WSSU to roll out five-year
plan to create state
of-the-art liberal education
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Dr. Robinson
Brown
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Winston-Salem State University plans to begin a roll
out this month of its new five-year strategic plan to pre
pare students for the future.
The plan's goal, according to Chancellor Elwood
Robinson, is to make WSSU into a state-of-the -art liberal
education institution preparing the workforce of the
future. ,
? ? "This strategic plan is a plan we're going to put in
place to make sure each and every student that comes to
Winston-Salem State University leaves with those skills in
order to be successful," he said.
* The plan elevates things once thought of as soft skills
- critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, ethics and
teamwork - to "essential skills" required for every student.
"It's about making sure students come here and get the
type of quality education that they need, and when they
leave they become leaders, they become change agents in
an ever-changing global technologically information driv
en society," said Robinson.
According to the plan, all students will "experience
significant undergraduate research experience, internship,
study away opportunity, or experimental learning engage
ment." These types erf things, often experienced by a small
percentage of college students, will be the experience of
every student at WSSU, said Robinson!
"We don't want a small percentage of our students to
get that type of education, but we want each and every one
of our students to get that type of education," said
Robinson.
Along with strengthening liberal education, the plan
seeks to enhance the quality of graduate and professional
programs, enhance revenue and stewardship of resources,
enhance the quality of physical and operational infrastruc
ture, and build a commitment to social justice through
community engagement locally and abroad.
The plan was approved by the WSSU Board of
Trustees on Dec. 11. TTie university will begin the rollout
toward the end of the month with a promotional campaign
and the development of measuring metrics to determine
the plan's progress when implementation begins later this
year.
Though it is resource intensive, Robinson said that he
doesn't anticipate increases in tuition because of it. He
said the university will be looking for additional and
expanding partnerships to help with things like intern
ships. 1
Students will be seeing an unrelated tuition increase
next school year. The increase was approved in 2014 by
the Board of Trustees and most students will see a three
percent increase in tuition. Housing costs will increase one
percent and meal plans by 2.7 percent. Robinson said the
university remains affordable compared to its peers while
having the best outcomes among the UNC system for
undergraduates finding jobs and for the income they earn.
The strategic plan included faculty, students and alum
ni feedback in its extensive planning process. WSSU
Student Government President Kyle Brown, who is also
on the Board of Trustees, said students had a large voice
in the plan.
"I think Dr. Robinson and Provost Allen have done a
wonderful job of including everyone in the community,"
he said.
ECSU
'mm page AI
Dr. Jones that her future
was no longer at ECSU, or
forced UNC System
administrators to change
their view that she was the
right leader for the school.
The answer may lie in the
tawdry mix of politics that
has infused itself in the 32
member all-Republican
UNC Board of Governors;
the demands of the GOP
leadership in the state
Legislature who once seri
ously considered shutting
ECSU down; and the trou
bled history of a struggling
historically black universi
ty in an economically
impoverished region of the
state.
Add to that mix Stacey
Franklin Jones' own con
troversial history in acade
mia, and the ultimate
answer for her resignation
could be any combination
of the aforementioned.
1 ne popular meme thus
far as to why Jones
resigned is that she was
given no choice when she
resisted attempts by those
in the UNC System admin
istration to dictate the
direction of the school she
was appointed to lead, a
direction that already
seemed to be chosen once
her interim successor took
office Monday.
If there is one thing
clear about Stacey Franklin
Jones, it's that she took her
ability to independently
chart a course for the
future, based on her vision,
very seriously.
There is no question,
based on published reports
and discussions with
ECSU alums and others,
that the institution has gone
through rough periods with
enrollment dropping by
over 50 percent in the past
five years (from 3307 in
2010, to 1867 currently)
since UNC System-wide
minimum admission stan
dards were raised. Tuition
revenues and state appro
priations dropped by nearly
$10 million; uninvestigated
campus sexual assaults
mounted; and even the pur
pose of the school's mis
sion was questioned.
ECSU has a proud his
tory, since it's establish
ment by the N.C. General
Assembly in March 1891,
as being a training facility
for African-American edu
catofs. Rom 1891 to 1937,
it experienced tremendous
growth, becoming a four
year teachers college at one
point. In 1969, after broad
ening its educational cur
riculum, the school was
formally named "Elizabeth
City Stata University,"
becoming a constituent
institution of the UNC
System in 19721
Today it offers a wide
variety of baccalaureate
programs in business, arts
and humanities, education
and criminology, among
other disciplines.
Ironically, one of the
reasons why Tom Ross
chose Dr. Jones to head up
ECSU was because, "[She]
brings to the role of chan
cellor a rare blend of lead
ership experience in higher
education, industry and
government, as well as a
practical understanding of
how to guide institutions
through serious challenges,
whether academic or finan
cial in nature."
At 53, Jones certainly
came to ECSU with an
impressive academic and
professional record.
She was a summa cum
laude graduate of Howard
University in Washington,
D.C., and held master's
degrees in numerical sci
ence and technical man
agement from Johns
Hopkins University and a
PhD. in computer science ?
from George Washington
University. She then spent
several years in the private
sector.
Jones was a manage
ment and technology con
sultant just before taking
the ECSU appointment.
She had also served on the
faculty at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore
and Benedict College in
Columbia, S.C. Prior to
that in 2010, Jones was
appointed provost and vice
president for academic
affairs at Bowie State
University.
But when she took
office as ECSU chancellor
in Sept. 2014, some ques
tioned the appointment.
An article titled, "North
Carolina Chancellor
Choice Sparks
Controversy: UNC
Chancellor Choice is
Asking for Trouble," writ
ten by Jay Schalin for See
Thru Edu, the online publi
cation of the Texas Public
Policy Foundation, blasted
the UNC Board of
Governors for hiring Jones
in spite of her two contro
versial tenures at both
Benedict College and
Bowie State.
As a dean of the School
of Science, Technology,
Engineering and
Mathematics at Benedict
during the mid-2000s,
Photo provided by Cash Michaels
Former ECSU Chancellor Stacey Franklin Jones and former UNC System
President Tom Ross are shown in this photo.
Jones fired two professors
who refused to implement
vthe school's "Success
Equals Effort" policy,
which based student grades
more on effort than actual
classroom results.
"By firing [the two pro
fessors], Jones committed
an egregious offense
against academic freedom
and integrity, but the real
problem is that her conduct
exhibited, an utter lack of
judgment and ethical stan
dards," wrote Schalin for
See Thru Ed.
She left Benedict
College in 2009.
In November 2010,
Jones left her position
under fire at Bowie State
University after just four
months as provost and Vice
President of Academic
Affairs. The Faculty Senate
charged that she "did not
include [them] in important
decisions" like reorganiz
ing staff assignments, and
gave her, and the school's
president, a vote of no con
fidence. The Faculty
Association head told the
Washington Examiner that
Jones resigned because "...
the faculty would no longer
work with her."
"UNC System officials
picked Jones because, not
in spite of, her record of
short executive stays punc
tuated by infighting with
faculty and staff, along
with a startling lack of acu
ity for higher education
^management," HBCU
Digest opined.
So how was Jones'
tenure at ECSU shaping
up?
A recent state audit of
the school's fiscal standing
as of June 30,2015 showed
no evidence of financial
mismanagement, and
despite a decrease in state
appropriations, a $4.5 mil
lion budget cut had helped
to steer the school toward
profitability again. State
lawmakers had just
approved $3 million to help
stabilize the school in the
short-term.
The crime rate was
down, student recruitment
was being better managed,
and campus efficiencies
were reportedly on the
upswing. ?
Jones had also been
promoting ECSU as on
track to being "the state's
premier interdisciplinary
science university by
2020," and hoped to have
23 new degree programs
approved by the governing
boards.
According to State Rep.
Robert St&nburg [R
Chowan], Jones, who he
felt washing a good job,
had to make some difficult
decisions that "didn't make
her popular with every
one," he tojd The Daily
Advance. "We're all
painfully familiar with the
mess that she inherited."
Two ECSU alums -
Inez Eason of Wilmington
and Eddie Davis of
Durham, both said while
many have been discussing
Chancellor Jones' situa
tion, and many had
expressed concerns about
some of the changes Jones
was instituting, they were
in a wait-and-see mode
since she was still new to
the Viking community.
Members of the ECSU
Board of Trustees claim
that they were as broad
sided by Jones' sudden
departure as eyeryone else,,
and insisted that if there
was pressure for her to
leave, it came from the
UNC System board, not
them.
* Thomas Conway, for
merly chief of staff at
Fayetteville State
University and one of the
finalists for ECSU chancel
lor in 2014 when Dr. Jones
was ultimately selected,
was immediately chosen to
become the interim chan
cellor as of Jan. 1.
Published reports indicated
that the UNC Board of
Governors is actually pre
pared to select Conway as
the permanent chancellor
at their next board meeting
on Friday, Jan. 22 at N.C.
A&T University.
Conway told The Daily
Advance that one of
ECSU's priorities now is to
grow. Apparently a plan
was already in the works,
with Conway's blessing,
that East Carolina
University, along with NC
A&T University, UNC
Charlotte, Fayetteville
State University and NC
State University, will work
with ECSU to help the
HBCU "build greater
capacity throughout
ECSU's student support
and operational units."
"There was even dis
cussion [during the 2014]
legislative session of turn
ing ECSU into a branch
campus of E*st Carolina
University rather than con
tinuing as an independent
institution with its own
administration."
(SeeThruEDU reported
Sept. 12th, 2014.)
Indeed, there are indi
cations that there will be a
stronger effort to recruit
more white students to
ECSU, as has happened at
other historically black
'UNC campuses like
Fayetteville State
University and North
Carolina State University.
More whites means a
greater, more consistent
revenue stream, some
observers say, since many
black students, unfortu
nately, Cannot meet the
upgraded system academic
requirements, or student
loan restrictions.
The UNC Board of
Governors, with both the
appointment of Interim
Chancellor Conway and
the multi-campus plan to
assist in operations, have
now made it known since
the departure of Chancellor
Jones that, "Elizabeth City
State University is an
important and essential
institution to the University
of North Carolina System."
There are some in the
ECSU Viking community
who do not like the sound
of that, and are concerned
that it could be the precur
sor for ECSU to be merged
with another UNC System
campus, or dramatically
changed into something
much different than it's
HBCU tradition.
Correction
The Chronicle apologizes for an error made in a story
written by Cash Michaels and printed in The Chronicle on
Dec. 31. The article, on page A2, has the headline "2013
ends with more police injustice." The Chronicle erro
neously reported that the 2 ,000 teenagers who reportedly
rioted at Mall St. Matthew near Louisville, Kentucky, on
Saturday, Dec. 26 were "white." Subsequent local reports
by area media have proven that in fact, black teenagers
were involved. The Chronicle regrets any misunderstand
ing that may have resulted from this error. The Editor
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing
Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C.
27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Annual subscription price is $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
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