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THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1996 « ATHENS, GEORGIA « VOLUME 103, ISSUE 125
Speaker denounces racial diversity
By DAN BISCHOF
Staff Writer
A guest speaker at a Southern
League meeting last night told a
nearly exclusive white crowd of
about 50, “a multi-racial society will
not work ."
Jared Taylor, a Yale graduate
and author of books on race rela
tions, said it is foolish to believe that
race doesn’t matter.
“Far from being a source of
strength, diversity is a volatile and
dangerous source of strife,” said
Taylor, who is white. “This whole
notion of the strength of diversity is
cuckoo."
Taylor said different racial and
ethnic groups tend to associate and
live with their own kind and “it is an
entirely natural, normal and
healthy thing.”
Taylor said that as non-whites
move into predominantly white
areas, whites historically move
away.
“Our country is on a course that
will make ever larger parts essen
tially inhospitable and even unliv-
able to whites. If this continues, it
will make this country a place
where whites don’t want to live," he
said.
“If left to themselves, people will
separate along racial lines,” Taylor
said. “My point is that we should let
them separate.”
Taylor also said that skin tone
typically is an indicator of intelli
gence.
“Studies have almost invariably
shown that lighter skinned blacks
have higher IQs than darker
skinned blacks and whites have
higher IQs than either one,” he said.
Taylor answered questions for an
hour after his initial remarks.
Discussion, largely divided along
racial lines, spilled out of the room
after the meeting.
Mary Ann Mauney, the research
director for the Center for
Democratic Renewal in Atlanta who
is white, said her organization mon
itors hate groups, and Taylor “has a
stack of papers in our office this
high.”
“It’s disgusting to me a group can
have any type of speaker they
want,” she said.
Tamika Williams, a black fresh
man from Stone Mountain, said she
agreed with Taylor on many points,
but didn’t agree with his ideas on
racial separation.
“I came to the University," she
said. “I didn’t feel I should go to an
all-black school because this isn’t an
all-black world.”
Nick Mrvos, the president of the
Southern League who is white, said
he was disappointed with the
turnout.
“Nobody’s willing to talk about
racial problems,” he said. “Whether
you agreed with him tonight or not,
you can see he has a point."
MARK ADAMS The Red end Black
John Hightower said he agreed with Taylor's ideas. “I thought the whole point
that he tried to make is that we tend to the groups we feel comfortable with.
If you happen to be a non-minority in our society, it's not OK to express a
desire to be with that group. It’s a kind of reverse discrimination,” he said.
Dancers meet composers in tonight’s CORE concert
DANCE & MUSIC PREVIEW
By KIMBERLY OGLETREE
Staff Writer
East meets West tonight when the
University’s dance and composition pro
grams join forces for a night of experi
mental art in the Roger and Phyllis
Dancz Center for New Music in the
School of Music.
“This performance marks many firsts
for us,” said Lewis Nielson, professor of
music at the University. “This is our
first completely joint effort, and it’s also
the first chance we’ve had to explore the
black box theater space.”
Called “Contact,” the program con
sists of eight works performed by mem
bers of the CORE Concert Dance
Company, along with premiere composi
tions designed to test the boundaries of
what is considered music.
“The performance is in an intimate
setting, providing the viewer with an
up-close look at the intense output of
energy by the dancers," said Bala
Sarasvati, artistic director of CORE
“The dancers are so close that they may
even touch audience members at some
point."
Among the more innovative selections
is “Central Processing," a collaborative
effort between choreographer Sarasvati
and composer Robert McDonald.
Using a poem by Joel Graham as his
foundation, McDonald recorded the
dancers as they recited the poem and
then used the voices to create a purely
electronic piece that runs on a
Macintosh computer.
“Since the dancers’ voices generate
the sound of the composition, they
become the musicians of the piece,” said
McDonald, an Athens graduate student
in the music school.
The piece also includes a bathtub set
in the middle of the floor that acts as a
catalyst for the performance. As a
dancer emerges from the water, the
symbolic act of bathing is conveyed
through the dancers’ flowing movements
MARK ADAMS 'The Red and Black
Ashley Sowell of CORE rehearses an improvisational dance number Wednesday night. The dancers are
accompanied by improvisational music performed by the School of Music composition area.
and the tight, electronic music.
Other pioneer advancements in the
program include Leonard Ball’s composi
tion that uses only two sounds to create
the score, and the “CORE Colors" piece
that places musicians in the catwalk to
create a balance between the live music
and the visual movement.
“We’ve worked with the Georgia
Museum of Art and other programs in
the past, so it’s inevitable that we would
collaborate with the composition depart
ment,” Sarasvati said. “I hope this is the
first of many such collaborations."
THE LOWDOWN
“Contact” premieres tonight in the Dancz
Center for New Music in the School of
Music at 8, with performances Friday
and Saturday at 4:30 and 8 p.m. Tickets
are $4,$7 non-student.
Playing a
champion
Former Georgia star Mike
Sell returns a shot in his
6-3, 6-4 loss to top-seeded
Michael Chang Tuesday in
Atlanta’s AT&T Challenge.
A partisan crowd of 7,072
cheered Sell in the defeat.
’It was a dream come
true,’ Sell said of playing
the 1989 French Open
champion and No. 4 player
in the world.
Three students to serve
both SGA, University Council
‘There should be more links and
ties between University Council
and SGA,’ says a council member
and senator.
By ANDREW HEALAN
Staff Writer
Three University students will have
a significant impact in two University
political arenas by being elected as both
Student Government Association sena
tors and University Council student
representatives.
Doug Black. Ross Burris and Missy
Rivers are SGA senators this year, and
will start serving on both organizations
this quarter.
Tom Cochran, SGA adviser, said this
will not be the first time this has hap
pened, but it is more noticeable because
senators are elected by schools and col
leges now.
Slyvia Pannell, chairwoman of the
University Council’s executive commit
tee, said this would help improve the
working relationship between the orga
nizations.
“It makes for some efficiency in com
munications between the two groups,"
she said.
Burris, who will represent the
College of Arts and Sciences, said being
in both organizations will help him
strengthen the students' voice.
“University Council sends ideas
through SGA, and SGA sends things to
University Council," he said. “I think
this will make the process easier. There
should be more links and ties between
University Council and SGA.”
Black, who will represent the School
of Business, said he thinks students are
not adequately represented on the
Council.
“There should be some sort of trans
fer of power from University Council to
SGA," he said.
“They’re comparable organizations.
University Council needs to know what
SGA is doing, and SGA needs to know
what University Council is doing.”
Bart Newman, SGA president-elect,
said he is excited about three of his sen
ators serving on University Council.
“They’ll be a useful liaison between
SGA and University Council," he said.
“They’ll let us keep a direct voice with
some of the voting procedures."
Witnesses
defend
accused
professor
Testimony contradicts
earlier accusations
By CRYSTAL J. PAULK
and GEORGE WHITEHURST
Staff Writers
The defense for a music profes
sor accused of sexual harassment
called two witnesses during his
tenure revocation hearing
Wednesday to refute charges from
six women.
Testimony from a defense wit
ness contradicted Tuesday’s testi
mony from Jennifer Wilkin, Amy
Ellington and Lynn Webster
Bennett that Alexander Ross
appeared before each of them
naked in his apartment on three
separate occasions.
When Ross’ attorney, David
Sweat, questioned the women on
whether they had seen any “dis
tinguishable characteristics" on
Ross’ body, each of them said no.
However, Laura Kobayashi, a
former girlfriend, testified Ross
has a surgical
scar running
from below his
navel to his ster
num.
“It was very
obvious, very
clear,” she said.
Kobayashi
testified she met
Ross in 1985 at
Yale where Ross
was earning his
master’s degree.
They were inti
mate at Yale,
and again when she taught classes
at the University in winter 1989.
She said she never observed
any inappropriate behavior
between Ross and his female stu
dents.
Kobayashi said during her time
at the University, she met some of
Ross’ accusers, including Heather
Winship.
Winship testified Tuesday that
she left the University because of
Ross’ advances. Kobayashi
described Winship as insecure and
unhappy in her environment, but
said Winship’s relationship with
Ross was positive.
“She seemed to have a lot of
respect for him, but had a lot of
doubts about what her life held,"
Kobayashi said.
Kobayashi returned to the
University as a visiting teacher
while Ross was on sabbatical dur
ing the ’91-’92 school year. During
that year, she said she had more
extensive contact with Ellington
and Wilkin, and also met Amyra
Shaheed.
Shaheed, a senior from
Alpharetta, testified Tuesday that
Ross gave her a B instead of an A
after she decided to switch violin
instructors. She said her decision
was partially based on comments
Ross made about her legs.
Kobayashi said Shaheed “spoke
very highly” of Ross.
Kobayashi also testified there
was animosity toward Ross by
Tom Joiner and some of Joiner’s
students.
Joiner, a former University pro
fessor of music and head of the
string department, has been
described by the defense as jealous
of Ross’ accomplishments in the
violin program. Among Joiner's
students were Ellington and
Wilkin.
“They felt (Ross) was not very
supportive and that he picked on
them in sections and coachings,"
Kobayashi said. “They felt he was
not very kind to them."
David Starkweather, associate
professor of music and current
chair of the strings department,
confirmed Kobayashi’s testimony.
“Students, when they are aware
of such things, are inclined to take
sides,” he said.
Starkweather said he thinks
there was “some organized effort
afoot to cause [the hearing] to hap
pen. I felt (Kristin) Lindberg
seemed to have entered this thing
and urged the other girls to partic
ipate."
Lindberg is one of the accusers
who testified Tuesday.
The final defense witness was
Ross himself.
Please see ROSS, page 5
File
Alexander
Ross