Black Issues in Higher Education articles from March 2000

Black Issues in Higher Education archives from March 2000

Minority-Serving Institutions in Line For Funding Gains.
March 2, 2000... Quote of Note "We cannot afford to leave behind any of our children in this information age. Failure to bridge the gap will relegate our sons and daughters to sit in the backseat of the technology train on the information superhighway."...

Clinton Joins Waters To Address `Digital Divide'.
March 2, 2000... WASHINGTON - African Americans and Hispanics are less likely than Whites to get connected to the Internet, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., with help from President Clinton, is doing something about it. With Waters' help, the White House...

Army Plan Puts Education Before Service.
March 2, 2000... WASHINGTON - The Army launched two education programs last month aimed at boosting recruitment by offering prospects help in getting the equivalent of a high school degree or going to a community college before active duty. The new...

ETS Study: College the Better Path for 2 of 3 Welfare Recipients.
March 2, 2000... WASHINGTON - The federal government could do a better job of providing access to higher education for people on welfare, says a new report by the Educational Testing Services. The report, which also is critical of the skills training...

Judge Rufuses to stop UGA Preferences While Case Is Pending.
March 2, 2000... SAVANNAH, Ga. - A federal judge has denied a motion that would have prevented the University of Georgia from continuing to use race as one of the factors for admitting borderline students while a class action lawsuit wends its way through the...

Alabama Commission Refuses Request For Black Studies Degree Program.
March 2, 2000... MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A state board rejected a bid last month to establish the state's first Black studies major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education refused to approve the school's request to...

What's New.
March 2, 2000... Programs, Accreditations, & Initiatives The School of Nursing at Miami-Dade Community College has received approval from the Florida Board of Nursing to offer a program in Licensed Practical Nursing that will begin in August. The...

Wash. Student Leader Accused of Making Racial Remark About Administrator.
March 2, 2000... SPOKANE, Wash. - The Spokane Falls Community College student government president has been accused of making a racist remark about an administrator. A student panel is being formed to hear the case. The dispute centers on April Stevens, 39,...

Pa. Student Suspended After Racially Motivated Dorm Fires.
March 2, 2000... BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A student linked to one of several racial incidents at Northampton Community. College was suspended and removed from the campus a day after more hate crimes were reported, officials here say. The student was suspended last...

R.I. Student Charged With Sending Racist E-mail.
March 2, 2000... BRISTOL, R.I. - A law student at Roger Williams University has been charged with sending racist e-mail to a Black dean. George Battles, 31, was arrested last month after investigators traced the message to him and seized a computer from his...

Racial Incidents Decried at University of Mississippi.
March 2, 2000... OXFORD, Miss. - The head of the Afro-American studies program at the University of Mississippi is pushing for the expulsion of the students responsible for racially charged incidents on the campus. The incidents include racial epithets...

Minority Applications Increasing At Miami University.
March 2, 2000... OXFORD, Ohio - Minority applications at Miami University are up 27 percent from a year ago, school officials say. Minority applications increased across the board among Black, American Indian, Hispanic and Asian students, university...

Campus Crimes Survey Angers HBCU Officials.
March 2, 2000... Some decry listing as another example of `racial profiling' ATLANTA -- When administrators at Morehouse College here learned that the editors at a crime news Web site had dubbed the campus potentially one of the most dangerous places in...

Michigan Student Coalition Takes Over Student Union.
March 2, 2000... ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Officials here at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor reputedly pride themselves with having a campus that has a zero-tolerance for anything that interferes with human and civil rights. Yet, an eight-student takeover...

Modest Gains in Enrollment, Says New ACE Report.
March 2, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Minority students continued to make modest enrollment gains on the nation's college campuses in 1997, according to a report released last month by the American Council on Education here. The college-going rate of minority...

Philly Colleges Join South Carolina Boycott.
March 2, 2000... PHILADELPHIA - Haverford College's women's tennis teams have spent spring break on the courts at Hilton Head, S.C. since 1988. But last month, team officials decided to cease the 12-year tradition so the school could joined the national boycott...

Capitolizing on the Digital Divide.
March 2, 2000... It has dynamic colleges and universities, talented minorities and a red hot high-tech environment--not to mention lots of your federal tax dollars. But can the nation's capital lead the way in bridging the digital divide? WASHINGTON --...

MIT's MEDIA LAB.
March 2, 2000... Helping Bridge the World Wide Divide CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Had Randal Pinkett stayed on track to complete a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it's doubtful he would have gotten the time and support...

Crossing The Divide -- To Form Common Ground.
March 2, 2000... $6 million NSF project seeks to connect minority-serving institutions WASHINGTON -- By the time a fierce winter storm had sheathed this capitol city and its burgeoning suburbs with a foot of snow this past January, some 40 representatives...

Study: All Net and No Play Makes Johnny a Social Recluse.
March 2, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO -- Too much time online makes people more likely to go offline in real life, according to a study released here earlier this month. "The more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings,"...

Purdue Professor Among Experts Seeking Sabotage Solution.
March 2, 2000... WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Gene Spafford, a professor of computer sciences at Purdue University, was among approximately 20 computer specialists invited to a White House gathering last month with President Clinton and his National Security Council...

Indiana Bans Internet Music Software After Heavy Use Slows Network.
March 2, 2000... BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has banned students from using an Internet search tool for the popular MP3 music program due to persistent cyberspace traffic jams. University computing officials set up a filter last month that...

Computers Now Required at Michigan State.
March 2, 2000... EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Freshmen entering Michigan State University in the fall of 2001 will be expected to have a computer, the school's board of trustees announced last month. The policy will allow students to choose either a desktop or...

Yale's Carby Resigns, Then Decides to Stay After All.
March 2, 2000... NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Dr. Hazel V. Carby, the head of Yale University's African American Studies Program, reversed field last month and decided not to resign her post. Earlier in February, she had said that she was leaving Yale because she was...

Historians Won't Meet at Adam's Mark in St. Louis.
March 2, 2000... ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Organization of American Historians has decided to unofficially relocate its annual meeting, in response to threats of a boycott by African Americans, Latinos and other members who did not want to patronize the Adam's Mark...

Black Applications Drop at U. of Virgina.
March 2, 2000... CHRLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Raging debates over affirmative action may have taken a toll on Black student applicants at the University of Virginia. The number of Black applicants for the fall of 2000 freshman class dropped 25 percent, the largest...

Eligibility Reqs for College Athletes Survive Another Round in Legal Battle.
March 2, 2000... WASHINGTON -- The National Collegiate Athletics Association's freshmen eligibility standards survived another round in its legal battle to remain intact when the entire, 11-member 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review its...

Bridging the DIGITAL DIVIDE.
March 2, 2000... Opportunity for all requires... having access to a computer and knowing how to use it. That means we must close the `digital divide' between those who've got the tools and those who don't." Thus spoke President Clinton in his final State...

Professional APPOINTMENTS.
March 2, 2000... CHANCELLOR DR. HENRY D. SHANNON has been named chancellor of St Louis Community College's Forest Park campus. He was previously acting chancellor and president. Shannon's experience includes administrative positions at Saint Louis...

Time to Tell Hate, "Not on Our Campus".
March 2, 2000... The new millennium may be upon us but the age-old problem of racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry unfortunately did not disappear with its coming. The recent rash of hate mail sent to more than a dozen historically Black colleges in eight...

Senators Question College Costs.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much, but members of both parties struck a unified theme at a recent U.S. Senate hearing: College costs are rising too high, and no one knows what to do about it. "The most puzzling...

Senate Passes Bill on Educational Savings Accounts.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans succeeded in passing a bill supporting an educational IRA plan that President Clinton has vetoed twice in the past two years. The bill, costing $7.7 billion over 10 years, would make savings in prepaid...

Campaign 2000: Too Little Focus on Higher Ed.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- The presidential ace is heating up, but so far most candidates are not spending much time on higher education issues. Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley and Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain have been locked in heated...

For Bush, `Bob Jones' May Spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... GREENVILLE, S.C. -- In politics, labels can be a blessing or a curse. They can create a mental image that 1,000 words cannot. For Dan Quayle, "potatoe" spelled trouble. And for George W. Bush, "Bob Jones University" is quickly becoming a...

20 percent of Students Skipped Drug Question On Aid Applications.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- U.S. Department of Education officials announced late last month that about 20 percent of students who have applied for federal financial aid so far have not responded to a question on the application that asks if they have ever...

Clinton Pardons Professor Who Claimed Draft Board Was Racist.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has granted a pardon to Black professor Dr. Preston King, who fled to England 39 years ago to avoid a prison sentence for draft evasion. King, now 63, was a graduate student when he fled Albany, Ga., in 1961...

After Carby Ruckus, Yale Gives Black Studies Department Status.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Yale University officials announced last month that they will give departmental status to their African-American studies program. The decision comes on the heels a rescinded resignation by the program's chairwoman, Dr....

Ole Miss Elects First Black Student Body President.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... JACKSON, Miss. -- Nearly 38 years after James Meredith struggled against racism to enter the University of Mississippi, students have elected the school's first Black student body president. Nic Lott, a political science major, beat his...

American Indians Say Harvard Reluctant to Give up Remains.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard University officials say they are doing their best to comply with laws governing American Indian remains and ceremonial artifacts. American Indians around the country, however, say the university is reluctant to...

Mo. Appeals Court Denies Klan's Right To Underwrite University Radio Show.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... ST. LOUIS -- The University of Missouri at St. Louis' radio station doesn't have to take the money or air the message of the Ku Klux Klan, a federal court ruled last month. In upholding a district judge's decision, the 8th Circuit Court of...

Conn. Officials Say Record Number Of Minorities Among Grads.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... HARTFORD, Conn. -- The number of Black and Hispanic students graduating from Connecticut colleges has more than doubled in the 14 years since the state began targeting low-income students under its Minority Advancement Plan. A report...

What's New.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... Programs Accreditations, & Initiatives Harvard University has just become one of five institutions of higher education that offer a Ph.D. program in African-American studies, following a vote by faculty members late last month. The...

Oregon Students Demand Action After Racial Incident.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... CORVALLIS, Ore. -- A Lad no freshman at Oregon State University, who says another student taunted and threw candy at him, contends the incident amounts to racial harassment--and that the school isn't doing enough to prevent racism. Erubey...

Texas' Freshman Applications Pouring in.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... AUSTIN -- Freshman applications at the University of Texas at Austin have hit an all-time high, with more minority students trying to get in. More than 20,800 applications have come in for just slightly more than 7,000 spots for the new...

Study: Racial Prejudice is Reason for Affirmative Action Resistance.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... DETROIT -- The primary factor in Michigan residents' opposition to affirmative action is racial prejudice, according to a recent University of Michigan study. The traditional form of prejudice, where Whites think Blacks are inferior, has...

Louisiana Chancellor Steps Down.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... Dr. Gerald Peoples says battles with faculty, other conflicts wore him out BATON ROUGE, La. -- After a turbulent two and a half years as chancellor of Southern University's New Orleans campus, Dr. Gerald Peoples announced his resignation...

Hit and Myth: Conference examines successes, fallacies of affirmative action.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Ever since Hopwood vs. Texas, the court decision that nullified minority admissions practices at the University of Texas Law School, the pundits have gleefully predicted the demise of campus affirmative action programs....

Survey Shows Support for Diversity in Colleges, Business.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- A recently released survey by the Business Higher Education Forum shows that a majority of Americans think that diversity -- and many methods taken by institutions to ensure it -- is important in business and higher education. ...

Nullifying Inequities in the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.(Interview)
March 16, 2000... WASHINGTON -- If were a brilliant, well-trained African-American male who hoped to be tenured at an elite White law school, the last thing to do would be to advance a legal theory that supports letting Black criminal defendants go free -- even...

EXPECTING STANDARDS.
March 16, 2000... Dupont Circle associations wrestle with meeting high diversity expectations. WASHINGTON -- The American Council of Education recently lost two of the most visible minorities in higher education. Dr. Deborah Wilds, the association's...

HBCUs Poised To Offer ONLINE DEGREES.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... HAMPTON, Va. -- Within the historically Black college and university community, the push to offer online distance learning courses is entering a new phase -- the establishment of online degree programs. This summer, Hampton University will...

Gore Speaks on Digital Divide At Morgan State University.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... BALTIMORE -- In a campaign stop at Morgan State University, Vice President Al Gore preached that every household nationwide should have access to the Internet and every child should be computer literate by the eighth grade. "It's time to...

Dartmouth Professor Leaving in Midst of Cybercheating Scandal.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... HANOVER, N.H. -- A visiting Dartmouth College professor from North Carolina who says more than 60 students cheated in his computer science class is leaving the Ivy League School. It was not clear whether he quit or was asked to leave. The...

Mass. Student Faces Hacking Charges.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... BOSTON -- Federal authorities charged a Northeastern University student last month with breaking into government and military computers, linking him to attacks retaliating for FBI raids last year against fellow hackers. The U.S. attorney's...

NONE OF THE ABOVE: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SATS.(Review)
March 16, 2000... NONE OF THE ABOVE: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SATS By David Owen with Marilyn Doerr Rowman & Littlefield, 1999 Lanham, Md. 323 pages $17.95 paper; $60.00 cloth This revised and updated version of David Owen's 1985 expose is: a) a balanced...

Terrible Tragedy, Teachable Moment.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... While it is trite to describe the massacre of Amadou Diallo as a "teachle moment," the educator in me seeks to gain something from the tragic killing of an innocent Black man in the Bronx, New York, on February 4, 1999. The "wilding" of...

Back Issues Quiz.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... The Black Issues Quiz offers you an opportunity to test your knowledge on the people, places, issues, and history surrounding the struggle for academic equity. Each question is based on information published in the current or previous editions...

Career consultants.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... DEAR BI CAREER CONSULTANTS: How can people of color establish and maintain networks within perdominantly White institutions without being viewed as separatist? DR. DIANN W. MCCANTS, Associate Director African and African-American...

Professional APPOINTMENTS.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... ACADEMIC DR. PATRICIA PIERCE RAMSEY has been named vice president for academic affairs at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. Previously, she was associate vice president for development and associate professor at Norfolk State University....

Clemson History Offers Perspective for Flag Debate.(Brief Article)
March 16, 2000... Clemson University is a state agency as well as a university. As a state agency, we are governed by the laws and policies of the state of South Carolina and therefore have a stake in the development of such laws and policies -- a stake that...

Caucus, White House Open Education Improvement Effort.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Congressional Black Caucus leaders and president Clinton joined forces this month on a new package of K-12 education improvements they say will help provide a pipeline for future achievement. The proposal includes funds to...

Tribal-run Colleges Can't be Sued for Discrimination.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that tribal-run colleges cannot be sued for racial discrimination because federal law gives American Indian tribes sovereign immunity. The decision reverses a lower-court ruling...

IRS Wants to Tax Exclusive Campus Vending Contracts.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service says it wants to begin taxing payments that soft-drink companies, athletic-equipment manufacturers and other companies make to colleges in exchange for exclusive campus contracts. IRS officials...

Education Dept. Offers Grants Based on TRIO Ideas.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Education is offering $5 million to colleges and universities with a track record of serving low-income and first-generation college students -- even if they do not have a TRIO grant. Under the TRIO...

CORRECTION.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
March 30, 2000... A chart that ran in the March 2 edition of Black Issues gave incorrect information on a table listing higher education enrollment figures. The date on the chart's second column should have read 1988. Black Issues regrets the error.

Judge OKs Settlement in White Student's Discrimination Suit.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... TULSA, Okla.-- A federal judge earlier this month approved a settlement in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a White student who contended that Oklahoma higher-education officials unfairly denied him a scholarship. University of Tulsa...

Alabama A&M President's Wife on Paid Leave During ROTC Investigation.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The wife of Alabama A&M University's president will remain on paid leave from the school until completion of an inquiry into allegations of federal fraud, authorities say. Dr. John T. Gibson's wife, Voncile, was placed...

What's New.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... Programs, Accreditations, & Initiatives Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism is seeking applicants for the Academy for Alternative Journalism, a recently established program designed to recruit and train talented minority...

Texas Professors Want Standardized College Exit Exams.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... AUSTIN, Texas -- A group of University of Texas professors wants the state to implement standardized tests for students who seek bachelor's degrees from public colleges and universities. Such tests are needed as a way to judge the quality...

Disney Signs on as Black College Reunion Sponsor.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Walt Disney World late last month signed on as a main sponsor of the Black College Reunion, an event that has touched off past controversy but is gaining broad support from the business community. Disney officials...

Harvard Professors Looking Into Reparations Lawsuit.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... BOSTON -- Two Harvard University scholars have joined the research effort to determine whether legal and legislative action can secure reparations for the descendants of enslaved Blacks in early America. "We are looking at what's the...

Campus Newspaper's Editor Resigns over Cartoon Flap.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... OKLAHOMA CITY -- The editor of the campus newspaper at Oklahoma City University resigned earlier this month after an outcry over an editorial cartoon about the Confederate flag controversy. Editor Brian Sargent, 22, apologized to students...

Students Rally Against Racist Incidents.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... EWING TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Afternoon classes were canceled for one day earlier this month at The College of New Jersey to allow students to rally in response to a series of racist incidents at the school that included an e-mail and a race-related...

Angela Davis Speaks Out for Justice Reform.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- A famous university professor and activist who studies prison issues said in a speech at Wake Forest University earlier this month that racism "is deeply inscribed in the [nation's] justice system." Activist Angela...

One Florida Initiative Having Divine Effect on State.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... Having Divisive Effect on State TALLAHASSEE -- Dexter Stallworth is just one among thousands of Floridians fearful that their children won't be able to follow their paths through college. Stallworth, his wife and his three young...

Research Shows Lag in Hispanics' Bachelor's Attainment.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- While Hispanic Americans have made great strides in the last three decades as far as attaining high school diplomas, their attainment rate for bachelor's degrees has inched up slowly, according to Census data released earlier this...

Challenging Times for Livingstone College.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... White professors allege discrimination, president resigns SALISBURY, N.C. -- Five professors who say they were denied tenure and promotions because they are White are suing Livingstone College. Three of the professors, who filed a...

A Few Good Officers: HBCUs Seek Ways to Boost ROTC Pipeline.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 30, 2000... BATONROUGE, La. -- Leaders from 21 historically Black colleges and universities with Army ROTC programs met at a Southern University conference earlier this month to discuss ways to recruit and train more Black officers. U.S. Department of...

Fortifying The Federal Presence in Retention.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... With New Legislation on the Table, Observers are Anxiously Watching to See if Federal Backing Can Help Higher Education Retain its Most Vulnerable Students WASHINGTON -- By and large, the statistics are downright depressing. A look at data...

Researchers Investigate Persistence Among Minority Two-Year Transferees.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... RALEIGH, N.C. -- You can lead a community college student to a university, but can you make him graduate? That's a question Dr. Wynetta Y. Lee, a specialist in adult and community college education at North Carolina State University, hopes...

Howard Bugs Typify Challenge Of Updating Technology.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Damned if you damned if you don t. That s at Howard University administrators here may be saying in light of criticism that has come their way in recent weeks. Anxious to update an old mainframe with new software in time for...

$130 Million Partnership Will Bring Internet to HBCUs.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 30, 2000... NEW YORK -- The College Fund/UNCF announced a $130 million partnership with two computer industry giants earlier this month to bring Black colleges and universities into the Internet era. Microsoft Corp. and IBM have pledged $100 million in...

NAFEO, Gateway Sign Discount Contracts.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... WASHINGTON -- The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education signed a contract with Gateway Inc. last month to offer steeply discounted computer hardware for the college's students, faculty and alumni. The deal, which...

Internet Philosophies Reveal New Take on Old Ideas.(Brief Article)
March 30, 2000... These days, you just might hear someone say, "I am, therefore I surf." PCs, and the Internet that links them, are becoming so central to our way of life that they have spawned whole new schools of thought. Internet philosophies with...