Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has named Silvia C. Ramos as Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Officer effective January 2, 2012.
In addition to being the university’s Chief Compliance Officer, Ramos will be responsible for interpreting and analyzing policies and procedures related to Equal Employment regulations, assess and respond to the needs for training programs, and develop plans to promote equity, diversity and cultural competency. She will report to Provost Brenda Allen.
“We are delighted that our search committee found someone with experience in aligning diversity efforts with a university’s strategic plan as well as the ability to manage compliance, events and projects,” said Allen. “Silvia also has extensive experience in assessing diversity strategies and was instrumental in impacting the increase of diversity in the student body at Virginia Tech.”
An educator with a background in diversity efforts, Ramos was associate director of diversity education and training at Virginia Tech for three years. There she managed a wide range of diversity programs, led university-wide projects and events, and also worked with campus teams on a variety of diversity issues.
Five female students have alleged in a lawsuit that Howard University failed to take action when a supervisor of a campus work-study program on campus allegedly sexually and verbally assaulted them.
According to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the students, George Bright-Abu, a supervisor of the work-study program at The Founders Library on campus was accused last July of “unwanted touching, flirting, fondling and degrading propositions of a sexual nature.”
The students also reported the conduct to police. Bright-Abu was arrested, charged and found guilty of two counts of sexual abuse and one count of simple assault.
Graduate Mercedes Woodson, one of the victims, told NBC4 in Washington, D.C. that after she reported the abuse to university officials, they failed to investigate.
Bright-Abu “asked me to come into his office and he came pretty close to me and touched my chest area,” Woodson told the station. “I did say something and I rushed out.”
Another student, Rukayatu Bello, told the station that she was also assaulted at a later date, that she reported the incident to university officials and that nothing was done about it.
Bright-Abu “said inappropriate things to me,” said Bello, who also has since graduated. “He came on to me, was aroused, rubbed up against me, was trying to kiss me, all in his office.”
Both students filed a police report in April and Bright-Abu was arrested and charged.
Bright-Abu was tried and convicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced to serve 60 days for each count of sexual abuse and is serving 120 days in jail.
Since then, three other students have claimed they too were victims of Bright-Abu and the university had yet again failed to act on the information. They are filing a civil lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and abuse against Howard University and Bright-Abu.
The students’ lawsuit also asks for unspecified monetary damages.
In a statement to The Afro, Howard said it takes student safety seriously and moved to terminate Bright-Abu.
“While the University is unable to provide details on matters in current litigation, we can say that we take the safety of our students very seriously and have a strict sexual harassment policy in place. When the University administration became aware of the allegations, we worked closely with appropriate law enforcement authorities as well as conducted an internal investigation. The employee was quickly placed on administrative leave and later terminated from the University.”
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission released more details Thursday about a warning dealing with fiscal affairs issued to Fort Valley State University earlier this month.
The accrediting organization placed the school on warning for a year at its general meeting Dec. 5 because the Commission’s Board of Trustees determined Fort Valley State failed to demonstrate compliance with three standards — faculty competence, control of finances and Title IV responsibilities, which deal with federal student aid, according to a disclosure statement released Thursday explaining the reason for the warning and what it means for Fort Valley’s status with the organization.
The warning is related to finance office processes and staffing and training of employees in the offices of general accounting, financial aid and support services, according to a news release from Fort Valley State.
A year ago, a commission panel reaffirmed the school’s accreditation for 10 years but wanted reforms in the administration of fiscal affairs. The warning stems from the commission’s belief the school had made significant progress toward correcting the issues.
University officials said steps are under way to re-staff personnel in the departments cited.
“Fort Valley State University has been involved in a multiyear effort to address concerns and enhance its fiscal procedures. This effort has benefitted from the assistance of the United States Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Georgia Board of Regents and Georgia Department of Audits,” Fort Valley State President Larry Rivers stated in a news release. “Since all issues had not been resolved completely, we knew that a warning was a possibility. We respect SACS, understand the very serious nature of this warning, and will work to resolve its concerns fully.”
The state medical examiner’s office has ruled that the death of a Florida A&M University drum major last month was a homicide after concluding that the student was severely beaten in a hazing incident and died within an hour.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement Friday evening saying it planned to work with the State Attorney’s office “to identify the charges that are applicable” in the death of 26-year-old Robert Champion.
The medical examiner’s office in Orlando found that Champion had bruises to his chest, arms, shoulder and back and internal bleeding that caused him to go into shock, which killed him.
“The Champion family’s worst fears were realized tonight when their son Robert’s death was ruled a homicide by hazing,” the victim’s family said in a statement Friday evening. “We now hope that all those responsible for this act will swiftly be brought to justice. Our goal is that no other family will have to live through this pain.”
“We don’t want to stop the music,” the statement said, “we want to stop the hazing.”
Champion’s Nov. 19 death and the severe beating of another band member during a hazing ritual three weeks earlier have brought new scrutiny to a culture of hazing within the Tallahassee school’s famed Marching 100 band.
State and local authorities are investigating the death. Any death involving hazing is a third-degree felony in Florida, but no charges have been filed so far. Three male band members were arrested in a separate probe involving the recent beating of a female member whose thigh bone was broken.
Witnesses told emergency dispatchers that Champion was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard a band bus outside an Orlando hotel after the school’s football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman.
The report by Dr. Sara Irrgang, an associate medical examiner, described Champion as “previously healthy” and showing “no evidence of natural disease” except for a slightly enlarged heart. Immediately after the hazing, Champion complained of thirst and fatigue, then loss of vision and signs of shock, the report said.
The Grambling State women’s basketball nondistrict schedule is heating up.
The Lady Tigers play at Oral Roberts at 7 tonight. GSU then travels to Tulsa on Saturday. The road trip ends with games at Texas (Dec. 20) and LSU (Dec. 22).
GSU won its last game, a 64-52 victory over Sam Houston State, on Saturday. Markisha Patterson led the Lady Tigers with 16 points and six rebounds while Tonieshwa Mack added 14 points.
Michelle Dobbins came off the bench to play a big role for GSU, scoring 15 points and three assists, three rebounds and two steals.
No. 14 Louisville 64, Cincinnati 59: At Cincinnati, Shoni Schimmel scored 16 points to lead No. 14 Louisville past Cincinnati on Wednesday night in the Big East opener for both teams. After trailing for much of the second half, Louisville (9-2, 1-0) tied the score at 55 with 2:37 left in the game and went ahead on Schimmel’s 3-pointer.
With less than a minute left, Bjonee Reaves’ jumper pulled Cincinnati (6-3, 0-1) within one, but Cardinals forward Shawnta’ Dyer responded quickly to give Louisville a three-point lead with 39 seconds remaining.
Becky Burke, who had 14 points for the Cardinals, made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
The Towson Tigers men’s basketball fell again as they were defeated by Coppin State, 57-71. The Tigers are now 0-10 to start the season, but only 0-1 in CAA play.
Towson played Coppin State on the road which was just a short drive for the Tigers as Coppin State is in Baltimore City. Coppin State is still undefeated at home with a 4-0 record; overall they are 4-5.
Tigers’ forward Marcus Damas led the team with 16 points and forward Robert Nwankwo had 15 points. Damas and Nwankwo have been the only Tigers players that have been able to get into double digits in points on a consistent basis this season.
Eagles guard Tony Gallo destroyed the Tigers with 27 points, with included six three-point baskets. Taarig Cephas also did solid damage to the Tigers scoring 19 points.
The Tigers next game is against the Manhattan Jaspers, who are 7-4, they will play at the Towson Center.
Florida’s governor wants the president of Florida A&M University suspended amid multiple investigations spurred by a drum major’s death.
Republican Rick Scott called the chairman of the FAMU board on Thursday and asked him to suspend James Ammons immediately. The board met last week and discussed suspending Ammons, but instead voted to publicly reprimand him. The board meets again Monday.
It was Scott who ordered Florida’s law-enforcement agency to join an investigation into the death of Marching 100 band member Robert Champion. He died following a FAMU football game last month and hazing is suspected in his death.
State law enforcement officials said earlier this week they have opened a second investigation into possible criminal violations dealing with the band’s finances.
1 of 3 photos: Pastor Larry Brown and wife, Gloria, left, exercise after their service at the Faith & Victory Christian Center in Elizabeth City, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. A professor at Elizabeth City State University implemented a program to try to get the black population to exercise more and eat better in order to cut back on that population's high frequency of diabetes. (Jason Hirschfeld | For The Virginian-Pilot)
Some 35 people wearing sweats and T-shirts shook their stuff to blasting, beating music Dec. 4 with Pastor Larry Brown and his wife in the lead, sweating along with the rest.
Each Sunday, about an hour after the worshiping ends at Faith & Victory Christian Center, the workouts begin. The program is a way for Larry and Gloria Brown to help their congregation ward off diabetes – the fourth-leading cause of death among blacks in this country.
The Browns and four other ministers in the Elizabeth City area have signed on to an effort that uses spiritual leaders, rather than medical experts, to persuade those in the black community to get more diabetes screenings, eat better, get more exercise and generally improve their chances of avoiding the disease.
The incidence of diagnosed adult diabetes is 13.4 percent among blacks, compared with 6.4 percent among whites, according to a 2006 national study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By far, Southeastern states have the highest occurrence – including northeastern North Carolina and parts of southeastern Virginia, according to CDC maps.
But few blacks volunteer for clinical studies on diabetes, and in general blacks are not heeding warnings about the disease, said Dr. Anthony Emekalam, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Elizabeth City State University.
“Why?” Emekalam asked. “Studies show that African Americans do not trust the health care system. Who do they trust? You’ll find that they trust their pastors. How about using pastors as a channel to reach them?”
Reasons for the mistrust go back generations, to a time when blacks were sometimes the subjects of medical experiments, he said.
Last year, Emekalam received a $27,000 grant from the Medical University of South Carolina, paid for by the CDC. He is getting another $20,000 grant this year.
Ministers who become part of his program receive training in diet, exercise and blood screening, among other things. They lead the effort, not Emekalam, the professor said. Members get reminders in the church bulletin – and from the pulpit, as well. Church socials feature less fatty foods and more vegetables.
Bennett College has been removed from a six-month probation for financial instability by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools .
The college was placed on probation in June for incidences in 2010, said Julianne Malveaux, Bennett’s president. She said those instances were one-time occurrences that were not systemic issues that affected the college’s future fiscal outlook.
Bennett was able to demonstrate its financial stability in October to a SACS team that reviewed records and spoke with the college’s stakeholders, Malveaux said.
“I was elated to receive the official notice that by action of the SACS Board of Trustees, Bennett College has been removed from probation,” Malveaux said in a statement. “As part of the college’s five-year report, we must evidence continued compliance with the SACS principle on financial stability.”
Percy Woods of University of Maryland Eastern Shore (www.umeshawks.com)
Norfolk, VA – Maryland Eastern Shore’s Percy Woods was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday. Prince Okoroh of Howard was named Rookie of the Week while Yannick Crowder of Florida A&M earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades.
Woods (G, 6-1, 190, Jr., Hyattsville, Md.) scored 16 points with 10 assists, and five steals to lead Maryland Eastern Shore to a 95-69 win over Mercy. Woods connected on 6-of-11 baskets (54%) including 4-of-6 from long range. He also hit 6-of-7 free throws and added two rebounds in just 25 minutes of play.
Okoroh (F, 6-5, 190, Fr., Glenarden, Md.) averaged 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks to help the Bison finish 1-1 last week. In a 75-67 win over Delaware State Okoroh scored a career-best 21 points, shooting 10-of-12 from the field, with four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
Crowder (F/C, 6-8, 215, Sr., Stone Mountain, Ga.) averaged 10.0 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 2.0 steals in three games last week for the Rattlers. He grabbed 13 boards and blocked seven shots with four steals against Allen. He recorded another 13 rebounds against Southeastern and blocked five shots against South Florida. For the week Crowder totaled 30 rebounds, 13 blocks and six steals while playing 25.3 minutes per game.
For the rest of the MEAC Weekly Honors Basketball Honors, click here.
Greensboro – Johnson C. Smith’s women’s basketball players may have come to Corbett Sports Center with a figurative Division II label on their backs, but they didn’t let that stop them from giving North Carolina A&T a 40-minute vigorous tussle.
It took a late second-half surge, started by an Amber Calvin 3-pointer as the shot clock ticked down, before the Aggies were finally able to pull away with a 71-61 win. Following the tight win, N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs was not upset. She was thankful.
“I can appreciate games like this because now they know regardless of the opponent you have, you’ve got to play,” said Bibbs, who earned career win No. 492, and is now eight wins away from her 500th victory.
“Johnson C. Smith is a good team,” she added. “You can’t take anything away from them. They are a well-coached team. They executed on both ends. We told the ladies (at halftime) in the locker room, the things we’ve been practicing; we need to see in the game.”
The N.C. A&T women had good reason to be proud of their early-season accomplishments. They had an impressive win over a team ranked in the Mid-Major poll in Liberty, followed by wins over Clemson of the ACC and Siena.
For more information about the NCAT Lady Aggies victory over JCSU, click here
About a week ago I introduced the HBCU Fashion community to haute Bow Tie Designer, Marc Smith of John Doe Bow Ties (www.johndoebowties.com), and I gave you the scoop on an old time classic accessory, that’s turned hip and trendy over the last few seasons. Well this week I want to give you options!! For those who love the conventional bow tie, but might have a regular neck tie that has a dope pattern that you want to use in “bow tie” form, I have a video for you.
As the fashion forward, trendy youth of tomorrow, we like to mix and match patterns and prints. As a connoisseur of bow ties and neck ties I know that some prints/patterns that we see on neck ties, often times aren’t made in bow tie form. So as an early Christmas Gift to all you D.I.Y. fashion heads, here’s a video of how to turn your Neck Tie, into a Bow Tie!! ENJOY!!
Fort Valley State University seniors Cecil Bent and Jasmine Birdsong have been named SIAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Players of the Week, respectively. Fort Valley State University sophomore Corey Hunter has been named SIAC Men’s Basketball Newcomer of the Week while Kentucky State University junior Jasmine Davis has been named SIAC Women’s Basketball Newcomer of the Week.
Bent, a native of Metter, GA, averaged 12 points and four rebounds in two games this past week. The 6-9, 290-pound center also averaged an assist and a steal while leading the Wildcats to a 2-0 record with wins over conference-foes Stillman College and Claflin University.
Birdsong, a native of Sparta, GA, averaged 15 points and eight rebounds in two games this past week. The 5-11 center also averaged a steal while leading the Lady Wildcats to a 2-0 record with wins over Stillman College and Claflin University.
Hunter, a forward from Cincinnati, OH, averaged 13 points and seven rebounds in two games for the Wildcats. The 6-8 transfer from Wallace-Hanceville Community College helped lead FVSU to victories over Stillman College and Claflin University.
Davis, a guard from Cincinnati, OH, is named the SIAC’s top newcomer for the second consecutive week after averaging 21 points, including a career-high 30 points against West Virginia State University, while also averaging 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Thorobrettes.
FAMU has never wavered from supporting their HBCU despite the death of Robert Champion and administrative mishandlings. (rattlernation.blogspot.com)
Twitter is a fascinating, spontaneous, stream of consciousness social media outlet for users to tweet their thoughts and opinions on the Web for millions to see. Sometimes it can be rambling about relationships and football, or it can be used as a platform to hold intellectual conversations meant to enlighten and inspire. Such a conversation happened yesterday, as Dr. Steve Perry asked this question from his Twitter account: “With low graduation rates, depleted endowments & declining admissions, what makes HBCUs still matter?”
As this organization along with other HBCU and non HBCU students and alumni responded, it hit me that the task to defend the credibility of our HBCUs is taxing and never-ending. It is our responsibility to wave the banner for HBCUs and continue to uphold their legacy and tradition.
Like we said in the tweets, HBCUs are an integral piece of African-American culture, and are therefore an irreplaceable piece of American culture.
As America has underappreciated African Americans and our contributions to American history and society, so has the same been done to our HBCUs.
The Harlem Renaissance was the cultural movement that African Americans needed to prove that we are just as artistic, beautiful, ingenious and creative as our Caucasian counterparts. The Harlem Renaissance was birthed thanks to HBCU graduates like Langston Hughes of Lincoln University, James Weldon Johnson of Howard University, and Booker T. Washington, who has connections to Hampton University and Virginia Union University before descending upon Tuskegee, Alabama with a vision that became Tuskegee University.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization that had a huge impact on the civil rights movement, was led by HBCU alumni: Morehouse alumnus Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Howard alumnus Andrew Young, North Carolina A&T State University’s Jesse Jackson and Alabama State University’s Ralph Abernathy.
The sit-ins at segregated businesses where Blacks were not even allowed to sit at the counter were the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Those students who were hit with pies, beaten by police and arrested were HBCU students. Countless other HBCU graduates or people who have gone to HBCUs have made great contributions to America: Oprah, Tom Joyner, Samuel Jackson, Spike Lee, Ed Bradley, Nikki Giovanni, and many more.
With the resume and ambition that Dr. Steve Perry has, he may have had no ill wishes to our precious schools with his question, but even he must acknowledge that HBCUs preach the same morals and code of ethics that he has instilled into his students. Hard work, persistence, leadership, integrity. When Dr. Perry founded the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness Program, at Capital Community College (ConnCAP) in 1998 and then Capital Prep in 2004, he preached excellence, exceptionalism and never settling for average. That is how he can boost that 100% of his students graduate and attend four-year colleges and universities. I know that a good percentage of those students must have attended an HBCU.
HBCUs are still relevant, not just because they are legitimate institutions of higher learning focused on bringing out the best in the African-American community, but also because the racist, segregated climate that these institutions were founded in still has its traces in our ‘Land of the Free.’
Click here to read about Fuqua School. Fuqua has a reputation as the “segregation academy” of Virginia since its inception. Schools were desegregated beginning in 1954 with the victory in the Brown vs. Board of Education. Fuqua did not admit its first black student until the 1980’s.
Fuqua reached out to Charles Williams to serve as an ambassador to improve its image as a racist school. It did not help that, for some odd reason, the school president Ruth Murphy thought it would best to describe Williams’s “maturity and intensity” as that of a 25-year-old drug dealer. Yeah…that makes sense. Schools like Fuqua are the exact reason why HBCUs were founded, and why they are still necessary in 2011 and beyond.
To say that HBCUs are outdated and irrelevant, is to say that black owned, black produced and black controlled institutions are not good enough to compete with white colleges and universities. The deeper meaning: Blacks are not as good enough and cannot compete with white people. We have to show everyone how wrong that is.
Chris Brown scored 11 points in the LeMoyne-Owen College Magicians' victory. (athletics.loc.edu)
The Magicians defeated the Fort Valley State Wildcats in basketball action, Saturday afternoon in Bruce Hall 71-46.
In the first half, the Magicians jumped out on the Wildcats 11-5 around the 15:00 mark. The Magicians controlled the entire half with constant pressure on the ball and trapping defense forcing the Wildcats into 12 turnovers and holding them to only 10-30 (33%) shooting from the field. The Magicians would lead by as much as 10 points in the half but around the 6 minute mark the Wildcats went on a run cutting the lead down to just four points.
From there, the Magicians would push the lead back to thirteen points ending the half winning 36-23. Nine LOC players scored two points or more with Teshawn Byrn leading the way with seven and Chris Brown right behind him with six. Every LOC player played in the first half.
For more information, read here about the LeMoyne-Owen College Magicians
Grambling State University defeats Alabama A&M University to win the 2011 SWAC Championship (Mark Almond/ The Birhingham News)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Jacarde Carter returned a fumble 66 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give Grambling State a 16-15 victory over Alabama A&M in the Farmers Insurance SWAC Football Championship Game presented by Toyota on Saturday.
Grambling (8-4) won its sixth SWAC championship in the 13-year history of the event. Four of those wins have come against Alabama A&M, which fell to 1-5 all-time in the title game.
An 11-yard touchdown run by Kaderius Lacey and a 36-yard scoring pass from Deaunte Mason to Terence Pride helped A&M (8-4) build a 15-0 lead late in the first half. The Bulldogs missed both extra-point attempts.
Grambling closed the gap to 15-9 midway through the third quarter on an 80-yard touchdown pass from D.J. Williams to Mario Louis.
The Tigers won despite completing four passes and being outgained in total yardage 337-182.
Lacey gained 95 yards and set an A&M record for rushing yards in a season with 1,152.
Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has named Silvia C. Ramos as Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Officer effective January 2, 2012.
