Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Nov. 6, 1996, edition 1 / Page 10
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
10 Wednesday, November 6, 1996 afjp Satlg ®ar Mwl Jeanne Fugate EDITOR Offiee Hours. 2-3 p.m. Fridays Graham Brink managing editor s Adam Bianchi ELECTRONIC EDITION EDITOR World Wide Web Electronic Edition I ill http://www.unc.edu/dth I flf. Established 1893 103 Years of Editorial Freedom BOARD EDITORIALS Xpressed concerns ■ While student opinion is important in planning P2P Xpress routes, the Department of Transportation and Parking must also consider safety. While the Department of Transportation’s decision to make changes in P2P Xpress based on student concerns is commendable, it must be careful not to lose sight of students’ safety as the main focus of the service. Recently, our student government conducted a survey, asking student riders questions about the P2P Xpress services. The survey found that students favored the removal of several campus P2P stops. The results were then given to direc tors of P2P Xpress and of transportation. On that information, the DTP made several changes. Stops in Craige and the Bell Tower parking lots were eliminated. Other changes included using the P2P Xpress minibuses for other services such as shuttles to Raleigh-Durham airport and election poll sites; and the possibility of a hiring policy favoring student drivers. Student concerns are valuable resources in exploring what is best for the University. When a service directly affects the student population, it is expected and necessary that their comments and criticisms be heard. Some of these changes, such as the addition With its desire to improve faculty teaching performance, the Faculty Roles and Rewards Subcommittee of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Intellectual Climate have finally outlined concrete steps for a frustratingly nebulous dis cussion about reshaping academic attitudes on campus. But the job is far from over. Efforts to improve teaching must include concrete changes in departmental awards and procedures, includ ing financial and prestige rewards for outstand ing teaching and a revision of the tenure process. The subcommittee recognized faculty disin terest in teaching as discouraging to students’ intellectual interests. One-on-one interaction between student and professor seems especially lacking on campus and in professors’ concep tions of their role at UNC. This neglect of teaching responsibilities stems from professors’ attitudes about their jobs. Atti tudes in general, however, are shaped by the incentives a group has for developing a particu lar way of thinking. The current attitudes subor dinating teaching to research and publication arose from systems of financial and professional rewards that encouraged a focus on such respon sibilities as a means to success at the University. Paying professors extra money for teaching well for just doing their jobs sounds ludi crous to many students. To professors, reallocat ing and holding back funds to pay for these rewards may sound unfair. But, given the present situation, offering financial rewards for good teaching may provide an effective way to re shape attitudes among faculty, and a way to keep good teaching a priority for associate and full professors secure in their positions at the University. ButmMS and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz. director/general mangager; Chrissy Mennitt advertising director; Leslie Humphrey, classified ad manager; Lisa Reichle, business manager; Megan Stephenson, advertising manager; Krista Scavone and Elizabeth Johnson, business assistants. Classified Advertising: Rachel Lomasz. Assistant Editors: Lily Thayer, arts and Diversions; Mary-Kathryn Craft and Angela Moore, city: Amanda Barnett and DaHas Smith. copy. Angela Eubanks, design; David Silverstein. features; Mark Weissman, graphics; Serena Custis and Brad Smith, photo; Alec Morrison, Paul Strelow and Kurt Tondorf, sports; Aaron Beard and M. Lee Taft Sport Saturday; Todd Darling and Wendy Goodman, state 6 national; Sharif Durhams, Marva Hinton and John Sweeney. university Marissa Jones, writing coach. Arts/Diversions: Todd Gilchrist music editor. Mitch Bennett and Dean Hair, senior writers; Chris Barge, Robert Breitweiser. Kelly Brewington, Beth Carroll, Marya DeVoto. Louis Dillard, Nathan Ellis. Steven Ferrara, Betsy Greer. Rich Harris. Aziz Huq. Amber hrey. Claire Jarvis. Verna Kale. Greg Kaliss, Kacey Kinard. Stephen Lee, Sophie Milam. Amelia Rasmus, Brent Simon. Barry Summerllin. Brian Truitt Ivan Vasquez. Scott Whittier and Karen Wiliams. Cartoon: Eric Bishop, Brad Christensen, Sean Gillespie. Tommy Harris. Brian Kahn. Paul Kendall, Toly Long. Adria Mueller. Rob Neilson. Paul Saunders. Brad Timmers. Miles Travis and Michael Wlodek. City: Elizabeth Adams, Sara Griffitt Kate Harrison. Erica Hinton. Mike Hirschel. Christina Kopp. Sallie Lacy. Aaron Levine. Jim Martin, Megan Meadows. Rob Nelson. Gibson Pate. Alex Podlogar. Meegan Smith. Rachel Swain. Stacey The editorials are approved by the majority of the editorial board, which is composed of the editor editorial page editor and seven editorial writers. The Daffy Tar Heel if published by the DTH Publishing Corp.. a nonprofit North NATIONAL NEWSPAPER #1070 . q4 0 Carolina Gordin, o th.U-W.radv calendar ASSOCUTOW ,SSN ' lO7W > 6 Callers with questions about billing or display advertising should dial 962-1163 Office: Suite 104 Carolina Union between 8 30 a m and 5 p.m. Classified ads can be reached at 962-0262 Eddonal Campus Mail Add rasa: C 8 6210 Boa 49. Carolina Union questions should be directed to 962-0245/0246 U.S. Mail Addreaa: P.O. Boa 3267. Chapel HHI NC 27616-3267 of the shuttle services, are long overdue. Others, however, deserve a re-examination. Even if only a few students need stops at the Bell Tower and Craige parking lots, the stops should return as a part of the P2P Xpress route. Ordinarily, what the majority wants overrules the wants of the minority. However, one student’s safety cannot be compromised for others’ convenience. And though hiring students as drivers for the P2P Xpress service is beneficial for those want ing on-campus jobs, the idea could do more harm than good without close supervision. Stu dents have enough to do with classes, studying and outside activities. While a normal part-time job would not pose a major safety risk for a student short on sleep, driving a shuttle full of rambunctious students until the wee hours of the morning could be a problem. In hiring students, the DTP must ascertain that applicants have both the time and maturity to handle the job. Many of the changes made in the P2P Xpress services are necessary and will be convenient to students in need of transportation. At the same time, safety needs to remain the top concern. Tenure tension Even so, the real source of the problem—and a real solution the subcommittee ignored lies in the University tenure process. Nothing else shapes the focus ofprofessors’ careers more than this all-important evaluation, which will decide whether they get a lifetime job or the boot. At present, the tenure process relies much more heavily on a professor’s publication record and research quality than his or her teaching proficiency. Such a tenure process may result in a university boasting the best researchers in ev ery discipline. But if students never have access to these professors, what real educational purpose do they serve? And if these professors continue to emphasize research in the hiring of their col leagues , how will teaching ever take its deserved place in the realm of professorial functions? The subcommittee needs not only to find a better description of the teaching function, but to establish that teaching ability’s role in tenure cases. Teaching quality could be easily quanti fied by examining surveys from professors’ stu dents and by hiring professional educators to evaluate and train professors in teaching skills. Using such evaluations, departments could grant tenure on the basis of all of a professor’s responsibilities. Teaching’s new role in tenure decisions would, in turn, provide the concrete incentive to make professors change their ways. Only by attacking at the root of the problem, neglect of teaching in decisions of professional success, will the University ever make great teaching a quality which helps professors steer their careers. Until such real changes occur in the conception of professorial obligations, teaching will continue to take the back seat. THE DAILY TAR HEEL Business & Advertising Staff assistant manager. Customer Service Shelly Harper, Marian Jones, Sherry W. Martin. Laurie Morton. Chemise Overton and Julie Robertson, representatives. Display Advertising: Bee Auger. Megan Boyle. Eileen Hintz. Wendy Holmes, Shannon Hrdlicka, Henry Jay. Gidget Lamb, Jonri Scott. Leslie Stephenson and Amy Waller, account executives; Editorial Staff Tumage and Julia Wood. Copy: Jenny Abella. Sara Batten. Catherine Blair. Karen Glunk. Michelle Jones. Elzabeth Kull, Kendell Mac Queen, Elizabeth Martin, Melissa Minas. April Simun. Jamie Vacca, Brandyne Warren and Elizabeth Whaley. Design: Michelle LaPierre, May-Sung Li, Courtney McCurry. Holly Neal, Trina Ozer. Jennifer Snow, Leslie Wilkinson and Alkisti Yiannibas. Editorial: John Adcock. Devona Brown. Matthew Crawford. Susan Hazeldean. Leslie Kendrick. Keith Kocher and Tara Powell. Features: Lauren Agrella. Pooja Asher, Ashley Copeland, Jason Creech, Trisha Dabb, Kevin Degon, Hilary Franklin. Mark Lineberger, Andrea Luecke, John McAllister. Andrew McLester, Jason Morrell, Olivia Page Brenna Pearson, Cory Van Belois and Mary Williamson. Graphics: Eiyse Alley, Jessica Godwin. Ashley Henkel, Anne Riley, Eileen Russell and Kelley Shaw. Photography: Erik Perel, senior photographer; Cara Brickman. Ashley Broom, Ketty Brown, Lindsay Cage. Kim Dark. Kai Dacosta. Morisea Davis. Jon Gardiner, Jennifer Guthrie, Margo Hasselman, John Ikeda, Kerri Laz. Ben McAllister, Misti McDaniel, Kristina Morris, Kristin Rohan. M.C. Steed and Vibhuti Uppal Special Assignments: Sarah Frisch. Jessica Galazka, Tony Mecia, Lou Rutigliano, Monica Sanchez and Jonathan Watson. Ryan Norwood editorial page editor Junk Griswold university editor Laura Godwin CITY editor Erica Beshears state 6 national editor Andrew Park special assignments editor Robbi Pickeral SPORTS EDITOR . Joseph Robson SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR ■ Jessica Banov FEATURES EDITOR Melissa Mibos arts 6 diversions editor Juba Corbin COPY DESK EDITOR Michael Kanarek COPY DESK EDITOR Amy CappieDo PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR .Amy Qnattlebaom DESIGN EDITOR Phillip Molaro GRAPHICS EDITOR Robin Linehan EDITORIAL CARTOON EDITOR Robin Berbola STAFF DEVELOPMENT Jodi Brown, Beth Cresant6, Joel Sasser and Barry Wyner, assistant account executives. Advertising Production: Beth O'Brien, manager; Richard D. Allen. Yvonne Cema, Cindy Henley and Jody Matthews, assistants. Classified Production: Penny Persons. Newsderk: Chris Dovichak. Sports: Beverty Morgan, copy. Dave Alexander. Jack Chaney, David Fleming. Kristi Geerken, Paul Holscher. Craig Kiser, Jason Knott Reino Makkonen, Anglea Merritt Jeff Stencel and Mike Sundheim. Staff Development Sandy Alexander, Chris Barge, Derek Chiang, Jenny Couch, Erica Ellis. Fay Giannoulis, Shaina Gross, Adam Gusman, Susan Hazeldean, Johnny Joyner, Greg Kallis, Sara Lester and Daniel Van Hall. State end Nationel: Melissa Steele, senior writer; Tiffany Cashwell, Anne Corbett Jonathan Cox. Sara deManigold, April Demert Vickey Eckenrode, Eric Flack, Anne Harden, Holly Hart Charles Hellwig, Emily Howell, Trida Johnson, Antoinette Kerr. Ashley Matlock. Whitney Moore, Kishma Patnaik. Monika Ruef, Andrew Rose. Robin Smith. LeAnn Spradling and Jeff Young. University: Rick Conner, Merritt Dempsey. Kaitlin Gurney, Ashley Hagler. Leah Haney. Alison Hill. Mindy Hodges. Balkees Jarrah, Teresa KiHian. Sheng Lee, Evan Markfield, Jim Nicks, Kelly O'Brien, Kerry Ossi, Am Pande. Stephanie Shaw. Sarah Sims, Anasa Sinegal Dave Snell Dana Spangler, Ashley Stephenson, Nahal Toosi. Lynn Wadford, Ray Watters. Jon Wiliams. Deanna Wittmer and Sara Yawn. Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn, manager. DTH On-Line: Eddie Beiles, production. Printing: Triangle Web. Distribution: Triangle Circulation Services. EDITORIAL Student voices necessary for effective universities There’s a strange neurosis in higher education, a conflict between its ide als and reality which is often covered up and denied. The ideal is to educate students to the fullest of their ability and to advance knowledge at a reasonable cost. But the reality is, a college education has become increas ingly narrow and expensive in recent years while research is often bloated and useless. It’s like one of those nightmares where legs turn to molasses and the demons seem to be gaining. What’s gone wrong? The answer is that when you turn an orga nization over to certain people, they shape the organization to meet their real, as well as, idealistic needs. For example, when a pitcher designs a baseball stadium, he makes the out field walls so distant home runs are scarce. This confusion of personal with idealistic goals is a natural human phenomenon. He means well because he thinks the public wants a good pitching duel more than they want to see home runs. His argument may be intellectually re spectable and logically correct, but if it de prives the customers and fans of free choice and the feeling that the game belongs to them, it is the wrong way to design a stadium. That’s why the key to an institution’s ideals is how it is governed. If decisions are made only by those at the top, the institution will tend to favor their goals more than those of people at the bottom. For example, goals of a university are generally: (1) to advance knowl edge; (2) to educate undergraduates; (3) to train graduate/professional students; (4) to increase in prestige, size, and influence; (5) and to serve the general public. But if you put these goals in a pie chart to exemplify priorities, you’d discover wide dif ferences of opinion among different constitu encies. Faculty at top research universities would probably give the biggest slice of the pie to research and graduate/professional train ing with a small left-over piece of the pie for undergraduates. Undergraduates, on the other hand, would surely assign more than 50 per cent of the pie chart to serving undergraduate Editorial omits several facts about Student Congress TO THE EDITOR: The editorial on Oct. 30 entitled “Downing ‘Town and Gown’” failed to mention several material facts and put words in the mouths of many congress members. First of all, it is misleading to state that the finance committee approved Town and Gown’s request and that congress members subsequently became suddenly concerned that too much money had been spent this semester. When we on the Finance Committee reported favorably to the full Congress the request Town and Gown made, it was without the knowl edge of how much, if any, of the emergency reserves the student body treasurer would al low to be spent. In previous weeks she had opened the reserves up to $7,000. On the night in question, she opened the reserves up $2,000. The amount of funding in total being requested by all groups before us that night was signifi cantly more than $2,000. Some members of Congress made the decision that some of these other groups were more worthy of these funds, of which Town and Gown was asking for almost half. Second, the editorial states that “the Fi nance Committee acted irresponsibly in ap proving a request that excessively taxed their present funding capacities. The committee could have saved the group the embarrass ment of appearing before the entire congress only to be denied funding completely. ” This is false. The Finance Committee cannot kill a bill in committee. The worst we could do would be to cut the request to zero dollars and recommend that level of funding to the full Congress, which then makes the decision as to how the group will be funded. Please make an effort to understand the workings of Congress and the actual events that occur before you make judgments or reports on us. Ed Page, District 14 FINANCE COMMITTEE Article forgets politics are more than party affiliation TO THE EDITOR: I read the article “UNC professors lean toward political left" (Oct. 28) with a sinking heart. The way in which the argument is framed assumes that the way one votes indi cates all of one’s views —as if all Democrat- \ ROBERT HONIGMAN | education. Unfortunately, university officials would probably not GUEST COLUMNIST give an honest answer. They are extremely conscious of public opinion. For example, administrators will often say teaching is con sidered equally with research in tenure deci sions, although this is never true. It’s a white lie. So how do you get administrators to tell you exactly what they consider most impor tant? The solution is not to ask them, but simply watch what they do, and deduce their priorities from that. They seem to believe the goal of a university is to increase its size, influence and prestige. With this pie chart in mind, observe the university carefully and you’ll discover the distribution ofresources in the university closely matches the distribution of power. To use an analogy ofthe African veldt: when an antelope is brought down, the biggest predators rou tinely get the biggest share of the carcass, no matter how badly the smaller animals may need food and nourishment. Similarly, in the university, the biggest slice routinely goes to build up the size and prestige of the university, the next largest slice goes to increase its re search and graduate training, and the smallest slice of pie, the scraps and bones, goes to undergraduate education. It matches the dis tribution of power exactly. When a university is run this way, its central problem becomes: How do you motivate and control undergraduates? The answer is as logi cal as it is tragic (all the more so because it’s denied). You use lies (public relations), fear, greed and alliances with outside institutions. Gradually, over the last few decades these four horsemen of the apocalypse have come to rule the university. Higher education today is not interested in listening to students and helping them find their way, but in controlling them and making their behavior predictable. Of course, universities are a success. They have grown in prestige, size and influence. Sponsored research now dominates all major READERS’FORUM The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people. Students should include their year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and phone number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgarity. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or email forum to: dth@unc.edu. voting professors think the same about all issues. This is palpably not the case. Some professors may choose to vote for the Demo crats because they believe that that party will safeguard education better than the GOP. But the same professors may hold dramatically differing views on foreign policy, the national debt, abortion, building roads, or what have you. Politics go way beyond political parties. Your writer seemed to forget that (last Mon day). Perhaps his conversations with Glenn Ricketts persuaded him that true diversity is simply binary (Republican or Democrat), rather than a whole host of subtly different positions across the political spectrum from extreme radical Left to extreme Right. Helen Hills ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ART DEPARTMENT Championship Yankees reminiscent of past greats TO THE EDITOR: Thank you for a short but well written tribute to the New York Yankees (“Damn Yankees,” 0ct.29) After being a lifetime Yankee fan, I finally realized the dream after 18 long seasons of mediocre baseball in New York, except for the outrageously arrogant but talented Mets in the mid-’Bos, and finally celebrated a baseball championship in New York. lift? Oatlq tiar ilrel campuses. Since the priorities of top adminis trators and top faculty are being rewarded these people have a strong incentive not to notice the university’s moral and social failure. What administrators and faculty don’t real ize is in the process of achieving their goals they are losing their souls. They have become narrow technocrats, ready to serve anyone who honors their goals and pays their way. They are less able to feel love or empathy for others. They are more dependent on authority and always being right. Their very success depends on continuing to ignore and disparage the needs of ordinary students. The remedy for this neurotic and dangerous situation is to recognize that faculty, students and officials have adversarial interests and priorities, and each needs a voice in university governance. The priorities and goals of the university today match almost exactly the per sonal ambitions and goals of faculty and ad ministrators. They take the lion’s share of re sources. That’s why they cannot also claim to be disinterested trustees of their students. “Nothing in the law of fiduciary trusts is better settled than that the trustee shall not be allowed to advantage himself in dealings with the trust estate” (76 Am. Jur. 2d, Section 318). The university is slowly dying, and its top leaders are in denial. A strong students voice univer sity governance will be painful at first, but will gradually allow the university to become healthy and independent again. So, like a ensign on the Titanic, I run about knocking on doors and interrupt the music and the dancing. I try to tell faculty and administra tors that the university is a ship of fools where all their good intentions and high ideals are not enough and never will be. But they look at me oddly and reply, “The lessons of the baseball field aren’t applicable here.” And the band plays on. Robert Honigman is an attorney from Birmingham, Mich., who has recently completed a book entitled "University Secrets: Your guide to surviving a college education.' I can still recall the days of Munson (I cried when I learned he was killed in the plane crash in Canton, Ohio), Nettles, Jackson, Guidry, Gossage and the powerhouse Yankees of the ’7os ... Bucky Dent’s home run in the one game playoff against the Red Sox, the fans chanting Reggie after his three World Series home runs, the nasty and almost unhittable slider of Ron “Louisiana Lightning” Guidry and even the home run that Goose Gossage gave up to George Brett in the playoffs. As many memories I have from my wanna be-a ballplayer days in Brooklyn, I can’t help but to be proud of this year’s edition of the “Bronx Bombers.” Every superstition I had I think I followed these last two weeks. My girlfriend sent me a Yankee baseball from New York which I carried with me along with my Yankees cap to a business trip to Florida. I even watched part of the games in a bar and part in the hotel room after we won Game 3 (again following superstition). After the final game I tried to call everyone I knew at 11:30 p.m., but no one wanted to talk to me. It’s nice that a college publication in a small southern town can recognize a great season while I’m sure others will tend to overlook it. Tyrone T. Irby CHAPEL HILL United States responsible for Indonesian atrocities also TO THE EDITOR: Well done reveille on UNC/Indonesia by Graham Brink. I would add that it is an open question whether the West is “directly respon sible.” There was the visit to Djakarta in 1975 by Ford and Kissinger, two days before the invasion ofEast Timor by Indonesia’s military government. And there was that little matter of 500,000 alleged Communists killed in 1965. The CIA made a list of them—while they were alive. Dave Unman GRADUATESfUDENT COMMUNICATIONS Time is running out The deadline for applications to The Daily Tar Heel's editorial board is tomorrow at 5 p.m. Any questions about either applications or the editorial board should be directed to Editorial Page Editor Ryan Norwood at 9624086.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 6, 1996, edition 1
10
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75