Fall 1997: freshmen up, transfers down
The university accepted a noticeably higher percentage of freshman applicants this year and anticipates enrolling its largest freshman class ever next fall, according to Nancy McDuff, director of undergraduate admissions. Almost 12,000 students applied; close to 8,100 applicants--or nearly 70 percent--were accepted. Last year, only about 56 percent of the 13,200 applicants were accepted.

The higher acceptance rate happened for two reasons, McDuff says. Fewer less-qualified students applied and the size of the class was increased by about 600. The 8,100 accepted applicants are expected to yield a freshman class of about 4,100. Last year, UGA offered admission to 7,259 students, which produced a class of 3,480 freshmen.

A recent decline in the number of transfer applications will counteract the increase in freshmen. Entrance requirements were tightened last year, and transfers dropped to 1,200 students from a 20-year average of about 1,700. With no change in the requirements this year, the number of transfer students should remain around 1,200. The combined effect of more freshmen and fewer transfer students will keep enrollment slightly under 30,000 next fall.

More than 80 percent of this year's applicants were admitted solely on the basis of superior grades and test scores, McDuff says. For the 1,400 applicants who were academically qualified but borderline for admission, 12 criteria were used to make the difficult final decisions, including leadership, Georgia residency, demographic data and being the child of alumni.

Women's Studies hosts regional conference: The Women's Studies Program at UGA will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year by hosting the annual conference of the Southeastern Women's Studies Association April 1820 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The conference will focus on "Women's Studies in the 21st Century: Re-Examining Race, Class and Gender," and the plenary speakers will apply that theme to subjects as varied as affirmative action, welfare, the global economy, ecofeminism and conceptual boundaries of race, class and gender. Approximately 300 participants are expected.

Major speakers include Rose Brewer, Himani Bannerji, Theresa Amott, Julie Matthaei, Christine Cuomo and Nancy McClean. More than 175 papers have been accepted for presentation by conference participants, who come from colleges and universities throughout the Southeast. Book exhibits, a film festival, caucus meetings, receptions and an evening entertainment called "Heifers, Hussies and Belles: Women in Southern Folklore" round out the conference.

Registration is required. Additional information and registration materials are available from the Women's Studies Program office in the main library, 542-2846.

Debate, mock trial, moot court teams win: Two teams from the UGA Debate Union, coached by Ed Panetta in speech communication made it to the semifinal round of competition in the national tournament in Lynchburg, Va., in March. Several hundred teams competed, and no institution has had two teams in the "final four" since Dartmouth in 1983. UGA's second team withdrew rather than compete against their teammates, seniors Paul Barsness and Daniel Davis. It was the first time that UGA had been in the finals. UGA ended up taking second, losing to Wake Forest in a split vote in the final round. This year's debate topic dealt with environmental pollutants.

The UGA School of Law won the national mock trial championship in Denver, Colo., March 21-23. After sweeping the regional competition in Savannah earlier in March, UGA sent two teams to the national tournament. Both teams reached the quarterfinals. More than 190 teams originally entered the tournament; 25 made it to the national competition. The championship team posted a perfect 6-0 record. The competition is sponsored by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Students in a mock trial competition act as both attorneys and witnesses in a hypothetical trial; the ATLA case dealt with a sexual harassment charge.

The law school's moot court program also closed the regular season on top, taking first place in both the American Bar Association Regional Competition and the National First Amendment Moot Court Competition. Teams from 30 premier law schools competed in the invitation-only first-amendment tournament at Vanderbilt. The UGA team, making its first appearance in the competition, posted a perfect 7-0 record. The hypothetical case concerned the constitutionality of tuition vouchers. UGA's regional ABA championship team was also undefeated, and advances to the national finals in Austin, Texas, in August. These two victories cap a sterling season: a 40-10 overall record with five championships, including the most coveted title of all--the National Moot Court Competition championship in January.