PAGE 6 THE BEHREND BEACON FEBRUARY 25 2000
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
Florida State schools
must achieve diversity
ORLANDO, Fla. State universities entered a new era Friday,
February 18, when the Board of Regents directed them, by unanimous vote,
to achieve diversity on campuses without taking into account the race or gen
der of applicants for admission.
After an emotional public hearing lasting four-and-a-half hours, regents
approved, 12-0, Gov. Jeb Bush's Talented 20 plan, which guarantees a spot
somewhere in the ten-university system to public high school seniors who
graduate in the top 20 percent of their class and complete 19 college-prep
classes.
The policy now bans racial and gender considerations in the admissions
process, but allows the schools to use such factors as socioeconomic status,
whether a student's parents went to college, and the quality of the student's
high school.
State University System Adam Herbert said the plan creates "a climate in
which everybody is being judged not on the basis of race or ethnic back
ground, but what they have done with their lives."
The hoard changed admission rules despite the powerful objections of hun
dreds of supporters of existing policies. Opponents said Bush, Herbert, and
regents are dead-wrong in their pledge that the new policy will increase op
portunities for minorities to attend state universities. Some said they fear a
return to segregation on university campuses
In response, regents passed a resolution saying universities should continue
aggressive affirmative action to increase diversity, such as using scholarships
to recruit more minority students.
Before the vote, the state university presidents said they expect no problem
in maintaining minority enrollments under the new policy.
"A lot of people are focusing on a plan they've heard about, but haven't
read as closely as they might have," said Talbot "Sandy" D' Alemberte, presi
dent of Florida State University, the state's second-most selective public uni
versity. "I actually see the governor's plan as a very competently drafted plan
for us to take further steps for diversity."
But officials at the University of Florida, the state's most prestigious uni
versity, worry that they won't have tools to make sure significant numbers of
minority students are selected when they evaluate more than 23,000 qualified
applicants for 5,900 freshman slots.
. .
UF Interim President Charles Young, who was chancellor of the University
of California at Los Angeles when that state banned consideration of ethnicity
in admissions, said UF officials are consulting with counterparts at UCLA,
California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin to learn how
those schools responded to similar policy changes.
"We've got to do all the things together that will enable us to maintain
diversity. - Young said.
Critics of Talented 20 call this a sad day in Florida history.
"My heart is heavy heavier than it has ever been since I've been on the
Florida Legislature," said State Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, who was first
elected to the House in 1994.
Meek said Bush's One Florida anti-affirmative active initiative, which in
cludes the Talented 20 plan, has created the state's deepest racial divide in 35
years.
0 - The Rev. Frank Williams of Tampa agreed. "This is racist, it's biased, and
,it's full of hatred. This is garbage. I wouldn't even want this to be recycled."
- The two were among more than 60 speakers at the public hearing, most of
whom opposed the university admission policy. But a few said Bush's plan is
the state's best hope for preventing a sweeping, California-style ban on affir
mative action that would prevent universities from taking any effective ac
tions to maintain current levels of diversity.
Another speaker, state Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, chairman of the legisla
tive Black Caucus, said the Board of Regents' own statistics show the policy
will not lead to increased minority enrollment. University system data shows
Talented 20 would make around 480 more minority students eligible for uni
versity admission. At the same time, it would ban the ten universities from
using the alternative admission procedures that led to the enrollment of 1,039
minority students last year specifically to achieve diversity
"We're losing ground," Jones said
John Hosman, student body president of the University of West Florida and
chairman of the Florida Student Association, called the Bush plan premature.
"Sadly, if the timing is wrong," he said, "it may take a generation or more
before we realize it and another generation to correct it."
Herbert, regents Chairman Tom Petway of Jacksonville, and other backers
insisted the plan will work. Universities will be expected to work with high
schools with large minority enrollments to make sure students in the Talented
20 go into universities, Herbert said. Universities will still be able to admi
promising students who do not meet regular admission standards.
In addition, the policy which does not replace current admission stan
lords but provides additional factors for judging applications is one ele
ment of a larger Bush program for improving minority participation in col
lege, Herbert said
The governor is asking the Legislature for more money for need-based schol•
arships and improved college preparatory work in schools serving low-in•
come students, including more advanced pre-college classes and better prepa
ration for the SAT admissions exam.
U. of Wisconsin joins string
of campuses protesting FLA
by Scott Marinaro
Campus Correspondent
University of Wisconsin at Madison
February 20, 2000
MADISON, Wis. (TMS) In re
sponse to a sit-in outside the
chancellor's office, the University of
Wisconsin at Madison has announced
new initiatives toward curbing the
manufacture of university-licensed
goods in sub-standard conditions.
Among them is withdrawal from the
Fair Labor Association, an anti-sweat
shop group critics say is weak and
merely a public relations front for cor
porate members such as Nike and
Reebok. Protesters are particularly
troubled by the association's unwill
ingness to publicly disclose the names
and exact locations of manufacturers
producing university-licensed goods.
The Wisconsin sit-in, led by the
Anti-Sweatshop Committee, is the lat
est of several demonstrations directed
at Chancellor David Ward and the
latest of several demonstrations on
campuses across the country.
by Jack Wheat
Knight-Ridder Tribune
February 18, 2000
Ward is accused of ignoring recom
mendations from the committee and
from members of an advisory board
appointed to ensure the university
avoids doing business with sweat
shops. Three students on the board re
signed a few weeks ago, claiming frus
tration with a lack of response from
university officials.
To meet protesters' demands, Ward
agreed to pull the university out of the
association. Still unclear is whether
the university will join forces with the
Workers' Rights Consortium, a smaller
graoup made up of human-rights or
ganizations and some universities that
supporters say has more credibility
than the FLA.
Officials at the University of Chi
cago and Pennsylvania are also dis
cussing membership in the consortium,
while the University of Michigan and
Indiana University have agreed to join
it.
"We will participate in this process so
long as we are making progress to
wards a fair and credible monitoring
system," Ward said.
Indiana U. professor an expert in "sexology"
by Christina Jewett
Campus Contributor
Indiana University
February 17, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (TMS)
Erick Janssen sees things every day
that would make even Cupid blush.
In a building that houses the
world's second largest library of
erotic materials the Vatican has
the largest Janssen studies hu
man sexuality as an assistant scien
tist at Indiana University's Kinsey
Institute for Research in Sex, Gen
der and Reproduction.
"I'm not a sexologist," he said.
"There's no such thing as a sexolo
gist. There is no doctoral program
for a sexologist yet."
But if there were such a thing
Janssen would be the perfect can
didate. His expertise has contrib
uted to Cosmopolitan, Glamour,
and Playboy. While the institute
dishes out plenty of information to
the popular press, its main focus is
on research and academic publish
ing. The institute rose to interna
tional fame with Alfred Kinsey's
publication of Sexual Behavior in
the Human Male in 1948. The book
met with severe criticism but
also managed to find great favor
among many people who found its
contents reassuring in an age of
sexual repression.
"It allowed people to see that
people do engage in a range of be
havior," said Jennifer Bass, head of
information services at the institute.
"[People learned] men masturbate
and don't end up with a curse or
hairy palms."
Two decades after the book's con
troversy subsided, Janssen was just
a kid playing in the Dutch country
side. Although as a child he wanted
to be a musician, his coursework in
psychology steered him into a ca
reer focused on sex research.
UNCC students push for name change:
University of Charlotte
by Jon Goldberg
Knight-Ridder Tribune
February 17, 2000
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Mike
Holdenrid is sick of sports announc
ers and outsiders confusing his school
with UNC Chapel Hill or calling it
NC Charlotte or UNCC Charlotte.
He and hundreds of other students
are suggesting a solution: change
UNC Charlotte to University of Char
lotte.
"Some people think we're even a
community college," said Holdenrid,
who was raised in Charlotte and is
president of Delta Sigma Phi frater
nity. "It's really frustrating."
The name change idea has bobbed
around the campus for years, but
never before has a student group car
ried it so far.
Delta Sig members collected more
than 1,000 signatures from students
supporting the name change this
month. At the Feb. 26 homecoming
basketball game against l'ulane, they
plan to wear green T-shirts reading
"University of Charlotte" while
screaming from their courtside seats.
U. of Cincinnati sorority suspended for hazing
by Paul McKibben
The News Record
University of Cincinnati
February 16, 2000
CINCINNATI (TMS) It was far
from Animal House, but hazing
nonetheless, officials at the Uni
versity of Cincinnati said before
suspending the campus' chapter of
the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Chapter members are accused of
running some of their new mem
bers through an evening of stunts
far tamer than the alcohol guz
zling, nude dancing, and gunfire
that have marked fraternity events
across the country in recent
months. In fact, university and
sorority officials have concluded
that the events of Feb. 4 did not
include drinking, sexual miscon
duct, or any physical harm to
pledges. But that didn't stop the
university from suspending the so
rority indefinitely. The group's
national organization has placed it
on probation until the end of the
school year.
"It is hazing," said Mauricio
Erick Jannsen, assistant scientist at the Kinsey Institute, recently co
authored a study finding that male fragrance has a positive effect on
female genital response in the post-menstrual phase. Jannsen is
one of the world's leading experts in "sexology."
"Sex, in many forms, shapes, and
disguises, plays important roles in
everyone's life," he said. "It is re
lated to how men and women inter
act, to how they feel about them
selves. to how they respond to
people they consider 'different,' to
how they deal with emotions."
But choosing the life of a sexolo
gist comes with certain occupa
tional hazards. It seems everyone
thinks it's funny to give Janssen
phallic gag-gifts. Sexual tools and
trinkets including penis-shaped
pasta and a mug with a shiny penis
handle clutter his office and line
his shelves. And then there are all
those incredulous looks he gets
when he rents as many six porn
flicks his research materials
at the local video store.
"I tell them I work for the Uni
versity, but they just look at me like
'Yeah, right, ok, yes sir, — he said.
Janssen said he also fears car ac
cidents but for reasons the aver
age person doesn't even consider.
"I'm afraid of what the police
might find," he said.
The group's members are also
reaching out to alumni, who they feel
they need to win the fight. Fraternity
members plan to man homecoming
booths about the issue. They've also
set up message boards on Internet
sites to get the word out.
UNCC officials haven't discussed
the issue and are not pursuing it, said
Jack Claiborne, the university's pub
lic relations director. He said students
will face a long, tough battle.
"We have more than 65,000 alumni
who have diplomas saying University
of North Carolina at Charlotte. Let's
just say it will be a very controver
sial issue." Claiborne said.
The UNCC Board of Trustees,
UNC Board of Governors, and N.C.
General Assembly all would have to
approve the change.
This isn't the first time UNC sys-
tern schools have rallied around a
name change.
In 1991, some UNC Chapel Hill
leaders lobbied to drop the Chapel
Hill from the school's name. They
wanted to be called University of
North Carolina, as the school was
known until 1963. Then-basketball
Gonzalez, the university's associ
ate vice president for student life.
"It was personal embarrassment
and was demeaning to the students
to be put through this thing."
Sources told The News Record
that on Feb. 4 the sorority's new
members were made to lie on a
floor while more senior members
shouted insults at them. They
were also commanded to make
animal noises at the pleasure of
two men living in an off-campus
apartment complex and forced to
sing silly songs and play
children's games such as Ring
Around the Rosie at several
fraternity houses. At their final
stop, a fraternity house belonging
to the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity
chapter, the initiates were made
to recite the Greek alphabet while
crawling up stairs.
Those events, university official
said, merited the chapter's sus
pension. Officials of the
sorority's national organization
agreed and also removed several
officers, including the chapter's
president. The chapter placed as
Since coming to America to work
for the institute in 1995, Janssen has
examined the fine balance between
sexual excitation and inhibition
what he calls either "pushing on the
gas pedal" or "hitting the break."
Janssen and his colleagues are
working to better understand why
people engage in risky sexual ac
tivity or have a hard time engag
ing in sexual activity at all.
They've enlisted scores of volun
teers to help them, and their lab
looks like a sparsely decorated dorm
room. A throw rug is on the floor,
curtains are on the window, and a
leather chair and ottoman are near
the door. There's also a color TV
that's hooked to a VCR controlled
from an outer office. But that's not
a remote control on a table near the
chair. It's a "RigiScan" designed to
measure male volunteers' erections
as they watch a variety of images
sexual and non-sexual flashed
before them on the TV screen.
"Having sex in itself can induce
feelings of love, depending on the
circumstances and with whom you
coach Dean Smith and the alumni as
sociation favored the move, but the
idea didn't win approval after chan
cellors of other UNC system schools
complained.
In the mid-19905, officials at the
school then known as Pembroke State
University fought for and won per
mission to become UNC Pembroke.
They wanted the school's name to
more clearly reflect its UNC affilia
tion.
Ken Carpenter, a 1978 UNCC
graduate who is co-president of the
Triad-area alumni association, wor
ries that the students' drive sends the
opposite message from Pembroke --
that the school doesn't want to be part
of the UNC system.
Though he doesn't object to the
possibility of a name change, he's not
sure University of Charlotte is the
right fit. He'd want to keep UNC in
the name.
"That's part of our identity," said
Carpenter, a team manager at
Wachovia Bank in Winston-Salem.
"I want a name that doesn't sound like
we're seceding from the union."
UNCC graduate James McCoy,
many as 12 members on proba
tion. According to sources, two
members face expulsion from the
sorority
"We're terribly disappointed.
It's a very old chapter," said Eliza
beth Corridan, the sorority's na
tional executive director. "They
just need to pull themselves to
gether and come back in line, and
The Kappa Alpha Theta house at the University of Cincinnati
are, of course," Janssen said.
"During sexual arousal, levels of
oxytocin a brain peptide that is
believed to he important in facili
tating 'pair bonding' go up, and
they peak during orgasm."
For studies aimed at monitoring
women's sexual arousal, Janssen
holds up a device that looks like a
cross between a tampon and a
lightbulb. A filament inside the de
vice measures photons, in the form
of infrared light, that a woman gen
erates as she becomes sexually
aroused.
Although Janssen is very scien
tific and precise about his lab
work, he views sexual desire
and sexual arousal in the realm
of emotions.
"[Sexual arousal] is an emotional
state, involving feelings as well as
physiological reactions, and it
serves a purpose, is relevant to life's
goals, is functional from a biologi
cal point of view," he said. "It is a
`hot' brain-state, and for some re
searchers that is already enough to
say someone is experiencing an
emotion."
The institute is conducting sev
eral studies in addition to Janssen's.
Researchers are trying to determine
why women stop taking the pill,
learn more about Viagra's effects,
and find out whether fragrance af
fects women's sexual arousal.
Janssen said his study of human
sexuality is an act of love that re
quires compassion specifically de
signed to help people improve their
lives.
"There are many ways you can do
that, I know, and this is just one
for women, for people of different
sexual orientation, for victims of
sexual violence. Maybe even for
men," he said. "And, yes, I believe
that part of the solution is based on
a better understanding of ourselves
as sexual beings."
who as the Delta Sig adviser helps
steer the group's plans, said students
are proud of their UNC affiliation,
That doesn't mean they want it in the
school's name, any more than Appa
lachian State University wants to be
come UNC Boone, he said.
McCoy has watched people flub
the UNCC name for years. He said
his freshman roommate visited the
school thinking it was UNC Chapel
Hill but liked it so much that he
stayed.
Later, while working for the
school's sports information depart
ment, McCoy watched reporters call
or write it every way but the correct
The University of Charlotte name
would help the school distinguish it
self, while also boosting the city's
name recognition, he said.
"It would give the city a lot more
ownership to the university," said
McCoy, who graduated in 1993 and
is now an MBA student. "We're right
here in the middle of one of the fast
est growing regions, and it's still just
considered a suitcase, satellite school
on the outskirts of the city."
together we'll be able to be proud
of the Cincinnati chapter."
Many campus Greeks are also
critical of the sorority.
"We're definitely upset," said
Robyn Kish, a third-year student
and member of the Theta Phi Al
pha sorority. "It hurts the whole
Greek system. I guess they got
what they deserved."