1
The New SGA
Officers for 2002-
2003
Remembering
Vikingfest 2002
and other activities
page 2
Campus News
page 3
Congratulations
Seniors! May God
bless you all as you
go your separate
ways. page 4
Vol. 66, No. 4
Circulation 2,200
Elizabeth City, NC
May 9, 2002
The Compass
Elizabeth City State University’s award-winning student newspaper
SENATOR MARC BASNIGHT TO DELIVER
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Antonio Barrow
Editor
tony8248118@yahoo.com
Democratic Senator Marc
Basnight, the longest serving Presi
dent Pro Tempore of the North Caro
lina State Senate, will deliver the
keynote address when Elizabeth City
State University holds its 134th
annual commencement on Saturday,
May 11.
The ceremony will be held in
Roebuck Stadium beginning at 9
a.m.
Senator Basnight, who repre
sents North Carolina Senate District
1, which includes Pasquotank,
Camden, Chowan, Currituck and
Dare counties, is serving his ninth
term in the North Carolina Senate.
He has held the position since win
ning election to the post in 1984.
“Marc Basnight is a North Caro
linian of the first order. He has given
unselfishly of himself for the good of
North Carolina through 18 years of
service in the General Assembly.
Throughout that period he has been
widely recognized as one of North
Carolina’s most effective legislators,
serving the last nine years as Presi
dent Pro Tempore of the Senate. He
has been a special friend to, and
advocate for, ECSU and all of north
eastern North Carolina,” said ECSU
Chancellor Mickey Burnim.
Senator Basnight rose to the
state’s highest seat after serving as
chairman of the powerful Senate
Appropriations Committee in 1991-92.
He chaired other budget committee
from 1987-1990. His first public office
was an appointment to the North
Carolina Board of Transportation in
1977.
Senator Basnight, who grew up
in Manteo with its pristine coastline
as a backdrop, has been a major
supporter of North Carolina’s efforts
to maintain and preserve the vital
line between good economic policy
and successful economic develop
ment.
As a result. Senator Basnight
has taken the lead in establishing
some of North Carolina’s most pro
gressive initiatives including the
Clean Water Management Trust
Fund in 1996, the state’s first and only
dedicated source of revenue designed
to preserve economically sensitive
areas, and the Clean Water Responsi
bility Act in 1997, which aimed to stop
river pollution.
During his tenure. Senator
Basnight has seen the state’s 16
colleges and universities, including
ECSU, remain the nation’s premier
system of higher education with thou
sands of students getting world class
educations at an affordable price.
Senator Basnight was instrumental in
helping secure passage of the state’s
$3.1 billion higher education bond
package in 2000.
In 1995 Senator Basnight fought
for the overhaul of the state’s public
school system by halving the state
bureaucracy and leading the fight to
set up a system of incentives and
accountability in public schools. He
championed the ABCs of Public Edu
cation—Accountability, Basics and
Control—which rewards students for
academic achievement. He also spon
sored the Excellent Schools Act of
1998 to raise teaching standards and
teacher pay in exchange for extra
duties.
During the difficult years of the
state’s recession in the early 1990s,
Senator Basnight had the foresight to
support the creation of a state cash
reserve to help the state should it
experience another economic down
turn. Despite the downturn of recent
years, the state has experienced
unprecedented growth, with a budget
of more than $12 billion in 1998-99,
which has enabled the General As
sembly to cut more than $1.5 billion in
taxes since 1995.
During his tenure, as State Sena
tor Mr. Basnight has seen North Caro
lina grow by more than 1 million
people, its economic development
efforts result in a technological boom,
per capita income rise steadily, and
the state’s unemployment rate sink to
its lowest rate in 20 years.
Senator Basnight is married to
the former Sandy Tillett. They have
two daughters, Vicki, a successful
businesswoman and Caroline, a
freshman at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Senator Marc Basnight will be speaking at ECSU’s Spring
Commencement.
~Photo courtesy of Marc Basnight
SGA ELECTION RESULTS
FOR THE YEAR 2002-2003
PRESIDENT: DAMIYON SLEDGE
VICE PRESIDENT: DAMION LEWIS
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY: NIKKI
LUTON
RECORDING SECRETARY: ENOCH BOND
ATTORNEY GENERAL: SHANYELL PARKER
TREASURER: KEVIN WADE
MR. ECSU: KEITH RICHARDSON
MS. ECSU: TANYETTA “TAI” PITTMAN
CONGRATULATIONS AND
MUCH SUCCESS IN 2002-2003!!!
Come and Congratulate the Spring Class of
2002 at Commencment on Saturday, May 11,
2002 at 9:00am at Roebuck Stadium.