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An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
FRIDAY. MARCH 13. 1992 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 99, ISSUE 101
INSIDE
Gymnast Chris Rodis
bids farewell after
competing in her last
meet.
Weather: Today: Partly sunny
and cool. Tomorrow: May
never come.
University spending $8,500
to save tree in Knapp’s yard
Critics: Saving tree too expensive
By MICHAEL A. OIARRUSSO
Staff Writer
Several staff members said it is extravagant
to spend almost as much as some University
employees make in a year to repair a pecan tree
in President Charles Knapp’s backyard.
It is definitely a little too much," said John
elv a
Williamson, building supervisor at Physical
Rant.
Ed Stover, local representative of the Georgia
State Employees Union, said many staff mem
bers are struggling to survive with yearly
salaries that are just a little more than the
$8,500 spent to save the tree.
“We are trying 1
ilies," Stover said.
Stover said one University employee who
works with him makes $4.69 an hour. Working
40 hours a week, that employee would only earn
$9,755.20 a year.
Stover said he wonders about the
University’s priorities.
“If saving a tree is much more important than
the students, we have our priorities wrong," he
said. “No money can be found for instructors, but
they can find money to save trees."
Spending so much money to repair the tree is
especially difficult to swallow during a budget
crisis that has hit the Physical Plant particular
ly hard, Williamson said.
Knapp and other University administrators
have defended saving the tree, saying it is
important for events held in the President’s
backyard. Knapp said saving the tree could not
be put off until next year like other expenses.
By MICHAEL A. OIARRUSSO
Staff Writer
The University is spending $8,500 to save a
pecan tree in President Charles Knapp’s back
yard, despite fears it might be perceived as an
unnecessary expense.
“I am reluctant to spend money on an issue like
this during a budget crisis,” Knapp said, but
defended the expense, saying fixing the tree is
unlike other maintenance expenses because it
could not be postponed.
“If the tree dies, you can’t go back and fix it,"
Knapp said.
Work on the tree started Monday, but was
postponed when it was discovered the tree would
require more bracing than was originally planned.
The Physical Rant is considering cutting the tree
down and planting a small one in its place, Tom
Jackson, director of Public Information, said.
The $8,500 price tag for the work was to be
paid for out of tne Physical Rant budget, Physical
Rant Director James Ten Brook said, adding that
it was a difficult decision to save the tree or to cut
it down.
This was a close call,” Ten Brook said. There
were some recommendations to cut the tree down
and there were recommendations to attempt to
save it.” He estimated cutting the tree down would
cost between $400 and $500. “I thought we should
attempt to save the tree,” he said.
Knapp said he approved of Ten Brook’s deci
sion, but he worried about perceptions of it.
“I made the decision ana HI take responsibili
ty for it,” Knapp said, pointing out that he doesn’t
own the house, located on 570 Prince Ave., but
lives in it as a privilege of his position.
Jackson said the tree repair was presented to
the Board of Regents because of fears that it would
appear Knapp had a conflict of interest. A Board
of Regents member approved the project, he said.
Four other maintenance projects at the
President’s House - such as repainting shutters -
were delayed to fund saving the tree, Jackson
said.
Knapp said Scott Weinberg, an associate pro
fessor in the school of environmental design, rec
ommended saving the tree.
“I personally was asked my opinion as a land
scape architect,” WeinbeTg said, adding that he
was told how much the work would cost, but didn’t
make his recommendation on a financial basis.
“I am looking more at preservation and the aes
thetics of the sight,” Weinberg said.
There are two sister trees there," he said. “If
you took one down, you would almost have to take
the other tree down.”
Knapp and Weinberg both said the trees were
the most important visual aspects to the yard.
“My recommendation was to save the tree and
then do underplanting,” Weinberg said.
Underplanting is the process of extending the
bed of the tree and planting young trees in the
extended part of the bed. The young trees would
help maintain the integrity of the site, Weinberg
said.
He said he has been to the site only once, but
estimated the tree is a minimum of 60 years old
and 70 feet tall.
Those type of trees are hard to come by and
worth saving at any price,” Weinberg said.
Ten Brook said representatives of Davey Tree
Co., who’ve saved several trees around the capital
building in Atlanta, told him the tree’s life could
be extended up to 15 years.
Hobart Maiw/Tha Rad and Black
Trunk-a trunk-a burning love: Plans for repair to the pecan
tree were proposed to the Board of Regents.
R&B appeals ruling
of open records case
By ROSALYN THOMPSON
Staff Writer
The Red and Black continued its fight for access to the Organization
Court of the Student Judiciary Thursday by appealing a lower court rul
ing on its case to the Georgia Supreme Court.
TTiat ruling, handed down last month by Fulton Superior Court
Judge Frank Hull, opened Organization Court records to the public but
denied the public access to the hearings.
Anthony DiResta, the newspaper’s attorney, said the judge didn’t
address the newspaper’s argument that the First Amendment gave the
public an additional right of access.
*TTie judge didn’t discuss the First Amendment at all,” DiResta said.
“It is our position that we have the right of access to quasi-judicial pro
ceedings under the First Amendment.”
Hull ruled, The meetings of the Student Organization Court are not
meetings of a governing body or committee created by a governing body,
and thus are not covered by Georgia’s Open Records Act.”
TTie suit, filed last May against the University System Board of
Regents, University President Charles Knapp and Judicial Programs
Director Bill Brace well, challenged two closings of the Organization
Court to reporters of The Red ana Black as violations of the state Open
Meetings and Open Records acts. 'Die two hearings involved hazing
complaints against Omega Psi Phi and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternities.
Hazing is a violation of state law and University student conduct codes.
Bracewell and Knapp couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday
evening.
University officials contend the federal Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), commonly called the Buckley
Amendment, bars them from granting public access to the records and
hearings.
1110 Buckley Amendment requires schools to give students access to
their academic records, which include grades and transcripts. The law
provides sanctions, namely the loss of federal funds, for schools that
indiscriminately release these student education records to the public
without the students’ permission.
“If this Court orders the public records to be released (as this Court
is required to do under Georgia’s Open Records Act)," Hull ruled, “then
the Buckley Amendment expressly provides that loss of federal funding
is not triggered.”
Dogs trounce
Rebels 85-66
By DOUG ROBERSON
Staff Writer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Georgia Head Coach
Hugh Durham’8 week-long sermon that Georgia
must play blue collar basketball if they want to
win finally got through to his players as the
Bulldogs thrashed the Ole Miss Rebels 85-66
here Thursday night in the first round of the
SEC tournament.
Ole Miss Head Coach Ed Murphy, who is 76-
98 with the Rebels, resigned after the loss.
“We felt defense was going to be the key for
us,” Durham said. “I think it did a good job for
us. We had to to have that kind of effort to win.”
Georgia (15-13, 8-9 SEC) heeded Durham’s
words as they held the Rebels (11-17, 4-13 SEC)
to 25 points in the first half. TTieir 66 points was
15 below their season average.
Ole Miss top gun Joe Harvell, the SEC’s lead
ing scorer, was held to only 16 points, nine below
his average.
The Bulldogs harassed the Rebels, the con
ference’s worst shooting team, into shooting just
42 percent from the field. Ole Miss also commit
ted 19 turnovers, three above their average.
Georgia took advantage of the Rebels’ mis
takes as it scored 23 points off the turnovers.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, only com
mitted 11 turnovers, five below their season
average.
“We are a blue collar team,” Georgia senior
Litterial Green said. “We’re not going to finesse
anybody. We went out and did what we had to
do."
Georgia’s Reggie Tinch was named the
game’s MVP as he made 15 points, five rebounds
and three assists.
Shaun Golden benefited the most from
Georgia’s effective press as he continued his
Kendall Rhine
recent string of good play hitting five-for-five
from the field and making one assist and two
steals.
Georgia went on a 14-6 run in the second
half, fueled by four Rebel turnovers to take a 51-
33 lead and put the game out of reach with 10
minutes left to play.
Both teams got out of the gate slowly in the
first half as Georgia could only manage a 10-6
lead after five minutes of play. But the Bulldog
press slowly took its toll on the Rebels.
In a seven-minute stand, the Rebels turned
the ball over five times as Georgia increased a
four-point lead into a 12-point lead with just
over a minute left in the first half.
Georgia plays sixth-ranked Arkansas (24-6,
13-3 SEC) at 3:15 p.m. today.
Professors: Evaluations are taken seriously
D«|iftwnt conducts
out Information.
Soloctod studont brings forms In a
snvolopo to tho department
comments tho following quarter.
Information and student
Forms
Where do teacher evaluations go?
distributed
By CATHLEEN EQAN
Staff Writer
University students this week have
taken a few minutes out of their class
time to give professors a piece of their
minds.
While professors view teacher evalu
ations as a valuable critiquing tool,
many students said they are skeptical of
the process.
‘I like the opportunity to
have a chance to say how
I feel without having to
walk up to the teacher.’
- Martin Mathis
Enigma, Ga. t sophomore
Journalism Professor Conrad Fink,
like other professors asked, said he sees
the quarterly critiques as vital input
toward his performance.
“Teachers are
always seeking feed
back," he said. “It’s one
thing to watch body
movement and facial
expressions in class,
but this gives my stu
dents the opportunity
to write quite exten
sive essays about my
performance.”
Ronald Simpson,
director of
Instructional Develop
ment, said the student
criticisms serve a vari
ety of purposes.
They give useful feedback to the
teachers; they improve the teachings
and help the department make person
nel decisions like who gets raises and
promotions," Simpson said.
Michael Padilla, head of the science
department, said he schedules personal
conferences with his professors and
reviews the ratings and comments the
class has given them.
The evaluations are typed out to
hide the student’s manu-script and
then we try to understand what the
students are saying," Padilla said.
“Hypothetically speaking, if a teacher
receives consecutive poor ratings, then
I would talk with the professor, inter
view students who had that teacher,
and then try to solve the problem."
Students asked, however, said they
think filling out the evaluations is a
waste of time.
Martin Mathis, a sophomore from
Enigma, Ga., said he thinks the policy
is a good idea, but he doubts what he
writes on the evaluations is taken seri
ously by administrators.
“I like the opportunity to have a
chance to say how I feel without having
to walk up to the teacher," he said. “But
personally, I think it’s a
waste of time, because
they’re going to teach
how they want to and
students get tired of fill
ing them out because
they think the teachers
don’t pay any attention."
Renee Cannon, a
sophomore from
Savannah, agrees.
“(The departments)
do this to satisfy the stu
dents because they can
then say, ‘See, we gave
the students an opportu
nity to speak out about how they feel,’
" she said. “But I don’t see any improve
ment because I don’t think the depart
ment goes over them very well."
Another sophomore, Kelley Gary,
from Lawrenceville, said he agrees the
evaluations aren’t analyzed well, but
that they do have a minor asset.
“The best section is the comment sec
tion because it’s hard to evaluate how
good a class or professor is by rating
them on a scale of A-F," he said.
“(However), I think that they can be
effective if the students are honest
because it could give good feedback.”
Proposed revisions
to tenure, promotion
guidelines criticized
By MICHAEL A. GIARRUSSO
and LORI WIECHMAN
Staff Writers
Faculty and administrators indicated they
are not satisfied with the proposed revisions to
promotion and tenure guidelines in a
marathon session of the University Council
Thursday.
For two and a half years, the Faculty
Affairs Committee of the council has been try
ing to change the rules for promoting profes
sors and obtaining tenure.
Kim Coder, chair of the Faculty Affairs
Committee, made a plea for faculty input at
the opening of the meeting and he got what he
asked for.
“It’s (faculty response) been great,” Coder
said after the meeting. “This is the type of
input we need.”
During the meeting, dozens of council mem
bers suggested how the guidelines could be
changed. School of Law Dean Ronald Ellington
presented four proposed changes and said he
was pleased with the proposals reception.
“I think there is every reason to suspect
that the thrust of the points will be incorpo
rated in the final draft," Ellington said.
The council voted to move back the deadline
for accepting a final draft of the revisions from
April 1 to May 1, despite complaints that 9ome
departments begin their promotion process
before May 1.
After debate on dozens of proposed revi
sions, the council decided to adjourn since
more than half of its members had left the
meeting.
Literature Professor Betty Jean Craig
called for a special meeting of the Council
March 19 to further discuss the changes. The
remaining council members approved the
motion.
In President Charles Knapp’s opening
remarks, he called the advertisement in the
March 9 edition of The Red and Black chal
lenging accepted Holocaust history a pack of
lies.
“It has caused great pain to Jewish mem
bers of the University community," Knapp
said. “The bottom line I’d give you on this is
(that) I would have made the call differently."
Knapp also expressed confidence in Gov.
Zell Miller’s Georgia Rebound program.
Miller’s program proposes funding for con
struction of University projects and a 3 per
cent pay raise for University employees.
“I feel pretty good about where we are,"
Knapp said. “Fate has come down to a short
fall in the appropriation of fees and revenue
estimates versus the pay increase."
Knapp asked council members to lobby for
the University with members of the General
Assembly.
“If you have any personal relationships
with members of the House and Senate, don’t
hesitate to call them,” he said.
Council Chair Peter Dress told the council
the change to the semester system was pro
gressing, with the only opposition coming from
Georgia Tech. He also said the proposed plus-
minus grading system was still on hold.