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THE RED AND BLACK
Georgia's only collegiate daily newspaper
WEATHER
Today's forecast calls for
variable cloudiness with a
high near 70 and a 20 per
cent chance of showers.
VOLUME SI. NUMBER 00
TIIE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. ATHENS. GEORGIA :i0t>02
Spirited
Photo by HOKE CARTER
Cheerleading tryouts began Monday and will continue until
final judging on April 2». Presently 85 men and women are
competing in the preliminary tryouts. Anyone interested in
applying for a position on the new squad may do so by joining
the tryout group in its daily practice sessions at Stegeman at 4
p m., through Friday of this week. Judging will be done by a
group including faculty members, coaches and former
University cheerleaders.
Geology professors A A Giardini and
E A Stanley filed a $1.7 million suit in
US. District Court in Macon Monday
against a number of top University
officials charging libel and violations of
their constitutional rights
The suit charges that after Giardini
and Stanley recommended denial of
another professor's promotion, that Dr
Norman Herz. head of the geology de
partment. granted a "substanard ' pay-
raise to the two.
Herz later published a memo in which
he accused the pair of devoting their time
to "disrupt the normal functioning of the
geology department."
The suit charges Herz with libel
Herz stated that before he could
comment on the suit he had to "find out
more about what's going on " He added
that the suit came as "a complete sur
prise."
Giardini would not comment on the suit
last night and Stanley could not be
reached for comment.
Last spring University President Fred
C Davison set up an ad hoc committee to
investigate grievances within the geology-
department, stemming from charges of
unethical practices within the depart
ment made by Stanley.
The committee published a report in
August in which it accused the two
professors of "conduct detrimental to the
efficient operation or reputation of the
University." according to the suit
The suit charges members of the ad
hoc committee and Dr John C. Stephens,
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,
who appointed the committee, with lihel
Stephens would not comment on the
suit last night
Another portion of the suit charges the
plaintiffs' constitutional right to freedom
of speech has been violated by repressive
acts by University officials
Citing the federal civil rights act,
Stanley and Giardini have asked the
defendants be enjoined from interfering
with their freedom-of-speech rights.
Other defendents named in the suit
include Davison. Vice President for
Instruction William Hays; Provost Willi
am Pelletier and the Board of Regents.
The University administration has not
yet issued a statement on the suit
In addition, the plaintiffs are seeking
$300,000 each for damages under the
constitutional rights allegations and
$550.1100 each for libel
Varied causes for
high food prices
CAUSES LOWER SCORES
Many students new to tests
By KATHY IIOGAN
Associate news editor
Editor's note: This is the second of a
series of articles on the deteriorating
quality of public school educaton in the
South and the rest of the nation.
Dr. George Mason, director of Reading
Educaton at the University’s College of
Education attributes part of the causes of
lower test scores for public school
children to the fact that some children
are unfamiliar with or “new" to the
standardized tests they are given in
schools
In Georgia, for instance. Mason said,
having every child in the public school
system take a reading test is relatively
new practice, and consequently, many
children are taking the tests for the first
time
This is true over most of the rural and
less populated areas in the South,
whereas in larger, urban areas children
have been taking two or three standard
tests a year. Mason added
“Knowing how to take the tests’ is
important. Mason said. "Some of the kids
are unfamiliar with the tests, and this
helps to depress the scores.
“BUT THERE’S more to it than that.”
Mason stated. "Teachers are now devot
ing more time to word recognition, and a
a result, whether intentionally or not.
word meaning and comprehension scores
are coming down on reading tests.”
This "over-emphasis on word recog
nition" rather than word meaning is a
“function of the kind of tests we're
giving, the way we re giving the tests,
and a function of the change of emphasis
in the way we’re teaching." Mason said
Mason also said that since word
meaning and comprehension is tested in
the verbal portion of Scholastic Aptitude
Tests (SAT), that their falling scores are
an indicator of the seriousness of the
problem of decreasing reading levels
Responding to the findings of a recent
study that reported that elementary,
junior and senior high school students
knew less about science in 1973 than they
had three years earlier. Dr. David Butts
of the Science Education department at
the University attributed the decline of
knowledge to objectives represented in
the study
"TIIE OBJECTIVES in the National
Assessment of Educational Progress
represent some of the newer ideas in
teaching science," Butts said
But most schools are still teaching the
older traditional approach to science, he
added.
Butts said two of the reasons for the
sharp decline of science knowledge
among 17-year-olds in large cities are
that some of the newer teaching methods
of science have not yet penetrated urban
areas, and that teachers in urban, inner
city schools tend to expect less of their
st udents
Naturally. Butts said, the students live
up to the teachers expectations by
learning less
ONE OE TIIE main complaints Butts
had about the quality of science educa
tion in Georgia, is that "texts in Georgia
junior high schools are oriented to giving
a student the language and vocabulary of
science, but not towards giving them the
experiences "
"We need to give a person a number of
experiences with a subject before we give
that subject labels. Butts said
As an example of this. Butts told of an
eighth grade science text he had recently
analyzed The book gave a lot of room to
defining magnetism. Butts said, hut they
never showed the child an actual magnet.
This same problem exists at the
University level. Butts explained. Saying
that he had had a number of discussions
with the teachers in charge of the
University’s Biology 101 and 102 pro
grams. Butts said that they have found
that a number of students come into the
program with an orientation of having
the teacher "tell me what to know and
I’ll give it back to you on a test."
THE BIOLOGY 101-102 program, how
ever. is more experience and laboratory
oriented. Butts said
"So now the problems many students
are facing is that their high schools are
teaching them how to answer questions
on one kind of a test while the University
is giving another kind." he said.
Related to this problem. Butts said, is
the fact that many students do not
receive enough lab experience in high
school science classes.
Butts, in concurrence with many other
educatqrs today, added that the main
problem was not that students’ knowl
edge of science was declining, but that
the students’ ability to use what they
know is deteriorating
B> JIM DEM BIN
Transportation, labor, and consumer
preferences are largely to blame for
today 's hi^h food prices, according to Dr
Sykes. Trieb. head of the University's
Extension Marketing Department
"There is a widening wage-productivity
gap throughout the entire food distribu
tion system." Trieb said.
Two years ago it cost 50 cents a mile to
operate a truck transporting food, and
now it costs a dollar a mile. Trieb stated
Trieb cited gasoline price hikes, differ
ent sizes of cartons and loading pallet, a
sharp rise in the cost of truck bodies and
truck maintenance and "various local
regulations and provinicalism that are
barriers to efficiency’* as being responsi
ble for the high cost of transportation
"LABOR COSTS are highest in the
produce and meat departments where
there is a lot of hand cutting, trimming
and product preparation, to the extent
that one half of each grocery store's
operating expenses goes to labor." Trieb
said
Consumer desires have also raised the
price of food, according to Trieb Each
person eats an average of 1500 pounds of
food per year, which is a six percent
increase over 1965
This includes an eight percent increase
in pork, a 16 percent increase in beef,
and a 37 prevent increase in poultry
consumption With increased demand,
price's invariably rise. Trieb said
"Built-in maid service." which includes
T V dinners, precooked foods, and snack
items, has also become increasingly
popular. Trieb commented Storage costs
have also risen, especially on produce,
meat and frozen foods, he said.
TRIER NOTED that retail food stores,
which average less than a one percent
profit on items stocked, are faced with
increased operating costs and fixed
productivity
"For the past several years, retailers
have been squeezed by rising labor costs,
increasing minimum wages and fringe
beneftis. and price competition, all of
which dropped profits to unprecendented
low levels in 1972 and 1973." Trieb said
He noted that profits have increased a
little in 1974. but the inflation rate has
"eroded real profits by 10 to 14 percent "
Trieb stated that the A&P supermarket
chain, which lost $50 million in 1972.
closed 1200 stores in 1974 and will close
750 this year
"EVERYBODY IS trying to blame
everyone else in the system, but there is
really no one who can make an out of
line, excess profit, and stay in business."
Trieb said "Competition is keen because
there are over 30,000 retail food stores in
the United States, and it tend to prevent
profit bubbles "’
Trieb labeled the American system
"the most efficient in the world," and
said that the average American still
spends less than 20 percent of his annual
income on food, which is a lower figure
than in any other country There are over
7000 food items on the shelves of the
average supermarket, according to Trieb.
and "the consumer can enjoy products
from around the world "
Capsule news
Talmadge here
Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge will be at the University today to speak to
Students. Talmadge will speak at noon in the student activities center in Memorial
and at 1:30 p.m in the Pharmacy auditorium Talmadge’s visit is sponsored by the
University Union.
Judiciary openings
There are several vacancies in the Student Judiciary in the areas of traffic and
main court Persons interested in applying for these positions should contact the
student government office in Memorial
April Fools
ceremony
B> EDIE McLAl RIN
New* editor
The Committee for a New Student
Center held an April Fools Day ground
breaking ceremony yesterday for the
non-existent student center
According to President of the Univer
sity Union Melita Easters, the ceremony
"represents no laughing matter.”
Easters stated that the ceremony was
held "to make students aware of the fact
that the University needs a new student
center and to make the administration
aware that we are doing something about
it
THE C EREMONY was held at 12 noon
at Memorial Plaza with Dean of Student
Affairs Louise McBee and Director of
Student Affairs William Powell in atten-
dence
The committee plans to continue their
publicity and letter writing efforts,
according to Easters
Right now we re waiting to see how
the spring Student Government Associa
tion elections turn out before making any
more grand plans." she added
•*l FEEL we ithe committee! have the
support of vice presidents and top level
administrators, she said
According to Dr Don Elam, assistant
vice president for development and
University relations, the vice presidents of
the University have put the new student
center as their number one priority for
new capital outlay.
"This means that if we get any new
mon«'y at all we feel it should go to a new
Union." he said
dean LOl ISE Ml BEE BREAKS (.Rot ND FOR NEW UNION
Dr. William Powell and Melita Easier* l«*»k on
Photo by ROBERT PUSEY
Professors file suit
against Univ. officials