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Black Ink
(h tohcr 29
North Carolina holds first aSNE Mitunity Conference
by Joy Thompson
Managing editor
The American press is still
bacicwards in its failure to hire and pro
mote minorities, said Ben Bowers, vice
president and executive editor of the
Greensboro News and Record at North
Carolina’s first regional conference for
minority journalism students.
The challenge of the 1960’s was to
correct color barriers and establish
social and economic equality. Bowers,
who was chairman of the conference,
said during a workshop. Tokenism in
employment is just as unacceptable as
exclusion, he added.
Around 100 students and professors
participated in the American Society of
Newspaper Editors Regional Conference
for minority students held Thursday
Oct. 3 to Saturday Oct. 5 at the
Greensboro Hilton.
The conference, hosted by the
Greensboro News and Record and N.C.
Agricultural and Technical University,
gave minority students the opportunity
to participate in workshops and inter
view for jobs and summer internships.
Editors also attended workshops.
Out of the 11 schools in North and
South Carolina represented at the con
ference, UNC-CH had the highest
representation with 20 students.
Twenty-two regional newspapers were
scheduled to interview students.
With the exception of one Puerto
Rican and two Filipino students, all of
the students were black.
The N.C. conference was one of 16
that ASNE is putting on across the
country. Bowers said.
“ASNE is working to get the percen-
by Joy Thompson
Managing Editor
The struggle for racial equality con
tinues today, and it is time to pass the
torch to a new generation of black jour
nalists, said Jay Harris, executive editor
of the Philadelphia Daily News, during
his keynote address on opening night
of the American Society of Newspaper
Editors regional conference for
minorities.
Held in Greensboro, N.C. Oct. 3-5 at
the Hilton Inn, the conference allowed
college juniors and seniors the chance
to attend workshops and interviews for
internships and jobs. Twenty-two
editors from the United States attended
equivalent to the percentage of the
minority population in the country,”
Bowers said.
The project started in 1978 when
minorities made up only four percent of
the workers in the newsroom, Bowers
said. Through the efforts of ASNE there
are now six percent, which is still a
long way from ASNE’s goal, he said.
Carl Morris, minority affairs director
of ASNE, said last year there were eight
regional conferences across the coun
try. The concept of having minority
journalism conferences started 15 years
ago with the Howard University con
ference held in February, Morris said. A
Los Angeles Hispanic conference follow
ed suit seven years ago, and the Long
Island, N.Y. Newsday conference
started two years ago.
ASNE decided to make it easier for
newspapers to recruit minorities since
newspaper editors complained they did
not know where to look to recruit
minorities., Morris said. ASNE made it
convenient for the editors by having a
minority conference “right in their
own back yard,” he said.
“You have to go where minorities
are and actually recruit them,” Morris
said.
The conference is not only for
educating students about a journalism
career, Bowers said. It is “mainly to
provide interviews so students can get a
job or internship,” he said. Morris
agreed.
“You can have all the programs in
the world, but if they don’t lead to hir
ing, then they lead to nought,” Morris
said.
ASNE is also planning to have 16
conferences next year, Morris said.
Every year the conference is held in a
the conference that was co-sponsored
by The Greensboro News and Record.
Harris, whose newspaper is on
strike, is a former reporter and editor of
the Wilmington News Journal in
Delaware, a former columnist and has
served in several positions at Nor
thwestern University in Evanston, 111.,
including assistant dean of the Medill
School of Journalism.
There are only 2,500 minority jour
nalists in newsrooms across the coun
try today, Harris said. “If that number
doubles twice, only tnen will it come to
parity with the number of minorities in
American society,” he said.
(aiiilinued on page 7)
different location within the region, he
said.
“By 1987 we should hit almost
every part of the country,” Morris said.
The conferences are as educational
for the editors who participate as it is
for the students, Morris said. Next year
regional editors will be responsible for
creating their own conference, he said.
“We [ASNE] act as a catalyst to bring
students and newspapers together,”
Morris said.
Students and newspaper editors were
brought together at the conference both
wanted
by Shirley Hunter
Staff Writer
Back Then — Vintage Clothiers on
West Franklin Street specializes in
clothes from the ’30s through the ’60s.
And according to Karla Whitlock, co
owner, “it offers quality merchandise
for good prices.”
At the store, a men’s 100 percent
double-breasted wool coat sells for
under $60, a ladies’ white angora
sweater sells for $8, ladies’ casual
dresses and dress pants sell for $5 and
up.
Whitlock, a 1981 UNC graduate, said
when she graduated with a degree in
criminal justice, she did not want a job
in her major. “I’ve always wanted my
own store,” she said. “I wanted to pur
sue fashion merchandizing, and I mov
ed here with the intention of owning a
store.”
A former clothes buyer, Whitlock
said she bought Back Then — Vintage
Clothiers in January 1985.
People are now seeing the advan
tages of buying clothes of yesteryear,
she said. “Most of the clothing is of
much better quality, and the way the
clothes are made is much more flatter
ing (than today’s clothing),” she said.
Most of the store’s regular customers
are females in their mid-20s, Whidock
said. “These women are fashion
conscious and know the quality of vin
tage clothing.”
Twenty-fi ve-year-old Mark
Hollander, however, is not a typical
customer. He shops at Back Then —
Vintage Clothiers frequently because he
likes the variety of clothing, he said.
“I actually like to browse, plus I like
the white cotton shirts,” Hollander
said. “For me, it’s rare when I can find
something that looks good.”
formally and informally.
After registration on Friday Oct. 3
students attended a workshop entitled,
“Career Opportunities for Minorities
with Journalism. ’ The panel featured
UNC-CH Journalism School Professor
Harry Amana.
Friday evening students attended a
dinner where Jay Harris, executive
editor of the Philadelphia Daily Neirs.
was keynote speaker. Later that even
ing students had the opportunitv to mix
and mingle with editors over driiiks
during a hospitality period.
(ciiiiliiiued nn jxigi' Vi
Whitlock said the cotton shirts
Hollander likes and most other items in
the store are bought through antique
dealers and the public. But wide-legged
pants and paisley shirts that hang on
the store’s front rack are also sold.
Yet even with the clothes’ low prices
and good quality, not many UNC
students have come to the store to
shop, Whitlock said.
“Many students are afraid to create
their own ideas and styles, and this
keeps them from experimenting with
different types of clothing,” she said.
Blacks rarely shop at Back Then —
Vintage Clothiers, Whidock said, but
that has not hindered the store’s
business.
“Business is thriving, and although
we don’t plan to have new stores im
mediately, expansion may be a future
possibility,” she said.
Whitlock credited the store’s good
Iciiiiliinwd "li jmge H)
Karla Whitlock, co-owner
of Back Then — Vintage Clothiers
tage of minorities in the newsroom
Minorities needed
in the media
Badt Tbm-Vitttage Oolblers;
just what Karla Whitlock