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Volume 34 Issue 7
The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
State shortfall leads to UNCA budget cuts
Stuart Gaines
Staff Reporter
UNCA will sustain a budget cut
of over a half-million dollars this
year, according to a new budget
ratified by the general assembly
ofNorth Carolina, and signed by
Governor Mike Easley.
“If there was a perception that
education would be treated gen
tly in this dire budget situation,
that's a false perception,” said
Brunswick County House Rep
resentative David Redwine, in an
Asheville Citizen-Times article
dated Oct. 15. “It's unfortunate,
very unfortunate, that we are go
ing to have to take the steps we
have to take.”
While the final specifics of this
year’s budget have not yet been
released, UNCA administrative
departments will be affected by
this latest budget cut for North
Carolina schools, according to
Steve Honeycutt, University Bud
get Officer.
The budget cut comes out of a
state budget shortfall for the
2000-2001 fiscal year, which is
estimated to be about $830 mil
lion.
Large legal settlements and the
Hurricane Floyd relief effort have
contributed to the depletion of
state reserves that had been set up
to deal with such a financial cri
sis, according to the Citizen-Times
article.
“We feel very fortunate,” said
Leith Tate, an Access Librarian at
the Ramsey Library. “Other li
braries in the UNCA system have
suffered more from this than we
have.”
Budget cuts affecting the UNCA
library will result in less spending
for library resources, which in
cludes purchasing new hardcopy
and electronic materials, accord
ing to Tate.
The total cut for UNCA’s an
nual budget amounts to
$543,189.
UNCA system and local efforts
UNCA’s annual budget will be cut by $543,189, due to the depletion ofNorth Carolina’s state reserves.
were able to defeat an earlier pro
posal from the spring that would
have entailed a $750,000, three
percent budget reduction, accord
ing to a University e-mail about the
new budget cuts!
' 1 he most honorable and decent
thing that our government can
spend our money on is education,
said Matt Brooks, a senior ecology
rhajor at UNCA.
“If cuts are going to be handed
down, they should first make sure
that education spending isn’t af
fected,” said Brooks.
Approximately $85,000 of the ac
tual reduction is an “efficiency” cut,
totaling 32 percent of UNCA’s an
nual budget of approximately $25
million.
The total budget cut equals approxi
mately two percent.
“I’m sick and tired of education
being the least important thing on
government agendas,” said Suzanne
Parenti, a junior literature major. “If
they had a better education them
selves, then the money would not
have been mismanaged in the first
place.”
The Kenan-Flagler Business
School at the University ofNorth
Carolina at Chapel Hill recently
suggested to the N.C. General As
sembly that it take over budget
forecasting for the state, according
to an Oct. 11 article from The
Raleigh News and Observer Web
“Vm sick and tired of
education being the
least important thingon
government agendas”
-Suzanne Parenti,
junior literature major
The proposal was not accepted,
but its message to the state repre
sentatives was clear.
“What has made my job the hard
est is the delay in approving the
budget,” said Honeycutt. “We had
to operate during the fall semester
based on some assumptions, and
some of those assumptions were
wrong.”
The campus-based tuition in
crease and an enrollment increase
at UNCA will result in budget
increases that should help offset
some of the impact of the new
budget, according to the Univer
sity e-mail.
“Education is one of the most
important things in someone’s life,
and it’s really not fair to take that
away from a student,” said Crissy
Battle, an undeclared freshman.
The specific cuts outlined for
UNCA include reduced spend
ing for travel expenses, cellular
phones, temporary positions and
contracted services.
UNCA administration said they
are committed that no individual
will lose their job as a result of the
cut, and should be able to avoid
eliminating jobs by moving some
state positions to non-state fund
ing, according to the University
e-mail.
Letters were also sent to univer
sity and public school officials
earlier this month, asking that
each identify $ 125 million in pos
sible cuts for the next fiscal year.
These recent requests come in
response to the state's budget cri
sis brought on by slowing tax rev
enues in a slowing economy, ac
cording to the Citizen-Times ar
ticle.
October 18, 2001
Commision
looks to diversify
Lana Coffey
Staff Reporter
UNCA is having trouble increas
ing the minority student population
as it continues to search for ways to
increase diversity on campus, ac
cording to Dolly Jenkins-Mullen,
head of the minority affairs com
mission for the campus.
“I will think diversity is up when all
of these (minority) groups are repre
sented on our campus at least in the
proportions that they’re represented
in the state,” said Jenkins-Mullen.
“I shy away from popping the cham
pagne cork until we realize these
goals.”
Faculty members, primarily blacks,
created the minority affairs com
mission about 15 years ago, accord
ing to Mullen.
These people “wanted to see the
issues facing minority people at
UNCA addressed, and so the com
mission became a body that consid
ers the issues.”
This commission works with
Brenda Greene, who is the executive
arm of the office, according to
Mullen.
It works together to find and imple
ment ways to recruit and retain more
minority students.
The part of the commission that
Mullen heads may offer suggestions
on new ways to improve campus
diversity to Greene’s department.
That department then looks into
ways to implement the suggestions
the minority affairs commission
makes.
The focus of the commission this
semester will be student improve
ment, according to Mullen.
“We are particularly concerned
about the dip in the African Ameri
can student population,” said
Mullen.
According to Mullen, UNCA cur
rently has about 93 black students,
which she says is down significantly
from what it was 10 years ago when
See DIVERSITY Page 8
Anthrax exposures hit Washington, D.C., Florida and New York
Ed Fickle
Staff Reporter
Anthrax, a potentially deadly bac
teria which has been tested exten
sively for use in biological warfare,
has caused 42 confirmed cases of
infection or exposure in the United
States recently, raising fears ofbio-
logical terrorist attacks on Ameri
can soil.
According to a CNN special re
port, experts believe the risk is real,
but limited.
“The most likely event would...
involve a release into a room or
building,” said Richard Spertzel, a
former United Nations weapons
inspector.
While 42 confirmed cases ex
isted as of Oct. 17, only one has
resulted in death, and one other in
severe illness.
According to medical experts, an
anthrax exposure can be success
fully .reared using the antibiotic
drug Ciprofloxacin, if the infec
tion is discovered soon enough.
“The antibiotic is so effective that
it is 100 percent successful in kill
ing the bacteria, once that bacteria
has been released... so we are su
premely confident of our ability to
deal with circumstances like this,’
said Senate majority leader Tom
Daschle.
In one of the largest recent re
leases of the bacteria, 31 personnel
from Daschle’s Washington office
tested positive for exposure to an
thrax Oct. 17, as did three person
nel from the adjacent offices of
Senator Russel Feingold.
The House of Representatives
closed Oct. 16, for a five-day secu
rity sweep of facilities, although
the Senate has remained in session.
To date, only four of the 42 con
firmed cases of exposure have re
sulted in infections.
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“The simple obtaining and growing
of the organism is not the difficult
thing,” said Ron Atlas, a member of
the American Society for Microbiol
ogy. “Converting it to a .weapon of
mass destruction is.”
Only a few cases of anthrax infec
tion are typically reported each year,
most of them affecting cattle and
other livestock, usually resulting
from natural exposure to the bac
teria.
While many strains of anthrax
are known to exist, only certain
strains are virulent enough to kill.
There are several ways to become
infected, the most common being
the ingestion and inhalation of
spores.
“Experts say once terrorists get the
bacteria, the spores can survive for
decades, even centuries,” said NBC
correspondent Kelly O’Donnell in a
recent report.
Officials have identified that the
spores contained in the letter sent to
Daschle’s office are of the same strain
as those contained in the letter sent
to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw.
In developing an effective strain of
anthrax, the challenge is making the
spores small enough, “so that it would
spread through the air like fog and
not just settle to the ground,” said
Atlas.
This is not the first time anthrax
has been used as a biological weapon.
In WWI, certain forms of anthrax
See ANTHRAX Page 8
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