The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Volume 25 , Number 16
NEWS
BRIEFS
Book grants
£»uccessful,
rinore available
^Xwenty-one working students
has'e received scholarships from a
fun d established by Dr. Herbert
S. ] ohnson so far this year, but
nin e more are available, said
Car olyn McElrath, director of fi-
nan(:ial aid.
“I t hink it’s been one of the best
imtn ediate access programs we’ve
ever had,” McElrath said of the
fund that was started by Johnson
to aid students who work at least
15 hours a week.
Stud ents can apply for a grant of
upto $100tobuyclasstextsatthe
campus bookstore through the
financial aid office. Johnson, £
retired surgeon and former stu
dent at UNCA, began the schol
arship program as a way to ease
the haidships ofworking students
and crcate an incentive for them
to cont
inue their studies.
January 30,1997
University freshmen surveyed
rn cimilar auestionnaires each fall corporations bee
What freshmen think
In an annual survey of California freshmen
conducted by theUCLA Higher Education
Research Institute, the following percentages
reflect the number of students who agreed with
the statements:
Handgun sales should be controlled
■ Marijuana should be legalized
Abolish homosexual relationships
Racial discrimination is not a major problem
Death penalty should be abolished
Abortion should be legal
100%
By Chanse Simpson
Staff Writer
If UNCA freshmen are like oth
ers across the country, then they
probably have little interest in
politics, find themselves fairly
evenly divided on issues of abor
tion and affirmative action, and
admit to attending a religious ser
vice in the last year, but do not
consider themselves to be born-
again Christians.
These are some of the recently-
published findings from a nation
wide study of college freshmen by
UCLA’s Higher Education Re
search Institute, published in the
Jan. 17 Chronicle of Higher Edu
cation. The survey involved
251,232 first-time students at
various colleges and universities
across the nation.
UNCA students did not partici
pate in the research, said Archer
Gravely, director of institutional
research, but said first-time stu
dents at UNCA have responded
similar questionnaires each fall
since 1986.
“We do our own new-students
survey,” Gravely said earlier this
week, adding that many schools
do this kind of research to seek
out information about demo
graphics and socio-economic pro
files. “Every college needs to un
derstand its student population,
and these kinds of surveys give us
good background information.”
The California-based study, de
signed to provide a statistical pro
file of the 1.5 million freshmen
who entered college in 1996, of
fers insight into how the colle
giate version of the Class of 2000
feels about the world today. For
example, survey results indicated
that more than 70 percent think
the government should create a
national health care plan and do
more about pollution. Trusting
the federal government, the sur
vey indicated, does not appear to
rank very high among freshmen
beliefs.
“The government supports big
corporations because that s where
the money comes from,” fresh
man drama major Amanda Small
said. “But personally, I don’t think
they spend enough money con
trolling pollution or bringing
about positive changes,”said
Small.
Interest in politics is down, the
report showed, and cynicism is
up. Less than 30 percent of re
spondents said political awareness
is important, down 10 percent
since 1992, the College Press Ser
vice (CPS) reported recently.
UNCA freshman Michael Mor
gan said elected officials in Wash
ington, D.C. have lost credibility.
“Look at Clinton, campaigning
on lowering taxes,” Morgan said.
“But all he did when he got to
Washington was raise them. I just
don’t even pay attention any
more.”
According to UNCA s Institu
tional Research fact book, 455
freshmen entered the university
See FRESHMEN, page 10
Valentine’s Day
is National
Condom Day
The /Vmerican Social Health
Associati on will sponsor a Na
tional Condom Day on Feb. 14 to
remind couples to love responsi
bly” and protect their sexual
health. Th le organization wants to
remind pe’ople that the most ef
fective means of preventing sexu
ally transniiitted diseases is a male
latex condom.
ASHA alsio commissioned a poll
of Florida voters and found that
66 percent of respondents favored
age-approp,riate condom and sex
education ill the schools. Only 14
percent of Floridians learned
about sexuailly transmitted dis
eases from family members first,
but 36 percei it reported first learn
ing about^l'Ds from the media.
Additionally, two-thirds of the re
spondents said the media should
help educatc the public about
STDs and sa fe sexual practices.
For inforni’.ation, call ASHA’s
National STID Hotline at 800-
227-8922.
Continuing ed
classes begin
UNCA will offer 17 classes to
the public in it s continuing edu
cation prograrai this spring, many
starting this wt.ek. Debt-free liv
ing, journaling with photographs,
financial manag ement for women,
fitness, herbal imedicine, and an
Asheville history ^ class are offered.
Call 251-6538 or e-mail
fcooper@unca.edu.
UNCA student
on servic;e tour
in India
Karine Bouis, a senior sociology
major, left for Cah.:utta, India ear
lier this month as a participant in
The International Partnership for
Service-Learning. Bouis, a native
of Penn., will spend the spring
semester living with an Indian
host family, studying, and volun
teering with the organization.
Bouis was selected because of her
academic record an d previous in
volvement in volun t.eer activities.
Homecoming scheduled
Martin Luther King Jr. commemorated
By Stephanie Hunter
staff Writer
UNCA’s Homecoming celebra
tion, scheduled for the week of
Feb. 3 through Feb. 9,will consist
of over 20 different events, ac
cording to the student coordina
tor of the event.
“Over the past several years.
Homecoming took place on the
weekend. This year, the Home
coming Planning Committee and
I felt the celebration would at
tract more student interest if there
were a variety of activities planned
for the entire week,” said Todd
Hagans, student coordinator of
Homecoming.
In addition, having the events
during the week and not just on
the weekend gives more people a
chance to get involved in this cel
ebration, said Alice Pruette, a se
nior music major.
“It’s good to have a reason for
the whole campus to come to
gether,” said Lauren LesCallett, a
junior biology major.
On the other hand, when asked
about the extended celebration,
Deborah Roberts, a sophomore
political science major said, “I’m
not really sure how well it’s going
to go over, but it’s definitely worth
a try.”
Because of the low student mo
rale, more publicity and more
events may help get more people
involved, said Roberts.
“Since Mardi Gras in New Or
leans is just around the corner,
the committee and I felt a Mardi
Gras theme was most appropriate
for our celebration. The theme of
Homecoming ’97 is ‘The Mardi
Party,’” said Hagans.
“I think they did a good job of
picking a theme for this year, es
pecially for those of us who actu-
allycan’tattendMardiGras, said
Bridgett Sneed, a junior music
major.
“Homecoming weekend (Feb. 7-
9) officially kicks off on Friday
afternoon, Feb. 7, at 4:30 p.m.
with the Mardi Gras Parade, which
will be held on University Heights.
The Homecoming parade was very
popular here at UNCA during the
1970’s and the committee and I
thought that it was time for us to
bring a parade back to the celebra
tion. Currently, we have over 40
entries,” said Hagans.
Kristina Abernathy, a 1993
UNCA graduate and a meteorolo
gist from “The Weather Chan
nel” will lead the Homecoming
parade as Grand Marshall, said
Hagans.
The Homecoming Planning
Committee urges those students,
faculty, staff, and alumni who have
children to bring them to the pa
rade, said Hagans.
Many other events highlight this
week.
See HOME on page 10
PHOTO BY DEL DeLORM
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs James Pitts
spoke at a march honoring the civil rights leader on
Jan. 23.
Biotechnology grant awarded to UNCA
By Catharine Sutherland
staff Writer
Correction
In thejan. 23 edition. The Ban
ner misidentified a student,
Amy Burnett, as Aimy Jackson
in a photograph Oin the front
page. The Banner regrets the
The North Carolina Biotech
nology Center announced a grant
in the amount of $17,625 to
UNCA’s biology department in
its Jan. 16 newsletter, declaring
UNCA one of seven universities
to receive an award.
The grant money, awarded
through the center’s Education
Enhancement Grants Program,
will pay for equipment necessary
to update experiments in cell bi
ology and parasitology classes next
year, said Diane Melroy, assistant
professor of biology.
Melroy, who applied for the
grant last Aug. in a 24-page pro
posal entitled “Incorporating Im-
munochemistry into Biology
Laboratory Experiences,” consid
ers the new equipment essential
to providing a competitive scien
tific education.
“Currently, UNCA students
who are interested in pursuing a
biotechnology-based career or
going to graduate school in a field
dependant on biotechnolo^ suf
fer in comparison with similar
students at larger institutions,”
said Melroy, naming a lack of
funds as the reason for the disad
vantage.
“We don’t have as much equip
ment as we need in labs, which is
a little disappointing,” said Laura
Branden, a sophomore biology
major currently enrolled in cell
biology, her third laboratory class
at UNCA.
Senior Kathryn Emino, also a
biology major, agreed.
“I definitely think some im
provements could be made, she
said. “I think it would be benefi
cial to be exposed to more recent
technology and equipment that
would be comparable to what
people would be using in a job.
Today, preparation for a job in
the biology world means study
ing biotechnology, a collection of
new scientific techniques that use
living cells and their molecules to
make products or solve problems.
The biotechnology industry cur
rently employs 16,000 North
Carolinians, a number expected
to jump to 100,000 in the next 20
years, according to the North
Carolina Biotechnology Center.
The center aims to help build a
trained work force to support the
state’s growing biotechnology in
dustry through its grant program.
The award given to Melroy will
serve its purpose, enabling her to
purchase expensive equipment
such as a minigel apparatus, a
micro centrifuge, and a Polaroid
gel
will
documenlaiion system. She
use the new equipment to
teach students immunochemical
techniques important to the study
of biotechnology.
“Immunochemical techniques
offer powerful mechanisms for
identifying, quantifying, and iso
lating biological molecules, said
Melroy, who studied the tech
niques in-depth during her post
doctoral research at the U.S. De
partment of Agriculture and
deemed them vital to much of the
research and clinical work carried
out by professional biologists to
day.
“Our students need to know the
power of these techniques and
must be introduced to their meth
odology before going on to ca
reers in biology or to graduate
school,” she said.
However, in order to ensure a
meaningful experience for each
student, Melroy not only needs
specialized equipment, but
enough of it to go around.
“Although we currently have one
of each item, it does not give the
students a satisfactory hands-on
experience to watch gels being
made, loaded, and run by an in
structor or by one of their class
mates,” said Melroy.
See GRANT on page 8
PHOTO BY BONNER BUTLER
Diane Melroy, assistant professor of biology, applied for
and received the $17,625 grant last August.