erver THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM COLLEGE AT LINCOLN CENTER VOLUME XVIII, issue 3 March 9, 2000 www.fclcobserver.com Camille Paglia Comes to Fordham Communication Professor Reappointed Original University Ruling Overruled as 10-Month Wait Comes to an End By Mary Anne Feeney By Brian J. Cuthbert ommendation The controversial cultural critic and of TRAC was feminist, Camille Paglia, lectured on The university has renewed the then passed on the state of "The North American contract of Anahid Kassabian, to Carrubba. Intellectual Tradition" in front of Assistant Professor of Communication Carrubba con- approximately 400 people at the and Media Studies, reversing a previ- sulted with the Fordham Law School's McNally ous decision after an appeal to the Council of Arts Amphitheater last February 17th. Tenure and Reappointment Appeals and Sciences During her lecture, Paglia called for Committee (IRAQ. Deans, which educators to bring back American lit- After reversing its initial decision to includes erary critics, such as Marshall not renew her contract, the university Grime; Jeffrey McLuhan, Leslie Fiedler, and Norman notified Kassabian of her reappoint- von Arx, S.J., 0. Brown. She stated that American ment on February 26, in a letter sent Dean of Rose intellectuals were wrongly abandoned by Robert Carrubba, Vice President Hill; Robert in the 1960's in order to create a sepa- for Academic Affairs. "It simply said Himmelberg, ration from the American tradition. that I am being offered a contract," Dean of the They were replaced by European crit- Kassabian said. "There is no reference Graduate ics, such as Derrida, Lacan, and to the previous denial or to the appeals School of Arts Foucault. process." and Sciences; "She has very decided views about Kassabian said she felt an incredi- and Michael the state of the academy," Joseph ble, release reading the letter, Gillan, Dean of O'Hare! S.J., President of Fordham "Though the joy is definitely tempered Liberal Studies University said. "She paints in very by confusion," she said. "I guess I'm at Lfncoln broad strokes, but I think she did strike never going to understand what went Center. After a few nerves in her caricature of acade- on the past ten months behind all consulting the Professor Anahid Kassabian micians preoccupied with critical theo- those closed doors." deans, Carrubba ry in a way that can discourage engage- Carrubba couldn't be reached for made his recommendation to David Stuhr, Associate Vice ment with the works of art themselves." comment. Fordham President, Joseph O'Hare, President for Academic Affairs, said According to O'Hare, author Tom Last August, after being notified S J., who made the final decision., the decision to reappoint Kassabian Wolfe, who attended the event, said she wouldn't be reappointed, "The amount of time taken (for the "goes well beyond the professor. It that he agreed with everything Paglia Kassabian petitioned TRAC in appeals process) was not unjust," said goes into departmental issues." said. "I'm not prepared to say that [for October. According to Rev. Robert Himmelberg. "The appeals process (continued on page 2) myself] but I (continued on page 3) Grimes, S.J., Dean of FCLC, the rec- takes time." USG Proposes Equal Dean's List Requirements For Both Campuses More FCLC students would receive academic honor under new proposal INSIDE: By David Cauldwell United Student Government (USG) Commentary: is proposing changes to the require- Deconstructing ments for FCLC students to make the Dean's list. As it is now, FCRH stu- DeCafe dents can get on the Dean's List with a minimum grade point average (GPA) page 6 of 3.5, while Lincoln Center students need a GPA of 3.6, according to the FEATURES: Fordham University Undergraduate Bulletin. Danielle Tarabokia, presi- The Diallo Verdict dent of USG, said the current method page 10 is unfair because it gives Rose Hill stu- dents an advantage. USG member Margaret Pesce ARTS: raised the issue at the USG meeting 'If I Selected the on February 16. Tarabokia wants to Dean Rita Hendrkks oversees the Dean's Ust selection process for FCLC propose the issue to the Steering Academy Awards' Committee that will then decide if the The Dean's List is an academic academic excellence, according to page 20 matter should be on the agenda for honor that is recorded on students' Rita Hcndricks, Assistant Dean of the next College Council meeting. transcripts and is meant to recognize FCLC. (conituned on page 4 ) News March 9,2000 New Registration Procedure Replaces Advising Forms with PIN Numbers Kassabian Reappointed (continued from page 1) By Johanna Garcia Gwenyth Jackaway, Associate Students will now have to obtain Professor of Communication and PIN numbers from their advisers to Media Studies, said Kassabian's reap- remove their registration hold, instead pointment was the right and just of handing in signed advising forms choice. According to Jackaway, there to the Academic Advising office, said rare two factions in the department and Rosemary Dejulio, Assistant Dean of they don't agree on how to run it. Academic Services. The new proce- Jackaway said discussions are ongo- dure takes place this month for regis- ing about what ideas should be at the tration for the Fall 2000 semester. center of the curriculum, and what "Registration's still by phone but kinds of teachers should be hired. now students have a three-digit PIN Brian Rose, Associate Chair of number," said' Dejulio. "Students still Communication and Media Studies, have to meet with their advisers, said: "There's no question in my mind which then enables them to go right to that at least part of the problem sur- the phone and lift the advisory hold." rounding the reappointment of "I definitely think if s a good thing," Dean Dejulio Kassabian stemmed from her media said Mason Saltarrelli, FCLC '01. "The studies orientation, an orientation that less paperwork the students have to offered the new system to Lincoln to remove the hold, they can then use seemed to be misunderstood and do, the less room for error. It just Center, since it has been in use at the their old four-digit PIN numbers for unappreciated by those who voted seems much easier all around." Rose Hill campus and works very well adding and dropping classes." Dejulio against her." c "There are a couple of reasons for there. "We're trying to streamline the also urged students to visit the "Our department is obviously in the change," Dejulio said. "The first is process here, too and make it more Academic Advising office if they need- enormous turmoil right now," said to eliminate the additional paperwork efficient," she said. ^ ed assistance. Kassabian. "I hope that my reappoint- involved and the. second is to ensure Thafs actually a very good idea," said "If s definitely a way to know the stu- ment is a signal that the university that students know who their academ- Sareh JavahetiSaatchi, FCLC '00. "It's so dent actually went to the adviser so they means to take the traditions of media ic adviser of record is. We hope to much "more efficient than the old proce- can't come back later and say they studies seriously, and to nurture the reinforce the importance of students dure with the advising forms." weren't well-advised," Saltarrelli said. development of media studies curricu- seeing their actual adviser, since they "The current course booklets offer "If a studenfs just flagging some- lum and personnel, despite our minor- now have to go to their adviser of enhanced instructions to reflect the one down in the hall to get a signature ity position in the department." record to obtain their PIN numbers." new procedure," Dejulio said. "Once on an advising form, thafs not very (continued on page 4) According to Dejulio, the Registrar students use their new PIN numbers effective advising," Dejulio said.B Living Proof: Photographer presents "Faces of AIDS" slideshow at Fordham By Katie Jennings with AIDS as living positively because they felt the negative images of people People are living positively with with AIDS were only aiding in their AIDS was the message photographer destruction. Carolyn Jones brought to Fordham Along with another friend, George University last Wednesday, February Disippio, Jones, Liberature, and 23rd. In a 90-minute presentation called Honeycutt distributed flyers around "Faces of AIDS," Jones showed various Manhattan asking people who were photographs of people living with AIDS, HIV-positive or who had AIDS to par- while narrating stories about their lives. ticipate in the project. • Living Proof is a collection of por- A man named Ross Johnson was traits, taken by Jones, of people living the first to come forward, Jones said. with AIDS who, Jones felt, were never "He came in with no veneer. He didn't captured "living." Many of the pic- have time to have any walls up. tures taken of people with AIDS show Much to Jones' surprise, people con- them sickly and unhappy, according to tacted her from all over the country, Jones, but people with AIDS can be expressing their interest Sometimes, happy and, much of the time, are like she said, they even just showed up everyone else. unannounced at her studio. They laid Pursuit of Happiness" was released. Cynthia Rodriguez, FCLC '02. "It Jones, a fashion and portrait photog- themselves on the table, freely admit- Jones knew she had accomplished shows that anyone can get AIDS, not rapher, who has worked for magazines ting, this is what I got and how I got it" her goal when a package of letters just gay people and drug users." such as Esquire, Interview, and Italian Jones told everyone who came in to arrived at her studio one day from a Lili Figel FCLC '02, Serial Vogue, came face-to-face with AIDS bring something with them that they sixth-grade class who had.