Several well-known
media personalities
attend Mass Comm
Conference
Page 9
Give downtown
another chance
this summer for
entertainment
Page 3
Students reveal
what their body art
means to them and
why they love it
Page 7
The News Argus
Winston-Salem State University
E-mail: newzargus@yahoo.com
April 2003
13-car break-in makes for poor April Fools' joke
By Keith Caesar and
Nicole Ferguson
ARGUS EDITORS
What is notoriously
known as a day for practi
cal jokes became no laugh
ing matter for 13 Winston-
Salem State University stu
dents who woke to find
that their vehicles had
been tampered with.
The break-ins occurred
to vehicles parked in the
Rams Commons parking
lot, along Price Street and
into the Wilson Hall park
ing lot.
"I'm thinking about just
taking my car back home.
It'll be safer there," said
Kionna Kay, a sophomore
nursing major from
Charlotte. "My roommate
told me that some cars had
been broken into. I didn't
think to check my car until
then."
She said when she went
to her vehicle, she discov
ered that her window had
been shattered as the cul
prits tried to steal the CD
player from her car, but
couldn't.
Kay noted that it was the
second time her car has
been broken into.
According to Kay, cam
pus police told her that the
offenders were caught on
tape and chased by cam
pus police, but got away
when they wrecked their
van and ran.
Lt. Marcus Sutton of
campus police said the
suspects stole a van and
made their way to campus
to commit car thefts, mak
ing the investigation a joint
one with the Winston-
Salem police department.
"We've got some leads
with the city police on a
possible suspect. There
were quite a few guys that
ran in all different direc
tions after they wrecked
over on Cleveland
Avenue."
Sutton said the suspects
probably headed to
Cleveland Avenue because
they knew people who
stayed in the apartment
complex over there.
"We're trying to get
something [a lead] with
the fingerprints to see if
it's someone who's been in
city jail."
Sutton said the reason
some students weren't
notified by campus police
about their cars being bro
ken into was because the
cars were registered in
their parents' names and
most of the cars didn't
have campus decals.
"We treat it [the case and
break-ins] just like we're
off campus. The students
will have to deal with their
insurance companies.
Parking on campus is no
different from parking on
city streets," he said.
Argus photos by
Keith Caesar
This is one
of the cars
that was
broken Into
April 1. A
CD player
was taken
and the dri
ver’s win
dow was
smashed.
Welcome to WSSU
Argus photo by Nicole Ferguson
Black IWen for Change invited students from Petree Elementary to campus to expose the youngsters to
college life and try to make a difference in their lives.
Gender gap
widens as
men decline
By Janell J. Lewis
ARGUS NEWS EDITOR
Rumor mill keeps troops entertained
By Naha! Toosi
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
SOUTHERN IRAQ (KRT)-
Jennifer Lopez was supposed to
visit the Marines of the 6th Engineer
Support Battalion on a USO tour
weeks ago. She did not show.
Neither did Britney Spears, Shania
Twain, nor Kid Rock.
Osama bin Laden has not been
captured. Saddam Hussein did not
accept exile in Russia. The war,
apparently, would not end in
March.
The truth can hurt. Rumors,
though, provide lots of entertain
ment, and in the heat-scorched,
sand-blasted camps the battalion
has established here and in Kuwait,
rumors fly, bite, fester, evolve and
have a life span of weeks. The
insects can barely keep up. Even
during wartime, when the Marines
have less free time, the rumor mill
buzzes.
It seems inevitable. Spread hun
dreds of people among a few aus
tere camps in the desert, give them
virtually no access to the news and
no time frame for getting home, and
wild tales will spring up like flies
around a cup of water. Often, the
stories are born from a morsel of
truth and evolve beyond recogni
tion. Many times, a bored Marine
purposely starts a rumor just to see
how long it takes before it gets back
to him.
"It's our source of entertainment
because we have nothing," said
Lance Cpl. Michelle Glass, 20, a
member of Engineer Company C
based out of Peoria, 111.
The Marines call the source of the
rumors the "lance corporal under
ground" — a sarcastic reference to
See RUMORS, Page 6
So who are the new faces behind the positions of
president, vice president and CEO of major compa
nies? Who holds close to 16 percent of all corporate-
office rankings in Fortune 500 companies? Who is
graduating from college at increasingly higher rates
than ever?
Less than a decade ago, one's answer to any of
these questions probably wouldn't be women, even
more so, black women, but in the 21st century
there's a new profile of black women entering the
high-definition business era.
The issue concerning more black women than
black men graduating from not only high school,
but from college is a fact that has been true for
some time now. Here, at Winston-Salem State
University there is an average of 228 more female
graduates than males a year, according to records
from the past five years. We already know that the
number of women on this campus greatly surpasses
the number of men who attend. This is becoming a
common trend not only at historically black institu
tions but white majority institutions, also, despite
the heavy recruitment for men. WSSU had 687
freshmen students enter on a first-time, full-time
status fall of 2002. Forty-nine out of those 687 did
not return this semester, spring 2003. Nine of the 49
who didn't return were on academic probation, and
13 suspended. Overall, there was a 93 percent one-
semester retention rate. According to Ms. Mussat-
Whitlow of first-year college and academics, "That
is a high, one-semester retention rate."
The exact number of freshmen on academic pro
bation who remain at the university is unknown,
but it is said that the numbers are fairly high. But
See GENDER, Page 2
Former secretary of labor to speak at graduation
COURTESY OF WSSU WEB SITE
Alexis M. Herman,
America's 23rd Secretary
of Labor, the first African-
American and the fourth
woman to head the U.S.
Labor Department, will
be the keynote speaker at
Winston-Salem State
University's Spring
Commencement,
Saturday, May 10, at 9:45
a.m. in Lawrence Joel
Veterans Memorial
Coliseum.
Under Herman's
administration, unem
ployment was at a 30-
year low, African-
Americans and Hispanics
were employed in record
levels, and workplace
injuries, illnesses and
deaths declined to an all-
time low. Former
Secretary Herman has
been widely credited as
an important leader in
the effort to move people
from welfare to work. As
U.S. Secretary of Labor,
Herman headed a $39 bil
lion annual budget and a
work force of 17,000 peo
ple across the country.
Under her leadership, the
department received a
clean audit on its fiscal
year 97, 98 and 99 finan
cial statements. Herman
is a native of Mobile, Ala.,
and a graduate of Xavier
University in New
Orleans. At the age of 29,
she joined President
Carter's administration as
the youngest director of
the Women's Bureau in
the history of the labor
department. In the 1980s,
she became a successful
entrepreneur and labor
market expert. In 1993,
President Clinton
appointed her assistant to
the president and director
of the White House
Public Liaison Office. In
May 1997, Vice President
A1 Gore swore her in as
U.S. Secretary of Labor. A
recipient of several hon
orary degrees from major
colleges and universities
around the country.
Herman has also been
honored by numerous
charitable civic and pub
lic policy organizations.
She received the Sara Lee
Foundation's prestigious
Frontrunner Award and
the YWCA's Volunteer of
the Year Award. She was
named "One of the 10
See SPEAKER,
Page 2