LehighWeek Volume 10, Issue 03

              LehighWeek
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with South Mountaineer
Volume 10, Issue 3
Lehigh University Campus Weekly
September 17,1996
Inside
News
Events
1-3, 8-9
4-5,8
Campus Safety 6-7
People 9
Athletics
10-12
Alice Walker highlights Communiversity Day
by Ken McCluskey, '98
For the first time in some
30 years, Lehigh canceled
morning classes for a
campus-wide celebration of
Communiversity Day. The
event was part of the yearlong celebration of the 25th
anniversary of undergraduate women at Lehigh.
Keynote speaker at the
event held Sept. 11, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author and
poet Alice Walker, spoke
about her many observations of the issues confronting today's society. Adding to
the festivities were remarks
by Peter Likins, president;
Rhonda Gross, vice
president of finance and
administration; and senior
Amy Sobotkin, student
coordinator of
Communiversity Day.
"I am thrilled the way
this day went," Sobotkin
said. "And, I am very happy
with the support we received from the faculty and
staff."
Highlighting the day,
Alice Walker related her
opinions and thoughts to the
large crowd, often evoking
laughter, and sometimes
deep thought, with her deft
approach to the issues
society faces.
"We must think about the
diversity of every single
thing on this earth—simply
for one reason—because it's
here," Walker said.
Along with diversity,
Walker wove into her talk
topics such as fear, the
criticism and censorship of
her works, and apathy as
opposed to activism.
"I feel very strongly,"
Walker said, "That we're in
a period where you have to
be active. You've had your
decade of apathy."
Rounding out her speech,
Walker read from two of her
published pieces, Am I Blue
and Anything We Love Can
Be Saved, as well as an
unpublished, new work on
society's language, titled
Becoming What We're
Called.
Walker's presence on
campus was not the only
thing that inspired students
that day. There were also
group discussions on diversity and a chance to hear
different interpretations on
Walker's speech.
"I was glad to see so
many people come out for
this," said Christine
Earkazis, '98, "But now I'm
very curious to see whether
people will think about
things a little differently."
Later in the day, Walker
led a closed workshop for
students and faculty, where
each person was given the
opportunity to ask the
author questions about her
John Klsh IV
Pulitzer Prize winner,
Alice Walker, captivates
Communiversity Day
audience.
life, her works and her
views. Many issues arose,
including her most notorious book, The Color Purple,
the Million Man March on
Washington, feminism and
Please'see Walker on page 2
Inside
Alice Walker, see pages 2, 3
Clip and Save:
6,7
Safety tips
on campus
SouthMountaineer
Football wins "I ^\
patriot opener   J_ Zm
— .—
Student retention rate rises
At the university faculty
meeting Sept. 9, Registrar
Bruce Correll reported
that student retention has
risen this year and is now at
the highest percentage since
1987. Ninety-three percent
of last year's freshman class
returned for their sophomore
year, and 86 percent of the
students who arrived in the
fall 94 are back for their
junior year.
"The last few years we
have been admitting an
academically stronger
freshman class," said
Correll. "The results are
showing in the rising
retention rate."
"The news is also good on
the undergraduate enrollment rate overall," he
continued. "We expected a
freshman class of 1100 and
hit it right on the nose.
Due to the good retention
rates, we exceed expectations for the number of
continuing students, with
an actual FTE (full time
equivalent number of
students) of 4,317 compared to the expected
number of only 4,255."
Lorna J. Hunter, dean
of admissions and financial
aid, added that the SAT
range for the middle 50
percent of the freshman
class was 1130 to 1300,
based on the new
recentered SAT scores.
On the graduate enrollment size, the news was not
as positive with the graduate
enrollment decline continuing
from the last few years. There
are 1,841 graduate students
this year compared to 1,960
last year and 2,041 in fall 94.
The growing distance education program is helping to
slow the rate of decline.
"We have 251 graduate
students this year registered
through distance learning,
compared to 181 last fall and
100 the year before," said
Correll. "Without the distance
learning program, the gradu-
Please see Retention on page 2
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