. ... AV -W 0 0 E U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 21 4 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER EPTEMBER 1988 Student Body News Features SEPTEMBER 1988 L FOCUS ta i I I .r I Alcoholics teach children hard lesson IN THE FACE OF Twenty years after the civil rights battle was won, cam- puses across the country are reeling under a rising tide of discrimination, racial inci- dents, low minority enroll- ment and low faculty repre- sentation. The following three perspectives explore this multi-faceted threat to our culturally diverse society. j '= F- CD OU O Z Q X Campuses severed by segregation By James Geshwiler The Daily Texan U. of Texas, Austin After almost 30 years of legal and so- cial activism against segregation, blacks and whites are segregating themselves voluntarily, surrendering in the fight for social equity and accept- ance. Reports of racial conflict have surged around the country. And even in Atlan- ta, a typically progressive city, black and white still choose to stay on oppo- site sides of the fence. At one suburban Atlanta high school's baccalaureate service, the school administration reserved the front rows for the students in the top 10 percent and after them, they had no planned order. The students queued up as they pleased - racially separate. Worse incidents have occurred in the past year on and off university cam- puses nationwide. In February, white student staffers of the ultra-conservative Dartmouth Re- view harassed a black professor of music over his "Negro" style of lec- turing. In April, protests erupted at four campuses over racial incidents. At the U. of California, Berkeley, and Denison U., Ohio, students staged sit-ins and boycotted classes to protest insufficient disciplinary actions against white stu- dents who made racial slurs and van- dalized black students' possessions. At the U. of Kentucky and Pennsylva- nia State U., students protested the fai- lure of school officials to respect minor- ity concerns. In Austin, two Ronald Reagan- masked, gun-toting students reportedly invaded the dorm room of former Black Student Alliance President Randy Bow- man and attempted to throw him out a window for his support of U. of Texas (UT) divestment from South Africa. UT police never charged anyone with the attack on Bowman, further separat- ing blacks and whites on campus. The racial mistrust has caused Black Student Alliance members to oust white students (attending in good faith) from their meetings. For the past several years, Texas and other state governments have tried to boost minority status on campus. Almost all of these programs have failed to achieve their own goals. Unfortunately, voluntary segrega- tion only fulfills the wishes of the true racists by removing blacks and whites from each other's society. Members of both races need to cross lines of mistrust and attempt to heal these new wounds. Outreach and open-heartedness on both sides may be an inglorious solution and one that requires no funding, politi- cians or press coverage - but it is the only one guaranteed to work. Speaking of pap smears ... While a pap smear is not something that comes up in every- day conversation, Northern Arizona U.'s Fronske Health Center officials said they believe it should be a topic of concern to all women who are sexually active. A number of abnormal pap smears have been caused by the Human Papilloma or HPZ virus, which leads to genital warts, said Dr. Donald Allred, physi- cian at.the health center. If left untreated, the virus may develop into cancer of the cervix. High risk behavior encompasses thse who are sexually active before the age of 18, those who engage in sexual intercourse with three or more partners, or those who are sexually involved with one partner who has had previous involvement with three or more partners. Through pap smear testing, the virus can usually be found in its earliest stage and treated quickly and easily. Corrie O'Connor, The Lumber- jack, Northern Arizona U. U.. The morning after .. An accidental pre- gnancy is not something many students want to deal with. The answer for some California State U., Chico, students is found in the form of a "morning-after pill." The pill is a form of post-coital contraception available at the Student Health Center. The most common use for the morning-after pill is for inter- course occuring without any contraception, accord- ing to a 1986 Health Center brochure, and treatment must begin within 72 hours after unprotected inter- course. The morning-after pill contains a higher- than-usual estrogen and progesterone dose, found in the birth control pill Ovral 28. The pill has yet to receive approval from the Food and Drug Adminis- tration, but if "it has been approved for one particular use, any medication can be prescribed for other uses, as long as it hasn't been disapproved for that purpose," said Tom Beckman, director of the Health Center. Renee Rasmussen, The Orion, California State U., Chico U.. What a headache ... Over-the-counter drug abuse has some university health officials worried. "Students overuse and abuse over-the- counter drugs without knowing the physical con- sequences that are caused by them," said David F. Duncan, professor of health education at Southern Illinois U., Carbondale. In a campus study of drugs most commonly used by students, Duncan found the statistics on aspirin use frightening. The study, taken from a random sample of about 223 students enrol- led in undergraduate and graduate classes, revealed that about 12 percent of those surveyed took aspirin with other drugs, 6 percent used aspirin daily, 3 percent reported taking at least 12 aspirin a day and the same percent said they experienced abdominal pain, rectal bleeding or frequent vomiting. "Far more people die from aspirin abuse than heroin or cocaine," Duncan said.. Holly J. Corrington, Daily Egyptian, Southern Illinois U., Carbondale U.. Cocaine Continued From Page 19 documented in an anonymous question- naire completed by 1,389 students last February. The campus statistics, which have a 3 percent margin of error, were compared with U. of Michigan statistics on drug use among college students nationwide. Twelve percent of the students sur- veyed said they had used cocaine, which fell below the national average of 16 percent. The campus results reflect a 20 percent drop from the 1986 survey. But 97 percent of the students here had used alcohol, which was 6 percent above the national average and 4 per- cent above the previous year's figure. Marijuana use here declined 12 percent last year, while other illicit drug use fell 20 percent. Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Wil- liam Thomas said he was pleased by the decline in illegal drug use, but cautioned that too much education could make the problem trivial to stu- dents. "There is a growing awareness about the insidious outcome that the use of drugs provides," Thomas said. "There is a possibility of overdosing the popula- tion on drug education." By Jacki Hampton The Breeze James Madison U., VA Many homesick students long for their parents to call them on a regular basis. Yet some would do anything to avoid it. Janet receives a drunken phone call from her father every Sunday. "He'd keep me on the phone haras- sing me until 2 a.m. every Sunday. Finally, I told him, 'I love you, but you're hurting me. I'm hanging up now,' and I felt guilty afterwards. He's 'the one doing something wrong, but I feel guilty ... It's getting worse and I don't know how to handle it anymore." "Save yourself first," comes Mark's gentle advice from across the room. His soothing voice calms the girl, who has been twisting her hair around her fin- ger faster and faster and raising her voice until it is high and shrill. Although Mark often seems to have all the answers because he has attended similar groups for nine years, he stres- ses that he is a member of a peer group, not a certified counselor. "Save yourself first" is almost law to these students, who meet weekly as part of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA). The Harrisonburg chapter, which Mark co-founded with another student last September, is one of 1,100 such groups around the country. They help an estimated 28 million children across the United States. The rapid expansion of this program, up from only 14 groups that met in the early 1980s, parallels the widespread growth in the movement to recognize alcoholism as a disease that affects en- tire families. Children who dreaded coming home from school, knowing mommy or daddy would be passed out on the floor, carry that fear and others into adulthood. ACOA reaches out to these victims, assuring them they are not alone with their memories. This bond allows Michael, a local high school student, to talk freely to the other three young people at this week's meet- ing about his father's recent return to However, we icaladri - yr-dsstrfudterdsnakng