The San Francisco Chronicle is running a blog detailing the experience of two subpoenaed reporters. They were summoned by the Californica Justice Department for their stories on the BALCO and Major League Baseball scandal.
The Herald - Life. Captured Every Day. - Serving York, Chester, and Lancaster Counties.
I’m in the midst of finals but would like to offer kudos to the Herald for their online redesign.
Their webmaster might want to take note of the dysfunctional search button though.
This was a piece I did on the Winthrop men’s basketball team. I caught them hanging out in our student gym and thought it would make an interesting feature. You be the judge:
Gone are the 20,000 screaming basketball fans. Gone are the ESPN pundits and cameras. The upset predictions proved wrong for the sixth time in eight years.
Winthrop Head Coach Gregg Marshall is no longer sobbing into a towel. Bruce Pearl, Tennessee’s head coach, is home in Knoxville after losing to Wichita State. His solar-powered orange blazer, suspenders and tie are going to get some closet time this summer.
It was the one that got away, the Hail Mary shot that somehow slipped past Torrell Martin’s fingers into the meshed netting waiting below, the over-rated team with the over-heated coach, etc., etc.
Tennessee’s Chris Lofton launched a twisting, fading, turning prayer from 19 feet.
With 0.4 seconds on the clock, it was over. There would be no overtime, no win and no surprise.
The Eagles are picking up the pieces.
“I got net, I got net,” senior forward Otis Daniels said.
He’s talking trash after sinking the winning shot in a pickup basketball game. Daniels and other Eagles are spending a cold, stormy Monday night sparring other Winthrop students in Peabody gym.
“Nothing can prepare you for what happened,” Daniels said. “I’ve got a plan for the future. I’m trying to play ball with these knees until they run out.”
Daniels will graduate in August after completing an internship. He’s in the same class as former teammate Billy Houston, who quit earlier in the semester so he could graduate in May.
The senior sport management senior said he has sport agents interested in representing in Australia, New Zealand or Europe.
Michael Jenkins, the 6-foot-3-inch sophomore guard, is draining shots. He’s put the Tennessee game behind him.
“It’s all over now. We gotta build for next year,” Jenkins said. “We played our hearts out.”
The sophomore sport management sophomore will stay in Rock Hill this summer to keep in shape and work.
Several Eagle wannabes and hopefuls idly dribble courtside. They hoot and holler at sophomore point guard Christ Gaynor. Gaynor gives his trademark smile and sinks a three-pointer with ease.
Gaynor, the 5-foot-10-inch mass communication major, can’t believe Lofton’s shot sunk.
“It was a miracle shot. We feel like we should still be playing,” Gaynor said. “To lose on a crazy shot like that after preparing all year is hard. Some say [Lofton] traveled.”
Gaynor plans on working out and working a mall job this summer. He says he is undefeated in Peabody gym.
Kyle Neeley, a 19-year-old math major, tried his best against the Eagles.
How’d he compete?
“Not so good but it’s fun and it raises the level of competition [at Peabody],” Neeley said.
He watched the Tennessee heartbreaker.
“We played well enough to win,” Neeley said. “It was fun to see a small school like Winthrop hang in with a big school like Tennessee.”
On Selection Sunday before the big game, Marshall said, “Time to pull a Rocky.”
It didn’t go down like the movie. It came close but Apollo Creed, Mr. T and the Russians continue to have the last laugh.
I wrote a story on the professor grading Web site RateMyProfessors.com. It was published in the Johnsonian:
At the end of the semester, many Winthrop students anxiously click on the WingSpan Web site to access their grades. For most, the results are acceptable. The average undergraduate GPA for a semester is just over 2.9.
These days, however, students aren’t the only ones getting grades. Over the last five years, several wildly popular Web sites have emerged that allow students to praise or exact revenge on their teachers in a public forum. Many opt for the latter.
Some highlights:
“Instant amnesia walking into this class. I swear he breathes sleeping gas.”
“If I was tested on her family, I would have gotten an A.”
Web sites such as RateMyProfessors.com, PickAProf.com and Rateaprof.com let students rate professors on criteria such as easiness, clarity, helpfulness and even physical attractiveness which is denoted by a small chili pepper icon. RateMyProfessors rates more than 4 million teachers at 5,000 schools across the country.
Some professors believe these ratings Web sites encourage students to pick easier professors who will not challenge them intellectually.
One annoyed professor who goes by a “tenured humanities professor from a college in the South” struck back with an online retort: Rateyourstudents.blogspot.com. His Web site lambastes students for carelessness, laziness and plain stupidity. The unnamed professor said he began the Web site after a fellow teacher received a caustic rating on RateMyProfessors.
At Winthrop, 475 professors are slain or spared in gladiatorial function.
Clarence Coleman, an accounting professor, encourages his student to explore RateMyProfessors.
“To me, a student has to decide for himself what they want our of a college education,” Coleman said. “I am for free speech.”
Coleman’s ratings on RateMyProfessors were less than encouraging:
“Quite simply the worst teacher I’ve ever had.”
“You will have to teach yourself if you take this guy.”
Coleman isn’t worried though.
“I try to prepare my students for life. It’s a tough class and it could be a situation where some students may not have the background to do well in the class,” Coleman said. “An employer might give you an exam before you get the job and you might not be able to cut it.”
Modern languages professor Sheila Carter-Hill thinks ratings Web sites are a good idea in theory.
“This is a free country. I know that students tend to be negative but people can say whatever it is they wish to say,” Carter-Hill said. “I’ve taught for 43 years and my methodology is above reproach. If I didn’t know what I was doing, I should be shot in the head.”
According to Carter-Hill, if students can rant about professors, it should work both ways.
“Professors should have the opportunity to rant about students,” Carter-Hill said.
Education professor Lisa Johnson received a special chili pepper beside her name. According to RateMyProfessors, Johnson is “hot.”
“Well isn’t that sweet,” Johnson said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the course though. It’s just one of those things that provide students an outlet for their thoughts.”
Johnson said she would not let opinion on a Web site change her courses.
English professor Max Childers sees no evil.
“Whatever [the students] say is silly and harmless like so many other things,” Childers said. “They’re being good Americans – expressing outrage because their sense of entitlement has been violated. Keep at it.”
On Childers, one American literature student said, “He rambles a lot and it’s very hard to stay awake.”
Childers isn’t concerned.
“Maybe he should be injected with something to stay awake although I don’t advocate drug use. Still, medical science has its limits and they may have narcolepsy,” Childers said.
He said it could have more to do with the student than the professor.
“We’re supposed to make everyone feel good. It’s the Oprah Winfrey-ization of American culture and university,” Childers said. “[Teachers] are supposed to praise mediocrity. Everyone’s a winner.”
There was no chili pepper beside geology professor Roy Jameson. Instead, there was a lot of negative feedback regarding Jameson’s teaching methods.
One geology student wrote, “He’s horrendous. The lecture’s are horrible and not worth your time.”
Another said, “You better S/U this class or you will want to shoot yourself.”
When asked to respond, Jameson said, “I have no interest in discussing that.”
Use of RateMyProfessors among Winthrop students is widespread.
“It gives you ratings on different professors so that you can see which ones are hard and which ones are easy,” said freshman chemistry major Ginger Devinney. “Students want to take the easy professors. That’s why they use RateMyProfessors.”
Others think it’s more than just getting an easy professor.
“I think students usually just want to know whether the teachers give interesting lectures or if they are nice,” said sophomore interior design major Katy Osmelowski. “I use RateMyProfessors to make sure I don’t get a teacher that has a bad attitude or a reputation for giving bad grades.”
Some students use the course schedule book hand-in-hand with RateMyProfessors.
“I use it when registering,” said senior graphic design major Drew Heffron. “I use it so I can focus on my major.”
Others are more apathetic.
“I’ve never been on it,” said sophomore special education major Bailey Williams. “My friends look at it but I don’t know if they take it seriously.”
Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/13/2006 | Pa. seizes paper’s computer hard disks
In other mortifying news regarding press freedom, the Pennsylvania attorney general found it prudent to take hard drives from a Lancaster newspaper. The attorney general believes reporters accessed private information on a police Web site.
It will be difficult for the Lancaster newspaper to convince sources that information will remain private after this incident.
Knight Ridder Newspaper Chain Agrees to Sale - New York Times
Knight Ridder is selling itself to the McClatchy Company. This will have profound implications for the newspaper business.
With open season being declared by the American education system, one species is having trouble surviving: the full-time, tenure-track professor.
Over the past two decades, universities and colleges have diluted the role of full-time faculty. Due to state and federal budget cuts, many schools rely on bargain-priced part-timers.
It saves money to hire part-timers. Part-time faculty make considerably less than their full-time peers. A recent study by the American Association of Community Colleges found a course load that would cost $40,000 for a full-time professor would cost a mere $15,000 if a part-timer did the work.
Nationally, the use of part-time teachers has increased from 22 percent in 1970 to 46 percent of all higher educational professors, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
At Winthrop
Like its national peers, Winthrop has been using more part-timers.
Winthrop has been hiring more and more part-timers.
Since 2000, Winthrop has increased by 52 percent its number of part-timers to 230 faculty members. The number of full-time professors during that same period increased by only 1 percent to 299 faculty members, including 13 library employees. Part-timers account for 43 percent of Winthrop’s entire faculty headcount.
Since 2000, Winthrop has increased by 52 percent its number of part-timers to 230 faculty members. The number of full-time professors during that same period increased by only 1 percent to 299 faculty members, including 13 library employees.
However, the 230 part-time employees only teach the course load of 104 equivalent full-time professors.
Some have taken note of the trend.
“Winthrop hires a lot of part-time faculty,” said history professor Michael Aradas. “[Part-timers] can keep tuition going up but faculty costs down but the quality of education is going to suffer.”
Others disagree with this viewpoint.
“Part-time faculty are hired because we think they can do the job we ask them to do,” said Debra Boyd, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “If the person’s not qualified, then we take steps to make sure they’re not teaching anymore.”
Accreditation issue
The highly touted U.S. News and World Report college rankings treat part-time faculty members as a disadvantage. Schools that hire full-time, well-paid faculty are ranked higher than those that hire a lot of part-time professors. The logic is full-time, well-paid professors will have a better resume and be able to devote more time to class preparation and teaching.
Karen Jones, academic affairs assistant vice president, disagrees with U.S. News’ methodology.
“I don’t see how you can make that assumption,” Jones said. “People usually teach because they love doing it. They don’t accept the assignment unless they can devote the time.”
Full-time, tenure-track professors have research and scholarship responsibilities while part-timers don’t, Jones said.
Others point to Winthrop’s evaluations as positive indicators.
“Those who’ve evaluated us have said we’re a best value, better than any other institution in South Carolina,” said Tom Moore, vice president for academic affairs. “We must be using our part-time faculty efficiently.”
A constriction of state funds has been a catalyst in the part-time faculty issue.
“Our governor’s pretty down on higher education,” Moore said. “As state support decreases and tuition increases, the use of part-time faculty has been a way to keep costs down and quality up. Based on independent reports, we’re doing a good job.”
Viewpoints
Some point to part-time faculty as a factor in an allegedly stagnant American higher education system.
Reed College in Portland, Ore., does not cooperate with the U.S. News ratings system. Reed’s administration noted that it no longer felt pressure to hire part-time faculty in order to lower average class-size.
The president of Reed College, Colin Diver, called hiring part-timers an “inexpensive but educationally dubious technique for even further increasing the percentage of small classes” in a 2005 Atlantic Monthly article.
Others think Winthrop should do more to attract full-time professors.
“There needs to be more incentives to get quality, full-time teachers,” said Rob Sturgis, a part-time history teacher at Winthrop for over 20 years. “I know some part-time teachers that are better than full-time teachers. I also know some part-timers that shouldn’t be teaching.”
Alarmed at the growing rate of part-time professors, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has dubbed the first week of November “Campus Equity Week.” The AAUP believes part-time positions threaten higher educational quality by offering low wages, no benefits and no academic freedom.
Don Rogers, dean of Winthrop’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, would disagree.
“Most of our experiences [with part-time faculty] are positive,” Rogers said. “What’s happening here is happening everywhere. It’d be hard to be successful at Winthrop if we didn’t use part-time professors.”
Part-timers have given students opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have, Rogers said. Some music students have been taught by Charlotte Symphony Orchestra players who have helped the students get playing gigs.
Others agree.
“Adjuncts often offer expertise that is not available on the faculty, so they are a way to enrich the students’ educational opportunities,” said Jeannie Woods, associate dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Many part-time faculty choose to teach part-time and do not want to teach full-time.”
Benefits
Last summer, part-time faculty at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, collectively bargained to receive pay raises and a health care plan. Winthrop’s faculty, however, is not unionized.
Currently, Winthrop part-timers cannot receive a health care plan through the university.
“The part-timers do not have access to health and dental insurance but they have the option to participate in a retirement program,” said Gail O’Steen, assistant director of human resources. “If you don’t occupy a full-time employment spot, you don’t have benefits.”
Others point to the state government.
“We don’t do benefits. The state does not do that,” said J.P. McKee, vice president for Winthrop’s finance and business. “I don’t know how you could have proportional benefits.”
Some Winthrop administrators would like to see policy changes.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Debra Boyd would like Winthrop to provide prorated benefits for part-time faculty.
“I’d like to see Winthrop at the forefront of providing proportional benefits to part-time faculty,” Boyd said. “Providing benefits is expensive but I can’t think of anyone who would not want our part-time faculty to have benefits.”
Others don’t have quite as rosy a picture.
“No full-timers are going to surrender anything for part-timers,” said history professor Michael Aradas. “There’s only so much pie to go around. It’s going to have to come from somewhere.”
Aradas was a part-time professor at five schools before coming to Winthrop.
“In one semester, I taught 12 courses,” Aradas said. “I definitely would’ve loved to have benefits.”
Only through insurance has Aradas been able to finance recent dental operations: two extractions, nine fillings, preparation for a bridge and three crowns.
“I didn’t have dental care for so long,” Aradas said. “There’s no way I could’ve afforded it without insurance.”
Part-time English professor Jeannine Jordan enjoys teaching at Winthrop but would like to see benefits provided.
“I have known many college instructors to teach at three different schools and maintain a 10-plus course load just to make ends meet, without the benefit of medical insurance,” Jordan said. “Though part-time benefits would be helpful, this requires funding that the state just doesn’t have.”
Casey Doherty, a 21-year-old graphic design junior, said he enjoyed being taught by a part-time professor.
Student view
Students are divided on their opinion of part-time teachers. Some enjoyed their experience.
“One of my favorite teachers was a part-time professor,” said 21-year-old graphic design junior Casey Doherty. “It was cool to get someone who was working in the real world to teach aspiring graphic designers.”
Others agree.
“[My part-time professor] was tough but very good,” said 20-year-old biology and Spanish junior Elia Arenas. “She was funny and she knew how to teach.”
Some prefer full-time professors.
“I would rather have a full-time professor because if you like them, you can take more classes with the same professor,” said 21-year-old history and psychology senior Jessica Force. “Full-timers also have more office hours.”
Some students point to part-time professor’s availability as an issue.
“I think it’s more convenient to have a full-time teacher because you can get in touch with them easier and catch them on campus if you ever have questions,” said 21-year-old art senior Kelly Gukanovich.
The road ahead
With NCAA appearances, academic accolades and successful alumni, Winthrop continues to gain national recognition and scrutiny. Massive renovation projects that will forever alter Winthrop’s campus are currently underway. The approaching years could define Winthrop.
Winthrop President Anthony DiGiorgio has a plan: the Quality Enhancement Plan, specifically.
Rebecca Masters, assistant to the president for public affairs, said the plan will focus on many things, including retaining and recruiting quality faculty, contemporary technology and contemporary facilities.
“The notion is to protect quality and value and find the right balance,” Masters said. “When we need to make an investment, we cannot shy away.
Some see the trend as part of the natural ebb and flow of academia.
“Winthrop has its ups and downs like any other institution,” said part-time history professor Rob Sturgis. “Obviously, in an ideal situation, you’d go out and hire full-time, quality faculty.”
The Best Blogging Newspapers in the U.S.* | Blue Plate Special
Some j-school undergrads and graduates explored the top blogging papers in the U.S.
The Houston Chronicle topped the list.
The team evaluated:
• Ease-of-use and clear navigation
• Currency (updated frequently)
• Quality of writing
• Voice (captivating writing)
• Comments and reader participation
• Range and originality
• Clear explanation of the blogging process
• Blogging commitment
The Herald blog would definitely benefit from an audit in accordance with the above criteria.
United Press International - NewsTrack - Most get news from broadcasters
With all the gloom surrounding the journalism business, this is a great statistic. While the headline might read “most get news from broadcasters,” the stats reveal 63 percent of Americans read a local paper. That only trails online news by 1 percent. All in all, not too shabby.
Winthrop has some interesting speakers coming next week:
• ABC News science correspondent Ned Potter
• Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter Scholars for Journalistic Values at the Poynter Institute
• Senior art director for the Volkswagen account at Arnold Worldwide Boston
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Marilyn Sarow at sarowm@winthrop.edu or (803) 323-4530.
