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Graduation rates lagging for NCAA athletes

U-WIRE

AUSTIN, Texas - White student athletes are more likely to graduate than minority students, according to National Collegiate Athletics Association figures released Monday.

NCAA figures reveal 1999 graduation rates for student athletes remained steady overall. But minority graduation rates dropped.

The NCAA Division I graduation rate stands at 56 percent nationwide.

But when broken down, national graduation rates for African-American athletes fall behind their white counterparts.

The University of Texas athlete graduation rate is 54 percent after six years - 10 percent less than the overall UT student population.

But UT athletics officials defended their athletes' scholarship Tuesday.

DeLoss Dodds, UT men's athletic director, said athletes are commonly recruited from junior colleges, where the academic environment may not be as challenging as a four-year university.

"If students have a bad start, they generally spend four years trying to get out of the hole," he said.

Dodds said opportunities such as tutors, mentors and the Gateway Program are in place to help UT athletes succeed in the classroom.

Jane Jankowski, spokeswoman for the NCAA, said the data is only raw and was collected at the request of the federal government.

She added that the organization did not and will not interpret the numbers.

This year, 50 percent of all college football players earned their diploma. White males received their degrees at a rate of 60 percent, whereas African-American males acquired their diplomas at a rate of 42 percent.

Additionally, the graduation rates for basketball players, male and female, have been on the decline for the third straight year.

Nationwide, only 41 percent of college basketball players graduated in 1999. White male players got degrees at a rate of 53 percent versus 33 percent for African-American players.

African-American female athletes also suffered a graduation rate decrease.

White females graduated at a rate of 69 percent, while African Americans graduated at a rate of 49 percent. Overall, 62 percent of female basketball players graduated.

Betty Jaynes, chief executive officer for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, said the NCAA report sends a warning that something is amiss.

She added that the numbers warrant investigation.

"It's an area in which we will monitor and accumulate data," she said. "It's not a good thing to happen to [women's basketball]. We have always hung our hat on the fact that our athletes graduate."

But UT officials said straight graduation rates may not be the best indicators of success.

"What's interesting about the NCAA graduation statistics is that sometimes, they don't tell the whole story," said Chris Plonsky, associate athletic director.

She said UT student athletes may not always graduate because they may get careers in the professional arena, transfer to another school, suffer injuries or simply drop out.

She added that the NCAA's counting method leaves out too many explanatory evidence.

"A school shouldn't be penalized if the student left in good academic standing," Plonsky said.

The UT athletics department examines exhausted eligibility rates, which measures the number of students who graduate after they are ineligible to participate in sports.

Student athletes are given six years to graduate, and an athlete can participate in sports for four of those years.

Plonsky said the exhausted eligibility rate is a better barometer of graduation rates than the traditional method employed by NCAA. The NCAA compares the number of students who enrolled in their freshmen year to the number of students who have graduated by six years.

ACLU protests school closing on Jewish holiday

U-WIRE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite a large religious student body, Penn State University holds classes on most religious holidays - an issue that leaves many students divided.

Some public schools throughout the United States observe major religious holidays, such as Yom Kippur on Sept. 20, by canceling classes. But there is opposition to such observance of religious holidays.

According to a CNN report, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court on Aug. 25 to block an Ohio school system from observing Jewish holidays by granting days off of its calendar. The ACLU claims the action violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which prohibits the establishment of one religion above others.

"Religious freedom is important, but separation of church and state seems to be the reason for this suit (in Ohio)," said Samantha Chirillo, Penn State ACLU secretary.

But others argue students still need to have the option to observe religious holidays by not attending classes.

"I think observance depends on the individual," said Tuvia Abramson, director of Hillel: Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. "All students should be allowed out of class for any religious holiday."

Steve Strouss, a meteorology junior and Jewish Athletic League liaison for the Board of Directors of Hillel, said it would be wrong of the ACLU to block the Ohio schools from canceling classes on holidays because Jewish students are the majority.

"Any school has the right to cancel classes at any time, especially on religious holidays," Strouss said.

There is an effort to close classes on religious holidays, Strouss said, but it is not necessary when there is a small Jewish population.

"If Jewish students are not the majority then everyone gets a day off and it is out of respect to a major holiday such as Yom Kippur," Strouss said.

Abramson said classes do not have to be closed for all 40,000 students if students have the option to observe holidays outside of class.

"If a school had a majority of Jewish students, then no one would be in class on a Jewish holiday, so you might as well cancel class," Abramson said. "We have to deal with the reality. If the student body was big enough, we could accommodate them."

Strouss said the ACLU is being harsh and strict, and they might as well file a suit for other canceled school days that fall within holidays.

But Chirillo agrees with the ACLU stance. Chirillo said closing classes for one religion's holidays would lead to others wanting canceled classes for their own holidays.

Abramson said it is inappropriate to schedule a major event on a holiday when some people cannot attend because of their observance of a holiday.

"The problem is when the university schedules football games on holidays such as Yom Kippur," Abramson added.

The school should make all efforts to let students observe their religious holidays, to allow them to get out of class and to be given enough time to catch up with the rest of the class, Abramson said.

Professors seem understanding and tend to excuse students from class, Strouss said. Penn State allows students to observe their holidays, he added.

Committee: Gainesville bars and clubs should close doors at 2 a.m.

U-WIRE

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Despite pleas from Florida and Santa Fe Community College students, bars and clubs should not to stay open past 2 a.m., a committee charged with examining late-night raves decided Tuesday afternoon.

That recommendation will be up for a vote in front of the Gainesville City Commission on Sept. 13.

If the commission decides to go along with the rave committee's recommendation, it will begin enforcing the statewide anti-rave ordinance that it opted out of about two years ago.

SG Lobbying Director Marc Adler, who served on the committee, gave other members "fair warning" Tuesday of what 53,000 college students could do when they join together against a cause.

"I will do everything in my power to stop this," Adler said. "We will be holding forums, putting out petitions before the Sept. 13 meeting. And we will definitely be at the meeting to stop this law from coming into effect and limiting our freedoms."

However, Mayor Paula DeLaney said she is taking the committee's recommendation seriously and is planning to vote in favor of the anti-rave ordinance.

"I can't say I am terribly disappointed with the recommendation," DeLaney said. "I voted in favor of the ordinance on first reading ... and will certainly be receptive and willing to go along with the recommendation. We put a process into place to get an answer and we got it."

Of the nine sub-committees that made up the rave committee, six voted to close bars and clubs at 2 a.m., two voted for a 4 a.m. closing time and one sub-committee - education administration -Ødid not vote because the sub-committee members could not come to a consensus on the issue.

"I don't think the committee was as effective as it could have been," said Nikke Brown-Moore, SFCC's Student Government president. "There were a lot of positive things and negative things, but it is to be expected when you have such a diverse group of people represented."

UF Student Government Dean Rick Barth, who served on the committee, said administrators from SFCC and Alachua County School Board leaders decided Friday not to vote on the closing time.

"When there are 53,000 people involved, one person cannot represent them all," Barth said. "Last Friday we decided that we were not going to vote to try to represent everyone."

On Tuesday, Barth said he found out about a letter fellow committee member Debbie Martinez, co-owner of Ernesto's Tex-Mex Caf­, faxed to UF President John Lombardi and SFCC President Larry W. Tyree.

The letter stated that Martinez had talked to the parents of many UF students expressing displeasure in the administration's 4 a.m. closing time position, Martinez said after the committee meeting.

"I was just communicating what parents expressed to me," Martinez said. "I'm sharing the concerns of the parents with the administration. This is all foreign to me. This has nothing to do with politics."

A joint UF-SFCC student forum on the rave ordinance will take place on the Reitz Union's fourth floor at 7 tonight.