TERRY PICK AS SPEAKER QUESTIONED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250285
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short
TERRY PICK AS SPEAKER QUESTIONED
Two members of Norfolk State University's governing board have raised concerns about the school's invitation to former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry to be this year's graduation speaker.
"I'm wondering, are we playing politics when we have a candidate running for governor of the state?" said Robert J. Grey Sr., a member of the Norfolk State Board of Visitorsd.
The timing "might seem politically motivated," said Claudia Whitworth, another board member and publisher of the Roanoke Tribune newspaper.
The questions prompted a half-hour debate among board members and led to an initial less-than-unanimous vote to offer Terry, the likely Democratic nominee for governor this year, a special graduation award.
Grey and Whitworth abstained on the award but eventually were persuaded to switch their votes. The graduation will be May 16.
Most members of the Norfolk State board said Terry was qualified to speak regardless of her candidacy. "She has had a long and eminent career," said Alan G. Fleischer, a Richmond lawyer and the board's rector.
Terry already has been lined up to speak at commencements at Radford University on May 1 and Piedmont Community College on May 14, said spokesman Chad Peterson.
- Associated Press

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB