* i$
Giving is Great!: Phlebotomist Kitty Broermann
and UNCA student Scott Alexander appear to enjoy
contributing their time and blood at the Student
Government Association sponsored blood drive,
held in the Lipinsky Building, Oct. 18. The Red.
Cross collected 85 units from the 98 UNCA
students who signed up to donate. Two student
organizations, the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and
the Mud 500 Club, received $25 each from the SGA
for tieing in the highest contributing organi
zation contest. Last April, 91 students donated
181 pints of blood to the organization. The SGA
I ‘plans to bring the Bloodmobile to the campus
again next spring, says SGA President Ken Cagle.
Photo by Pam Walker
Serving The Students Of The University of North Carolina at Asheville since 1982
^Volume 3, Number 10
WCUNCA?
Merger matter viewed as madness
By Lee Hinebaugh
and Anna Paulette Witt
The 1983 faU semes
ter may be remembered
in UNCA history as "The
Autumn of the Merger
Madness."
However, the three-
year debate over the
advisability of UNCA
and Western Carolina
University merging to
form one institution
seems to be nearing an
end.
UNC President WiUiam
Friday addressed the
issue Oct. 14, in a
speech to the Universi
ty of North Carolina
Board of Governors at
their October meeting
which took place in
CuUowhee.
Friday said the advi
sory committee which he
set up to study the si
tuation of higher edu
cation in Western North
Carolina; and to parti
cularly review the re
lationship between UNCA
and WCU, recently sub
mitted to him its re
commendations .
"I intend to follow
closely the recommend
ations of the commit
tee," Friday said.
However, Friday said
he has not yet made his
final decision about
the merger and the fu
ture relationship be
tween the two institu
tions. He said he wants
to think the issue
through a bit more and
win issue a report
concerning it in the
near future.
The three members of
the president's adviso
ry committee spent one
and one-half days on
each campus in Septem
ber conferring with
administration, faculty
and concerned citizens.
Two ex-UNC chancel
lors, Dr. Dean Colvard
of UNC-Charlotte: and
Dr. James Ferguson, of
UNC-Creensboro; and
Southern Regional Edu
cation Board member Dr.
Winfred Godwin composed
the committee.
Their recommendations
include, according to
Dr. l^urmoe Dorr, UNCA
vice chancellor for a-
cademic affairs:
. Setting up a com
bined graduate center
in Asheville.
. Quickly dispensing
with any overlap in
curncolum between UNCA
and WCU programs in
Asheville.
. Forgetting any mer
ger of the two institu
tions .
Friday indicated that
he plans to go ahead
with the graduate cen
ter and a committee is
studying plans for it,
said Ken Cagle, UNCA
SGA president.
Cagle attended the
meeting in CuUowhee
and said he plans to
attend the next board
of governor's session
Nov. U in Chapel HiU.
Friday promised to
give a full report of
the committee's find
ings at this session.
UNCA is pleased with
the committee's propos
als this far, said
Dorr.
"Funding for graduate
programs wiU be given
directly to the center
which will then reim
burse UNCA for the use
of its facilities as
well as pay graduate
faculty salaries," said
Dorr.
Dorr said that pre
sently UNCA receives a
token amount from WCU
for electricity, heat,
grounds maintainance,
etc.
"The graduate center
wiU probably begin
functioning as soon as
a director is chosen
for it," said Dorr.
He said this might be
as soon as July.
The center will ad
minister aU graduate
level courses taught at
UNCA by WCU. It wiU
also be in charge of
the North CaroUna
State graduate engin
eering program being
taught at UNCA, Dorr
said.
He also said that the
center wiU administer
any future UNCA gradua
te programs. However,
he said that there are
no plans to begin any
UNCA graduate programs
at this time.
Dorr said that some
courses are presently
being taught on UNCA's
campus by both UNCA and
WCU.
However, Harry Ram
sey, assistant to the
WCU chancellor for WCU
programs in AsheviUe,
said he is not aware of
any current overlap in
classes.
The committee said
that in its opinion any
merger between UNCA and
WCU would be impracti
cal, said Dorr.
Many, if not all the
UNCA faculty seem to
agree. However, al
though several of them
consented to talk to
Kaleidoscope's reporter
about the issue, they
nearly all said their
names could not be in
cluded with their com
ments because the
administration asked
them to not discuss the
issue.
"If I was tenured and
did not have to fear
for my continued em
ployment at this insti
tution you could attri
bute these statements
to me by name," said
one professor.
"However, the admin
istration has made it
very clear in previous
meetings that the fac
ulty is to remain si
lent on this matter."
"The most important
issue raised by the
proposed merger is that
it would sacrifice aca
demic quality at UNCA,"
said one professor.
Another professor
said that "a merger of
the two universities
would concretely detri
ment UNCA graduates in
Continued on page 8