Newspaper Page Text
4 Tate Center gets a furniture facelift - 3
The Red & Black
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
m INSIDE
• Moon' shines with
class conflicts,
mistaken identities
• A new cowboy hits
the ‘Sticks'
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1997 ♦ ATHENS, GEORGIA « VOLUME 104, ISSUE 117
Celebration to bring
Tate down to ‘Earth’
By BETH HAGGERTY
Staff Writer
If mother nature doesn’t send April
showers today, Earthfest, an event to
heighten environmental awareness, will
take place.
Organized by Students for
Environmental Awareness, Earthfest
activities include four bands and several
speakers, who will sound off outside at the
Tate Student Center Plaza from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m.
“The point of Earthfest is not only to
raise awareness of ongoing environmental
issues, but to have fun while learning,”
said Tina Komoto, a sophomore from
Gainesville and SEA member.
SEA co-chair, senior Jim Veteto, will
start off Earth Day by speaking on rein
habiting North America as “Turtle
Island,” a name for this continent that
originated in many Native American
tribes’ creation stories.
The “fun while learning” continues with
local bands Doctor kPants,
Underwaterfall, Dayroom and
THEinsectCALM, who will start perform-
THE LOWDOWN
Earthfest will be held today at the
Tate Student Center Plaza from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
ing at 10:30 a.m. and continue in tentative
one hour and 15 minute increments.
“Earth Day — that’s definitely some
thing everyone should care about,” said
Carl Tietze, keyboardist and vocalist for
Underwaterfall. “Plus, we love playing
outside, when it doesn’t rain.”
If rain becomes an issue, Earthfest will
be held Thursday.
Several scheduled speakers, including
members of the Eastern Cherokee Defense
League and Danna Smith of the Dogwood
Alliance, will speak on various environ
mental issues.
In between the speakers and bands,
SEA will encourage students to voice their
opinions on the environment during open-
mic times.
Many organizations and businesses,
such as Georgia Outdoor Recreation
File
Dayroom is one of four bands scheduled to perform at Earthfest.
Program, American Indian Movement,
Phoenix and the Vegetarian Society, will
set up tables around the plaza with liter
ature outlining their purpose and differ
ent environmental issues.
At one of the SEA tables, passersby
may enter the organization’s raffle by
writing one or two things they pledge to do
to help the environment. Prizes for the
raffle were donated by downtown busi
nesses and the bands who are performing.
SEA also is promoting today as
“Anything but drive to work or school
day.”
“You can walk. You can bike. Take the
bus ... just try not to drive,” Komoto said.
Vanessa Banks, a sophomore from
Augusta and SEA coordinator of
Earthfest, said she hopes Earthfest will
reach students who aren’t usually exposed
to environmental issues.
“A lot of students don’t realize that
what’s going on on the other side of the
world is affecting them too,” Banks said.
Comedy sidekick
takes center stage
By JOSH MASSEY
Staff Writer
“Late Night With Conan O’Brien” sidekick and
touring virgin Andy Richter performed to a sold-out
audience at Georgia Hall Monday night.
A newborn on the stand-up circuit, Richter just
started performing on college campuses two months ago
with his autobiographical routine, “How to be a Talk
Show Sidekick and Other Worthless Crap.”
In a pre-show interview, Richter talked about his
transition from a national talk show to one-man act.
“I’ve never had people turn out just to see me,”
Richter said. “It can be odd. I was just (at the University
of Florida) a couple of weeks ago ... and 2,200 people
turned out. It’s wonderful, but it’s almost slightly
embarrassing.”
The television show doesn’t tape on Mondays, so
Richter usually spends his free days on the road. Having
arrived in Athens early in the day, he got a first taste of
the Classic City.
“We walked around downtown a little bit,” he said. “It
seems like it would be a fun place to go to school."
Having honed his comedic ability in improvisational
theater, Richter was hired as O’Brien’s sidekick over
three years ago. The show was nearly a failure at first,
coming close to cancellation a number of times.
However, in the past couple years, the show has caught
on, particularly with the college audience.
“People have asked me, ‘How do you do a show for the
college audience?’” Richter said. “I don’t know ... we just
basically do the show we’re capable of. We concentrate
on making it funny and good.”
“I always felt we had a very funny show,” he said,
crediting the show’s recent success to his and O’Brien’s
comfort in front of the camera. “What a surprise, the
longer you do something, the better you get at it.”
During his act, Richter talked about his life, from his
boyhood in Grand Rapids, Mich., to his dual college
career at both the University of Illinois and Chicago’s
Columbia College, and finally to his rise to fame with
O’Brien.
Along the way, Richter told many career stories,
including ones about his partial creation of the still
running stage show “The Real Live Brady Bunch" and
“Late Night”
comedian
Andy Richter
entertained a
near capacity
crowd with
advice on
“How to be a
Talk Show
Sidekick”
Monday night
at Georgia
Hall. During his
a hour routine,
I Richter’s only
* sidekick was
| his own
b shadow.
a
X
&
1
about his small part in the film “Cabin Boy.”
“I’m really happy about (the new cult status of ‘Cabin
Boy’),” Richter said. “That movie was reviled by the
press when it came out.”
Also on-hand for the show was his wife of three years,
Sarah, who sat in the front row.
The audience, who had the chance to talk to the
comedian in a post-show question-and-answer session,
had a positive reaction to Richter. However, the show
failed to meet most expectations of a stand-up comedy
show.
Colin Patrick, a sophomore from Knoxville, Tenn.,
said, “The questions dragged on a little long, but it was
funny.”
“I figured it would be some sort of stand-up routine
rather than just a history of how he got to be a talk-show
sidekick,” said Dan Sebusch, a sophomore from
Lawrenceville. “But it was entertaining in its own right."
Reacting to sponsor University Union’s student
prices, Sebusch summed it up. “It was $2 well spent,
definitely,” he said.
Students
demand
return of
artifacts
By SHELLEY HILL
Staff Writer
Students for Environmental
Awareness will lead a demonstra
tion in front of Baldwin Hall at noon
today demanding that American
Indian remains and artifacts housed
in the anthropology department be
returned to American Indians imme
diately.
“It doesn’t belong to them. It
belongs to the American Indian peo
ple,” said Pam Miller, a student rep
resentative of Students for
Environmental Awareness (SEA).
As a part of the protest, demon
strators say they will participate in
a pipe ceremony with American
Indian Movement leader Aaron Two
Elk of the Lakota tribe.
Aaron Two Elk, who has raised
similar concerns at the Athens
Human Rights Festival, and mem
bers of The Eastern Cherokee
Defense League will be featured
speakers at today’s Earthfest, an
Earth Day celebration also being
hosted by SEA.
Jim Veteto, co-chairman of SEA
and an anthropology major, plans to
circulate a petition that demands
the University pay for the artifacts
to be returned to the tribe nearest
where they were excavated.
The “Native Americans Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act”
requires anthropology departments
to inventory their remains and arti
facts.
Veteto and Miller claim that the
University has been slow in meeting
this requirement.
However, anthropology depart
ment head Steve Kowalewski said
the University met the government’s
deadlines.
According to Kowalewski, the leg
islation requires anthropology
departments to make their invento
ry available to Indian groups who
could have potential claims on the
artifacts.
Kowalewski said it is now up to
Indian tribes to claim the artifacts
and decide what they want to do
with them.
“We’re holding this material for
the tribes,” he said. “If we wanted to,
we couldn’t go bury this stuff right
now."
Kowalewski said there are 800
individual remains in the anthropol
ogy department, which he said is not
massive by national standards.
Veteto, who is of American Indian
heritage, said he realized there were
discrepancies between the Indians
and anthropologists. He said this is
an ethical decision, not an objective
scientific decision.
“This is not just an Indian issue.
This is is an issue that involves all
of us,” Miller said. “They have no
sensitivity to the culture they
study.”
Officials hope drop in transfers will offset freshman class increase
Fewer than 1,500
transfers expected
By AMY FRAZIER
Staff Writer
Although the University’8 freshman
class has been growing in size for sever
al years, the number of transfer students
accepted is declining.
University officials anticipate that a
recent decrease in transfer applications
will counteract the largest freshman
class ever, which consists of about 4,100
students and arrives this fall.
The number of transfer students
dropped last year to 1,200 from a 20-year
average of about 1,700, said John
Albright, associate director of admis
sions.
He expects the number of transfer stu
dents this fall to be between 1,200 and
1,500.
Albright said there is no cap on trans
fer admissions, but the number probably
won’t reach 1,700. Transfer students are
beginning to apply for next year and can
continue to do so until July 1.
Albright said he thinks there will be a
drop in transfers because of a require
ment put in place for the first time last
fall.
Under it, transfer students are
required to have completed five specific
courses — two English classes, one intro
ductory college algebra-level math class
and two science classes.
“As it turns out, a lot of transfer stu
dents are especially deficient in math
and science classes," Albright said.
“The requirement's not for a specific
quota of transfer students. It’s more to
limit class size.”
But Jere Morehead, who is on the fac
ulty admissions committee that decided
to increase the size of the freshman class,
said he is concerned about possible
increases in overall enrollment.
‘I hope they have a limit on transfer
students, or we could have a serious
increase in enrollment,” the business
school professor said. “How do we know
the number of transfer students will
drop?"
Traditionally, DeKalb College has the
highest number of incoming transfer stu
dents. About 9 percent of transfers were
from DeKalb in 1996. DeKalb incoming
“I hope they have a limit
on transfer students, or we
could have a serious
increase in enrollment.”
- Jere Morehead, business
school professor
transfers were down in ’96 to 113 stu
dents from 172 in 1993.
But officials at the college said the
University’s increased transfer require
ments haven’t discouraged many stu
dents from applying.
Shani St. John works in DeKalb
College's Access Center, which gives stu
dents information on transferring,
careers and class scheduling.
She said in a telephone interview
Thursday that the University and
Georgia State are the most popular choic
es for transfer students.
“Students in honor societies usually
choose UGA because the requirements
are higher, and it's considered by some to
be a better school,” St. John said.
The University’s reputation as a good
school may stem from its increasing
selectivity with freshman applicants. For
several years, GPAs and SAT scores for
freshman classes have been improving.
Some high school students, unable to
get in as freshmen, opt to attend another
college and later transfer to the
University.
Tom Jackson, the University’s director
for public information, said the newest
transfer requirement ‘brings the acade
mic qualifications of incoming transfers
more in line with the native UGA stu
dent.” *