Lf-3-?^
tNSIDE
•Women's
Student
Organization
holds second
annual
"Women's
Festival."
Page 2
C A M P U S
ECHO
EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Issue No. 77
Friday, April 3,1998
ALSO INSIDE:
•Department of Theatre presents
African folktales and one-act plays.
Page 6
'Junior Biology Melissa Rayner
student heads to Singapore in
summer research program.
Page 5
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 j
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 j
we can verify information.
Students
Byron Craig, a senior computer information!
sciences major from Chapel Hill, has been chosenr
for an internship with QADI
Corporation....Schnequa Jones, a senior computer^
information sciences major from Durham, has|;
received an internship with IBM-SAP Analysts....
Faculty |
Percy R. Luney Jr., dean of NCCU's School of S
Law, was a featured lecturer March 2-9 at the i
Ghana School of Law, participating in events that I
marked the Ghana school's 40th anniversary. Luney
lectured students faculty, and ^ests on the j
Americal legal profession and international
law....Dr. Kofi Johnson, an associate professor in
the department of political science, will hold for the j
second time an international conference on gender
in Windhoek, Namibia from June 23 until January
26. More than 1,000 delegates representing 137
countries are expected to attend Dr. Sylvia
Jacobs, professor and chair of the department of
history, published an article "James Enunan
Kwegyir Aggrey: An African Intellectual in the
United States" in the Journal of Negro History....
"Art, Society and Performance," a book about the
oral tradition in Africa written by Dr. Ode Ogede,
a professor in the department of Enghsh, was
publishedlast December by the University Press of
Florida. His latest book "Ayi Kwei Arm^," about
the the life and works of the Ghanaian author Ayi
Kwei Armah, will be released this spring by
Heinemann Publishers U.S.A
Alumni |
Michael P. Johnson, '69, is vice president of |
Amoco Coloration in Chicago.. .Isaiah TidweU, |
'67, executive vice president of Wachovia Banka, f
N.A., served as honorary chairperson of the 12th
annual National Black Family Summit March 4-6 at|
Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, 
S.C Rhonda Harrison-Lewis, years, a guidance ^
counselor at Hillside High School in Durham, was
named secondary counselor of the year by the N.C. .
School Counselors Association ;
The Campus Echo
salutes those students
who were honored at
the Honors
Convocation held April
3.
Congratulations!
What s InsidQ
Campus News
...Pages 2-4
Features
Page 5
Arts & Entertainment....
Page 6
Sports
Page 7
Editorial
Page 8
False rumor hurts
hurts blood drive
An NCCU student warily watches as a healthjcare worker prepares to draw blood during the
university's spring blood drive March 17-19. i
staff photo by Dawn Bowling-Wallace
Blood drive organizers say a false
rumor that blood collected at
NCCU during the fall was HIV
positive may have kept students
from donating blood.
by Dinky Kearney
Staff Writer
North Carolina Central University held its
annual Spring Blood Drive March 17-19,
collecting 216 pints of blood, short of the 300
pints the university usually collects each
semester.
Last year NCCU collected 537 pints of blood,
up from the 475 pints collected in 1996.
Dr. Theodore Parrish, chairperson of NCCU's
Health/Education Department, said he thinks he
knows why some people chose not to donate.
"There is a rumor going around that 65
percent of the people that donated blood in the
fall were infected with the HTV virus, and it has
spread to surrounding colleges," he said. "The
rumor has hurt NCCU's reputation. The rumor is
ridiculous."
Parrish said he contacted Dr. Stephen Squiers,
CEO for American Red Cross, and was told no
pints of blood collected at NCCU last fall were
tainted with the HIV virus.
Parrish said his Health Education class will
attempt to determine whether the false rumor
about the HIV contamination of part of the fall
collection had reduced the number of donors in
the spring drive.
He said NCCU can't afford to lose students
because of false rumors, and wants to find out
what the American Red Cross and the Centers for
Disease Control do as "damage control."
Parrish said he thinks the rumor originally
surfaced when a member of NCCU's board of
trustees asked Chancellor Chambers about
possible blood contamination.
Still, the rumor didn't stop all students from
donating.
Amy Flack, a sophomore pre-nursing major
from Spindale, N.C., said she gave blood because
she knows people who are anemic and need
blood. "It makes you feel better when you are
giving someone a chance to live a healthier,
longer hfe," she said. "I'm also a bone marrow
donor."
Jessica Silver, a junior biology major from
Warrenton, N.C., said she gives blood every
semester. "I have a rare blood type, 0+," she
said. "Any time you can give blood you should
give it, because it is important to help other
people;"
Phi Eta Sigma honor
society inducts 122
by Bria Culp
Staff Writer
Phi Eta Sigma, established at
N.C. Central last semester for
first-year students, inducted
more than 100 students March
21 in its first induction
ceremony.
Dr. Angela O. Terry, vice
chancellor for student affairs,
gave the introduction.
Chancellor Julius Chambers,
Miss NCCU Cheryl Woods and
Dr. Peggy Watson Alexander,
dean of student learning and
founder of NCCU's chapter of
Phi Beta Sigma, gave welcome
addresses.
Sarah Hartley, a first-year
student from Durham, delivered
a rousing rendition of "His Eye
is on the Sparrow."
Esther Silver-Parker,
president of the AT&T
Foundation, the world's largest
philanthropic organization, was
the keynote speaker.
Silver-Parker spoke on the
four skills of good leadership:
principle, people skills,
performance and perseverance.
Silver-Parker opened her
speech by repeating what she
said her mother had told her.
"My mama used to say, 'If you
always tell the truth you won't
have to remember what you
said,"' she said.
She stressed the importance
of setting principles and standing
by them.
"Without principles, there are
no relationships, only
entanglements," said Silver-
Parker.
Latrica Huffin, a first-year
political science major from
Fayetteville, N.C. said she was
pleased to be inducted.
"I felt that it was a great
honor for this to be opened up
my first year," Huffin said.
"I aih happy to be among the
very first members."
Clifton Gray, a sophomore
English major from Washington,
N.C. who was also inducted,
agreed.
"I count it an honor, pleasure
and privilege to be inducted into
Phi Eta Sigma," he said.
Campus
police
propose
handheld
safety alarms
Campus police hope the
miniature safety alarms,
possibly leased to students for
about $10 per semester, will
help students protect
themselves in dangerous
situations.
by Shelvia Dancy
Editor-in-Chief
It's small enough to fit in the palm of
your hand, or to attach to the end of a key
ring,but it may be just what North Carohna
Central University students need if they're
ever in danger.
Security Escort, a miniature safety alarm,
is one of the latest measures campus police
are considering to make NCCU's campus
safer.
One squeeze of the alarm would send
radio waves to the campus police station ,
where police would be able to access
critical information such as the student's
name and location.
Much like a tracking system, NCCU
police would be able to follow a student as
she moves across campus
McDonald Vick, Campus Police Chief
and Director of Public Safety, said the
alarms could be available as early as next
semester for a small fee.
"Students would be able to lease the
alarms from the school," said Vick. "Right
now we're looking at students paying
anywhere from $10 to $15. But I want to
See ALARM, page 2
Graduation
speaker
announced
from staff reports
The Rev. Dr. James Alexander Forbes
Jr., senior minister of The Riverside Church
in New York City, one of the nation's
largest multi-cultural congregations, has
been selected guest speaker at North
Carolina Central University's spring
commencement ceremony, scheduled May
9.
Forbes, a‘native of Burgaw, N.C., has
served as senior minister of The Riverside
Church (built by billionaire philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller in 1927) since 1989.
He is the first African American appointed
to the position. Forbes' sermons are aired
weekly on WLTW 106.7 FM in New York
City.
Before assuming his post at the 2,400-
member church, Forbes served as the first
Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching at the
Union Theological Seminary in New York
City from 1985-89, and as an Associate
Professor of Preaching at Union
Theological from 1976-85.
He has held pastorates at Holy Trinity
Church in Wilmington, N.C., at St. Paul's
Holy Church in Roxboro, N.C., at St. John's
Holy United Church of America in
Riclunond, Va., and has worked as campus
minister for Virginia Union University in
Richmond.
Forbes received a Doctor of Ministry
Degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity
School in Rochester, N.Y. in 1975, a Master
of Divinity from Union Theological
Seminary in New York City in 1962, and a
B.S. in Chemistry from Howard University
in Washington, D.C. in 1957.
He earned his Clinical Pastoral
Education Certificate from the Medical
College of Virginia in Richmond in 1968.
He holds 10 honorary degrees including
degrees from Trinity College in Conn.,
Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and
Howard University.
Newsweek recently recognized Forbes as
one of the 12 "most effective preachers" in
the English speaking world in their March
4, 1996 issue. In 1984 and 1993 Ebony
magazine dubbed Forbes one of America's
greatest Black preachers.