| Emory Report | November 9, 1998 |
Volume 51, No. 11 |
Issues in progress:
Senate President Virgil Brown opened the Oct. 27 meeting by introducing President Bill Chace. Chace first addressed the Senate about the Emory Village issue. He said he appreciates the interest the Student Government Association has taken in the closing of the Kroger store and the apparent opening of a new CVS Pharmacy, but he reiterated his desire for the University administration to maintain a "steadfast posture of neutrality" on the subject. Chace also reaffirmed his opinion that Emory should not become directly involved in any way in managing a retail enterprise in Emory Village. Chace then spoke about affirmative action, saying he was inspired to do so by his experience the previous week at the Association of American Universities conference at the University of California at Berkeley. Discussion at the AAU meeting centered around the recently published The Shape of the River, by William Bowen and Derek Bok, which produces empirical data to dispute the claims of many affirmative action critics. "Until this book, which is statistic laden, the affirmative action discussion has been largely rhetorical," Chace said. He added that the Emory community should care about the issue not only from a moral standpoint but a legal one since, even though previous lawsuits regarding affirmative action and admissions have involved public institutions, the University is "not invulnerable to litigation." In general discussion, the Senate formed an ad hoc committee to act as liaison with Emory Village merchants. Brown asked the committee to submit a plan for action to the executive committee and initiate discussion at the November meeting. After the election of the new student Senate representatives, Rudolph Byrd and John Magnotta submitted for approval the rosters and plans of the honorary degrees and traffic and parking committees, respectively. Gary Hauk invited anyone in the Senate or in the Emory community to submit nominations for honorary degree recipients to his office, along with a letter explaining a "compelling reason why Emory in particular should confer an honorary degree" on the nominee. In closing the meeting, past President Bill Cody voiced his support for Chace's statements about affirmative action but added that those who favor the programs should not rely on social science data "to the point of ceding the moral high ground." The reason to support affirmative action, Cody said, is because "it is simply the right thing to do." --Michael Terrazas
Employee Council The October meeting of the Employee Council was held at Grady Hospital. The focus of this month's meeting was the sense of isolation Grady employees feel from the main campus. After the meeting was called to order, William Casarella, professor and chair of radiology and interim senior vice-president of medical affairs at Grady, discussed the role of the more than 300 Emory employees at Grady. More than 25 employees attended the meeting and talked about the seeming disparity in some benefits between the two sites. The group was interested in investigating MARTA card privileges for Grady staff, which would be useful at their location. They also discussed the fact that parking is not guaranteed for them while on the main campus. Currently their best options are carpool hang tags or the Grady shuttle. John Ward told the group that discussions had been initiated to get an Emory Credit Union automated teller machine at Grady. A suggestion was made to explore the possibility of having credit union staff come to Grady on a regular basis. A survey will be taken to measure the interest level. Other issues discussed included the timeliness of mail deliveries from the main campus, and the centralization at Grady of important Human Resources forms that are more detailed than the ones currently posted on the Internet site. After discussing other issues such as speed bumps on the main campus and parking problems in the decks, the meeting concluded. Council members said they would report back to Grady employees about action taken on the issues discussed. --Stephanie Scott Return to Nov. 9, 1998, contents page
|