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FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1992 » ATHENS, GEORGIA » VOLUME 99, ISSUE 117
Tenure process called unfair to minorities
Report: 13 in 550 exec positions at University held by minorities
By STEPHANIE R. BAKER
Staff Writer
African-American professors at the University are
more likely to be denied tenure than their white coun
terparts, said Beverly Lindsay, associate dean for
Academic Affairs.
“Without exception, all African-Americans have been
denied at some stage of the tenure process and a recon
sideration and/or an appeal has been done,” Lindsay
said. “For some, those have been reversed. I do not know
that that is the case for all European-American tenure
candidates.”
According to the 1991 Equal Employment
Opportunity Report, only 13 of the 550 administrative
or executive positions at the University were filled by
minorities. Minorities held 51 of the 1,564 faculty posi
tions, the report continued.
“There are no black deans at the University," said
Leslie Bates, director of Minority Services and
Programs. “We have to throw out traditional means of
selecting deans and department heads. The tenure pro
cess needs to be reviewed.
“African-Americans are very often involved in teach
ing at the expense of research, so that kind of gets in the
way of the tenure qualifications,” he said.
Maurice Daniels echoed remarks he made at
Saturday’s Black Faculty and Staff Organization forum,
saying that there should be greater progress in the area
of minority promotion.
“In fairness, the pool of potential blacks that could go
into the administration is not as large as one would have
it be, because blacks have been denied for so long. But
I believe that there is no reason why there shouldn’t be
a larger representation,” said Daniels, assistant dean of
the Graduate School.
Daniels said although he feels progress has been
made under President Charles Knapp’s Minority Hiring
Initiative, real change will be hard to gauge until
departments are called upon to budget their own funds
to pay minorities. Under the initiative, salaries of new
minority faculty are paid out of a separate budget.
Daniels said the new set of promotion guidelines pro
posed recently by the University Council do not ade
quately address the issue of subjectivity.
William Prokasy, vice president for Academic Affairs,
said most of the changes being proposed are procedural
in nature. The changes, which he specified as eliminat
ing ambiguous language within the guidelines, will
make the process more manageable.
“As I have gone over the process for the last five
years, the proportion of black faculty members approved
for tenure is approximately the same as that for whites,"
Prokasy said. “The data I have would not support the
contention that there are inequities.”
Letha See, associate professor in the School of Social
Work, has begun work on a book, “Terrorism in
Academia: Black Professors Under Seige,” which she
said addresses the “re-whitening” of America’s colleges.
“This seems to be a national phenomenon - that
black professors encounter unusual difficulty in the area
of tenure and promotions in predominantly white uni
versities,” See said.
Kristi West, a sophomore from Fayette County, pets one of five kittens found in a brick vent outside
the Military Building Thursday. Physical Plant worker Allen Durley (kneeling) said he and his partner
were laying straw when the mother cat got scared and ran away. They looked in the vent and found
the kittens meowing like mad.
Commission considering
mandatory recycling for city
Recycling works
By DAVID TWIDDY
Staff Writer
Recycling programs, like the
one now being considered by the
Athens-Clarke County Commis
sion, are cleaning up towns around
the state and nation.
Tifton’s program, for instance,
has reduced trash intake by 21.5
tons a week in less than four
months, said Laura Turner, direc
tor of Tift County Clean
Community.
The program started in
in other towns
January and supplies each of the
town’s 4,000 households with an
18-gallon bin to store recycled
materials for later pickup, she
said.
To encourage recycling, citizens
are charged for each 32-gallon can
of trash generated.
The program is enforced by
marking each of a household’s
garbage cans with a city decal.
“Trash crews don’t empty non-
conforming garbage cans,” she
said.
Please see CITIES, page 2
By KEITH ST1REWALT
Staff Writer
Athens Clarke-County commis
sioners are considering several alter
natives, including a mandatory recy
cling program, to decrease the
amount of solid waste being dumped
in the county landfill.
“There is no legislation (for
mandatory recycling) under way,”
9th District Commissioner Tom
Chasteen said. “However, the issue
is not on a back burner.”
Chasteen said the commission
hasn’t ironed out the details of a
mandatory program.
“Basically we are looking at
Macon, Tifton, other college towns
and Seattle, Washington, to draw
from past experience,” Chasteen
said. Macon, Tifton and Seattle all
have implemented successful recy
cling programs.
One possible method of enforcing
a mandatory system is to charge res
idents by the weight of their trash.
This would be done by installing
sophisticated computerized weigh
ing machines on garbage trucks.
Chasteen said a certain amount
of trash would be acceptable, and
anything above that level would be
charged to the household by the
pound. The actual amount of the
charge hasn’t been decided.
Dothel Edwards, manager of the
county 9olid waste department, 3aid
he doesn’t think a mandatory recy
cling system will come to Athens.
“Nobody’s going to mandatory
anything here - marketing is the
problem in Athens,” Edwards said.
“We are at a crossroads and we need
to expand, but we don’t have the
funds or the equipment to imple
ment such a mandatory system.”
Athens doesn’t have a recycling
facility to deal with all the materials
brought in by citizens, he said.
“It would cost about $2 million to
put in a recycling facility," said
Edwards. “Then you have to ask if
that is feasible when you only tAke in
$70,000 to $80,000 from recycling
per year.”
Another obstacle facing the
mandatory recycling program is a
lack of funds.
Before Athens and Clarke County
were unified, city taxpayers voted to
allocate tax money from the city bud
get to have recyclable materials
picked up through curbside service,
Edwards said.
“We had just enough money in
the city budget,” he said. There is no
money in this year’s budget to
expand (the service) to the rest of the
Please see TRASH, page 2
Literacy teleconference stresses interaction
By JENNIFER PETERSON
Staff Wnter
Interaction was the theme and the modus operandi at a teleconfer
ence Thursday between faculty from the University, Columbus College
and Clark Atlanta University.
Sherrie Gibney, a researcher at Fowler Drive Elementary School who
participated in the teleconference, said teacher development must
include interaction between researchers and practitioners.
“We want to narrow the gap between theory and practice,” she said.
“We’d like to see it flip and have practice actually drive theory. TTie class
room teachers are the most direct agents of change.”
The panelists discussed the National Reading Research Center, a $7.7
million grant awarded to the University and the University of Maryland
in February.
The conference, titled “National Reading Research Center: The
Agenda and an Invitation for Discussion," focused on how the research
center can improve reading methods in public schools.
“We’ll send a tape of the conference to the U.S. Department of
Education, so we’re noping it’ll be a good tape,” said Donna Alverman,
the center’s co-director. Nine panelists were involved in the conference -
seven in Athens, one in Atlanta and one in Columbus.
Each of the seven University panelists discussed a specific area of
interest to the center.
“Our projects will be aimed at different constituencies, not just
researchers talking to researchers,” said Alverman, a professor of read
ing education.
Teachers, parents and students will be included in the projects, along
with the researchers, she said.
“We want to know what will work for children in real classroom sit
uations,” she said.
A poll of more than 400 teachers taken prior to writing the proposal
showed that they were most concerned with motivation, Alverman said.
“TTiey want to know how to motivate students to read in all situations
- in school, leisure and getting through this complicated world we live
in,” she said.
Distributing the information gathered during the five-year grant will
be an important part of the process, said reaaing education professor
David Reinking.
“We need to communicate clearly,” he said. “As one of my mentors
said, ‘Say it in a way your grandmother could understand.’ ”
Alverman encouraged the audiences in Athens, Atlanta and
Columbus to offer research ideas other than those outlined for the first
two years.
Intramural fields a prescription for relaxation
“I like to bring her out here because they’ve
got great trails,” Hardesty said.
Russell said dogs are welcome at the fields,
but must be kept on a leash and are not
allowed in the lake or on the playing fields.
Power said she and her friends also enjoy
flying kites and feeding baby fish from the
dock.
Most students like traditional activities
such as frisbee and softball, but some use the
fields as a place to relax after a long day.
Becky Sanders, a music education major
from Jonesboro, said she likes to picnic by the
lake and talk with friends to get away from the
R ressure of the classroom. Although she hasn’t
ad time to visit the fields yet this quarter,
Sanders said she plans an activity soon.
“It’s nice out there,” she said. “We’ll be going
soon."
Russell said Lake Herrick Beach, which will
open May 1, is a good place to spend a warm
afternoon. Lake Herrick is stocked, and stu
dents can fish there with a regular fishing
license, she said.
She said it’s difficult to estimate how many
actually use the facilities, but that they are
very successful.
“If you go out to the fields on any given day,
you’ll always find people," Russell said. “We
probably get 50,000 visits a year."
Power said that while she enjoys sports and
activities, the fields also offer a quiet place to
reflect on life.
“Whenever I have a problem, I like to sit on
the dock and think," she said. “It really helps
to get things in perspective."
By REBECCA BOONE
Contributing Writer
-r—■ I 'rm vinj UI«UI
Having a ball: Mark Woodring (r) and
Gordon Burnett at the intramural fields.
As the days get longer and warmer and stu
dents find their minds drifting from study to
leisure, the University intramural fields are
packed with people doing everything from soft-
ball to cycling, from catching rays to walking
the dog.
Tracy Power, a social work major from
LaGrange, said she enjoys biking on the trails
and playing frisbee with friends.
“We like to play with a glow-in-the-dark
frisbee at night,” Power said. “It’s a great
stress reliever ”
Jane Russell, head of recreational sports,
said the department organizes softball, volley
ball and tennis in the spring for male, female,
co-ed and faculty/staff teams at the intramural
fields, which are located off College Station
Road.
She said the most popular sport is softball,
with about 260 teams, but students seem to
ei\joy all sports.
“Were generally successful in all our pro
grams,” she said.
Russell said groups can also reserve fields
for special events and that this practice cuts
down on overcrowding.
“Because we do reservations," she said, “the
problem almost monitors itself.”
While the recreational sports department
offers organized team sports, many students
are drawn to the fields for other reasons. Traci
Hardesty, a zoology major from Conyers, said
the fields are a nice place to walk her dog
Gizmo.
Lynn A. StiMvan/! ho Roa and Black
Trade Ravita (I) and Michelle Holley at Cafe Villa
Java lovers know where
to go for coffee fixes
By BEVERLY COX
Campus Correspondent
A human being can’t survive
more than a week without water -
making it the world’s choicest
drink.
Not so in Athens.
“Coffee is the nectar of the gods.
It’s ambrosia,” said Steve Novak, a
senior from Athens.
It is the jump-start of the day
and the late-night study companion
of choice for many. Drinking coffee
is as much a social ritual in college
as drinking alcohol, and luckily for
the college population, there are
many places in the Classic City to
sip your selected brew.
“My favorite place to drink coffee
is probably the Grill," said Novak.
“Its open 24 hours a day and the
coffee is better than the Waffle
House."
Depending on whether you’re
looking for a place to while away an
afternoon or if it’s crunch time with
your studies, there are a variety of
atmospheres to suit your needs.
“Coffee is an underrated drug,”
said Jason Jenkins, a junior from
Atlanta. “My favorite place to go is
Cafe Villa because 1 can sit around
and socialize and drink coffee with
other addicts. ITiere is something
therapeutic about sitting and drink
ing a cup of coffee while collecting
your thoughts.”
Others echoed his sentiments.
“Cafe Villa is like coming home,"
said Liz Hale, a freshman from
Hilton Head, S.C. "I know the peo
ple who work there, they play cool
music, and my friends are always
here to hang out with."
“Cafe Villa is convenient," said
Nick Holt, a senior from Athens. “I
like to pick one place to frequent. It
gives me a good sense of communi
ty and I can study there."
Many students have probably
ut in a few hours cramming for a
nal at the Waffle House, where
coffee is served up black and potent,
or the International House of
Pancakes, home of the never-ending
pot.
“When there are midterms and
finals and such, there are a lot of
studiers in here,” said Veda
Garabed, a waitress at the Five
Points Waffle House. “A lot of them
will come in and eat and then drink
coffee for hours. It’s definitely our
most popular drink."
If you have discriminating taste
buds, you may want to try
Schlotsky’s, which offers a full cof
fee bar, or the soon-to-open Athens
Coffee House, whose owners plan to
offer a variety of gourmet coffees
daily.