Departments declare fall test plans
By Ramona Huggins
Senior comprehensive
examinations begin next
week at UNCA, giving
graduating seniors the
opportunity to demon
strate the knowledge
gained and skills devel
oped during their col
lege experience.
Underclassmen, also
eager to display their
expertise, need not dis-
pair for lack of a
chance however, for UNCA
will have a final exam
ination week this year,
Dec. 12 to 16.
Not all departments
are giving seniors
comps, but all say they
are planning to give
finals, most of which
will cover aU material
studied (or at least
assigned!) during this
fall semester.
Dr. Laurence Dorr,
UNCA vice-chancellor for
student affairs, said
there is no written uni
versity policy regarding
final exams.
"Everyone is not re
quired to give a final
exam, but such exams
provide a good feedback
system," said Dorr.
Dorr also said depart
ments are not required
to give senior comps.
"Not ail departments
give comprehensive exams
because there are
better ways, or differ
ent methods, of testing
students," he said.
Dorr explained that
some departments have
graduating seniors do a
broad research paper
while other departments
require the students to
Continued on page 8
Serving The Students Of The University of North Carolina at Asheville sinoe 1982
Volume 3, Number 13
Thursday, November 17, 1983
Road blocks blocked: Sgt. Geter Wiles of the
Traffic Safety Division of the N.C. Highway Pa
trol, told UNCA students that his state commander
ordered all patrolmen under his jurisdiction to
not use road blocks to check passing cars for
drunk drivers even though the law permits them.
Speaking in the Highrise dorm conference room
last Thursday, Wiles said that N.C. now has "the
toughest drunk driving laws in the United
States." He also told students:
.to "never refuse to take a breathalyzer test or
your license wiU be taken away for 12 months by
the Department of Motor Vehicles.
.to not ask for a blood alcohol test "unless you
are absolutely sure you are not legally drunk."
Even though it is more accurate than a
breathalyzer test, the blood alcohol test is not
paid fox by the state and costs the taker $22.
.to not think beer is safer than mixed drinks.
He said "a 12 ounce can of beer has more alcohol
content (one-and-a-half ounces) than a mixed
drink at a bar (one ounce)."
Photo by David LaPour
Writer Wicker advises
rewarding honesty
By Alan Riddle
The neo-conservative
attitude is that to
decrease crime in the
U.S.,the cost of crime
must be increased.
"1 say we turn that
proposition on its
head: increase instead
the reward to the per
son not committing a
crime!" said Tom Wick
er , newspaper colum
nist, associate editor
of the New York Times
and former reporter for
the Wnston-Salem Jour
nal.
Wicker is author of A
1 Time to Die, a personal
account of negotiations
with the 1971 Attica
prison rebels, which
reflects his concern
with crime and prisons.
He spoke at a recent
"Justice and the Com
munity" conference of
the Western Carolinians
for Criminal Justice
held at the Central
United Methodist Church
in Asheville.
" Ten U .S. males died
by violence in 1977 for
every one Swede, Ger
man, Austrian or Japan
ese male who died by
violence," said Wicker.
Wicker blamed televi
sion in part for this
statistic.
"The contrast between
poverty and affluence
is greater in America,
and TV bears witness to
it," he said.
Wicker said people
who commit crimes are
people with low self
esteem.
"Jobs are fundamental
to self-respect," he
said, adding that a
return to a full-em
ployment economy would
restore general self
esteem and thus reduce
crime.
Prison populations
have risen 60 percent
over the last 10 years,
said Wicker.
He said much of the
increase is due to man
datory sentencing; to
criticism of due pro
cess as a "technical
ity :" and to longer
sentences enacted in an
epidemic of fear."
"Americans have a
greater problem with
the fear of crime than
they do with crime,"
said Wicker.
In A Time to Die
Wicker blames news
papers for creating a
lot of this fear with
out posing any solu
tions.
In the same book he
says that there is an
"unadmitted class war"
going on in America,
which likes to think of
itself as a "classless
society," but isn't.
He says "one third of
all children born in
1981 will live in pov
erty before they are
18," and he calls this
poverty a major cause
of American crime.
Wicker was asked
about his opinion of
present prison poli
cies .
"Nobody wants another
Attica," he said. (The
1971 Attica prison
revolt in New York re
sulted in the death of
dozens of prison guards
and rebellious in
mates.)
He said prison life
today is basically no
different than it was
in 1971, "but some of
our iiuiiatives to have
Continued on j)age 8
Weather
Partly cloudy for
today and Friday. Rain
Saturday and Sunday.
Highs in the 40's to
50's and lows in the
20's.
Forecast courtesy of
tlie Atmospheric Science
Program.
INSIDE
E Jitorial.............2
I eatures 3
Sports 4 8 5
Entertainment....6 8 7