Black History Month
coverage
page 6-7
A M
U
ECHO
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
Responses to
Higher Learning review
page 2
Issue 45
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
Durham, NC
Febuary 3,1995
Health and safety
director correcting
campus problems
By Terri Boykin
Co-editor
Chancellor Julius Chambers
has created a new department to
deal with health and safety on
campus, hoping tocorrectproblems
that have plagued the University
for years.
Malcolm Magnum, a 1972
graduate of NC Central, has been
the director of the Health and Safety
Office for some time, operating
under the Physical Plant. But in
February, Chancellor Chambers
separated the office from the
Physical Plant.
“The Chancellor wanted to put
more emphasis on the health and
safety issues here on campus, and
part of the responsibility of the
director is inspections,” said Gen
eral George H. Walls Jr., who re
ports to the ehancellor on health
and safety issues.
“It’s sometimes organization
ally cumbersome if the inspector
inspects the person who is his boss.
So we wanted to give the health
and safety officer some indepen
dence.”
The inspector works with fed
eral and state OSHA and insurance
companies that insure the Univer
sity. "The inspector works with the
insurance people on fire alarms,
sprinkler systems, and a whole
array of things to make sure that
we are in compliance with all ap
plicable regulations and there
fore maintain our insurance rat
ing,” said Walls.
Magnum says he has a huge job
ahead of him. He has been meeting
with many of the 957 employees
on campus to learn of any problems
that he or other inspectors may
have missed. He listens as frus
trated people tell him of problems
that have existed for years, while
his secretary writes them down.
Magnum acknowledges that
they have a right to be upset; some
of these problems were first noted
over 10 years ago, yet he says they
have never been fixed. “We get
inspected by several state agencies,
and for a number of years we have
had these discrepancies noted on
these inspections,” said Walls.
“Up until last year, when we
really started working on this, there
hadn’t been a whole lot done to
correct them," said Walls. "Part of
the reason this happened is a lack
of funding. We just very frankly
didn’t have the money to do it.”
One example Walls gave was
fire hazards. Over the years people
have stuffed old furniture, books
and equipment away somewhere
or they created unauthorized stor
age spaces, such as under stair
wells.
“What we’ve done to address
that is to go through just about all
the buildings on campus and weed
out the good from the bad. The
stuff that was justabsolute junk we
trashed, and the stuff with some
resale value we put into the state
resale system.”
Walls said, “Many of the things
we’re working on to fix now have
been known. They have been repeat
citings on insurance and safety
inspections. None of what we’re
working on is a mystery or a sur
prise.”
One of the worst recent prob
lems was the fire system in Chidley
Annex. After the fire last year,
NCCU quickly hired a contractor
to install a new fire alarm system.
Ordinarily, blueprints for all
renovations and repairs must be
approved by Magnum, but in the
rush to repair the dorm, that step
was forgotten.
Magnum said, “I found out
[about the work] when it was 75
percent installed. When it was
finished, the contractor was paid
before the work was inspected.”
“The alarms are operational in
Chidley Hall Annex,” Walls em
phasized, “but they have not been
passed by the insurance people.
We know what we need to do to fix
that We have an estimate. Part of
the stuff is the eontractor’s re
sponsibility and they’ve agreed to
do it, and part of it is the
University’s responsibility.
The money for the repairs is not
in the present budget, said Walls.
The estimate will be given to the
chancellor and theFinancial Affairs
office, who will attempt to find
money elsewhere in the
University's budget. If necessary,
then the request will be sent to
General Administration of UNC
systems.
“It’s a health and safety issue,
and normally these take priority
over other issues that you can put
off. Health and safety you can’t
really afford to put off. If anything
would happen to a student, faculty
or staff member because of some
thing we failed to fix that we knew
about, then the University is li
able.”
The new department also wants
to start a preventative maintenance
See "Health "
continued on page 3
Signs of
the Old
South
The
Discovery
Channel
presents
a series
on the
migration
of
African
Americans
beginning
Feb. 12.
See the
story on
page 6.
Polls show continued strong
support for education programs
(From the United States
News Department of
Education)
Two out of three Americans do
not favor cuts to federal edueation
programs, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News poll.
At a time when the American
people want smaller, more effi
cient government, they continue to
show strong support for invest
ments in education, according to
this survey and other recent national
polls.
The Washington Post-ABC
News poll, released January 6,
found that while eight of 10 people
surveyed favor a balanced budget
amendment, two of three said they
would not support such an amend
ment if it meant that education or
Social Security would be cut.
A poll conducted by the Times
Mirror Center for The People &
The Press, released on Dec. 8, found
that 64 percent would increase
spending on public schools if given
the opportunity to set federal budget
priorities, while only six percent
would decrease spending.
Among 14 government pro
grams cited, support for public
schools was second only to
anticrime programs. And a New
York Times/CBS poll, conducted
December 6-9, found that 59 per
cent oppose cuts in education, while
Installation of library circulation
module temporarily delayed
(News release from the
fames E. Shepard
Memorial Library,
NCCU)
Installation of the circulation
module for NCCU Libraries has
been delayed until changes are
made in the database. These
changes will require additional
programming which is sched
uled to take place early in Feb
ruary.
After the programming is
completed, the database must
be checked for accuracy by the
NCCU cataloging staff. Scan
ners must also be installed. The
circulation module of the new
automated system should be
operational by March 1,1995.
Meantime, library users must
check out books the old fash
ioned way, by completing
charge cards by hand. Library
users are asked to be patient
while the new circulation
module is being installed.
Library users can still use
the online catalog terminals of
the new automated library
system to search libraries at
NCCU, Duke, UNC at Chapel
Hill, and North Carolina State
University. The library staff
would be happy to show anyone
how to use the online terminals.
Permanent TRLN cards are
available at the circulation desk
of the Shepard and La—r School
libraries which allow NCCU
students and faculty to check
out books directly from librar
ies at Duke, UNC-CH, and
North Carolina State.
22 percent support cuts.
“People know education is the
key to prosperity and the wisest
investment we can make in our
children’sandournation’sfuture,”
said U. S. Secretary of Education
Richard Riley. “We can continue
to make these investments while
working to make government
leaner and more efficient. That’s
what President Clinton’s Middle
Class Bill of Rights is all about. “
The President’s proposals call
for tax cuts for middle class fami
lies with children and tax deduc
tions for education.
The cuts would be paid for
through savings achieved by
downsizing government. Riley said
“the President’s proposals strike
the right balance between reduc
ing government and investing in
our most important resource —
people.”
The polls conducted in the past
few weeks and months are con
sistent with other surveys taken in
recent years.
A 1993 National Opinion Re
search Center poll found that 71
percent supported greater invest
ments in education.
“The American people’s mes
sage has been consistent over the
years, “ Riley said. “They are
willing to spend on education, but
they demand results.
"They want safe schools, disci
plined classrooms, challenging
academic standards, and a com-
mitmenttoa high quality education
for every student. That’s what the
President and I, joining with bi
partisan majorities in the Congress,
have worked to achieve over the
past two years.
"The American people are tell
ing us, ‘Don’t go back, keep
moving forward,’ and that’s what
we intend to do. “