The Battle plan
Stanley Battle isn't kidding. He arrived early for his 7 a.m. Editorial Board interview this morning.
The new chancellor at A&T says he's tightening up the work ethic on campus.
No wonder. The university has important goals to meet: improving retention and four- and six-year graduation rates, strengthening the nursing program and ensuring financial accountability, among others.
There will be incentives for students to meet standards: "Every dollar I can get that's legal is going to students in terms of support," Battle said.
He also talked about reaching back to help young people long before they're old enough to apply to college. Coppin State University in Baltimore, where Battle served his previous presidency, managed an elementary and middle school and operated an academy for high school students on its campus. Similar efforts are possible here. He said he has a commitment from Bill Cosby "to come here to help us with some things."
"Everything is not where it should be" following critical audits at A&T, but the university is working very hard, and very closely with the UNC general administration, to put things right, Battle said.
Less than a month on the job, Battle says he likes Greensboro and finds people very friendly here. He and his wife, Judith Lynn Rozie-Battle, a lawyer, are visiting churches every Sunday and eventually will find one to join. Both are looking for ways to make a contribution as individuals, he said. They have one daughter, Ashley, who is a journalist in San Francisco.
Battle is a classically trained singer who promises he will perform at some point here, a "connoisseur of the Bible" and a faithful runner, which affords him "my time to talk to God."
Our plan is to present our interview with Battle in the Aug. 12 Ideas section, as well as audio and a separate video interview.
After that, it was into our regular Editorial Board meeting. A couple of topics we decided to write about are the apparent approval of $58 million in state funding for the proposed school of nanotechnology that will be jointly operated by A&T and UNCG and carries the potential for an enormous economic impact, and Matt Brown's latest, and strangely secretive, idea to create an ACC hall of fame inside the coliseum rather than on a separate and yet-to-be-acquired property nearby. Our view is that this reflects what's possible to like and not like about Matt Brown, the coliseum's managing director. He comes up with some very good ideas, but he sometimes seem to pursue them in a cloak-and-dagger style. We think this one is certainly worth considering.
Your view?