THE GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
Martin ticket wins Senate election
BY MARJORIE HALL
NewsEdtor
After what may have been the
most eventful election in Guilford his
tory, the Senate elections committee
announced at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday
night that current Senate President
Molly Martin had been re-elected along
with her ticket, Gary Young, La Shaira
Fullwood, and Olivia Riordan.
More than half of the campus's
eligible voters voted, an average turn
out. In the final count, the Martin ticket
received 326 votes, the Morris ticket
received 199, and 45 voters wrote in
candidates or abstained. South Park
garnered the most write-in votes.
The election committee had dis
cussed postponing the election because
of the events of the past few weeks,
including the racist fliers posted and the
attack on Martin on Wednesday, but
eventually decided to hold the election
on schedule. "We felt we did the right
thing," said Steve Karakasidis, chair
man of the elections committee. "Post
Higher education reevaluates tenure system
BY ELLEN YUTZY
WoHdEctcr
Tenure is a time-honored tradition in
colleges and universities and is something
Faculty opinions on tenure
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have priateata phased dissertation
tenure? Quaker out? be re
school? quired?
Santes Beatty named new
Director of African
American Affairs
News pg.3
Jor not lung can seem foul to those that win. —from King Henry JV, Wit limn Shakespeare
poning the election would only be pro
longing the issue. Getting through the
election gets us a step closer to solving
this."
Students were not the only ones
interested in the election. Reporters
for the Associated Press and the
Greensboro News & Record , among
others, spent a good part of the day on
the steps of Founders trying to talk to
students.
In an interesting development in
the last days of the campaign, John
Robichaux claimed authorship of an
anonymous letter criticizing Martin that
had been circulated around the Guilford
community in the middle of last week.
Following the posting of several racist
fliers and the attack in the Senate of
fice, Robichaux stepped forward to
make it clear that the first letter was in
no way connected to the racism and
violence that occurred.
Copies of the letter and a signed
apology by Robichaux were posted in
the Founders lobby on Monday morn
ing.
that most who are not directly involved do
not understand. Tenure is an agreement
between a professor and a college that pro
tects the professor from being fired for say
ing or doing things that the administration
The virtues of gin
and tonic
Features pg. 6
Since 1914, but never quite like this
They were accompa
nied by Colin McFadden-
Roan's admission that he
was aware of the letter
writer's identity.
McFadden-Roan was run
ning as secretary on the
Morris ticket. The other
members of the Morris
ticket asserted that they
had no involvement with or
knowledge of the letter or
the fliers and attack.
Members of the Mor
ris ticket declined to com
ment on the outcome of the
election. Martin believes
that holding the election as
scheduled was fair. "I think
those are legitimate num
bers," said Martin. "I won
dered what I was going to
think when I saw them, but
the numbers that came out
really reaffirm my faith in
the election committee and
the Morris ticket."
may find politically offensive. The result is
that tenured faculty are assured of employ
ment far into the future or until they wish to
leave an institution.
Recently, it has begun to come under
attack at a national level. South Carolina
has abolished tenure for professors in its
state universities, and other states are con
sidering following its lead.
Few see tenure as endangered in the
near future at Guilford College, but many
admit that at some public institutions, ten
ure is going the way of the slide-rule. Pres
sure from taxpayers and legislators who
see tenure as an unnecessary and unfair
perk to professors have caused it to be ques
tioned.
The pressure is not limited to those
who don't understand the system. Mat
thew Finkin. in the current issue of Aca
deme, writes, "David Breneman, a distin
guished economist of higher education, uni
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The Martin ticket—Molly Martin, LaShaira Fullwood,
Olivia Riordan, and Gary Young—celebrates.
PHOTO BY MARIAH DANCING
Are diversity and
multiculturalism
racist?
Forum pg. 13
versity dean and former college president,
questions the continued viability of academic
tenure and proposes a scheme for elimina
tion."
The recent denial of.tenure to one of
Guilford's most popular professors has cre
ated an outcry by students and sparked an
interest in learning the ins and outs of how
tenure works and why it exists at Guilford.
Historically, tenure was created to
protect academic freedom. "Faculty, in
teaching, are supposed to be able to pursue
truth," said Martha Cooley, academic dean.
Tenure protects professors who are
outspoken about national, local, or collegiate
events. It was partly through the actions
of outspoken professors that Guilford was
integrated in the 19605. Without tenure, it
would have been much easier for the ad
ministration, many of whom were against
integration, to fire those people.
please see TENURE on pg. 5
February 20, 1998
The Apex-
Guilford
connecrion
Sports pg. 16