0ASEBA.IuL ON A. ROUL^ Sports 8
FARMERS MARKET, Features 6
VIRGINIA TECH, Opinion 10
Volume 46, Issue 11
University
looks at
lore than
test scores
By Tim Meinch
Guest Writer
Blue Banner
When reviewing freshmen
pplicants, UNC Asheville
dmissions officials look
yond numbers and statistics
0 see students for who they are
,nd how they will fit into the
stitution.
“We really do look at the
hole person. Whaf s the pack-
,ge they’re presenting, what are
ley bringing, and based on past
xperience, does it fit with the
itudents that have come here
md are successful?” said Scot
chaeffer, director of admis-
ions and financial aid.
Apart from the minimum
ourse requirements set by the
itate, UNC Asheville does not
let any minimum test scores or
equired attributions over appli-
ants, admissions counselors
aid.
The university now has a
hancellor’s Acceptance, which
flows the chancellor to grant
cceptance to a student not
eeting the minimum course
equirements in extraordinary
ases, according to Melinda
alien, assistant director of
dmissions.
We don’t have set things
ecause we really do take into
ccount the whole person,
here are kids that will get in
ere with 1000 SATs and there
people we’ll deny with 1400
ATs,” Schaeffer said.
The whole admissions staff at
JNC Asheville discusses each
rsl ^‘dividual freshman applicant to
"■lecide who is a good fit for the
institution, according to
chaeffer.
“It’s not an exact science,” he
aid. “It would be if you just
icked numbers: This GPA, this
:est score, this rank in class and
ou’re in. But then it really
es out the personal side of
itudents.”
The admissions director of
ive years said the institution
lees more and more students
ith special talents, which the
dmissions counselors take into
onsideration in the applica-
ions.
Art students are starting to
lend in portfohos and music stu-
ents are starting to send in
Ds,” Schaeffer said. “We’re
leeing much more additional
nformation being sent in, so
e’re getting a full picture of
e student.”
The Admissions Office offers
^pphcants an optional one-hour
interview with a counselor,
jMT-'hich often significantly helps
students in the gray area,
ccording to admissions staff.
“The personal interview is the
ost important thing the student
an do,” Bullen said.
Every year counselors push
or the acceptance of five or six
ipecific smdents who lack the
pressive numbers, but pos-
less something that the coun
selor saw in the interview,
ccording to Bullen.
“We want to make sure we’re
boosing the right people, that
hey understand what UNC
sheville is, what the require-
ents are and that they’re going
10 come here, stay here and
iraduate,” Schaeffer said.
‘Who you enter and who you
'ring in automatically helps
f^ftvith retention, if you’re making
good fit and a good match.”
Nearly 60 percent of freshmen
ho enrolled between 1996 and
003 stayed through their senior
ear.
“We’Ve got more students that
ant to come here than we have
oom for,” Schaeffer said.
When you have that, you can
ust be more selective in the
lecision making process.”
Serving the Universin of North (Carolina at Asheville sinex; lySa
Students stand together
3m
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M-
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H f 41
Ai.l Photos; Prnnie Leas - PHimKiKAPHY Editor
Students, faculty, staff and administration gather around the flag pole on the Quad Thesday to commemorate the victims of the shooting at
Virginia Tech the day before. Corie Schreiher, freshman student, prays in front of the flower arrangement by the flag pole and seal. A bag
piper plays on the Phillips Hall balcony before the ceremony begins. Student Body President John Noor stands beside administration mem
bers during a moment of silence. A student chalks the message, “Today we’re all Hokies”on the sidewalk in front of the seal.
UNC Asheville mourns Virginia Tech deaths
D ays after what the press is calling the
“Massacre at Virginia Tech,” UNC
Asheville Joined the world in
mourning the victims of the United States’
worst school shooting, topping both
Columbine in 1999 and the shootings at the
University of Texas in 1966.
While a bagpiper played nearby, students,
staff, faculty and administration members cir
cled around the flag pole on the Quad
Tuesday to offer their words and prayers to
the 32 victims of Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-
old English major at VT.
As more and more reports surface about the
mental instability and motives of Cho, VT
administrators work to restore the university,
where over 25,000 students are currently
enrolled, and people all over the world con
tinue to grapple with the abruptness and enor
mity of the tragedy.
While the world reels, many are already
speaking out against lax gun laws, citing them
as the cause for the shooting.
VT members along with the community
remembered the victims at a vigil Wednesday.
■ Kristen Marshall, news editor
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The News
in Brief
SGA to hold
new elections
next week
After the Student Government
Association’s second round of
elections, they have yet to release
resuhs and will hold new polling
next Monday and Tuesday, due to
irrefutable evidence of voter fraud,
according to Student Body
President John Noor.
Noor said he hopes to have
Buncombe County Board of
Elections provide congressional
voting machines instead of relying
on campus computers. The
machines will ensure the voting
process will be legitimate, accord
ing to Noor.
The machines will be located on
the Quad all day Monday and
Tue.sday, or paper ballots will be
available. For further information,
contact Noor at jdnoor@unca.edu
or call the SGA office: 828-251 -
6587.
NC rated
second
in releasing
pollutants
A study conducted by the federal
Toxic Release Inventory stated
North Carolina as the state releas
ing the second largest amount of
air releases of toxic pollution.
These toxic pollutants are sus
pected causes of respiratory ill
ness, according to the study. The
largest source of the toxins came
from the Duke Energy Belews
Creek Steam Station in Stokes
County, which reportedly released
more than 13 million pounds of
respiratory toxins into the air.
North Carolina also ranked fifth
in the country for releasing emis
sions containing toxic chemicals
known to cause developmental
problems.
The federal Toxic Release
Inventory is a public right-to-know
program that requires industrial
facilities to disclose their toxic
releases to the public.
Pet food with
rice protein
recalled
The Food and Drug
Administration expanded a nation
wide pet food recall this week
which includes products contain
ing rice protein laced with
melamine.
Menu Foods recalled more than
60 million cans and pouches of wet
dog and cat food last month. The
toxin in melamine can cause kid
ney failure in pets.
The FDA said they encourage
any pet owner who might have
purchased any Menu Food product
to go online and check the list to
make sure they are not feeding
their pets contaminated food.
Universities participates in air quality research
By Annabelle Hardy
Staff Writer
UNC Asheville and UNC
Charlotte joined forces to create a
supercomputer grid that vill simu
late the effects of development on
air quality in the Asheville-
Charlotte region, according to
John Stevens, director of the
National Environmental Modeling
and Analysis Center at UNC
Asheville.
‘This is what you call a grand
challenge problem. It needs
extraordinary resources and new
tools and technology to solve.
That’s what we’re putting together.
We’re developing new techniques
and then applying them,” said Bill
Ribarsky, head of the visual grid
project at UNC Charlotte.
With $500,000 in funding from
the Environmental Protection
Agency, the project is in the pilot
phase of creating a visualization
grid that will compile and visually
represent'over 100 interacting
fields of information related to air
quality in the region, according to
Stevens.
“The visual grid is not just about
bringing together the hardware and
connecting these computers, it is
also about bringing people togeth
er,” Stevens said.
Early planning for the project
began in 2005 and the funding
from the EPA came in early 2006.
More than a year later, the first
phase is nearly completed and sci
entists are beginning to undertake
more complex simulations and
analysis, according to Stevens.
Other modeling programs exist
nationwide, but few of them con
tain as much data as this one,
according to Stevens. Most models
use data points located every 12
miles of a given region, which
means that data collected in the
mountains is often not useful.
“Here in the mountains a lot
happens every 12 miles, so those
models don’t do a good job pre
dicting what may go on. We are
trying to get our project down to a
data point every kilometer. You
need that kind of resolution to be
able to understand what’s happen
ing in the mountains,” Stevens
said.
Once the visualization grid is
fully operational, it can become a
SEE Air Quality page 31
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