f mam.!
5
TODAY: Breezy, morning
drizzle; high upper 50s
C0UTTL'G TIE CROVN
The UNC men's basketball team prepares for another
tough odyssey through the Atlantic Coast Conference
if A v RECYCLING REDUCTION
Weekend Action
HOME
MEN'S BASKETBAU vs. itself, Smith Cen
ter, Fri. 7:30 p.m.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL vs. CermanTeam,
Carmichael Auditorium, Sat. 1 p.m.
WRESTLING at Carolina Open, Woolen
Gym, Sat. 9 a.m. and finals, Carmichael
Auditorium, Sat. 6 p.m.
AWAV
VOLLEYBALL vs. GeorgiaTech at ACCTour
nament. College Park. Md., Fri. 2:30 p.m.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING at
Georgia, Athens, Ga., Sat. 12 p.m.
SATURDAY: 40 chance of
Orange Regional Recycling Program plans to cut the types of plastics
it collects for recycling Dec. 1
showers; high 60-65
Wkfp fiat fc
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Art historian David Summers
will speak about "Making
Hierarchys" at 3:30 p.m. in 218
Hanes Art Center.
100th Year of Editorial Freedom
Est. 1893
t 1992 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Volume 100, Issue 107
Friday, November 20, 1992
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
NrwiSporUAm 962-0245
Buimett; Advertising 962-1163
J9M
Bill calls for review of
By James Lewis
Staff Writer
Some political science students have
drafted a bill that ultimately might
change the way professors think about
teaching.
Tenure policy discussions gave a
group of students in part-time instructor
Alan Hirsch's political science class an
idea for a class project that would re
view classes to help other students de
cide which classes to take.
Hirsch's students wrote and proposed
a bill to Student Congress that would
place a referendum on the ballot in
February for the publication of a stu
dent course review.
"A comprehensive Student Course
Review on every class offered at UNC
could be published each semester by the
Office of the Student Body President
and distributed to all students during
pre-registration," the bill states.
According to the bill, the course re
view would add 50 cents to student fees
and be distributed as a supplement to
The Daily Tar Heel.
Stewart
By Jennifer Talhelm
Assistant University Editor
Kevin Stewart's fight for tenure be
came a little more complex this week
when he learned that he was the recipi
ent of a $50,000 research grant.
Stewart, an assistant geology profes
sor, learned Wednesday that he had
been awarded the grant by the Petro
leum Research Fund of the American
Chemical Society.
A recipient of a 1992 Undergraduate
Teaching Award, Stewart was recom
mended for tenure twice by the geology
department, but both times the College
Valerie Halman and Dave Deifell
Ferguson
concerns
By Bill Lickert
Staff Writer
Armed with more than 3,700 stu
dent signatures, two student leaders
met with Chancallor Paul Hardin and
the dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences Thursday to protest the re
cent decision to deny tenure to Assis
tant Professor Paul Ferguson.
Ferguson, a speech communication
instructor, was denied tenure this Sep
tember but has appealed the case. The
Committee on Faculty Hearings de
cided earlier this week to hear
Ferguson's appeal.
Valerie Halman, a senior from
Montreal, and Martin Strobel, a second-year
graduate student from Char
lotte, presented Hardin with petitions
signed by 3,757 Ferguson supporters
Thursday morning. The two then met
1 K For : f
.... i L . , i. mi r- m ririii - '
The bill passed congress's finance
committee on Wednesday by a voice
vote.
Chris Tuck, chairman of the commit
tee and a junior from Mocksville, said
the bill had no problems making its way
through his committee. "No one on the
committee seemed to have a problem
with the bill," he said.
Tuck said he thought that if the course
review was approved by the student
referendum, it would improve teach
ing. "It will make professors watch them
selves and the way they teach," he said.
Lisa Corse, a member of the group
that authored the bill and a senior from
Wilmington, said group members talked
about many different subjects before
proposing the course review.
"Someone brought it up, and we just
started talking and talking about it, and
soon we were pretty excited about the
whole thing," she said.
"Our professor's theme throughout
the semester has been change and how
difficult it is to change something," she
said.
receives
of Arts and Sci
ences' subcom
mittee on instruc
tional personnel
which makes
the final decision
sent the recom
mendation back.
When the de
partment recom
mended Stewart
receive tenure a
third time, sub-
Kevin Stewart
committee members rejected that sug
gestion and ruled against tenure for
Stewart.
u i Li
present petitions supporting Paul Ferguson to Chancellor Paul Hardin Thursday
supporters present
to administration
with Stephen Birdsall, dean of the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences, to discuss the
Ferguson case and the University ten
ure policy.
While presenting Hardin with the
box of petitions, Halman also asked
Hardin to intervene and exercise his
authority to rehire Ferguson. The peti
tions, which were signed by students,
faculty, staff, alumni and other mem
bers of the University community, ask
for the administration to grant Ferguson
tenure and promotion. ,
Hardin has not endorsed either side
in the dispute.
Afterthe brief meeting with the chan
cellor, Ferguson's supporters met with
Birdsall, who oversees the tenure policy,
to discuss his role in the evaluation
process.
At the meeting, Strobel told Birdsall
he was concerned that teaching had
We cannot
Hirsch, who also serves as an assis
tant state attorney general, said the stu
dents in his class, titled "A Seminar on
Law and Justice," were supposed to use
the knowledge they had gained from his
class to change some facet of public
policy.
"Their charge was to use the pro
cesses to effectuate change in a manner
they feel is important," he said.
Hirsch said the credit for the bill
belonged to his students. In the last
class he taught on the subject, Hirsch
said his students introduced and lob
bied a bill through the N.C. General
Assembly that changed public schools.
"It allowed local school boards to
prohibit corporal punishment," he said.
"Now, half of North Carolina's public
school students attend school systems
where spanking is not allowed."
Andrew Greer, a junior from Raleigh
and another member of the group, said
he had been concerned with the level of
teaching and hoped the course review
would improve education.
"I had always wanted to come to
UNC, but when I got here, there was a
$50,000 grant
Stewart is the principal recipient of
the grant, but Michael Folio, assistant
professor of geology, and another ge
ologist also will work on the project.
Folio has been the victim of tenure
woes as well. Folio's contract with UNC
will expire July 1 , and he will not be
rehired.
Both professors have said they
thought the reason they were denied
tenure was that department officials
didn't think they were doing enough
research.
But Stewart said he didn't know
whetherreceiving the grant would have
any effect on his tenure status.
DTHlnn Randall
become secondary to research at the
University. Strobel also expressed
concern that Birdsall was using his
position to influence the decision of
departmental tenure committees.
"It's our concern that you have
been acting independent of the
faculty's recommendation in specific
cases," Strobel told Birdsall.
While Birdsall refused tocomment
specifically about the Ferguson case
because of legal restraints, he denied
any use of his position to influence
members of the senior faculty, who
determine tenure in most departments.
"It's my responsibility, in getting
the advice and recommendation I get
from the faculty advisers, to be able to
say either I disagree or I agree,"
Birdsall said. "Otherwise, why have it
See PETITIONS, page 2
unthink unless we
clae
huge emphasis on tenure and research,
and education was shuffled to the bot
tom of the pack," he said.
"My first year I had more (teaching
assistants) than professors," he said.
"Our class project was to find some
thing that irritated us and that we wanted
to change."
Greer said the real goal of the review
was to improve teaching. "It would re
ally help in the field of education," he
said. 'Teachers won't want to be em
barrassed by what's published."
Scott Culpepper, a senior from Char
lotte, said that the review would not
completely revamp the tenure process
but that he hoped it would make at least
a small change.
"We think teaching is subjective by
nature," he said. "You can't go right at
the tenure system, but maybe we can
overall change the attitude of adminis
trators of the importance of teaching in
the tenure process."
Culpepper said the course review
would be something "that makes the
teachers more accountable for their
teaching."
"I think it ' s quite reaffirming in show
ing that I am active in research, and I am
really looking forward to research," he
said. "It makes me feel good to know
my research is being rewarded and
funded. "(The grant) is good evidence
we are working on some important and
interesting things."
The grant funds a two-year project to
study the tectonic and sedimentary his
tory of a sequence of rocks in the
Appenine Mountains in Italy. The
project will entail field work, geologi
cal mapping, collecting samples and
See STEWART, page 2
Moviegoers give Spike Lee's epic
film 'Malcolm X' two thumbs up
By Leah A. Campbell
StaffWritcr
Reaction to Spike Lee's epic film,
"Malcolm X," was favorable from mov
iegoers who attended the film's pre
miere showing in Chapel Hill Wednes
day. The movie opened in Chapel Hill at
the Plaza Theater on Elliot Road.
After seeing the film, Erik Ose, a
senior from Warwick, R.I., said it was
important for everyone to see it.
"You can't call yourself an Ameri
can unless you make the effort to see
this movie," he said.
Caroline Philson, a senior from Char
lotte, said she thought the movie earned
an overwhelmingly positive message.
"I really thought the movie was be
yond words," she said. "It was a neces
sary slap on the face for society. I just
think it is ridiculous that we still have a
problem with racism in this day and
age."
Carrboro resident Lisa Yonkers said
she was pleased with the film.
"I thought it was great," Yonkers
said. "It really gave a good strong mes
sage about the need for brotherhood."
Some viewers said they saw the film
to compare it to the book.
Regina Madison, a first-year UNC
law student, said she had wanted to see
the film ever since she had read the
book.
"I have already read the book, and
now I want to see Lee's version of the
story," she said, while waiting in line to
see the film.
Madison added that she thought Lee ' s
request for people to skip work and
school to see the movie on its opening
day was inappropriate.
"I think that was very unrealistic,"
she said. "He should have never asked
people to take off from work in this
economy."
Ante Gray, a Chapel Hill resident,
said he was interested in seeing how
Spike Lee would handle the assassina
tion scene.
"I'm very curious to find out who
Lee is going to say killed Malcolm X,"
Gray said.
It was not clear whether either the
3: 1 5 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. shows were sold
out because the owner of the movie
theater, Eastern Federal Corp., would
not allow any of the theater's employ
ees to comment.
A spokeswoman for the company
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DTHErin Randall
Cheap reading
Mindy Ruch, a freshman from Hendersonville, looks through the hardback books at the
yard sale APO service fraternity held in the Pit Thursday.
Students positive about
By Chris Robertson
Stafrwritor
; There seemed to be only one letter
on the lips of moviegoers Thursday
Spike Lee's much-awaited movie
"Malcolm X," based on the book "The
Autobiography of Malcolm X," pre
miered Wednesday night across the
country to large crowds and received
generally favorable early reviews.
The film, which is rated PG-13 and
, runs about 3 12 hours, has sparked a
great deal of discussion and contro
versy among expectant moviegoers,
followers of Malcolm X and fans of
: filmmaker Spike Lee.
Malcolm X, a controversial and
enigmatic figure while he was alive,
has become something of a national
mystery in death.
But on campus, leaders in the mo ve
ment for a free-standing black cul
tural center and other students said
they were pleased with the film and
witi its portrayal of the man whose
legacy they have embraced.
TimSmith,co-founderoftheBlack
Awareness Council, one of the lead
ing groups in the coalition for a free
standing BCC, said he was happy
with the movie. Smith said he thought
mat Lee had done a good job on the
material of the movie and that the
movie would have a large impact on
the general public.
"I feel the message of the movie is
one showing how diverse people can
really be," Smith said.
Smith said he thought it was a posi
tive sign that the youth of America
were becoming more interested in
Malcolm X. But young students of
Malcolm X should learn about the
true nature of the man and his philoso
phy of non-compromise, something
that is not happening now, Smith said.
The way for people to really learn
about Malcolm X is not to see the film
orread the autobiography, Smith said.
"The way togettoknowthemanis
to go straight to his speeches and
said the corporation wanted to keep a
low profile while the film ran.
"We in the film industry have come
to the conclusion that the press has the
tendency to blow things out of propor-
portrayal of Malcolm X
study them," he said. "Any other s
source of information such as a book
about Malcolm is only an interpreta
tion by someone else."
Jasme Kelly, Black Student Move- !
mcnt parliamentarian, said she was
impressed with the film.
"You always heard that Malcolm
X was in support of violence and that
(Martin Luther) King Jr. was more
for mainstream America," Kelly said.
"Now, the revolutionary people of
America are calling themselves the
children of Malcolm X."
At the Sept. 1 8 Smith Center rally
for a free-standing BCC, which fea- ;
tured a speech by Lee, coalition lead
ers urged student supporters of a new ' :
center to learn about the philosophy
of Malcolm X. Margo Crawford, di- :
rector of the BCC, told the crowd of -about
5,000 at the event that today's
black students were "the children of
Malcolm, not Martin."
Kelly said she thought it was dan
gerous to rely on one person for lead-.
ership, especially if he were dead.
Malcolm X probably wouldn't say . v
the same things now that he did 27
years ago, she said.
Malcolm X was an influential black .' ;
leader until his assassination in 1 965 :
at age 39. A member of the Nation of' .
Islam for part of his life, he eventually '
broke away from the militant reli- ,
gious group and taught that people '
must fight racism, not whites.
Kelly said she was touched by the
movie. "The movie was very reaf
firming to black people without being
offensive to white people, which is
what black power is all about," she
said. 'It opens the door for those who
don't know much about Malcolm X. '
"The movie portrays him as a per
son and a human being. You get a
chance to see him as a father and a
husband, laughing and becoming an- ,
gry, not just as a leader."
Tuere Randall, a sophomore from
New York, said she thought the film
See X, page 2
tion," she said.
"This film does not deserve any more
press than any other film. This is a
simple case of looking for trouble and
finding it there."