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\kll. 67 No. 2 SEPTEMBER 1, 1994 18 Pages An Irxleperdent St\XIent Newspaper Free
Faculty Assembly spurns
governance compromi•s e
White man sues U of L
law school; claims didn't
get admitted due to race
\
Staff photo by Frank Coupland
John Cumbler, history professor, speaking against the proposals at the Aug. 26
Assembly.
"This is basically the same document, reworded, that
was given to us and to which we objected overwhelm­ingly
a year ago. I believe that the faculty is the heart of
the University. We must reassert this to our board of
trustees and say this is not our document and you
cannot take this university away from us and we will not
support it."
- History Professor John Cumbler
By Anne Colburn Ehrhart
Staff Writer
The Faculty Assembly volCd last Friday
288-62 against a compromise proposal Presi­dent
Donald Swain was 10 ~d to the Board
of Trustees, which has .already voted to make
changes in the way fac::ulty are governed.
After about two hours of debate among the
more than 400 faculty gathered in Belknap's
Middleton Auditorium and the 75 watching
via satellite TV on the Health Sciences Cam­pus,
the vote was clear. Faculty members
didn't accept the compromises the Faculty
Senate was able 10 win from Swain during the
last several months of negotiating.
However, whether the faculty liked it or
not may not mean anything at all. Former
Faculty Senate chair Dale Billingsley aslced
Swain during the deli beratlons whether the
vote would be irrelevant 10 the ttustees.
Swain responded that "the actions of the
senate and the Faculty Assembly are advisory
at this point .... I am not sure that that makes
them irrelevant. But it docs not make them
final or authoritative, or binding the president
to take them forward."
In other words, Swain could take the origi­nal
proposal - which the Faculty Senate
overwhelmingly rejected last year - 10 the
trustees. He said before the vote that if the
Assembly approved the compromise docu­ment
(which was the product of months of
haggling between the .senate and Swain) he
would present those recommendations 10 the
board. However, if they rejected it (as they
did) he said all bets were off.
Swain, who called the assembly at the
request of the Faculty Senate, evidently ex­peeled
some disagreement, as he called the
meeting to order wearing a football helmet,
saying that a "vigorous debate" was about 10
take place.
"That simple gesture was to say I enter this
debate in good spirits and I hope all of you join
me in that IOday," Swain said. "We can agree
to disagree, butiO not be disagreeable 10 each
other." .
The changes' include initiating post-tenure
review for facultv: hirin~ up 10 20 percent of
new faculty on lhree-yCBI contracts with no
possibility of tenure: and requiring tenured
professors 10 exclusively dedicate th~ir timP
10 either teaching, research or community
service.
Nancy Theriot, an associate professor of
his10ry, spoke against the resolution - and
brought a loud and long applause from the
See FACULTY, Page 2
By Jodi Heintz
St.affWrilCr
A lawsuit alleging civil
rights violations was filed in
U.S. District Court against
the U of L School of Law
Aug. 23.
Michael Alexander
claims the school's admis­sion
policy places special
emphasis on African­Americanadmissions
and
thus violates the civil
rights of white appli ­cants.
The suit also alleges
that African -American
applicants with lower
grade point averages
and lower LSAT
scores were admitlCd
inslCad of him.
Last Friday a
hearing was held
in Magistrate
Coun, where
both sides
presenlCd ar­guments
.
The Magis- Stair snpluc by Bnon Onno
trate will
hand the case over to a judge, who will make a
preliminary ruling some time next week.
In the preliminary hearing, Alexander's attor­ney,
aU of L law school graduate, rcqueslCd a
temporary restraining order so that Alexander
may begin fall classes while the case is being
decided.
The law school refused 10commcnt, but Denise
Fitzpatrick, U of L public information director.
said the University stands by itsadmissionspolicy
as fair.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a recent
ruling in Texas, where four white students filed
suit against the Ur' ~rsity of Texas Law School,
claiming reverse :mination when they were
denied admission.
The judge in that case ruled earlier this month
that white applicants could be turned down de­spite
higher test scores and grades than accepted
minority students.
But the judge said the use of separate admis­sions
commiuees was unconstitutional. The uni­versity
has since implemented a single commit­tee,
and many other universities using separate
commiuces are expected to follow suit.
Gelling an accurate picture of Kentucky's
public institutions' affirmative action and admis­sions
policies is difficult.
Victoria Gray, Nonhcm Kentucky Univer-sity
Law School's associate
dean of admissions. was ad­vised
n01 to discuss its poli ­cies.
According 10 NKU Uni­versity
Counsel Sheila Bell,
the reluctance 10 discuss af­fmnativcaction
is likely due
10 the fact that a lawsuit ha
been filed.
U of Land UK do not
have separate commitlCCS
but Carolyn Kcnnedy,as­sociate
dean of admis­sions
at the UK Law
School,said UK does a -
lively enforce affirma­tive
action policy.
And although U of
L does not have a sepa­rate
committee, they
do make a conscious
cffon to meet affir­mative
action
goals, according
to Fitzpatrick.
"In 1990
thcCommis­sion
on
Source: Office of the Registrar Higher Edu­cation
said,
'You need 10 be ad­mitting
more minorities.' We' re trying to do that
but we don't have specific numbers to fill,"
Fitzpatrick said.
Filling quotas and affirmative action arc not
one and the same, but many whoopposcaffmna­tive
action believe that they are, said Sharon
Wright, professor of Pan-African studies at U of
L.
"I think that what people really object to is
meeting quotas, n01 affmnative action," Wright
said. "I think there is a big difference."
Wright said affinnative action is about ensur­ing
diversity. II means that when a qualified
minority applies, serious consideration be given
to that applicanL
U of L law Professor Serena Williams said
affinnativeacrion is fair, and ithelpsamendpasl
and present discrimination.
"It (affirnmtive action) is fair in the sense that
it is a policy of compensation," Williams said. "It
compensates for past discrimination and dis­crimination
happening even now."
Williams also agreed that affmnativc action
has received a bad image that prevents it from
working as intended.
See SUIT, Page 2
Parking: It's there, just look for it SG A agenda includes child care, student lounge
By Ann Kalayll
$Wl'Wrilllr
~it seem thaty.oujustcan'tf'tnd
a space 10pari(? Well. Daniel P.Keller,
directOt of Public Safety, assures stu­dents
!hat there is space for everyone.
"1'be way we measure if there is
CIIO!Igh parlcing is whether" we run out
of spaces and we have not yet," Keller
taid. "The fll$t week of fall is our
heaviest demand foe pennits, so it is
hard 10 tell bow llWIY permit$ we have
sold."
Keller insists the belief among tu­dcnts
about the laclc of parking at U of
L Ia the result of $llldents simply wMt­ina
to par\ aa elose 10 their classes as
pos$ible, prefe;ably at the front d()Or.
"Sane lots do get full," Keller said.
"But there are other lotS. Those locs
may not be where StUdents want 10
part.''
LoriRoby ,a junior physical therapy
major and a commuter student, said
parking is too far away even if spaces
aro available.
••The parking lots have spaces so Car
back that you arcrunning to class when
you get to school," Roby said.
Mailah Medroso, a junior biology
major who lives on campus, does not
face the same hardships a commuter
lives with.
"I don't have 10 drive to school and
my car has n space near my building, so
parking is not a problem for me,"
Medroso said.
Keller also said part of the problem
is that students are not aware of all the
lotS that exist on campus.
"Students just go to one usual lot
everyday, but do not realize what lotS
are more open at different times of the
day," Keller said.
The parldng lot on Fourth Street is
See DPS, Page 6
By Paul Fultz
Staff Wriler
With the school year underway, U of
L's Student Government Association
has hit the ground running. SGA Presi­dent
Todd Schmiedeler and his officers
have put 10gether an ambitious agenda
that includes plans 10 make a commu­nity
center and additional child care
options available to students.
Schmiedeler'sadministration set five
main goals this summer in the areas of
campus and student facilities, recruit­ment,
communication, multiculturalism
and improving U ofL's self image. One
of SGA 'slOp priorities this year is creat­ing
an on-campus community center,
possibly in the Student Activities Cen­ter,
where students can go 10 relax, so­ciali7..
e and play games such as pool,
Ping-Pong, air hockey, video games,
darts and cards.
"We are going to get a community
cen ter: it's going to happen ,"
Schmiedeler said. "The U ofL adminis­tration
is working with us on this. We
fonnedacommiueetoevaluate both the
community center and all the space in­side
the SAC 10 see what would be the
best route 10 take."
Schmiedeler said SGA is working on
the project with Dennis Golden, U of L' s
vice president for Student Affairs, and
expects 10 have a definite plan of action
shortly. Schmiedeler is also working
with Golden on two other projects, the
proposed expansion of day care services
and the fate of the Multicultural Center
and the Red Bam.
'"There are lots of students with chil­dren,
and they need an inexpensive place
where they can drop them off for a few
hours while they go to class,"
Schmiedelersaid. "Wedidasurvey,and
students were overwhelmingly in favor
of this. It should be started either this
year or next.
See SGA, Page 3
Staff photo by Tony Matkey
Student Government Association President Todd Schmledeler, leans
over to give direction to Jason Dove, SGA executive vice president.
Border runs: U of L grad student, others defy U.S. laws by aiding embargoed Cubans
U oiL
graduate
atudant Jim
Clifford plana
to once again
daly U.S. law
by going to
Cuba In
November.
ThaU.S. hn
dacllrad tha
country oft
limite to
Amarlcena.
Staff photo by
F111nk Coupland ._ ____ __;
By Nikki West
Contributing Writer
Jim Clifford, aU of L graduate stu­dent,
wi II break the law once again when
he illegally travels to Cuba this Novem­ber.
Clifford, along with other Pas10rs
For Peace members and friends, will
take medicine and messages of peace 10
the Cuban people.
The goal of Pastors For Peace is 10
ease the burden on the Cuban people
created by the United States embargo.
The medical research of Cuba has been
almost completely obliiCratcd because
of the medicine embargo, said Clifford,
a Pastor For Peace member for almost
five years.
"Cuba had once been a place of out­standing
health treatment, but now that
there is no medicine going into the coun­try,
the shelves are empty and medical
treatment has dwindled," Clifford said.
''Tile embargo on Cuba has even ham­pered
possible cures for childhood can­cer
that researchers had been in the pro­cess
of developing," he said. "Just think
of all the lives that could have been
saved."
Although it is illegal for U.S. citizens
to provide cenain aid to the Cubans, the
Pas10rs for Peace say they are willing 10
risk possible arrest to bring some peace
and comfort to their fellow human be·
ings. Members Jim Clifford, Nancy
Jakubika,Jan Tayior,thc Rev.Jim Flynn
and Ray and Sharon Murray have al­ready
made a trip 10 Cuba this year.
Rodger Payne, who teaches national
security and international relations at U
of L, said he is generally sympathetic 10
the goal of ending the embargo, noting
thal"Ourcm bargo hasn '!changed much
in the 30 years (since it began). ll hasn't
improved our relations, hasn't cost
Castro his job or radically affected Cu­ban
foreign policy."
However, he said Clifford mrght be
going too far when he attempts 10 blame
the embargo for all of Cuba's woes. For
starters, Cuba docs receive aid from
other industrial countries which do not
have embargoes in effect against Cuba.
See CUBA, Page 3