The Carrier

A $55 million bond resolution for funding new residence hall construction, Dana renovations, Krannert Center expansion and roof replacements was approved by the Development Authority of Floyd County Monday, April 21. 

Construction for the new residence halls will begin in June after architecture and design plans for the foundation will be finalized by the architecture firm, Cooper Carry, on May 16. Architect Krista Theiler said those plans will then be submitted for a city permit to begin construction. 

“The approval from the Floyd County Development Authority last week moved us one step closer to issuing the bonds in late May,” Assistant Vice President for Finance Scott Shank said. “If we were unable to issue the bonds, none of the projects would progress.”

 Other bond-funded projects to begin this summer include a telecommunications shop near Viking Trail to provide support for the new residence halls, and pole barns to be constructed near Rollins Dairy as storage space for agricultural equipment that will be displaced during construction in the Emery Barns area. 

R.J. Griffin & Company, the construction company that worked on the Cage Center, will be doing the construction on the new residence halls.

“I like it because Briggs wants to see Berry bigger; if they have the money then they should use it… why not? I’m glad Briggs came in and started changing things at a faster pace, things get done now,” junior Tristan Pierce said. “At least we are outsourcing the work and hiring contractors, it’s not like Berry is having to do it.” 

While R.J. Griffin will handle the new residence halls, Director of Physical Plant Mark Hopkins said his personnel will be overseeing and working on most all of the summer projects.

“This summer is by far the busiest summer for physical plant in tackling projects,” Hopkins said. “We usually do one big renovation on one residence hall each summer, but this year we have several big projects planned.”  

Hopkins said West Mary would undergo the same treatment East Mary got last summer with new paint, carpet, heating and air. The roofs on the Cook Building, Barstow and Hamrick Hall on mountain campus will be replaced. Evans will receive new paint and carpet, and New Residence Hall will also receive a paint touch-up. Hopkins said physical plant’s role in the new residence hall construction will be to supply electricity and oversee the laborers working on the project. 

Physical plant will also be working on projects in order to become compliant with modern Environmental Protection Agency regulations. This summer, physical plant will seal off unused underground gas storage tanks around campus formerly used as alternative energy stores in the 1940s. 

Hopkins said the first project of the summer will be renovating the College Chapel steeple to begin on May 12.

The summer construction and renovation plans are part of a ten-year plan to maintain and catch up on needed facilities repairs. 

According to the Facilities Conditions Assessment, which is an inspection process to assess the maintenance needs of campus facilities, $35.1 million will be needed to provide maintenance for campus facilities over the next 10 years.  

In addition to maintenance needs, interest payments on the bonds will also have to be made monthly over the next 30 years.

Vice President for Finance Brian Erb said interest payments will be paid to bond holders  each month and once per year for principal, regardless of the status of construction. 

“The residence halls related projects will be covered by the room revenue generated, which is the majority of the bond” Erb said. “The remaining bond payments will be covered through the college’s capital project budget, which is part of the overall college budget.”

According to the President’s Report, an increase of $200-$300 thousand must be allocated each year to the capital projects budget to meet maintenance needs.

“Heating, air, roofing and technology needs are all on a similar life-span cycle in regards to when things near the end of their life-spans and become critical for being replaced,” College President Stephen R. Briggs said. “To address those needs we will have to shift some money around here and there in the budget, but you have to consider what $300 thousand is in the grand scheme of a $77.4 million overall budget.”

With bond payments and maintenance costs, some students said they were concerned with whether or not the administration is trying to accomplish too many projects at once. 

“I think it’s a little ridiculous because Berry is biting off more than it can handle,” junior Caitie Jones said. “We need it [renovations], but maybe we should focus on what we have first.”

“We need the renovations but we should work on what [the buildings] we have before we start on new ones,” freshman Katie Underdown said.

Briggs said the long-term project schedules fit together and are dependent upon one another for progress.

“Dana Hall is in great need of renovation, but we can’t work on it until we have a swing place to put those residents, which is why we have to construct the new residence halls first,” Briggs said. “So everything is interrelated.”

“All our projects do sound like a lot of work for us this summer, but I feel confident in my staff and the timetable we have worked out for each project,” Hopkins said. “We’ve pretty much got the HVAC renovations down to a science after doing it in other dorms, and we have charts that show specific dates for when we want to have certain things completed. The key is in the planning, which I think we’ve done really well this year.”

The new residence halls are expected to be completed in the summer of 2008. 

Renovations in Dana will include redoing heating ventilation and air conditioning system, side entrances, elevators, sprinklers, bathrooms, carpet and paint. Dana’s renovations will also be covered by bond funds, and construction will begin in the summer of 2009. 

The next step for the new residence hall construction is for Cooper Carry to work out the pricing package with R.J. Griffin Contractors, which is the construction company responsible for executing the architectural plans. 

Theiler said she estimates that they will be able to start pouring concrete foundation by July 9. 

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Debbie Heida said she will plan a ceremony for the ground breaking in June. 

College President Stephen R. Briggs will use results from a faculty salaries study to discern what needs to be done to keep faculty salaries from being below peer schools’ salary averages. 

The study, directed by the office of institutional research, will compare Berry’s salaries to both professor rank and salaries within each discipline, and the report will be complete in May.

Briggs said the study results will be a systematic way to define where Berry actually stands in comparison to our peer groups. 

“The idea is, now that we’ve been able to compare our tuition rates to our peer and aspirant institutions and keep our tuition costs in the lower end of that group, we can now look at how we compare in paying our faculty and staff,” Briggs said. 

Briggs and Provost Katherine Whatley said they will view the results of the study, and then determine the next step to make if any equity adjustments are required.

Once the budget is more solid after definite enrollment numbers are finalized in September, possible adjustments may be made. 

Students Concerns:

Students said they would be worried about the quality of their education if faculty were underpaid.

“If faculty aren’t compensated accurately for the work they do, then I think they would be less motivated to teach,” freshman Brittany Tetrick said. “That would then affect the quality of education we’re getting.” 

Another student said he is concerned about the right faculty getting raises.

“I think it’s important to make sure that a professor who does a good job gets the raise over another professor who isn’t as good of a professor,” sophomore Orrin Thayer said. Faculty salaries are also dependent upon student tuition.

Briggs’ tuition letter this year included a 3 percent increase to the faculty merit pool, which is the funds from which faculty salaries are distributed.  

“There is an appropriate ongoing tension between faculty and students regarding salaries,” Briggs said. “We want to compensate faculty and staff fairly while offering students a quality education, but faculty understands the student need to keep the tuition costs down.” 

Part if increased costs included in Briggs’ tuition letter this year was a 3 percent increase to the faculty merit pool, which is the funds from which faculty salaries are distributed. 

Mary Clement, associate professor of teacher education and chair of the faculty assembly, spoke on behalf of the faculty at the board of trustees meeting in March to request consideration of faculty salaries after adjustments were made last October. 

“While improvements have been made, the faculty feel that the issue of salary must be kept in the forefront of budget discussions,” Clement told the board. “This practice needs to continue, or an equally responsive one, with careful study given to the issues of pay equity and merit. We must have competitive salaries to attract new faculty and to keep experienced faculty.” 

To alleviate pressure on tuition revenues, Vice President for Finance Brian Erb said one possibility is to create more endowed faculty teaching positions.  

Frank Stephenson, member of the budget advisory committee, said he has recommended that Berry “increase focus on recruitment and retention in order to take the pressure off tuition dollars.”  

Faculty Concerns:

On the faculty side, Todd Timberlake said it is difficult to systematically make generalizations about the current state of equity in faculty pay because salary information is private. However, he said that for his particular position, he was below the national average.

“I am paid substantially less than the average for professors with the same rank and same years of experience in the same field,” Timberlake said. 

Timberlake said that Berry faculty take teaching positions knowing they will not be paid as much as working at a bigger institution with research positions, but the non-monetary compensation of being able to work at a place like Berry is a benefit. 

A point of concern for faculty would be in inequities among faculty in the same fields, however Timberlake said he did not know for sure whether or not inequities did exist at Berry. 

“I think it is generally agreed upon by most faculty that if there are inequalities within a certain field that are not based on merit or special service like being department chair, then that is a problem which must be addressed,” Timberlake said. 

Timberlake said he was concerned about being able to offer competitive pay for quality professors after one applicant for a teaching position in the physics department could not take the job because of the salary. 

“We need to continue to attract new faculty and continue the trend of quality education, by hiring quality faculty,” Timberlake said.  

Stephenson also said the Campbell School of Business has had a few job applicants who said salary was an issue. 

“Berry has had some difficult searches recently, but until we sit down and compare why jobs weren’t taken and get some data, then we can’t really say it’s all because of salary,” Whatley said.  “It could be a number of issues.”

However, despite the enrollment manager position being filled by an internal candidate and extended search time for the library director search, Briggs said salary has not been a major issue in either of these searches. 

How pay is determined:

Kathy McKee, dean of academic affairs, said pay increases to faculty are based on a merit- system, which means that faculty increases are based upon the teacher’s effectiveness in teaching, scholarship and service. 

These areas are evaluated through both student course evaluations and a self-report, which is completed by the professor each year. 

The self-report is then reviewed by the department chair and the dean, who make recommendations to the provost for pay increase based on their merit.

 “What has been true the past several years is that the overall pool from which merit-based comes has been fairly small,” McKee said.  What happens in the college budget process is we decide how much flexibility we have in raising salaries, and then we use dean recommendations to determine increases for faculty members.”  

In addition to the study’s results in defining Berry’s salary comparison to peer institutions, Whatley said she plans to talk to faculty to discern her steps to getting more faculty tenured. 

“I still need to take time to assess the data and get a feel for the campus culture,” Whatley said.  “I need to get a feel for the commitment to the faculty here so that I’m not coming in midstream and changing rules.” 

Bryce Durbin, director of Institutional Research, said his team has been successful in gathering data for professor rank averages among peer schools, but they are still working on gathering discipline-by-discipline averages.    

The new student campsite project was approved by the administration, but funding for the project will have to be decided, Director of Intramurals and Outdoor Recreation Ricky Williams said Tuesday.

Williams said the project would cost $31,154 for construction and equipment, but the project has not been allotted a budget.

Junior Laura Sutton, SGA president, proposed contributing funds from SGA’s special projects budget to begin construction on the project. 

SGA will continue to consider donating between $6,000 and $7,000 to the project.

“If we can get this project rolling, then hopefully the campsite can be ready for use next year,” Sutton said.

Williams researched the possibility of constructing campsites in response to College President Stephen R. Briggs’ iniative for more outdoor recreation opportunities on campus.

Williams drafted a 30-page proposal based on his research of camping facilities.

“In my research, I came across very few colleges that have camping capabilities on campus,” Williams said. “Not many schools have this kind of thing, so we don’t have much to go by.”

If funding can be provided, the site will be located at Victory Lake, and equipment would be available for students to check out at no cost.

Some students at the SGA meeting expressed concern about the project not having a budget. 

Senior Brian Kase asked if a more primitive camp option might be more feasible and questioned the need for an electronic security light.

“Right now we’re shooting for the moon, but we’ll see what we could scale back some things if need be,” Williams said.

Other than SGA’s potential support, Williams said no other funding has been designated for the project. 

Gary Waters, former chief of staff, began his new position as vice president for enrollment management last Thursday after no favorite candidate emerged from the six-month search process.

Waters served on the search committee for the position but was not originally a candidate until College President Stephen R. Briggs and the committee decided that none of the final three external candidates were ideal fits for Berry.

Briggs said several cabinet leaders, members of the board, search committee members and the search consultant suggested Waters as a possible choice for the position. 

“Initially I was really surprised with the decision,” SGA President Joe James said.

James said he and junior Laura Sutton, vice president for campus services, expressed concern to search committee chair Debbie Heida about students not having an opportunity to meet with Waters in order to give student input and hear his ideas.

“After speaking with President Briggs, I realized that Gary Waters is a good choice because he already knows the system, and there would be less transition time so he could jump right into the job,” Sutton said.

Waters has served on Berry staff for over 20 years. 

He began his career at Berry as assistant director of admissions, and then served as associate director of financial aid. 

As chief of staff, Waters served as a cabinet member and has participated in conversations regarding the Strategic Plan and board of trustees decisions.

Of the three candidates who visited campus in February, one decided to remain in her job and another accepted an offer at an institution in Florida, Briggs said.

James said all the candidates had impressive strengths, but all had significant weaknesses.

“I was concerned about one transitioning from a community college, the second candidate did not fit well with Rome and the third did not seem like a good fit for Berry,” James said. 

As former member of the provost search committee, Sutton was able to relate her  own search committee experience to the enrollment search. 

“Search committee processes allow for you to get a good pool of qualified candidates to choose from,” Sutton said. “These searches can be hit-or-miss sometimes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the search is ineffective. Sometimes even when you find good candidates it just doesn’t work out.”

The committee hired search consultant Terry Lahti to recruit a pool of nationally qualified candidates from which the search committee selected individuals to interview. 

Despite hiring an internal candidate, Briggs and Heida both said they were pleased with Lahti’s work.

“We have to make sure we’re looking at the best candidates for the job,” Briggs said. “Hiring a consultant was necessary for this type of national search. Obviously we won’t be hiring consultants for every search we do, but for this one it was important to have a specialist in the field to do the job right.”

Briggs said Lahti offered to start, at no extra cost, a search for the director of admissions, and the search is currently underway.

Waters has served as interim director of admissions since October, in addition to his duties as chief of staff.

As vice president for enrollment management, he will oversee the admissions and financial aid departments and implement the new integrated marketing plan for increasing enrollment and retention.

Enrollment Strategies

•Emphasize customer service.  Specifically, Waters said he hopes to “create a highly valuable customer-service approach for prospective and currently enrolled students” in admissions and financial aid.

•Utilize financial aid resources. “Berry is very generous in our financial aid policies, but we can utilize the same resources we have more efficiently,” Waters said.

•Implement the integrated marketing plan. Briggs said Waters has been working closely with the integrated marketing plan as chief of staff, and his experience with Berry’s public relations staff will be beneficial in launching the plan.

“My background in admissions and my interim role the past several months allows me to hit the ground running in implementing the integrated marketing plan quicker than an external candidate,” Waters said.

•Collaborate with all divisions of the college. In addition to collaborating with external partners and public relations, Waters said he hopes to listen to students regarding campus concerns, and values feedback in admissions and financial aid services. 

“It’s really important for current students to give feedback to Gary Waters for how students found out about Berry, why they are happy or unhappy here and to give him ideas about how to get students coming to Berry,” James said.

SGA will sponsor an open forum with Waters in the upcoming weeks in order to provide students with an opportunity to meet with him and discuss enrollment ideas. 

Briggs said the open chief of staff position will be filled in the next few weeks, and an internal or local candidate will likely be hired for the position.

In-state residents attending Berry could receive an additional $600 from the state next fall if the Georgia legislature passes the FY 2009 state budget Friday.

The Georgia House of Representatives will either approve or modify the 2009 state budget, which includes proposed increases to the Tuition Equalization Grant and the HOPE scholarship. 

The State Senate Appropriations Committee passed the state budget last Thursday.  

President of the Georgia Student Finance Commission Timothy Connell said the budget proposes to increase the TEG by $100 for students each academic year and increase the HOPE scholarship by $500 for resident students attending private institutions each academic year. 

If the increase is passed, the total TEG would be $1,200 with the increase for in-state Georgia residents per academic year. 

For the HOPE, the total would be $3,500 with the increase. 

Increases would apply to in-state Georgia residents attending private schools. 

Connell said the TEG increase was proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue and would be funded by state general funds.

“Representatives from the House and the Senate did not alter Gov. Perdue’s increase to the TEG during budget conferences when Perdue originally set the 2009 fiscal year budget, so it is unlikely that the House would not pass the TEG increase,” Connell said. “But until it’s actually set in stone, technically it could be modified.” 

The HOPE increase was proposed by Sen. Jack Hill and was also approved by the Senate Thursday, but could still undergo changes when the state House discusses this item in the budget package.

“The decision for the House on Friday will be whether or not the Senate-approved increases stay as they are in the budget or if they are reduced,” Connell said. 

Debbie Heida, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, sent out a mass e-mail Tuesday in which she urged students to “increase the resources available to you to attend college.” 

Heida encouraged students to call their local House members to ask him or her to speak with House Appropriations Chair State Rep. Ben Harbin and encourage him to support the Senate position to increase the TEG and HOPE. 

Tuition for Berry will increase 8.8 percent from $20,370 for 2007-2008 to $22,170 for the 2008-2009 academic year. 

Six of the schools on Berry’s aspirant institutions list have posted tuition rates for Fall 2008, and the average percent age increase for these schools is 6.2 percent. 

According to Web sites for other peer aspirant institutions and most of Georgia’s public colleges and universities, tuition rates will not be posted until later in April.

However, of the six peer school samples with available fall rates, Berry has the lowest tuition.

“I think a lot of students try to compare Berry’s tuition costs to other schools like UGA, and we forget that Berry really has lower tuition prices than most schools that are actually in our own peer group,” SGA  Treasurer and junior John Cason said.

In setting the tuition for Fall 2008, Brian Erb, vice president of finance, said the budget advisory committee reviewed the peer colleges list and those institutions’ tuition prices from the past year.

“It is important to understand that Berry gives more financial assistance than most colleges, which is supported by our endowment, so the actual price the student pays is typically lower than most of our peers,” Erb said. 

Tuition revenues for 2008-2009 will not be allocated to the overall college budget. Some specific budget areas include: 

Capital Budget

The capital budget covers costs such as the Dana Hall renovations, which will begin in summer 2009, roof repair on various buildings and installation of new HVAC systems. 

Projects not funded by tuition revenues, such as the new residence halls, Krannert expansion, pole barns for agriculture cattle operations and a Viking Trail storage facility to accommodate current Emery Barns storage and telecom operations, will be paid from bond proceeds and repaid from the capital budget over the next 30 years.

Room revenues from future student residents will pay for these projects.  

Student Work Budget

The student work budget funds the student work program and also impacts some staff. Increases to this budget had to be made in order to comply with the federal minimum wage increase this year. 

“Because the government wage increase is a significant one with which Berry has to comply, we have to figure out a way to pay students more without reducing the number of hours or experience of the work program,” Erb said. “We could cut money out of the budget for something else, such as lab equipment, but that is important to the quality of the education. We don’t want to reduce work hours because the work experience program is an important part of the educational experience.”

Erb said the work program has traditionally been funded by tuition revenues, but Berry is unique in student work because most colleges consider student work to be primarily part of financial aid.

Faculty and Staff Merit Pool

The faculty and staff merit base pool is the pool of money from which faculty and staff salaries are distributed based on merit. 

Not every faculty member will be getting the same raise, but the pool’s increase allows pay distribution to be more merit-based. 

Deans and the provost review faculty performance and make suggestions for market rate compensation.

Additional Cost Increases

Erb said the cost of petroleum has also affected overall operating costs in everything that is delivered to the college, as well as manufactured goods. 

Increased costs for animal feed, library resources and utilities have also “increased significantly,” Erb said. 

While inflation has increased similar operating costs for other colleges and universities over  past years, the Georgia state government has not increased tuition assistance for the HOPE or TEG. 

If such increases are passed Friday, 2009 would be the first time in 10  years that the  HOPE and TEG  will have increased. 

To contact House Appropriations Chair State Rep. Ben Harbin, students may call 404-463-2247.

To view the entire budget proposal, visit: 

http://www.senate.ga.gov

The following line items pertain to the HOPE and TEG increases. The page numbers refer to the PDF file pages.

Line item 359.1 on  page 17 

Line item 360.1 on page 18 

Line item 369.1 on page 21 

“May you live as long as there are many good reasons for drinking.”While this traditional Irish toast may capture the essence of St. Patrick’s Day for some, such revelries for the March 15 holiday (changed from the traditional March 17 date by the Vatican so as not to interfere with Holy Week) seem rather exclusive for those of us who are under the legal drinking age.However, St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays because it is a perfect excuse for acting crazy and having fun with friends, even if alcohol is not involved.The traditional focus of drinking and barhopping should not deter students from participating in the ebullience of a holiday that commemorates the ancestral heritage of nearly 33.7 million Americans.There are many ways in which St. Patrick’s Day can be good for you without the Guinness. The key to any alternative St. Patrick’s Day fun is Irish pub music. iTunes features an entire section that recommends traditional Irish songs specifically for St. Patrick’s Day parties. The selections are so upbeat and jovial that they are sure to liven up any function. Having friends over for a night of poker or card playing is a fun way to celebrate the occasion. Often Wal-Mart will sell special poker chips in green, orange and white: the colors of the Irish flag. A cooking party is always a tasteful way to celebrate. There are many recipes available online for non-alcoholic green beer, Irish stew, Irish punch and Irish desserts, which may be found by searching the above terms on Google. As most college students are well aware, lack of sleep often generates a punchy mood. After a certain hour, anything can be funny. So late at night, after your poker or cooking, create some Mad Libs by finding Irish limerick poems online from which you can omit key words. Then ask your friends to give you a list of random words, which you plug into the open spaces in your limerick. In my experience, the results, though at times inappropriate, are absolutely hilarious.Finally, for a more daring idea, you and your friends could dress up in leprechaun attire and go bowling. Plaid pants, suspenders, a green jacket and a bowler hat are common at thrift stores and make up the only outfit with which bowling shoes will actually be in style. I will warn you that you will get strange looks, but keep in mind that those who celebrate the holiday by drinking will be acting equally, if not more, absurd.�

Physical plant staff will prepare Richards Gym over Spring Break for student use of the building.  

Randall Goble, director of the Cage Center, said that he and Athletic Director Todd Brooks are developing plans for opening up the gym space in Richards for student groups to reserve the space for recreation activities. 

Goble said the bathrooms will also be made accessible for the Berry Outdoor Leadership Development program and tennis events. Richards Gym will continue to be used for office space, storage and backup space for the BOLD program.

As part of the larger plan utilize the Richards Gym space and make it more accessible to students, the Student Publications Office will move into the former faculty offices and HPE classroom in Richards.

“We couldn’t ask for a better neighbor than student publications,” said Director of the BOLD program Mike King. “Having an active group of students in Richards will really complement what we do in BOLD by adding life and activity to the building.”

The publications staff will move from Ford 211 where all three publications currently share the same office.

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Dean of Students Julie Bumpus said the publications move will accommodate admisions staff who will be displaced due to renovations of West Mary.  

Bumpus said some admissions staff who currently work in West Mary will need a place close to the Ford Admissions office during the summer when West Mary goes “offline” for heating and air conditioning installations.

“Those staff members are critical to Admissions and needed to be relocated in close proximity to the Admissions Office, so Ford 211 seemed to be the best fit,” Bumpus said. “We’re very pleased to be able to move the publications offices down to main campus.”

Staff from physical plant will move office furniture from Ford to Richards over Spring Break, said Kevin Kleine, student publications advisor and lecturer of communication.

Nicholas Hopper, assistant director of physical plant, said his staff is working to prepare the new space by painting and working with Telecom to move data outlets to where they’re needed.

“The move falls at a convenient time, because we can move things during Spring Break,” Hopper said. “We usually try to take the opportunity to move while offices are vacant so we won’t be in the way.” 

Kleine said that student publications have occupied the Ford office for approximately six to seven years, but he said students will appreciate the move.

“Being on main campus will be much more convenient for the staff to be closer to the office and campus activities,” said Carrier Editor and junior Ashton Stanizewski. 

Cabin Log editor and senior Erin Wright said the new location will help attract more student staff.

“Having a more centralized and social meeting space will really help with recruiting and retaining staff members,” Wright said. “The bigger space will be much more accommodating for working as a group, which will make production go a lot more smoothly.”

The new facility will also allow each publication to have its own private office and a meeting room for larger staff meetings. 

Kleine said the private offices will be beneficial for smaller groups to be able to have quiet and private places to meet while another publication might be in production. 

Kleine said that the configuration of the Ford office did not lend itself to staff meetings or larger group meetings.

 In the Ford office, general staff meetings had to be held in a borrowed music classroom down the hall from the office due to the lack of space to accommodate larger groups of people in the office space.

Kleine said the new facility will also help the business office, which is the advertising component of publications. 

The business manager and assistant business manager  will get their own personal office immediately to the left of the handicap-accessible door at Richards. 

The publications business manager, junior, Jennifer Hyre, said advertising will be made more convenient for potential clients to access and meet with the business manager. 

The Ford office also has no windows for letting in natural light. The staff said that having windows and natural sunlight will be an advantage to the new work space. 

“When we’re in the office, we’re in there for really long hours,” said Ramifications Editor, junior Whitney Crouch. “Having windows will really help so that we don’t feel like we’re trapped in a cave like it is at Ford.”

Publications will move into the new space March 24. 

Kleine said the only challenge staff may have in getting used to their new space is “the inability to have chair races in the Ford hallway.” 

Jordan Bowman
News Editor

Disc golf is seen by many as a way to relax, yet on March 29, it will become a medium to combat suicide in the teenage and young adult communities.

Students will be able to participate in the 1st Annual Drake Davis Foundation Disc Golf Tournament, an event designed to raise awareness of suicide prevention. The tournament will take place on the Mountain Campus disc golf course at 1 p.m. Admission will be $5 per person.

All proceeds from the event will go to the Drake Davis Foundation, which was created in memory of Drake Davis. Drake was a junior at Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville, Ga. when he committed suicide on Jan. 4, 2006.

“He was a friend and teammate of mine in high school,” said junior Sean McConnell, the chief organizer of the event. “Over the summer [my brother] Kevin and I talked about ways to keep Drake’s memory alive, as well as show his family that he hasn’t faded from our hearts. We decided that holding an event to raise money for the Drake Davis Foundation would be the best way to achieve our goal.”

According to the foundation’s Web site www.drakedavis.com, its goal is “to raise awareness of suicide prevention and to assist people whose lives are affected by suicide.”

All participants will be entered in a raffle to meet musician Ben Folds, who will be performing in the Cage Center at 7 p.m. that evening. The grand prize for the competition is $100.

McConnell said the ultimate goal of the competition is to make people think more actively about suicide, hopefully developing ways to prevent others from resorting to self-harm.

“I personally would like people to see that nothing in life is bad enough to take their own life, as well as [realizing that] committing suicide destroys families and friends emotionally,” McConnell said. “On a more selfish note, I want people to learn the story of a great friend that made a dumb mistake.”

The final candidate interviewed for the vice president for enrollment position discussed insights for enrollment strategies with students Monday. 

Brad Parrish, vice president for enrollment and student life at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va., structured the student session by asking students about campus life, concerns and student expectations for their experience at Berry.  

“He really seemed engaging in the way he posed questions to us,” said Vice President for Campus Services junior Laura Sutton. “I think it’s important that the candidate who is chosen for the position takes the time to really understand the uniqueness of Berry.”

Parrish said he had connections to Berry from working for six years at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga. Students matriculated from Andrew College to Berry. Since then, he has spent three years at the University of Charleston, which he said is a private university with a mission and culture similar to Berry’s. 

Parrish said he was interested in applying for the position because he would enjoy the challenge and also would appreciate living closer to family.

“It is a newly created position, and I relish the opportunity to work with the campus community in developing the new program,” Parrish said. “I’m also looking to return to the South long-term to be closer to my family in Alabama.”

Enrollment Strategies:

Utilize the new branding campaign.

Parrish said developing and implementing the new marketing plan will be key in recruiting students with the same work ethic and academic standards that Berry requires.

“I’m really excited about the steps Berry is taking for branding,” Parrish said. “It’s the smart schools like Berry that are marketing an outcome-based education for getting hands-on job experience and job placement after graduation.”

Parrish said he was charged with restructuring scholarship awards and tuition at the University of Charleston, which required him to develop new strategies for marketing the school based on the value of its education and student experience. 

Know the students.

“If selected for the position, I would make it a point to keep my finger on the pulse of campus issues and what students care about,” Parrish said. “I see it as vitally important to talk to you guys and know what you like and what you don’t like.” 

Parrish’s current position at the University of Charleston allows him to oversee student life, in addition to enrollment.

He said he has experience interacting with current students in order to track and identify the right types of prospective students.

Develop stronger international recruitment.

Parrish said he implemented this strategy at University of Charleston to increase diversity by hiring professional agents to recruit students outside of the United States.

“If we can successfully bring students in from other countries, then we can make Berry a more global campus with more student diversity,” Parrish said.

Parrish said the marketing plan could be used for reaching into states and countries beyond Georgia. 

The next step in the candidate appointment process is for the search committee to read evaluations and feedback forms in order to recommend candidates to College President Stephen R. Briggs.

“Depending on how long the decision process takes on this end, and then also depending on how long it takes to make final arrangements with the candidate President Briggs chooses, we could potentially have a candidate appointed after students return from spring break,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Debbie Heida said.

Heida said the campus interviews provided beneficial feedback from a variety of Berry representatives, which will aid the committee in its ongoing deliberation process.

Sarah Kohut

Photo Editor

The largest campus in the world is going green. This is what College President Stephen R. Briggs has agreed to in the President’s Climate Commitment Act.

This week ODK, a national leadership honors society comprised of juniors and seniors have pulled together with other organizations to help Berry become green.

Green Committee Chair and senior Lowell Pratt proposed to aid in Briggs’ Climate Commitment and also to bring student organizations and groups together. ODK’s Green Committee was formed last fall.

ODK wanted to make a visible impact on campus. Each day this week has been focused on a different aspect of Berry going green.

The Green Committee consists of 25 members who are working to make this week a success.

“I did not realize how many environmental resources there are out there,” Pratt said. “I don’t profess to be a tree hugger; however, with a little bit of discipline and minor changes, so much can be accomplished to better the environment.”

Monday was environmental education day in Krannert during lunch. There were Chico bags for sale. The bags are intended to replace shopping bags to cut down on plastic and paper bags in the grocery store.

A member of ODK, junior Chelsea Hauk, had a table with natural cleaners for the household. Things like laundry soap and Windex can be harmful because of the toxins in the cleaners.

Hauk researched various natural ingredients to make homemade cleaners.

She used ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, washing soda and essential oils to make unharmful cleaners. Hauk made an oil concoction to help kill the mildew in her bathroom.

Junior Blair Schermerhorn headed up an art contest that is being held in Krannert all week long.

The judges for the event are Assistant Professor of Biology Catherine Borer, Professor of Fine Arts Thomas Mew and Associate Professor of Fine Arts  Brad Adams. Judging will take place on Friday. This show features student art made from recyclables.

Associate Professor of Biology William Davin has been a leading faculty member in assisting with the President’s Climate Commitment Act. Tuesday night Davin spoke at SGA about this act and the RecycleMania Challenge.

Berry and 201 other schools are participating in this challenge. According to last week’s totals of trash at Berry, each person uses approximately 16 pounds per week. Currently we are at a recycling rate of 25 percent, and the goal is to reach somewhere around 45- 50 percent.

A  light bulb swap is taking place in Thursday, March 6.

Students have the opportunity to bring their old incandescent bulbs to trade for energy efficient compact florescent bulbs in Krannert and RA offices.

This project was headed up by Vice President for Campus Services junior Laura Sutton who began research for the project in January.

Home Depot and Wal-Mart gave discounts on the light bulbs.

“All of the time spent researching has made me more aware. I try to turn off the lights every time I leave a room.” Sutton said.
Students may track the weekly results at www.recyclemaniacs.org.