Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / April 3, 1986, edition 1 / Page 6
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Thursday, April 3, 1986 Black Ink 6 Former lINC President Reflects on Career by Andrea Shaw Staff writer When William Friday became president of the University of North Carolina in 1956, he would eventually preside over a 16 campus system and would become the center of educa tional battles in the state and the nation. Black students and black institu tions have played a part in Friday’s tenure. Reflecting on his career last week, Friday said blacks have made definite progress at the University. Although the consent decree of 1981 is near completion, he cited black under enrollment as the only setback. “Today I’m able to say out of that consent decree and all the 50 commit ments we’ve made, we fulfilled virtually every one of them,” he said. “The only one that we’ve had any anxiety about is not being able to meet will be enrollment percentages.” He said cuts in financial aid are reducing the number of students going to school anywhere. “It doesn’t strike me as a sound policy of government that this kind of thing happens,” he added. On the other hand, Friday said black schools may look better. “I hope that says that we’ve made our five predominately black schools that much more attractive,” Friday said. “We have spent quite a bit of money. . to improve our five institu tions, particularly to make them solid Arts and Sciences programs.” The 16 campus system was formed in 1972. He said it was the University’s duty to be responsible for those institutions. “There was an obligation to be met and the state of North Carolina had not done what it should have done,” he said. “We have tried very hard these last 10 years to do what was there to do as a moral responsibility.” Friday singled out Dr. Cleon Thompson as an instrumental force in working out integration of the institu tions. “He was able to open up the lines of communication with people who were so essential here and managed to make as much progress as we’ve made,” Friday said. “Meeting the obligation” is how Friday described his role in the 1974 desegregation case. He added that the argument in the case was not based on desegregation but on the curriculum. “It got to be an argument about who was going to control what courses were offered on which campus of the university,” he said. “It became an argument abotft academic programming.” Although a strong under graduate program and an increase in financial aid are strengths, Friday said more things needed to be done. “We tried to open wider the choices young people have today,” he said. “I still think there are quite a few things we need to do to make young people feel more at home in a large university. I’m very sympathetic with people who sometimes feel a bit lost here.” He said he understood because he was from a high school with 12 graduates. Friday said working out a rela tionship with -ampuses would make mobility easier for students. I would allow a student to enter a law school or a nursing school of his or her choice without wasting time or money, he added. He said individual initiative becomes important. He continued, “you ought to have the chance to get a shot at whatever you want to take.” North Carolina is behind the nation in sending college-aged youths to college. By keeping tuition low, more students could come to college, Friday said. “I think if we ever let the ability to pay become the number one qualification for the admission of a student, we’ve done something that’s self-defeating in North Carolina.” Although North Carolina is on the level of ascendency concerning growth, he said the numbers of minorities would increase. “It won’t be as dramatic as it was in the ’60s and ’70s, but we will see some further acceleration of integra tion in the student body and I would certainly hope in the faculty,” he continued. “Brochures and visitations to school counselors have been used to recruit more minority students, but they have the final decision,” he said. “The difference between our education and elementary education is you still have a choice,” he empha sized. “You have the right to choose where you want to go.” Friday said he was most proud of the growth in the system. He pointed out that in 1972, 14,400 minorities were enrolled. By last fall, it had increased to 23,300. William Friday courtesy of DTH “Now as against then, that many more young people have gotten the chance to do something with themselves,” he said. University work gives him a chance to watch young people grow and develop, he added. “I feel,” Friday said, “that North Carolina’s greatest resource is its young people of all races. “If we can find a way for young people to develop their talents, to become unafraid of things, to have self-confidence, ‘I am somebody: I will do something that’s creative; I will contribute to my society,’ then there’s no greater opportunity in the world.” Teen-age fathers, a problem by Darlene Campbell Staff Writer Forty-five percent of fathers in the nation are age 20 years and under, according , to a senior research associate. Males are most likely to become fathers at the age of 17 years, said Dr. Leo Hendricks, from teh Institute for Urban Affairs and Research, Howard University. Hendricks told this information to about 20 people Friday, March 21, during a workshop, “Teen-age Fathers,” that was part of an annual program sponsored by the School of Social Work. Based on a study conducted in five major cities, Hendricks said, from surveying they found that black males initiate sexual activity the earliest, at 1L5 years, compared to Hispanics at 13 and whites at 14. Teen-age fathers are usually high school dropouts from large families with five or more siblings and most important, they have no sense of self- worth, he said. They are unmarried, he said, and tend to have monogomous relation ships rather than play the field. Most have no sense of family obligation and “didn’t see marriage as a solution to their problem,” Hendricks said. “But what are the solutions?” Hendricks asked. “How can we prevent teen-agers from becoming mothers and fathers? We know enough about the problem, but we’re not talk ing about the solution.” The key to preventing teen-age fathers is to instill a sense of respon sibility in the young men, Hendricks said. Compared to teen-age fathers, non-fathers are influenced by educa tion and religion, he said. “These are the things that keep other males in that age group from becoming fathers,” he said. “It gives them a sense of the future. Non fathers are usually in school and view fatherhood as being disruptive. Although they are usually from large families also, they have a stronger sense of self-worth and positive views of themselves. There are various ways to solve the problem, he said. Though some agencies don’t feel any value in offer ing help to teen fathers, people need to stop hiding behind the fact that there is no money to aid the victims or establish programs for them. ‘There will never be any money to help them,” Hendricks said. “But we can have volunteer programs.” He said that the programs should begin where the males spend most of their time — at home and in school. “Whatever we do, it has to be multi-level,” he said. “It has to start with the family, agencies must come together and the media must work around helping them to develop more internal control, more self-control and a future vision.
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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April 3, 1986, edition 1
6
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