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Issue 54
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Tuesday, December 5 1995
Minority enroliment increases
By Christopher Richburg,
Staff Reporter
Although North Carolina Cen
tral University began the 20th cen
tury as an institution to serve black
students, its student body is be
coming more diverse.
“ Yes, we are actively recruiting
white students, black students.
Native Americans, Hispanics and
Asians,” said Chancellor Julius
Chambers.
Of a total student population of
5,500, statistics show that white
students account for 7.3 percent of
the freshman class, as opposed to
91.2 percent for blacks.
However, the number decreases
for sophomores, only 2.8 percent
are white, and 95.9 percent are
black.
Brian Wurtzel, a minority
freshman, was encouraged to come
to NCCU because of the reputa
tion of its law program.
“A lot of people back home did
not think I could survive at a pre
dominantly black university. Ba
sically, I came here to prove them
wrong, test myself, and just see if
I could do it and so far it’s going
well,” he said.
Wurtzel is part of a growing
nationwide trend, the “desegrega
tion” of predominantly black
schools.
NCCU assistant director of Ad
missions Robbie Schultz said the
hardest part of recmiting is con
vincing minority students to fight
peer pressure.
“Over the years, a lot of stu
dents who were quite interested in
coming to NCCU were excited
about it, but then when crunch
time hit they backed away," he
said.
Marty Houglan, a third-year
minority law student, is quick to
advise potential minority students
to disregard negative advice about
Diversity: Students listen attentively at this English Club meeting
NCCU they receive from friends
or others.
He finds the university to be
more practical, diverse and politi
cally liberal, which is a plus in his
eyes.
The Consent Decree of 1980
was a mandate by the University of
North Carolina educational system.
It stipulated that predominantly
white and black colleges had to
have a 15 percent student popula
tion rate of the opposite race.
According to Dr. Fuller, direc
tor of Student Affairs, NCCU has
been able to comply with, and even
exceed that stated mandate.
Chambers said that integration
is vital to the survival of the univer
sity.
“I know that world is chang
ing.! know the world requires that
we appreciate and respect people
of different races, colors and pref
erences. It is imperative that we
operate a higher education system
to provide that kind of accommo
dation. Otherwise, you aren’t go
ing to be here,” he said.
Fuller agreed. ‘To keep pace in
the modem world of higher educa
tion, we must attempt, not only
accommodate diversity, but to
"The world re
quires that we ap
preciate and respect
people of different
races, colors and
preferences."
Julius Chambers,
Chancellor
welcome it as a critical part of
learning.”
Herbert Whren, a junior Edu
cation major, feels that the key
issue is one of economics, not race.
“It has nothing to do with race,
it’s money. What do you expect.
Either white people come to our
school or our school is closed,”,
said Whren.
“What can we (the students) do
to preserve our school. Where is
our input?,” he asked.
The UNC General Administra
tion defines minority presence as a
black student at a predominantly
white institution or a white student
at a predominantly black institu
tion.
“We have included all other
groups besides African Ameri
cans, that includes Hispanics,
Asian Americans and (Native
Americans). We have represen
tatives from all these groups,”
said Vicki Fuller.
Reaction to increasing minor
ity presence has been mixed.
NCCU English professor. Dr.
Floyd Ferebee said that increased
integration will not destroy the
university’s emphasis on Afri
can American culture.
“1 am highly in favor of in
creasing minority enrollment at
NCCU,” said Ferebee.
Ferebee also said there are
disadvantages in separation, in
terms of resources.
“The more diverse the student
population, the better the chances
of the university of receiving fi
nancial support from outside
sources.”
Dr. Pamela George, an Edu
cation professor, said that the in
creased enrollment of minority
students is exactly why she came
to NCCU.
“1 really wanted to come to a
place where ethnic groups and
gender groups can come together
and talk about what it is like to
work in public schools in North
Carolina or public schools in the
South,” she said.
“NCCU is a wonderful place
to have that conversation. Ichose
to be here 18 years ago and I
choose to be here for that very
reason today," she concluded.
Freshman Alicia Wilson said
that she doesn’t have a problem
with NCCU’s changing face.
“We need integration because
you can’t know about your own
culture unless you know about
other cultures also,” said Wilson.
“You go to school to learn. It
shouldn ’ t matter what color you are
as long as you’re here to get an
education. What does it matter if
you’re white or black?”
One employee who did not want
to disclose his name told the Cam
pus Echo that there are those who
feel integration is a scheme to pre
pare for the coming of the
university’s first white chancellor.
He added, "I am trying to be
broad minded about the situation,
because if you know from whence
you came, then you know where
you are going".
“African-American students
should never let it be forgotten who
established the school and the rea
son why it is here.”
Although Whren finds the in
creasing minority presence to be
okay, he does advise some caution.
“I feel that a white person is here
for the same purpose as me, to get a
degree,” he said. “I am all for any
body of any race going to school.”
B ut he feels that politically .inte
gration could be wrong for the sur
vival of the university.
Based on an incident in Oxford,
Mississippi, his concern isn’t com
pletely unrealistic.
A U. S. District Court Judge ruled
that Mississippi could not close two
of its predominantly black public
univeristies as part of an effort to
. desegregate its eight-institution
higher education system.
“If we have a steady increase, in
ten years NCCU could be predomi
nantly white, acquire a new name
and not be our school any more. It’s
the big white college buying out the
predominantly black school,
squeezing the life out of the black
heritage,” said Whren.
(Derrick Armsteadand Victor Blue
contributed to this report.)
NCCU forms medical partnership
(Left to right) Nefertari Benton strolls the campus with
Dr. Kenneth Edelin, Dr. Charles George and Dr. John Myers.
Echo Staff
Dr. Kenneth Edelin, of the
Boston Univesity School of
Medicine, recently visited North
Carolina Central University to
speak to freshmen and sophomores
about the Early Medical School
Selection Program.
Directed by Edelin, the program
is designed to provide a gradual
transition into the medical school
curriculum through provisional
acceptance into medical school at
the completion of two-years of
undergraduate study.
This program has been in
operation at BYU since 1982.
The EMSSP integrates
undergraduate college and medical
school courses to form a modular
curriculum implemented in the
junior and senior years of college
and the first two years of medical
school.
Early admissions programs
provide first- and second-year
college students with a strong
incentive to commit to medicine
early in their educational careers.
Partnerships are formalized
with designated universities
through articulation agreements.
An agreement was signed between
the Boston University School of
Medicine and NCCU in 1994. The
agreement is coordinated trhough
the North Carolina Health Careers
Access Program (NC-HCAP) at
NCCU.
Nefertari Benton, a junior biology
major from Charlotte, NC was the
first NCCU student to be accepted
into the program.
A Glaxo Scholar and 1994
participant in the HC-HC AP Clinical
Work-Study Summer Health
Program, Benton attended a six-week
course at BYU this past summer.