Sen. Trevor Woolridge's efforts to place Bermudians at his alma mater.

Mrs. Veronica Jones, whose daughter LaTasha was one of the 61 students who left Bermuda last weekend for Allen University in North Carolina, said she was "hurt and angry'' by reports that students were unhappy with conditions at the university.

"LaTasha called her grandmother yesterday and she said she knew nothing about students complaining about conditions at the school,'' Mrs. Jones said. "She is quite satisfied with it. She just called because she needed a radio and some sheets.

"Other than that there's nothing wrong with her dorm and my child is the type that would have come straight back home if there was something wrong.'' Mrs. Jones said she believed the reports were politically motivated.

"These reports hurt and I am angry,'' she said. "If Pam Gordon was to have done this, nothing critical would be said. The whole thing is political.

"But my child would not have been able to go to school if it were not for Trevor.

"She's been out of high school for two years and because she is not Bermudian, she could not get a job.

"It hurts to think these lot are trying to hold us back.'' Mrs. Jones noted Sen. Woolridge told the students from the start "they were not going to Marriott and that there would be no curtains on the windows''.

"Our (Bermuda) children are spoiled children,'' she added. "Trevor told them that the dorms will not be their homes and the rooms will not be like their bedrooms.'' Mrs. Jones also said she believed PLP opponents were "waiting for these children to come home''.

But she said parents would do whatever was necessary to keep their children at the university.

"If they (the dorm rooms) need painting we would go up there and paint them, if it is going to keep our children out of prison or away from sessions,'' said Mrs. Jones who was scheduled to leave for North Carolina yesterday.

The concerned mother also said several of her relatives attend the university.

"My nephew Mark Richardson is quite happy there,'' she said, adding that a cousin went up for the first time on Saturday and her niece will begin classes there next week.

"Having them enrolled at Allen is not only beneficial to the children, but to the parents who would not normally be able to afford to send their children to college.''