Miami Hurricane, March 05, 1993

              ► HARASSMENT
COMPUTER LAB MAY STAY OPEN 24 HOURS
An attempt by Student Government to have two campus computer labs open 24 hours a day during mid-terms was rejected. The labs, however, will be open around the clock during finals week.
Lewis Temares, vice president for Information Resources, said the inability to find staff for the labs in Eaton Residential College and the Ungar Building prevented opening them for all ofthis week and next.
Temares did say, however, that the Eaton Residential College computer lab will be open continuously as a trial run during finals at end of the semester.
The idea was proposed by SG President David Diamond in a memo to Temares on Feb. 19. He said he suggested it to help students studying for mid-term exams.
NOMINATIONS NEEDED FOR INVOLVEMENT AWARD
Students, faculty and administrators may nominate the senior of their choice for the annual Award for Excellence in Student Involvement.
This award, which is sponsored by Student Development and the Leadership Institute, recognizes one outstanding graduating senior who has best demonstrated community involvement and leadership abilities during their college career.
To be eligible for the award, seniors must have a 3.0 grade point average, show extensive involvement and achievements in university and community programs and a commitment to helping other students.
Nominees must complete a biography and an essay discussing the. impact of their involvement at UM.
The award will be presented at the 1993 Celebration of Involvement Breakfast on April 1.
Nominations should be submitted in writing to the Department of Student Development in University Center 209. Deadline is March 10.
MID SEMESTER GRADE WARNINGS SENT OUT
Students earning a D or an E in classes will be receiving midterm deficiency notices in the mail within the next two weeks.
Professors were required to send the names and sub-standard grades of students to each school's dean, as a warning of possible failure.
Scott Ingold, assistant dean of enrollments, said mid-semester deficiency .can be sent to a student for more than just bad grades.
“Poor attendance could be reason enough to send this warning for many courses,” Ingold stated.
Although placed into a student’s individual registration file, the warnings do not become part of a students permanent record.
FACE THE FACTS
These are the number of freshman who applied to UM In the fall semester of 1992.
Applied 7,771 Accepted 6,224 Enrolled 1,790
Source: UM Fed Boo*
JEFFREY M. BROOKS/ Gtuphka Edlor
Two former GSIS students file suit against Valeria
BY LAURIE POWELL
Hurricane Staff Writer
Ana Miyares, a UM employee, and Andrea Ewart-Simon, a gradute international studies student from 1986 to 1989, filed a lawsuit against UM alleging sexual harassment and abuse by Professor Jiri Valenta in U.S. District Court.
They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the University which they allege was negligent in its hiring, retention and suspension of Valenta.
Miyares was Valenta’s staff assistant and student.
The complaint states that Miyares was repeatedly subjected to coercive intercourse, the touching and rubbing of her body in a sexual way ana offers from Valenta to engage in group sex. Valenta repeatedly expressed his curiosity about interracial sex to Ewart-Simon, states the complaint, and walked around GSIS with his pants open.
Despite complaints over a seven-year
period by faculty members, graduate students, work-study students, research assistants and secretaries, the suit alleges, the University made no effort to investigate until Professor Vendulka Kubalkaova filed a formal complaint in February 1992.
Further, the women claim the University failed to discipline Valenta “despite the actual knowledge of Dean Ambler Moss of Valenta’s behavior."
Moss could not be reached for comment.
Five faculty members and four students are cited in the complaint and attest to Valenta’s harassment and abuse of power.
"It is to show the notice the University was on for [Valenta’s] bad behavior and conduct,” said Marty Chapman, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit.
Valenta’s lawyer, Kathleen Burgener could not be reached for comment.
The University has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Valenta lawyers call first witness
BY LAURIE POWELL
Hurricane Stan Writer
The prosecution in UM Professor Jiri Valenta’s defamation suit against Professor Vendulka Kubalkova called its first character witness on Feb. 26.
Kubalkova’s attorney, Harley Tropin, said Martin Palous, Czechoslovakia’s former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed three things: he was unaware of any damage Valenta suffered, sexual harassment is no big deal, and Valenta’s reputation in his homeland has not been greatly harmed.
"I think that in order to prove a defamation case, you need to prove some damage,” said Tropin. "They failed miserably in that.”
Palous said Valenta is held in high regard in Prague, even though rumors were spread about the “problem” in Miami. He knows of no complaints, he said, in the political or academic community regarding Valenta’s performance.
“I think he has a pretty good reputation,” he said. “He is definitely respected as a serious person.”
Palous said it is unusual for sexual harassment to surface in Czechoslovakia, and that Czechoslovakia does not have the same type of problem or procedures as the United States.
Palous held the post of deputy minister until June 1992 when his party lost the Czechoslovakian elections.
► LAKE OSCEOLA
► AFTER ANDREW
Students still helping victims of hurricane
LANCE AUG / Special to The Hurricane
■ SPLISH SPLASH: Workers from Miami Seaquarium struggle with the manatee while removing it from Lake Osceola on Tuesday.
Ill manatee taken to Miami Seaquarium
BY FERNANOO BATTAGLIA
New* Editor
The two-year-old manatee found in Lake Osceola last month was moved to the Miami Seaquarium for treatment Tuesday afternoon.
“The manatee appears to be suffering from a mild case of bloat, a similar condition to colic,”
Gregory Bossart, Seaquarium’s chief veterinarian, said. “This may be a direct result from eating plants from the lake that are not a usual part of a manatee’s diet.”
Linda Farmer, coordinator of the Marine Science program at the College of Arts and Sciences, said they decided that the best thing to do would be to move him.
“He was eating a fair amount and was in danger of overeating his food supply,” Farmer said.
The manatee was put into the Seaquarium’s manatee rehabilitation facility with two other manatees, a mother and her calf, which were taken from the Port Everglades Florida Power and Light power plant.
No decision has been made as to when or where the manatee will be released, said Eric Eimstead,
Seaquarium director of marketing.
"It’s two years old. We didn’t think it would be wise to release it by itself,” Eimstead said.
LANCE AUG / Special to The Hurricane ■ LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER: The manatee was taken to the Miami Seaquarium marine park for observation.
BY MARIBEL PEREZ
Hurricane Staff Writer
Six months after Hurricane Andrew struck South Dade, the , Volunteer Services Center is still putting student volunteers in touch with agencies helping victims cof
da Chi Alpha fraternity help build a tent city last weekend to house about 500 people.
“Before the day was out they had erected about 50 tents,” said Jill Funk, hurricane relief coordinator. “Most other volunteer help has involved debris removal and reconstruction.”
Sophomore Neil Aziz, one of the volunteers, also helped coordinate the effort.
“I helped Jill IFunk] and Donica [Williams] set up the Hurricane Relief Committee about three weeks after the hurricane,” he said. “We were hoping to get teachers to offer extra-credit for students who volunteered, but we haven’t gotten much of a response.”
The relief committee arranged fot transportation to Homestead.
“We did a lot of things down there,” Aziz said, "like distributing food, water and medicine, cutting down trees and helping to rebuild houses.”
Some volunteers have worked with the Inter-Faith Coalition for Andrew Recovery Effort, helping people who do not have insurance and do nor qualify for other aid sources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Coalition is an umbrella organization through which churches of different denominations can provide volunteers.
“Student volunteers have basically opened up cases for ICARE and handled need-assessment over the phone,” said Funk.
The hurricane relief committee is also establishing an outreach center for South Dade hurricane victims. Adopt-a-School offers children the opportunity to discuss
their anxietes and creates a place where their parents can meet to discuss hurricane-related issues they face.
“We coordinated the Adopt-a-School program mainly to send volunteers there who can spend time
7unk said affected psychologically by Andrew in many cases. Many are reportedly unusually aggressive this year."
Many of these children, Funk said, lost friends who were forced to relocate. Some no longer have anyone in whom to confide.
“That’s an area where faculty members could provide helpful lectures to the community. Funk added.
The volunteer clean-up effort has not been limited to UM students. The National Habitat For Humanity has been booked with college students from across the country since November, according to Volunteer Services Coordinator Donica Williams. Students from universities across the country have come to Miami to volunteer through alternative spring break programs.
“Students from the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Boston University have come. Funk said. “We’re expecting a group from Rice University this week.”
"They’ve been making phone calls to Hurricane victims to find out who still needs assistance,” Donica Williams said of the volunteers. “One site that’s really been positive for the volunteers is a place called Little Farm in Homestead. They’ve had a lot of fun working along-side the homeowners and just being there with all the animals.”
Funk said she has actually had to turn down universities that offered their services because of the shortage of housing.
The group from Eastern Michigan spent its spring break sleeping in the Hurricane Cafeteria.
► STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Senator may be impeached for misconduct
BY JASON ZOANOWICZ
Hurricane Stall Writer
A select commission on impeachment has been formed to investigate Student Government Commuter South Senator Paul David Diaz on allegations of misconduct.
Steve Cohen, speaker of the SG Senate, said that there are 30 specific allegations against Diaz covering six areas of conduct. The areas included are: conduct which is materially detrimental in nature to the office of senator; conduct which is materially detrimental in nature to SG; conduct which is materially detrimental in nature to the enfranchised students at UM; conduct which is dishonest in nature, conduct which is negligent
in nature; and conduct and actions unbecoming an SG senator.
Cohen said that he believes that the allegations against Diaz are “legitimate and non-frivolous in nature.” He is required by the SG Constitution to review all allegations against a senator and determine if they merit an investigation.
“Basically, I don’t know what the allegations are,” said Diaz, who is running for SG vice president on the "People First” ticket. "I don’t know what it could possibly be that I’ve done.
“I have not done anything negligent, dishonest or unbecoming a senator,” he said. "The allegations areprobably political in nature.”
There have been no successful
impeachment attempts in recent years. A group of students attempted to initiate impeachment proceedings against then SG President Troy Bell in 1989. The speaker of the senate rejected the charges as being frivolous and trivial and no commission was assembled.
“This is the first time I know of that [impeachment proceedings] have gone to the point of a commission m the five years I’ve been adviser,” SG adviser Craig UUom
According to SG President David Diamond, the impeachment commission will review the existing allegations and also add any additional charges of misconduct they discover.
► BOMB THREAT
Threat forces LC evacuation
The bombing at the World Trade Center hit home at UM on Tuesday — almost.
An anonymous caller phoned UM President Edward T. Foote II’s office at about 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, saying there may be a bomb in the Learning Center, Provost Luis Glaser said.
"What we have here is the work of pranksters,” Glaser said. "It’s part of the aftermath of what happened in New York.”
At least two classes were forced to evacuate the building, along with workers in the Centrex Building, which is attached to the Learning Center.
Professor William Shimer’s CBR 245 class of about 15 students were taking their mid-term
when they were forced to move to the lawn to continue the test after the building was evacuated.
Shimer said the class was told to evacuate at 5:05 p.m.
"I understand that this happens around exam time,” Shimer said. "I feel sorry for the students. They had to take their exam with the ants.”
Glaser said Public Safety searched the Learning Center, but no bomb was found. Classes were kept out of the building for about one hour, he said.
Glaser said the University has no suspects in the threat and does not intend to investigate the matter.
—SIMON P. DUVALL