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Vol.69, No.2 Circulation 2,200
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November 14> 2003
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Homecoming 2003 unites
Vikings
Kymber Lee Taylor
Kltavlor2@mail.ecsu.edu
Editor
Vikings from across the region
returned to Elizabeth City State Uni
versity to celebrate Homecoming
2003. The festivities began October
24 and continued through November 1.
Events that generated the larg
est student and alumni turnout include
the annual Mr. and Miss ECSU Coro
nation, the Gospel Concert, the Vike’
Nu Fashion Troupe Show, the Home
coming Parade, the Step Show, and
the Homecoming Game.
The Gospel Concert featured
songs of praise from The
Southernaires, Bill Bailey & The Di
vine Miracles, Edward Sisters, Wings
of Faith, Faithway Doves, Doris
Gramby, Washington Men’s Chorus
and ECSU’s student directed Gospel
Choir
The Vike’ Nu Fashion Troupe
is in its third re-established season
and features the mosel’s latest fash
ions. The troupe received sponsorship
from Maurices; however, the majority
of the items were purchased and al
tered by the models of Vike Nu’.
“Vike’ Nu’s purpose is to pro
mote individual and creative style,”
said DeTra Stith, President of Vike’
Nu Fashion Troupe.
Water Street came alive on
Saturday, November 1, when the an
nual Homecoming Parade made it’s
way through Elizabeth City. The pa
rade featured ECSU’s Homecoming
Court, the Student Government Asso
ciation, representatives from the
alumni community, the Mighty Viking
Marching Band, the Alumni Band,
ECSU’s Cheerleaders, various floats
and several high school marching
SEE HOMECOMING, PAGE 5
4“
Toby, Laura and Zee Tate together as a family on the banks of the Lijiang River near Guilin, China.
ECSU student adopts Chinese girl
Rich Harvey
The Mighty Marching Vikings pep up the Homecoming crowd.
Susan Correll-Hankinson
sbcorrellhankinson@mail.ecsu.edu
Editor
Toby Tate, an English major with
a concentration in Journalism at Eliza
beth City State University, and his wife
Laura Tate traveled over 7,000 miles
to adopt a little girl from China. Zoe
Ann Alise Tate is 14 months old and
as of October 12, the lucky daughter
of the Tates.
“We’re the lucky ones,” Tate
said. “We tried the usual ways of adop
tion and after seeing an ad in the Vir
ginia Pilot for Adoptions From the
Heart with a picture of a little Chinese
girl, we decided to try them.”
Adoptions From the Heart is
a private, non-profit, non-sectarian
adoption agency. Founded in 1985
by Maxine G. Chalker, an adoptee
herself, offered the first “open” adop
tion agency in the Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and Delaware areas.
Open adoption allows, among
other issues, the adoptive parents and
the birth parents to meet and ex
change background information.
Ten years ago, Adoptions
From The Heart, saw the need for in
ternational adoption programs and
began working with the governments
of certain countries, such as China.
A country facilitator is carefully cho
sen to help the process of international
adoption operate without problems.
“Our Chinese facilitators, De
and his wife Helen, were amazing. He
was so organized and really nice.
They work with a new group of par
ents 6ach month. This is not his only
job. He is also an opera singer, and a
television personality who has his own
Credit card
companies
cash in on
students
By Jawana Mosley
jdmosley@mail.ecsu.edu
Staff Writer
According to a new study by
loan provider Nellie Mae, by the time
college students reach their senior
year, 31 percent will carry a balance
of $3,000 to $7,000. They double their
credit card debt and triple the number
of cards they have between the time
they start college and graduate.
A credit card can be a great op
portunity for a college student, espe
cially if he/she is responsible and
knows what to look for when applying
for one. Students seldom realize the
responsibility associated with a credit
card.
“A good credit rating is very im
portant,” according to College-stu-
SEE CREDIT, PAGE 5
Ui
Si
%
Golar Newby
Tarhata Newby (on the left), a sophmore Biology major, avoids high interests charges by paying her credit card balance every month
Teachers late; students wait
Students concerned about university policy
Homecoming 2003 Pictorial
Pg.8
West End
Station
caters to a
mature
clientele.
The Planetarivim offers
holiday fun. Pg. 5
Jennifer Fueston
jwfueston@mait.ecsu.edu
Staff Writer
Five, ten, twenty minutes: how
long should a student wait for an in
structor to begin class?
Students waiting for a tardy _
instructor are often in a quandary
as to what to do. While most
Elizabeth City State University in
structors are prepared to begin
class on time, there have been
reports of some who are often
tardy or don’t show up at all. This
poses the question, how long “
should students wait for a late instruc
tor?
An informal Compass survey
has shown that many students have
heard that there is a policy requiring
them to wait for instructors, but are
confused about the amount of time to
wait. The survey also revealed that
ten minutes for a non-Ph.D. and fif
teen minutes for a Ph.D. was the most
commonly accepted time to wait
among students.
“There is currently no policy (re
garding teacher tardiness at ECSU)”,
stated Dr. Carolyn Mahoney, Provost
and Vice Chancellor for Academic Af
fairs. “Faculty are expected to be in
class on time.”
“Students should take an active
role in their education by reporting
teachers. You should be getting your
money’s worth.”
Dr. Ronald H. Blackmon
With no official policy in place
instructors are free to impose penal
ties on students who leave prior to
their arrival. This was demonstrated
in recent weeks when, according to a
student who wants to remain anony
mous, after waiting thirty minutes,
students left a classroom. Following
their departure the instructor arrived
for class. At the next meeting of the
class students were lectured by the
instructor for leaving and were refused
notes and assignments.
Dr. Mahoney stated that she
thought five minutes was enough time
for students to wait before leaving the
class.
“Students can report it (faculty
members failing to be in
class on time) anony
mously, or otherwise to
the Department Chair
person or the Office of
Academic Affairs.”
Mahoney further
stated, “Now that we
realize there is a prob
lem we will fix that.”
Department Chairpersons
across campus were contacted for
their comments about a policy con
cerning instructor tardiness. Some
spoke off the record while others were
unavailable for comment. However, Dr
Ronald H. Blackmon, Chairperson of
the Math, Science, and Technology
Department, stated that students
need to inform the department chair-
■t
SEE LATE, Page 5
I
game show. I asked him when he
sleeps; he just laughed,” Tate said.
“The process ran smoothly and all
scheduled events were on time. We
never had to wait for a bus; everything
ran like clockwork.”
Zoe was born in China’s prov
ince of Giang XI and was left on the
doorstep of the local police station
when she was two weeks old. “This
happens often,” Tate said. “Babies are
abandoned because they are girls or
the family already has their limit of two
children. Boys are prefen-ed over there
because they are the ones who end
up taking care of the parents.”
After being found, Zoe lived
in an orphanage up until the time the
Tates arrived in China to bring her
SEE ADOPTION, PAGE 5
African
American
male
teachers
actively
recruited
Cannen Brown
cabrown@mail.ecsu.edu
StafFWriter
Elizabeth City State University
and the state of North Carolina hope
to inspire other institutions in assist
ing the efforts to increase the pool of
minority males, particularly African
American males, in teacher education.
On October 15-17, 2003, ECSU and
The School of Education and Psychol
ogy in partnership with the NC Legis
lative Black Caucus, held a summit
on “The Shortage of African American
Males in Teacher Education.”
Dr. Claudie Mackey, ECSU’s
Associate Vice Chancellor for Aca
demic Affairs, was the “backbone”
behind the three-day summit. Dr.
Carolyn Mahoney, Vice Chancellor,
Academic Affairs, was the Summit’s
Chairperson.
Strategies for accomplishing
local, regional, and state goals to en
courage African American males to
seek positions in the classroom and
remain devoted to those positions
were shared during the summit.
“Across the country, only 9% of
teachers are men and only 2% of
teachers are African American men,”
said Glenda Price, president of
Marygrove College. There is such a
great demand for minority male teach
ers in American public schools be
cause diversity among the student
population exceeds the teaching
population.
“In Northeastern North Carolina
the 23 Local Education Agencies re
port that there are 905 white male
teachers serving some 22,000 white
male students while 392 minority male
teachers series approximately 28,000
SEE RECRUITED, Page 5