The Campus Echo
No. 2
The official student newspaper of North Carolina Central University
Friday, October 7, 1983
‘This is the beginning of the challenge of the ’80s’
Walker’s convocation speech
urges faculty, student dedication
Walker
By Helen Eagleson
“The Convocation is more than a ceremonial occa
sion; it is a reflection, renewal, and rededication to
the future,” said Chancellor Leroy T. Walker to ap
proximately 2,000 students, faculty and staff
members, and guests at the annual convocation.
He emphasised that -v™
the university can con- tv
tinue to celebrate its
rich heritage as a
historically black
university but only
through “its perfor
mance in the
mainstream of educa
tion.” Walker pointed
out that historically
black institutions “can
guarantee their futures
only by producing a
product that is capable of competing with the pool of
human resources from the Dukes, Wake Forests and
Harvards of the world.”
NCCU shows
commitment to
black colleges
By Helen Eagleson
and Annie V. Hawkins
Four thousand students participated in Raleigh’s
Black College Day Rally. Among those were 700
students from N.C. Central University.
Preparation began days in advance with student
leaders chartering buses, making plans for guest
speakers, ordering T-shirts and rousing students to
particpate in campus activites.
Activities began Sept. 26 at 12:00 noon in the An
nie Day Shepard Bowl where approximately 200
students gathered to suppport Black Collge Day
1983 with banners, chants, and songs.
Dr. Tyrone Baines, NCCU vice-chancellor for
University Relations, said that black colleges suf
fered from “shrinking financial support, declining
enrollment, charges of mismanagement, and a loss of
top quality staff members.” But, he said, despite
these problems, black colleges are still the major pro
ducers of black bachelor degrees.
Guest speaker Mickey Michaux, former member
of the N.C. House of Reprensitives and a member of
the Board of Trustees, drew shouts and cheers as he
started the chant “I am somebody.” He told students
that they needed to be more politically active. He said
that president Reagan’s “New Federalism” was put
ting millions out of jobs and into poverty. Michaux
warned that the budget cuts being made by the
Reagan administration only reduced support for
those in need. He stated that 500 small-owned
businesses went bankrupt in a week. He stressed the
See Black College Day, p. 2
Promoting the university and convocatin theme of
“Excellence Without Excuse,” Walker offered
challenges to both the faculty and students. He said,
“The faculty must be more demanding of our
students and must force them to take responsiblity
for their learning and total welfare.” Walker added,
“For the first time in history, this generation of
students will not have basic skills to equal or surpass
the skills of the generation before them because our
secondary school leaders ... permitted this generation
of students to obtain its education in a
smorgasboard, cafeteria-style curriculum in which
the student could not tell the difference between the
main course, dessert, or the appetizer.”
The chancellor charged the faculty with accepting
the challenge “of providing ... for the betterment of
the students” and helping “our students climb the
ladder of success.”
Walker challenged the students to display “the
four Ds—discontent, dedication, devotion to task,
and discipline.
“There are two kinds of discontent,” he said,
“one that gets what it wants and one that loses what
it has. A discontent that works, strives to succeed,
always in pursuit of excellence.” Dedication he
defined as “an acceptance of the work ethic, a return
to the spartan simplicities.”
He described devotion to task as the “the ability to
hang in there.”
Discipline, he explained, is that which drives a stu
dent to become what he or she is capable of becom
ing.
“Only a student who has mastered these four Ds
will be prepared to cope with the problems of the out
side world,” Walker said.
Walker spoke positively to the group. “-I believe in
you Eagles ... that you will exceed your grasp,” he
declared. However, if you do not, lack of strength is
not the cause but lack of will.”
Walker reminded students and faculty that society
owes them nothing, and urged them to push ahead
and extinguish racial bias, religious barriers, and
social condemnation in order to reach the pinnacle of
success.
Walker told the audience, “We all have two ends,
one to sit on and one to think with. Success depends
on which one you use. Heads you win. Tails you
lose.”
This was Walker’s first state-of-the-university
speech as interim chancellor.
He is a graduate of Benedict College and holds a
Master of Arts degree from Columbia University. He
earned his Ph.D. degree at New York University.
Walker was the 1976 U.S. Olympic Track and
Field Coach and has served as a professoinal consul
tant on physucal education programs for Lebanon,
Ethiopia, Syria, Israel, Haiti, and Jamaica.
Walker has been affliated with NCCU for 38
years.
Black College Day at NCCU
Billy Barber, vice president of SGA, ad
dresses the crowd at the NCCU Black
College Day Rally. Seated behind from
left to right are Michael Mattocks,
Jeanette Black (out of view), James
Webb, Elton Powell, Mickey Michaux,
Tyrone Baines, and Kenneth Hines.