VOL. 3, NO. 12
NORTH CAROLINA WESLP:YAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1988
Few schools surveyed rely on WPE
By RHONDA SHARPE
Virginia Wesleyan is the only one
of eight regional college surveyed by
The Decree which presently admini
sters a Writing Proficiency exam.
The others....UNC Chapel Hill, Duke
University, Davidson College, UNC
Greensboro, Greensboro College,
Averett College, and Christopher
Newport College...offered a variety
of reasons for not administering an
exam.
For the past five years VA
Wesleyan has been administering a
Writing Proficiency Exam. Accord
ing to Dr. Carroll Johnson, Director
of the Writing Lab at VA Wesleyan,
students are eligible to take the Exam
when they acquire Junior status. The
exam is usually given the 2nd week
of each semester and is comprised of
three questions from which the stu
dent must choose one.
The three questions are argumen
tative type Johnson said, “We allow
the student to choose from three
questions. The questions ask them to
support an idea on a national or local
issue, elaborate on a famous quote, or
recommend a book, class, ect.” A
committee composed of all English
faculty grades, the papers based upon
the ability of the paper to be “a clear
readable prose.” The paper is given
either a “Pass of Fail” and is read by
two committee members. “If there is
a discrepancy between the two
reader’s grades, then a third member
reads the paper and gives a grade to
protect the integrity of the student’s
paper,” Johnson added.
Should tlie student fail the exam,
personal coaching and an evaluation
of as much of the student writing as
possible is done to discuss why the
student failed the exam. When the
student feels that he fully understands
DR. KENNETH FINNEY WITH HONDURAN ARTIFACTS
Honduras book published
A history of the late 19th century
mining boom in the Central Ameri
can country of Honduras has been
published by Dr. Kenneth V. Finney,
chairman and associate professor of
history at Wesleyan.
The book, titled In Quest of El
Dorado, is actually Finney's disserta
tion, which he researched and wrote
between 1970-72. Finney was one of
the first American historians to do
any major historical scholarship on
Third World history, he said, and his
efforts earned him the title "the infor
mal dean of Honduran studies."
Subtitled "Precious Metal Mining
and the Modernization of Honduras
19880-1900," the book traces the his
tory of the country's short-lived min
ing boom, the good and bad it did to
Honduras, the companies and people
who rode it to power, and wht it im
plied for Honduras' future.
As part of his research Fiimey
worked at the Honduran National
Archives, where he discovered a
huge mass of loose, imcatalogued
documents, some of which dated
back to the period Fiimey was study
ing."
The clerk hadn't told me about
this room before because the staff
was so chagrined at the disorganiza
tion," he said.
The Honduran National Archives
are organized now, thanks to Finney
and his sister. They went through all
the documents and papers in the room
page by page and then arranged them
by decade and government division.
Finney's book has been published
as part of a series on South American
and Latin American economic his
tory by Garland Publishing, Inc.
his errors and is able to write free of
many of these errors, he is encour
aged to retake the Exam.
Johnson suggested several rea
sons for a student failing the exam:
1. Loss of some skills due to lack
of use since the completion of Fresh
men Composition.
1. The possibility that the Fresh
men Composition classes should be
reevaluated and their objective re
considered.
All of the other colleges, rely
heavily on their Freshmen composi
tion courses to instill writing compe
tency in their students. Many consid
ered writing as an integral part of
their curriculum therefore, they don’t
have a proficiency exam.
Jean Walls, Assistant to the Dean
of Academics at UNC-G, did not
fully explain what an integral part of
the curriculum, means but Dr. Emily
Meredith, Director of Developmen
tal Studies Program, at NCWC.
Theoretically every college would
like for writing to be an integral part
of their curriculum, but it’s very dif
ficult to put in practice.
Christopher Newport College has
(Continued on Page 4)
Black students
found experience
good at Wesleyan
By RHONDA SHARPE
It has been almost 20 years since
Wendell (Dale) Cartwright and
James (Jim) Price graduated from
North Carolina Wesleyan.
Cartwright received a BA in History
in 1970 and was the first black gradu
ated from Wesleyan. Price received a
BS in mathematics in 1971. In con
trast, 32 of the 210 students expected
to be graduated in May are black.
According to Registrar Cliff Sul
livan, 15 percent of all the students
population at Wesleyan is black. This
is quite a change from when
Cartwright and Price attended
Wesleyan and were the only blacks
living on campus. Presently there are
over 80 black resident students, and
37 of those students came to play a
sport.
Cartwright, an Elizabeth City na
tive, also came to NCWC to compete
athletically, transferred from the Col
lege of the Albemarle to play basket
ball. According to Coach Donald
Scalf, “Cartwright was the first black
athlete. He once got a floor bum div
ing for the basketball. I mean he re
ally busted his knee up bad. So after
he showered, I got a bandage to put
on his knee. It was one of those flesh
colors. When I put it on his knee it
really stood out. I said. Dale they
didn’t have you in mind when they
made these.!”
Price also played basketball, but
says that’s not what brought him to
Wesleyan. “I attended Ralph L.
Bunch in Weldon, NC. Mr. Maxwell
was in charge of admissions and had
come to our school to talk to the jun
ior class. I was asked to keep him
company while the students were
gathered together. We began discuss
ing my SAT scores, GPA, etc. He
told me that I’d have no problem get
ting into Wesleyan and suggested
that I apply. I liked the small campus
buildings and the classroom size. So I
decided to go. Basketball was distant
because Wesleyan didn’t offer ath
letic scholarships,” he said. Price
chose Wesleyan over N.C. State and
Howard University.
Both Price and Cartwright joined
fraternities at Wesleyan. Price be
longed to Chi Beta Phi, the science
fraternity, and Cartwright pledged
Nu Gamma Phi. Cartwright joined
the social fraternity because they
showed an interest in him and the cost
was less than he anticipated.
Price and Cartwright were mem
bers of different fraternities and they
also lived in different dorms for part
of their career at Wesleyan.
Cartwright lived in 220 South and
then 216 Edgecombe. Price lived in
315 Edgecombe with Henry Daniel
Lee for two years. Price and Lee
(Continued on Page 3)