SGA working on plan to implement
co-ed visitation 'liopefully by fall, '98
by Gany Walton
If all goes to plan, by the fall of 1998
ECSU students won't have to use a fire
escape to visit a student of the oppo
site sex in his or her room.
The ECSU's Board of Trustees must
approve the SGA's plan to implement
co-ed visitation on campus, according
to SGA President Tamara McRay..
ECSU is currently the only school in
the 16-campus UNC-system that does
not allow co-ed visitation.
"We're not certain this plan will go
into effect in the fall of 1998," said
McCray. "We're hoping for the best and
claiming that students will have co-ed
visitation when their feet hit the cam
pus August, 1998."
The SGA-sponsored plan would al
low co-ed visitation in all dorms ex
cept Wamack Hall and Bias Hall, both
freshmen dorms. Visitation would be
allowed Sunday through Thursday
from seven p.m. until midnight; Fri
day, seven p.m. till two a.m., and Sat
urday from one p.m. till two a.m.
Students violating rules governing
co-ed visitation could lose visitation
privileges, be reassigned, or removed
from their rooms, according to a draft
of the proposal.
Is God Black?
Students will be held responsible for
their guests' behavior, according to Se
nior Class President Keywarma Everett,
to include any damage to personal
property. Guests will be required to
sign their names at the desk and leave
an identification card, to be picked up
when they leave. Guests will be met at
the main station in each residence hall
by the host or hostess who will accom
pany them out when they leave.
Guests of the opposite sex may not
enter or leave the resident's room un
less accompanied by the student he or
she is visiting. "Appropriate rest room
facilities will be provided for guests,"
during the hours of visitation, accord
ing to the plan.
McCray said students have been try
ing to get co-ed visitation approved on
campus "for three of four years," add
ing that the SGA cabinet members have
put a special emphasis on getting the
plan approved this year.
According to McCray, the SGA first
submitted their proposal to Student
Affairs. From there the proposal went
to the Administrative Coimsel in 1995,
where it was also approved.
Bumim said his administration had
encouraged The SGA to develop a cam-
CBAC reveals new
direction at forum
The Concerned Black Awareness
Council revealed their new direction
at a campus forum entitled "Is God
Black?" held Feb. 24 in Johnson Hall.
"The purpose of the forum was to
increase the awareness of our people
about their religious beliefs and about
God being black," said CBAC Presi
dent Kelvin Walston.
Walston is revising CBAC's original
vision, which was to expose the stu
dents at ECSU and in the Elizabeth
City community to various topics such
as black culture, religion, poetry, and
black history. Although CBAC is head
ing into a new direction, the group wiU
continue to implement their original
vision, Walston said.
Presently, CBAC is heading towards
a more militant perspective.
"The definition of militancy means
taking a stand (action-oriented)," said
Walston. CBAC is also concerned with
the efforts to change the name of the
school to the University of North Caro
lina at EUzabeth City.
"We are a Historical Black Univer
sity which was established to meet the
needs and goals of black people,"
Walston said. CBAC is willing to work
with any organization to detour the
Administration's efforts, he added.
The organization's new direction fo
cuses on removing "the scared to death
Negro mentality," said Walston. "We
still have black people who are intimi
dated by white authority and white
people. We need black people who are
willing to change the current status of
people in the world by any means nec
essary."
Also, CBAC will be hosting several
workshops in the upcoming weeks on
black economic survival, black unity,
and enhancing black people's self-
awareness.
CBAC's original vision was to edu
cate people about black culture but cur
rently their new direction will be em
phasizing action-oriented programs.
"We have enough people talking but
not enough people who are creating
action-oriented programs to assist black
people," Walston said.
pus plan for co-ed visitation.
Bumim said a co-ed visitation plan
on campus "would have to be done in
a responsible way, so we could con
tinue to provide for the safety of the
students, and for the wishes and de
sires of those who do not want to be
part of a co-educational environment."
Deborah Fontaine, Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs, said she had not
seen SGA's co-ed visitation proposal.
"From an administrative standpoint
we have done some things that posi
tion us (to approve a plan), but we
can't respond to a co-ed visitation pro
posal until it's submitted to Student
Affairs by the Student Government As
sociation," said Fontaine.
Fontaine said she feels young people
today are "responsible enough to con
trol their environment," should co-edu
cation be approved.
When asked why the SGA-sponsored
plan excludes freshmen, student lead
ers said they wanted to give freshmen
time to adjust to campus life.
"We feel freshmen will be making a
major transition from being at home
and being at college for the first time,"
said Albert Walker, freshman class
president. "We felt that it might not be
wise to allow co-ed visitation in the
freshman residence halls. (Not allow
ing it) will give them time to adjust."
Everette said the co-ed visitation
policy will be an incentive for fresh
men to remain at the university. "It
wiU give freshmen something to look
forward to as they become more ma
ture," she said.
According to Dr. Cynthia Bonner, as
sistant vice president for student ser
vices and special programs in the UNC-
System, one of the arguments against
co-ed visitation deals with "security
issues." This means policies need to be
set up so "that people who don't live
in the residence halls can be escorted
to the room by either the student or the
residence hall director," Bonner said.
A main argument in favor of co-ed
visitation is that it "keeps students sat
isfied with their living arrangements
and it gives them an opportunity to be
responsible for their rooms," said
Bonner.
Studies have shown that vandalism
decreases with co-ed housing, espe
cially in the men's dorms, Bonner
added.
The UNC-System allows individual
campuses to establish policies on co
ed visitation. ECSU is the only campus
to forbid, co-ed visitation, Bonner said.
Fayetteville State University approved
co-ed visitation in the fall of 1992.
Senior Olinka Burley summed up the
feeling of many ECSU students with
her comment, "If we as students are
old enough to come to college and pay
our tuition then we should have the
privilege to have someone of the op
posite sex in our room."
Shaunell McMillan and Andrea Harvey get into their respective roles on the set of TTie
Children’s Hour, performed Feb. 18 in the Little Theater. (See play review on page 8.)