Back door admissions: Lying By GEORGEA KOVANIS Ask Caroline how she managed to get herself into the University and she'll candidly admit that she lied her way in. After being told by her high school counselor that her grade point average didn't meet ad- missions requirements for LSA, Caroline decided upon another approach. She fibbed to University admissions counselors, feigning in- terest in a career in parks and recreation, and enrolled in the phys-ed program. She tran- sferred into LSA the next year. CAROLINE, who would speak only on the condition that her real name not be used, declared herself the victor. Even though her high school GPA didn't change during freshman and sophomore year, her status at the University did. Though originally deemed academically unqualified for LSA, Caroline was able to gain entry into the University's largest college through a cross- campus transfer. The procedure is simple. ALL STUDENTS have to do is enter a back door - a program such as physical education or natural resources that has lower entrance standards or is in less demand than LSA. If these students are able to keep their cumulative GPA above 2.0 for a year, then they can then move over to LSA. ** * t** **l "I just really had to feed them a lot of BS because I was lying to get in," said Caroline. "I told them I wanted to be a forest ranger because I didn't know what you could be" with a physical education degree. "I knew somebody who had done it before ... I knew it was so easy to transfer out once you get in," she said of her decision to enter LSA through a back door. "I KNEW six people in the program before I got to school here. I knew they were all in there for that same reason," Caroline said. Most administrators say back dooring isn't a problem. Some say it's not happening at all. But talk to students, and they'll admit that it occurs a great deal. How frequently? No one knows. Admissions department officials say they don't keep statistics on the number of students par- ticipating in cross-campus transfers. And in any case, they reason, it would be impossible to find out whether or not a student is using a program as a back door. "A STUDENT who might consider doing such a thing is unlikely to announce it," said Robert Holbrook, associate vice president for academic affairs. "You face a real problem when you're trying to second-guess a student who says their life- long dream has always been a career in natural resources." o get in Entering the University through a back door is only one option open to prospective students designated as academically unqualified, for LSA. POPULAR PLANS include attending com- munity college for a year before re-applying to LSA as a transfer student, and enrolling at the University during summer or winter term when entry requirements are less stringent than fall because the demand for admission is not as great. But many students don't select these alter- natives. For them, the prestige of being able to say they did all of their undergraduate work at the University is more important than atten- See UNQUALIFIED, Page 5 4 4 +Tumultuous Ninety-five Years Tmluu Mostly cloudy with possible Of thunder showers and a high in the Editorial Freedom mid 70s to low80s: Vol. XCV, No. 163 Copyright 1985, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, April 24, 1985 Fifteen Cents Ten Pages 'R illiers return Ann Arbor to Daily Photo by BRAD MILLS $11111111 University Law students Tom Douvan yesterday afternoon. and Louis Johnson provide a free lunch-hour concert near West Engineering *" Stdie eyes s cholarships By JERRY MARKON, CAROLINE MULLER, and KERY MURAKAMI Two University students and four Ann Arbor residents who were arrested in Washington, D.C. Monday for blockading the White House gates arrived home yesterday morning, after choosing not to spend the night in jail because of commitments here. The protesters - who were among 307 arrested at the gates - chose to pay $50 fines over spending the night in jail on charges of "incommoding," or disorderly conduct. THE FINES will be refunded if the protesters are found not guilty during their trials next month in Washington. The Park Police arrested 231 protesters for "violating their permit, which allowed them to demonstrate but not to blockade the gates," said police spokesman Richard Cusick. The Washington city police also arrested 76 protesters, for blocking traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue with a sit-in.dTheywere charged with disor- derly conduct. THIRTY-EIGHT of the protesters refused to give their names to police, Cusick said, and spent the night in jail. Demonstrators from Ann Arbor decided against going to jail because of academic and work commitments. Adam Eigner, an LSA sophomore, returned to campus because of two final exams this week. He said he believes the protesters "still made a very im- portant statement." "IT'S NOT SO much that we actually caused a change," Eigner said. "The most important thing to me is that I made a personal statement that I can- not support the murderous actions of my country." Nettie Tomasello, a nurse at University Hospital and one of the six arrested, said that if she "were to do civil disobedience properly," she would have spent the night in jail, or "many nights in jail." Both the distance from home and the child she left waiting in Ann Arbor prevented her from staying, said Tomasello, a member of the Ann Arbor Peace Community. By ANNE DROWNS When a student pays $19 to $49 to a scholarship search agency, what are the chances the agency's computer will match the student with a grant for which he or she actually qualifies? Slim, say college financial aid of- ficers from around the country. In fact, aid officials in Michigan are so skep- tical about the claims made by the ser- vices that they will meet next month to decide whether the State Department of Education should investigate the mat- ter. "I'M TURNED off by the sales approach," said Gil Oswald, scholarship coordinator for the University's finan- cial aid office. He points to agency statements that up to $3 billion in private funding are _available for students and questionable success stories used in agency advertisements. As part of an ad hoc committee in the education department, Oswald would like to survey high schools to determine how many students use the scholarship services. Then he'd like to check the success they have had. In investigations of their own, the California Student Aid Commission and the University of Illinois found that stu-, dents who use the agencies often were ineligible for the scholarships with which they were matched. Sometimes they were even matched with scholar- ships, though the deadlines had long since passed. The California com- mission hired 15 students to fill out agency computer data sheets, send them to varous agencies, and then ap- ply to all of the recommended grants. "THE committee expected to find varying degrees of effectiveness among the computer search organizatons; that is, some good ones, and some bad ones," said the California report, which was "MAYBE IF we had stayed longer (in jail) it would have been a stronger test of our will, but we still got our point across," said Dave Buchen, an Ann Ar- bor resident and former University student. "I went to Washington not planning to be arrested," said LSA junior Mark Weinstein, who described the 90 degree heat and the treatment they received from the park police as "dehumanizing." "They were treating us like laboratory rats ... dehumanizing us... See COURT, Page.3 Recent protests reveal changes in activism released in 1984. "Instead it found that not one could provide effective mat- ching." The commission reviewed Academic Guidance Services (AGS), a New Jer- sey-based firm that provides a scholar- ship data base for more than 100 af- filiates, including the new University Scholarship Services in Detroit. AGS has criticized the commission's fin- dings because of the small number of applicants and the fact that the study was conducted in spring, a time when most of the scholarships are picked over. But in a similar procedure the Illinois team had students apply over two years to Computer AssistedScholarship for Higher Education and National Scholarship Research Services. The students were matched with private funding sources, but none actually qualifed after applying. By CHRISTY RIEDEL "We're not doing this for money, you know," shouted the T-shirt and jean- clad singer from the makeshift stage. "We're doing this 'cause we love the people and you love the people." The audience of about 100 clustered in front of the stage on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. last weekend clapped and cheered atthe declaration. Thousands of others milled about the Ellipse, reading and distributing literature, and listening to speakers rally about a myriad of causes. ALTHOUGH this scene resembles something that may have occurred 15 or 20 years ago, it could have been wit-. nessed by anyone passing by the Ellipse a mere five days ago. Activism has made a comeback during the past few weeks. Students have staged mass non-violent protests on campuses across the nation and last weekend's nation-wide protest rally in Washington drew tens of thousands. But although activism has made a return, it is not necessarily the same type of activism that shook the nation in the 1960s and early 1970s. Rena Yount, a Michigan State University graduate who was in Washington Saturday to protest U.S. involvement in Central America, was involved in protests during the 1970s. She said there is a noticeable difference between the demonstrations of that era and protests 1980s-style. A DECADE ago, protesters were angry at the tens of thousands of American lives lost in Vietnam. "It's very exciting to me that there's this much activity about other coun- tries when there are no American people dying," Yount said. According to University sociology Prof. Alden Morris, the issues receiving attention at today's protests are dif- ferent from those which were prominent 15 or 20 years ago. THE EARLIEST protests of the 1960s revolved around domestic issues such as civil rights and segregation, Morris said. It wasn't until several years later that demonstrators shifted their atten- tion to the Vietnam War, taking on in- ternational themes, Morris said. Now, Morris explained, activism is targeted at foreign policy. But although these issues differ, Morris said he sees some parallels bet- ween the development of the activist movement in the 1960s and the 1970s. "I THINK of course that there are many similarities between the two movements," Morris said. As they were in the 60s and 70s, "students are now engaged in abnormal political ac- tivity which is similar to that of the early '60s." Ron Kaz, a resident of Charleston, South Carolina, and former Michigan State University student, agrees. "TO US, the lobbying is even more important than the rally," he said. Kaz said that the group with which he traveled to Washington had appoin- tments to meet with their senators and See NEW, Page 8 Wacky grants abound By ANNE DROWNS If you are a left-handed, Lebanese- Armenian student double majoring in mortuary science and Middle Eastern studies, then you are probably eligible for scholarships that could put an end to your student loan worries. But if you're just the average un- dergraduate studying the humanities, keep worrying. There isn't much money available through private fun- ding sources for students who don't have a quirky interest or an ususual background. Those who do, however, are likely to find a vast mass of little- known endowments if they only take the time to do the research. "YOU'VE SEEN enough movies about eccentric wealthy people," said Janice Okoomain, a secretary in the LSA Honors Office who has compiled private scholarship sources into a thick folder. "They have in mind a certain kind of person they want to help." Isabel Stone, a member of the fresh- man class at Wellesley College in 1901, was one of those people. Stone began studying Greek at Wellesley at the age of 16 and then went on to receive her PhD from Cornell University in 1908. But she was forced to neglect her teaching career shortly afterward in order to provide care for her ailing parents. In her will, Stone established the fellowship, the "Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship," for one woman every year between the ages of 25 and 35 who has reached at least the doctoral stage of, her academic career in either Greek or French studies. To be elgible, the woman also must be willing to remain single during the tenure of the fellowship. CAROL PAPISH, the fellowship's coordinator, said she receives 25 ap- plications for each year. And she also receives a few letters from students complaining about the unusual requirements of the grant. Men write in ask-ing whey they can't be considered for the fellowship, she said, and women occasionally inquire why they aren't .................... . -.-....-.....---.,... . .. . . .. . . ...........:....................... :.:t ... ...:...: Minorities seek fair showing in syllabi By CAROLINE MULLER Calling for "integration as opposed to to- kenism," a dozen students rallied out- side Haven Hall yesterday to protest what they said is a lack of represen- tation of women and.minority writers in course syllabi at the University. The protesters, wearing hand-drawn signs which carried the names of famous women writers such as Virginia Woolf and Syvia Plath, distributed leaflets to University professors passing by. THE LEAFLET, addressed to all University staff members, urges professors to evaluate syllabi contents, paying careful attention to whether or not it fairly represents women and minorities. Catherine Fischer, an LSA junior who protested yesterday said the rally was "the result of a lot of frustrated attem- pts to make changes." Fischer said the rally's main goal was "to get the fact (across) that so much of University syllabi is predominately white male." FISCHER SAID the support of the faculty has been "heartening," and See STUDENTS, Page 3 See SCHOLARSHIP, Page 3 ..................................................................................................................... . ... .......... ...................:............... :........ ::<::r::::;:n:::::<: ; 1 1 r TODAY- End of winter term TODAY is not only the last day of classes, it is ther last day of the 1985 winter Daily. Students can pick up on what's happening over the summer by sub- scribing to the Daily's five-day-a-week summer editin which heins n blishine Mav R. Don't miss out on may call forth some pretty unpleasant images. The Bentley Historical Library's curator of manuscripts recently came across sheet music from a show put on by one of the Union's musical groups back in 1918. As William Wallach, assistant director of the library noted, the sentiments expressed by the student-authors of "Blue Book Blues" are probably all too familiar to contemporary students. Here are a few lines: