Week focuses on improving campus-wide unity

Emily Bartelheim

News Editor

The Wooster Ethic Committee (TWEC) has organized a week of events around The College of Wooster Campus in order to help the Wooster Ethic become a more student-centered and prevalent in everyday campus life. This string of campus happenings is called Civility Week, which has been made possible with volunteers from the Dean of Students office, Campus Life, Student Activities and other organizations.

Merriam Webster defines “civility” as “civilized conduct, especially courtesy, politeness” (merriam-webster.com). TWEC is trying to initiate conversations across campus about the Wooster Ethic because they wish for it to be a larger part of the College community. The week-long celebrations and activities will bring it into a more visible light and allow students to engage themselves.

The series of events starts off with a bang on Friday night with an 80s-themed dance party in Mom’s Truck Stop from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Brandon Pool ’12 will be DJing the event and the furniture will all be moved to the Wired Scot, converting Mom’s into an elaborately decorated dance floor. Free pizza, wings, snacks and non-alcoholic drinks will be served out of the Pop’s station, and Scot Lanes will be open for cosmic bowling and free popcorn.

Saturday, there will be a campus-wide clean up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers will receive free cider, doughnuts, coffee and a t-shirt.

On Monday evening from 7 to 8 p.m., a student, faculty and staff panel will be held in the student governance room in the Scot Center. The meeting will host conversations about civility and the Wooster Ethic. Snacks will be provided.

Amnesty Day is on Tuesday. TWEC will be tabling all day in Lowry for something a little out of the ordinary. They will be collecting Lowry dining dishes that studnets may have accumulated over the years, as well as library books that are overdue. There will be an opportunity to write an apology note if there is an office or department on campus that the student feels they may have wronged through feels they may have wronged through past behavior/incidents. These notes (anonymity is up to the student’s discretion) will be placed in the Student Governance Association lock box and distributed accordingly.

Students dining on Wednesday evening in Lowry will find that there will be no employee to swipe them in to the cafeteria. This is because there will be a self-swipe dinner. This act relies on the students and the Wooster Ethic; even though there is no supervisor, they will still be held accountable to swipe themselves for their meal. The theme is “swipe your COW card, not your meal.”

Also on Wednesday, a fire-side chat with President Cornwell and Deans will be held from 8 – 9 p.m. in the Lowry pit. There will be an opportunity for an open signing if anyone has yet to sign the Wooster Ethic. This will be followed by the dedication of a TWEC bookcase. The bookcase will be placed in the mudroom between the main doors of Lowry and will showcase the book of student, faculty and staff signatures from past Wooster Ethic signings.

The goal of Civility Week is to engage the campus as a whole and spread awareness that the Wooster Ethic does not only affect students, but faculty and staff as well. The Wooster Ethic is campus-wide; how we treat each other in intrapersonal relationships is a huge part of the Wooster campus.

TWEC has also produced a new logo (see page 1 photo) inspired by Dean Holmes’ speech about the oak grove at the annual first-year signing of the Wooster Ethic. His lecture tells the new students about how Wooster’s oak grove’s trees are so old that they witnessed the building of our campus. After they have been growing near each other for a long period of time, their rootlets begin to intertwine. This intertwining represents the Wooster community and its strong connections we should all maintain.