2 i The Blue Banner I 3 J020I1
News Briefs
( Compiled by Trevor Metcalfe
Traces of radiation
found leaking in NC
Several N.C. power plants
have detected traces of ra
diation from the leaking re
actors in Japan. According
to state officials, the radia
tion poses no threat to public
health. Three Duke nuclear
power plants, including one
located in Charlotte, discov
ered traces of iodine 131 in
the air while conducting rou
tine tests for contaminants.
The levels are similar to the
amount found after the Cher
nobyl plant disaster in 1986.
Social Services director
placed on leave
The Swain County Depart
ment of Social Services re
cently placed its director on
leave after investigations be
gan on the death of a toddler
under the care of the agency.
The toddler, 15-month-old
Aubrey Littlejohn, died Jan.
10 after 12 hours in a car and
being given little food or
drink. A social worker who
visited the child’s home five
months before her death had
already been suspended from
the department.
D.O.T to delay funding
for 1-26 connector
The N.C. Department of
Transportation has proposed
to delay funding for the 1-26
connector until at least 2020,
which would effectively
shut down the project for
the near future. The project,
which would have expanded
1-240 to four lanes near West
Asheville, had already spent
$14.2 million in planning
stages. The project aimed to
ease up traffic and conges
tion problems along 1-240.
Health and wellness department
loses activity classes, faculty
Jeremiah Reed
jjreed@unca.edu - Staff Writer
More studying and less
sweating.
That’s the future of UNC
Asheville’s health and well
ness department as budget cuts
result in the elimination of fac
ulty as well as activity classes
that have been staples of the
department.
“Currently, our projections
include the elimination of all
but one activity class and the
elimination of nearly all ad
junct faculty within the depart
ment,” said Keith Ray, associ
ate professor and chair of the
health and wellness depart
ment.
According to Ray, univer
sity officials
asked sev
eral depart
ments on
campus to
compose a
proposal de
tailing how
they planned
to adapt to
the future
with limited
funding.
“When we first realized the
budget cuts would be a reality,
the provost requested that we
present a schedule for the next
academic year demonstrating
how we planned to adapt mov
ing forward with depleting re
sources,” Ray said.
The health and wellness
strategy is two-pronged. The
first aspect involved the elimi
nation of nearly all faculty not
labeled as full-time or tenured
lecturers.
“The emphasis is on using
full-time or tenured lecturers
to deliver the curriculum with
minimal use of adjunct facul
ty,” Ray said. “That isn’t to say
we won’t have any adjuncts in
the department, but there cer
tainly won’t be the same num
bers we’ve seen in the past.”
As a result, Ray said he ex
pects class sizes within the
department to grow roughly
40 percent, from an average
of 25 students per class to an
Keith Ray
estimated 35-40 students per
class.
“Obviously a top priority for
us is making sure students ma
joring in health and wellness
are able to complete all the re
quirements and graduate with
their degree,” Ray said. “So,
the number of core classes
won’t decrease, but the num
ber of students per class will
certainly increase.”
Stephanie Novak, a health
and wellness lecturer, is one
of those faculty members being
let go after nine years of teach
ing at UNCA. She said she is
dissapointed students would
no longer receive the direct in
struction that typically accom
panies smaller class sizes.
“It will be a challenge for
instructors to adapt to larger
classes. I believe students will
still be able to get the same ed
ucational value out of classes,
but it’s just unfortunate that
individual one-on-one time
with instructors will be limited
because of class size,” Novak
said.
Novak said, along with her
self, she was aware of at least
four other adjunct faculty posi
tions being cut within Ae de
partment. Along with faculty,
health and wellness classes,
often referred to as activity
courses, will no longer be of
fered in the future.
“Given our limited faculty
resources, we had to eliminate
activity courses simply be
cause we wouldn’t be able to
deliver them,” Ray said. “We
don’t have any activity courses
on the schedule for next year.”
There are roughly a dozen
different activity courses of
fered per semester, according
to Ray. They range from swim
ming to kickboxing, weight
training to yoga. Novak said
she felt these cuts would nega
tively impact students seek
ing a well-rounded health and
wellness education.
“It’s unfortunate there has
been cuts to physical activity
classes,” Novak said. “I think
for students in the health and
wellness field it will limit the
experience they are able to
gain because they won’t be
exposed to the disciplines they
otherwise would have been ex
posed to.”
In an attempt to fill the void
left by the elimination of activ
ity classes, campus recreation
tentatively plans to offer sever
al courses for students to take
in lieu of traditional classes.
“We’re currently planning to
offer five classes this fall ensure
students still have the same fit
ness opportunities as before,”
said Jill Moffitt, director of
campus recreation. “These
classes won’t be as compre
hensive as normal classes, but
we really just want to give stu
dents opportunities.”
According to Moffitt, these
classes will not be available
for credit, but will only cost
students roughly $25 if they
choose to enroll. A proposed
schedule was unavailable as
Moffitt and Ray continue to
formulate ideas for classes
moving forward.
“We definitely recognize that
a lot of activity classes on cam
pus will be going away and we
know that we can, and certain
ly want to, step in to fill the gap
to continue to provide students
those same opportunities, even
if it is on a lesser scale,” Mof
fitt said.
Ray said despite depart
ment cuts, he was optimistic
the move into the new Sherrill
Center would provide an in
centive to devise new ways to
serve the physical wellness of
students.
“We’re really excited about
our new facility and, even
though the budget cuts have
certainly burdened us, they
have also challenged us to
come up with creative ways to
continue to serve our students
with limited resources,” Ray
said.
“Health and wellness depart
ment loses activity classes,
faculty” is one article in a se
ries the Blue Banner will be
exploring this semester on how
the statewide budget cuts will
affect academic departments
at UNCA.
Bill Haggard
Coca-Cola
disappears
from campus
Kathy Woodard
kgwoodar@unca.edu - Staff Writer
In the past few weeks, Coca-
Cola-loyal students and faculty
have had to find other means of
quenching their thirst on cam
pus.
“Coca-Cola has a delightful
taste sensation that I used to enjoy
every day, and now I am forced
to drink Pepsi products that
are, in my opinion, mediocre in
comparison,”
said Tra
vis McBride,
sophomore
and biology
student.
Bill Hag
gard, vice
chancellor
of student
affairs and
the person in
charge of han
dling Chartwell’s on-campus ca
tering contract, said the change
is one planned long in UNC
Asheville’s past.
“The new contract that was
negotiated almost two years ago
asked for a two-year period in
which we would phase out Coca-
Cola products,” Haggard said.
Janet Cone, athletics direc
tor and head of the committee
who negotiated the Pepsi con
tract, said scholarships given to
UNCA by Pepsi were a factor in
the decision to be an exclusively
Pepsi campus.
“Pepsi gives a lot of scholar
ships to students all over campus
and funds a lot of student events
and athletics,” Cone said.
With the end of the scholas
tic year approaching. Haggard
and Cone say students will be
more occupied with their studies
than with soft drinks. Flannery
Pearson-Clarke, sophomore
and environmental science stu
dent, disagrees.
“Without choices like whether
to pick Pepsi or Coca-Cola, we
are all shuffled along into the
same banal existence. It’s just
another case of the man getting
us down,” Pearson-Clarke said.