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VOL. X, NO. 3
WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
DECEMBER, 1971
Profile of
A Professor
Tlie professor selected this is
sue is Robert L. Morris,
music professor and conductor of
the Winston-Salem State Uni
versity choir.
When asked why he came here,
he replied that the reputation of
the choir lielped to bring him
here.
Morris, when questioned, said
he likes the music department,
the music chairman, and his
students. In fact, he says
at this point, he really has
not met anyone he does not like.
Morris likes the Twin City
of Winston-Salem also. In the in
terview, it was established that
he felt Winston-Salem has more
cultural outlet than the places he
has previously resided. Mor
ris moved here in August, and
becausc of the time factor, he and
his family have not met many
people. Surely, time will remedy
this situation.
Morris stated the choir mem
bers have worked very hard and
are making adjustments well.
He enjovs working w’ith them and
feels they will blossom into a
better group.
He said he would like to
see the choir develop into a close
family-type organization, and he
plans social functons toward
this end.
Morris was asked what
were his future plans nmsically.
He replied that when and if pos
sible, he would try to present at
every major concert a work of
length by a Black composer. He
attributed his reasoning for this
to the fact that commercialism of
the television and radio mediums
has presented only R&B, rock,
jazz, gospel, etc. nnisic to Blacks
(especially young Blacks). They
have failed to provide exposure
to so-called “serious” music writ
ten by Black composers. He hast
ened to add he was not critiz-
ing or knocking other forms
of music (far from it, he
was choral arranger for Duke
Ellington for a summer) but he
wanted Black people in general,
and young Blacks i.e. students,
in particular, to be cognizant that
Blacks have been contributing
(for a long time) a great deal to
all phases of music.
The News Argus staff would
like to extend to Robert I-. .Morris
our greetings and our well-wishes
for much luck in the future.
Santa Says,
“Get into your bag
for Christmas!”
Dymally Supports
Tunney’s SC A Bill
The News Argus
will not publish during January
due to final exams
The News Argus —
To Be or. . .
ROBERT L. MORRIS
There are those students who
wonder about the origin of the
name of the university paper. The
following is an excerpt from an
article which appeared in the
December, 1962 issue of The
yeTC'S Argus.
“In choosing a name for the
school paper, Mr. Donnie Wat
kins and Miss Barbara J. Parks,
who won out over many other
contestants, considered one which
could keep watch at all times.
Watkins’ and Parks' entry was
“The News .\rgus.’’
In Greek mythology “Argus”
is referreii to as one having a
hundred C3’es who could sleep
with some of his eyes and could
guard with the rest.
One has to be watchful and
observant to keep the students
abreast of ideas of fellow stu
dents. and on the activities of
WSSU Coed To
Tour Africa
Coed Beverly Williams has
been selected to participate in the
African Study Tour conducted by
Wake Forest University. The
tour is scheduled for .Fanuary 3-
28, of next year.
Beverly is an English major
from Orange, New Jersey. She
will be traveling in a living-
learning ex|)erience covering seven
African countries and Athens,
Greece. The senior coed lists the
“extraordinary contacts with the
political, artistic, religious, edu
cational, and wildlife phases of
these African cultures” as being
the most important facet of the
trip. There will be formal in
terviews with high-ranking per
sons in each country. Among the
personalities to be interviewed are
Dr. Gardiner of Ethiopia, head
of the United Nations Head
quarters, and the Prime Minister
of Kenya.
The tour is being directed by
Dr. G. McLeod Bryan of Wake
Forest University whose experi
ence in Africa includes years of
work and travel. He was formerly
an instructor in Operation Cross
roads Africa.
the campus and the nation. These
were the bases for the selection
of the name, “The News .\rgus.”
'J'his name was selected by the
“Page One Society” which is
made u[) of the members of the
newspaper staff.”
Now, there is some desire by
members of the staff and stu
dent body to re-name the school
paper. This can only come about
with the effort of the entire stu
dent hodv. Below is a coupon
listing the choices for the name
change. Please fill it out and drop
it in the boxes located in tlie
dormitories and canteen.
RAMPAGE □
REIGNING RAM □
WRITE IN □
NO CHANGE (THE
NEWS ARGUS) □
Marching Rams
Hit High Note
The WSSU -Marching Rams
climaxed another season on
Thanksgiving Day with “,\ Tri
bute to Isaac Hayes.” This per
formance provided half-time en
tertainment for the CI.\.\ Foot
ball Championshiyi game between
The Rams and The Elizabeth
Citv State LTniversity Vikings.
Disc jockey, Manny Clark, broad
casting the game for station
WGIV in Charlotte, judged the
show to be “superior” to that of
the Marching \'ikings.
Carl Allen wound up his third
season as drum major wtih .Mild
red Strickland and Judith Hous
ton serving as head majorette and
featured twirler, respectively.
Directors Robert E. Shepherd
and Fred D. Tanner define the
goal of the Marching Rams as
achieving the best in “music and
pageantry,” Shepherd listed
“cohesiveiiess” as being the force
that has bound the band through
out the season.
Many of the Marching Rams
have traded their white bucks
for the more conservative black
shoes worn for concert season.
The band is now in the process
of preparing for its annual
spring concert tour.
California .State Senator and
co-cliairman of the National Con
ference of Black Elected Officials,
.Mervyn M. Dymally recently
started a nationwide effort among
2.000 Black office holders to push
for )>assage of Senator John Tun-
nev’s $90 million bill to help com
bat the deadly disease, sickle cell
anemia.
At the same time, he lashed
out at the Nixon .Administration’s
opposition to Tunney’s bill.
“How can a President back a
plan to spend $2.6 billion to con
quer cancer, yet claim .$5 to $6
million is enough to devote to a
disease whicli attacks one in
every 500 black children?”
Dymally asked.
“This is institutional racism
at its ugliest.” lie added.
“I am sending letters to the
2.000 black elected officials
across the land, urging them to
organize conmiunity support for
the Tunney bill,” the Los Angeles
Legislator said.
He said he is also urging black
officials to take the lead in setting
up groups to study and focus pub
lic attention on the problem of
SC.\. “Further, I am urging that
they put pressure on their city,
conntv and state governments to
set u)! screening programs to
detect cases of this deadly dis
ease.” he added.
Bills to accomplish these pur
poses in California, and intro
duced by Dymally. ,\ssemblyman
Choir Sings
The Winston-Salem State L’ni-
versifv choir gave its annual
Christmas concert Sunday, De
cember 12 at the Salem Fine
,\rts Center.
Robert L. M o r r i s, choir
conductor. Dr. Lee M, Beall, uni
versity organist, the SSI brass
ensemble Robert Sharpe, bas
sist. and the WSSl' choir com
prised the musical program.
Dr. Beall played three organ
preludes: one by Bach, another
by Brahms, and the third by
liebble.
The choir sang a Christmas
cantata entitled The Ballad of
the Brou-n King written by
Black composer. Margaret Bonds.
Mrs. Bond who was born in
1903 acquired the copyright for
this particular work in 1961.
Hopefully the future plans of
the choir will include more of this
genre of music by Black com
posers.
AKA and KAP Host
Kiddies Christnvas Party
.\lpha Kappa .\lpha Sorority
and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity
opened their Christmas season
recently when they sponsored
their annual “Kiddie Christmas’
party. There were more than fifty
underprivileged children chosen
to participate from the various
recreation centers throughout the
city.
The alumni building was used
Leon Ralph and the Legislature’s
Black Caucus, are already mak
ing their way through the current
session of the California Legisla
ture.
He said he will also ask the
Legislature’s Black Caucus to
petition Congress to pass the
Tunney bill.
Sickle cell anemia, a blood dis
order, is fatal to 90 per cent of
those whom it attacks, and is a
disease limited almost entirely to
blacks. An estimated 50,000
blacks have the disease now, and
another 2 million may be car
riers, according to medical esti
mates.
Tunney’s bill, .Senate Bill 2677,
would provide $30 million a year
for the next three years for diag
nosis, treatment and public edu
cation on the disease. The bill is
now on the Senate floor for vote.
similar bill. House Bill 11171,
is being heard in the House of
Representatives, and was intro
duced by the 13 black Congress
men, Nixon -\dminstration spokes
men have opposed Tunney’s bill
on grounds that current spend
ing, of .$5 to $6 million a year, is
sufficient.
In his letter to black officials,
Dymally wrote that “Certainly
we- nnist not downgrade efforts
to conquer cancer or any deadly
disease. But surely, efforts to
combat disease should not be de
cided on a racial basis.”
Music Faculty
Show Talents
The music faculty of inston-
Salem State University recently
held its faculty recital, the first
in WSSU history. The recital was
held in the Choir Room of the
Fine Arts Building.
The music faculty members
were well-received by the capac
ity audience of other faculty,
music students, and just interest
ed students and community peo
ple.
The program was well-
balanced. It had selections from
Baroque (in the form of Bach)
and selections from a more mod
ern setting (in the form of Mil-
hund) with other selections com
ing between these extremes.
Although each of the music
faculty members teaches a full
load, everyone managed to prac
tice and represent himself well.
The music faculty members are to
be commended for their brave un
derstanding and this writer hopes
to see more of this in the near
future.
to house the event where films
and games provided the entertain
ment.
Santa Claus was on hand to
take Christmas orders from the
children. While he was visiting
with the kiddies his elves were
providing hot chocolate, dough
nuts, cookies, and bags of candy
and fruit to each child.