INDEX
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Alii 8
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Edlorlala 12
Colnlce --13
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Vol 66, No.7 Louisville, Kentucky September 30, 1993 14 Pages An Independent Student . ·cwspaper Free
Some question relevance, use of
student evaluations of professors
By Scott Kolom
Staff Writer
The Univcr ity of Louisville has used
student evaluations for more than 15
years, but now students and faculty mem­bers
arc questioning the relevance of the
questions on the surveys, as well as the
possibility for misuse.
The evaluations arc used by indi­vidual
departments to determine defi­ciencies
and talents among their faculty .
The data is placed in the professors'
permanent files and returned to them
after grades have been submitted to give
the faculty feedback .
"The data gathered by student ratings
normally goes to the department head
and is used for performance-based sal­ary
increases, promotions and tenures,"
said Tom Crawford, assistant provost.
But there is some debate over how
pertinent the feedback is and whether it
Related editorw~ page 12
should be weighed as heavily as it has
been in the past.
"The questions were taken from a
nationally approved pool of questions.
Each school (at U of L) took questions
that best suited the programs within it,"
Crawford said. "But that doesn 't mean
they are always the best questions."
According to a study of 600 liberal ­arts
colleges across the nation conducted
by The Chronicle of Higher Education,
86 percent of liberal arts colleges usc
some sort of student rating to evaluate
professors. An article in the July issue of
The Chronicle stated, "no other method
of evaluation approached that degree of
usage."
The article also stated that the evalu­ations
were an effective, easy way to
find reliable information on the perf or-mance
of faculty members.
David Howarth, a geography profes­sor,
said the evaluations at U ofLnecded
revision.
"The evaluation itself needs work. It
tends to lean more towards how enter­taining
a professor is and not how infor­mative.
A revision is in line," he said.
Nancy Theriot, director of faculty
development and hi story professor,
agreed.
"There need to be questions on the
teacher's abi lity to handle conflict within
the classroom. There should also be a
question about diversity to measure the
sensitivity of faculty members," The­riot
said.
Some faculty also question how the
University uses the data. According to
sources, some departments rely too
See STUDENT
Page4
Stadium site will require major clean-up
Loscalzo gives
alms to a monk
In the Buddhist
village of
Nakom
Prathom In
Thailand where
she did field
work for her
Independent
study.
Photo
courtesy of
Aunchalee
Loscalzo
By Jonatban Baize
StaffWriler
The proposed site for the University of Louisville's new
football stadium will require environmental clean-up before it
will be ready for construction, sources said.
"All indications is that this is not a serious problem," she
said. "Whatever clean-up is necessary will be completed
within six months (after the site characterization is approved
by the EPA) and will be done before the sale of the land."
Adventures abroad
Anthropology students spend summers in the field
The site is a former train yard, owned at different times by
Louisville and Nashville Railroad and CSX, and the chemi­cals
used by these companies to maintain their trains have left
the area contaminated by hazardous chemicals.
CSX spokeswoman Cathy Burns said the testingofthesite,
which is being conducted by a private environmental firm, is
near completion.
"It is my understanding that they have almost finished
testing, and should have a report ready within 30 days," Burns
said. "They are anticipating that1here will be some clean-up
necessary."
Once CSX's firm has completed its site characterization
report on the extent of contamination and its plan for manag­ing
the waste, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
must approve its plan before clean-up can begin.
Bums said she was unable to comment on the exact extent
of the contamination because there had been no formal report
on the testing. However, she estimated that it would take six
months to clear the site of hazardous chemicals.
Until the report is complete, the chemicals responsible for
the contamination are unknown. However, some of chemicals
used in the train yard's daily operation are listed in the NJOSH
Guide to Chemical Hazards. NIOSH is the research division
of the Occupational Safety and Hazards Agency (OSHA).
The Guide listed chemicals that were used at the site, such
as mineral spirits and lead, as capable of causing weakness,
abdominal pain, irritation of nose and throat and liver damage.
One the chemicals listed in the hazardous waste registration
for the site, tetrachloroethylene, is considered a health risk by
OSHA at concentrations over 500 parts of contaminant per
million parts of soil. Tire Guide lists teTrachloroethylene as a
carcinogen causing irritation of the eyes and nose, nausea and
liver damage.
Larry Owsley, vice president of administration, said the
six-month estimate for cleaning up the site would fit into the
construction schedule for the new stadium.
"To open the stadium in September of 1996, construction
would have to begin in November 1994," Owsley said. "So the
See CSX, page 4
By Charles McCue
Staff Writer
Aunchalee Loscalzo, like other
students studying abroad, watched
her anthropology lectures at U of L
unfold and spring to life when she
went to Thailand this past summer.
Loscalzo, a senior majoring in
anthropology, stayed in Nakorn
Prathom, a Buddhist village 45 min­utes
outside of Bangkok, where she
collected rain for drinking water,
picked her dinner from the village's
communal garden and watched tele­vision.
Television? Although the village
lacked indoor plumbing and other
amenities, most of its inhabitants had
televisions and VCRs.
" It 's not a primitive village. Most
of the people I met had masters or
doctorate degrees who left everything
to practice Buddhism," Loscalzo said.
The village was a Buddhist com­mune;
the villagers practiced a sect of
the religion that was fairly new.
j..oscalzo said she had the opportunity
to meet the leader of the 8CCI - a
Bangkok resident who commuted to
the village, as did many of the follow­ers
there. The leader emphasized more
"radical" views of Buddhism.
"He wanted to get away from su­perstition
and politics and get back to
basics," she said.
She said the sect's leader also hap­pened
to be a television star who
wrote and composed music, hence
the proliferation of modem trappings
curiously out of place in the lush
landscape of the vi llage.
Loscalzo went to Thai land to visit
relatives, many of whom she had never
met, as well as do independent study
field work. Because her grandfather
lived in the village she was able to
petition to stay there. She said, typi­cally,
outsiders - those who wanted
to practice this new sect - were only
allowed to stay there for short periods
of time.
See ANTHROPOLOGY
Page 3
Photograph in Cardinal of girl distributing condoms raises
debate; girl's mother says detractors were quick to judge
....... ~.., ......
By Paul A. Fultz
StaffWriler
A photograph published in the Sept..16
edition of The Louisville Cardinal deplct­i
ng a young girl handing out condoms at the
Arts and Sciences Picnic has created a
flurry of debate at U of L. . . .
The girl, Candice Frye, was dtstnbutmg
condoms beside a booth promoting the
1993 AIDS Walk, which was held Sept. 26.
Among those expressing objections to the
photo was Betty Brown, the associate dean
of the College of Business and Public Ad­ministration.
"I just felt it was really exploitive of that
child" Brown said. " I believe in educating
res~nsible adults about safe practices, but
a little child? To have her going up to college-age
students has got to be an embarrassing situation
for them."
_..., ......
aaaaclale cte.t. Bu8lnele School
to go to the doctor."
no host ility to me," Lorenz said. " I asked
her ' If it's not OK to have this on the front
page, should it have been on the back?' I
told her that the responsibility for The
Cardinal printing the photo comes back to
me, because I'm her mother."
Kathleen McDaniel Smith, who works
at U of Las the personal assistant to Uni­versity
President Donald Swain, said she
believes having a c hild pass out condoms
trivializes the problem of AIDS.
"The photo of a c hild passing out so~e­thing
from what appeared to be a candy J~r
really bothered me," Smith said. "AIDS IS
not a disease that should be trivialized, and
having a child pass out condoms in t~at
way seemed to trivialize it. It's not a chtld
game and it (a condom) is not candy."
.._.ollloe .................. a.. .................. ......... The child's mother, ZOe Lorenz, is HIV­positive,
and she volunteers with a number of
organizations that promote AIDS awareness.
Lorenz, who worked in U of L's Office of Reg­istration
this fall and plans to attend classes at U
of L next semester, said those criticizing her
should not be so quick to judge.
Lorenz said she recently spoke to one person
who expressed objections to the photo, Lucy
Overstreet, an administrative secretary at U of
L's Urban Research Institute. In a Letter to the
Editor published in the Sept. 23 edition of The
Cardinal, Overstreet wrote, "The picture . of
youth 's innocence passing out condoms ... 1s a
form of exploitation. We are outraged that the
editorsofthis University's newspaper could have
been so insensitive as to have printed this, espe­cially
on the front page."
Michelle Rogers, a sophomore health educa­tion
major who teaches AIDS awareness classes
at the Wesley Community Center, ~id she ?e­lieves
it 's never too early to begm teachmg
children about AIDS.
"Children need to know about AIDS from day
one," Rogers said. "Why bring it out when a child
is in high school or college and it's too late? She Board of Trustees members see student
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''The thing I would say to people is that this is
my child," Lorenz said. "People don't know
what it's like to live in my shoes, and they don 't
know what it's like to have thi disease."
Lorenz said she was confronted by at least one
person at the picnic who objected to her daughter
passing out condoms .
"One woman asked 'Where is this child's
mother?' and I said ' I'm her mother and I have
this disease'," she said. "People just want to hide
from it."
Lorenz said he did not bring her daughter to
the picnic with the intent of distributing condoms.
"A girlfriend of mine who. is also an A~DS
activist w watching her and kind of went a httle
overboard " she said. "When I saw her walking
around wi;h my girlfriend I told her I didn't want
her doing that." .
Still Lorenz said her daughter, who IS aim
five ye~rs old, i not unaware of the existence of
AIDS. ,
"Candice has to live with AIDS every day,
sh said. "She may not understand every aspect
of it, but he know that her motherissickand has
"I spoke to Lucy Overstreet and she displayed
Arts and Leisure
In the spotlight:
Theater Arts
department opens its
season at The Playhouse
with the production of
David Mamet's comedy,
The Water Engine.
Related editorw~ page 12
Sec LORENZ
Pagc6
lns1de Page 10
Sports
U of L Football rolls:
The Cards continue to roll
as they trounced the
University of Texa and
now head for a two-game
road trip.