University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 11, 1998 Page: 1 of 6
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Port Arthur native
Robert Rauschenberg retrospective on view in
Houston.
Page 2
L-tf
/
49 -
Wednesday, February 11,1998
Leading the “D”
Point guard with soccer background adept as team
member.
Page 4
Win over South Alabama
Men’s basketball team recaptures its winning
form in home game.
Page 5
university Press
1/998
Serving Lamar University and the community for 74 years
„Vol,74, No. 32
Tax credits available through new HOPE program
Archie Windham
UP copy editor
Approximately 12.9 million students
r— high school seniors and working
Americans alike — from middle income
backgrounds will benefit from the bal-
anced budget through tax credits, shed-
ding a positive light on the prospects of
Lamar University’s enrollment figures
and retention rate, Jim Rush, dean of
academic services, said Tuesday.
According to the “Families’ Guide to
the 1997 Tax Cuts for Education,” the
cuts, part of the balanced budget signed
into law in August 1997, effectively
make the first two years of college uni-
versally available through the HOPE
Scholarship, while also giving many
more working Americans the financial
means to go back to school via the
Lifetime Learning credit. Both tax cred-
its are aimed at students and their fami-
lies who are not currently eligible for
federal assistance, such as the Pell grant,
and could have a “tremendous positive
impact on local people looking at
Lamar,” Rush said.
Graduating high school seniors and
current college freshmen will receive a
100 percent tax credit for the first $1,000
of tuition and required fees less other
tax-free educational assistance and 50
percent on the second $1,000 with the
HOPE Scholarship. The Lifetime
Learning credit targets adults who want
to go back to school and to college
juniors, seniors, graduate and profes-
sional degree students, granting those
families a 20 percent tax credit for the
first $5,000 of tuition and fees paid each
year through 2002, and for the first
$10,000 thereafter.
“(The tax cuts) answer the middle
income cries that rich people don’t need
anything and poor people get everything
...” Rush said. “(HOPE Scholarship)
injects $1,500 real cash into a family’s
cash flow.”
Rush said a $1,500 tax break toward
tuition and fees at Lamar, which cur-
rently costs full-time students approxi-
mately $2,500 per year, should make
more local, prospective students stay
home and choose Lamar University.
“Lamar is a good school and close to
home;” he said. “Eighty percent of
Lamar students work, and they’re choos-
ing Lamar because it fills a lot of other
needs.”
He said the $1,500 tax exemption
offered by HOPE will make Lamar
more attractive to locals because, cou-
pled with loans, students who currently
work full-time can now cut back to part-
time and “really crank out credit hours.”
Rush also said the HOPE Scholarship
will assist freshman retention because of
the economic motivation it offers to par-
ents.
The tax loss for the parents if their
children drop out will provide the moti-
vation to encourage the students to stay
See HOPE, page 6
SACS, NCAA
Officials await review committee’s visit to campus
Tonya Andris
UP editor
Lamar officials have submitted the university’s
self-study to the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools for examination by that
accrediting agency.
Pam Saur, chair of the Lamar SACS steering
committee, said the committee has made dupli-
cates for SACS visiting committees and for distri-
bution around campus.
A visiting committee will be on campus, Saur
said, March 23 through March 26.
“The 15-member committee is made up of vol-
unteers and professors not from Texas,” she said.
When they get here, the committee will be
assigned issues. They will examine these issues
and interview LU committee individuals to find
out more information about the report. A final
report will be submitted on their assigned sec-
tions, Saur said.
An exit interview will be conducted by
President Rex Cottle and another individual of
his choice, she said. Before the committee leaves
Lamar University, an exit and oral report will be
presented by the visiting committee. Lamar will
have the opportunity to respond to the comments
and suggestions made by the visiting committee.
“The final vote on the accreditation will take
place Dec. 1,” Saur said. “After the vote, the
committee will again point out problems that
might be found with the final report.”
The chair of the visiting committee, Grover
Andrews, of the University of Georgia, was in
See VISIT, page 6
Nqithvvi'Slem Mutual life Inturance Company
Education tops
on list of concerns
Tonya Andris
UP editor
Education and race relations are some of the
topics that are on the minds of the first gradua-
tion class of the new millennium, according to a
survey issued to college and university students
in the United States.
Meet Generation 2001 — or at least a fully,
nationally representative cross section of 2,001
freshmen from this generation — all from 101
colleges and universities around the country
who participated in a new Louis Harris &
Associates survey released Feb. 3.
The American education system tops the list
as the single No.l most important issue for gov-
ernment and society to address, according to the
students participating in the Generation 2001
survey. Fully 68 percent of the respondents cited
education as among their biggest concerns
regarding the future.
While a majority of the group feel the country
is generally headed in the right direction,
Deanna L. Tillisch, director of the Generation
2001 study for Northwestern Mutual, said, the
majority of this group feel the country is gener-
ally headed in the right direction. There still are
a significant number of Generation 2001 who
believe we’re headed the wrong way.
Tillisch said the students who participated in
the Generation 2001 survey believe it’s every-
one’s responsibility to work toward improving
the state of our education system.
“They believe it’s quite possible in their life-
time that there will be a U.S. president who is a
woman or person of color,” she said*
“The gap between whites , and African-
Americans over the issue of race relations
remains as wide to Generation 2001 students as
it is with older generations,” David Krane, exec-
utive vice president of Louis Harris &
Associates, Krane said. “And, yet, there is a
glimmer of hope — the direction of the future is
See 2001, page 6
TALH
grade point
averages up
Sylvia Streeter
UP staff writer
Students in the Texas
Academy of Leadership have
seen an increase in their grade
point averages this year.
John Fluth, director of the
academy, said the increase is due
to the added support of tutorial
classes.
“The average GPA in fall 1996
was 2.84, whereas in fall 1997 the
average was 3.246,” Fluth said.
He said that one of the things
that helped was Loyce Sinegal’s
study halls that she stressed .
Sinegal is assistant director of
resident life for TALH. He said
that they used upper classmen to
tutor in the program.
“Of the 51 second-year TALH
students,” Fluth said, “the num-
ber whose GPA increased were
33. We also had two students that
maintained a 4.0 average and
several students whose GPA
came out to be the same.”
See TALH, page 6
a
3
Burning
the metal
Blacksmith John H.
Key Jr. of Fannett,
shapes cooking
skewers at Larry’s Old
Time Trade Days in
Winnie. The event is
held the weekend
after the first Monday
of each month.
‘Titanic’ sinks competition with 14 Oscar nods
Jack
Nicholson
and Helen
Hunt garner
nominations
for their roles
in “As Good
as it Gets.”
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.
(AP) — “Titanic,” the epic about
a fictional love affair on the
doomed ocean liner, captured a
record-tying 14 Academy Award
nominations today, including
best picture, actress and director.
“L.A. Confidential” and
“Good Will Hunting” each
received nine nominations,
including best picture. The other
best picture' nominees were “As
Good as It Gets” and, in a mild
surprise, “The Full Monty.”
Robert Duvall’s self-financed
role in “The Apostle” earned
him a best actor nomination. He
will face Matt Damon from
“Good Will Hunting,” Peter
Fonda from “Ulee’s Gold,”
Dustin Hoffman from “Wag the
Dog” and Jack Nicholson from
“As Good as It Gets.”
Fonda, son of the late Henry
Fonda, said “Ulee’s Gold” wasn’t
a comeback role. “You just
haven’t gone to the art houses,”
he said. “I make 1.2 movies a
year. This was just a part that got
a lot of critical acclaim.” He
added, “I carried my dad’s watch
during the movie for good luck.”
Kate Winslet of “Titanic” was
nominated for best actress, as
were fellow Britons Helena
Bonham Carter in “The Wings of
the Dove,” Julie Christie in
“After Glow” and Dame Judi
Dench in “Mrs. Brown,” and the
sole American on the list, Helen
Hunt in “As Good as It Gets.”
“I’m extremely shaky. I am
very thrilled,” a clearly moved
Dench, a London theatre legend
who has reached a whole new
public as Queen Victoria in
“Mrs. Brown,” said.
Winslet, a supporting actress
nominee two years ago for
“Sense and Sensibility,” said, “It
felt very unreal last time, and it
sort of feels the same this time.”
On the strong lineup by
British women in her category,
Winslet said she never thought
English actresses were better; the
nominees, she suggested, were
lucky to get good roles.
See OSCARS, page 6
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Andris, Tonya. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 11, 1998, newspaper, February 11, 1998; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500840/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.