The Univetsiiy of North Carolina at AsheviUe Volume 25, Number 21 March 6,1997 NEWS BRIEFS Jewish carni val to be held The Annual JCC Spring Children’s Carnival, celebrating the Jewish holiday “Purim,” will be held at the Asheville Jewish Community Center, 236 Charlotte Street, on Sunday, March 23 at 12:15 p.m. Admission is free, game tickets will be on sale at the door. For more information, call 253-0701. Popular books According to the latest survey of college bookstores in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The English Patient” by Michael Ondaatje is the best-selling book among col lege students. “The Book of Ruth” byJane Hamilton took second, fol lowed by “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson, “It’s a Magical World” by Bill Watterson, and “Fu gitive from the Cubicle Police” by Scott Adams. “One Hundred Secret Senses” by Amy Tan is in sixth place, followed by “Dogbert’s Top Secret Manage ment Handbook” by Scott Adams, “A Reporter’s Life” by Walter Cronkite, “The Horse Whisperer” by Nicholas Evans, and “The Rules” by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. Not so at UNCA. General trade books generally don’t sell well here, said Mike Small, UNCA bookstore manager. For the most part, UNCA’s non-text best-sellers are nature or hiking guides or books that have regional appeals or themes. Faculty books often sell well when they are first published, especially books that have a general audience appeal. Other books that generate interest at UNCA coincide with campus events, such as African American Heritage Month or Women’s History Month, Small said. Science and spirituality Jewish spiritualit)i expert Daniel C. Matt will give a lecture entitled “God and the Big Bang: Discover ing Harmony between Science and Spirituality” at 7:30 p.m. on March 17 in Carmichael Hall’s Humani ties Lecture Hall. Matt, a professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Ca., is UNCA’s Center for Jewish Stud ies 1997 Phyllis Sollod Memorial Lecturer. His new book explores the connections between ancient Jewish mysticism and modern theo ries of cosmology. His lecture will offer a bridge between ancient reli gious traditions and contemporary science. For information, call 251- 6669. League of Women Voters The public is invited to a “power breakfast” hosted by the League of Women Voters at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday March 20 at the Fine Friends Restaurant. Breakfast will be available from the restaurant for $5.20, and campaign reform will be the topic of discussion. Jane Bingham from Common Cause and Ken Schapira from the Coalition for Campaign Finance Reform will lead a discussion. The League of Women Voters has also begun a campaign to repeal the North Carolina sales tax on food. The League urges everyone to save their grocery receipts, circle the sales tax, write “NO” on them, and mail them to state legislators. The N.C. General Assembly lowered the food tax by one percent last year in re sponse to public pressure. For in formation about these events, call 258-8223. He’s back! £i" I PHOTO BY DEL DeLORM The Reverend Gary Birdsong once again returned to campus on Wednesday. Student Health Care 57 students enrolled in university plan By Chanse Simpson staff Writer For students without health insur ance, the medical bills following a trip to the hospital or a health specialist’s office can be as unsettling as the injury or illness itself. It’s generally not long after the stitches heal and the prescriptions run out that medical bills bring home a harsh reality of health care in America. For someone who is uninsured or underinsured, and most college stu dents find themselves in one of these two categories, it can be an over whelming experience. “The American College Health As sociation estimates that between 50 and 60 percent of all college students across the country have no health insurance, and that an additional 25 percent are underinsured,” said UNCA’s Director of Health Services Dr. Eric Pyeritz. Currently on campus, Pyeritz said, there are 57 students enrolled in a university insurance plan underwrit ten by MEGA Life and Health Insur ance Company in Dallas, Texas. The university keeps no records regarding the number of students who have off-campus insurance, so it is virtually impossible to get an accurate assessment of unin sured students at UNCA. The present single-year policy offered through the university ranges in price from $435 for the basic major medical plan to $689 for optional catastrophic cover age. The policy can be expanded to include dependents. Although the policy is desig nated for an entire 12-month pe riod, students taking at least six credit hours can purchase a pro rated policy at any time of the year. The main reason that most stu dents do not have health insur ance is a matter of finances, said Pyeritz. “We have a lot of older students on campus who don’t have insur ance and are just sort of scraping by,” said Pyeritz, adding that many UNCA students work part- time jobs that offer no insurance benefits to employees. Although the university does not require students to have insurance while they are enrolled, Pyeritz said, many other schools, such as the North Carolina School for the Per forming Arts in Winston-Salem, have a hard waiver policy that de mands all students to carry some type of insurance. Many other schools maintain a soft waiver policy in which they encourage students to purchase in surance, but do not mandate it, he said. “UNCA has neither,” Pyeritz said. “We put the brochures around cam pus and offer information on the policy, but that’s about all we can do. “What happens under our system here at UNCA, because there is no requirement to get insurance, our numbers are going to stay low. Now that’s fine for the student who doesn’t want insurance, but the (university) community is running a risk because someday our rates might be $ 1000 ayear,” said Pyeritz. See HEALTH page 8 \^siting filmmaker holds workshop By Shelley Eller staff Writer Documentary filmmaker Chris Larson, who has worked as a producer for NBC’s “Date line,” recently came to UNCA to hold a screening of his work and host a day-long workshop on filmmaking methods. The UNCA Cultural and Spe cial Events Committee and the department of mass communi cation sponsored his visit. On March 1, Larson screened “Whose Death is it Anyway?,” a documentary segment that ex plored end-of-life decisions faced by terminally ill people and their families. The segment has aired on public television previously. “I was directly responsible for finding the families in the docu mentary,” said Larson. “People in the documentary wanted to help other people by sharing their expe riences.” A discussion of the film immedi ately followed the screening. “The documentary shows the tough decisions people are forced to make for the end of life,” said Larson during the discussion. “Death is a very difficult thing for people to think about.” On March 3, he conducted a day long workshop entitled “Creating Nonfiction: Telling the Story and Telling the Truth.” Larson gave participants an overview on the process and production of nonfic tion storytelling. “Theworkshop was fantastic,” said Don Diefenbach, assistant profes sor of mass communication.“Chris took us through the entire process of producing network news and nonfiction pieces.” Larson began the workshop by discussing methods of nonfiction work and the challenges of its pro duction. The workshop showed participants how to conduct good interviews. With production equipment, an interview was set up and techniques in lighting and composition showed how the interviewee was visually accentuated. Good interviewing methods were also addressed. “We went over the elements of a good nonfiction story,” said Larson. “Students got hands-on experience through role-playing interviewers and documentary subjects.” Students were given an assignment during lunch time in which he or she had to use interviewing techniques to find a story to present at the after noon session. “There was a nice mixture of stu dents who participated in the work shop,” said Diefenbach.”There wasn’t just mass communications students, but students from the political sci ence and social science departments.” PHOTO COURTESY OF DON DIEFENBACH Filmmaker Chris Larson recently visited the campus to screen his documentary work and host a day-long work shop. The workshop also had meth ods of story pitch ideas. A story pi tch meeti ng was held where par ticipants had to select a story idea to produce. The process of preproduction, production and See FILM page 8 Public safety officers find gun at nearby campsite PHOTO BY JENNIFER THURSTON Public safety officer Bruce Martin cautiously investigates one of two tents found on property behind W.T. Weaver Boulevard. By Jennifer Thurston Managing Editor When UNCA public safety officers found a campsite on UNCA property behind W.T. Weaver Boulevard sev eral weeks ago, they felt the need to warn students of the potential dan gers of hiking or biking through the area. The campsite was probably occu pied by at least one vagrant, public safety officer Bruce Martin said, and a 12-gauge shotgun, a box of .22 magnum handgun shells, hypoder mic syringes, and other drug para phernalia were confiscated from the site. It is illegal for anyone to have a gun on state property. “We’re not advocating that students don’t use the area,” Martin said. “Just to be aware of the area and to pay attention to their surroundings.” Martin advised students to hike with friends and to use caution in the woods, as they would in any area Additionally, “hard-core porno graphic” magazines and skinned ani mal hides were seen at the site, but were later removed by the unknown occupant, said Martin. On March 4, physical plant em ployees tore the site down and removed two tents, two sleeping bags, a pillow, clothing, some personal items, a shovel, and a Bible. A list was left for the person to claim the items if he or she re turns, but if claimed, an arrest is possible on charges of possessing a weapon and drug paraphernalia and trespassing on state property. “Safety is a factor in our day and age,” Martin said. “He’s still com ing and going. All of this com bined makes for a possibly dan gerous individual.” The campsite was located about 20 yards off the area’s hiking paths. “While we were inspecting the site,” Martin said, “we saw a num ber of students go by. They didn’t even see us.” Warm weather has brought in creased use of the wooded area by students and residents of the neighborhood, Martin said, but it also means an increase in use by homeless people. “This has been an ongoing prob lem, but we’ve never had as many people at once. The difference now is the shotgun and drugs.” “Everybody’s worried that it’s a well-used path and we don’t want a dangerous situation,” said Mel issa Acker, physical plant grounds superintendent. “We hate to see people suffer, but safety is our main concern. We do things for the students as a priority.” UNCA owns the property be hind Weaver Boulevard, bordered by Broadway on the west and North Street and Vivien Street to the south. Remains of older campsites still exist in the woods as well as “spi der holes,” or dug-out areas re sembling graves that people have camped out in. See CAMPSITE page 10