednesday, November 17, however, the two sections of the Philosophy of Law class under the direction of Dr. Peter Tapke and Dr. J. David Newell ventured to Patuxent Institute in Jessup, Maryland as one of the required activities in the course.
- More than 100 Washington College students donated the turkey from their campus Thanksgiving Dinners to needy Kent County residents. Their portions, making up thirteen whole birds, were given to the Kent County Department of Social Services for distribution to aged citizens and low income families who otherwise might not have had turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
December 5, 1997
- In addition to the maids vacuuming at 8 in the morning, residents of Wicomico now have the sound of maintenance’s constant banging and booming while they build offices in their basement. Public Safety is moving in.
The long-awaited plan for Public Safety to move out of their current building is finally taking shape. For the past couple years the campus’ security needs have outgrown the space provided for the officers. Director of Public Safety Jerry Roderick claims they need a location that is more suitable to both the officers and the students.
“Many students don’t even know where the [current] Public Safety office is because it is away from the campus,” Roderick said.
Their former offices before their current building were in the Spanish House, which was a sufficient location; it was a central area of campus and was accessible to students on a routine basis. Public Safety moved to their current building when they were offered to occupy it for a few years with an advantage to buy. Finally they bought the property, but are now moving into a dormitory.
- Like racism and sexism, homophobia is a major problem all over the world, and Washington College is no exception. Over the years, GALA (WC’s Gay & Lesbian Alliance) members have saved fliers from meetings and events. These fliers, which were first hung around campus, then retrieved, had often been defaced with homophobic slurs.
The fact that GALA members refused to meet with an Elm reporter, let alone insisting that their names not be used, illustrates the fear members have of being outted at WC and the unfavorable atmosphere they feel exists here. Most members were happy to speak through senior GALA member Natalie Smith, and could not envision a day in the near future where homosexuals on campus could be named in a GALA story or speak with an Elm reporter about their sexuality.
According to Smith, one of GALA’s main codes is for members to avoid assumptions about other members. “It’s just a rule that we’ve had,” she said. “We invite anyone who deals positively with gay and lesbian issues to attend our meetings, regardless of how they define their sexuality. We try not to make assumptions about who’s gay or lesbian or bi or straight. If someone wishes to offer this information, that’s fine, but we don’t want to force it out of anyone.”
- Planning for the institution of a new Elementary Education Certification Program at Washington College came to an abrupt halt last month when the department was informed that a moratorium setting a limit on such programs had been put in place.
“Naturally this was extremely disappointing,” said Chair of the Department of Education Séan O Connor. “There was a lot of hard work and a lot of enthusiasm and eagerness put into that project by people both outside of the college and within.”
The school submitted a proposal to the Maryland State Department of Education in the spring of 1996. The state reviewers returned the proposal in June with specifications for a few changes. Along with these suggestions, the reviewers informed WC that no application were being accepted for Elementary Education programs.