INSIDE
•The 70th
Eagle-Aggie
Classic drew
48,001 people
who enjoyed
socializing as
much as the
game.
CAMPUS
ECHO
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
Issue No. 67
Thursday, Sept. 18,1997
ALSO INSIDE
•NCCU Professor Ike Robinson is
a candidate for mayor of Durham.
Page 4
•‘Long Time Since Yesterday,' a
play that tells story of five college
friends reunited for a funeral,
opens Oct. 1.
Page 6
in flight
Editor's note: Beginning with the inaugural
issue of the 1997-98 academic year, The
Campus Echo will publish in this column brief
news items on current and former members of
the NCCU community. Our goal is to let you
know about significant and interesting
achievements of the university's students,
faculty, staff and alumni. We will publish news
of awards and honors, internships, full-time
jobs, graduate study, significant out-of-state
travel and other information that will show the
full range of activities by the Eagle activities.
To be as comprehensive as possible, we
need your help. If you have something you
would like to be included in Eagles in Flight,
please call us (560-6504) or drop by our
newsroom in 319 Farrison-Newton
Communications Building. We prefer to have
submissions in writing, and you must include
your name and local telephone number so
that we can verify information.
Students
Shadrack Frazier, a junior Computer Science
major, is working as a computer systems
analyst with IBM in the Research Triangle
Park, N.C....Julian Weaver, a junior art
major, served an eight-week internship at the
Williamsburg Art Conservation Center in
Williamstown, Mass, last summer....Ann-
Marie Nicholson, a senior English Electronic-
Media major, interned with New York City's
WNBC-TV, working with the station's
consumer affairs reporter Tina Buford, a
senior theatre major, worked as an intern with
the American Dance Festival last
summer....Shana Walker, a history education
major, is one of 16 national winners of the
Sears Director's Cup Postgraduate
Scholarship Awards worth $5,000...
Alumni
Gwendolyn Chunn, '64, heads the N.C.
Division of Youth Services, which operates
schools for juvenile delinquents and 580
training programs across the state. Her
daughter, Gerrelyn Chunn, '92, completed a
master's degree in
English at the
University of Virginia
and joined the NCCU
English department this
month.... Esther Silver-
Parker, '69, is
president of the AT&T
Foundation, which has
an annual budget of
nearly $50 million. A
former The Campus Echo editor, she directs
AT&T's public relations activities, including
media relations, constituency relations and
market communications in the Northeastern
United States....Carey Johnson, '97, is a
sports reporter for the New Bern Sun-Journal
in New Bern, N.C....Alicia Williams, '97, is a
police beat reporter for The News & Observer
in Raleigh, N.C....Valerie Bracy, '95, is a
weekend anchor for WGNO-TV in New
Orleans, La Rhonda Robinson, '95, is an
associate producer for WNCN-TV news in
Raleigh....John A. Riddiqk, Jr. is publisher
and editor of Rhapsody in Black, a literary
magazine....
Silver-Parker
What's insida
Campus News
.... Pages 2-3
City & University.
Page 4
Perspectives
Page 5
Arts & Entertainment
Page 6
Sports
....Page 7
Editorials
Page 8
Enrollment up; budget cut
More students attend despite raised admission standards
by Evelyn Howell
Staff Writer
Enrollment is up this year at North
Carolina Central University after a slight
decline in 1995-96, a trend that university
officials say is possibly correlated with the
raising of academic standards for
admission.
In 1994 NCCU raised its average SAT
score requirement in an attempt to attract
academically better-qualified students. One
result of this policy was a short-term drop
in enrollment — and a decrease in state
More signs
to show way
to NCCU
by Rasheda Barnes
Staff Writer
Ever gotten lost trying to find North
Carolina Central University?
Thanks to one man's campaign for more
roadside recognition of NCCU, that may
soon be a thing of the,pasf.. ‘j_
Phillip Vereen, a 1997 graduate otf
NCCU, became interested in increasing the
number of road signs directing travelers to
the school when he began to hear a number
of complaints from his peers. They
complained about the lack of signage
directing motorists to NCCU on Triangle
highways.
Northbound motorists on Interstate 85
routinely miss the sign directing them to
exit on Avondale Drive, a more direct
route, Vereen said.
Instead of exiting from the Interstate at
the Durham Freeway,unfamiliar travelers
would stay on 1-85 instead of taking the
freeway to Fayetteville Street," said
Vereen.
More than a dozen signs direct drivers to
Duke University on U.S. Highway 15-501,
1-85 and Interstate 40. A majority of signs
inform motorists of routes to Duke up to
three miles in advance of the exit.
On 1-85, U.S. 15-501, and 1-40, more
than a dozen signs direct drivers to Duke
University's east and west campuses.
Five signs direct motorists to Duke
University on 1-85 northbound alone, while
just one directs traffic to NCCU.
See ROAD SIGNS, page 4
funding, since state money is tied to
enrollment.
Because NCCU had about 450 fewer
students enrolled in the Fall of 1996 and
the Spring of 1997, the UNC Board of
Governors cut the university's budget by
$3.1 million for the 1997-98 academic
year.
The decrease in enrollment came as no
surprise to NCCU Chancellor Julius
Chambers, but he defended the raising of
admissions standards as necessary to
improve NCCU's academic reputation.
"I've heard complaints about this raising
of standards, but if you're going to change
this institution, you've got to have
competitive students," he told faculty and
staff in his Aug. 13 State of the University
Address.
"We anticipated we would have fewer
students for the last year's enrollment,"
Chambers said. "We also expected that
once the word got out about improvements
in academics, better students will gravitate
toward NCCU."
University officials say they are pleased
with increased enrollment this year.
"Enrollment this year is 5,644 overall
with 4,925 full-time equivalent (FTE)," said
See ENROLLMENT, page 2
ROUGH START FOR EAGLES
Quarterback Warren Bell, passing against Gardner-Webb, leads an offense
that has struggled in the Eagles' first three games. Sports, page 7.
staff photo by Paul Phipps
Funding formula may not be equitable
by Shelvia Dancy
Editor-in-Chief
A revised model intended to
more equitably distribute state
funds among UNC system
universities could bode for
North Carolina Central
University.
Supporters of historically
black universities have long
alleged their schools were
shortchanged by the state in
regard to funding. The new
funding model approved by the
Board of Governors last
November attempted to lay
such charges to rest.
Under the new model, state
funding will no longer be based
solely on enrollment figures.
“The new model will
consider enrollment,” said
NCCU Chancellor Julius
Chambers, “but it will also look
at the number of students
receiving degrees within a four
or five year period, and the
success of students in finding
'They completely ignored history and
additional funds universities may have from
private contributions/
Chancellor Julius Chambers
jobs after graduation. It’s called
a performance-based budget.”
But even under the new
criteria, NCCU still may not
fare any better. Only 18 percent
of NCCU’s class of 1996
graduated in just four years
during, according to Dr. Larry
Leith of the university's Office
of Research, Evaluation and
Planning. That figure is the
highest it’s been in years, said
Leith. Figures are not yet
available for the class of 1997.
Moreover, the Office of
Career Development has kept
no records of NCCU graduates'
success rate in finding jobs. It
must do so to provide required
information for funding.
Increased enrollment this
year will be a plus for NCCU
when state money is allocated
next year. But during the 1996-
97 school year, when NCCU
did not meet its enrollment
target and had more than 200
students fewer than anticipated,
the university lost $3.1 million
in state funding for 1997-98.
The loss hit hard. About 20
faculty positions were lost in
the College of Arts and
Sciences alone. The decrease in
staff and this year's enrollment
increase have led to
overcrowded classrooms this
semester, particularly in CFAS
courses — general courses
required for graduation..
The new funding formula is
a result of the second of two
studies ordered by the General
Assembly two years ago to
assess the method used to fund
the 16 UNC system campuses.
The first study raised a furor
after it reported that five
historically white universities
(Appalachian State, East
Carolina, UNC-Wilmington,
Greensboro, and Charlotte)
received $21 million less than
they should have. The study
proposed adding that amount to
the UNC system's budget
request each year to address the
inequity.
The implementation of that
suggestion roused ire among
many supporters of the state’s
historically black universities,
who say the study ignored
decades of funding inequity
black universities suffered.
“That’s one of the problems
I had with the study,” said
Chambers. “They completely
ignored history and additional
funds universities may have
from private contributions.”