T H E VOL. LLV
ROTUNDA LONGWOOD COLLEGE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1983
NO. 7
LongWOod: A Helping Hand Market Basket By KENT BOOTY Longwood College will literally lend a helping hand to the community one Saturday next March. In an ambitious project called "LIVE '84" - Longwood Initiates Volunteer Energy — some 2,000 student, faculty, staff, administration and Board volunteers will perform varied odd jobs in the Farmville area on Saturday, March 31. The services, to be determined in cooperation with area officials, will assist senior citizens and nonprofit organizations. "It's a hand-in-hand project with the town," said LB. Debt, director of student activities, who heads the steering committee. "The people in town will get to know students on a personal level; they'll realize that these students are just like their kids or grandchildren. They will also see that we have students who care about the community." One interesting feature of the project is that, in addition to students, members of Longwood's faculty, staff and Board of Visitors will be taking part. "Quite a few of the faculty and staff have already told me
they'll participate," Mr. Dent said. "Churches and garden clubs, for example, might need some work done," suggested Mr. Dent. "People might need a hand moving furniture or helping with a flower garden. The Sheltered Workshop, hospital auxiliary or nursing homes also might have different jobs. There are so many possibilities." The Volunteer Coordinator committee, one of six committees under the overall steering committee, will try to generate widespread student participation. LIVE '84 has been scheduled for the first weekend after students return from spring break, when many traditionally remain on campus. "We have to come up with the volunteer workers and also, by working with the town, determine what type of jobs need to be done," said Tom Bailey, a senior who is chairman of that committee. "It might be raking leaves, painting street signs, cleaning up a park, planting flowers — whatever needs to be done." Organizers say they will create
interest though competition between and among student organizations, such as fraternities, sororities and residence halls. "Once people start doing publicity, we hope there will be a snowball effect," Bailey predicted. "For example, if the residents of Curry (hall) become heavily involved, the people in Frazer will want to become involved, too. One group is not going to let the other group out-do them." Afterwards, awards and prizes will be presented to organizations with the highest percentage of participation. There will be competition both between residence halls and among the floors of the halls. There's another incentive for people to participate — the Student Union is sponsoring a mixer that evening in which admission will be free to those who worked. "We're hoping the entertainment (mixer) and competition will be enough to attract a large number of students, plus the fact that people are doing something good for the community," said Bailey.
Big Blue
Norman Simpson as "Big Blue."
What the heck is that? Well, it's really a bunch of blue bathroom mats sewn together to look like a giant aardvark or something like that. But once Norman Simpson crawls inside, it comes alive as "Big Blue," Longwood's new basketball mascot. "Big Blue" was conceived by the basketball cheerleaders and created by Norman Simpson and Julie Mobley. "Blue" was greeted with enthusiastic cheers for his debut at the first home game. Simpson says he gets psyched-up for games by working out with the cheerleaders before hand and although the rubber lined suit gets awful hot and sweaty inside, Simpson's performance isn't hindered. In fact, "Big Blue's" leg fell off while he was jumping around during the second game. Right now, "Big Blue" is on a trial basis as Ixmgwood's mascot and if he proves popular "Blue" will be seen at sporting events other than just basketball. "Big Blue's" purpose in life is to promote school and team spirit. "Blue" can be seen again next Wednesday, November 30, 7:30 p.m. at home against VCU.
Local Food Prices Still Dropping The cost of the Farmville area market basket was 10 cents lower in November than in October. The 40-item basket was $61.87 this month, compared to $61.97 in October. Market basket surveys in the Richmond and Tidewater areas also showed slight decreases in food costs. The Richmond basket was $61.13 in November, down from $62.47 in October. The Tidewater area basket, the lowest priced one in the state, was down from $60.55 in October to $59.60 in November. The Northern Virginia basket was the only one in the state to show a small increase. It was $64.77 this month, up from $64.50 in October. Local food buyers are paying 1.15 percent less for food this November than they were a year ago. The cost of the market basket in November 1982 was $62.59. In the November survey of four
local food stores, lower prices were found for 16 items. Thirteen items were priced higher, and 11 items were priced the same as last month. The difference between the "high" and "low" baskets this month was a sizeable $14.09. The shopper who selected only the highest priced items would pay $68.58 for the basket; for the shopper who selected only the lowest priced items, the cost would be $54.49. The news is good on the gasoline front, too. Ten of the 16 local stations surveyed offered lower gasoline prices in November than in October. Lower prices were found for regular, unleaded, and premium unleaded gasoline. As usual, the best prices were at self-service stations. These price studies are projects of the Economics Seminar class at Longwood College, under the direction of Dr. Anthony B. Cristo.
Library Use Figures Cited By CINDY MORRIS An average of 270 books are checked out each day at Longwood College's Lancaster Library. Over 215,000 books are housed in the library. During the 1982-83 school year a total of 98,417 books was checked out. Of these books, 85,656 were checked out by Longwood College students. According to the State Statistics Staff Technical Report for Academic Libraries in Virginia for the year of 1980-81, Longwood's library rates an average of 15th when compared to 72 other institutions. The total budget for the library during 1982-83 was $565,882 or $1,550.36 per day. The budget for materials, books, and periodicals was $180,000 for the year or
$493.15 per day. The largest donation the library has ever received was $4,000 from a former Longwood student who was a student worker at the library. The addition of computers during the summer of '83 has made the employees at the library very busy. The employees at the library consist of six librarians, 12 support staff, three part-time, and 17 student workers. By January, the library hopes to have all material listed from '77 to date in the computers. The General Assembly turned down a plan two years ago to add three floors to the back of the library. The proposed plan will be reconsidered at the beginning of next year.
College Exceeds Minority Goal By BETH PARKER The goal was reached for the colleges in the state of Virginia. number of minority students at Thirteen of these colleges are Longwood College in '82-'83 for predominately black. Only three the first time in the history of the out of the 13 predominately white college. In fact, the college colleges didn't meet their goal. According to the admissions exceeded its goal for minority students. office, Ixmgwood was proud to Out of the 2,500 students, 180 exceed its goal and hopes to do are minority students. The just as well or better in the college also has seven minority future. They plan on doing more faculty and administration high school recruiting in the members. future to keep minority There are 15 state supported enrollment up.