Pharmacy school might be a remedy for ailing region.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Officials debate placement of new pharmacy school - Brief Article

Give 'em hell, Leo," was the cry in Eastern North Carolina 30 years ago when the late Leo Jenkins, chancellor of East Carolina University, led the university's drive for a medical school. ECU won, but the fight left bitter memories. Some say a state legislator's push for a new school of pharmacy is shaping up as another prescription for pain.

The lawmaker is Marc Basnight, Dare County Democrat, Senate president pro tem and the most powerful person in the General Assembly. He wants the school in his district, at Elizabeth City State University, rather than at Winston-Salem State University. One region is rural; the other, urban. Just like with the medschool debate. Meanwhile, folks at UNC Chapel Hill say it makes more sense to expand the pharmacy school there. More deja vu.

At stake is a $25 million building and a program that would grant advanced pharmacy degrees, which can command starting salaries of $100,000 a year. Plus, the two historically black schools are struggling to boost enrollment. Elizabeth City State has 2,004 students; Winston-Salem State, just under 3,000.

Melvin Johnson, provost of Winston-Salem State, says his school makes more sense because it has some health-related degree programs already -- Elizabeth City State doesn't -- and is in a region that includes Wake Forest University's medical school and numerous hospitals. At least one year of a four-year pharmacy degree has to be spent in...