STUDENT QUESTIONS GRE
JOE JOHNSON
ATLANTA, GA, — Aspiring young
Southern newspapermen and women in
need of financial assistance to attend
the last two years of college have until
May 1 to apply for Ralph McGill Scholar
ship Fund grants for the 1973-74 academ
ic year.
The Ralph McGill Scholarship Fund
was created to honor the late Ralph Em
erson McGill, publisher of The Atlanta
Constitution.
The Fund’s advisory committee has
stipulated that grants will be made in
amounts not to exceed $1,500 for a full
academic year of college for each re-
MS. C. DELORES TUCKER
By MICKEY FLOWERS
You don’t often hear about a student
challenging the legality of a test, espec
ially a test taken nationally and re
quired by approximately 85% of all grad
uate schools. However, this is what
Joseph Johnson, a senior political science
and history major from Dunnellon, Fla.,
is planning to do.
Joe is challenging the fact that the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is
presently mandatory for seniors intend
ing to graduate from WSSU and this
requirement is not a state-wide policy
used by other state institutions. The
GRE is an overall exam in each major
comprised of material studied during the
four years of work in that major.
There is no top score a student taking
cipient. Awards will be based on journa
listic interest and aptitude, plus need.
Jack W. Tarver, president of The At
lanta Journal and Constitution and chair
man of the Fund's advisory committee,
said the group agreed that the amount
of each grant would be based on the in
dividual's own financial requirements.
Grants are available to qualified young
men and women whose roots lie in the
fourteen Southern states. Tarver said the
Advisory Committee also will act as the
selection committee. He said applicants
must show an “abiding interest” and ap
titude for newspaper writing and editing
Ms. Tucker Is
For Honors
Ms. C. DeLores Tucker will be guest
speaker for the annual Honors Day Pro
gram at 10:00 a.m., April 4, in the gym
nasium.
Ms. Tucker is Secretary of State of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the
highest ranking black woman in state
government in the country. She is also a
member of the Executive Committee of
the Democratic National Committee, Na
tional Women’s Political Caucus; Vice-
Chairman of the Pennsylvania Demo
cratic State Committee, and served on
the 15-member Arrangements Committee
for the 1972 Democratic National Con
vention.
A graduate of the Philadelphia School
for Girls, Ms. Tucker studied business
administration at Temple Uniyersity, at
tended the University of Pennsylvania,
and holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws
degree from Villa Maria College. Before
becoming Secretary of S t a t e , she was
president of C. De Lores Tucker Associ
ates, a Philadelphia public relations firm,
the exam can make because the GRE
is a comparative test. Scores are com
pared only with the scores of students
who took the test on the same day
across the nation. Students in non
teaching programs at WSSU must take
both parts, the Aptitude GRE and the
Advanced Test of the GRE. Students in
teaching programs must take only the
aptitude part of the examination.
The fact that students with a double
major must take the Advanced Test in
both majors plus the Aptitude GRE got
Joe started on his investigation of the
legality of the test in the manner WSSU
uses it. Joe said that after he had taken
the Advanced Test in political science he
“started to question the true basis for
the test.”
and successful applicants must convince
the committee that they are determined
to make a career of newspapering.
Other members of the committee are:
Herbert Davidson, editor and publisher
of The Daytona Beach News-Journal;
John Popham, managing editor of The
Chattanooga Times; Sylvia Meyer, editor
of The Miami News; and William H.
Fields, vice president and executive edi
tor of The Atlanta Journal and Con
stitution.
Application blanks may be obtained
from the Ralph McGill Scholarship Fund,
Box 4689, Atlanta, Georgia 30302.
Guest Speaker
Day Program
and served as a member and secretary
of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Ad
justment.
In addition to numerous awards and
positions held in her home state, Ms.
Tucker has received the Afro-American
Woman of the Year Award and the Best
Dressed W'oman of the Year Award by
Ebony magazine.
Honors Day is designed to recognize
those students who have made outstand
ing academic achievements at W-S State.
Fifteen students will be honored for hav
ing the highest averages in their de
partments while a great deal more will
be recognized for having a 3.0 or better
cumulative averages.
NEXT DEADLINE:
APRIL 10
He went to Dr. Lafayette Parker, the
Academic Dean, and asked why the
GRE was required before graduation.
Dr. Parker informed Joe that the ac
creditation agency of which WSSU is
a member insists that t h e university
have some type of outside means to com
pare State's graduates with graduates of
other schools and the GRE is the means
of comparison.
Joe became interested in why this
particular policy is peculiar to Winston-
Salem State. So, Joe consulted Dean
Pasco Bowman, Dean of the School of
Law at Wake Forest University and Dr.
Ronald Sealey, a visiting lecturer who is
in the department of education at South
ern Illinois University and also the
school’s consultant for student rights.
He also went to the Legal Aid So
ciety who, he said, was eager to take
the case. Everyone advised Joe that the
school was taking away an individual's
property (his degree) without due pro
cess of the law. The court's only prob
lem would be in classifying degrees as
property.
Other than that, Joe said it wouldn’t
be difficult to prove that the school is
making students comply with a rule that
is the school's total responsibility. “If
the school must use the students for its
purposes,'' Joe said, “it should seek an
other means of accreditation.”
Joe has decided not to take the GRE
again although it means giving up his
degree in history. Joe must drop history
as his second major, although he has
completed the necessary semester hours,
and add it as his minor. Joe is planning
to attend law school and does not need
this second test to enter.
If Joe decided to take the case to court,
he could sue WSSU and the State of
North Carolina.
Joe does not want to go to court be
cause he feels that “WSSU has really
done a lot” for him. Instead Joe is in
the process of writing up all of his find
ings in a proposal which he will pre
sent to the Administrative Counsel. The
proposal will "reveal the vulnerability”
of WSSU in a lawsuit concerning the le
gality of the GRE.
In addition, Joe plans to put a copy
of the proposal in the archives just in
case some student in the future decides
to take the case to court.
SICKLE CELL TESTS
Given Every Thursday
9:00-11:00
WSSU Infirmary
Be safe — Be sure
Be tested!
VOL. X, NO. VI WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY MARCH, 1973
McGill Scholarship Fund
Journalism Scholarships Are Available