..”• COLLEGIAN 100 YEARS AprillBB7•April 1987 Black enrollment down 25 percent By CAROLYN SORISIO Collegian Staff Writer University officials say the number of blacks admitted to Penn State plummeted by 25 percent this fall while total admissions held steady. Robert Dunham, vice president for aca demic services, attributed the decrease to a combination of three factors. The declining number of eligible black high school graduating students and tougher com petition for the qualified students were two of the main reasons for the decrease in enroll ment, Dunham said. Tension created within the University be cause of the its decision not to divest $B.B million in South African holdings also con tributed to the decrease, he said. "All of those probably were a factor which one of them is greater, I don't know," Dunham said. 20 dead, By LAURINDA KEYS Associated Press Writer SOWETO, South Africa Police killed 12' blacks in Soweto, a mob hacked a councilor to death and 70 people were shot, beaten or stoned in the worst township rioting since early 1985, officials said yesterday. Doctors and clergymen said 20 peo ple were killed and up to 100 injured. Relatives and newspapers said the dead ranged from 13 to 22 years old and included an 18-year-old woman. Five policemen were among the injured during the night of violence in the huge black city outside Johannes burg. Four were wounded by a hand grenade tossed from a crowd of 300 people barricading a road with burn ing tires. Officers fired shotguns in response, officials said. The roadblock battle was the spark that ignited the riots, said the govern ment Bureau for Information the only source of official information on unrest under the nationwide state of emergency imposed June 12. Residents said the trouble was rooted in anger over evictions of rent boycotters by township council po lice. Town clerk Nico Malan said, how ever, that no evictions had occurred in the five neighborhoods where the fighting took place. Councilor Sydenham Mkwanazi, 56, was killed by youths who attacked him on his way home. His wife Novas cotia said the young men were angry because one of their friends had died after being shot by guards at the Mkwanezi house. The outburst in Soweto was by far the worst under the emergency and the death toll in the battle with police was the highest since 19 people were killed March 21, 1985 in the eastern Cape Province township of Langa. Higher one-day death tolls have been recorded this year, but they involved clashes of rival black politi cal and tribal factions. Violence subsided yesterday af ternoon in this city of nearly two million people. Helicopters and cam ouflaged Bosbok spotter planes flew over the haze of smoke from burning #~'f - f - l~t~kt - ~i Students who failed to have their new student ID pictures taken can be photographed at the Registrar's Office in Shields Building and in 316 HUB from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow. inside • The University's Education Abroad Program will offer three new programs next semester, giving students the chance to study in Athens, Greece; Cairo, Egypt; and Flensburg, West Ger many Page 12 index opinion sports state/nation/world weather This afternoon it will be cool with lots of clouds and a possi bility of a stray shower. High only reaching 64. Tonight It's going to be cold as the low drops to near 40 degrees. To morrow, another cool day with clouds mixed with sunshine and a high of 65 Heidi Sonen the daily However, student leaders involved in the Black Student Coalition Against Racism at tributed the decline in enrollment to BSCAR's efforts to inform potential black students of its perceptions of an unpleasant atmosphere for blacks at Penn State. Lucy Boddie, a member of BSCAR, said there is a "direct correlation" between the work of BSCAR and the decrease in enroll-. ment. Boddie (senior-telecommunications) said BSCAR talked to high school students over the summer. "We wanted to speak to the student in a more realistic way about Penn State (than the administration)," she said. Boddie said BSCAR met with students to let them know that if they came to the Universi ty, there was work to be done to improve the atmosphere. As of Aug. 18, 352 Pennsylvanian black high school graduates had paid their tuition and 100 _ .. .... „,...,...., ~ . ~..• 4.::;.., itt7t The body of a victim of Tuesday night's riot in Soweto's "White City" lies in the street covered in newspapers. The government said Wednesday the riot was by far the worst violence during the ten•week state of emergency. rubbish and chimneys, which mixed with occasional wisps of tear gas. Last evening, journalists reported that youths in six neighborhoods reb uilt barricades troops had tried to dismantle and security forces fired birdshot and tear gas at them. Huge boulders, cement blocks, tree branches and car wreckage made barricades in the dirt streets and asphalt roads of White City, the scene of the worst riots. White City got the name because it is the best-lighted neighborhood in the 38-square-mile township. Knots of silent, sullen young blacks stood on the streets, glaring at pass ing cars. "They will find some target a councilor's home or the home of a policeman," said a resident who be lieved more violence was in store. Army personnel carriers and police trucks called Casspirs rolled along Local investors may buy downtown businesses By JAMES A. STEWART Collegian Staff Writer A group of local investors may purchase eight downtown businesses if the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board approves a liquor license transfer, a group member said. Group member Michael F. Des mond saidthe businesses are inside the Hotel State College, on the 100 block of West College Avenue. Chumley's, The Corner Room, Gatsby's, The Half Shell, Mr. C's, Take Six, Zeno's and the Hotel State College were put up for sale by One Hundred West, Inc. last year. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 1, 1986 and currently is restructuring its finances to pay off debts. Chandler Withington, president of One Hundred West, Inc., said his organization has been trying to sell the businesses for more than a year. Desmond said his investment group Hotel State College, Inc. plans to keep all eight establishments open. Desmond said he could not elab orate on the future of the businesses. Other partners in the group include State College residents Fred H. Car lin, John G. Cocolin, Donald E. Farb er and Stephen S. Hurwitz. The investment group will be pur chasing only the equipment and busi nesses, Withington said. The building is owned by State College realtor Sidney Friedman. olle • lan injured the back streets or sat in open fields. The ever-present armored trucks have inspired bumper stickers in the townships that read: "Casspirs are not friendly ghosts." Most Soweto schools were deserted yesterday, but the government said none had been officially closed. Residents and police said youths put up barricades of rocks and debris Tuesday evening, hurled stones and firebombs at police and passing cars and went from house to house urging people to join the battle. Shooting was heard all night. "This is what the emergency, ,tries to conceal. It's an ominous sign 'of times ahead and the beginning of what we fear," said Winnie Mandela, wife of jailed African National Con gress leader Nelson Mandela. She toured White City yesterday at mid day and predicted worse to come. In Los Angeles, Calif., White House The Corner Room is one of several downtown businesses that may soon change ownership. But the establishments will remain open, said a potential owner accepted enrollment at the University, Dun ham said. Also, 218 out-of-state black students had accepted admissions, he said. This enrollment, however, is about 25 per cent less than what the admissions office hoped to achieve. Boddie said although she regretted having a smaller black community at the University, she hoped the decrease in enrollment would send a message to the administration. Stephanie Cooper, of the Committee for Justice in South Africa, said "I'd like to think that the decrease in enrollment will make the administration think more about the situation and lean toward divestment and try to im prove the atmosphere for blacks." Cooper (senior-English) added that al though she was not sure of the national enrollment figures, she said they were not the primary reason for the decrease in black enrollment at Penn State. in Soweto riot '40,, :go.: ,-r.f.. ' ' '' •1'; ; •:;`'.iit. „:.,. :. -, 4 ~ ..., .1, 1 4.:.1.- - \ spokesman Larry Speakes said the Reagan administration had only lim ited information about the Soweto situation but "it appears the authori ties employed excess force in restor ing order." "We don't think that should be condoned . . . violence by either side," he said. "Violence begets vio lence and it is a useless and self perpetuating cycle that helps neither black nor white." Dr. Beyers Naude, the Afrikaner general secretary of the South Afri can Council of Churches and a foe of apartheid, said his information indi cated there were more deaths and injuries than the government had reported. He appealed to the Soweto City Council to stop evictions and meet with community leaders to resolve the problem. "It didn't have as big an effect as they (the administration) would like to think," she said. The University has been mandated by a federal court to increase its minority student population to 5 percent of the total University enrollment by 1987. Dunham said the University is paying particular attention to the number of black students from Pennsylvania because they are the primary focus of the court mandate. Last Spring Semester, BSCAR announced its intentions to hinder minority recruitment efforts because of the University's decision not to divest its holdings in South Africa. It accused the University of not making an effort to retain the black students once they are admitted to the University. Boddie said BSCAR intends to focus both on local and national issues next year and stres sed,"We have to work on what's here." U.S. warns Libya again, refuses to cite evidence of terrorist activities By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES President Rea gan's top spokesman said yester day the administration is worried about new terrorist plots by Li bya's Moammar Gadhafi, but re fused to say whether there is evidence to back up that concern. Larry Speakes said Libya still has "the capability to commit terrorist acts, and we want them to be fully aware that our policy is unchanged." He sought to discount specu lation that the United States is waging a war of nerves with the Libyan strongman. "Our goal is to prevent Gadhafi from doing things, not to provoke him into doing things," the spokes man told reporters covering Rea gan's three-day visit here in the midst of the president's West Coast summer vacation. But Speakes also refused to spell out any intelligence-source evi dence of new plots, saying only that "the United States is dealing with realities in this situation." A senior administration official said "there is hard evidence that the Libyan government has been planning and seeking to execute terrorist acts . . . since the U.S. bombing" of Libya on April 15. Laserphoto But other officials at the White House and State Department, who also were speaking only when granted anonymity, insisted ear lier that there was no such compel ling evidence. "We don't have evidence, not of any recent attack directed at us that we can source with confi dence to Libya," said the State Department official. "There is lots of information of targeting, but it's not unequivocal, which is the stan dard we have set for ourselves." Similarly, a White House official said, "The honest answer is that Thursday, August 28, 1986 Vol. 87, No. 33 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 " Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University P 1986 Collegian Inc. at PSU Cooper attributed much of the enrollment decrease to the attention the divestment issue received in the press. "What BSCAR has done and the attention brought to the issue has had an effect," she said. Echoing Cooper, Boddie said "The word is definitely out and bad news always travels faster than good news." Dunham said he had spoken to some black students who expressed reservations in com ing to the University because of last year's controversy about divestment and the atmo sphere for blacks at Penn State. However, he added that he had also talked to many black students who were eager to come to the University. While official enrollment figures have not yet been released, Dunham said that overall University enrollment will probably be slightly above the targeted number. we have bits and pieces, but that it's not strong enough yet to point to.a specific activity. It's not that it -is groundless, but it's not the sort of hard evidence that would be necessary to justify another strike." U.S. bombers, flying under the cover of darkness, launched a series of raids on Libya on April 15, partially in reprisal• for a ter rorist bombing at a West Berlin discotheque, which killed two American servicemen. Repeating a warning that has been voiced by administration of ficials both publicly and privately, Speakes said, "We will do what we can to prevent them ( terrorist attacks) and be prepared to take the necessary steps, either before or after these are committed, in order to ensure that they don't happen again." The spokesman also sought to minimize reports from Washing ton that there was dissension among high-level officials about the administration's assessment of the Libyan threat. And Speakes tried to play down worry, voiced privately by some officials, that White House remarks about Gad hafi would endanger the prospects of a new diplomatic effort by U.N. Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, traveling overseas to gain Euro pean support for U.S. strategy to combat terrorism. "We have most of the highest level of government present here in California, and not in Washing ton," Speakes said. "And those who may be speculating on an unnamed basis may not (be) in the know on the thinking of our lead ership that is present here in Cali fornia." The senior administration offi cial said, "We do have intelligence reports that Gadhafi has not been deterred in his efforts to commit terrorist activity." Collegian Photo 1 Mlke Moss
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers