LehighWeek Volume 02, Issue 17

              INSIDE:
Flu Keeps Health Center Busy 3
What If Socrates Came Back To Earth? 4
Corporate/Foundation Gift Report 5
Comedian Rich Hail In Concert 6
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LINDERMAN   LIBRAR Y
PL C'i-i   #30 B030c
The numbers sound pretty bad, and they
are. Recruitment of black faculty is
extremely difficult.' '
-Provost David A. Sanchez
Enrollment, Page
3
Volume Two,
Issue Seventeen
^■^" Lehigh University, ^^       A       *^r   Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
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February 1,1989
The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, a leader of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s and an associate of the
late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoke at Lehigh's observation of the slain leader's birthday last week.
Abernathy: Keep King's Dream Alive
By Faith S. Rosenshein
Media Relations Intern
During biblical times, people laughed at Joseph when he
told them about the strange dreams he dreamed. In one
dream, Joseph saw a sun (representing his father), a moon
(representing his mother), and eleven stars (representing his
brothers) bowing down to him. Joseph's family laughed at
his dream. Years later, when Joseph had become governor
of Pharaoh's land, during a famine, his brothers came,
bowed before Joseph, and asked for food.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also dreamed strange dreams
said the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy at Lehigh University's
Martin Luther King Day ceremonies Jan. 23 in the Asa
Packer Room of Packer Hall, the university center.
"He [King] dreamed that the day would soon come
when his children would be judged by the content of their
character rather than the color of their skin." said
Abernathy.
Abernathy was a close friend and associate of King. He
is currently the pastor at West Hunter Street Baptist Church
in Atlanta, Ga. and co-founder and president emeritus of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
As part of the ceremonies honoring King, the St. James
A. M. E. Zion church gospel choir of Allentown. Pa., sang
gospel and spiritual selections.
Although society has advanced in the fight for justice
and equality. Abernathy said the fight is not finished.
Abernathy said King died in his arms on the balcony of a
motel in Memphis, Tenn.
"But he didn't die until he said, 'Ralph, for God's sake
take my people across this Jordan to the land of Canaan.
They've come a long, long way, but still have a long, long
way to go,"' said Abernathy.
Abernathy urged the 350 people in attendance to work to
keep King's dream alive.
"There is nothing wrong with America that a good protest
can't straighten out," he said.
Discussing the issue of civil rights today, Abernathy said
minorities only get what they fight for.
"Too many of us want the rain but we don't want the
thunder and the lightening," he said.
"There is nothing wrong with America
that a good protest can't
straighten out."
-Rev. Ralph Abernathy
Addressing the environment facing most minority youth
today, Abernathy said students do not understand how it felt
buying sandwiches at a restaurant's back door or drinking out
of a water fountain marked "Colored."
"But it was the same water because when nobody was
looking I tasted it," joked Abernathy.
Throughout his speech, Abernathy wove jokes based on
Continued On Page 3>
Human Relations
Panels Begin Study
Commissions On Women, Minorities
To Consider Racism, Gender Issues
By Rita T. Malone
Lehigh University Writers' Group
Lehigh's two new Presidential Commissions on
Women and Minorities met for the first time last Tuesday
to receive their charges and begin work.
President Peter Likins welcomed the members and
introduced David A. Sanchez, vice president and provost,
who will chair the Commission on Minorities, Judith N.
Lasker, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,
who will chair the Commission on Women, and Laurie
Gostley, who will coordinate and provide support for both
commissions in her new role as assistant to the president for
human relations.
"We are blessed with good people who have
volunteered their time to help us along this road," said
Likins.   "We have an opportunity here at Lehigh and
across the nation to renew efforts to make progress in
human relationships. I think these commissions can be
agents of change and believe in our ability to make a
difference."
He added that the commissions have challenging
assignments which include not only understanding the
intellectual aspects of campus sociology but also the very
real and important emotional dimension of the situation.
"There are real feelings that have to be recognized,"
Likins continued. "And there is a moral dimension. We
have a responsibility in this institution tp shape the ethical
culture of the campus."
Representatives from the faculty, students and staff are
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Lehigh Seeks Exemption
From Tax On Employee Tuition
By Kurt Pfitzer
Lehigh University Writers' Group
Lehigh is seeking to exempt employees taking graduate
courses at university expense from a new law that counts
reimbursed tuition payments as taxable income
Assistant controller Robert E. Siegfried said the
Council for Graduate Schools, to which Lehigh belongs,
has retained the Washington, D.C. law firm of Patton,
Boggs & Blow to seek a favorable interpretation of the law
by the Internal Revenue Service.
The law, known as the Technical and Miscellaneous
Revenue Act, or TAMRA , was signed by former president
Reagan last November. TAMRA allows graduate teaching
and research assistants to continue excluding tuition reimbursements from their gross incomes.
But it requires graduate students whose tuition is being
paid by their companies to pay income tax on the amount
for which they are being reimbursed. Previously, the IRS
did not count tuition reimbursement as taxable income.
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