VOL. VI — NO. 4
DURHAM, N. C., FEBRUARY — 1948
PRICE: TEN CENTS
DR. ALFONSO ELDER APPOINTED NEW PREXY
Former Professor Here Named To
I
Succeed Late James E> Shepard
Dr. Alplioiiso Hlder, former iioadoniic doan, head of the department of education, and professor of matliomatu-s
liere, was ai>i>ouitcd to succeed the lato Hr. James Edward Shepard, president and founder of North Carolina Col
lege.’ In the ahove photo are inctiired from left to right: Edgar Knight, chairman of the committee appointed
from the trustee l.oard to reeomineiid a successor to Dr. Shepard, Dr. Elder and Dr. C. 0. Spaulding the only Ne
gro on the cuinnitte?r’nie photo was in tYKTpfesKlcnt’ ofrite, dlifoliy
election.
Student Council Proposals
Granted By Administration
The t-'tudent Council of North Car
olina College met with President Al
fonso Elder and a few members of the
faculty and staff Wednesday, Febru
ary 4 to try to iron out some of the
])roblems of tiie student body. Before
the meeting the council had alreadv
stated in a letter sent to Dr. Elder
the proposals tliey wished to see put
into action.
The profwsals and accomplishments
were:
1. Telephones should be-installed in
each dormitory. l>i'. Elder appointed a
conuuittce headed by Dr. W. Tl. Bob-
inson to look into the matter immedi
ately,
2. Young men should be allowed to
visit young women in the recreation
rooma of girls’ dormitories. It was
See STUDENT COUNCIL., Page Six
Choir To Re Aired On
CBS f^ational Hook-Up
Dr. James E. Dorsey, head of the
department of music here, has been
notified by the officials of the Colum
bia Broadcasting System that the
North Carolina College choir was se
lected to sing over the coast to coast
hook-up, .wd they will be heard over
that network the first 3 Sundays in
March from 11:05 to 11:30 A. M.
Programs which will originiate
from the studios of %VDNC in Dur
ham, will be heard in some cprmnun-
ities at other hours, and it is sug-
geste cHhat listeners ml contact their
local CBS stations for the correct
starting time.
Education Confab
To Be Held Here
North Carolina College will be host
to the Kesonrce Use Education Con-
fcrtuce Saturday, February 28 and
Pr. .Joseph S. Himes head of the col-
ege department of sociology and
chairman of the Resource Use Co m-
niittee for N. C. C. will preside.
The program will get under way
with words of welcome bj' Dr. Alfonso
Klder, president of N. C. College,
ether speakers >vill be Dr. Clyde A.
ICvwin, State Superintendent of Pub
lic Instruction, and Dr. John E. Ivey,
execoitive secretary of the committee
on regional studies and education of
the American Council on Education.
Other events for the conference will
include motion pictures pertaining to
See EDUCATION Page Six
Frosh Make Plea For
Greater Participation
In September, the Freshmen held
their first class meeting. During this
meeting it was decided that the reg
ular meetings would be the 1st and
3rd Tuesday of every month at 12:30
P. M. in tlie Music Assembly. This
evidently was not very comprehensive
to the members because of the lack of
previous attendances.
■ Class meetings are means of ex
pressing our ideas and discussing nmi-
tua! problems. Their purposes are to
See FROSH Page Six
Thespians Stage
Murder Mystery
llow good are you at guessing mur
der mysteries? If you thought you
were good, then you had a. chance to
put your wits against the Thespians
as they presented their second hit ’ ’
February 20, 1948 in the B. N. Duke
Ai'.ditorium Auditorium by special
arrangement with Samuel French.
The action began when nine people
who violently disliked each other were
assembled in Bienville Penthouse
through the request of a mysterious
telegram. Suddenly a voice came in
(;ver the air informing them that they
voud all die before morning by their
own hands. They all tried to escai)c
only to discover that they were pris
oners without a chance of getting out
and then death began to stalk among
tliem.
Members of the cast were Jesse
Connor, Sumuel Douglas, James Dunn,
Rcl.ert Edwards, James B. .Tames,
:Mildred Lewis, Vivian Norw'ood,
Peggy Sp;irrow, David Stitch, Kubin
F. Weston and Daniel Whitted.
Three Students On
First Honor Roll
Mrs. Frances M. Eagleson, regis-
tr.ar at the North Carolina College
here announced recenty that 3 stu
dents have been named on the col
lege ’s first honor roll for the fall
quarter with no grade lower than
“A”, and that 138 others were listed
on the second honor roll with “B”
averages. Of this latter number, there
were 21 freshmen, 26 sophomores, 38
juniors, and 51 seniors, and two spe-,
cial students.
The 3 “A” students are Nathaniel
Bond, Verona Shelton and Willis
Stewart.
Alta Mae Johnson
Queen Of Hearts
The staff of the 1948 edition of the
Maroon and Gray Yearbook has
launched a concentrated effort to in
crease student interest in the publi
cation which goes to press in a few
days. x\s a part of this program to
increase student interest five faculty
members have been added to the ad
visory staff of the yearbook and
they have come through with numer
ous ideas which have increased the
yearbook’s popularity. Advisors of
the staff now in addition to C. R.
Stanback and W. A. Tuck are,
William R. Harris, Dr. Helen G.
E dmonds, Dr. II. E. Wright, the Rev.
.T. Neal Ilugley, and Brooklyn T.
McMillan:
A result of the first meeting which
this group held was the Coronation
Ball, February 14, which was the
culmination of the contest for the
"Queen of Hearts.” Miss Alta Mae
Johnson, senior class representative,
was crowned Queen of Hearts by
place after the Union game. Hel- vic
tory was based on the fact that the
senior class had lead all the others in
the percentage of students having
paid the total amount of their pub
lication fee. The other candidates
were Barbara Chambers, freshman;
Doris Edwards, sophmore; and Iler-
mina Fitts, junior.
Broadcasts To Feature
Observance of National
Negro Newspaper Week
TJie throe months of speculation
concerning the sucressor to the late
Dr. James Edward Shepard, president
and founder of the North Carolina
College, came to an end here Tuesd.ay,
January 20, when Dr. Alfonso Elder,
head of the College’s department of
graduate education, was named presi:
(Tent at ;i meeting of the Board of
trustees on the college campus. Elder
assumed his yiresidential duties the
day following his appointment.
I'he naming of Elder to this strate
gic position in Negro education fol
lowed the report of the trustees’ sub-
Observance this year of National
Negro NewspajKjr Week, commemorat
ing the 121st anniversary of the found
ing of the first Negro newspaper.
Freedom’s Journal, by John Russ-
wurm, has been set for March 7th to
1,3th inclusive.
Dates for the 1948 observance were
announced in ^ proclamation issued by
Thomas W. Young, president of the
ISTegi-o Newspaper Publishers Associa
tion. which annually sponsors the na
tionwide program. Mr. Yong is pres
ident and general manager of the
.Tournal and Guide.
Highlighting the week’s activities
will be three radio broadcasts over
tion-wide program. Mr. Young is pres-
Broadcasting Company (NBC), Col-
lonbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
and American Broadc.asting Coropora-
tion (ABC). These radio program
are desijrned to point cut the signifi
cant position of the Negro press, and
to highlight some of its major activi
ties.
Details of Newspaper Week are be
ing worked out by Dow^dal H. Davis,
gtineral manager of the Kansas City
Call, chairman; William G. Nunn,
m.anaging editor of the Pittsburgh
Courier, and Frank li. Stanley, edi
tor and publisher of the Louisville De
fender, who are members of the
association’s National Negro Week
See Newspaper Page Five
Pi es. Hold ISetvs Confab
On Wednesday evening, Febr
uary 4, President Alfonso Elder
entertained a few of the news»
paper men of this section at an
informal smoker in his office.
This smoker, which was arrang
ed by the director of publicity,
William A. Tuck, was designed
to acquaint the members of the
working press with the Presi
dent in his new official capacity.
M. Rivera, Jr. of the Pittsburgh
Courier; C. E. Yokley, of the
High Point Enterprise; Phillip
Belton, radio station WTIK;
Frank Brower and L. E. Austin
of the Carolina Times, C. R-
Stanback and W. A. Tuck of the
college publicity staff.
committee which had been^ authorized
to bring in the name of eligi^e per
sons from whom the president should
be selected.
Members of the sub committee were
E. W. Knight, J. T. Pritchett, W,
Frank Tajior, Jule B. Warren, and
Capus Waynick. According to their
report they discovered after several
interviews in all sections of the coun
try that Dr. Shepard’s successor
could bo feund on the North Carolin*
College faculty, .and they suggested
the following persons: Dr. Elder,
Miss Ruth Rush, dean of women;
Dr. A. E. Jlanley, dean of the col
lege of arts and sciences; Dr. A. L.
Turner, dean of the law school, and
James T. Taylor, chief of the Veter
ans’ Administration Guidance Center
on the campus.
Dr. Knight sta.ted in making the
subcommittee’s report to the board,
that on the day after the group was
appointed “letters were sent to many
people including presidents of Negro
Colleges, leaders in .various phases of
life in North Carolina and the South,
and representatives of those philan
thropic foundations which have beea
interested in education in the South
and particularly in Negro eduea-tion.’•
It w'as also reported that four meet
ings of the committee were held and
that every member had individually
made inquiries and had conversations
with responsible people “in an ef
fort to find the best person available
for this strategic place of leadership
in education in this state and reg
ion. ’ ’
S‘o DR. ELDER, Page Six