1988_05 The Daily Collegian May 1988

              Daily Collegian insert
Uhuru Na Umoja
California State University, Fresno
Friday, May 13, 1988
Tyson's
all other
Black Enterprise/ May 1988
Mike Tyson's projected earnings this
year are $13 million more man the
combined salaries of all non-boxers on
the list of 49 Black spans millionaires.
Tyson already earned $15 million for
his two title defenses this year, against
Larry Holmes and Tony Tubbs. His Jane
27 boat against Michael Spinks will net
him a record $20-25 million, and future
1988 boots against heavyweights Frank
Bruno and Francesco Damiani will bring
him in another $20 million.
Tyson also signed a lucrative deal
with HBO, which will pay him $26.5
for the rights to televise his
$ year. That contract makes him
already America's third highest paid,
television performer annually, behind
superstars Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey.
Tyson's 1988 total earnings will be
$20 million more than Muhammad Ali
earned in his entire career.
earnings dwarf
black athletes'
It is believed to be the biggest year of
earnings for any athlete, at any time, by
But Tyson is an extremely active
p, who fights at least five times a
, and he is only 21!
tar.
Ichamj
lyear,)
Athlete
Wilbur Marshall
Eric Dickerson
Marcus Allen
Lawrence Taylor
Ozzie Smith
Jim Rice
Eddie Murray
Dave Winfield
George Bell
Mike Tyson
Michael Spinks
Larry Holmes
Team
Washington Redskins
Indianapolis Colts
Los Angeles Raiders
New York Giants
St.Louis Cardinals
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
New York Yankees
Toronot Blue Jays
1988 Salary
$1.4 million
1.2 million
1.0 million
1.0 million
$2.34 million
2.229 million
2.16 million
1.958 million
1.933 million
$80 million
13 million
3.1 million
Average salary
nurses $ 26,000
school teachers $ 22,000
police officers $24,000
The hot debate: Should
Joe Clark carry a big stick?
by Matthew Scott
Since taking over as principal of a
violence-ridoen, inner-city high school in
Patenson, NJ., in 1982, Joe Clark has
suspended hundreds of students for
disrupting the school ( he calls them
"leeches and parasites").
"I will have order here and academic
achievement by whatever means
necessary," says the pugnacious 48-year-
old principal.''
However, it wasn't until January,
when Clark tossed out 66 students and
locked the school's doors without the
local school board's approval, that the
former army sergeant's boot-camp
approach to education grabbed national
mention. Clark patrols the hallways of
^astside High (which has 3,200 most]
slack and Hispanic students) with a
bullhorn, dispensing latrine or graffiti-
cleaning duty to offenders and behavior
code, awi he keeps a 36-inch WQlie^nawncja Qrice
Since becoming principal of the
There is a symbolic message sent
out about black kids that they cannot be
controlled without a bat and a bullhorn,"
says James P. Comer, professor of child
psychiatry at the Yale University Child
Study Center. Comer knows whereof he
speaks. His use of child development
theories and his personal commitment tq
studenis turned a troubled inner-city New
Haven school around (see " Dr. Comer's
RX For Sick Schools," BE, Sept '84)
Comer points out that there are olher
principals who employ gentler, more
effective methods. One such educator is
Dr, George McKenna, of Washington
freparatory High School in Los Angeles.
McKenna opposes Clark's methods. "He
would not be tolerated if the studenis were
not poor and black," claims McKenna.
McKenna believes  in showing
Editor bras,      not
baseball bat in his office to ward
interlopers.
But while the media attention has
brought the Newark, N J., native personal
fame (he has even sold his story to
Hollywood) and praise form the White
House, many educators argue that Clark
predominantly black and Hispanic
Washington Prep in 1979, he has been
able to cut the school's drop-out rate from
more than 35% to 14% and send 80% of
its graduates to college. (In contrast,
Eastside's drop-out H*» hr,c risen form
has gone loo tar. Wjl(je    Sad|er   -   Writer-ure.)
McKenna has developed an elaborate
support system consisting of parent and
student counseling groups and Saturday
tutorial workshops. Parents also attend
workshops where they are taught how to
deal with stressful teenagers at home.
"We must generate a compassionaie
environment where everyone shows
concern," says McKenna. "Insiead of
kicking (Studenis) oui we try to hold
ihem in."
Olher school districts are searching for
alternatives to dismissing problem
studenis. Many arc pulling students
booted out of regular classes into separate
rooms where they are taught for longer
periods. To thwart high-school students'
dissatisfaction with the public schools
ihey find themselves in, the Memphis
school system is allowing students to
select their own schools. These and olher
novel approaches may benefit from a
proposed boost in funding for education
by lhe government in 1989.
Meanwhile, whether you consider Joe
Clark "Dirty Hany" or "Mr. Chips," his
controversial style has served as a
lightning bolt to spark a much-needed
debate on how to improve the nation's
crippled urban school system.
Studio support
spiked
by Dawn Nash
Two weeks before Spike Lee's eagerly
availed film School Daze was about to
open nationwide, the slender 31-year-old
New York University Film School
graduate and his staff were making uY
rounds in several New York Cif
neighborhoods, spreading the word aboji
Tie hip musical comedy and paring up
dvemsements.
No, this is not a new Hollywood
trend. Most major motion picture stars
wouldn't be caught dead putting up
posters for their own movies. But
according to Lee. the film's director,
writer and star [Lee was also jack-of-all-
trades in his first hit, She's Gotta Have It
(see "Spike Lee's Declaration Of
Independence," BE Dec.' 86]), he had to
take matters into his own hands because
Columbia Pictures, which financed the
S6.1 million project, "took too long" to
put up the posters. The sofi-spoken
Brooklyn resident also says that he was
disappointed when Columbia decided
against television ads fof the film.
Although School Daze grossed $5
million after just two weeks, Lee believes
that number would have been higher if
television ads had been used. "They
[Columbia Pictures) don't like me or my
films," contends Lee.
However, Mark Urman, Columbia's
vice president of east coast publicity,
disagrees. He says that he like the film
and poinis out that the company
concentrated on print and radio ads
because Lee was getting a tremendous
amount of free television exposure on
Black Entertainment Television and
programs such as The Today Show.
"Spike already had high media
recognition," Urman explains.
Columbia decided to back the project
after Island Pictures, which released Lee':
smash hit She's Gotta Have It, bowed out
after claiming that the $6 million budget
was too rich for its blood. But Lee
reportedly claims that his film got the
shaft after Columbia merged with Tri-Star
Pictures last December. Many of lhe
Columbia officials who initially decided
to back School Daze, including its
chairman, David Puilnam, were no longer
around when it was lime to promote the
film.
Nevertheless the streetwise Lee say:'
he remains comjniicd io making film
that depict realistic black characters.
• The 1988 Black Theater cast would like to send sincere thanks to founder, and coordinator
Dr. James H. Rogers.
Thanks Doc
Freedom and
Unity Staff
Barry  Marlow -  Assist.
Editor
Photographer
Dr. James H. Rogers -
Advisor
Julie Brents -  Reporter
Melissa Knight - Copy
Etiitor
Travette  Sadler -  Writer