Eckerd College - Logos Yearbook (St Petersburg, FL)

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Giovanna Welch, STudenT Member Hnakicrks dsappeammg in Wgher Mary Zimnik, Editor of The Florlda Board of RegenTs, spoke To black sTudenTs aT a recenT Florlda Black STudenT As- soclaTlon CFBSAD conference. She charged 'There ls sTlll dlscrlml- naTlon. DlscrlmlnaTlon hasn'T crawled lnTo a corner. STarvlng children aren'T only ln Afrlca.. dlfference. ..u However, Thanks To SenaTors Phlllp Gramm and Warren Rudman, and Thanks To unfalr assessmenT TesTs lllke The SATB, and flnally, Thanks To shorT-slghTed vlslon ln The eyes of our socieTy Today, black people may noT geT ThaT opporTunlTy To make a dlfference Blacks are ln Trouble ln higher educaTlon. Thelr numbers are decllnlng and accordlng To DlrecTor Louls Sul llvan of Morehouse School of Medlclne, 'We have losT The legacy of The'60s and'7Os ln equal opporTunlTy and ln equlTyJ'lI1ME, November 11, 19857 The loss ls belng felT across The counTry. Everywhere black sTudenTs are loslng ground ln educaTIon and Ioslng a grlp ln socleTy. Thls pasT year aT Eckerd Col- lege only Two Amerlcan black sTu- denTs ouT of 340 were admlTTed lnTo The freshman class. ThaT's a sTaggerlng .5Z. Dean of Admlsslons Dlck Hallin doesn'T blame hls admlsslons sTaff for The .51 freshman black enrollmenT. NlT's noT an lnsTlTuTlon ThaT's walked away from lTs commlTTmenT or an admlsslons sTaff ThaT doesn'T do lTs job -- lT's a naTlon-wlde probIem.W However, he also added ThaT uyou can never make The case ThaT you've done all you can do.H So, who or whaT is To blame here aT Eckerdf Hallin has a Three-parT Theory as To The cause of The problem on Thls campus 11 Top sTudenTs are losT ouT To The more presTlgous ln- sTiTuTlons 23 Eckerd campus lacks The blacks in numbers CsTudenTs, sTaff, faculTy3 ThaT creaTes a ncomforTableH campus ThaT lnvlTes a prospecTlve black sTudenT. Also, The ST. PeTersburg area lacks The black professionals To do The same 33 Money, l.e., Tlnanclal ald This past year at Eckerd College only two black students out of 340 were admitted into the freshman class. That's a stag- gering .5fM:. The flrsT aspecT To hls Theory represenTs a subsTanTlal problem Accordlng To Hallln, 'Why would a good, black sTudenT come To Thls lnsTlTuTlon?n More lmporTanTly, how does This adminlsTraTlon deflne a Ngood, black sTudenT?H WThe goal is To Try and Improve The academlc sTandards so more whiTe and black sTudenTs wlll apply,n accordlng To Hallln. In This goal To Improve acade- mlc admlsslons sTandards ls a flve-year plan ln The making by The College Plannlng Councll CCPC7, chalred by PresldenT PeTer ArmacosT.Thls flve-year plan ls presenTly being designed Ton among oTher reasons, To Improve The col lege's academlc repuTaTlon. One proposed parT of This plan ls To Include an SAT requlremenT cuT-off. Dean of Academlcs Lloyd Chapin wanTs ThaT cuT-off To be a score of BOO, accordlng To one CPC member. So, lf This plan goes lnTo eTfecT, wlThln flve years no sTudenT wlll be admiTTed wlTh an SAT score of under 800. Therefore, augood, black sTu- denTU ln The eyes of The admlnlsTraTlon mlghT be one wlTh accepTable SAT scores according To These admlsslons sTandards ThaT aTTlTude In The proposal doesn'T leave much posslblllTy for The fuTure of black sTudenTs aT Eckerd Col lege. Perhaps one day ThaT .55 black freshman enrol lmenT mlghT be a number To shooT for. AlThough There ls no documenTed evldence To sclenTlflcally supporT The fol lowlng, SAT scores may be considered dlscrlmlnaTory. Accordlng To Hallln, lasT year's average scores among senlors speak for Themselves: 'The average SAT score for a 1985 senlor was 906. Of ThaT group Is The following: average NaTlve Amerlcan - 820 average Aslan Amerlcan - 922 average black American - 722 average Chlcano - 808 average PuerTo Rlcan - 778 average HhlTe Amerlcan - 939 In response To SAT's, Dean Mark SmlTh sald, 'SAT's are vlewed by blacks as a TesT for whlTes, by whlTes. . . black sTudenTs approach The TesT wlTh a defensive ITIOFS 23

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Z oet 1 X... 1 ' 'lf colleges keep squeezing black students, the y just set- up a dependent, young, black generation . . . Kill the head and the body will die. " -Lena Willfalk

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attltude. Why then, should they take the test serlously? I belleve this very strongIy.n How can an lnstltutlon base admlsslon standards on a test that reflects even the hlnt of ln- equallty dlsplayed above In last year's average scores? lf this ls an unfalr test because of soclo- economlc lnequallty, Eckerd Col- lege would be dlscrlmlnatlng If lt used an SAT cut-off score ln Its admlsslon requirements. Look around you. How many students here are successful as community members despite average to low SAT scores? According to Smlth, 'I don't so much worry about the students wlth low SAT scores and hlgh partlclpatlon, but rather hlgh SAT scores and low partlclpatlon.' Afro-American Soclety President and senlor Ernestlne Johnston agrees, 'SAT's do not say what a student can contrlbute. SAT's do "SAT's are vieved by black as a test for whites, by whites. " -Mark Smith not prove your capabilities Anyone can learn lf they have a wlll to learn.N But even with a strong Wwlll to learnn and a shot at col lege ac- ceptance, blacks yet have another hurdle. That hurdle Just may tear apart all the good done by the Clvll Rights Movement. NLast funded, flrst cut from the hudget,' sald Welch at the FBSA conference. That's part of what Gramm-Rudman wlll do. Welch contlnued,UAfflrmatlve Actlon, Black Student Unions. 17- bllllon cut from domestlc programs -- welfare, soclal servlces -- poor peoplefblack people wlll be hlt from all sldes.n ls the Gramm-Rudman law lntentlonally dlscrlmlnatory, or ls lt Just an accldent? The Supreme Court heard arguments In late Aprll on the constitution- allty of the law. Untll any change ls made stu- dents, malnly black students, wlll suffer dearly. 'This wlll certainly accelerate the trend of decllnlng black and Hispanic partlclpatlon ln post- secondary educatlon,H contends Arnold Mltchem, director of the National Councll of Educational Opportunity Associations.lNptlce also, that blacks and Hlspanlcs are already hit with the lowest SAT scoresl 24 ls Gramm-Rudman law intentionally discriminatory, or is it just an accident? As much as 80 to 90 percent of the students ln black colleges recelve some flnanclal ald, Mltchem says. We're already beglnnlng to feel lt here at Eckerd as almost 751 of our students, black and whlte recelve flnanclal aid. As the award letters came ln many stu- dents saw federal ald belng cut at exorbitant rates. That's only the beginning. Reported by Welch, WGramm-Rud- man Is designed to reduce the budget deflclt to zero by 1991. Two-bil llon dol lars wlll be cut from financial ald in two years -- 635-mllllon from the 1986 budget, and that Includes Guaranteed Student Loans KGSLL . . private schools wil l increase tultlon by 71 per year. Programs with llmlted enrollment will go.. . black programs will be hlt the hardest.. . there will be layoffs and naturally, salary cuts for faculty.U So, as our Eckerd Administra- tlon works on its own five-year plan for academic excellence, Gramm-Rudman wlll be almlng at black students from the flnanclal slde. uSome say all those hard tlmes are ln the past.. . Thlngs are going to get worse, they haven't been good,n Welch added. "Some say all those hard times are in the past. . . things are go- ing to get worse, they haven't been good." -Giovanna Welch So, what are the posslbllltles for blacks ln higher educatlon? Where ls the future for any child that's not whlte? There are many probabllltles. Most look bleak though. The black individual ls faced with probably the most dlsturblng future ever seen before. They won their Clvll Rights and got a taste of equality. But, wlthout the slightest warning, those same rights so strongly fought for are being ripped from beneath the foundation of The black movement. Welch remarked, nwhen Martln Luther Klng's Era reaped lts benefits and we had people move into the area that they had never been before, It was slgnlflcantf However, Welch added that ln order to stay ln that newly discovered place, concessions had to be made. NOne way to stay In Integrated society was to keep our mouths shut. Mayors, Councilmen don't want to hear -- we had 20 years of Clvll rlghts, money for education, money to squander -- so we kept our mouths shut. NMany of us aren't wil ling to take a chance -- we don't want to lose what we had -- but all those programs that moved In our favor "You can never make the case that you've done all you can." -Dick Hallin ' 'One way to stay in in- gegrated society was to keep our mouths shut. " -Giovanna Welch are movlng rlght out the door.H As those opportunltles roll out the door, the tlme for change grows shorter. Wlthout educated blacks, who wlll go back lnto the black communltles and reach out to the black youth to change their bleak future? 'lf colleges keep squeezing black students, they Just set-up a dependent, young, black genera- tlon and I hope lt doesn't come to that,' contends Lena Wllfalk, Director of Mlnorlty and Interna- tlonal Student Affairs at Eckerd She adds, WKII I the Head fthe movementl and the Body wlll dle fthe peoplel.H