I N DE X
Arts 12
Sports 14
Editorials 16
Comics 5
Classifieds __ 18
Vol. 67 No. 25 March 23, 1995 18 Pages An Independent Student Newspaper Free
Renita Edwards wins SGA presidency 1,092 - 531
By Dug Begley
Staff Writer
"I'mjustglad it'sover. I'm just really glad
it's over," said newly elected Vice President
for Academics Chris Kappesser.
But it is not over. It is far from over for
Renita Edwards, Jeff Adamson, Kappesser,
Christy Wolford and the rest of the winners in
the 1995 Student Government Association
elections.
Renita Edwards defeated Felicia N u' Man
for the office of SGA president by a vote
margin of 1,092 to 531.
Voter turnout was higher this year than
last year by almost 1,000 votes, with a total
1,874 ballots cast.
Not everyone votes for all the issues and
candidates, however. The four executive of­fices
up for voting averaged about 1,500-
1,700 votes each, indicating that many people
voted only on the issues which concerned
them and for the people they personally knew.
In the race for executive vice president,
Adamson was chosen over Steven Poindexter,
who ran on the Multiversity slate, by nearly
300 votes.
After winning, Adamson said, "I'm going
to ask Steve on issues immediately. He had a
lot of good ideas."
Academic Services Vice President-elect
Wolford defeated Haven Harrington by a
decisive amount, getting well over double
the votes Harrington received.
The battle for the position of Services
vice-president was closer, but Kappesser still
won by more than 350 votes, winning 954 to
571.
With all of their slate wining, Edwards
said she believes they have an excellent head
start toward bringing student government
back to the students.
"Still full steam ahead," Edwards said.
"I'm going to start working on the student
directory and the discount cards," Kappesser
said.
Plans are to begin moving towards the
official date when the new officers take over,
April11, by jumpingintotheactionnow. The
Staff Photo by Paige Brooks
Renita Edwards received a hug from a well-wisher after she learned she had been elected SGA president.
entire staff was in the SGA offices on March 22,
just hours after the election results were an­nounced.
The new officers must be informed on what
there predecessors are leaving them. One such
holdover is the community center proposed by
outgoing President Todd Schmeideler.
"Right now," Edwards said. "I'm in the pro­cess
of getting with Todd so I can be better
informed as to what's the next Ieveli can take it
to."
Edwards hopes the elections signal more than
changes in personnel.
"I would like to see more students involved in
student governme nt," Edwards said. "Todd has
done a great job with the open-door policy."
Though no time frame has been set yet,
Edwards expects within the next few days to
have a plan for what she wants to accomplish and
when she wants expects those goals to be real­ized.
One new horizon for Edwards is the position
on the U of L Board of Trustees which she will
inherit from Schmiedeler at the end of this se- ·
mester. The trustee position is especially impor-
See EDWARDS, Page 8
Last-minute
rules change
brings bias
charges
By Dug Begley
Staff Writer
According to Denise Gifford, act­ing
vice president of Student Affairs,
and the Stt.Jdent Life Election Com­mission,
a ballot box has never been
pulled in the history of Student Gov­ernment
elections.
· · Should the"'have broken that du­bious
recor . . .. year? The answer
is yes for m tudents who have
openly expre$sed opposition to the ·
handling of the SGA election pro­cess
this ,year.
"It is not democratic," Christine
Jones, Arts and Sciences senator­elect
said.
The debate stems from possible
campaign violations occurring at the
Health Sctences campus. Tom
···Pearce, a Uof l alumni ai'ld husband
of Jones, was outside the Health
Sciences polling station campaign­ing
out of the 25' parameter set by
the Election Commission and no­tiqed.,
a liuge group of peqple gath­ered
arourid the voting table. When
Pearce explored further, he claims
he witnessed both ltudents and the
Commission repreSentative "mixing
and matchir)g. comparing votes."
See VOTING, Page 10
Presidential candidate Shumaker stresses
diversity and equality during visit to U of L
I want you!
By Michael Alexander
Contributing Writer
The second of the four finalists to replace
Donald Swain as U of L president came for an
official campus visit March 15-17. John
Shumaker, president of Central Connecticut State
University (CCSU), addressed faculty, students,
staff and the media in an open forum, Friday,
March 17.
An eager crowd gathered in Middleton Hall
for the question and response forum . Before the
forum began, Shumaker sat quietly on the stage
observing the crowd. As he stepped to the po­dium
to make his opening statement, he appeared
very poised, comfortable and confident.
Access office employee, Barbara King com­'
mented to Shumaker that a large percentage of U
rof L students are classified as non-traditional
'.students. She asked Shumaker to present his
perceptions of non-traditional students and ad-dress
issues concerning them.
Shumaker explained that the criteria defining
non-traditional students has changed over the
past 20 years and concluded, "Our administra­!
tive systems, teaching sta~dards, our operative
; programs and support services have to be tai­)
Iored to satisfy the needs of the bulk of our
1 students."
i Tom Pearce, a community representative,
shared rough statistics of African-American rep­resentation
in the community and university fac­.
ulty, and said that U of L's faculty should be more
representative of the community. Shumaker re-sponded
that his objective would be to parallel
the demography of the campus with the
demography of the community.
Jenny Sawyer, director of admissions pro­cesses
arid orientation, asked Shumaker how he
would "promote gender equity" in the university's
athletic program.
Shumaker described a plan developed at
CCSU, stimulated by the office of civil rights and
office of education to bring CCSU's campus
"into full gender equity." The plan includes pro- ·
viding comparable playing facilities, locker
rooms, and other areas.
On a similar note, a question sent to the forum
sought Shumaker's position on increasing the
number of women in permanent positions at the
administrative level.
He responded, "it;s essentiaP; that "not oniy
the student body and faculty but also the admin­istrative
structure of the university reflect the
rich demography of a region." He also added that
a university must be "attentive and sensitive" to
this matter and conform to a higher standard. At
CCSU, Shumaker and his administration have
hired a female athletic director, a female vice
president for academic affairs, and have signifi­cantly
increased the number of women in upper
middle management.
Matt Landrus, program assistant in fine arts,
asked Shumaker to list the top five priorities the
next U of L president should address.
They were: establishing a relationship of trust
and confidence between the board and faculty;
having serious and thoughtful discussions con-cerning
the 'soul' of this university and its values
and principals; establishing a relationship of trust
and confidence with the public constituency U of
L maintains relations with; renegotiating U of
L's hospital contracts; and launching the next
phase of fund-raising for the university.
Courier-Journal staff writer Ben Hersh berg,
asked Shumaker how much of an adjustment
running an institution as large as U ofLwould be
comparative to presiding over CCSU (13,000
students and 1 ,300 faculty).
"It's not much of an adjustment," the candi­date
replied, citing his previous job experience at
large institutions like Ohio State University.
Shumaker also described his intent on making
himself accessible to the student body. At CCSU,
he schedules open office hours on a regular basis,
has an active student advisory committee, ac­cepts
invitations to be a part of student activities
when his schedule permits, and even has an e­mail
address. "I think that what's important is
that the accessibility is there and the communica­tion
network is there." He stressed the impor­tance
of students being able to, "raise issues,
express concerns, and ask questions."
Shumaker teaches a Greek or Latin course
every year and sometimes is a guest lecturer in
humanities and management classes. "The pri­mary
purpose for which we exist is to teach
students," he said.
Concerning his willingness to hear suggestions, he
added, "My philosophy of academic leadership has
See SHUMAKER, Page 10
Eakin says president should be a lea~er, not
a ~anager; pledges to consider faculty Peer advisors strive to
By Amy Huffman
Staff Writer
The third of four candidates for U of
L's presidency, Dr. Richard Eakin, chan­cellor
of Eastern Carolina University,
made his official visit to the campus
March 19-21.
As Eakin entered Middleton Audito­rium
for an open forum with members of
the community, faculty, staff and stu­dents,
an energetic hush fell over the
crowd. "Oh my god," said one faculty
member. "He really does look like Dr.
Swain."
Eakin's resemblance to current U of
L President Donald Swain has been the
topic of conversation for many people as
has his charisma.
"I heard he has one heck of a pres-
See EAKIN, Page 10
Staff Photo by Dave Sharp
University of louisville presidential candidate Richard Eakin enjoyed
a joke during his official campus visit March 19-21.
I• mprove campus servi•c es
By Travis Kircher
Staff Writer
A new semester brings about con­siderable
activity at U of L. It is not
uncommon to see students scurrying
about campus buying books and fa­miliarizing
themselves with new class
schedules. A new semester also ush­ers
in an activity regarded as a hassle
by some students: advising.
In the fall of 1992, Thomas Hynes,
Arts and Sciences dean, created an
initiative to improve the accessibility
and organization of the advising pro­cess.
This initiative, called the Peer
Program, gives A & S students the
opportunity to be advised by other
students like themselves, as opposed
to faculty advisors.
"The program emerged from dis-cussions
with our advising staff as part
of ongoing discussions here about ways
to seek continuous improvement of
services," Hynes said. "It's greatest
advantage is that peer advisors can
allow us to reach out a bit more to give
services. In many instances, students
seeking advise may want a question
answered quickly and accurately, and
then want to be on their way. The peer
advising program has done a great deal
to improve our ability to meet that
need."
Peer advisor Angi Beckmann
agreed. "We feel that its easier to talk
to a peer," Beckmann said. "Someone
your owo age rather than talking to an
advisor that doesn't know what they're
See PEER Page 6
Freshman
Brock
Harmon
dressed up
as Uncle
Sam to
encourage
students to
vote in the
Student
Government
Association
eiectlons on
March 21.
Staff Photo by Ron
Johnson