Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / April 1, 1964, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two THE CAMPUS ECHO April, 1964 Gimpus^£(.}io tU VinA»m Member ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS HAROLD FOSTER Editor OFFICE EXTENSION 325 The CAMPUS ECHO is the official student publication of North Carolina College At Durham. It is jmblished monthly during the regular school year, except during college holidays, at Service Printing Company, Durham, N. C. All editorials appearing in the CAMPUS ECHO are the opinions of the editor, unless otherwise credited; they do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of the other members of the staff. Subscription rates, $135 per semester, $2.50 per school year. Second class mail privilege at Durham, N. C. Reflections of an Out-Going Editor Campus elections will, as usual, provide NCC students with a means of ushering out old student leaders and usher ing in new ones. More specifically, it will remove this news man from the editorial chair and place another student in his place. Though the thought is much to our chagrin, we must come to grips with the fact that the editorial pen must be passed to another student. But before we make that all important transaction, we must reflect on the things which motivated the ECHO this year—in short, our “policies.” Beginning at the beginning. In September we did not follow the tradition of the previous editors and come out with an editorial declaring some type of motto which we were to follow or laying down a long list of promises, ideas and ideals. It would have been useless, nay! foolish for us to do such. This is a newspaper and the only prudent policies that we could set forth would have to have been in the realm of decent journalism. One’s actions and works alone exemplify one’s policies. Secondly, we did not run the usual ads calling for helpers, nor did we editorialize about the apathy shown toward the student newspaper. The ECHO held an initial meeting the first of the year and all students interested in working for the paper were invited to that meeting through public an nouncement. As usual a great number of students showed for the first meeting, but after discovering that there were definite responsibilities they would have to assume, over three-fourths never returned. It would have done no good to solicit more irresponsible people. The core of the ECHO this year was an editor, a business manager, a circulation manager, and an advisor; we could not fill the other basis positions because no one was interested or responsible enough to assume the roles. Four pefcpl'e defi nitely cannot represent all the interests of some two and a half thousand students, and by-God we didn’t try! But be cause we didn’t try, we were constantly attacked for not having the interests of the students at heart. On the con trary, we did, but not in a very naive sense. The will of the people and the policies of a newspaper on neutral journ alistic ground and both come to grips with the issues. It has been said that we were not giving the students what they wanted but what we thought they should have. And this is true! One of the roles of the newspaper is opinion- forming. If there were students who did not like the opinions that we gave through our editorials, stories, pictures, layouts, etc., they were given the opportunity to express their opinions through letters to the editor; but needless to say, this opportunity was not capitalized upon either. In addition to the previously mentioned functions of this newspaper, there are two more which are intrinsic for its existence. One of these is that the campus paper serves as a training ground for aspiring journalists here at NCC. Here the student may learn the rudiments of sound journalism, has a chance to develop his writing style, is afforded an opportunity to work with students having similar interests, and has a chance to put his theoretical learning of the journal ism class into actual practice. Another function of this paper is to present to the col lege community those items of general interest to college students. It is now time for college students to stop asking for a “gossip” column—one where the immature courtships are extolled for the hardships and humour they produce. This type of news is not in the best taste, and has therefore been excluded, and should forever be excluded, from these pages. We are prepared to publish articles that might stir intellectual controversy and stimulate wholesome thought, but that this paper should become a social journal, full of social notes, is inconceivable. With these “policies” well in mind, we proceed to pub lish a bi-weekly newspaper for one semester. Because the problem of not having enough help become overbearing, we finally in the second semester returned to a monthly. The innovation-which was much needed in the way of journal ism, received all the thumbs down and now the paper has taken a drastic and frightening step backwards. It is our sincere hope that one day in the immediate future, the stu dents here will be ready for change and will gird the CAMPUS ECHO and help move it to its fullest potential. We extend our personal thanks to those, persons who work ed fulltime with us this year in trying to bring about that much needed change. The change, or the attempt at the change, has brought the CAMPUS ECHO back to an All- American newspaper, the first in six years. The student editorship, as you can see, has its particular problems. It is a full-time job to which only part-time serv ice can be given. As one editor remarked, “No amount of LETTERS Prexy’s Reply; For JFK; Praises Dr. Massie Replies Mr. James Ferguson, President The Student Government Association Mr. Fulton Hayes, Presiding Officer The Student Congress North Carolina College at Durham Ehirham, North Carolina Gentlemen: In accordance with your let ter of April 17, 1964, and my letter of April 21, 1964, and after long and careful considera tion, I wish to respond to your requests regarding the Dining Hall situation. However, before specifically replying to the re quests you made, the following observations are in order: The State of North Carolina does not contribute to the cost of operating cafeterias at State institutions. Hence, all costs must be paid for by the students. As a matter of policy, as well as principle, this administration believes that since the students pay the costs they are entitled to the best food and service that we are able to furnish with the amount paid by them. In giving consideration to providing cafeteria service to our students, the primary factor is the ability to pay by the average family from which our students come. The type of serv ice we offer is the most econo mical one for the students. This is important because a recent survey showed that the average annual family income of stu dents attending North Carolina College is approximately $3,- 000. Therefojre, the college must thirik of those least able to pay rather than the few most able to pay. The fact that 604 stu dents could not take final ex aminations in February, and 630 last May, because of delinquent payments bears witness to the financial plight of our students. In recognition of this financial difficulty, and our lack of finan cial assistance for enough stu dents, the cost of attending North Carolina College has been kept as low as possible. (A sur vey of similar schools is given in the appendix and it can be noted that among schools of its size, and certainly its reputa tion, North Carolina College is by far the lowest.) The cost of mealbooks for undergraduate students is $275 per year, while the faculty meal books (with coupons—^which are also available to graduate stu dents) cost $472.50 per year. Many students are of the false opinion that when they miss a meal, they are paying for a meal that they did not eat. How ever, as in many large statistical analyses, prices are based on the assumption that all eligible will not seek the same service at the same time. For example, one can get a $7,500 airplane insur ance policy for 25c. Simple arithmetic shows that for every one who falls, 30,000 must not fall before the company breaks even. Another factor to be consid ered is that it has been recog nized that our present cafeteria facilities are not adequate to provide all of the needed serv ices. Certainly the State would not have appropriated all of the money needed for the cafeteria, nor have permitted the removal of 2 sorely needed apartment buildings whose replacement value is over $60,000, if the sit uation were not recognized as critical. Some of the problems of time, speed of service, etc. simply grow out of inadequacy, and as soon as the new cafeteria is completed, many of the prob lems will be greatly improved, if not removed. The apartment buildings will be moved as soon as school is out and construction will probably have been begun when f you return next Septem ber. Letters Wanted Dear Students: Our generation has experi enced few shocks, and none have we shared more intensely and none has moved us as deeply as the death of Presi dent Kennedy. All American were stunned and grieved by his untimely passing, but perhaps youth felt the blow more than all the rest. He was a man who CHARLES McNEIL Assays Mississippi Project We are the leaders of the future; therefore, we must de cide emphatically what we want, and how we will achieve it. Our involvement in change cannot be limited, it must be total. From the Congress of the United States, to the tenant shacks of Mississippi . . . only the youth of today can create a change for tomorrow. The members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com mittee have pledged their bodies and minds in an effort to change an isolated Southern society. We have assumed the task, because we realize that, “What we will be, depends upon what we do.” We are cognizant that our lives are being decided and we re fuse to allow the decision to be neglected. The word “hope” has been excluded from our vocabulary; it is a pretense for apathy. We have refuted the traditional innocence of youth: No man is innocent when suf fering exists. Today’s youth must join forces. We must accept the chair- lenge and responsibility impos ed by a segregated society. Above, we have paraphrased the credo of the Student Nonvio- Coordinating Committee. The organization was born out of (See PROJECT, page 4) goodwill on the part of the editor can overcome loss of time on the paper.” With this in mind, we turn our attention toward next year’s editor. It is tragic that only one person out of two thousand cared enough about the status of this newspaper to run for editor. We congratulate the candidate for his concern and bravery, for the job of editor is nothing less than herculean. It is in evitable that he should win, and those casting their votes for him should have decency enough next year to rally behind him and give him all the support he needs to maintain the newly set “All-American” tradition of this, your newspaper. shared his youth and ideals with young people and awaken ed with us the challenge to find a purpose and to carry out our responsibility to ourselves and to our cx>untry. We believe that the personal letters college students wrote to friends, sweethearts, parents and others who were close to them during those days in No vember would indicate their true feelings and vividly de scribe the effect of John F. Ken nedy’s death upon our genera tion. In addition to providing a tribute to President Kennedy, these letters would serve not only as a valuable asset to his torians, but would clearly de pict for the future the emotion al and psychological impact of the tragedy upon the thoughts of America’s yoimg people. Because we feel that these letters are important, we as individuals are collecting them for deposit in the JFK Memo rial Library and have been as sured by officials at the Na tional Archives that the letters will be stored in Washington until the library is completed. As we are college students with a limited budget, our only appeal is to students through, college newspapers, and we need your support and coopera tion to make this project a suc cess. If you have saved any of the letters you received which commented upon the effects of the events in Dallas, and if you are interested in donating them to the library, please send them to: Letters Box 756 Blackburg, Va. 24060 If possible we would like to have the original envelope showing the postmark and date. Upon receipt of the letters, we will assemble them and for ward them in a body to the National Archives in Washing ton, D. C. It should be remember that these letters will be made avail able for examination by compe tent and interested persons at the library, and thus, any per sonal matter may be deleted or the letter may be recopied omitting these parts. We will attempt to acknowledge all let ters which are received. We feel that if we are able to obtain an adequate number of these letters representing a fair cross-section of the U. S. college population, then our generation will be enabled to make a real and unique contri bution to history, helping to paint a clearer picture of our times. Sincerely yours, Katheryn Kulesfaer Western Reserve U. Cleveland, Ohio Thomas H. Maher Virginia Polytechnic Institute Blacksburg, Va. ’ Echo Praised Dear Editor: Having had several years ex perience in the field of scholas tic journalism, I must admit that the North Carolina College student body should feel very proud of the Campus Echo for having received the Associated Collegiate Press’s “All-Ameri can” rating for the 63-64 year. This is indeed a high honor and a very distinguished one, when you consider that “All-Ameri can” is the highest rating that (See LETTERS, page 7)
North Carolina Central University Student Newspaper
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April 1, 1964, edition 1
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