1989-03-09, Samford Crimson

Inside *ж SANFORD CRIMSON 2 1 an Feature: Minorities on campus..... . 1 Baseball fever . . . 3 ‘Breaking’ away . -. . 5 Adopt some grub . . ....7 Volume 73 Number 12 Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama March 9, 1989 Batter Up! Senior Wade Lichliter at bat during the Tennessee State game. See related article on page three. ‘New racism’ on campuses By Tracey Shepard Editor A black freshman at the Cita¬ del in South Carolina is hazed by upperclassmen dressed in sheets and shouting racial epi¬ thets. , A dead chicken is found at the University of California at Berkeley with a sign reading “Death to Niggers" around its neck. Across the nation, a “new racism" is generating on college campuses. Some blame “new racism” on the political atmos¬ phere that accompanied the Reagan administration into the White House. Samford University Provost William Hull said “new racism” was spawned by “a broad cul¬ tural misunderstanding of the civil-rights movement by the debunking of liberalism." Hull said many black leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., were considered to be liberals; yet the Reagan and Bush ad¬ ministrations all came to power Please see Racism page2 SU’s black recruitment lags By George Gilbert v Staff Reporter Samford University ranks next to last in the percentage of black students out of all the colleges and universities in the Birmingham area. With a population of close to 4,000, Samford has 4.5 per¬ cent black students. That compares with South¬ eastern Bible College, which has a 2.6 percent black population out of a total of 1 14 students, according to a 1986 study by the U.S. Department of Educa¬ tion, which compiles such data every two years for the Office for Civil-Rights. The University of Alabama in Birmingham, with a student body of 13,538 is 16.2 percent black. In the same study, Samford ranked 4th out of Southern Baptist colleges in the south¬ east in the percentage of blacks. Mercer was first by being 13 percent black, Carson Newman hits 6.2 percent. Mars Hill has 5.5 percent, then Samford at 4.5 percent. Baylor was last. Out of a total enrollment of 11,558 students, only 1.5 percent of Baylor’s students were black. In a report released last month by the American Council on Education, fewer black males are going to college now than in the mid-1970s. Since 1976, the proportion of black males fell nationally from 4.3 percent to 3.5 per¬ cent. Black women represent 5.2 percent of total college enroll¬ ment, a figure that has remained steady for a decade. Report author Reginald Wilson said, “This certainly means that schools will have to do more aggressive recruiting of minorities." Samford, however, does not make any special effort to re- Please see Admissions page 2 Minorities lack specific scholarships By George Gilbert Staff Reporter The 1988-89 Samford Uni¬ versity Catalog does not list any scholarships or financial aid that is geared specifically toward any black or minority group. “Yes, that is true,” said Don Belcher, dean of Admissions and director of Financial Aid. “But black students can apply for any of the scholarships offered, Just like everyone else." Greg Roberts is the adminis¬ trator for Talent Search, a fed¬ eral program designed to help disadvantaged students apply and pay for college. Roberts said one of the main problems is high tuition and the complex application forms that a student must fill out to receive financial aid. “We tell these kids to stay in school, get straight A’s and stay away from drugs, but that won't mean anything if we can’t give them a simple enough form to fill out so they can get the money they need to go to school," Roberts said. Roberts made these com¬ ments in a recent article in The Chron icle of Higher Ed ucation. “Nobody is saying that poor students should be excused from Please see Scholarship page 2 Tuition increases, flat rate charged ‘By Tracey Shepard and Amy Walker Staff Editors Samford tuition will change to a flat rate fee for 1989-90, and it won’t be cheaper than this year’s per credit hour fee, according to Samford President Thomas Corts. Currently, Samford students pay different amounts for tui¬ tion according to how many hours are taken. Under the new plan, Samford students will pay the same amount for 12 to 18 hours. A student currently taking 16 hours pays $2,416 a semester. Under the new plan a student will pay $2,750, a difference of $334. If a student takes less than 12 hours, he or she will pay the per credit hour fee. However, the credit hour fee is being raised from $151 to $180. For example, a student tak¬ ing 12 hours this year pays $1,812 a semester. Under the new plan, a student taking 12 hours will pay the flat rate of $2,750, a difference of $938. “This is a major change in university policy. For years, I don’t know how long, we have charged by per credit hour. We have changed to what we felt moist private universities do, charge comprehensive fees," said Corts. Corts gave several reasons for the new policy. He said the flat rate will eliminate several course fees, fees he said in the past have kept students from taking various courses. For example, biology, nurs¬ ing, pharmacy, student teach¬ ing, and music courses all charged special course fees. Under the new policy, all fees except those for private music instruction will be eliminated. a Corts also said he hopes the new policy will encourage stu¬ dents to take heavier course loads and thus be more chal¬ lenged. He said students who in the past could not pay for more than 12 hours, can now take Please see Tuition page 2 Black professors scarce By Tracey Shepard Editor Just as the students going to college are predominately white, university faculties also remain a near lily-white institution. Samford University is no excep¬ tion. Currently, Samford has only one black faculty member, Aubrey Miller, part-time instruc¬ tor of journalism, out of 287 full-time and part-time profes¬ sors. Although the percentage of blacks to whites may seem meager, it’s about the same for private universities comparable to Samford. Mars Hill Collcg6, Stetson University and Belmont College currently have no black faculty members. Furman University has one, Carson-Newman Col¬ lege has two and Mercer Univer¬ sity has four. According to a recent report in the Chronicle of Higher Edu¬ cation by Michael Hirschorn, “There simply aren't enough qualified blacks to fill more than a handful of seats in the nation’s 3,300 colleges and universities." Blacks earned only 820 Ph.D.s in 1986 (out of 32,000 total), and currently, only two percent of the full-time profes¬ sors with Ph.D.s are black. Samford University President Thomas Corts said, “Sometimes our goals work against us." He Please see Faculty page 2 1986 Black Enrollment at Southern Baptist Institutions of Higher Education in the Southeast PERCENT TOTAL# OF STWENIS Baylor . oeeseoeaeeeooeeeeeoeeoeeeeeeeeeel i50 ее ееее ее eee ее _ 11,558 Carson Newman . 1,861 Furman . . . . *2,964 Hardin Simmons . 3.30 . ......1,804 Judson . T АП . 346 Mars Hill . . 1,323 Mercer . ......5,762 Samford . . ... ...-4.5П . . 3,802 Stetson . 1 ЛП . 2.656 Wake Forest . 1мвииммиееемее«еенееиае 3»1Q eeeeeeeeeeeeeoeeeee 5)054 Statistics collected by the U.S. Department ol Education tor the Office tor CM Rights. f Samford University Library