CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 4, 1994
5
Evaluations of teachers under fire
Standardization of assessments to be considered by Regents
By Jamie Munn Kansan staff writer
A Regent made a special appearance at the University Council meeting yesterday to cool heated concerns from faculty about student evaluations.
John Hiebert, a Regent since January and chair of the Board of Regents academic affairs committee, said the restructuring of student evaluations of faculty would be discussed at the Regents meeting later this month.
Earlier this year, the Regents assembled a list of questions regarding faculty evaluations and their use.
These questions were given to the University Senate Executive Committee. SenEx presented the answers to Council, a governing body that examines policies for Chancellor Gene Budig's consideration.
But additional concerns of standardized evaluations for all the Regents institutions brought other comments from council members.
Don Marquis, professor of philosophy, said he was bothered by possible grade inflations because faculty members could be forced to give better grades to students to insure better evaluations.
"There are all sorts of consequences of using the teacher evaluations that need to be thought through." he said.
Sandra Zindars-Swartz, professor of religion, said she was confused by double messages about student and faculty responsibilities. Professors were being asked to care more about students while those same students had adopted careless attitudes toward attendance and assignment deadlines and left courses for vacations, she said.
In addition to these problems with students' attitudes toward faculty, Hiebert said, Regents will study the general integrity of students and faculty.
In other council business, Jack Davidson, chair of the University Senate library committee, said the failure of bids for Hoch Auditorium's renovations would create problems for library space at the University in the near future.
Original reconstruction bids for the auditorium, gutted by fire two years ago, totaled about $3 million more than the planned budget.
"This is not just a small-sized problem for us or the people of Kansas," Davidson said.
Two lower floors of Hoch were to house the Government Documents and Maps Library now in Malott Hall, but those plans were scrapped when the bids fell short, he said.
Davidson said he was concerned that the lower floors would never be created.
Amv Solt/ KANSAN
Mark Lindrud, Cleveland senior, and Anne Kratz, Lawrence senior, study in the sun in front of Watson Library. Temperatures reached almost 80 degrees yesterday.
Athletic fair will pitch Lawrence recreation
By Cheryl Cadue Kansan staff writer
Highlights
Windsurfing, softball and track will be there—but not a drop of sweat will be spilled.
The Lawrence Sports Fair, which will feature athletic groups from all over Lawrence, will take place tomorrow. More than 20 sports organizations, such as Little League baseball, will sponsor information booths. Six local sporting-goods stores will have demonstrations and prizes at the event, which is sponsored by the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department and The Sports Corporation, an organization that sponsors sports programs in Lawrence.
Kathy Fode, superintendent of recreation, said the fair's purpose was to give the community an opportunity to learn about the different sports organizations in Lawrence.
The fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Lawrence Community Building, 115 W. 11th St.
"A lot of people don't know about all the sports organizations available in Lawrence," she said. "We want to have a place where they can find out."
Besides organizations offering information about parks and recreation activities, other organizations
with booths will include the Wind Surfing Association, the Girls Fast Pitch Association and Sunflower State Game Association.
Fred DeVictor, director of parks and recreation, said the sports fair could turn into an annual event if the community found it helpful.
"Parks and Recreation is not the only organization that provides activities to Lawrence," he said. "We thought it would be appropriate to try this and have all the groups come together."
DeVictor said he hoped people would attend because it would give information about available services
"This is kind of a one-stop shop for its sporting interest," he said.
Lectures on fitness will be held throughout the day, and door prizes will be given away.
Van Schaffer, owner of The Athlete's Foot, 914 Massachusetts St., said his store would give away a $50 gift certificate during the fair. But he said the best benefit of the fair was that more people could become involved in sports activities.
"It offers a chance to get more information about a sport they're interested in," Schaffer said. "They can sign up for it rather than have to mail forms in."
Clinton revives old weapon in trade battle
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Unable to achieve a breakthrough in his battle to open Japanese markets, President Clinton brought back to life the most feared weapon in America's trade arsenal yesterday.
By executive order, the president revived an expired provision of U.S. law known as Super 301. The president said he would put forward by Sept. 30 a target list of countries deemed to have erected the most harmful barriers to U.S. goods and services.
If negotiations fail to remove those barriers, the administration would have the power to impose punitive tariffs of up to 100 percent against exports from those nations. The amount targeted would equal the sales being lost by U.S. producers.
"This administration is committed to opening markets for high-quality goods and services produced by competitive American workers," the president said as he announced his decision. "This action will help us reach our objective — open markets that will create better jobs and increase wages at home and abroad."
Administration officials denied that they were trying to start a trade war with Japan, but they said the United States would not relent in its efforts to open Japan's markets as a way of narrowing a record $59.3 billion trade imbalance between the two nations.
Trade tensions were at the heart of an ABC News-Washington Post poll, released yesterday, in which 58 percent of Americans surveyed viewed U.S. Japanese relations as not good or poor, and only 38 percent thought that they were excellent or good.
A solid 78 percent said they thought that Japan was an unfair trader, and two-thirds thought that Japan was not serious about reducing its trade surplus.
What Super 301 provides is a strict timetable for results. The clock will begin running March 31 with publication of an annual "National Trade Estimate-Report" that provides a survey of unfair trade practices that are harming U.S. exporters around the world.
The administration, by Sept. 30, will designate "priority foreign country practices" that are blocking the largest amount of U.S. exports and will begin a 21-day period of preliminary negotiations.
results, the United States would initiate a formal investigation that could take up to 18 months.
If those preliminary talks fail to produce
Only if those talks proved fruitless would the United States impose sanctions. That period could stretch until March 1996 although administration officials said that if the talks were going nowhere, sanctions could come much sooner.
Other countries have condemned the Super 301 procedures, calling the process unilateral bullying.
"We regret that the United States made a decision to revive Super 301," Seiichi Kondo, a representative for the Japanese embassy, said in Washington. "We certainly hope the United States will recognize the inherent dangers" in imposing unilateral trade sanctions.
STREETSIDE RECORDS
1403 W.23rd·842-7173 Stay Streetsmart·Shop Streetside
25%off
ENTIRESTOCKDANSKIN
Sale $7.50 - $25.50, Reg. $10-$34. Step up your work-out and save on Danskin's entire stock of bodywear. Whether you're going to the gym or staying home, Danskin offers a wide range of workout attire. Choose from bra tops, pants, leggings, leotards and thongs. Made with cotton and Lycra® spandax. In assorted solids and prints.
9th & Massachusetts