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Show Athletic scholarships jeopardized SIGNPOST- Tuesday, June 27,1989 3 (CPS) The head of an influential higher education group has called for colleges to stop handing out athletic scholarships. Robert Atwell, head of the American Council on Education (ACR) a group that represents college presidents in Washington, D.C., and that successfully forced colleges to stop letting freshmen with low grades play varsity sports told a congressional panel in May that he favored eliminating athletic scholarships altogether. To heal the "basically unhealthy system" of intercollegiate athletics, Atwell also suggested keeping freshmen off football and basketball teams dividing television revenues equally among all schools and shortening the football, basketball and baseball seasons to allow more time for studying. On June 20, University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer also called for reforming college sports as he announced he was quitting as OU's coach. Switzer, however, wanted to add money to the process. "We have created a system that does not permit me or the program to buy a pair of shoes or a decent coat for a player whose family can' t afford these basic necessities," he told the Associated Press. Switzer's program had been beset by recruiting violations and the arrests of five players on rape, shooting and drug charges. Not surprisingly, Atwell's proposals drew little praise from the sports world. "I'm not sure why they're discriminating against athletes," complained Jim Marchiony of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), which makes the rules for most college sports programs. "It's like banning journalism or music scholarships." "It's just whistling in the dark," added Al Van Wie, athletic director at the College of Wooster (Ohio) and vice president of the NCAA's Division III member schools, the smaller schools that give only need-based scholarships. Atwell's proposal wouldn't abruptly make small schools into powerhouses, either. "The highly skilled athlete still wouldn't want to help someone like us," Van Wie said. "Atwell is just Anti-athletic," charged Robert Devaney, athletic director of the University of Nebraska, the perennial football power. "I hadn't taken it very seriously," he added. "If you ban scholarships, you'd keep a lot of young men from going to college." "That's hard to believe," retorted ACE spokesman Dave Merkowitz, noting that $6 billion is available in need-based aid. Devaney added that rural schools such as his would suffer because the plentiful local talent in cities like Los Angeles and Detroit likely would choose to enroll at colleges closer to home. To actually ban sports scholarships, six schools would have to propose such a ruling, and then a majority of the 800-plus member schools would have to vote in favor, Marchiony said. Jessen named to Board of Regents Former ASWSC President Stephanie Jessen was chosen as the S tudent Regent to serve on the Utah Board of Regents for the 1989-90 school year. According to Jessen, there were six applications for the position. "Three went to the governor's office," she said. Out of the three finalists, Jessen won out and was appointed by Utah Governor Norm Bangerter to serve a one year term on the board, which oversees Utah's institutions for higher learning. "I'll be a full member," said Jessen. "I have full voting rights." Benefit dance suffers lack of attendance By Monica Blume Contributing Writer Imagine McDonald's, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity boys, and 200 energetic high school students teaming up on a Saturday night to celebrate a "Dance for a Drug-Free Summer". Sound exciting? Now add to it the fact that Gary Zane was there from Power 99 (KCPX) to keep the music going, along with enough games and prizes to keep everyone busy. Byron Anderson, activities chairman and founding father of SAE, along with Frank Gowens, who is affiliated with the McDonald's Corporation and is also very involved in the 'Say No To Drugs' crusade, put the regional high school dance together as a good, clean activity for teens. In setting the scene, search lights were put out on the night of the dance, along with a 5 12 foot helium balloon to add pizazz. Some of the activities (besides dancing) included a round of Limbo, a hula hooping contest, and Gary Zanc hosted a live version of The Dating Game. The old Gibson's parking lot was the location chosen for the dance, and the weather turned out to be beautiful. High school students from Bountiful to Brigham City were invited to attend. Although the music was loud, the dance was drug- (see DANCE on page 5) Kids (cont'd from page 2) members during a December Commander's Call, the purpose of the class is to teach these children functional skills. The school concentrates mostly on skills that will benefit the children should they ever have to live independently. At Mound Fort, one skill they learn is cooking. "What cooking skills they get, they get here," Willden said. Demonstrating their cooking skills, the kids prepared breakfast for Titensor and Regan. Randallcooked the sausage, S uzanne did the bacon, April made the pancakes, Mark cracked and cooked the eggs, and Dewan made the orange juice. All of this was done under the supervision of Willden and his aides, Chris and Susie. Another skill Willden mentioned that is top priority for the kids, is shopping. He said most of the kids he works with have never been shopping with their parents. They don't understand the concept behind shopping. To teach them the skills needed for shopping, there is a mock grocery store set up in the classroom. There are grocery products placed on shelves and there is a till where cither the kids or the teacher's aids act as cashiers. To get a taste of the real world, Mr. Willden and his aides take the kids on what they call mobility. For shopping sprees they go to Smith's a couple blocks away. As far as money is concerned, the kids are taught basic math skills in whole dollar amounts "so they don't have to worry about change. If it's $1.50, they must give two SI dollar bills," Willden said. Another skill they practice is assembly line work. This skill allows them to goon and find jobs. According to Susie, who used to work with the handicapped at Hill AFB, the base is a major source of employment for these people. Chromalox is another company who hires handicapped workers. One job they often find themselves doing is sorting. Since these kids have a different attention span than children without handicaps, Chris said, most of them can sit and sort things for a much longer period than would normally be expected. They don't get bored with it as easily as other children, and threrfore, are productive workers. The kids demonstrated their assembly-line work for Regan and Titensor as they practiced sorting. Randall started the line. He passed the box on to Suzanne, who put in her piece. She passed the box to Larry, and he passed it to Bill who passed it to April. Dewan and Mark put in the finishing pieces and Blair closed the box. Within minutes there was a stack of boxes with sorted objects. "They're all good kids," Willden said. The program operates mostly through volunteer labor. Willden, Chris and Susie, get paid during school hours, but anything beyond that is strictly volunteer. So what keeps them involved? "I enjoy working with these kids," Susie said. "It's very rewarding." Susie said she wanted to be a teacher for special education all her life. And for the past 20 years, since she was in the 1 0th grade, she has been involved in working with the handicapped. "I've worked with deaf and blind at the deaf school." Also, she has a deaf son. JL r MB'V' - WW"'' Ht 1989-90 . 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