College to pull plug on KW
JC-FM
NATHAN WEINERT
Associate Editor
FIJIs face major investigation
College remembers
life, message of
Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Campus, Page 4
The Student Newspaper of William Jewell College
Friday
Trustees approve PEACE group
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News in Brief
M
o
n
it
o
r
H
illto
p
The
January
Volume 20, Issue 13
SARAH BADER
Editor in chief
Senior theater
production brings
Picasso, Einstein to
campus
Life, Page 6
Cardinal basketball
picks up milestone
victories
Sports, Page 8
SARAH BADER
Editor in chief
27
2006
The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
at William Jewell College is
currently under investigation by
both the College and their national
headquarters for numerous
violations of college and fraternity
policy.
On Jan. 5, the Office of
Student Affairs received email
correspondence from a student
and the student’s family expressing
concerns that the fraternity was
hazing new members, according to
Rick Winslow, Dean of Students. In
addition, violations were discovered
during a mid-year inspection of
the fraternity house. Found in
the house were “large quantities
of alcohol, drug paraphernalia in
one chapter member’s room, and
two weapons, one of which was a
firearm,” according to Winslow.
Following these discoveries and
the hazing allegation, alumni
leadership was notified, and
Winslow directed that certain steps
be taken by the College. First, the
College temporarily suspended all
chapter operations pending the
results of an investigation. This
included canceling the scheduled
initiation for new members,
planned to begin on Jan. 7. The FIJI
national headquarters, located in
Lexington, Ky. were notified, and
Student Affairs requested that they
also begin an investigation.
The Office of Student Affairs
immediately began investigative
interviews with a large portion of
the FIJI chapter, including both
active members and those who
had not yet been initiated. As of
press time, all but three of the
interviews had been conducted.
Following the investigation, the
College will produce a report that
will be presented to the chapter,
alumni leadership and national
headquarters staff.
“The chapter can expect that once
the report is finished, they will
be taken through the disciplinary
process set forth for Greek
organizations,” Winslow said. “The
ramifications are very serious.”
Any disciplinary action will be
determined by the Greek Judicial
Council, which consists of students
and faculty members, as outlined by
the Greek Strategic Plan.
“The chapter’s educational viability
is in question. It must prove at this
point that it will be supportive of
the College’s mission and the Greek
Strategic plan and are willing and
able to enforce all policies of both
the College and the fraternity,”
Winslow said. “If they are unable to
do that, the question becomes: are
they suitable as a Greek organization
at William Jewell?”
The Office of Student Affairs
expects to have the report complete
by the middle of next week and
disciplinary action will follow.
The William Jewell College Board
of Trustees discussed a support
group for marginalized students,
tenure requirements and tuition
increases, among other issues,
during its meetings Jan. 19-20.
At the meeting, the board voted
to approve a recommendation that
would establish a support network
for William Jewell students
known as PEACE (Providing
Everyone A Caring Environment).
Emerging from a six-month study
conducted by the trustees and the
administration, PEACE will reach
out to marginalized students such
as racial and ethnic minorities
and gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender students.
PEACE will consist of two
components-faculty and staff
members working
with
marginalized
students and a peer support
group. After the College identifies
faculty and staff who would like to
be involved they will go through
training and be made available to
students who need their help. Once
they receive training, they will have
a small logo to place in their office,
which will indicate that the person
has received training to help those
who feel marginalized, according to
Dr. Andy Pratt, dean of the chapel
and vice president of religious
ministries.
The peer support group will be
by the assistance of the Office of
Student Affairs. “One important
distinction is it’s a support group
for students wanting to talk about
sexual orientation. It will be a
support group, not an advocacy
group,” Pratt said.
The group should be operational
by the fall semester, according to
Dr. David Sallee, president of the
College. “There are students on this
campus who feel marginalized and
we need to provide an opportunity
for support,” Sallee said. “It is
important that this is seen as an
intentional opportunity. It’s a
public statement that we care about
our students.”
“I hope people understand a lot of
work went into creating a program
that would help people…and be
consistent with the identity of the
College.” Pratt said. “I think that
the heart of this is that we want to
deal with all students in a caring
way, to listen to their issues and
respond in ways that are supportive
and caring.”
The trustees also discussed tenure
requirements, which are reviewed
by the Board every three years. The
Board has recently begun to “look
very closely” at the policy requiring
that faculty members demonstrate
Christian commitment, according
to Sallee. Currently, according
to the Faculty Handbook, this
commitment is demonstrated
in three ways: participation in
Christian causes and organizations,
membership in a Christian church
and an exemplary Christian lifestyle.
In addition to this requirement,
individuals tenured by the
College must also fulfill four other
standards: teaching competence,
professional education, advisory
effectiveness and intellectual and
scholarly vitality.
“In the past, we’ve let
church membership suffice
[in demonstrating Christian
commitment], which is not truly
sufficient,” Sallee said. “We need
to tenure an individual based
on affirmative demonstration
of commitment to our Christian
mission, which can take other
permutations.”
The main focus of the meeting
was on Academic Affairs and
Student Life, tenure requirements,
and whether those who are not
Christian should be considered for
tenure. Faculty members, including
Dr. Gary Armstrong, professor of
political science, Dr. Gina Lane,
professor of communication, Dr.
Milton Horne, professor of religion,
Dr. Ruth Kauffmann, professor
of Languages, Dr. Scott Falke,
assistant professor of biology, and
Dr. Kenneth Chatlos, Oxbridge
Story continued on page 05
For three years, students led by
Dr. Todd Wirth, general manager of
KWJC-FM and assistant professor of
communication, worked dillegently
to see that the station was granted
an eight-year license extension
by the Federal Communication
Commission. Their work paid off,
the extension was granted, and
as recently as Jan. 4, the College
passed a surprise inspection by the
FCC with flying colors.
Less than two weeks later, however,
the elation surrounding the positive
results of this inspection turned to
shock.
On Jan. 16, Wirth was informed
that the College was in the process
of signing a letter of intent to
affiliate the radio station with the
Educational Media Foundation,
thus ending the electronic media
emphasis within the communication
major and terminating Wirth’s
position.
The decision, is expected to net
the College $150,000 in savings
and increased revenues, according
to Dr. David Sallee, president of
William Jewell College. The decision
has been criticized by members of
the campus community, including
Wirth, his colleagues in the
department of communication and
members of the radio station staff
for a lack of input by members of
the campus community.
“I was contacted to arrange a
meeting on Jan. 12 and the meeting
was to be held with the Dean [Dr.
John Westlie, vice president for
academic affairs and dean of the
College] and with Dr. David Sallee,”
Wirth said. “There was no agenda or
topic for the meeting provided and
I ended up meeting with them on
Monday, Jan. 16, and that’s when I
learned about (the decision to take
a letter of intent to affiliate to the
Board of Trustees).”
Students learned about the
decision from Wirth and Dr. Gina
Lane, professor of communication
and chairwoman, at a meeting on
Jan. 17.
“We really had no warning,”
Allison Allain, station manager and
senior computer science major.
“The school just spent a very large
amount of money on renovating
the station. Our equipment is less
than three years old and is very
high quality. We have been in the
process of applying for upgrades
and there was no message from
higher-ups that this was something
we shouldn’t be pursuing.”
“The decision made is to sign a
letter of intent with the Educational
Media Foundation to affiliate with
their network in the form of a local
marketing agreement,” Sallee said.
“Our interest, of course, is to do a
local marketing agreement, but it’s
not a done deal yet.” According to
Sallee, what remains on the deal is
for EMF to exercise “due diligence”
and work out many of the details on
the agreement. If a local marketing
agreement with EMF is reached,
the current top 40 format of the
station will switch to a Christian
music format.
“Initially, they [EMF] approached
us and asked to talk about purchasing
the station,” Sallee said. Although
William Jewell was not interested
in selling the station, the College
inquired about the possibility
of affiliating the station while
maintaining ownership and control
of the station and its equipment.
EMF was the only company that
the College considered affiliating
with, although the College sought
the advice of a broker who advised
that it was a good deal. Wirth also
was asked to review the tentative
agreement to see if it was a good
deal for the College. If the deal goes
through, the College will continue
to own and be responsible for the
equipment. “Last fall a task group
of the Board [of Trustees] who was
charged with looking at the assets
the College has and thinking about
how [the College’s] assets could be
best used going forward.” It was
this task force, Sallee said, that
made the recommendation to sign
the letter of intent.
The deal will be worth
approximately $150,000 a year to
the College in increased revenue
and decreased expenses. Sallee
said that so far, there is no specific
program that the money is intended
for. “We haven’t decided. We’re not
anticipating any new programs, but
[the money will be] put towards
academic priorities,” he said.
According to information provided
by KWJC, radio as an activity at
William Jewell dates back over
40 years. In the early 1960s, a
carrier-current radio station which
broadcast an AM signal through the
electrical wiring on campus. The
signal could be heard in the rooms
of buildings on campus, but the
process to create the College’s first
“real” radio station was completed
by Dr. Georgia Bowman, professor
emerita. KWPB, named for Walter
Pope Binns, former president of
the College, began broadcasting
with 10 watts of power on April 8,
1974 in an office on the top floor
of Yates College Union. Each day
the station signed off the air with
“evening vespers,” presented by
the department of religion. The
first faculty member hired solely
to teach broadcasting courses
and serve as the radio station
manager was in 1979 and in 1981
the station’s power was increased
from 10 to 240 watts. After the
call letters became available, the
station switched its call letters from
KWPB to KWJC in 1985. In April
1995, the station affiliated with the
Morningstar Network and became
able to broadcast 24-hours a day for
Story continued on page 05
Photo illustration by Kyle Rivas