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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

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Total Clips: 8

	Date	Outlet
Memories of images from fraternity party still vivid	10/31/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Five years later, AU remembers 'blackface' incident	10/31/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
In Pursuit of the Name Game Up A Tree	10/31/2006	The Chronicle of Higher Education
Riley, Baxley step up travel plans in last week of campaign	10/31/2006	Tuscaloosa News
Historian to discuss southern religion at Lyon	10/31/2006	Batesville Daily Guard
Football players at major Ala. schools lean toward 'jock majors'	10/31/2006	Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
University names dean of enrollment management	10/31/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
'One small step...'	10/20/2006	Gulf News


Memories of images from fraternity party still vivid 10/31/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Donathan Prater		Return to Top
Five years after Auburn University saw what some first thought of as merely Halloween high jinks quickly devolve into a modern-day minstrel show, the moment the incident came to light is still very clear in the mind of Dion Gardner. Gardner, a 2003 graduate of Auburn University, recalls the day she was working at the Foy Student Union Building as a desk manager when her friend Ceddrik Mack walked in. "He was in a rush and nearly out of breath to tell us about something," said Gardner, which alerted her to the fact that something may have been wrong. "He'd (Ceddrik) usually always make it a point to speak to us first." Mack, also a former AU student and SGA treasurer who later succumbed to complications from sickle cell anemia, asked Gardner if she'd "seen the pictures on the Internet." The "pictures" Mack was referring to were of members of at least 10 members of Beta Theta Pi and Delta Sigma Phi, two traditionally white fraternities, in blackface paint and Ku Klux Klan regalia. In one of the photos taken at the private party, the fraternity members attended in 2001, one member in blackface appears with a noose around his neck while donning attire bearing the handwritten name of a popular urban wear company. Other white fraternity members were wearing the Greek letters of Omega Psi Phi, a traditionally black fraternity that has maintained a chapter on AU's campus since the early 1970s. The photos of the fraternity members in blackface were available for sale at the www.partypics.com Web site. "I called 'Tic' and told him that these guys were even wearing authentic Omega gear," Gardner said. Thomas "Tic" Sullivan, a 2002 graduate of AU, was one of the first members of Omega Psi Phi to learn of the Halloween party pictures. "When I first saw the pictures my first reaction was one of disbelief," said Sullivan, a native of Mobile. "Then I realized that a lot of people have come to expect this kind of behavior in the South." But it was just that kind of behavior that resulted in the suspension of both Beta Theta Pi and Delta Sigma Phi fraternities from the AU campus and the suspension of at least 10 of the fraternity members that posed for the Halloween pictures. A judge later, however, ordered Auburn University to reinstate the 10 fraternity members. Since the 2001 Halloween party debacle, AU has launched a host of programs underscoring racial tolerance and diversity. "The university has stepped up its efforts to educate students, Greek and otherwise about diversity," said David Granger, former Auburn University media relations manager. Part of those efforts included a Diversity Leadership Council established in the early months of 2002 at AU. Village Photographers supplied the student-photographers who were employed with the business at the time of the 2001 incident, however the photos were ones Village Photographers owner and manager Allen R. Patterson says he'd never condone. "It's something I'd never have gone along with," said Patterson who occasionally employs student help. "It was a case of poor judgment. Unfortunately sometimes student employees don't use the same judgment as management would. "Those people no longer work for us," Patterson said. Gardner still feels the incident could've been handled better by AU officials. "(The white fraternities involved) basically just got a slap on the wrist," Gardner said. "A bunch of diversity programs are worthless in addressing that fact." And while Gardner was hurt and offended by the 2001 Halloween party photos, it's not something that surprised her. "It wasn't shocking. You have to remember that you're living in the South and there is still blatant racism here," Gardner said. "If the Ku Klux Klan can still walk around, there's still a real problem down there," Gardner said. Her former AU colleague Sullivan agrees with her but does draw on some positives he feels came out of the 2001 incident. "That situation prompted other incidents to be brought to light," Sullivan said. "It got some folks to understand that this kind of thing can happen anywhere." To get a detailed look at more of the photos from the Auburn 2001 Halloween party, visit http://www.tolerance.org/news/feature/auburn/index.html.
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Five years later, AU remembers 'blackface' incident 10/31/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
If Brian Egeston didn't get the attention of more than 100 students gathered in the ballroom of the Foy Student Union Monday night by reading the racist words from the first chapter of his novel, "An Auburn Autumn," then the five-year-old images of white Auburn University students in "blackface" and Ku Klux Klan outfits did. Nearly 20 pictures from the 2001 Beta Theta Pi/Delta Sigma Phi fraternity Halloween party, which included "blackface" students posing in Omega Psi Phi T-shirts or wearing T-shirts with FUBU handwritten on them with a noose around their necks, offended Egeston so much, he wrote a fictional tale based on true events. He was a participant in a panel discussion about the novel and race relations at AU Monday night. Egeston did not attend AU, but as a member of the Omegas at Tennessee State University, was "disheartened" to see non-members wearing the Greek symbols and colors of the national black fraternity. He said it's an incident that, although a sad part of history, shouldn't be forgotten. It should be talked about annually to educate new generations on past mistakes so they aren't repeated. Egeston said he was ashamed and appalled at the images, but saw pride, tradition and family when he came to Auburn. Kiara Pesante hadn't seen the pictures or heard about the party when she came to AU last year. "When I found out about it, I was a bit taken aback," she said. She became concerned about a racist incident occurring on campus so recently. She wanted to make sure the time was not forgotten. As president of the new Auburn Association of Black Journalists, she helped organize the discussion around the five-year anniversary featuring Egeston, Paul Kittle, AU director of Greek Life, and Dr. Fred Kam, medical director of the AU Medical Clinic. Kam said he'll never forget the day he saw the pictures. Since then he prays every Halloween: "God, please don't let some fool do something stupid this year." It is unfortunate that it happened, he admitted, but it wasn't illegal, just wrong and insensitive. "Like anything else, we learn from our mistakes," he said. "If we don't, that’s our fault." Kittle said it all boils down to education. Students involved may not have known the history of "blackface" and how it is insensitive, but the depiction of the Klan is racist, especially in the south, according to Kittle. "There is no lack of understanding when it comes to the Klan," he said. Kittle said the university has policies and procedures on campus to deal with such incidents if they occur again. Perhaps the biggest change since 2001 is the university's strategic diversity plan which is being executed by Dr. Overtoun Jenda.
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In Pursuit of the Name Game Up A Tree 10/31/2006 The Chronicle of Higher Education News Roundup		Return to Top
After 11 months of deliberation, Auburn University's student government has announced a new and improved name for the ceremonial lighting of the campus's Christmas tree. The change strives to offend no one. According to the Auburn Plainsman, the event formerly known as the "Holiday Tree Lighting" — unsatisfactory because of the absence of the C word — will henceforth be called the "Holiday Celebration Featuring the Lighting of the Christmas Tree." Much clearer.
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Riley, Baxley step up travel plans in last week of campaign 10/31/2006 Tuscaloosa News Dana Beyerle		Return to Top
Paul Johnson, associate professor of political science at Auburn University, was a source in this story. This story also appeared in the Decatur Daily and on WTVM-TV and WAFF-TV. MONTGOMERY \| Today marks the home stretch in the race for governor, and both candidates in the major parties appear ready for a sprint to Election Day next Tuesday. Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, will begin a five-day bus tour today in Wetumpka with a stop in Tuscaloosa at 3 p.m. at Annette Shelby Park at 15th Street and Queen City Avenue, Riley’s campaign said Monday. Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, a Democrat, will be in Huntsville for two events today. Her schedule beyond today was not released Monday. Riley will be in northeast and south-central Alabama on Wednesday and Thursday and south Alabama on Friday and Saturday. Riley’s 29-stop tour will end in Mobile County. “This is our get-out-the-vote effort," Riley campaign spokesman Josh Blades said. “Our campaign is running through the finish line and ... he’s going to be campaigning hard until the polls close on/sNov. 7." Baxley trails Riley both in campaign funds and in the polls. Riley is riding on the state’s good economy and the benefits of incumbency. “The polls show them so far apart that it’s not very likely that anything either one of them does is going to have an impact on the outcome of their races," said Paul Johnson, associate professor of political science at Auburn University. D’Linell Finley, political science professor at Auburn University in Montgomery, said Riley’s campaign built up expectations that he will be “pretty decisive in his victory." “If Lucy Baxley can make this thing close or closer, it may take some of the air of invincibility away from Gov. Riley," Finley said.
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Historian to discuss southern religion at Lyon 10/31/2006 Batesville Daily Guard		Return to Top
AU professor emeritus Wayne Flynt is featured in this story. Guest lecturer Dr. Wayne Flynt will discuss "The South's Battle Over God" at a convocation at Lyon College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Nucor Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Flynt, professor emeritus of history at Auburn University, is a leading authority on Southern history, Alabama history and Baptist history. A former Mobile Register Alabamian of the Year, he is an ordained Southern Baptist minister who recently retired after four decades in higher education. He is the author of 11 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated "Poor But Proud: Alabama’s Poor Whites." He is also author of "Dixie’s Forgotten People: The South's Poor Whites" and two biographies of former Florida governors. Flynt's books have won many awards including the Lillian Smith Award for Non-Fiction, the Alabama Library Association Award for Non-Fiction, Outstanding Academic Book from the American Library Association, and the James F. Sulzby, Jr. Book Award. He is co-author of "Alabama: A History of a Deep South State," which was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and editor-in-chief of the "Online Encyclopedia of Alabama." Flynt has actively devoted his life to bringing the issues of history and poverty and their social impact to the forefront of the public's consciousness. He was educated at Samford University (bachelor of arts, 1961) and Florida State University (master of science, 1962; doctorate of philosophy, 1965).
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Football players at major Ala. schools lean toward 'jock majors' 10/31/2006 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Associated Press from the Birmingham News		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story. This AP story also appeared in the Miami Herald, Hendersonville Times News (NC), Tuscaloosa News, Gadsden Times and Decatur Daily. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Chances are, if you play football at the University of Alabama, you're majoring in general studies. At Auburn University, lots of football players apparently want to be sociologists. And at UAB, history is a popular degree choice among players. The Birmingham News analyzed degree choices listed in the media guides of each of the state's big three schools and found that each appears to have so-called "jock majors," or degree programs that attract large numbers of football players. At Alabama, the most popular football major is general studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, the newspaper reported. Twenty-six percent of football players majored in general studies, compared with 2 percent of all Alabama students. The most popular football major at Auburn is sociology, accounting for 17 percent of the team's declared majors. This season, football players are 35 times more likely to major in sociology than the student body. Less than 1 percent of the student body chooses that major. Since summer, Auburn has been investigating the expanded number of directed-reading courses in sociology and some other fields - courses that produced mostly high grades. Two professors have resigned. The paper reported that 22 percent of UAB football players are majoring in history, followed by 16 percent in communication studies and 15 percent in criminal justice. Those majors represent 2 percent, 4 percent and 3 percent of the student body, respectively. The clustering of athletes in certain majors isn't necessarily unethical or against a university's policy, and is common on most campuses. "I don't know why anybody in the world would expect the students who arrive with lesser academic credentials not to end up in the easiest majors," said Alabama law Professor Gene Marsh, the school's former faculty athletics representative. "But people who say it's OK to end up with athletes huddled in particular majors because of their time demands don't understand reality. There are many students working many hours a week in part-time jobs" and they do not cluster into easy majors, he told the News. Linda Bensel-Meyers, a University of Denver professor who once alleged academic misconduct at the University of Tennessee, said soft majors and classes provide a grade cushion to maintain athletic eligibility. But the greatest threats, she said, are grade changes and waivers of standard policies to benefit athletes. "It enables some athletes to appear to be enrolled in a college curriculum," Bensel-Meyers said. "In fact, they are merely being housed until their eligibility expires, often to graduate without an education." Many athletes don't need a special path through college: They take challenging courses without the need for extra guidance. But at every school, pockets of athletes who struggle academically find ways to stay eligible. Alabama cornerback Simeon Castille wishes he were still a communications major. He wants to become a broadcaster. He's a general studies major in the College of Human Environmental Sciences now because "I screwed up, and this is getting me back on track to graduate." Castille was academically ineligible for the Cotton Bowl last season. He became lazy, he said, and passed only three credits in the fall 2005 semester, leading to his ineligibility and a change in major. One general studies course meant writing about football for former Alabama football player Ahmad Childress. For three credits one summer, Childress said, he and five teammates composed an entire football class that required only instructing a football camp for kids in Gulf Shores and writing a four-page essay. "That was the whole class. I got an A," Childress said. "Yeah, it was a little weird, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do to be eligible." The dean of Human Environmental Services at Alabama, Milla Boschung, said she was surprised to learn the number of football players in her college, but does not believe general studies has the perception of being a "jock major." "I just had no idea who is an athlete and who is not in our college," she said. "We just consider them our students. We think that's the right thing." At Auburn, the largest concentration of athletes in the sociology department came under scrutiny months ago because of the large number of players who were taking independent study courses under a single professor, raising questions about whether their work was properly supervised. But Virgil Starks, senior associate athletics director for student services at Auburn, said he isn't concerned about the large number of sociology and criminology majors on the football team. Athletes still must take the core curriculum, he said, and athletes often must choose majors that will readily translate into jobs after college. At UAB, 61 percent of this season's starting football players, as of Oct. 14, major in history or communication studies, according to the team media guide. Six percent of UAB students major in those disciplines. Mark Hickson, a communication studies professor at UAB, believes his department is popular because football players typically do not have good math skills. Students in communications and most social sciences, such as history, are required to take only one math course. The same is true of general studies at Alabama. Additionally, Hickson said, these fields have professors who live in "a more ambiguous world. Thus, their students are less likely to have to answer specific factual questions." UAB interim athletics director Richard Margison said the clustering of football players in particular majors reflects "athletes making their own choices, athletes talking to athletes. Nothing about that would alarm me." ---
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University names dean of enrollment management 10/31/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Auburn University President Ed Richardson on Monday named Wayne Alderman as dean of enrollment management in the new AU Office of Admissions. "Restructuring the admissions and scholarship process reflects our ongoing commitment to aggressively recruiting top-quality students and the rising academic achievement of Auburn's student population," said Richardson. "Attracting the best and brightest to Auburn is among the top priorities for the board of trustees and for me." Richardson added that AU has increased scholarships, created this new leadership position and developed an improved organization with the help of national experts, faculty, staff and students. As dean, Alderman will be responsible for ongoing design, development, implementation, monitoring and assessing of the university's admissions, enrollment and recruitment processes and support operations to ensure all are consistent with the university's enrollment and diversity goals. He will report directly to the president. Alderman, the Torchmark Professor of Accounting, was the dean of the College of Business from 1993 to 2000, and a 2001 recipient of the AU Distinguished Alumnus award. He received his bachlor of science in business administration from AU in 1971 and his master of business administration from AU a year later. He earned his doctorate in business administration from the University of Tennessee. (No Web link is available for this story.)


'One small step...' 10/20/2006 Gulf News Anand Raj OK, Staff Writer		Return to Top
AU history professor Jim Hansen is featured in this story as Armstrong's biographer. Everyone's heard these words - uttered by Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon (in 1969). Now, it's time to read about him. But, wonders Anand Raj OK, why did it take so long for his official biography to be published? Eleven days before the launch of Apollo 11 - the spacecraft that was to take three men into space, two of whom would set foot on the moon - tension was reaching fever pitch almost all over the world. Would the lift-off be glitch-free? Would the spacecraft go where no man had gone before? Would two men really set foot on a satellite in space? What if they were to be stranded there, unable to return? Apart from these and a host of other questions, the press was also curious as to what Neil Armstrong would say when he first stepped on the earth's only natural satellite. 'I'm wondering,' said a press reporter, at a news conference addressed by the Apollo 11 crew, 'if... you have decided on something suitably historical and memorable to say when you perform this symbolic act of stepping foot on the moon for the first time?' The reporter was not the only one waiting with bated breath to hear what Armstrong had in mind to say when he took that giant step. Inside Nasa, speculation was rife about the first words he would utter when he stepped off Eagle, the craft that would touch down on the moon. In fact, things got so bubbling hot that the head of Nasa's public affairs office had to issue a terse internal memo that questioned Nasa personnel to the effect did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain tell Christopher Colombus what to say when he reached the New World? Armstrong took a moment to consider the question, then replied simply 'No, I haven't.' Hard as it may be to believe, that was the plain truth, says Dr James Hansen, author of First Man, the first and only official biography of Neil Armstrong. 'The most important part of the flight in my mind was the landing,'' Armstrong told Hansen recently. 'I thought that if there was any statement to make of importance, it would be whatever occurred [to me] right after the landing, when the engine stopped.' This incident, which Hansen narrates in First Man, vividly portrays the kind of person Armstrong was when the world's spotlight was on him, and now, close to four decades since he took the momentous step, still is - intensely private. At the peak of his career as space flight commander, his only thoughts in the run-up to the moon programme were how best to complete the mission and return to earth. Armstrong detested spending valuable time on matters that were not absolutely crucial to the mission, says Hansen, in his book that portrays Armstrong, warts and all. Not surprisingly, the pre-launch press conference was not the only time reporters tried to get Armstrong to philosophise about the historical significance of the moon landing. On another occasion, a reporter asked him 'What particular gain do you see in going to the moon for yourselves... and for mankind? Do you think that eventually the moon will become part of the civilised world?' Armstrong deftly sidestepped the questions, saying 'The objective of the flight is precisely to take man to the moon, make a landing there and return... How we will use that information in the centuries to come, only history can tell.' Getting Armstrong to answer questions on the human dimensions of space travel was no easy task. In fact, getting him to talk on subjects other than the mechanics of the mission was in itself a Herculean task. To quote author Norman Mailer, Armstrong 'surrendered words about as happily as a hound allowed meat to be pulled out of his teeth''. And he should know. Mailer, with credentials from Life magazine, was part of the gaggle of wordsmiths who attended press meets organised by Nasa prior to the launch. Armstrong, says Mailer, 'had the sly privacy of a man whose thoughts may never be read''. No easy job Then how did Hansen manage to get the man to open up to him and agree to an official biography? It was not easy, he admits in an exclusive e-mail interview from Alabama, where he is professor of history at Auburn University. 'It took me close to 33 months, innumerable telephone calls, letters and e-mails and a face-to-face meeting before he gave me the thumbs up,'' says Hansen. In June 2002, Armstrong signed a formal agreement naming Hansen as his biographer. The approval meant unprecedented access to not only Armstrong and his private papers but also his family, friends, colleagues - many of whom, says Hansen in his book, in deference to Armstrong, had resisted speaking openly about him before. But what made Hansen write a biography on Armstrong now, close to 40 years since he and his colleague Buzz Aldrin made history? 'Most of the early American astronauts had written memoirs or worked with authors to get their autobiographies or biographies written,'' says Hansen, 'but not Neil. I was concerned that he might go to his grave without sharing his full story.'' And it is a good thing that Armstrong decided to share his story with Dr Hansen, a man whose credentials are impeccable. An expert on science and technology and its impact on society, Hansen was also historian for Nasa. He has done a study on the Apollo programme's lunar landing method in addition to authoring eight acclaimed books on the history of aerospace. These achievements were to stand him in good stead when he approached Armstrong to write his biography. 'He could tell from what he read in my previous books, and from what I told him in preliminary conversations, that I would deal with his life as it actually was and not project meanings on to it that were not really there.'' Despite the mission being a highly scientific one and which at the time (the 1960s) was on the cutting edge of technology, there is little technobabble in First Man. But at the same time, it is not to say that the technology areas have been dumbed down. So effortlessly has Hansen handled the subject that even those who are not interested in the technological aspects of the space flight will willingly join him in the ride to the stars - and beyond. Transfixed by the stars So what got a professor of history interested in the lives of astronauts? 'Growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s, I became fascinated by the night sky, especially watching artificial satellites like Echo passing noticeably overhead. As a boy, I also watched all of the space shots on TV,'' Hansen says. The reason he chose to write about Armstrong was because 'Neil seemed so different from the rest of the early astronauts. Also, a mystique had grown up around him, both because he was the first to step off on to another heavenly body and because he had lived such a private life afterwards''. Two other qualities that piqued Hansen's interest were Armstrong's 'sense of privacy and his talents as an engineer'. Mission information extraction Once Hansen got the go-ahead from Armstrong, he fell headlong into his passion. In all, Dr Hansen had close to 50 hours of interviews with Armstrong. He also met his first wife, friends and several others who were associated with Armstrong at some time in his life to get a better picture of the man about whom we know so little. Of course, it was not easy going for Hansen. He got to experience first-hand how difficult it was to get Armstrong to talk about his family and personal life. 'Neil is much more comfortable talking about technical matters,'' he says. 'This has been true since he was a boy. He once said that talking about people is a third-rate subject of conversation. Although humorous, I think he actually means it.'It took Hansen close to four years to complete the book since he signed the formal agreement with Armstrong. 'It is a testament to the integrity of the man that he did not interfere with my authorial freedoms,'' Hansen says. 'Once he gave me the go-ahead, he helped to make sure my facts were straight but he did not try to change or influence my interpretations.'' But did he, as a biographer, portray Neil Armstrong, warts and all? 'I do, indeed,'' stresses Hansen. 'As husband and father, Neil has admitted to his limitations. He gave so much to his career that he shortchanged his loved ones. 'He was also not a perfect pilot, because no such person has ever existed.' Apart from getting a peek into the private and personal world of Armstrong, another hurdle Hansen faced was in demystifying the moon trip and the technicalities involved. The author was determined that the book should have a mass audience and not be restricted to just a certain section of the public. Achieving this 'was quite difficult'', he admits. And there were various reasons. 'In the United States, science education has been going so quickly downhill in the past few decades,'' says Hansen. 'Compared to China today, where 50 per cent of college students graduate in science or engineering, less than 20 per cent of American college graduates have majored in science or engineering. 'American society, in many ways, is growing more and more illiterate about science and technology, despite their critical importance in everyday life,'' bemoans Hansen. 'A significant and growing number of young people in America do not believe that the moon landings even happened, [They are convinced] the [moon landings] were some sort of hoax or conspiracy pulled off by the US government,'' he says. But that is just one of a score of conspiracy theories still circulating about the moon mission. Some people believe that the first lunar landing was faked in a Hollywood studio. Such rumours touch a raw nerve in Hansen. 'I have grown increasingly frustrated and impatient with those who say the moon landings were not real, when there is overwhelming, totally overwhelming evidence, that they were,'' he argues. 'Not believing in the moon landings is equivalent to not believing the earth is a sphere.'' 'One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.' The first sentence Neil Armstrong radioed earth when he stepped off Eagle's ladder and set foot on the powdery surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, may be only a minor facet of the first manned mission to the moon, but it is one which continues to remain in the minds of people decades later not just because it was a human voice coming from another heavenly object, but because it proved that man could push the boundaries of science further and quite literally take the risks to go where no man has gone before. 'Many, or perhaps, most of the leaps [science has made since Armstrong first set foot on the moon] have not had much to do with the moon landings,'' says Hansen. 'Our robotic probes [sent into space], on the other hand, have resulted in wonderful new insights into the nature of our solar system, galaxy and the universe...'' Would Hansen like to see more such missions? Oh yes, he says. 'The reason I'd like to see us return to the moon is to build an astronomical observatory on the far side. The images from a telescope mounted on the dark side would bringthat are many times more fantastic than even those from Hubble,'' he believes. Like they say, for some, even the moon is not enough. - First Man is available at all Jashanmal outlets. It has won two major book awards, the American Astronautical Society's Eugene Emme Prize for Astronautical Literature and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Outstanding Book Award.
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