\Blue Banner The Uniuersity of north Cdrolina at Hsheuille Uolume 32 Issue 3 September 14,2000 "Headwaters" contributers presented at Malaprop's See page 4 Men's soccer wins first two victories of the season. See page 7 Environmental alternative commuting options by Summer Starling See page 3 T meet said UNCA plans $3.2 million arts center Downtown building to connect UNCA with community through performance and visual art PHOTO BY SARAH LACY The vacant JCPenney building on Battery Park Avenue downtown has been slated as the future home of an arts center that will bring UNCA and the Asheville community together. Emma Jones Editor-in-Chief The UNCA administration plans to purchase a three- story building downtown for an arts center that would serve as a performance and display hub for the fine arts pro grams on campus, according to the chair of the art depart ment. “This could truly change the dynamics of the univer sity,” said Tucker Cooke, chair of the art department and a participant in the plan ning of the new center. The facility is a needed ad dition to the university and the community, according to Hague Williams, a senior art and multi-media arts and sci ences major. “I think it is a fantastic idea, and a perfect way to integrate the university into the com- mimity,” said Williams. In response to years of gal lery shortages, cramped pro grams and outdated facili ties, UNCA administration has taken action to secure the vacant JCPenney building for the center, according to Cooke. “Students cannot graduate because the gallery space is filled up for the next two years,” said Williams. “We have art students doing fan tastic work, but they’re deal ing with all kind of terrible elements.” The building, located on Battery Park Avenue, has been purchased for $ 1.2 mil lion by an “angel” donor, a person whose identity the university does not know, to give the university time to campaign for the needed money. UNCA will purchase the building from the angel donor as soon as the money has been raised. In the mean time, the building will be leased to the university for planning. “Once we purchase the building, we will still need to do major renovations. I think it is going to be at least a year before you see programs ac tive in the building,” said Beverly Modlin, the vice chancellor of university rela tions. In addition to the $1.2 mil lion needed for the purchase, the 54,000-square-foot building will require around $2 million to renovate, ac cording to Cooke. All of the money will have to come from private donations. “We will be approaching businesses and people inter ested in the arts to make con tributions,” said Cooke. The fundraising is being handled by the UNCA Foun dation, a group of commu nity businesses and individu als whose focus is to raise money for UNCA. Using the Foundation for the hub of the arts center campaign will allow the university to by pass the state processes in volved with the acquisition ofacampus-related property, according to Modlin. Despite the fact that there have been recent fundraising campaigns for the university, the planning committee does not foresee any problems with raising the extra money for the arts center, according to Chancellor Jim Mullen. “There is a desire in (Asheville) for the university to reach out and be in the community,” said Mullen. In a recent meeting, it was decided that the arts center drive would be a separate campaign from the university’s ongoing one, ac cording to Modlin. Cooke said he thinks that a project- specific approach to raismg the needed funds will be more efficient and have better re sults. “There are people who would not give to a general campaign, but who, if you name a specific cause, get so excited that they say, ‘This is a great thing, and I want to be involved,’” said Cooke. Collecting the cash pay ments for donors’ pledges will be a crucial part of the next year for the Foundation, ac cording to Modlin. “When you are doing a fundraiser, you chart your progress by pledges,” said Modlin. “You cannot buy a building on pledges, so we need to be worki ng very care fully with our donors to try to accelerate their pledge pay ments.” The departments included in the use of the new space are art, dance, drama, cre ative writing, multi-media arts and sciences, music and any other discipline that could use a forum for cre ative expression, according to Cooke. “We want to create a com ing together of all these in gredients in a kind of symbi otic relationship,” said Cooke. Though one of the main thrusts of the center will be creating performance and gal lery space, another focus will be providing workspaces in the form of studios, dark rooms and practice areas that will be accessible for public viewmg, further incorporat ing the community into the center, according to Cooke. ‘There will be studios you can actually look into, see classes and watch the progress of a painting from its first conception to the finished project,” said Cooke. The main floor display win dows that face Battery Park Avenue will most likely be See ART page 10 PHOTO BY SARAH LACY Scott Walter, chair and assistant professor of drama and John Kundert-Gibbs, director and assistant professor of multi-media art and sciences, and Rob Bowen, associate professor of drama, take in the view from the roof of the JCPenney building. WebMail will succeed Pine Justin Wolf Staff Writer WebMail, a new e-mail service, will take the place of Pine, an e-mail program that some students said was outdated and inaccessible at times. “WebMail gives good e-mail func tionality to our student popula tion, and it gives them the ability to access their accounts easily from wherever they are,” said Kern Parker, director of the computer center “A lot of students use a combination ofaccounts to do their school e-mail and recreational e- mail, but WebMail can eliminate this hassle by being their sole ac count.” However, many students are al ready using alternate e-mail pro grams, because Pine was limited in its functionality, and do not plan to begin using WebMail. “I have not checked my Bulldog acc6unt in over a year because it was so frustrating to use,” said Randy Davis, a senior sociology major. “I might think about chang ing back now, but I am pretty set in my ways with my Microsoft e-mail. “I did not use my Bulldog account on Pine at all. It was useless most of the time, because I could not even access it from outside of campus,” said Craig Lewis, an alumnus. “Eventually I just got a Hotmail account and used that for all of my e-mail. It is good to know that UNCA finally changed.” While many returning students may not take the time to switch over to the new program, the com puter center did give out WebMail accounts to all incoming freshmen and sent a campus-wide message to students telling them of the new program. “We introduced it totally to the new freshman class and we have had great adoption,” said Parker. “We are trying to move into an environment where the Bulldog account is your official e-mail for university communications and much more.” While the Pine program will not be phased out, because some stu dents prefer to use it, the new sys tem will offer students many new possibilities, according to Parker. “Current e-mail software, such as WebMail, use a Web interface and See WEBMAIL page 11 Students object to new program Vicki Harris, public safety victim/witness officer, puts a theft open door. Sachie Godwin Staff Writer Several students object to public safety’s new Safety Tips & On Cam pus Prevention (STOP) flyer pro gram, which was started to address the recent thefts on campus. “They are invading our privacy,” said Jennifer Dintsch, an undeclared sophomore. “I just do not think they have the right to go into our rooms, even if it is a public safety (officer). This is the wrong way to do it.” Vicki Harris, public safety victim/ witness officer, began the STOP campaign the last week of August. Officers put the STOP flyers in dorm rooms and offices that they find unlocked or with the door standing open. “We slip one under the door or leave one in the room or the pffice, just to let them know it would have been very easy for someone to come by and pick something up if they PHOTO BY JUSTIN MECKES awareness pamphlet on an wanted to,” said Jerry Adams, pub lic safety investigator. While the program is a good idea, its effectiveness is questionable, ac cording to Dintsch. “The flyers are a good way to make people aware,” said Dintsch. But, “they should not be going into rooms. People are not going to lock their doors unless they want to.” Tracy Burkhadt, a sophomore ac counting major, said, “I understand her concern, but I do not see why it is a big deal to them. If something I^stolen, it is our responsibility, our fault.” Both Harris and Adams said that these are crimes of opportunity. “People do not have to look very hard. The students make it easy for someone that is going to (steal) to do it and get away with it,” said Harris. There have been 10 thefts since the beginning of school, according to Adams. “Theft is a problem this semester, and it is very easy for someone to take something when the door has been left unlocked,” said Adams. “A lot of these larcenies could have been prevented.” According to the annual security report, thefts have increased at UNCA from five in 1997 to 56 in 1998. Thestatistics forlastyearwill be available when the new report comes out at the end of this month. “It has been a problem here at this university in the past few years,” said Adams. “I have seen a steady increase of larceny reports.” The recent thefts have occurred at various times in the evening and in the middle of the day. “We have not changed the way we patrol, but as a department, we are more awareof the increase in thefts,” said Adams. “In some instances there was not a whole lot we could have done any different.” See THEFTS page 11