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Vol. XXXIII, No. 2 AN ATLANTA UNIVERSITY CENTER INSTITUTION September 19,1980 I Am Somebody President of Operation PU SH, The Rev. Jessie Jackson (Photo by Ly Bensons) CarterBoost Funds To Black Schools BY SHAWN McCRUDER Panther Reporter I AM SOMEBODY! Respect me, protect me, never neglect mel Down with dope, up with hope! If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, then I know I can achieve itl I AM SOMEBODY... Once again the Rev. Jessie Jackson had the chance to recite his distinguished words, “I am somebody,” during the National Association of Equal Op portunity in Higher Education summit conference. Rev. Jackson, who was the keynote speaker, addressed the Atlanta University Center Community, on September 2,1980. The meet ing was held in the Martin Luther King Chapel on the Morehouse Campus. Over 40 presidents and chancellors of black institutions of higher education assembled with the Atlanta University Center Community to focus their attention on the unmet needs for financing black higher education. President of Operation PUSH and a political activist in the cause of education for minorities, Rev. Jackson spoke from the subject of the res tatement of the black colleges, “The request for our money.” He stated that "the mission of black schools is to elevate the victims of colonialism."- “The black colleges have a special mission; no other school has a mission like that of the black colleges. As trustees of black education, black presidents of higher education must determine the flow of dollars for black education.” He continued to say that they should "judge white schools, determine the priorities of the black schools budget needs and stop black student athletic exploitation." There are 107 black colleges. Last year, the money given to colleges was approximately $394 million allowed for colleges. 4.1 percent of the money was given to black colleges. Jackson stated, "We have been the experts of taking the rejects of the county and building them into the leaders of the country. We must execute a serious appeal to the president of the United States to enforce that which is already enacted by Congress.” continued on page 2 President Carter put some legal teeth into a two year old memorandum recently as he signed into law an executive order directing federal agencies to increase aid to historically black colleges and universities. The order requires the secretary of education and the director of the office of management and budget to set annual funding goals for every federal agency. Agencies must also eliminate "unintended regulatory barriers” and develop new ways to increase the ability of black schools to participate in federal programs. The Education Department will enforce the order. The order strengthens a presidential directive issued in January 1978 that some black educators said had done little to increase federal aid to some 100 historically black schools. "We felt some gains had been made under the directive, but many agencies had been hedg ing it,” said Niles White, director of governmental affairs for the United Negro College Fund. "The executive order will go a long way toward putting teeth in the directive,” White said, who attended the signing ceremony in the White House Rose Carden. Administration officials had predicted that federal funds flowing to historically black schools would double after the 1978 memorandum, but a draft Education Department report showed they only went up four percent, and actually decreased slightly as a portion of all federal higher education aid. The executive order was needed, Samuel Myers, executive director of the National Association for Equal Opportunity, said recently, “To prod the agencies into more than lip service. We felt that the memo hasn't really netted any increase in dollars for black colleges.” Each federal agency now is re quired to designate an official to implement the executive order and to serve as liaison to the Education Department, which is charged with administering the order. "This initiative,” the order states, “shall seek to identify, reduce, and eliminate barriers which may have unfairly resulted in reduced participation in, and reduced benefits from, federally sponsored programs." The United Negro College Fund had originally hoped the order would be implemented by the Wh ite House or the Off ice of Management and Budget, not the Education Department, White said. "OMB hasalotmore clout; it's closer to the purse strings,” White said. Implementation of the order will be directed by Herman Colemena, former head of the Michigan Education Association. RegistrationProcess Changes BY ANGELA ESANNASON News Editor Plagued with the usual finan cial aid problem, Clark's regis tration process - drenched with predictability - had some minor changes this semester. "The registration process was basjcally the same as it has been in the last few wemesters,” said Dean of Faculty and Instruction Winfred Harris. He added, however, that a few changes were made. Among the changes made were: -Students who had outstan ding balances from last semester had to take care of them before beginning the registration process. -Students had to check in with their advisors to make any neces sary changes in their schedule. Also, -A procedure was devised to insure that counselors would make contact with and offer as sistance and give advice, where needed, to academically delin quent students. During the fall semester close to 2,000 students are expected to enroll at Clark. Last year a little over 2,000 students - the most Clark ever had - attended the college. Despite this high figure for Clark which has only a capacity to hold between 1750 to 1800 students, the college is plagued with a financial aid problem. Students who have to rely on financial aid - which 92 percent of the students do - are usually faced during registration with coming up with enough money to be admitted. Cries like "I don’t have enough money” or "I can’t pay it right now,” or "$300 is all I have; can I register?” are usually cries of students to the business affairs office. Nathiel Williams, director of Business Affairs, said he did not want to comment on regis tration. However, he did say thai students do not take care of their financial aid business. He also said that running a college is a big business. "There isn’tsufficientfinancial aid money to meet the needs of students,” Marian Wilkes, direc tor of financial aid said. She said that is the result unless the student receives outside as sistance. "We don’t meet the total needs of the students.” This semester each student receiving money from the Basic Educational opportunity Grant continued on page 2