Page 4
THE COMPASS
Tuesday, December 10,19^1
CAMPUS NEWS
Schools can impede progress
of blacks, speaker tells ECSU
By Steve Cooke
“Black men have a one in 4,000
chance of becoming doctors, a one in
94 chance of becoming teachers and a
one in four chance of dropping out of
school,” Robert K. Goodwin told the
ECSU family during the American
Education Week Assembly.
The statistics for black women
aren’t much better, Goodwin added,
pointing out that black women have a
one in five chance of dropping out of
school and a two in five chance of
being a mother in their teens;”
The topic of Goodwin’s speech
was “The Educational Problems of
Minorities, and the Role of Educa
tors.”
To help change these grim statisti
cal portraits, Goodwin said that
“educators need to identify negative
factors in schools that affect minority
youngsters.” One of these factors is
that society treats groups differently.
He also said that teachers and their
classrooms have an effect on students’
abilities.
“Tracking of student abilities and
teacher expectations are the two main
concerns of educators who argue that
schools can impede minority achieve
ment,” Goodwin said. Low teacher
expectation and ability grouping sort
blacks into a hidden curriculum “that
is less demanding and believed to
advocate and socialize blacks toward
lower levels of attainmentand achieve
ment.”
Goodwin believes that “educators
must be available to help raise state
policy makers’ awareness by provid
ing educational information and data
that improve the policy making proc
ess.”
As an example, he mentioned the
role ECSU Chancellor Jimmy Jen
kins and other administrators play in
the decisions made by the state legis
lature.
Goodwin also said future teachers
need to change institutional behavior
and leadership patterns “where there
is an absence of commitment and a
desire for cooperation and collabora
tion.”
“Educators,” continued Goodwin,
“know what the problems are. Now
they need to know what to do about
them.”
On the role of educators Goodwin
used as an example the “Noah Prin
ciple” as stated by the former chair
man of Federal Express;
“Today there can be no prizes for
predicting rain; there can only be prizes
for building arks.”
Goodwin said that the role of edu
cators is “to build human arks one ship
at a time.” He also said that the danger
today is not that machines will learn to
think and feel but that men and women
will cease to do so.
To solve this problem educators
must “return to the basics and build
arks, not just in reading, writing and
arithmetic but the basics of thinking
and feeUng.”
Goodwin said that the task of the
educator is to urge the students to set
academic goals for themselves and
then to help the student achieve those
academic goals.
Goodwin, Executive Director of
the U.S. Department of Education’s
Initiative on Historically Black Col
leges and Universities, holds degrees
from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa
University and the San Francisco
Theological Seminary. Goodwin is
now working on a Ph.D. in higher
education administration at Texas
A&M University.
International Week celebrated
with singing, dancing, feasting
By Lavenia Dameron
ECSU opened their twenty-eighth
annual celebration of International
Week with singing, dancing and a
cornucopia of dishes from around the
world Nov. 4, at the Kermit E. White
Center.
The International Dinner featured
food samples, entertainment and open
discussion. The programs were geared
toward promoting a better understand-
ing-of different cultures, according to
Alvin Lewis, chairman of the Interna
tional Week Committee.
“Education has to be international,
worldwide and open,” said Lewis.
“We need to know our own cultures,
but we need to learn about others’
too.”
Included on Monday’s menu was
tuna patte from Bangladesh, Tai
wanese pork with Chinese cabbage.
Banana Fritters from the West Indies
and American sweet potato pie. In
keeping with the event’s international
mood, ECSU instructors and students
who are from other countries wore
clothes from their native land.
The event’s theme, “peace through
unity,” was symbolized by the table
decorations, paper cut-outs of chil
dren holding hands in a spectrum of
colors.
The dinner also featured a dance
performance by the Philippine United
Ilocano Youth Dance Troupe. The
dancers, whose ages ranged from 8 to
18, performed folk dances from Spain,
Hawaii and the Philippines. The
Dancer’s more difficult maneuvers
and intense concentration dazzled the
audience.
“I loved it when they danced with
the glasses of liquid on their heads,”
said Ursula McMillion, a senior Eng
lish major. “They were dancing, spin
ning, twisting and turning, and ^ey
didn’t spill it. It was really neat.”
ChanOellor Jimmy Jenkins spoke
at the diqner. “As we look around the
world today and as we look at it chang
ing, wexan truly see a new world
order,” said Jenkins, “Through com
munication we will be able to ensure
that other cultures will be respected
and people will get along with each
other.”
Other International Week activi
ties included a Panel Discussion on
“Change and Challenge in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union,” and a
showing of the movie Ghandi.
“International Week has been rec
ognized at ECSU since 1963 and will
continue to be ^ annual event,” said
Lewis. “In future years I hope Interna
tional Week will get bigger and bet
ter.”
Program leads to health careers
By Kimberly Whitaker
If ECSU’s Ms. Izila Mouring has
her way, the University will be pro
ducing a great many more students
like StuartSquires and Gary Edwards.
Squires and Edwards, both 1991
graduates of the University, are cur
rently enrolled in East Carolina Uni
versity’s school of medicine.
Mouring, Director of ECSU’s
Health Career Recruitment/Counsel
ing Center, helped steer both of these
graduates into their health sciences
careers.
“I helped them prepare for their
schools, take tests, go to seminars and
find out what type of financial aid was
available for them,” she says. “And
from then on they picked the schools
Jammin'
that they want to attend.”
Counseling students regarding
health science careers is all part of
Mouring’s job.
The Center, in operation on the
campus since 1973, was estabhshed
to “address the serious shortage of
health professionals in North Caro
lina,” says Mouring.
ECSU’s program is also geared
toward increasing minority represen
tation in health science careers.
The center provides recruitment,
counseling and enrichment services,
“to increase the number of under rep
resented minorities and disadvantaged
persons being trained and employed
in the health professions,” according
to a center brochure.
The center provides information
Photo by Jaclde Rountrtt
ECSU freshman Kiwanee Powell shows off his musical talent during the
■Talent Show, held in Moore Hall.
on health careers, assists students in
applying to health profession schools
and in identifying and applying for
financial aid.
Mouring also provides students
with study materials for Medical
College Admission Test and Dental
Admission Test preparation, high
school and college health career woric-
shops and personal contact with health
professionals.
During the summer the center
conducts a clinical work/study sum
mer health program providing paid
on-the-job experience in local health
agencies and science enrichment ac
tivities to participating health science
majors. This past summer students
participated in the summer programs
at University of North Carolina,
Howard University, East Carolina,
Wake Forest, Dorothia Dix, Ohio State
and Cambridge University.
Tonja Williams, a senior psychol
ogy major, did her internship at Dorthia
Dix. The internship provided her with
the opportunity “to work with resi
dents, nurses and doctors,” she said.
“I worked with patients in private
practice and rest homes,” Williams
continued. “I had hands on experi
ence with patients and I was required
to file a daily schedule like the doc
tors. I would encourage any student
who is undecided about a major to
consider the health career field. It’s a
great, wide field for minorities.”
Mouring admits that some students
have a built-in resistance to sciences,
but adds, “I try to get students to
understand that any course you’re not
familiar with is hard. Take the tying
your shoes example, for instance.
When you don ’ t know how to tie your
shoe, it seems so hard, but once you
leam, it’s easy.”
To reach more students and tell
them about health science careers,
“We are now in proccss of a hotline,”
said Mouring. “It’s a linkage to com
municate with ECSU students, high
school students and the community.
The hotline will provide information
on the health career field, test dates,
catalogs, summer programs, different
seminars and field trips. You can also
find out what the center has to offer
and the procedures on how to join the
Healll) Career Club.”
Crowning a Queen
I
i
Photos by Jackk RoMntrtt
I: II
r ' ..
Miss Tonya DeVaughn shows her joy at bring crowned Miss ECSU on Coronation night, Oct. 19 in the
Vaughan Center. The new Miss ECSU, a 1988 graduate of Clinton High, is a senior business
administration major.
Special Report
Refund blues: students struggle
to adjust to school's new polic}?
By DeAnna Rudisili
ECSU has two financial policies
that are giving students the blues; one
new and one old.
The new policy—governing work
study students and their bills, has
turned students away from registra
tion because they did not have the
ability to pay their bills without work
study credit. Until this year ECSU
allowed students to apply their work
study money to their bills in advance.
Tlie old policy withholds full re
funds on financial aid or scholarships
until the last of November. Instead of
receiving the money all at once, stu
dents receive it in increments.
Many ECSU students say these
policies create hardships for them.
In the spring of 1990, for example,
junior math major Kevin Dunston was
“forced out of school” when he
couldn’t pay his entire bill up front,
although he had been approved for
work study.
“The problem is having to pay your
entire bill in advance and then receiv
ing work study as a refund,” said
Dunston. “It seems diat the purpose of
work study or any financial aid should
be to help those who can’t afford to
pay their bill.”
“Work study is granted to the stu
dent but they have not yet earned it,”
said Barry Herring of the Accounting/
Business and Finance Department.
“We have had to enhance oiu' policy
in collecting money because of prob
lems in the past. We are a school, but
we are also a business and we were
losing money.”
The department is willing to work
. widi anyone who has “justifiable rea
sons” said Herring. For instance, if
you are a boarding student and owe
only the amount that work study will
cover on your bill then the University
will allow you to enroll, but a non-
toarding student must pay work study
in advance.
But students such as Wallace
Gibbs, a freshman Criminal Justice
major, are still struggling with this
policy on collecting money.
“I had no problem with being able
to get work study this year,” said
Gibbs. “My only problem was I had to
pay my whole bill before I could get
into school.”
The policy on student refunds has
also created problems for students.
Refunds on financial aid or scholar
ships are not given to students imme-
‘It seems that the purpose of work stud]
or any financial aid should be to help those wk
can’t afford to pay their bill”
\
■ {
Kevin Dunstoi!
diately, even when the award exceeds
the bill due to the school.
The policy was designed to “main
tain the integrity of the program” and
assist students with budgeting, ac
cording to Roger McLean, Vice Chan
cellor for Business and Finance.
Students, however, feel that this
money is theirs. They argue that the
state decided they needed this finan
cial aid to stay in school and that not
receiving that money right away de
feats the purpose.
“How are we supposed to meet our
living expenses for the first month of
school, when our refund is withheld
and we don’t receive a \york study
check until the end of the month?”
asked one student. “It’s not a refund.
It’s our money to start with, given to
us by the federal government.”
The ECSU Student Refund Check
Policy states that, “ A student refund
is the difference between tuition paid
(receipts from financial aid and/or
otherwise) and the current tuition and
fee charges...” In order to get a refund,
students must fill out refund request
forms four times a year. ECSU pays
refunds in increments.
For example, for the fall semester
students receive half of their refunds
on Sept. 20 and the other half on Oct.
19. Students must “prepare a separate
request for each refund.”
However the fall semester started
on Aug. 24, almost a month before the
students see any of their refund. And
yet according to Barry Herring finan
cial aid is “supposed to help the stu
dent with books, food and housing”
so that the student can stay in school.
This practice is not followed by the
other schools in the UNC system.
UNC-Chaj)el Hill, UNC-Greens-
boro, NC State, UNC-Wilmington,
Wake Forest University and A&T
State give full refunds to their stu
dents right away.
“Any money left over is given to
the student, said Eleanor Morris of
the Business & Finance Departniei
of Chapel Hill. “It’s the studa '
money.”
Appalachian State and UlJC
Asheville give full refunds after ti
drop-add period.
Pembroke State, FayettevilleStat
Shaw University and Winston-Salei
State give full refunds within eigt
weeks after the close of registratibi
UNC-Charlotte and ECU giveji'
refunds their on the first day of clas^
NC Central completely refuric '
their students 30 days after their dm '
add period.
None of these schools break
funds down into increments, ho#
ever. They each give all of the refiini
at one time.
In commenting on the discrepant!
between ECSU and the other school!|
in the system. Herring said thattho*
schools probably have a “better siJt
cess rate” and that the school is lialiki
for drop-outs.
“We are dealing with a differs®
clientele,” said Herring. “We have“
lot of people who qualify for finands
aid. Our policies and procedures arts
result of problems.”
According to McLean, the stude»
refunds are to assist students. Tl*’
policies have tightened up due to sin
dents having problems managing
money.
“We’ve had land ladies banging®
the school’s door. And we’ve
students who live in luxury for
first half of the semester and theni*
for their next semester refunds wW
they have no food to eat,” Mcl^
said.
Many students disagree, howeve|‘
“It’s not the school’s responsiw
ity to manage my money,” said oi*
student.
I really struggled that first monll'^^
another student said. “I don’t see w !
I have to pay for a few irresponsi
freshmen who don’t know how
manage their money.”