Newspaper Page Text
Page 4
The Ked and Black. Wednrtidiiv, October 31, IM7S
^Perceptions
— - ■ - —
The self study
Every ten years, the different
schools of the University must
conduct a self study to be
submitted to the Southern
Association of Schools and
Colleges for accreditation pur
poses.
Each school or college is
responsible for preparing its own
self study report. They are then
supposed to submit it to a
University committee, desig
nated to coordinate the self study
efforts for the University.
Most of the schools are about
to conclude their reports and
channel them on to the
University committee. What the
self study reports usually consist
of are goals of the school and
areas which have been recog
nized as needing improvement.
And as records of a state
agency, the University, these
reports should be available for
public scrutiny upon their
completion.
But several deans have refused
to let The Red and Black see
their finished reports or even let
us know what the reports
contain.
Many of the deans hid behind
the excuse that until the reports
go to the University committee,
they are still parts of a whole
and do not fall under the Georgia
open records law.
However, the journalism
school did release its report to
The Red and Black, and a couple
of other schools indicated they
would release their reports
shortly.
So there is obviously some
discrepancy. Several of the
deans, for some reason, are
trying to hide their self study
reports. What they are trying to
hide is unknown.
It is doubtful that there is
much in the reports to hide. The
We were glad to learn that
U S. District Judge Wilbur
Owens awarded $1662 in attor
ney’s fees to University students
Marshall Dayan and David
Shelledy.
The two students filed a suit
Nov. 3,1978 claiming in part that
University President Fred
Davison failed to forward their
requests to speak before the
Board of Regents, as required by
regent policy.
According to the policy,
student requests to speak before
the Board of Regents must be
channeled through the president
of the student's school, who is
probably stem from the general
feeling on this campus by many
administrators that the less the
students know, the better off
everyone is.
This idea seems to prevail in
the actions of many University
administrators as they try to
keep information from the
students, an intolerable act at
best.
We are concerned that at an
institute of higher education,
supposed to pass the request on
with a favorable or unfavorable
recommendation.
Dayan and Shelledy did just
that, but Davison failed to
forward their request to the
regents. He tried to pass the
buck onto someone else, but the
end result was the same—the
request was not forwarded to the
regents.
What Owens ruled was that
Davison acted Improperly by
doing this, which he obviously
did. We are just glad that for
once the students won in the long
run.
refusals to release the reports such secrecy is tolerated.
Student victory
Letters
Davison should
think twice
Seth Cohen
University students Marshall Dayan
and David Shelledy were serving on a
core curriculum committee of the
Student Senate in May 1978. when they
decided they would like to talk to the
Board of Regents about the work they
were doing
Seth Cohen is a staff writer for The Red
and Black
Following University system student
speaking policy, which requires students
to go through the president of their
University in order to speak before the
Board. Dayan and Shelledy wrote
President Fred Davison. The president is
supposed to send the request, with his
recommendation to the Board, which
makes a final ruling.
For the next five months. Dayan and
Shelledy continued in their quest to speak
to the Board It seems Davison had
forwarded their letter to Dean of Student
Services Dwight Douglas, who phoned
Shelledy and told him in the future these
requests should come through his office.
Official University policy states the
letters are to go to Davison.
Then the two students learned, in a
letter from Davison, that the proper
channel to the Board was not his office,
or Douglas’s office, but that the students
should have first gone through the
Student Government Association
In September. Dayan wrote Davison
another letter, asking to speak to the
Board about the speakers policy itself.
Dayan then made an appointment with
the president, at which he discussed the
situation, and Davison promised to
forward all the requests to the Board He
didn't. On Nov. 3. 1978, the students filed
a lawsuit
Their effort finaily paid off. at least in
a small part. Friday, when U.S. District
Court Judge Wilbur Owens awarded
$llki2.r>0 in attorney’s fees to the two
students in connection with the part of
their law suit that stated University
President Davison was not applying the
student speaking policy fairly.
Dayan and Shelledy also asked the
court to declare the policy Itself
unconstitutional. According to the stu
dents' attorney. Hue Henry, the policy is
a violation of the first and fourteenth
amendments
Henry said by compelling students to
go through the president to speak to the
hoard, a “chilling effect’’ is placed on a
person’s First Amendment right to
redress the government for grievances
Also, by allowing non-students to speak to
the Board without this requirement, the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment was violated
Owens disagreed with the uncon
stitutionality of the policy, hut by
awarding attorney’s fees to the students,
the judge, in essence, agreed with the
students' contention that the policy was
not being properly handled
As it turned out. on Nov. 6. 1978, at the
discretion of his attorney. Davison
forwarded the students' request to the
board Despite an unfavorable recom
mendation, the board agreed to hear
Dayan speak about the speaker’s policy,
but refused to let Shelledy speak about
the core curriculum. However, the board
accidently recognized Shelledy instead of
Dayan, and so then decided to let both of
them speak
But the fact is that if Davison had not
been sitting on the requests, the students
would not have had to file suit. Thus, the
court felt it only proper to award the
students the money for Henry’s fees in
connection with the part of the suit
dealing with the improper handling of the
policy
Dayan and Shelledy are appealing
Owens' ruling on the constitutionality of
the speaking policy to the Court of
Appeals.
But it is important for students to
realize that Davison's practice of
ignoring certain requests had been
recognized by the District Court, and
hopefully, this will cause Davison to think
twice before screwing someone over the
next time.
However, we must also remember that
the University speaking policy is still
intact, and unless the Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals decides otherwise, Davison,
and other University presidents, will
have the power to. at least partly,
through their recommendations, deter
mine which students speak to ftie' Board
of Regents A power no president, and
especially Fred Davison, deserves to
have.
‘ Firemen and dorm residents should not have to bear the burden ’
TO THE EDITOR:
To rhe students of the University:
This letter should be prefaced by staling
that ii is not an uifack on the character or
good judgment of the vast majority of
University students. Ii is. however, a
condemnation of ihc actions of a small
number of individuals who feel that their
selfish desires give them the right to
inconvenience the Athens Eire Department
and to inconvenience and endanger fellow
siudcms. particularly dorm residents. The
ad ions referred to are those of pulling false
fire alarms.
All UGA students should be aw are of the
seriousness of false alarms. When an
alarm is sounded on campus, the
University Police Department is notified,
and. in turn. notifies the Athens Fire
Department. The Athens Eire Department
immediately responds to the call. They
can’t wan to see if the alarm is false,
because if it is real thc\ need every
precious second.
Seconds can mean the difference be
tween life and death. When a false alarm
occurs, firemen and fire fighting equip
ment are needlessly called to one area and
another area with a real fire may suffer
because of the time lost cnroutc.
Sometimes an alarm is discovered to be
false in time to prevent the Fire
Department from making the entire run.
However, many times their time is wasted
checking out a false alarm. Fire fighting is
a very dangerous profession, but firemen
are willing to risk their lives to save other
lives and property.
Firemen should be left to do their job
without having to answer prank alarms.
An explanation should be given as to
what is meant by inconveniencing and
endangering fellow students. An example
of inconveniencing is the disrupting of
students from their studies, showers,
sleep, or ju*« plain relaxing in order to
evacuate a building, when, in fact, there is
no fire threat. An example of endangering
is the possibility of someone falling on
siairs while qui ’kly evacuating a supposed-
l\ burning building.
The greater danger in false alarms,
however, is that of creating complacency or
apathy in the building residents. After
several false alarms in the wee hours of the
morning, one has a tendency to feel that
this alarm is just another prank alarm, so
one rolls over and goes back to sleep. Only
this time it may be a real alarm and by the
time it is realized, it is too late!
Here arc two excerpts from a newspaper
article covering a dorfhitorv fire at
Providence College in Providence. Rhode
Island:
“One student said a rash of recent false
alarms at the school may have kept some
residents from getting out of bed in lime.”
“At first t thought it was a joke,” said
Jan Walsh of Needham. Mass., who was
awakened by the alarm. “We’ve had so
many lately.”
Seven coed* died as a result of that
Providence College fire and at least 15
others were injured. Would the toll have
possibly been lower had the recent false
alarms not created a degree of apathy or
complacency among the dorm residents?
Is it worth the "fun" one student derives
from pulling a false alarm, as compared to
ihc possible consequences it could lead to?
Absolutely not!
Ii is for this reason that issuing a false
fire alarm is a criminal offense in the state
of Georgia. It w ill be treated as sueh on this
campus False alarms will be investigated
by the University Police and the University
Fire Marshal.
The false alarms experienced lately may
not have been malicious: however, the
effect is the same. These alarms were
evidently pulled by someone with nothing
better to do at the time and were probably
done without a thought of the possible
consequences.
Anyone pulling a false fire alarm
evidently lacks the maturity normally
attributed to a University student. Upon
enrolling in a university, a student claims
to be an adult, and fully expects to be
granted the privileges associated with sueh
maturity.
The student should then he ready to
accept the responsibility that accompanies
these privileges. This responsibility de
mands that the student consider the
consequences of the actions before a
committment is made.
Firemen and dorm residents should not
have to bear the burden for the immaturity
of a small number of students who think
that their fun is more important than the
safety of others.
CLINT ALMOND
UGA Fire Marshal
‘Thank you for
editorial support’
TO THE EDITOR:
Thank you for your editorial support of
the Historic Preservation Ordinance re
cently proposed by the Community and
Development Committee of Mayor and
Council and now being reviewed b\ the
Athens-Clarkc County Planning Com
mission .
The impetus for an active preservation
movement in Athens began in the I9h0s as
a result of reading a letter written by a
University student to the editor *»t The
Athens Banner-Herald which called atten
tion to Athens’ unique heritage and tne
lack of any concerted effort to preserve it
Someone with no Athens attachments
but with an observant eve and a positive
viewpoint told Athenians what treasures
they possessed.
this letter, written by Mr. Robert
Gamble, a graduate student in the
Department of History, caused concerned
citizens of At hens to reverse their
prevailing negative attitudes, forget petty
iliflcfciKcx, Mt)U.move together
toward preserving the remaining histori
cally and architecturally significant struc
tures still standing.
The city and county officials and the
businessmen of Athens need to know the
views and wishes of the student population
regarding preservation. Do not under
estimate your importance to the Athens
businessmen in the economic health of the
community. Downtown Athens is de
pendent on the UGA students for survival
and economic growth.
Let the mayor and council, the Planning
Commission and especially the Athens
businessmen with whom you trade know
what you believe in and what you support.
ETHEL T. CHAFFIN
‘Specialized
readers needed’
TO TIIE EDITOR:
The need for specialized readers has
teaehed the critical stage. Our national
office reports that more than 40 books
await the services of qualified readers in
the sciences, mathematics, and the
building trades
You have graciously publicized our
needs in the past We hope that you will
be willing to cooperate once again As
you know , we are a selfless organization
which strives to provide the “tools" that
permit our courageous users to fulfill
their dreams and goals
If any readers of this letter are willing
to devote an hour and a half per week to
this worthy cause, please call 549-1313
during business hours
ROY LENOX
Chairman. Athens Unit
Recording For The Blind
‘Hope he is in
the minority’
TO THE EDITOR:
Recently Ihc Red and Black came out in
suppon of Lt. Governor Zell Miller’s
candidacy for the United States Senate. I
must express my agreement with your
endorsement of Zell Miller and my shock at
the unfounded criticism of Mr. Linton
Johnson in his letter which vou printed on
Oct. 25.
In the past, the stare ol Georgia has been
sadly misrepresented by irresponsible
politicians and political opportunists who
have lined their pockets with public money
and turned their backs on the people who
put them in office. One of the lust remnants
of this “Old Guard" of Georgia polities is
Sen. Herman Talmadge. who was eon
demned by the Senate for his flagrant
abuse of public office.
Lt. Gov. Zell Miller offers a change from
this brand of politics. In the past, lie has
dcccntrali/cd the tremendous power of his
office in the control of Senate committees
and has fought tor sueh vital measures .is
increased expenditures for education in
Georgia.
Rcienily. he has introduced a proposal
to completely wipe out taxes on food,
medicine, and home utility bills, saving the
consumers of Georgia millions of dollars
and easing the inflationary tax burdens on
these vital necessities. He has demon
strated a sincere and genuine concern for
the people of this stale
In his letter to the editor. Linton Johnson
accuses Mr. Miller of using his office to
become wealthy. I his is absurd. He is one
of the few who lias used hisofficv'R) reduce
the power and wealth ol government. Mr.
Johnson accuses Mr. Miller ol irresponsi
ble behavior in his criticisms of Herman
Talmadge.
Who is more irresponsible: the man who
cheats ami swindles ihc government or the
man who justifiably denounces sueh
behavior? I am disgusted bv the political
permissiveness ol those people who admit
that Mr. Talmadge is guilty of irre
sponsible and opportunistic use of public
office and then continue to support him
despite his den uncial ion by his own
colleagues.
Hasn't this country learned from
Watergate? I he only w ay to put a stop to
the misuse* of federal office is to swiftly and
expediently remove those who have been
proven guilty of wrongdoing.
How Mr. Johnvin justifies his support of
a man who has been found guilty beyond a
shadow of a doubt of the blutant violation
of public confidence. I will never know.
How he can condemn one of the most
effective state officials in recent history for
attempting to establish honest and efficient
government. I will never know. I just hope
he is in the minority, for the sake of the
future of the state.
RALPH REEI)
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NEIGHBORHOOD.
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ITi Red and ‘Black
Staff
Editor in-cfctrf Bill Krueger
FiecMlve editor Gary Foul*
(imol manager Steve Crabill
Advertising manager Linda Spike*
C'epy edftar«: Tom Kelley Marvin Williams.
Nancy Nethery
t inyw editor Junlin Gillis
CUy editor Jim Gannam
restore* KdUor Tammy Savage
K Meets lament editor Bobby Byrd
PSoto editor: C Talbot Nunnally III
Sport* editor Frank Malloy
Prom at loo* director Charles Russell
\iil«tant rampa* editor* John Lackie Both Slaughter
A*»i*taM restore* editor Ingrid Schorr
\»*t*laM entertainment editor Robert Holland
VttMUni apart* editor* Warren Rary Norm Reilly
\iiMaoi Photo editor Solly Kroetinke
Wire editor Lewis Patterson
LGA Today coordinator Kay Peppers
KdHortal aultUM SUci Kramer
Prod action manager Weftdy Wltowafci
Advertising rrpreeeMalleet John Baker Let Chgfy. Julie FXchtr Michelle Newberry Doug Pradat MMO
Soul. La Wilson
Advertising atstoUM. Sally Natley
Production Susan Turner. Kenny York. Tern Edgar
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