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(11/21/90 10:00am)
The American Family Association has filed suit against the general counsel for the National Endowment for the Arts, claiming she made slanderous comments about the group in a speech at the University in October. In a suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the AFA and its founder, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, charged that Julianne Davis' speech before an audience of 40 to 50 at the Law School October 24 was filled with "vicious and malicious falsehood." In the suit, the AFA, which is based in Tupelo, Mississippi, describes itself as an organization that works to promote "decency" and Judeo-Christian family values based. In a transcript of the speech provided by the AFA in the suit, Davis allegedly said she saw a 24-point political agenda of the AFA, an organization which opposes the NEA's funding of controversial art. But the suit claims Davis told the audience the AFA's agenda "includes the elimination of democracy, elimination of public schools, (and) advocates that astrologers, adulterers, blasphemers, homosexuals and incorrigible children be executed, preferably by stoning." Calls to Davis' Washington, D.C., office were redirected to the NEA's public relations department. NEA spokesman John Dare said yesterday the organization will not make any comment until it has reviewed the suit. Benjamin Bull, a lawyer at the American Family Association Law Center in Tupelo, said yesterday that his group received a tape of the speech from a member of the audience who "made me swear not to reveal who they are." He would not say whether the person was a student. Bull said the person was "somebody who had heard she (Davis) was making outrageous statements about opposers of NEA funding." "This is outrageous slander," said Bull, who said the AFA does not have any political agenda. Davis also was outspoken against former presidential candidate Pat Robertson and his Christian Broadcast Network, Bull said. The suit charges only Davis and not the NEA, Bull said, because the group feels the speech was made outside of her duties with the NEA. The group and Wildmon charged Davis with slander and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They demanded a jury trial, and are seeking more than $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. They also want a permanent injunction which would prevent Davis from making similar comments in public and an order requiring Davis to publish a retraction in the Law School newspaper and to issue a retractory note to the organizations that sponsored the event. Representatives of those groups could not be reached for comment or for verification of Davis' remarks.
(09/20/90 9:00am)
Thanks to an anonymous University graduate, 6400 students last year got the chance to forge better relationships with their often-distant professors -- and even sample some of their teachers cooking. For years, faculty members have invited groups of students to their homes to taste a home-cooked meal or chat over coffee. And in 1983, President Sheldon Hackney helped make those get-togethers a little easier -- and cheaper -- by establishing the President's Fund for Student-Faculty Interaction with an unrestricted gift from an anonymous donor. The fund provides teachers with money to entertain students for lunch, dinner, or a snack to the tune of $6 per student for dinner and $4 for lunch. But the money is not just for food -- professors have also used it for class presentations. Since 1983, faculty members have dipped into the fund 1507 times. Last year teachers set a record, using the fund 271 times -- $27,8449 worth. Faculty members may use the fund only once a semester. German professor Francis Brevart, who used the fund for a dinner with his students, said that his wife was so enthusiastic when he brought students home -- she treated them "as we treat kings" -- that he was forced to take them out to a restaurant instead. The closer relationship that developed between Brevart and his students as a result of these dinners brought immediate rewards in the classroom, the professor said. Knowing the students personally "made work in the classroom pleasant," and students began to speak out in class and attend more office hours. "This is unkown at my other universities," said Brevart, who has also taught in Canada and Germany. "I speak to other colleagues, and these programs don't exist." "I never had this when I studied -- they were gods and we were the rabble," he added. Student Life Director Francine Walker said that the "major users" of the fund are those professors with relatively small classes. Walker said that hundreds of faculty members entertain students on a personal level, but not all of them use the fund. She said the fund supports faculty members who had been bringing students into their homes for years, but often found the cost prohibitive. She said that last year an equal number of graduate and undergraduate students benefited from the fund. Last fall, Law School Dean Colin Diver invited his first-year Torts class -- 110 students -- to his home for a catered dinner. He said programs such as the President's Fund, which reimbursed him $660 for the event, help release some of the anxiety that first-year law students often feel. "The first year can be a scary experience," Diver said. The Law School dean said that many law professors entertain small groups of students. (****EDS NOTE - CORRECTION - Professor should be Paul Korshin) English professor Howard Kaufold said he entertains students several times each year, although he can use the fund only once. Kaufold hosted a lunch last May during Peak Week for his students from the last 25 years. Kaufold, who teaches Madness in Literature, has in the past invited his entire lecture class to a reception, and even invites large classes to his home. "A barbeque is a good idea," Kaufold said. "I always do the cooking. Heaven knows they all eat it." Entertaining students is a two-way street for Kaufold, who said that students often reciprocate by taking him out to lunch. "I get booked up to six weeks," said Kaufold. He said he eats a Reuben sandwich almost every day during the term. Kaufold said that former Education Secretary William Bennett criticized the program when he visited the University calling it frivolous and a way for professors to fraudulantly earn extra money. He said the $6 per student for dinner "doesn't cover a whole lot," but "it gives a respectable reimbursement."