VO
\i
INSIDE
Durham election coverage
• Primary candidates speak at
university's Issues Forum.
Page 4
• NCCU Professor Isaac
Robinson leads Nick Tennyson
in primary vote for mayor.
Page 4
C A M P US
ECHO
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Issue No. 69
Thursday, Oct. 23,1997
ALSO INSIDE
•'Grade A': Teachers and classes
worthy of notice at NCCU.
Page 5
• Men's soccer couid arrive as
early as next fall.
Page 7
Smith will chair Trustees
in night
Editor's note: 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 family. 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
Nzinga Poteat was selected to be on the 1997!
All-CIAA women's cross country Team Tim|
McMillan, a graduate student studying publicj
administration from Lumberton, N.C., has been
awarded the Ted L. Drain Community Service
Award, worth $200 Daffny Jones, a senior!
biology major from Roanoke Rapids, N.C. studied]
biology at the University of Singapore for 12
weeks during the summer as a MARC
Scholar...Zarrah Forbes, a senior volleyball!
player, has been named CIAA Rookie of the
Week....Rena Armwood made the USCA]
volleyball All-Toumament team in Aiken, S. C
Oct. 17-18....
Faculty and staff r;
Dr.George P. Wilson Sr., chair of the CriminalL
Justice department, was awarded during the|
summer the Mary Church Terrell award fori
Activism for Positive Change in Criminal Justicel
from the National Association of Blacks in|
Criminal Justice....Dietrich Morrison, director of
leadership development, was inducted into the!
Order of Omega, the highest honor a Greekj
lettered person can receive, at the Nationali
Panhellenic Conference in Mobile, Ala. earlier this!
month....Dr. Trevy McDonald, assistant professori
in the Department of EngUsh, will receive a 1997|
Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the!
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh!
Saturday....Carmen Dorsey has been appointed!
interim director of Career Services at NCCU....Dr.r
Randolph Umberger, professor of theatre, was!
honored for 30 years of service to NCCU's theatre!
department during the department's annual|
Opening Gala on Oct. l....Dr. Yolanda B.|
Anderson, director of NCCU's Environmental!
Sciences program, will be principal investigator in!
the university's work with the Tri-Countyl
Community Health Center, serving Harnett,|
Johnston and Sampson counties, to help farm!
workers reduce risks from pesticide exposure. The!
$249,193 grant is from the Envirormentall
Protection Agency's Office of Environmental!
Justice
Alumni
Joyce SUer-Howers, '67, is chairperson of the
Department of Management, Computer
Applications and Public Administration at Medgar
Evers College--City University of New
York...Sonya Laws-Scott, '89, received her
master's degree in technical communication from
Colorado State University and is working on her
second master's in agency counseling at North
Carolina Central University...Jason Williams, '93,
is a reporter and columnist for the Salisbury
Post Tyra Leazer, '90, is pursuing a doctoral
degree from UNC-Chapel Hill...Jamaal Horton,
'92, is Sports Editor at the Macon Telegraph, one
of five major daily black newspapers in the
[country Alton Tyre, '78, teaches history and|
coaches football, cross country and track at
Southern Nash High School in Bailey,4,
,N.C Mark Farrish, '97, has been commissioned!
a lieutenant in the United States Air Force and is |
now stationed in England....Tommy Dorsey, '97, [1
is a hnebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs.... 1}
What is insida
Campus News
... Pages 2-3
City & University
. ..Page 4
Perspectives
Page 5
Arts & Entertainment....
Page 6
Sports
Page 7
Editorial
Page 8
by Shelvia Dancy
Editor-in-Chief
William G. Smith, senior vice
president and market executive of
First Union National Bank in
Durham and Chapel Hill, has been
elected chair of the North Carolina
Central University Board of
Trustees.
"It's an extreme honor," said
Smith. "It shows that people have
confidence in me."
Smith has served as acting chair
of the Board of Trustees since July
1, when Peggy Ward of Charlotte
completed her term on the board.
His appointment was confirmed
at the trustees' meeting on campus
Sept. 23-24.
Smith said one of his priorities
is to get students more involved
with the trustees.
"They need to know what's
going on," he said. "One of my
favorite committees is the student-
trustee relationship committee. I'm
very sensitive we do what's right
for the students."
Smith said he also wants to
make sure the board kept true to its
1995 pledge to raise $250,000 in
scholarship money for NCCU
students.
"We're going to raise that
$250,000," said Smith. "That's a
very important goal of ours.
Hopefully, we'll have it done
before my term on the board is up."
Smith graduated from NCCU in
1977 and began his banking career
with First Union National Bank. He
was named senior vice president
and market executive for first
Union's Durham/Chapel Hill
market in 1992.
"I love the university," said
Smith. "I really do. Because of the
university. I'm where I am today in
my professional career. I want to
continue to make sure NCCU is
great. I support the chancellor in
trying to make this school one of
the top in the country."
Bon Vivant, the university's fashion troupe, heid its annuai fali fahion show Tuesday. Bon
Vivant is ranked No. 1 among fashion troupes at state HBCUs. Members are (front row,
from ieft) Erica McCray, Natishia Royster, Shannon Boney, Andrea McMiiian (back row,
from ieft) Cory McLinnahan, Rhonda Everett, Devon Harris.
staff photo by John Patton
United Negro College Fund
head to speak at Founder’s Day
by Shelvia Dancy
Editor-in-Chief
Fifty years after the death of
James Shepard, founder of North
Carolina Central University, the
university will honor the man and
his legacy in the annual Founder's
Day ceremony Friday.
The ceremony will be held from
10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in B. N. Duke
Auditorium. All classes are
cancelled from 9:30 a.m. until 1
p.m. so that students can attend the
program. Classes resume at 1 p.m.
A wreath-laying ceremony will
follow the program at the foot of the
statue of Shepard in front of the
Hoey Administration Building.
William H. Gray III, president
and chief executive officer of The
College Fund/UNCF since 1991,
will be the guest speaker.
Gray, the highest-ranking
African American ever to serve in
Congress when he served as
Majority Whip, co-sponsored the
Black College Act, which helps
allocate federal funds to enhance
On the drawing board: nightly
shuttle service to transport students
by Kendall Jenkins
Staff Writer
Students concerned about
walking alone on campus at night
may soon have their fears put to rest.
"Getting from point A to point B
on campus at night as quickly as
possible and as safely as possible is
a main concern for most students,"
said Dr. Tyrone Bledsoe, assistant
vice-chancellor for student affairs.
who helped draw up plans for a
North Carolina Central University
shuttle service. "This is why we're
starting the service."
The university will start a shuttle
service that would operate from 6
p.m. until midnight during the week.
The exact date the service will
get off the ground has not yet been
decided upon, but campus pohce Lt.
Renee Lynch, who will supervise the
program, said the service should be
up and running in a few weeks, as
William Smith
historically black colleges and
universities.
Gray was also the first African
American to chair the House Budget
Committee and during 1994 served
as President Bill Clinton's special
advisor on Haitian affairs. Two
years ago Gray received the Medal
of Honor from Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, president of Haiti.
Gray, who has more than 50
honorary degrees, has master's
degrees from Drew Theological
Seminary and from Princeton
Theological Seminary.
soon as the university installs a
separate phone line for the shuttle
service.
"We had hoped to start [Friday],"
said Lynch, "but we will be running
by Nov. 1."
The program will cost $20,000
annually to operate. One seven-seat
passenger van will transport students
back and forth across campus.
Student drivers will be trained in
See SHUTTLE, page 2
The old high school,
which relocated to
Fayetteville street two
years ago, is the
future site of a sports
complex.
by Shelvia Dancy
Editor-in-Chief
One of Durham's older high
school campuses will soon
become part of North Carolina
Central University's campus.
During the summer, NCCU's
board of trustees voted to spend
$250,000 to purchase the old
Hillside High School, located
less than two blocks from the
university on Concord Street.
Two months ago the University
of North Carolina Board of
Governors approved the
university's purchase.
The use of Hillside High
School is a part of the
university's "master plan",
completed three years ago,
which calls for an athletics
complex and possibly more
dormitories on the Hillside
property.
The site will also be used to
house science classes, and will
be used as a meeting place for
the university band.
Gen. George H. Walls,
special assistant to the
chancellor, said NCCU will
first use the part of Hillside that
requires the least renovation,
the side of the school that faces
Lawson avenue.
"That will be used for what
we call 'swing space,"' said
Wall.
"We'll make it usable for
departments that are displaced
by renovation on campus. [For
example] the biology and
chemistry departments would
move over there for the the time
of renovation, and once that is
complete move back to the
newly renovated building," he
said.
Walls said the purchase of
the high school is important
because it allows the university
to expand.
"We're landlocked," he said.
"Once you go past Lawson,
Cecil, Fayetteville and Alston
[streets], there is no place for
the university to grow but up,
so you have to build high-rise
or multi-floor buildings.
"Once Hillside was closed a
logical thing for the university
to do was grow outward, down
See HILLSIDE, page 3