4 i The Blue Banner I 2.9J011
News
Community colleges look to change open door policy
Anne Marie Roberts
amroberl@unca.edu - Staff Writer
The State Board of Commu
nity Colleges recently voted to
advance a change in policy al
lowing community colleges in
North Carolina to deny admis
sion to applicants deemed an
“articulable, imminent and sig
nificant threat to the applicant
or other individuals.”
“What the state board is do
ing here is responding to the
national threat which has oc
curred at Virginia Tech and now
with the student at Tucson,”
said Dennis King, the vice
president for student services
at Asheville-Buncombe Tech
nical Community College.
“The community college board
has asked for a change in ad
ministrative code as it pertains
to admissions that will allow us
to take action against someone
who manifests inappropriate
behavior during the admissions
process.”
The community college sys
tem currently implements an
open door admissions policy,
in which applicants with a high
school diploma or equivalent
are accepted.
“They are slightly closing the
door to an open door policy at
community colleges,” King
said.
This amendment, which
could begin as soon as April
1, would streamline applicants
seen as a potential risk and ul
timately deny them admission
if determined to be a danger to
other students.
“I can understand where
(this policy) is coming from,”
said Jacqueline McHargue,
the dean of students at UNC
Asheville. “I think our com
munity college colleagues with
their open door admissions do
face challenges that we do not
as an institution during their ad
missions process.”
The discussion surrounding
this policy began in August,
and initially stemmed from the
Virginia Tech shootings.
“I do understand the great
need for protecting students. It
is scary, and it does seem that
mental health issues are on the
rise,” said Anna Bauguess,
counselor and case manager
at UNCA’s Health and Coun
seling Center.
Some college students and
civil rights leaders said they are
concerned with the vague word
ing of the new code, and worry
those with mental health issues
and criminal backgrounds may
be categorized in an unfavor
able way by colleges taking the
policy too far.
“It doesn’t really make me
feel safer. It just makes me feel
like the government is trying to
control more things,” A-B Tech
freshman Sierra Chase said.
The policy does not specifi
cally explain what determines
a student as a threat, allowing
each individual college to make
a judgment at their own discre
tion.
“The energy spent on passing
this ban would be better spent
discovering new ways to make
education more accessible to
our classmates and colleagues
who are limited not by some
perceived shortcoming they
possess, but rather by poor
planning and design on the part
of the college,” said Katie Sue
Campbell, a senior women’s
studies major at UNCA.
Dean McHargue said the
policy could be beneficial if the
central factor in refusal of ad
mission is behavior-related. ■
“I would say behavior is
key,” McHargue said. “It really
needs to be tied to behavior,
and if they are able to use this
policy where behavior is what’s
being focused on, then I think
it would be more manageable
than something that’s very gen
eral and open to different levels
of interpretation.”
King said the wording is very
vague and it will be up to each
school to define the meaning
of this new code. He said A-B
Tech will not be looking at
mental health records and will
not use criminal backgrounds
as determining factors for ad
mission.
“To determine a threat, I tend
personally to look for a specific
action directed at one individu
al,” King said.
King also said he feels this
policy should be used sparingly
in the best interest of the entire
student body.
“If a certain person seems
sketchy, I think it would be OK
to make some sort of assump
tion if the school felt they need
ed to,”A-B Tech freshman Ju
lie Brandon said.
The amendment requires an
explanation submitted from the
admissions office regarding re
fusal of admission and details
about when and how an appli
cant would be eligible to re
apply. An appeals process also
must be offered.
Dean McHargue encourages
students to obtain a copy of the
policy if they are concerned.
“I think the big picture is
what’s important to look at with
a policy this big,” McHargue
said. “A lot of this comes from
wanting to take care of students
and protect students, and that’s
understandable. I think it’s just
making sure we’re looking at it
in a very complete way.”
Bauguess said policies like
this one are important, but it
is hard to know how it will be
received and how effective it
will be.
“It is a really complex ques
tion,” Bauguess said in re
sponse to the issue of keeping
students safe while protecting
students’ rights.
“There’s no certain way to go
about answering it. Everything
is on a case-by-case basis, and
it takes a lot of work, a lot of
collaboration. Other people
listen to that and put it all to
gether like a puzzle. You never
know if you have all the pieces.
The main goal is to make sure
people are getting the educa
tion they want and that they are
going to be safe while getting
it,” she said.
CAREER
continued from page 3
parative literature, German and
art. All three of those funnel
into what I want to do. The lan
guage has definitely helped be
cause a lot of the things I need
are published in German and
French,” Klinger said.
When asked to give advice
to the students at UNCA, Da
vid Edward Jensen, president
and executive producer of
Modern Beat Productions,
LLC and Modern Beats Digi
tal Records, said networking
while in college matters.
“Be proactive, find what you
want to do, cultivate the rela
tionships with your classmates
and professors and find the
people with the most talent in
your major. Those people can
be your co-workers in the fu
ture,” Jensen said.
Jensen also said an internship
could be the best way to get a
foot in the door to a dream job.
“Internships are really big,
and if you can find one that
might turn into a job, start at the
bottom and work your way up.
That looks fantastic to employ
ers,” Jensen said.
Recent UNCA graduate
Sheila Steelman said she land
ed the title associate director of
communications at Asheville
School straight out of college
thanks to the Career Center.
“I was always talking to the
career counselors and asking
how best to prepare myself for
when I graduated. One of the
counselors talked to me about
planned happenstance. I didn’t
know what I wanted to do, but I
pretty much knew what field, so
she pretty much told me if I pre
pared myself and kept having
the experience and the classes
and the degree, that when it was
time for something to fall into
place, that I would be ready.”
Rachael Fisher - Staff Photographer
Moderator Lorriane Walsh, left, and panelists discussed creative career opportunities. Panelist in
cluded recent UNCA graduate Sheila Steelman and Charlotte Street Computer CEO Jennifer Mayer.