N.C.A.A. Panel Rejects More To Ease Freshman Standards:The Presidents Commission of the National Collegiate Athletic Association has rejected a special panel’s recommendation to ease and delay implementation of tougher freshman academic eligibility standards, which are scheduled to take effect in August 1995.
However, at a meeting late last month, the commission agreed to relax the rules for some freshmen.
The presidents’ group will recommend to the N.C.A.A. that student-athletes who score at least 600 on the Scholastic Assessment Test or 15 on the American College Testing program be allowed to receive financial aid and practice with their teams, but not be eligible to play. They would also have the opportunity to play a fourth year.
The Presidents Commission said it will seek the compromise as a result of research indicating that there is a disparate impact on minority student-athletes who score between 600 and 700 on the S.A.T. and between 15 and 17 on the A.C.T.
Under the rules that go into effect next August, students will need to score 700 on the S.A.T. or 17 on the A.C.T., along with other criteria, to be fully eligible.
Adults and the G.E.D. Test: The number of American adults taking the General Educational Development test has increased slightly, from 753,884 in 1992 to 756,645 last year, according to a new report from the American Council on Education, which administers the G.E.D. testing program.
Five areas reported that participation increased 10 percent or more: the District of Columbia (15 percent); Kansas, Georgia, and Wisconsin (12 percent); and Vermont (10 percent). Four states experienced declines of more than 10 percent: North Dakota and Nebraska (14 percent), Minnesota (13 percent), and Ohio (12 percent).
Teenage Suicide: One in 20 teenagers has tried to commit suicide, according to a Gallup Organization survey released last month. In a similar poll in 1991, 6 percent of teenagers said they had attempted suicide.
Thirty-seven percent of the respondents said they had talked about or thought about suicide, and 12 percent said they had come “very close’’ to trying to kill themselves. Those figures were also nearly identical to the earlier poll.
The mail survey of 903 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 was conducted in April and May by the Gallup Organization along with Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New York.
Juvenile Rape Victims: In the first such multistate study, 51 percent of the women who reported being raped in 11 states and the District of Columbia during 1992 were younger than 18, a Department of Justice study has found.
Only one-quarter of the U.S. female population is younger than 18, according to the report, which was released last month.
The 12 jurisdictions were the only ones whose data distinguished between juvenile and adult rape victims. The 20,824 victims made up 20 percent of the 109,000 rapes of women reported in 1992.
Single copies of the report, “Child Rape Victims, 1992,’' are available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse, Box 179, Annapolis Junction, Md. 20701-0179; (800) 732-3277.
