Happy Holidays! ^
Sltje (CamftaBB
Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
December 1986 - Vol./2^, No. 2
Circulaton -1500
Gwendora Baxter, 20-year-old ECSU student from Roper, N.C., is lost In the stacks at the B.R. Little Library. With exams
next week, it seems a good place to prepare for the last week of fail semester before Christmas break. Residence hails
open again January 7,1987, with the first offlcial day of spring semester classes ischednied for Monday. January 12.
ECSU fraternity chapter,
Hopellne co-sponsors
for puppet show
By Lynne Chapman
Staff Writer
Members of Alpha Psi
Omega, ECSU’s drama fra
ternity, are organizing a
Spring 1987 puppet show for
children about molestation in
cooperation with the Albe
marle Hopeline. A similar
show went to elementary
schools in the area for a trial
run and was very successful.
The Albemarle Hopeline
was established in 1981 and
has three basic areas of fo
cus. The first area is the shel
ter, a home in Elizabeth City
that houses up to twelve
women and children. The oc
cupants are victims of moles
tation and other forms of do
mestic violence. The shelter
is run by three full-time staff
members; Pat Symons, Pat
Kepler and Pat Gibbs, with
assistance from community
volunteers.
The second area of interest
is the 24-hour crisis line. The
crisis line is confidential and
will offer assistance to any
one who is in need. In dealing
with a rape victim, for in
stance, the victim is encour
aged to get a medical exami
nation and seek legal aid. If
the victim does not wish to
follow this procedure, coun
seling and shelter is still
available. If the victim does
wish to go to court, one of the
staff members will assist her
throughout the ordeal.
The third area of focus for
the Hopeline is their counsel
ing service for the families of
a molested child. The child is
often handled by a separate
agency, but the families and
close relatives of these chil
dren often need help.
If you or anyone you know
needs help with a problem,
call the Crisis Line at 338-3011.
Awaits vote by General Assembly
Proposal would raise
NTE standards
for all N.C. colleges
By Robin Sawyer
Associate Editor
ECSU chapter needs members;
NAACP plans drive
By Steve Smith
Co-Editor
Last year the campus was
abuzz with talk of starting a
chapter of the NAACP (Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored Peo-
Ple), but there has been no
evidence that one was ever
started. People were wonder
ing why the campus didn’t
have a chapter.
Actually, the campus has
had an NAACP chapter for
years, according to Myrtle
Rivers, advisor for the cam-
pus chapter. However, the
chapter had only about 30
members. According to Riv
ers a chapter has to have 50
members before it can get a
charter of its own.
“The chapter has been here
a long time” Rivers said.
“But since we don’t have 50
members, we’ve had to func
tion under the Pasquotank
County branch.”
According to Rivers, hav
ing to function as part of the
Pasquotank County branch
causes some inconveniences.
“We have to go through the
county branch for any ideas,”
she said. “We can’t go on our
own if we have any com
plaints.”
Rivers said that since they
lost so many members to
graduation last year, they
have not organized this fiscal
year. “It’s like having to start
all over,” she said.
Although they lost so many
people to graduation. Rivers
said they will try to get more
members starting in January
1987.
“Dues for one year for col
lege students cost only $5,”
Rivers said.
Anyone interested in join
ing the NAACP should con
tact Mrs. Rivers at the Busi-
ness Office, campus
extension 216 (335-3216).
Tougher standards for
ECSU education majors may
result from a study by a Task
Force on Teacher Prepara
tion according to Gladys
Graves, who spoke to the as
sembly on campus during
American Education Week,
November 18. Graves, is
president-elect of the North
Carolina Association of Edu
cators (NCAE) and served on
the task force.
The Task Force, commis
sioned by the Governor, has
released its 12-month, 137-
page report calling for re
forms in teacher education
programs, improvements to
the Quality Assurance Pro
gram, incentive programs to
attract and retain teachers,
and funds for continuing pro
fessional development. The
University of North Carolina
Board of Govenors voted No
vember 15 to adopt yhe rec
ommendations of the Task
Force. The report now goes to
the General Assembly.
An area of concern is the re
quirement that all of North
Carolina’s 44 colleges with
teacher’s education pro
grams receive national ac
creditation and maintain a
minimiun 70 percent pass
rate rate on the third part of
the National Teacher Ex-
am(NTE). ECSU is one of
twelve schools that had less
than 70 percent of its students
pass the NTE in October 1985.
The others were Pembroke
State University, Elon Col
lege, Winston-Salem State
University, Fayetteville State
University, Wingate College,
N.C. A&T University,, N.C
Central University, Shaw
University, Johnson C. Smith
University, Bennett College,
and St. Augustine’s College.
Should the General Assem
bly adopt the task force’s re
port as written, then ECSU
and the other schools will
have to have at least a 70 per
cent passing rate on the OTE
by 1990. To facilitate this re-
quiremnet, the State Board of
Education would allocate
$300,000 for the 1987-88 school
year for reforms of the tea
cher education program,
mandating score require
ments on the first two sec
tions of the NTE be raised
from the current level, ap-
The majority of the schools
with unsatisfactory pass ra
tios are historically predomi
nantly black universities
according to Graves and sim
ilar situations have occurred
in the N.C. A&T nursing pro
gram and the N.C.Central
law school, and at Grambling
University.
“Their students were not
passing their tests. So they
started doing some investi
gating,” according to Graves,
“and decided to put more
money into teachereducation
departments. The faculty
members had a greater com
mittment because it was a
case of ‘if you do not produce,
you’re not going to stay here.’
There has to be a recognition
that if our students are not
passing, then it must be
something that we’re doing
wrong. The fact is that if
you’re going to teach in North
Carolina, you’ve got to pass
the test (NTE). And let’s stop
using the excuse that black
kids can’t pass the test. Black
kids do pass the test-I passed
the test!”
Bradys Graves
Another recommendation
of the task force deals with
the appointment of a Profes
sional Practices Commission.
The Commission would in
clude a “minimum of four
teen members of whom at
least 50 percent must be tea
chers.”
Other professions set their
own standards according to
Graves, including medicine
and law, but teachers have no
control over their profession.
“We’re saying give me a
board made up of educators-
50 percent of them being fac-
ulty-not people like me, but
praticing educators who
would say these are the stan
dards that we think teachers
ought to have for entering the
profession.”
The package as proposed
by the task force would cost
$12.5 million over a six-year
period. The most expensive
item would be in the area of
incentive programs to attract
and retain teachers. One sug-
gestionwould cost $3.5 million
between 1988-92, and calls for
the establishment of a merit
scholarship program for ris
ing college juniors and se
niors to pursue teacher edu
cation and a teaching career
in a high demand area. The
allottment would also provide
funds which would be used to
pay for leaves and schol
arships for summer school
study by classroom teachers.
An ad^tional $2.3 million
would be spent for the revita
lization of faculty. This
money would provide oppor
tunities for “special Summer
Institutes to be established by
the North Carolina Center of
the Advancement of Teach
ing.” These programs would
be for current and prospec
tive teacher educators “ to
strengthen the knowledge and
abilities necessary to partici
pate effectively as members
of a teachers education pro
gram faculty and to stay
abreast of new teaching tech
niques and issues in educa
tion.”
The task Force chose not to
support the call for a change
to a required five or six year
education degree because,
according to Graves, “ More
is not necessarily better.”
While the task force on Tea
cher Preparation has com
pleted its report, the final de
cision on its adoption,
including the appropriation of
the necessary funds to imple
ment the programs, rests
with General Assembly.
Whether it will be adopted as
written remains to be seen,
but Graves believes that its
chances are good. She said,
“Supposedly since this idea
was conceived by the legis
lature and received the Gove-
nor’s support, the support of
the Speaker of the House and
most of the legislators, there
fore, the General Assembly
should be receptive.
Km on Amartean Eduatlaa Waak
paga 3
ECSU OK KMTIOHAl T¥
On October 31, at 8:40 a.m., the Today morning show spotlighted ECSU. Elnora Lin
ton, ECSU public relations director, arranged to make Willard Scott, the Today
Show's jovial weatherman, an honorary Viking. Scott also gave Bryant Gumbel, co
anchor of the Today Show, a Viking sweatshirt during the show.