News

By Josh Wolonowski | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Since its inception in July, the Amethyst Initiative has sparked debate all over the country. More than 129 college presidents have signed on to the push that calls for lowering the drinking age below 21 years of age, according to www.amethystinitiative.com.

The objective of the initiative is to promote responsible drinking, and the organization’s mission states, “21 is not working. A culture of dangerous clandestine ‘binge-drinking’ – often conducted off campus – has developed.”

Math, reading, writing labs moved to Learning Resource Center

By Taylor Toothman | ttoothman@flagler.edu

Kenan Hall, Flagler College’s main academic classroom building, has a new look.

Funds raised by bond proceeds from the purchase of the Florida East Coast Railway buildings have given the college the opportunity to renovate the building, which hasn’t seen major updates for 25 years.

By Lauren Belcher | cbelcher@flagler.edu

This year more than 800 new students will enter Flagler College’s already crowded halls and dorms. This is the highest enrollment that the college has ever seen, leading to a few housing issues. Flagler College will hold a record breaking 2,400 students, with about 650 freshmen, 165 transfer students and 1,585 returning students.

According to Flagler College Director of Admissions Marc Williar, the college’s original plan was to reduce this fall’s enrollment to about 655 students with a total of 2,300 to 2,350 students. They estimated about 1,645 students would return and that would put them at a comfortable 2,300 students.

By Tara Ricks | tsmith2@flagler.edu

Students who regularly use city parking might want to empty out their piggy banks and start saving all their loose change now that city of St. Augustine parking prices have gone from 25 cents an hour to $1.50 per hour for both street parking and lot parking.

“A lot of people we find are feeding the meters and not taking notice of the price changes, which is causing a lot of unnecessary fees for students,” said Tara Bennie parking coordinator for the city of St. Augustine.

From Staff | gargoyle@flagler.edu

She was standing with a positive pregnancy test in her hand. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her eyes met mine, and she broke down. I glanced around for the other shelter advocate working that morning. Before I could get her attention Meredith* threw her arms around me and collapsed into my arms.

It was my third week of working at a domestic violence shelter and I was not ready for this. How can one prepare for this? The training I was put through had prepared me with safety planning skills, focusing and empathetic statements and a book full of community resources. The training had not given me, however, the response to, “I can’t have this evil man’s baby. What do I do?”

By Danielle Marsh & Haley M. Walker | dmarsh1@flagler.edu

Flagler College senior Julie Harvey, said she is disappointed she cannot share the moment that she will walk across the stage to receive her college degree with her entire family.

“I mean wouldn’t you want all the people who have loved and supported you through your career as a student to see you succeed?” Harvey said.

She said she is disappointed and upset about the lack of graduation tickets given out for this upcoming spring graduation, which is including around 400 graduates.

Harvey said that she feels there must be a better solution to this problem. She said she would like to see the graduation be held at a different location so that everyone can enjoy the celebration together.

“It’s silly attempting to fit everyone into a small venue, particularly when this graduating class is one of the larger classes to pass through Flagler,” Harvey said. “The most obvious solution would be to hold the ceremony somewhere else that would be more conducive, and definitely more comfortable, for the amount of people that are anticipated.”

From Staff | gargoyle@flagler.edu

As gas prices soar and the U.S. dollar drops in value, Flagler College students are developing money-saving solutions for everyday situations — and they’re partnering with First Coast News consumer advocate Ken Amaro to share their tips with the public.

The students call themselves “Amaro’s Army.” Their mission: to help Amaro in his battle to save viewers money by producing videos, blogs and other resources for the First Coast News Web site.

By Kyle Myers-Haugh | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The establishment of an independent film club rests on the shoulders of an eclectic group of five students.

The Independent Film Society hopes to be Flagler College’s first club devoted entirely to the screening of independent and foreign films. Flagler freshman and IFS founder, Dane Hutchinson, as well as four others, came up with the idea.