Page 2, April 8« 1994
The Eagle Train
What is wrong with our school spirit? Why is our
morale disappearing? The Aggies have their pride and
we the Eagles have our funk, and lately that’s just what
the morale and unity of this campus has become—a
stench or funk. The students in the last few years have
abandoned pride in themselves and in dear old NCCU.
Why is that? Students no longer think that NCCU is
the great school of old. Most come to Central with the
expectations of a school where the students participate
as a whole in almost every activity dealing with the
campus. However, all I’ve seen lately is a bunch of
Greek fraternities and sororities disliking each other
and people in their organizations, and students hating
each other and the administrators on campus, and
some administrators not really caring for the students
or their co workers. Granted, I understand that there are
over 5,000 different attitudes on this campus and not
all are made for each other, but our students take this
problem to a whole new level. How are we going to
care or feel good about our school if we don’t give a
damn about ourselves or the people that surround us
on campus? This is one of the many reasons that
NCCU alumni support is so low—below 3 percent.
This results from morale of the school when students
were here; evidently they had horrible experiences
when they were here or they Just all left and couldn’t
find a job to send support back to their alma mater.
Now, this article was not written to bring the morale
down even lower than it is, but to make the students,
faculty, and administrators aware of the problem our
school is facing. Instead of wondering where that next
stop is on the Eagle Train, sit back and enjoy the ride,
and to the passenger next to you give him a “what’s up”
from me!
By Mike Fanning
Student Forum■■ Patricia Harris J
Honesty Is The Best Policy
The Campus Echo
0>-E^(Htors' Maurice Crocker and Oeztnona
Associate Editor - Reginald Jones
Business Manager - Kipchoge Ryan
Entertainment Editor > Tracey Maitury
News Editor - Ronda Robinson
Photographer-Nancia Odum
Layout-Truitt 0 Neal
Reporters - Geraldine Ndiforchu. Terri Boykin. Truitt
0 Neal. Robert Thornton. Bianca Barnes. Greg Lewis.
Donna Lee. Llaakyitedide Adkins
Lavonda Burnette may be
receiving unnecessary attention
about her seat on the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro Board of Education, but
when someone lies about her cre
dentials for a public position, she
should be prepared for the inevi
table backlash. As an educated
Black woman, I am offended by
Burnette, who has embarrassed
herself and all Blacks by using
false claims to attain a prestigious
position. Because other Blacks
are legitimately qualified to serve
on the Board of Education, Ms.
Burnette’s actions are all the more
reprehensible. The media often
portrays Blacks negatively; thus,
Bumette’sproven false claims give
the media plenty of ammunition.
\^etherornot Burnette
has obtained a college education is
not the issue. I do not think Board
of Education members need a
college degree in order to serve
the community effectively. The
problem is Burnette knowingly
mislead the voters by falsifying
her credentials. According to
Karen Lange’s recent article in Tbs
Herald-Sun (“Burnette Takes
Time to Decide Strategy”), fellow
board member Ruth Royster finds
it difficult to overlook the obvious
lies: “It does not matter to me
whether you, LaVonda, have
ever attended a college course in
your life, but it bothers me that
you sat in my office, looked di
rectly at me, and said you were
taking courses in English and
planned to go on to law school.”
Burnette claimed to be a Chapel
Hill High School graduate and a
part-time student at the Univer
sity of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Actually, Burnette did not
graduate firom Chapel Hill High,
but received her equivalency
diploma from Durham Techni
cal Community College. In
addition, UNC has no record of
Ms. Burnette ever enrolling or
auditing classes. What is
Burnette’s defense to this alle
gation? According to
Lange’s article, Burnette in
sists that she audited African-
American studies, history, and
women’s studies courses, but
she will name neither the classes
nor the instructors. If Ms.
Burnette were wrongly perse
cuted, she would surely leap at
the chance to validate her state
ments.
Burnette
seems primarily concerned with
her own personal well-being rather
than that of the community which
is supposed to serve. Instead of
allowing the Board of Education to
target its time and energy towards
making positive advances fw the
school system, Burnette has en
gaged the board in a time-consum
ing battle. In a recent Herald-Sun
article (“School Panel Asks
Burnette to Quit”), Burnette re
portedly told the board that she had
made mistakes and shown poor
judgement, but that her commit
ment to serving the children of the
school district remains. Ironically,
in another Herald-Sun article
(“UNC to Vote if Burnette Should
Quit”), Jackie Hershkowitz quoted
Burnette as saying: “Students have
the right to do whatever they want,
but I don’t feel they played a
significant part in the election and
just don’t have much of a say.” To
me, these two quotes show an
obvious disparity in Burnette’s
view of the students whom she has
swomtoserve. IfBumette is indeed
committed to serving the children
of the school district, then she
should certainly have their best
See Honesty, page 3