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The official student newspaper of North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 2770/
Friday, March 25, 1983
The Walker Appointment
Friday defends ^ Reactions vary
interim choice
Edwin Horsley, contributing editor of The Campus Echo, talked with
William Friday, president of the University of North Carolina School
System, about the appointment of Dr. Leroy T. Walker as interim
chancellor of North Carolina Central University on March 11, 1983.
The idea of an interim chancellor was a recommendation by Friday to the
Board of Governors of the UNC system. The board voted unanimously to
accept Friday’s recommendation of Walker as interim chancellor. The ap
pointment was made even though the NCCU Board of Trustees had sent to
Friday the names of two final candidates for the chancellor’s position.
Those finalists were two out of many others who had been reviewed as
chancellor candidates by a special search committee.
Since Walker’s appointment, Friday has been criticized publicly by Dr.
Hillary Holloway, chairman of the NCCU Board of Trustees and chairman
of the chancellor search committee. Holloway, like others, feels there is no
reason for an interim chancellor and that Friday has slighted the NCCU
board by his action.
The following article is an interview held in Friday’s office on March 21.
The questions were selected to give Friday a chance to respond to his critics
and to further elaborate on the Walker appointment of March 11.
Echo: Dr. Friday, I’ve talked to some members of the search committee on
Central’s campus. They are upset with you because they feel that you
should have consulted Central’s Board of Trustees about your decision
before you recommended Dr. Walker to the Board of Governors.
Friday: Well in the first place, on the day before, I called chairman
Holloway and indicated to him what I planned to do. I went over it in
detail. 1 told him that in four (previous) instances that I could recall I had
appointed acting chancellors for a multitude of reasons; that it was not a
new proceedure within the university at all; and that it was a matter ex
clusively within the office of the president. It had nothing to do with the
Board of Governdrs. They commission you to do this on a purely tem
porary basis until you’re ready to make a permanent appointment. So Mr.
Holloway was fully advised as to what I was going to do 24 hours ahead of
time, before I told the board. I did not tell him who the choice would be,
because I did not have it locked up at the time, but he did know that there
would be that action and that there would be a choice, and I did that as a
matter of courtesy to him. He disagreed with the appointment of an acting
chancellor, but at no time did he make statements to me then as he has in
the press about (the appointment) being bad for the institution. But there is
not a thing new about it at all. There have been acting chancellors at N.C.
State and at UNC-Asheville and so on. The Board of Trustees (at NCCU)
has no jurisdiction over this question, simply because this is an acting ap
pointment. It can be terminated on a day’s notice. But what I did was not in
any way a judgment on what the board of trustees had done and I made that
very clear in my statements to the board of governors.
E: Why did you appoint an interim chancellor at NCCU?
F: When you have a procedure in which a third of the faculty at an institu
tion is willing to say publicly how strenuously they disagree with the search
process, then you’ve got a problem. The faculty of NCCU, at the request of
the search committee, voted against these two nominees. When you are fac
ed with a situation like that, then you know that there is a problem in the
faculty.
E: Were there any other reasons for the interim appointment?
Hunger walk
draws 1,000,
earns $25,000
By James Dockery
Over 1,000 people participated in
Crop Walk, a 10-mile walk to raise
money for global hunger this past
Sunday, March 20, at 2 p.m. Accor
ding to Crop recruiter and NCCU
English professor Ray Roberts, over
$25,000 was donated by sponsors
and the turnout far surpassed the
expectations of the organizers.
Crop Walk, a division of the
Church World Service, is more than
three decades old, but this was the
first year that a group from NCCU
participated in the walk.
Lucille Cole, an member of
NCCU University Relations and a
participator in the walk, felt the
event was “an important cause and
participating in it was like being part
of a big team working for a com
mon goal.’’
The Crop Walk is similar to a
walkathon. Walkers asked people to
sponsor them and donate various
amounts of money. The amounts,
given to the walkers after they com-
See ‘CROP page 3
Walker
Leroy Walker
F: Yes. I started listening to people. And I listened at great length. I did not
solicit any udvice. They would call me and ask if they could come talk with
me. I’ve always been willing to listen to people, particularly on a issue like
this. This included townspeople, at least three ministers, the editors of
publications, reporters, and alumni of the institution. When you get all that
evidence in front of you,- ihCi* uave no choice but to do what I did.
E: Would you give me the names of the people you talked with?
F: No, I don’t think that would be fair. But in every case I said to them that
they should write to the Board of Trustees and express their views. The
board needed know what,these people were saying to me. Some people talk
ed to members of the Board of Governors. I know this because it was
brought to my attention by board members. Keep in mind, however, that it
is the board of governors that designates chancellors and no one else. All I
or the Board of Trustees can do is recommend at least two names. But this is
a jurisdictional decision that is exclusively the Board of Governors of the
university. They are not going to act until they are satisfied from question
ing me and from questioning Mr. Holloway when his time comes.
E: Why did you select Walker over others on the NCCU campus who may
be just as qualified?
F: In the first place, he is not a candidate for the position. In the second
place, he is the one person who everybody voluntarily said ought to be ask
ed to serve. I did not raise the question. But many people suggested Dr.
Walker to me. And since his appointment. I’ve received more affirmation
than in any other case like this before. Townspeople, campus people, the
press in Durham—-everybody has been warm in their approval of Dr.
Walker.
See ‘FRIDAY’page 3
MERIDEN, CONN.: Anti-Klan demonstrator
assumes pistol firing stance as he faces a line
riot-equipped police protecting group of Ku
Klux Klan holding “White Christian Solidarity
Day” gathering on the steps of City Hall
March 20. The Klan rally, the third in this
small central Connecticut city within a year,
was without serious incident.
By Edwin Horsley
William C. Friday’s appointment of Dr. Leroy T. Walker as the new in
terim chancellor of N.C. Central University has brought about mixed reac
tions within the university community. The Campus Echo went to members
of the chancellor’s search committee, various administrators, and faculty to
get their views.
Dr. Arthrell Sanders and Dr. John Myers served as the faculty represen
tatives on the search committee.
Sanders: “I don’t know how to react. I have nothing against Dr. Walker
and I will work with him in any way for the good of Central. It’s just the
idea of an interim. If one of the finalists is going to be appointed, then he
should be appointed for July 1 of 1983. The number of people who objected
to the candidates was small. The wait won’t change their minds. It was ob
viously hypocritical to have had opposition with proceedure, but that was a
convenient and acceptable way of making another statement. There was
hostility because certain candidates were eliminated from the search.’’
Myers: “I really don’t know the reasons (for the apppointment) but I
assume that (Friday) had some particular reasons for selecting an interim
over the finalists.
“I don’t know if the appointment was good or bad. We need a chancellor
who can effectively run the university. If Dr. Walker can do that, then it’s
good for the university.”
Dr. Mary Townes, the NCCU graduate dean, served as executive
secretary for the search committee.
Townes: “I’m surprised because I had no idea what (Friday) was going to
do. I’m uncomfortable with the fact that he did not let the Board of
Trustees know what he was going to do.
“The statement of some people that the search committee did most of its
work during the summer had no validity. We did not meet in July or
August, so to say that most of our work was done when the faculty was out
is not true.” ' ''
Dr. Albert N. Whiting, chancellor of NCCU
Whiting: “I was surprised that an interim was selected and I was surprised
that it was Dr. Walker. He is a fine person and easy to work with.
“I don’t know if the interim will help or hinder. When an interim is in of
fice for too long, then it can become a problem. The interim chancellor is
not free to make long-range plans like a permanant person could.”
Walter Pattillo, undergradute, dean was one of two NCCU ad
ministrators who spoke out openly against the search process.
Pattillo: “My initial was surprise because I had not considered his
(Walker’s) name. But as I thought about it and the reasons given that is,
giving some of the uproar a chance to die down, the possibilities are good
that the interim period will accomplish that purpose. My opinion of Dr.
Walker has always been positive since my earlier interactions with him.
“I would see this as a means of taking a re-look at the situation to be sure
that when we do appoint a permanant chancellor, most of the faculty will be
in consensus that we have a good mani”
Tyronza R. Richmond, NCCU business school dean, is another ad
ministrator who publicly opposed the chancellor search process.
Richmond: “I was somewhat surprised because I had not considered
(Walker) as a candidate. But in retrospect I think that he was a sound
choice. I’m very optimistic.
“My feelings are still the same concerning the search committee and the
search process.”
David Bishop, a professor of history, is one of several faculty members
See ‘PICK’ page 5
Two cheers from Daye
81.8% beat boards;
f pass rate improves
By Marion McKinney
Though pleased that 81.8 percent of the NCCU law school graduates who
took the February bar exam for the first time passed. Law School Dean
Charles Daye expressed reserved optimism over the results.
“It’s the consensus of legal educators that the bar examination is a
significant, but small, measure of an institution’s program, Daye told the
Durham Morning Herald.
Daye said that too much attention has been given to NCCU’s bar exam
results in the past, and though pleased with the results this time, he said that
“too much was made out of them.”
Last summer, 31 NCCU law graduates took the exam for the first time.
Only 42 percent (13 graduates) passed.
NCCU’s 81.8 percent passing rate (9 out of 11 students) is slightly higher
than the 79 percent passing rate for all North Carolina law students taking
the bar exam for the first time. The passing rate for alt law students who
took the February exam, including out-of-state law schools, was 67 percent.
Daye said that the true success of the law self-improvement program
should be seen in five years, by which time recently initiated reforms would
be fully affecting the performance of Law School graduates.
Some of the areas in which Daye still sees room for improvement are
financial aid for students and staffing of faculty for the evening programs.
One major problem, according to Daye, is the loss of senior faculty
members because of a state freeze on state employees’ salaries.
Daye said that the nine students who passed the exam were highly
motivated, but he said he wouldn’t be satisified until all students passed the
exams.