Page 2
The Banner
January 30,1997
Opinions
The Banner
We're number three!
According to a recent university survey, UNCA’s fresh
men have the highest incoming SAT scores since 1993. A
national survey, which polled more than a million freshmen,
also found that these students were more likely to be politi
cally uninterested. Taken together, it sounds as if these new
college students are turning into clones of Bill Clinton.
At least the surveys don’t show that they are more likely to
fall off stages, be less attentive, and be more likely to lose
elections, which is what the results would have shown had
Bob Dole become president.
If anything, it should make those students feel good about
being middle-of-the-road. The survey actually just describes
the group as a whole, but perhaps now, incoming freshmen
can restart those long-dormant political aspirations that the
Generation Xers tried to beat out of them in the early 90s.
Are these “youngbloods” actually smarter, or have they
now mastered the standardized tests that most, if not all,
colleges and universities use as a benchmark for admission?
At this rate, it seems that everyone could qualify for accep
tance into the Ivy League school of choice by the turn of the
century.
Actually, the freshmen of UNCA jhould be proud. Out of
the 16-member institutions of North Carolina, the incom
ing freshmen here rank third in CPA and SAT scores,
behind only two mega-versities to the east.
With what has transpired politically over the last few years,
who can blame them for becoming more cynical and less
interested in politics.^ Unless they plan on being white,
wealthy, middle-aged to Strom Thurmond-ancient, there is
very little hope for much political change in the United
States.
Well, don’t get down. Nostradamus mentioned in one of
his prophesies a man with a blue turban who is, at this very
moment, planning on blowing up the very world in which
our smarter freshmen inhabit.
Enjoy your university experience.
Editorial Board
Michael Taylor
Jennifer Thurston
Renee Slaydon
Brian Castle
Kyle S. Phipps
Del DeLorm
Matthew Gibson
Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
News Editor
Features Editor
Sports Editor
Photo Editor
Copy Editor
Staff
Rafrica Adams, Bonner Butler, Lara Barnett, Shelly Eller,
Gary Gray, Robert Hardin, Andrew Hart, Kristi Howard,
Stephanie Hunter, Tracy Kelly, Erin King, Melinda Pierson,
Adrien Sanders, Kristin Scobie, Chanse Simpson,
Catharine Sutherland
Wendy McKinney
Thomas Estes
Nate Conroy
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
Electronic Editor
Columnists
Nate Conroy, James Hertsch, Pam Williams, Tracy Wilson
Mark West, faculty advisor
The Banner is the student newspaper of the University of North
Carolina at Asheville. We publish each Thursday except during
summer sessions, final exam weeks and holiday breaks. Our offices are
located in Carmichael Hall, Room 208-A.
Our telephone number is (704) 251-6586. Our campus e-mail
address is banner@unca.edu. An on-line version of The Banner is also
available at http://www.unca.edu/banner/
Nothing in our editorial or opinions sections necessarily reflects the
opinion of the entire Banner staff, the faculty advisor, or the
university faculty, administration or staff.
Unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Banner
editorial board. Letters, columns, cartoons and reviews represent only
the opinions of their respective authors.
The welcomes submissions of letters and articles for publica
tion. All submissions are subject to editing for clarity, content and
length and are considered on the basis of interest, space, taste, and
timeliness.
Letters should be typed, double-spaced, and should not exceed 300
words. Letters for publication should also contain the author's
signature, classification, major or other relationship with UNCA.
The deadline for letters is noon on Tuesday. If you have a
submission, you can send it to The Banner, 208A Carmichael
Hall, One University Heights, Asheville NC 28804.
The deadline for display ads and the FYI calendar is on Monday
at noon. The deadline for classifiejl ads is at noon on Tuesday.
Parking mayhem at UNCA
Jame
Hertsc
columnist
-mm
Turn left on W.T. Weaver. Right
on University Heights. Bear left
at curve. Drive past faculty/staff,
visitor, commuter parking. Stop
at Highsmith crosswalk. Look left.
Faculty/staff lot. Keep driving.
Consider Zageir lots. Too far.
University Heights Village lot?
All spaces full. Turn left in front
of Village. Residential spots all
full. Left into upper Southridge
lot. All full. Turn into handi
capped space, pull out, turn
around. Drive by lower
Southridge lot. Too far from dorm
hall.. And, to get to the rest of
the residential lots, you have to
drive up Division Street, onto
Broadway, back onto W.T.
Weaver, and up the old service
entrance. . . and those spots are
isolated from the rest of the cam
pus.
If you’re a resident student here
at UNCA, you’ll quickly find that
there is no such thing as a conve
nient parking space. Your dream
spot—in front of your dorm
building, with your name on it,
and an electrified fence to keep
out trespassers—is about as likely
as an AFC team winning the Su
per Bowl.
While 1 don’t expect the electri
fied fence, I still have three main
gripes about parking at UNCA.
First, I dislike having to leave the
campus and meander through
outside roads to get to the “other”
residential parking zone. Second,
I have serious problems with the
fact that UNCA re-zoned the
Mills lot along University Heights
as faculty/staff. Finally, barring
residential students from open
parking on evenings and week
ends is abominable.
Rather than simply using this
space to whine about the parking
situation, I interviewed Eric
lovacchini, UNCA vice-chancel
lor for student affairs to find out
what’s going on with the situa
tion, and to ask about my three
gripes.
According to lovacchini, park
ing is being gradually shifted in
anticipation of the new master
plan: the inner ring around Uni
versity Heights is being re-zoned
as faculty/staff, while student
parking is being pushed out to
ward the edges of the campus. So,
what about getting from one resi
dential lot to the other?
What I’m talking about is the
fact that the new student lot be
hind the cafeteria, while it’s nice
and all, doesn’t really connect up
to student parking outside
Governor’s Village and
Southridge; you have to go out
and around Weaver and Broad
way to get to the spaces. “Why is
this?” I ask.
That didn’t come up during the
master planning session,
lovacchini said. Nobody really
thought about it. I suppose an
access road is a little much, con
sidering the fact that the lots are
pretty much segregated into lots
convenient to Mills/Highrise resi
dents, and others convenient to
Village and Southridge residents.
And, of course, residential stu
dents have a portion of the lots
above Zageir hall. When Village
residents were re-classified as com
muters for parking purposes in
1995/1996, they tended to flow
into the Zageir lots, according to
lovacchini. That is the best place,
considering Village people are
persona non grata in the Mills lot
on University Heights now.
What about that lot, anyway?
Since the general move to put
residential students up behind the
residential buildings commenced,
the Mills lot has been turned into
a faculty/staff lot. I’m not too
fond of that reclassification my
self; seeing as how those spaces
are incrediblj convenient for resi
dents like me. According to
lovacchini, those 35 spaces are
more than made up for by the
spaces added in construction be
hind the cafeteria.
OK. I don’t suppose I can argue
with that in terms of numbers.
But, when you consider the fact
that the new lots are convenient
to the Mills/Highrise area, while
the Mills zone is convenient to
the Mills and Village residents,
you’re stuck with Village people
moving into the less-convenient
Zageir and Southridge lots, and,
of course, access problems pre
vent some students from utilising
those cafeteria lots to their fullest
extent. During “open parking”
hours, I can walk down those
spaces and count; “Resident.
Resident. Resident. Mothership.
Resident. Resident. Resident.”
But, resident students aren’t sup
posed to do that?
“Open parking” hours, on week
ends and evenings, allow almost
anybody to park almost anywher;
on campus. But, according to
rules, resident students are lei't
out of this little parking bonanza.
But, lovacchini said, they’ve re
laxed that a little bit—he figures
students use their cars a little mo re
on weekends, and the spaces arer I’t
needed on weekends anyway, so
why not let students use them ?
‘Twould have been nice if I’d
known about that earlier, just like
it would have been nice if the
access issue for the two reside ntial
lots had been brought up. TJtiat’s
what I’m worried about, re ally:
access from point A to point B,
without having to leave campus
and inconvenience those pooir resi
dents along Edgewood Ro;id or
W.T. Weav* Boulevard, and
without having to drive alll over
creation to find a space c onve
nient to my dorm room.
And, when I think about it, when
1 say “resident students,” sill I re
ally care about is me, an d that
parking space I want wi.th the
electrified fence. Since that’s im
possible, I’m in favor of n o park
ing for freshmen, and spedlal park
ing for seniors. . . now th at I’m a
senior, that is. And, wh en any
body, including me, grumbles
about the “parking probl;m,” he’s
really grumbling about only his
own parking problem;,. Kinda
makes ya think, don’t it ?
There is something you can do
§
iyi
columnist
As 1 started brainstorming for
this column, 1 shared many of my
ideas with friends. When I men
tioned writing about the environ
ment and the damage we are do
ing, two of my friends said “Pam,
please. Write about something
else. Somebody’s always writing
about pollution, etc., etc.”
Good! The more we write about
our waste and destruction, the
more we learn. Perhaps once we
accumulate the knowledge, we can
actually do something about the
problems, or at least start to. So,
for those of you who think you’ve
heard enough about saving the
environment, let me share with
you some astounding statistics.
Each year, in the U.S. alone,
180 million gallons of motor oil is
sent to landfills and/or poured
down drains. That amount is
equivalent to 16 Exxon Valdez
spills. Waste generated in the U.S.
each year would fill 145,000 miles
of 10 ton garbage trucks. Folks,
145,000 miles is halfway to the
moon. What are we doing? Or
more appropriately, what are we
not doing?
Apparently, we are not thinking
or caring about our actions. We
are not recycling everything we
should and can recycle. We are
not sharing our knowledge with
each other. We are not talking
about problems or solutions.
Granted, there are people who
recycle and maybe you are one of
them. But the question is, do you
recycle everything you can? Do
you buy recycled products? Are
URGENT
you aware ofwhat can be recycled?
Did you know that clothes are
being made from recycled plastic
milk jugs? They are. One of my
friends has a rather warm jacket
which looks like it’s made of fleece,
but in actuality is made from re
cycled milk jugs. Wow!
Until we do all we can, we are a
part of the destruction. Compa
nies and government feed off our
ignorance. They could conserve
more than they do. They could
recycle more than they do. Folks,
we need change! We must first
start with ourselves and then we
can join forces as a group to stop
poisoning the earth and her crea
tures. As a group, we can approach
the companies who have and/or
could have the technology to re
cycle and reuse so we don’t de
plete our natural resources. It’s all
cyclical and the change must start
somewhere. Let it start with you
and let it start now!
Recycle, folks and recycle every
thing you can. Reuse everything
you can. Write to your congress
people and tell them you’re fed
up. Write to the companies that
continue to hurt the
environment and tell
them you’re outraged
at their crimes against
nature. Raise hell now
or we may be living in
hell later.
You think me mad?
Let me share with you
how“mad” I reallyam.
In the past 200 years
the US has lost: 50 per
cent of its wetlands, 90
percent of its north
western old-growth
forests, 99 percent of
its tall grass prairie, and
up to 490 species of
native plants and ani
mals with another 9,000 now at
risk. Each year we blacktop 1.3
million acres.
Copper, lead, mercury, nickel,
tin and zinc are due to run out in
roughly 50 years. And one-fifth
of the water pumped from our
ground water supply is non-re-
newable. Gas and oil as we know
it will be depleted in about 35
years. This is absurd! We cannot
continue to desecrate and destroy
the earth and her creatures. We
must strive to protect the diverse
ecosystem which rematins.
The human population is grow
ing at an alarming race. Accord
ing to the U.S. Census Bureau,
the U.S. has a net g.ain of one
person every 18 seconds. As of
last Sunday (Jan. 26),. the human
population of the U.S. was
266,608,951 at approximately
10:32 p.m., and at 10:36 p.m.,
the human population of the
world was 5,818,109,748. With
more people, we wil I need and use
more resources. V/e will create
more waste. We wall systemati
cally annihilate ou r diverse eco
system.
Sound extreme? I sure hope so!
It sounds extreme ito me, but it is
going to take what .seems extreme
to salvage what wf; are presently
destroying.
What do I mean, by extreme? I
mean, limit famili es to owning no
more than one car and one house,
limit the number of children a
woman can birth to one, stop
extending life past its natural ex
pectancy, stop clear cutting for
ests, and expan d federally pro
tected lands to a ic least quadruple
the area they en compass now.
Each individua l can be a part of
the solution. Demand the truth
from companies that pollute.
Contact enviroinmental groups.
Ask questions. Fiducate yourself
If you are not sure where to
start, try the internet, under envi
ronment. Watcih and/or read “The
Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss. Reuse what
you can. Recyc:le what you can.
If you are unclear about exactly
what can and c;jmnot be recycled,
look in the yeillow pages under
recycling, make: a phone call and
ask. Find out. Enough apathy,
folks. If we don’t care now, what
we’ve got will be gone. Millen
nium approacfies.