THE RIDGERUNNER September 25, 1975 Page 7
Printing Press Has Unused Potential
BY TIM THIELKE
It's an expensive
and awesome looking
piece of equipment.
The complicated con
glomeration of hoses,
wires, belts, gears,
switches, levers,
chrome brackets, and
cold metal fills ab
out as much air space
as a picnic table
with a television on
one end. It's cap
able of printing al
most anything; bro
chures, small maga
zines, and a profes
sional quality news
paper. Unfortunately
the press's full po
tential is not being
achieved.
The decision was
made by the Student
Government to pur
chase the $4830 ma
chine in the spring
of 1973. Chuck Camp
bell, a student at
UNCA that spring, and
now Director of Ad
missions at Warren
Wilson College, first
proposed the idea to
the administration.
Student Government
caught the ball and
started rolling it.
They bought the ma
chine, planning to
save money on their
own printing costs,
and to do outside
jobs for the price of
materials and wages
plus 50%, thereby
creating a source of
income. It was an
exciting and worth
while idea.
During the '73-'74
school year, the e-
Vet Problems . . .
that the problems of
all ihe Vets were sim
ilar, and one person
could get help from
the others, who might
have had the same dif
ficulty. He was very
sympathetic with the
Vets, who, he said,
were the primary fcrce
behind his success in
attaining his present
positioii. However,
Aiken did not want
anything about the
situation to be print
ed because he didn't
want to help create
anymore bad feelings
between Kirton and the
Vet Association. On
the other hand, Kirton
Alumni Festival
To Raise Money
The Alumni Associa
tion of UNCA wilI
sponsor the First
Fall Festival Satur
day Sept. 27, from
11:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm
on campus. Artisans
and craftsman from as
far away as Tennessee
will be travelling to
display and sell
their work. The Art
Alumni Association in
conjunction with the
parent Alumni Associa
tion, is organizing
the Festival to help
raise money for the
Alumni Scholarship
Fund.
Some of the exhibi
tions will be Wood-
crafters Inc. from
Johnson City, Tenn.;
Elizabeth Phillips
from Marshall, show
ing water color and
oils; Richard Loren-
zern from Clyde, dis
playing leatherwork;
Sylvia Jones from Hen
dersonville, showing
a special technique
of wild flowers in oil;
and Marilyn Lonon, of
the UNCA staff with
Joyce Milton display
ing knitworks, crochet
and decorative hang
ings. Students inter
ested in displaying at
the Fall Festival are
invited and should
contact Dean Wutschel
in the Student Person
nel Office.
There will be re
freshments at the fes
tival , as wel1 as a
candy booth under the
care of the K-ettes.
At 3:30 pm an auction
will be held, featur
ing the specially se
lected works of the
participants.
Burger King is also
sponsoring a raffle,
with prizes of $50
worth of groceries,
$25 worth of groceries,
and $10 in cash.
Chances on the raffle
can be obtained with
a $1 donation at the
University switchboard,
the Student Personnel
office, or the Vance
Hall office. The en
tire community is in
vited to attend this
First Fall Festival.
quipment was used oc
casionally to print
Student Government
minutes, schedules,
film lists, resolu
tions, theatre pro
grams, and, at one
time, the campus
newspaper, "Ridgerun-
ner". Nevertheless,
reliable sources re
ported that the
press put the Student
Government "... in
debt more than $8000.
More was spent on
jobs than was receiv
ed for doing them".
The press business,
it was discovered,
is a lot easier talk
ed about than man
aged.
As the last term
ended, so did print
ing-press operations.
During the '74-'7b
...FROM Pg. 5
made no objections,
and v;as very obliging
in his interview, al
though most of what he
said cannot be printed
without approval from
the Federal Government,
There is more to
the issue than Kir-
ton's move to the Reg
istrar's Office. An
underlying factor is
the insinuation of
Kirton's move that the
Vet Association lacks
integrity, although
the organization is,
technically, a social
club. The pride of
those in the organiza
tion has been wounded,
as well as that of the
Government Representa
tive, who fears the
others are unofficial
ly playing at his job.
There is also a defi
nite personality con
flict between Fred
Tone and his siTpport-
ers, and Kieth Kirton.
That a change of of
fice of a man who only
comes once a week any
way could cause such
a problen shows a lack
of cohesiveness be
tween the Vet Repre
sentative and the Vet
Association, both
whose purpose is to
work for the good of
all Vets on this cam
pus. jt would take
little for the parties
involved to reconcile
themselves and form a
more mature relation
ship. Certainly it
couldn't hurt anything
more important than a
vulnerable eao or two.
school year, the
press did little
more than gather
dust, and Student
Government, concerned
about such a large
waste, decided to ac
cept bids for the sale
of the equipment. An
inventory was taken,
and over $500 worth
of supplies alone (pa
per, ink, metal plate
etc.) was discovered.
A sales representative
for the Multi graphics
Division of Addresso-
graph Corporation, est
imated the value of
the machine alone at
"No less than $3000".
A $1100 camera reducer
was sold last year, re-
gretably, for only
!1)400.
The administration,
wishing to buy the
press themselves, ask
ed Aiken if he would
hold the press for
them, assuring the
Student Government oi6-
ficial that the admin
istration would make
a reasonable and fair
bid. This fall Aiken
received the bid—
$1800.
He was, to shorten
the story, slightly
perturbed. This ap
palling occurence,
Aiken said, "... jeop-
ordized both the Ad-
mini stratior/s personal
relationship with me
and the students I re
present". Needless
to say, the press is
yet unsold and inac
tive.
I he mismanagement
of the press, the Ad
ministration's low bid
and the large amount
of wasted money can
be blamed on no one
individual or group
of individuals. Press^
es can't roll without
Soccer
...FROM Pg. 6
crucial to win at
least three out of
five conference games.
Tor this reason, cer
tain games are of im-
mence importance, as
stated previously:
Warren Wilson, Central
Western, Western Caro
lina and the College
of Charleston.
The next game is
stated for Oct 3rd
when UNCA will travel
to Western Carolina.
This is a Saturday af
ternoon contest, so go
out and cheer the team
on to victory.
someone to roll them,
the Administration
can't spend more money
than it has, and the
Student Government
cannot always guaran
tee the success of its
projects. Part of
the blame rests on
the student body.
Chuck CampbelI, the
originator of the pro
ject, illustrated
this point. "Most of
the students go to
class and go home.
What can you do?"
So, at present,
one of 'three things
can be done with the
press. It can be
left alone and con
tinue to be a com
plete loss, it can be
sold and return part
of the capital invest
ed, or it can be re
staffed arid re-im-
stated, to accomplish
the goals originally
conceived, uf the
three alternatives,
the second seems most
likely, though the
third still shows
some promise.
The easiest, and
perhaps the best
thing to do would be
to sell the machine
and its supplies.
Not only would the
original loss be re
duced, but there •
would be no chance
for apathy and lack
of organization to
lose more money and
stop the press again.
It is not comple
tely out of the ques
tion, however, for
the press to become
a valuable and profit
making piece of equip
ment. The press
could operate, if a
new camera reducer
and a trained and de
dicated student staff
were obtained. The
largest problem seems
to be a simple one--
,no one who knows how
to run the machine
wilI volunteer the
time and effort to
get involved. Aiken
is searching, and
said that if he could
"... find just one stu
dent.. .who has a mini
mum amount of press
experience, it would
at least be a step in
the right direction."
Interested persons
are encouraged to see
Gary Aiken in the Stu
dent Government off
ice, Do it soon,
though. Something,
somewhere, has got
to give.