THE COMPAQ Monady, ueoemuyt i4, ^
Chancellor says enrollment
remains a priority
By Marty Jacobi
Increasing Elizabeth City State
University's enrollment tops the list of
goals of the University's five-year plan.
Currently, the University has an en
rollment at 50 percent of its capacity,
ECSU Chancellor Mickey Bumim said
in an exclusive interview with the Com
pass staff earlier this semester.
This means that ECSU has the po
tential to double its present enrollment.
The ECSU chancellor said that the
University's plans for increasing en
rollment include recent staff changes
in several departments, among them,
student affairs and admissions, where
a new director has been named. There
are also plans to revive the vmiversity's
marketing strategy and make it more
appealing to potential students, and
also more comprehensive.
"We're working on a comprehensive
marketing strategy," he said. "We wiU
be bringing in a consultant to package
(our) recruiting materials."
The university's annual budget used
to be based on PTE (full-time equiva
lency) enrollment. FTE is the nimiber
of full-time students enrolled for a se
mester based on a one-to-one point sys
tem, which includes part-time students
who are based on a quarter-point sys
tem. The more students enrolled, the
higher the FTE.
Begirming in Fall '98 the University
began basing its budget on the total
number of credit hours the students
are enrolled in each semester. In Fall
'98 there were 1,932 students enrolled.
This amounted to an FTE of 1,826.5,
but the number of credit hours was
28,452.
While those figures suggest an in
crease in the school's budget, statisti-
CciUy, the number of students enrolled
hasn't fluctuated much over the past
several semesters.
"That's both good and bad," Bumim
said. "We didn't see a continual drop,
but we didn't see growth."
Along with a new attention-getting
sales pitch, Bumim said the University
is also working on attracting a diverse
student body.
"The kind (of student body) that will
provide the richest experience to bet
ter teach the students to broaden their
minds," he said.
While 85 percent of the students at
ECSU are from the surroimding 21
coimty area, bringing in a diversified
student body brings different perspec
tives to the area, Burriim said.
"The world is shrinking in a sense,"
he said. "A useful education is one that
will expose you to people."
By increasing the number of students
and encouraging diversity of students,
Bumim said he hopes to fulfill the
University's mission.
Students urged to file
Financial Aid forms early
By Staff
Students urged to get financial aid
forms in on time
In December, Elizabeth City State
University will launch a special cam
paign aimed at ensuring that every
student planning to enroll at the Uni
versity in the fall of 1999 complete
and have their financial aid forms,
including A Federal Financial Aid
Renewal Form, on file in the appro
priate office by March 15, according
to Dr. Derinis Brown, director of the
Incentive Scholarship Program.
Mr. Brown says that in the past
students who have not gotten the
forms in a timely manner have been
subject to inconveniences including
not being able to complete their reg
istration, being denied access to their
dormitory rooms and the dining
haU, and, most importantly, being
derued access to class.
"In the past, delays in completing
this very important form have
caused enormous problems for the
University financial aid office as weU
as for those students who failed to
complete the form in a timely man
ner," Brown said.
In order to maximize this cam-
pus-wide effort, Mr. Brown says
their will be a poster "plastering" of
the campus with the initiative's slo
gan; NOW IS THE TIME as a re
minder to the entire campus the
importance of this important effort.
The University's Financial Aid
Office wiU also sponsor several fi
nancial aid workshops at which stu
dents wiU be given individual help
as needed in order to properly fill
out the forms.
Mr. Brown says other special ef
forts to encourage students to get
their forms in on time wiU be made
during Febmary, which he says will
be designated "Financial Awareness
Month."
For information contact Dr. Brown
at (252) 335-3559.
E
U.S. Postal Service
Malcom X is the 22nd person to be honored in the Blacl( IHeritage
Series. Stamp to be issued next year features image from 1960 news
photograph.
U.S. Postal Service to
issue l\/lalcolm X
commemorative stamp
By Staff
There was a time not too long ago
when most people in America brisked
just at the mention of the name
Malcolm X. Of all of the social and
political figures who had a major im
pact on 1960s America, it was Malcolm
X, the reformed minister tumed fire
brand, whose name was closely asso
ciated with the civil rights movement.
Groups like the Anti-Defamation
League and B'nai B'rith Intemational
were highly critical of the man who
became known as El Hajj Malik el
Shabazz, but on Nov. 19 there was little
criticism of the slain leader as the
United States Postal Service announced
plans to issue a Malcolm X conunemo-
rative stamp.
Malcolm X's life was Vciried and vast,
as most Americans know, and he
changed from advocating separatism
to inclusion late in his short Hfe. Of this
change the postal service said Malcolm
took "a more integrationist solution to
racial problems."
Malcolm X was murdered in New
York's Audobon Ballroom in 1965.
Richard D. Heiderman, president of
B'nai B'rith International, said the
stamp should "remind aU Americans
of the possibility of change and recon
ciliation between people divided by
racial hatred."
Mcdcolm X is the 22nd person to be
honored on the Postal Service's Black
Heritage Series. The new 33-cent com
memorative stamp wiU be issued early
next year.