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The Blue
Volume 25, Number 13
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
December 5, 1996
Minority presence not what it should be, according to some students
Alex Self
Staff Writer
Despite university plans to increase
student diversity on campus, many
minority students feel that UNCA
doesn’t provide enough incentive to
attract a stronger minority presence.
University officials say that they have
recognized the challenges in recruit
ing more minorities at UNCA.
“(UNCA) should recruit people who
do not have any other options, and
who would be glad to go to UNCA,”
said senior Kenneth Harrell.
Harrell said that minorities who have
high Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
scores or have been accepted at other
schools will not come to UNCA be
cause they would rather, if given the
choice, be part of a campus where
more racial equity exists.
If the university “targeted a differ
ent type of minority student,” one
who has been brought up in a rural,
mainly white community, then more
of them would be willing to attend
UNCA because they would have less
of an adjustment, said Harrell.
According to Harrell, he chose
UNCA despite offers from other
schools because he wanted to attend
an inexpensive liberal arts school
and did not care if it housed very
few minorities.
“I wanted to go
to a small liberal
arts school,” said
Harrell. “I don’t
even know if I put
my race on the
application.
“I’ve always
been in a situa
tion where I was
the only black
person in school,
so I don’t give it
more thought,”
Harrell said. “It
was not such an
adjustment for
me.
The Vice Chan
cellor for Enroll
ment Manage
ment, Caroline
Miller, said the
challenges there (in increasing the
number of minorities on campus),”
said Miller.
university recog
nizes the need to
enlist more minorities, and has de
veloped a minority recruiting plan
to fill that need.
“Yes, there is a plan, and yes there
is an awareness that we have some
Njeri Denny is one of a few UNCA minorities, a group tfiat many students hope will grow,
Minority presence on campus is low
because Western North Carolina
boasts very few black, Asian, and His
panic residents. Therefore, all schools
in Western North Carolina, not just
UNCA, show low percentages of mi
norities, said Miller.
“If you look at the three institutions
in the far west,
Appalachian,
Western, and
UNCA, the pro
files show very
little difference
in terms of total
percentage of mi
norities,” Miller
said. “Part of that
is the demo
graphics of the
western region.
“Those three
institutions have
the highest per
centage of stu
dents from the
west, and West
ern North Caro
lina is the least
populated with
minority demo
graphics,” said
Miller. “That’s a
piece of the explanation.”
Miller said very few minorities want
to come to a school in a rural setting
if given a choice of a more urban
environment.
Photo by Del DeLorm
“In comparison with some of the
other institutions, whether it makes
any sense or not, higher percentages
of minority students choose urban
campuses over more rural campuses,”
said Miller. “It’s just a nationwide
trend.”
Minority students, for the most part,
did not think UNCA was implement
ing enough measures to create racial
equity on campus.
John Gaither, a member of the Afri
can American Student Association,
said the university was not paying
attention to what minority students
really wanted and that present poli
cies were not going to entice more to
come to UNCA.
“They’re (the administration) go
ing about it from what they think,
but what they think is not what stu
dents think,” said Gaither, a sopho
more.
Freshman Niambi Hall-Campbell
said UNCA needs to make minority
students feel more a part of the cam
pus by “bringing more black enter
tainment to campus,” and including
more history of African-Americans
and Africa in the curriculum.
MINORITIES cont. on pg.8
FIBER OFTICS JUST ONE OF THE MANY PLANS FOR UNCA
John Hodges
Staff Writer
The University of North Carolina Board of
Trustees met November 14-15 to discuss sev
eral issues involving the uni
versity. One of the major top
ics of discussion was the Capi
tal Projects Report from which
the Board discussed building
projects of the school.
“Wallace, Roberts & Todd is
continuing the campus master
plan process,” said Arthur
Foley, vice chancellor for fi
nancial affairs. “Planners met
with the steeHng committee,
technical committee, and pub
lic safety committee along with
university staff and faculty
members. They also met with
students and interested mem
bers of the community. Plan
ners are working with the uni
versity in completing the mas
ter plan and ranking the se
quencing order and phasing of
future projects.”
“UNCA scheduled a meeting
with planners on Nov. 11 to discuss the final
draft and coordination of architectural and
landscape design guidelines. Presentation of
the final draft is expected early spring semester
of 1997,” said Foley.
One of the additions that is expected to be
brought to UNCA because of the master plan is
the campus-wide fiber optic network, accord
ing to the report. This project will be run by
Burdette Engineering, Inc. of Greenville, SC,
and is reported to cost an estimated $970,300.
The new parking lot behind the Dining Hall, which was 75 days behind schedule, is now comp
Locations of fiber optic entrances into each
building and proposed telecommunication clos
ets have been identified.
“With fiber optics, the limits of our school’s
capabilities are unimaginable,” said Eric
lovacchini, vice chancellor of student affairs.
“Once the new system is installed, the security
of the school will be light years ahead of schools
and universities that have the blue-light emer
gency system.”
“Students will have the opportunity of having
a control device as small as a
key chain to push a button in
case any emergency should
arise. At that moment, cam
pus security will be able to
determine exactly where the
subject is on campus, who the
person is, their picture, sched
ule, etc.,” said lovacchini.
Another issue discussed was
the completion of the
$105,700 walkway that was
built to connect the main cam
pus quad area to the entrance
ofthe dining hall. The project
was designed by Mathews &
Glazer Architects and was con
structed by Trade Masters of
Hendersonville.
“I cannot believe that thing
cost over $100,000,” said an
anonymous UNCA staff
member. “That sidewalk cost
just as much as a house and
isn’t worth a lump of coal. Because it wasn’t
finished before school started, I hope that the
school got some kind of discount. You know, I
PROJECTS cont. on pg. 10
Photo by Del DeLorm
Art students capture awards at statewide competition
— * 11 If . _ 1- u. Lk a f'll r*% »~*V~^ t '
Summer school
schedule worries
some students
Aimee Campbell
Staff Writer
Changes are being made to the summer school
schedule for a variety of reasons, according to
the office of the registrar. These changes are
upsetting many of the students who attend both
summer school and the traditional semesters
here at UNCA.
Some students do not think that the changes
will work to boost enrollment, that instead it
will make it harder for students to attend.
“If anything, it’s going to decrease enrollment
because people won’t
have time to get their
"I'd like to
see them
teach cal
culus in
three
weeks."
—Malyki Ribar
Trish Johnson
Staff Writer
Four UNCA art undergraduates
received awards on Oct. 11 at the
North Carolina Student Juried
Exhibition in Greensboro, accord
ing to an assistant professor of art
at UNCA. UNCA students won
four of the eight awards given.
The exhibition consisted of all
different media displayed in the
department of art’s Mclver Gal
lery and the Elliott Center Gallery
at UNC-Greensboro. The compe
tition was made possible by The
Enhancement of the Undergradu
ate Experience Award from the
College of Arts and Sciences at
UNCG.
“We are very proud that UNCA’s
art students did extremely well,”
said Assistant Professor of Art Rob
ert Tynes, who coordinated the
event for UNCA students. Out of
the 94 entries accepted in the show,
14 were from UNCA. Of the eight
awards given-three top winners and
five honorable mentions- four went
to UNCA students.
Madalyn Hammond received the
second place prize of $100.
Hammond submitted a pencil
drawing titled “Some Days and
Others.” Jennifer Lipsey, Jason
Watson, and Deanna Watson re
ceived honorable mentions for
their work.
UNCA art student Jennifer
Lipsey, a first-year transfer stu
dent, won Honorable Mention
for her self-portrait in pastels.
“I think it really says something
about the students and the de
partment at UNCA,” said Lipsey.
“It’s definitely something to be
proud about.
“It was an honor to be accepted
into the competition, much less
win an award,” said Lipsey.
The competition was open to
everything except jewelry, video,
and installation works. Sculptures,
drawings, paintings, and photo
graphic works were submitted in
the competition.
Lipsey also said that there were
submissions from all over the state,
many of which were rejected. She
added that it reflected very well on
the art community at UNCA.
“I think we had a great showing to
garner half of these awards given
out from our small department,”
said Tynes. “I think that really
speaks well of what our department
is doing and how well we compete
with the rest of the universities in
AWARD cont. on pg. 10
s—t together before
they get here,” said
sophomore Malyki
Ribar. “I’d like to see
them teach calculus
in three weeks.”
The changes in the
schedule include a
three week mini
term from May 19 to
June 6, as well as an
earlier ending date,
allowing for the expanded fall semester to start
earlier.
Among the reasons given for the changes are
the boosting of enrollment, and the offering of
wider course variety. It is the reasons, not the
changes themselves, that are upsetting, accord
ing to some students.
Others don’t like the idea of three week courses,
saying that isn’t long enough for adequate expo
sure to the subject material.
“Three weeks for one course?” said junior Meg
Purchase. “I think that’s ridiculous.
“Five weeks is short enough,” said Purchase.
“It’s as if you blink and it’s over.”
However, some students liked the idea of a
three-week term, for variety as well as for its
convenience.
“I like the three week term,” said an anony
mous student. “It’s something that hasn’t been
done before and I think it’s pretty cool.”
SUMMER cont. on pg. 8