Newspapers / The Carolina Indian Voice … / Aug. 24, 1989, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
t : ??? 'ip?~tt-I Established January 18. 1973. Published Each Thursday @a?s?IEtei Qoa3toj !] 0 ? ? ? ' ' . ? K. " Pembroke, N.C. "Building Communicative Bridges In A Tri-Racial Setting" Robeson County ; r VOLUME 17 NUMBER 34 THURSDAY, AUGUST 24. 1989 25? I OXENDINE SAYS ME EXPECTS RSU FACULTY TO BECOME I NVOLVED / . Addressing the full faculty of Pembroke State University for the first time since becoming chancellor of P8U July 1, Dr. Joseph B. Oxendine, speaking in his customary style without notes, said Monday that he "expects faculty to become involved and to make their marks in die community it serves." Toward that end. Chancellor Oxendine added: "I am a very positive individual and will try to open doom and help you do better in the areas of which I speak." He said a university should be involved in teaching, research and scholarship, and service. Of the latter, Oxendine spoke of helping the public schools of the area. "The public schools are not what they ought to be in this area. I told the teachers and administrators of the Public Schools of Robeson County recently in this very auditorium (Performing Arts Center) that Pembroke State University is going to be involved in helping the quality of their public schools." Oxendine, who taught at Temple University in Philadelphia for SO years, said he has every reason "to behove the children of Robeson County are as bright as those where I was in Philadelphia." But he also said "adult literacy is something which we ought to be concerned about" Oxendine told how a fourth grade teacher from Red Springs had informed him of seeking help for students by sending their spelling books home with them. The purpose was for the parentr to help the students with their spelling words. "However, that teacher found out that a large percentage of the parents cannot read," said Oxendine. Oxendine said he has told the superintendents of the public schools he "wants us to get together and talk in substantive ways" about combatting this problem. The PSU chancellor spoke of other issues in which he wants PSU to become involved: health issues, economic problems and political eoicems. "Our new Office of Economic Development at PSU is going to help ua to upgrade the economic base of this community. Concerning human relations, I reed about the problem here on the front pegs of the Philadelphia newspaper. And I have addressed the Human Relations and Unity Commission. Pembroke State University ought to be involved in upgrading the quality of life here. There are things we can do something about We ought to make a difference." Onndine, who is a strong believer of rewarding profe8aois according to merit said the beginning of a new academic year is always an exciting time. He said last year's class was last year's class, and one should be creative every year. He said it is good to feel nervous and excited about the start of a new year. "You do your best when you are a little bit on edge," Oxendine claimed. He said any professor who is flat and doesn't feel excited has problems in his ehoesn profession. Oxendine, who was a dean during part of his tenure at Temple University, said ha loved teaching and added. "Perhaps TO haw an opportunity to do some of that here." He said he came from a family of teachers and returned to teaching at Temple after being a dean. He also emphasized to the PSU faculty the importance he places on scholarship and research. "It is absolutely essential that we do that if we are to be called a university," he said, adding: "We are not a teacher's college." He said he feels PSU should be in the business of publishing. "Those who don't get turned down (by publishing companies) are those who don't publish or don't try." (Oxendise has authored three books and contributed chapters to several others.) Oxen dine said he is also going to make use of his contacts in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere to help gain funding for research by PSU professors. - Having been very active in faculty governance at Temple University, the PSU chancellor committed himself to work with die PSU faculty in shared governance. Oxendine, who said the university "is my life really," emphasized that a university is a unit, not a place of separate departments. " I am very excited about bejng here, and I look forward to getting to know each of you personally," the PSU chancellor said in conclusion. Afterwards, Oxendine and his wife, Adrienne, were guests at a reception by the faculty in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center. Dr. Charles Jenkins, PSU vice chancellor for academic affaire, announced at the faculty meeting that as far as pay increases are concerned, PSU has been given a six percent increase in faculty salaries to allocate. "No money has been given to the institution for across-the board raises," Jenkins said. "The allocations will be made on the basis of merit, on the basis of recognizing promotions, and on the basis at recognizing and trying to do something about faculty inequities." Chancellor Oxendine also said the pay raises will be discretionary and not across the board. PSU has received $6,886,787 for faculty salaries for the 1988-90 academic year. Of that amount, $766,966 is "new" money with $433,042 being for new positions and the remaining $332,023 for faculty salary increases. Chancellor and Mrs. Joseph Oxendine (left) greeted faculty members at a reception held in their honor. They are shown here with Dr. Gilbert Sampson, chairman of the PSU Mathematics and Computer Science Department. ROBESON INDIAN PRAISED AS SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE By HAYES CLEMENT Judge Dexter Brooks listened in silence ss an attorney tried to explain why his client, a con victed marijuana dealer caught dealing again, shouldn't have his probation revoked, This time, the attorney argued, there were only accusations against the 2S-year-old man. The plastic bags, postage scales and $1,100 in cash found at his house didn't prove anything. "Well, the problem was severe enough for a concerned citizen to call the sheriff," Brooks not ed. "You and I both know, your honor," the de fense attorney responded, "that a 'concerned citi zen' is just shorthand for someone who calls up the sheriff and says, *Goe, 1 think someone's selling maruuana over here...'" "And in this case they turned out to be right," interjected Brooks, a slight smile coming over his brown, bespectacled face. His ruling, delivered evenly and without a lecture: the man would have to serve his four-year .prison term. Anyone expecting a soft touch for defendants from the state's first Native American Superior Court judge should think again, say those who know Dexter Brooks. The engineer-turned-ju rist, as they describe him, is a compassionate political reformer who doesn't let sympathy side line a scholarly devotion to the rules of law and logic. "He will hammer people when they need it," said Randy Carroll, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted cases before Brooks during the judge's five-day stint last week ? his second ? in Guilford Superior Court "He's right down the middle. We've been generally pleased." Says Brooks of his still-emerging style on the bench: "So far I see myself ss a person who lets the attorneys try the cases. I try not to interject myself into the trial ? just make rulings based on the evidence." Brooks, a 46-year-old Lumbee Indian from Robeson County, gave up his four-man law prac tice in Pembroke and joined the bench last Janu ary after Gov. Jim Martin picked him to fill a new judgeship born of political turmoil hi the tri-racial county. The Superior Court seat. Robeson Coun ty's second, was created after tne original went by default to the controversial Joe Freeman Britt in the 1968 election. Britt's only opponent for the seat, Indian activist Julian Pierce, was murdered .five weeks before the Democratic primary in what has been described as s domestic dispute involving two other Indians. The anguish of Pierce's supporters was com pounded by a law that prohibited the substitution of another challenger to Britt, a district attorney with a reputation for putting scores of convicts on death row but often at tM expense of civil rights. Martin and the General Assembly sgreed to create the new judgeship, and Martin vowed to appoint an Indian to it, as a healing gesture. Brooks, a soft-spoken bachelor known to work as many as 18 hours a day and six days a week on eases, was the near unanimous choice for the appointment among Robeson County's Indian lawyers, a group that numbers about 12. "He's beau- recognised ss our best legal - mind," said Lonnie Revels, s Lumbee native of Peru broke and a former Greensboro City Council member. "When we were lobbying the governor for his appointment. I don't know of one Indian who went against him." "* was basisally the obvious choice." said Arnold Loddear, one of Brooks' former law partners. "He realizes the spotlight is on him. It's not a stress, though, because of his ability." The son of two Pembroke schoolteachers. Brooks originally set out to be an engineer, not a lawyer. After graduating with high honors from N.C. State University with a degree in electrical engineering, he worked for Westinghouae a year, then spent two years in the Army-one of them in Vietnam- before returning to NCSU to do graduate studies in math. He dropped out halfway toward his doctorate, however, when he realised he was more interested in "people problems than abstract problems.'' While teaching math at Robeson Technical Institute, he became involved in a campaign to preserve a historic classroom building at predominately Indian Pembroke State Univers ity. The effort succeeded, largely because a lawyer found a means to challenge the planned rasing in court. Impressed, Brooks enrolled in law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated in 1979 and joined Locklear's law firm in Pembroke, a town of 10,000 about 12 miles west of Lumberton. where he specialised in personal-injury lawsuits. He also became a respected behind-the-scenes power in the county, laying the groundwork for legal strategies that ended discriminatory voting practices in Robeson County and merged the county's six racially segregated school systems into one countywide system. "Obviously, there's been a lot of discord in Robeson County but the situation is improving, principally because Indians and blacks are getting more access to the political system," Brooks said recently during an interview in the Guilford Superior Court judges' chambers. He is currently serving a six-month stint as the presiding judge in Columbus County but was called to Guilford County last week and to l^ecklenbuig County next week as a fill-in judge. Colleagues describe Brooks as a voracious reader, a teetotaler and a fervent convert to fit eating and exercise following the heart-attack death af a younger brother. He's also known for preferring topics such as judicial tempennent and population demographics even in social convention. "Dexter is a unique person. When other people are talking, Dexter is thinking." said Christine Griffin, administrator of a Robeson County legal-services dink for which Brooks has worked for free, "hi carrying on a conversation, it's almost as if you can see the wheels turning in his brain. He's analysing everything you're saying. And at the end, he'll summarise it He gives you a synopsis." "He is very organised and very thorough -to the extent that when he does make a decision it's one that's very calculated," Locklear said. "He's not the type of individual to agonise." Brooks said that while he strives to treat all defendants with respect and give their argu ments thorough consideration, he finds it difficult to be lenient with anyone convicted of sexually abusing children or dealing drugs. "I feel very strongly about the drug problem," he said. "It's destroying this country." He also holds views-such as support of a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and sympathy for one that would ban flag buroing-that might surprise critics who warned that Brooks as a judge would pursue a left-wing political agenda. 'Tve never considered myself a radical," be said. 'Tve only considered myself a person who believes in the American dream to the extent that it should be available to all persons, regardless of race." Reprinted from the Greensboro News S Record Monday, August 11, 1989 This was the scans at' Pembroke State University this week as students arrive for the start of the fall semester. Judge Dexter Brook* it the firet Indian judge m the itaU COMMU N I TY" /K WYXGERIIFLY-BY OF NEPTUNE OBSERVED AT PLANETARIUM '? 11m Science and Technology m? Center, located in the Hanetarium at the Board of Education of Public ?si Schools of Robeaon County, Lumber ton, NC, will offer to the public a r*Eumque experience. Ihe public ia invited to be on /\ location at the Science and Techno logy Center for the Voyager II fly-by Rof the planet Neptune on August 24-25 from 9 a.m.-ll p.m. Daily preea conferences will be coming in through aatellite on Voyager ITs findings, with the possibility of being present to see new discoveries being made. There will be several sites available for this event For further information, call Mr. James A. Hooks, Director, Science and Technology Center at 799-3802. WOMEN S SOFTBALL TO URNAMENT SEPTEMBER 9-10 Robeson County Recreation and Phrk Commission will hold a Wo men's Double Elimination Softball Tournament at Maggie Onendine Park in IVmbrofce September 9-10. Entry fee ia 975 per team. Deadline for entering the tournament wfll be Friday, September 1 at 12 noon. A raster of 16 players ia permitted. Fix more information, call Robeson County Recreation Department at 071-9090. MENS SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT SEPTEMBER 19-17 Robeson County Recreation and Part Commission will hold a Men's One Pitch Double Elimination Soft ball Tournament at Maggie Oxen Aln, p.-L I_ ** - t ? O a t tunc mi in r^mDrone nepwmwr 10-17. Entry fee ia 975 per team. Deadline for entering the tournament will bo Friday. September 8 at IS noon. A raster of 16 players ia permitted. For more information, call Robeaon County Recreation Depart ment at 871-9090. LAUBACH TUTOR TRAINING WORKSHOP SEPTEMBER 19-H Hie Scotland County Literacy Council Is sponsoring a free Laubach TUtor Training Workshop Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Septem ber 12-14 from 6 p.m.-9:90 p.m. The wu> he Imp will be held at the Scotland County literacy Council Office at 401 N. Main Street In Laurinburg, NC. IS pre register or for forther infor mation,, pieces call (919)278-7007. PEMBROKE K I WA INI I S R EPORT BYKEN JOHNSON Larry Chavis, program chairman, presented Dr. Joseph Oxendine. PSU"s new chancellor in the weekly meeting held at the Town and Country Restaurant. I)r. Oxendine cornea from a long line of educator? and truly puts his emphasis on teaching, service and research ns i true part of academies and scholar' ship. He says the University ran, does and will uplift its impact on the. community, students and the tri racial area. The University has changed, coming from a teaching normal school for Indians to one with a mission for all people. We nerd a lot of people to serve the people n| this area. Their needs ran he met by the expertise of a great faculty, trained in the modern era, waiting t? be unleashed through service to the community. I am looking forward to the challenge. I want a closer relationship between the college and . the county school system. I believe the children can grow up in a much better educational climate than when we were growing up. We are off to a good atari The enrollment figures wfil be out in a few days and it is jjst good to be beck with family, friends, and students. Dr. Oxendine said, "I no longer have to go back to Temple after all these years except to sell my house, and of course my son knows the area up there better than this area. I have never left this area psychologically and spiritually, as this is my home. I grew up here. We need to apply our trade resources in the areas of farming and economic research. We need to know aboni our underground water, our lumber, our catfish fanning. We can learn about these things through seminars, conferences, and workshops. Our adults need literacy classes. How can children grow up properly if their parents can't rear!? Hiey are no less bright than other children, they just haven't had the opportunity. The college will be making an impact on this." Hie Pembroke Kiwanis sure wel come Dr. Oxendine back home. Say You Read 11 I n The v? Carolina I ridian Voice TO SUBSCRIBE CALL (91?)B21-2120
The Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 24, 1989, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75