January 21, 2003
News
Two campus lunch staples are
closing this semester, page 3.
' Focus
Interfaith Center gears up its
movie, snack and discussion
series, page 8.
Sports
Catching up with Coach
Crum, page 12.
Opinion
Get naked and protest,
page 18.
Inside
NEWS ......................... Page 1
FOCUS ....................... Page 8
SPORTS ...................... Page 12
OPINION ................... PagelS
CAMPUS BRIEFS ..... Page 2
HOROSCOPES ......... Page 22
COMICS .................... Page 22
www.louisvillecardinal. com · The Independent Student Newspaper
''Freedom Park'' dedicated
Ceremony
focuses on
diversity,
celebrates Dr.
King's legacy
By Stephen George
News Editor
In a moving and poignant cel­ebration,
top university administra­tors,
faculty members, students, and
the African American Theatre
Group dedicated the new "Freedom
Park" to a packed Playhouse yes­terday
in conjunction with the Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
by some at U of L,
others view it as a
symbol honoring
those who died in
the Civil War.
The Theatre Group performed
choreographed dance and vocal rou­tines,
as well as several brief skits
honoring African Americans' ongo­ing
fight for equality in this coun­try.
Photo by Maria Gaffney
The African American Theatre Group performed at yesterday's dedication of the new
Freedom Park.
Protesters
gathered around
the statue before, ·
during, and after
the dedication to
voice their distaste
over the
university's sup­posed
exclusion of
the Sons of Con­federate
Veterans in
the planning of
Freedom Park.
Gatherers dressed
in Confederate uni­forms
and carrying
replicas of muskets
lamented their
claimed exclusion
from the process,
although adminis­trators
inside said
The troupe's denouement was
an incredibly authentic and genuine
rendition of Dr. King's "I Have a
Dream" speech, performed in full
by group member Rob Love. The
audience was visibly stunned by
Love's on-point performance, one
which prompted Dr. Ricky Jones to
comment, "I closed my eyes for a
second while that brother was go­ing
there and thought King was res­urrected."
Vice Provost of Diversity and
Equal Opportunity Mordean Taylor­Archer
provided the opening re­marks
at the dedication, followed by
President James Ramsey, Vice
President of Financial Administra-tion
Larry Owsley, Dr. Blaine
Hudson, and Jones, who concluded
the ceremony.
Jones explained that Freedom
Park "really is about
recontextualizing the things that
happened," both in the Civil War
and still today.
The park, located at the triangle
on Third Street, will feature a refur­bished
landscape, complete with
rare trees from some of the major
battle sites of the Civil War and a
statue to commemorate the struggle
for freedom, as well as various other
forms of art honoring the ongoing
struggles for equality birthed into
the mainstream by the Civil War.
Freedom Park will be a "living
park'' according to Owsley, who, along
with Hudson, made the new park are­ality.
Hudson said that the new park will
be a "comprehensive portrayal" of his­tory,
not a one-sided view. Debate has
flourished over the past several months
about the current inhabitor of the new
Freedom Park, a 100-year old statue
of a Confederate soldier. Some feel that
the statue stands as a symbol of a re­gretful
past, one that enslaved millions
of African Americans for far too long.
Although the statue is considered
a blemish to progressive race relations
that the inclusion of
everyone directly affected by the statue
and Freedom Park was a main point of
the planning process.
Though no one gave a clear
timeframe as to when any of this would
be complete, each speaker was enthu­siastic
and ambitious about the pros­pects
of the park.
President Ramsey said he hopes
Freedom Park will "provide a
meaningful dialogue about our his­tory.
This will be a tremendous as­set
to U of L and to the Louisville
community."
See page 4 for more on U of L's
celebration of the Dr. King holiday.
SGA Senate to convene tonight
Last semester's unresolved issues to
open year's first meeting
By Stephen George
News Editor
Following a semester of in­decision
with one of enthusi­asm
and ambition is a difficult
path, one which the Student
Government Association must
begin to amble down this
evening as it opens the spring
semester's deliberations with a
slate of unresolved issues, in­cluding
ACCESS.
The Senate decided at last
semester's final meeting to
create a task force dedicated to
solving the much-debated
Adult Commuter Center­Evening
Student Services (AC­CESS)
issue, which boils down
to a lack of funding on SGA's
part to keep the center running
at its full capacity.
The task force, which was
still in the works at press time,
is to be formed by Executive
Vice President J.P. Garcia and
will include ACCESS Director
Barbara King, representatives
from SGA and the Office of
Student Affairs, and ACCESS
users.
According to the decision
at the December 3 meeting, the
purpose of the task force will
be to assess the financial pos­sibilities
and shortcomings be­tween
ACCESS and SGA, as
well as to ascertain campus de­mand
and public opinion regard­ing
the center and its services
rendered. The information gar­nered
by the task force is to be
presented to the Senate by the
March meeting.
A previous Senate proposal
called for the dissolution of the
current center and a reallocation
of funds to contribute to the for-mation
of remote "ACCESS"
centers at various points around
campus. The proposal also in­cluded
the dissolution of the two
full-time employment positions
currently at the center, King~s di­rectorship
and that of Assistant
Director Donna Holmes, both of
whom are paid by SGA.
Part of the sentiment behind
the proposal was that SGA should
not be an employer; that students
should not be in charge of employ­ing
King and Holmes, whose sala­ries
account for nearly 90% of the
ACCESS budget.
Also on the docket is the ap­proval
of two new Supreme Court
justices.
,'