News Scrapbooks 1977-1979

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. Colleges striv

to slow exodus of dropou 'S By JOSEPH THESKEN TRIBUNE Education Writer How do you keep students from dropping out of colleges and universities? That's a question to which San Diego educators are seeking answers. have easier access to them in discussing academic or personal problems. The dropout rate at San Diego campuses varies with UCSD and San Diego State University reporting 20 to 25 percPnt of their entering freshmen class leaving before 'he first year is over, and 40 to 45 percent b} the r nd of thl' second year. Nationally it Is estimated that half of the freshmen who enter a college or university make it to the graduation exercises.

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The glory days or bulgmg enrollments end 1rplus students ar~past. Enrollm nts generally haw lew led off here - nat1onally, there is a definite dn ~rd trend - so schools have had to conc.-entrat• vn keeping the students they have. But administrators are taking steps to stop the flow of students from the local campuses. Among them are: -_ Beefing up counseling for those troubled by person- al fmanc1al or academic concerns. .- Trying to ~ake campus life more pleasant and fnendly. Homesickness, particularly in freshmen and loneliness are big factors in students' departures. ' - Expanding the curriculum to offer a wider ehoice of studies One of the complaints heard from departing ~udents 1s that they were disappointed with the narrow field of courses available. - Placing faculty members in the dorms so students

But there Is a qualifier here that should be noted . As Dr. Pat Watson, director of academic services for the, University of San Die~, contends, a good number of students who leave one university go to another; yet they are called "dropouts." "I don't think the term "dropout" is accurate " she said . "Besides those who go from one campus to a~other, there are students we refer to as 'stop-outs.' They are individuals who, for example, take a year off school to decide what they want to do. get their act together, as they say it. "The old idea of a four-year lock step through college isn't the thing for a lot of today's stu~ents " See QUIT, B-3

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GOl!";G, GOI 'G ... - A student fading as .:;he approaches UCSD Library symbollzes the dropout problem. - Photo by Jerry Rife

$AN DIEGO RAU..YTRANSCRIPT

,1UtY6 1979

a larger university, wher~ th~r f~l things wiil be more exc1tmg, said Or. Al Palmiotto, vice president for student affairs. "But they usually find there are advantages to a small school, and in some instances they return to us." As for those students, both Ameri- can and foreign, who leave, Palmiot- to said 90 percent leave for personal reasons, ranging from illness to finances to "a need to get away, while the others Jumped in the re- maining 10 percent are disenchanted with the program at USIU, leave because their friend left, or any or a variety of reasons. At Point Loma College, a church- affiliated institution, financial prob- lems are the major reason students leave, said Keith Pagan, vice presi- dent for academic affairs. "We had a l!ttle heavier loss in the last year, but we attribute this to the unsettling effects of Proposition 13 on families of the students. When the parents can't support them, they usually leave and attend the commu• nity colleges because of the lower cost." Various steps are being taken by San Diego colleges and universities to retain their students. San Diego State, for example, is strengthening its conseling services. "We now have the University Advising Center for new, undeclared students," Nowak reported. "In its first year, it handled 20,000 student contacts, answering their concerns and problems. "For students on career tracks, we have the assistant deans of the seven colleges coordmate their pro- grams and offer academic advice. These aids are in addition to our service-related office of health ser- vices, housing, career counseling and placem~nt and financial aids." At UCSD, entering freshmen are being asked about their expecta- tions, goals and fields of study. "This fall, we are going to follow up these surveys and counsel those who are not happy with their cam- pus life," commented Bob Barr, who works with Starkey.

CO"TINUED FROM IH UCSD and SD Uofficials note that their students regularly switch from one campus to another in the state- wide UC and coll ge and university systems. Whatever it is called, however, the dropout rate is of concern to ad- ministrators on several grounds. For one thing, loss of students means loss of dollars SDSU and UCSD get their funding from the state on the basis of the number of students who attend and the academic load they take each quarter. Private colleges and uni- versities depend upon tuition as an important source of income. Why do students leave? How can the exodus be minimized? The reasons are many, but there are some basic ones that turn up over and over, according to Bob Starkey, whose duties as analytical- studies officer at UCSD include com- piling statistics on this matter. . "We fmd there are three roam reasons why students leave at UCSD," Starkey said. "First, they change their minds about their goals, This is develop- ' ment, and it's healthy. ' "Second, a student may be a bad fit. For example, he may be interest- ed in business administration, only to fl,nd we don ·t have it here. He is better off at San Pie.go State, which has an excellent bu. ·iness adminis- tra Ian program. 'Third, there are correctible situ- ations, such as a student not know- ing what he wants to do. Through counselmg, he can find out." Among other factors at UCSD are isolation of the campus from shop- ping areas, lack of fraternities and sororities, impersonality of the cam- pus and a narrow range of academic offerings. At SDSU, students leave for per- sonal reasons, such as family prob- lems, employment, not getting the classes they want, financial prob- lems, lack of transportation and changing of goals, according to Dr. Daniel Nowak, dean of student affairs. United States International Uni- versity has a large segment of stu· dents from around the world. This presents particular problems for USIU's administration. "We find that, of the international students who leave, many will go to

FRIDAY.

Rose Bird Answers - In Writing; USD LawProf. Cited In Tanner Controversy

information the commission was seeking. "I believe the document (by Ms. Bird) is an answer to those questions," Hufstedler said. But he added "It was not as clear as I would have liked." Associate Justice William P. Clark then c, tinued his t.estimony yesterday, recounting his contacts with the news media during the weeks before the election. Clark, a former executive secretary to former Gov. Ronald Reagan, said he met or spoke numerous times with Edwin Meese m, who succeeded him as Reagan's top st.a.ff aide. Meese, a law professor at the University of San Diego, and two other writers, published an article in the Los Angeles Daily Journal on Sep. 11, 1978 in which the Supreme Court was criticized for its decisionmaking processes and it was suggested controversial rulings were being delayed until after the election. Clark, who said he was a close personal friend of Meese, denied discussing any specific pending cases with Meese and said he had understood the article was to be about victim's rights. He said he received a copy of the article "immediately before or after" publication and remembers that he ~scanned" it, but said he didn't recall if the article said anything about the controversial "Use a gun,go to prison" (Tanner) case then pending before the court. Clark said he never discussed the Tanner case with Meese. Meese's article said "there has been a slowdown in the release of important decisions as the November elections draw nearer" and added it would be "interesting a'hd surprising" if the Tanner case was ruled on before the November election.

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) - Attorneys for California Chief Justice Rose Bird submitted written responses yesterday to questions she earlier refused to answer during a hearing of the Commission on Judicial Per- formance. The commission also heard testimony, in its hearings yesterday, drawing a San Diego law professor, Edwin Meese m, into a controversy over delaying high court rulings. The commission accepted the responses, but reserved the right to recall her in person for further testimony and explanation. Ms. Bird was not present, and was represented by Attys. Jerome B. Falk Jr. and Harry J. Delizonna who assured the commissioners she would appear if requested. The commission is conducting an investigation into allegations the state Supreme Court delayed, for political reason , a ruling in the controversial Tanner case prior to last November's election. Ms. Bird and three associate justices were up for confirmation in that election. Last Monday, Commission Special Counsel Seth Hufstedler had asked Ms. Bird several questions relating to whether she had knowledge of any press leaks from the court. She startled the court by refusing to answer, citing attorney-client privilege, and the commission instructed Hufstedler to consider whether to cite her for contempt. In the written answer turned in yesterday, Ms. Bird said she knew of no documents pertaining to such leaks other than memos prepared by her staff at the request of her attorneys. She said the law clearly holds that those are protected by attorney-client privilege. She said she had no knowledge of reports on leaks from the court outside her staff, which Hufstedler said was the

Camp Motto: 'You have To Move It To Lose It' On The (Fat) Farm

"Muir College has several new programs to help students make adjustments to attending a universi- ty, including having faculty mem· bers living in the dorms so they will be within easy reach of students."

their measurements taken from neck to ankle. In anticipation of their arrival, vending machines with their forbidden temptations were extracted from the dorms at the University of San Diego, where the camp has been held for the last eight years. It did nothing, however, to forestall the creeping of food into the consciousness. The very first day one camper remarked on the similarity or USDarchitecture, with its white plaster and curlicues, to a huge, luscious white cake with vanilla icing. Visions of banana splits and lasagna have been dancing in campers' heads ever since. "I called my mom yesterday and told her when I got home I wanted to have a banana split, but I already decided that I won't eat anything else all day to make up for it," promised 13-year-old Patricia from Beverly Hills. Three weeks after Patricia had con- sumed two hamburgers, trench fries, onion rings, two frozen bananas, malted milk balls and four cokes during a day at Disneyland, she sat toying with her cot• tage cheese at breakfast at Camp Murrie- ta. Patricia is a Camp Murrieta veteran ; for three years she has pounded the dirt track here, and wiggled through aerobic dance class. Every summer she loses her waddle; every winter she gains it back. This year, however, is going to be differ- ent: "I got down on my hands and knees and begged my parents to send me here again. I wanted to look better. Besides, 7th grade, that's where you get the guys." Patricia weighs a roundly dimpled 147. She wants to weigh 100. "We say we're going to keep it off and maybe we will, maybe we won't," says a ' sadder but wiser Penny, who at 13, has been the Murrieta route five times. "Somehow, now I think I'm old enough to understand what they're teaching us. I know one thing. My parents said it was the last time they were going to send me back. To tell the truth, It's pretty frightening to be here the fifth time. You get to the point where you figure you'll never be able to (Continued on D-1', Col. 5)

By LEIGH FENLY Staff Wnlff, The San Diego Union

By 7 a.m. they were chugging around the dirt track, their pink cheeks working wads of sugarless gum, their rippled thighs flapping, their bodies heaving and huffing against blubber's greatest enemy : action. "I think we ought to walk now," pleaded one roundly squat young lady from Wood- land Hills. who marks the date of her "fat explosion" as the day of her bat mitzvah: "It was all uphill from there." The parad of moving bodies passed by and she sank into food fantasies. "Gee, I wlsh I had a root beer float. I'm really into this, can't you see. I wanted to go to horse camp, but my parents surprised me with this. I n't it terrlf!~? "I feel so fat, it's depressing," she complained. "You just feel lousy when you 're fat." CamP, Murrieta Is no horse camp. Those who don't mince words call it a fat farm . Tho who do say "health and fitness camp." urrleta-wlth its 1,100 nutrition- ally adjusted calories, its emphasis on action, Its rules and regulations ("It's pretty hard to break out of here") - Is weight loss for juniors. Here fat is enemy to teen-agers who giggle at boys and wear braces on their teeth. Even eight-year-olds at Mumeta know that sneaking Oreos is cheating, at 10 they say, "I retain water like you wouldn't believe." "I'm here because I have very high cholesterol for my age," explained 10- year-old Lynn. "Cholesterol leads to hard- ening of the arteries, and that means your arterle get hard. I have to eat fewer eggs and do more exercise." Her mother is a former model who Lynn says ls 10 pounds overweight at 5-feet-7 and 120 pounds. Counselors explain that Lynn's mother wants her to weigh 55 pounds Lynn, who by no standards is chubby at 68 pounds, cned la week because she had lost only a pound. Lynn is one of 215 girls, aged 8 to 21, who rolled into Camp Murrieta three weeks ago from across California and the western United States. Campets have since had their fat mass calipered, their weight recorded, their "before" pictures shot,

The Motto: You Have To Move It To lose It • (Continued from D-1) keep it off."

There are Murrieta campers so determined that they wouldn't dare cheat. One was so desper- ate after years of dieting that she borrowed money from the bank to come. Eighteen-year-old Carol lost 165 pounds in the last three years and is way be- yond cheating. "I was gar- gantuan . I weighed 385 pounds. When I was 14, my measurements were 56-7!>- 90. My doctor told me I would be dead by the time I· was 18 if I didn't lose weight. "I weigh 220 now, and I want to weigh 195 when I leave. I'm determined to get into a perfect size 16. Losing weight never gets easy. In fact the more you lose the harder it gets. "Right now I need the structure. I made up my mind I was going to come here. I wanted to tone up, to exercise, to feel good about myself. You swallow the pride, you swallow the cravings, and you just do it."

Camp Director Bonnie Boss, who during the sea- son is USD's women) bas- ketball coach, says that 90 percent of the girls show up at Camp Murrieta because of their parents' persua- sion. The $1,650 fee covers seven weeks of behavior justify modification, nutri- tion, lessons in menu read- ing and portion judgment. Operated by Sportsworld Ltd., the emphasis is on sports and activities that the girls can continue at home. Or, as stated in last year's motto, "You have to move it, to lose it." On 1,100 calories a day and calorie-burning exercise, even the most stubborn fat dissolves - except on the cheaters, who, counselors admit, can find a way to candy bars and heaven if they are per- sistent enough. Last week's field trip to the Zoo was a bonanza: some girls found a $20 bill and had a feast of popcorn and cotton candy. "I did that kind of thing a couple of years ago," ex- plained 13-year-old Susan. "What are they going to do if they catch you? Send you home? But you really don't get an here doing that. "l Jnade a vow last year that I wasn't going to come back here this summer.

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: When I walked through the gates this year I cried be- 1 cause I had broken my