Clarion 1994-10-07 Vol. 70 No. 03

              Friday/October 7/1994
The official
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ethel College
Volume 70, Number 3
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Expanding Bethel through new recruiter
by Joe Nitz
WRITING INTERN
On September 16 the Bethel admissions
office hired its first field representative, Judy
Rimer, in response to an increasing number
of students attending Bethel from lhe Chicago area. Thirty-seven Chicago students were
admitted to Bethel this year. Chicago admissions dipped to a low of 24 in 1990, after
averaging 50 per year in the 1980's.
On-campus admissions representative
Jay Fedje said lhat admissions looked for a
Bethel graduate to be the Chicago area admissions representative, so thai he or she
would "have a connecliou wilh the college
and know what the college is about."All final
candidates were Bethel alumni.
filnicr is a 1966 Bethel graduate. She is
native io the Chicago area, attended North
Park Academy High School, and graduated
[Vom Bethel in 1966. She was an elementary
school teacher until 1988. In addition lo representing Bethel, Llmer is a member of the
Chicago school district 219 Educational
Policy Advisory Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and recommending
educational policy for local high schools.
Elmer will be working part-time from a
computer and modem equipped office and
communicating with the Bethel admissions
office and computer system. Most of her
work will be visiting churches, college fairs,
and high schools. Her goal will be to increase
Chicago admissions lo 50 per year.
Fedje said Chicago is "Bethel's largest
market outside of Minnesota." He says the
Chicago area is unique because it is centrally
located, is the third largest metro area in the
country, and has siudents who lend lo look al
colleges earlier lhan students in oilier parts of
ihe country. "If you pay attention lo the area.
. . Ihen our college is suddenly an option,"
Fedje said. When lhe admissions office con
cenlraied on attracting students from the
Chicago area, admissions from that area increased.
A lol of Chicago siudents are looking for
Christian colleges, Fedje noted. Wheaton,
Trinity, North Park, Taylor and Moody Bible
Institute are all colleges convenient to the
Chicago area. So why do sludenis choose
Bethel?
It's debatable: Bethel,
Wheaton, and criminal
punishment
by Kendal Marsh
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Bethel College Debale team traveled
to Wheaton, Illinois September 23 to compete
in the Wheaton Fall Invitational, hosted by
Wheaton College. During two days of
competition, a team of two Bethel juniors,
Betsy Neibergall andChrista Ixster, captured
second place out of 21 teams in the beginner
division.
Twenty-one schools participated in the
Whcalon Invitational. Among those were
Northern Illinois University, the University
of Wisconsin-Oslikosh, Loyola of Chicago,
Ball State, Wlieaton and Trinity College.
The Wheaton tournament, as well as (he
three others in which Bethel is scheduled to
participate this fall, made use of a cross
examination debate style. In Ihis style, a
resolution is given lo lhe teams in advance.
This year's resolution reads, "Resolved: Thai
throughout Ihe United States, more severe
punishment for individuals convicted of
violent crimes would be desirable."
In the cross-examination style, students
working in teams of two spend lime
researching and preparing During the
tournament, they must be able to play the role
of the affirmative (supporting the resolution)
and the role of the negative (speaking against
it). The affirmative side must build a case for
the resolution. The negative side musl prepare
themselves to handle any tiling the affirmative
might throw at them.
In the debate, each speaker must make an
eight minute speech. For diree to four minutes
following this, ihey must answer questions
from the oilier team. It is a nerve-racking
process and one which requires a great deal of
preparation.
Preparation time was something the
Bethel Debate team did not have. From (lie
lime they received the resolution, they had
one and a half weeks lo prepare for the
tournament. During that lime, Neibergall and
Lester spent nearly 30 hours al the Hamline
Law Library silling ihrough judicial
Statements and law journals.
This was lhe firsl debate experience for
till the Bethel debaters. To make matlcrs
more difficult, due to the lack of lime, many,
including I-ester and Neibergall, did not have
a chance lo practice before the loumamenl.
During the Wheaton tournament, each
team of two from the participating schools
debated six times. Those with a four-and-two
record or better advanced lo the final round
Punishment continued on page 2
For many, Chicago or northern Indiana
colleges are too close to home, and going
away to school gives them more persona]
space. 'The Twin Cities are a little bit more
laid back, a little more open," Fedje said.
"Bethel has a urn que formula of combining a
location dial looks like it's in Canada, yet it's
ncara metropolitan area. We've got the Christian atmosphere like a Taylor does and we've
got a location like Wheaton."
As for Elmer's duties, Fedje said, "We're
going to play it by ear right now. She will
probably be. . . going lo college fairs, high
schools, making connections with a lol of
churches, both BGC and non-BGC." Elmer
won't be able to show students around (he
Bethel campus so she will be "handing off"
prospective students to the on campus admissions office. She will also be doing phone
work with students who lune applied or been
accepted to Bethel.
Attracting students from Chicago's cth-
nically diverse population will also be a concern, but one with some difficulties. "We've
tried lo concentrate on getting students of
color from the Chicago area," Fedje said.
What does senate do?
This is difficult because of the "Bethel Swedish college" tradition and because of lack of
financial aid, such as the Miimesota State
Grant, which is a major source of funding for
students who are residents of Miimesota.
"Many times when we get a lot of students of
color to apply to Bethel College and get
accepted, they don't actually come, simply
because the financial aid isn't there," Fedje
said.
It isn't just "students of color," but all
students who arc not N linnesota residents that
are ;iffecled by the Minnesota Slate Grant.
The grant is need-based financial aid available to Minnesota residents ;uid is one of the
largest grant programs of its kind in the
country. According lo Fedje, ihis puis a burden on Bethel to make up the difference for
oul-of-stale students. Bethel often can only
substilule loans for die Minnesota State Grant.
For out-of-state students, and especially students widi low incomes, this often is "loo big
of a burden to handle," he said.
by Jeremy Gavin
STAFF WRITER
Do you know what Student Senale does?
Most Bethel students have heard of Student
Senate and even voted for Senate candidates.
Very few, diough, know what Senate actually
docs. I asked a number of students if they
could tell me what Bethel's Student Senate
does, and most answers fell somewhere
between, "No"and "I have no idea."Some
answers given were: "They buy sweatshirts
for themselves and spend money, make laws
and bills for Bethel," and, 'They voice our
gripes to the administration!"Bethel senior
Greg Johnson admitted he had no idea what
Senate does. He said he thinks, "Senate sits in
meetings and tries to do things for siudents."
Nobody seemed to know exactly what
they do, bul the suggestions were not entirely
wrong. Senate does sit in meetings and try to
do tilings for students by spending money and
voicing students' concerns to the
administration, but there's more to it.
Student Senate is the legislative division
of die Beihel Student Association (BSA). The
Senate continued on page 2
Student Senale members discuss issues presented by students Photo by Kristin Miller