Three Words Send Rutgers Students to the Barricades : CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT

Last fall, Rutgers University’s President Francis L. Lawrence spoke to a few faculty members on student performance and Scholastic Assessment Test scores. At Rutgers, the scores are a major factor in whether or not a student is accepted, and Lawrence intended to challenge this standard. He began his address innocently enough, citing various cultural biases inherent in the tests. “The average SAT for African Americans is 750,” Lawrence then said. “Do we set standards in the future so that we don’t admit anybody with a national test? Or do we deal with a disadvantaged population that doesn’t have that genetic, hereditary background to have a higher average?”

Three months later, Lawrence’s remarks have set off a firestorm of protest at Rutgers. He has asked for forgiveness, conceding he made a “mistake.” But as long as Lawrence remains at the helm, Rutgers’ reputation will suffer.

The Star-Ledger of Newark first reported Lawrence’s comments after a member of the faculty union produced a tape of his address. The following day, the first day of Black History Month, a racially mixed group of 500 students marched to Lawrence’s office and urged him to resign. Numerous organizations, including the student governing associations and the independent student newspaper, the Daily Targum, have repeated the call. Lawrence has resisted.

The protests rage on, culminating in last week’s disruption of the Rutgers-University of Massachusetts basketball game, when about 150 students staged a sit-in on the basketball court. Throughout the continuing protests, the university’s board of governors, which can remove him, has stood by Lawrence.

Lawrence’s supporters have touted his commitment to minority students, citing rising minority enrollment rates at Rutgers. In a series of well-staged press conferences, Lawrence himself has denounced his previous comments, asserting that his “true” thoughts are not reflected in his unfortunate choice of words. He has vowed to “redouble” his efforts at recruiting and retaining minority students.

But protesting students will not relent. As a result, the campus is growing more polarized. Many students, it turns out, were more upset that the basketball game was suspended than they were at their president’s remarks.

Should Lawrence be forgiven? Probably. But the damage has been done. How many minority students will be attracted to Rutgers after this controversy, no matter how diligent Lawrence is in recruiting them? Will students graduating this May, as I will be, be able to maintain their manners when listening to Lawrence extol the virtues of higher education at the commencement ceremony?

Lawrence says the three, fateful words-- genetic , hereditary, background --are no longer in his vocabulary. If he truly cares about the students at Rutgers, however, perhaps the words university president should no longer appear before his name.