The Campus Echo
Number 10
The official student newspaper of North Carolina Central University Thursday, April 26, 1984
Walker recievesvote of confidence
Taken from the Durham Morning Herald
Dr. LeRoy T. Walker apparently will
remain chancellor of N.C. Central
University for serveral years.
Central’s board of trustees announced
Wedsnesay April 18 that it had no im
mediate plans to renew its search for a
permanent chancellor. And Walker, who
is 65, told the board that he would con
tinue as chancellor for as long as it takes
to put the university in a strong position.
The chairman of the board. Dr. Charles
V. Holland, said the board was announc
ing “a strong vote of confidence in the
direction Dr. Walker is leading this
university.”
Holland said Walker, who became ac
ting chancellor last July after the retire
ment of Dr. Albert N. Whiting, has given
the university stability and confidence.
The board discussed the possibility of
reopening a search for a permanent
chancellor during a private session.
Members of the board argued that
Walker’s work at NCCU has drawn high
praise from many quarters. One board
member said he heard no negative com
ments about NCCU since Walker became
chancellor.
Walker was named interim chancellor
by William Friday, president of the
University of North Carolina system. Fri
day, who chose Walker after declining to
pick one of two candidates recommended
by the NCCU search committee, said the
selection of an interim chancellor would
give NCCU time to heal the divisions he
said had been created by the search.
Walker told reporters after the meeting
that it could take several years to bring the
university to the point at which it will at
tract a top-notch chancellor.
He said top people who interview for
the chancellor’s job would have many
questions about the university.
“You need to be sure you’ve got the
right emswers if you want to get the good
person,” he said.
In his report to the trustees. Walker
said he thought the university would reach
its goal of having 25 percent of its next
freshman class composed of students in
the top 10 percent of their high school
graduating classes.
Of the first group of 540 students of
fered admission. Walker said, 150 have
total scores on the Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT) of between 800 and 1200. A
perfect score on the SAT, which includes
a verbal section and mathematics section,
is 1,600.
He told the board that better coordina
tion between the admissions and financial
aid offices had resulted in the university’s
being able to inform many students of
their financial aid awards by April 15.
He ^so said NCCU would have to
work to increase its scholarship funds so it
could attract more top students.
Hancock mixes intellegence
with a unique sense of humor
By Mike Peoples
Bright, humorous and ambitious best describe Lynn Han
cock, the 1983-84 senior class valedictorian.
While maintaining a 3.86 grade point average, the senior
English major from Roanoke, Va. is also president of Sigma
Tau Delta (English Honor Society), historian of the English
club, a member of Honorees-In-Action, charter member of
C’est Ci Bon Women’s Service Organization, and a member of
Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society.
Miss Hancock also works part-time at the U.S. Enviromental
Protection Agency in Chapel Hill, and is a work study student in
the English department.
So when does Miss Hancock (who graduated twelth in her
high school class, out of 490 students) find time to study and ex
cel in the classroom?
“I balance my time,” she claims. “You cannot party 24 hours
day nor can you study 24 hours a day, but you have to balance
your time wisely if you expect to do well in school.”
Hancock feels that some students tend to stereotype their class
valedictorians. “Many of my friends could not believe I received
the honor, because of my sense of humor,” Hancock said.
“They were glad to see I was still the same old Lynn, even
though I carried my plaque around all day,” she said laughing.
Her goals in life are to attend graduate school and write
See AWARD, p. 5.
News Analysis
By Mark Anthony Andrew Adams
Chancellor LeRoy T. Walker will be
here “as long as it takes to put the univer
sity in a strong position. And the intensity
will not be reduced simply because I may
be here a little longer.”
Walker’s words were in response to the
university’s Board of Trustees announce
ment on Wednesday, April 18, that it had
no immediate plans to renew its search for
a permanant chancellor and his consent to
remain at the university’s helm.
Board chairman Charles V. Holland
referred to the announcement as “a
strong vote of confidence in the direction
Dr. Walker is leading the university.”
But what does this mean to the
students, those affected most by the deci
sion?
For the serious, those who want to
achieve, learn and grow, it means oppor
tunity, opportunity to surpass the goals
and dreams that were set for a good
university.
In Dr. Walker exists a renewing of faith
in a university that not long ago was con
sidered an educational utopia.
For too long Central has been hoping to
achieve its past glory only to be heading in
a direction of complacency, instead of ac
tively pursuing higher and higher levels of
achievement.
“Doc,” as Walker is referred to by
friends, will be the first to admit that the
students are the most important people at
the university. He constantly reminds the
faculty that they are here for the students.
In a recent conference with Walker, he
expressed a desire to know and share what
was on the minds and hearts of the
students. “The ‘Shared Responsibility’ is
just as important as the first part of our
theme Execellence Without Excuse,” said
Walker.
His goals for the university include ex
pansion with everybody involved. But
those who don’t care to grow educational
ly, socially and personally will fall by the
wayside?
The plan is not to forget or discriminate
against anyone because of educational
shortcomings, but to raise everyone’s
level of achievement.
Walker is a man dedicated to the better
ment of the quality of life for all. For
Walker, NCCU is home and you always
take care of home.
To the Board of Trustees - Excelltnt
decision.
To Dr. Walker - thanks for staying and
believing in us.
To the students - we know you may get
weary, but there are many more miles to
go before we may rest.