6A
Monday, March 13, 1995
NATION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
College enrollment skewed
Minority figures continue rise but still lagging
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The number of minority students enrolled at U.S. colleges and the number earning degrees continues to inch up but still lags behind whites, according to a new study.
The report, released today by the American Council on Education, brought gloomy predictions from educators worried that an increasingly minority American work force will lack needed training by 2000.
"The overall situation is so dismal, these small gains just do not go far enough," said Eduard Padron, president of the Wolfson campus of
the Miami-Dade Community College, one of the nation's largest community college systems and one of the most heavily minority.
The actual number of minorities going to college rose slightly in 1993
— up 1.3 percent for Blacks and 3.6
percent for Hispanics during 1992
But because Blacks and Hispanics also make up a growing percentage of all young Americans, the proportion in college remained flat.
Just 33 percent of all 18-to-24-year-old Black high school graduates and 36 percent of Hispanic graduates enrolled in college in 1993, compared with nearly 42 percent of whites, the study said.
The number of minorities earning bachelor's and associate degrees increased in 1993 — reflecting a spurt in enrollment in the late 1980s and perhaps also more emphasis on keeping minorities in school, said council president Robert H. Atwell.
About 61 percent of Hispanics
ages 18-24 held a high school diploma in 1993, up 3 percent from the year before. About 75 percent of Blacks had graduated and 83 percent of whites — both figures essentially unchanged from the year before.
Girls continue to finish high school more often than boys — the gender gap was 5 percentage points for Hispanics, 3.9 percentage points for Blacks and 3.2 percentage points for whites, the study said.
Hispanics who speak mostly English at home are more likely to stay in high school, according to the study. Schools and parents also can help by raising expectations, Padron said.
"We don't expect these kids to succeed, so we don't set high goals," he said.
For example, Miami high school students who have taken college preparatory classes thrive at his community college, he said.
"But the kids who were steered away from those classes struggle," Padron said.
At a time when Congress is considering scaling back federal student aid, the small minority student gains are especially troubling, other officials said.
Community colleges contend those student-aid cutbacks would particularly hurt their campuses — a lower-cost alternative often more attractive to students with little family money.
"Do we really want to shut out a half-million low- and middle-income minority and remedial students?" said Ray Taylor, president of the Association of Community College Trustees.
The study also said that the number of minority faculty members rose nationwide but that most of those gains came in temporary and visiting lecturer spots rather than among full-time faculty.
Gingrich's course under scrutiny
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee, in giving Rep. Newt Gingrich approval in 1993 to teach his college course, acted on an incomplete description of how the course would be financed and promoted, documents indicate.
The documents are important because the speaker plans to go on the offensive this week, releasing the ethics committee letter that conditionally approved the tax-deductible financing and teaching of the course, "Renewing American Civilization."
The Aug. 3, 1993, committee letter, obtained by The Associated Press, was carefully and narrowly crafted to approve only the tax-deducible educational activity described to the committee by Gingrich, who was then Republican whip. Information on Gingrich's contacts with the ethics committee came from congressional sources who declined to be identified publicly.
Gingrich described the course in letters he sent the committee May 12 and July 21, 1993, also obtained by the AP. Those letters did not mention the central role in promoting and financing the course by Gingrich's political committee GOPAC.
In the letters, Gingrich promised there would be no mass mailings, although documents show GOPAC did such mailings. Gingrich wrote that the course would be non-partisan and not attack President Clinton. Yet GOPAC documents described the course's goal as recruiting 200,000 conservative activists and in some cases bitterly denounced Clinton.
The GOPAC effort was under way for more than two months before Gingrich sought approval for the course. Gingrich, who began teaching the course in late 1993, gave his last lecture at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Ga., on Saturday. He said he has 20 hours of lectures on
videotape that can be distributed to teach others about his philosophy of government.
The ethics committee caught up with the GOPAC role when the course was challenged as a partisan activity — not eligible for tax-deductible financing — in a complaint filed in September 1994. Former Democratic Rep. Ben Jones of Georgia, who filed the complaint, provided dozens of GOPAC documents. Two months later, Jones lost his bid to unseat Gingrich from his suburban Atlanta district.
On Oct. 31, 1994, then-committee chairman Rep. James McDermott, D-Wash, and the ranking Republican — former Rep. Fred Grandy of Iowa — wrote Gingrich about his omissions. They said the documents supplied by Jones "reflect the involvement of GOPAC and GOPAC employees in developing and raising funds for the course. GOPAC's role in seeking funding for the course was not disclosed to the committee in your letters."
The committee then cited some two dozen of the GOPAC documents, all written before the panel approved the course — several dated before Gingrich initially contacted the committee for approval.
The committee leaders also said the documents "raise questions as to whether the course was ... exclusively educational in nature, or partisan political activity intended to benefit Republican candidates."
Gingrich spokesman Tony Blankley said yesterday that the GOPAC role was not relevant because the course itself was non-partisan.
"The New York Times recently cited academics who characterized the class as not partisan." Blankley said. "Anybody who sees all 20 hours of the class would have to agree with that proposition.
"If the class is non-partisan, though ideological, all of the references (to GOPAC) are irrelevant to the point Newt was making to the committee: that the class will not be a partisan activity."
Presidential hopeful takes abortion stand
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sen. Phil Gramn said yesterday that if elected president he would oppose using taxpayer money to provide abortions but would not push for a constitutional amendment to overturn abortion rights.
"I don't believe there's a consensus in the country to amend the Constitution," the Texas Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if he would try to overturn the 1972 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. "Nobody has offered the amendment, and I would not see that as part of my mandate in terms of amending the Constitution."
Gramm, who claims to be the most consistently conservative of Republicans running for the 1996 nomination, has so far sought to avoid controversy over the abortion issue.
He says that he is personally against abortion but that he would not make abortion a litmus test in deciding on his running mate.
Gramm said he supported GOP 1992 platform language that would ban abortions in cases of rape or incest, but "we're going to have to recognize that there are good Republicans who differ on the issue."
The practical public policy, he said, would be to oppose taxpayer funding unless the mother's life is in danger.
The House is heading for a showdown on that issue as early as this week, when it takes up a GOP plan to cut more than $17 billion from this year's budget. Attached to the bill is an amendment that is strongly opposed by the administration, which would let states decide whether Medicaid money could be used for abortions in cases of rape and incest.
Aide defends nominees
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Speaking in the aforementioned nomination gone bad, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta yesterday decried what he said was the tabloid atmosphere that punished those seeking public office.
Panetta's comments came a day after President Clinton moved to head off another nomination misadventure by naming Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch to be the next CIA director. His first choice, retired Air Force Gen. Michael P.C. Carns, withdrew his nomination Friday after acknowledging errors in the hiring of an immigrant worker.
many missteps among the administration's nominations, including Zoe Baird for attorney general, Bobby Ray Inman for defense secretary and, most recently, Henry Foster for surgeon general.
Panetta, interviewed on CBS' "Face the Nation," denied that the Ncasse case was a repeat of the
"We are in a period where there is just much higher level of scrutiny," Panetta said.
Panetta said Cams was a war hero who had already gone through Department of Defense background checks and security clearances in his 30-year career. "... Then after an FBI check, someone comes out of the wall with some pretty nasty allegations, and the general basically decides he doesn't want to go through hell having to face those allegations.
"That's unfortunate, but it's part of the time we live in," he said.
SAFE BREAK WEEK MARH 13-17
"PLAY IT SAFE!"
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Applications:
Monday, March 13
MINI HEALTH BAZAAR
Wescoe Beach, 10 a.m.,-2 p.m. — free non-alcoholic beverages, health literature, giveaways, and PARTY's "Tell It To the Wall."
Tuesday, March 14
MINI HEALTH BAZAAR
Wescoe Beach, 10 a.m.,-2 p.m. — health information tables
CANDLELIGHT AND CONDOMS WITH
JAY FRIEDMAN: SEX MATTERS
Big 8 Room, Kansas Union, 8 p.m. — the renowned sexpert's multimedia presentation educates and entertains in one action-packed experience (sponsors: BOCO & CPHP*).
Wednesday, March 15
CARRIE PETER — speaks on her personal experience of living with HIV, Kansas Union Ballroom, 7 p.m. (sponsored by GAMMA).
SPONSORED BY: Watkins Health Center, Watkins Department of Health Promotion, *Center for Peer Health Promotion, BOCO, Student Senate, KU Police Department, Student Housing, GAMMA, and PARTY. For more information: 864-9570.
Apply now for the...
Available in the SUA Office, Kansas Union, 864-3477. Must be received by 5:00 p.m., Friday,
March 17 in the SUA Office. Interviews will be held on Tuesday, April 4.
1995-96 Kansas & Burge Union Scholarships
University/Community Service
As a result of the efforts of many students who provided invaluable service during the Kansas Union fire by saving the furniture and art objects on April 20,1970, insurance carriers decided to present the Kansas Union with a gift. The Student Union Activities Board will again choose a student deserving of being awarded a scholarship from the interest on this gift.
Qualifications:
·Must be a regularly enrolled KU student this spring semester and be enrolled for the fall '95 and spring '96 semesters.
·Must have demonstrated service to the university and/or the Lawrence community.
·Scholarship, financial need, and references will be a minimal consideration in application reviews.
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