BLACK INK
T/ie essence of freedom is understanding
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January Z>, U79 BIJVCK STL'DF.NT MOVEMENT OF Fid AL NEWSPAPER University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Volume 11, Number ^ j
Rhodes Scholar excels in athletics and academics
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Ptwto by 0«vid R. Squirtt
Stevenson chats with a teammate at track .practice.
Carolina Times Burned, N.C.
publishers offer $1000
By TKRUSA Bl’RNS and
CAROL LEWIS
Staff Writers
MEMPHIS—The National
Newspaper Publishers Association
will send news releases to
President Carter and Black
newspapers nationwide requesting
aid for the recently burned-out
Carolina Times, a weekly
newspaper in Durham, N. C.
Ernie Pitt, co-director of the
North Carolina Black Publishers
Association, announced their
support by offering a $1,000 reward
for information leading to the
arrest of person(s) responsible for
the fire
There has been much aid to the
Times, according to Editor and
Publisher Vivian A. Edmonds.
“Tuesday we received more
sulKcnptions in one day than we
usually receive in a week,”
Edmonds said.
Calls from all over the country
and stray cash contributions from
mdividuals have also aided the
Times, Edmonds said.
The fire, which destroyed the
offices of both the Carolina Times
and E N Toole and Sons Elec-
tricial Company on January 6, is
suspected to t>e the result of arson.
‘‘All the firemen, 10 to 12, that I
talked to Sunday said that it was
arson", Edmonds said There are
certain signs they look for.”
The Times’ staff was forced to
continue operations in temporary
quarters at 719 Mangum St.
“Every staff member did what was
necessarv without Ijeing asked,
Edmonds said. As a resuJt a 14
♦
Plwto bv Ktvin A. Mil
. .Carolina Times Editor and
Publisher Vivian Edmonds
collects a few items that
weren’t totally destroyed by
the recent fire.
page paper came out the following
Thursday.
Subscribers continued to receive
their papers only tx?cause there
was a duplicate mailing list outside
of the office. Edmonds said, “Tlie
addressing system was burned to a
crisp—the stencils that were not
burned were cooked.”
In spite of aid to the Carolina
Times during the last two weeks,
much more is needed for the
newspaper to return to normal
operations. Subscription Manager
Lionel! Parker has organized a
drive to get 5.000 subscriptions.
ALLEN JOHNSON
Staff Writer
To be a private person, Karen Stevenson
has received all kinds of publicity lately.
The Washington Post, Jet, the Charlotte
Observer and the Durham Morning Herald
have devoted generous column inches to
the first black woman to gamer a Rhodes
Scholarship.
Four years earlier, the UNC senior
made a quieter, but comparably
significant historical ripple, becoming the
Srst Mack woman to attend Carolina on a
Morehead Scholarship.
Add to these credentials, the fact that
this young lady is holder of 12 UNC track
records, 400-meter champion in the N. C.
Association for Interscholastic Athletics,
first woman to win the Jim Tatum
Memorial Award for athletic distinctiem, a
member of the Valkyries, UNC’s highest
women’s honorary society, and a member
of Phi Bete Kappa, and you have to be
impressed.
“I’m a very private person,” Karen said
as she prepar^ Sunday dinner. “You can
have but a few friends. I’m into being close
to a few people and having rich friendships
with them. The people who really know me
I can count on one hand.”
This, of course, leaves quite a few people
who don’t understand Karen Stevenson—
and who conjure images of her from what
they sporatically see and hear through the
“grapevine”.
“When you have a puUic image, peojde
simplify," Karen said. “The mass media
tend to simiriify. You either come out as
txing wonderful or a real snob. I also tell
the truth when people ask me questions.”
Rochelle Riley, a sophomore who ran
track with Stevenson and was her minority
advisee as a freshman, agreed. “Karen’s a
pretty complex person,” Riley said.
“She’s forceful because she knows exactly
what she wants. She works hard. She has
something inside her that makes her drive
for things. She also likes to help peo{de. As
my adviser she was there all the time.”
“I’m very envious of Karen,” said
another friend. “If I ever say anything bad
about her, it’s because I’m envious.” When
one looks at Karen and what she has done
in her youthful lifetime, it is easy to isolate
the drive that makes her tick and pushes
her to excel Karen says enjoyment and
interest are her motivating forces.
“I don’t see it as drive,” she said. “Drive
seems to me some kind of obsession. I
don’t feel that much pressure. I do things
because I like them. There are a couple of
principles that I believe in. If you call them
drives, then I guess I have it.”
Karen is not hesitant in answering
questions. S«ne interviews try to dictate
answers. She is frank, relaxed,
uninhibited. Therein lies much of the
misunderstanding surrounding a reluctant
celebrity. Does she know that some people
have negative opinions of her? Does she
care what people think?
“Not much,” she said. “It hasn’t hurt
me yet.”
Karen ruffled some administrative
feathers during the press conference that
announced her Rhodes award to the press.
More than one University official probably
squirmed in his seat and John Motley
Mordiead himself might have grumbled in
his grave as UNC’s 23rd Rhodes Scholar
dted a “cloud of racism” over the
University.
She specifically referred to Dean
Hayden B. Renwick’s charges that the
University was not admitting qualified
blade ap^cants.
“My statement was that to date, these
issues have not been addressed,” Karen
said. “The UNC community is still waiting
for the full story. The ball is still in UNC’s
court. UntU they frankly address the
charges, it looks bad. Whites and blacks
are equally concerned.”
Renwidi obviously was pleased by the
comments. “Karen said she wanted people
to know that all is not right with the
University”. “She was not accusing the
University of anything. She was just
asking why no one has responded to the
questions raised.”
Renwick, a sort of godfather for most
undergraduates, particularly freshmen,
noted that Karen’s accomplishment will
encourage younger, less confident blade
students to achieve. “AcademicaUy, I see
students doing a hell of a lot better than
previous years,” he said. “I think they’ll
look to her as a symbol rf ‘Hey, I can do
that, too,”’
Renwick added that during his
association with Karen over the past four
years he has grown to think of her as a
daughter. “We’ve been that dose,” he
said.
Karen Stevenson places a good deal of
pride in her independence. She says she
likes to travel alone and eat alone becau^
other peofde don’t like to. With all this
individuality, does she have a steady
boyfriend?
“I’m footloose and fancy free,” she said.
As for her interaction with men, Karen
noted, “I like all or none. I like flowers,
candy, having my Mrthday remembered
and being taken out to dinner.”
But hold on. Isn’t it possible that some
men are intimidated by an outspoken
Rhodes-Morehead-Scholar-track-star?
“Boys are,” she said, “But not men.”
Ptioto hr 0«vld * SqwrM
Stevenson demonstrates, form to
teammate Annette Woods