LehighWeek Volume 12, Issue 09

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Volume 12, Issue 9
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The campus digest for innovation, news and events with SouthMountaineer
Sports Update
Crusaders sent home;
Hawks 7-0 in football
See SouthMountaineer 7-8
October 27,1998
High school students
look at Lehigh life
Twenty high-school seniors
from Pennsylvania and five
nearby states visited campus
Oct. 15-16 as part of the Admissions Office's effort to increase enrollment of students
of color.
The visitors — all top academic performers — attended classes, toured campus, shadowed professors
and heard presentations on
financial aid, the admissions
process and the Office of Student Affairs. They also got to
sample Lehigh's dining and
residential facilities.
"This is a decision-maker
for me," said Annie Durazo of
Miller Place High School on
Long Island, N.Y. She's considering several other schools
in addition to Lehigh.
The Lehigh Leaders were
chosen from among high-
school students who contacted Lehigh for admissions
information. About 50 students applied to participate
in Lehigh Leaders, and the
admissions office selected 25,
five of whom were unable to
attend on Oct. 15-16, said
Marc Wilson, assistant director of admissions.
A second Leaders program
will be held Nov. 12-13.
"We really want to get talented students of color to apply to Lehigh," Wilson said.
"Lehigh Leaders gives us a
chance to look at students
who are interested in the
University."
Participants in the Leaders program usually are A
students active in extracurricular programs who show a
keen interest in Lehigh, said
Wilson. "We want to influence them early, in the fall,
so this program is a way to
give them a good look at our
campus." Wilson said the majority of participants in previous Lehigh Leaders programs ended up applying to
the university.
"The campus is really nice,
especially the old-looking
buildings, and everyone has
been nice and friendly,"
Tanya Myers of Phillipsburg
High School in Phillipsburg,
N.J., said as she waited to
attend a faculty luncheon
held for the Lehigh Leaders
in the University Center.
- Rich Harry
Students find lessons sailing down the Canal
Seven senior Lehigh architecture
majors in an advanced architectural design class recently demonstrated to several hundred
onlookers that rowing isn't the
only way to get down the Lehigh
Canal.
Given the task of designing
individual non-motorized boats
that would move at least one-
quarter mile, support themselves a person and be self-illuminated, the seven students took
the project into their own hands.
Coming up with ideas that
ranged from a party boat that
seats four and has enough room
for a small coffee table and a
grill, to a human water wheel
that looked something like a
hamster tread-mill, the students
"wowed" the crowd at
Bethlehem's Sand Island during
the first annual "Flotilla Night"
on Oct. 18.
"They got more ambitious
than I ever could have imagined," said Barbara Flanagan,
course instructor. "It's not a race,
but a display of talent. You see
an incredible amount of work in
these boats."
"I'd like to commend Barbara,
Lehigh and these wonderful architecture students," said
Behlehem Mayor Don
Cunningham.
Flanagan said her goal was to
show the students how an architectural designer can rally the
public to one good place or a good
cause.
Sinan Paker was one of the
winners from "Flotilla Night."
He and a guest will join classmate Brian Baker and his
guest on a guided canoe excursion down the Lehigh River to
experience the "metro wilderness," which was donated by the
Wildlands Conservancy. Baker
used his expertise as a running
back on the Lehigh football team
Joe Marcus photos
With boats they built in architecture class, Lehigh students lit up Sand Island and wowed
several hundred residents at the first annual "Flotilla Night" on Oct. 18.
to propel his human water wheel
down the canal.
Paker installed springs and
wooden pedals on his boat, titled
"Light," which he pushed with
his feet. Paker had poles at the
four corners-of the boat with light
bulbs on the top. He surrounded
the boat with material that is
used to line bathing suits.
Philip Molter designed his
boat as frugally as possible, using a hollowed cork door and
plastic clothing storage containers.
The other students who participated in the "Flotilla Night"
were Hande Karahanoglu,
Britton Blaine, Charles
Meyer and Jason Andrews.
—Audra Gaugler
Brian Baker '99, in his human water wheel boat.
Compensation topic of faculty meeting
Faculty compensation was the main topic
at the Oct. 19 university faculty meeting,
as Prof. Ed Shapiro presented a proposal
from the Faculty Compensation Committee
(FCC) to raise faculty pay significantly.
The average compensation of Lehigh faculty
across all ranks is 11.3 percent below the
average at the traditional 14 peer reference
schools. (Full professors are the farthest behind.) To close the salary gap, the FCC proposes a 12-percent increase above the 3.5-
percent annual level over the next three or
four years to. bring faculty up to the 14-
school average. In both its three- and four-
year models, the FCC calls for compensation to increase 9.5 percent the first year,
with declining increases the following years.
In its proposal, the FCC notes, "Lehigh
faculty have foregone a cumulative compensation per faculty member averaged across
ranks of at least $25,000" using  Provost
[Nelson] Markley's comparison schools
(which have a lower compensation average
than the 14 peer reference schools).
"The faculty recognize that recouping this
financial loss under current financial conditions is unrealistic. Forgone accumulated
wages should be recognized by the administration and trustees as a contribution to the
financial security of Lehigh by the faculty
to the tune of over $1 million."
President Greg Farrington agreed faculty compensation is inadequate, but did not
endorse the FCC's plan. "Faculty raises will
be aggressive, but not as aggressive as you
would like," he said. "We must have a balanced budget. But we will move as quickly
as we can to address the problem."
Markley agreed. "Last year I was one of
the new folks asking, 'Is there really a problem? And if there really is a problem, how
big is it?'" he said. Now "my goal is to make
some progress in the next two, three, four
years."
The faculty also voted to change the date
to apply for January graduation from Dec.
1 to Nov. 1 starting in 1999.
Prof. Richard Decker of the Faculty
Financial Planning and Operations Committee explained the committee's priorities
for the coming year. The group supports the
FCC's actions, but has a broader responsibility for university oversight as a whole.
FFPOC will focus on academic infrastructure, department operating budgets,
overhead and indirect cost recovery,
outsourcing, and Lehigh's related enterprises. FFPOC has already met to get an
update on the Y2K computer problem and
on SAFAHRIS (on hold until the Y2K computer problems are resolved), and on telecommunications' need for new voice, data
and video upgrades.
—Rita Malone-Sorensen
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