\' ol. 66, No. 10 Louisville, Kentucky October 21, 1993
Governance and accountability
Trustees committee sends proposals
back to Faculty Senate for revision
By Paul A. Fultz
StaffWnter
A special committee of the U
ofL Board ofTrustees met Oct. 14
to discuss the Faculty Senate's
responses to the Board's propos­als
on governance and account­ability.
Although the committee
agreed with some parts of the
faculty 's plan, dissension remains
over portions of the proposal.
"Half [of the propo als] were
acceptable and others needed a
little work; some weren't accept­able
in the form they were submit­ted,"
said Minx Auerbach, a
Trustee and thechairofthe Board's
Special Committee on Gover­nance
Documents and Academic
Personnel Policies and Procedures.
"We gave them our specific ob-jections
to the proposals, and that's
what they asked for. They are tak­ing
that specificity under consid­eration
and we'll see what hap­pens."
Dale Billingsley, an English
professor and chair of the Faculty
Senate, said he had mixed feel­ings
about the committee's re­sponse
to the faculty plan.
"I appreciated the Board
committee's thorough reading of
the faculty plan, although I was
surprised by the range and num­ber
of their criticisms," he said.
"When the committee's written
critique and rationale are avail­able,
I hope they will provide the
Faculty Senate with a firm state­ment
of the Board's concerns and
will expediate resolution of those
differences where tenable com-promise
may be found, as, for
example ... on variable career
emphasis and the form of ongoing
review, which may eventually be
accepted with little substantive
change."
The committee asked the Fac­ulty
Senate to continue to work on
the disputed recommendations and
report back by the Jan. 15 Board
meeting when the full Board will
vote on the proposals. The Borrd
introduced its proposals last
spring, after which there was
strong oppostion from the faculty.
The Trustees then gave the faculty
time to formulate alternative pro­posals.
One of the areas of contention
See TRUSTEES
Page2
Governor's Commission may suggest
cutting dental school, transitional studies
By Jooatbao Baize
Staff Writer
Annual cuts in
Kentucky's budget for
higher education have
prompted Gov. Brereton
Jones to assemble a com­missionofuniversityadmin­istrators
to review how the
state's schools can be oper­ated
more efficiently.
The commission, which
has been given a 90-day
deadline, is expected to fo­cus
on streamlining higher
education through eliminat­ing
duplicate programs and
raising admission standards.
The commission's work
could affect U of L in a
president's assistant for minority
services, said new requirements
would work contrary to U of L's
urban mission.
"There is no doubt the present
proposal of a "C" average in high
school and a score of 20 on the
ACf would certainly have an ef­fect
on the matriculation of Afri­can-
American students into higher
education and that 's unfortunate,"
Fitzpatrick said. "We are involved
in a program to g1t more African­American
students into colleges.
The goal is 11 .3 percent by 1995
and the Commission's suggestion
might work against that goal."
Students unable to meet these
requirements would be forced to JONES begin their studies at a community
variety of ways, including the elimination of the
division of tran itional studies or the loss of the
School of Dentistry.
college before entering a four-year
university. Fitzpatrick said .this is not a productive
option. He added that students who are admitted to U
of L through the division of transitional studies,
formerly the Preparatory Division, complete four­year
degrees at a much higher rate than transfers
16 Pages
The Wild Wednesday Campus Carnival, an
annual homecoming event, was scheduled to
be held on the West Plaza of the Student
Activities Center. Rain throughout the day
forced the carnival activities to be relocated to
the Multipurpose Room of the SAC, above. At
right, Student Activities Board member Kelly
Dutschke breaks Into laughter after rolling
down the Velcro wall In a special suit.
Staff Photos
by Harry Sanders
- One of the main concerns at U of Lis that raising
entrance requirements would decrease the number
of African -American students- who tend to per­form
poorly as a group on standardized tests -
entering the University. Ralph Fitzpatrick, the
See OFFICIALS
Page 9
. At left, Dave Shaw and Charles Beck, right,
race down the Wacky Bungee Flyback.
By Line Gold
Staff Writer
The University of Louisville
basketball team's star senior for­ward,
Dwayne Morton, broke-his
right wrist Oct. 19 during pre­season
conditioning, putting him
out of commis ion for the first
half of the 1993-1994 season.
Mort n will not be able to play
in the season opener against the
University of Kentucky.
"It's unfortunate, but we just have to accept
it,"Coach Denny Crumsaid. " I'm not as worried
about the start of the season as I am about having
him healthy for the end.
"We hope he' able to heal quickly, but he'll
play when he's ready and we won'ttry to pu h
it," Crum said. " I'm sure he will con­tinue
to work hard and stay in shape so
he's ready to play as soon as po ible
when the cast come off."
The injury occurred when Morton
landed on his wrist after falling during
conditioning workouts at Cardinal Arena,
breaking the right nevicular bone in his
wrist.
Morton is expected to continue his
conditioning and will rejoin the team
when the official practices get under way
Oct.29
Last se n, Morton had his finest year yet at
U of L. He lead the nation in three-point field goal
percentages with 53.1 and was named the Metro
Conference tournament's Most Outstanding
Player. He also ranked third in the Metro Confer­ence
in scoring with just over 16 point per game.
Student evaluations
Professors say possibility of bias strong
By Scott Koloms
Staff Writer
Some faculty members within the College of
Arts and Sciences say the results of student
evaluations of professors contain inherent bi­ases,
especially data received from 100- and 200-
level classes.
"The student evalution results in lower-level
classes run consistently lower," said Joseph
Chalmers,chairofthephysicsdepartment. "There
is definitely a bias there.
"The student evaluations have been a long­standing
problem at U of L. And it is time for the
issue to be addressed."
Others said they felt that students in lower­level
classes were resentful of having to take
required courses, which may affect the results of
the evaluations that are given at the end of each
semester.
"Faculty laugh about how you can fudge up
the evaluation," said a U of L history professor
who asked not to be identified. " An example is to
give the evaluation to the students the class
session after a quiz, preferably on a Friday. Odds
are only the students who attend class regularly
and are not failing will be there."
The history professor said 30 percent to 40
percent of student taking lower-level cia es
will fail and their anger is often expressed in the
evaluation, regardless of how well a teacher
perform .
"Evaluation results from I 00-level classes are
usually nothing more than popularity contests,"
he said.
However, humanitie chair Joseph Slavin dis­agreed.
"I think it is an unwarranted fear of faculty to
think of the evaluations as popularity conte t ,"
Slavin id. "We must trust the integrity of our
tudents."
Slavin said the greatest problem with student
evaluations at U of L h been that the results are
not made available to the students.
" It seems to me that students would be out­raged
with the closed book policy of the evalua­tions,"
he said. "I favor open results. Students
have the right to whatever information they can
gather about how other students evaluate their
teachers."
Tim Hynes, dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences said," A student may request to see the
results of a professor's evaluations. This would,
however require the professor to reveal his or her
file to the student."
Many other schools, including the University
of Kentucky, publish the results of student evalu­ations
and distribute them throughout campus,
which U of L's Student Government Association
supports.
Besides the inaccessibility of the results,
Slavin said he felt another problem with the
evaluat ions was the Jack of diversity-oriented
questions.
He said. the evaluations should include ques­tions
such as how responsive the professor is to
lnstde P<>qe 10
Arts and Leisure
The University is holding
funds for The Thinker
indefinitely; the student
literary publication's funds
were mismanaged, its
board and U of L
administration ay.
all students, despite their race or gender.
"There arc many reason to ask this type of
question," Slavin said. " If I were ignoring a
group of students, be it unconscious or not, I
would want it brought to my attention in order to
correct it."
The evaluations, which teachers have been
required to give to their students si nce 1975, are
factors in determining merit -based salary raises
among faculty .
But most faculty don' t deny that the evalua­tions
arc invaluable in seeing how well they teach
- from the student 's perspective.
"Student evaluations are an essential tool in
helping faculty achieve their classroom goals but
students sec no profit to themselves by complet­ing
them," the history professor said.
"When I read the results of my evaluations I
feel I am reading legitimate data from the stu­dents,"
Slavin said. "And if I find myself lacking
in a certain area, I immediately do what I can to
find a remedy ."
Sports
U of L football wins:
The Cardinals came home
after their first loss of the
eason and barely escaped
an upset by Southern Miss.
The Cards will meet Navy
for homecoming.