xt72bv79vz8w https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt72bv79vz8w/data/mets.xml The Kentucky Kernel Kentucky -- Lexington The Kentucky Kernel 2006-01-24 Earlier Titles: Idea of University of Kentucky, The State College Cadet newspapers English Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. The Kentucky Kernel The Kentucky Kernel, January 24, 2006 text The Kentucky Kernel, January 24, 2006 2006 2006-01-24 2020 true xt72bv79vz8w section xt72bv79vz8w FEAT U RES this:instantiate" - we

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Women's tennis stays alive late, tops in-state rival
Louisville MCI PAGE

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Tuesday. January 24, 2006

Today's topi

Board expected to discuss
proposal at afternoon meeting

By Cara Blevins and Sean Rose
no: KENTUCKY mm

The UK Board of Trustees will examine
governing regulation changes that would
clarify UK’s oversight of Student Govern-
ment in its meeting today — changes that
SG President and student trustee Becky
Ellingsworth describes as a “power play."

The proposed changes have been brew-

cky Ke

Celebrating 35 years of independence

ing mainly since October because of last
year’s controversial election that delivered a
winner more than ﬁve months after stu-
dents voted.

Trustee Jeff Dembo. faculty representa-
tive to the board, said the regulation
changes aim to ensure that UK students
would be guaranteed to have a Board of
Trustees representative. The dispute over
the March 2005 election prevented the stu-
dent trustee spot from being ﬁlled until days
before the board’s Sept. 20 meeting.

“I hope the board's discussion tomorrow
further emphasizes the need for having a

student trustee at the table," Dembo said.
“Whether the vote goes in (Ellingsworth’s)
favor or not. it should be clear to all, I hope,
that having that trustee is critically impor-
tant not just for the students but for the
health of the whole university."

Dembo is a member of the board’s stu-
dent affairs committee that voted 3.1 two
weeks ago to put these proposed changes be-
fore all the trustees.

The proposed changes would clarify, and
put in writing, the authority of Vice Presi-
dent of Student Affairs Pat Terrell to moni-
tor SG’s actions to make sure it follows UK’s

mliylternetcom

c for trustees: UK's oversight of $6

written policy The provost would also have
the ﬁnal authority over disputes.

The more controversial part of the
changes is that the University Appeals
Board would have the authority to confirm
or void an election if there violations. If
voided, the elections would return to SC for
correction.

Dembo, along with staff trustee Russ
Williams and trustee Marianne Smith Edge,
voted in favor of the changes. Ellingsworth
cast the only vote against the proposed
changes.

See Trustees on page 2

A UK Physical Plant Division worker waits for water to pump ou
basement of the building flooded during heavy rains that starte

Department of Entomology until the late 19605.

“MIST”?

t of the lnsectary and Conservatory Building on Washington Avenue yesterday morning. The
d Sunday afternoon and ended yesterday morning. The Insectary previously housed UK's

Over the past two days. much of campus and the Lexington area received a sizable
soaking from some wet weather. Fayette County received 3 inches of rain over that
time, according to the National Weather Service.
For the month of January. Lexington has received slightly more than 5 inches of rain
— up from the normal amount of about 2.5 inches for that time period.
There’s no chance of rain until the weekend, according to weather sem'oe forecasts.

Ford lays out
plan that lays
' off workers

By Sholnn Freeman and Amy Joyce
THE vismvorou POST

Ford Motor Co. yesterday detailed
a sweeping restructuring plan that
would shut 14 factories and eliminate
as many as 30,000 jobs, or nearly a
quarter of its North American work-
force. over the next six years.

The announcement at Ford follows
a major overhaul by General Motors
Corp, which plans to cut 30,000 work-
ers by 2008 and close all or part of 12
plants. Overall. the US. auto industry
has shed 200,000 jobs, or 15 percent of
its workforce. in the past ﬁve years.

Despite years of comeback plans
and reorganization blueprints, GM
and Ford, the pillars of the US. auto
industry, have decided they have no
choice but to shrink their way back to
profitability in the face of the unre
enting pressures of a global market.
Toyota Motor Corp. Honda Motor Co.
and Nissan have made steady inroads,
adding new US. plants and hiring
thousands of autoworkers into non-
union jobs.

Ford, the nation's second-largest
automaker, employs about 123,000
workers in its 0 American 0 r-
ations. That division lost 81.6 b 'on
pretax in 2005, precipitating its sec-
ond ﬁnancial crisis in ﬁve years

.. ﬁﬁrwwﬂ»~-_-~_. .‘A _..._._.-

Renowned ‘Iron Willie' transforms
ordinary junk into extraordinary art

By Charlinda Turner Brashear
not KENTUCKY mm

After seeing a flattened
iron on the street, nationally
renowned artist Willie Cole
never looked at art the same
way.

Chances are, if you visit
Cole's “Afterburn” exhibit at
UK’s Art Museum. you’ll nev-
er look at your old iron the
same way again.

Cole — known to some as
“Iron Willie" — will have his
work exhibited at the UK Art
Museum during the ﬁrst half
of this semester.

Cole's exhibit, titled “-Af
terburn” will run from Jan.
29 thru March 19 and features
selected works from 1997 to
2004. Cole’s unusual nick-
name stems from his artistic
creations crafted from ob-
jects, many of which are
steam irons.

Cole credits his upbring-
ing for much of his fascina-
tion with domestic objects.
Cole, who was raised by his
mother and grandmother,
said he was often given the

SeeCoieonpage3

Artist Willie Cole critiques student work in the Uil Art Museum Friday. Cole
is the opening lecturer for UK's spring Visiting Artists and Scholars Series.

Education
question
stumps
president

ByJoeiiiavemann
Losuiomsm

WASHINGTON —- President Bush, caught
off guard Monday by a question about cuts in
highereducation student loan programs, said
the cuts would come at the expense of lending
institutions, not students.

Representatives of highereducation associ-
ations disagreed moderately. and leaders of
student groups took vehement exception.

During a question-and-answer session with
students at Kansas State University, sopho-
more Tiffany Cooper asked. “Recently $12.7 bil-
lion was cut from education, and l was just
wondering, you know, how is that supposed to
help our futures?"

"The education budget was cut?" Bush re
sponded. “Say it again. What was cut?"

After more give and take, Bush ﬁnally said
the cuts would come from banks and other
lending institutions. Students. he said. would
be held harmless.

See Loans on page 2

Bush embraces
domestic spying

By James Gerstenzang

L05 ANGELES TIMES

MANHATTAN. Kan. W President Bush
said Monday that National Security Agency
spying on US. citizens and soon-toexpire ele
ments of the Patriot Act were legal means to
ﬁght terrorism, in a public embrace of the
programs aimed at turning them to political
advantage.

In a speech and question-andanswer ses-
sion. Bush offered his lengthiest public expla-
nation of the NSA eavesdropping, which the
administration has taken to calling the “ter~
rorist surveillance program" since it was re-
vealed in December

He said a Supreme Court ruling in June
2004 found that a Congressional resolution
passed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks gave
him the authority to act to protect the coun-
try from terrorism.

“It means Congress gave me the authority
to use necessary force to protect the Ameri-
can people, but it didn’t prescribe the tactics.
It said: ‘Mr. President. you‘ve got the power to
protect us. but we're not going to tell you
how.’

“if I wanted to break the law, why was I
briefing Congress?" he said.

Bush spoke for an hour and 41 minutes.
perhaps his longest speech and question-and-
answer session as president.

His audience was made up of local resi-
dents. students and soldiers from Fort Riley
who nearly ﬁlled Bramlage Coliseum, a
sports arena at Kansas State University

Bush spoke for nearly 45 minutes about
the war in iraq and his anti-terrorism pro-
grams. and then took questions covering not
only Iraq but student loans. the future of So
cial Security, beef exports. what he was doing
to eliminate nuclear weapons. and the movie
“Brokeback Mountain."

His visit to Kansas coincided with a
speech in Washington by Lt. Gen. Michael V.
Hayden. the deputy director of national intel-
ligence, who vigorously defended the domes-
tic surveillance operation.

The speeches kicked off an aggressive ef-
fort by the administration to present the
eavesdropping as a crucial element in what it
calls the global war against terrorism. Attor-
ney General Alberto R. Gonzales is expected
to speak about the spying program today and
Bush plans to visit the National Security
Agency headquarters outside Washington to-
marrow.

m: z | Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2005

Trustees

Continued from page]

Williams and Edge de-
scribed the changes as clari-
ﬁcations.

“There won't be much
talked about in the meeting
itself," Williams said. “Stu-
dent government will still
run the elections. The uni-
versity appeals board is giv-
en the authority to void an
election if there are chal~
lenges or irregularities but
then they send it back to stu-
dent government for review.
It’s just a clariﬁcation of the
current policy.”

The University Appeals
Board overturned the March
2005 SG decision, which
gave presidential candidate
Will Nash the SG presidency.
Nash won the election by 171
votes over Ellingsworth. She
subsequently sued UK and
won the election in a lawsuit
in Fayette Circuit Court.

Calls to Ellingsworth
were not returned. but she
has said previously that she
has a huge problem with
University Appeals Board’s
authority under the new
changes.

Ben Carter, SG chairman

of the operations and evalu-
ations committee and sena-
tor said the changes take
control away from the stu-
dents.

“What concerns me most
about these revisions is the
clear conflict of interest,"
Carter said. “By giving Dr.
Terrell such explicit over-
sight of student govern.
ment, the Board of Trustees
will in effect give the admin-
istration control over one of
the votes on the Board of
Trustees.

“1 view this as a very
dangerous precedent for stu-
dents, faculty, etc.”

SG presidents are the
only student representative
on the Board of Trustees,
there was no representative
until Ellingsworth was
named president.

Dembo said he and all
the trustees welcome stu—
dent input on the matter.

The Board of Trustees is
expected to put the regula-
tion changes on the agenda
to be voted on during its
March 7 meeting, said Edge,
chairwoman of the student

fairs committee. The
board is required to look at
governing regulation
changes twice.

Williams said proposals
that get this far are usually

approved.

Provost expected to be
ofﬁcially conﬁrmed

Several trustees also said
they expected the board to
vote to approve on the selec-
tion of Kumble Sub-
baswamy as UK’s new
provost.

Over Winter Break, Pres-
ident Lee Todd ended a nine-
month search for a new
provost by naming Sub-
baswamy as his choice to
permanently replace former
Provost Mike Nietzel. Inter~
im Provost Scott Smith,
dean of the College of Agri-
culture, has ﬁlled in for Ni-
etzel since he left to bebome
president of Southwest Mis-
souri State University in
July.

“One of the things he’ll
have to do is understand
where we are and where we
need to go and what the gap
is between those, especially
factoring into it how much
money the legislature does
or does not give us,” Dembo
said.

Subbaswamy previously
taught at UK from 1978 to
1997 and held several leader-
ship positions over that time
span.

E-mail
newscoltykernelrom

Loans

Continued from page 1

“We’re not cutting money
out of it," Bush said. “In other
words, people aren’t going to
be cut off the program. We’re
just making sure it works bet-
ter.”

Becky Timmons, director
of government relations for
the American Council on Edu-
cation. said the president had
it half-right. “When you take
($12.7 billion) out of the pro
gram, you can both hit the
lenders and make students
and parents pay a lot more
when they repay their loans."
she said.

Student groups were un-
willing to concede even that
much. “The cuts will mostly
come from charging higher in.
terest rates to students and

parents who are struggling
with higher education costs."
said Jasmine L. Harris. leg-
islative director of the US.
Student Association, a student
lobbying organization.

Interest rates on the two
main loan programs — one
for students, one for parents
— are written in law but sub-
ject to different interpreta-
tions.

Loans to students carry
marketdriven rates, now 4.7
percent while students are in
school and 5.3 percent once
they have graduated. Under
current law, both rates will go
to 6.8 percent as of July, with
all repayments going to the
lending institutions that pro
vided the loan. Under a spend-
ing-cut bill that is one ﬁnal
House vote away from enact-
ment, the rate would also be
6.8 percent m but the differ-
ence between the market-dri-
ven rate and the legislated
rate would go to the govern-
ment, not the lending institu-

tions.

Student groups believe
that the excess should go to
them. in the form of lower in-
terest rates. “Students and
their parents will be paying
their loans back at higher-
than-market rates so that the
government can pay for tax
cuts for the very rich," said
Luke Swarthout of the State
Public Interest Research
Groups’ Higher Education
Project.

Interest rates on loans tak-
en out by parents, now at 6.1
percent, would go up to 7.9
percent under current law
and 8.5 percent under the
spending-cut bill.

“Students and their par-
ents will be paying more,“
said Robert Shireman. execu-
tive director of the Institute
for College Access and Suc-
cess at the University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley. “Whether to
blame the bill or a prior Con-
gress is a matter of opinion."

_’ student activities board presents

T u E S DA’YS

One last chance
to see your
favorite movies
on the big screen
before they go
out on DVD!

Every Tuesday
Worsham Theater

(Student Center)

Outside food and drink permitted!

FREE POPCORN

8:00 PM

Paid for by Student Activity Fees.
Event is subject to change.

Student Activities Board
203 Student Center
859.257.8867
www.uksab.org

Admission

$1.00

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Tuesday
Jan. 24, 2006
PAGE 3

Doug Scott

Features Editor

mire: 251-1915

E-mail: dscottOkykernel.corn

TECHHCCEK I not just for geeks

It’s all about the
Pentiums, baby

In the past few weeks it
seems that the technology
world has been turned up
side down. First, Intel an-
nounced the end of the “Intel
Inside" marketing campaign
that had been Intel’s market-
ing front since 1991. Intel will
now use
“ L e a p
Ahead"
as their
slogan.

lntel
t h e n
went on
to intro-
duce a
new line
of mobile
p r o c e s -
s o r s ,
called In-
tel Core
Duo. These processors are a
great improvement over In-
tel’s current mobile line,
Pentium M. Core Duo chips
have two processors on every
chip. so each chip has twice
the processing power as the
previous generation. In addi-
tion, each chip is even more
power efﬁcient than the Pen-
tium M line. This means im-
proved battery life and better
multimedia performance for
users on the go. We can ex-
pect to see laptops with the
Intel Core Duo chip some-
time next month.

However, possibly the
biggest announcement was
Apple’s introduction of their
new Intel product line at
MacWorld 2006. Macintosh
CEO Steve Jobs showed off

Roger
Chul

TECH COLUMNISI

two new Apple products fea-
turing the Intel Core Duo
processor: a new iMac. and
the MacBook Pro, a new lap
top, which is replacing their
PowerBook line. The intro-
duction of these two prod-
ucts heralds the end of Ap-
ple’s ISyear dedication to the
PowerPC architecture, IBM
and Motorola.

The new lntel-based Ap-
ple (Mactel, in techno-slang)
computers are touted to be
twice as fast as the iMac G5
and four times as fast as the
Powerbook G4. However,
this is not completely true.
Most Mac software is now
compatible with Intel, but for
applications that are not yet
compatible, Apple uses a
compatibility layer, code-
named Rosetta.

The Rosetta stone, as you
might know, taught us how
to read Egyptian hieroglyphs
using Greek. In much the
same way, Rosetta tells the
Intel chip how to read the
PowerPC software, but at the
cost of some speed. Thus,
Web browsing, iTunes and
other applications native to
Intel processors will perform
faster, while programs that
have not yet been updated
like Photoshop, Final Cut
Pro and Office may take a
performance hit. Ultimately,
users with Intel Macs will
have to purchase new soft-
ware designed for the Intel
processors for best perfor-
mance.

The new iMacs are avail-
able for $1,299 for a 17-inch

screen and $1,699 for a 20-
inch screen. The MacBook
Pro will ship in February at
a starting cost of $1,999.

However, Intel isn‘t the
only one running the show.
Rumors have surfaced that
Dell will move away from In-
tel and start offering AMD
chips. AMD (Advanced Mi-
cro Devices), has competed
with Intel in the processor
market for over two decades,
and up until recently has
been an underdog in the
business. With the introduc-
tion of the Athlon processor
a few years ago, more users,
especially gamers, have been
switching to AMD processors
due to the lower cost and bet-
ter performance.

The world’s largest com-
puter manufacturer, Hewlett-
Packard, already offers AMD
processors in their comput-
ers, but the purported AMD-
Dell deal would mean the
United States' largest com-
puter manufacturer was also
joining the AMD bandwagon
by offering the more budget-
friendly processors.

So what does all of this
mean? Basically, if you are
thinking of buying a com-
puter right now, wait a
month or two. Most likely,
you’ll end up with a much
better computer for much
less money.

E-mail
featuresraakykemelrom

Cole

Continued from page 1

task of fixing broken ob-
jects, and became interested
in the object’s “life."

His work with irons in
particular was inspired by a
single moment.

“I saw an iron on the
street that had been run
over by a car. That changed
my life,“ Cole said.

Cole said the crushed
iron reminded him of an
African mask. He then be-
gan to work with irons, and.
for over two years, never
had to purchase an iron for
his work. Cole always
seemed to find old irons
whenever he needed them.

“That’s why I feel the
iron chose me," said Cole,
referring to the title of the
lecture he gave last week at
Lexington‘s Downtown Arts
Center.

Local artist Georgia
Henkel attended the lecture.
She also plans to attend the
“Afterburn” exhibit.

“I‘ve never seen anyone
make art out of the burn
marks of an iron before."
said Henkel.

“The found (object) art
pieces he does are most in-
teresting to me," said Carla
Moore, a Docent w a teacher
who's not a faculty member
" at the UK Art Museum.

The domestic objects
Cole works with are often
crafted into exotic-looking
art pieces. For example, Cole

has crafted ironing boards
into an art piece resembling
Zulu shields. titled “Domes-
tic Shields." The largest
piece Cole has ever created
was made from an old 20‘
foot ﬁberglass sailboat.

Cole said he imagines a
fictional people called the
“Cult of the Domestic"

comm or n
Willie Cole is known for his use of
domestic appliances in his art-
work. "Perm-Press," pictured
above, was sculpted from irons.

when creating his work with
irons. He thinks about how
to visually represent the
people, their gods and the
manifestation of those gods‘

power. To Cole. the scorch
marks of the iron are the
real “evidence“ of that pow-
er.

Though he does not
think his work is a laughing
matter, Cole’s presentation
was laced with humor.

“At first, I wouldn't mix
brands," Cole said jokingly
of his steam iron sculptures.
Later necessity forced him
to mix brands to compose
his pieces. he said.

Cole's current work ex
periments with the medium
of high-heeled shoes. The
work that will be on display
at the UK Art Museum will
consist of many different
pieces of Cole’s work. not
only his “iron period." This
includes sculptures, paint-
ings and several other forms
of art. The “Afterburn” ex
hibit will feature pieces
made from items such as
sinks, faucets, bicycle parts
and concrete lawn jockeys.

Much of Cole's art has
African themes, and that
will ideally draw a broader
crowd to the exhibit, said
Kathy Walsh-Piper, director
of the UK Art Museum.

“We’re hoping we'll get
more of the African-Ameri-
can community to come to
the exhibit,“ Walsh-Piper
said.

Tickets to the “After-
burn“ exhibit are $5 for the
public, $3 for senior citizens
and $4 for groups. Admis-
sion is free for UK Art Muse-
um members. as well as all
students and UK faculty,
staff and alumni.

E—mail
featuresrakykernelcom

co CATS!

BEAT THOSE TIGERS!

Come for FREE DINNER
and PRAYER
with Bishop Gainer

UK Catholic Newman Center VOCA‘ﬂON NIGHT

Domitegoalainobdemakingadiﬂerenoehottnﬂﬂaa
wholesomemarriage.miaiormliteorpaishprieﬂrood?Not
m?Thenoomemeetthoeewhohave.

DATE: THUR JAN 26

TIDE: 5:30 to 1:30 PM

MACE: UK Neurrnan Carter”. 320 Rose Lane
mm: Erick iftjf‘."_J_lr’§’.il"i",’:lf (5-1»:

TEL: 253 1993 x 281

BRING THlS AD NIGHT OF THE EVENT ~ REDEEM FOR STARBUCKS CARD

1': per school year pass

www.lextran.com
859.253.1NFO

'Apniie’s in 5100?er My swam mun yum.” pm! 1% PM . vvvmr ,, r

UK Dining Services has a variety of positions available for students
interested in earning some extra money. We offer:
. i \ ii at) fsii'fﬂ‘: 7”

Flexible scheduling .
’i‘tii‘ ¢
in“ .\\§§ZN‘K*§\

Free meal with a 4-hour shift

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Wages start at $6.70/hour ,,
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We’re looking for... ..

Day Cashiers "'“W“Day“CIéiicai worker‘s
Sandwich Makers 8 Grill Cooks (days, nights, weekends)
Food Service Attendants (day , nights, weekends)
Ask about our Sous Chef program -
available for those w/ cooking experience

For more information:
859.257.6161 . www.uky.edu/DiningServices
or stop by any Dining Services location

I \I\ i i\'\|l\
lil M \i'l I i\\

Ilium-.1 \ru II w

0W 0% 3W 24W, £8624ﬂ4?7445’t£f) 1: ,74’1004/4u'41-H‘4né
VISIT THE WEB SITE FOR EVENT DETAILS 0R

www.0xv.anu[CAMPUBCALENDAR

The (ampui Calendar it produced by the Office at Student Arrmtvei, Leadership 5 involvement Registered Student Orqs and UK De

CAMPUS CALENDAR

pts can submit information for FREE onime ONf WEEK PRlOR to the MONDAV iF'OVmﬂi‘lnn is to appear (air 2574367 for r“we infnrmabo"

TO POST YOUR own UK rvnn.

i
r

OBINGO, 7:00 PM, Student Center
Cat’s Den

OAlpha Phi Omega Active Meeting,
7:30 PM, Student Center, Room 359
OAIpha Phi Omega Co-ed Service
Fraternity Informational Meeting,
6:00 PM, Student Center Room 359
eJemes W. Stuckert Career Center
Drop- In Hours, 3:00 PM, James W.
Stuckert Career Center 408 Rose
Street

OSoc. of Telecom. Scholars Meeting,
5:00 PM, Maggie Room, Grehan
Building

oFencing Club Practice, 8:00 PM,
Buell Armory

OVagina Monologues Auditions,
7:00 PM, Fine Arts Black Box
Theater

OJames W. Stuckert Career
Center Drop— In Hours, 3:00 PM,
James W. Stuckert Career Center
408 Rose Street

eStudent Center Film Series, 10:00 PM,
Center Theater

eTabIe Tennis Tournament, 7:00 PM,
Student Center Cats Den

tFencing Club Practice, 8:00 PM, Bueil
Armory

'Dancer Registration Meeting, 5:00 PM,
211 Student Center

OUK Relay for Life Team captains
Meeting, 8:00 PM, WTYoung Library
Gallery

ORSA General Assembly Meetings, 5:30
PM, 359 Student Center

eNon Traditional Student Organization
meeting, 7:25 PM, Pazzo’s

0James W. Stuckert Career Center Drop-
In Hours, 3:00 PM, James W. Stuckert
Career Center 408 Rose Street

eStudent Center Film Series,
10:00 PM, worsham Theater in
the Student Center

-Comedy Caravan, 8:00 PM,
Student Center Cats Den

PM, Worsham Theatre

7:00 PM, CSF Building (across
from Cooperstown Apt.)

eJames W. Stuckert Career
Center Drop- In Hours, 3:00 PM,
James W. Stuckert Career Center
408 Rose Street

OSwing Dance, 8:00 PM, _
Arthur Murray Dance Studio,
1801 Alexandria Dr.,

Lexin ton, KY

eStu ent Center Film Series,

. 3 10:00 PM Worsham Theater
rt—BI , 7:00 ; . '
(once uegrass mum . in the Student Center

chF Free Dinner and Fellowship, 3

OUKUFO, 10:00 PM, Seaton Field

Tuesday
Jan. 24, 2006
PAGE 4

Opinions

Editorial Board

Adam Sichlto, Editor in chief

Tim Wiseman, Managing editor
Andrew Martin. Asst. managing editor
Brenton Kenltel, Opinions editor

Wes Blevins. Asst. Opinions editor
Chris Johnson. Sports editor
Crystal Little, Projects editor
Doug Scott, Features editor
Josh Sullivan. Staff columnist

IN OUR OPINION

Religious studies
deserve a department

The study of religion at UK will
receive a boost thanks to a $500,000
donation from a Lexington couple.

Dr. Carol Cottrill, a pediatric
cardiologist, and her husband, Tom
Rolfes, a‘: retired religion teacher,
donated ,the funds for the endow-
ment of the Cottrill»Rolfes Catholic
Studies chair. The state has
pledged to match the donation, and
the teaching position could be ﬁlled
within two to three years.

Since UK already offers classes
in Islamic and Judaic studies,
adding a Catholic studies chair
serves to enhance the intellectual
diversity of courses offered by the
university. Teaching religion at a
public university is perfectly ac-
ceptable as long as professors ap-
proach the topic from an academic
standpoint and don‘t venture into
proselytizing.

Currently, religion classes fall
under the realm of the College of
Arts and Sciences. Islamic studies
courses are taught by professors
from other departments, while the
College houses an endowed profes-
sorship in Judaic studies, with an-
other professorship in Jewish his-
tory planned for the future.

Rolfes said he and his wife do-
nated the funds because of the im-
pact of religion on American cul-
ture. “I think it‘s a great part of
our background of Americans. I
think it should be something that
will add to the university and the
community."

“Hopefully there will be a re-
ligious study program for all reli-
gions at the university," Rolfes
said. We agree.

That UK has no religious stud-
ies department is a fact of which
many students are probably un-
aware. We hope the formation of a
Catholic studies chair will spur the

university to create a full religious
studies program. As long as the de-
partment is balanced, it would
serve to add a worthwhile ﬁeld of
study for UK students of the future.
‘ Current interdisciplinary de-
partments such as women’s studies
and African-American studies
draw from faculty elsewhere in the
university, so the creation of a reli-
gious studies department would
not necessarily mean bringing in a
plethora of new faculty Professors
of history, philosophy, classics and
the previously mentioned Islamic
and Judaic studies programs
would comprise the faculty of the
new department.

A combined religious studies
program would allow interested
students to focus on those courses,
instead of making them secondary
to another major. It might be as-
sumed that talented students inter-
ested in a degree in religion have
gone elsewhere because UK lacks
their intended major. The new de-
partment and its associated major
could draw in those students,
thereby improving UK with a
wider diversity of academics and
students.

UK owes Cottrill and Rolfes its
gratitude for their generous dona-
tion. If nothing more, the creation
of the Catholic studies chair will
serve to improve the intellectual di-
versity of courses offered at UK.
We hope the university will take
the reins and create a religious
studies program. Religion is, after
all, an eminent presence in the his-
tory of American culture. As Col-
lege of Arts and Sciences Dean
Steven Hoch said, “We’re talking
about teaching people the great in-
tellectual traditions and the signiﬁ-
cance of religious life across the
centuries."

Workforce event a good start
for diversity goal

UK is ﬁnally turning words into
actions regarding efforts to in-
crease diversity on campus.

Last week’s Workforce Diversity
Day brought employers who were
looking to recruit minority appli-
cants to UK‘s James W. Stuckert Ca-
reer Center. Both employers and
students told The Kernel the event
was a success.

Obviously. this was a boon to
current minority students who will
soon be entering the job market,
and that is a worthy goal in itself.
But holding events like this should
also be a prime focus of UK‘s efforts
to become a more diverse campus.

Helping minority students ﬁnd
employment can also help UK by
serving as a focal point for diversity
recruiting efforts. “Come to UK be-
cause we‘ll help you get a job“ is
certainly a more appealing cam-
paign than “Come to UK because

we desperately need to bring up our
diversity numbers."

And the fact that the private sec-
tor realizes the importance of diver-
sity and actively seeks applicants
from different backgrounds should
serve as an illustration to show UK
administrators how crucial diversi-
ty is.

Multiple employers told The
Kernel that having a diverse staff is
a beneﬁt. Considering the abysmal
state of diversity at UK —~ as of the
2004-2005 school year, only 65 of the
school‘s 1,920 full-time faculty mem-
bers were black — university ad-
ministrators should absorb these
employers‘ message and realize the
importance of attracting a more di-
verse faculty Not only will it help
UK recover from recent negative
publicity, but it will also work to-
ward the far more important goal of
making UK a better university.

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AARON SMITH. THE KENTUCKY KERNEI.

Maybe my PC and I should just be friends

I’m in a one-sided love rela-
tionship.

We used to spend hours lis-
tening to music,
playing games
and enjoying
each other’s
company.

It’s all over
now though.

We don‘t
spend time to-
gether working
on homework
and looking at
pictures any-
more.

In fact, our
relationship has crashed.

My computer has inevitably
had too much of me and has de-
cided to stop contributing to its
part of the relationship.

I‘m in love with my computer,
but I‘m afraid it does not love me
back.

After watching a “Sex in the
City" episode where Carrie Brad-
shaw loses all of her computer
documents, I decided it would be
smart to start backing-up every-
thing on my computer. One
night, I finally I had an evening
where I could start backing up
all of my pictures and docu-
ments, so I pushed the “on" but—
ton and waited for my computer
to boot up.

I waited.

I waited longer but still noth-
ing. It wouldn‘t let me log in.

After several tries at restart-
ing the computer and trou-
bleshooting as much as I knew, I
made the desperate call for help.

“Well, that does not sound
good," said the service-line oper-

Hilly
Schifter

KERNEL COLUMNIST

ator.

“What do you mean? All of

my stuff is gone?” I asked.

“Well, I could work on it, but I
can’t guarantee that you will
have all of your documents that
were saved in your ‘My Docu-

ments’ file,” he said.

I don‘t remember the next
several seconds after he told me

the news. I felt sick.

I had spent the past three
years spending time making this
computer feel like mine by filling
it with my pictures, essays and
music. Now they were lost in

megabyte land.
I felt empty, as if all of m