M
ETHODIST
C
OLLEGE
Pride
Fayetteville, NC
Vol. XXXIV, No. 5
Friday, November 1, 1996
Wi
I
9
Affirmative action debate heats up
on campuses as election approaches
David Teague helps a coastal resident clean a yard filled with debris left from Hurricane
Fran. (Photo courtesy of Carrie Parrish)
MC team spends fall
break helping victims
of Hurricane Fran
By Mike McDermott
Editor
Fall break: most of us look
forward to going home, visiting
friends and family, and getting some
well-deserved rest. But for Reverend
Carrie Parrish and a team of civic-
minded students and faculty members,
fall break was spent on a mission of
mercy to aid in the relief of the vic
tims of hurricane Fran.
The group headed to the
Swansboro/Hubert area on the North
Carolina coast on Oct. 11. The in
tended goal was to help in any way
they could. The team members agreed
that they accomplished this goal, but
also said they got more than they bar
gained for out of the mission.
Rev. Parrish explained that
their role in the relief effort was “to
do whatever work was assigned as
thoroughly and helpfully as we could.”
Upon arriving at the Methodist church
in Hubert, the team was given an ori
entation briefing and then sent to sleep
on “Marine Corps cots,” she ex
plained. “The next morning,” Parrish
said, “ we got up and began to clean
up fallen trees and scattered debris that
the hurricane had caused.”
Team member Summer
Gilmore said, “Hard work pays off,
even though it’s just a smile on
someone’s face.” This seemed to be
the added outcome to the mission that
was unanticipated at the outset.
Rev. Parrish added, “The
human dimension impacted every
member of the team. There was an
82-year-old woman who looked so
frail that she could just blow away.
She was on an oxygen tank 24 hours
a day. The students loved her, and
she cried when we left.
“There was another woman
who we felt was taking advantage of
the relief effort to get non-hurricane
related work done,” she continued,
“but we came to realize that she was
an isolated, lonely woman who just
wanted social contact. She kept
reaching into the van as we pulled
away. Another lady was so touched
when we cleaned up her yard that she
got in the van and went to the next
site with us to help out.”
The team was not acting
alone, though, as Parrish explained.
“There is a Methodist response net
work that is dispatched whenever
there is a natural disaster. There is a
pre-disaster gear-up in which the lead
ership folks are sent immediately to
the area,” she said. This response net
work is headed by a natural disaster
committee within the United Method
ist Church. Parrish said, “The leaders
get the local people involved and the
local minister is in charge of that area.”
The order of precedence for disasters
is local, then national, and finally in
ternational.
See MISSION, page 3
The College Press Service
SACRAMENTO, Calif.-To
some, it is a racist “preference pro
gram” that stigmatizes rather than
heals.
Others view it as a path to
equal opportunity; a way to rectify
past wrongs and promote diversity.
Either way, affirmative ac
tion—a broad range of policies that
seek to boost opportunities for minori
ties and women by providing them
special consideration in university ad
missions, among other areas—has be
come a hot, if not contentious, issue
this election year.
At their convention, Repub
licans made it clear they favor ending
affirmative action. The Democrats, in
the words of President Bill Clinton,
prefer “mending,” not “ending” affir
mative action.
But just what form affirma
tive action reform should take is a
question on the minds of many uni
versity administrators, who ask; How
can universities shape the makeup of
future classes to reflect a diverse so
ciety without using racial, ethnic, or
sex preferences?
The gap in college participa
tion between whites and minorities is
“cause for concern,” according to
Robert Atwell, president of the Ameri
can Council on Education. “We have
a long way to go before we can claim
to have achieved equality of educa
tional opportunity and achievement,”
he said.
Quick-and-easy solutions
appear to be elusive. Yet the affirma
tive action question is one that uni
versity administrators increasingly are
being forced to confront. In the past
year and a half, several court actions
and a California ballot initiative have
pointed to a shift in the status quo:
•Last March 18, a federal
appeals court decision shocked uni
versity administrators when it barred
the affirmative action program at the
University of Texas law school.
According to the 5th U.S.
Court of Appeals, which covers Loui
siana, Texas, and Mississippi, race
could not be a determining factor in
deciding admissions. The case directly
challenged a 1978 benchmark case,
California Board of Regents v. Bakke,
which stated diversity was a desired
goal and race could be a factor.
On July 1, the U.S. Supreme
Court declined to review the case,
leaving many to wonder whether cre
ating diversity can be considered a
compelling enough goal to use race
in determining college admissions.
As a result, race has been
excluded as an admissions factor at
the University of Texas. At the urg
ing of its state attorney general, the
University of Georgia is re-examining
its use of racial guidelines in univer
sity admissions. Colorado’s attorney
general has urged public colleges to
find ways to financially assist students
without using race as a factor.
Arizona’s Board of Regents and the
University of Michigan are reviewing
alternative ways to achieve diversity.
•In California, a high-profile
battle is being waged over Proposi
tion 209, a November ballot measure
that would end racial and gender pref
erences in all state hiring and univer
sity admissions.
If the measure gathers
enough votes, students would no
longer check a box describing their
race on university applications.
And that’s the way it should
be, argues University of California
regent Ward Connerly, one of the most
vocal opponents of affirmative action.
When students are admitted
to universities based on their skin
color, “we can call it diversity, we can
call it whatever we want—it’s discrimi
nation,” said Connerly, an African-
American. “Unless we treat all appli
cants the same, we’re'injecting poi
son into the body politic.”
Elizabeth Toledo, president
of the California National Organiza
tion of Women, disagrees. “What
drives affirmative action programs is
widespread patterns of discrimination
that need to be addressed,” she told
Connerly during a recent debate.
One thing both agree on: the
nation’s collective future is at stake
when Californian voters go to the polls
Nov. 5.
“Whatever message Califor-
Unusual scholarships available for students
ranging from southpaw freshmen to redheads
The College Press Service
LEWISBURG, Pa.- All four
years at a Pennsylvania high school,
Jennifer Parisella ran varsity track and
cross country, and urged her teams on
as a cheerleader.
Now she's trading in her
running sneakers and pompons for
free tuition at Bucknell University.
Parisella, a 17-year-old
freshmen, won an unusual Bucknell
scholarship for Mt. Carmel (Pa.) High
School graduates who promise not to
smoke, drink, or "engage in strenu
ous athletic contests."
Without the rather unusual
reward, Parisella couldn't afford the
$26,000 yearly price tag at Bucknell,
her first choice for college.
"It was tough coming here,
[but] they offered me an unbelievable
deal," she said, adding that even her
books are covered. "I'm not paying
anything to go here."
Every year, hundreds of
oddball endowments like the Bucknell
scholarship are offered to college stu
dents who might not fit the traditional
mold of high school valedictorian or
superstar athlete.
The scholarships may be
wacky and weird, but they'll put cold,
hard cash in your pocket...if you're the
right candidate.
At North Carolina State
University, students can win $8,000
each year if their last name is Gatlin
or Gatling.Whirly Girls Scholarships
worth $2,000 are awarded to women
pursuing careers as helicopter pilots.
There’s college scholarships
for dwarfs, fat people, veteran golf
caddies, left-handed freshmen and
even children of parents who host
Tupperware home parties. The David
Letterman Scholarship at Ball State
University is for a telecommunications
major with an "average yet creative"
mind.
For a short while, there was
even a scholarship for a "lady of the
night." The award stemmed from a
judge's efforts to clear Seattle's streets
by giving prostitutes a cash incentive
to trade night work for college
courses.
The scholarship bombed,
most likely because of its unsightly
name. For a while, the International
Boar Semen Scholarship offered $500
to Future Farmers of America who
planned to study swine management.
"There was a lot of protest
over that one," said Joe Gargiulo,
public relations director at National
Research Scholarship Service, which
compiles an annual "Top 10" list of
strange awards. "But they just
changed the name."
In some cases, what is per
ceived a "unusual" scholarship is sim
ply an award created by a university
alumnus desiring to help a student
much like him or herself, according
to Gargiulo.
"Good students, and medi
cal, dental, law and psychology [stu
dents] are all pretty well covered," he
said. "Then, all of a sudden, take a
person like me."
Gargiulo, a first-generation
American, grew up with an Italian fa
ther and a Mexican mother and often
drew fire from teachers because he
didn't read or write English well.
"If I were to give a scholar
ship," he said, "I'd be interested in
another person who had problems
with the language. You would say
‘that's unusual.' Not to me, it isn't."
That's the case at Bucknell,
where the scholarship for teetotaling,
non-athletic types was donated by a
frugal bachelor named Joseph Deppen
who lived with his sister, an unmar
ried woman named Gertrude. Both
were Bucknell alums who weren't on
any sports teams.
Upon his death in 1963,
Deppen left $1 million to the univer
sity for students who are not "habitual
users" of alcohol, tobacco or narcot
ics and who "shall not participate in
strenuous athletic contests."
The university considers
"strenuous athletic contests" to be
varsity sports, said Kathie Dibell, as
sociate director of public relations at
Bucknell.
"If a student wants to play a
weekend game of golf or tennis, or
go bowling, he or she can still be a
Deppen scholar," she said.
At Juniata College, the
Beckley award is given to a student
who is needy, academically eligible
and left-handed. According to the
college, the fund was started by Mr.
and Mrs. Frederick Beckley, two
southpaws who fell in love after they
were paired together on Juniata's ten
nis team.
"As a member of Left
handers International once noted,
‘The only American institution that
currently favors left-handers is the
highway toll booth,’" the college said
in a statement. "With the Beckley
award, however, this overlooked mi
nority will find at least one educational
institution behind them."
Unusual gifts, in fact, are
nothing to Juniata. The late Will Judy,
publisher of Chicago's Dog World
magazine, donated funds for a room
See SCHOLARSHIPS, page 3
How can universities shape the
maleup of future classes to reflect a
diverse society without using racial,
ethnic, or sex preferences?
nia sends out will be felt across the
country,” Toledo said.
Diana Norman’s story:
How affirmative
action benefits
For Diana Norman, a Uni
versity of Califomia-Davis senior, col
lege never seemed to be an option.
“I was a waitress for nine
years,” she said. “I never really
thought about going to college right
after high school.”
Norman, 26, is the daughter
of a Guatemalan mother and an
American father. In her Latina family,
it was assumed that girls didn’t need
a college education, she said.
But then she got involved
with Math-English-Science Achieve
ment, or MESA, a group which helps
minority students attend community
college. Through the group, she re
ceived tutoring and career guidance
at no cost.
“I found out...you don’t have
to be a waitress for the rest of your
life,” she said. “I found out I was eli
gible to transfer to UC-Davis.”
Once there, she got involved
with several programs that help mi
norities, such as the Minority Aca
demic Talent Roster. Norman, who
studies animal science, has been in
vited to national research conferences
and was recently accepted into a sci
ence honorary society at Davis.
“I was really thankful,” she
said. “There’s so many things I’ve
done that I never thought I’d do. It
never occurted to me until people give
you an opportunity to see your po
tential.”
Norman stresses that her
grades and credits got her into UC-
Davis—not her race. “I’m sure that
happens,” she said. “I don’t think they
should do that. It doesn’t help the stu
dent.”
She supports affirrqative ac
tion in the form of special programs
that help minorities by giving them
mentoring, tutoring, career guidance,
and financial aid. It’s necessary to pro
mote diversity on mostly white cam
puses, she said.
“I still never see a Latina
teacher,” she said, adding that Latina
students make up only about three
percent of the student body at UC-
Davis. “There are not a lot of men
tors out there for black people.”
She is voting against Propo
sition 209 because she thinks it “will
benefit white males,” she said. “A lot
of people think, ‘oh, affirmative ac
tion is [that] they can get in easier.’
It’s a misconception. I wish they could
take an hour and read what really
comes out of [affirmative action.]
Overall, I think people on campus are
really ignorant.”
Norman recently voiced her
thoughts at a campus panel discus
sions on Proposition 209. Effie
See AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, page 2
Junior Torward Kemal Kansu currently ranks ninth in the DIAC in scoring with 16
points on six goals and four assists. The Monarchs are ranked second in the South
region and 12th in the NCAA-III. (Photo by Jamee Lynch)
INSIDE
MC senior can help you find scholarship funds page 3
Football team has its best record yet page 4
Methodist College celebrates 40 page 5
Peer mentors help freshmen adjust page 5
Affirmative action policies no longer needed page 6