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■ Dogs ready to pull upset in Tennessee — 10
The Red & Black
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia Community
INSIDE
Tom Selleck is “An
Innocent Man” unjustly
accused. Sound familiar.
See After Hours.
6
Weather: Let the sun shine in.
Roll down the windows, turn up
the radio and start singing.
Beautiful today, sunny, high near
85.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1989 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 97, ISSUE 11
Escort van update
Intoxicated
won’t get lift
By JENNIFER RAMPEY
Staff Writer
Events focus
on women’s
safety issues
By USA GILMORE
Staff Writer
The Athens Women’s Issues
League plans to ‘Take Back the
Night” during the next week and
bring to the forefront issues con
cerning violence against women.
The league has planned a ben
efit at Legion Field which will fea
ture nine bands from 11 a.m. until
after 9 p.m. Saturday. In addition,
the league has planned a Take
Back the Night” march on
Wednesday modeled after similar
marches by the same name held in
cities across the country.
Members from the league and
four other local organizations also
supportive of women’s issues, will
begin the march Wednesday at
7:30 p.m. from the Tate Student
Center Plaza. The march will end
at the courthouse.
The events weren’t sparked from
a particular incident, but rather is
the result of a growing awareness
of violence against women in
Athens, said Lora Hignite, chair of
the women’s league.
“We are against terrorism and
harrassment techniques being
used at abortion clinics. We aren’t
against alternatives to abortion.
Our organization has both pro-life
and pro-choice people. It isn’t an
abortion question,” Hignite said.
African-American studies revitalized but faces obstacles
Asa Boynton: Will examine
handicap service needs
escort service receives, it is pos
sible we may have to take a look at
luter hours,” Stafford said.
Boynton said, “We are going to
wait and see what demands we
have and make adjustments for
that.”
The service will be evaluated
after winter quarter, according to
the SA’s proposal.
Dwight Douglus, vice president
for Student Affairs, said “time will
tell” the success of the service,
which depends mostly on
ridership.
The escort service will serve the
main campus including commuter
and residence hall parking lots and
fraternity und sorority houses on
Milledge Avenue
The van will pick up students
from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday
through Thursday and hours wifi
be extended to 2 a.m. to match ex
tended hours at the library during
fall quarter final exams.
To request u ride, students
should call the University police
emergency phone number 542-
2200. The newly installed emer
gency call boxes may also be used
to call for a ride.
David Coker, executive officer to
Knapp, said Knapp's budget will
pay for the service.
Students walking around
campus at night can start calling
the new escort service Oct. 16, but
police say they won’t allow intoxi
cated students to abuse the service.
Student Association junior Sen.
Todd King, who proposed the es
cort service as head of the Student
Life committee, said the van will
provide students that are uncom
fortable walking across campus at
night with an alternative.
University Police Chief Chuck
Horton said the service was set up
to meet the safety and security
needs of students and isn’t in
tended for use by intoxicated
people.
This was not created as a taxi
service for drunks,” Horton said.
“I’m not going to tote people
around who are drunk and un
ruly.”
Although the uniformed service
officer who will drive the van will
be unarmed, Horton said people
should keep in mind the service is
run by the police.
Boynton said, “We don’t intend
to have people with legitimate
needs for safety abused by people
who are playing games."
SA President Mark Schisler
said, “I don’t think it will even be
an issue."
One issue that will be considered
is the van’s lack of handicapped
equipment.
Public Safety Director Asa
Boynton said that if there’s a need
for a nightly escort service for
handicapped students, it will be
considered.
Talking in your sleep?
Zzzzzzz. Junior Dominique Gore takes advantage of
the pleasant fall weather and beds down on the
George Stafford, auxiliary serv
ices manager, said the University
operates a handicap van service
until 10 p.m. Monday through
Friday.
‘The service is not as late,”
Stafford said. “We average two
calls every evening.
“Depending on the response the
Cara May/The Red and Black
free speech platform in front of Memorial Hall for a
quick power snooze between classes.
Music majors, faculty to boycott ballet
By GENE COLTER
Staff Writer
Some students and faculty of the Univer
sity’s School of Music plan tc boycott the At
lanta Ballet’s performance at the Fine Arts
auditorium on Tuesday.
The ballet has severed ties with its or
chestra, which employed members from the
music school. Although the ballet usually per
forms without its orchestra outside of Atlanta,
it has now dropped all performances with the
orchestra and will perform solely with taped
music.
Margaret Doyle, the ballet’s public relations
director, said the ballet has incurred a $1.4
million debt, making it impossible to maintain
the cost of the orchestra.
Bruce Gbur, a graduate music student and
the contrabassoonist for the ballet orchestra,
said the ballet’s board of directors isn’t living
up to its responsibility, which he said is purely
a financial one.
Gbur said orchestra members received a
letter this summer which included a rehearsal
schedule. Orchestra members who agreed to
the schedule were to sign the letter and return
it to the personnel manager.
Gbur signed and returned the letter, only to
find later that the ballet was dropping the or
chestra He said he was lucky, having only lost
$950 to $1,000 before taxes from the cancelled
performances.
But other musicians, he said, make the ma
jority of their yearly incomes from performing
with the ballet. He gave an example of a pic
colo player who was out $1,000 from cancella
tion of upcoming December performances of
The Nutcracker Suite.”
Some of those musicians had turned down
other jobs to maintain their commitment with
the ballet, Gbur said.
Doyle said the ballet offered the musicians
two performances with the ballet during the
September season opening, but the orchestra
refused.
They wanted a full season or nothing at
all,” she said.
Gbur said orchestra members refused
playing the opening shows because the ballet
was only using the orchestra to give the im
pression of a strong ballet season ahead — it
was all for show.
No other ballet the size of the Atlanta Ballet
has allowed itself to get into financial trouble
which would necessitate dismissing its or
chestra, he said.
The fund-raisers take on a financial respon
sibility when they accept a position on the
board of directors, and they must provide for
the entire ballet, he said.
University Union President Rob Nelson
said boycotting the ballet’s University perfor
mance will only hurt efforts to bring a better
variety of performances to campus.
The benefit and march are con
cerned mainly about the safety of
women and to educate people
about domestic violence and other
forms of violence against women,”
Hignite said.
FBI statistics on violence
against women are frightening,
she said.
One out of every three women
will be raped or have to fight off a
rape in her lifetime, Hignite said.
Fifty percent of these rapes happen
on dates and college women are at
a higher risk than other women.
According to FBI statistics, 250,-
000 women will suffer severe do
mestic violence in Georgia alone,
she said. While men can walk to
the store or car at night and not
worry about it, women can’t.
“We must work our lives around
the possibility of getting raped,”
Hignite said.
Organizer Jennifer R. Lee, co
president of the women’s league,
said, The main purpose of the ben
efit is to raise consciousness.
Money is secondary.”
The organizations also hope to
attract volunteer help. Tho Athens
Rape Crisis Line is especially un
derstaffed, Lee said.
The benefit program will aterna-
tely feature local bands and
sneakers.
The nine local bands scheduled
to perform are: Debbie Lou Norton,
Cordy Lon, Jan Barlow, 28 Days,
Darci Heil, Lotion, The LaBrea
Stompers, Seven Simons and
Problem Child.
The speakers at both events will
come from the Athens Women’s Is
sues League, Project Safe, Athens
Rape Crisis Line, Athens Pro-
Choice League, and Student Com
mittee On Acquaintance Rape. The
organizations will provide litera
ture also.
Tickets for the benefit are avail
able at Wuxtry, Downtown Re
cords, and The Downstairs for $7.
Tickets are $8 at the gate.
The money raised will be divided
among all the organizations, ex
cept the University-sponsored
SCOAR.
By JOEL GROOVER
Staff Writer
When Thurmon Garner quit his
job seven years ago, the University
had a different president and a dif
ferent attitude about the value of
African-American studies.
Gamer, who served as director
of the African-American Studies
Profp*am from 1978-82, said the ad
ministration gave the subject little
respect and “no financial support.”
But at a forum Wednesday on
the status of African-American
studies at the University, Norman
Harris, the current director, said
the unfriendly atmosphere has
changed.
Harris credited University Pres
ident Charles Knapp and members
of the Black Faculty and Staff Or
ganization for efforts to improve
the program, which have led to its
“revitalization,” he said.
As part of that revitalization,
the program now offers four dif
ferent classes and will add another
one next quarter. In addition, Wil
liam Prokasy, vice president for
Academic Affairs, has approved
the hiring of two junior faculty
members for the department.
Next week, the University
Council will decide whether to ap
prove a proposal to change the pro
gram to an “institute.” If that
happens — and if the Board of Re
gents also approves the proposal —
students will be able to earn ma
jors in African-American Studies.
“I see the University’s support
for revitalization of the African-
American studies program as part
of the overall effort to ensure that
the University of Georgia reflects
the cultural diversity of our state,”
Knapp said at Wednesday’s forum.
Despite a more receptive admin
istration, panelists said the pro
gram still faces a number of
problems, including being accepted
as a “legitimate” area of study.
“I think that’s our largest chal
lenge and unfortunately it’s a chal
lenge today just as it was in 1969
and then again in 1982 and even in
1988,” said Larry Blount, associate
law professor and forum panelist.
“We don’t have a legitimacy
question when we’re talking about
English,” he said, “but if we talk
about black English or something
like that, we have a legitimacy
problem.”
The program also faces “fierce
competition” for money, office
space and faculty among existing
programs, he said.
Senior political science major
Sharron Jackson, a student
member of the panel, said there is
no question that the University
needs an expanded program.
“It is important to look at how
African-American students have
been affected by years of exposure
to the misinterpretation and the
one-dimensional presentation of
black history,” she said.
“Now there is an alternative to
white history and its blatant disre
gard for the multi-dimensionality
of black Americans.”
In response to questions from
the audience, Knapp said the pro
gram will receive more money if
there’s a strong student demand
for its classes. But he said survival
of the program won't depend solely
on student enrollment.
One member of the audience,
Godfried Wononuah, a graduate
student from Burkina Faso in
West Africa, suggested making
black history a required course, an
established practice in Africa.
If that were done here, he said,
“both communities would become
aware” of the other’s culture.
“Last Temptation” now showing
Union ready, but protests not likely
By JENNIFER RAMPEY
Staff Writer
The University Union is prepared for
possible protestors who wish to denounce
the film The Last Temptation of Christ”
when it's shown at the Tate Student
Center tonight and Saturday.
Although the Union held a heated open
forum to discuss the showing of the film in
the spring, most religious campus groups
said they have no plans to protest the
film.
Shawn Wheeler, who just took over as
the Union’s program adviser, said he ex
pects some kind of reaction from the com
munity.
“I’ll be meeting with Union officers and
Chief (Chuck) Horton of the University
Police to discuss any plans we need to
make to provide protesters a place to be,"
Wheeler said.
Union President Rob Nelson said he
hasn’t heard anything from any groups
planning to protest.
The Rev. Ed Ralph of The Lutheran
Chapel on campus said he has encouraged
students to exercise their right to free
choice and attend the film as their “con
science would permit them.”
The film is based on the book by Greek
author Nikos Kazantzakis, and has been
criticized by protesters who claim it blas
phemes Christianity by portraying Jesus
Christ as a normal human being, in
cluding a scene in which he imagines
having sex.
Information about the author of the
book on which the movie is based and the
movie itself was given to students at The
Lutheran Chapel and a fellowship
meeting was held Sunday night to discuss
the movie, Ralph said.
The Rev. Ralph Marsh of the Episcopal
University Center said, “It’s just a matter
of personal conscience."
The Rev. Bill Matthews of The United
Methodist Student Center said people
saw their efforts to protest the controver
sial religious film, “Hail, Mary” backfire
in 1987.
Protests against the film increased cu
riosity and attendance, Matthews said.
The Rev. Alex Williams of the student
Presbyterian Center said, “If a person is
able to associate fiction with Jesus, the
film has the potential of strengthening
one’s faith.
The film could be interpreted as Ka
zantzakis’ search for Christ,” he said.
“If I did oppose it, I wouldn’t go out and
protest it — that would promote it,” Wil
liams said.
The Rev. Steven Pavignano of the
Catholic Center said students there won’t
protest, but they encourage people to
think for themselves.
“We don’t think it’s a direct threat to
Jesus’ reality,” Pavignano said.
No one at the Baptist Student Center
would comment on the film.
Nelson said there is a Student Activ
ities policy which prohibits protests inside
the Tate Center. Protests may be held
outside.
Jeff Frey, the Union’s Cinematic Arts
Division coordinator, said the Union
doesn’t always give people the chance to
speak out about the films it presents as it
did in the spring.
But the controversy surrounding the
film inspired the Union’s Board of Gover
nors to hold the open forum, Frey said.
“Our philosophy is to provide shows
which entertain and educate the stu
dents,” he said.
“The Last Temptation of Christ" will show
at the Tate Center today and Saturday at 3
p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Willem DeFoe: Portrays Jesus
Christ in one of the most pro
tested movies in history — “The
Last Temptation of Christ.”