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Page 7 Page 5
Compass
Vol. 70, No. 5
April 2005
Elizabeth City, N.C.
Rental
policy
to stay
in place
Other UNC schools
may not be so lucky
By Toby Tate
Editor-in-Chief
The book-purchase policy,
which was to be implemented in
the Fall 2005 semester at
Elizabeth City State University,
has been temporarily halted until
the committee appointed to
study the effects has had a chance
to finish its student survey.
At a meeting of the board of
trustees on Tuesday, March 8,
the June, 2004 decision to
change from book-rental to
book-purchase was rescinded,
with one board member, Henry
B. Pickett, Jr., dissenting.
The ad hoc committee,
comprised of five students, five
a
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faculty members and three
ECSU staff members, failed to
complete their study and report
to Chancellor Bumim in time to
switch to the program next
semester. According to Trustee
Earl T. Brown, head of the
committee, they did not have
sufficient time to complete the
survey.
As reported in the Daily
Advance, Trustee Frank H.
Skidmore Jr. said, “I don’t
believe the decision has to be put
off indefinitely. We have been
provided insufficient
information by the students and
university officials (on the
committee). There is no
scientific proof, and we may
have to rely on a gut level
decision. I’m prepared to make
a decision that says we made a
mistake. We can rectify the
mistake with reinstitution of the
rental policy.”
At press time, neither ECSU
administration nor student
government officials could be
See Policy on page 2
Vk
Sophomore Deanna Price, who scored 10 points and had four assists, takes a shot against the Shaw University Bears at
the ClAA game in Raleigh on March 5. The Bears beat the Vikings 88-49. The Vikings received a sportsmanship award,
and Freshman Celeste Trahan scored 12 points and broke the ClAA single game record by pulling down 26 rebounds.
Photo by Kesha Williams
Composite by Toby Tate
Photo by Rich Harvey
See the pre-game in
terview with Celeste
Trahan in the Sports
section on page 4.
ECSU
gets
NCDOT
grant
$50,000 part of
research deal
By Toby Tate
Editor-in-Chief
Elizabeth City State University
will be part of a research study
of transportation needs in
northeast North Carolina thanks
to a $50,000 grant from the N.C.
Department of Transportation.
On Thursday, March 10, DOT
Secretary Lyndo Tippett
presented a $50,000 check to
Chancellor Mickey Bumim on
the ECSU
campus.
The grant is
part of a
research
services
agreement
between the
state and Tippett
ECSU
allowing the
university to take part in the
study, which will focus on
improving communication
between NCDOT and smaller
northeast North Carolina
communities.
“The larger cities know how to
work with NCDOT, but some
smaller towns don’t,” said Dr.
Moy Biswas, state research and
analysis engineer for NCDOT.
“The ultimate goal (of the study)
is to have better communication.
We can build more roads and that
will lead to economic
development.”
The focus of the research project
will be the eastern part of the
state because a high
concentration of the state’s
small, economically
disadvantaged municipalities are
concentrated in that region.
ECSU’s strategic location east of
Interstate 95 was a factor in
selecting the school for grant
money, as was ECSU’s expertise
on the subject of community
development in northeast North
Carolina.
There will be two phases of the
project, the first of which will
identify all small rural
municipalities east of 1-95. A
contact list will be compiled for
those municipalities and their
elected officials.
In phase 2, representatives from
the municipalities will be
interviewed about transportation
issues faced by their
communities. An interim report
will consist of a directory
containing demographic and
See Grant on page 2
socem
getsahn
What's Inside
Page 2 - ECSU calendar
Page 4 - Sports
Page 5 - Opinion
Page 6 - Campus
Page 7 - Campus
Page 8 - Entertainment
Campus construction held
up by new student center
Material shortages
main cause of delays
By Kimberly Lilly
Staff Writer
The groundbreaking
ceremony for the new student
center at Elizabeth City State
University was held March 4,
2003 on the construction site in
front of Ridley Hall. This new
student center was scheduled to
open in the fall semester of 2004,
but with the end of the 2005
spring semester approaching,
students are wondering when the
new center will be complete.
The center is being
constructed by the McKenzie
Construction Company of
Elizabeth City, and was designed
Knofsky
by the Freelon
Group of
Durham N.C.
It is a two-
story, 34,000
square ft.
building that
will include a
food court,
lounges,
meeting room,
a small auditorium, the
university bookstore, and an
outside courtyard that will tie the
building to the existing
university center and bowling
alley.
The center is one of the
projects resulting from the $46.3
million UNC bond referendum
allocated to the university.
“The original job for
the new student center was
scheduled for the late fall of
2004, not early fall,” said Randi
Knofsky, interim director of the
office of design and
construction. “The reason the
center has been delayed is
because of material shortages
that effect construction projects
in North Carolina and the whole
country, not just in N.C.”
As of now the new
building is going through final
inspections, then it will be
furnished and eventually
occupants such as the university
bookstore will be moved in.
“The results will be worth
waiting for.” Knofsky said.
Many of the campus
building renovations to be
performed by Ridley Renovation
were rescheduled because of the
delay in finishing the student
See Constuction on page 2
Alumni focus boycott on
Elizabeth City hotels
Homecoming game
relocation denied
By Nate Rhone
Staff Writer
The Elizabeth City State
University’s National Alumni
Association has decided to hold
its boycott of Elizabeth City
hotels during the 2005
homecoming celebration.
After much negotiation the
alumni have come to the
conclusion that they will not stay
in any hotels in the Elizabeth
City area. The association made
plans to boycott all Elizabeth
City businesses, but as of March
4 they have decided to just focus
on the hotels. Dr. Paul Norman,
president of the association, said,
“Our beef is definitely with the
Bumim
hotels.”
The ECSU
alumni group
first raised the
prospect of a
boycott in
November
when they
were angered
by what they
called
excessive hotel prices during last
year’s homecoming weekend.
Norman said the group was
offered reduced rates, freebies,
upgrades, and rebates from hotel
owners in the Norfolk and
Chesapeake, Va. area. He went
on to say that chartered buses
would ferry the alumni to and
from the homecoming game if
they stay in Va.
See Boycott on page 2