Newspaper Page Text
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THE RED AND BLACK
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
Athens, Ga. Volume 94, No. 65 Wednesday, February 18, 1987 News 543-1809 Advertising 543-1 791
Commencement exercises to change
By Mike Krensat age
Krd and Black Srniur Kt-pix tri
Graduation planning committee mem
bers will meet this week to design com
mencement exercises encompassing
changes recommended by an investigative
group established after problems at the
1986 ceremonies
University President elect Charles
Knapp will speak at commencement
One of two committees, one designing
the undergraduate ceremony and another
designing the graduate ceremony, will
meet this week to implement changes rec
ommended by the Commencement Eval
uation Committee, which studied the
University's commencement procedures
after complaints about the 1986 ceremo
nies
Students, faculty members and parents
complained of unruly graduate conduct in
cluding the use of alcohol, the appearance
of a streaker and the bouncing of a beach
ball at the 1986 commencement. University
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Louise McBee said
“No one can get the most out ol a cere
mony with these kinds of distractions." she
said.
To remedy the problems an 11 -member
investigative committee proposed splitting
the graduate and undergraduate ceremo
nies. eliminating ceremonies and encour
aging participants to behave.
Sharon Price, undergraduate and profes
sional school commencement committee
chairman, said her committee has met
twice to plan graduation details, including
the selection of University President-elect
Charles B. Knapp as the guest speaker
University Interim President Henry
King Stanford selected Knapp as speaker
‘‘This is a reall) big job," Price said
“We re really going where no other job has
gone before
A major job of the undergradutate com
mittee is encouraging graduation partici
pants to behave respectably, she said
“Other Universities have had the same
challenge and the other students have co
operated beautifully," she said.
Committee members are unsure how
they will encourage better participant be
havior, Price said. However, the Univei
sity of Wisconsin, a school noted for
significantly improving its graduation pro
cedures, sent letters to graduation partici
pants discouraging disruptive behavior
McBee said the committees will work
until graduation, June 13, implementing
the changes Previously, officials from the
president's office and the registar’s office
organized graduation, she said
Other Commencement Evaluation Com
mittee recommendations for graduation
ceremonies include:
• Commencement should not be during
the evening The undergraduate ceremony
should be at 9 a m and the graduate com
mencement at 2 p.m to allow families to
participate in both ceremonies
• Plastic mortar boards should lx* re
placed with cardboard boards to reduce
the threat of injury People have been in
jured by the mortar boards which tit hi
side the hats
• The University should give “tokens of
appreciation" such as pins or diploma
covers to encourage participation Pre
viously. students didn't receive any items
at the ceremonies
• Undergraduate coin mencement should
lx* in the stadium and graduate loin
mencement in the coliseum
UGA student
to speak on
South Africa
African will discuss
overlooked topics
A University student and South African native
w ill speak Thursday at 7 p m in the main lobby
ot Myers Hall on the topic "What Are the Issues
the Media Doesn’t Report?”
Sylvia Mbhele. a black South African, will ad
dress students who attend the session of Rapping
on an Informal Basis iRIBi, a discussion pro
gram dealing with current topics, said organizer
Ivan Dixon, a University senior
Mbhele said Tuesday that she didn't wish to
comment, fearing trouble with the government
of her native country.
Dixon, a minority assistant in Myers Hall, said
that Mbhele will discuss features of life in South
Africa that many University students might
miss.
"It's a piogiam where Miss Mbhele is going to
speak about the things in South Africa that most
people don't hear about
on the news, he said.
"She's just giving us
some information on
little things we don't
notice."
Dixon said he started
the RIB sessions so
Myers residents could
discuss current social
issues. The audience
suggests discussion topics
“We’ve discussed topics like homosexuality,
date rape, and the existence of God,' he said.
The format is modeled after popular television
talk shows, Dixon said.
“ Things like the “Oprah Winfrey Show and
the “'Phil Donahue Show " are popular now . so I
thought it would lx good to bring on campus." he
said
Thursday
7 p.m.
Myers Hall
Main Lobby
—Keith Phillips
a rm K.4b« i i/Tht- lUxi and BIjh
Freshman pitcher .)»*■ Kelly will be (ieoruia’s No. 4 starter as the Diamond
Dot's open their season Saturday at Central Florida. Season preview, p. 7.
Regent Smith
to be replaced
Gov. Harris decides not to
reappoint the 7-year member
By Tony L. Wilson
lied and Black Senior Krporiei
The Board of Regents soon will
seat a new regent when Gov. Joe
Frank Harris appoints a replace
ment for former regent Sidney O
Smith, who won’t be reappointed to
the board, officials announced
Tuesday.
"Sidney has done an excellent job
I commend him for the job he's
done," Harris said at an Atlanta
news conference
However, Harris said he has no
one in mind to replace Smith.
The decision was the governor’s
and he decided not to reappoint
Smith because it’s time to let
someone else have a chance at the
seat. Harris said
“Seven years is a long time."
Harris said. "It's time to let
someone else in that district serve."
Smith, who also chaired the Presi
dential Selection Committee, rep
resents the Ninth District
* Smith's seven-year term expired
in January and Harris said he ex
tended Smith’s term until the presi
dential selection committee, formed
to find a replacement for former
University President Fred DavtflM,
made its recommendation for the
next University i>iesident
The board affirmed the commit
tee’s recommendation last week ol
Charles B Knapp, the executive
vice president of Tulane University,
who will assume the duties of Uni
versity president July 1.
Smith, who heard of Harris' deci
sion from a governor's aide
Regent Sidney Smith's term
expired in January
Tuesday, said he felt no animosity
toward Harris for nut leappotnlmg
him.
“It's the governor's prerogative,
he said I have no ill will or any
thing. I enjoyed it."
Former Gov George Busbce ap
pointed smith to the board m mo
Smith served as regents chairman
in 1984 Bel ore hi> appointment.
Smith was a judge serving three
years in the Superiur » ourt and nine
years in federal court
AimutitMl Pies* niatrnal wus used
m this .it01 v
New underground electrical system
will undergo final phases, outages
University professors compare the
Forsyth march with those of 1960s
By Howard Busko k
l<r«l mid Bl.uk Mull Mnlrr
By Bill Kent
l<« il mid Itluik Srniur ltr|Mirtn
The University soon will complete the third phase
of a long-term project to switch from an overhead
electrical system to a similar underground system,
University officials said Tuesday.
"We are working diligently to change the old 4,160
volt system to a 12,470 volt system with underground
cables instead of the normal overhead lines." said
Physical Plant Director Ken Jordan
Currently, East Coast Engineering, an electrical
engineering firm, and physical plant employees are
working to change the systems in the science com
plex. he said.
"The food science and livestock poultry buildings
were changed over in the first contract which was
completed in 1976," Jordan said "In the past few
weeks, the systems were upgraded in the physics
and geography , geology and speech buildings ’’
Willis Teague, Physical Plant distribution elec
trical inspector, said workers will shut off power in
the chemistry building this Saturday to change to an
underground system
Jordan said the biological sciences building prob
ably will be changed to the new system the following
Saturday and the third phase of the contract will be
complete
"It’s necessary to do the power outages on the
weekends because classes meet during the week.”
he said
There are three major reasons for the installment
of the underground system to replace the old
system
First. "We want to decrease the potential for
power outages by putting the cables underground."
Jordan said.
There is less of a chance of breakdowns in an un
derground electrical system because it’s more diffi
cult for animals, weather or other external factors
to interfere with the system, he said
“ With the overhead system, we had trouble espe
daily with squirrels getting caught m the trans
formers and shorting out the system," he said "To
my great surprise, now we’ve had two cases where
large wharf rats got caught in the underground
‘We had trouble with
squirrels getting caught in the
transformers’
— Ken Jordan
transformers."
These incidents happened near Joseph Brown Hall
on North Campus. Jordan said
“It seems like we’ve moved from a squirrel
problem to a rat problem, but we still have a more
efficient system than the old one." he said
Next, the new system is being placed to introduce
a loop teed to the system, replacing the straight line
electrical system
"The loop feed will make power outages shorter
because you can feed the power in from a different
direction on a circular line instead of having to get
the whole line fixed like on a straight-line unit."
Jordan said
Also. Physical Plant is implementing the new
system because the present University electrical
system is showing potential for failure
"The old system was placed about 20 years ago
and the cables and other portions of the system are
showing wear." he said
Teague said in the future, the University plans to
have an underground electrical system throughout
the entire campus
"We gel our money from the state legislature and
so we have to do our work as the money becomes
available," he said
University officials aren't sure when the next
phase of the project will begin
"It could possibly be a year before we receive ad
ditional funds to move closer to completing the en
tire underground system." Teague said
However. Jordan said he’s reasonably sure of the
location of the next replacements
"The woikers will probably move next to the
areas ot Jackson Street, the graduate studies
building and then Mary Lyndon Hall Then, we still
have some overhead lines on Baxter Street that need
to be replaced." he said
The Forsy th march was a return to 1960s activism
lor some University faculty members.
University history professor William McFeely and
political science professor Lana Stein marched at
Forsyth and in some of the big peace marches
during the 1960s
McFeely, who won a Pulitzer prize for his biog
raphy of president and Civil War General Ulysses
Grant, took part in several big marches starting
when he was a graduate student
The major difference at Forsyth was that the po
lice were there to protect, not harass the protestors,
he said "It was nice to see the road lined with na
t umaI guardsmen, and how many of the guardsmen
were black and how civil they all were "
Although McFeely said he marched in several
anti-Vietnam demonstrations he never travelled
South for any of the 1960's civil rights protests
"I didn't leel that I had the credentials," he said
“I was a Northerner, an outsider "
McFeely questions the historical importance of the
Forsyth march, but said it helped focus attention on
racism today
"In and of itself the importance of the Forsyth
march might tx tiny," he said."But, in so far as it
speaks to the fact that racism is still an ugly
problem in this country, it will probably not be for
gotten.”
The recent calls by some leaders, including At
lanta city councilman Hosea Williams, for the return
of land to the heirs of those driven off it in 1912,
might not be practical. McFeely said "I’ve never
txen sure that the repatriation concept is all that
useful ”
But. McFeely pioposed that the people of Forsyth
reimburse the descendents of those forced to leave.
"I’ve always felt that it would be a nice, symbolic
thing." he said
Stein, a University assistant professor of political
science, marched in Washington in 1969 to protest
the Vietnam War
The Washington march, unlike the Forsyth
marches, was very peaceful and nad almost no po-
‘It was incredible that to
march a mile in Forsyth we
had to be surrounded by
police. There were too many
angry people, too many
clumps of trees for
sharpshooters to hide behind’
— Lana Stein
lice present, she said
Stein said she was very disappointed that the po
lice had to have such a heavy presence at Forsy th
“‘It was incredible that to march a mile in Forsyth
we had to lx surrounded by police
Stein said that unlike the Washington peace
march, she would have felt threatened at Forsyth
without a police escort “There were too many
angry people, too many clumps ot trees for sharp
shooters to hide behind "
Also unlike in Forsyth, marchers in Washington
sang during the march. Stein said
"I understand that organizers tried to keep music
out of the Forsyth march because they feared it
would be disruptive." she said “When we did sing, a
lot of people didn't know all the words I guess most
of them were too young ”
Stein said she had some unpleasant memories
from the Washington march
“ Nixon had ordered city transit buses to surround
the White House during the march," she said "I
guess he didn't want the marchers to see the White
House and he didn't want to have to look at us "
Another march which took place when Stein was
in Washington turned violent, she said.
"We heard things might get ugly so we didn’t go."
Stein said. "I heard from someone years later that
the police tear-gassed the marchers ”