Maroon

              The Loyola MAROON Volume 71 No. 13 toyola University New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 mm ■D I December 4,1992 Not* creature was stirring, not even * mtomse Twilight descends upon the Horseshoe and Touchdown Jesus Tuesday night./ Photo by Also Choate. Loyola chooses The Mathes Group to design new library By Mike DeUune Staff writer The questions about who will design and build Loyola's new $25.4 million library have been answered. Acting on the recommendations of an ad-hoc architect selection committee, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees and the President's Council chose The Mathes Group, a New Orleans-based firm, to be architect for the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Memorial Library. The firm's previous woric at Loyola includes construction of the Communications/Music Building and renovations of both the Law School building on the Broadway Campus and Miller Hall. Dr. Michael Saliba, associate professor of Business Administration and selection committee member, said, "They are a known entity." The four-person selection committee compared the proposals of seven firms vying for the contract Each firm submitted to hourlong interviews. Mary Lee Sweat, dean of libraries and selection committee member, said the firms on the list were then ranked using criteria like previous work and aesthetic quality. The Rev. James C. Carter, S J., university president, said The Mathes Group "ranked high in all categories." Where the company is based was a factor also. The company's locale could effect responsiveness to the university, Saliba said. Other committee members included Dr. David Estes, associate professor of English and Paul Fleming, director of Physical Plant, who served as chairman. Saliba said the consensus of the committee was that, of the seven firms, four were considered acceptable. Some observers say The Mathes Group may not be acceptable. Dr. Earl Richard, professor of religious studies, said "I don't think they are necessarily the best group." Two students charge prof with sexual harassment By Tammy Hotard Copy Editor He feels The Mathes Group doesn't have enough experience building libraries because libraries require special design techniques to support the extreme weight of books. Carter said when Mathes built the Communications/ M'iric Building, they had no experience in building music auditoriums, but they hired a consultant to assist with designing the Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall and, today, they are considered to be a pace-setter in the field. Likewise, Carter said, an architectural consultant specializing in libraries will be brought in on this project, adding that the university will provide input in selecting the consultant Carter said the new facility will provide "a statement for what Loyola is today and will be for the next millenium—a strong academic institution." James Morgan, director of development for Institutional Adv ancemen t, said that of the $25.4 million needed, "s2l million is solid." President Bush recently signed into law the authorization for the last of the $10 million in federal funds going to the P'£gs Center for Research and Development of Functional Skills, informally called the literacy center, which will be housed in the library. This, combined with $10 million from the Monroe Foundation and $1 million from another New Orleans foundation, will provide the bulk of the funds needed. Carter added that in order to have a "state of the art" library, the time between planning and construction should be minimize. Toward that goal. Carter said Dr. David Danahar, vice president of Academic Affairs and dean of Faculties, will soon appoint a new committee to act as liason with Mathes. A previous committee chose a library site on Calhoun Street adjacent to Miller Hall. Over the last week, Fleming did not return the Maroon's numerous calls. A spokesman for The Mathes Group Mike Howard, refused to comment, saying they do not comment on any client's projects. Two female seniors allege that an Arts and Sciences professor who was their instructor went beyond the expected code of ethics regarding student/faculty relations and that his attentions constituted sexual harassment. One of the students followed the university's informal sexual harassment procedure last spring and contacted the university ombudsman regarding the alleged harassment. The other student has not filed a complaint with the university, and has only recently come forward. She said her experiences with the same professor named in the other student's complaint occurred two years ago when she was his student The chairman of the accused professor's department said the informal procedures regarding the alleged harassment have been completed, and that on the departmental level the case is moving into a formal grievance stage. According to the Loyola University Statement of Policy and Procedure on Sexual Harassment, the formal complaint process begins with the notification of the university ombudsman of intent to file a formal grievance; then the ombudsman forwards it to the Loyola University Committee on Sexual Harassment. The accused professor has denied the students' charges in an interview with the Maroon. The senior who has complained to the ombudsman and to the chairman alleges that she was writing a research paper with the accused professor to help fulfill her major's senior requirements, when he started asking her out on dates. She said she always told him no and thought he would stop when the fall 1991 semester ended and the paper was finished. But she alleges that his invitations continued. "He kept coming to my job on campus," she said. She added that on one occasion he even came to her offcampus job to ask her out, which bothered her. In addition, she alleges that he showed her nude pictures of women and men, which seemed out of the ordinary and made her feel awkward. The professor said that the female and he held a "collaborative, cooperative ongoing relationship." He said, "She was having a personal problem when I told her she could meet with me at Ciro 's Pizza, to discuss it with me, but she said she couldn't because she didn't get off work until midnight, so it would be too late." "I don't date my students and I never have," he said. He defended his showing the student nude photos as well. "The photographs I showed her were from a photography course I took that focused on nude art," he said. "I asked her if she See Hwihwnt/page 4 Inside this week... Living in the Denfttl Abyss - § p See page 111 ■■snsß With this Issue the Maroon ends publication for the fall 1992 semester. The Maroon will resume publication at the beginning ofthe spring 1993 semester January 22, 1993.