Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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Living Spaces Vary Like Night and Day ? ' r ; I Mi,? . 16 FEATURES

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Town and gown go hand-in-hand When the students flood the campus each September, the population in the limn of Davidson doubles. Store owners are thankful to have students once again as regular customers. Yet there is an increasing disenchant- ment among freshmen about the excite- ment of a college town. After visiting M M. Peregrine House, Giorgio ' s, get- ting free bird seed samples from Natural Foods, shopping at the specialty ' shops and hanging out at the laundry mat, a consultation with the hall counselor on how to get to Charlotte occurs. Charlotte may offer more diversity but the rela- tionship between the college and town of LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL BANDS participated in special Town Day activities during football half- time this season. Davidson is deeper than the business generated by students. The college as an institution is non- taxable, but it supports the town finan- cially and practices good business in or- der to keep the town a healthy and at- tractive place. In the past the trustees have appropriated money to help fi- nance a new fire truck, sidewalks and housing projects, as well as paying for use of public services such as sewage. Until the development of several indus- tries in the Davidson area, the college was the major employer of non-faculty Davidson residents. College professionals serve in the town government, also. The current mayor, Nancy MacCormac, is wife of Professor Earl MacCormac. Randy Kin- caid has served as town commissioner. Julius Melton, Bill Bolding, Cynthia Grant, Robert Currie, Tony Abbott, Mar- shall Case, Ruth Pittard, Dot Kaylor, Frank Bliss, Anna Burts, and other mem- bers of the college family are serving on various town committees and service organizations. College students also have an impor- tant ongoing relationship with the town. Many attend the churches in the com- munity, giving support with the music or youth fellowship programs. Several ser- vice projects, such as the Tutor Program, the Day Care Center Helpers, recrea- tional leadership and coaching at the YMCA and the Davidson Community Center, and the Senior Citizen Friend- ship Program depend upon student par- ticipation. This year PIKA fraternity sponsored a haunted house for the com- munity ' s enjoyment. Student organiza- tions sponsor events for Town Day every May. Conflicts over the noise ordinance and perimeter housing upkeep are examples of the need for the students and town to cooperate as neighbors. To this end, the SGA appointed Tom Schember as non- voting student representative to the town council meetings. The SGA, the Commit- tee on Women ' s Concerns and the Y Stu- dent Service Corps (YSSC) have commu- nity liaison officers or committees. Earlier in the year YSSC invited the community service leaders, Mayor Mac- Cormac, college administrators and stu- dents to discuss the needs of the David- son community and means of using stu- dent resources to meet those needs. As the students leave Davidson at the end of each academic year, the popula- tion shrinks, the noise level is reduced, and store owners sigh as business dwin- dles, but the relationship of town and gown never dies. — Pete Skillern LOCAL MERCHANTS reap the financial benefits. while students enjoy the quaintness and conve- nience of a real hometown Main Street. Community Relations 15

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bh k i)( ikm houaai .ill freshman males, making ll CUBING M »« Tl UXG Mt.s, 1 hike I lonn wrves lha location of man) pranks and rotda aver) yeai » the campus cental foi cocktalli ' UNIQUE APTLV DESCRIBES lha set-up ..l Bmanon inhabited liy s . it Huie and |oe I Their rooms include Ihree stereos and Afn Does your room have the homelike at- mosphere of panelled walls? Is it a deco- rator ' s dream? Maybe it contains three stereos, oak statues and an elephant ma- hogany table? These settings and more reflect the di- versity of living spaces at Davidson. Places to live range from the rowdy freshman hall to the sedate upperclass- man dorm to the community living of a perimeter house. Any student who spends his first year at Davidson must live in either Belk or Richardson dorms. Walking onto a typi- cal freshman hall you first notice the lack of studying and the high noise level from blaring stereos. If the hall seems dirtier than most, then it is possible that a raid by a hall of the opposite sex just took place. (Perhaps the odor of stale shaving cream lingers in the air, or maybe maple syrup remains on the doorknobs.) Yet raids are not the only form of exer- cise in dorms. Team sports — soccer, la- crosse, basketbal l, flickerball and fris- bee — are traditional favorites with freshmen. According to Tommy Cardwell, Greg Daniels, Vincent Dennis, Dick Shea and all of Second West Belk, their hall re- ceived the dubious distinction of having the most broken glass of any freshman hall. They are best noted with the Hous- ing Office for the frequent contact the glass door of their fire extinguisher cabi- net had with almost any type of flying object imaginable. Although dorm life typically mellows out by the sophomore or junior year, up- perclassmen do have their rowdy mo- ments. Third Cannon decorated its hall with pictures of men ' s scantily-clad backsides, while residents of Sentelle passed the time by throwing almost any- thing down on passersby below. Coed living at its best can be found at Davidson in Iredell Co. — Irwin and Knox dorms. A brother-sister relation- ship thrives as the females go to the males for advice on dates and car prob- lems. The females then pay back the males in the form of trips to the grocery store. Often called Sophomore Year Abroad because of the heavy sopho- more concentration there, the clusters in Knox and Irwin are made up mainly of the remains of freshman halls. Knox residents Martha Nelson, Annie Porges and Ross Thayer said it is fortu- nate that they have their friends close by, for there is danger of becoming isolated in the winter when they don ' t see peo- ple for three weeks at a time. The dorm itself is often a good indica- tor of personality. Some residents on Fourth Cannon color-coordinated their rooms, having them resemble something from Southern Living. Chip Hurley of Third Sentelle panelled the walls of his room, giving it a den-like atmosphere. Lofts also add personality to a room. Unusual lofts are found in Little, where Chris Humphreys, for example, has a contraption that moves up and down. Mike Wilkinson ' s metal loft looks like an erector set, Little Resident Advisor John Odell said. Living off campus has its advantages too: more room, privacy, flexibility and responsibility. Residents have a change from the usual dorm atmosphere without being too far away from the campus. Pe- rimeter housing residents have the ad- vantage of paying dorm rates, while hav- ing college maid and grounds crew ser- vices. Disadvantages to off-campus housing include the additional cleaning that comes with extra space, and residents of- ten complain that they do not hear about events going on around campus. The houses, too, are more susceptible to theft than dorms. Probably the most unique place to live on campus is at Emanon, where Scott Huie and Joe Roberts occupy three rooms. They have stereos in the bed- room, the living room and the bathroom. Huie has decorated the rooms with arti- facts from seven African countries and from Haiti. Furnishings include an ele- phant mahogany table, oak statues, four Kenyan wall hangings and a Kente cloth, the official royal cloth of West Afri- ca. No one can complain that there is not diversity in student housing. Rather, stu- dents have dorms, eating houses, perim- eter houses, professors ' houses, towns- people ' s houses and apartments to choose from. The choosing is the real challenge. —Linda Walker Living Spaces 17