|
|
|
Spotlight on Campus Police Q. What is the full name of your department/program? A. We are the Meredith College Campus Police Department. Q. How many people work in your department/program? A. We have 18 full- and part-time officers. Q. In general, what does everyone in the department/program do? A. We are responsible for the safety and security of the college. Some of our staff is always here. We are on duty 24 hours every day of the year. We work nights, weekends and holidays. We are the first in line authority on campus whenever the school is closed. Q. Whom does the program serve- faculty/staff, both? A. We serve the entire Meredith community. Q. What do people think your program does? A. Some think we are security. I have had people ask if they need to call the real police. We are the real police. I am a former Durham officer, retired in 1992. My assistant chief is the former chief of Morrisville Police Department. Our department is certified by the Attorney General’s office. I have the same authority as a Raleigh officer, but only on campus. Q. How would you describe your program’s actual responsibilities? A. We are a professional organization that is dedicated to serving the Meredith community. We are committed to our students and strive to assist them whenever possible. Q. How has the department/office changed in the last few years? A. We have become a service-oriented department rather than a strictly enforcement department. For example, we have liaison officers assigned to each dorm. These officers attend the hall meetings with the students and listen to their concerns. I meet with the SGA representatives and have a close relationship with the SGA President. Q. Are there any additional comments that you would like to make? A. We as a Campus Police Department have the distinction of having one of the lowest crime rates on college campuses. (For more information on Campus Police, visit www.meredith.edu/students/police-dept.htm). Meredith Study Abroad Results in Meeting Queen Elizabeth II Three students participating in a Meredith College study abroad program in London met Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday, July 6, following the dedication of a memorial fountain for Princess Diana. Meredith seniors Sarah Margaret Tulloss, Paige Walston and Kelly Jones attended the dedication ceremony, along with others from the College. “We left to go to the Princess Diana Memorial that morning at 7,” said Jones, a human communication major from Wilson, N.C. “We got the front row around the gate and had a very good view.” The three decided to remain at the memorial following the dedication. “At first we didn’t believe the Queen would make her rounds in front of the public because after she opened the memorial she went inside the building,” Jones said. When the Queen and Prince Phillip returned to greet the crowd following a private reception, the students made the most of this chance encounter. “I knew that you were not supposed to speak to the Queen unless spoken to, but I realized that I should not let this opportunity pass,” said Tulloss, an international studies major from Rocky Mount, N.C. “Therefore I tried to say as politely and convincingly as I could, with the Queen looking directly in my eyes, ‘Lovely speech ma’am’.” During the short conversation that followed, the Queen asked the students about their visit, about where they were from, and how long they would be in London. Jones said Queen Elizabeth was “more interested in us than I thought the Queen of England would be.” Walston, a political science major from Wilson, N.C., summed up the experience by saying, “We were hoping to meet Prince William, but meeting the Queen was spectacular. We never thought in a million years the Queen of England would stop to chat with a couple of North Carolinians!” Study Abroad director Betty Webb said this is the first time in the 30-plus year history of the Meredith Abroad program that students have met with a member of the royal family. “First we were mentioned in a Tom Stoppard play in the West End, then we were in the Economist Magazine, in the background of a photo of Tony Blair,” Webb said. “Now we were in conversation with the Queen.”
|
Profile: Jeannette Rogers – Staff, Student and Scholar
The trips, which were partially funded by grants from the Undergraduate Research Program, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and a creative writing prize from the English Department, supported Rogers’ varied interests – she is majoring in French and English, and is also pursuing the minor in Medieval/Renaissance Studies. She has been a student at Meredith since 1996, and is now “about halfway through.” In 1998 Rogers joined the staff of Meredith as a departmental assistant. “I have really followed my interests,” Rogers said. “I’ve benefited greatly from working at Meredith and taking classes.” During her two-week trip to France this year, Rogers stayed in a 1000-year-old castle named Chateau de Paulignan. In her twenties, she became interested in the area’s history while living there. In particular, Rogers is interested in the troubadours, the Christian sect known as the Cathars, the crusade that was launched against the region under the pretext of ridding the region of this sect, and the society that supported the troubadours and the Cathars. “In the 11th and 12th centuries, Languedoc became very sophisticated and prosperous since it was at peace while its neighbors were at war,” Rogers said. She explained that for about 200 years during the Middle Ages more than 500 troubadours lived in the area, writing music and poetry that “proclaimed the value of love, which hadn’t been openly valued before. Previously, battles were usually the subject of poetry and song.” This was a major shift in the consciousness of western Europe. In 1209, the Albigensian crusade was launched against the region and lasted until 1229; then 100 years of persecution began under the auspices of the Inquisition. These events destroyed Occitan society. “It is a very beautiful story with a tragic ending,” Rogers said. Rogers is writing stories set in Languedoc during the Middle Ages, and went there this summer “looking for little details of ordinary life.” She was rewarded by a meeting with an artist in the medieval city of Minerve who had unearthed two ancient wooden baking utensils in the wall of his home that date to the time of the troubadours. She was awed to be able to hold the utensils, implements of everyday life in Languedoc, in her hands and to discuss the town’s dramatic history with the artist. She is also working on a research project translating into English troubadour poetry written in their ancient language, Occitan (also called “Oc”), which is still spoken in the area. At the University of Montpellier she met with two faculty members from the Center of Occitan Studies who critiqued one of her translations and answered several nagging historical questions. During the trip Rogers also experienced “great little coincidences and things just seeming to go right.” For example, she was introduced to a public school teacher who teaches Oc, a modern poet who writes in the language, and she was able to hear the language spoken. She was fascinated to learn that Occitan is still spoken in the region; in fact, a revivalist movement is now underway to teach Oc in the public schools as a second language. The teacher explained that Occitan is similar to Latin and that learning it makes it easier to learn other Romance languages, ancient and modern. Among her many educational goals is a wish to learn Occitan in order to better translate troubadour poetry into English. “I have a great interest in and sympathy for the golden age of Languedoc. I have found that if you have a desire and you act on it, there is a good chance that you’ll be able to accomplish something meaningful,” Rogers said, and added, “It helps to have something you are passionate about.”
|
Meredith College has one of the safest campuses in North Carolina, and Chief Frank Strickland along with the rest of the Campus Police officers strive to provide a safe and secure atmosphere for all students and faculty. In this month’s departmental spotlight, Chief Strickland discusses what the campus police do and how they keep Meredith College safe. 
