INSIDE:
Godfather, we
kiss your ring.
James Brown
reviewed in
Arts &
Entertainment,
Page 5
PUS ECHO
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC 27707
Issue No. 82
Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999
ALSO INSIDE:
Hoops, of
course.
Expanded
sports coverage
on pages!
6-7.
Campaigning begins for upcoming elections
by CHANDRA MOSS
The Campus Echo
Past participation in elections at North
Carolina Central University has been rather
sparse; some of this year’s candidates have
expressed hopes for a better turnout at the
Alfonso Elder Student Union on March 3.
The candidates who are running for the
most sought-after position of Student
Government Association president for 1999-
2000 are Clifton Gray III, Marei Jones and
Deena Smith.
Clifton is a junior secondary education
major from Washington, N.C. He was the
freshman class president in 1996, a member of
the Student Aftiean Ameriean Brotherhood,
resident assistant in Chidley Hall, and a White
House Intern. Currently, he is a member of Phi
Eta Sigma National Honor Society, Alpha
Kappa Mu National Honor Society, Sigma Tau
Delta National Honor Society, and a member
of the University Honors Program.
Gray said that he is qualified for this posi
tion because he “knows politics.”
“To whom much is given, mueh is required.
During my tenure here at NCCU, I’ve been
given a lot. It’s now my turn to cany the torch
and give back to the university,” said Gray.
Jones is a junior political science major
from Wilson, NC. At NCCU, she is the cur
rent SGA vice president as well as the vice
president of the Black Student Government
Association.
Jones said she is the best person for this
position due to her close interaction with cur
rent SGA president. Derrick Jordan. She said
that she has received presidential training fi'om
Jordan, which has prepared her to take on this
position.
“There are a lot of issues (from 1998-99)
that need to continue next year, said Jones. “As
well, I will make sure that the students’ voices
are heard. Students are first priority,”
Deena Smith hails from Temple Hills, Md.
She is a junior textiles/apparel major. While at
the university. Smith has been a member of the
NCCU Sound Machine Marching Band, as
well as a member of Tau Beta Sigma National
Honorary Band Sorority.
She was her freshman class treasurer,
sophomore class congressperson and Baynes
Hall house council president. She currently
serves as president of the junior class.
“I feel that I would be doing the students at
NCCU a great disservice if I didn’t run,” said
Smith. “I’m the best candidate for this job. I
am offering the students a good choice.”
All eandidates running for offices for the
year 1999-2000 had until Feb. 10 to submit a
formal letter plus a petition in order to be eli
gible to run.
In order to run for SGA President and Miss
NCCU, students must have a cumulative GPA
of 3.5 and at least the status of a rising senior.
In order to run for SGA Vice President, a 2.5
GPA and a rising senior or junior classifieation
is required.
To run for class offices, one must be a mem
ber of the class office for which he/she is run-
See ELECTIONS, page 2
RUMORED PRIVATIZATION SPURS PROTEST PooH SCrVlCCS
loses $90K
to coaches’ pay
Student costs will rise
despite planned cutbacks
Housekeepers
fear job losses
by RICHARD DUNLOP
The Campus Echo
On Feb. 16, the housekeeping
department rallied outside of North
Carolina Central University’s Hoey
Administration Building, protesting
against rumored privatization that
could leave full-time employees of
the university.suddenly unemployed.
If Chancellor Julius Chambers’s
privatization proposal is put into
effect, 32 full time housekeepers
could lose their retirement and health
insurance bene
fits. Many of the
full time NCCU
housekeepers
will have an
opportunity to be
re-hired by the
private contrac
tor.
However those
that are rehired
may have to
accept lower
wages and a dra
matic reduction
in benefits.
Ilia
Mangum, 47, has
been working full
time as an NCCU
housekeeper
since 1983.
Mangum, a sin
gle parent who
works two jobs
and owns a home, makes just over
$16,000 a year.
“We are the least respected but the
most important staff members on
campus!” Mangum shouted at the
rally, while she carried a bright yel
low banner that read “Organize
Chambers
Don’t Privatize.”
Representatives of the UE 150, a
local public employees union,
showed up at the rally to support the
workers. The UE 150 called on the
university to place a three-year
moratorium on privatization at
NCCU.
The union also called on the uni
versity administration to conduct a
study on the impact of privatization
on NCCU workers, their families
and the university eommunity. UE
150 also wants NCCU to fund an
independent audit of budget and
expenses for NCCU’s physical plant
that covers the past five years.
Finally, union representatives
demanded that the UNC General
Administration and the North
Carolina General Assembly provide
the needed funds to address the
needs at NCCU and other historical
ly black colleges and universities.
Workers said that many times over
the past year they have complained
to Chambers, about the laek of ade
quate staffing, insufficient supplies
and equipment, and the slow pro
gression of salary raises.
Chambers was at a eonference in
Charlotte the day of the rally.
A custodian in the
Communications building who iden
tified himself only as “Rich” said he
has had the same mop head for
months, adding that he has worked
all three floors of the building by
himself, until recently when a tem
porary four-hour worker was hired.
NCCU students also showed their
support. Senior political science
major Bridget Harris helped orga
nize the rally. Harris is a member of
the Student Health Coalition here at
Saladin Muhammed, representing a local public employees union, ges
tures angrily as he addresses NCCU housekeepers and supporters at
an organized protest against privatization of housekeeping services.
STAFF PHOTO BY PAUL PHIPPS
NCCU. ■
“We will not stand for privatiza
tion,” Harris said. “Misallocation
of funds by the administration
forees the housekeeping depart
ment to work with limited supplies
or none at all.
“We [the students] are led to
believe that the workers are the
blame for the poor upkeep of the
facilities on campus.” Harris said.
The final deeision on privatization
rests with new physical plant
Director Ed Eng, who oversees the
housekeepers. Eng told the News
and Observer last week that he is
looking at using an outside firm to
mange the housekeeping depart
ment, or provide both management
and workers.
Eng told the Campus Echo that
he has placed a “self-imposed dead
line” for making his decision, which
he said will be by the end of March.
by MARI McNEIL
]The Campus Echo
Food Services may soon be more
costly for North Carolina Central
University students, as the school’s
Finance Committee recently voted
to cut the food fund balance in order
to pay competitive salaries to new
football coaches.
The Finance Committee for the
board of trustees voted Feb. 16 to
decrease the food fund budget to
help pay the salaries of a new foot
ball coach and two assistant coaches
through June of 1999. The commit
tee approved Chancellor Julius
Chamber’s proposal to cut $90,000
from the food services fund, leaving
the total balance for food service
usage at $582,753.
This is down from last year’s
food fund expenditure of $672,753.
This decrease in reserved allocated
funds could also mean a potential
decrease in food quality for students
and faculty. Students already eom-
plaining about the declining food
quality may see a further dip in
overall food services.
In addition, the finance commit
tee approved ratifieation of the food
services budget, with a 4.3. percent
increase for students. This amounts
to an increase of $67.50 per student
who takes advantage of the 21-day
or 19- day meal plan for a total cost
of $1,643.00. The 15-day meal plan
will increase by $63.50, and the 20-
meal PM costs will go up $2.50.
Students will inevitably pay more
for the meals regardless of the ser
vices provided. This proposed
increase will be implemented to
eover cost changes, and to cover
administrative overhead charges.
This was determined after venders
requested a 5 percent increase in rev
enue that the committee said would
not affect students.
The question remains however,
why the food services fund was cho
sen to receive the cutbacks to
finance the athletic program? Some
board members stated in the com
mittee meeting that after careful
review of various budgets, the food
fund was ideal to support a decrease
in its maintained balances.
This decision was reached to
exhaust the food fund balance,
although several other programs
such as radio station WNCU and the
mail center generate revenues that
exceed their yearly expenses. These
excess funds were considered and
rejected.
The proposal was passed 2-1
despite considerable opposition by
Trustee Lavonia Allison, who argued
that funds for the athletie program
could be attained by other means.
“The athletic program needs to
hold a fundraiser rather than
depleting funds it can not replace”
said Allison. Trustee R. Edward
Stewart countered by stressing the
importance of a quality student ath
letic program.
See FOOD, page 2
NCCU parties in jeopardy due to violence BOX meetiiig emphasizes diversity
by SHEON LITTLE
The Campus Echo
In the past, North Carolina Central
University students have been heard
to complain about the lack of parties
on campus. Since the beginning of the
school year, parties have been held at
the Walker Complex and McDougal
Gymnasium. However, recent events
at some of these parties may jeopar
dize future parties on campus.
Reports of fights at recent campus
parties have led the school’s adminis
tration to examine the situation, with
out entirely ruling out the possibility
Inside
Campus News..
....pages 1-3
Features
page 4
Arts &
Entertainment..
page 5
Sports
.pages 6- 7
Editorial
page 8
of banning such parties completely.
A recent meeting of Student Affairs
along with representatives from the
Student Government Association and
the Student Union activities board,
diseussed the behavior of students at
the parties and what could be done to
curtail the disturbances.
All persons in attendanee eon-
tributed to a memo that has been eir-
culating around campus; the memo
states that if there were any distur
bances at an upcoming party on
Feb. 13, all subsequent parties would
be cancelled for the remainder of the
semester, including the SGA-spon-
sored pre-dawn party on Feb. 19.
The Febmary 13 party went with
out incident and the pre-dawn party
took place as scheduled. However,
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
Angela Terry warned that the memo
is a eontinuing policy, meaning that if
there is any behavioral misconduct at
any other parties, any planned parties
after that date will be cancelled.
When students saw the memo post
ed around campus, many said they
Vice Chancellor Angela Terry
wants to crack down on violent
incidents at NCCU parties.
STAFF PHOTO BY PAUL PHIPPS
were shocked because they did not
realize that this type of behavior was
going on. “All the fighting is ridicu
lous,” said Junior Kimberly Dowtin
“We’re in college now, and should
See PARTIES, page 2
by IBI LEWIS
The Campus Echo
Student Government Association
Vice President Marei Jones intro
duced the popular topics of co-ed
housing and visitation at the North
Carolina Central University board of
trustees student relations committee
meeting on Feb. 16.
Jones argued that more dormito
ries should enjoy co-ed housing and
should abolish or revise strict co-ed
visitation rules that currently exist.
Jones used Chidley Hall as an
example of a dormitory that suc
cessfully converted to co-ed housing
without many problems.
Miss Junior Adonna Bannister
eommented further on the co-ed
housing situation, citing her experi
ence living in Annie Day Shepherd
Dormitory, a co-ed dorm for honor
students.
Bannister said her experience in
the co-ed dorm was positive, and
that she believes that students
should have a choice between living
in a same-sex dormitory as opposed
to living in a co-ed housing facility.
Assistant Vice Chaneellor of
Student Affairs/Dean of Students Dr.
Roger Bryant responded by saying
that Aimie Day Shepherd was not set
up as a “testing ground,” but that it
was set up as a facility to house stu
dents in the honors program, which
happens to include both males and
females.
Chairman Dr. Dudley Flood
responded also by pointing out that
some individuals who help fund
NCCU are older, thus are less suscep
tible to adopting the idea of creating
co-ed housing throughout the univer
sity. He added that the process of
abolishing current co-ed restrictions
and creating additional co-ed dorms
would have to be a gradual one.
Moving on to another topic, Jones
inquired about the results of faculty
evaluations that students fill out
every semester. She argued that stu
dents have the right to know the
results of the surveys, and offered a
suggestion to model NCCU’s meth
ods after the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill, which hires
an outside agency to compile and
publish results of faculty evalua
tions.
Jones concluded her list of con
cerns by arguing for longer library
hours, better books and equipment
in the library. She also mentioned
that the school’s academic advising
system appears to “slack up” around
registration time.
At the two freshman mass meet
ings, Freshman Class President
Bobbi Brown brought up finstration
among students and teachers with
the CFAS program (CFAS).
According to Brown, students don’t
understand the . program and teach
ers don’t want to teach it.
The meeting then then turned to
increasing campus diversification,
and support groups and services for
disabled students that have been
formed this year to address the needs
of the disabled. Changes include the
See RELATIONS, page 2