Rock N Java
UTSA alumnus introduces a family atmosphere to SA coffee houses
Features, page 5
^ REC      VE
OP
Breaking with tradition
UTSA photography teachers Neil Maurer and Dan Burkholder exhibit work
Arts & Entertainment, page 7
January 31,1995
Volume 18, Number 3
SeRviNG'THt University of- Texas at San Antonio CoMr
Math prof sues UTSA
Sex discrimination, secret file cited
By AJ Bohne
StoffWriter
Due to denial of promotion and sal¬ ary discrepancies. Dr. Betty Sue Travis filed suit against the UT syslem Board of Regents, UTSA, and others last fall. The lawsuit alleges gross irregularities in the conduct of Travis* review for promotion and unconstitutional action by UTSA's provost and president.
Travis, associate professor in Ihe di¬ vision of mathematics, computer sci¬ ence, and statistics, filed the lawsuit last fall in Travis County, Texas. The defen¬ dants named in the lawsuit are the UT system Board of Regents; UTSA; Dr. Samuel Kirkpatrick, UTSA president; and Dr. Raymond Garza, UTSA pro¬ vost. Travis is asking Ihe coun for dam¬ ages totaling more than $250,000 as well as back pay from a contract dispute, and all legal fees incurred.
Travis, who joined UTSA in 1980 and has been a tenured associate profes¬ sor since 1985, claims she was passed over for promotion to full professor in March 1994 because she is a woman. Travis also filed separate complaints with the Equal Employment Opportu¬ nity Commission (EEOC) and Ihe Of¬ fice of Civil Rights (OCR). The EEOC is investigating Ihe salary discrepancies based on discrimination, and Ihe OCR is investigating the discrimination claim itself as well as other discrimination lawsuits against the university.
In a copy oflhe lawsuit provided by Travis, specific examples of sexual dis¬ crimination were given:
"Agents of Defendants considered [Travis] and two male staff members for appointment to the acting Division Di-
The Plaintiff
The Defendants
Dr. Betty Travis        Provost Ray Garza
Travis alleges she is paid less than male colleagues because of her gender, and she was not promoted to ftill professor due to her gender and Garza's ani¬ mosity toward her.
Travis alleges Garza en¬ gaged in gross irregulari¬ ties in her promotion re¬ view due to his gathering a secret file on Travis and ignoring several faculty members' testimony.
President Sam Kirkpatrick
The lawsuit alleges Kirk¬ patrick participated in the "unconstitutional" actions of Garza.
rector position when the position be¬ came vacant in 1986. When [Travis] requested an explanation why she did not receive the appointment, she was told that, as a woman, she was not 'tough enough', even though she was .clearly more qualified than either of the males to perform the duties of Acting Division Director.
"[Travis] now is eaming $11,724.00 •per year less than the male for perform¬ ing the saiiie work as Interim Associate Dean as her male predecessor. [Travis) seeks a declaration that Defendant can¬ not without violating the Texas Equal Rights Amendmenlrefuse to pay [Travis] an equal salary for her service as Interim Associate Dean on account of prior ex¬ perience acquired by the male which [Travis] was precluded from obtaining because of her sex.
"[Travis] believes and avers that Defendant Garza was motivated, inpan, in recommending that she not be pro¬
moted by [Travis'] sex and, in part, by his personal animosity toward [Travis] on account of [Travis' ] protected speech and conduct as a member ofthe Faculty Senate.
"Defendant Garza engaged in gross irregularities in the conduct of [Travis'] review for promotion, including calling a joumal editor and the National Sci¬ ence Foundation, and collecting infor¬ mation from an anonymous source and placing it in a secret file. This conduct on the part of Defendant Garza caused extreme embarrassment to [Travis].
"Atameeting of several faculty mem¬ bers. Defendant Garza admitted to the existence of die secret file on [Travis] and claimed that his decision to deny promotion was based on the contents of this file. Contained in the file were statements by an anonymous outside source who was asked by Defendant Garza to comment on [Travis' ] publica- cont on pg 3
This modernist sculpture of a sleigh on West Campus Incorporates a rusted bed frame and wings.
The Sculpture-Ceramics Studio fire mangled and charred several student projects.
Fire damage cleanup begins
By David Braddam, Jr.
Contributing Writer
During the weekend the University began the cleanup from a fire earlier last week which has temporarily can¬ celled classes and caused more than $200,000 worth of damage to equip¬ ment, students' property and projects.
The fire occurred in the north-east comer of the Sculpture-Ceramics Stu¬ dio last Wednesday.
James Broderick, professor and di¬ rector of the division of art and archi¬ tecture, began work on Friday toward planning temporary equipment and facilities for the displaced students. The university has not settled plans on compensating students or on relocat¬ ing classes that were in the building.
According to an arson investiga¬ tion, the fire was caused by faulty electrical equipment. Lieutenant Dan Peiia of the UTSA police department said that the fire could have been ig¬ nited by a florescent light fixture or electrical wiring in the ceiling. The building was vacant during the blaze and no injuries occurred.
"Two physical plant employees for¬ tunately were working in the building
adjacent to the sculpture and ceramics studio,' Feria said. "They noticed the fire, they called it in to the police de¬ partment, and of course we immedi¬ ately contacted the San Antonio Fire Department (SAfD).
"The two employees that called it in also had the ability to tum off the utili¬ ties, the gas and the electricity to the building. Fortunately, 1 believe that really helped preventing the spread of the fire."
• The SAFD anived on scene quickly and had the fire under control within fifteen minutes. "The fire was contained, primarily, to the stmcture of the build¬ ing itself," said Pefia.
The worst damage may have come from the water used lo extinguish the flames. While exploring the studios on Friday, art student Dennis Coffman stated that the water had rusted the ball bearings of the machines: tablesaws, handsaws, drills, and planers, and that "to reuse these tools would be abso¬ lutely dangerous."
Although damages were estimated initially at $ 150,(X)0 and later increa.sed to $200,000, no dollar value can be placed on the lost possesions and art¬ work.
"We can't have studio, we can't have class," said Karen Mahaffey, a graduate student and also a faculty member. "We lost our materials, tools and things."
Because the projects and some of the tools lost to the fire are the stu¬ dents' property, they were understand¬ ably worried about compensation.
"We're all pretty much out of per¬ sonal property. My understanding is there is no compensation for property within here." said Coffman.
Although compensation for per¬ sonal property might become a vola¬ tile issue, students were allowed to enter the building under faculty super¬ vision in order remove personal possesions and'assess damages.
The university is working to main¬ tain the classes which were held in the sculptures building.
"We're trying to find something, anything to accommtxlate the stu¬ dents." said Broderick. "There are some institutions elsewhere in the city that have made some offers to accom¬ modate some students."
Broderick also indicated that the uni versity may have repairs completed within three weeks.
Bill proposes to eliminate remedial courses
By Ryan Lambrecht
Editor-in-Chief
Remedial courses could be eliminated from all state universities due to a bill filed by state representative Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. That scenario would please some UTSA faculty who administer re¬ medial programs, but others feel that eliminating the courses would harm some students who need only a refresher course to acquire university-level skills.
Ogden's bill is designed to help raise admission standards and promote more fiscal efficiency in Texas higher educa¬ tion. To achieve these aims, the bill would require regents to hold public hearings before increasing tuition and f ^s, require the Higher Education Co¬ ordinating Board to consider consoli¬ dating university systems, and require regents to set minimum admission stan¬ dards so each student "is prepared to do college-level work when admitted."
The bill's proposal to eliminate re¬ medial courses from slate Universities,
however, is one of its most hotly con¬ tested items since it would significantly aller die TASP test.
Since Uie state law creating TASP requires universities to offer remedial courses, the elimination of remediation at universities would require major changes in TASP legislation and possi¬ bly the test itself.
Opinions about remediation at UTSA and Ihe proposal to eliminate it were mixed among UTSA faculty who ad¬ minister remedial courses. Although most faculty supported offering remediation in higher education, opin¬ ion was split over whether it is UTSA's or junior colleges' role to offer remedial courses and help borderline students gain the skills to do university-level work.
Dr. Betty Travis, coordinator of re¬ medial courses in the division of math¬ ematics, computer science and statis¬ tics, staled that remediation should be taught at junior colleges since remedial courses leach studenis skills they need lo pass TASP but do not necessarily
teach them skills for university-lev I math courses.
"Probably ifyou were to ask many of the math professors here they would prefer that the community colleges take over the function of teaching remedial courses," Travis said. "We weren't asked whether we wanted to teach them, we just responded to the fact that we have students who need this type of help. We have responded to the need because the. administration h" 'o|d us to, but perhaps the juniorc.jlleges ^ould do a better job'essentially because they have been in that business for a lot longer and they have had experience with working with siudents who need that extra help."
Dr. Linda Woodson, associate pro¬ fessor in the division of English, clas¬ sics and philosophy and coordinator for remedial English courses, did not see the bill's goal of saving state money by eliminating remediation as desirable since the benefits of remediation can be crucial in persuading students to con¬
tinue their education.
"One ofthe things that I think is very important is that the acquisition of the ability to write occurs at different rates: it's developmental," said Woodson. "Some students who are quite capable of doing university work artive on campus not having the experiences in writing that they need to be successful in their freshmen classes.
"Sometimes it takes these students only a semester to gel the level of writing that they need to be at a university. 1 would hate to see them get into a fresh¬ man class, be unsuccessful, and end up leaving the university when in a semes¬ ter we can get them ready for university classes."
To ensure that remedial students re¬ ceive enough personal attention to leam university-level skills, UTSA organizes its remedial courses to bc smaller in size than freshman-level courses. While a freshman English course can have 25 students enrolled in it, remedial English cont on pg 3
UTSA Debate continues winning streal< at LSU-Slireveport
UTSA Debate Team continued its winning streak as the roadrunner debat¬ ers w^n LSU-Shreveport's Senior De¬ bate Division. UTSA De¬ bate also won both sides of the semi-finals brackets, defeating leams from Abilene Christian and McNeese State to close out the tournament. No final round was held because UTSA teams would have been debating one another.
The teams finishing num¬ ber one and two were composed of jun¬ ior Michelle Bailey with sophomore Javier Buentello, and junior Marco Suarez with junior Doug Roubidoux. Buentello won fourth speaker and Bailey won top speaker in the toumament.
Suarez and Roubidoux completed the tournament without losing a single judge's ballot—a perfect record. Buentello and Bailey lost only one
UlSA
judge's vote out of a panel ofthree in the quarter-finals round.
Teams composed of sophomore Crys¬ tal Ragsdale with junior Scott Ramin. and junior Richard Hathaway with junior Lorena Donnellan placed in the top half of the thirty teams competing, contributing to the team's cap¬ ture of first place in Debate Sweepstakes.
UTSA's performance in debate was also enough to win third place in the Overall Sweep¬ stakes competition. The team picked up enough win points to hold on to their second place national ranking.
UTSA debated in University of Houston's Superbowl Toumament Jan. 29. During the first week in February the Roadrunners will travel to Kansas City for a major national toumament at Ihe University of Missouri at Kansas City.