By Caroline Peacock
Q News
The first thing you notice when you visit High Point is High Point University. You cannot miss the school when you drive down North University Parkway. The university is a shocking collection of brick buildings spread out over manicured lawns and walkways. There is an abundance of water fountains and perfectly planted flower beds.
However, the university did not always look like this. It was once just a few buildings that were on the verge of bankruptcy. Then, Dr. Nido Qubein became president of the university and transformed it.
Students who attend HPU have the opportunity to attain an in-depth and challenging education that will prepare them for the real world. However, some students have chosen to take their education for granted and have, instead, spent their college years at HPU partying.
HIT AND RUN:
Ronnie Stevens a High Point local, who owns bars and restaurants in the surrounding cities and towns, explains that he remembers the university from a very young age. Stevens says he was 12 when his father took him to what was then High Point College. His father worked with the High Point Enterprise, reporting on the Streakers.
“He reported on the first streakers,” he said as he recalled the memory. “They streaked through the university streets.”
Streaking was a prank where students would run naked through campus. This was one of Stevens’ very first memories of the university.
As the university has evolved, it has grown, not only in land and buildings, but in population. Today, over 5,000 undergraduate students attend the university. The tuition without financial help or scholarships is around $58,000 a year.
The university also offers students better housing and educational options, such as learning excellence for an extra cost. To say the least, the university costs a lot of money. The majority of the students who attend come from wealthy families. With both the money the university has and the money that parents give their students, students often do not have to worry about financial costs.
Stevens was the victim of a car crash that involved four HPU students. He explained that he often enjoyed going to Sweet Old Bills, a locally owned restaurant and bar in High Point. HPU students often crowd the Sweet Old Bills bar on weekends. Four boys were seated at a table drinking pitchers of beer. They were all intoxicated and one of them had decided to drive. The student backed out of the spot and hit Stevens’s corvette. When the police were called, and the students were identified the police took Stevens to campus to confront the student that had hit his car. However, security would not allow the police to talk to the student.
“The guy at the security gate said, ‘Oh that car hasn’t left campus all day.’ The police officer said well here’s the license tag and the student’s name, we want to go see him at his dorm. They wouldn’t let the police on campus,” Stevens explained.
Stevens was thankful that a bystander noticed what happened and took a picture of the students’ car and license plate. The picture was the reason the police could track the license plate back to the student. Without the witness, Stevens would have had to pay over $1,000 in damages on his own.
“If no one had taken that picture, it would have been $1,000 out of my own pocket,” Stevens says.
Emerson Doolittle a student at High Point University said, “the school is super small, some parties do not happen on campus, so when parties happen people tend to group together and destroy the school or things around it instead of staying in one closed place.”
Ronnie Stevens also addresses another problem. “They will give a card to swipe. They just walk out on their bar tab and then go on their phone and cancel the card, so the restaurant does not get paid.”
The owner of Sweet Old Bills declined to be interviewed at this time.
WHO TAKES THE BLAME:
Every college town will have “college student,” problems explained Randy E. McCaslin, High Point’s Deputy City Manager.
Every town that has a college in it must adapt to the fact that it will have college students. Some that make better choices than others.
Wanda Ganvyquick, who works at the local Biscuitville in High Point says, “Students need to make their mamas and daddies proud.” She explained she sees too many students take advantage of their education and blow it on partying. She wants students to know that when they are given such an amazing opportunity to go to such a prestigious school, they need to take it seriously.
Cathy Norton who works at the Silver Line Diner in North College, agrees that HPU is a great university. Norton said that she loves the university because it brought jobs for her and her family. The addition of the jobs was a positive on the community, however there are some days she has to deal with students who can be extremely difficult.
It’s not hard to spot the drunken students waiting in line to get food on Friday or Saturday night or to see the hungover ones on a Sunday morning trying to get a little food in their stomach.
Not every student will party their heart out in college, but those that do must be warned that it is not a smart idea.
HIGH POINT NOT JUST A UNIVERSITY BUT A HOME:
It’s important to remember that High Point is not just one big town, but a city too. This city is home to 111,714 people. Students need to understand that before the university most of these citizens families lived right where the campus is currently.
Wanek Center was not always a dorm or a student center. It was once home to Tom Ilderton’s uncle and cousins. Ilderton recalled the area as beautiful and surrounded by trees and nature.
The hill that Millis Gymnasium now sits on top of was once a hill for local children to sled down. He remembers sledding down. At the bottom of the hill is a river that now runs along the High Point Greenway. He said that he used to catch crawfish in the river as a kid.
In recent years, Ashely Beason who works for First Presbyterian Church in High Point says one of her favorite memories at the university is attending the Christmas celebration. Due to COVID-19 the school has resorted to a Christmas drive thru, but they used to host an in-person celebration too.
These memories are a great reminder to the High Point University community that this is not just their home, but it is home to many others as well. Students must take care of the place and respect the community beyond the university.
Related Links:
To learn more about the History of HPU and the research behind the story click here.
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