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Some students arrived Saturday White House p AASCU collegia college press EXCHANGE en thi stead The already-politicized battle over in a pending United States student-loan intere rote nit has hprnrrip an wpn hicrcrpr no- lv,7r litical football now that the White House ft has weighed in, parties involved in the versiti debate said. repres Barmak Nassirian, policy analyst a con] for the American Association of State tol Hi Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the la said the debate has always been polit- w ical but added that a Clinton admin- Comp istration proposal ofFered this week has witho further raised its profile. ing i0 The debate centers on a provision inter? in the 1993 Student Loan Reform Act n slated to shift July 1 the student loan atj0n i interest rate index from the 91-day Trea- sury j sury bill plus 3.1 percent to the 10-year mend Treasury plus 1.0 percent. inter* Lenders have voiced concern that Treas such a change might impede their prof- ply U1 itability and force some smaller lenders ft out of the student loan business. n In a press conference Wednesday, the h Vice President A1 Gore offered the ad- hank! ministration's compromise, which would M keep the interest rate pegged to the saj(j t shorter-term 91-day Treasury but tight- yjg^ Popularity of growing at uni college press EXCHANGE Univ< Elisabeth Mistretta is used to be- norin ing one of only a few white people in to tra some of her classes. ing, t That's what she gets for taking ?\ courses in African-American studies, eratu especially the ones that aren't core re- said ] quirements, she said. TnHiai Being a minority for once doesn't studi seem to bother the 19-year-old sopho- find a more, who is minoring in Black World Engli Studies at Loyola University in Chica- N go. chan< Tve heard it before," said Mistret- eyes, ta, who hopes the minor will help her they ] cover black communities more effec- oft-he tively when she gets her first job in "Ii journalism. "Don't minor in it. ItH make case,' you sound like you have an agenda." Africs But that's not what Mistretta said Univ< she has in mind unless, of course, you we sa consider her desire to see the world in thi through different sets of eyes an tice] i agenda. need She said she is simply one of a grow- S< mg number ot students who are ex- useiu ploring black studies to get a more com- ing aj plete picture of American history. say tl "I feel like a whole other world ex- for a ists that I was not aware of," she said. G "Black people know more about white scho< America than we probably know our- publii selves, but whites walk around with can r blinders on." ing tl Despite many tension-filled cam- chain puses where affirmative action and race ies de relations are at the forefront of discus- iforni sion, some professors report a growing to off interest in African-American studies. "I Last year, an estimated 1,000 stu- or an dents majored in the subject at 21 not u __1 1 i_! !J_ J-.-Li ___ * scnoois nationwide, no uouoi an increase ner-c since 1968 when San Francisco State funct In Monday, February 23,1998 edition, Lee quoted in the article, Problems, praise for DA 4 News The Gamecock ' iday afternoon behind Harper Co after the lISC Kentucky basketball iosition heig ite student-1 b spread to 2.3 percent over in- for of 3.1 percent over the T-bill. nei addition to that, the maximum st rate banks could charge would coi ercent. cot ipresentatives of colleges and uni- bei ies have been meeting with lender Ed sentatives in negotiations to strike ipromise they can take to Capi- pje 11 in hopes Congress can amend ^y] ? i ii.? w ueiure uic cuwtivc uaic. hile Gore offered the deal as a romise that would aid students iut hurting lenders, some bank- ^ bbyists saw it as a blow to their ^ sst. le Independent Bankers Associ- ?r< of America (IBAA) called the Treareport an administration recom- 8 lation of "a substantially lower ist rate," but Nassirian said the mry report was neutral and sim- S1"' 3ed by the White House in mak- to s own proposal. le report was undertaken to study W( mpact of the July 1 change on 3. W? 'ark Scanlan, an IBAA lobbyist, ilj he proposal essentially cuts lender wl 3 by 80 basis points, which would pr Lfrican-Ameri versities nati 2rsity became the first to offer it. an lough the number of students mi- ra g in the subject is more difficult on ck, many professors say it's grow- ^ oo. Ve have courses in music, art, litre, dance, history and sociology," ioward McCluskey, chairman of j\ na University's African-American * es department. "Students won't ill of that if they major simply in sh." or will they necessarily get a pl( :e to view society through black m; something many professors say Pu hope will help cool the countryi's at sated racial divide. cic t hrinps tn mind the O.J. Simnson ?< ' said Russell Adams, head of an-American studies at Howard ^ irsity. "[Whites] did not know how ^ w justice in terms of race relations ^ s country. Until we all see [jusin the same way, there will be a to have continual education." )me people challenge the major's lness when it's time to go job huntEter college, but many professors Ai aeir students are marketable ed variety of reasons. po raduates tend to head off to law Ai dI or get jobs in teaching and Ri c policy-making fields where they er ight the wrongs highlighted dur- re . 4...d u* leu aiuuiea, aaiu reicy nrnwcu, ^ nan of the African-American studpartment at the University of Cala-Berkeley, one of only two schools co er a Ph.D. in the subject, f someone wants to be a doctor w< attorney [or a] city planner and nderstand the realities of the in- T ity, [they] would be totally dys- sh ional," he said. "AAS is not only be s, in reference to the former Wade Haj Monday, March 2,1998 rlRHni Wteh TjP^" . . :'' _ _. BBSBBb^: lilt111 h i | \ BfiBBQI liege for Horseshoe housing I ffwy tO ling: Up. ;htens oan debate ce many small lenders out of busi3S. "We don't view this as much of a npromise," said Scanlan, adding that interproposals from banker mem"s would likely be offered to the House ucation Committee. Nassirian said he has so far com(ted onlv a Dreliminarv review of the lite House proposal and AASCU is t yet ready to endorse it. John Dean, special counsel to the nsumer Banking Association, told uters in an interview that the issue s created a political dilemma for Coness. The administration and many on ipitol Hill have made lower costs for ident loans a priority. On the other hand, Dean said, Coness does not want to cut lender yields a level that would be unprofitable. Some $34 billion in student loans ;re given out last year. More than two-thirds of that amount is provided through the Federal Fam' Education Loan Program (FFELP), narfriprs wifVi nrivatp lenHprs tr> ?* r4' ~ ovide loans. [can studies ? onwide i intellectual discipline. It deals with ce relations, and I think that somee with an AAS degree entering into Ly job situation would be good." By why major in African-American idies, especially in an age when comter technicians out of college can land A I bucks? Many students say they simply want know their culture better. "When I came into contact with peoj who were immersed in that study, y eyes were opened," said Gloria irifoy, a 25-year-old graduate student Western Illinois University. "I deled no one can look down on me beuse I know myself. "I also learned to become proud of ^ e things that we've been taught to W ok down upon, such as my feares," she added, pointing to her dark in and tightly braided hair. Such awakenings aren't restricted black students. "White students should take Afiicannerican studies for their own knowlge and to learn about the very imirtant role of Africans [played inl nerican history," said 23-year-old chard Gulotta, a white junior at Westn Illinois majoring in tourism and creational park administration. "I iind African-American studies more levant to society than many other urses." Added Mistretta: "Unfortunately ?[take a class] for something that nuld be included in American histo. Black history is a little footnote and nuld be integrated into U.S. history tter than it is." ^ n Wade Hampton, was incorrectly mpton desk coordinator. mtkmmm* r ?