The .Blue Banner The Uniuersity of north Cdrolina at fisheuille Uolume 32 Issue 10 Downtoupn gallery walk focuses on local artists See page 4 nouember 9,2000 men and women’s basketball teams play exhibition games See page 7 “Double standards in religion,” by Sean Clancy See page 2 Results of 2000 elections Education improvement bond passes with the majority of the vote M. PHOTO BY WALTER FYLER Kevin Skolnik, an undeclared freshman, encourages students to vote Nov. 7. Keith Cromwell staff Writer The Higher Education Im provement Bond passed Nov. 7 in N.C., with 50,641 voted for the bond and 17,122 voted against, ac cording to Tom Byers, ex ecutive assistant to the chan cellor. On Nov. 6, the Student Government Association held a bond rally in the din ing hall that encouraged stu dents to vote for the bond. According to the bond ref erendum, UNCA will re ceive $49,912,400. N.C. State University will receive $449,308,700, and UNC- Chapel Hill will receive $499,286,100. Some stu dents said they question the fact that this bond gave more money to those schools and less to UNCA. “This is really unfair, and I think we are getting a dis proportionate amount,” said John Tan, a senior computer science major. “If these schools are getting 10 times as much, (they) should have 10 times the students.” According to Southern, this is not the case, and UNCA and smaller schools actually' make out better then the larger schools. “Overall, it has been fair as far as the allocation of funds for the bond,” said South ern. “They took a year-long study of every university to see what was needed and what was really necessary.” The bond carried in 99 out of 100 counties in N.C. A prelimiiiaiy leport says that StanleyCounty was the only county that did not approve the bond. In Buncombe County, roughly 75 percent ofvoters approved the bond, according to Byers. “This is a mandate for edu cation that the voters ofN.C. came out in full force,” said Ryan Southern, SGA presi dent and a junior multime dia arts and science major. “This says our state is defi nitely committed to higher education.” The bond will provide funds for seven main projects on campus. The first prior ity is the renovation and ex pansion of the Highsmith Center, according to South ern. “The other things that will be going on with this money include a new math and sci ence building, renovation of Carmichael Hall and Zagier Hall, a new physical plant building and smaller general campus improvements,” said Southern. The bond is not only ben eficial for UNCA, but also for the entire UNC-college system. The funds will be used solely to construct new buildings and to renovate and modernize existing buildings on the state’s 59 community college and 16 UNC public campuses, ac cording to Southern. “This is a big boost of mo rale,” said Southern. “This is going to make the system ready for the 21st century. N.C.’s higher education sys tem is known internation ally for setting standards of excellence and quality, and this is going to put us that much further ahead.” Students said they are happy that the bond passed and needed funds will come to UNCA. “I really think UNCAneeds money for improvements, and the bond is a good way to get that money,” said Anne Moukperian, a sophomore political science major. The rally held in response to the bond brought together several political figures in cluding Senators Charles Carter (Dem.) and Steve Metcalf (Rep.), Representa tives Wilma Sherrill (Rep.), Lanier Cansler (Rep.), and Martin Nesbitt (Dem.). “The message of the rally was to show students that our local legislators were re ally behind the bond as See BOND page 11 Presidential election still undecided, other election outcomes apparent 2000 presidential election ballots still being tallied Keith Cromwell staff Writer Americans cast some 100 million votes Nov. 7 for the presidential candidates, with 48,591,357 for Democrat Al Gore and 48,421,815 for Republi can George W. Bush, as of 10 p.m. Nov. 8. That left the candidates tied at 48 percent, according to a Nov.8 Associated Press ar ticle. Despite Bush’s assertion of a complete vote in Florida, a small number of absentee ballots remain un counted. Fewer than 1,800 votes separated the two men at last count, with Bush having the edge. Gore lost the state of Ar kansas, Clinton’s home state, and his own state, Tennessee, in electoral votes. In Tennessee, two- thirds of those polled said it made no difference in their voting decision that Gore was from their state. No president has been elected without carrying his home state since Woodrow Wilson, a former governor of New Jersey, who lost that state in the 1916 election, according to a Nov. 8 New York Times article. However, Florida officials began recounting nearly 6 million ballots Nov.8 to de termine the next president, while Democrats, and some voters, complained of irregu larities in the election. The recount in all 67 Florida counties was trig gered by state law, since Bush led Gore by less than one- half of 1 percent of the vote. State officials said they will count every ballot over again, and expect to be finished by the end ofNov. 9, according to a Nov. 8 CNN.com ar ticle. The scrutiny was intense because Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, will decide the winner of the presiden tial election, according to the AP. In an added twist, the See VOTE page 12 Democrats dominate N.C. 2000 election N.C. Qovernor Mike Easley-winner (Democrat) Votes: 1,492,170 Richard Vinroot (Republican) Votes: 1,335,862 Barbara Howe (Libertarian) Votes: 40,550 N.C. Senate Steve Metcalf-winner (Democrat) Votes: 40,949 Charles Carter-winner (Democrat) Votes: 39,528 Jesse Ledbetter (Republican) Votes: 31,534 U.S. Rep, Charles Taylor-winner (Republican) Votes: 144,360 Sam Neill (Democrat) Votes: 111,232 N.C. Lt. Qovernor Beverly Purdue-winner (Democrat) Votes; 1,416,148 Betsy Cochrane (Republican) Votes: 1,238,931 Catherine Carter (Reform Party) Votes: 48,503 N.C. Rep, Wilma B. Sherrill-winner (Republican) Votes: 41,080 Martin L. Nesbitt-winner (Democrat) Votes: 38,193 Lanier Cansler-winner (Republican) Votes: 37,749 Buncombe Co. Commissioners David Gantt-winner (Democrat) Votes: 44,329 David Young-winner (Democrat) Votes: 43,473 Patsy Keever-winner (Democrat) Votes: 43,702 Bill Stanley-winner (Democrat) Votes: 41,489 CHART DATA COMPILED BY LAUREN OWENS, SOURCES: WWW.C1T1ZEN-TIMES.COM,WWW.VOTE-SMART.ORG,WWW.NEWSANDOBSERVER.COM Student arrested on five counts Keith Cromwell staff Writer Eric Daryl Wilson, a former UNCA and WCU student, was arrested and charged Oct. 30 with one felony count of breaking and entering, three counts of indecent exposure, and one count of resisting/ obstructing an officer by giv ing false information, accord ing to Jerry Adams, public safety investi gator. “I think this guy must have some prob lems to just walk into a girl’s room and stare at her like he did,” said Danny Proc tor, a sopho more atmo spheric sci ence major. “I "There were two girls sitting outside the door. A subject was in the snack room, and exposed him self to those girls.” -Jerry Adams, public safety In vestigator. am glad of the quick response of public safety, and everyone involved to get this guy off our campus.” On Oct. 29, several students in Founders Hall reported to public safety that a male had walked into their room dur ing the evening while one of the victims was in the shower, pulled back the shower cer tain and stared at her for sev eral minutes, according to Adams. “I was very shocked that this was happening to me,” said the victim, who wishes to re main anonymous. “Not really knowing what to do, I cov ered my chest with my hands, and then, squatted down so my knees were covering my whole upper body.” “I managed to yell out ‘what are you doing here?’” said the victim. “Hesaid‘1 was looking for somebody.’At this point, my brain had come to gether, and I said, ‘OK, well I am not that person, and you need to leave.’ He stared at me for about 10 more seconds and then left.” When Wilson was appre hended by public safety, he wrote a statement admitting to the indecent exposure. He See WILSON page 10 Event responds to hate speech Rachel Crumpler staff lUriter PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY MARY BETH HAYES UNCA’s African dance class performs during the Unity as Community event Oct. 31. perience writing course put together the event with the help of Ada Volkmer and Mary Beth Hayes, both mem bers of the Key Center for Service Learning, according to Dale Roberts, director of the key center and professor of the writing course. “Volkmer and Hayes helped with the telephone calls and logistics, but this was a stu dent-led and student-orga nized event from the begin ning,” said Roberts. “Students designed the program, created the posters, made the banners (and) wrote chalk messages on the sidewalk.” Truth Wingfield, an unde clared freshman, initiated the planning for the event when she came to class disturbed by Several freshmen students said they combated discrimi nation at UNCA in a positive way by organizing Unity as Community, an event created to respond to several instances of anti-homosexual graffiti in Founders Hall. “I do not think you can make a difference by preaching to people,” said Kati Bray, a freshman biology major and co-organizer the event. “They tried to do that with the Di versity Forum, and I do not think that is the most effective way to solve the problem. We wanted to create a more posi tive, fun (event), instead of a lecture.” Members of a first-year ex- See UNITY page 10