Inside:
SALGA works for gay rigjits,
page 4
Bulldc^ win season opener^
p^5
'Phantom Tollbooth"
prew«^ pagp 7
life in HeU, pa^ 8
Campus
Increase in defaults
A new government audit that
shows an alarming increase in
the , default rate for Sup
plemental Loans for Students
(SLS) may help build political
enthusiasm in Congress for a
bill to bar first-year students
from getting such loans,
sources said.
"The bill adds credence" to
the bill, passed by the house
but stalled in the senate, to cut
off first-year students from
Supplemental Loans, said Rick
Jerue, staff director of the
House Post-secondary Edu
cation Subcommittee.
First-year students, Jerue
said, are more likely to drop
out and default on their loans.
"Students attending
proprietary schools generally
have higher default rates" than
students at other kinds of two-
year and four-year campuses,
said William Gainer of the
Government Accounting Office
(GAO), which conducted the
new audit.
The GAO found SLS defaults
grew from $14 million in 1987,
its first year, to $247 million in
1989.
Society of Nerds
Nineteen students showed up
for the first meeting of
Harvard’s newest social club,
the Society of Nerds and
Geeks (SONG), in October.
The club aims to "encourage
the outside world to take more
notice of nerds and geeks, and
to recognize our value,"
organizer Jeremy Kahn told
the Harvard Crimson, the
campus newspaper.
Kahn said the club will hold
BYOB (Bring Your Own
Books) parties, match
members with "learning
partners," show movies like
"Revenge of the Nerds" and
"Real Genius," and hold an
"all-geek dance where only
non-dance music will be
played."
Too tall to play
Six-foot, seven-inch Iowa
State student Daniel Hartman
said he answered all the
questions correctly and beat
100 other ISU students in a
contest to appear on MTV’s
"Remote Control" game show,
only to be unfairly disqualified
from the show at the last
minute because he was too tall.
It’s true, confessed MTV
publicist Irene Fu. Although
Hartman’s knowledge to TV
trivia qualified him as a finalist
to appear on the show, he was
too taU to participate safely in
a regular "Remote Control"
feature in which contestants
are strapped to a big wheel
and spun around.
Tree farm tours
Four area Christmas tree
farms will offer tours this
holiday season.
Eaton’s Christmas Tree
Farm, Gentree’s Choose and
Cut, Sandy Hollar Tree Farm,
and Ox-ford Farm, all mem
bers of the WNC Christmas
Tree Growers Association, will
provide tours explaining the
Christmas tree growing
business, wreath and garland
making demonstrations, and
opportunities to select, cut or
dig your own tree for the
holidays.
For more information
concerning group tours and
reservations, please call 259-
5800.
From CPS, pi
1 and slalf reports
Weekend W eiiilu t
The extended forecast for
Friday through Sunday calls for
fair weather becoming much
colder Friday and Saturday
with highs in the upper 30s to
low 40s and lows reaching
down into the 20s.
A chance of rain Sunday,
. possibly resulting in snow
flurries. Highs Sunday near 50
with lows mostly in the 30s.
Jim Owen
Atmospheric Sciences
The Blue Banner
Volume XV, Number 11
Serving the students and faculty of UNCA
November 16, 1989
Students meet Bernstein in Washington
by LeeAnn Donnelly
Staff Writer
Last weekend, six mass
communication students
traveled to Washington,
D.C., to hear Pulitzer Prize
winning journalist Carl
Bernstein speak at the
Investigative Reporters and
Editors College Conference.
Bernstein is most noted
for his work for the
Washington Post in the
Watergate scandal of 1974.
According to student
Sandra Roland, the
highlight of the conference
was having lunch with
Bernstein. "You don’t often
get the chance to hear
advice from someone from
the pinnacle of your
profession," said Roland.
Roland said 1110 college
journalists representing 25
states and 140 colleges and
universities made up the
audience. "You could tell
the whole conference was in
awe of him," said Roland.
"You could hear a pin drop.
It inspired all of us. We
came out saying we wanted
to go out and investigate."
Bernstein offered advice
to beginning journalists,
encouraging them to work
in city hall, said Roland.
"Bernstein said never to
betray a source," said
Roland.
"The time flew. I didn’t
want Bernstein to stop
talking. He was so
interesting. He would have
talked longer if they would
have let him," said Kim
Cooley, a mass
communication major.
Many Pulitzer Prize-
winning journalists
conducted the seminars.
Topics included how to
develop sources, how to
research public documents
to expose wrongdoing, and
how to be objective.
The seminars were
scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m., and participants had
to choose between one of
three sessions in each time
block. "Between seminars,
we (UNCA students) got
together to talk about what
we learned. We compared
notes," said Roland.
Cooley attended a seminar
called "Getting the Proof,"
featuring Bill Dedman, the
1988 Pulitzer Prize winner,
who now works for the
Washington Post. Dedman
exposed the savings and
loan controversy in Atlanta,
Ga., while working for the
Atlanta Journal and
Constitution. "He was very
entertaining and personable,
which kept my attention,"
said Cooley.
Vicki McCoy attended a
seminar that focused on
developing news sources.
See Conference, Pa^ 10
Spirit sign
dispute
resolved
by Kimberly Cooley
Staff Writer
The dispute over hanging spirit
banners in the Civic Center during
basketball games has been resolved,
according to Chris Brown, vice
president of Student Government
Association.
During the Nov. 14 basketball game
in the Civic Center between UNCA
and Spirit Express, fraternities and
sororities tried to hang the banners
they had made in support of the
basketball team. The student groups
were approached by Asheville City
Police telling them they could not
hang their banners in the center,
according to David Bass, pledge
marshall for Sigma Pi fraternity.
When members of these student
groups approached UNCA Athletic
Director Ed Farrell during halftime
about the banner problem, "he
brushed them off and wouldn’t give
them an explanation," said Derick
Woods, Sigma Pi brother.
"There are approximately 350
students in the Greek system at
UNCA, and they make up a large
percentage of support during
basketball games," said Russell
Ratcliff, Sigma Pi president.
See Dispute, Page 10
New fund
entertains
students
by Benny Smith
Staff Writer
Go Bulldogs! Photo by Diane Maney
The UNCA Bulldog mascot takes a break from
"work" at the men’s basketball game on Nov. 14
with a young Bulldog fan.
For the first time, UNCA now has a
"popcorn fund" that will be used for
refreshments for home entertainment
between faculty and students, said
Alex Miller, director of development
at UNCA.
"The purpose of the popcorn fund is
to reimburse faculty members for
money spent on refreshments when
entertaining students in their homes,"
said Miller. "So the appropriate
coinage, the ’popcorn fund,’ fit the
description of students having popcorn,
soda or other kinds of snacks in the
homes of UNCA faculty members."
According to a fact sheet from
university relations, the popcorn fund
is just a part of the $8,00() university
support system for academic advising.
The remaining part of the $8,000 is
divided into categories of general
support and special academic staff
training.
"It is important for students to know
that the university is willing to spend
$8,000 to try to develop some type of
support system for UNCA students,"
said Miller.
The university developed this system
See Fund, Page 4
Recycling program begins
by Vicki McCoy
Assistant News Editor
The ecology club has
implemented a recycling
program for aluminum cans
on campus, according to
Patrick Lilly, president of
the club.
"Jim Efland gave us the
go-ahead to put out the
barrels for the program on
Tuesday," Lilly said. "We
have signs above each
barrel. They are gray and
hard to miss."
Members of the club and
other volunteers will pick
up the aluminum cans every
Tuesday and more often if
necessary, Lilly said. The
barrels will be for all
aluminum and steel cans.
Lilly said the barrels will
be located in all buildings
on campus except the
residence halls, the library
and Carmichael Hall.
According to Lilly, the
residence halls already have
a recycling program, and
there are no drink machines
in the library. However,
according to Lilly,
Chancellor David G. Brown
said he wanted to find a
suitable location for the
barrels in Carmichael Hall.
Brown said he only
questioned the Carmichael
Hall location because he
did not want the barrels to
be in the way of students.
Lilly said he hopes this
program is just the
beginning of other recycling
efforts on campus.
"This program will show
the community that we are
environmental leaders.
Hopefully, the Chancellor
will continue to be a
catalyst in promoting
environmental awareness on
this campus and in the
community," Lilly said.
"It’s going to be a growing
concern of the nation and
the world," Lilly said. "We
can’t stop it, so we might as
well go along with it."
Photo by Paul Adams
Patrick Lilly places recycling bins for aluminum
cans on campus.
Art department bans smoking in Owen
by Pam Gutbrie
Staff Writer
The art department faculty
has banned smoking in
Owen’s first floor gallery
and the second floor lobby,
according to Tucker Cooke,
the head of the art
department. "No Smoking"
signs went up Nov. 2, but
as Cooke said, "People are
taking the signs down as
quickly as we can get them
up.
Robyn Grooms, the safety
manager of the physical
plant at UNCA, said that
the state is not mandating
any laws regarding smoking
inside government buildings
at this time. "Owen is a
state building. There is no
state-wide policy about
smoking, but with the
backing of the
administration, it could be
possible to establish an
organization-wide smoking
policy as a government
agency," Grooms said.
Cooke said the faculty was
concerned with the property
damage being caused by
cigarettes. "People were
putting their cigarettes out
in the carpet. Also the
gallery is a very confined
area and the smell in there
from cigarettes is awful,"
Cooke said. Cooke said
possible damage to art work
displayed in the two lobbies
was also a concern.
The art faculty began
discussing the ban about a
year ago, Cooke said. They
spoke with the vice-
chancellor for academic
affairs, Larry Wilson, who
said he supported the ban.
"I support banning of
smoking in all university
buildings. My greatest
concern is for the health of
the people in the buildings,
and on those grounds I
support the ban. The
information on the negative
health effects is irrefutable.
Damage to property is a
secondary concern to me,"
Wilson said.
Wilson also said that a
university-wide policy may
need to be established in
See Smoking, Page 4