4 The Compass Wednesday, March 4, 1998
Cheerleaders protest
rules excluding body
piercing and tattoos
Franklin G. Scott, Jr. photo
Former cheerleader Andrea Harvey (at left) and Nadirah Shaw, a current cheerleader,
pose with their tattoos, which are not allowed to be displayed under the new rules.
Nine of the 12-member team signed a petition demanding better treatment.
ECSU receives OK
for graduate program
by Angela Burrus and Garry Walton
There was a time when Andrea
Harvey considered being a professional
cheerleader after she graduated from
college.
However, after spending two and a
half years on the Vil^g team, the ECSU
junior admits, "All of my spirit for
cheering is lost."
Harvey is one of three members of
the Viking squad to resign in protest of
what they consider to be an excessively
strict policy governing cheerleaders'
behavior and personal appearance.
Nine of the twelve members of the
team have signed a petition seeking
"better treatment from the coach," ac
cording to Harvey.
They are protesting new rules re
stricting cheerleaders from having tat
toos, hair extensions, or body piercing,
which went into effect last semester.
Cheerleaders are also prohibited from
wearing flip flops or talking with any
males while in uniform; they must also
not weigh over 130 pounds. Harvey
complained that cheerleaders' hair
styles must be approved by the coach
before attending a game, and she criti
cized cheerleading coach Delphi Curtis
for showing favoritism to certain squad
members.
"She always wants everything her
way," said Harvey. "If she doesn't like
the person, she won't be on the team."
Coach Delphi Curtis said she does
not believe she shows favoritism to any
team members.
"I'm a second grade teacher. I've
taught third, fourth or fifth grade. In
your classroom. If you have two or
three students and you ask them to do
something the first time and they'll do
it right, then you'll depend on them
more than others, who might not do
quality work."
"If you have more faith in one per
son that you'll know something will
be done properly and you don't have
to come back to two or three times and
remind that person, I don't call that
favoritism. I call that depending on
someone who will do a job and get the
job done well."
Curtis said the rules were already in
place when she assumed the position
of coach. They were put in place by the
former coach Addie Griffin and by Dr.
Edward McLean, Director of the Ath
letic Program. "And I didn't see any
need to change those rules."
"I saw where I needed to revamp
some of the rules to fit some of the girls
who were present. I revised some of
the rules because they weren't clear
enough.
Curtis said she doesn't believe the
rules are too strict.
"Every rule that girls follow, if I were
a cheerleader I would follow them, too.
Anything I feel like I can do, then it's
not hard for someone else to do. I'm a
former cheerleader for Elizabeth City
State University, and we had no rules.
And a lot of things went on that
shouldn't have gone on. If we'd have
had rules and regulations, they
wouldn't have gone on. So putting
rules and regulations in place will
eliminate problems before they start."
Curtis said the petition "was because
they didn't want to follow rules. They
felt like I was being too hard on them,
and that I was treating them like sec
ond graders. Sometimes you are treated
the way you act."
Fredrika Simons, captain of the
cheerleading squad, said she found out
about the pehtion when the students
presented it to Curtis. "I don't feel like
all the members of the squad were
thinking when they signed the peti
tion," she said. "When you sign your
name to a petition you're stating that
everything that's on the petition hap
pened to you. Some of them said that
the allegations that were on the peti
tion didn't happen to them, yet they
signed anyway. I felt like it wasn't fair
to the coach, and I think they could
have gone about it a different way."
Harvey complained that last semes
ter team members had to travel a long
distance to a game without stopping
for food. After the game, they were
confined to their hotel rooms unable to
leave for anything, including food.
"I suffered a migraine headache be
cause of this," Harvey said. "On the
way back to school, the bus driver had
to stop the bus four times for me to
throw up."
In recalling this incident, another
former cheerleader, Yetta Brimage, an
ECSU sophomore, said, "I could see
that the coach was not too sympathetic
towards Andrea."
On one particular night, Curtis said
team members were violating their two
a.m. curfew, and they were spotted
walking toward Kentucky Fried
Chicken to get some food.
"If something would have happened
to one of them, then Dr. McLean as
well as Student Affairs would have
been on me, because I am responsible
for their safety."
Simons said she supports Coach
Curtis.
"I feel like our coach looks to us to be
respectful young ladies. We have to
show respect in order to get respect."
by Tiffany Newell
The Board of Governors has autho
rized ECSU to begin planning for a
new graduate program, which will of
fer a master's degree in elementary
education.
The authorization is good for two
years, according to Chancellor Dr.
Mickey Bumim. And the faculty will
decide what courses will be offered.
"The faculty is responsible for deliv
ering the program," he added.
Bumim said the university is in "the
first stages of the procedure."
When the program is established the
courses will be geared toward elemen
tary education. A faculty survey
showed that about ten to fifteen stu
dents will enroll per year.
"There was quite a bit of interest on
the Board of Trustees for ECSU to offer
a graduate program," said Bumim.
The new master's degree program
will enable people currently corrunut-
ing to other campuses for graduate pro
grams to get their degrees here, Bumim
said. Bumim anticipates that the new
program will attract top notch faculty
as well as boost undergraduate enroll
ment.
Currently, graduate courses are of
fered at ECSU's Kermit E. White Cen
ter, through East Carolina University.
According to Bumim, upon his arrival
in September of 1995, the Board of
Trustees was then in the process of re
questing the authorization to establish
a graduate program at ECSU.
"The graduate program will offer a
little bit more prestige to the univer
sity and to the faculty teaching in it,"
Bumim said. "It will better serve our
institution in its mission."
In order for a graduate program to
be approved, a university must first
petition the Board of Governors to be-
giii planning the program.
After the plan has been approved,
the Board of Governors must grant per
mission for the program to be estab
lished. Once the program is approved,
the University can begin offering
courses.
Bumim said the University had re
ceived no money for the program since
it has not been established yet.
The first degree will be offered in
education. Later degrees will corre
spond with the demand of graduate
programs within the area, Bumim said.
The University wiU build graduate
programs that focus on "the area of
strength" in the undergraduate pro
grams, said Bumim.
"If people in the area wanted a grad
program in nursing we couldn't do that
because we don't teach nursing. It
would have to be something consis
tent with our curriculum at the under
graduate level, and something that's
strong area for us.
"We always want to build graduate
programs on solid strong undergradu
ate programs. I would look to areas of
strength, perhaps to biological sciences
and mathematics."