A study to determine whether there is a need for a new "multiracial" ethnic classification on official government forms showed that an increasing number of college-bound students are either checking "other" or refusing to answer questions about their race.

The study, released by the Census Bureau, shows that 8 percent of the students at the University of Massachusetts ignored the questions on race this year as compared to 2 percent the previous year. Five percent of the prospective students of California's university system skipped the question on race.

HBCU First Newspaper Conference

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Newspaper Conference will be held in Maryland on March 7-8, 1997.

With "Preserving Our Voice: Strategies for Empowerment" as a theme, the conference will focus on the survival and development of Black college journalism and the establishment of a national Black college newspaper coalition.

Some of the guest speakers are Earl Graves, Publisher of Black Enterprise; Bill Cox, President and Managing Editor of Black Issues in Higher Education; and Lee Daniels, former editorial writer for the New York Times.

Topics for discussion include: Research and Investigative Reporting, Strategic Planning, Careers in Print Media, Censorship on College Campuses, What News is College News, and Interviewing.

For more information contact Lonnie R. Morris, Jr., Morgan State University Spokesperson, Baltimore, MD 21251 or call (410) 319-3464.

Dillard University's President Resigns

Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook, President of Dillard University for 22 years, announced his retirement last semester.

Taking office January 1, 1975, Cook contributed significantly to Dillard University. Under his leadership, Dillard became the only university in America to found a National Center for Black-Jewish Relations and operates the only Japanese Studies Program at any university in the South Central United States.

Dillard's endowment under Cook has increased from $5 million in 1974 to almost $40 million today. The student body has also increased from 1,000 in 1974 to more than 1,500 today. Cook's last day as president is June 30, 1997.

Centennial Celebration at S.C. State

South Carolina State University in Orangeburg celebrated 100 years of academic excellence throughout the 1996 academic year. The closing celebration was held this past December at the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium.

Web Rangers Needed!

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online is looking for qualified graduate and undergraduate students to serve as Web Rangers. Web Rangers will be responsible for regularly identifying, reviewing, and assessing sites of interest to African Americans. Students with reliable access to the Internet, experience browsing/surfing the web, and interested in earning additional income should send an e-mail containing their name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number (include area code), college/university, classification, and major to lynell@black-collegian.com. For more information visit THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online at http://www.black-collegian.com.

Student Web Pages Featured

Students who have developed personal homepages, or student related homepages (student organizations. clubs etc.) can submit their url's, to be featured on THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online. THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online is developing a database of links to student related homepages. To get your site listed e-mail us at gerard@black-collegian.com. If you are interested in seeing homepages of black collegians nationwide, visit our site at

http://www.black-collegian.com

Black History Contest

February will bring THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online's 2nd Annual Black History Month Contest. Visit our site at http://www.black-collegian.com to test your knowledge of African-American culture and history. Prizes include kente graduation stoles, cash, and a trip for two to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. Join us as we celebrate our past.

Campus Reps Needed

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online is looking for campus representatives at colleges nationwide. Campus Representatives will report to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online relevant news, events, and other issues of interest to Black collegians. These items will be published in THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online's What's Happening and Xtra-curricular sections, as a medium for Black collegians nationwide to know what's going on. Students interested in earning additional income should email their name, mailing address, email address, telephone number (include area code), college/university, classification, and major to scott@black-collegian.com.

For more information visit THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online at http://www.black-collegian.com.

Jobs Available

Students looking for jobs should look through THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online's Open Positions Database. By using keywords, students can find jobs that meet their criteria and result in successful placement. The url is http://www.black-collegian.com/jobs/.

National Brotherhood of Skiers Going for the Gold

The National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) will host its bi-annual summit scheduled for February 22-March 1 in Vail, Colorado. The summit's theme, "One Goal-Olympic Destiny!" reflects the main focus of the organization and exemplifies its support of 18 youth members selected to compete in the U.S. Nationals during last ski season.

Denver native Jahi Roher, 18, was the first youth member to be selected to compete in last year's Nationals. Rose Thomas Pickrum, the new NBS President says, "We are elated that we have someone who is on the pinnacle of winning the Nationals. We are proud of all our youth and hope to see more compete at the U.S. Nationals and on the U.S. Ski Team soon."

Founded in 1973 in Aspen, Colorado, NBS is the world's largest ski organization, boasting 82 clubs in 72 cities in 33 states. It has more than 14,000 adult members, including 1,200 youth. The objectives of this African-American organization are to identify, select, and finance potential Olympic caliber minority youth. A non-profit group, NBS provides ski training scholarships to ski academies as well as nationally funded and regionally based youth motivational programs.

The fun-filled week of events includes ski clinics, youth and adults races, gospelfest, picnic-on-the-hill, and entertainment featuring national celebrities. More than 5,000 people from across the nation and Europe will convene at the summit.

The group's goal is to raise money to help minority youths win berths on the U.S. Ski Team.

For more information write to: NBS, 1525 E. 53rd Street, Suite 402, Chicago, IL 60615 or call (312) 955-4100. The NBS home page address is http://www.nbs.org

Meeting/Events

National Association of African American Studies National

Conference

February 11-15, 1997

Houston, TX

(606) 783-2650

HBCU Newspaper Conference--Preserving Our Voice: Strategies for Empowerment

March 7-8, 1997

Clarion Hotel

Baltimore, MD

(410) 319-3464