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THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER .

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Presidential stocks
U. of Iowa tracks a more volatile mar-
ket than Wall Street - the candidates.
- Page 6

National epidemic of 'A' grades
devalues excellence, deans claim

Garbage disposals
Third World countries are being
served up a fair share of the West's
waste in exchange for money.
- Page 9

Beauty and the brawn
U. of Minnesota's Stacy Hersrud
bashes stereotypes as a bouncer.
- Page 10
The last frontier
Dirk De Young finds more students
- ° are working and playing on 'the
graveyard shift.'
-Page 11
Licensed to make money
School logos are big business at
Louisiana State U., reports Delia Taylor.
-Page 16
Do the moonwalk
Praveen Murthy describes Georgia
Tech's new three-legged robot designed
to work on the moon.
- Page 18

By Seth Leopold
The Chicago Maroon
U. of Chicago, IL
A significant trend at many colleges,
grade inflation is making the "gentle-
man's C" a thing of the past.
Grade inflation is a nationwide phe-
nomenon where average grades have a
tendency to increase over a period of
time, said Dean Ralph Nicholas of the
U. of Chicago (U of C).
Since the late '60s, the average U of C
student's grade point average (GPA)
Gang member
trades streets
for a degree
By Traci Auble
The Daily Iowan
U. of Iowa
Jorge was one of the largest kids at
Bowen High School in the South Side of
Chicago. He wrestled, played football,
took his studies seriously - and became
the member of a street gang.
To him, gangs don't just symbolize
violence, but a way of life - a means of
survival on the streets.
Jorge made it out of the ghetto - and
into college. He is currently a part-time
sophomore at the U. of Iowa (UI) in pur-
suit of a medical career.
Jorge said the main reason he joined
the gang at age 16 was to protect his
younger brother, nicknamed "Crazy,"
who was initiated as a Latin King.
See GANG, Page 6

has risen almost a full letter grade -
from about 2.3 in 1968 to 2.99 last year.
"The expectations were quite diffe-
rent then," said Nicholas, who came to
U of C in 1957 as a graduate student. "A
'C' at the U of C was an honest grade.
After the spring exams, there were C's
and there were D's and there were F's."
U of C grades are comparatively low
to other schools, such as Stanford U.,
Calif., and Yale U., Conn., who have
given close to 40 percent A's every
semester. Yale has not gone below 40
percent A's any year since 1978, accord-

ing to Yale Registrar John Meeske.
Barbara Sprague, assistant registra
at Dartmouth College, N.H., sai
grades there also have risen steadily; 2(
years ago the average GPA was 2.98. B!
1987, it had risen to 3.19.
Mary Farrington, assistant Dart
mouth registrar, said, "A lot of college
raised their grading so student
wouldn't flunk out and have to go t
Vietnam, but we've been 20 years out c
Vietnam and the grades are still rising.
See GRADES, Page 2

Teams in trouble
Stephen Masters reports on how
Texas A&M U. is the latest caught
breaking NCAA rules.
- Page 21
Basketball's best
The nation's college sports editors
rank the 20 best preseason teams.
- Page 23


Bill may expose colleges that exploit athletes

By Chris Landis
The Oklahoma Daily
U. of Oklahoma
A bill that will force universities to
release student-athlete graduation in-
formation is currently awaiting approv-
al from the Senate's Labor and Human
Resources committee.
If passed, the bill would require
schools receiving federal funds to report
annually the graduation rate of stu-
dents with athletic scholarships, and
how long it took them compared to all
students.
The proposed bill, titled "Student's
Right to Know" is sponsored by Sen. Bill
Bradley, D-N.J.; a former professional

"Single-minded devotion to athletics
among our nation's schools and colleges
can lead to exploitation and abuse of our
young athletes," Bradley said.
Bradley wants to create a balance be-
tween academics and athletics in the
nation's universities and colleges.
"We want to tell incoming freshmen
what schools--ar-e committed to
academics, Bradley said.
An existing NCAA bylaw does not
allow the organization to release the
graduation rate information, according
to Rep. Towns' press secretary, Brenda
Pillers. She added that the NCAA was
contacted by the bill's sponsors before
See REPORT, Page 22

Hair-sized motor
puts cell world
in surgeon's grasp
By Dan Casey
The Daily Californian
U. of California, Berkeley
Researchers at U. of California,
Berkeley (UCB), have assembled
an electric motor smaller than the
width of a human. hair, signifying
a technical breakthrough in the
development ofmachines that can
literally fit on the head of a pin.
"This will take mechanical
See MICRO, Page 18

Bill Bradley

Tom McMillen

basketball player with the New York
Knicks; Rep. Tom McMillen, D-Md., a
former Olympic and professional bas-
ketball player; and Rep. Ed Towns, D-
N.Y., a former athlete at North Carolina
A&T U,-in Greensboro, N.C.

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