ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 8, 1996 TAG: 9601100118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE STUDENTS show less support for legalized abortion, with the number declining for the third straight year, to 58 percent. On the other hand, more students indicated support for legalizing marijuana.
College freshmen are voicing dwindling support for casual sex and legal abortion, a survey says. But they have more liberal views on marijuana, with support for legalization reaching a 15-year high.
Support for keeping abortion legal rose steadily in the late 1980s, according to the University of California's annual freshmen survey. But in the 1995 survey, it declined for the third straight year, to 58 percent.
In 1987, 52 percent of the freshmen responding to the survey supported casual sex. Now, 43 percent say it's OK for two people to have sex even if they've only known each other a short time.
``There are more diseases and stuff. And I just don't think people want to sleep with the first person they meet. They want to get to know them better,'' said Dennise Ledesma, an 18-year-old freshman at California State University, Los Angeles.
Among college freshmen, the support for legalizing marijuana has risen to nearly 34 percent - double the 17 percent who held that view in 1989.
``It's so abundant. It's no big deal, because everybody is using it,'' said Jason Zavada, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Kentucky who supports legalization.
More than half the freshmen surveyed labeled their political views as ``middle-of-the-road.'' But the 30-year-old survey says growing bands of liberals and conservatives are scooting further to the left and right.
The fall survey, sponsored by the American Council on Education, was given to 323,791 entering freshman at 641 two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Of these, 240,082 questionnaires from 473 institutions were used. The institute then weighted the data in an effort to make it reflective of the views of the nation's 1.5 million first-time college freshmen.
The survey showed that students' commitment to keeping up-to-date with political affairs dropped for a third straight year, to an all-time low of 28.5 percent, compared with a high of nearly 58 percent in 1966.
Student activism rose at the beginning of the 1990s, but since then freshmen have become less interested in influencing politics and social values, cleaning up the environment and promoting racial understanding and participating in a community action program.
Not surprising then is the finding that the number of students who believe individuals can ``do little to change society'' reached a 10-year high at nearly 34 percent.
``Apparently, increasing political apathy goes hand-in-hand with disengagement from social action and a growing sense of powerlessness,'' said Alexander W. Astin, a professor and director of the survey conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute.
A majority of college freshmen expressed support for the use of race as a basis for college admission. The freshmen, however, are shying away from the term ``affirmative action.''
``This discrepancy highlights the fact that people are willing to support the consideration of race in admissions, but are less willing to commit themselves to the more politically loaded phrase, `affirmative action,''' said Linda J. Sax, associate director of the survey.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB