NEWS
SGA elects new senators, makes
plans for upcoming semester
Harper Spires
hspires@unca.edu - Contributor
Sen. Paolo Salas and Vice President
Josh Owen swore in new SGA senators
last week.
JaNesha Slaughter, an economics and
political science student, said her goals
as the new residential senator include
playing a role in the selection of a new
chancellor and increasing the number
of women involved in technology on
campus.
Three other senators were sworn in
as well, including M Louis Edelstein,
a freshman economics and political
science student, Joseph Siegmeister,
a sophomore philosophy student and
Max Stone, a junior biochemistry
student.
In other news:
Harry Samuels, executive of
sustainability, is gearing up for
GreenFest, an annual week-
long celebration and educational
opportunity for events related to
sustainability on campus and in the
Asheville community.
Samuels said there is generally an
assortment of different topics, but he
hopes to have a theme this year. It will
likely be held the first week of April.
Carleigh Zeman, elections
commissioner, began propping for the
spring semester SGA elections and said
she plans to hold the elections the week
before spring break.
Sens. Charlie White and Kathy
Frantz are working with the Dining
Services Committee this semester.
Sen. Paolo Salas is currently working
on getting water bottle fountains in the
library. Student Recreation Center and
the ShetTill Center.
Sen. Joe Baker held the first SGA
student focus group yesterday and is
continuing his work with the Did You
Know campaign along with the SGA
Academic Affairs Committee.
Sens. Coraline Badgett and Sam
Singer are co-chairing LoveFest this
year and are working with the SGA
Campus Works Committee.
Badgett said they are currently getting
in touch with participant organizations
and finalizine the schedule of events.
Rise in tuition could affect
university diversity
Stephen Case
scose@unca.edu - Staff Writer
As tuition rises for out-of-state
students at UNC Asheville, there
remains concern among students and
faculty as to how the university will
maintain its level of diversity.
■‘It’s a challenge that we face routinely
here on campus,” said Lamar Hylton,
director of the intercultural center
and multicultural student programs.
“It is a conversation that I have had many
times with senior-level administrators
and faculty members about how we can
instill the best diversity on campus.”
Tuition for out-of-state undergraduate
students will rise 6 percent to $18,537
annually for the upcoming 2014-
15 school year, according to UNC A
officials.
Hylton said these increases reflect a
national trend of higher education costs
and not the university raising prices
because they want to.
“As the gap widens between lower-
middle class and upper class, and higher
education tends to trend upward in its
cost, we are continually marginalizing
the lower-middle class and the lower
class,” Hylton said. “A large percentage
of the makeup of those classes is
underrepresented people.”
According to the 2012-13 university
statistics, out-of-state students represent
only 12.7 percent of the student
body, while there are only 41 total
international students at UNCA.
“That’s why I love UNCA so much,”
said James Whalen, a senior at UNCA
who works in the student office for
student activities. “It meant that the
affordability for people of all walks
of life could come here, but the more
everything gets cut, the harder that
becomes, especially for out-of-state
students, and that’s just one more way
UNCA becomes less diverse.”
Even though many people on campus
said they are happy with the amount of
diversity UNCA has, not everyone is
pleased.
“When I first came here, I had no idea
about the amount of diversity here,”
said Nick Belvin, a senior at UNCA.
“I was honestly disappointed that it’s
pretty much white people. I feel there is
nothing but white people.”
Belvin said even if he had known
about what he said he feels is a lack in
diversity, he would not have changed
his decision to come to UNCA. Belvin.
a Charlotte native, said his hometown
hosts a higher ethnically diverse
population than Asheville.
According to officials with academic
affairs, there are eight different
diversity-aimed organizations at UNCA.
including the Feminist Collective,
the Muslim Student Association and
the International Student Association.
These organizations help to facilitate
a welcoming environment for students
from different backgrounds.
Hylton said UNCA doesn’t have a
diversity scholarship due to the legal
ramifications of offering a specific
scholarship for a specific demographic
of people, but the university is working
on trying to create one with certain
programs already in place.
Even as tuition increases for out-of-
state students, it remains cheaper than
most schools in the country, Hylton
said.
“Moving down South as an out-of-
state student was incredibly cheaper
than staying in-state,” said Matthew
Thorp, a junior at UNCA and New
Jersey native. “When I came here as
an out-of-state student, I was paying
roughly $25,000 a year, and to go to
a public university in my own state, it
was close to $45,000 a year.”
Thorp said UNCA was not on his list
of school to attend initially, but visiting
Asheville with his father as a junior in
high school caused him to fall in love
with the city. He said he felt the school
was in an amazing location with a really
friendly environment.
As an out-of-state student, Thorp
said he has his own ideas on how the
university could more efficiently recruit
students from different backgrounds
and areas of the country.
Thorpe said he understands why
UNCA likes to select from students
in its own state, but hiring recruiters
to travel to other states could increase
diversity.
“That would such a different
experience, going to your high school
college fair and all of a sudden there
is this random school from North
Carolina there, and you can have that
conversation with a person who is also
an out-of-state student and get their
perspective on it,” Thorpe said.