r i
Allegations continue to mount against Schexnider
XfcfiknMiMt?
New allegations have turf seed at Winston
Salem State regarding the misuse of Mate funds by
Chancellor AJvin Tschexnider
Last week. The Chronicle reported that wveral
university employees and others connected to the
university had reported to the state fraud hot line
an incident in which Schexnider ordered state
employees to transport and set up personal work
out equipment in his home on April 15. - /
Schexnider has since admitted that he autho
rized the employees to deliver the eouipment
because be lives rent-free in a S565,000 home
owned by the state. He agreed to reimburse the
state for the coat of the mileage, according to
Aaron Singleton, director of media relations at
WSSU.
The chancellor ie not under investigation,"
Singleton said. "He never was under investigation
The chancellor had Nordic Track equipment
moved to a state-owned building (his residence),
using state-owned trucks, He was not aware of any
state policy violations, His office was informed of
the complaint and he quickly addressed the com
?nt To our knowledge the issue was resolved.
re is no investigation planned."
However, sources told The Chronicle that
Schexnidcr has committed other discretions in the
past and not followed proper protocol on many
different issues during his tenure at WSSU.
State policy prohibit* the uac of Mate funds,
Mate equipment or employees for private gain. Sev
eral recent incidents could be violations of that
policy.
According to sources close to the university,
Schexnider put in a requisition to be reimbursed
for the purchase of an $1,161.75 television set for
bis home that he bought from Circuit City on
March 7. He received a check for it on March 8,
According to state policy, any equipment pur
chased by the state has to be delivered to central
stores for an identification number. But in this
case; it was not followed.
Schexnider requisitioned S90.60 to reimburse
SreWgfUonAS
4
^ 73 c#ntf
Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point vol. xxiv no. 37 z
The Chronicle
for s yt^cnty pub lib 7v?f Choice for African-American News and Information .-mail address: wichronOnetunlimit?d.n?t;
660 w ' ? . ?*.
Reno sets stage for
' &
Herman investigation
By ROBERTO SURO
The Waihington Pom |
Attorney General Janet
Reno Monday requested the
appointment of an indepen
dent counsel to investigate
allegations that Labor Secre
tary Alexis M. Herman took
part in an influence-ped
dling scheme while she
served as a White House
aide during President Clin
ton's first term.
The decision followed
what senior officials charac
terized as an agonized week- !
"one dabalc within the huHiy
4iui# M. Hwihii
r Department about whether to recommend an outside pros
ecutor. A preliminary inquiry found some corroboration for
the allegations but, as Reno put it yesterday, "no evidence
clearly demonstrating Secretary Herman's involvement.H
The move by Reno, which came only minutes before the
attorney general's deadline to make her recommendation to
the special three-judge panel that oversees independent
counsels, marks the seventh time Reno has sought an out
side counsel to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Clinton or
a senior administration official.
Laurent Yene, an African businessman, set the inquiry in
motion by claiming that Herman accepted cash and con
sulting fees in exchange for arranging access to the White
House and doina other favors for businessmen needing help
>om the federal government. Yene also alleged that Her
,# in sought illegal campaign contributions from those busi
! gsmen to assure favorable treatment. Herman called the
! legations "false from the very beginnin" and told reporters
1/outside the Labor Department, "I am very disappointed
" and extremely baffled by this decision today" In a statement,
Clinton said, "I am confident that in the end. investigators
will also conclude that Ma Herman did nothing wrong."
During a probe lasting ISO days, the maximum permit
ted by law, Justice officials were unable to resolve the credi
bility of Yene's allegations but Reno decided that she was
obliged to seek an outside investigation and noted that cer
tain aspects of Yene's story have been corroborated.
Reno's doubts about how to proceed resound through
out the eight-page document she sent yesterday to the three
judge panel that will now choose an independent counsel.
"In the course of this investigation, we have spent signif
icant time exploring the issue of Yene's credibility," Reno
wrote. "While I cannot conclusively determine at this time
k that Yene's allegations are credible, much of the detail of the
* Ser Herman <m A2
m M ? a
I mirk graduation with Jackson I
and benediction.
"On this graduation day our prayers
an answered and dreams fulfilled." he said
in the opening prayer. "Today we express.
our thanks ? thanks for life, for opportu
nity, for character and for the will to live."
The whole Jackson family was in town,
including sons Jonathan and U.S. Repre
sentative Jesse Jackson Jr.. Both are alum
|
Larry MIambi*
dwm Wallln
FTCe ?rm$id*nt
s; .<y
Wicker proposes free |
tuition for community*
college students |
By JHRI YOUNG
TWQWPMfl*
?l?
If Lieutenant Govenor, Dennis Wicker has his way, -
the length of time students receive free education will
jump from 12 to 14 years.
A new proposal by Wicker, which is slated to go before#
the state legislature either later this summer or in earl/!
1999, will pay tuition for North Carolina students who!
want to attend any of the state's community colleges.Cur
rently, students are guaranteed a free education only
through 12th grade.
Under Wicker's proposal, N.C. high school graduates .
who enroll as full-time students at any community col- >
lege will be eligible for the program, which is slated to!
begin in the fall of 1999.
While free community-college tuition has been debate
ed off the record by state politicians and educators, WickC .
er's proposal marks the nrst time the program has bee re
11 given a wide audience in North Carolina. Similar plane
are in place in several states including California, which,;
after several years of free tuition, recently re-instituted;
nominal tuition for community-college students.
"A new education standard must be adopted," Wicked ?
said. "One that is geared from kindergarten through af!
least 14 years:;of education. Today's standard of fc!
through 12 is obsolete."
The additional two yean will cost an estimated Sl(h
million and add more than 6,000 students to overflowing!
community-college campuses throughout the state.
But Wicker says, the cost is worth it.
3 .
See Collages <m A3 , ,
Black farmers air grievances
during national conference
By A. J Dfckanon
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT - Rod Bradshaw
J;uesses he's the largest black
armer in Kansas.
But that doesn't mean much
when he gets tangled in federal red
tape because p*rt of the bureau
cratic problem is racial discrimina
tion, he said Saturday at the
National Black Farmers Confer
ence.
"There's a problem. You have
to fight for everything you get.
There's a tough road for us to take
advantage of government pro
grams ... because we're minori
ties," said Bradshaw, who grows
grain on his 2,500 acres near Jet
son. Kan.
Getting a handle on discrimi
nation was high on the agenda at
the conference, which drew farm
ers and agriculture experts from
across the nation. Planners hope
to find ways to keep black growers
from leaving the business and to
get into the mainstream.
Persistent discrimination by the
U.S Department of Agriculture is
one reason the number of black
growers is dwindling, said Dr.
Owusu Bandele, an associate hor
ticulture professor at Southern
University and A&M College in
Baton Rouge, La.
There are fewer than 20,000
black farmers in the nation, com
pared with nearly 750,000 at the
beginning of the century. Some
government scientific experts were
on hand to promote environmen
tal and conservation programs.
"We're about the best thing
since sliced bread," said Jane
Hardisty, who directs the Agricul
ture Department's Natural
Resources Conservation Service
operations in Michigan.
Bandele recently negan organic
farming on a few acres, a project
he hopes becomes a model for
black fanners trying to get into
other areas of agribusiness. He
said he hoped black growers from
around the nation could network
at the conference, exploring
regional marketing projects.
Thousands of black growers
have filed discrimination com
plaints against the Agriculture
Department and 3S0 are plaintiffs
in a $2-billion lawsuit set for trial
in federal court in Washington
next year.
The Agriculture Department
has acknowledged past discrimi
nation and is trying to resolve a
backlog of about 900 complaints
from farmers over denial or loans
and other benefit;. The lawsuit
seeks to represent all black farm
ers who made claims between 1983
and 1997, which lawyers estimate
at about 2,500.
Bredshaw said he has fought
with the USDA since the mid
1970b over low-interest loan pro
grama for minorities. Programs are
on the books, but are made diffi
cult to get, he said.
ASSOCIATED PUBSS/TYLER MALLORY
J*An *e lee*r MnHnnnI SiieitHw rf Mart Fermere, Mi t nwb rmt Nb? AfritwftM
P?pNiiwmif Mn ? rM yiMf mmrth In IMnMriNA 0.C
Merriam Webster !
Mnks at racial sluri
but doesn't budge ?L
By TRUDY TYNAN ^
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ? V'
?-?*?f
SPRINGFIELD. Mass. - Like;
it or not, offensive words havR*
offensive meanings. Even the dio4
tionary canTchange that. ; a
Under pressure from groups;
that want racial slurs cleaned up in;,
the dictionary. Merriam Webster?:
has said it will reformat entries for;
about 200 obscenities and "offen-;
sive" words in its Collegiate Dic
tionary.
But the company refused to.
rewrite the words definitions.
Editors at the Springfield**?
based publisher said they would
place a notation in italics before
about 200 of die 160,000 words in*
the 1999 printing of the Collegiateu
Dictionary saying they are used a?
ethnic, religious or sexual slurs;
and obscenities.
But a Michigan woman dis
SfrWUbalerM Al
* 2 ?'