INSIDE:
What is a board of trustees?
Editorial on page 6
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Issue No. 81
Monday, Feb. 15,1999
ALSO INSIDE:
Eagles rise to
the top of the
men’s basket
ball Western
Division .
Page 5
Black History Month events dedicated to professor
NCCU begins a month of
events aimed at celebrat
ing the African American
community, in honor of the
late Dr. Helen Edmonds.
by CHANDRA MOSS
The Campus Echo
North Carolina Central University
is sharing the spirit of Black History
Month with its students and the
Durham community.
With grants provided by the office
of the Chancellor, the history depart
ment has come up with a month filled
with black history activities.
Coordinated by Dr. Oscar Williams
III of the history department, the title
of this year’s Black History Month
programming is “The Legacy of
African American Leadership for the
Present and the Future.”
The program is dedicated in the
memory of Dr. Helen G. Edmonds,
the late chairperson of the history
department at NCCU.
Bom in Lawrenceville, Va., on Dec.
3, 1911, Edmonds earned distinction
as an educator and historian in her
approximately 50 years of service to
NCCU. She began teaching history at
NCCU in 1941.
In 1963, she became chair of the
department of history and social sci
ence. From 1964 until 1971, Edmonds
was the dean for the graduate school
of arts and science.
Edmonds’ outside affiliations
included membership on the board of
directors of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund board
of directors.She was a U.S. alternate
delegate to the United Nations
General Assembly as well as a mem
ber of the Peace Corps national advi
sory council.
Edmonds was also a member of the
American Historical Association, the
Association for Study of Negro Life
and History, and the National
Education Association She received
numerous awards, fellowships, and
grants.
Edmonds died in 1995 at the age
of 83.
This year’s Black History Month
activities in her honor include lectures,
discussion groups, movies, trivia
game shows, and a choreopoem that
deals with the contributions of others
to the African-American community.
The events are sponsored by the
Alfonso Elder Student Union, C.A.
Jones History Club, E.E. Thorpe
Historians Society, and the Stanford
L. Warren Library.
NCCU’s
‘report
card’
imminent
A self-study of its pro
grams will help determine
whether NCCU retains its
SACS accreditation.
by MARI McNEIL,
RICHARD DUNLOP
and IBI LEWIS
The Campus Echo
Every 10 years. North Carolina
Central University gets a “report
card” on its academic effectiveness -
its “grades” in part detennined by the
university itself but ultimately award
ed by an outside agency known as
SACS.
The Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an
organization of higher-education spe
cialists that examines a requesting
university’s case for reaffmnation of
its accreditation.
By the end of 1999, SACS is
expected to give the thumbs-up or
thumbs-down on NCCU’s perfor
mance. But what, exactly, is the sig
nificance of accreditation?
NCCU officials say that accredita
tion is a standard tool used to rate the
quality and assurance of standard
educational systems used by a major
ity of universities and colleges in the
country.
In practical terms, accreditation has
a great deal to do with the money
available to the university.
If NCCU were to lose its accredita
tion, state and federal money for
grants and scholarships would be seri
ously depleted. Because many stu
dents depend upon this very funding
to complete their education, universi
ty officials say a drastic decline in
enrollment could result.
The purpose of the self-study is to
help schools recognize weaknesses,
plan improvements and establish a
timeline for implementing the correc
tions If agreed-upon corrections are
not met within that specified period,
then accreditation can be revoked,
noted Desretta H. McAllister, a
library science faculty member who is
overall coordinator of NCCU’s own
self-study that precedes the SACS
evaluation.
Reaffirmation of accreditation is a
continuous process that peaks every
eight years. The process is broken
into three parts. The initial part is the
self-survey. Once NCCU committees
complete that survey, a report is com
pleted and evaluation is done. Die
report is completed every five years
so departments can review their
progress.
SACS completes its evaluation
See SACS, page 2
Inside
Campus News...
..pages 1-3
Arts &
Entertainment..
page 4
Sports
page 5
Editorial
page 6
25-YEAR VETERAN HAS A WINNING RECORD
NCCU
hires
new
coach
by ED BOYCE
The Campus Echo
After a two-month, nationwide search. North
Carolina Central University has named
Thomas “Rudy” Abrams as head football
coach, replacing Larry Little, who was fired
Nov. 19 after two straight losing seasons.
, Abrams signed a five-year contract in which
financial terms were not disclosed. NCClJ'ath-
letic director Dr. William Lide would only state
that Abrams was receiving “fair market value”
for his services.
“I am extremely happy to be here, and I am
very eager to get to work,” Abrams said. “I am
really looking forward to building this football
program in to a championship-caliber program
as quickly as possible.”
Abrams, 57, has 25 years of football coaching
experience on the high school and college levels.
Abrams graduated from Livingstone in 1964. As
the head coach at his alma mater, Abrams has led
the Fighting Blue Bears to two straight confer
ence championships and back-to-back appear
ances in the Pioneer Bowl, while accumulating a
35-15-1 record in his five seasons.
After receiving a total of 60 applications,
Lide narrowed the choices to Abrams and
South Carolina State assistant coach Ben
Blacknall. Chancellor Julius Chambers made
the final decision.
“He is an outstanding recruiter, and he has
tremendous strengths in adjusting to defensive
and offensive situations,” Lide said about
Abrams. “He brings a management style that
fits well with what we are trying to do here at
North Carolina Central.”
NCCU senior and search committee member
Ansel Brown also sees the advantages in hav
ing a coach like Abrams.
“He has definitely proven himself; he’s a
winner; anywhere he’s gone he has won,”
Brown said. “That’s what people in Durham
New NCCU football coach Rudy Abrams, a 25-year veteran of high school and college
coaching, says he favors the high-powered option offense
STAFF PHOTO BY PAUL PHIPPS
want, that’s what people at Central want: They
want a winning program.”
Abrams has made a reputation for improv
ing football programs. In his fourth year at
West Charlotte High School in 1976 he led the
Lions to the North Carolina 4-A State
Championship and in his first year at East
Mecklenburg High School he finished with a
9-1 record in 1983.
As an assistant coach at Johnson C. Smith
University, Abrams coached Lide, who played
wide receiver for the Golden Bulls.
“He would stay after practice and watch us
work out after practice was over,” Lide said.
“That inquisitive part of nature was apart of
him even then.”
Abrams will be busy forming a coaching
staff and recruiting within the next few weeks.
Abrams has not made any moves concerning
who he will hire as assistant coaches, but he
has been meeting with some of the players.
“Hopefully in the next few days I’ll get a
chance to meet more of them,” Abrams said.
“Then I’ll really get into some of the specifics
about what I’ll expect from them, what they
can expect from me and how I expect to get this
job done.”
At Livingstone, Abrams’ Fighting Blue
Bears led the CIAA in scoring, averaging 41
points a game and had the No. 1 defense in
Division 11. Abrams’ wants to bring a high-
powered, scoring offense to NCCU.
“We’re definitely going to do whatever we
do best to win,” Abrams said. “Eventually, I
want to have an option team to control the foot
ball and score a lot of points.”
Black History
Month Events
Thursday, February 10
William Wingfield
“Psychiatry and Race at the
Beginning of the 20fh Century"
AESU Room 146-146A
Monday, February 15
Afi G. Osakwe
The Afncan Mind. Have We Really
AESU Room 146-146A
Tuesday, February 16
CFAS World Societies Film
“Black Orpheus"
ECB Room 207
Wednesday, February 17
Film "Amistad”
Chidley Hall Conference Room120
Thursday, February 18
“AmisUtd Uiscussion
ChidL’y Ha>l Conference Room 120
POf'liy r?(.,,-t3l
■ Cotfonhodse. A Tribute to Black
AESU Suite 134
Friday, February 19
Peter Batloy, Author
“Seventh Child' A Family Memoir of
Malcoim X
Book Signing
The Knew Book Store
Saturday, February 20
Oscar williams. Jr.
The Black Power Movement of the
Ttio Know Bookstore
Tuesday, February 23
5'30pm
CFAS World Soaeties Film
"Stormy Weather"
ECB Room 207
February 25
Dr Kenneth Odlen, Director
National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS)
B.N Duke Auditorium
Biair WalKor, Author
"Why Should White Guys Have All
AESU Student Union Lounge
Despite current headaches, new phone system on campus shows promise
by KIM ROSS
The Campus Echo
The recent installation of a new
phone system at North Carolina
Central University has meant
crossed-up lines, inconvenient drop-
ins by phone installers, and the infa
mous “no dial tone.
However, students say they are
willing to endure these temporary
glitches as long as progress is
made soon.
“I picked up my phone to make
a call and some telephone people
were on there talking. I had to use
the payphone downstairs,” said
freshmen psychology major,
Melissa Laws.
Frustrations such as limited phone
features, lengthy repair services, lack
of voice mail and roommate con
flicts will soon come to an end with
the installation of NCCU’s new
phone system.
Five years ago, new cable wires
were put underground to replace the
deteriorating, aged cable plant.
Since then, the cable plant has
reached its capacity, hindering new
phone lines from being added,
according to Assistant. Vice
Chancellor for Research Evaluation
and Planning Larry Lee.
Therefore, Lee said, for a year he
has collaborated with state telecom
munications and the GTE telephone-
company to develop ways of
improving NCCU’s phone service.
Studies were done to detennine
how to acquire a switch, which han
dles phone transmissions across
campus, expanding to add phone
lines as the campus grows.
For months, telephone workers
have been busy all over campus veri
fying phone connections in every
building back to the PBX (Public
Exchange) switch location in the
Shepherd Library.
“There were wires that weren’t
labeled and there was no knowledge
of where they went,” said Lee.
“It’s a very tedious process. We hope
to have completed [conversion to
new phones] in a couple of weeks.”
New phones are expected to be in
place by this weekend. To assist in
using the new equipment, a set of
instructions will be distributed prior
to the conversion date. A list of fac
ulty and staff telephone numbers will
also accompany the new administra
tive phones.
Each department on campus will
enjoy features specifically suited
for the type of work done in that
office. The number of phone lines
on each phone will be determined
by each office’s individual need for
multi-lines.
Faculty and students can expect
“less problems with repairs, much
improved functions, better quality,
and more reliability [with the new
phones],” said Lee .
According to Lee, it used to be
time-consuming to have phone
repairs done because of the many
wiring companies that had to come
onto campus to fix problems.
NCCU now deals with one single
telephone company: Sprint. As a
result, Lee said, when phone outages
occur, the problem can be found and
repairs can be done in a timely fash
ion.
Resident Assistant Courtney
Whyms said she hopes the new tele
phone system, which enables room
mates to have individual lines, will
cut down on problems.
“I think it’s better because one
roommate can get a call without
worrying about the other [roommate]
taking up too much phone time,”
said Whyms. She added that it’s also
a plus that students from local areas
such as Raleigh and Chapel Hill can
call home free of charge as a benefit
of the new phone system.
“There has been an awful lot of
hard work and 1 appreciate the
patience of faculty and staff waiting
for the new phone system. I think
they’ll be very pleased,” said Lee.