Week&id Wealhen Good chance of severe hndersforms. Lows in h 60's, highs /5'80
Maxwel m
AC/DC concert review
4
New computer system
installed 7
New basketball coach
10
The Blue
BANNER
Volume 25, Number 1
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
September 5, 1996
Student court UNCA preparing for investigation by federal civil rights office
replaced with
new system
Aimee Campbell
Staff Writer
A committee made up of students
and faculty decided last semester to
abolish student court in favor of a new
system, according to Sue Hintz, As
sistant Director of Student Develop
ment. The committee is currently
setting up a system that will better
meet UNCA’s developmental conduct
needs.
“Basically, the ideals and goals be
hind student court were good goals,”
said Brian Pittman, a student mem
ber of the committee responsible for
the decision. “It was just such a bur
densome system in the way that it had
to be carried out that it just ended up
falling apart.”
There were different factors that iead
up to the decision to get rid of student
court.
“The main problems were that in
developmental conduct, discipline
should be addressed within ten days
after occurring. It’s supposed to be
handled in a relatively quick way,”
said Pittman. “We were averaging
roughly 45 to 50 days, which was
completely unacceptable.”
“At times, it was taking us two to
three months to get some students
into the court,” said Bobby Metz, a
former student court justice who is
involved with the new system. “It was
hard after three months to get wit
nesses to say they would be there and
to ensure students’ rights to make
sure they got a fair trial.”
However, there were some positive
aspects of student court that the com
mittee decided to carry over and inte
grate into the new system.
“One of the intended goals of stu
dent court was that the conduct pro
cess should be a student thing, that
students be involved in the process
from start to finish,” said Pittman.
“That is an important goal that we’re
trying to meet in this one.”
“We are carrying over the positive
sanctioning such as community ser
vice,” said Hintz.
Rather than try to remodel student
court, the committee decided that a
new system would be best.
“They set up a committee to work
on some problems, and it became
evident that it would probably be best
just to start a new system,” said Metz.
“Our task mission was adapted not
to reorganize student court, but to do
away with student court and make a
new process,” said Pittman.
In some ways the format of the sys
tem will drastically change.
“I liked the way it mirrored the real
world,” said Metz. “But then again,
the real world court system doesn’t
seem to work too well either.”
“ Whatever is best for the students is
what we’re aiming for,” said Metz.
“It won’t be burdened by a lot of the
problems that resulted from being a
part of student government,” said
Pittman. “It took months to get
through the senate process to get staff
members replaced. For a student con
duct committee, it has to be quick.”
Those involved with the system be
lieve it should have a positive impact
on student life.
“It will be positive interaction rather
than punitive action,” said Hintz.
COURT cont. on pg. 10
Jennifer Thurston
Sports Editor
In response to an anonymous com
plaint filed with the federal Office of
Civil Rights (OCR) last spring, the
UNCA administration hired an inde
pendent consultant to prepare a plan
for addressing the university’s gender
equity policies within the department
of athletics. In the report submitted
to the Chancellor, consultant Lamar
Daniel, a former OCR investigator,
predicted that the university will be
found in violation of federal equity
laws under the Title IX statutes that
have been in effect since 1972.
Representatives from the OCR will
visit the UNCA campus to conduct
their investigation Oct. 9-13.
In the report, Daniel stated that “the
University does not comply (with Title
IX regulations) with respect to the
effective accommodation of student
interests and abilities.”
In order for the university to com
ply, it must satisfy one prong in a
three-part test. The first part is dem
onstration of a continuing practice of
program expansion that fulfills the
needs of the underrepresented sex, in
this case, females. The second part
involves maintaining a proportional
ity of male and female athletes that
reflect the proportionality of the over
all student body. The third part re
quires that the athletics program ef
fectively accommodate the interest of
the females within the student body.
Chancellor Patsy Reed stated that
UNCA would attempt to comply with
Title IX by meeting the proportional
ity test. The plans are not yet finalized
and are subject to further revision
when the OCR concludes its investi
gation.
“We are going to accept the plan
that (Daniel) has suggested to us, to
work within the sports that we already
have in order to achieve proportional
ity,” Reed said.
In his report, Daniel suggests that
the easiest way to achieve proportion
ality would be to add at least one more
women’s sports team, either softball,
swimming, or golf However, another
solution is to reduce the number of
male athletes at UNCA and increase
the number of female atheletes.
Currently, the overall UNCA stu
dent body is approximately 45% male
and 55% female. But 57% ofstudent-
athletes are male and 43% are female.
By eliminating fifteen male athletes
and adding thirty female athletes,
UNCA would meet the proportional
ity test. The Daniel report recom
mends cutting nine baseball players,
three male basketball players, and three
male track athletes in order to meet
the requirement.
“Everyone (in the athletics depart
ment) understands that gender equity
must be achieved,” Reed said, point
ing out that the current teams would
“fare better” by meeting proportion
ality through cutting male athletes
EQUITY cont. on pg.8
Delays in gymnasium construction anger students
John Hodges
Staff Writer
Because of initial delays, completion of the
addition to the Justice Center gymnasium has
been delayed six months, according to UNCA
authorities. The finishing date has now been set
for the. 1997 spring semester.
The project got behind early on when we ran
into rock,” said Ron Reagan, the director of
facilities planning. “We never really caught back up
and that has always been a known element to the
school administration and students. Students who
were living in Hoey Hall complained about noise and
that slowed things as well.”
Returning students have complained about the slow
construction of the additions. Many of them are
upset because they feel the gym should have been
completed when they returned for the fall semester.
f*
Construction crews continue to work on tlie addition to the gymnasium, although they ore six months behind
schedule. The construction is to be completed in the spring.
PliolobyDelDelonn
as UNCA authorities had promised.
“I feel disgusted that they could not keep up with
their schedule,” said Gene Zaleski, a sophomore
meteorology major. “There is no excuse for their
slow work. They say that they ran into rock, but
don’t you think that should have been expected?
We are in the mountains.”
Some students said that they had worked con
struction jobs this summer, and that some people
just do not realize how long the work actually takes.
“I worked construction this summer,” said Hooper
Turner, sophomore. “The work usually takes a
really long time, not because it’s so hard, but be
cause the people who do it are really lazy. I know
because I was there.”
No alternative has been suggested to students who
want to use the new addition to the gym.
Many students complain that they have nowhere
to exercise due to the fact that the sports teams are
usually practicing in the old gym.
“Where are we supposed to go,” asked sophomore
Ty Elliott. “They have scheduled time for student
use, but those times are around lunch when we are
either eating or in class. All other times, the teams
are practicing ^d won’t let anyone else use the
gym.”
“I pay to use the gym and should be allowed to
since the new one isn’t done,” said Elliott.
The new addition to the Justice Center is going to
offer many new facilities to students once it is
completed, according to Reagan. He said that new
racquetball, basketball, and indoor tennis courts are
just some of the additions that will be offered for
student use only, not varsity sports practice.
“The new gym will have a weight room, new men’s
and women’s locker rooms, three classrooms, seven
new offices, and one large multi-purpose gymna
sium that will be separated into three sections by
curtain dividers,” said Reagan. “There will also be
GYMNASIUM cont. on pg. 10
New stop signs on Edgewood attempt to slow down traffic
Alex Self
Staff Writer
The recent addition of two new
stop signs on Edgewood Road have
forced commuters to make more fre
quent stops, but they have not slowed
speeders and were a “total waste of
money,” according to some UNCA
students.
“I’ve had some people tell me they
could accelerate to 40 between the
four-way stop down the hill and the
three-way stop,” said sophomore
Anna Matteson.
Even though a few will persist in
driving fast, junior Joseph Crawford
said, the new stop signs would help.
“Some people are kind of stupid,”
said Crawford. “They speed up to
stop signs, and then slowdown, slam
ming on their brakes. They want to
keep paying for new brake pads.
“They’re still going to speed when
ever they can, but it won’t be so
bad,” said Crawford. “It’s annoy
ing, but it would make it a little
more safe.”
The Asheville City Public Works
Department said that they didn’t
have enough information to deter
mine if the stop signs were slowing
traffic down.
“We need more data to see whether
it is working effectively, margin
ally, or not at all,” said Susanne
Malloy, the assistant director of
public works.
According to Malloy, the city will
monitor Edgewood traffic three
times before declaring the signs ef
fective or not.
The final test will occur after stu
dents have had time to get adjusted to
the changed traffic patterns, said
Malloy.
The new signs were an improvement
from earlier attempts to stop speed
ers, according to Dr. David Peifer, a
UNCA math professor.
“It’s better than those stupid little
bumps that people always went
around,” said Peifer.
Some students agreed that the stop
signs were a necessary safety precau
tion.
“I feel quite sure the speed limit was
abused,” said Matteson. “If people
would obey the posted speed limits,
they wouldn’t need the stop signs
there.
“Obviously, there was a problem,”
said Matteson. “ It was fairly unsafe
for kids and pets.”
According to most students, it was
not just university traffic that drove
too fast on Edgewood.
“I don’t think it’s a direct result of
student traffic,” Matteson said. “I’m
sure everybody sped through there.
Students shouldn’t take the new signs
personally.”
David Whitley, of 210 Edgewood
Road, said the Edgewood commu
nity did not hold the UNCA stu
dents solely responsible for the speed
ing problem.
“People are not pinpointing college
students,” said Whitley. “It’s just
people are getting more aggressive in
their driving.”
Crawford said that since most of
EDGEWOOD cont. on pg. 10