THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995             TAG: 9502020407
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY SHARON LAROWE, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG                       LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

JMU STUDENTS CAST VOTES IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENT

James Madison University's student government association has declared its confidence in the leadership of the school's president, Dr. Ronald E. Carrier.

The student senators took a stand opposite that of the JMU faculty, which passed a vote of no-confidence in Carrier last week, 305-197. The campus has been split by the administration's decision to disband the physics department as part of the university's restructuring efforts.

After a 45-minute debate on Tuesday, student senators voted 32-10, with four abstentions, in support of a bill backing the president.

``We believe in Dr. Carrier,'' said senior Greg Satz, a Chesapeake native and originator of the bill. Satz said he decided to bring up the bill because of ``all the negative publicity JMU has been getting, and Dr. Carrier especially.''

``Dr. Carrier has been here for over 20 years and . . . we didn't want 20 years of service to go unnoticed,'' Satz said.

The vote reflected only the personal opinions of the student senators, Satz said.

Steve Schwab, a telecommunications instructor who serves as adviser to the student government association, said he was proud of the students' vote.

``The majority of the students were appreciative of Carrier . . . taking JMU from a college to a university and making it the excellent university that it is,'' he said.

Fred Hilton, JMU's director of media relations, said that although the administration did not initiate the vote, ``I think it's a very nice gesture from the students.''

After the vote of no-confidence last week, physics professor Dorn Peterson resigned as speaker of the faculty senate. He said he feared his position as a physics professor presented a conflict of interest for him.

``It's very difficult for someone to be arguing for the faculty when you're very involved in the situation,'' Peterson said. ``There are plenty of pissed-off faculty who could lead the senate just as well as I could, who aren't in physics.'' by CNB