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The Red & Black | Wednesday, January 26, 2005 | 3
Faculty forum considers abolishing The Key
By SARA PAUFF
spauff@randb.com
While overly-large classes lay at
the root of student apathy, many
faculty members said they thought
The Key and lack of writing assign
ments didn’t encourage students to
challenge themselves enough.
Faculty members discussed the
University’s culture of learning at a
forum hosted by General Education
Task Force members Jere Morehead,
vice president for Academic Affairs
and Del Dunn, vice president for
Instruction.
Morehead asked the group
whether faculty should continue to
support The Key. Some faculty
thought the system, which publishes
the percentage of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s and
F’s each professor gives, encouraged
shopping based on grades and easier
classes.
“It rewards mediocrity” said Pete
Brosius, an associate professor of
anthropology. “It rewards those who
teach courses that are not very
demanding.”
Brosius also said he had problems
with the University’s current practice
of end-of-course evaluations.
“I do have a problem with fresh
men right out of high school passing
judgment on my teaching ability”
Brosius said. He said he would rather
be evaluated by upperclassmen or fel
low faculty members.
While many faculty agreed more
intensive writing was needed across
all disciplines, many said large lecture
classes made grading 300 essays
almost impossible.
Nancy Felson, a classics professor,
said it was difficult to delegate essay
grading in large classes and that there
was pressure from graduate students
to give fewer essays to undergradu
ates because of the time it takes to
grade them.
Others said the blame lay
with undergraduates.
“A lot of students would rather just
have multiple choice tests,” said
Richard Neupert, a film studies pro
fessor. Neupert said his department
teaches its graduate students how to
grade an essay.
Many faculty also were concerned
about grade inflation and the effect
imposing grade quotas would have on
students. Many were concerned
grade quotas would put too much
emphasis on competition in classes
and not enough on learning.
“It really encourages competition
in classes. It doesn’t encourage col
laborative learning,” said Pat Miller,
director of the women’s studies
department.
Neupert said going to a plus/minus
system could create financial issues
for students who are on the HOPE
Scholarship. If a B- was worth less
than a 3.0, students with too many
borderline grades could lose the
scholarship.
“Students would go crazy”
Neupert said.
He said he thought the adminis
tration encouraged grade inflation.
“I think we’re really encouraged to
give high grades,” Neupert said. “The
administration is telling us to give all
A’s because you’ve got to pack the
seats and then you’ve got grade infla
tion.”
One professor said she was shocked
about a publicized “party culture.”
Roxanne Eberle, an associate
English professor, said the students
she teaches are serious about their
studies and the reading — “which
they complain about — but with
some amount of pride,” she said.
“They feel responsible for the class.”
The Student Forum on Student
Learning is Feb. 2 at 3:30 p.m. in
Room 213 of the Student Learning
Center.
SCOTT TRUBEY | The Red & Black
A Delmer D. Dunn, right, the
University’s vice president for
Instruction, and Jere
Morehead, senior vice provost
for Academic Affairs, chair the
Faculty Forum on Student
Learning at the Student
Learning Center Tuesday.
Faculty members discussed
ways to improve the
University’s “academic cul
ture” including the elimination
of The Key, the online grade
report.
JUDGE: Bootle
lived M life
>- From Page 1
“He was a pivotal and decisive
figure in Southern desegregation and
a courageous jurist,” Dyer said.
Among Bootle’s other decisions
were ordering the Bibb Transit Co.
to integrate seating on its buses and
ordering several Middle Georgia
counties to restore the names of
blacks who were removed from voter
rolls.
His most bitter battle was the
campaign to desegregate Bibb
County schools, which took seven
years. The struggle began in 1963,
when a lawsuit was filed in U.S.
District Court on behalf of 44 black
children.
The following year, Bootle issued
an order directing the school board
to make a “prompt and reasonable
start” toward eliminating separate
school systems. But it would be 1970
before the schools were finally
desegregated.
Bootle also presided over the trial
of Preston King, an Albany man who
refused to obey his draft notice
because the board stopped calling
him “sir” and “Mr. King” when it saw
he was black.
Bootle sentenced King to
18 months for draft evasion, but he
never served the time. Instead, he
fled to England and remained there
for 39 years until receiving a pardon
from President Clinton in 2000 —
a pardon which Bootle helped
initiate.
Bootle was born in 1902 in
Walterboro, S.C., but spent most of
his life in Georgia.
He became a federal judge in 1954
and retired as senior judge in 1970.
But he continued presiding over
federal cases on a part-time basis
until 1981. His wife of more than 70
years, Virginia Childs Bootle, died
June 24.
A funeral service for Bootle is
set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the
First Baptist Church in Macon.
Visitation is planned for 6 p.m. Friday
at Snow’s Memorial
Chapel.
— Contributing: The Associated
Press
MELISSA GOLDEN | The Red & Black
A Protesters hold a candlelight vigil for Timothy Carr, a man scheduled
to be executed Tuesday night for a murder he committed in 1992. Two
organizations, Jubilee Partners and Georgians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty, organized the vigil at the Arch.
CUTS: Officials unsure of effects
>- From Page 1
But the SBDC is not alone on the chop
ping block.
According to the proposed budget —
obtained on the Georgia Office of Planning
and Budget’s Web site — the Carl Vinson
Institute, the Institute of Higher
Education, the Dean Rusk Law Center, the
University Press and the Marine Extension
Service are among those budgets being
trimmed.
James Ledbetter, director of the Carl
Vinson Institute, could not be reached for
comment Tuesday. He is being asked to cut
more than $103,000 from his budget.
The interim director of the Dean Rusk
Law Center, C. Donald Johnson, said he
had not heard of the proposed $13,072 cut
to his organization.
At least one institute on the list is not
expected to suffer as a result of the cuts.
John McLeod, publicity manager for the
University Press, said invigorated fundrais
ing efforts should cushion the $26,000 cut
outlined in the budget.
“(The University Press) is not going to
see any layoffs or scaling back on any of the
things we do,” he said.
University spokesman Tom Jackson
PROPOSED CUTS TO PUBLIC
SERVICE UNITS:
>- Carl Vinson Institute of Government $103,762
► Georgia Center for Communications $8,840
>- Institute for Higher Education $46,679
► Dean Rusk Law Center $13,072
>- University Press $26,358
>- Small Business Development Center $99,409
>- Marine Extension $42,890
Source: Georgia Office of Planning and Budget
said University officials are just beginning
to see what the cuts mean and would not
speculate on what effect they would have
on the public service institutes.
Budget cuts last spring prompted the
University to lay off 47 employees, at least
half of whom worked in the Public Service
and Outreach division.
State Sen. Brian Kemp (R-Athens), said
he recently met with University Senior Vice
President for Public Service and Outreach
Art Dunning.
Kemp said Dunning, who could not be
reached for comment Tuesday, expressed
the importance of the public service insti
tutes and said his goal now is to convey
that importance to other legislators.
SGA ELECTIONS
The list of candidates for the
upcoming SGA elections, which
are Feb. 8-9, are as follows and list
ed by their respective colleges.
Winners will be announced on Feb.
10.
President-Vice President
Natasha Chua Tan and Matthew
Wilson
Will Childs and Tucker Brown
College of Pharmacy
Victor J. Lewis
College of Education
Dyanna Buro
Meredith Rae Cheetham
Jonathon Clark
Amanda Sundal
Franklin College of Arts 81
Sciences
Lynzi Archibald
Laura Bailey
Kelley Beasley
Kelley Bowen
Brittany Calhoon
Justin Mark Caudill
Caroline Chapman
Foard Copeland
Michael Gray
Tara Michelle Hagan
Brandon Hall
Keyunna E. Hall
Mamie Harper
Cain Harrelson
Paige Jackson
Leean Johns
Erin Leclercq
Cornelius A. Lindsey
Maggie Madean
Noah Mink
Brittany Mohler
Tom Nguyen
Matthew Parrish
Megan Peacock
Allison Rossie
Jennifer Scarbrough
Katie Ryan Sciortino
Neel Shah
Brian Studey
Matthew Suber
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences
Jim Faircloth
Luke Lanier
Mandy Redden
Kunal Kunani
School of Environmental
Design
No petitions
Warnell School of Forest
Resources
Jamey Goldin
Terry College of Business
Andrew Dill
Jennifer Geller
Eric A. Gilmore
Josh Reser
Kevin Scott
Caroline Webb
School of Law
No petitions
College of Family and
Consumer Sciences
Linday Blackmon
Tori Tucker
Laura Waters
Graduate School
No petitions
Grady College of Journalism
and Mass Communication
No petitions
School of Social Work
Kevin Brady
School of Public and
International Affairs
Stephanie Barden
Kevin T. Ewalt
Jamarl Glenn
Alicia Hunt
Bryan E. Pruiett
Kirsty Robertson
College of Veterinary Medicine
Heather Sheppard
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University Union and BBC America present:
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