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Volume XI, Number 20
Tlie Student Newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Cliarlotte, North Carolina
February 3, 1976
Urban Administration masters
By Brad Rich
UNCC may soon be able to offer a
Master’s Degree in Urban Administration
according to Dr. Schley R. Lyons,
Chairman of the' Political Science
Department. Lyons said the degree, first
proposed about a year and a half ago, has
been approved by the graduate deans of
the state university system and the
graduate faculty, and now needs only
“the approval of University President Bill
Friday and the Board of Governors.”
The proposed Masters of Urban
Administration (MUR) is one of only
three graduate programs examined by the
university system in the last few years
due to a lack of money. Before approval,
it must be checked for integrity,
overlapping with other programs and
duplication of resources.
The Political Science Department has
put together a booklet which describes
the degree its goals and its needs.
According to the booklet, “The basic
objective of the Master of Urban
Administration degree program is to
provide curriculum which will offer
professional training in public
adnrinistration with a special emphasis on
the management of urban systems and
local governance.” The program will
admit, for the most part, candidates who
are in-service employees of urban
governmental units in this region of
North Carolina.
Three curriculum options will be
offered by the program. As istated in the
booklet they are: “(1)^ general
component of core areas of competence
in urban administration, (2)a narrower
focus in areas of functional
specialization, and (3)directed study in
applied urban administration.” This
format was modeled on the curriculum
guidelines set by the National
Association of Schools of Public Affairs
and Administration in April of 1974.
Though there are similar programs
already existing in North Carolina at
Duke, Chapel Hill, and -N.C. State, the
program at UNCC will contrast in at least
three main ways with these. (l)lt is
designed primarily for a clientele that is
mid-career rather than pre-entry, (2)Most
of the metrolina area mid-career clientele
cannot become students at the
already-existing programs because of the
long distance-driving required and (3)the
proposed program has a more distinctly
urban focus than the others. “In
summary,” the report says,“there is little
conflict and overlap with existing masters
progrmas within the state.
The program is definitely justified.
UNCC is an urban institution adjacent to
the largest city in North Carolina, and
the area has problems like all pther urban
areas. Again quoting the report, “A
graduate prograni in urban
administration can provide educational
and training opportunities for those
persons who will participate directly in
governmental efforts to provide services
and resolve problems in the Piedmont
region of North Carolina and elsewhere.”
The need for the program is obvious.
A 1972 estimate indicated job
opportunities in city and stale
government will increase 40 percent by
1980. If this is true, many of these
people., both pre-entry and mid-career
will require continuing or additional
education in able to keep up with the
rapidly changing urban centers.
If approved, the degree requirements
for a Masters in Urban Administration
will be: 18 hours in the basic “core areas
of competence” on “oral examination on
degree progress,” 12 hours in a
functional area of specialization” and
six hours in a “directed study in applied
urban administration.” Admission will be
through the Director of Graduate
Studies. Applicants must have a
bachelor’s degree from an approved
institution, a 2.5 grade average as an
undergraduate and satisfactory
completion of the Miller Analogies Test.
The Graduate Record Committee in the
Political Science Department will review
all applications.
Dr. Lyons said there is a budget
attached to the proposed program, but it
has not, nor necessarily will be approved.
“It is possible,” he stated, “for the
prograun to be accepted and the budget
rejected.”
In general, there seems to be a
genuine need in the area for the program.
Many area politicians, including city
councilmen and county administrators
have written in support of the proposal
and soon it may be a reality.
Sheikh Rustum Ali discusses
Bangladesh and the oil crisis
By Susan Sluss
January 27th, UNCC had an
opportunity to find out some very
interesting facts about both the world oil
crisis and the small country of
Bangladesh, which stirred American
hearts in 1972.
The Honorable Sheikh Rustum Ali,
the second secretary of the Embassy of
the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,
spoke on the topic of “Politics of Oil and
the Fourth World.” He came on the
invitation of the Committee for Asian
and African Studies and the Program for
International Studies at UNCC.
Dr. Ali feels that in 1970 through
1972, the oil price increase was a natural
increase due to financial problems and
the devaluation of the United States
dollar, but in 1973, the increase was due
to political reasons of the Middle East
countries. His theory is. though, instead
of hitting the industrial countries such as
the United States, it hit the small,
unindustrial countries such as
Bangladesh.
Dr. Ali said, “In part, due to political
and economic pressure from the United
States, the energy crisis started as early as
the 1950’s.”
Dr. Ali has had a book published
recently by Praegar in their “Special
Studies Series” in which he analyzes
Saudi Arabia’s use of petrodiplomacy in
the settelment of the Arab-Israel conflict.
“Oil is the number one industry in
the world, and financially speaking, the
most important,” is the way Dr. Ali
began his discussion.
He went into the history of the oil
industry, saying that in 1930, the United
States was the chief exporter of oil. After
World War I, oil was discovered in Texas
and sold for five cents a barrel. In 1974,
oil was selling for $15.00 a barrel. The
Middle East countries are now the chief
exporters of oil.
Dr. Daniel White of the Religious
Department felt, “It was an excellent
idea on our campus. We brought a man
from the fourth world who is also a
research scholar and could address
intelligently the relationship between the
petroleum crisis and the fourth world
economic crisis. It’s a current topic, and
a topic that involves fragile tension
between countries in the Middle East and
between each other.”
Dr. Ali brought in an interesting
comparison when describing the United
States and Bangladesh and the oil crisis.
He said, “The U.S. can reduce the
amount of oil she uses, Bangladesh
cannot. The U.S. uses 70 million barrels
of oil a day whereas Bangladesh uses 51
barrels a year. For example, there are 17
lights burning in the room we are in
(Board of Trustees conference room)
where in Bangladesh, we burn one light.
We cannot turn off the one light.”
In conclusion, he said. “The poor
countries are looking to the new oil
producing countries for relief, like a
dying person in the hospital who can’t do
anything but silently looks for medical
relief.”
Carolina Journal photo by Susan Cole
Sheikh Rustum Ali, second secretary of the Embassy of
the People's Republic of Bangladesh, spoke on campus
this past week.
News Analysis
UNCC hurt by isolation
By Les Bowen
(Editor’s Note: This article is the
first of a two-part series dealing with
UNCC’s relationship with the Charlotte
.community. This week's article will
outline some of the problems involved in
the relationship. Next week we will look
at what the university is doing to combat
the problem.)
If you were to stop an average
Charlottean on the street and ask him to
tell you everything he knows about
UNCC, he could probably do so in 20
seconds or less. He would tell you UNCC
is somewhere to the north of Charlotte
and he might know UNCC has a good
basketball team. Chances are he would
tell you he has never actually been to the
school and he has no idea what is taught
there.
UNCC’s isolation from the Charlotte
community has been a major problem
since the school’s inception. One reason '
for UNCC’s identity crisis is the location
of the campus. When the present site was
chosen and the school was moved from
downtown 15 years ago, the rationale
was the school needed plenty of room to
grow and Charlotte’s growth would soon
fill the void between the city limits and
the campus. UNCC has grown
phenomenally since then, as has
Charlotte, but UNCC still remains a
veritable outpost of civilization amongst
the wilderness. Charlotte will eventually
catch up with the university. In the
meantime, the school will just have to
continue laboring in obscurity.
One facet of the problem is the
school’s newness. Many more Charlotte
residents are alumni of UNC-Chapel Hill
or N.C. Stale than are graduates of
UNCC. As UNCC students graduate and
become adult members of the Charlotte
community, UNCC will gain the strong
alumni base it needs to form a better
relationship with the community.
Another reason for UNCC’s
less-than-idy llic relationship with
Charlotte is the school’s academic image.
Most Charlotteans think of UNCC as a
third-rate institution - a place where
people go when they cannot get in
UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State, Duke, Wake
Forest or Davidson. This is simply not
true. Incoming UNCC freshmen in
1974-75 had an average SAT score of
958. The scores declined slightly this
year both nationally and at UNCC, but
the school ranks fourth in SAT scores
among the 16 institutions in the
University of Norlh Carolina system.
The image of UNCC as an inferior
institution stems from its days as
Charlotte College. The school has
updated its academics considerably in the
ten and one half years since it attained
university status, but public opinion
changes slowly and the community’s
impressions of UNCC’s academics remain
rooted in the past.