Newspaper Page Text
Clark Atlanta
university
PANTHER
Volume II Number IX
Atlanta, Georgia
December 4, 1990
Dr. Cole Awarded $100,000
By TONYA LATIMER
News Editor
Clark Atlanta University president Thomas
W.Cole Jr., was awarded 100,000 this week by
the Knight Foundation for strong leadership in
liberal arts education for “special populations.”
Dr. Cole was one of the five United States
college presidents to receive this honor and one
of two among the group recognized for service to
African American students. The Miamibased
foundation announced the awards on Monday,
saying it rewarded small, private, liberal art
institutions.
When asked he felt about receiving the award,
Dr. Cole replied,“I feel good. 1 only wish it was
my own personal money.”
As of now Cole has not exactly decided on
how he is going to spend the award. However, he
did state that he had a long list of possibilities,
among which is to pay for some of the new
security measures.
Other colleges which received the award were
California Lutheran University in Thousands
Oaks,Calif; Johnson C. Smith University in
Charlotte, N.C.; Ohio Dominican College in
Columbus, Ohio; and Sinte Gleska College in
Rosebud, S.D.
The Knight Foundation president, Creed
Black, said, “The grants are an investment in the
quality of presidential leadership at these
schools, and also an affirmation of the direction
that liberal arts education has taken at these
institutions.” He added that he think these
colleges are on the upswing.
Dr. Cole, a former chemistry professor and
administrator at Atlanta University, became the
Dr. THOMAS COLE JR.
president of the Clark College in 1988. When the
two institutions consolidated in 1989 he assumed
the presidency and has guided it through a
difficult period.
AIDS Increases Among Students
By NANNETTE L. WILSON
Editorial Page Editor
It was a message from Surgeon General C.
Everett Koop that first aroused people about the
AIDS virus.
For years it had been kept under lock and key,
but no more. Little did anyone suspect that
about one in every 500 U.S. college students
would be infected with the AIDS virus and
further, the disesase would spread if students did
not change their sex habits.
Risk factors associated with human immune
defiency (HIV) infection, such as sex with a
number of partners, clearly exist among those on
university campuses. But it was jarred from the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that sexually
transmitted diseases are an important cause of
morbidity on many campuses, and unwanted
pregnancies continues to occur despite the
availability of reliable contraceptive methods.
Information from university health centers
suggested that intravneous drug use was not
prevalent among students, but other drugs that
can impair decision-making about sexual
choices and behavior is frequent. There were few
data about HIV infection on the Atlanta
University Center campuses, however.
A total of 16,863 specimens were collected and
tested from 19 universities (17 public and 2
private) however, none of which were from the
AUC.
The median age of the students in the sample
was 21 ySars (range, 13 to 73). Female students
predominated, composing 64.5 percent of the
sample. All but one of the schools provided
information on race and ethnicity. Most
students in the sample (78 percent) were white.
Thirty specimens were positive for HIV
antibodies. Ten schools had no positive
specimens, and only one school had a rate of
seroprevalence of more than 0.6 percent.
Seroprevalence increased with age, from 0.08
percent among students from >8 to 24 years old
to 1.0 percent among those 40 or older. Results
for White, African American and Hispanic
students did not differ significantly, but the
number of African American and Hispanic
students were too small to provide meaningful
estimates of seroprevalence according to race
and ethnic group. Students who were over the
age of 24 and male were, respectively, 6.5 and 25
times more likely to be seropositive than those
who were 24 or younger and female.
Among the universities that took part, 76
percent of students were undergraduates and 75
percent were state residents. The age and racial
or ethnic distribution of the overall student body
and the samples from the health centers were
similar. Hopwever, since young women use the
health services more frequently than young men,
the proportion of women in the sample was
larger than the proportion in schools overall.
Using the age, sex, and racial or ethnic
distribution of the students at the 19 schools in
the sample and at all U.S. universities, the CDC
calculated seroprevalence rates that were
standardized to those populations, the rate of
seroprevalence would increase to 0.25 percent if
the proportion of male students in the 19 schools
altogether or in all U.S. universities .
Standardization according to age or sex did
not change the rate of seroprevalence.
Greeks Hold Conference
By TONYA LATIMER
News Editor
There will no longer be any more shaved heads, line
formation, dress identity, boots, greetings, etc. assciated with
Black fraternity and sorority pledging.
The National Teleconference, “Black Fraternities and
Sororities: A Glorious Past, The Road Ahead,” was shown live
via satellite at Georgia State Univerity’s Urban Life
Auditorium Wednesday. The first part of the program was the
showing of the actual video. The second part consisted of a live
panel discussion by representatives of each Black Greek
organization. The video dealt with fraternities and sororities in
general and the live panel discussion specifically addressed the
new intake program (new pledge rules).
According to the video, the 1900s gave rise to Black
fraternities and sororities. They promoted unity to African
American college students. They were especially important for
early Black collegiates because they were often isolated on
college campuses and had to struggle for economic and social
success. Furthermore, they were desperately needed on White
caspuses because African Americans were excluded from the
input on preodminately White colleges.
“This group of Blacks found themselves together for their
own protection and also for social interaction. But they also
believed that a fraternity should be more than a social group. It
should be an organization that binds men of culture together,”
said Dr. Henry Ponder, Alpha Phi Alpha’s general president.
Another spokesperson said that in early years, the
individuals who were part of the organization began to look
around the campus to select people who were similar in their
ideas. However, some students today feel this act is no longer
practiced by sororities and fraternities.
One Clark Atlanta U niveristy senior stated, “There use to be
a time when they would go out and seek girls who could benefit
from the organization, but today they don’t seek girls at all and
only accept those who are ‘fly.’ ”
The group kept reiterating how Black fraternities and
sorities have gotten away from traditions. Ponder said, “It is
good to have friends. It is good to have fun, and we thought
that was important. However, it is more important to become
educated and be able to do something like contribute
something to society.”
Ulysses McBride, grand polemarch. Kappa Alpha Psi, said
that to be a good Greek one must be less focused on socializing
and individual pursuits, and more focused on social awareness
and uplift.
The national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority said
that the present pledging procedures are definitely out of hand.
She added that the new intake program is definitely needed to
take the sororities and fraternites to their roots. Although each
fraternity and sorority is unique in its diversity, every
representative of each Greek organization agreed with Yvonne
Kennedy that the new intake program was the best solution to
. the hazing problem.
According to Flora B. Devine, GSU’s attorney-Legal
Affairs, “Hazing is any activity endangering or likely to
endanger one’s health preconditioned to joining an
organization.” She reminded the audience that hazing is not
always physical, but can be mental as well.
Upon hearing Devine’s definition of hazing, Georgia Tech
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity member, “Chili-Dog” questioned
what shaved heads, boots, dressing alike and lines have to do
with hazing. He stated that none of these things ever hurt
anyone before and questioned why there had to be an
immediate change as opposed to a gradual process. In response
to his questions, the panel agreed that the process was not
immediate and said that it has been in the making for some
time.
Students mentioned that since there was already a no-hazing
policy and that didn’t work, what makes them so sure that this
policy is going to be successful? Robert Willis, Alpha Phi
Alpha, said that everyone knows that there is no no-hazing
policy because it is being broken “day by day by day.” He
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