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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1991)
Government to the rescue Decision guarantees minority scholarships By Kim Spurlock Staff Reporter Education Secretary Lamar Alex ander temporarily ensured the future of UNL’s Davis Scholarship last month, thus continuing the effort to allow underrepresented minorities equal opportunity for higher education, officials said. Jimmi Smith, director of the Of fice of Multi-Cultural Affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, lauded the decision, saying the use of government funds to provide scholar ships for minority students is not dis criminator toward white students. A previous Education Department decision required universities to show cause for using state funds for minor ity scholarships, but Alexander said colleges and universities should con tinue offering them pending a review board investigation. The review board, involvine Con grass, Attorney General Richard Thorn burgh and the American Council on Education, will spend the next six months studying the civil rights im plications of the scholarships. Until the legality of minority schol arships is resolved by the review board, colleges will not have to prove schol arships’ importance to use state money. Smith said he doesn’t think minor ity scholarships are a form of dis crimination brcause 90 percent or more of white students receive more financial aid and scholarships at UNL than minority students. Providing a “few dollars” to mi norities is not discriminatory because whites make the decisions regarding who receives financial aid and schol arships, he said. Minority scholarships were bom in the 1960s, when many colleges seeking to attract minority students created special scholarship programs. The legality of such programs was questioned in December when Mi chael Williams, assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said the scholarships violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act bars racial or ethnic discrimination by organizations that receive federal funds, as most colleges do. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the purpose of minority scholarships is to help under represented minorities continue their - (6 - We are trying to see that ail segments of societies in Nebraska have an equal opportu nity to share in the benefits of this univer sity. Griesen vice chancellor for student affairs --M “ educations. “We are tiding to see that all seg ments of societies in Nebraska have an equal opportunity to share in the benefits of this university,” Griesen said. He said minority families take in well below the average income for white families and economic circum stances are largely to blame for mi nority students not attending college. Smith said that after federally fi nanced minority scholarships were questioned, he feared the U.S. De partment of Education, which was once an advocate of minority schol arships, was now restricting access to an underrepresented American popu lation. “American society requires all citizens to be more skilled, now more than ever in the history of this coun try. The only way to do that is to go on to poslsecondary education,” Smith said. According to a Jfecent article in US A Today, a survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities showed that nine of 10 private colleges have minority scholarships. NU’s Davis Scholarship, in mem ory of the late Rick Davis who died of pancreatic cancer in 1988, is a four year scholarship for outstanding minority freshman students. Davis, a former football player at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, established a successful insurance firm before his death, Griesen said. Prior to his death, Davis arranged to leave $50,000 to start an endowment for minority scholarships. Further efforts by Davis’ brother helped boost the scholarship fund to $1 million, which includes $800,000 in state funds. UNL freshman Matt Branting talks with Lincoln police officers after a three-car collision on the corner of 16th and R streets Monday afternoon. Branting was the only person uninjured in the collision. UNL students injured in accident t-rom start Heports A Chevrolet Nova ramped up and flipped off a Pontiac Fiero on the comer of 16th and R streets Monday, landing upside down on a GMC Jimmy and seriously injuring a pedestrian, a Lincoln police officer said. Ll David Beggs said it was un clear who was at fault in the 2 p.m. accident, but “obviously one of the cars had to have run a red light. University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Christina Howlett, the injured pedestrian, was listed in serious con dition Monday night at Lincoln Gen eral Hospital, 2300 S 16th St., said Rhonda Kazebeer, nursing supervi sor at the hospital. The driver of the red-and-silver 1986 Nova, UNL student Kurt Brum baugh, suffered possible neck and neaa injuries and was treated and released by Lincoln General Hospi tal, according to Kazebeer. The driver of the white 1984 Fiero, UNL student Suzette Spratt, also was treated and released. Matt Branting, an 18-year-old UNL undeclared freshman, said the only thing he saw from the driver’s seat of his 1983 Jimmy was the Nova com ing down on the top of his hood LSAT adjusts to high score boom remote lots. But, 1 odd said, the plan will not work “without a decent shuttle sys tem that goes beyond the red-and white buses.” She said the plan calls for a shuttle bus route that is “harder not to use it than to use it.” Tom Johnson, Institute of Agri culture and Natural Resources coor dinator, said the aesthetics of UNL would be hurt if on-campus parking were provided for everyone. “We’d have wall-to-wall parking in order to provide 100 percent of people with parking,” he said. Ray Coffey, UNL business man ager, said a multilevel, on-campus parking garage would not be finan cially feasible. Annual costs would be about $800 per car, plus security and maintenance expenses, he said. The long-range plan also would establish loop roads on both City and East campuses. Todd said the roads, which the comm ittce passed a motion to support, would create new campus entrances to help alleviate traffic congestion. In other business, the committee passed a motion stating that parking in a permit-designated university lot requires a parking permit. Karels said that sometimes people visiting downtown Lincoln park in university lots. And, he said, many limes students park in visitor lots. “Visitor parking is our biggest short fal 1 because students arc parking in visitor places,” he said. Members of the committee dis cussed the possibility of creating a guarded visitor lot to stop students from parking there. By Angie Brunkow Staff Reporter The Law School Admission Test will have a revised scoring scale and one new section to adjust to increases in high scores, a representative from the organization that administers the test said. Jana Cardoza, public affairs coor dinator for Law Services, which is in charge of the LSAT, said that al though the LSAT has been restruc lured, it is not terribly unlike the current test.” Cardoza said the main reason for the changes, which will take effect June 10, was a general increase in very high scores over the past five years. She said the changes should not affect Ihe test’s difficulty level and scores in general should remain consistent with previous years. The test is revised periodically, said John Gruhl, University of Nc braska-Lincoln professor of political science and pre-law adviser. “They do a lot of tinkering with it,” Gruhl said. The new LSAT, which is being revised by the Law School Admis sion Service, consists of four sections that test logical reasoning, analytical reasoning and reading comprehen sion. These sections are identical in format to the ones in the current ver sion, and both tests also have a final, non-graded section with potential questions for future tests that do not count in tne student s overall score. The revised version has an addi tional section of logical reasoning and a new scoring scale. Scores were previously scaled from 10 to 48. The new scale will be from 120 to 180. “They are trying to have a belter, fairer test,” said Glenda Pierce, assis tant dean of the UNL law college. 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