Letters
THE BLUE BANNER/December 11, 1986/5
Next time, try to present both sides
Brotak’s ‘jihad’
Editor, the Blue Banner,
No two readers are likely to agree
on which is the funniest point made
so far in Dr. Brotak’s CQntinning
"jihad." My own favorite is the silly
and condescending claim that the
offspring of the "working class" are
fit only for vocational training and
that the emphasis on the liberal arts
at UNCA has led to an invasion of
ivy-league type students.
I do agree that some important steps
taken on this campus have as their
aim the improvement of the
university’s image more than the
improvement of teaching and learning,
and that should concern everyone. But
one of the programs Dr. Brotak
mentioned in his letter of Dec. 4, the
humanities intern program, does not
belong in this category.
As one of the participants in it, and
one who argued for its creation, let
me make clear that its only aim is to
improve the teaching of students in
the humanities courses.
Our belief is that faculty teach their
classes better the more prepared they
are. Humanities makes unique demands
on its faculty, since, as an
Brotak's bitter.
Editor, the Blue Banner,
Dr. Brotak’s letter in last week’s
^eeds to be tempered with the
knowledge that these are the sour
grapes that grew out of one teacher’s
perceived slap in the face and his beef
^th the administration. Still, Brotak
made some points that need to be
addressed.
Brotak and the management
department chairman Dr. Hollingsworth
(who recently announced his
resignation) think the school should
^vert more funding toward
professorial programs. While the
administration claims the money
problems are due to rapid growth and
inadequate state funding, Brotak claims
the professorial programs are not
getting funds because the
administration overestimated this
year’s enrollment, a mistake which
cost UNCA $100,000 and many courses.
This suggests some sort of
disinformation program by Qiancellor
David Brown and I just don’t buy it.
Part of the problem, claims Brotak,
is putting money into projects such as
the Board of Visitors and the
Chancellor’s Colloquium. Brotak is
correct in saying these pfOfrMBS are
geared to improve the image of the
amusing
interdisciplinary course, it always
includes much material which is
outside the disciplinary backgroimd of
any one teacher.
I have spent my own semester as an
intern in Humanities 214 in studying
the texts of the course and reading
widely outside the syllabus (reading
that I have time to do because of the
release from class and from marking
papers), in meeting with more
knowledgeable colleagues, and in
hearing and thinking about the
lectures. I am positive that I will
teach Humanities 214 better for this
experience.
The humanities intern program has
nothing to do with improving the
image of UNCA; if that were its aim,
the one modest article in the student
newspaper would hardly repay the
(actually very moderate) cost.
One of the aims of a liberal
education is to learn to make
intelligent discriminations and argue
rationally, an ability less widespread
than it should be.
Dr. Merritt Moseley
Literature
says student
school. What could possibly be wrong
with that?
Growth is nice, but quality growth
seems to be the desired end. In order
to substantially increase the school’s
size, admission standards would have
to go way down, and no one wants
that. In order to attract more high-
quality students, UNCA needs a quality
image.
That’s the reason for these projects
(which are not funded from the
academic budget), and I don’t believe
many faculty could be added for the
price tag on these programs.
"Pumping money" into the humanities
in a school which advertises its liberal
arts emphasis doesn’t seem like a
misallocation of funds to me.
Could it be that Brotak just didn’t
like being passed up as program
director and having someone hired to
be his boss? The same year he was
tenured, he began his quarrel with the
administration.
I may be wrong, but I don’t recall
hearing about any of this until it was
announced that someone other than
Brotak had been offered the position
of Atmospheric Sciences director.
West Tucker
Communicati6ns
Junior
Editor, the Blue Banner,
The Nov. 13 "Corner Comments"
section of the "Banner" was a typical
representation of the grotesquely
liberal slant this newsps^r carries.
The topic was the censorship of
albums and the influence lyrics have
on behavior. Opinions from six
students were presented, all of which
felt lyrics in songs do not have a
detrimental influence. One student was
quoted as saying "a lot of church
groups get carried away with things
like that."
r
Furthermore, "censorship," a word
which carries a negative coimotation,
Editor, the Blue Banner,
We are writing in response to the
schedule change which was rudely
brought to our attention the morning
of pre-registration. According to the
first schedule that we received at fall
registration, spring classes were to
begin Jan. 19.
However, when attending early
registration on Nov. 11, we were made
aware of this inconsiderate change. To
our surprise, classes will begin meeting
on Jan. 14.
The administration should be more
sensitive to the reality that students
plan Christmas breaks in accordance
with airline regulations and subsequent
price increases. Not only is the break
shorter than the fall calendar would
^itdr, the Blue Banner,
We should thank Mr. Grizzle for his
timely column on German. It appeared
just two days after an editorial in the
"Asheville Citizen" reminded us that
one reason Americans have so much
trouble competing in international
markets is that we know so little
about other countries.
The new foreign language
requirement at UNCA was passed by
the faculty senate in part to
familiarize students with other
countries. Learning a foreign language
gives us much more than the ability ta
communicate with a person in another
country; it broadens one’s perspective,
and in doing so enables us to see that
our way of speaking and living is only
was placed cleverly just before the
word "conservative." In the first place,
no one is screaming to censor lyrics,
but to have a warning and the lyrics
themselves printed on the cover. Also,
the largest group supporting this
movement consists prihiarily of
concerned parents — not church
groups.
Finally, I’m sure you could have
found people with differing opinions
than those you printed. Please try to
present both sides of an issue when
polling students.
Tom Dennison
Sophomore
Political Science
suggest, it’s length is not at all
consistent with past years.
Our gripe is not necessarily with the
duration of the holiday, but rather
with last minute changes, at least
from the standpoint of the traveler. In
addition to planning for school, the
student must operate around the
airline regulations and restrictions as
well as subsequent fare increases.
We feel confident that we spea^ for
the majority of the student body when
requesting more foresight and
consideration with matters regarding
scheduling changes. Any thought, or
preferably action, would be greatly
appreciated.
Dan David Melinda Moi^
Junior Freshman
Psychology Unclassified
one of many. By learning another
language we learn something about
ourselves.
I am afraid many Americans who go
to Germany with the attitudes Grizzle
spoofs do indeed follow his advice and
avoid conversations with Germans. And
that’s a terrible shame—there is so
much that can be learned from
interacting with people firom another
culture.
One of the greatest Joys of teaching
German here in the United States is
to see American students get excited
about the Geiman language, as I did,
and to give them the chance to get to
know another culture and eiuich their
lives.
Dr. Charlotte Goedsche
Foreign Languages, German
Spring schedule change unfair
Foreign languages teach much