THECHOWANIAN
Volume 1 — Number 3
Murfreesboro. N. C., December 1955
Siibscription: $1.00 a Yeaz
Board of Trustees Bans Negroes From Entry
PROPOSED SCICNCC —CQB—CHQWAN—CgULECE.'
AP^currecTS^ ••• J. a. maloolm, a(a t/. o. boone jp*. associate.
New Science Building! Rev. Bradshaw
Tells of Japan
To Contain 18 Rooms
SACSC Scheduled to
Examine Chowan
In October 1956
Chowan College made tenta
tive application for membership
in the Southern Association of
Colleges and Secondary Schools
at an Association meeting in
Miami Beach, Florida, Novem
ber 27 to December 1.
President F. O. Mixon and
Dean L. R. Grogan were inter
viewed by the Committee on Ac
creditation at the initial meeting
of the Associational meetings.
Following the interview Presi
dent Mixon requested the As
sociation furnish the College
with the necessary application
material and to request October,
1956, as the date for formal
application.
For more than two years
Chowan College has studied
See OCTOBER 1955. Page 2
Auto Strikes Tree
In Late November
The campus of Chowan had
its first automobile accident this
semester on November 21 when
a car driven by^ a construction
worker slammed into a pine
tree on the east side of the
grounds. , .
The car, a 1948 Desoto dri
ven by Wilkins Motley, colored,
around 4:30 in the afternoon.
Motley, one of the crew workmg
on the new science building, was
leaving work when the accident
occurred.
One of the five passengers m
the car, Lucius Motley of Jack-
son, colored, was hospitalize^
suffering multiple cuts and
bruises. Two other of the per
sons riding in the car received
minor injuries but were on the
job the next day.
Passengers in the car report
ed that a part of the steering
apparatus locked causing the
crash. They said that the car
was not exceeding 20 miles per
hour. The car was a total wreck
as a result of the crash.
The constant march of pro
gress of Chowan has a tangible
mark for visitors to the college
in the presently rising new
science building.
When the structure nears com
pletion in March, Chowanians
will truly have an object of
pride in it, the first stride in a
long building program present
ly being set up by the college
The building, which should be
finished by the last of March, ac
cording to Mr. H. T. Timber-
lake, general contractor in
charge, is at present going up
satisfactorily. The March date
for the completion of contruc-
tion is dependent upon good
weather conditions and the
availability of materials, says
Mr. Timberlake. The building
will be ready for use by the fall
semester.
More than 11 feet of earth had
to be graded all along the 50
feet by 120 foot base in order to
prepare the building for erec
tion says Mr. Timberlake. The
Hrst story of the building will
be on the first level of the split
level structure he says, making
the building conform to modern
one story specifications.
The foundation crew and ma
sons are already at work on the
building with the roofing process
due to begin by Christmas. Mr.
W. C. Reese of Woodland, in
charge of plumbing and heating
for the structure, already has
members of his crew at work
laying pipe for the building.
More than 3.000 feet of piping,
including gas lines, steam lines
and heating will lead up to the
building. The piping will serve
two boilers in the building, one
for steam and the other for hot
air. Six men are busy on the
plumbing. Bennett Brothers of
Ahofkie is also engaged in the
plumbing installation.
The building will be construct
ed of solight blocks and con
crete, ridding it of one of the
major hazards of construction—
fire. It will be completely
fireproof. More than 170 cubic
feet of concrete will go into
structure.
The building will include 18
rooms of all description. Floors
will be constructed of concrete
and tile with the blocks painted
to furnish a more pleasing in
terior. The structure will be
stuccoed on the outside.
The roof will be the built up
roof, a standard roofing process.
Huge steel beams, which serve
as one of the main supports for
the building, had to be moved
into place by heavy duty ma
chinery. Howell Steel Company
of Weldon did the work on the
beams.
The contrasts between the new
building and the building pres
ently being used for science in
struction are truly startling. The
present science building, an an
tiquated wooden frame build
ing constructed in the early days
of the college, was never meant
to serve as a science building
and falls far short of supplying
the facilities and conditions
needed for Chowan’s needs in
the year 1955.
The old building has three
labs, only one class room and
two small offices. The chemistry
lab, the largest of the three labs,
can accommodate only 18 to 20
students and must serve as the
scene for practical work in four
subjects.
The biology lab can comfort
ably take care of only 12 stu
dents. The third lab must serve
the needs for both physics and
nurse technician courses. The
biology lab has a capacity of 12
persons while the physics-lab
tech laboratory can handle only
half a dozen adequately.
In order to instruct all biology
students, instructors must hold
three different sessions with the
present equipment.
The chemistry lab will at the
present time take care of 18 to
20 students for all chemistry
subjects. The chemistry labs,
four in all, in the new science
building will afford specialized
equipment in all phases of
chemistry. The four cheniistry
labs in the new building will be
for general chemistry, quantita
tive analysis, qualitative anal-
See NEW BUILDING, Page 4
Rev. Melvin Bradshaw, a grad
uate of the University of Rich
mond and a recent returnee
from the Baptist Mission fields
in Japan, delivered the princi
pal address for the Foreign
Missions week at Chowan on
December 1.
Speaking to the student body
in the morning chapel service,
Rev. Bradshaw gave a vivid
description of the conversion of
Capt. Mitsuo Fuchida, a renown
ed Japanese Christian. Capt.
Fuchida, a Japanese air force
ace who helped to plan and
execute the attack on Pearl
Harbor, visited the United States
in 1953 to deliver a series of
revival services.
In Japan for five years. Rev.
Bradshaw was situated at Kok-
ura on the southern island of
Kyushu. Kokura is the site of the
Baptist Girls School in J apan.
He will return to Japan in
June 1956 for a new assignment
at the Baptist Hospital in Kyoto.
While in this country, he will
study for his Doctor of Divinity
Degree at the Southern Baptist
Seminary in Louisville. A father
of four children. Rev. Bradshaw
is a native Virginian.
Rev. Oscar Creech made the
presentation of the visitors to the
Chowan student body. The sec
ond visitor. Dr. Bruce Whitaker,
the Baptist Student Union Secre
tary of North Carolina, intro
duced Rev. Bradshaw.
Emory Byrum
Attends Meet
Emory Byrum of the Chowan
student body attended a special
meeting of the State Committee
of the Baptist Student Union in
Raleigh on Saturday,
December 3.
Byrum, a member of the
council, was named to the com
mittee which convened to study
purposes and functions of the
council and plan future activ
ities. The meeting, held in the
Biblical Recorder Building,
lasted from 9:30 in the morning
through 3:30 in the afternoon.
Board Gives Great
Stress to Social
Elements in Report
Chowan College will admit no
Negroes, the Board of Trustees
decided at their meeting on
Thursday, December 8.
The decision, in accordance
with the local option ruling of
the N. C. Baptist State Conven
tion, came as the first such
ruling in state Baptist col
leges, it is believed. Gardner-
Webb, which must soon make a
decision on the social problem,
already has a request for ad
mittance from a Negro student.
The trustees, given a green
light by the State Convention to
make their own decision on the
admittance, decided in the
words of their resolution: “to
not accept applications from the
Negro race”.
Laying great stress on the
general social requirements of
entrance, the resolution stated
that in order for a student to
be acceptable for entrance, he
imust be acceptable for full
membership in the local
churches of the N. C. Baptist
State Convention. This does not
mean a student must be a Bap
tist, but that he be “accept
able.
The board said that the ed
ucational pattern of Chowan
united social training with
academic development and that
the two must necessarily be con
sidered as a whole. It further
said that students must be of
the “social range to fit into the
life of the community”.
The Board also called atten
tion to the fact that Chowan is
supported by individual Baptist
churches and the ne a r b y
countryside. Other considera
tions for admittance remained
unchanged.
The committee for review of
applications for admittance was
set by the board as the acad
emic dean, the president of the
college, and head of one depart
ment to be named by the presi
dent and the dean.
A third provision of the re
solution said that any admiss
ion “which is doubtful in the
minds, of the above named ad
missions group would be re
ferred to the executive com
mittee of the Board of Trus
tees.”
College Plans for
New Rec Building
Chowan College will have a
new recreation building next
fall if present plans are real
ized, Dr. F. O. Mixon, president
of the college, announced re
cently.
The center which will meet
a long felt need on the campus,
will cost in the neighborhood
of $15,000 and will stand in the
vicinity of the old Science Build
ing. The building will be con
structed under the guidance of
Mr. J. A. Malcolm of Charlotte,
architect.
The building will include a
kitchen, a post office, a snack
bar, and two lounge rooms for
social functions on the campus.
The recreation center has
been approved but has not
reached a definite stage as yet,
Dr. Mixon said.