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Carolina News College freshmen do well in school despite apathy by Christine Tatum College Press Exchange Chicago — This year's college fresh men said they spent their last year of high school strolling in late for class and dodg ing homework — and still managed to maintain an ‘A’ average, a recent survey says. Don't be too impressed, said Re searchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, whose annual survey of college first-years is designed to show how students' attitudes and goals change over time. The resulting study, released last week and now in its 34th year, is con ducted by UCLA's Higher Education Institute and is based on responses from 261,217 students at 462 two- and four year institutions. Students' answers reflect their last year of high school and their ex pectations of college. The rigors of college study must have been a shocker to many freshmen, who reported what researchers called more “disengagement” from academics than ever. A record 40 percent of students reported frequently feeling bored in class, up from 38 percent last year and from a low of 26 percent in 1985. A whopping 63 percent of students, the most ever, said they showed up late for class frequently or occasionally, compared with 49 per cent in 1966. Signs of students' disinterest in acad emics showed in their study habits, too. Thirty-two percent of freshmen said they spent six or more hours a week studying or doing homework during their last year of high school — down from 44 percent of students when the question was first asked. Forty percent of students said they studied less than three hours a week, and 17 percent said they studied less than one hour a week. Despite their aversion to studying, many students said they managed to hold onto an ‘A’ average in high school. A record 34 percent of students said they scored the top grade, compared with an all-time low of 13 percent in 1969. Con versely, only 12 percent of last year’s high school seniors said they earned a ‘C,’ down from a record high of 33 percent in 1969. So, what's up with the good grades? Two words, researchers said: “grade in flation.” In other words, giving students higher grades for average work. And for many students, schoolwojk is focused very much on the basics. Re searchers found that more students are taking remedial courses than ever—par ticularly in mathematics and foreign languages (13 percent and 5 percent, re spectively). Overall, 18 percent of first year college students took a remedial course in high school, up from a low of 12 percent in 1982. “Although these percentages are rel atively small, they represent hundreds of thousands of students nationwide, thus emphasizing the need for colleges and uni versities to accommodate growing num bers of students who may be academical ly under-prepared,” the report said. Protesters tell Colorado students not to look for jobs at big companies By Amanda Hill College Press Exchange Boulder, Colo.—A graduate student career fair at the University of Colorado at Boulder turned into a battlefield of sorts Tuesday as protesters urged students to look outside big corporations for jobs. Students, career services staff and uni versity security clashed with demonstra tors from the World Action and Aware ness Coalition of Equal United Progressives (WAAKE-UP!). Group members carried a banner that read, “Students are NOT products, Teachers are NOT tools, The University is NOT a factory!” The protest came complete with “Crackers, the Cor porate-Crime-Fighting Chicken,” and an Uncle Sam look-alike, both of whom dashed through hallways, handing out fliers to surprised students. The three-minute protest ended when a campus security guard forcibly booted Crackers and Uncle Sam out of the build ing. “Were protesting the whole idea that corporations can pay money to use our campus without our consent, and we can't go up and hand out our fliers,” said CU student Aaron Ibur. Ibur, who was kicked out of the career fair for distributing fliers displaying information about several of the participating corporations, said, “This violates our First Amendment right.” WAAKE-UP! members said they have been trying for yean to get a table at the annual career fan so they could share their views. Group members rejected univer sity officials' claims that several student groups, including WAAKE-UP!, were in vited to attend a series of meetings to dis cuss an appearance at this year's fair. WAAKE-UP! members did not respond, university officials said. “We weren't at the meetings be cause we weren't invited,” WAAKE-UP! member Chris O'Loughlin said. University officials immediately bounced protesters out of the fair because the protestors’ tactics “intimidated” oth er students and employers, said Gordon Gray, director of the university's career services. “Cooperative employees and the [university’s] security helped avert a major confrontation,” Gray said. “We don't want protesters and political issues to get in the way of the meaningful contact be tween students and employers.” Ice from page A1 was First Baptist Church in Columbia, where some 1,500 people—half to three quarters the normal turnout — showed up, pastoral care minister Raymond Tim merman said. About 3,000 South Carolina Electric and Gas customers were still without pow er in the Midlands Sunday afternoon, down from 10,000 earlier in the day, said com pany spokeswoman Cathy Love. More than 12,000 of Duke Power Co.’s South Carolina customers were with out power at about noon Sunday, and that was expected to increase, said spokes woman Rosalind Bennett. Carolina Power & Light reported scat tered outages in its service area of north east South Carolina, spokesman David McNeill said. There is a printing error in the 1999-2000 University Of South Carolina Student Basketball Ticket Information Book. The distribution dates for the Mississippi State and Alabama games are NOT Feb. 8 and 9. The NEW DISTRIBUTION DATES are Monday, Feb. 7 and Tuesday, Feb. 8. The distribution dates for the LSU and Georgia games are NOT Feb. 15 and 16. The NEW DISTRIBUTION DATES are Monday, Feb. 14 and Tuesday, Feb. 15. jpSKEmMJL Lets have a big Turnout of Student Basketball FANS for the last Four Home Games of The Season. Distribution for the games will be in ROOM 205 Russell House from 9:00am - 4:00pm. • Students are not guaranteed a student ticket to each game, only the right to a ticket as long as student tickets are available. • Remember, the good seats go early, so get your ticket as soon as you can. Handicapped or disabled students can get assistance Lottery opponents say plan would shortchange students Associated Press Opponents of Gov. Jim Hodges’ pro posed state lottery say projections to fi nance college scholarships would fal short and leave students in the lurch In a plan announced last week Hodges said the lottery could provide $ 105 million a year in higher educatior scholarships, making college more af fordable for 67,000 students and in creasing training for 8,000 teachers But critics point to New Mexico where a 4-year-old lottery-supportec scholarship program faces a financia shortfall. If New Mexico lawmakers don’t re structure the lottery, the state will neee an estimated $2.7 million to provide fill tuition for students in the 2000-01 academic year. The following year, ar additional $17.5 million will be needec to continue the program. Hodges’ spokeswoman Nina Brool said the Democratic governor, who made the “education lottery” a central theme in his campaign to upset Gov. Davie Beasley in November 1998, doesn’t ex pect similar problems with a South Car olina lottery. “What he is proposing to do in the beginning is well within what the state’s economic forecasters believe that a lot tery can raise,” Brook said. “The plan is being structured with that in mind to ensure that our resources are equal to our plans for the lottery. The governor feels we’re well within the limits we need to be in that area.” However, House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, and others said they fear that South Car olina could end up in the same predica ment as New Mexico. “We don’t want to be like New Mexico and have our students counting on a scholarship and the money is not there,” Harrell said. “I believe students would be better served if we focused that money on school buildings or some thing else where a fluctuation in rev enue did not cause us to pull the rug out from under children’s feet.” Voters will decide in November whether to amend South Carolina’s con stitution to allow a lottery. Council from page A1 first-runner up was Walt Burch. The second runner-up was Marc Lockridge. Kristen Moore, president of Zeta Tau Alpha, said, “Zeta Tau Alpha hopes to make this event bigger next year. It is something that both the participants and the audience enjoy, not to mention the fun we have putting on the event. It’s great entertainment, but more im portantly, it allows us to contribute to a very worthwhile cause.” Another event coming soon is the Dance Marathoa Last year the marathon raised over $55,000. The Office of Greek Life and the Dance Marathon Committee sponsor this event. All the money raised goes to help cancer victims. The marathon will be held Febru ary 25 and 26 at an unknown location. There will be 28 hours of dancing, bands, food and fun. Tracy Bonds, from Greek Life, said, “The Dance Marathon, as well as oth er philanthropy events this semester, really do amazing things for the com munity. 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