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nine Uanner
Edi torials
The Blue Banner
staff
Scarlet Bell, Editor
Michael E. Gouge, News Editor
Vicki McCoy, Asst. News Editor
Kassi Day, Features Editor
Tracy Beddingfield, Co-Sports Editor
Michelle Newton, Co-Sports Editor
Stacey Jdigdon, Photography Editor
Jason Pope, Copy Editor
Kimberly Young, Business Manager
Joe Newton, Circulation Manager ,
Joe Ledbetter, Advertising Manager
Mark West, Faculty Advisor
Stay on campus
Wander on to the UNCA campus on the weekends,
and you’ll find an old, wild west ghost town.
The parking lots are virtually empty, no students
are frolicking on the lawns and the campus is
drained of any evidence of living creatures -- big or
small.
What’s the problem? Nothing to do at UNCA on
Saturday and Sunday, or what?
According to an anonymous freshman resident
student, the only people who stay on campus during
the weekends are the athletes who participate in
athletic events and people who do live more
than two hours from UNCA.
Other than this select group of students, everybody
else is history.
How could we solve this problem? Underdog
Productions could offer some interesting events on
the weekends to encourage students to stay on
campus. However, you can’t require Underdog to
provide round-the-clock entertainment for the
students because their schedule is packed as it is.
That’s not the solution.
Perhaps the resident students from the various
residence halls could get together and plan trips to
local pubs, restaurants or movie houses. If that
sounds unrealistic given the nature of wait-until-the-
weekend-to-get-my-assignments-done unorganized
college students, give it a try anyway. It might work.
Maybe resident students could develop a little bit
of school spirit and come out to support the athletes
at the games on the weekends. How do you think
Duke, Carolina, N.C. State and even Western
Carolina University became the spirited schools they
are today? They had students who were willing to
support their athletic teams in good or bad, defeat or
victory.
If none of these suggestions provide inspiration for
the residents who leave the campus on the weekends
(and they can’t find any on their own), they might
consider talking with other residents and solving this
problem among themselves. There has to be a
solution; the only problem now is finding one.
Blue Banner Policies
The Blue Banner is the University of North
Carolina at Asheville’s student newspaper. We
publish each Thursday except during summer
sessions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office
is located in Carmichael Hall, 208-A. The telephone
numbers are (704) 251-6586 and 251-6591.
Nothing in the editorial or opinion sections
necessarily represents the position of the entire
newspaper staff, the staff advisor, UNCA’s Student
Government Association, administration or faculty.
Editorials represent the opinion of the majority of
the editorial board.
Letters, columns, cartoons and reviews represent
only the views of their authors. The editorial board
makes the final decision about what The Blue Banner
prints. This newspaper represents a public forum for
debate at UNCA. The Blue Banner welcomes letters
to the editor and articles, and considers then on the
basis of interest, space, taste and timeliness. Letters
and articles should be typed, doubled-spaced or
printed legibly and limited to 300 words.
They should be signed with the writer’s name,
followed by the year in school, major or other
relationship to UNCA. Please include a telephone
number to aid in verification. UNSIGNED
LETTERS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR
PUBLICATION. All submitted articles are subject to
editing. The Blue Banner regrets it cannot guarantee
the return of any articles submitted.
From the SGA
On Sept. 16, UNCA’s
Student Gotrernmeat
attended a meeting of the
University of North
Carolina Association of
Student Government {ASG)
which was held in Chapel
Hfli at the Institute of
Government. Thirteen out
of the 16 UNCschookwere
present with one to four
representatives.
Representatives from
UNCA were Amy
Thompson-executive
assistant to the president,
Kevan Frazier-residential
senator, and Gigi Leaks™
residential senator.
One of the most Important
issues discussed at the
meeting was a resolution
calling for tuition
safeguards. The resolution
was passed unanimously by
the body and recommends
the following six provisions:
1, A report to be given to
each meeting of the UNC
Board of Governors by the
president of the UNC
Association of Student
Governments to allow for
student input at a system
wide level.
2i Student leaders to be
invited to appear before
House and Senate
eommittees and sub™
committees to give input to
the legislators.
:3i Financial aid grants to
be made an automatic
percentage of any tuition
inaease enacted by the
general assembly. TVenty
to 25 percent of the
revenue raised would be
used solely for need-based
aid.
4. Any and ail funds from
the general assembly
directed to private colleges
. and universities to be used
only for need-based aid.
5. Any tuition increases
enacted by the general
assembly would have to
take effect the following
calendar year,
6. All student body
presidents to establish a
financial aid task force at
their respective campuses to
examine their institution’s
Md policies and programs
and make recommendations
to their chancellors. These
task forces should be
composed of students and
administrators.
UNC-ASG, a sixteen year-
old organization, was-,
created in order to allow
students to have input into
the decisions being made by
the board of governors. We
are looking forward , to a
very successful and effective
year under the leadership of
the newly elected ASG
President, Mr. Gene Davis.
We will keep you informed
of upcoming issues that
affect UNCA’s student
body.
Amy Thompson
Executiw Assistant
to the President
Letters
Writers
respond to
Young
Dear Editor,
Rarely have I seen a
person say less with more
words except of course for
the last time Rob Young
used the newspaper to get
on his soap box. I don’t
take issue with Young’s
waste of valuable newsprint,
rather, I take issue with his
attempted censorship of
every student at UNCA who
is interested enough to
venture an opinion. It’s
ironic, but at the same time,
Young protests people
accusing Jesse Helms of
being a censor.
Young negates the value
of gathering the man-on-
the-street’s opinion, a
common technique used by
professional journalists. I
believe students at UNCA
should have equal access to
The Blue Banner, even if
they are not sociologists,
legislative analysists, or as
"informed" as Young would
like them to be. Young
rallies to Helms’ defense so
vigorously and so wordily,
perhaps he would be better
suited as his press secretary.
Mike Lane
T.V. Journalist
Dear Editor,
We would like to address
this to Rob Young, who
wrote in last week’s Blue
Banner expressing his
irritation that a $15,000
National Endowment for
the Arts (NEA) grant went
to artist Andres Serrano,
who produced a photograph
entitled "Piss Christ." Rob
goes on to show his support
for Senator Jesse Helms’
proposed legislation that
would essentially determine
the artistic standards for
NEA grant recipients. Rob
feels that taxpayer’s money
is being wasted on
"inappropriate" art. We feel
Rob has a narrow-minded
view of the issue and is
inflicting his opinion upon
the rest of us, claiming to
be the correct opinion for
all of us to have.
Who is to determine what
is appropriate or
inappropriate, offensive or
inoffensive? It seems Rob
would enjoy such a position
of authority. It is a basically
universal human right for us
to decide for ourselves what
to think, not the
government’s responsibility.
Only a fool would read the
first amendment and not
find that the right to free I
thinking helps to bind it
together. Let us not
deteriorate into a
puritanical neo-fascist state
(God save us from
Goebbelsian mind police!).
It may be 1989, but Orwell’s
"1984" could become a
reality.
Rob is proving himself an
incredible hypocrite in the
classic wasp-conservative
republican fashion by
calling a particular artist or
art form offensive. Do
Greek and Roman
sculptures offend you, Rob?
How about the works of
Nagel, Varga or Ingres? Art
exists in myriad forms and
is entirely subjective. We
indulge ourselves in our
See page 3, first column