Serving UNC-Wilmington Since 1 948
Volume LII , Number 3
WWW.THESEAHAWK.ORG
Inside
This
Issue..
AUCUST 3 1, ZDOD
1
The Age of Aquarius
Marine Science breaking
new ground...er, water...in
the Florida Keys / 8
AtThalian this fall...
IVIark O’Connor will be among
the features at the historic
theatre soon/13
Women’s season begins
Soccer kicks off with loss to
high-ranked William & Mary /17
INDEX
Campus News
OP/ED
Classifieds
A & E
The Scene
Sports
Students express mixed feelings toward UNCW
Heidi Bing
News Editor
As UNCW prepares for its national
reaccredidation process, administration is
making an effort to gather student view
points on both the positive and negative
aspects of the university community. On
Tuesday, independent consultant Walker
Johanssen held a series of conferences on
campus where he met with students to dis
cuss the issues that they find important.
The perspectives gathered during these
meetings will be incorporated into a re
port that the administration will use to
implement changes at the university.
“The school needs to identify and mea
sure its effectiveness and its tools for
implementing instructional effectiveness,”
Johanssen said. “Ultimately this has to do
with students. Are [they] happy here? Are
[they] learning?”
Johanssen, who runs a business that
works with colleges on reaccredidation
issues, met with five groups during the
day. Two groups were available to all
undergraduate students, one was geared
toward female students, one toward stu
dent athletes, and the final group focused
on minorities.
During the sessions Johanssen served
as a mediator to stimulate discussion be
tween the students who attended.
^ . . , James Hint/The Seanawk
Students discuss vanous university issues on Tuesday with consult
ant Walker Johanssen, who is gauging the general attitude of stu
dents toward UtJCW.
Johanssen asked students to address gen
eral issues about UNCW’s reputation
along with issues that are of specific con
cern to students such as parking and cam
pus safety.
One initial topic that the forum focused
on was the university’s reputation as a
beach “party school.” Many students ad
mitted that the university’s primary attrac
tion is its location and one student said
her high school teachers had criticized her
for choosing to attend an “easy school.”
Some students felt that the school has been
able to overcome this reputation due to its
recognition of the marine biology program
and increased enrollment.
“Since I was going into marine biol
ogy, the fact that UNCW was in the top
five programs was very important to me,"
Senior Jessica Maher said. “Because I
didn’t grow up in North Carolina I didn’t
hear rumors about the school and my view
was positive.”
Johanssen said he was surprised by
how positive the student opinions were
concerning interactions with professors.
See Students, Page 5
Bond proposal meets praise and criticism
Todd Vdlkstorf
Staff Writer
Pending the outcome of the Nov. 7
election where North Carolinians will vote
on the higher education facihties bond ref
erendum, UNCW may get the funding
needed for continued growth and success
as one of the top pubUc educational insti
tutions in the region.
The higher education bond referendum
is a $3.1 bilhon package intended for new
construction and renovation projects at the
state’s 57 community colleges and 16uni-
versities. If the referendum is OK’d by vot
ers, UNCW will receive $108 million.
Mimi Cunningham, assistant vice
, . .... , jan^sFtnnh,s„t^wk chanceUor of utiiversity relations, believes
The $3.1 billion bond issue will determine the future of construction ^ extremely important issue
at UNCW and UNC-system schools statewide. UNCW stands to re- ——
ceive $108 million from the bond. See Bond, Page 5
\