THE CAMPUS ECHO
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
ISSUE 24
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
APRIL 15,1993
NEWS
bRIEFS
Business Major Recieves Chancellor’s Award
Chamber Lauds
Basketball Team
By RONDA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
Julius Chambers met with the
basketball team on Tuesday to
congratulate them on an outstand
ing season. Now that the season is
over and the end of the semester is
near, the chancellor wanted the
team to concentrate on their grades.
Chambers told the team
that he wanted to provide “any
asssistance the team needed” to
maintain their grades. He also
stressed that he wanted the entire
team to graduate, saying, “Do not
hesitate to ask for help if you need
it.” Chambers asked returning
players to “come back and go all
the way next year!”
At the same meeting.
Coach Jackson expressed his pride
in the Eagle Storm’s season.
Jackson said, “It was a pleasure to
represent the chancellor, as well as
the University, in the tournament
this year, and we look forward to
an outstanding 1993-94 season.
Despite the great accom
plishments this year, Jackson has
great expectations for next year
but says, “They still have a long
way to go. I want them to leave
feeling they have accomplished
something.”
The basketball team,
along with Coach J ackson and staff
assistant coach, R. E. Traynham,
had their picture taken with the
chancellor in front of the Hoey
Administration Building.
Several players expressed
high hope for the next season.
Junior Larry Crowder speaks of
the season as being “great, suc
cessful; we all gave 100 percent
I’m disappointed in the way it
turned out but I hope to take it all
the way next year.”
By JASON WILLIAMS
EDITOR
Congressman Melvin Watt
received top billing during the
44th Annual Honors Convoca
tion two weeks ago, while an
other Eagle received her top
billing and soared above the rest
Marice Grissom, a senior
from Winston-Salem, proved
that the Eagle isn’t any “ordi
nary barnyard fowl” by win
ning the Chancellor’s Award-
the highest awarded given to an
undergraduate student who has
the highest GPA after seven cu
mulative semesters.
Grissom, a Business Ad
ministration major concen
trating in computer informa
tion systems, has a 3.92 GPA
and 125 hours.
She’s also a Spanish minor
and is using this semester to
finish the requirement.
“I was very surprised,”
Grissom said. “I didn’t expect
it.BecauseI haven’treceived
straight A’s for the past to
semesters,” she said.
Grissom said she has re
ceived three B’s in Business
Law, Decision Sciences, and
Spanish’s Advanced Grammar
and Composition.
Grissom insists that she has
no secret for her success.
“There’s no secret I attend
class regularly and I do the work
assignments. I try hot to let the
work build up because I’ll get
very nervous,” she said.
After graduation, Grissom
will begin her career in com
puter programming with
Wachovia branch in Winston-
Salem working with in the Pro
grammer Associate Training
Program with a starting annual
salary of $25,000.
Grissom also plans to pursue
a career as a system analyst and
eventually own a computer
consultanting firm- goal she sees
achievable within 10 years.
“I’ve been really lucky, “
Grissom said. “I’ve gotten some of
the betterprofessors. They’ve made
learning fun.”
It also seems they’ve built
upon the assets of another Eagle
and have given her some pow
erful wings so she can fly.
Chambers To Make Final Decision on Runoff Today
w ¥AcrtMn7TT ¥ TAxyic a runoff. Cox cites the margin of the However. Brown is against a have submitted their aoneal. stu- merits an* nnannmnriate for
By JASON WILLIAMS ^
EDITOR
Juiuor Qass PiesidentTrina Glass
md former SGA Vice President
Tyrone Cox, both unsuccessful can-
lidates for SGA president, have
written letters to Chancellor Cham-
jers appealing the Election’s Board’s
lecision denying them a runoff.
After the April 1 election, current
SGA vice-president Derek Brown
won the election by less than 1%
nargin. He received 364 votes while
jlass and Cox received 358 and 354
/otes respectively.
‘I think they [the election board]
nade a decision based on the facts
hat they found,” Brown said. “The
jeople on the board are problem
solving, decision making, credible
reople.”
Brown also said that in a meeting
with the chancellor last Wednesday,
Chambers said he would review each
:ase and review the constitution
found in the Eagle Eye Handbook.
Chambers is scheduled to render
lis decision today.
Cox’s appeal lists four reasons for
Jesse Jackson Lends Voice To
UNC Black Cultural Center Battle
Bon Vivant
Reveal Spring
Fashion
By RONDA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
NCCU’s fashion society. Bon
Vivant presented its S|Hing Fashion
Extravaganza on Monday. TheBon
Vivant society consists of over fif
teen members and holds one fash
ion show per semester. The spring
fashion show featured Central’s best
dressed in seven scenes: All Back
on Black, Good Ole Days, Daisy
Dukes, Present Day Casual,
Swimwear, Future, and After 5:00
(male and female). Freshman,
Sunshine Anderson and J unior, Jim
Harper were show stoppers!
Bon Vivant officers are:
president, Lamont Freeman, vice-
president, Jim Harper, Secretary,
Juanda Scotland, Treasurer, Tania
Butler, Commentator, Junelle Gist,
and Fashion Show coordinaUH', Shea
Scott. FwoKHeinfOTmation or fashion
show details contact a Bon Vivant
officer.
election, and claims that some poll
ing stations ranoutof ballots and that
some ballots were left unattended,
the voting time change, and students
not being informed of the voting
procedures.
To help back his claims, he has
gathered 9(X) student signatures on a
petition backing him.
“I, as a student voter, was not
properly informed of the new voting
process,” Cox said.
Rather than all student voting in
the Union, students voted in their
respective residence halls and off-
campus students voted in the Union.
“Taking into consideration the
voting time change, the shortage of
ballots, and the location of voting,
this does not prove to me that only
concerned students voted,” Glass
said.
“I had no reason to believe there
wouldn’t be a runoff because there
was one last year,” Cox said, refering
to two runoffs last year in the races
for sophomore class president and
vice president.
However, Brown is against a
runoff and questions the peti
tion.
“From my imderstanding they
are just saying, ‘sign this,’ it
would be valid if the people
voted,” Brown said. “I would
poll the people who voted and
see what they wanted. The only
thing that I’m hearing that it
wasn’t fair. We were all under
the same constraints.”
Brown said that the constraints
were the four reasons in Cox’s
letter. $
Although the election runoff
is still a viable possibility. Brown
is making plans for next year.
“If you win you have a re-
sftiiisibUity. . . the next step is
setting up the structure of the
government—the cabinet and
making proposals for the consti
tution. The overall focus is mak
ing SGA a viable part of the
university. Right not it’s not. It’s
more promotional. We need to
be more governmental and less
programming,” Brown said.
Although these candidates
have submitted their appeal, stu-
denthody president Phyllis Jeffers
is “adamantly opposed” to a run
off.
In a letter, Jeffers says: “the
students who do care have already
voted and have indicated that De
rek Brown is to be their president.”
Jeffers then questions whether
the runoff is for “election legiti
mate or for someone’s personal
gain.”
The Election Board also voiced
the same concern: “The students
who were concerned have already
voted, and they have elected Derek
Brown to be their president.”
Cox and Glass disagree.
“Contrary to what the Election
board and the SGA president have
stated, a student that did not vote
for Derek B rown is not necessarily
one without care or concern.
Therefore, one must stay away from
such generalizations which are
based merely upon speculation,”
Cox said.
“I thought the letter would be
objective and not ‘adamantly op
posed’,” Cox said. “These state
ments are unappropriate for a
president to make before an Elec
tion board decision.”
Jeffers letter is dated April 4,
and the Election board met on April
5.
“Why would an ‘objective’
president make a comment before
getting all the information. She
shouldn’t have imposed her per
sonal views upon the election.”
Cox admits that Jeffers had the
right to make a decision however,
her position was “unethical and
partial and had a tremendous im
pact on the Election Board.”
Glass also said that the Election
Board merely read they letters and
didn’t give them the opportunity to
voice their opinions in person.
Jeffers also states that there is
no “position on runoffs” in the
Handbook. Cox and Glass say there
is and cites Article IX, Section 2:6
and that the Election Board can
See Runoff, page 3
NCCU’s Honda All-Star Champions
Venture To California To Compete
or National Championship Title
NCCU hosted the Marcl
25-28 sectional tournament anc
By RHONDA REESE
CORRESPONDENT
Reverend Jesse Jackson
spoke at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Me
morial Hall last night to lend sup
port to the student’s fight for a free
standing black cultural center.
Jackson, who recently
withdrew his name from consider
ation as the head of the NAACP,
congratulated the students on their
initiative and commended them on
their perseverance.
“What excites me about
this movement is that there you sit
in a non-racial peaceful demon
stration for change,” said Jackson
to a packed house.
Jackson also chastised the
imiversity’s administration.
“The reality is that this
battle should be an administrative
incentive, not a student protest,”
he said.
He was quick to point out
thatmostoftheuniversity’ssuccess
in sports has been due in great part
to African-American athletes, yet
they are still excluded from front
office positions.
“We havenotmade progress
if we have gone from pickingng cot
ton balls to simply picking up bas
ketballs, footballs and baseballs,” said
Jackson urging the students to con
tinue in their fight
For the past few months,
Jackson has actively campaigned
against Major League Baseball,
urging them to open up their front-
office hiring practices to include more
minorities.
He and a group of about 300
protestors staged a rally outside of
Oriole Park at Camden Yards on
opening day to get the attention of
President Qinton, who was inside
throwing out the first pitch for the
Baltimore Orioles.
“You must come alive and
send a message to the rest of America
that you want a black cultural center,
that you want an equal education and
that you will not stand for any injus
tice,” said Jackson.
Three leaders in the fight for
the black cultural center, John
Bradly, Tim Smith, and Jimmy
Hitchcock also spoke.
“We don’thave ablack
cultural center aU we have is
rhetoric,” said Bradly, who is
also president of the Black Stu
dent Movement. “This system
is refusing to educate us about
one another, they only want to
educate us about one thing.”
Hitchcock down
played ramors that the protest
would get out of control and
explained the intentions of the
students.
“I am not going to bum
down anything, I am not going
to tear up anything, but I will sit
in, I will scream and I wiU march
until there is a free-standing
black cultural center,”
Hitchcock said.
Bradly said of Rev.
Jackson’s presence; “I’m ex
cited about the evening, because
it will bring a lot of people out
and that’s what we need.”
By ROBIN TUCKER
STAFF WRITER
Some snappy answers have
North Carolina Central
University’s Honda All Star
Challenge Quiz Bowl team ^g?;
ing “California, Here I Come.”
The team defeated six
other collegiate teams to win the
southeast sectional tournament
and advanced to the national com
petition in Los Angeles next
month.
The NCCU squad,
captained by senior political sci-
ence/History major Randy JoIuIt
son defeated Dillaid University,
West Vitginia State University,
Shaw University, St. Augustine’s
CoUege, N.C. A&T State Uni
versity, and South Carolina Cen
tral University in its route to the
week long national tournament
beginning May 13. Also on the
team were senior Business Eco
nomic major Joe Smith, sopho
more Political Science majof
Roderick Allison, and freshmart
biology major Tanisha Tootle
(alternate).
was the overall winner, bui
Morehouse College, Dillard, anc
West VirginiaState also advanced
The Quiz Bowl challenges
four-member collegiate teams to
answerquestions on a variety sub
jects, such as history, literature
national affairs, and popular cul
tore.
The NCCU team, coachec
by Shirley Haiper, an assistani
professor in the physical educatior
department, worked hard to prepare
for the event, practicing twice s
week all semester with an officia
buzzer: Harper said the team
studied from anumber of reference
books^—everything from the Bible
to the“Jeop^y Quiz Book”-srtc
prepare for the quiz sessions. The
preparation paid off, harper sak
“I felt it was very important to gc
into the game relaxed; they are s
strong group and they worked to
gether.”
The team will be going to Los
Angeles in the same relaxed mood say
team membCT Alliscxi. “I have nevei
been to California. I’m so excited. I’m
going thinking we’re going to win.”
"Leave bitterness in someone else's cup-"Notozake Shange