The Register, 1979-10-23

              THL^ REGISTER
"COMPLETE AWARENESS FOR COMPLETE COMMITMENT'
VOLUME XL1 NUMBER 13 NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL AND TECHNICAL STATE UNIVERSITY C.PEENSBOPP NC OCTOBER 23. 1979
A&T Receives $160,000 Grant From R.J. Reynolds
A&T State University has
received a grant of $160,000
from the R.J. Reynolds
Industries, Inc. to support a
new scholarship program for
students in business and
engineering.
The grant was announced
during a press conference
Wednesday by Dr. Lewis C.
Dowdy, chancellor of A&T,
and Marshall B. Bass,
corporate director of
personnel development for
Reynolds.
Dowdy said the grant is the
largest ever received from a
North Carolina-based
corporation. R.J. Reynolds
Industries, Inc. is based in
Winston-Salem, N.C.
"This grant will greatly
enhance our position with
respect to attracting high-
quality students for these two
highly visible and highly
competitive academic
programs at our university,"
said Dowdy. "We are
extremely grateful to R.J.
Reynolds Industries for
establishing this scholarship
program."
Bass said, "We believe that
the R.J. Reynolds Industries
Inc. scholarship fund is an
investment in the future of this
university. We believe that it
is an investment in the lives of
many Black Americans, and
we also believe that this
program is a sound investment
for our company."
Although Reynolds
Industries is home-based in
North Carolina, the firm is a
diversified international
corporation engaged in the
manufacture and sales of
tobacco, foods, shipping and
products packaging.
Dowdy said recipients of the
A&T scholarships will be
designated as R.J. Reynolds
scholars. The first 10 students
will be selected for the
program beginning in the fall
of 1980, and the grant will be
paid over a period of seven
years. At its peak, according
to Dowdy, the scholarship
program will support up to 40
students. Dowdy pointed out
that more than 30 A&T
graduates art* currently
employed by R.J. Reynolds
Industries in managerial,
professional and sales job
categories.
and Economics gained
national accreditation from
the American Assembly of
Collegiate Schools of Business
(AACSB) last May. The
school became only the fifth
accredited business program in
the state and the third
predominantly Black school in
the nation. The school offers
undergraduate programs in
accounting, business
education and administrative
services, business
administration and
economics. The school also
operates the Transportation
Institute, a regional research
and training project.
The Reynolds' funds will be
divided between the two
schools and Dowdy said an
effort will be made to recruit
academically outstanding
students from the state who
wish to study business or
engineering.
Blacks
Show Educational Progress
Marshall Bass
A&T's School of
Engineering has been
nationally accredited by the
Engineers' Council for
Professional Development
since 1969. The school offers
undergraduate programs in
electrical, mechanical,
architectural, and industrial
engineering, a master of
science degree program in
engineering, and master's
programs in electrical and
industrial engineering.
A&T has been authorized by
the Board of Governors to
plan a master's program in
mechanical engineering and a
bachelor's degree program in
chemical engineering.
A&T's School of Business
By Manning Marable
One of the principal
"success stories" for the 1960s
was the advance of Black
Americans in the area of
education. At every academic
level, from high school to
graduate study, more Afro-
Americans were enrolled than
ever before. Obscured within
these rosy statistics, however,
are hidden problems which
have been solved neither by
traditional white and Black
academicians, nor by their
Black nationalist critics.
To grasp the significant
impact the Civil Rights and
Black Power Movements had
upon Black educational
opportunity, we need only to
review Afro-American history
prior to 1960. About one fifth
of all Blacks were illiterate as
late as 1930. Over one third of
all Black children between the
ages of 5 to 20 were not
enrolled  in  school  in   1940.
Only seven percent of all
Black adults had a high school
education in 1940; less than
one percent of all Black adults
had completed four years or
more of college. W.E.B.
DuBois' "Talented Tenth",
those Blacks who had received
a university education and
were trained in the arts,
humanities and natural
sciences, was considerably less
than 10 percent of the total
Black population.
The demand for an end to
Jim Crow restrictions in public
accommodations swiftly
became a general critique of
Pan-Hellenic Chooses Theme
By Larry L. Jenkins
"The New Horizon", the
1978-80 theme of the Pan-
Hellenic Council, signifies a
new beginning of diminishing
the sterotype that is viewed by
many students at A&T,
according to James Galbreath,
president of the Pan-HeUeme-
Council.
Galbreath hopes to get the
students   body  to   formulate
its own opinions about
fraternities and sororities,
rather then relying on hearsay. "We want to expose
students to what we are doing
as individual organizations
and as a Council as a whole,"
said Galbreath.
The Pan-Hellenic Council
strives to develop' mutual
respect among the eight-
member     Greek     Letter
initiation and, serve as a forum
for   the   consideration   of
mutual interest to the member
(See Council, Page 3)
Griot Society
Sponsors
Film
James Galbreath
Organizations at A&T; assist
college and university
administration in attaining
high scholastic and social
standards; serve as a standard
setting and implementing body
for the affiliates organization
in the areas of pledging and
By Regina Duren
The Griot Society (History
Club) will sponsor a showing
of the file "Birth of a Nation"
October 24 at 7:30 in Bluford
Library Auditorium. A
discussion will follow the film.
The 1915 film is based on
the racist anti-Negro writings
of Thomas Dixon. The film
depicts an overwhelming
distortion       of       Negro
(See Birth, Page 6)
segregationist civil society,
especially its educational
institutions. "All-white
universities, medical and
technical schools were forced
to admit Black pupils for the
first      time. Private
foundations and the federal
government gave scholarships
and grants to Black students.
Thousands of Afro-Americans
completed college and
subsequently were able to
become more competitive in
various job markets.
Affirmative action programs,
racial quotas and aggressive
recruitment policies were
largely responsible for these
and other progressive changes.
The statistical evidence or
overall Black educationa
advancement for the pasi
twenty years is impressive.
From 1960 to 1975, the
percentage of Black adult;
over 25 years old who hac
completed high school rose
from 20 percent to 43 percent.
Median school years
completed for this group
climbed from an average oi
8.2 to about 11 years. Six
percent of all Black adults had
received four or more years ol
college.
These educational advances
were acquired by persons
between the age of 25 to 34. In
1960, for example, the median
school years completed for
Blacks and whites between 25
to 34 was 9.3 years and 12.1
years, respectively. Whites
were over twice as likely io
finish high school and college
as Blacks. By 1975, whites still
held a lead over Blacks, but
the distance had diminished
considerably. About twe
thirds of all Blacks and 78
percent of whites in the 25-34
(See Black, Page 2)