This semester, N.C. Central University had such an enrollment surge that they had to put about 300 students in a local hotel.

There are still about 100 students living in the Millennium Hotel, but the lease with the university expires in December, officials said today.

All those students will live on campus next semester, campus leaders said today during a board of trustee meeting.

Here's the background.

For much of the decade, N.C. Central University flung its doors wide open, welcoming scores of new students - prompted by a UNC system mandate to increase enrollment.

Problem was, those students weren't all ready for college. Plenty dropped out, leaving NCCU with a stain on its graduation rate data. From 2004 to 2008, just 18 percent of NCCU students graduated within four years. About 38 percent managed in five years, and about half did it in six years.

Now, university leaders are re-making the undergraduate academic experience, shifting from the enrollment model from quantity to quality. They're slowing the enrollment growth, a move necessary in part because the campus infrastructure can't withstand continued expansion, and looking for ways to admit better students.

It's a long and winding road to Division I athletics with all manner of obstacle along the way.

It's expensive. It's complicated. Did I mention it's expensive?

In North Carolina, two public, historically black universities have spent the last five years or so trying to make the big jump.

One, N.C. Central University in Durham, appears poised for a successful transition.

Another, Winston-Salem State University, has run aground in its quest for big-time athletics glory.

Read on.

Interested in meeting a World Cup champion today?

Head over to N.C. Central University this afternoon. The university is hosting Lilian Thuram, a former world-class soccer player and French national team stalwart who was part of France's 1998 World Cup championship squad.

Thuram retired last year and now runs a foundation aimed at eradicating racism. That will be the topic of his talk today at 4:30 p.m. in room 1050 of the BRITE building.

As a player, Thuram was a big, strong defender. He didn't score a lot of goals, but he netted two when it counted: the 1998 World Cup semifinal against Croatia.

Here's one of them.

In today's Durham News, more on the recent selection of N.C. Central University's Marching Sound Machine band to perform in the 2011 Tournament of Roses.

That's the New Year's Day Rose Bowl parade, one prong of the holy trinity of achievement for marching bands. (Also coveted: a slot in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Trophy recognizing the best band in the land.

In inviting the NCCU band to the big bash, the parade's director, Stacy Houser, wrote to band director Jorim Reid that the band was chosen because of "excellent musical talents, entertainment value, performance skills, efforts and your outstanding directorship."

Some factoids on the parade, in case you're thinking of going:

* The parade is held in Pasadena, Calif. 

* It starts at 8 a.m. local time. The route is about 5.5 miles and the parade lasts about 2.5 hours.

*The parade draws about 40 million television viewers each year.

Click here for more on the parade.

The N.C. Central University Marching Sound Machine will march in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Yes, this is a very big deal. Jorim Reid, the band's director, says it's one of the top three honors a marching band can snare, along with an invitation to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Trophy given each year to the top college or university band in the nation.

By the way, the band from Western Carolina University won that Sousa trophy and will march in Pasadena as well.

Reid took over as the NCCU band director in 2001. Then, there were 32 members. Things have changed. Reid expects to bring 250 to Pasadena. 

Though he's had success, Reid said he wouldn't have applied yet for the Tournament of Roses had not a parade committee member suggested that he do so.

"It was in the 15-year plan," he said. "I've only been here eight years, so we're ahead of schedule."

Next up for NCCU, a frantic fundraising campaign. The total cost of trip could run NCCU $500,000, no small task with public universities currently in budget-cut mode.

"What kind of fundraising will we have to do? Massive!" said Chancellor Charlie Nelms. "It's going to be a monumental task. But it's one that will embraced. It's a real honor for the state of North Carolina."

For many band members, the rose parade invitation came as a happy surprise.

"We didn't even know he applied for it," said Shannon Todd of Burlington, a 'dance girl' in the band. "We just try to do our best and then reap the benefits later. We want to be one of the best bands in the nation."

Read more on this story in Wednesday's Durham News.

The marching band at Western Carolina University has been chosen to march in the Tournament of Roses parade.

The New Year's Day extravaganza preceeds the Rose Bowl each year and is a serious accomplishment for a university marching band.

Now, I can't help wondering whether WCU will be the only North Carolina university represented in Pasadena. 

Hmm. The folks over at N.C. Central University in Durham are holding a press conference this morning. All they've said is that it involves the marching band.

Stay tuned.

Minnie Sangster, N.C. Central University's new faculty chairwoman, thinks a lot of students who arrive at NCCU aren't ready yet. Not prepared, academically. Not the proper study habits, not the proper focus.

And that, she says, may be a big reason for lagging retention and graduation rates. The answer: More resources so faculty can teach in smaller classes and give more individual attention.

Here's more.

Glenn Adams knows N.C. Central University needs higher standards and better retention and graduation rates.

But as the new chair of NCCU's Board of Trustees, Adams also doesn't want a cookie-cutter approach where all public universities are evaluated in the same way.

Adams, of Fayetteville, is a criminal lawyer who received his bachelor's degree from N.C. State University in 1981 and his law degree from NCCU in 1984.

He talked with the N&O recently about his new role as head of the trustee board and what he sees as the key issues.

Here are excerpts:

So what's first on your priority list for NCCU?

N.C. Central University's theater department will soon open its new season with "Slappin' God in the Face," a gospel musical. It's written by theater professor Stephanie Howard, who wrote it earlier this year in hopes of examining Jesus Christ from a different perspective.

She spoke with us recently. Here are excerpts.

So, a catchy title.

I take it from the view of the people who conspired against him and even the people who supported him, turned against him. I try to illustrate that in the play, the people who he healed and preached to and showed kindness to, and they turned on him. So, those kinds of things I'm trying to hype up.

 Is this an angle you've thought a lot about, personally?

It is. I try to keep some of the usual thoughts intact, but at the same time I want to approach some things people don't think about. I call them the 'what if's'. Like, what if Judas didn't really know he was betraying Jesus or didn't know the betrayal would lead to the crucifixion?

I try to intrude on the thoughts of characters like Judas and Mary Magdalene. I wanted to show other views of Jesus. Almost the angry Jesus when he's attacking the pharisees and attacking their political system, basically. They're all about the jewish law and making sure everything is done through the law, but not living it. Jesus becomes a threat to their whole political system by taking away their popularity and people aren't respecting their authority. So I want us to see that Jesus is this kind Jesus that we often see, but I want to show that he can get very angry.

Do you consider the play controversial?