1983_03 Insight March 1983

              Insight
16, I
'Odd Couple'
attracts minorities
to grad programs
Saroyan: Private
public truth macte
SHANON QUINN
CHRISTY HOFFKNECHT
fnslf ht reporter
An "Odd Couple" Image might
best describe tbe relationship d Earl
Young and Shanon Quinn, peer
recruiters for CSUF's Graduate
Studies Division. But, like the popular
television show, a good balanced personalities is often the result
Young and Quinn are graduate
students at CSUF, end Young thinks
that this bdps them to thdr dforis to
recruit undergraduates, mainly
minorities. Into CSUF's 42 graduate
programs. Another advantage may be
that Young is black and Quinn is
white.
"Tbe thing that's greet Is we are
totally unlike each other," saldYoung,
"I think we're Using prod that we can
gd along - It fits tbe theme d what
we're trying to do."
The two began working last fall as
peer recruiters, hoping to appeal to
would-be minority graduate students
because d low representation to cer-
'   tain graduate schools.
Dr. David A. Ross, assistant dean
ot graduate studies at CSUF, came up
with the idea d hiring students to help
bed up minority enrollment. Last spring, he wrote a proposal requesting
state grants to finance tbe program
through the Student Affirmative Action budget, with the support d Dr.
Robert Segura, CSUF assistant vice
president for academic affairs
In Us proposal, Ross called tbe
minority representation among
graduate students a "very serious
problem," citing that tbe enrollment
figures were adequate to tbe social
work and Spanlah programs, but were
extremely low In tbe sciences,
especially microbiology and marine
science (zero percent).
He explained that the ethnic
minority graduate enrollment is only
10 percent d the total master's
population at CSUF.
"To reflect a level proportionate
to their representation to California
society, the enrollment. of such
students (Hlspenlcs end blacks)
should be closer to 35 percent" Ross
Past efforts  by tbe Graduate
Studies Division to increase overall
v - graduate enrollment took tbe form d
Grad Fairs and Career Days, where
-  packets   d  information  on  post-
]     baccalaureate  programs  were
/     available  to Interested  students.
Although these materials were picked
up byvstudents, Ross explained that
there is no way to measure If these
be called these earlier attempts a
failure.
At the request d Dr. Vivian
Vidoli, dean d graduate studies at
CSUF, Ross formed e committee to
to work as graduate peer
Thdr goal, by the end d
semester, is to recruit at
o or three ethnic minority
to each graduate program at
CSUF.
Ross added that undergraduate
recuitment has been underway by tbe
Outreach program, a dividon d affirmative action, to hopes d attracting
of all backgrounds" Of course, Ross is
anticipating an increase to the minor-
ty undergraduate enrollment to raise
the chances d more Hispanic and
black  representation  in  graduate
Young, 39, a graduate student to
mass communications, claimed that
be experienced "culture shock" when
he first came to CSUF last fall. He and
Quinn found that the black enrollment
in graduate schools, over the last five
years, has averaged about two percent while the Hispanic representation has been between five and six
percent "These figures suggested
that the black and brown population
were nil to relation to tbe area,"
stated Young.
fessional program, Young did explain
that as recruiting advisers, tbey have
earned much credibility with students
and tbe graduate schools.
"We're kind d like... brokers, intermediaries; we serve as a go-
between," Young mentioned.
By urging student responsibility
and deddonmaking, tbey believe
they've given some students motivation that may have been lost at some
point during their college years.
Young added, however, that be and
Quinn aren't there to think for the
potential graduate student but to support and advise. "We're giving tbe
ball back to them after we've helped
them. We can't think for them, but If
we've given an Impetus to Batiak, we
fed we've accomplished something. "
Quinn described it as
"mentoring." "We're helping them to
prepare to talk with professors," be
said. Young added that instructors
sometimes may be tbe problem as
students lose interest to schod. "I
think the teacher has the responsibility to make a course exdting ... tbey
forget about making tbe student
motivated. In a way, a teacher Is like
being on stage; tbey either move or
don't move tbe student."
Whether or nd an instructor does
this, Young and Quinn advise students
to begin focusing to on their college
careers and face whatever fears tbey
minorities, because d cute to financial aid grants. "Some bare said to
me 'I Just waive gd out' but If you
really want money (et CSUF), you
can at least gd a good lead on some."
Deborah Harold, 28, who recently
earned her BA degree to liberal
studies at CSUF, recdved a letter
from the peer recruiters, and decided
that thdr bdp was needed.
Harold wanted to start her
graduate work in special education,
with emphasis in learning handicaps,
and Young urged her not to put it df.
"He said, don't forget about it, hang in
ConUnued from page 3
deep reasons why my father was the
man that he was. It also became dear
that tbe way for me to deal with my
frustration at being kept at a distance
from him during his final days, was to
go to see him — whatever tbe conse-
She believes, tbe biggest problems for most students is fm«nri»i
"A tot d time you gd misinformation
through tbe grapevine. He (Young)
told me who to talk to; going with a
name Is e tot better than a building."
Twenty-three year-old Gina
Madd already had a goal to enter
graduate schod, but was a little
confused with the process. Having
recdved her BA degree in social
welfare, Madd now plans to enter
graduate schod in fell d 1983, with
assistance from tbe graduate peer
'In a wayf a teacher is like being on stage; they either
move or don't move the student/
—Shanon Quinn
In tbe 500 letters sent out last
November and December, Young and
Quinn asked Juniors and seniors to
give serious consideration to graduate
school, pointing out that further
education would benefit anyone about
to enter tbe working world, especially
minority students. "Tbe world Is getting more technological, and I foresee
more troubles," Young explained.
"God knows tbe campus would certainly benefit from diversity. We'd
like to make sure everybody is given a
chance for their gift (talents) to come
may  have.   As  Quinn  learned
graduate schod,  tbe "professor's
door Isn't as much d a wall as I
thought."
Quinn, 28, stated that be always
had goals to complete graduate
schod, but a tot d students aren't
thinking that way. "Some are getting
an Idee that they might go on to
graduate schod," be sdd.
But according to Young, some
are    discouraged,    especially
"I went to to find out what steps to
take to enter graduate school," she
stated.
Maciel, a Mexican-American,
also questioned them about scholarships, and eventually she applied for
the Chicano Staff Organization
schdas-ablp
"I dldrTt-have the slightest idea
where to start," she added. "There
they get your feet wet, and they referred me to other placer''
Tbe peer recruiters say that tbey
have gotten a good response from
their letters, and wiB continue to
develop thdr service, with tbe hdp d
tbe Graduate Studies Dividon. Advising sessions are held. Involving faculty and students, while orientation sessions are planned for prospective
Young and Quinn will be there to help.
V '*I don't believe (CSUF) Is Harvard or Stanford," Young stated, "but
we're getting some positive results,
and we're hoping we can take it a step
higher." '
(Interested srudents are asked to
caJU_S^2448_forJdcsrm^tion3)_>k
af
With tbi
Young and Quinn developed their
"service" themselves but fall. While
that tbey are nd a pro-
Social Work Career
Day
Monday, March 21, 1983
College Union Lounge
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Social Work Professionals and Faculty
from tho Department of Social Work
"Education, CSUF will bo available to
discuss career options.
Applications for MSW Program for Fall
'83 are now available at tho
Department of Social Work Education.
San Ramon 2 Room 24   Tol 294-3992
BECINNER OR ADVANCED-Cost is
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college: $3,189. Price includes' jet
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room, board and tuition complete.
Government grants and loans available
lor eligible students.
Live with a Spanish family, attend
dasses four hours a day, four days a
week, four months. Earn 16 hours ol
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enhanced by opportunities
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Standardized tests show our students'
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completing two year programs in U.S.
Advanced courses also. Hurry, it takes
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SPHINC, SEMESTER-Feb. 1-June 1
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For full Information—write to:
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(A Program of Trinity Christian College)
Petitions Available
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Associated students:
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15 Senate Posts     2 CU Posts
Petitions Available March 21 Petitions Due March 25 in
the Dean of Student Affairs Office. Joyal Administration 224
Election April 11,12, and 13
StPafricksDay
Cards.
^Vviewc^I^giWiTvigs
KENNEL BOOKSTORE
^        St. Patrick'* Day It March 171      /A
The heart of Lost Rites h tbe
meeting I had with my father in his
hospital room. The emotional
culmination of the book was also the
emotional culmination of our relationship, which had now spanned 37 years.
Had I not been writing the Journal, I
can't be sure I would have gone to see
him at all. It was tbe deepening
frustration in what I wrote that enabled me to see the necessity of my
visiting him. My life and my journal
interacted and, in conjunction,
brought me to an entirely unexpected
moment of healing with my father.
I never got tbe six-figure contract. There weren't, after all, any
wire hangers in my story. It's true,
California called the excerpt tbey ran
"Daddy Dearest," but almost all of
the readers I heard from said tbey
thought tbe title had misrepresented
the piece they reed.
Then the book itself came out,
and I steeled myself for another
onslaught from reviewers.
Remember, I had intended to give up
writing books forever — to protectively gild myself with tbe big money in
Hollywood. But then Last Rites happened, and once it happened, I knew
from the outset that I wanted to
publish it. This was so important,
perhaps, because when one is born into a celebrity's family, one beers so
often from other people what kind of
person the celebrity is. Since I was
now reporting something quite different from what bad been reported to
me all my life, an essential pert of
completing tbe arc tbe book began
was to have it end up — not on a shelf
somewhere, but in that larger world
which for so long had been telling me
my father was another man than tbe
one I knew.
But th*"Yeviews worried me. For
if my biography of the Beats had provoked such malevolent attacks, who
dared imaging what might happen
with a book that debunked my father's
Santa
Cleus of American Letters? tt wa*
worth it to me to suffer whatever al-
ings and arrows might loom over the
horizon in order to finally have my
private truth made public, but It certainly made me uneasy.
But then the reviews began to
come in and tbey turned oat to be
wonderful: The New York Time*
Book Review, The San Francisco
Chronicle. The Los Angeles Times.
The Washington Post, The
Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chicago
Sun-Time*. The Alabama Journal,
The Dallas Horning Sews, tad many
more — tbe reviews of e Uf etime, certainly of my lifetime. And the setters
that came from readers were, ¥
anything, even more wonderful: lovely, deep and caring letters that told
me what was true of my father and
me, was true, too, of the reUUoaships
many others struggled with in their
own families. In fact, the book seemed
to reach both critics and general
readers less on the level of a celebrity
expose than as tbe story of a father
and a son, and of a passage in both
their lives when, at tbe very eleventh
hour, tbe two had finally broken
through to one another.
WIU the book ultimately chminsh
my father's name and reputation? In
my opinion, no. It's true, he doesn't
emerge from my pages as the bigger-
than-life foik hero of his later persona,
but it might be remembered that tbe
public was never very drawn to that
mustachiod legend in any case, as the
neglect my father suffered during the
last 30 years of his career testifies.
Whereas the man in Last Rite*,
though both troubled and difficult,
seems to me a deeper, more complex,
and more compeUingly human figure
than his public image had ever allowed. I don't see bow this could do him
likewise, tbe anger I released in
tbe first part of Last Rites now seems
to me to have been only the necessary,
initial step in an extended, end
ultimately healing emotional trajectory. For if, at the beginning, I myself
entertained sly notions of "Daddy
Dearest," in the end, knowing more of
both   myself  end  my  father,   I
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