Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 09, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Page: 1 of 8
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We triple-dog-dare you!
Take a look at this week's Merry
I Christmas Cult Comer.
ARTS & ENT., page 5
DO NOT REMOVE
FROM LIBRAR
Goodbye Josephine!
Our favorite editor-in-chief voyages to
the land of reindeer, saunas and really
long words (Finland!).
Editors’ Top Five
The Megaphone staff imposes
their musical taste on the campus.
ARTS & ENT., page 4
3* Megaphone
RECEIVED
o 8 2000
SMITH LIBRARY CENTER
'OUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Volume 95, Issue IX
The Official Student Newspaper of Southwestern University
December 7, 2000
Nondiscrimination policy passed by Schrum
Lacy Klosterman
Megaphone Staff
The fall business meeting of
the Southwestern University Board
of Trustees was held on Friday,
November 10,h. During this meet-
ing, the board heard the first official
University fepott from President
Jake B. Schrum.
Part of this report was an
announcement by Schrum that
Southwestern University would be
adding a new statement to its exist-
ing policies.
This addition is the Statement
of Nondiscrimination and Domes-
tic Partner Benefits Policy. Added
to this statement was the issue
of sexual orientation. The updated
statement will be added to the Fac-
ulty, Staff and Student Handbooks
as well as the University Catalog.
This part of the policy reads,
“Southwestern University’s com-
mitment to equal opportunity
includes nondiscrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation.”
Shannon Winnubst, Associate
Professor of Religion and Philos-
ophy said, “Faculty and students
have tried to get this included for
at least the last 10 years. Two peti-
tions have been given to the board
prior to this meeting. It has been a
long time coming.”
The statement “evolved only
after a significant amount of
research, conversation with the uni-
versity community, and consulta-
tion with peer institutions took
place,” said Director of Public
Relations and Marketing Eric Van
Danen.
This year, as University Pres-
ident, “I made the decision and
simply informed the Board of my
decision on November 10, 2000.”
Schrum stated.
“In his report to the Board of
Trustees at the meeting, President
Schrum informed trustees that this
action was being taken. He did not
ask for a vote from the board,” said
Van Danen.
When asked if the acceptance by
the board was positive, Van Danen
stated, “The Board of Trustees pub-
licly praised President Schrum for
his courage and conviction.”
According to Professor of His-
tory Jan Dawson, “The first time
that a student organization equiva
lent to today’s student union tried
to get this passed was in the aca-
demic year 1990-91.
“I know that three times since
the students passed the policy, then
faculty voted for it and passed the
recommendation on to the admin-
istration.
“The policy then went to the
executive committee of the board
of trustees where it eventually died.
There were a variety of reasons
why the policy was not passed
sooner.
“There was the debate within
the Methodist church about homo-
sexuality as well as legal concerns
about the university being sued.
“President Schrum simply
decided it was time for SU to do
this.
“The board did not vote on
it President Schrum made the
announcement and it was not
greeted reluctantly,” said Dawson.
The campus community has
greeted the addition of the policy in
a positive manner.
Author Oates speaks at campus
Tolly Moseley
Asst. News Editor
Tuesday’s visit by distin-
guished contemporary author
Joyce Carol Oates provided
Southwestern a dose of literary
expertise as the inaugural guest
of Southwestern’s new series
called “The Writer’s \foice.”
In addition to Oates’ public
reading and lecture held Tues-
day evening in the Alma
Thomas Theatre, she attended
a faculty /student luncheon wel-
coming her to the school, and
interacted with communication
studies and theatre classes.
Each class worked with
selected portions of Oates fic-
tion and dramas earlier this
year.
In her lecture, Oates
remarked, “I was very
impressed by the astute and
penetrating questions put forth
to me by the students I visited
with today.
“I’m glad Southwestern
seems to fosjer and encourage
such intellectual ideas and
thought processes in its stu-
dents.”
A National Book Award
finalist for her latest novel,
Blonde, Oates discussed with
students in Dr. Christine
Kiesinger’s Introduction to
Communication Studies class
the genesis for her book, and
why she selected “blonde” for
the title.
“I saw a photograph of
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Sarah Meyer/Photo Editor
Author Joyce Carol Oates addresses a communication class during her recent visit to South-
western. Oates discussed her work Blonde vyith the class, who had read the novel prior to her
visit. They also discussed a variety of themes present in her work.
Norma Jeane Baker, and in it,
she looked so hopeful, so eager
to please. She was pretty, but not
glamorous; she had curly brown
hair, very different from the bleach
blond hair we associate her with,”
Oates said.
“To become Marilyn Monroe,
Norma Jeane had to almost aban-
don herself,” Oates continued. “She
bleached her hair color, endured
some [plastic] surgery on her
mouth.
“I chose ‘Blonde’ for the nov-
il’s title, because it was an embleiir
of a Self that she had to construct,
a self that hid her true identity. In
writing the book, I was not inter-
ested in Marilyn Monroe, but
Norma Jeane Baker: the real
person underneath Marilyn.”
The American Celebrity,
embodied by figures such as
Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Pre-
WhoKnows/Page 2
SU tuition lower than other schools
> \!rH , . -* •£;.
Sara Springfield
Megaphone Staff
K ly vL’'■ . : .•
After hearing rumors that SU is
planning to raise tuition quite a bit,
I interviewed Fiscal Affairs Vice
President Richard Anderson to find
out the whole story.
I discovered that although a
tuition increase does seem inevi-
table in the near future, there are
more sides of the issue than just
money matters.
Let’s start with a few Southwest-
Wjl’-fi , em tu*ti°n facts. SU students pay
approximately $15,700 to attend
, , ' this University, not including room
and board or the required meal
plan. With those included, the total
comes to about $23,000, before
financial aid and scholarships. The
actual coat per student of attend-
ing SU is approximately $30,000,
according to Anderson:
What picks up the rest of that
$30,000 that we do not pay? South-
western’s $335 million endowment,
which generates about $275,000
per student. The SU endowment,
the 31" largest endowment per stu-
dent of any institution in the US,
comes mainly from investments,
like shares of stock, in big name
companies, such as Exxon.
$U hires outside endowment
managers to make investment deci-
sions, and they are responsible for
managing these funds to the best
of their abilities. These managers
have full and complete discretion
over investment decision!* ,
Fayez Sarofim A Co., a Hous-
ton based investing and money-
managing firm, is SU’s primarv
endowment manager, and donated
the funds for the new Fine Arts
wing and the Alma Thomas reno-
vations.
The endowment also accounts
for about 40% of the operating
budget. Fifty percent comes from
tuition, and 3-5% is contributed
through gifts to the University.
SU’s operating budget is used
for basic operating costs such as
faculty and staff salaries, financial
aid packages and scholarships, stu-
dent services and clubs, and ser-
vices like physical plant.
Although SU is one of the top
ranking private schools in Texas,
the administration hopes to rank
with nationally acclaimed institu-
tions, such as Swarthmore College
and Vassar College. “ ■{
Although our education pro-
grams are continually pro wins and
matching the academic levels of
these schools, the price tags are
“Southwestern maintains its
commitment to free and open debate
in accordance with its fundamental
.mission as a liberal arts university.
“The addition of sexual ori-
entation to the non-discrimination
policy will not undermine this
mission any more than does South-
western’s policies proscribing dis-
crimination on the basis of sex,
race, color, religion, age, disabil-
ity, national or ethnic origin, or any
other impermissible factor.” said
Van Danen when asked how the
campus community reacted.
Specific reasons why this state-
ment was not already a part of SU
policy are linked to the fact that
currently there are no applicable
federal, state, or local laws or ordi-
nances extending protected status
to individuals based on their sexual
orientation.
Sarah Meyer/Photo Editor
President Schrum
Student returns
after bombing
Tolly Moseley
Asst. News Editor
On November 10 2000. brew
ing leriitoriai conflict in israei cli-
maxed in the city of Jerusalem,
where a bombing occurred just out-
side Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
Southwestern junior Paul Belk was
studying abroad in Israel at the
time of the explosion, just three
hours away from the actual bomb-
ing.
“That day, we were shopping
in a market in Jerusalem called
Maheda Yehuda, just buying eggs
and fruit like normal people,” said
Belk. “When [the bombing] hap-
pened, [other students and I] were
on a field'trip to the northern part of
Israel, and all of a sudden everyone
Starting getting calls on their cell
phones from their parents, making
sure they were o.k. That’s when we
found out about it.”
Israeli suspect the bombing to
be part of a global terrorist cam-
paign, according to a November 10
CNN report.
Since Israeli-Palestinian fight-
ing began on September 28,
region’s inhabitants have expe-
rienced numerous negative side
effects.
Palestinians from the West Bank
and Gaza Strip have not been
allowed to enter Israel since fight-
ing broke out, and Palestinian
unemployment Tias dramatically
risen from 12% to 41%. One third
of Palestinians now live below the
poverty line, compared to one fifth
in September. So far, the Pales-
tinian economy has lost $500 mil-
lion dollars in wages lind trade,
and with each additional day, the
losses are increasing by $10 mil-
lion, according to Tuesday’s CNN
report
in audition, more man JOO
people — mostly Palestinians —
have died in violent confrontations
between Israeli security forces
and Palestinians since September
28. Israeli forces say they have
used considerable restraint to deal
with the volatile situation. But
even though Army regulations only
allow soldiers to fire on armed
Palestinians or those holding fire-
bombs, many slaughtered Pales-
tinians were completely unarmed
when they were killed, according
to a report released last Wednesday
by the Israeli Center for Human
Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Israeli-Palestinian resentment is
rooted in over 50 years of territo-
rial dispute.
“After World War II, during
which ghastly numbers ot Jews
were killed, the issue of a home-
state tor the Jewish people became a
pressing matter in the Middle East.”
said Southwestern religion profes-
sor Dr. I^aura Hobgood-Oster
“Israel was carved out as a
Jewish territory, since Jews
believed the area was inherently
theirs to begin with, according to
the Bible,” Hobgood-Oster contin-
ued. “But Arabs and Palestinians
had been living there already, and
resented having their land seized
from them."
Mideast/Page 2
very different. We pay approxi-
mately $23,000 a year, whereas
Swarthmore and Vassar cost just
under $35,000 a year.
When asked if being competi-
tive with these schools included a
higher tuition, Anderson said that
“it is inevitable to have a tuition
increase. This is a matter of bal-
ancing priorities. We must be good
stewards of our resources.”
The priorities Anderson men-
tioned are those of faculty and 1
staff salaries, which are a part of
the Master Plan, and our growing
range of services. With new pro-
grams being implemented, and new
staff being hired to manege the
new programs, we have continual
cost increases, and more money is
needed for the upkeep.
Today
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Saturday
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Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 09, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000, newspaper, December 7, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth634186/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Southwestern University.