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By Ebony Etheridge
Simmons becomes
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Elizabeth City State Univer
sity’s Mathematics, Science and
Technology Departments hosted
Research Week. The event kicked
off January 31st with opening
statements from Dr. Harry Bass, iE^SJ!®inlth'6is£hoj3lMs|hisi0i?)4^
Dean of the School of Mathemat
ics, Science and Technology, and
Dr. Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor of
Academic Affairs.
Khan’s statements set the high-
light and standard throughout the
week, which culminated the ideas
of education, research and com
mitment. These three main com
ponents made up the principle
ideas of the students’ research
contributions.
Research Week allowed stu
dents to network and display their
findings, and in some cases, most
of the students worked through-
out the summer to present their
research at this week-long event.
Students like Tyler Thompson, an
ECSU junior Biology major and
president of Beta Beta Beta Na
tional Biological Honor Society,
had the opportunity to network
with his fellow peers. “Research
Week is very important because
of all the opportunities it pro
vides, which allows for growth
in all areas of the student,” said
Thompson.
The week was full of informa
tional sessions and forums that
detailed student internships and
ended with a student poster ses
sion. The event proved to be a
breeding ground for knowledge
and the transfer of information.
According to Dr. Bass, Research
Week begins to plant the seeds for
graduate studies and fully illus
trates students “taking advantage
of every opportunity available to
them. That is what this week is all
about.”
By Brian James
Commuter students seem to be
at a disadvantage when it comes
to the opportunities and informa
tion available to them on college
campuses.
Who are commuter students?
“Commuters are usually defined
as those students whose place of
residence while attending col
lege is not in a campus residence
hall or in a fraternity or soror
ity house,” according to George
Kuh, Robert Gonyea and Megan
Palmer from National Survey of
Student Engagement in “The Dis
engaged Commuter Student: Fact
or Fiction?”
Kuh tried to answer an impor
tant question: “Are commuters
less engaged than students who
live on campus? The answer to
this question is important if we
are to ensure that all students
develope knowledge, skills and
competencies needed to live self
sufficient, responsible, productive
lives after college.”
There are four myths that sur
round the commuter student.
Mark Manghera cited them in his
scholarly journal article entided
“Commuter Students: Myths,
Realities and Helpful Theoretical
Frameworks” from the June 2006
publication of Student Affairs
Leader.
Myth 1: If commuter students
wanted to be “real” college stu
dents, they would get more in
volved on campus.
Myth 2: No matter what an insti
tution does, commuter students
never participate in its programs
and events.
Myth 3: It’s impossible to reach
commuter students because they
spend so little time on campus.
Myth 4: One office can adequate
ly address commuter students’
needs.
Manghera argues that it is pos
sible to reach commuter students.
However, it must involve the en
tire academic institution working
in unison. He recommends that
campuses consider the fundamen
tal needs of the commuter student.
Manghera contends that students
must be self-actualized—with
needs fully met—before they can
fully devote their time and re
sources to learning. For the com
muter student, individual trans
portation needs and multiple life
roles must be taken into account,
he said.
How does ECSU get students
information? Taneisha Stancil,
a student at ECSU, is concerned
about the timeliness of the infor
mation available to the students.
“.. .1 am still not up to date on ev
erything that is going on around
campus,” she said. Stancil admits
that she does lack consistency
whe^ it fcbmestt^heckin^her
email account but '^goesfOTntoJ^
that “when [ECSU] s^dsfce^
emails out, it’s not ii^a timely
manner sometimes. The event or
program might be the next day,
and I might just be checking my
email
the day of the event.”
Antoinette Turner, a third-
year commuter student, said she
doesn’t feel left out when it comes
to campus awareness. She cited
her job as the main reason for not
being able to attend certain up
coming events. “The information
that I receive most of the time is
timely and accurate. When emails
are sent out or announcements are
made, they are usually very accu
rate,” Turner said.
Despite the supportive environ
ment, Turner observed towards
ECSU’s commuter student com
munity, she noticed inconsisten
cies. Turner acknowledged that
“being a commuter student, I do
feel that residential campus stu
dents have more of an advantage
in receiving information about
events that occur on campus. For
residential students, they always
know the day of, a commuter
could find out that day or two
days later.”
• 7775 Co^passis printed by
Press Journal Printers and
published each semester by
the journalism classes and
volunteer staff at Elizabeth
City State University. It
is distributed free to the
student body, faculty and
staff of ECSU.
• The Compass staff strives
to provide informative
and accurate coverage of
individuals and events
within the school and the
Pasquotank community.
The Compass serves as
a forum for the voices
of the newspaper, its
staff members and the
community it serves.
• Views expressed in The
Compass do not represent
the opinions of the faculty
or administration, the UNO
Board of Governors or its
administration. Unsigned
commentaries represent the
views of The Compass staff,
while signed commentaries
and columns are the opinion
of the authors.
• Readers are encouraged
to write letters to the editor
on matters of concern.
Letters may be delivered to
the main office in Johnson
Hall. They must be signed;
however, anonymity may
be granted if it is deemed
necessary. We do reserve
the right to edit length,
grammatical errors or
libelous content.
The Compass Staff
Advisor
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Copy Editor
Staff Writer
LaToya Stokes
Brittnee Exum
Jamel Downing
D.A. Baker
Barbara Miller
Jamal Clarke
Linea Johnson, Jonathan Lyons, Jeanri Miller, Ebony
Etheridge, Brian James,Nicole Mitchell, Justin Richard
son and JaHssa Caldwell
The Compass is published by the Elizabeth City State Uni
versity students under the direction of the Department of
Language, Literature and Communication, Dr. Chantelle
MacPhee, Chairperson, and LaToya Stokes, Advisor.