Inside
Ebony Fashion show ‘sizzles’
— page 4
Basketball prospects profiled
— page 11
Housing shortage
studied
— page 6
Campus Ufe:
on-campus vs.
off-campus
— page 6
Returning students:
why they come back
— page 7
The
Compass
)ecember 9, 1987 — Vol. 49, No. 2
Elizabeth City State University^ Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Circulation —1900
H
0
A'
U.S. losing black teachers,
says S.C.’s top educator
By Valerie Williams
and Becky Overton
Calling minority teachers “al
most an endangered species,”
Dr. Earline Simms told the ECSU
family on November 17 that
Black institutions are going to
have to take the lead in reversing
the trend.
“No one can save us, but us,”
said Dr. SimmS; the featured
speaker during ECSU’s Ameri
can Education Week Assembly in
Williams Hall Gym. “Please
wake up and understand what is
going on.”
Dr. Simms, Dean of the School
of Education at South Carolina
State University, said the Educa
tion Improvement Act required
all persons interested in teacher
education to take the National
Teacher Exam, but that minority
students aren’t passing the exam
as they should.
“As black educators we must
look at what is happening to the
black teacher.” Dr. Simms said.
“We’d better look at what’s hap
pening to our school system.”
Dr. Simms stressed that uni
versities will have to help rem
edy this problem.
“Don’t put the monkey on tiie
high schools’ backs. Every pro
fessor will have to be a reading
teacher, every professor will
have to be a writing teacher. We
can’t afford to graduate students
who cannot read.”
Dr. Simms, who was selected
as South Carolina’s Outstanding
Educator of the year for 1987-88,
is the editorial advisor for the
Journal for Teacher Education,
and a member of the American
Educators Research Association.
She has taught 4 years at the sec
ondary level and eighteen years
on the university level.
The theme for this year’s Na
tional Education Week was “We
the people...Building Dreams to
gether.”
Ms. Charlotte Hoyt, the 1987
Elizabeth City-Pasquotank
Photos by Richard Mclntire
Atleacia Stokes, Miss ECSU 1987-88, smiles for the
?crowd in the 1987 Homecoming Parade.
ECSU to
build new
center
By Becky Overton
Construction on ECSU’s
new student center wiU begin
in “mid-spring semester,”
aad university officials ex-
Jl>ect the center to be com
pleted in the fall of 1988.
The center will be located
between the Vaughn Center
and ttie University Center,
according to Dr. Leon White,
Director of Student Affairs,
An archway will connect the
pr^nt student center to the
new one.
The new center, which has
not yet been nam^, will con
tain a three or four lane bowl-
, alley. “The bowling alley
will have a glass wall that
overlooks the patio of the new
snack bar,” ^ite said.
“We haven’t thought of a
design for the new snack
bar ” White added, “but we
hope to give it a ViMng look.”
ECSU’s new student center
will also feature two handball
courts, showers, and an office
for staff persons.
The center was designed by
Raleigh archit«:t Sam Ash
ford, who also designed EC
SU’s Computer Lab, and the
renovations for Moore Hall.
White said that although
there are no funds presently
available for renovating the
University Center, ECSU
plans to provide new equip
ment for the game room.
University officials are con
sidering “knocking down toe
wall of the snack bar,” White
said, and building a pizza par
lor which would be named
“New Edition.”
See Homecoming
inside on page 8.
Chancellor Jenkins presents an honorary Doctor of Let
ters degree to Jheryl Busby, president of talent acquisi
tions and artistic development at MCA Records.
Trustees approve residence hall
Jenkins envisions a
‘new face’ for ECSU
By Lisa Gregory
“By our Centennial we will
have a transformed campus,”
said Dr. Jimmy Jenkins, Chan
cellor of ECSU. “It will not be the
same campus that our graduates
knew five years ago.”
In a recent interview, Dr. Jen
kins expressed great pride in the
developmental projects that are
taking place, and are yet to
come, at the University.
Jenkins said that he hopes the
renovations will be completed by
1991, the one-hundredth anniver
sary of the university.
The renovation of Johnson
Hall should be complete by Au
gust, 1988, Jenkins said, and will
reflect some significant and eye
catching changes. The Division
of General Studies will no longer
be in Johnson Hall. And there will
be an outside extension added to
the building in which art instruc
tors and art majors can work on
projects such as sculptures,
painting and drawings.
The Departments of Art and of
Language, Literature and Com
munication, now located in the
old Thorpe Hall, will be back in
Johnson Hall, when the renova
tion is complete.
“We know absolutely that
Moore Hall will be ready for the
spring semester,” said Jenkins.
“I also feel that we will have
state approval to move the stu
dents out of the trailers before
the end of the semester.”
The Chancellor said he was
concerned about the trailers be
ing used as classrooms. “From
all indications I’ve gotten it is
really bad, but it was the only so
lution that we had at the time.
“We are seeking state approval
to use the second floor of Moore
The new science building is
now being redesigned to remove
some of the more expensive ex
tras that are present in the first
draft, Jenkins said. The ground
breaking will take place during
the beginning of the spring se
mester.
The new science building will
be located near Lester Hall. It
will have a parking lot and an en
trance off Hoffler Road
our Centennial we will have a
transformed campus.
Chancellor Jenkins
Hall, because it is complete right
now,” Jenkins continued. “I’m
hoping that by the end of this se
mester, we will be able to begin
moving students out of the trail
ers and into the renovated class
room spaces in Moore Hall.”
Moore Hall is already equipped
with heat, lights and carpeting. It
will house the Division of General
Studies, the Social Sciences De
partment and the Business De
partment.
“The new science building is
still very much on track,” said
Dr. Jenkins. “We have two bids
on the building, and each bid has
been something like $700,000 or
$800,000 over the amount that was
appropriated for the building.
That’s been our hold-up.”
County Teacher of the Year, also
spoke during the assembly. “The
successful person remembers
yesterday with pride, and lives
tomorrow with enthusiasm,” Ms.
Hoyt said.
Dr. Jimmy Jenkins, ECSU
Chancellor, presented Jherly
Busby with an honorary degree,
doctor of humane letters, in rec
ognition of Busby’s accomplish
ments. Busby is Executive Vice
President of Talent Acquisition
and Artist Development at MCA
Records.
“This is truly a growth period
for blacks in our industry,”
Busby said. “But without the ba
sic foundation of education, we
have nothing to build upon.”
get high on you^
Toma tells youths
By Steve Smith
“If you don’t believe it’s hap
pening in your schools, you have
your heads in the sand. I saw a
third grader who had been smok
ing pot since first grade. It’s sick-
-I’m talking about your brothers
and sisters!”
This was part of the powerful
message David Toma brought to
area sixth through twelfth grad
ers at ECSU’s Vaughan Center
October 27.
Toma is a former policeman
from Newark, New Jersey who
now spends his time speaking to
students about the dangers of
drug abuse. The television series
“Toma” and “Baretta” were
based on his life.
Toma said he became disillu
sioned wih his department, which
he said just wanted him to make
arrests. “I asked my boss why we
didn’t teach the kids before we
arrested them,” Toma said. “He
just told me to make those ar
rests—that shows where our prio
rities were.”
Toma, said he wanted to find
out why so many kids were get
ting locked up. “I spent a year in
the gutter with alcoholics and
drug addicts. I listened to those
kids.”
After he could not save his five-
year-old son from choking to
death, Toma said he had a ner
vous breakdown and started tak
ing drugs to forget. “I started
playing a game with the tranquil
izers. I was taking over 100 a
day!”
Toma said he finally beat the
drug habit and felt the need to
share his knowledge about the
dangers of drugs. At first he said
no one wanted to hear what he
was saying. “The mob threat
ened me and my kids.”
Toma recounted some of the
heartaches he had seen drugs
cause. His accounts of young peo
ple’s lives being destroyed by
drugs brought tears to the eyes of
many members of the audience.
Toma said the most important
thing is education. “How can you
teach kids in school when they’re
getting high?” he asked. “The
only way to stop this mess is to
educate them here. The problem
is that most people don’t give a
damn. Too many people are play
ing games with your kid’s
heads.”
Toma ended with a plea for
those using drugs to try and get
help. “Now is the time to save
your life! Quit for yourself and be
proud of being clean.”
Before leaving the stage to a
thunderous round of applause
Toma said, “This is a high, baby,
right now! I don’t need drugs, I
get high on you.”
Dr. Jenkins said that the next
step is to process the necessary
paperwork that will show how the
project will be financed.
He said ,too,the facility should
be complete within the next three
years, and that it hasn’t yet been
decided whether the new resi
dence hall will house males, fe
males, or be co-ed.
“Soon there will be no building
on campus where someone could
say...that old uncomfortable
building,” the Chancellor said.
“Yes, there will be older build
ings, but they will be state of the
art in terms of efficiency.
“In a short time ECSU will
have a brand new face.”
Elgea Harris (standing) and Moochie Gibbs put some
finishing touches on Moore Hall. Both men are employ
ees of Southeastern Professional Coating, Inc.