I
the
UNCW baseball
looks to repeat
winning season,
Thursday | January 26, 2006
Serving UNC Wilmington since 1948
Rapture
Cabaret to
rock the
Soapbox,
pages
Volume LVII | Number 14
University
purchases off-
campus parking
lot, parking fees
to rise
Ben Wimmer
News Editor
Lastmonth,UNC W Corporation
bougiit the former Cinema 6 movie
theater at 5335 Oleander Drive for
$2.5 million. According to the uni
versity, the lot is expected to bring
about 337 new spaces of student
parking to UNCW.
The university does not expect
the lot to be open for use until
the fall 2006 semester UNCW
already owns and operates a 321-
space parking lot across College
Road opposite the university which
also used to be a movie theater.
The new parking lot will trans
port students to and from campus
using the same type of shuttle ser
vice as the current College Road
parking lot. The purchase comes
after UNCW announced that it
would be building a 600-space, $12
million parking deck, which was
later canceled because of cost.
In a report published in The
Seahawk last October, it was esti
mated that students would have
had to pay $120 more per year
for parking passes if the proposed
parking deck were to have been
constructed.
According to a report published
in the Star-News, student parking
fees are expected to go up in the
2006 fall
semes
ter from
$172 to
$218 for
on-cam-
pus park
ing and from $130 to $174 for
off-campus parking. The univer
sity is also considering purchasing
another off-campus parking lot at
see PARKING page 2
See paga 2 lor larger photo
Free STD testing included in $20,000
grant to Student Health Center
WESTSIOE
The Student Health Center, housed in Westside Hall, recently
received a $20,000 grant which allows for the center to provide free
testing for HIV and Chlamydia.
Hollan Peterson
Senior Staff Writer
Last October, the Student Health
Centerreceived a $20,000 grant from
the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation,
which has enabled them to offer free
HIV and chlamydia screening for
students since Jan. 1.
“We are really looking to high
light the testing for asymptomatic
individuals, and these two tests, the
urine chlamydia test and the blood
HIV test, we feel are the two most
important tests for people who don’t
have symptoms,” Medical Director
Dr. Peter Meyer said.
HIV and chlamydia can remain
asymptomatic for years leading to
chronic pelvic pain, mfertility and
death. Chlamydia is the most preva
lent Sexually Transmitted Disease
reported to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention since 1994.
Although 15-24 year-olds consti
tute 25 percent of the sexually active
population, recent estimates by the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention suggest the age group
contracts 50 percent of reported
STDs.
According to
the CDC, “The
higher prevalence
of STDs among
adolescents also
“It’s kind of a new focus for our
department to try to do a little more
outreach in that area,” said Canel.
Meyer and Canel were the two
involved in the painstaking process
of securing the grant for UNCW’s
Student Health Center, which they
hope will continue to increase stu
dent utilization of the center’s STD
testing services.
In March of 2004, the SHC
received a grant of $1,450 from
Friends of UNCW, a volunteer orga
nization, to launch an HIV test
ing program after lack of funding
prevented the Health Department
from coming to UNCW for student
screenings.
Another grant from Friends of
UNCW in 2005 enabled the SHC
to switch their method of chlamydia
testing and to lower the costs incurred
by students. According to Canel, the
SHC has “seen a great increase in
males seeking testing. We used to
do a probe that had to be inserted in
the urethra for males—and so what
was happening was that males were
sending
their female
partners in
"It's kind of a new focus for
our department to try to do a
little more outreach in
[sexual health]."
-Aduk Nunc Pnctioner Miry Cand
reflects multiple barriers to quality
STD prevention services, including
lack of insurance or other ability
to pay, lack of transportation, dis
comfort with facilities and services
designed for adults and concerns
about confidentiality.”
This grant is the latest in what has
been nearly three years of efforts on
the part of the Student Health Center
to improve its official capacities in
various areas of sexual health ser
vices. However, it is the first grant
requested for outside funds to help
student care, according to Adult
Nurse Practioner, Mary Canel.
for testing [instead of getting tested
themselves],” she said.
In addition to financial barriers,
concerns about confidentiality and
the need for strict adherence to a
plethora of state and federal regu
lations interfered with the SHC’s
desire to offer students on-campus
testing services.
Although all positive results for
STDs including syphilis, chlamydia,
gonorrhea and HI V must be reported
to the Health Department, the SHC
has made student privacy and con-
see GRANT page 2
Right to free
speech at UNCW
called into question
Amanda Hutcheson
Assistant News Editor
According to a report published
Jan. 10, UNCW poses a serious
risk to its students’ free speech.
The Pope Foundation and the
Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education sponsored the study,
which said the wording of policies at
UNCW are too vague, and therefore
unconstitutional.
The report criticized all the pub
lic universities in the North Carolina
system except Elizabeth City State
University.
The report objected to phrasing
in UNCW’s policy that prohibits
“behavior of a biased or prejudiced
nature related to one’s personal
characteristics...”
The report asserted the phrasing
was unconstitutionally broad and
did not clarify between harassing
actions and actions that are con
sidered forms of expression, h did
say the current phrasing was an
improvement over how the policy
previously read, which included the
words “speech or behavior.”
FIRE’S Web site gave UNCW
a “red light” rating, given to the
highest possible threat to students’
First Amendment rights. On the
Web site, FIRE also objected to an
incident in 2001, where a professor’s
e-mail account was opened and read
after a student complained.
Samantha Harris, the program
officer at FIRE, said in an e-mail
interview, “FIRE has not han
dled any additional cases at UNC
Wilmington since the 2001 case.”
She added, “FIRE’s ratings (red
light, yellow light, green light) are
based solely on whether a univer
sity maintains written policies that
infringe upon constitutionally pro
tected speech. The ratings are not
affected by specific incidents at a
see FREE SPEECH page 2
II'