THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080344
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 85 lines
The state's method for calculating graduation rates unfairly penalizes Norfolk State University - which has the lowest published rate in Virginia - by not counting transfer students, NSU President Harrison B. Wilson said Tuesday.
Nearly half the students who graduate from Norfolk State each year are transfer students who began at other schools, said retired Gen. Robert E. Wagner, a special assistant to Wilson.
Wilson told NSU board members Tuesday: ``They come in as sophomores, they finish in three years and we're not getting any credit for them. . . . We hope you will use your influence in Richmond to help us on that.''
Edythe C. Harrison, a board member from Norfolk, said she sympathized with Norfolk State's position. ``That is so ridiculous,'' she said. ``You're basing everything on a process that's inaccurate.''
Norfolk State has faced pressure from Richmond in recent years to raise its graduation rate. The last survey showed that only 22 percent of first-time freshmen at Norfolk State graduate within seven years.
Wagner said he expected that rate to go up roughly 6 percentage points in the next three years, thanks to a range of new programs designed to keep freshmen in school.
Jean C. Keating, the research administrator who oversees statistics for the State Council of Higher Education, which publishes the graduation rates, said in an interview Tuesday that the methodology is sound.
Keating said the state tracks only first-time freshmen because ``it prevents double counting. A student can only be first-time once.''
She said she didn't believe Norfolk State was placed at a disadvantage by excluding transfer students. A state study a few years ago looking at graduation rates for transfer students found that the rankings of Virginia colleges were no different. ``The patterns of the institution are roughly the same, whether you track first-time students or transfers,'' she said.
Keating said the exact numbers from the transfer survey were not immediately available.
Wilson said he raised the issue with Elizabeth A. McClanahan, an Abingdon lawyer who is the chairwoman of the state council, when she visited the campus last week. McClanahan, he said, invited NSU officials to discuss their concerns with council members.
McClanahan said Tuesday night that she could not comment on the method for calculating graduation rates before talking to council staff.
Wilson's complaints came during a meeting in which he outlined his wish list for his final year as president.
He is retiring in July after 22 years as Norfolk State's president. Less than three weeks ago, the board announced that it had hired Marie V. McDemmond, a Florida college administrator, as his successor. In an interview last month, she said that ensuring ``student success'' would be her top priority.
Among other items Wilson said he hoped to accomplish to cement his legacy:
Move forward on his pet plan to build a hotel - to be partly staffed by the university's hotel and restaurant management students - south of the campus. The City Council has earmarked land for Norfolk State, but Wilson said the project has been stalled by lack of funding.
Establish a joint science lab with Hampton University to conduct new experiments on organic conducting materials. George E. Miller, associate vice president for research, said the lab would expand NSU's work in crystals research.
Persuade city officials to raze abandoned houses in the Brambleton section, west of the campus. ``We've been telling them for years to clean up Central Brambleton. . . . We must get that area cleaned up if we're going to survive as a university where people feel safe.''
Win a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help improve security on campus.
In what seemed like an early farewell speech, Wilson also praised former Govs. Mills Godwin and Gerald Baliles for their support for Norfolk State. He thanked board members, past and present, for sticking up for the university and giving him leeway to follow his instincts.
He remembered his grandfather, a former slave who later built a fortune and was named chairman of a school board.
``That's why I've been excited by Norfolk State and the students,'' he said. ``I know if my grandfather can do what he did, kids today from adverse circumstances can do it, too.
``This school is special.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Harrison B. Wilson
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATION RATE