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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2000
Default rate on student loans
hits record low
by Ellen Nakashima
The Washington Post
October 01, 2000
WASHINGTON - The default rate
for the national student loan pro
gram, once so loosely run that its
very existence was in doubt, has
dipped to a record low of 6.9 per
cent, saving taxpayers $lB billion
over the last eight years, Clinton ad
ministration officials said Sunday.
They attribute the drop to a strong
economy and increased enforce
ment, including removing schools
whose students do not repay their
loans. The rate peaked at 22 percent
in 1992, when a few more than one
out of every five students with loans
defaulted.
Today, of the 2.2 million students
holding federal loans, about 150,000
- or one out of every 14 - have failed
to repay
"That's a singular accomplish
ment," said Terry Hartle, a spokes
man for the American Council on
Education, which represents more
than 1,800 colleges and universities.
"It's an extraordinary story of gov
Judy Shepard doesn't give up after son's slaying
by Andy Argyrakis
Campus Correspondent
TMS Campus
October 01, 2000
"Matt is no longer here because
two men learned that it was okay to
hate," said a emotional, yet stiff
lipped Judy Shepard, whose son
Matthew was slain in one the
America's most brutal hate crime
nearly two years ago. "They were
given the impression that society
condones or is indifferent to such
treatment of those who are not like
them."
Shepard's plea for peace was one
that seemed logical to those gathered
at North Central College in suburban
Chicago Thursday, Sept. 28, but she
quickly pointed out that such behav
ior is easier said than done in Amen-
can society.
She also told students of the addi
tional struggles she experienced
when she teamed her son was homo
sexual. "As a parent of a gay child,
your hope is that they can go through
the entire day without an incident,"
she said. "It would have been a great
day if nothing like that happened."
On October 7, 1998, this mother's
worst nightmare came true when her
21-year- old son, a student at the Uni
versity of Wyoming, was pistol
whipped, tied to a fence post and
beaten into a coma in freezing cold
temperatures. Matthew was left to
lay in misery for 18 hours until he
DePaul
harm during attack
by Matthew McGuire
October 04, 2000
TMS Campus
A 20-year-old DePaul University
junior fended off a knife-wielding
man who entered her unlocked dorm
room and attacked her as she exited
the shower Tuesday, Oct. 3.
After a brief struggle and lots of
screaming, the woman scared off the
intruder without sustaining injuries.
Police do not have anyone in custody,
but were scheduled to release a sketch
of the man.
The attack happened about 3 p.m.,
after the woman returned from a work
out to her McCabe Hall dorm room.
The woman believes she may have
passed the man in the hallway on the
way back to her room, which is lo
cated in heart of one of the Chicago's
ernment working well."
Republicans note that the rate be
gan falling as a result of initiatives
begun under the Bush administra
tion, and say the Clinton adminis
tration is taking a bow for doing
what Congress has ordered it to do.
"The fact that the student
loan default rate has
dropped is a reflection of
the fact that students are
taking seriously their ob
ligations to make their
payments on their loans."
-unknown senior
education official
"They're taking credit a lot lately
for things they've been mandated by
Congress to implement," said
Rebecca 0. Campoverde, commu
nications director for the U.S. House
was discovered and treated for abra
sions, hypothermia, severe welts and
a fractured skull at a nearby hospi
tal.
Matthew held on for five days af
ter the attack, but the abuse gradu
ally turned fatal. As he was laid to
rest, his killers, Aaron McKinney
and Russell Henderson, were sen
tenced to life in prison.
" There was a bit of relief at first to
know that Matthew's suffering was
over, but for us the suffering was just
beginning," Shepard said on behalf
of her family. "There are still days
when I can't go on, but the love and
support of those around me have sus
tained me. Matt would be disap
pointed if I gave up and that's why
I've been going around the country
to show people what's its like not to
give up after such a tragedy."
The Shepard family, which also
consists Matthew's father, Dennis
and his brother, Logan, started the
Matthew Shepard Foundation to en
courage acceptance and embrace di
versity. "Not every one is the same
in this world, and out of those that
are gay, I don't know anyone who
would choose to live their life in
fear," she said. "Everyone has the
right to live and should be treated
with respect, like you would a
brother and sister, because we are all
from the same family."
Such is the thinking behind the
foundation set up in Matthew's name,
and Judy hopes that through her cru-
student escapes
more affluent neighborhoods, Lincoln
Park.
After she took a shower, the woman
exited the stall, wrapped a towel
around her body and saw the intruder's
reflection in the mirror.
As the student began to scream the
man walked toward her with a knife
and the two began a struggle. The two
fumbled into the hallway - still within
the apartment-style dorm room - and
fell to the floor. The man placed one
hand over the woman's mouth and
threatened her life.
By this time, the woman's screams
had garnered the attention of neigh
boring students who came to her aid
as the man fled, said DePaul spokes
woman Denise Mattson. A Chicago
Police Department search of the coed
residence hall and surrounding neigh
borhood came up empty handed.
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
Education and Workforce Commit
tee, noting that Congress, beginning
in 1990, passed a series of laws de
signed to increase student loan re
payment and tighten school eligibil
ity to participate in the program.
Both sides deserve praise, said
Sheldon Steinbach, American Coun
cil on Education general counsel.
"Most important has been the edu
cational process undertaken by the
individual institutions to ensure that
the young men and women who take
out these loans understand that they
have a responsibility to repay them,"
he said.
He noted, however, that Education
Secretary Richard W. Riley "has
taken a dramatic lead in making this
an initiative for the administration."
Riley and President Clinton are ex
pected to announce the new default
rate Monday as Clinton continues his
push for congressional support for
his education initiatives.
The government has removed
more than 1,300 schools from the
student loan program, 850 of them
because a quarter or more of their
students defaulted for three straight
sade, parents will learn to be more
accepting of the lifestyles their chil
dren lead. Shepard was very accept
ing when learning of her son's ho
mosexuality. When he first told her
of his orientation, she continued to
love him the same way she had be
fore.
"We all should make contracts with
our children to let them know we love
them unconditionally and that we
will be there for them no matter what,
just like I was with Matt," she said.
"Do you think the murders' parents
stopped loving them after the crime?"
Judy noted that her husband's ac
ceptance of her son's sexual orienta
tion has been an example to other
men across the nation to first love
their children before they disapprove
of their lifestyle. "For those parents
that can't do that, I would just look
at them as a mother who had their
son yanked from them and wonder
how could they turn away when they
had the chance to be there for that
child?" she said.
Judy noted that her other son, Lo
gan, who had hoped to room with
Matthew at the University of Wyo
ming, has also helped spread the
message of acceptance. "Instead of
just saying his brother got killed or
that he is now an only child, he tells
people that that his brother was killed
as part of a hate crime because he was
gay," she said. "That shows that he
is comfortable enough in his own
skin to tell people what really hap-
in dorm
The student shares the dorm room
with two other women who were not
home at the time.
DePaul officials were examining
how the attacker could have gotten
into the building, which is equipped
with a card pass system and attendant
at the front desk. Following the attack,
officials met with students to discuss
the incident and review safety proce
dures. Counselors were also made
available to any student who had ad
ditional concerns.
Despite DePaul's location in an up
scale neighborhood, the incident
served as a reminder that the students
live in the middle of a major metro
politan city, Matteson said.
"Generally this is a very safe area
but we reminded all of our students
that crime happens every where in
urban environments," Matteson said.
years. About 500 schools were re
moved for violating federal finan
cial aid rules.
Officials acknowledged that
stricter enforcement rules began in
1990 under the Bush administration
but asserted that passing a law is but
the first step.
"It's a whole other job to take the
law as it is written and implement it
over a period of years in a way that
affects thousands of schools and
millions of students and their fami
lies," a senior education official said.
"The fact that the student loan de
fault rate has dropped is a reflection
of the fact that students are taking
seriously their obligations to make
their payments on their loans."
Students in default are barred
from receiving other federal student
aid. Their credit rating is lowered
and tax refunds or other federal pay
ments, and wages, can be seized to
cover the debt.
In 1998, students took out 8.6 mil
lion loans worth $35.7 billion. In
1990, administration officials said,
they took out 4.1 million loans worth
$11.7 billion.
pen and educate them that crimes of
such magnitude take place but must
be stopped."
Shepard made it clear that the main
audience anti-hate awareness could
be spread is the college demo
graphic, particularly since that was
Matthew's age when he died. "I have
Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was slain in one of America's most brutal hate crimes nearly two
years ago, speaks to a crowd at North Central College in suburban Chicago.
Chargies,„against suspect
in murder of Gallaudet
student dropped
by Billy O'Keefe
October 04, 2000
TMS Campus
One day after charging ThOtrias
Minch with the murder of a 411 ow
student at Gallaudet Universfty, au
thorities have dropped °barges
against the 18-year-old deaf college
freshman, claiming they clim't have
enough evidence.
Minch had been arrested for the
beating death of a gay student group
leader at the country's only liberal
arts university for deaf students. He
was charged with second-degree
murder in the death of fellow student
Eric Franklin Plunkett
.Fluakett, ,, 19, wee *ad dead in his
dorm' m after friends rep9tted
him misting for more than aday. AU-
one wish for college students and
that is that they would stop pigeon
holing everyone that is different
then they are," she said. "It starts
with the faculty and administration
on a campus making it clear that
hate behavior will not be tolerated.
If it doesn't start with them, then
thorities said that Plunkett likely
died from repeated blows to the head
and neck.
Plunkett, a freshman who was
deaf and had cerebral palsy, served
as secretary for the Lambda Society
of Otdlaudet University, a gay and
lesbian group some 20 students
strong.
Despite Plunkett's status in the
LSGU, however, police have yet to
classify the attack as a hate crime.
News of Minch's arrest had left an
already fearful Gallaudet student
body in shock. Several students told
the Washington Post that Minch was
a warm, polite person, and that it
seemed impossible that he was
Plunkett!st killer.
Minch and Plunkett enrolled at
Gallaudet this fall. Minch posted a
how will students learn from their ex
ample? Students need to get involved
to, by joining support groups on cam
pus and discussing this issue so that
their schools can be free from hate
crimes."
tribute to Plunkett on his personal
Web page.
"In loving memory of Eric Franklin
Plunkett," read Minch's last words on
the site, in which he also describes
his love of camping, his strong fam
ily ties and the fact that he has read
more books than he could possibly
list. "May his soul be in heaven!"
Established by Congress while the
Civil War was in full swing,
Gallaudet boasts a campus of ap
proximately 2,000 deaf and hearing
impaired students. Plunkett's is the
third violent death in the university's
history, with the first two coming in
1990 and 1980, respectively.
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