London in Lynchburg: Randolph and National Gallery Initiate Parternship

Written By: Mariah Sager '18

Published November 2014

Professor Andrea Campbell facilitates discussion between students and Dr. Ashok Roy of the National Gallery in London during a lunch in the President's Dining Room on October 8th.
Photo Courtesy of Randolph College Office of Relations

On October 7th, Dr. Ashok Roy, Director of Collections at the National Gallery in London, visited Randolph College. He gave three lectures, and met with small groups of students in two private lunches. Some art and art history professors took advantage of this opportunity by requiring class attendance at the lectures, or encouraging students to attend the lunches with Dr. Roy. His visit marks the first event of the College’s budding partnership with the National Gallery, which began in February of this year after the sale of the Maier’s George Bellows painting Men of the Docks to the museum, making Randolph the only educational institution in the United States with such a relationship to the Gallery. President Bateman said that “Dr. Roy turned out be an excellent public speaker and a gracious and engaging person. I think that the success of the many events that we hosted the week he was here was a great way to start the partnership.”

Although visits from museum staff are to be arranged by the administration, faculty and staff members have their own hopes for the partnership. According to President Bateman, an exhibit in the Maier Museum of pieces lent by the National Gallery may be in the making. “There are some very technical conditions we have to meet,” he says, such as certain humidity and temperature requirements, but “we’re very optimistic.” The loan being discussed at the moment is to be of Renaissance works. In addition, the National Gallery will be offering internships to Randolph students. This is exclusive to our partnership: the museum does not allow any other students to hold such a position. Dr. Leanne Zalewski, Assistant Professor of Art, says that “students are very excited about the internship opportunity.” This opportunity is not exclusive to art history students. Dr. Roy himself is a chemist, and students of all majors, from Chemistry to Communications, could benefit. These internships, because they must be in London, will most likely take place in the summer rather than during a semester. Moreover, the National Gallery has said to President Bateman that “they are interested in selecting from among the interns that we send each year to invite one of them back for a ten-month paid position the following year.” This opportunity was not laid out in the original contract, which has turned out to be very flexible: says Bateman, “[the partnership] is ending up being even richer and providing more opportunities for our students than we had initially imagined.” 

For instance, Randolph may be able, on occasion, to borrow Men of the Docks from the National Gallery. Randolph will also be holding a reception for alumnae and alumni at the National Gallery in London in mid-July. The contract with the museum allows the College to hold such receptions several times in the first ten years of the partnership, at no cost.

This partnership started with a process begun in 2007, when the Maier Museum put this work on auction. Men of the Docks, created in 1912, was one of the Maier’s first acquisitions. It was bought directly from Bellows for $2,500 in 1920 and had for many decades been the centerpiece of Randolph’s collection: Scott Jaschik of the website Inside Higher Ed called it “by far the most valuable and artistically significant” piece in the Maier Museum. When the College decided to sell the painting, it then received a lot of backlash. Both the museum’s director, Karol Lawson, and associate director, Ellen Agnew, resigned from their positions in protest. The College Art Association said that “Randolph College has compromised the educational and cultural mission of the [Maier] by treating its collection as a fungible asset rather than as a vital part of the institution’s artistic heritage,” and Lee Rosenbaum, art journalist and blogger, proclaimed “shame on Randolph College.” 

Furthermore, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), which includes 3,500 institutions, blacklisted Randolph, prohibiting the Maier from borrowing works from other college museums. The AAM called the sale of the painting a “flagrant, egregious violation of our Code of Ethics for Museums” and said that it threatened the “lofty status” of museums throughout the world as collections held in the public trust. As Scott Jaschik writes, “the policies of several art and museum groups state that museums should sell art only to buy more art, not to improve their finances.”  The sale of Men of the Docks did not benefit the Maier, but the $25.5 million profit went instead to the college’s endowment.

However, Randolph is not the only college to make such a move. In 1991, Brandeis University auctioned off eleven works to cushion their endowment. The Memphis College of Art decided in 2012 to sell much of their collection, including works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, to increase their finances. Fisk University sold a fifty-percent share of a collection they had been given by Georgia O’Keeffe, which included four pieces by the Modernist painter herself, as well as artists like Picasso, Cézanne, and Renoir, in order to raise $30 million for their endowment. 

President Bateman, who had not yet begun his tenure as College president when the sale took place, said in February 2014 that Randolph “is a college, not a museum,” and that “the primary fiduciary responsibility of the college’s Board of Trustees,” which decided to sell the painting, “is to provide the highest quality liberal education available.” In 2007, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools issued Randolph a financial warning, and the profit from the painting was a significant addition to its endowment, which was around $136 million in 2013. Bateman says of the College’s partnership with the National Gallery, “This is a remarkable opportunity to keep our connection to the Bellows and have it in a place where the public can see it while at the same time make a big step toward becoming financially sustainable.”

George Bellows himself might not have been in opposition to the sale; according to Lee Rosenbaum, a Maier Museum newsletter from 2007 stated that T. Moody Campbell, one of the professors involved in the purchase of the painting, said that Bellows thought “most artists, he being one of them, were [most concerned] about having [their paintings] in a place where they would be appreciated.”  The National Gallery in London garners six million visitors, of which one million are American, every year, meaning Men of the Docks will be viewed by many more people than it previously has been, but many Randolph students, faculty, staff, and alums feel the absence of the painting in the Maier Museum as a great loss, both personally and to the College. According to Abigail Gautreau ’06, Men of the Docks was selected by Randolph-Macon Woman’s College’s very first art professor, Louise Jordan Smith. She, along with a German professor, founded The Randolph-Macon Art Association of Lynchburg, “a coalition of students, faculty, alumnae, and local townspeople” who raised the funds necessary to purchase the painting. She says, “It was the first masterpiece in the collection. Men of the Docks was not simply another valuable piece in a large collection; it was one of the first, and it had special meaning attached to it due to the circumstances of its acquisition.”

In spite of the controversy surrounding the sale of the Bellows painting, the fact remains that students and faculty are already benefitting from the partnership between Randolph College and the National Gallery. The lectures by Dr. Roy offered tangible evidence of this benefit. Dr. Roy is a conservator who studies technology used in art conservation and restoration such as x-radiography and pigment sampling and analysis. The lectures included one titled “F for Fake, R for Real: The Fall and  Rise of Two Madonnas,” which discussed how such technologies are used to “confirm, and sometimes contest, the identity of the artist credited with a work of art,” specifically speaking on two Italian Renaissance paintings housed in the National Gallery.

In his other lectures, he addressed the issue of the stability of color pigments and “the technical analysis of a Renoir painting and its impact on our understanding of the work.” Students, faculty, and others in the Randolph community can look forward to similar visits in the future by National Gallery staff, and there were four applicants for the first internship positions that will take place in London. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for our students and a great opportunity for us to be able to showcase the excellent students that we have here at Randolph,” beamed President Bateman.

Yikity Yak, don't talk back Social Media Strife at RC

Written by Katya Schwab '17 

Published November 2014

Yik Yak has made it to Randolph, and the results aren’t all pretty.  While most of the posts center around the food—an issue always at the forefront of college student’s concerns—) some users have taken the app to a whole new level of nasty. Although there are no confirmed cases, it is possible for extreme posts to violate the College’s bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct policies.

Launched in 2013, Yik Yak’s founders originally looked to cater to college students, giving them an anonymous voice about life on campus.  Huffington Post reporter Diana Graber wrote that Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll, two recent graduates of Furman University, developed the app as an anonymous "virtual bulletin board,” to bring a voice to  "that guy in the back row of your science class [who] might be the funniest guy you never hear."

Buffington told Graber in an interview that he and Droll recognized the maturity and responsibility the app would require to be used appropriately and admitted, “we were idealistic about who possessed that."

When the app first launched, many high school and middle school students flocked to the new social media that provided a platform for anonymous cyber-bullying; according to Fox News, Droll stated, “We’re proactively trying to keep high schoolers off the app.”

According to Graber, Yik Yak quickly reacted to the spread of bullying in high school and middle schools by restricting the age of Yik Yak users to 17+, giving parents the power to restrict the app from their children’s phones. Yik Yak also teamed up with Vermont company Maponics to create virtual walls around schools across the country that restrict the use of Yik Yak on or near elementary, middle, and high schools.

Droll also commented to Fox News that Yik Yak is “being used very well at colleges. We think that psychologically high schoolers aren’t ready to use our app.”

However, colleges are also experiencing difficulty with the app and ensuring its appropriate use on campus. Some Yik Yak users at RC keep posts relatively lighthearted, such as a post from a Skeller employee: “Fun Fact: Staring at us while we make your food will not cause your food to cook any faster.”  (Unfortunately this was the funniest one that I managed to find from our campus so far, but I will keep my eyes peeled!)

Other posts are downright insensitive. Sarah Sirker, a resident assistant in Webb Hall, discovered the nasty side of Yik Yak when some residents voiced concerns about posts directed at students living in Webb. Sirker adamantly voiced her opinion that the posts on Yik Yak are “morally repugnant.”

Rumors have circulated that some Yik Yak posts have violated the sexual misconduct policy. While Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Ben Foster did not confirm or deny such rumors, he commented,  “Any Yik Yak posts found to discriminate against another student on the basis of gender would violate our sexual misconduct policy.”

He continued to explain the repercussions of such posts explaining that, even though users are anonymous, reports would be treated identically to any other source of information; DOS would attempt to identify the parties involved and reach out to any potential victim following the standard process under the bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct policies. Dean Foster explained, “Students found responsible for violating these policies can face separation from the institution or suspension, in addition to educational sanctions.”

According to Yik Yak’s policies, they reserve the right to “disclose the information we collect from you where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use or this Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which Yik Yak is involved.”

Yik Yak also places all the responsibility for the content of each post, “including its legality, reliability and appropriateness,” on its users. By agreeing to Terms of Service, users have also agreed not to “defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten, or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others,” “use racially or ethnically offensive language,” “or discuss or incite illegal activity.”

According to USA Today, other colleges that have struggled with harassment on Yik Yak have shut the app down on their campus including schools in Chicago, New Mexico and Norwich University in Vermont.

Dean Foster commented about Randolph’s ability to block Yik Yak on campus: “The College must be cautious with issues concerning a fundamental right like free speech. We cannot write any policy that would infringe on student rights, but we can remind our students that harassment and bullying are not protected speech or actions; no matter the platforms students choose, such behaviors are serious violations and, in some cases, crimes.”

Yik Yak is not the first social media platform to spread malicious sentiments around campus. Last year, the College dealt with issues on a different social media platform with anonymous Twitter accounts. “Students need to hold each other accountable…we all need to strive to be better people,” said Dean Foster, “We have to send a clear message about the kind of community we want here at Randolph.”

Together, Randolph students can build a positive and supportive community by channeling social media as a positive outlet. We can only hope that Yik Yak will be the last platform used to spread malicious messages behind the red brick wall.

The Animals We Are: A Reflection of the Maier Museum's 103rd Annual Exhibition "A Menagerie of Metaphors"

Written by Phuong Tran ’15

Published October 2014

“Children see the world as things and animals, they don’t see the world as people,” asserts a line from the catalog of the Maier’s 103rd annual exhibition, “A Menagerie of Metaphors.” It succinctly captures how I felt at the opening of the exhibition on September 12: entering the Maier was like entering a whole new universe, as if I were a little child again, seeing the world afresh.  

I was greeted by a collection of stark and soulful life-size portraits of elephants by Nick Brandt, a British photographer who works exclusively in Africa and who is the founder of Big Life Foundation, an anti-poaching organization. The elephants evoke the utmost lightness of being, walking with elegance and simplicity around the African plain, whole and complete within their natural habitat. 

A visitor stops to appriciate the "stark and soulful" elephant portraits by Nick Brandt.
Photo Courtesy of Phuong Tran

Then came the haunting hybrid humanimal photomontages of Jane Alexander, an artist working in Johannesburg who seeks to send a political message about apartheid and colonialism, and the protean rabbits of Jenny Lynn McNutt, whose animal imagery speaks volumes of humanity in an intertwining relationship with nature. At the far end of the main exhibition room proudly and elegantly stood the bird sculptures of Jason Rose, with their all-knowing gaze like that of those ancient pharaohs. Made out of pigmented glass, marble, and limestone, they exuded an air of pure and astounding beauty.   

One of the tapestries by Kiki Smith stretched
from floor to ceiling and pictured a majestic wolf.
Photo courtesy of Phuong Tran.

Anyone who has some interest in contemporary art knows about Kiki Smith, and I was thrilled to find her works at the exhibition: “The Cathedral” and “The Guide,” two mythically beautiful jacquard tapestries that would enthrall any viewer who should step into the smaller exhibition room. In the same space, Walton Ford’s watercolor paintings and Louise Bourgeois’s drypoint etchings stand facing each other, telling stories of humans through the animals with a subtle touch of humor. “What I did not want was just illustration of animals, I wanted examples of art that incorporated animals that could open up a story within the viewer, or a metaphor,” said Kathy Muehlemann, the curator as well as a professor of art and chair of the Art Department at the College, explaining her intention and motivation for a show she has been working diligently to put together since June. Her research dates back to much further than that, to her travels to Bostwana during her sabbatical in 2009.  “It wasn’t just a depiction of an animal in its environment, but it’s about metaphors—that the more you look at these works, you start to have questions or develop a storyline and think about yourself in relation to the animals.”
  
The exhibition celebrated its opening with a surprisingly high number in attendance—253 people, including students, faculty, staff, and others from Lynchburg—and is the sixth show that professor Muehlemann has curated since beginning her tenure at Randolph 20 years ago. The opening also marks the 103rd year the Maier has held an annual exhibition for contemporary art, a feat no other college in the U.S. has matched, according to Prof. Muehlemann.
   
Attendees of the opening had their own thoughts on the exhibit: Mandy Boucher, an English major senior, thinks that all the work was amazing, but Nick Brandt’s photographs hit her the hardest. “I think art in general depends on the person looking at it. Personally, I felt more in-tune with the elephant photography than the puppet photography, and closer to the rabbit sculptures than the rabbit paintings. When an image has a recognizable ‘something’ to it, it really depends on you. With the elephants, the eyes said something to me. With the rabbit sculptures, I felt pain from them. In relation to animals in general, I feel like the human race as a whole ignore and really deny any connection with other species,” she said.
   
Emily Hood, another English major senior, had a different perspective: “Two of my favorite pieces in the show were the rabbit sculptures. When I walked into the gallery, I saw a group of people looking down at the floor. When I went over to see what they were looking at, I saw the sculpture of the rabbit curled beneath me. The placement of the sculpture made me feel as though I was looking down on an actual rabbit that had just been killed. I began to feel something for this figure that had never even drawn a breath.” 

Her sentiment is also shared by a first year, Harrison Pippin. “I felt like the pieces were taking symbols we all know from nature and putting a civilized twist on them. It looked like the artist were making the artwork about our interpretation of nature and what these animals mean to us rather than depicting them realistically. Over all, I think they made me feel more aware of my connection to the outside environment by showing us how we can change things and reflect ourselves onto the world,” shared Pippin. 

Two Randolph students examine a colorful piece from the Maier Museum show,
 "A Menagerie of Metaphors" curated by Kathy Muehlemann.
Photo courtesy of Phuong Tran.

The artworks at the Maier turn our eyes around, showing us how we have been busy living our lives without being fully aware of our own existence in relation with other creatures. Commenting on Walton Ford’s painting of a blue bird who has acquired an excessive number of fish, Prof. Muehlemann said: “Maybe it’s a parable of greed, don’t you just see an animal kills more than it can eat?”

Walking around the less crowded gallery and talking with Prof. Muehlemann about all the artworks, I learnt so much more than I could have done by just reading the catalog or looking at the pieces myself. When we conversed, our interpretations of the work had a chance to meet and interact. Our ideas were mingled and woven together, creating in me an understanding much more revealing and profound than my original impressions. For anyone who won’t have a chance to talk with Prof. Muehlemann in person, come to the 23rd Berlind Symposium on October 3 and 4. The symposium is designed to enhance our students’ art appreciation of the annual exhibition by hosting scholars and artists to discuss issues relevant to each show. This year’s symposium includes a poetry reading session by art critic and poet Tom Sleigh, an artist talk by Jenny Lynn McNutt, and a panel discussion (moderated by Prof. Muehlemann) with Prof. Schwartz, McNutt, and Sleigh. “So many students, faculty and staff have already visited ‘A Menagerie of Metaphors,’ and the Berlind Symposium offers an opportunity for even more meaningful understanding as we all continue to relate to the artwork and what the artists are communicating. It begins new conversations and offers unique perspectives on the themes within the exhibition.

 The exhibition is open until December 14, after which the Maier will have to return the artworks to their respective galleries. However, the museum intends to purchase a piece for our collection, and students’ opinion will be taken into consideration. At the entrance area near the reception, on the right there is a blue vase and a row of cards with the artist’s name on them. All you have to do is pick the artist you like, write down the artwork that impresses you the most, and put the card into the vase. The survey does not guarantee that the most favorite piece will be purchased, but it helps the museum in finding the one enjoyed by most people that they can afford.

Back in Black: RC Kicks off the Year in the Dark

Written By: Katya Schwab '17 and Phuong Tran '15

Published October 2014

The Webb Hall Asylum: With no electricity, Resident Assistants 
were required to evacuate residents the night of Sept. 2, 2014.
Photo courtesy of Katya Schwab '17



On the evening of Sept. 1— the first day of classes for the Fall 2014 semester— students watched as Randolph plunged into a brown out that severely curtailed the flow of electricity to most of the campus.  As temperatures hovered in the 90s and a wave of humidity hit Lynchburg, the sight of dorm-room fans spinning too slowly to offer more than a feeble breeze became commonplace. That was the beginning of three days of power shortages behind the red brick wall.

A Critical Incident Management Team (CIMT) was quickly assembled to address the crisis at hand. Comprised of Dean of Students Matha Thornton, Director of Buildings and Grounds JW Wood, Vice President Chief of Staff Wes Fugate, Director of Residence Life Ben Foster, and Director of Communications Brenda Edson, the group began initiating plans to restore power and ensure student safety.

Randolph community members were alerted by an email from Dean Thornton on the evening of Sept. 1 that the brown out had been caused by blown high voltage fuse, which cut power to a switch that controls 80 percent of campus electricity. An emergency generator was used to supply power to the Student Center so that students who couldn’t endure the heat had a cool place to sleep. Unfortunately, the generator ran out of fuel sooner than expected, on the morning of Sept. 3, leading to the temporary loss of Internet service that left almost everyone offline from general communication. Classes were also cancelled that afternoon.

“This is the first time we had to run the generator this long to keep things up, but in the future, we will make sure that it gets filled at least once a day, and maybe twice a day, depending on usage, to make sure that we don’t run out of fuel in case of emergency like this,” said Chief of Technology Officer Victor Gosnell.

The brown-out continued through Wednesday, as the College awaited the arrival of a replacement fuse that had been shipped from Chicago. It was installed that afternoon at 1:30 p.m.  Despite an e-mail to students stating that the administration was “optimistic the power [would] be restored by the evening,” upon replacing the first fuse, subsequent problems, causing an even larger outage. As a result, students were required to evacuate Moore, Main, West and Webb Halls that evening. Some stayed in local hotels, while others bunked in Bell Hall and the Student Center, where there was still some power. Mattresses, pillows, and blankets were provided in the Student Center, security staff was doubled, and Resident Life staff remained on campus. The CIMT stated in an e-mail the following day that, “our main priority remains to ensure the safety and security of our students.”

Cing Don Nuam (D Dee), who stayed at Randolph during the summer as a member of the painting crew, said there were times when the light in Bell was dim or flickering and there was one day when the power was completely out. Hagay Haut, another paint crew member, said he remembered the incident because it was so hot (the summer heat in Lynchburg can be unbearable at times, especially when your fan is not working) no one could sleep.

However, in an interview with The Sundial, Dean Thornton explained that, as far as she was aware, the summer brown out was city wide rather than an issue with the power system at Randolph.  A story from June 21 on the local ABC affiliate WSET news stated that power in Lynchburg had been affected by lightning strikes from local storms that week.
Aside from failures within electrical system, the emergency lighting system in the halls did not provide ample illumination, which was a primary reason for the mandatory evacuation on the night of Sept. 3. 

On the bright side, the outages did provide a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and staff bonding. Victor Gosnell (for first-years: if you ever see a man with suspenders and cartoon ties, that’s him) walked into the Student Center one morning and was delightfully surprised to see students sleeping on the floor. He walked around, stopped and chatted with several different groups of student as they “clustered around in their little study group.” He asked them how they were doing and if everything was all right.

Thomas Farmer, a janitor, said he and the other janitors had to face the challenge of having to get their jobs done with no electricity to run all the cleaning appliances. However, some students, faculty, and staff would stop and thank him for his effort. “They saw us doing all the cleaning by hand and said they really appreciated it, and that did make me happy,” Farmer said. He also commented on the “Randolph refugee camp” with a smile: “In the morning I saw the students all cuddling up together in the Student Center. It’s unusual to see students sleeping together, both boys and girls. It’s like a big sleep-over!”

The Randolph rumor mill soon began circulating the idea that the administration had known this summer that a large-scale power outage was likely to occur because of an outage that had occurred earlier in the summer.

Dean Thornton also stated that there was no prior indication that the fuse in question was experiencing any problems. Vice President Wes Fugate added, “We just learned that; as far as we know, that particular fuse has never gone bad.”

#RandolphRefugeeCamp: "Randolph refugees" were given
blankets, mattresses, etc. to wait out the brown out. 
Students raced to find the few working electrical outlets to keep 
electronics charged and functioning while waiting for power.
Photo courtesy of Katya Schwab '17

Ngoc (Kelly) Pham, a somewhat reserved Vietnamese student who is also an RA, posted on Facebook that she saw this as a positive experience. "It's good to be back to my own room with power. However, the #RandolphRefuggeeCamp in the past 3 days will be one of the memories that I will never forget after I graduate. Yes, it's hot. Yes, there is no wifi. but I definitely spent more time talking with my friends, enjoyed sleepover party, etc.”

Meanwhile, students who live in the new apartments across Rivermont Ave., which were unaffected by the brown out, sent Facebook messages offering to help out friends behind the red brick wall, in many cases offering couches to sleep on where there was still AC and Internet.

Losing electricity is inconvenient and unwanted; yet, in the dark, we, as a community, did get to see what we don’t usually see when the light is on. Victor Gosnell nicely summed up the experience in just a few sentences: “No one wants a power outage and the problem that comes with it. However, when you have a unified event where everyone needs to work together for a common purpose, I think it helps people bond. Sometimes you have to take the bad situation and look at the good that comes from it, and I think that a lot of students had an opportunity to meet with people, to spend time with people that they would otherwise not spend time with.”

Bräuburgers Aims to Improve an American Staple

Written By: Donald Saltmarsh '16

Courtesy of Bräuburgers

Restaurant Page on Facebook

Published October 2014

Where did the ubiquitous American hamburger come from? Was it Louis’ Lunch in Connecticut that made the first broiled beef patty, or “Hamburger Charlie” Nagreen, who decided to smash meatballs together to create a meal one could eat on the go? Both claim to be the originators of the American burger, and while we can’t tell you who is right, we can certainly tell a good burger when we eat one. Lynchburg isn’t without its fair share of superb burger joint options: from the well-priced Texas Inn to the gourmet burgers of Robin Alexander or Mangia, we have plenty of excellent choices within a short distance. When we drove 20 minutes to Forest to try out Bräuburgers we had high expectations that were left wanting with an average meal.

For those who don’t recognize the name Bräuburgers, you aren’t alone. The restaurant just opened in June in the Forest Square Shopping Center, proclaiming a “better burger” as fast casual food, the same type of restaurant model as Chipotle. One of the trademarks of the fast casual food market is upscale fast food with limited table service, but this restaurant immediately surprised us as it had recently switched to full table service, therefore losing the classification of fast casual.



The Layout of Bräuburgers Restaurant indicates an environment not entirely conducive to a full table service model
Photo courtesy of Bräuburgers Restaurant page on Facebook

As we looked over menus we started off our meal by ordering 12 wings ($9.89) and Black & Tan onion rings ($4.95) dipped in beer batter for appetizers. The service for the appetizers was very slow, and while our waitress was nice she was slow to refill drinks and take orders. When the appetizers arrived, the onion rings had a light batter and were perfectly fried so that there was a good balance between crunch and flavor. The wings were also expertly cooked, but the sauces had us divided. The bourbon molasses sauce had a very intense bourbon flavor that was not offset well by the sweet molasses flavor. While the Thai chili sauce had a bit of a spicy zing, it was rather bland. The wings were also fairly small, so if you go here with the intention of filling up on wings, we suggest buying the large order and hoarding aggressively.

After the appetizers and a nearly forty-minute wait in the half-empty restaurant, our burgers came, once more showing significant deviation from the self-proclaimed fast casual business model. Bräuburgers offers two burger options, either with cheese ($6.59) or without ($5.89) and a variety of free toppings similar to what you would see at a Five Guys. You can make each burger a combo with fries and cole slaw for $8.89 and $8.39 respectively, which we both did. The buns were cooked very well but the patties were slightly overdone. This was redeemed slightly by the toppings that we ordered including mushrooms, onions, lettuce, provolone, and their special Bräuburger sauce—a unique and tangy addition. The burgers came with very crispy and well done fries that reinforced what we had observed with the wings and onion rings: the fried foods were well done but other aspects of the meal were lacking. The food was served in baskets, with Styrofoam cups and plastic silverware, leading us to question the market in which Bräuburgers is attempting to position itself in with its recent switch to a full service restaurant.

For those that are not interested in the burgers, the restaurant also offers various sandwich options including classics like the BLT and Reuben to name a couple, as well as bratwurst and frankfurters. It also features a rotating local beer selection, with 11 local beers listed on tap as well as standard bottle domestics and imports. However, we found that multiple tapped beers listed were no longer in stock, showing a need to update the beer list with more regularity. If you are specifically looking for a broad drink selection you would be better to look to Rivermont Pizza or Robin Alexander.

Bräuburgers is an example of a restaurant that has not managed to find its core market, and with plans to franchise, it needs to find its identity—whether as a gourmet burger joint, sports bar, or fast casual restaurant. While the meal was satisfactory, it was comparable to what one would receive at a Five Guys, albeit with much slower service, less consistency in its food options, and no student discounts. The ultimate question is whether or not it is worth driving far outside the red brick walls instead of staying close by; for now we will be sticking with two Cheesy’s all the way, and the occasional trip to RA for the unorthodox and delicious options they provide.

Natural History Collections Project Gains Exciting New Additions

Written By: Katherine McCallister '15

Published October 2014

The extensive Natural History Collection at Randolph College is constantly growing. The collections began with Fernando Wood Martin after whom the Martin Science building was named, and John Irvin Hamaker in the late 19^th century.

In order for the collections to continue to expand, the Natural History Collections Project was established where student volunteers, work study students, faculty, interns, and researchers work together to catalog, preserve, and utilize the vast collection. It contains some species that are endangered or long extinct and a wide variety of specimens ranging from insects, mammals, a vast Herbology collection, and rocks and minerals. It is currently overseen by Emily Smith.



Preserved White Tailed Eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla
Photo courtesy of Katherine McCallister '17

One of the specimens in the collection is a White Tailed Eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla, over 100 years old preserved here at Randolph. The male hummingbird and owls have been preserved in the past few years by faculty and students over the course of several months. There are also many different species of beetles that were once in horrible condition but have been restored by several students.





The Carolina Parakeet Joins the Bird Collection

Caroline Parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis
Photo courtesy of Michael Sazhin of trainedparrot.com

This past summer, a donation was made, doubling the bird collection from approximately 300 to over 600 specimens. The newest additions once belonged to an artist for National Geographic Magazine.

The College also acquired a rare species of bird, now extinct, called the Carolina Parakeet or Conuropsis carolinensis. This species of bird was native to the Eastern, Midwest, and Plains of the United States. It lived abundantly in old-growth forests along rivers and swamps. However, it became a rare species in the 19^th century and was declared extinct by 1939. Randolph is one of the few places with this specific bird in such great condition, even though it was preserved using an older method involving arsenic.

Once all the new additions are cataloged and finalized, the specimen’s information and pictures will be placed on the Natural History Collection site.



Randolph Student Works to Preserve Fawn found on Front Campus

Ballard-Abbot begins preservation of the fawn found on campus, entirely in tact
Photo courtesy of Katherine McCallister '17

The Natural History Collection provides many different opportunities for students to gain experience. Sarah Ballard-Abbott ’16 started off volunteering in specimen preparation in the Natural History Collection, beginning with a wide variety of birds. Ballard-Abbott is currently working on preserving a female fawn that was recently found in front of campus by Smith.

Cause of death was determined by visually analyzing marks on the body, which appeared to be the result being struck, thrown, and skidding across pavement. An opening of the body cavity showed large amounts of internal bleeding. All of this paired with the fawn’s broken neck suggests being hit by a car caused her death.

Between the fawn’s umbilical cord had not fully fallen off yet signifying she was very young, and the fawn’s small size made this an interesting case for Ballard-Abbott. She had finished cleaning a set of deer bones last spring and was planning to articulate the skeleton this semester but it was not a complete set. The fawn, however, is entirely intact. This posed a unique opportunity for Ballard-Abbott to work from the beginning to end of a preservation by deconstructing and articulating this fawn.

Ballard-Abbott began the lengthy process on Friday September 12^th by removing the skin from the fatty and muscular tissue. Once the skin is entirely removed, the plan is for it to be processed and preserved in a manner that it may be used at some point for educational purposes. This will take several months to complete.

When it comes to de-fleshing the fawn, a majority of the flesh will be removed by hand and the bones will be placed into a container filled with flesh eating beetles. Over the course of several weeks the beetles will clean the bones of all remaining flesh without causing other damage.

Once all the flesh is removed, the bones will be cleaned and the final process will begin. This includes piecing together any broken bones from the impact of the car and beginning the articulation process, in which the skeleton of the fawn is reconstructed to its original form using wires.

At the end of this project, Randolph College will have its first complete, fully articulated deer skeleton put together by a student.

Let There Be LED's

By: Grace Gardiner ‘15

Published October 2014

Imagine it’s 8 p.m. on a Monday night: you’ve just picked up your mozzsticks from Skeller and are heading to some brightly lit area on campus—Lipscomb Library, the Ethyl Center in Martin, some nook in the Student Center or Main Hall—to get a jump on all the reading you’ve been assigned when the lights overhead begin to flicker. No, it’s not another full-blown power outage—just a result of the countless inefficient and energy-guzzling fluorescent and incandescent lights used across campus. It is this inefficiency and waste that the Sustainability Office hopes to reduce through a campus-wide initiative implementing LED technology.

The mechanism of light-emitting diode (LED) technology can be ascertained on a simplistic level from its name: when electrons move within a diode (a medium through which electrical current moves in one direction with greater ease than in the other), they release energy in the form of photons, the building-block particles of light. The science behind the electroluminescence of LEDs accounts for the efficiency of their use compared to other light technologies, such as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Because the electrical current is run through a diode as opposed to a wire filament, as is the case in incandescent bulbs, more of the electrical energy can be converted into light. Of the electrical energy pumped into incandescent bulbs, only about five percent is converted into light energy. Ever burned yourself on a lamp, even after its been turned off? That’s because most energy given off by incandescent bulbs is lost as heat.

When LED and fluorescent technologies are compared, the constant switching on and off of a lamp or lighting fixture containing fluorescent light technology significantly decreases its longevity. LED lights, on the other hand, are more suited to and even benefit from this cycling environment. Furthermore, LED lights illuminate almost instantaneously when you flip on the switch, but fluorescent lights need time to charge before conducting an electrical current efficiently.  Current counts place LED lifespans at a minimum of 25,000 hours; moreover, LEDs dim overtime, giving the heads-up that they need to be changed out, whereas incandescent and fluorescent bulbs quit on the spot.

Ludo Lemaitre, the College’s Sustainability Coordinator offered another pro to the use of LEDs: “Most LED models can be dimmed [and therefore] hooked to a light meter to avoid lighting up a room when there is sufficient sunlight.” He even detailed a way in which LED light could “lower the load on a generator in case of a power outage, which [would allow] more appliances to be hooked to the generator.” 

Despite all the benefits LED technology would generate at Randolph, the cost of replacing every single bulb or light fixture across campus with LEDs is still too high. In addition, LEDs are extremely sensitive to the temperature of their environments and to changes in current flow. Nevertheless, Lemaitre said that efforts are underway to phase in LEDs in “locations on campus that ha[ve] incandescent light bulbs burning for extended periods of time or renovated spaces with new light fixtures, where there would be a greater return on investment.” A couple of places that have already been retrofitted to LEDs are the chandeliers in Main and Smith Halls as well as the lamps in the Maier Museum and Bell parking lots. The College is looking to expand the LED initiative to include Wright Hall while it undergoes renovations in the coming months.

Soccer Season Kicks Off After Productive Recruiting

Written By: Jacob Luzcek '15

Published October 2014



Productive recruiting brought many new faces to the RC Women's Soccer Team
Photo courtesy of RC Athletics

What is the new formula for the Randolph College Women’s Soccer Team? This year is made up seven first-years, twelve sophomores, one junior, and one senior. Let me just repeat that last part: ONE junior and ONE senior. This is partially due to few juniors and seniors on the team to begin with and those who were part of the team left for various reasons. It is safe to say that Head Coach Kevin Porterfield put a great amount of time and work into recruiting for the Women’s team the past two years.

Recruiting is a major part of the job of being a head coach and “probably the most important thing we do,” says Porterfield. Even at the NCAA Division III level, coaches spend an enormous amount of time traveling, making phone calls, sending emails and text messages, and giving tours. They give up holidays, weekends, and family time all so that they can spend the fall completely consumed by the game. Most coach’s recruit all throughout the year, but their sport determines when their busy period and easy period is. For soccer, the busy period comes almost immediately after the season. “Every major holiday means that there’s a tournament,” says Porterfield, who spends a large amount of time away from his wife and two children. Thanksgiving is not on his side as he is usually away from them. “It is a commitment on the family as well as the coach,“ Porterfield says, “My wife basically turns into a single parent for about three to four months in the fall.”

The obvious question is: With everything a coach has to give up, why would he do it? “I think for me, having families on campus is what I enjoy the most,” says Porterfield, “you get to interact not only with the prospect, but you get to know their family.” This also helps develop a more personal connection.  

Having only one junior and one senior on the team “…pushes some of the younger girls on the team to step up and take leadership roles,” says midfielder Hunter Robinson ‘18. There are 19 of these younger girls, seven first-years and twelve sophomores. Robinson also states, “Since we are such a young team, we are excited for the years to come because of how close our team will be.”

This begs the question; will the high number of recruits continue? Forward Brittany Hammons ’15 says, “We have been a continuous growing team and we were really fortunate to receive the numbers we did last year and this year.  I think in the future the team will continue to not actually grow with numbers but grow stronger in experience and knowledge as well."

The Men’s Soccer team has had a full or nearly full roster for the past five years. Throughout these recent years, the team change in team members lost and gained has greatly fluctuated. In 2010 there were 19 first years on the team; the highest number of first years recruited. In 2014, the team lost 14 players who graduated; the highest number of graduates the team has had at one time.



After losing fourteen players this spring with graduation, RC men's soccer needed flexible recruiting strategies.
Photo courtesy of RC Athletics

This flux in the size of each class presents Men’s Soccer Head Coach Bryan Waggoner with a different outlook on recruiting; the more players he needs to complete his roster, the more the style of recruiting changes. “It depends on the year,” says Waggoner. “Usually in the smaller classes we are looking for some specific things to help improve our team,” says Waggoner. These specific traits could be speed, size, or technical ability. “We really look at what we feel the [opposing ODAC] teams weaknesses are and bolster those areas with smaller recruiting classes.” For Waggoner the larger recruiting classes don’t require the search for such specificities. “For the larger classes we are looking to recruit pretty much a little bit of everything,” says Waggoner, “We are looking for players that meet our standard academically and athletically.”

Through all of his various recruiting tactics Waggoner likes to keep a sense of balance, explaining that, “Balance, like in soccer, is very important in recruiting.”