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The Uniuersity of north Cdrolind at fisheuille
Uolume 32 Issue 5
September28,2000
modernized macBeth
opens in Carol Belk
Tlieatre Oct. 28
See page 4
Uolleyball places
third in Bulldog
Inuitational
See page 7
Tolerance is a uiewpoint,
not an act,
by Keuin Rollins
See page 3
Harassment concerns students
Forum held in response to complaints
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MECKES
Chancellor Jim Mullen opens the forum Sept. 25
in Lipinsky Hall. Around 150 students sit in the
audience.
community,” said Ryan
Southern, president of the
Student Government Asso
ciation. “I do not think ha
rassment is a problem on
campus. From what I can
tell, the incidences that oc
curred this semester are rela
tively rare.”
Matt Witbrodt, organizer
of the event and a junior
history and political science
major, worked with Terhan
McDaniel, a senior drama
maj.or, and jeanine
Ammirati, a junior business
management and adminis
tration major, to put together
the forum. Witbrodt said he
planned the forum to edu
cate students and open their
Rachel Grumpier
staff Ulriter
Keith CromweU
Guest Writer
UNCA held a Diversity
Forum on Sept. 25 as a reac
tion to nine harassment cases
that have occurred on cam
pus this semester. However,
several individuals said they
do not believe harassment is
a problem at UNCA.
“The focus (of the forum)
was to re-emphasize the im
portance of diversification,
and that we at UNCA are a
eyes to the harassment that
has taken place.
Students “either see what is
going on around campus, or
they are blind to (the prob
lems),” said Witbrodt. “I j ust
want to raise student aware
ness and let them know that
(harassment) will not be tol
erated.”
Meg Dutnell, assistant di
rector of student develop
ment, said she would not see
harassment as a problem if
she decided purely on the
statistics, but some incidents
may not have involved pub
lic safety.
“I really cannot say whether
harassment is a problem on
this campus or not,” said
Dutnell. “You know, there
could have been many more
incidents, but students may
not have reported them.”
Witbrodt said he felt obli
gated to create the forum to
prevent further incidents and
to react to the racial and
ethnic slurs, verbal harass
ment and physical assault
that has been occurring on
campus.
“To stand by and say noth
ing is just as bad as being a
part of the problem,” said
Witbrodt.
Witbrodt directed the fo
rum at the freshman class
because he said freshmen are
to blame for a lot of the
harassment.
Harassment “became a
problem at the beginning of
this semester,” said
Witbrodt. “There was not a
whole lot that had changed
(on campus), except for the
addition of 500 new stu
dents. In all complaints that
I have been made aware of,
freshmen have initiated the
action.”
Several freshman students
See FORUM page 11
Two basketball players
accused of harassment
Rachel Crumpler
staff UJriter
Keith CromweU
Guesi Ulriter
Two freshman basketball
players were accused of ha
rassment on three different
occasions by two members
of UNCA-OUT, according
to a public safety incident
report.
“Being gay is accepted, and
that is not right. I know I am
going to offend some people
by saying that,” said Allan
Lovett, an undeclared fresh
man and one of the accused
basketball players. “It is their
choice, and they can do what
they want (to do). But they
do not need to act it out, like
the boys who walk around
swinging their arms.”
The two UNCA-OUT
members, Keith Wyatt, a
sophomore cultural psychol-
ogy major, and Josh
Lunsford, a junior French
major, said they feel they have
been harassed for being
openly gay, according to the
report. They said Lovett and
Allen have harassed them a
total of three times within
the span of 10 days.
“The first incident occurred
outside of Founders Hall,”
said Wyatt. “I heard a guy
say ‘faggot,’ and I turned
around. I just blew it off.”
Lovett said that he denied
all allegations, and Billy
Allen, an undeclared fresh
man and the other accused
basketball player, had no
comment to make regarding
the accusation.
“I have not disrespected any
group on campus,” said
Lovett. “ I do not know why
all this is going on.”
According to the report,
the second incident hap
pened outside the cafeteria,
where the two students were
called “faggot” again.
“I heard ‘faggot,’” said
Wyatt. “When I turned
around, the guy had his head
down. He said, ‘oh my God,
he heard me.’ I said, ‘faggots
come with ears too.’ They
started laughing, so I walked
off”
According to the incident
report, Wyatt and Lunsford
requested for the case to be
sent to student conduct.
“I am not scared, but I am
afraid that it will escalate,”
said Lunsford. “I am afraid
that somebody will get hurt.”
Joni Comstock, director of
the athletic program, said she
remains unsure what action,
if any, she will take against
the players if the allegations
are proven.
“We will discuss the out
come of any and all deci
sions by the student conduct
board,” said Comstock.
Then we will “determine any
action we would take at that
time.”
Lunsford and Wyatt were
also harassed in the parking
lot of Founders Hall, accord
ing to the report.
“I saw (Lovett) and this
other guy in their car,” said
Lunsford. “I heard one say,
‘look, he will not even look
at me.’ I just blew that off,
because I had no reason to
look at him. So I kept walk-
ing-
“I heard him say, ‘hey,’ sev
eral times, each time louder
and more vicious,” said
See PLAYER page 11
Former student
found with gun
Kay fllton
staff Ulriter
A former UNCA freshman
was charged with a felony
possession of a weapon on
school grounds after threat
ening suicide on Sept. 24 at
11:50 p.m., according to the
department of public safety.
“Our concern is that this in
dividual, (who) had a loaded
shotgun on campus (and was)
threatening to hurt himself,
could come back,” said Eric
lovacchini, vice chancellor of
student affairs.
Public safety received a
phone call
from an
unidenti
fied stu
dent that
alerted
them to the
situation.
“A dis-
t r a u g h t
person
with a
loaded
shotgun is
very much
considered
a danger to
the campus
c o m m u -
nity,” said an e-mail from the
office of public information.
“Should he be released and
return to campus in a similar
state of mind, it is of the ut
most importance that those
on campus know of the pos
sible danger.”
The caller reported that
Weston had written a suicide
note, which was in his car,
along with a loaded 20-gauge
shotgun and a box full of shot
gun shells, according to
Adams.
“This person felt uneasy
about the situation and talked
Weston into givingher his car
keys,” said Adams. “She was
pretty nervous and concerned
about him. Before she got to
the car with him, she came
back and called us.”
At that time. Officers Vicki
Harris and Bruce Martin re
sponded by calling for addi
tional help from Adams and
Dennis Gregory, director of
public safety. When the pa
trol car approached from
Founders Hall to Weston’s
car, he immediately fled into
the woods below, according
to Adams.
“From his cat, we recovered
a loaded 20-gauge shotgun, a
full box of shotgun shells and
a letter indicating to us he was
possibly planning to commit
suicide,” said Adams.
Weston was taken into cus
tody, and
officers
called the
Housing
O f f i c e ,
Counsel
ing Center
and
lovacchini,
as well as
the parents
ofWeston
and the
caller.
Weston
was later
admitted
at a local
hospital
unit, according to Adams.
Some students said they be
lieve a campus-wide e-mail
sent on Sept. 24 that con
tained Weston’s name and
details about the incident was
inappropriate.
“I was naturally disturbed
about (the incident) because I
liked him very much as a per
son, and I was also surprised
by the distasteful matter in
which the e-mail was distrib
uted,” said Audrey Hope
Rinehart, an undeclared fresh
man and friend ofWeston.
See WESTON page 11
"1 liked him very
much as a person,
and I was also sur
prised by the dis
tasteful mannerin
which the e-mail
was distributed.”
-Audrey Hope Rinehart,
an undeclared freshman
and friend of Weston.
Students help clean rivers with Quality Forward
Sanna Raza
staff Ulriter
Around 20 UNCA students
participated in the “Big Sweep
2000,” a river clean-up along
the French Broad and
Swannanoa rivers, on Sept.
16.
“Everybody was getting wet,
dirty and nasty, and we were
really tired by the end of the
day, but you know you have
done something really great,”
said Ben Erlandson, a senior
multimedia arts and science
major.
After participating in a river
sweep, people are often as
tounded and disappointed in
the amounts of trash that they
find in the rivers, according to
Gretchen Brooks, river im
provement coordinator of
Quality Forward.
“It awakens a lot of people to
the fact that litter is such a
huge problem,” said Brooks.
“People (realize) that they
need to try and help correct
our problems. They realize
that is the water they will even
tually drink.”
Quality Forward, a local
non-profit environmental
group, has been in Asheville
for 25 years. Apart from water
quality, they also address en
vironmental education, tree
plantings, garden plantings,
recycl ing and composti ng pro
motions, according to Brooks.
“The disappointing thing is
that the sites along the French
Broad that we (cleaned) are
sites that were done almost
each of the previous 20 years,
and we still find the same
amounts of trash in there,”
said Brooks.
During the big sweep, 608
volunteers cleaned up 16 sites
along the two rivers and gath
ered an estimated total weight
of 46,000 pounds of trash.
Apart from 390 tires, they
fotmd a microwave, a VCR, a
dishwasher, cash registers,
newspaper boxes, TVs, a shot
gun and many other unusual
items, according to Brooks.
“We found a lot of 55-gallon
chemical drums, which is very
sad, because we do not know
what was in them, and it has
already gotten into the water
supply,” said Brooks.
The sweep was a lot of fun,
and it was also interesting to
see what people would throw
into a river, according to
Lauren Penix, an undeclared
sophomore.
“We got six or seven tires
and a parking meter that was
interesting trying to pull up,”
said Penix. “I had no idea how
dirty these rivers were. It is
amazing to see how stupid
people are.”
“Until you actually go and
see how dirty it is, you have no
idea,” said Penix. “It is an eye-
opener.”
While it was necessary to
remove the trash, it was even
more important to raise aware
ness, according to Lyn French,
UNCA’s representative board
rnember of Quality Forward
and director of planned giv
ing on campus.
“It was fun to watch the stu
dents,” said French. “Some of
them were pretty angry that it
looked that bad, others were
just digging and doing it, not
so much agonizing over it as
being action-oriented.”
“I felt like we did a good
job,” said Bethany Bostrom, a
senior environmental science
major. “We took out so much
trash, but I think what needs
to be done is make people
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY GRETCHEN BROOKS
The river clean-up volunteers pull several of the 390 tires found in the French
Broad and Swannanoa rivers.
awareoftheiractionsandcon- French Broad is one of the
sequences.” most polluted rivers, accord-
Water quality is a problem ing to Summer Starling, an
inthemountainsofN.C.,and undeclared sophomore,
it is unfortunate that the . “It made me sad, (and) it
made me angry there was
trash,” said Starling. “But it
See RIVERS page 10