Wednesday, Febuary 19, 1975
Volume 6—Number 8
Chowan's Board of Trustees
Establishes a "Positive Step
If
After hearing a report of a
study it authorized in September/
the Chowan College Board of
Trustees established the
enrollment at a reduced figure of
approximately 900 for the up
coming academic year.
Meeting Monday in the office of
President Bruce E- Whitaker, the
Board also authorized a
corresponding reduction in the
number of the faculty by ap
proximately eight positions.
The Board, at its semi-annual
meeting in September, asked its
Executive Committee and the
administration to make a study of
the economic base of the college
including the enrollment picture
and report their findings at the
February meeting.
"Positive Step"
Trustee chairman, J. E.
Ferebee -of Camden, called trie
Board’s decisions “a positive
step in combatting inflation and
adverse economic conditions.”
He said by its action the Board
had “taken the offensive to
assure that Chowan remains a
strong, viable institution,
dedicated to high educational
standards, and resting on a sound
financial foundation.”
He said the move is also “an
■ effort to stabilize the enrollment
at a figure that will enable the
college to continue to recruit,
from a dwindling pool of college-
age youth, qualified students.”
Ferebee noted the faculty
reduction will result in a “very
respectable student-faculty ratio
of approximately 17-1 that will
permit the continuation of
Chowan’s time-honored approach
of small classes and in
dividualized instruction.” •
Ferebee said the decision to
limit enrollment and reduce the
faculty size will help Chowan
“take the offensive.” “Chowan'
can serve 900 students ef
fectively. It does mean paring the
faculty and staff to a number
consistent with that level of
enrollment. By making these
adjustments, Chowan will be
taking positive steps toward
remaining a strong, financially
healthy institution,” Ferebee
said.
Chowan’s enrollment was just
over 1,000 for the 1974 fall
semester. The college enrolled
907 students for the current
spring semester.
"Belt Tightening"
Ferebee said the college had
already experienced “con
siderable belt-tightening” that
Had resulted in savings to
Chowan. He pointed out that the
college has used less kilowatt
hours of dectricity during the
current academic year than
during a comparable period for
1973-74 even with the addition of a
major new fgcility, Carrie
Savage Camp Hall.
“The college has also reduced
spending by not filling a number
of staff vacancies,” Ferebee
explained. He said this includes
the Director of Alumni Affairs,
several maintenance personnel,
and two dormitory head
residents.
Approving the Board’s action
was Chowan president, Dr. Bruce
E. Whitaker, wbo stated that in
his judgement the Board had
taken “far-reaching action which
time would prove to be in the
long-range best interest of the
college, including its students,
faculty and staff.”
Continued the president, “This
is true especially in light of the
decreasing annual pool of
students in the 18-24 age group, a
situation which will continue
throughout the 1980s.”
Dr. Whitaker said the Board’s
decisions were made on the back
drop of the college’s sound
financial status. He noted that all
principal and interest on capital
indebtedness are current. “The
college has no current operating
fund indebtedness. Chowan is
continuing to operate ill the black
for the 17th straight year,” he
^ted.
Nearing Goal
In another matter, the chair
man of Chowan’s Annual Giving
Fund, Bob F. Hill, Sr., of Mur
freesboro, announced that
Chowan had raised almost $35,000
to date in gifts and pledges
toward the minimum goal of
$50,000.
“Our good progress to this date
lends us confidence that we will
be successful in reaching our goal
before the May 31 deadline,” Hill
remarked.
Hill said gifts to the Annual
Giving Fund will be used to help
underwrite the daily operating
expenses of the college. “The
Annual Giving Fund is an im
portant source of income for the
college’s operating budget. We
are confident that Chowan’s
many alumni and friends will
help the college reach and top its
goal,” Hill declared.
Discussion of renovation of
McDowell Columns’ chapel-
auditorium was led by the
business manager, Ben C. Sutton,
and chaplain. Dr. Hargus Taylor.
They said that individuals and
groups will be given an op
portunity to participate in the
$100,000 project through
meiAorial gifts.
Trustees leartied from Dr.
Whitaker that the college
received more than $7,000 in
income in 1974 from the Grady D.
Askew Foundation. He stated
proceeds from the foundation,
established in December, 1967, by
Grady D. Askew of Harrellsville,
with an unrestricted endowment
of $300,000, are divided equally
among Chowan, Roanoke^
Chowan Hospital, and
Harrellsville Baptist Church.
Askew, who died in October, 1973,
provided an additional $200,000
through his will for the trust.
New Members
Participating in the meeting
were six new members of the
Board of Trustees, Don G.
Matthews of Hamilton; Dr.
Robert B. Outland, Sr., Rich
Square; J. Guy Revelle, Jr.,
Murfreesboro; Dr. Lonnie Mack
Thompson, Warrenton; Dewey
W. Wells, Elizabeth City; and "
Fred H. Williams, Plymouth.
New members not able to attend
were C. Urbin Rogers,
Williamston and Russell L.
Stepl(enson, Wilson.
Out-going members who
received certificates of ap
preciation included; Mrs. Lucile
W. Beasley, Colerain; Roland L.
Garrett, Elizabeth City; the Rev.
QarenceGodwin, Oxford; Dr. W.
Raleigh Parker, Woodland; A. W.
Tayloe, Sr., Aulander; H. D. ^
White, Rocky Mount; Robert C.
White, Windsor; Edwin L.
Williams, Kinton; and Charlie T.
Whitley, Winston-Salem.
Ferebee Charman
Trustees elected Ferebee as
chairman and J.J. Harrington of
Lewiston as vice chairman. They
elected Bob Hill, Sr. of Mur
freesboro as chairman of the
Bodrd’s Executive Committee
and named J. Felix Arnold of
Enfield and J. Guy Revelle, Jr. of
Murfreesboro", as new Executive
Committee members.
Members of the 36-member
Board of Trustees are elected by '
the Baptist State Convention of >
North Carolina to serve on a four-
year rotating basis.
The Rev. Robert Mullinax, who .
directs the Baptist State Con
vention’s Council on Christian
Higher Education, attended the
meeting.
r
IHolshouser Appoints
Members to Historic
Murfreesboro Com.
Ari Department Fires
2300 Degrees in Kiln
Information to be Released
Under Privacy Rights Act
By BECKIE WORKMAN
On February fourth Governor
Jim Holshouser reappointed two
members and named eleven new
members to the Historic Mur
freesboro Commission. The
Commission, which consists of
thirty members, was created to
acquire and dispose of historic
porperties in and near the town of
Murfreesboro. They are to repair
and maintain the historic sites
and to conduct research and plan
for the preservation of the
historic sites.
Reappointed to terms expiring
March 7, 1978 were Thomas C.
Parramore of Raleigh, a history
professor at Meredith College;
and Howard L. Evans Jr. of
Murfreesboro, vice-president of
H.L. Evans and Sons, Inc., and
former member of the Mur
freesboro Town Council.
New members appointed to
terms expiring March 7, 1978
were: Charles Lewis Price of
Greenville, a histoo’ professor at
East Carolina University; Mrs.
Rosalie L. Hollomon of
Ahoskie, a retired school teacher
and principal; Mrs. Elaine T.
Kirkland of Aulander, a
housewife and former school
teacher; and Mrs. Mary Burkette
of Ahoskie.
The remaining new members
were appointed to terms expiring
March 7,1979. They were: James
Elliott Moore of Ahoskie, a
student at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and a
member of the Hertford County
branch of the State Bicentennial
Commission; James Earl Dilday
of Ahoskie, member of the
Murfreesboro Civic Council and
chairman of the Murfreesboro
Recreation Commission; Howard
Clyde Simmons, Jr., of
Woodland, owner of Simmons
Enterprises and member of the
Murfreesboro Chamber of
Commerce; William Shurley
Vann of Alexandria, Virginia, an
architect and a Murfreesboro
native; James Guy Revelle, Jr.,
a Murfreesboro attorney; Mrs.
Linsay S. Newsom of Roanoke
Rapids, a former employee of the
North Carolina Museum of Art;
Mrs. Betty Jane Hedgepeth Viser
of Ahoskie, a housewife and
member of the Ahoskie Arts
Council.
By PHIL ROYCE
Chowan College art professor,
Doug Eubank, is making things
hot for his ceramies students, but
they would be the last to com
plain.
The heat is coming from a
reduction kiln that fires up to 2300
degrees. The kiln, located behind
Green Hall, is the latest at
traction offered by the division of
art of Chowan’s fine arts
department.
Eubank reports the high
temperature is needed in glazing
the ceramics. After the 2300
degree mark has been reached,
the ceramics are cooled very
slowly. The process results in a
protective surface over the
ceramics which readies it for use
for drinking or eating. “The glaze
closes the pores in the ceramics
and makes them serviceable,”
Eubank explained.
The students have made
several uses of the kiln and the
results are becoming more
satisfactory each time, Eubank
noted. He said the kiln greatly
increases the practical ex
perience the students are
receiving.
The kiln will receive con
siderable use during the up
coming Pottery Workshop
sponsored by the division of art.
Eubank said the dates of the
week-long event, open to all
Chowan students and the public,
will be announced soon.
Financial Aid
The objective of the Financial Aid office at Chowan
College is to nnake it financially possible for students
to attend college.
There are three items we wish to call to your at
tention;
(1) Now is the time to file the Parents' Confidential
Statement for next fall. You can get them in Mr.
Collins' office.
(2) Check with your work supervisor about the
number of hours you can work. Do not work more
hours than you are assigned as you will not t>e paid.
(3) Reminder Work-Study checks are to be picked
up the tenth of each month.
By DARRELL NICHOLSON
Tn the last issue of Smoke
Signals, there was presented a
brief summary-interpretation of
the new Privacy Rights Act or the
so-called Buckley Amendment, a
summary-interpretation which
centered around a discussion of
what the act means and does not
mean iii reference to the
classification education record-
s.” With the preceding first ar
ticle as a king of preface, the
following paragraphs will center
around a discussion of what kinds
of information about students
may be released, to whom, and
under what stated conditions,
without their specific consent for
such a release.
In the revision to the original
Buckley Amendment is a
category of information entitled
Directory Information. Leading
to a definition of Directory In
formation, the Act states that
educational institutions shall not
permit access to or the release of
education records or personally
indentifiable information con-
trined therein other than
directory information of students
without written consent ot their
parents or the written consent of
an eligible student (which in
cludes all students eighteen years
of age or students enrolled in a
post-secondary institution) other
than to school officials as the act
further qualifies. The act also
specifies the release of such
information to certain govern
mental agencies which ad
minister federal funds to
educational institutions.
The Act states that “directory
information” includes the
following: “the student’s name,
address, telephone listing, date
and place of birth, major field of
study, participation in officially
recognized activities and sports,
weight and height of members of
athletic teams, dates of at
tendance, degrees and awards
received, and the most recent
previous educational agency or
institution attended by the
student.” The Act then states
some conditions relative to the
release of directory information:
“Any educational agency or
institution making public
directory information shall give
public notice of the catagories of
information which it has
designated as such information
with respect to each student
attending the institution or
agency and shall allow a
reasonable period of time after
such notice has been given for a
parent to inform the institution or
agency that any or all of
the information designated
should not be released without
the parent’s consent.” The
reader should assume here that
when the student reaches
eighteen years of age or when he
attends or has attended a post
secondary institution, he then
would be eligible to give his
consent to the release in whole or
in part of the directory in
formation, his consent under the
time conditions as stated above.
It should also be restated that
for the purpose of the section the
term student, again, includes any
person with respect to whom an
educational agency or institution
maintains education records or
personally identifiable in
formation, but does not include a
person who has not been in at
tendance at such an agency or
institution.
In essence, besides defining a
catagory of information which
can be released to the world
outside of an educational unit, the
so-called Buckley Amendment
allows for an unconditional
release of such information
without the consent of the student
unless he specifically asks that
his prior consent be obtained. An
educational agency or institution
must pubUsh a list of what it
designates as “directory in
formation” and give each student
a reasonable period of time to
ask that any or all such in
formation not be released in his
situation without prior consent.
In the next issue of Smoke
Signals, we will look at just what
is accessible without the
student’s consent. Who are the
people who may have access to a
student’s actual record or who
are the people who may receive
personally identifiable in
formation contained therein
without the student’s consent?
Students
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Daniel Hall
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