Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / Nov. 7, 1991, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE CAMPUS ECHO North CaroUna Central University Novmeber 7,1991 Trustee Member David Stith Blasts the UNC System and the Administration by Johnnie Whitehead Trustee David Stith, a Rocky Mount native, came toNorthCaro- lina Central University and com pleted his undergraduate and graduate work as well as attended law school. From 1985-89 he served on the Board of Trustees and was recently reappointed this year (tfter a two-year hiatus. Stith was president of Southeastern College in Durham for 20 years and then worked for the Richard Nixon administration in Washing ton, D.C., and in Greensboro for the Department of Housing and Urban development until he re tired. Echo: Exiiain why you believe integration has almost destroyed black institutions? Stith: There were over 300 pre dominantly black high schools in this state. Today you would be hard pressed to fiiwl 10. Integra tion went the wrong way. Those of us who marched and sang those tunes didn’t intend to close black institutions. Echo: Is there a conscious effort to dismantle black institutions? If so, how is this being done? Stith: Yes. These people know exactly what they are doing. They can read and count. Maybe these people don’t think we need the same things they need. The record shows historically black institu tions don’t get the same funding or adequate funding. We have 10 security officers and they expect us to secure campus. We don’t have the necessary raw materials. It is always expected that the black person has to do better than the white person with less resources. It ain’t fair. To swim the English Channel with an anvil around our necks is sort of ahandicap. This is being done through budgeting like I already said and through odier elements of control. The Board of Governors have only five or six blacks out of 32. We have one or no blacks oh the Board ofTrustees at white universities. At black schools there are four or more. Look at the faculty and staff here which is 35 percent white. Tten go to Ch^l Hill. Let me reiterate that I fought most of my life for integration. But let’s put some good black ones there as we have good white ones here. This has become a one way street and it benefits whites and dilutes the power and influence of blacks. Echo: Has the media coverage of NCCU been fair? Stith: They talk about misuse of grant money. Duke just had to pay back to Health and Human Ser vices $81,000 that they suppos edly misspent for flowers, wine and travel. The original figure was $900,000 and they negotiated it down. Carolina (UNC-Chapel Hill) used grant money to send friends of the university to the Gator Bowl. Where’s the media? Walter Davis, formerly of the Uni versity system’s general adminis tration took on President C.D. Spangler in a press conference and resigned for the Board of Gover nors. Nothing was said by the media about that Some situations are indefensible (Former Athletic Director Chris Fisher and the ath letic department). We make mis takes too and we are sometimes wrong, but their coverage is not fair. Echo: How do you evaluate Richmond’sperformance as Chan cellor? Was he aUe to make the tough decisions? Stith: Richmond is a great person and he was right when he said there have been far move posi tives than negatives during his ten ure. However, I have reservations Reappointed Trustee Member David Stith about some of his decisions. He rules too much with his heart in stead of his head. He carries too much dead weight. There comes a time when you have to make the hard decisions and he shyed away from those concerning other em ployees of this institution. Echo: What is the relationship you have with the Chancellor? Many believe you two are rivals. Is this tme? Stith: Although I have disagreed on certain issues with the Chan cellor, I have never publicly or privately attacked him. You can disagree with someone on a pro fessional level and be their friend on a personal one. There has never been any animosity between us. I resent that if someone says other wise. It is just another tactic to divide and conquer black institu tions by pitting us against one an other. This is contrived and it ain’t no accident. It’s politics and rac ism at its’ finest. Echo: Was Richmond forced out of office? Stith: It was said, ‘It’s time for you to go.’ Go quietly into the sunset and he would not have been fired. ‘There is no way you can 9iake me believe pressure wasn’t bplied to make him leave. I know |br a fact pressure was applied. In view of all the negative publicity ht would have not left until this whole mess was over and solved. Then he would have possibly moved out Ilmowbetterthanthis. I know the truffi. If the occasitm presents itself I can jMDve it Echo: Was Richmond truthful in theinterview concerning his opin ions ^ut Spangler and the gen eral administration? Did he and Professor Elected to Board of Education by Kimbeiiy Bowman You may know Beveily Jones as a professor of history here at North Carolina Central University, and chances are that if you have evei spoken with her, you know that she views the education of young people—aU yoimg people- as her personal duty. Without a doubt, the voters of Duiham recently elected Professor Jones to their Board of Education because of her distinct dedication to education. As a Duiham native, Jones was instructed in the Durham City School system before she attended NCCU to obtain both her BA and MA in history. She proceeded to the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, where she earned a doctorate in American History. Because her three children alro attend Duiham City Schools, Jones says her keen interest in the system is amplified that much more. “ I truly believe that every child has the right to an education that will provide for them [ameans for] a productive life,” she remarked in a recent interview with the Cam pus Echo . ‘‘Every child who en ters the doors of education should graduate, and have a sense of com petency.” When she was coming through school, Jones says it was the sup port of the extended commimity that gave her the chance to suc ceed. Because she “stood on the shoulders” of teachers, church members, and neighbors, she now wants to give back to the commu nity what she has received. She feels all students are obligated to guid^ce until the parent came home from work. At HELP, those students fiixi assistance with home work, and guidance with the prob lems of just growing up. Spangler have as good a working relationship as he implied? Stith: He said what he was al lowed to. I hai^n to know of other disagreements and points of contention. Echo: Why did you not want a white person as chair of the Board ofTrustees? Stith: I didn’t support Carl (Stewart) because the timing was aU wrong. There was a strong ef fort to give us a white chairman. We would have had a riot. Carl was a very good candidate with impeccable credentials but it wasn’t the right time. He did the gracious thing and withdrew. Echo: Are there any strong criti cisms of the Board ofTrustees? Stith: We have been jerking around. We haven’t been doing the best job possible. We have no direction. Some are serving to be re^pointed. If they can’t serve effectively they need to get the hell off the board. Echo: You have been called con troversial, publicity hound, troublemaker and hypocrite by the media. Is this an accurate descrip tion of you? Do you enjoy this attenticHi? Stith: I don’t relish this role but it is the price I pay. They have called me divisive and disruptive. The editorials and columns written af ter the speech I gave on campus was completely off-base. They said I condoned a professor’s (Qarence Brown) behavior. I didn’t say that. I meant that there are a lot more worse than he that need to be exposed and that exists. We don’t know about them be cause they’re white. There is a nationwide effort to shoot down black leaders and they are trying Newly Elected Board of Education Member Beverly Jones make similar contributions, whether they recognize that obli gation or not. Professor Jones is the chairper son of the Academic HELP Cen ter, a non-profit after-school tuto rial available in low-income areas. Because many are from single- parent homes, sOTie students would go home to empty houses with no “I am deeply involved,” Jones explained,’ ’ because it goes beyond saying something needs to be done....” Jones is active the PTA and the Hillside High School Parents’ Booster Clubras well as being di rector of the Institute on Desegre gation, which is right here on cam pus. The Institute was established to shoot me. This is a conscious effort also. I don’t enjoy being controversial but if it’s the truth I’m going to say it. If it gets the media so mad that they call me bad names so what. I dcHi’t give adama This institution and students are what matter. I’m not here to get reappointed after my four-year term is up unlike some. Echo: What is your purpose as a trustee? What have you done and what will you do to help students? Stith: I tried for two years to get the past chairman of the Board of Trustees to have open hearings on every aspect of campus life and to let students testify and bring com plaints so we can investigate to make sure things are corrected. We are the only university in the system without air-conditioned dormitories. Also, student use of facilities are important. Tell me how in the hell you’re going to have a building on this campus and have a building supervisor say, ‘It’s my building and I don’t want students in here.’ There should be no building that stu dents can’t use. The board passed a resolution five or six years ago because of this. It’s ridiculous to have to pass a resolution for this fundamental right students should have. Organizations in the city have access to the physical educa tion complex and students don’t. I hope these supervisors change their attitudes by next month be cause I’m not going to tolerate it. Some people just like to control others and we’re going to have to fix that. Urtfortuantely, this entire inter view was not able to be published due to the lack of space. However, Stith went on to promise that teacher evaluations will be en forced and reviewed; necessary, immediate action will be taken to remedy and dispose of "unquali fied educators." in 1972 to study and resolve the problems arising from school de segregation. ' As a member of the Board of Education, Jones will participate in assuring the quality of educa tion from a policy-making stand point, deal with persoimel mat ters, and help make decisions about curriculmn. The goals Jones hopes to reach during her term in office include involving local businesses and the community more in educa tion, and guaranteeing equal re sources between the individual sdrools. The possibility of a merger be tween Durham City and Duifram County school systems has been a controversial subject, hotly debated on the editorial page of the local p^rTBut JoneFSiinks the merger be of good consequence for Duiham. With the merger, class rooms wiU have a more diverse collection of children, from all eco nomic and cultural backgrounds. “I’m for the multicultural class room because we live in a multicultural society,” was Jones’ re^nse to the few schools up North, voluntarily segregated for black males only. “I know the black male faces many tremen dous problems [as do black fe males]... but when you begin to segregate, you are not preparing See Jones on page 8 Students Not Pleased With Campus Post Office . by Sha’Rorm Payne Many students are not pleased with the campus post office be cause they say its operation is improper and its employees are unprofessional. However, a post office employee disagrees. One student said she is offended by the behavior of the employees and the recent increase for mail box fees. Monica Perry, junior class president, said, “I feel like the post office is inefficient, and that the employees are discourte ous. I have chosen to receive my mail elsewhere because of the $15.00 increase from last year. I don’t understand why I should have to pay $20.00 this year when I oidy had to pay $3.00 my fresh man year, and $5.00 last year.” Gwen Jackson, a sophomore, also said that the prices are too high and the service is of low quality. “The prices are ridicu lous and the office is never open when it is suppose to be,” she said. “ I don’t understand why I didn’t get mail over the summer, although I filled out a change of address form.” Robert Thornton, a junior, said the post office is not prompt and hardly ever opens according to schedule,which is has become quite annoying .”I am strongly against the fact that the post office almost always opens at least 20 minutes after posted opening hours,” he said. “This inconve nience puts students in a bad situ ation when they need stamps im mediately.” Likewise, Pam Williams, a jun ior, said, “The post office never opens on time. The employees always take extremely long lunch breaks, and they are not friendly at all.” The campus post office is sub- par in comparison with other post offices, said senior Juanita Miller. “The staff in the mailroom has a tendency totakelcmglunchbieaks which interferes wifii their hours of operation,” she said. “The cam pus post office should run the same way that regular post of fices run, which means that they should be open on Saturdays. I would rate our post office a “D” because it is below average.” Although students made mostly negative ccniunents aboutthe post office, an employee of the post office who wishes to remain anonymous, refutes student claims. She said that the hours and days of operation ate set by the school and the campus post office employees are employed by the university, not the govern ment. She also said that the mail is dispersed immediately, and late delivery is not the office’s fault.
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Nov. 7, 1991, edition 1
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