page 6 - The Behrend College Beacon - Thursday, April /, 1999
College students look to change their communities
By Carolyn Barta
Knight-Ridder Newspapi
A cartoon in the student newspaper
at Southern Methodist University
shortly before the November election
lampooned a sorority girl being
reminded to vote. “Don’t be silly,” the
cartoon coed replied. “Homecoming
isn’t for another two weeks.”
At the University of Texas, student
Cecilia Conti recently explained to a
reporter why she wandered away
from a student union TV during Gov.
George W. Bush’s inauguration: “Not
to be rude, but I’m not into
government.”
Typical attitudes on college
campuses today? Hardly. While
partisan politics hold little attraction
for collegians, interviews on some
Texas campuses show, that doesn’t
mean students arc uninvolved or
disinterested.
Two and three decades ago,
campuses were a hotbed of anti-
Vietnam War demonstrations, civil
rights activism and anti
establishment protests. College
students saw politics as a way to
change the world. Today, they would
rather work for changes in their
campus community.
“If they think there is a direct effect
on them, they get involved,” said
Michael Mulcahy, editor of UT’s
Daily Texan. Annie Holand, UT
Students battle ban on federal aid to those convicted of drug crimes
By Carol Lewis
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
Opposition is growing on college
campuses to a provision of the Higher
Education Act that withholds federal
financial aid from students convicted
of selling or possessing drugs.
Congress passed the provision in the
fall to send a message to young drug
users, but opponents say that it denies
money to troubled students when they
need it most to turn their lives around,
that it fails to address drug
intervention and education, and that
it ignores other types of criminal
behavior.
Many college students are
becoming aware of the provision but
worry about its ramifications. “I am
a little scared myself. I know how
people’s names get dropped, and
Businesses damaged during weekend
riot at Michigan State
By Mary Sell
State News Staff Writer
Michigan State University
As shards of glass are cleared away
and boards replace broken glass
windows, East Lansing business
owners and MSU students are
wondering how a basketball game
resulted in property destruction.
“College students get drunk every
weekend, but they don’t riot,” said
Kristyn Hausauer, a journalism senior
and shift supervisor at Bruegger’s
Bagels, 505 E. Grand River Ave. “It
is hard to believe that college students
could act so irresponsibly.”
The bagel shop’s glass door was
shattered when rioters threw a
Driver in deadly Kentucky crash says he can’t escape that fatal night
College Press Exchange
COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. (CPX) - A
University of Kentucky football
player who was driving drunk the
night his truck crashed, killing two
friends who were along for the ride,
said he has the forgiveness of their
families but can’t forgive himself.
“You almost want them to be mad
at you because it will make the guilt
easier,” 21-year-old Jason Watts said
of the families of his teammate Arthur
Steinmetz, 19, and friend Scott Brock,
21, a student at Eastern Kentucky.
Speaking publicly for the first time
since the crash, Watts told a group of
students at Southern Adventist
University, about 18 miles north of
Chattanooga, that he can’t shake
images of his dead friends and is lucky
if he gets three or four hours of sleep
each night. Should he manage to think
of something else, Watts said the scars
student government president, said
students are “politically active but in
a different sense.”
“It may not mean holding rallies
and marching on the Capitol, but
working in different ways with
legislators, the administration, with
each other to see that issues are
addressed and problems are solved,”
she said.
At UT, that has meant student
government working with the
administration to reopen the
university tower, closed almost 25
years because of a sniper attack and
suicides, or students seeking ways to
increase diversity after the Hopwood
decision barred racial preferences in
admissions.
At the University of North Texas,
an issue has been more humane
treatment and control of 200 stray
cats on campus. Or, at Texas A&M,
improving student parking and
celebrating diversity through campus
art.
Sure, there are groups involved in
global issues, such as the Free Tibet
Society whose followers at SMU are
planning a benefit concert to raise
student awareness about Tibet. But,
Holand said: “Typically students tend
to be interested in issues that are
going to affect their everyday life,
such as tuition raises, financial aid,
affirmative-action issues, not just in
college admissions but in
they can get arrested,” said Hunter
Russell, a junior at the University of
Texas at Dallas. “My main fear is
being in the wrong place at the wrong
time. I could lose my financial aid.
I’m pretty dependent on it.”
The provision, part of the Higher
Education Act Amendments of 1998,
goes into effect in fall 2000 and
denies grants, loans and work
assistance to students convicted under
federal or state law. Students can lose
at least one year of financial aid for a
drug possession conviction and at
least two years for a conviction of
selling drugs.
Eligibility can be reinstated during
the suspension if students complete
rehabilitation and pass two random
drug tests, but the law does not define
rehabilitation, said Judy Schneider,
assistant vice president and director
wooden barricade through it. It was
among at least 24 downtown windows
damaged in this weekend’s riot,
according to statistics released
Sunday by East Lansing police. The
riot began as fans flooded city and
campus streets after MSU lost the
men’s basketball game. Fires and
destruction continued until nearly
dawn.
“We already lost a couple hundred
bucks just to put that wood in there,”
Hausauer said of the plywood board
that replaced the glass. Hausauer said
the only thing businesses can do to
prevent broken windows is “pray that
it never happens again.”
Attempting to avoid destruction as
crowds swarmed the city, Joel Lichty,
he bears from the accident snap his
attention right back to the “stupid
mistakes” and “poor judgment” that
he says have caused a lot of people a
tremendous amount of pain.
“I literally see my buddies dying in
my arms because of me,” he said.
Watts, who spoke March 25 as a part
of S AU’s drug and alcohol awareness
week, said he wants other students to
learn from his mistakes. In addition
to the “mental and emotional scars
that will last forever,” Watts said he’s
facing the outcome of a July 19 trial
on two counts of second-degree
manslaughter and one count of
wanton endangerment.
“Drinking beers and getting behind
the wheel is something that could
have been avoided,” he said. Watts,
who was dismissed from the team
after the crash, said he spent the night
drinking with his friends to celebrate
Kentucky’s 55-17 Senior Day
National Cam,
employment.”
Memorial Student Center director
Jim Reynolds said students at Texas
A&M are more interested in
attending programs “to expand their
knowledge and personal
understanding” than trying to
“promote issues.” The main
campuses of A&M and UT each have
more than 700 organizations, and UT
has long been known as the state’s
most active and politically diverse
campus.
“Every day on campus, somebody
has a table set up for something,”
Mulcahy said. Students today
generally arc more conservative and
more career-oriented than those 20
years ago, said UT vice president
James Vick. “They think of
themselves more as part of the
system, as opposed to being a critic
on the outside.”
They seek change in a peaceful
way, added Arlene Manthcy, SMU’s
director of student activities. For
example, students circulated petitions
calling for a campus referendum on
adding the words “sexual orientation”
to the university’s nondiscrimination
policy, gaining 800 signatures.
Students then voted to recommend
the change to the administration.
As for voting in partisan elections,
it has little meaning for students.
Mulcahy, the Texan editor, said most
students don’t see voting as a remedy
of Student Financial Aid at the
University of Texas at Arlington.
“We are somewhat hopeful that
Congress will address some of the
questions and actually reverse its
position and not tie financial aid to
the issue,” said Schneider, president
of the National Association of Student
Financial Aid Administrators. “We do
not feel like it’s an issue that should
be tied to receiving financial aid.”
The opinion is shared by Drug
Reform Coordination Network
officials in Washington, who are
trying to spread awareness of the
provision through an online
newsletter.
Student leaders at UT-Dallas and
130 other campuses are reviewing the
provision to determine whether they
will support a resolution to ask
Congress to overturn it, said Adam
owner of Veritas Wine Shop, 110
Division St., kept the lights off
Saturday night. He stayed in the
business in case rioters broke in, but
his store was untouched. “I was really
angry, but you don’t know who to
focus your anger on,” said Lichty,
who has been at the Division Street
location for two years. “This is the
worst yet.”
Connected to Lichty’s store is
Footgear, 108 Division St., where a
large window was broken and single
shoes were taken from a display.
“This store is not a chain,” said
Sharon Waldron, an English senior
and employee. “There are only two
people who work here so this is going
to be a big expense. “I’ve worked here
victory over Vanderbilt, a win that
earned the Wildcats a berth in the
Outback Bowl. By early morning, the
trio decided they were bored and
wanted to hunt deer. Watts was
driving along U.S. 27 when it ran off
the roadway as he passed a car, hit a
mailbox and blew out a back tire.
The three men said nothing to each
other knowing they were about to
crash, Watts said. The truck flipped,
throwing all of them out of the
vehicle. Watts went through the
windshield. When he came to, Watts
said he ran first to Brock, who smiled
at him before dying. Then he said he
ran to Steinmetz, who died in his
arms.
“When you think about it, I
should’ve been the first to go,” Watts
said, adding that he wanted to die
along with his friends and even tried
holding his breath in the ambulance
that whisked him away for treatment.
us News
for issues that interest them.
According to Voter News Service,
which conducts media exit polls, the
18- to 29-year-old “youth vote” was
the smallest segment of November’s
voting population, accounting for 13
percent. Voters 18 to 24 made up 6
percent.
Rob Persons, an analyst at the
Roper Center at the University of
Connecticut, said there has been a
“steady trend downward” since 1978,
when the first exit polls were taken in
an off-year election after 18-year-olds
got the right to votc.That year, 18- to
29-year-olds accounted for 20 percent
of the turnout.
Different organizations staged
mock elections on 10 Texas campuses
last fall to try to stimulate interest in
state elections. Jeremy Kost,
chairman of Mustangs for Bush, was
surprised when as many as 500
students participated at SMU. He
believes voting booths on campus
would increase voter turnout in real
elections.
The big phenomenon on college
campuses in the 1990 s has been the
growth of the campus arm of
candidate campaigns and the decline
of political parties. Texas A&M had
Aggies for Bush and Aggies for
Brady, promoting GOP candidates for
governor and Congress. Aggies for
Sharp, Aggies for Mattox, Aggies for
Hobby and Aggies for Raymond
Smith, the network’s associate
director.
“The provision is a misguided way
to fight the war on drugs,” said Smith,
who is helping students to coordinate
the campaign. “Given the racial
disparity in drug law enforcement,
this will inevitably have a
discriminatory impact. It will deny
education to those for whom it is most
vital: the poor, the nonwhite and
nonviolent young people who have
had previous contact with the criminal
justice system and who are trying to
turn their lives around.”
Reports of increasing drug arrests
among college students have
contributed to lawmakers’ frustration,
but their approach should have
focused on intervention and
treatment, said Irma P. Jones,
coordinator of substance abuse
for three years, so it is kind of like my
store, 100. You’re not hurting the citv,
you’re hurting the individual store
owners.”
Waldron said students’ reaction
after the game was ridiculous. “People
arc more worried about a basketball
game than (the fact) we are bombing
people (in Kosovo),” she said.
Businesses weren’t the only victims
of properly damage. Animal science
freshman Claire Lowe was sleeping
in her residence hall when someone
woke her to tell her her 1981
DeLorean had been flipped on its roof
on Abbott Road near Campbell Hall
around 11 p.m. ADeLorean is featured
in the “Back to the Future” films.
“This place is full of such intelligent
At the hospital, Watts’ blood
alcohol level was 11/2 times the legal
limit. He had a foot-long gash on his
right arm that has required surgery
several times. He also had injured ribs
and cuts on his left shoulder and back
that needed to be stitched and stapled.
Sadly, it was not the first time Watts
had been in trouble for drinking, he
said. Watts shot then-teammate Oscar
Smith in the buttocks as they handled
a rifle outside the house they shared
in October 1997. Two hours after the
shooting, Watts’ blood-alcohol content
was 0.129. He was charged with
unlawful discharge of a weapon.
But if he didn’t learn a lesson then,
he certainly has now, he said. He told
the audience at S AU that he feels as if
he’s now living three lives, his and
those of his dead friends.
“It’s rough, but it’s nowhere near as
rough as it is on the families,” he said.
instead of the world
promoted Democratic candidates for
several statewide offices.
“Our students are interested in
issues and candidates but less
interested in parties,” said Reynolds
of A&M. But he also observed that
sponsorship of candidate
appearances by campaign groups
tends to attract only candidate
supporters, while more neutral
forums have drawn larger crowds in
the past.
Chuck Norton, a graduate student
at the University of North Texas,
believes most students on the Denton
campus “are not interested in the
political scene. Those who are tend
to be more conservative.” So he
organized the Progressive Students
League to address environmental,
social justice and civil liberties issues
on campus. Concerns include
increasing student safety on campus
and getting a plastics recycling
program.
He blames the two major parties
with “turning off a lot of people.” But
he also noted that collegians have less
time for student activities because
many have jobs. UNT has more than
150 student organizations, most of
which are social or academically
oriented. The Social Dance
Liberation Front, for example, is
really a swing dance club.
But there are opportunities for
political action in such groups as
prevention and vice president for
student affairs at University of North
Texas.
“This is part of the' let’s get tough
on drugs’ attitude,” she said. “I hope
this is not a political ploy on the part
of someone who wants to come up
with a solution.” U.S. Rep. Barney
Frank, D-Mass. gave the students’
campaign a boost last week by
introducing a bill to repeal the
provision. But it most likely will be
opposed by lawmakers such as
House Majority Leader Dick Armey,
R-Texas, who strongly supported the
provision.
“Every criminal who gets funding
takes away from other students who
need it,” said Jim Wilkinson,
Armey’s press secretary. “There are
so many kids in the inner city that do
not have access to money for
people, and people have such
ridiculous actions,” Lowe said.
Windows also were broken at Quality
Dairy, 1109 E. Grand River Ave.,
when a man fled after attacking a
female security guard who was trying
to close the store on police request,
said Dustin Rayner, a store employee.
Laura Griffin, a University of
Michigan biopsychology sophomore,
said she lent her 1989 Ford Tempo to
her boyfriend for the weekend.
Griffin’s car was among the eight
vehicles destroyed this weekend by
rioters.
“My boyfriend has a lot of
explaining to do,” Griffin said. Griffin
had just returned from a conference
in Toledo. “I feel kind of mad,” she
School pulls plug on radio
show arter students read
from Salinger novel
Press Exchani
DE PERE, Wis. (CPX) A couple
of students at St. Norbert College
said they were kicked off the air after
they read eight pages from The
Catcher in the Rye during their
weekly campus radio show.
Murray McGough and
Christopher Danczyk, both students
enrolled at the Roman Catholic
school, said the director of campus
security showed up in the radio
station’s studios a little more than an
hour into their two-hour, March 4
broadcast, ordering them to sign off.
The pair said the officer told them a
college priest had complained about
their use of offensive language on the
air and that school officials had
Students for Life; the Women’s
Collective, which promotes feminist
issues; the Students Peace Action
Network; and Courage, a group
concerned with gay-lesbian issues to
name a few.
Cat-lovers at UNT organized the
Campus Cat Coalition after learning
the university was trapping stray cats
and having them euthanized. The
coalition is trying to control the cat
population by getting the animals
sterilized and neutered and finding
homes for younger cats.
Jerry Yeric, associate professor of
political science at UNT, has seen
students move from the anti
establishment phase of the 1970 s to
an ultraconservativism in the 1980 s
to now an era of wider interests and
tolerance for a diversity of views,
such as on presidential impeachment.
“They’re more interested in
specific issues that are going to affect
them when they get out, environment,
health care, employment,” he said. He
finds his class discussions more
thoughtful and students politically
more knowledgeable, thanks in part
to CNN and the Internet.
“They can relate to the Jesse
Venturas of the world,” he said,
referring to Minnesota’s Reform
governor. “But they see very little
difference between Democrats and
Republicans. “They’re more
sophisticated, in many ways.”
education who want to get out of their
situations and to make something out
of their lives. To think that some
students get turned down because a
drug dealer gets it, is a big concern.”
Not all students consider the
provision a slap in the face.
Jesse Martin, a junior political
science major at UNT, said he has
grieved for friends killed or injured
in drug or alcohol-related accidents
and believes that the provision will
force students re-evaluate substance
abuse. “That is not a harsh
punishment at all. It’s not denying
them financial aid forever,” Martin
said. “They have the option of
rehabilitation. It gives them reason for
rehabilitation to help put their lives
together. Their education will mean
more to them.”
said. “I just spent this weekend with
a bunch of State people from a
sorority. (The University of
Michigan) lost a hockey
game last night and I don’t see
anything damaged around here.”
Other damaged businesses
included: Taco Bell, 565 E. Grand
River Ave., where two windows were
smashed; Student Book Store, 417 E.
Grand River, where three windows
were smashed: Tcnv’s Restaurant,
235 Ann St., where a window was
broken; and Jacobson’s, 333 E. Grand
River, where display windows were
broken. A window also was broken
in the MSU Federal Credit Union, 523
E. Grand River.
instructed him to yank them off the
School officials confirmed that
someone was dispatched to the
station after a caller complained that
the broadcast, which could be heard
only on campus, contained obscene
language, but they insist they didn’t
pull the plug on the show.
McGough and Danczyk said they
read passages from J.D. Salinger’s
famous, and oft-censored, novel
because they wanted to try something
new. To protest the school’s actions,
the two students devoted their next
show to reading sex-related passages
from the Bible.