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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grams and outdated facili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