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Mercer Tennis
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VOLUME 72, NUMBER 13
MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
FRIDAY, APRIL 20. 1990
Pope Proposes Suspension Of Women’s Basketball Program
By DREW NORD
According (o Bobby Pope,
| Mercer athletic director, a proposal
has been sent to the administration
concerning the suspension of the
I women's basketball team in the
I order “to make our women's
| athletic program more com-
I petitive." Pope added that as of yet
“no decision has been made on
I whether we will have women's
I basketball program here in the
I future." Pope claims his proposal
will benefit Mercer’s women's
■ by re-allocating the funds
used for the women's basketball
team to other programs involved in
women's athletics at Mercer. Pope
claims the reason for this propos
ed suspension is to make more ef
ficient use of the money budgeted
for athletics since the women's
team has not been, in Pope's view,
competitive. Pope stressed that this
proposal is his idea and that
“whether or not the administration
will approve of it is uncertain at this
point. For us to bejompetitive in
di is going to re-
> good deal more money"
tthews Named Dean At
Mercer Pharmacy School
Mercer University President R.
Kirby Godsey today announced
that Dr. Hewitt W. “Ted” Mat
thews has been named Dean of
Mercer's School of Pharmacy in
Matthews has served as acting
dean of the school since Sept. 1,
1989, and earlier was associate
dean and professor of phar
maceutical sciences at the school.
The appointment is effective May
1, 1990. A University search com
mittee made up of representatives
of Mercer's Board of Trustees,
faculty, alumni and students recom
mended the appointment after an
extensive search.
Matthews' appointment marks
the first time in the University’s
157-year history that a minority has
been appointed to serve as dean at
the University. He is the only black
to hold the position of dean of a
school of pharmacy in a majority
college or university in the nation.
“Ted Matthews’ strong
academic background, as well as
his knowledge and understanding
of the programs of the School of
Pharmacy, were significant factors
in his selection to this position.”
said President Godsey. “He is a
highly respected member of the
faculty of the School of Pharmacy.
Continued on page 3
says Pope. Pope explained that he
believes it would benefit the com
petitiveness of women’s atheletics
at Mercer on the whole more if
money were transferal from the
funds now alloted for women’s
basketball to funds for the other
women's sports. Pope also stress
ed tf&t this newly allocated money,
under his proposed plan, would go
to women’s sports only.
Although no decision has been
made yet concerning this proposal,
questions have been raised over the
legality of the proposed suspension.
These legal cooccms deal with
possible violations of Title IX of
the Education Amendments of
1972. According to June 21, 1989
edition of The Chronicle of Higher
Education in an article concerning
Title IX. colleges that operate in
tercollegiate athletics or clubs or in
tramural sports must “provide
equal athletic opportunity for
members of both sexes. ’ ’ Title IX
also requires that equal oppor
tunities include such areas as: ac
comodating the athletic interests
and abilites of female as well as
male students; equipment and sup
plies; scheduling; traveling and per
diem allowances; locker rooms and
other facilities, and other factors.
In an article in the April 18 issue
of the Macon Telegraph and News,
Dr. Dan Quisenbcrry, acting direc
tor of the College of Liberal Arts
faculty athletic committee, stated
that the committee proposing the
suspension of the women's basket
ball team “have not talked to the
students or to the athletes that are
going to be involved.**
Quisenberry claimed that suspen
ding the women’s basketball team
is oot the only option open to the
committee. A second option would
be to keep the women's basketball
team, but at a cost to the total
athletic program. This option
would likely cause the other sports
to suffer. A third option would in
clude dropping out of NCAA Divi
sion I, saidQuinsenberry. Mercer,
however, would still be at a com
petitive disadvantage in Division I,
where women's basketball teams
are allowed 12 scholarships. Last
season, Mercer awarded the
equivalent of 8.2 women's basket
ball scholarship. Quisenberry also
remarked that the financial pro
blems of the women’s basketball
team is not in itself a good enough
reason to suspend the team because
this argument can be applied to any
Mercer team sports. Mercer’s
teams do not bring in revenue ex
cept the men’s basketball team with
about $100,000 per year. “If you
take what Mercer is now spending
on men’s basketball and subtract
that $100,000 that they bring in. it
still costs us more than the
women's program docs,*'
Quisenberry said. “The argumer;
to drop women because they’re not
paying their own way and use the
money elsewhere could just as easi
ly be applied to the men.”
Lawson-Rushton Victorious
In Wednesday’s Election
SGA elections for the fall of
1990 proved to be a succession of
close races. After the closing of the
polls Wednesday April II. the
Hugh Lawson/David Rushton
ticket emerged victorious in the
Presidential/Vice-presidential race
with 391 votes over the 345 votes
for the Kevin Walton/Patrick Lee
ticket. In the race for Scnator-at-
Large, Anthony Snipes and Bert
Bowden each received 338 votes.
Candy Ellington 324, Jay Stroman
301, and Matthew Getz 290. For
Senior Senators. Susan Eakes
claimed 85 votes. Karen Pollard
78, Andi Pollard 76. Tracey Miles
63. and a tie resulted between
Charlie Bailey and Charles Odom
with 57 votes each. A run-off for
this position will be held April 18.
The race for Junior Senators.
Nichole Glisson emerged with 171
votes. Jennifer Dawson 157, Willie
Banks 131, Patty Jo Geisel 130.
and Mylo Carbia 108.
During the debate on Tuesday
night. April 10, several issues were
brought up and addressed by the
candidates concerning the entire
Mercer community as well as the
students themselves. One of the
most prevalent issues was the lack
of continuity within the organiza
tion of Mercer and within the
students. Among these problems
were listed the lack of traditional
campus-wide unity, a problem of
racial tension among students, a
communications breakdown bet
ween faculty/students/administra-
tion, and law standards of admis
sions. Incoming President Hugh
Lawson slated during the forum
that his platform would seek to
alleviate these problems by setting
up round tabic meetings between
the different organizations of
Mercer to help coordinate events
more efficiently. Lawson added
that SGA will seek to “work
through new channels such as
faculty and other divisions in order
to accomplish our goals because of
students' lack of confidence with
the president." The
Lawson/Rushton platform also in
cluded plans to monitor admissions
with the help of Bill Miller and set
up an inter-racial council at Mercer
similar to that existing already in
the city of Macon. The n^jority of
the candidates for the Senatorial
positions expressed similar ideas
with much emphasis placed on uni
fying Mercer and solving the pro
blems with the administration. An
thony Snipes stated that a problem
exists in the relationship between
the students and their represen
tatives." Snipes slated that this
relationship needs to be stronger in
all offices of SGA. Finally, many
of the candidates were asked what
the most important issue facing
SGA is for next fall. The responses
varied including such topics as lack
of unity, Mercer's academic
stature, communication problems,
rod racial unification.
