THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996 TAG: 9607010027
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 145 lines
For the lanky new chancellor from Teague, Texas, the challenge is to stand tall, and then taller, until Elizabeth City State University's academic excellence is color-blind to the cultures of black and white.
When Dr. Mickey L. Burnim, 47, was sworn in June 14 he could count on wait-and-see acceptance by many educators in the 16-campus University of North Carolina system.
``I firmly believe that Mickey Burnim is the right person to lead Elizabeth City State University into the next century,'' said UNC President C.D. Spangler Jr.
But for all of Burnim's initial support, he faces years of fine-tuning ECSU if he is to preserve the best of the school's black heritage and, at the same time, inspire his students to a level of achievement that will make them proud of their alma mater.
It won't be easy.
ECSU started out 105 years ago as the State Colored Normal School, established to produce black teachers for segregated schools.
Now, after a hundred years of heartaches and growth - and many name changes - ECSU is a full university within the UNC system.
But it is still often identified as a ``predominantly African-American school,'' one of five within the UNC organization.
This is not an insensitive holdover from segregation days. Rather, it reflects the fixity with which factions have, for different reasons, sought to make ECSU mostly white or mostly black.
When Burnim succeeded former Chancellor Jimmy R. Jenkins Jr. in September as the school's interim leader, he inherited an ECSU faculty and administration that was intensely loyal to Jenkins. For 12 years, Jenkins had been the strong-willed boss of ECSU. He had his own style of management and the school's growth record under him was excellent.
Publicly, Jenkins voiced support for mandatory integration and multicultural melding at ECSU. ``We are more integrated than any other campus in the UNC system,'' Jenkins said a couple of years ago.
Privately, however, Jenkins demanded not only personal loyalty, but he also invoked his own standard of multiculturalism.
``Why should I hurt the people who have supported me?'' he once said in a discussion of how far he planned to carry integration. ``Many of our black faculty members have personal as well as professional reasons - good reasons - to preserve the African-American heritage of this university.''
So permeating was Jenkins' policy that a couple of years ago he was publicly called a racist by white math professor Carol O'Dell. It was a major flap that ended with O'Dell being eased out of her job through non-renewal of her ECSU contract.
Another ECSU faculty member, Carol Kerr, also lost her job when she challenged Jenkins and the ECSU trustees, charging she was discriminated against because she was a white female. Kerr carried her fight all the way up to the UNC Board of Governors - and won.
The board ordered Kerr reinstated.
After her victory, Kerr said she was made to feel so uncomfortable on campus that she left for another teaching job in Las Vegas, Nev. O'Dell likewise left ECSU for Chowan College in Murfreesboro, where she is now head of the math department.
But through all of the years of Jenkins' black-advocacy policy, a parallel effort dominated by white conservatives was under way.
White conservatives proposed changes that some say would have steered ECSU from being a black-oriented institution to a university with more whites than blacks.
At one point about 10 years ago, a group of 26 white Albemarle citizens presented a petition demanding Jenkins' removal as a first step toward making ECSU ``The University of North Carolina at Elizabeth City.''
One goal of the group was to get rid of what one of the petition's signers called the ``anti-white'' atmosphere at the school.
The proponents said changing the name of ECSU to The University of North Carolina at Elizabeth City would better reflect the 16-campus UNC elitism in Elizabeth City.
The white petitioners represented a cross section of conservative Albemarle community leaders. And their views are still in the minds of some UNC governors and northeastern legislators when policy changes are considered for ECSU.
So it was in a carefully cadenced discussion that Chancellor Burnim outlined his dilemma at ECSU. And, with Texas firmness, he made it clear he isn't selling out to anyone:
``Breaking with tradition is to deny the past.''
``Students are entitled to have some control of their destiny.''
``Changing the name of an institution can have a bearing on the influence it should have.''
And then Burnim got down to the shape of things to come: He said he needs three years in the chancellor's chair before the outline of his plan for ECSU comes into focus.
``I want - and will find - two strong vice-chancellors,'' Burnim said.
The new chancellor suggested that some teachers at ECSU are going to get a Texas-sized kick in the cantle.
Burnim won the first of his many degrees as an honors graduate from North Texas State University, Denton, Texas, where students know which end of the horse goes over the fence first. He has a doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin and faculty experience in other universities.
``The emphasis for faculty and staff will be quality education,'' he said. ``There will be no more coming to class poorly prepared - or not coming at all.''
Burnim said there would be a ``staff assessment process'' that would ``see how well we're doing as teachers and administrators.'' The chancellor said he would establish a continuous faculty evaluation process with an improvement-or-else policy where necessary.
Burnim has had plenty of experience as a teacher and as a teachers' teacher.
In 1982 Burnim joined the UNC general administration staff at Chapel Hill, where he planned and reviewed academic programs at all 16 UNC campuses.
Burnim was sent to ECSU in 1990 by UNC President Spangler, from Burnim's most recent post of provost and chief academic officer at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Burnim said a major goal will be to make life for ECSU students better.
``No university is perfect. But there are many ways to make it easier for students,'' Burnim said. ``There's no reason why student loans should be so difficult to get. Checks for students should arrive on time - and they will.
``Seventy percent of our students come from 21 rural counties and we have to show them how a business operates and familiarize them with the things they need to know before they go to work.
``It's just as important for employers to know what our students can do and how to meet them and hire them. ``
Burnim said he will overhaul teaching ideas at ECSU so that there will be more degreed programs and more sharing of instruction with other UNC campuses.
``We should have more multicultural events on other campuses - and here - and we will.''
``And . . . And. . . '' Burnim paused behind the hefty desk at the apex of the huge triangular office built during Jimmy Jenkins' tenure to house ECSU chancellors.
``. . . This is all about quality education.'' Burnim resumed, ``Quality education from top to bottom for quality students.
``They'll get it. That's my job.
``. . . quality education.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
TEXAN TAKES OVER REINS AT ECSU
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Dr. Mickey L. Burnim, 47, is Elizabeth City State University's new
chancellor. His aim is to retain the school's 105-year heritage
while instituting academic and enrollment changes. He wants to make
life for students better, he said. ``We should have more
multicultural events on other campuses - and here - and we will,''
Burnim said. ``Quality education from top to bottom for quality
students.'' by CNB