SPORTS
Can Mackey
«cook ap» a
championship?
—page 6
INSIDE
Music in her Heart:
ECSU's First
Female Drum
Major
—page 3
Corti^aiion 1990-1991:
Ahjnchmted evening —page 4
Havpu # !Ho[icCcwsl
^ rr-/ ^ ^
/
THE COMPASS
Vol. 52, No. 2
Tirculation 2000
ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY
Elizabeth City, N.C.
Friday, December 7,1990
Middle East crisis hits home at ECSU
By Kimberley Robinson
The crisis in the Middle East is
already touching the lives of ECSU
students. At least two students have
been called to serve in the Gulf, and
more may follow.
Senior Rick Brumsey left for Sau-
dia Arabia Nov. 23, after being called
up on Wednesday. Brumsey, a Marine
Reservist from Currituck, said he
didn’t mind going.
“I know it’s my duty to go,” he
said, pointing out that he has taken the
oath, “that I would serve my country.”
Senior Darryl Brown received
notice Nov. 23 from his Company
Commander that his unit was being
moblized to go to Saudia Arabia.
"All I could do was stare," said
Brown. "I just wanted to sit in the
comer and think.
"I'm not going to lie," Brown added.
"My heart is pumping sludge."
Brown said he felt prepared for the
hardships of the desert, however.
"For the last few months this is
what we have been training for. We've
been preparing for chemical attacks
and desert nagivation and survival.”
Another ECSU student, Kelvin
Jones, is on call and could leave for
the Middle East any minute. He is a
lieutenant in the Army Reserves.
Still other students are dealing with
the stress and tension of having family
members already serving in the Gulf.
Senior Robert Peele, a newly
commissioned second lieutenant in
the Army, said he has a sister and a
brother in Saudia Arabia, both mem
bers of the Army Reserves. His brother
and sister have a total of three chil
dren, 11,6, and 4 months.
“There’s a lot of tension in the
family,” said Peele.’There’s sadness
and anger, too. Everytime I’m home
my mother wishes they hadn’t gone
into the Army.
“We often wonder what’s going to
happen or what we’re going to do.”
Peele said his school work has
declined because his sister has two
children, and “I have to spend time
keeping a check on them. My mind is
always on them.”
Although Peele said he doesn’t
think war is the answer to solve the
problems in the Middle East, he added,
“If duty calls, I will go.”
Jones also said he was ready to go,
if called.
“While I hope a peaceful resolu
tion will be reached,” he added, “I
think the President acted in the best
interest of this country by immedi
ately dispatching troops to Saudia
Arabia,” he said.
Jones said the crisis, “is not just
about oil, it’s about Iraq’s aggression
which is not just a chdlenge to the
security of other nations in the Gulf,
but to the better world that we all hope
to build in the Post Cold War era.
Aggression such as this should not be
tolerated in this day and time.
“I’m a commissioned officer. I
have taken an oath to be so. This is the
profession and the occupation that I
have chosen. It is my responsibility to
readily go if called.”
Jones said his family was “a htde
apprehensive” about the possibility of
his going to war.
“I have a lot of friends who I have
grown up with aheady over there, and
I’m praying for them to come back
safely,” he added.
Jones said he didn’tthink the crisis
had built to where students should
have to drop out of school to serve in
the Gulf.
Other recent ECSU graduates who
are already serving in the Middle East;
Lt. Jemete Smith, Lt. Edward Dean,
Lt. Donnell Shaw, Lt. Tracy Win-
boume, and LL Washington Lyons.
Dr. Leon White, Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs, said he could not
reveal the actual number of students
who had withdrawn to serve in the
Middle East without the students’
permission.
White did, however, explain how
he handled the problem.
“First we sit down and counsel the
student If more than 50% of the
semester has gone by, we try to sal
vage the semester, and let them re
ceive I’s, and make up the work. If it’s
the beginning of the semester, they
can withdraw from school.
“Students can aR)ly for an exten
sion,” he said.
Photo by Jackie Rountree
Education called 'key to survival'
by Howard University president
By Kimberley Robinson
‘The U.S. is in the middle of a
silent war,” Dr. Franklyn G. Jenifer
told the ECSU family during the
American Education Week Assembly
held Nov. 15 in Moore Hall Audito
rium.
Jenifer, President of Howard Uni
versity in Washington, D.C., was guest
speaker at the event.
Pointing out that the U.S. is on the
verge of a war in the Middle East,
Jenifer said, “We should also know
we are in another war. We don’t see
the dead bodies coming home, butthis
war is just as deadly for Americans as
the war we are about to get in.”
The war, said Jenifer, involves the
struggle of people to survive in a soci
ety that has shifted from “one based on
muscle to one based on brain.”
Once, the nation was based on
manufacturing, said Jenifer, but today
it is based on intelligence and service.
“Our industrial society has gone to
an information society,” he contin
ued. “ People who are poor and unedu
cated will remain that way if they do
not seek help through education.
Education is the window of opportu
nity.
“For us to surviye it is essential that
we train all of our people. We must do
what we do best and do it in a grand
fashion. As you look at corporate
America, things are changing. We
must step through the window. We
have great music, but no jobs. Be chal
lenged ECSU, to step forward with
the right soldiers.”
The information society has a much
weaker economic base, said Jenifer,
who pointed out that in 1980 the na
tion “was the largest creditor nation in
the world” with a budget balance of
$120 billion.
Six years later, however, “we were
the largest debtor nation, owing the
rest of the world $240 billion.”
If you divide up the country’s defi
cit, said Jenifer, that means each per
son owes $35,000.
Jones said demographic trends also
made it increasingly important for
minority members to improve their
status.
After 1964 the birth rate of middle
class white women began declining,
he said; however, the birth rates of
B lack and Hispanic women increased.
“We know what the world is going
to look like in the future,” he said.
“And let me tell you what it’s going to
look like: by the year 2064 half of
America is going to be black and
brown.”
The long term trend puts the nation
“in a difficult problem,” said Jennifer.
“Because we aren’t talking about
morality anymore. We’re talking about
survival.”
During the Assembly, Dr. Helen
Caldwell, Vice Chancellor for Aca
demic Affairs delivered the welcome.
Other speakers included Dr. James
please see WEEK p.5
I
Dr. FranklynG. Jenifer gesturestomakeapoint during his Nov. 15 speech in Moore Hall. Jenifer, President
of Howard University, was guest speaker for the American Education Week Assembly. Jenifer told the
ECSU family the U.S. is involved in a "silent war," which involves people's struggle to sua-ive in a society
that has "shifted from one based on muscle to one based on brain."
New GA mandates
to change enrollment
By Mark Morris
University officials are having a
tougher time recruiting new students
as a result of General Administra
tion’s new admission requirements for
freshmen entering schools in the UNC
system.
In the fall of 1990, the University
turned away about 200 students who
normally would have been admitted
to the school, as a result of the require
ments.
The requirements, which took full
effect in the fall of 1990, mandate that
all entering freshmen must have taken
“core courses” in high school, includ
ing four units of English, three units of
math, three units of science. Students
must also have a high school grade
point average of 2.0 or above, and a
minimum SAT score of 600.
“The pool of students eligible for
college coming out of high school is
declining,” said Chancellor Dr. Jimmy
Jenkins, “which makes recruitment
competition harder.”
ECSU officials have pointed out
that since white students tend to be
more on track in high school as far as
core courses are concerned, the effect
of the new requirements has been to
shrink the available pool of black
students. This, along with the effect of
the Incentive Scholarship Program,
has resulted in an increased number of
white students coming to the school.
The long-term trend is shifting the
school away from being a tradition
ally black school to a multi-racial
University.
Approximately a third of this year’s
freshman class is “non Black,” ac
cording to Dr. Gerald McCants, Di
rector of the University’s Academic
Development Plan.
Although Jenkins admitted the new
requirements “may have a negative
impact on black students,” he added,
“the requirements aren’t intended to
prevent blacks or lower income stu
dents from entering the school.”
McCants said many people who
fin \ the directives discriminatory are
“co ispiracy theorists,” who thmk
there’s a concerted effort to turn ECSU
“into an all-white school.
“I’ve heard of some people who
would like to keep white students out,”
said McCants. “But these people want
to go backward in history. People
struggled so that the races could go to
college together.”
Despite the tougher time in recruit
ing, this year’s enrollment of 1800
students is the highest in the history of
the school. The high enrollment is a
result of a higher rate of retention,
officials say.
In an effort to compete more effec
tively for available students, the Uni
versity has financed a $30,000 video
marketing the school. The video has
been distributed to high schools
throughout the state.
The school has also hired a full
time employee, Carmento Edwards,
to serve as a liason between the school
and high school guidance counselors,
Jenkins said.
Despite the University’s high-
powered recruitment campaign, offi
cials say word about the requirements
is not getting out to all of the high
school students in the 16-county re
gion served by the University.
Again, officials say this tends to
result in a shrinking pool of black
applicants.
“This information about the new
requirements has been published,” said
Thomas Clark, Assistant Director of
Admissions at ECSU, “so if there s
any reason the students don t know
about it, it’s due to a lack of commu
nication between the student and his
counselor, or because the student did
not take it seriously.”
“The requirements are not unfair,
said William Byrd, Director of Ad
missions. “What’s unfair is that the
information is not provided in a way
//
Soul Man'
Photos by Jackie Rountree
Donald "Terrell" Powell, sings during the ECSU Gospel Choir's Fall
Concert, held Nov. 29 in Moore Hall. Powell is Director of the Gospel
Choir.
In student court:
Students 'regret' fights;
two put on probation
that some parents and students under
stand.”
Orlando Dobbins, head guidance
counselor at Bertie High School in
Windsor, N.C. feels it is wrong to
single out guidance counselors as the
culprits.
“We tell students what courses they
need but we cannot make them take
the courses.” said Dobbins.
He said that principals, teachers
and other people also possess the same
information. “I think parents need to
get more involved.”
Byrd pointed out that the directives
don’t just affect black students, but
low-income students as well. ^
“These students either don’t know
anyone who graduated from college,
or they may have a neighbor who
attended college for three years and is
now working at a local gas station.
Therefore, they don’t see a need to
take Algebra II because they don’t see
a connection between Algebra II and
success.”
McCants also said he supports the
new requirements.
“They are not discriminatoty,” he
said, “but are a helpful ingredient in
order for high schools to get their
programs on track.”
Chancellor Jenkins said hebelieves
that some high school programs could
stand adjustments.
“One thing high schools should do
is devise a system that will allow a
student to correct a mistake such as
summer school or evening classes,”
said Jenkins. “What they also need to
do is better inform students and par
ents about the requ ired courses so they
will not make mistakes such as taking
consumer math instead of algebra.”
By Kenneth A. Valentine, Jr.
Although three fights have been
reported on campus since the semes
ter began, no students have been sent
home for this semester, according to
Dr. Leon White, Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs.
White said he felt good about the
low number of fights this semester,
adding, “Out of 1800 students this
number is very low.”
He also praised students’ behavior.
“When you have well behaved
students from good families, they
know how to behave. The students’
first priority here is to get a good
education, instead of fighting.”
The first reported fight, between
two male students, was not prosecuted
in student court
The second fight occurred October
10 in Bedell Hall between two female
students. Both students were sus
pended until the student court date,
three days later.
In student court the suspension was
lifted and both women were put on
probation. Each student had to write
apology letters to each other, and to
work twenty hours of community
service. White said.
When interviewed by The Com
pass, the students said they regretted
the fight.
One student said, however, that
since she didn’t start the fight, she
didn’t feel the punishment was en
tirely fair.
“I don’t think you should be sent
home for something you didn’t start,”
she said.
Earlier this year. White had said
that students found fighting would be
sent home “if you cannot prove you
are a victim.”
Another fight that broke out in the
New Complex also involved female
students. The fight started after a group
of female students had a disagreement
at a dance held in Williams Hall.
One student was put on probation,
and another student was suspended
for the spring semester.
When asked to explain why the
male students were not prosecuted.
White insisted on putting his response
in a letter and sending it to The Com
pass.
That letter stated, in part, “A uni
versity official is prohibited from
revealing judicial information con
cerning a student as the university is
bound to abide by the Family Rights
and Privacy Act (usually referred to as
the Buckley Amendment) of 1974.”
Dr. White continued, “I havereser-
vations about the legal ramifications.
If it is the intent of The Compass to
undergrid students’ adherence to the
no fighting rule by discussing cases, I
am in full accord with the idea.
“Yet, as with any concept open to
inteipretation, I am concerned that
eventually there is going to be an error
in the receipt of the message or in
sending it.”
Members of student court are: Dr.
Willie B. Spence, Assistant Vice
Chancellor of Student Affairs; a rep
resentative from SG A; any other called
upon personnel; and the investigating
officer for the particular case involved.
During a hearing the chairperson
of the court instructs the accusor to
make an opening statement. The ac
cused is then instructed to make an
answering statement, and then wit
nesses are called for each side.
Once the issue is defined then
questions are clarified, and board
members decide the issue by majority
vote.
On Homecoming weekend one
person was arrested for disorderly
conduct, and another was arrested for
asaul t on a female, according to George
Mountain, Chief of ECSU security.