Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper
on October 27, 1999. All rights reserved.
Diversity Issues: Then and Now
James Williams II has been through the crucible
times of civil rights in the South. Now he is dean of libraries at
the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he will speak on how to
reframe the goals of higher education in a talk on “Community
and Diversity in the New Millennium,” on Thursday, October 28,
at 4:30 p.m., at Rutgers’ Livingston College. Call 732-445-4085.
Williams, the son of a postal employee, grew up in Montgomery during
the years that George Wallace was governor of Alabama. He majored
in psychology at Morehouse College, Class of 1966, and earned graduate
degrees from Emory. While in Atlanta, he sang in the choir of Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s church. “He was a fraternity brother
when I was at Morehouse, and he came to talk to us,” says
Williams.
After a stint at Wayne State, he came to the University of Colorado
as dean of libraries.
If being allowed to compete counts as affirmative action, says
Williams,
he owes his job to affirmative action. “The administration here
acted affirmatively to provide me with equal opportunity. Getting
the opportunity means that you have the opportunity to be at the
starting
line with everyone else. This institution put me at the starting
line,”
says Williams, “and I got an opportunity to compete.”
Williams will speak on how to reframe the goals of higher education,
“in order to prepare people to live, both in the neighborhood
campus that they are living in now, and in the ones they are going
to create to be the neighborhood of the future. I will address my
remarks to the future.”
Some may decry the voluntary segregation that exists on most campuses
when students of one race often socialize almost exclusively together.
That’s not a problem, says Williams, because it is natural for
campuses
and cultures to have many different subgroups — dorms, clubs,
fraternities, and so on. Subgroups are fine, as long as there are
common threads between the groups, and as long as those threads are
based on values. “But it is important that you then step back
from that and work on a set of what I call common threads, values
that will determine what our institutions of higher education will
be,” he says.
He quotes the Carnegie Foundation’s study, “Campus Life in Search
of Community,” to tell how “the common threads between the
subcommunities are the glue that hold us together.” He expresses
these “threads” as they apply to a campus, but they could
apply equally well as a mission statement for a small or large
business.
“We need a business world that mirrors these aspirations,”
says Williams:
Educationally purposeful. Are the students and facultysharing common academic goals?Open. Is freedom of expression uncompromisingly protected?Is civility powerfully affirmed?Just. Is the sacredness of the person honored, diversityaggressively pursued?Disciplined, Do people accept their obligations to thegroup? Are there well-defined governance procedures for behavior forthe common good?Caring. Is the well-being of each person sensitivelysupported?Is service to others encouraged?Williams will tell a parable about a vision of hell and a visionof heaven. In hell, there is an enormous table set with delectablefood and drink, yet the people around the table are unhappy andhungry.The utensils they are given are so long they cannot not feedthemselves.In heaven, the table is the same, the food and drink are the same,and the utensils are the same, but everyone is well fed and happy.The difference is, that people in heaven were feeding each other.In enlightened self interest, by helping others, we ultimately helpourselves, says Williams. “That was one of the things we heardover and over at Morehouse College,” says Williams, “thatas a man of Morehouse, having had this opportunity, you must giveback a measure of your life to society.”Top Of Page08831 Reigns in MonroeLike West Windsor, which rallied to support a unifiedzip code for six different zips within the township, Monroe now hasa new zip code (08831) and a new post office. The Monroe zip codenow includes parts of Hightstown (08520), Cranbury (08512),Englishtown(07726), Jamesburg (08831) and Spotswood (08884).Bob Reese is the postmaster presiding over operations at theMonroe Township Post Office on Perrineville Road, 609-409-8170; fax,609-409-8165. The township donated eight acres, worth an estimated$1 million, for the post office to build a 26,283-foot facility thatcost $4.5 million and will house more than 100 workers. It wasdesignedby Shalini Mohan at Urs Greiner Consultants Inc. in Paramus and JosephA. Natoli of Pine Brook did the construction. The old Jamesburg PostOffice at 13 East Rail Road in Jamesburg will offer window service(732-521-0403; fax, 732-521-1653).Those in the new zip code need to notify everyone of the change. Ifyour zip code is Englishtown or Hightstown, do this immediately,becausewrongly coded mail will be delayed by one day. It will go from thedistribution center to Englishtown or Hightstown and not be truckedto Monroe on the following day. Those businesses located in Spotswoodand Cranbury have an advantage; for about a year the postal servicewill shuttle miscoded mail twice a day, so it won’t get delayed.In the pipeline is another potentially new zipcode arrangement.MontgomeryTownship has started the process to consolidate five zipcodes. Aquestionnaireto determine residents’ preferences is being prepared by the townshiprecreation department.Top Of PageAdult EducationAdult classes have always done well in Princeton,whetherat Mercer County College, or the Princeton YWCA, at Princeton AdultSchool, or at any of the school-district sponsored programs. Theseprograms are about to get a major competitor: The Learning Studiois coming to town. It reportedly plans to renovate the buildingformerlyoccupied by PickQuick Papers on Route 1 South, next to Triangle –Your Creative Center.Based in Langhorne, the Learning Studio has long been attracting themany U.S. 1 workers who live in Pennsylvania to its classes. Inadditionto the for-fun sessions — including lots of singles opportunities,cooking, dance, and exercise instruction — the Learning Studiohas a hefty component of business-oriented classes, including at leastthree dozen different computer classes, each with several dates.Except for the computer classes, which run about $140 per day fornon-members, the two-hour night classes are usually $29 or $35 witha $5 discount for nonmembers. Membership is $50. Call 215-752-5657or check the website at https://www.learningstudio.com. Some choices:Want to increase your presentation skills? Consider “Speak andGrow Rich,” taught by Dottie Walters, author of a book bythat name, on Wednesday, October 27, at 5:30 p.m.If you have had it up to your ears with your current job and wantto make a career change, Daniel Levine will reveal the secretsof how to make big money doing voice-overs. Levine is a Tony-nominatedcomposer who wrote the book “You’re on the Air,” and hiscourseis Saturday, November 6, at 10 a.m. or Thursday, December 9, at 7p.m. Other new career-building options are “Making Money DoingMedical Billing from Your Home,” with Lisa Castro, on Monday,November 8, at 7 p.m. and “Learn How to Make $100,000 a Year asa Private Investigator,” taught by Ed Pankau, privateinvestigator,on Saturday, December 4, at 1 p.m.In real estate Remax broker Sally Witt shows how to buy a propertywith no money down on Thursday, October 28, at 7 p.m. and followsthat up with one on how to buy foreclosed properties on Thursday,December 16, at 7 p.m. Cost: $29, or $49 for couples. And if you don’thave enough cash to buy even at a sheriff’s sale, attend “Backto Black: get completely out of debt,” given by Dave Ireland,retired Eastman Kodak executive, on Wednesday, December 1, at 6:30p.m.For entrepreneurs, Cathy Nissley, president of CIC Creative,teaches “Master the Five Keys to Success in One Night” onThursday, November 25, at 7 p.m. When the Learning Studio opens inPrinceton, will it siphon off some of the Princeton YWCA’s adulteducationbusiness? Maybe, but it just may carve out an entirely new market.Top Of PageVideo Out of the BoxNew and unusual display techniques can now put videojust about anywhere — live events, Broadway shows, museums, retailstores, signage systems, or computer networks, etc. Non-traditionaldisplays can include plasma screens, LED screens, LCD screens, DigitalMicro Mirror Device projectors, or LCD projectors. Other specialtysystems might be videowall processors, scalers, signage software,and control systems to tie it all together.The October meeting of the Moving Image Professionals will discuss”Video Out of the Box,” the technology of displaying videoin a non-traditional display environment. On Thursday, October 28,networking starts at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting is at 7:15 p.m. inPrinceton Theological Seminary’s AV studio on the ground floor ofTempleton Hall.Peter Scharff of Scharff Weisberg will give an overview of thepluses and minuses of each system using specific examples of hardwareand software for each area. His 20-year-old company is based inManhattanand has warehouse space in New Jersey. It has four divisions:audio/videostaging, show control, audio rental and sales, and systemsintegration.Its specialty is “video out of the box” systems for liveeventsas well as for museums, retail stores, public spaces, and corporatevisitors centers. His current clients include Nasdaq, Pfizer, theGuggenheim Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.During the networking period, in observance of Halloween, a make-upartist will demonstrate on a willing subject.Top Of PageWin $$ at WorkIf you have an Internet connection at work, and youdo your searching through the iWon.com search engine, you could win$10,000 in a daily cash giveaway.Here’s how it works: Do your searches and your shopping and your stocktracking using the https://www.iwon.com search engine, whichis similar to Yahoo, Excite, and the other Internet portals.Participationis free, but you log in your information before you begin. Almostevery time you click you earn points that are deposited in a lottery,from which the prize is chosen. Your entries are displayed and updatedon a real-time basis through an entry tracking system that appearsat the top of each page. In addition to the daily prizes, $1 millionwill be awarded every month and $10 million on April 17, income taxday.One recent winner: a retiree in Jamesburg, Irwin Kaplan, who is saidto have won the daily $10,000 prize on October 22.Launched in early October, the portal is financially backed by CBSand uses technology from Sapient Corporation and Inktomi Corporation.Founders Bill Daugherty, formerly senior vice president of theNational Basketball Association, and Jonas Steinman, formerlyof Chase Capital Partners, both have MBAs from Harvard BusinessSchool.CBS has invested $30 million in the company and is providing $70millionin advertising.One little problem with entering the iWon sweepstakes: If you win,how do you explain all that Internet surfing to your boss?Top Of PageFlood ReliefCrisis counseling is available to those affected byHurricane Floyd, says Robert Eilers of the state division ofmental health services. The state has received a grant of more than$150,000 to provide immediate crisis counseling. Call 800-382-6717for the counseling hotline.Top Of PageMain Street Or Mall Street?Coffee shops, flower shops, and gift shops have reachedcritical mass in Princeton, but in Lawrenceville, residents are hungryfor more.A recently-released study of Lawrenceville reveals the kind ofbusinesseslikely to succeed in the village. The Main Street Project, launchedin 1995 to help resurrect the downtown shopping area after the mallboom, released a 50-page market analysis of the village ofLawrenceville,an area which extends two blocks in the heart of town along Route206. The study is packed with useful tidbits about the residents,the kind of businesses they do and don’t want, and efforts the villageis making to attract more businesses to the area (callLawrencevilleMain Street at 609-219-9300).The good news is that Lawrenceville businesses are alreadyreportinggrowth. Roughly 35 percent of business owners interviewed in the studysaid that business improved during the past few years. The reason:the “de-malling of America,” or the migration of shoppersaway from vast parking lots and highways.Lawrenceville has the best of both village and mall: with nearly20,000cars passing through it each week, the town has as much exposure asit did during the colonial era, when it was a jumping stagecoach stopbetween Philadelphia and New York. On the other hand, small town lifeand a restrictive speed limit keep noise pollution and accidents toa minimum.The study also identifies some of the drawbacks toLawrenceville:namely, a parking shortage and lack of specialty shops. Accordingto the study, Lawrenceville has little “browsing” appeal.The majority of shoppers (equally split between village and townshipresidents) come to the town to run errands only. The main draw tothe town now is a video store and gourmet eating establishments.If Lawrenceville has not prospered like its neighbor, Princeton,perhapsit is also because villagers and township residents have verycontradictorytastes and purchasing habits. All residents of the village classifyas “upscale” shoppers, or yuppies, according to the study,whereas people who live on the town periphery behave more like ruralor small town working families. A successful Main Street will haveto provide something for everyone, no small challenge.Other survey results:The most desired businesses include ice cream parlorsand hardware stores. A pharmacy and fitness center were also rankedhigh on the list.Income levels are increasing. In eight years the medianhousehold income rose nearly $13,000 and is expected to rise another$10,000 per year within the next four years, according to the study.The minority population is growing. There are moreAfrican-Americans,Asian Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics in the community.To increase commerce in the downtown area, the Main StreetProjectreport proposes more parking and better signage. It also suggestsdistinct street furniture and lighting, an enhanced information kiosk,continued development of the recreational path in and around thevillage,storefront display assistance, retail workshops, and more specialevents.Top Of PageE-Mail for EmployersDue to the rising cost of postage, the Employer Update, the Departmentof Labor’s seasonal publication, won’t be issued in print anymore.Beginning this fall, subscribers can only view the newsletter online,at https://www.state.nj.us/labor. The current issue and threebackdated issues are available on the Web.Top Of PageNominations DueNominate yourself or a client for the “Small Business Person ofthe Year” contest sponsored by the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration.Special awards will go to a small business exporter, a youngentrepreneur,and small business advocates in the areas of minority, women, veteran,accountant, financial services, and media. Still another prize willgo to an entrepreneur who received assistance from the SBA and hasdeveloped his or her business into a large business.”We are looking to individuals, chambers of commerce, banks, tradeassociations, and other business organizations to submit nominationsand sponsor candidates,” says Francisco A. Marrero, stateSBA director. The deadline for nominations is Friday, November 12.To receive guidelines call Harry Menta at 973-645-6054 or E-mailharry.menta@sba.gov.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
