Weekend Weafher: Warm weofher is back lor a short visit Check the weather on page 9
Hitchcock classic
revisited 4
Freshman girls find
family in soccer 8
Wlhw Koerher, page 6
Car break-ins plague
campus 10
The Blue
Volume 25,
Campus Highlights
■ You probably don’t realize
how close many of you actually are to
graduating and entering the real
world. Or perhaps life as a college
professor has grown tiresome and a
new career is in the future.The
UNCA Career Center is sponsoring
the Career Fair on Friday, Oct. 25
from lOa.m.-l p.m. The fair will be
held in both Lipinsky and Karpen
Halls. Representatives of over 40
businesses, government agencies, and
graduate schools will attend the fair
and will talk to those who are inter
ested. All UNCA students, faculty,
alumni, as well as the Asheville com
munity, are invited.
• The University Gallery will
exhibit the works of visiting artists
David Dodge Lewis and Sandy
Wilcox through Nov. 12. On Fri
day, Oct. 25, the two artisits will be
hosting Gallery Talk at 5:30 p.m.,
where they will answer questions re
garding their art.There will also be
an opening reception between 6:30
and 8:30 p.m. that same night. The
University Gallery exhibits both stu
dent and visiting artists’ work. Ac
cording to gallery director Robert
Tynes, the gallery is trying to present
more shows featuring professional
artists. It is open Monday-Friday 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.
• This weekend will be an ex
cellent opportunity for the UNCA
community to come out and cheer
on our Lady Bulldogs. The women’s
soccer team has two games this week
end. The first game is against
Wofford College at 2 p.m. on Satur
day, Oct. 26, and the second match
is against Tennessee Tech at 1 p.m.
on Sunday, Oct. 27. Both games are
at Greenwood Field. And if soccer
isn’t your sport, the women’s volley
ball team will be facing Charleston
Southern University at 2 p.m. on
Friday, Oct. 25 in the Justice Cen
ter. And, as usual, these games are
free to faculty, staff, and students
with ID.
■ S till have a few cultural event
requirements to satisfy, or would you
like to broaden your musical hori
zons? The opportunity to rectify that
situation is coming your way. The
Sabri Brothers from Pakistan will
perform at UNCA on Wednesday,
Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. in Lipinsky Audi
torium. The brothers perform devo
tional music of the Sufi sect of Islam.
Tickets are available in Highsmith
Center, and are $4 for UNCA stu
dents and $10 for UNCA faculty,
staff, alumni, and College for Se
niors members. General admission
tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for
children under 14.
■ Did you know that music is
used in stress management, with
troubled kids, in pain control, and
during childbirth? A new course is
being offered next semester entitled
“Introduction to Music Therapy,
MUSC 473.” The course explores
the uses and applications of music
therapy, the pychology of music, as
well as the principles and processes
of music therapy. The course is open
to both music and non-music ma
jors. Anyone who is interested should
call the music department at 251-
6432.
Number^
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
October 24, 1996 |
Questions regarding criminal record added to application
Alex Self
Staff Writer
Admission to UNCA now requires
disclosure of a criminal record as a
part of the application, according to
John White, UNCA’s director of ad
missions. This policy, in effect for its
second year, was viewed as an inva
sion of privacy by many students,
some of whom admitted to lying on
their application, afraid that the truth
would keepthem from getting ac
cepted.
“I think when I filled in the applica
tion, I hadn’t gone to court yet, so I
told them I’d never been in jail,” said
an anonymous UNCA student ar
rested for drunk driving. “I didn’t like
it (the new questions on criminal his
tory) because I thought it might hurt
my chances of getting in, so I lied.”
The student said he did not think
people should be discriminated
against at the university level for
having a criminal past.
“I don’t see how
that’s relevant to you
getting an educa
tion,” said the anony-
mous student.
“Whether or not
you’ve been in jail is
totally independent
of how well you’re go
ing to do in college.”
White said the four
additional questions
concerning an
applicant’s criminal
record were added to protect stu
dents from potentially violent
people.
“You wouldn’t want somebody on
campus who’s going to be a physical
threat to the university,” said White.
UNCA is not the only school with a
policy of asking
students about
their criminal
pasts. The North
Carolina General
Admissions Of
fice mandated
that all applica
tions to universi
ties in the UNC-
system include a
section for crimi
nal offenses,
White said.
Betsy Bunting,
the attorney for the UNC system, said
the policy was enacted as a result of
problems other schools had experi
enced because felons were allowed on
"I thought (the
questions)
might hurt my
chances of get
ting in. so I
lied."
—Anonymous Student
campus.
“They have had problems in other
states, not in this state, with ones
being admitted who were charged pre
viously with second degree murder,
and then did it again,” said Bunting.
“In court, the schools were asked why
they didn’t know.”
One student said the new admis
sions requirement was not that big of
a deal, and it should not determine an
applicant’s acceptance to UNCA.
“It is legitimate to know what kind
of students they have, but it shouldn’t
factor into admissions,” said sopho
more Abby Wood. “Criminal records
are public knowledge, the registrar
could access them if they wanted. It’s
merely a matter of convenience.”
APPLICATION cont. on pg. 10
Once'censored door in Soufhridge allowed to again bare all
Jennifer Thurston
Sports Editor
What happens to two roomates who put up
censored centerfolds on their dorn door as a
joke? They get censored right back, then
apologized to, and then vindicated. Today,
the door, once again, is left exposed.
At least, that’s the way it’s done at UNCA.
“My original feeling was that it’s just a
door and everybody was making a huge deal
out of it,” said Erin Landers of 322
Southridge Hall. “In the end, I was right.”
Landers and her roommate, Andrea
Lawson, covered the outside of their door on
Tuesday, Oct. 15 with centerfolds from
Playgirl magazine, and carefully covered the
exposed genitalia of the figures with stickers
and paper. This was the final stage in a
month-long decorative process that began,
innocently enough, with advertisements for
1-900 sex lines.
“We weren’t trying to make any kind of
political statement,” Lawson said. “We were
just trying to be funny. We had plenty of
stickers and we made sure there wasn’t any
thing hanging out.”
But on the following day, Oct. 16, at 11:30
p.m., Lawson and Landers, already in their
pajamas for the night, answered a knock at
the door and were informed by their resi
dent assistant, Steve Taylor, that the door was
obscene and the centerfolds had to be removed
immediately.
“We were angry and upset,” Lawson said. “We
didn’t know what we were supposed to do. We
didn’t know what would happen to us if we didn’t
do it. We didn’t know what our rights were.”
The two roomates argued that nothing was ob-
Photo by Jennifer Thurstan
The door to the room of Erin Landers and Andrea Lawson was censored because of the
pictures on it. The door was eventually deemed not obscene by ttie resident director.
scene and could not find a regulation in their
resident handbooks that prevented them from cov
ering the door with appropriately-stickered
centerfolds. Refusing to remove the centerfolds,
Lawson and Landers instead censored them even
further by covering up the entire door with pages
from The Blue Banner, quotes from the First Amend
ment, Webster’s dictionary definition of obscenity,
and even more pictures of men, this time
clothed by the ink of magic markers.
The door stayed covered this way for an
other five days, as UNCA Housing Depart
ment officials were unavailable to the room
mates, who requested an explanation and
documentation that they had indeed violated
a university regulation, Lawson said.
But on Monday, Oct. 21, Landers and
Lawson were informed by Southridge Resi
dent Director Melanie Rhodarmer that noth
ing was wrong with the censored centerfolds,
and that a mistake had been made in request
ing the removal of the pictures on the door.
They received an apology, Lawson said.
The Blue Banner came off, and the
centerfolds were revealed.
Rhodarmer would not comment for this
story, but Pete Williams, the director of
housing, said the Housing Office had recieved
complaints about the door having gone too
far.
“There were some complaints from some
students about the inappropriateness of the
full frontal nudity of the centerfolds,” Will
iams said. “In ca§es like these, we try to talk
with the students and rationalize with them.
It’s case by case. We don’t try to define
‘obscene’.”
However, Williams added that he did not
see the door personally before the decision
was made.
“Everything we heard (from other students) was
positive,” Landers said. “Nobody ever said any
thing bad about it. We had no idea that someone
found it offensive.”
Now that the controversy is over, the door—and
the censored centerfolds—remain openly in view
in the otherwise sedate Southridge hallway.
Candidates exchange ideas, barbs in front of small crowd
Michael Taylor
News Editor
Despite a small turnout, the debate
between three of the six candidates
for the 28th District of the North
Carolina Senate went well, accord
ing to organizers. The debate, held
Oct. 17, attracted nearly 40 people
to watch the candidates discuss sev
eral issues.
Coordinator of the UNCA Issues
Forum, Doug Jones, said the turn
out wasn’t disappointing and that
the candidates responded well to the
debate.
“I thought that the debate went
really well,” said Jones. “Close to 40
people showed up, including the
chancellor and the vice-chancellor.”
Incumbent Republican Senator
Jesse Ledbetter, and Democrats
Charles Carter and Herbert Hyde
participated in the debate, which con
sisted of four directed questions. The
candidates also had several minutes
for opening and closing statements.
The majority of the debate centered
around education, which all three
participants noted as the most im
portant issue for this year’s election.
“It’s important that we have legisla
tors with a background in educa
tion,” said Carter, a teacher at North
Buncombe High School. “We used
to spend 60 percent of the state bud
get on education, now it’s 58 per-
>}
cent.
Herbert Hyde, an Asheville lawyer
who has been involved with politics
in western North Carolina for several
years, made several comments about
the poor performance of the incum
bents.
“I’m running because this sections
needs representation,” said Hyde.
“I’ve been concerned about educa
tion longer than most of you mainly
because I’ve been alive longer.”
But as the only incumbent present,
Ledbetter was forced to defend his
actions during the last term of the
senate.
“We reduced seven different taxes,”
Ledbetter said of the last term. “And
not only did we not decrease services,
we increased them.”
But Ledbetter acknowledged the
shortcomings, pointed out by Carter
and Hyde, that North Carolina schools
at all levels have experienced. Carter
referred to a statistic that said the
University of North Carolina, which
used to be ranked in the top ! 0, is now
ranked 28.
“It’s been well publicized that our
(North Carolina) schools have not
improved,” said Ledbetter. “The ba
sic education plan was never fully
implemented.”
Co-organizer and UNCA student
Tiffany Drummond also echoed
Jones’ assessment that the debate went
well, despite the small turnout. She
said that despite the lack of advertis
ing, she was actually pleased with the
turnout.
“All the participants had positive
remarks about the debate,” said
Drummond. “Charles Carter had the
most positive things to say about it
(the debate) because it probably ex
cited him more than Jesse Ledbetter.”
Both Jones and Drummond moder
ated the debate, which lasted approxi
mately an hour and a half. Oneofthe
directed questions from Drummond
asked the candidates about the state’s
performance in regards to education.
“We (North Carolina) have not done
what we should do,” said Hyde. “We
DEBATE cont on pg. 7 2