December 3, 2002
News
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
William McNamara spoke on
campus last night, page 6.
Focus
Get your think on for finals
week, page 8.
Sports
Volleyball team accepts
NCAA Tournament bid,
page 16.
Opinion
Tackling the racial tension on
campus, page 18.
Inside
NEWS ...... ........... .. ...... Page 1
FOCUS ................. .... .. Page 8
SPORTS .. ........ ............ Page 12
OPINION ....... ...... ...... Page18
CAMPUS BRIEFS ..... Page 2
HOROSCOPES ......... Page 22
COMICS .... ... ............. Page 22
www.louisvillecardinal. com The Independent Student Newspaper
Confederate soldier joins the Union
"Freedom
Park" to be
erected around
century-old
statue
celebrating the
Old South
By Stephanie Smith
Assistant News Editor
Thirty-one years before
Belknap Campus was built, the
Women's Confederate Monu­ment
Association erected the
statue of a Confederate Soldier
between Second and Third
Streets. During the dedication
in 1895, it .was assigned as a
"Tribute to the Rank and File
of the Armies of the South"
and "To Our Confederate
Dead, 1861 -1865." While the
soldier does not stand on Uni­versity
of Louisville property,
the one-sided view of the Civil
War disturbs many members of
the campus who believe in di ­versity;
the ensuing result of
this debate will be the January.
20, 2002, dedication of Free­dom
Park.
The proposal to form Free­dom
Park on the triangular
land occupied by the soldier
and the Playhouse was ap - ·
proved at the November 25
Board of Trustees meeting.
President James Ramsey
first asked Pan-African Stud­ies
department chair Blaine
Hudson and Larry Owsley,
vice president for financ.e and
administration, what could be
Photo by Constance Garvey
The city monument dedicated to Confederate soldiers, which was
erected in 1895, is being replaced by "Freedom Park." The statue
has long been a centerpiece for racial controversy on campus.
done to address the contro­versy
surrounding the monu­ment.
The idea for Freedom
Park was proposed to be in­cluded
with the statue rather
than removing it , allowing
people on both sides of the is ­sue
to showcase their heritage.
Owsley said, "The proposal
is an attempt to put the monu­ment
in a more complete his­tory
of the era."
Dr. Karen Chandler of the
English department said, "I can
understand African American
students' concern and anger
about being part of an institu­tion
that has such a symbol...
Louisville being an ambiguous
place between the Union and
the Confederates. It might be
a site of student activism,
marking a place for greater di­versity,
more than just South­ern
tradition."
Many students feel that this
does nQt solve racial tensions
on campus, but they believe
that it is a step in the right di ­rection.
"It's not just an issue
for African Americans; there
are non-African Americans
who ask, 'Why is this in the
center of Belknap Campus?"'
said Owsley. _
The building project does
not have a timeline, but the
park will likely be developed
in stages. The dedication cer­emony
will fall on the federal
holiday honoring Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
The park will have many el ­ements
and features showcas­ing
an interpretive treatment
within the context of slavery
and the Civil War in Louis­ville.
First, it will provide
some general contextual treat~
ment of the Civi l War through
events, strategies and other
points of historical interest,
including in -depth looks at
such historical figures as
Cassius Clay and Harriet
Beecher Stowe. Second, it will
focus primarily on local events
and heroes, including the Un­derground
Railroad, Washing­ton
Spradling, James Cunning­ham,
and others.
The new·park will also pro­vide
a prominent location for
See CONFEDERATE page 3
Senate meeting tonight last of semester
Discussion of ACCESS center
likely, decision possible
By Stephen George
News Editor
Tonight marks the final Student
Senate session of this semester, and
one of the most hotly contested issues
could be resolved.
Discussion is expected and a de­cision
is possible on the Adult Com­muter
Center- Evening Student Ser­vices
(ACCESS) center at the 7 p.m.
meeting, which is being held in the
Business School auditorium.
The Student Government Asso­ciation
has been deliberating the fate
of the ACCESS center for the major­ity
of this semester.
The center, which is funded solely
by SGA, is facing possible closure as
a result of SGA;s inability to account
for the center's yearly monetary in­creases.
Three possibilities for the future
of ACCESS were introduced by SGA
president Chris Marlin at last month's
session.
The first is the closure of the cen-ter
and the assimilation of the services
it offers into other university- funded
centers, such as Resources for Aca­demic
Achievement (REACH). In­cluded
in this proposal is either the
reallocation or refund of approxi­mately
$100,000 generated by the cur­rent
$3 per-semester student fee that
is used by SGA to fund ACCESS.
The second proposal involves the
maintenance of ACCESS in its cur­rent
form, which would require a re­vision
of the center's mission to be
more inclusive of commuter students.
It would also require a renovation of
thecwrentcenter, which could include
a glass front instead of the solid wall
the room in Davidson Hall currently
features. The current two-member
staff would be downsized to one full­time
staff member to help ease the
budget troubles between the center and
SGA.
The third option would be to cre­ate
unstaffed satellite versions of the
ACCESS center all across campus,
which would mean the dissolution of
the center in its current form and a cam­pus-
wide assimilation of services.
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