By David R. Kazak

Officials from both the Department of Education and the White House deny excluding or even inviting Graduate and Professional Student Council President Bill Karrow to President Bill Clinton’s roundtable discussion Monday, at which 11 students spoke with Clinton about financial aid issues.

Even Karrow has said the controversy, which has surrounded him since he participated in a press conference with U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., has been overblown by the media. It was not his intention, he said, to become a spokesperson for the Republicans. On the contrary, Karrow said Monday night that he was just concerned that graduate student interests were not going to be represented in Clinton’s discussion.

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Media accounts nationwide reported Karrow was excluded from the roundtable because of his political views. Weller said Karrow was invited to the roundtable discussion, but after an interview, was blacklisted because of his beliefs. And even one White House official has been quoted saying Karrow’s political views were the reason he was excluded.

White House Spokeswoman Laura Schwartz said there were no political reasons for Karrow’s exclusion from the discussion. She said the group had to be narrowed down to 11 people in order to achieve the goals Clinton set forth when he asked for a chance to meet with students.

Those goals, she said, were gathering students who receive different forms of federal student aid, were from different geographic regions and attended public, private and community colleges.

To let everyone who was considered for the discussion join in would have not allowed for a good dialog between Clinton and the students, Schwartz said. And although she did not say how many students were originally under consideration, she said they could have filled an auditorium.

But Weller said he disagreed with White House explanations. He said it was obvious Karrow was excluded for political reasons only.

This was not a roundtable discussion, it was a fan club, Weller said. Clinton liked to pride himself as being a dissident voice during the (Vietnam) War and fighting against the establishment, but now that he is the establishment, he will not give that chance to someone who disagrees with him.

However, Karrow said he did not have any opposing views, only concern about those federal aid programs which affect graduate students.

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I have no idea what this dissident view I’m supposed to have is, Karrow said

Karrow’s concern about not being included in the discussion centered on graduate student representation, he said, and not a general disagreement with the direct student loan program, which was drafted by Sem. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and is supported by Clinton.

Karrow said he was asked while under consideration for the roundtable whether he was in favor of the direct student loan program or graduate student loan interest exemptions, which exclude graduate student from paying interest on their student loans while in school.

It was shortly after that interview when Karrow said he received a call from Financial Aid Director Pam Britton telling him he wasn’t selected to be a member of the roundtable.

Britton, who was unavailable for comment, has said previously that she put together a list of students from various colleges and universities, including SIUC, for the White House so they could put together the roundtable. Karrow’s name was on that list.

Karrow said Britton told him he was on the list, but he said he was not told he was invited.

Pam Britton did tell me a thousand times that she did not make the final decision, Karrow said. She talked with me for 15 or 20 minutes telling me she was sorry I didn’t get selected and that she had done everything she could to get me in.

Schwartz also said Karrow was never told he was definitely going to be in the roundtable.

We did not tell him he was on the panel and then take him off, she said. We interviewed him and he just wasn’t selected.

Jennifer Peck, a Department of Education spokeswoman, said she was one of the people involved in the interview and selection process. She did not interview Karrow, but she said she wished she had.

It is absolutely not true, Peck said of Weller’s accusations. I screened those applicants myself. We did not want just Democrats. We wanted a diverse group that could tell the president what they liked and didn’t like about the current financial aid situation.

Peck said there was no political meaning behind the question posed to Karrow about direct loans and the interest exemptions because Clinton supports both programs.

Clinton talked about both programs in the roundtable discussion, even linking them together, because he said the direct loan program allows students to pay back student loans as a percentage of their income. If either or both programs are abolished, he said, graduate students will greater debt load when they graduate with no option for lower payments.

Peck she did not know who asked Karrow the question and that it might have been a poor question to ask. She also said Karrow may not have been selected because the White House wanted diversity on the roundtable, and there were already a couple of student leaders selected.

We couldn’t have all student leaders, Peck said That might very well have been a consideration.

Weller dismissed Peck’s comments as well and said Clinton couldn’t be counted on to support anything for long.

Clinton is for anything at any given time, Weller said. He will change.

Karrow said he is tired of all the attention the situatio has created and wants to get back to being a student again. If given a choice, he said he would not have made this into the issue it has become. But he said he doesn’t regret it.

There is one good thing that has come out of all this, he said. People are talking about financial aid and they care about it. They are thinking about the issues and that’s what’s important.