Newspapers / Elizabeth City State University … / May 1, 1969, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE 2 THE COMPASS may, 1969 m ECSC GETS INTO THE ACT With the violent erup tions which have occurred on the university and col lege campuses of our na tion, I feel that some of our Vikings, although few in number, have felt that ECSC has needed to get into the act. Consequent ly we have had some vio lent eruptions on our campus during the course of the last month. What was the cause for such action on our cam pus? We were all aware of the proposals which the members of our student council were in the pro- THE BASIS FOR UNREST AT FXSC The college is now faced with many prob lems concerning the re cent stage of unrest here at ECSC. What was the basis for such unrest, which seemed to be fresh men centered? Freshmen come to ECSC and are constantly pressured with various types of circumstances,a numerous amount of which are depressing. They may be disappointed to find their classes too full, they may be forced to take remedial English, they may have financial problems, they may have roommates who are not to their liking or they may find that their cur few hours are just not favorable to them.These adjustment difficulties are only a few of those which freshmen exper ience. Sohowcan we real ly expect them to endure without voicing their opinions. When freshmen enter a college they bring with them new ideas, better insights into present day problems and numerous modes of change. They seek to develop the bet terment of our institu tion through change. And we should realize that this goal of these stu dents is not new. It is really one which was once possessed by our sopho mores, juniors and sen iors when they were freshmen. Because our freshmen see a need for change at ECSC on a large scale, they complain and complain earnestly. These complaints of our freshmen need to be clearly understood. And together as a college fam- cess of having passed by the Advisory Committee. But the student body did not run into conflict in having these proposals approved. And they did not advocate a need for such actions. In fact, the pro posals were approved be fore these disturbances broke out. So this couldn’t have been the basis for the violence. In looking at the situation clearly, I see no just cause for these incidents which occurred. It seems that the slight fire damage to our office of maintenance and the raid of the freshman girl’s dormitory, were merely done by some in dividuals who wanted to put ECSC in the news along with the other col leges and universities. But unlike us those other colleges and universities had just reasons for their protests and demonstra tions. These disruptions which have occurred should help us realize that we must carefully ex amine the schools of thoughts behind these movements to which we lend ourselves. We should try to see to what ends our actions may lead. Most of all, I feel that we should always have a meaningful and just cause for our ac tions. Let it not be said of us that we act vio lently without cause. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Faculty Member Speaks Out LackOf Unity Or Lack Of Communications ^ ^ .. saying was that issues by Mr. Arun Sinha In the last issue of the COMPASS, the edi torial stressed the need for unity among students. I have attempted in this article to show that the basic problem is not dis unity but lack of com munication. Let us look at the first student government meeting of this semester. The students came away from the meeting dis appointed. Almost all of them were depressed by the fact that nothing had been accomplished and that an apparent division existed wiAin the student body. The question that was running through every student’s mind was, “Why are we so disunit ed?” A major cause, in my opinion was the absence of communication among the students. They all had grievances, some of them were genuine, some were not, some of them were major ones, others were not, but regardless of the nature of those griev ances, it became increas ingly clear, that the stu dents had not discussed the issues even among themselves. So tightly blocked were ±e chan nels of communication between the students dur ing the meeting. My rea- Letter To The Editor Dear Edior: The problem I wish to present is not one in which I am asking you to solve, but I am writing, feeling you could help by pub lishing it in the campus newspaper. Perhaps it will be read by an au thority from the appro priate source. On page 60 of the col lege bulletin concerning course load, you will find: A regular full-time student must register for a minimum of 12 se mester hours. On page 61: A student registered for less than 12 hours or equivalent is classi fied as a part-time stu dent. On page 72: Course loads of 8 se mester hours or more will bear the full-time tuition charge. Fee as sessments for part-time students and Special Stu dents are adjusted. On page 65: No student taking less than 12 hours will be considered for Dean’s List or the Honor Roll. What I am in question about is why a part-time student carrying 8 to 11 semester hours, charged as a full-time student is not recognized on the Honor Roll or Dean’s List? This seems unfair to me and also to others who fall in this situation.May I have a reply from an ily we must reason out these complaints. As time changes so does the general ideas of the students here at ECSC. To meet the de mands of these students we must try to compro mise in order to bring progress to our campus. authority on this ques tion? Sincerely, Yvonne R. Johnson Dear Miss Johnson: To answer your ques tion we went to a reliable source, Mr. Thomas L. Carter, Acting Dean of our college. He furnished us with the answer to your question. He stated that students carrying from 8-11 semester hours who are charged as full time students are not recognized on the Honor Roll or Dean’s List be cause, it is felt by some that it is unfair to give one student who has a large load of 16 hours, the honor of being on the honor roll or Dean’s List if he so deserves it and if another student who has a small load of 8 hours of this honor. One cannot expect the same performance from each student. It is thought that you will agree that it Is fairly easy for a student who carries 8 hours to ob tain a 3.50 or 3.00 aver age than for a student who carries 16 hours. Mr. Carter felt that it was certainly en couraging to find students using sources readily a- vailable to them to ob tain information and to find them questioning this information when it is not clear of when its intent appears prejudicial. It was only 25 years ago, we were told that we weren’t as smart as our parents. Today, we are told we aren’t as smart as our kids. Something must have gone wrong some where !—John Maverick, The Cherryvale (Kans.) Republi can. sons for believing this are two fold: The first is the emotional rather than the intellectual na ture of the meeting. The meeting consisted mainly of emotional out-bursts, instead of intelligent questions and answers, displayed in a manner that would help students find solutions to their problems. The emotional nature of the meeting proved to me that com munication between stu dents was non-existent and all of a sudden they had found a place to give vent to feelings which had been bottled up inside them for sometime. The second reason for my beliefs springs from what I observed after the student government meeting. After the meet ing the students gather ed together in groups for further discussion. I hap pened to be with some such groups in the Light- House Center. One con cerned student told me that on several occasions he had tried to talk to other students about our problems but had met with silence, indicating a dis trust between students— distrust fostered by lack of communication. An other incident further confirmed my belief. Two students, in the course of their conversation, sud denly discovered that their views were in ac cord; they had never been able to discuss it and find out others viewpoints. Another example of the lack of communication is the differences that exist between the freshmen and upper-classmen. Some of those differences are nat ural, arising from the dif ferences in outlooks of a freshman and, say, a sen ior. But there are other differences which can be attributed to a lack of communication. One jun ior told me that the rea son he did not participate in the activities of the student government was because the only two things that he ever heard discussed were longer hours for the women stu dents and the lack of good food. He wanted, and rightly so, the body to discuss the problems of the academic area too. In ess^ce what he was it’s worth . . .” THE COMPASS For Students and Alumni |:j: Published by iji: STATE COLLEGE NEWSPAPER STAFF Elizabeth City, N. C. X Members: Columbia Scholastic Press Association relevant to only one sec tion of the student body were discussed, and those that were relevant to him, were not. Now, had there been greater communica tion between the students these differences could have been resolved. Thus there would result great er participation in the af fairs of the student gov ernment. I feel, therefore,that the factors which were taken as indicators of dis unity were nothing but the first sparks of com munication. So the first great need, is not for re form but for resumption of communication, both verbal and written. Stu dents must begin talking to each other, and ex changing ideas. The stu dent government can help in this area by holding regular bi-weekly meet ings. The medium for writ ten communication is provided for by your COMPASS, although it has not been exploited to its fullest extent. Some stu dents have complained to m e that one of the reasons why it has not been used is because of censorship. If this is the reason,why haven’t the students not made a concerted effort to get rid of it. And how many students have ever even bothered to write an article, or express an opinion in the paper and have it turned down. — not very many, lam sure. I, as a new faculty member who is not thor oughly familiar with all of the workings of the col lege, would welcome crit icism and comments on this essay. My Neighbors ‘Now, my opinion, for what PRESS vEditor-in-chief .....Charlotte A. Riddick::: •ijAssociate Editor Lillian RiggS;;: Feature Editor Mildred McCaffityj Staff Writers Velmar Rountree, Audrey:j; Council, Delia Jones:::; y^ypists.. Eugene Spellman and::;. Kaesbla Phillips|:;: :;:Circulation. Edith Spence;:j ijiPhotographers Roosevelt Wright, Jr.::j: iji William Briggs, Deltony: Boyd, and Javon Brothers-:; ijlAdvisor Mr. Leonard Ballou:;: J-: Opinions expressed in articles are not necessaryg j;: those of COMPif\SS or the College. :•;
Elizabeth City State University Student Newspaper
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May 1, 1969, edition 1
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