HOUND
fjij j jpy
WORLD
and Back
COMPDLBD BY MQNIO^
mcx:la!n
The Rwandan Crisis
Two years ago, n»)re than
(Hie lailiion Rwiuidaii Hutus fled
across the border of Zaire in
search of safety. When armed
men took over their c^{», they
were fed and housed. Recently,
the United States found them-r
selves dmist into the adion wb^
warned of a htdocaust aincHig dw
Hutu refugees. The sickening
pictures of the Mugunga camp
showed refugees cut off from
food deliveries and other aid.
While the U.S, was trying to de
cide how to Wp. the Rwan^^.
wempeacefliQy retsmntgtodieir"
Iraq's rocket scandal
Arms inspectors wimt to test
debris from 130 missile engh»»
to determine if Iraq removed
powerful rockets and i^laced
them with negligible motors.
However, Iraq has blocked aS ef-
fore to do so. Hie United Na
tions has accused Iraq of ctm-
cealing banned weapcms and try
ing to deceive inspectors repeat
edly.
Hijacked flight crashes
Fifty-two pecqile survived
when an Bthopian jetliner
crashed into the sea. Hie plane
was running out of fiidi Some
survivors swtpi 500 feet to the
shose. while odiers bidAied in dm
watCT undlhelp arrivi^, H» je*,
carryirig 175 passengers and
crew members; was hijacked by
three m^ ^rily aOm^ take off.
The hijackm, en route to Aus
tralia, mliised the c^fSmn's pleas
tostopforfiiel.
Mother Teresa suffers setitadcs
Mmher Teresa mffeied atc-
currence of heart prcWems mid
has developed breathing trouble.
The 86-year-oId nun has been on
an oxygen tank in dm inumsive
care unit of the hosfntaL DoctcHS
have ccmcinded that she has an
irregular heailbem and pnAlcms
vrith her left ventricle- the main
pumping chamber in dm hemt
tentorian
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
December 1996
Redistricting to alter school admissions
BY ALEX MANN
The election season is over, but
political conflicts continue to affect
NCSSM. The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in June that North Carolina’s
12th Congressional District is un
constitutional because it was drawn
along racial lines. As a result,
NCSSM admissions must alter its
operations since student selection is
proportioned by congressional dis
tricts.
The N.C. General Assembly,
in its philosophy for NCSSM ad
missions, requires that the school
try to “accept an equal number of
students from each district.” This
means that 8.3 percent of the stu
dents are from each district, but the
sch(K>l is allowed to admit up to 2.5
percent above or below this amount.
John Poe, director of admis
sions, has noted that the admissions
office will have to reorganize its ad
mission process, but also that his of
fice is used to changes. During the
schcwl’s early years it tried to di
vide the student body
equally by educational
districts. These eight
geognq>hical sectors are
still employed for re
gional testing, but in
1985 the General Assem
bly told the school to se
lect by congressional dis
tricts instead.
In 1991, when the
districts were ffrst redrawn, admis
sions had two years to make adjust
ments. Poe predicted that this time
the switches will be completed
“more quickly” than in 1991.
of Yotir Lifefi
"Andrew Gmssemim
lives Hup as the
m Ahha
PSAcCriff looks m in
the school pkp, "11^
Time of Your
Thephnfvm
pla^edhy delays,
hut thesl^u^
on, mth a single
performance on Dec.
6, $^ story page 6,
Poe
Every student who applies to
the school must be grouped by their
Congressional District, so redis
tricting means a lot of computer re
visions and paperwork for the ad
missions staff.
Redistricting will also require
the admissions office’s
entire approach to ac
cepting students to
change. The staff must
have a working knowl
edge of each district and
be familiar with all of its
sch(X)ls in order to cre
ate a desirable level of
diversity within
NCSSM.
Unlike the state’s decisions in
planning congressional representa
tion, however, districts play no part
in making NCSSM an ethnically di
verse community. In diversity mat
ters, the General Assembly man
dates that admissions must “insure
a proper balance in terms of race,
sex, and other minority conditions
relevant,” thus minoring the demo
graphics of the state. Therefore, the
numbers of males and females are
equal, and about 22 percent of the
students are minorities.
Competition for entrance into
NCSSM is always intense, and Poe
recognized the fact that congres
sional districts play a major role in
determining against whom students
must compete. However, he is cer
tain that the students admitted to
NCSSM will be of “high quality”
regardless of how North Carolina’s
congressional districts are orga
nized.
The organization issue began
in 1990, when a national census in
dicated that North Carolina quali
fied for an additional seat in the
House of Representatives. The
eleven existing districts had to be
redrawn to create a new Twelfth
Congressional District.
North Carolina’s General As
sembly created two congressional
districts with large minority popu
lations to reflect the state’s demo
graphics. The redrawn districts, one
and twelve, have populations with
slim majorities of African-Ameri
cans. They were created by linking
areas with large concentrations of
blacks, and for this reason have pe
culiar shapes.
A group of citizens challenged
the constitutionality of the districts
in 1993 by arguing that they dis
criminated against white voters and
were a form of “racial gerrymander-
continued on page 6
NCSSM course scheduling process changed
BY JORDAN CLASSMAN
Every year NCSSM’s aca
demic environment is supple
mented with a series of new
courses, but the origin and evolu
tion of a course at NCSSM is a
little-known pnx:ess to most mem
bers of the NCSSM community.
Few students know that a recent
piocedural change has allowed for
a much more flexible system of
course scheduling, and actually
gives students a chance to get
courses added to the catalog.
The change, instituted last
April, allows anyone in the sch(X)l
to submit a course proposal to the
Curriculum Council.
From there, the proposal is sent
to the corresponding department or
division and is developed and ap
proved by the department head.
Next, the Curriculum Council so
licits community-wide input. The
final decision is made by the Divi
sion Director based on the new
course’s alignment with NCSSM’s
goals, other institutional commit
ments, and available resources.
In the past, there has been no
interdepartmental exchange before
adding new courses.
“The new system allows co
operation between departments
that was difffcult to achieve be
fore,” says Director of Academic
Programs Steve Warshaw.
Departments can now woik to
gether to schedule classes that
would be, for example,
corequesites.
“The system is so new that we
have not yet had a chance to really
try out it yet,” says JoAnn Lutz, the
head of the math department.
The results of fall and spring
pre-registration determine what
classes already listed in the course
catalog will actually be offered.
Based on the number of students
registering for each class, courses
are either scheduled or not.
The problem with this system
arises when too many students
sign up for a class which can be
taught by only a certain teacher.
A long-standing NCSSM rule re
stricts faculty members to teach
ing no more than four classes. For
this reason, students may not get
requested courses or are often in
overcrowded classrx)ms for one-
section classes.