Speaking For Ourselves
The Voice
Volume 38 No. 2
Fayetteville, N.C.
April 26, 1984
Stand Up For Your Rights
By Eric D. Majette
On February 2, 1984, a group of
approximately 30 students rallied
across Fayetteville State University
protesting for co-ed visitation, better
maintenance in dormitories,
competence of instructors, the
infirmary, and telephone operators,
nourishing meals in the dining hall, and
many other ignored complaints.
The march began from Bryant Hall,
to Vance Hall, and ended at Rudolph
Jones Student Center, where they met
with Nero B. Coleman, President of the
Student Government Association.
The students raised questions and
voiced their complaints. Coleman
informed the students that they should
know their rights as citizens and as
students. He also stated that “instead of
making verbal complaints, students
should document their complaints and
send them through the correct channels.
If their complaints are not answered,
they should continue to press the issue
until their complaints receive a
recognition.”
The students also complained about
Chancellor Lyons not being available.
A&T Astronaut Replaces Bluford
Coleman commented on the
Chancellor's “Open Door Policy” and
confirmed that Chancellor Lyons is
willing to see anyone with questions or
complaints just as long as an
appointment is made.
While Coleman was explaining the
policy, Chancellor Lyons unexpectedly
appeared. Destinated to an
appointment, Chancellor Lyons spoke
briefly to the students about his “open
door policy.” Lyons commented that he
realized how difficult it is to see him, but
he informed the students that they
should not give up.
According to the students, the rally
Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, the
first graduate of an historically Black
university to fly into space, replaced
Colonel Guion S. Bluford as Founders
Day Speaker at Fayetteville State
University on April 15.
Roscoe Monroe, a NASA official on
temporary duty at Fayetteville State,
was informed that Colonel Bluford has
been recently assigned to a West
German Space Lab Mission and will be
involved in training overseas at the time
of the FSU program.
Dr. McNair was a mission specialist
on Space Shuttle Mission II which was
launched from Kennedy Space Center
on February 3, 1984. He has logged a
total of 191 hours in space.
A native of Lake City, South
Carolina, Dr. McNair earned a B.S.
Degree in Physics from A&T State
University and a Ph. D in Physics from
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. While at MIT, he
performed some of the earliest
experiments in chemical and high
pressure C02 lasers.
Dr. McNair was selected as astronaut
candidate by NASAin January 1978. In
August 1979, he completed a one-year
training and evaluation period, making
him eligible for assignments as a
mission specialist astronaut on space
shuttle flight crews.
was organized because of a student
body meeting which only 25 students
attended. The students who attended
the meeting felt that “a rally would be a
good way to unify the students, to get
the students interested in the things that
are happening on campus, and to let the
students' voice be heard.”
The students felt that the rally was a
success because it showed Chancellor
Lyons that students cared. The students
are now looking forward to an
organized formal meeting with
Chancellor Lyons to express their
thoughts.
Registering New Voters
IT#
Stand Up For Your Rights!!
Photo by: James Bullard
Campus Digest News Service
Rather than rallying behind a
popular presidential candidate,
students groups are concentrating on
registering young voters for the '84
elections.
Topics close to campus - like federal
aid cuts, high unemployment rates for
the young, the threat of nuclear war and
unfavorable new legislation - have
brought incrased realization of the need
for student activity in the political
scene.
Before a person can vote, however,
they must be registered. In early
February, the Public Interest Research
Groups announced a multi-million-
dollar campaign to register one to three
million students. College newspaper
editors and student government
presidents nationwide worked with the
NIRC, urging student attendance at a
conference held February 10-12 at
Harvard University. There, participants
learned more about campaign issues
and voter-registration techniques.
A $200,000 project to register voters
in 16 states this summer is being
planned by the United States Student
Association and the National Student
Educational Fund, who are now
seeking grants. Organizers will
concentrate on minority groups and
beneficiaries of federal health and
welfare programs.
The nuclear arms issue has drawn the
Student Coalition for Truth, a
bipartisan coalition opposed to a
nucleararms freeze, into the registration
drive. Leading the coalition is the
College Republican National
Committee.
College students in Alabama,
California, Illinois, New Mexico and
North Carolina - key presidential states
- will be the target of the College Young
Democrats of America in registration
efforts.
In 1982, only 18.3 percent of 18 and
19-year-olds (compared to 27.2 percent
of the 20 to 24-year-old group and a
whopping 64.8 percent of 65 to 74-year-
olds) voted in Congressional elections.
It's not surprising, then, that
presidential candidates like former Vice
President Walter Mondale and Sen.
John Glenn Jr. have not yet made youth
concerns a large part of their platforms.
Sen. Alan Cranston of California, Sen.
Gary Hart and the Rev. Jesse Jackson
have potential to stir substantial student
interest, according to some analysts.
Admissions Practices Scrutinized
Campits Digest News Service
Pressures on colleges because of
dropping enrollments affect more than
tuition costs.
An increasing number of
questionable admissions procedures
was the topic of discussion for more
than 800 representatives of colleges,
universities and secondary schools, who
met for the annual College Board
meeting in late October.
An influential group, the College
Board provides large amounts of
assistance to financial aid offices
through the College Scholarship
Service.
At the meeting, attendees particularly
criticized the misuse of merit
scholarships, some even calling on the
College Board to police scholarship
abuse to protect scholarship funds.
Meeting participants expressed
concern that additional money being
awarded to top-ranking (often well-off)
scholars decreased the amount of funds
left for truly needy students. Although
pressure for enrollments is great, more
careful internal control over
scholarship winners would help balance
the situation, they said.
At the entering college student level,
more students are becoming aware of
and applying for these merit
scholarships. In addition, ever-earlier
admissions programs and other
recruiting activities present high school
teachers with year-long senioritis.
Meeting participants also suggested
that financial aid officers should be
more careful about approving loans for
students who are unlikely to pay them
back, such as poorer students and
graduates of areas with low job-
placement rates.
Other disputed practices discussed
included nonrefundable deposists,
pressure on students to choose early
admission at one college, the belittling
of competing college programs,
independent admissions companies
working on a bounty hunter basis, and
misrepresentations of actual college
costs by some financial aid officers.
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