Professor-sruoent roucny eely" is now a
no-no at UNC.
THr Tece?
S EX BETWEEN TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IS NOTHING
new, but to North Carolina legislators, it got really
old really quick.
attention of university administra-
tors during a messy divorce between
Williams and his third wife.
Court records reveal that
Williams had at least two extramari-
tal affairs with UNC students. He
also admitted to having sex in his
office with a student h employed.
After an investigation, outgoing
UNC chancellor Paul Hardin repri-
manded Williams for employing the
student, but with no amorous rela-
tions policy in place, he took no fur-
ther action.
Rumblings in the North Caroli-
na legislature soon turned the tide
against Williams.
Considering the reprimand a slap
on the wrist, legislators say the case
made them question whether fund-
ing for UNC was a worthy expendi-
ture. "Parents put their trust in the
university when they send their 18-
year-old daughters to college," says
Rep. Leo Daughtry.
That was the beginning of the
end for Williams.
Michael Hooker, UNC's new
chancellor, initiated dismissal pro-
ceedings against Williams just
hours before his first meeting with
state legislators. Hooker said his
decision was based on new evi-
dence of unrelated financial misdo-
ings by Williams.
Williams, under extreme pres-
sure, saw the writing on the wall
and resigned before the review com-
mittee could meet to decide his case.
Robyn Tomlin Hackley, U. of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill
Art Schmart:
Endangered
Endowments
When reports surfaced of alleged
affairs between a U. of North Car-
olina, Chapel Hill, associate profes-
sor and at least two of his students,
there wasn't much school adminis-
trators could do. With no policy
against such activity, they were
stuck in a gray area.
Now, to prevent this from hap-
pening again, UNC has adopted a
new amorous relations policy -
bylaws forbidding teachers from
engaging in relationships with stu-
dents they evaluate. Relationships
are not forbidden between profes-
sors and students in disciplines
other than their own, but they are
discouraged.
Meanwhile, the teacher responsi-
ble for the adoption of the new poli-
cy resigned in July under pressure
related to the alleged affairs and to
alleged financial misdoings, too.
Information about James D.
Williams' sexual exploits with
undergraduate students drew the
Student Videos
Sell a RadioStar
W HO'S JAMES MCMURTRY? THE PRODUCER
and student directors for the rock-folk
singer's video album Where'd You Hide the
Body? didn't know either, until they were asked to
work on the project.
"[McMurtry's manager Mark Institute of the Arts grad student,
Spector] thought this would be a used children and animation to
great way to give students profes- create her video's nostalgic feel,
sional experience and James an
entire video album," says produc-
er Linda Feferman, who also
directed two of the videos. Fefer-
roan, a friend of Spector's, was
nominated for an Emmy for a
PBS film she produced, wrote
and directed, but she had never
worked on a music video - or
with students.
"I was blown away," she says.-
"What they came up with was as
strong or stronger than any
MTV stuff." A
The student influence also
gave McMurtry's music an edge
that just night translate to cross- Even folk singers like
over appeal. James McMurtry want
Pip Johnson, a California their MTV.
i
but she also popped in disembod-
ied, heavily lipsticked, si"girg lips.
"I wanted to combine many
unusual and special visual bits and
pieces that the lyrics inspired,"
Johnson says.
Johnson was one of II Cal Arts
and U. of Southern California stu-
dents chosen to make the videos.
Students were recommended to
Feferman by the schools' faculty
and asked to pick up a tape of
McMurtry's album. Those interest-
ed then submitted storyboards, a
production schedule and a budget.
"One of vy teachers, who
knew that most of the stuff I did
had music in it, turned in reiy
name," explains Johannes Gam-
ble, a junior at Cal Arts. Gamble
had never used a movie cameera
before - his first few rolls of film
came out black. He didn't know
how to use the editor, either.
"I went into Columbia
Records, and Linda said, 'Here's
the instruction book. This button
does this - bye!' Then I stayed
up really, really late.... I didn't
really know that this was going to
be so professional and so real."
The music and video albums
were released in July, and a TV
special is planned.
Bonnie Datt, Associate Editor
C ONGRESS IS TRIMMING AGAIN. LAST JULY, THE
House of Representatives appropriations com-
mittee recommended cutting the annual bud-
get of the National Endowment for the Arts by 40
percent and the National Endowment for the Human-
ities by 43 percent. A Senate bill, introduced in
August, would only cut the arts endowment by a third
but would leave the humanities with the 43 percent
House cut.
Although the proposed cuts remain in a quagmire of political debate,
one thing appears certain: Both the NEA and NEH face serious cutbacks
and a possible phaseout over the next few years.
This could spell disaster for universities that depend on the endowments
to support research, preservation projects and cultural activities.
In 1994, 197 of the 3,800 NEA grants, totaling approximately $4
million, went to colleges and universities. The NEH doled out $67
million, or 42 percent of the $158 million program fund, to higher
education.
College officials are eager to voice their concerns about the impacts that
such cutbacks might have on colleges and universities.
"I see it as an abolition of a national cultural policy," says Andrea Rich,
executive vice chancellor at UCLA. "Great nations that have sustained value
over time have invested in their cultural core in order to sustain and enhance
their culturalvalues. Without that, you have no anchored, cultural role in
the world."
Cindy Peltier, director of the Center Gallery at Bucknell U. in Pennsyl-
vania, says, "We'll be in line with Third World countries in terms of the
arts, and I don't think that's where we want to be."
Other schools worry about the impact the cutbacks will have on the
future of the arts and humanities.
"This is just part of a larger trend of shifting government money away
from cultural preservation and heritage," says Paul Conway, director of
preservation at Yale U's library, which receives $300,000 to $500,000 in
grants each year.
"[At Yale], there is a serious threat of losing material that is on its last
leg," Conway says. "We have scholastic resources that just aren't going to
make it to the 21st century."
Colleen Rush, Assistant Editor/Illustration by Aaron Taylor, Brigham Young U.
I
10 U. M. agtazi=e * October 1995