Secretary of Education ‘Flunks’ at U. of Pacific

The president of the University of the Pacific, expressing shock at what he called U.S. Education Secretary William J. Bennett’s “insensitivity” to students’ needs, has withdrawn an offer of an honorary degree.

Stanley E. McCaffrey, president of the 6,000-student private university in Stockton, took offense at Bennett’s recent remark that some students would have to forgo stereos, cars and beach vacations to make up for lost federal aid.

Bennett also said it was more important for the federal government to help poor students attend some college than to give others the choice of attending expensive, private institutions.

‘Doesn’t Qualify’

McCaffrey said in a telephone interview Friday that people with all sorts of views are free to speak on his campus, but the invitation to deliver the May 24 commencement address and get an honorary degree is reserved for “someone we respect and admire. I’m afraid that Dr. Bennett doesn’t qualify.”

Bennett responded: “I don’t think it’s a particularly good day for the University of the Pacific, frankly.”

McCaffrey withdrew the invitation--which had not been made public nor formally accepted by Bennett--in a letter, a copy of which was released by Bennett’s Washington office.

“I am very disappointed--indeed, shocked--at your statements,” wrote McCaffrey, whose university charges $12,500 a year for tuition, room and board. “I find it hard to comprehend that one in your vitally important position . . . could be so insensitive to the needs of higher education and to students who require financial aid.

“We simply cannot honor a person holding these views.”

Half Receive U.S. Aid

McCaffrey said that more than half of his students receive federal aid and nearly 2,000 would be affected by the Reagan cutbacks.

Bennett, a former philosophy professor, told The Associated Press: “It’s theirs to offer. It’s theirs to revoke. However, I must say I was a little dismayed by the words of the letter.”

Bennett said that for a college president who is dealing in “the marketplace of ideas,” he found some of McCaffrey’s words “a little chilling.”

Bennett, who entered the Reagan Cabinet on Feb. 6, said Monday at his first news conference that the student aid cuts would force some families already struggling to pay for college “to tighten the belt even further.”

But he added that some students simply would have to undergo “divestiture of certain sorts--stereo divestiture, automobile divestiture, three-weeks-at-the-beach divestiture. It will, like the rain, fall on the just and unjust alike.”

Reagan wants to deny students from families with incomes above $32,500 Guaranteed Student Loans, cut off Pell Grants for those earning above $25,000 and put a $4,000-per-student cap on all forms of aid.