Miami Hurricane, October 08, 1991

              BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE
A volunteer organization patrols the waters between Miami and Cuba searching for rafters fleeing life under Castro’s regime.
■ Accent — page 6
HAPPY AT UM
Junior men’s tennis player Johan Milbrink transferred to UM from LSU because of ‘differences’ with his coach there.
■ Sports — page 9
NEWSBRIEFS
Woman locks herself in car
A University of Miami employee locked herself inside her car because it was about to be towed for a parking violation, Department of Public Safety reports stated.
Felia Francis, 21, a secretary in the Marine Sci-ence/Marine Affairs Department, locked herself inside her 1986 Isuzu 1-Mark because it was being towed for having been parked in a disabled parking spot.
Although already hooked up to the tow truck, Francis refused to pay for the towing service or to exit the car, Public Safety reports said.
After a teletype-check was made on Francis’ driver’s license, it was found that the license was suspended and the Florida tag had an impounding order on it, because of "financial responsibility.” The tag was impounded and stored in the UM Property room and Francis was issued a citation for parking in a disabled space.
Francis refused to comment.
—	PAMELA WILFINGER
Outward Bound course offered
Community Development Services is coordinating a three-credit course to be taught in the Everglades from Jan. 2 to Jan. 11. Eighteen students will canoe, hike, rope-climb read and write for the price of tuition and a $100 fee.
The course, titled Community Development and Cultural Values in Modern Society: The Outward Bound Experience (MAF 576), is done in conjunction with the North Carolina Outward Bound School which runs the Everglades program and a similar one in the Blue Ridge Mountains, N.C.
"It’s a school that uses the outdoors to teach you experientially how to deal with others in a group situation how to challenge yourself, test your limits, build self-confidence and promote a good relationship with the environment,” said Rosa Verdeja, community development coordinator.
Sarah Meltzoff, chair of the Marine Affairs Division, will be the instructor. The course fulfills a writing requirement, because 50 percent of the grade is based on students’ field journals.
For more information, contact Verdeja at 284-6399. Deadline to register and provide medical clearance for the course is Nov. 19.
—	RICARDO J. BASCUAS
TODAY’S FORECAST
PARTLY CLOUDY
HIGH: 85 LOW: 74 Chance of storms
Sourc«: National Weather Service
nKHMiiHH
University of Miami placekicker Carlos Huerta's string of consecutive extra points was broken last Saturday at 157. The following are his career totals at Miami:	-
Year Field Goals .	.	,
1988	21-27	44-44 U27 L
1989
1990
1901
CAREER
Field Goale-62-76
Field Goals	PAT
21-27	
18-22	47-47
17-21	50-50
6-6	17-18
■ of October 5,1991
SESI
as
HIRAM HENRIQUEZ / Graphic Arti»
More in-state students enrolling
I UM enrollment figures reflect the national trends.
By MARY LEA HARDESTY
Associate News Editor
After a preliminary look at the figures, this year's 1,844 enrolled freshman are representative of a "national trend” of diminishing numbers of out-of-state student enrollment and an increase in in-state student enrollment, according to Deborah Perry, dean of enrollments and vice provost.
The complete figures for this year’s enrollment are expected to be released today. However, Perry said the figures will most likely be released at the end of the week for accuracy.
“We wait till benchmark, which is the time each year where we make comparisons of the numbers,” Perry said. “We have lists and lists of students in the process of finishing their financial aid and working with Student Accounts.”
“As of today, 1,844 of the estimated freshman have completed registration, and the goal was 1,800,” Perry said.
Perry said the only trend she is able to see is the decrease in the percentage of out-of-state students.
According to Perry, students are now enrolling in colleges closer to home, which accounts for the slight increase in the number of in-state students.
Mary Conway, director of admissions, agreed. She said of the course-selected students, the number of students attending UM from out-of-state was down this year.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in in-state private and public college enrollment. Students are staying closer to home,” Conway said.
Perry said the quality of the freshman class, "as evidenced in class rank, is every bit as good as the quality of last year’s class. Class rank is the best indicator of how students will do in college.”
Perry said 59 percent of the freshman class ranked in the first quintile (the top 20 percent) of their graduating high school class, 23 percent ranked in the second quintile, 13 percent in the third quintile, 5 percent in the fourth quintile, and 1 percent in the fifth quintile.
Last year’s rejection rate was the lowest in 17 years, according to a study of UM admissions released by the Faculty Senate last spring. In 1990, 4.9 percent of all apllicants were rejected.
“As far as the freshmen rejection rate is concerned, the number is slightly higher than last year, which is about as close as I can get as far as specifics,” Perry said.
According to the October issue of Veritas, a newspaper for the faculty and staff of the University of Miami, the middle range for the freshman class — above 25 percent and below 75 percent of the total SAT scores — is between 430 and 560 for the verbal portion,
I For more on enrollment ligure*, see Friday's issue
FRESHMAN STATISTICS
Here is a breakdown of the 1,844 freshmen students enrolled this semester. How they ranked in their high school graduating class:
Top 20%	59% of students
Second	23%
Third	13%
Fourth	5%
Filth	1%
Source UM Admission Office.
between 490 and 640 for the math portion and between 920 and 1200 for the combined scores.
Conway said this year’s class also reflects the national trend of fewer high school graduates in recent years and fewer students entering college.
COLOR GUARD
CHRISTOPHER CARLISLE/Photo Editor
MARCHING HURRICANES: The University of Miami’s Band of the Hour performs during halftime of the Hurricanes' 40-3 rout of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. For more on the game, see Sports — page 8
ROTC unhurt by U.S. budget cuts
By STEVE ALVAREZ
Staff Writer
The Pentagon’s five-year budget reduction plan for the Air Force has not affected the future military careers of ROTC cadets at the University of Miami, according to Maj. William C. Walker, assistant professor with the Air Force ROTC detachment.
The plan, designed to trim spending and to reduce personnel, is part of a multi-branch restructuring effort which will reduce military strength by 25 percent, and discharge over 55,000 men and women from all branches of service.
“The cuts haven’t really affected us directly,” Walker said.
The cuts came after the Pentagon re-examined the military’s post Cold War role with the Soviet Union. Implemented shortly after the end of the Persian Gulf War, military leaders along with Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, initiated the plan which will affect active duty, reserve, guard and retired personnel.
The Defense Department drawdown was announced in July and covered extensively by the service’s paper, The Air Force Times, in an August 1991 issue.
Walker said he had not seen anything which indicated the ROTC program would be affected. He also said he had not seen the articles printed in The Air Force Times.
The Air Force ROTC program at UM has felt little or no repercussions from the budget plan to discharge over 800 commissioned officers by 1993, and nearly 48,000 members over the next five years.
“The enrollment is down slightly, about 10 percent,” Walker said.
However, Walker said the decline in enrollment was due to demographic factors in recruiting and not to the budget cuts.
“I think the war (Persian GulD may have changed a few minds,” Walker said.
As part of the restructuring and budget reduction, the Pentagon recently proposed all Air Force Academy, ROTC and Officer Training School graduates be required to perform a mandatory term of service in the Air Force Reserve. The airmen would then compete for the active duty slots after fulfilling their one year minimum requirement.
The proposal is designed to acquire only quality officers and trim the number of officers entering active duty service each year.
“I haven’t heard anything about that yet,” Walker said.
“Most of our cadets don’t get called for 11 to 12 months until they receive a slot, but everyone gets an active duty commitment,” he added.
ROTC Cadet Cmdr. Eric Espino also said the cuts had not affected the program, but the number of pilots slots was decreasing due to an abundance of pilots remaining on active duty.
"The only thing we may see is a fewer number of scholarship cadets next year,” Espino said.
The Defense Department funds ROTC programs for the Army, Navy and Air Force who train cadets for commissions as officers with the military. Cadets are provided equipment and uniforms and often train during the summer with active duty units at the expense of the government. Scholarships are also offered to those who are eligible.
Although the Air Force has not cut its funding to the ROTC program, it has implemented steps to improve
Please see page 2/ROTC
Credit card companies target student market
■ Many students are being given more chances to say ‘charge it’ by credit card
companies.
By BETH JAHREIS
Stall Writer
Credit cards offer a world of opportunity to university students, who cite credit cards as a convenient alternative to carrying cash and as a universal form of payment. Although students cite establishing a credit record as an incentive to credit card use, credit card abuse is not non-existent, however.
"I depend on my credit cards,” Katherine Siciliano, senior, said. “I
don’t like to have a lot of money on
__ »*
me.
“The primary benefit in our society is that a credit card has become more than a credit card. It has become a payment mechanism — an alternative to carrying cash and checks,” Susan Weeks, Citibank vice president of public affairs, said. “It is essentially an interest-free
loan.”
The major credit card companies target student customers. According to Weeks, Citibank attempts to attract students through magazine advertisements. In addition, Citibank representatives visit major universities with information. Weeks also said special offers and programs are used as incentives, in particular she cited a travel discount offered in coordination with various airlines.
Weeks said a credit check is run on all first-time credit card applicants. “We look at a number of items and weigh them, such as credit history," she said. “If you don’t have a credit history, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t get a credit card. On the other hand, a bad credit history may be a prohibiting factor.” Usually a first-time credit
card holder is given a $500-700 credit limit.
A UM senior, who wished to remain anonymous, said he lied in order to get a VISA Gold credit card. “I said I was the head of the household and making $70,000," he said. “They didn't even check. They just sent me the card.”
A UM senior, who has seven credit cards, including gas and department store charge cards, said one summer she ran up a large bill on her VISA card.
“I hadn’t started working, but I had expected to,” she said. "I wrote a DISCOVER credit card check to VISA and paid off my $500 credit card bill. Then when I got my bill from DISCOVER, I paid half of it with a cash advance from VISA. It was a vicious cycle because, meanwhile, I continued to charge things.”
Weeks said in general Citibank student customers, which total 1.5 million are dependable credit card holders.
“Our experience has been that they are generally more responsible than other classifications of customers,” Weeks said. “This may be because they are eager to establish credit.”
Some students say it is easy to get into trouble with "plastic,” however.
Barnett bank representative Roman said that often accounts of those customers unwilling to pay are given to collection agencies following attempts for special payment arrangements.
Weeks said Citibank is interested in reaching a payment agreement with all non-paying customers.
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