Trustees Host Student Forum PNG, Davidson Reach Settlement
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VOLUME 104, NUMBER 3 WWW.DAVIDSONIAN.COM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 Trustees host student forum Committee on Church received their full attention: The Trustees shall elect a President of the Relatedness receives feedback College who shall serve as the chief execu- on controversial bylaw tive offi cer of the College. They shall elect only a person who is a loyal and active church member, whose life provides evi- Laura Chuckray dence of strong Christian faith and commit- News Editor ment. Such faith and commitment will be appropriately expressed by affi liation with It constitutes but a few sentences of the the Presbyterian Church (USA) and active College’s bylaws, but the stipulation that Da- participation in the life of Davidson College vidson’s president must be of the Christian Presbyterian Church. faith is now receiving large amounts of both The committee is currently in the research Chick-fi l-A issue decided criticism and support from the Davidson com- and collecting input stage of their process, munity. Following several months of collecting thus their recent visit to campus. Hosted by input and conducting research, the Committee the Student Government Association (SGA) After months of debate surrounding whether to serve Chick-fi l-A on Church Relatedness, a group of nine trust- last Thursday, the student forum was held in at After Midnight, an event hosted by the College Union Board, a ees delegated to examine this issue, visited Hance Auditorium, where the student body was decision was reached during Monday’s Union Board meeting to campus on Thursday, Sept. 13 to gather input invited to share their personal opinions on the from staff, faculty, the board of visitors and bylaw before the committee. discontinue serving the contentious chicken. students at various events and forums through- William Rikard ’67, chair of the commit- out the day. tee, began the forum by offering an explanation Union Board President Adriana Nassar ’13 and Vice President Cam The bylaw was fi rst brought to light during of the often-misinterpreted bylaw, elaborating Joe ’14 released this statement on Tuesday regarding the decision: the presidential search process that concluded that the president is not necessarily required to with the hiring of President Carol Quillen last be Presbyterian, but only required to be Chris- “Based on feedback gathered through an open forum, an electronic year. In December of 2010, Mackey McDonald tian. Once chosen, the president is expected ’68, chair of the board of trustees, released a to maintain an affi liation and involvement poll, informal conversation and hours of Union Board discussions, statement pledging that a careful examination with Davidson College Presbyterian Church the Union Board believes Davidson student community interests of the bylaw would be undertaken within a year (DCPC), regardless of denomination. are best served by not patronizing Chick-fi l-A for this school year.” of naming a new president. True to word, the “Your opinions matter, and they will be current Committee on Church Relatedness was taken into account,” Rikard concluded to the assembled in January of 2012. Since then, Ar- ticle IV, Section 1 of the College’s bylaws has See FORUM, page 2 PNG, Davidson reach settlement regarding pipeline route Pipeline to follow corridor of previous utilities, sparing re- search and trails from damage Lyla Halsted News Editor Davidson College’s Ecological Preserve, once thought to be threatened by the construction of a natural gas pipeline, has been spared from the pos- sibility of extensive damage. Last spring, Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG), a local utilities company, an- nounced that it was going to build a pipeline through the 200- acre preserve. These plans were released to the College two years after their conception, and raised controversy due to their proposed destruction of a protected nature site, which is host to current and continuing research from students and faculty as well as a network of running trails. While the wooded area is protected from devel- opers, utilities pipelines have been permitted to cross the preserve in some instances. Issues arose after PNG presented college of- fi cials with the proposal for the pipeline, detailed on a map of the preserve with survey points, which suggested that surveyors had visited the area without permission. Upon inspection, trees were found to be cut down within the preserve. Previous to this, PNG acquired permission to park on Davidson College The originally proposed pipeline would have cut through the Davidson College Eclogical Preserve. The new agreement reached this See PIPELINE, page 3 summer has the pipeline runnig along a pre-existing utilities corridor. Photo courtesy of Davidson College Turner House dedicated their af- A new initiative will devote the Senior co-captain Peter Paras ‘13 ternoon on Saturday, Sept. 15, to a academic year to interrogating ob- scored the game winning goal in charitable cause. The eating house stacles to higher education. The the second overtime Saturday night hosted its fi rst annual Cornhole Emerging Issues Academy, headed to extend the men’s soccer team’s Tournament in order to raise aware- by Stacey Riemer, Associate Dean winning streak to three games. The ness of and funds for the Leukemia of Students and Director of Civic team’s highly anticipated game and Lymphoma Society (LLS). The Engagement, and Verna Case, As- against number three-ranked team, tournament had 57 teams of two sociate Dean for Teaching, Learn- University of North Carolina - Cha- participate in the competition, each ing, and Research, will focus on the pel Hill, has been postponed until paying a $20 buy-in fee. theme “access to higher education.” October 9th. See LIVING DAVIDSON, page 5 See NEWS, page 3 See SPORTS, page 12 NEWS PAGE 2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 Forum held by trustees on controversial College bylaw Continued from page 1 ment” of the values that are at the heart of the Davidson community. He explained that one of students. the questions the committee has been probing “The Trustees shall elect a President of the Col- Several students voiced arguments against is the connection between these integral values the bylaw on the grounds of fairness and inclu- and a Christian background. lege who shall serve as the chief executive officer of sion. “Davidson always tells us that we can be Though substantially fewer students of- the College. They shall elect only a person who is a whatever we want to be, but that’s not true,” fered support of the bylaws at the forum, Wil- said Alex Hauer ’13, continuing that many cur- liam King ’16 voiced his affirmation. “The loyal and active church member, whose life provides rent students are not eligible to become presi- only way we can guarantee these values is to dent of the College under the bylaw. “I don’t continue what we have in place,” he said. evidence of strong Christian faith and commitment. see what we gain from keeping it.” After the forum, trustee Elizabeth Brooks Carlin Ryger-Wasserman ’13 also offered Mailander ’85 said she urges students who did Such faith and commitment will be appropriately ex- several points against the bylaw, arguing that not share their input at the forum to continue pressed by affiliation with the Presbyterian Church it does not support Davidson’s general spirit of sending feedback to the committee via email. openness and is a potential “missed opportu- Up to this point, she approximated 900 mes- (USA) and active participation in the life of Davidson nity” by omitting qualified candidates who are sages, varying in all lengths and opinions, have not Christians. been gathered by the committee. College Presbyterian Church.” She further stated, “I find the implications Leslie Marsicano, Associate Dean for Aca- of the bylaw offensive because it suggests that demic Administration, has been responsible for a non-Christian’s values do not go in tandem gathering such input and passing it along to the - Article IV, Section 1 with Davidson’s values. Yes, I am Jewish but committee. “Something that has surprised me I am also a Davidson Student. I came here be- about this is the broad range of opinions across Bylaws of the Trustees of Davidson College cause I revered the college’s heritage and its the classes,” she said, elaborating that the com- traditions, and my religious identity does not mon the assumption may be that older alumni hinder my efforts to uphold them.” would want to keep the bylaw while younger Mailander said that the committee plans January, and the issue could come to a vote by In response to student comments, trustee students and graduates would prefer for it to to present the information they gather to the the trustees at the earliest in April. Richard Boyce ’77 shifted the discussion by be eliminated. The feedback, according to 45-member board of trustees at their meeting To share your thoughts with the Committee elaborating of the role of the president not only Marsicano, has varied with little correlation to in October. From that point, the committee will on Church Relatedness, contact them via email as a “governing function but also an embodi- graduation year. likely make a recommendation to the board in at [email protected] December, 2010 — Mackey Mc- TIMELINE OF EVENTS Donald ’68, chair of the board of *April, 2013 — With con- trustees, issued a statement de- sideration to the commit- laying the examination of contro- January, 2012 — Committee on October, 2012 — Commit- tee’s recommendation, the versial bylaw until after a presi- Church Relatedness assembled tee will present findings to board of trustees will vote dent had been named from board of trustees the board of trustees on the bylaw August, 2011 — Dr.