Finkelstein reminds everyone about national
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Campus Life, 2
Samford graduate goes off on the shortcomings >
of Bill Clinton's presidency
Editorials,4
The Samford Crimson
78th YEAR, 7th ISSUE
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 20. 1993
SAMFORD UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM, AL
Department of Education launches inquiry
to investigate gender equity in athletics
By Kenny Byrd
Sports Editor
The Office erf Civil Rights, a division of
the Department of Education, will be launch¬
ing an inquiry Monday into gender equity in
Samford's athletic department.
The inquiry involves Title IX issues, which
stipulate educational institutions receiving
federal funds cannot discriminate in sports on
the basis of sex. The visit by the civil rights
office will take place Oct 25 to 29.
Investigators will look at Samford’s ath¬
letic facilities and interview coaches, Ath¬
letic Director Stephen Allgood said.
Janice Case, chair of the faculty's Athletic
Committee, informed committee members
of a scheduled meeting Nov. 3, which will
include a discussion of the inquiry.
She said Allgood informed her that he did
not know exactly what the Office of Civil
Rights would investigate. Case said she was
also informed that a letter of complaint to the
civil rights office probably initiated the in¬
quiry.
Allgood said, “They (Office of Civil
Rights) have a standard format that they go
through. We will wait to see what they come
up with.
"A lot of schools have been asked about
gender equity,” he said. “It is a hot topic in the
nation right now and will be far the next ten
years. This is a question a lot of schools are
being asked.”
“They will visit and examine where we are
and come back with recommendations to
meet Title IX compliance," he said.
Head volleyball coach Malinda Ashcraft
said Samford is committed to compliance
with this law. “We want to be in good
standing.”
Ashcraft said it was unclear how football
would play a part in the issue. In regard to
scholarships there is no women’s sport com¬
parable to football in numbers.
Ashcraft said Allgood was committed to
promoting women’s athletics. “He has been
very pro-active with beginning women’s
athletics."
Samford is doing a good job in compari¬
son to other schools regarding gender equity,
Junior wide receiver
Anthony Jordan carries
the ball in Samford's
21-14 loss to
Mississippi College.
Ashcraft said. “At Samford there are a lot of
things in place that are sorely lacking at other
universities.”
Head baseball coach Thomas Walker said
the coaches were informed by Allgood the
civil rights office was coming and times were
set up for the coaches to be interviewed.
Walker is scheduled to meet with investiga¬
tors Oct. 27. “I welcome the investigation,"
he said.
Title IX was one of the Education Amend¬
ments of 1972. A Supreme Court decision in
1984 ruled that the law’s provisions did not
apply to athletics.
In the Civil Rights Restoration Act of
1988, Congress made it clear that Title IX
applies to athletics.
Convo series
bursts bubble
By Nicole Finkelstein
Staff Editor
Samford begins a new series of convoca¬
tions this October, designed by Minister to
the University Dr. Paul Basden to burst the
“Samford bubble.”
The Facing Reality convos are “a wedding
of two points of awareness,” Basden said. He
said students came to him complaining about
being in the bubble and not in contact with the
real world, so he put together this series of
convos to address those “real world” issues,
as well as to use some area speakers who had
not yet spoken in convo services.
Basden said he first chose topics and then
coordinated speakers with the topics he had
Pleas* see Bubble, page 2.
University sets up day
to honor Ralph Beeson
Flu vaccine now available in
university's Wellness Center
By Christi Barnes
News Editor
Samford will celebrate Ralph W. Beeson
Day on Monday “to recognize his contribu¬
tion to the university,” Dean of Students
Richard Franklin said.
The annual celebration will be in conjunc¬
tion with Beeson’s birthday, Franklin said.
Beeson, die university’s single largest bene¬
factor, was bom OcL 24, 1900, and died nine
days before his 90th birthday.
In order to commemorate his birthday, an
appreciation announcement will be placed in
the local newspaper.
A wreath will be placed at his statue and
the cafeteria will bake a birthday cake. There
will also be a prayer (rf remembrance during
the convocation service, Franklin said.
Beeson was bom and raised in Meridian,
Miss., where he stayed until transferring from
Meridian College to Emory University in
Georgia, University Historian Lee Allen said.
He then moved to Birmingham in 1927 to
manage the home office of Liberty National
Life Insurance Company.
During World War
П,
Beeson served as
an officer in the U.S. Navy.
Following the war he helped establish an
insurance program for veterans, the histo¬
rian said.
“He really didn’t work after he left the
Navy," Allen said. “He just managed his
money.”
“He had bought enormous amounts of
Liberty National stock at the bottom of the
depression. He never sold it or gave it away
until the time of his will,” Allen said.
“He was very frugal,” said Laveme
Farmer, the university controller. Farmer
visited Beeson almost everyday for the last
six years of Beeson’s life.
“Once he told me to turn the freezer
down because there was no reason to freeze
the ice that hard,” Farmer remembered.
Beeson gave most of what he had away.
“He got a greater pleasure out of denying
himself, so that he could give away,” Fanner
said.
Please see Beeson, page 3.
By Amy Armstrong
Staff Reporter
The change in the weather brings with
it those autumn though ts of football games,
bonfires and frolicking on the quad with
friends.
But with the flu season around the
comer, students will not be doing much of
anything but sniffling, sneezing and lying
in bed if they have not had their influenza
vaccination shot
“We are preparing for the worst flu
season since 1927 here in Alabama,”
Kathryn Woods, director of the Wellness
Center said.
This is exactly why they have been
urging students to get their vaccination
shot soon.
The Wellness Center is issuing shots
earlier than advertized because the state
health department has already seen the
•nival of a pre-flu epidemic. Woods said.
“Because of the wars overseas, a kx of
diseases and viruses are being brought
back to the states, and no one is sure what
they are,” Woods said.
There are two types of influenza: type
A, a mild case, and type B, the most
severe, she said.
Doctors are not sure which case is
affecting the community, so they are vac¬
cinating for both types.
Although March is the most severe
month fortheepidemic in Alabama, Woods
urges students to take preventive mea¬
sures now and get theshots between Octo¬
ber and January of 1994.
“Once the students are exposed to the
virus it’s too late to give the shot There¬
fore, students should take precautions to
build up their immune system by taking
vitamins.eatingandsleepingproperlyand
dressing for the coed weather,” Woods
said.
The Wellness Center has already be¬
gun to administer shots and will continue
to vaccinate students as long as the vac¬
cines are available.
1Ъ4
cost is $7 for an
injection.
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