/ f30/99^
INSIDE
Eagle
Spotlight
Catilla Everette,
NCCU SGA
president.
Page 5
A Ml !» U
lO
EXCELLENCE WitH 'UT EXCUSE
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Issue No. 73
Friday, Jan. 30,1998
ALSO INSIDE
•Scholarship to
honor Nancy
Rowland, former
Director of
Undergraduate
Admissions.
Page 2
in flight
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
Shanitra J, McNealy, Tisha Jones, Linda
Hall, Dejuan Suggs, and Sharifa Anderson,i
Rebecca Freeman members of NCCU's women's|
bowling team, placed third at the Sunshine Classic|^
held in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Jan. 17-18. Deris|
Pennington, Dennis Porch, Maurice Murray
Marques Rogers, James Battes, and Nilous|
Hodge, members of NCCU's men's bowling team,
I placed tenth....
Faculty
Charles George (biology department), Saundra
de Lauder (chemistry department) and Veronica^f,
Nwosu (Biology department) attended the Strategic|
Planning Meetings for the HBCU Research and|
[Development Consortium in Washington, D.C. lastf
October and in Atlanta, Ga. last November. The|
Consortium is developing an HBCU alliance toi
pursue contracts for cancer research!
projects...Vinston Goldman (psychology!
idepartment) and Nan Broussard (Office o
Sponsored Research) attended the Annual Meeting
of the Applied Research Ethics National!
Association (ARENA) and Public Responsibility in[
Medicine and Research in Boston, Mass, on Dec.
through Dec. 9....
Alumni I
Dr. Barbara Corbett Howard, (M.S. 'xx),
assistant division chair for business a
management, marketing, finance and real |
estate at the Annandale Campus of Northern |
Virginia Community College, recently |
presented a paper at the 14th International ^
Conference on Technology and Education
(ICTE) in Oslo, Norway. The paper, "Making I
Sense Out of Implementing Collaborative \
Learning in the Classroom with the Use of s
Distance Learning Software at the Post-
secondary Level," focused on the benefits of '
computer conferencing for faculty and
students.
.Colanda Barnes, '95, is a substitute teacher in|
Prince William County, Md Andrew Sherman,|
'94, teaches English at Jordan High School in;i
Durham....Wallace Sellers, '94, teaches at Rogers-|
Herr Middle School in Durham
What s insida
Campus News Pages 2-4
Features Page 5
Arts & Entertainment Page 6
Sports Page 7
Editorial Page 8
MLK Jr. holiday observed
with vigil, speeches, and film
by Lateefah Williams
Staff Writer
On Jan. 19, millions of people
across the nation joined to honor
the life and legacy of slain civil
rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. The North Carolina
Central University community,
however, decided to do it a little
earlier.
Events were held between Jan.
12 and Jan. 15.
In the past, campus events have
been held on the Martin Luther
King holiday, which meant that
students who went home for a long
weekend could not be present, said
Dr. Angela Terry, vice chancellor
for student affairs.
Terry said that holding the
events a week early is good for the
students. "It is important to make it
a celebration that students
participate in,"Terry said.
The celebration kicked off Jan.
12 with a candlelight vigil. Dozens
of students and faculty members
marched from the A.E. Student
Union to the B.N. Duke
Auditorium holding candles while
singing "We Shall Overcome."
The procession made way for
civil rights attorney Thomas N.
(Above) Sophomore Durant McGrathen (left)
and junior Ansel Brown (right) light their
candles during NCCU"s candlelight vigil held
Todd of Chicago who spoke to the Jan. 12 in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr.
crowd at the half-full B.N. Duke holiday.
(R/ghf); Washington Post columnist Dorothy
Butler Gitliam, one of the few African American
journalists to cover the civil rights movement
during the 1960s, urged NCCU to continue
King's legacy during her speech on campus
Jan. 15.
Auditorium.
Todd addressed many issues
ranging from appropriate interview
attire to the true legacy of King.
Todd challenged students with
questions such as "Why should you
go to an interview dressed in a nose
ring?"
Todd's told the audience that the best way to
honor King is to be a role model and project
oneself a certain way. He also stressed civic
responsibility. "If you want to be like Dr. King,
you have to vote," Todd said.
Events continued the next day with a seminar
held in the Student Union. At the seminar, 18
minutes of the 90-minute documentary film
"Black Is, Black Ain't" were shown. The film
deals with issues of identity within the black
community: complexion, "good and bad hair,"
and origins of surnames.
Marlon Riggs, the film's developer, producer
and commentator, also challenged racism and
homophobia with his film. Riggs died of AIDS
during the making of the film in 1994.
A discussion followed the film. The entire
90-niinute documentary was shown repeatedly
throughout the rest of the day in the student
union.
Richard Mizelle, a senior history major from
Raleigh and facilitator of the discussion, said
"We [black people] value naming ourselves
because we've been named by others for so
many years." Many blacks chose surnames that
reflected their occupations) (such as
Fisher, Gardner and Carppnter) in
order to create their own names,
Mizelle said.
Complexion was also a hot issue of the
discussion. During the discussion, more than
half the audience raised their hands when asked,
"Have people told you you're cute to be dark
skinned?" Many in the audience' voiced
agreement that complexion is still a big problem
within the black community.
Dr. Roger Bryant, dean of students,
disagreed, however. "[Whether complexion
matters] depends on the situation and
environment you are in," Bryant said. "It was
true in the past, but not as much so now."
Paul Fauntleroy, a sophomore English major
from Raleigh, said black people are more critical
than white people about other black people's
appearance. Fauntleroy, who has an afro, said
"White people don't even ask me about my hair."
He said bn the other hand, black people make
comments such as "How did you get a job with
that hair?"
Jan. 14, a Martin Luther King Jr. pre-birthday
dinner celebration was held in the W.G. Pearson
Cafeteria.
The culminating event occurred Jan. 15,
King's birthday, when Dorothy Butler Gilliam,
one of the few black journalists to cover the civil
rights movement during the 1960s, delivered the
keynote address. GilHam is also a columnist for
the Washington Post, and president of the
National Association of Black Journalists.
"If we are interested in how to get more
African-American men and women in positions
of leadership, we must be prepared," Gilliam
said.
"What the Republican Congress has in mind
for you may not be what you have in mind for
yourself," she said. "I heard some congressmen
refer to welfare people as 'animals' and 'wolves.'
This is a time both of opportunity and of peril,"
she said.
Gilliam also urged NCCU students to honor
King's legacy by promoting economic
development for their communities. "You are
the inheritors of the dream, but if you don't
embrace the dream you haven't inherited it,"
Gilliam said.
Women basketball
.g . arrested tor guns,
players may face cocaine in Georgia
charges in brawl
by Joe Wright
Staff Writer
A former North Carolina Central
University student claims members of the
women's basketball team assaulted him
earlier this month.
Shawn A. Wallace claims he suffered a
black eye and must now see an
ophthalmologist after being hit by several
female basketball players in McLendon-
McDougald Gymnasium on Jan. 6,
according to his attorney, Larry D. Hall.
Wallace graduated from NCCU in
December with a degree in criminal justice.
According to NCCU pohce, the fight was
triggered when Wallace allegedly sat on the
foot of Lady Eagles center Danya Nelson’s
mother.
Nelson is a freshman from Charlotte.
NCCU police say Nelson and Wallace
began exchanging words, and soon, an
unspecified number of other members
joined the argument.
Moments later a fight broke out.
Hall, in an interview with the Durham
Herald-Sun, characterized the incident as
“gang assault” by the Lady Eagles.
According to reports in the Raleigh News
& Observer, Wallace suffered a dislocated
shoulder and a black eye.
Campus police reported that two campus
officers were slightly injured during the
fight.
Five players, including freshman Crystal
Cosby, have been suspended pending the
university's announcement of a decision.
At press time, the university had not
announced what actions it would take in the
matter.
"The administrative judicial board was
focusing more on the facts, more than trying
to find someone guilty," Hall said.
"The panel did not specify all the
charges," he added.
Wallace said he will wait for the
university's ruling before deciding whether
to press criminal charges.
"Assault and battery are charges some
players could face," Hall said.
by Sbelvia Dancy & Danny Hooley
Editor-in-Chief, A&E editor
A tenured criminal law professor at North Carolina
Central University has been placed on administrative
leave pending an investigation of charges that he was
caught by Geogia police with cocaine and a concealed
weapon.
Although reports in The News & Observer and the
Durham Herald-Sun, reported Fred Williams, 46, had
been suspended with pay (according to the Durham
Herald-Sun) and without pay (according to The News &
Observer), Ronald S. Douglas, assistant dean of NCCU's
School of Law, said that is not the case.
"I have seen a. letter written to Professor Williams
from the Chancellor stating he had been placed on
administrative leave," said Douglas. "Suspension, as I
understand it, implies guilt. Administrative leave means
he's been excused pending an investigation."
The investigation will be conducted by the chancellor,
said Kaye Webb, assistant to the chancellor for legal
affairs.
She did not say when the investigation would begin or
what it would entail.
According to the The News & Observer, Williams,
who has taught at the NCCU School of Law for 18 years,
was arrested in the parking lot of Dad's restaurant in Hart
County, Ga after two sherriff s deputies observed him
lying on the floor of his 1991 bronze Acura Legend with
thepassenger door open.
See PROFESSOR, page 4