5,1998
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
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B3irn.0r
Volume 27 Issue 4
February 12, 1998
Clerical error causes SGA to begin year in debt
By Greg Sessoms
Staff Writer
The -UNCA Student Govern
ment Association (SGA) started
ihe year with a $1,252 debt due to
a clerical error made by the previ
ous administration.
Former SGA President Sergio
Mariaca failed to file an allocation
retention request with student de
velopment, which distributes funds
from the campus commission, said
Coordinator for Student Develop
ment Robert Straub.
The commission (underwritten by
tudent fees) provides the majority
of SGA’s funding. A funding re
quest is required to retain money in
an organization’s account over the
summer months to cover any out
standing bills.
According to Straub, the Mariaca
administration left office unaware
that there were unpaid outstanding
bills.
As a result, student development
moved the $3,335 remaining in the
SGA account at the end of the 1997
spring semester back into the cam
pus commission account, leaving
SGA unable to cover $1,982 in
outstanding bills that came in over
the summer.
Student development refunded
$730 to tlie SGA account because
of an item that “had not gotten
through the business office,” said
Straub.
The rest of
the debt was
paid out of the
current
administration’s
account. “If
any organiza
tion has out
standing bills
that we do not
know about,
then the next
administration
is responsible,”
said Straub.
Due to the error, this year’s ad
Sergio Mariaca
ministration will be the first to have
their budget overseen by student
development, although they will
still be in charge of their budget.
“Since bills came in that we did
not know about, we decided we
needed to start overseeing SGA s
budget,” said Straub.
The office of student developmen t
will now tell SGA if they need to fill
out an allocation retention request
to cover outstanding bills.
SGA President Adrian Tatum be
lieves student development’s super
vision of SGA finances will benefit
the organization.
“In the past .we have had people
signing for stuff The vice president
would sign tor something or the
president would sign tor something,
and the money did not come out to
be right,” said Tatum. “Now, the
paper work all goes to Robert
Straub. He makes sure it is straight
and gives it back to us,” said Tatum.
All other student organizations
have their budgets overseen by stu
dent development.
According to Straub, SGA could
have requested funds from the cam
pus commission earlier in the year
to cover the budget debt. However,
the current administration missed
the deadline to request more funds
for this semester.
Despite their inability to request
additional funds from the campus
commission, SCiA does not amici-
pate any problems funding the
projects of the current administra
tion. “It actually is not a big prob
lem. We will still finish up OK,”
said Tatum, In the event SGA does
need more money, they will have a
fundraiser.
“Right now, we are not looking at
anything that is going to cost us a
lot of money,” said Tatum.
Mariaca graduated in 1997 and
could not be reached for comment.
Despite the failure of last year’s
administration to fill out the allo
cation retention request, Straub
does not believe that there was any
unethical behavior.
“They just did not complete a
form, said Straub.
WAY
and
Don-
on
Ljid
/
75.
Reed decides to
proceed with
fundraising drive
Will keep Center for Creative
Retirement in campaign plans
9pm
k I
ipm
lames)
By Nicole Miller
Staff Writer
Citing an “overwhelmingly positive” re
sponse from the UNCA community.
Chancellor Patsy Reed has decided to pro
ceed with the university’s first major
fundraising campaign..
The decision to proceed comes after a
feasibility report was presented by the
New York-based consulting firm of
Washburn & McGoldrick, which sug
gested that the university move forward
with an $8 million fundraising campaign.
According to Beverly Modlin, vice chan
cellor for university relations, the specific
fundraising goal has yet to be determined.
The original goal set by the university was
$13 million, but Modlin said that the goal
will be reworked.
“It is going to be a lower goal, but it is
important to know that we call that a
working goal, ” Modlin said.
“We are going to wait until the end of
this year, this initial phase, to set a target
amount,” said Patsy Reed.
“When we first started out working with
consultants, they asked us for a wish list,
and so that $ 13 million was a wish list. We
cut it down to $10 million or so, and we
can whittle it further.”
“1 expect that the campaign will have a
target that is somewhere in the neighbor
hood of the figures that have been dis
cussed, but I do not know exactly where,
said Reed.
The fundraising campaign has now en
tered the advanced gift phase, also known
as a nucleus phase or a quiet phase, for the
remainder of 1998.
“It means that you are going to those
donors whom you have been cultivating,
who are at a stage of readiness where they
are likely to say, ‘Yes, I am going to make
a gift.’ You do it quietly,” Modlin said.
"You have not had a big kickoffevent. You
do not have a lot of stuff in the newspaper,
“You gather up you closest friends and
}'0u ask them to make pacesetter gifts, to
take a leadership role by financially sup
porting the campaign,” Modlin said.
If the university is successful in raising
from 40 to 60 percent of its goal in 1998,
it may be ready to go public a year from
now, said Modlin.
If not, the university may extend the
advanced gift phase.
“We are starting aggressively, Reed said.
Actually, we started laying the ground
work for this campaign a year ago. We are
pursuing what we are calling pacesetter
gifts. We hope to find a major gift some
time in the spring and get it going.”
Washburn & McGoldrick recommended
that the university drop plans to fund a new
Center for Creative Retirement from its
fundraising goals, citing that most of the
potential donors whom the consultants
interviewed showed more interest in sup
porting the undergraduate programs.
However, Reed said that the administra
tion has rejected this suggestion, and has
included the Center for Creative Retire
ment in the campaign.
“The consultants suggested that the Cen
ter for Creative Retirement not be a part of
the initial campaign, and I felt very strongly
that it should be,” said Reed. “They are an
important part of us, and when I started
getting feedback from the campus, from
the faculty senaj:e, from individuals, every
one strongly felt that the Center for Cre
ative Retirement should be a part of the
effort, "
The consultants did receive positive feed
back regarding the center, but the potential
donors were “so appreciative of the univer
sity having the center here for them, that
their gilts would probably go to the univer
sity, rather than to the center,” said Modlin,
Ronald Manheimer, director of the Cen
ter for Creative Retirement, will spend the
rest of 1998 getting firm dollar figures for
the cost of erecting a new building for the
center.
He will work with focus groups to decide
on specifics, such as the number of offices
and conference rooms and the size of the
building, said Modlin,
The site for the center, above the overflow
lot near the gym, has received approval by
the Board of Trustees, and already has the
infrastructure in place for water, sewer, and
electricity, Modlin said.
Donor sources for the center need further
exploration,
“I think we have an obligation to go to the
people who are involved with our program,
who are primarily retirees in the commu
nity,” said Snodgrass,
“We think that there is a lot of untapped
potential in our connections with the un
dergraduates and the faculty, and we cer
tainly think that the concept of the center,
which is lifelong learning, fits absolutely
perfectly with UNCAs mission of liberal
arts and sciences education. They are one
and the same. What you do with liberal arts
is learning for life,” Snodgrass said.
The consultants report also recomended
See CAMPAIGN on page 8
Back on track
1
PHOTO BY LISSA HALL
The UNCA men’s basietball team rebounded from their Feb. 7 loss to Radford with a 75-59 win over
Liberty on Monday night at the Justice Center. Robert Stevenson (pictured above) led the team with
11 rebounds. See story on page 6.
UNCA honor code considered
By Gene Zaleski
staff Writer
As early as next semester, UNCA may
have an honor code in place requiring every
student to sign a pledge on all written work
which states that they have not cheated.
The UNCA Student Government Asso
ciation (SGA) passed a formal resolution
last night calling for the adoption of a
university honor code,
A preliminary honor code approved by
SGA will be forwarded to the faculty senate
for consideration.
According to Residential Senator Doug
Jones, the honor code could be imple
mented on the UNCA campus as early as
next fall.
Discussions about establishing an honor
code have taken place over the years, but
until now the necessary time has never
been put into developing one, said Vice
Chancellor of Student Affairs Eric
lovacchini.
“Most institutions that have an honor
code are older than UNCA in terms of
history. Older institutions generally have
the tradition of possessing an honor code,”
said lovacchini. “I think it is a wonderful
thing because it is a hallmark of really
quality institutions to have such a program
in piace.”
lovachinni said that an honor code is not
something that is usually administratively
mandated,
“It usually starts with a small group of
individuals, like SGA, saying ‘Gosh, we
need to do this’ and then meetings between
students and faculty can begin to discuss
the issue,” said lovacchini.
Jones spearheaded the effort to establish
an honor code at UNCA, and wrote the
honor code that was accepted by SGA last
night.
“I had a conversation with Vice Chancel
lor of Academic Affairs James Pitts in No
vember, and I found out that we did not
haveanhonorcode,”saidJones. “I thought
it was a major oversight, but something a
student led initiative with faculty help could
bring about,”
According to lovachinni, UNCA does
have “somewhat of a creed” to deal with
academic dishonesty, which individual pro
fessors use according to their discretion,
“Each individual faculty has his or her
own way of dealing with cheaters. Most
faculty mention it in their syllabus or as
part of the expectation they have of stu
dents,” said lovacchini.
The current student handbook states that
students accused of plagiarism or cheating
should first try to resolve the issue with
their instructor.
If attempts to resolve the controversy fail,
a procedure for a formal hearing can be set
in motion, which includes possible hear
ings by the faculty conciliator and the
Academic Appeals Board.
Under an honor code system, any accusa
tions of academic dishonesty would more
than I ikely be heard by a special honor code
committee specifically geared to handling
such violations.
“If there is an honor code system in place,
there is a committee or board that will
See CODE on page 8