The voice of the Spartan community Vol. 58 Issue 11
SpartanEcho.com
4.4.11
RECTOR SAYS NEW PRESIDENT FACES CHALLENGES By DEBRA GOODE & KEONA PRUDE The NSU Board of Visitors is challenged with performing an executive search to fill the presidency of Norfolk State University. Although more than seventy applicants have responded to the call to fill the vacancy, the task continues and requires much more than meets the eye. Spartan Echo spoke with Edward L. Hamm, Jr., the Rector of the Board of Visitors, and owner of E. L. Hamm & Associates, Inc., an engineering and management consultant firm. “This is not a routine search for
This is an executive search. We are looking for a leader who can take NSU to the next 10-15 years or better.
an employee,” said Hamm. “This is an executive search. We are looking for a leader who can take NSU to the next 10-15 years or better ….to create a culture of growth and improvement and achieve just that.” The reputation of NSU seems to be the vital element in the process and, as such, several characteristics of the school, its student population, and other statistical data become paramount in attracting the right candidate. Story continued on p. 3
IMAGE COURTESY WWW.NSU.EDU Edward L. Hamm, Jr serves as the Rector of the Board of Visitors.
Gas me up: rising prices, dwindling dollars
IMAGE COURTESY THECASHROC.BLOGSPOT.COM Tony Tata, the Wake County Public School System’s superintendent, met with the state NAACP President Rev. William Barber and discussed the idea of diversity.
North Carolina school district back pedals into re-segregation
By JALIZA BRAXTON
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation of public schools unconstitutional on May 17, 1954 in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. 60 years later, a Tea Party backed school board majority in North Carolina’s Wake County has worked toward bringing “neighborhood schooling” to fruition, an agenda that would segregate students by neighborhood, resulting in separation from other races, social classes and resources. According to a story in The Washington Post,
“the policy had the goal of limiting the proportion of low-income students in any given school to 40 percent and was based on decades of research finding that concentrations of school poverty are bad for education.” “Neighborhood schooling” may result in forcing children in low income neighborhoods to attend schools that have poor learning environments and inadequate materials. On the other hand, children living in neighborhoods that are not hit by financial hardships will Story continued on p. 3
QUAMÉ HAMLIN| SPARTAN ECHO Gas pirces are back up and rising. By mid-March, the national average of gas was $3.56, according to the U.S Energy Information Administration
$4.00 a gallon. In turn, the demand for gas drove According to a new the prices up in 2008 Nielsen report, the rising during those heavy travel price of gasoline could months. However, we are cause Americans to shift back to shopping cautiously still months away from summer and gas prices have and staying at home more until the prices settle down. already started to drain the By mid-March, the national pockets of Americans. In a news conference average of gas was $3.56, on March 11, President according to the U.S Energy Information Administration. Obama addressed the economic problems that In the 2008 summer months of July and August, gasoline prices are causing. “Gas prices are hurting gas prices peaked over By KEONA PRUDE
individuals right now and obviously taking some of that tax cut that we gave them and forcing them to use it on gas, as opposed to buying other items,” said Obama. NSU students are being hit hard with the rising gas prices as well. Commuter student Ashley Ferrell finds herself cutting back on other things to keep gas in her tank. Story continued on p. 3
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