The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 26, 1999 - 7

Texas bill creates new
standards for athletes

Tuning up

By Dan Carnevale
Daily Texan
*AUSTIN - A Texas legislator is pushing for the creation
of a state-wide minimum academic standard for student ath-
letes to improve graduation rates.
"We've got to do something to make sure these athletes
have a fighting chance to graduate," said Rep. Ron Wilson
(D-Houston.)
Wilson filed a bill that calls for the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board to create the academic standards, which
could include a minimum grade-point average. The board
could also track the graduation rates of student athletes and
use the information to assess the performance of each uni-
iy.
Of the coordinating board finds a university is non-com-
pliant with the standards, that school would be barred from
using state funds or student fees to support athletic events
until a compliance agreement can be reached with the
board.
If the university doesn't fix the problem within a year, it
would be barred from participating in intercollegiate athletics
for two years.
Wilson said the bill would deter universities that "use and
abuse" their athletes without making any special effort to
gure they graduate.
'At the end of the day, the school gets the money, but the
student doesn't graduate," Wilson said.
Barbara Walker, UT associate athletic director, said ath-
letes at the University are also dedicated students.
"Most of them would take exception to that, to say they're
hot serious students," Walker said.
The university does not have academic standards par-
ticularly for student athletes, who must maintain a min-
imum 2.0 GPA as do all undergraduate students, she
said.
NCAA stipulates that athletes have to choose a major and
acplete 25 percent of its requirements by their junior year.
ach subsequent year the student must have completed 25

percent more of the major requirements.
Failure to meet any of these rules bans the student
from NCAA competition.
To prevent academic problems, the university provides
added academic perks for student-athletes including tutors,
study centers and computer facilities.
"The regular student body would probably like to have
as much attention paid to them," Walker said.
Overall, she said the university has an academically
successful group of athletes.
The latest figures for the athletic graduation rate with-
in six years is 59 percent, while the rate for the general
student population is 65 percent, Walker said.
She added that student athletes who go into profes-
sional sports before graduating are counted as any other
dropout.
"Ricky Williams is not graduating, but I'd say he's
doing quite well," she said.
Kate Harrison, an undeclared first-year student and
UT soccer player, said the mandatory study hall and
access to tutors and mentors proves the university is
dedicated to helping student athletes academically.
"I started having trouble with calculus last semester,
and all I had to do was ask for a tutor," Harrison said.
"Our athletic department does everything they can to
help us."
Ray Grasshoff, public information officer for the
coordinating board, said currently the board doesn't
track academic performance of student athletes sepa-
rately from other students.
"We'd have to establish whatever level indicates adequate
performance. How we'd do that, I don't know right now;'
Grasshoff said. "We'd have to see what the final version of
the bill looks like."
The coordinating board would most likely meet with
the state colleges and universities and come to an agree-
ment on what constitutes the most fair standards, he
said.

NATHAN RUFFER/Daily
Musician Byron Stripling practices playing the trumpet with the School of Music band yesterday at the School of Music.
Stripling is performing at the Power Center tonight.
Studentsserve Berkeley suit

10 more Dartmouth alumni
withdraw Greek support

Julia Levy
The Dartmouth
HANOVER, N.H. -- Nearly 20
alumni contacted The Dartmouth on
Wednesday to say they had rescinded
pledges to the college - a signifi-
cantly higher number than the 10-12
figure given Tuesday by Alumni Fund
Director Jennifer Williams, an '85
alum - a discrepancy Williams said
last night was in no way intentional
I was solely a result of the fact that
s e alumni have contacted college
offices other than the Alumni Fund to
rescind pledges.
When asked about the discrepancy,
Williams said she was "citing the
number of pledges her office had
received directly from alumni to can-
cel pledges" when she told The
Dartmouth on Tuesday her office had
only received 10 to 12 rescinded
1@lges.
GEO
Continued from Page 12
proposal will force current .4 GSIs to
work. the hours of a .5, which could
include them teaching an extra section.
Wilson added that she and many other
GSIs simply do not have the time to teach
an extra section. But Gamble said this is
not the point of the University's fraction
*0lculation proposal.
"Our goal is not to increase effort, but
to increase wages for GSIs," Gamble
said. "Our proposal takes a .4 GSI, gives
them the same classes and responsibili-
ties as now, but pays them at least $283
more in monthly salary."
Compensated training for internation-
al GSIs also accompanied the 9-percent
wage increase request and fraction recal-
tion proposal in the new package
-presented to the University yester-
day. But Gamble said the University will
not include this issue in GEO's contract
since a program compensating interna-

"It's disappointing when people
cancel pledges, but we want to honor
people when they do that"f
- Jennifer Williams
Dartmouth Alumni Fund Director

She said since a number of College
offices have been getting a large num-
ber of c-mails and letters from alumni
commenting on the initiative, if peo-
ple wishing to rescind pledges have
notified an office other than the
Alumni Fund office of their request it
is possible their request might take a
while to be processed.
Williams said the Alumni Fund is in
no way attempting to prevent alumni
who wish to rescind pledges from
doing so.
tional GSI training period already exists.
"There is no place to move for IGSIs,"
Gamble said. "A program is already
installed on the Web for international stu-
dents to look at. It's a given"
Gamble said the program includes a
$200 stipend, insurance and room and
board for all international GSIs who
undergo the two- to three-week training
session in August.
Gamble added that the University
plans on responding to GEO's new pack-
age, specifically to its fraction recalcula-
tion proposal, on March 8, when bar-
gaining sessions reconvene after spring
break. In the meantime, Smith said the
GEO leadership will work throughout
the vacation period to prepare both for
contract negotiations and the walkout.
Students who have GSIs who support
GEO's decision to walkout will not have
discussion sections March 10 and 11 if
GEO proceeds with its job action. But
Gamble said he encouraged GSIs not to
participate in the walkout.

"It's disappointing when people no serv
cancel pledges, but we want to honor the hear
people when they do that," Williams "This
said. their edu
In an article published this week, The s
The Chronicle of Higher Education UC Ber
cited Vice President of Development UC B
and Alumni Relations Stan Colla as pretersf
saying that 25 alumni had rescinded plaintiff
pledges in the three days following the Berkeley
announcement of the initiative - a vide suf
figure Williams said was a misquota- classes,<
tion by The Chronicle. The h
NASA
Continued from Page I2
Teams' proposals are chosen based on the
criteria of scientific merit and the quality of
an outreach program done after the research.
A team's proposal is also jydged according
to whether a project has adequate funding and
whether a project involves the use of zero
gravity.
The experiment team of the Single Walled
Carbon Nanotube Production Experiment
plans to study the effects of microgravity on
the production of single-wall carbon nan-
otubes.
The second experiment team of the Liquid
Droplet Radiator Pointing Experiment will
study the operation of an LDR in microgravi-
ty, which might eventually lead to lighter and
more economical power and cooling systems.
Although VanCise is a lead flyer for the

nice Ng
difomian
RRKELEY, Calif. - UC Berkeley - the first campus
nation to offer services to disabled students - dis-
ates against students who are hearing-impaired,
ng to students who Wednesday filed a federal dis-
tion lawsuit against the university.
g inadequate services for students with hearing dis-
, the Employment Law Center and Legal Aid Society
Francisco along with a San Francisco law firm filed
s action lawsuit against the university on behalf of the
C Berkeley students.
suit, which alleges UC Berkeley's failure to comply
gulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, was
ed at a San Francisco press conference Wednesday.
e institution whose initiative to create a disabled ser-
>gram in the 1960s led universities across the nation
ie same, UC Berkeley has failed to provide sufficient
,ter services for hearing-impaired students, the plain-
eged.
university's Disabled Students Program is providing
ices when asked or providing inadequate services to
ing-impaired, said attorney Noah Lebowitz.
completely interferes with their ability to complete
ucation," he said.
suit names as defendants the UC Board of Regents,
keley Chancellor Robert Berdahl and UC Berkeley.
Berkeley's Disabled Students Programs provide inter-
for students such as undergraduate Shazia Siddiqi, a
in the case who is taking pre-med courses at UC
y. But these interpreters often lack the training to pro-
ficient sign-language interpretation in such technical
according to lawyers.
insufficient accommodations have generated unjust
nanotube project, he will be joined by fellow
team members: Engineering senior Mark Dub,
Engineering junior Sarah Hoehne and
Engineering sophomore J. Scott Haviland.
Engineering junior Erica Pendergrass is the
lead flyer for the LDR project and is accom-
panied in flight by teammates: Engineering
seniors Daniel Herman, Jack Mcnamara and
senior Travis Patrick.
Lucia Brimer, assistant project director for
RGSFO in Texas, will accompany the student
teams on the aircraft when they enter zero
gravity for two straight hours.
"The aircraft will be traveling in a path of
40 parabolas. There will be 40 parabolas each
with 30 seconds of weightlessness," Brimer
said.
"In between the periods of weightlessness
the flyers will be pushed down into their seats
with a force equal to two times the force of
gravity."

educational opportunities for hearing-impaired studentsand
the immense difficulty has caused students, including former
Boalt law student Emily Alexander, another plaintiff in the
case, to forgo their educations.
"You show up for class, and there isn't an interpreter
there for you, and then you don't know what's going on,"
said Janine Kramer, a plaintiff and Boalt law student,
according to a statement. "I don't understand why they do
that. It's been very hard for us to go to school under those
conditions."
Although they have already attempted to voice their con-
cerns to the UC regents through written correspondence,
complaints have not been addressed, Lebowitz said. Filing the
lawsuit was a "last ditch;" he added.
"They go to the university and say we are not getting these
services and they're just basically being blown off;" he said.
"We have never gotten any response other than a complete
denial of any wrongdoing. We have been completely
stonewalled from them. We've tried every angle but filing the
lawsuit."
But university officials maintained Wednesday that
they adequately fulfill the UC system's mission to pro-
vide fair educational opportunities for students of all
backgrounds.
"The Berkeley campus works very hard to provide appro-
priate accommodations for students," said UC spokesperson
Charles McFadden. "We believe (the university) succeeds in
accommodating the special needs of all of our students."
In a statement, Ed Rogers, manager of UC Berkeley's
Disabled Students Program, said that although he
intends to examine the allegations against the university,
he continues to believe that the campus is in full com-
pliance with the law in terms of services for disabled
students.
LGBT
Continued from Page 1
lives. Many of the panelists and audience members asserted
how important it was to have support not just by friends or
family, but also from the community at large.
"We really need to investigate what it means to be family"
Jones said. "As black folks we were never born as individuals,
but were born into a group.... I think that's something that we've
lost" N'Tanya Lee also expressed many similar sentiments
when she spoke of the importance of LGBT issues and history.
"History is such a precious resource. So much of who we
are, what we think of ourselves, what we think is possible for
ourselves, what is possible in the world," Lee said. "Where
are the black gay people in History?" she asked.
The panel was organized by Advanced Graduate student
Dawn Richberg who is the program associate at the
American Friends Service Community. She planned the
event in honor of Black History Month with the
University's LGBT office and All Us, an LGBT student of
color group.

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