Homecoming:
'
ECSU grooves
ipith "Smooth
Operator"
Page 11
INSIDE
Coronation:
Dreams are
made of
this...page 10
Assessment
Tests:
A Special Report
Page 5
March on Washington-
page 8
Crimes of the Heart
A Review—^page 6
\/o/ 6/ /
THE COMPASS
Vol. 59r^'*er5
Circulation 2000
ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY
Elizabeth City, N.C
Thursday, October 19,1989
I
New UNC admission policies
to reduce black enrollment
Mr. & Ms. Lab. School, Keith Wilson, Jr. and Shaquitta M. Brown,
register expressions of excitement and anxiety during the coronation
ofMissESCU Gail T. Hall. For more Coronation pageantry , turn to
page 10.
Caldwell appointed
new vice chancellor
By Kimberley Robinson
In a time of increased competition
among colleges and universities for
the best students, ECSU faces an even
tougher challenge to recruit new stu
dents, due to General Administration’s
new minimum admission require
ments.
Beginning in 1990, General Ad
ministration is requiring all students
who attend schools in the UNC sys
tem to have completed core courses
required in college-bound academic
programs. The required courses in
cluding four units of English, algebra
one and two and geometry, three units
of science, a laboratory course, and
two courses in social studies.
Although there are certain excep
tions to these requirements, as a gen
eral rule, students who do not meet
these requirements will not be admit
ted to ECSU.
“The new UNC policies will have
a dramatic impact on the fail 1990
recruitmentefforts," saidECSU Chan
cellor Dr. Jimmy Jenkins. “The poli
cies will especially affect black stu
dents.
“This will mean fewer black stu
dents going to college and fewer ones
coming here, because the top colleges
will be getting the better students,
often only because of their location.
“The new UNC policies will have a
dramatic impact on the fall 1990 recruitment
ejforts. The policies will especially affect black
students ”
Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins
Many of these schools are in the
metropolitan areas and can offer bet
ter and higher-paying jobs.
“The main problem ECSU will face
in recruiting new students is com
petition,” Jenkins said, adding that the
new policy would also mean a higher
percentage of white students attend
ing the school.
“White students tend to be on track
in high school,” Jenkins said, “and
black students tend not to be. The
ninth grade black student sitting in
class now will be at a disadvantage, as
a result of these new policies.
“Because 47% of black students in
Eastern N.C. are not on track, that
means the overall pool will be smaller,
especially for black students.”
This freshmen class at ECSU had
26.6% white students, Jenkins said.
To respond to the challenge, the
University will become “more cre
ative,” the Chancellor said.
“We will be going into the com
munities, into churches and into the
malls to recruit students. Both faculty
and staff will be doing this. And we
will have to recruit out of state and in
our local areas.”
Jenkins said the University was
allotted 17% out of state students, but
currently has 12% out-of-state stu
dents. “So we can increase the out-of-
state group.”
University faculty and staff will
also be conducting workshops with
high school guidance counsellors,
Jenkins said, and school officials will
expand recruitment efforts through
alumni. He said the University will
also be working to improve area stu
dent’s test-taking skills.
“Last year we had a thousand par
ticipants in the SAT workshops,”
Jenkins said. “We’ll increase that this
year.”
The SAT workshops, offered at
ECSU for high school students who
want to improve their scores, arc
guaranteed to result in a 50 point in
crease, Jenkins said.
General Administration currently
requires a minimum score of 600 on
the Scholastic Aptitude Test This
minimum score, in effect this year,
has also adversely affected recruitment
efforts, according to Jenkins. “More
than 30% of our applicants last year
had SAT scores below 600.”
The new policies “are something
we have to live by,” the Chancellor
said. “They’reprojected all across the
state.”
Despite the looming problems with
recruitment, Jenkins said the Univer
sity has the highest full-time equiva
lent enrollment in the history of the
school. Full-time equivalent (Fi b) is
enrollment expressed in the total
number of hours taken.
This year’s FTE is 1641 students,
Jenkins said.
Although the University’s fresh
men enrollment has declined due to
the tough new admission policies,
overall enrollment at ECSU is up
because of a higher retention rate,
(73%). “We retained enough students
to make up the difference,” Jenkins
said.
By Trina Coleman
Chancellor Jimmy Jenkins has
ointed Dr. Helen Caldwell as Vice
.ancellor for Academic Affairs at
Elizabeth City State University.
Caldwell had been acting Vice
Chancellor, replacing Dr. Johnny
Houston who resigned in August,
1988. Caldwell, whose appoinunent
as Vice Chancellor, caps a 35-year
career at ECSU, is the first woman to
hold the position at ECSU, and the
third woman in the UNC system to
serve as vice-chancellor for academic
affairs.
ECSU’s new academic adminis
trator summed up her philosophy of
life with, “If you wish to be successful
small things must be done well in
order to succeed.”
Slie plans “to promote a dynamic
academic climate at ECSU where
faculty and students are the fulcrum
of a scholarly community, and the
most exciting activities on campus
occur in the classes and in the library.”
Caldwell said the new acadcmic
climate will allow “everything else to
fall into place, because academic in
tegrity will be the measuring rod by
which all activities are designed and
executed.”
Her three top priorities for aca
demics at ECSU are curriculum
growth, expansion of majors, and
providing more scholarships for tal
ented students, Caldwell said. She also
wants to help students sharpen thier
abilities in critical thinking.
Prior to her appointment, Caldwell
was Director of General College and
a professor in the Department of Lan
guage, Literature and Communica
tion.
Caldwell described her “greatest
challenge” in her new position as being
able to have a positive effect on the
rapid growth taking place at ECSU.
“The University is growing in so
many ways. It’s a well- kept secret
that we have done a tremendous job
academically. The students, faculty,
curriculum, and acadcmic affairs are
the direct centcr, so to be able to
impact that at this stage of ECSU’s
history is a challenge and an absolute
reward.”
dtaHMMj
Compass wins first
in national contest
Dr. Helen Caldwell, ECSU’s new Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs,
Caldwell said she sees more chal
lenges facing the University than
problems.
"We have the means to meet the
problems. We just have the challenge
to use, promote and develop the po
tential of the University.
"I know you've heard the Chancel
lor say. We are the rising star in the
northeast. Well, we have the chal
lenge of seeing that we move with
that, and move with it well.
Caldwell has a B.A. in English
Hew science complex ready
to open for spring semester
t • ,.1 —rxty r\ T/a
Teaching from Virginia State Uni
versity, an M.A. in speech pathology
from New York University, and a
Doctorate in speech pathology from
George Washington University.
Her hobbies are reading, traveling
and gardening.
Caldwell described her greatest
achievement as “rearing a successful
child, being a successful wife, having
a good marriage, and being able to
maintain a professional and private
life.”
State-of-the-Art
By Craig Avondo
For the second year in a row. The
Compass, ECSU’s student newspa
per, has won a first place award in the
Columbia Scholastic Press Associa
tion’s semi-annual contest.
“The award is a pleasant pay back
for all the hours of hard work,” said
former Compass Editor Robin Saw
yer. “Winning a national honor like
that reflects well on the staff, the
Department of Language, Liter-ature
and Communication, and the entire
University.”
The award, for issues from the
1988-89 schoolyear, included a spe
cial newspaper critique analyzing the
paper’s strengths and areas that need
improvement.
Judges praised the student news
paper for containing, “tightly written
leads, great attribution and well-exe-
cuted ideas in an attractive package.”
The Compass also re-ceived high
scores on its objectivity in reporting,
use of research to pro-vide depth to
the topic, liveliness of writing style,
and use of action photography and
graphic art.
Judges gave the newspaper high or
perfect scores in several categories of
hard news coverage, including back
ground research, multiple sources,
careful organiza-tion and accuracy.
To improve the publication judges
recommended more in depth report
ing, more film and record reviews,
greater use of opinion polls, more
frequent issues and more advertising.
Newspapers participating in the
national contest are classified ac-cord-
ing to frequency of publication, en
rollment size of the college or univer
sity, and whether the news-paper is
from a two-year or four-year institu
tion. Newspapers are evaluated on
content, presentation and general
operations.
The Compass is published by the
Department of Language, Literature
and Communication, Dr. Anne Hen
derson Chairperson. Stephen March
served as faculty advisor during the
period covered by the award.
The Columbia Scholastic Press
Association, a department of Col
umbia University in New York, was
established in 1924 to help improve
student publications.
By Tammy Taylor
Elizabeth City State University’s
new $5.7 million science building is
scheduled to be completed in Novem-
and open for classes in the spring,
according to Chancellor Dr. Jimmy
Jsnkins.
“The new facility will be a show-
Place that will greatly enhance the
campus,” Jenkins said. “The new
facility will also serve to recruit young
^ds from all around the Northeastern
North Carolina and Tidewater area, to
to theUniversity and gain knowl-
It is state of the art.”
lenkins said the new science com-
Plex “will help the University do a
^tter job of educating, recruiting and
graduating scientists. The building will
create a new image that will be
synonymous with the University.” The
new science complex, fronting on
Hoffler Street, will house a planetar-
aquarium, greenhouse and labo
ratories.
“In addition to helping students
learn about marine life, the aquarium
will also give students an opportunity
to gain hands on experience equal to
any other science facility in the na
tion,” Jenkins said. “The aquarium
will allow students from other schools
to take field trips here, with our stu
dents serving as guides to explain
what they see when they tour the
building.”
The planetarium will allow stu
dents to understand astronomy and
thegalaxy, said Jenkins, and the green
house will allow the university “to
maintain all kinds of plant life and
other projects involving flowers for
various occasions.”
Jenkins said the new science com
plex will enable the University to at
tract more people in the science area,
and “will have a positive impact on
where students want to attend col
lege.”
The new building will also help
reverse the decline in minorities choos
ing the sciences as a career, Jenkins
said. “Many students are scared when
considering the idea of going into the
sciences.
“The new science complex is not
just designed for the present,” the
Chancellor continued, “but the future
as well,” adding that it has a reinforced
area to accommodate special equip
ment, such as electron microscopes.
Roger McLean, Vice Chancellor
for Business and Finance, said the
new science complex “is the best you
can get in science facilities. Having a
facility of this nature will bring about
a better teaching and learning atmos
phere.”
Jenkins said the state funded $5
million for the building, and the fed
eral government provided S7(X),0(X).
Next on the schedule is a new fine
arts and communications building, the
Chancellor said.
“In a couple of years, this new fme
arts building will probably be the most
expensive building on campus.
ECSU's new “state-of-the-art” Science Complex on Hoffler Street wHI be open this spring. Administrators
say the complex will attract nwre science students to the University.