Newspaper Page Text
If
■ The freaks come out in Athens this weekend — 8
The Red & Black
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia Community
INSIDE
Starting wide receiver
Kevin Maxwell gives
“made in Japan” a whole
new meaning.
5
Weather: Will it ever make up its
mind? Today, partly cloudy, low
60s, tonight, clear and cold. 30s.
Fri., mostly sunny, a little
warmer, high in the upper 60s.
* WEEKEND EDITION * FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26,1990 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 98, ISSUE 24
UGA fires increase
t'aiises of Fires on Campus lfMUl-1
Woods & Grass
Electrical
Vehicle Accidents
Lab Accidents
Welding
Vandalism
Careless Smoking
Microwaves
Cooking
Arson
: n.
-
—
8 10 12 14 10
SUptian Moro«kl/The Red and Black
By STACEY MclNTOSH
Staff Writer
University fires and fire-related
injuries increased during academic
year 1988-89 although the number
of national campus fire injuries de
clined, said Frank Edwards, Uni
versity Fire Safety Officer.
“We’ve been extremely lucky on
this campus. There’s never been a
fire death," Edwards said in an in
terview Tuesday.
Campus fires increased 34 per
cent last year compared to an 8.3
percent decline on the national av
erage, Edwards said.
Fifty-nine fires were reported in
1988-89 on canlpus, 16 more than
in 1987-88, he said.
There were three fire-related in
juries in 1988-89. There were no
such injuries in 1987-88, he said.
During 1988-89, two people re
quired hospitalization for burn in
juries and one was treated for a
second-degree burn, he said.
Last year’s 59 reported fires fall
under the following categorizes:
careless smoking, welding, labo
ratory accidents, vehicle accidents,
electrical wiring, woods and grass,
microwaves, cooking, vandalism
and arson, he said.
The arson incident occurred at a
University fraternity house where
fireworks shot under a closed door
set fire to a room, Edwards said.
He said cooking and microwave
fires cause the majority of fires on
campus and nine-tenths of those in
University housing.
“It’s mostly unattended cooking.
Burned popcorn has caused a lot of
problems," he said.
But, accidental fires aren’t offi
cials’ major causes of concern, he
said.
False alarms force the Univer
sity and its housing residents to go
through needless evacuations, Ed
wards said.
‘There have been as many as 14
false alarms in one day in the resi
dence halls,” he said.
However, the number of false
alarms on campus decreased 25
percent last year, dropping from
133 to 106, he said.
Edwards said two students will
face the Student Judiciary for set
ting off fire alarms this quarter in
Russell Hall.
False alarms in University resi
dence halls aren’t just inconve
nient, they’re dangerous, he said.
“Students get used to hearing so
many false alarms and they start
ignoring them,” he said. “So. some
body hears an alarm in the middle
of the night and goes back to sleep
thinking it’s another prank.”
Gene Luna, assistant director of
housing, said the three high-rise
residence halls, Brumby, Creswell
and Russell, have integrated fire
alarm systems with smoke detec
tors and alarms.
He said an alarm station trig
gers a building evacuation by resi
dent assistants. The system also
alerts the Athens-Clarke County
Fire Department, he said.
Edwards said all high-rise resi
dence halls have smoke detectors
and meet state fire codes which
don’t require sprinkler systems in
the University’s residence halls.
“Fire safety is a m^jor concern of
the stafTand the University," Luna
said. “If sprinklers were required,
we would nave them."
Also, fire safety seminars are of
fered by the University’s Public
Safety Division to residence halls,
fraternities, sororities or any
campus group, he said.
Edwards said he has conducted
15 programs this quarter for
housing residents and has sched
uled one for a sorority.
In response to some of the pro
grams, University fraternities
spent the last four years and
nearly $1 million in renovation to
meet state fire codes, he said.
Sigma Chi and Alpha Tau
Omega fraternities weren’t al
lowed in their houses in fall 1988
for fire violations, he said. Also, the
Phi Delta Theta fraternity house
caught fire in spring 1988 and was
closed until it was brought up to
fire codes, Edwards said.
The Sigma Chi house caught fire
in 1987 when it was fire-bombed
with Molotov cocktails, which are
ignited bottles filled with flam
mable liquid, he said.
‘Those fraternity houses were in
bad shape, but they did cooperate
once they were told of the viola
tions and they were brought to the
attention of the national chapter,”
he said. ‘That’s why they weren’t
shut down for good.”
Edwards said he hasn’t in
spected the fraternity and sorority
houses since January 1990 and, at
that time, all weren’t meeting state
fire codes.
The University won a National
Safety Council award for its
“unique” fire-safety program which
includes n videotape of the resi
dence halls, he said.
Edwards said a pre-fire plan has
been implemented for newly-reno
vated Soule Hall.
Disabled
criticize
fire exits
By STACEY MclNTOSH
Staff Writer
Disabled students living on
campus must depend on other
people to get out of University
buildings during a fire, Disability
Services Director Karen Kalivoda
said Wednesday.
“Basically, they do have to de
pend on other people,” she said.
“Handicapped students can get
somewhere if they are in a chair,
but not if there are steps in the
way.”
Instructors are alerted of dis
abled students in their classrooms
and take or assign responsibility
for their escape in the event of a
fire, she said.
Disabled students who live in
residence halls are assigned to
rooms on the first floor and resi
dent assistants give them first
priority during a fire, Kalivoda
said.
She said Disability Services
plans to install an exit ramp
through a window or door in Reed
Hall. An automatic door was in
stalled at Morris Hall to improve
handicap accessibility and fire
safety, she said.
Frank Edwards, University
public safety officer, said disabled
persons nre evacuated first during
fire drills in residence halls and
that there haven’t been any prob
lems thus for.
“Disabled people are pi need on
low floors, usually the first in Rus
sell, because the elevators nre pro
grammed to stop working when the
alarms go off,” he said Wednesday.
Edwards said some of the new or
renovated University buildings,
like Soule Hall, have smoke alarms
equipped with bright, flashing
lights nnd loud bells for the
hearing or sight impaired.
Soule Hall, the Biological Sci
ences Complex nnd the Science
Please See ESCAPE. Page 3
International
By PATRICK FLANIGAN
Staff Writer
Before Steve Venz came to the University
he traveled in Europe as a musician; that^
why he decided to major in international
business.
Venz, a junior, said he saw economic
changes occurring in Europe that caused
him to realize the world market will open
up right into Georgia.
“I have a list of companies owned by
German corporations that are in Gwinnett
County,” he said. “At the end of this year I’ll
start researching them.”
And Venz isn’t alone.
Enrollment for the international busi
ness major has increased 95 percent since
1986, Roberto Friedman, coordinator of the
mqjor, said Wednesday.
Friedman said fall quarter enrollment in
business major flourishes as Europe opens
1986 was 216. In 1988 it jumped to 262 and
this fall there are 428 students enrolled.
This is now the largest program in the
College of Business Administration and the
longest, he said. As of December 1989, 205
quarter hours — up from 195 — nre re
quired for a degree in international busi
ness.
“When we increased the number of hours,
we thought the initial reaction would be
students turned off to the program,” he
said. “In fact, it’s been the opposite.”
The additional hours mean students now
take six language courses instead of three
and one less elective.
“And we’ve had good cooperation from
the Romance and Slavic language depart
ments,” Friedman said. ‘They’ve agreed to
develop commercial language courses.
“While advanced Spanish literature mny
be interesting,” he said. The reality of (the
students’) language needs are in terms of
getting a competitive edge.”
Commercial languages concentrate on
business vocabulary.
Sophomore Johnny Miller said he’s going
to take Russian. He said he read that trade
with the Soviet Union will open up within
four years — just as he’s about to graduate.
“If I graduate with a major in interna
tional business and a minor in Russian,
that’ll be perfect for me,” he said.
Sophomore Jeffery Jones is also watching
the news and looking ahead.
He said the first American companies in
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union will
have a difficult time in the initial stages of
their operations.
“I figure by the time I get out the hard
part will be over,” he said. “I don’t expect
the trail to be blazed, but some of the brush
will be cleared.”
However, Friedman said students
shouldn’t expect to be sent abroad soon
after graduation.
“Less and less you find Americans being
sent overseas,” he said.
Multinational corporations ore beginning
to train local businessmen to work in the
countries where they operate, he said.
But opportunity still exists, Friedman
said. For instance, students could end up
working for a foreign company in the
United States and get transferred to the
home office.
However, not all students necessarily de
sire overseas employment.
Junior Leesa Gillen said she hopes to
work for a Japanese company in the United
States.
“I would like to visit Jnpan many times,”
she said. “But I don’t want to get trans
ferred there."
Ga. average in matching tuition funds
lNipil vs. Slate expenditures, I V
Source: Southern Regional Education Board
N. Carolina Florida Tattaa Qaorgla Alabama Virginia Ataraga
S 7.09 $5.98 55.55 $3.31 $ 2.78 $ 1.87 $ 3.59
By LANCE HELMS
Staff Writer
Among 14 southern states with
institutions comparable to the Uni
versity, Georgia’s fiscal year 1989
ratio of state-to-student expendi
tures ranked sixth, according to
Southern Regional Education
Board statistics.
For every dollar paid in tuition
and fees by in-state undergraduate
University students in the 1989-90
academic year, the state chipped in
$3.31 toward general operating ex
penses associated with instructing
those students. The students’ con
tributions amounted to 23 percent
of instructional expenses at the
University. *
Mississippi doesn’t have an in
stitution in the “Doctoral I” cat
egory to which the University
belongs. Texas has five; Alabama,
Florida, North Carolina, Okla
homa and Virginia each have two.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, South Carolina, Ten
nessee and West Virginia each
have one.
“Doctoral I universities are uni
versities that award over 100 doc
toral degrees a year in at least 10
broad fields,” said Roger Mosshart,
University System vice chancellor
for Fiscal Affairs.
They can’t have more than 50
percent of all the doctoral degrees
O Slat* Expenditure
■ Pupil Expenditure
in any one field of study,” he said.
The University is the only Doc
toral I public post-secondary insti
tution in Georgia.
For every dollar paid by in-state
undergraduate students at Doc
toral I institutions in the southern
region, these states paid the fol
lowing:
• Texas paid $5.55.
• Alabama paid $2.76, Florida
$5.98, North Carolina $7.09, Okla
homa $2.99 and Virginin $1.87.
• Arkansas paid $3.15, Ken
tucky $2.87, Louisiana $1.96,
Maryland $3.84, South Carolina
$2.23, Tennessee $3.93 and West
Virginia $2.19.
To calculate these expenditures,
Stapban Mor*«hl/The Red and Black
the SREB converts the figures for
all full-time and part-time stu
dents into “full-time equivalent"
statistics, as if the schools were
completely composed of full-time
students.
A full-time equivalent student at
the University paid $1,917 in tu
ition and fees for school year 1989-
90, which is roughly simultaneous
with fiscal year 1989.
For states with more than one
Doctoral I school, this number is a
median statistic, representing the
school in the middle if the numbers
were ranked from highest to
lowest, said Joe Marks of the
SREB.
For instance, in Texas, which
has five Doctoral I schools, $1,022
represents the third-highest tu
ition rate. For states with two Doc
toral I schools, the median is an
average of the two.
The state spent $6,347 on each
full-time equivalent student at the
University in fiscal 1989. In calcu
lating statistics for operating ap
propriations in states with more
than one Doctoral I school, the
SREB averaged the numbers
rather than using a median figure.
Mosshart said the University
System Board of Regents uses a
fixed formula when it draws up the
annual budget for the system’s 34
institutions — students contribute
25 percent nnd the state pays 75
percent. He likened the budget to a
giant pot into which students and
the state throw their money and
the institutions pay out expenses.
The costs of constructing new fa
cilities and major renovations of
existing ones aren’t taken out of
the pot, Mosshart said. Neither are
expenses for the residence and
dining halls, which are expected to
generate enough income to cover
their expenses.
He said the 23 percent Univer
sity students pay is less than the
25 percent state average because
the University gets more money
than most schools for things like
research.
Orion, the one in black, pulls owner Brent Lhuiller along on an
afternoon campus walk.
Come on, let’s go
Wedding bells ring at University’s newly-renovated chapel
By KRISTA HARRIS
Campus Correspondent
The wedding was supposed to have
been at their church.
But when Lynn and Tim Birdsong
found out they could be married at the
newly-renovated University chapel,
they changed their plans.
Sylvia Whiteside, mother of the
bride, said the Birdsongs’ wedding was
one of the first ones held in the cnapel
since it was renovated.
“We have real ties to the campus nnd
the University,” Whiteside said. Both
she and her husband are employed at
the University, and the Birdsongs are
alumni.
The family was thrilled to use the
chapel because of their love for the
campus, particularly the older build
ings on North Campus, Whiteside said.
“It’s iust a beautiful old building,"
she said of the chapel.
Patti Gibson and Rob Hoyt also plan
to get married in the chapel in De
cember. They met at the University —
where they both work — and decided to
use the chapel after they heard of the
Birdsongs’ wedding.
There wns a lot of sentimental value
with the University," Gibson said.
Patti and Rob had no connection with
any local church, and they thought the
chapel was the logical choice, she said.
Religious Affairs Coordinator David
Fletcher said many people contact his
office wanting the chapel or looking for
someone to perform marriages. They
often have no minister or religious affil
iation.
The Office of Religious AfTairs pro
vides students and faculty a link to the
University’s Campus Ministry Associa
tion, Fletcher said. The CM A is com
posed of ministers and directors of
several campus religious organizations.
These organizations aren’t affiliated
with the University, but through the
CMA they maintain a contact with the
Office of Student Affairs, he said.
Fletcher acts as a liaison between Stu
dent AfTairs and the CMA.
As part of the University, the Reli
gious Affairs office remains separate
from the religious organizations, and
Fletcher isn’t a member of the clergy,
he said.
“I’m not a rabbi,” Fletcher said. “I’m
just a good ol’ boy in Student Affairs."
Membership dues cover operating
costa for the (JMA and don’t come from
University funds, Bnid CMA President
the Rev. Bill Mathews.
The CMA is divided into various com
mittees which deni with specific issues,
Mathews said.
If the University community ever
faced a tragedy, such as the death of
students on a University-related tnp,
the CMA’s Crisis Committee would be
responsible for coordinating a memo
rial, if needed.
The CMA nlso coordinates holiday
birthday services for Martin Luther
King Jr. each year, Mathews said.
The interaction of campus organiza
tions is important, he said, so that each
member ol the CMA will know what
services and facilities nre available.
For example, he said being aware of
the Gilbert Health Center’s suicide hot
line could be vital to a minister who re
ceives a call from a desperate student.
Fletcher said the CMA tries to meet
the spiritual as well os social needs of
the students, just ns the individual
churches do.
The CMA represents a change in the
nnture of religion on campus.
When the University wns little more
than a few buildings on North Campus,
chapel attendance was a requirement
like taking Latin or chemistry.
At that time, the chapel bell tolled for
everyone.
The chapel bell tolls for different rea
sons today — in victory when the Bull
dogs win. And in celebration when
couples wed.