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NORTH CAROLWA CENTRA! UNIVERSITY
NOVEMBER 12. 1992
Homecoming Acts
Deserved Respect
We would like to congratulate the Student Goveminent Associa
tion for providing the student body with an active and diverse
Homecoming week.
We realize what a chore it is to plan activities on this campus
and try to satisfy the students.
However, there’s a simple, important lesson that some fellow
Eagles need to learn. That lesson is respect.
Why is it that some people find it necessary to hiss and boo
and every event?
The comedy show Wednesday night and the concert are
prime examples.
This is not the Apollo.
This is North CaroUna Central University and we should
respect others as well as our own.
Why was it necessary for some of fraternities and sororities
to disrespect and offend the others during the stepshow?
Besides, these groups should not be judged on their ability to
step. These organizations were not founded on that principle.
They can “win” 10 stepshows in a row, but they should be
judged on their service projects.
Almost anybody with rhythm can “step," but it takes drive
and inaitive to perform a service in the community. Fraternities
and sororities provide scholarships to young scholars, partici
pate in the Adopt-a-Highway Program, and help feed the
homeless. This is what they should be judged on.
We would rather have 10 people attend college and have the
opportunity to become successful in the world than have 10
identically dressed people “win” stepshows year after year.
Fraternities and sororities are fine organizations and are
able resources on this campus and they should appreciate one
another.
Editors' note: The following
forum was previously published in
the Carib News on Sept. 17,1991.
Vietnam Memorial Wall
Still A Powerful Symbol
The national Vietnam War Memorial wall in Washingtonr '
D.C., was dedicated 10 years ago.
At the time the wall was the source of much controversy. It
was seen by many to be unheroic, defeatist and depressing. In
the years since it was built, its critics have won a partial victory,
and the wall of names is now flanked by more traditional
statuary.
But it is the wall itself that evokes our repressed fear and
continues, after a decade, to be a disturbing icon with the power
to flash us back to the terrible imagery of Vietnam.
Someone has said that from a distance the wall looks like a
tombstone. It makes us think of death.
It is partially buried in the ground, like a blackened shard
chipped off the Pentagon. It points into the earth, an inverted
Washington Monument. Because it does not celebrate the war it
memorializes, it recalls the counter-culture of protest the war
engendered.
The wall fools the eye. As you approach, it is scarcely vis-
-ible. You stumble into it, fall into it—as we fell into the war
: itself.
: Like the war, it is at once deeply personal and onunously
impersonal. A black granite wall that lists the 57,000 names of
;the dead, it reminds us how callously we sacrificed so many
individual Americans on the pyre of Southeast Asia. Yet the
■ original design of the Memorial contained no human figure
with which to empathize. One must search through a list to find
the name of a father, a husband, a friend lost. But thousands
have made that pilgrimage, that search, and every day leave
- small, personal mementos—a rose, a campaign ribbon, a child’s
toy—that the memorial director calls “messages to the dead.”
Insofar as the wall makes those final conversations possible
and insofar as it raises the question of how we should pay
tribute to honorable and innocent men caught up in an ignoble
enterprise, the wall has done more than most public monuments
or works of art ever do.
The country ought to be grateful for it.
Tom Evans
Echo faculty adviser
At a time of declining African
American and Hispanic enrollment
in higher education, the White
House has selected scholarships
reserved for these groups as the
next t^et in its war on affirmative
action. Such scholarships, which
are only a fraction of the total fi
nancial aid available to college
students, have a record of great
success in attracting Black and
Latino students to historically white
institutions. Now the Bush Ad
ministration is promoting the idea
that the scholarships are unconsti
tutional form of racial preference.
You will recall that last Winter,
Michael Williams, the Assistant
Secretary of Education in charge
of civil rights announced his
office’s conclusion that Title Vi of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred
colleges receiving federal funds
from awarding any race-based
scholarships. Williams acknowl
edged having reached that conclu
sion, which reversed the Educa
tion Department’s previous posi
tion on minority scholarships,
without consulting the higher edu
cation coimnunity.
The armouncement caused an
uproar: Many peojfde saw, in this
attack of a cornerstone of minority,
access to higher education, further
evidence of the Bush
Administration’s hostility to civil
rights and fondness for racial
politics. Seeking to quell the con
troversy, the Education Depart
ment announced two weeks later
that the new policy would be phased
in over a “transition period” of
four years during which the De
partment would “notpursue abroad
compliance review with respect to
minority scholarships.” The new
policy, however, would stand.
Congress pressed Lamar
Alexander, at his confirmation
hearings to become the new Sec
retary of Education, to repudiate
the new policy. Alexander testi
fied that minority scholarships are
an “important signal” to minorities
that they are welcome at colleges
and universities, and he promised
a new review of the issue. He was
confirmed.
The new policy review com
menced in May with the Education
Departmient’s publication in the
Federal Register of a questionnaire
on minority scholarship programs.
One can infer from the questions’
spin that the Department will per
sist in claiming that minority
scholarships are a type of illegal
quota, and that they should be re
placed by race-nuetral scholarships
based solely of financial need.
THE PROBLEM
Minorities, especially African-
Americans and Hispanics, are
gravely underrepresented on our
nation’s college campuses. A re
cent survey determined that only
0.8 percent of recent Black high
school graduates were enrolled in
college, compared to 38.8 percent
of white graduates (more black
males are in prison than in col
lege). Hispanic college enroll
ment is even lower.
But that’s only part of the story.
Even after they enroll, minority
students have a harder time stay
ing in college. More than half of
white college students graduate
within five years; fewer than one-
third of African American and
Hispanic students graduate within
that time. And the problem is
getting worse.Minorities lost
ground in the 198()s, as federal
financial aid declined. Between
1977 and 1985, the number of
African Americans obtaining
Master’s degrees declined by
nearly 40 percent.
See EDUCATION, page 3
Alumna Wants Error-Free Newspaper
The Campus Echo
The Student Newspaper of North Carolina Central University
Editor-in-Chief-Jason Williams
Associate Editor-Dezmona Mizelle
Business Manager-Yolanda Alexander
Entertainment Editor-Reginald Jones
Layout Editor-Sereion Humphrey
Sports Editor-Lyndon Phillips
Staff Writers-Maurice Crocker, Rhonda Robinson,
Deborah Williams
Dear Editor:
As an alumna and a current graduate at NCCU, I was disheartened
and totally embarrassed to read the article “Vice- Chancellor for Student
Affairs, Dr. Roland Buchanan Fires Back!” by correspondent Greg
Lewis in the Oct. 15 edition of The Campus Echo.
The article was filled with grammatical errors, misspeUed words,
poor sentence structure, sentences with words omitted (not to mention
the lack of punctuation, and the correct use of the apostrophe).
I cannot believe that you allowed this article to be published and
circulated with so many obvious errors. I certainly hope you and your
staff realize how damaging something like this can be to NCCU’s
image. I am really angered by this. We cannot afford more bad
publicity, especially from something of this nature—it’s inexcusable.
May I suggest that you confer with your staff and work towards a
product that we can all be proud of. I’m sure you know that this
itewspaper may be circulated nationwide—I, alone, send it out to two
states.
Our Policy On Letters
The Campus Echo welcomes letters from students,
faculty, administrators and anyone else interested in the
North Carolina Central University community. Letters
must be no more than 300 words in length. The editors
of The Campus Echo reserve the right to edit all letters
for correctness and length. Address your letters to The
Campus Echo, Department of English, North Carolina
Central University, Durham, NC 27707.
Another note, the SGA presidents name was spelled three different
ways in the newspaper-please get the correct spelling; it does make a
difference. . ^ . ,
I have always enjoyed reading The Campus Echo, and I anxiously
await the next issue.
Thank you and keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Vera H. Graham
Editors’ note: We are currently in the process of revamping our
production schedule to Umit any errors that could occur in The Cantus
Echo. We have the correct spelling ofour SGA president, Phyllis Jeffers,
and any spelling errors were not intended to damage Ms. J^ers or the
University. The Campus Echo regrets the errors and thankyou for your
letter.
How To Publicize Your Club
Or Organization In The Echo
The Campus Echo publishes news of campus meetings and
events, achievements, honors and activities of students, faculty
and staff. If you want your activity or event to be written up in the
Echo just send a news release or fact sheet to The Campus Echo,
c/o The Department of English, NCCU. We encourage you to
send photographs when they are available. Let us hear from you.