Che plue fanner
Volume XVI, Number 5
Striving for Excellence
February 22,1990
Funds inadequate
to complete
Graduate Center
By Angela Minor
Staff Writer
Due to an overbid in
construction, about 5,000 square
feet of the new graduate center
and classroom building now in
construction will not be completed,
according to Jim Efland, facilities
planner.
The area encompasses the entire
third floor of the building. The
result will be the temporary
housing of the mass
communications department and
cancellation of an honors library
intended for the third floor.
According to Efland, the project
originally came in overbid, and
incompletion of the construction
was the only way to stay within the
budget.
"We bid that at a time when
there were a lot of construction
projects and few contractors," said
Efland.
Because of the economic
situation, according to Efland, it
was not easy to get a good price
for the construction. Efland also
said that programming needs were
exceeded once the construction
began.
The plans for the graduate
center began with 60,000 square
feet and a projected budget of $5.9
million. Before the planning was
over, the building size had grown
to 64,000 square feet. In order to
complete the construction of the
third floor, the university needs an
additional $700,000, said Efland.
The university has requested this
money from the North Carolina
General Assembly, said Efland.
According to Efland, the office
space was allotted in the new
building based on the future,
growth of the mass
Robinson
ceiling
collapses
By Jackie Gasperson
Staff Writer
The ceiling of the second-floor
chemistry department library in
Robinson Hall came tumbling
down, with plenty of water behind
it, Friday at approximately 1:30
p.m.
Since Robinson Hall is relatively
new, the idea of a ceiling caving in
caught many people by surprise.
"What precipitated the problem
was a storm drain on the roof
broke loose inside the building,"
said Herb Pomfrey, biology lab
manager.
"Since it is a flat roof, all the
water that had collected on the
roof just came down through a
two-inch hole, directly on to the
ceiling of the seminar room," said
Pomfrey
"I would say that there was about
oe hundred gallons of water. It
was quiet a bit of water."
Although the majority of the
ceiling tiles fell on a big
conference table in the middle of
the room, the unexpected
Inside
Smoking policies
College ranks:
on campus
2
Top 25
7
Wendell’s
End of the
Window
3
World
8
Group protests
Getting to
Ringling Bros.
4
know...
9
New residence
Life in Hell
10
hall
5
Bulldog
Healthbeat
12
’Big Men’
6
communications department.
Once that growth comes, the
construction will need to be
finished.
"We’re delighted to be in the
building. It’s unfortunate we’re not
in the building in the appropriate
way, " said Alan Hantz,
department director and associate
professor of mass communications.
According to Hantz. due to the
failure to move into the allotted
offices, the department must
borrow office space from the
Western Carolina University
Graduate Services and the
economics department housed on
the first floor of the building.
In addition, the department will
not have the video lab, two
classrooms, seminar room and
faculty meeting room which were
supposed to be in the new office
space.
"We’re accustomed to being
Pleast' Cnuhuiif, p.if’c 5
m
Photo by Sandra Sigmon
Due to overspending, the university will delay completion of the
third floor of the new graduate center.
UNCA attracts
more applicants
By Cindy Dotson
Staff Writer
downpour did not cause any
injuries.
The chemistry department may
have suffered the loss of numerous
reference books, however, in
addition to water damage to the
table and bookcases.
"The room is completely lined
with reference books. That was
probably the greatest loss," said
Pomfrey.
"The table itself, we will just have
to wait and see whether it dries
out or not. The carpet will
probably have to be replaced," said
Pomfrey.
About eight square feet of the
ceiling tiles were destroyed. "The
tiles came falling down like wet
toilet paper," said Pomfrey. "Even
if the tiles had fallen on
somebody, as light as the tiles are,
it probably wouldn’t have injured
anybody.
"Luckily there were some
chemistry students around who
jumped in there and did most of
the work, pulling the books out
and putting them in a temporary
location," said Pomfrey.
According to Jim Efland,
physical plant director, the blame
. - on
Heavy rains damage ceiling in Robinson Hall.
for the incident has not been
determined.
"We think that the contractor
should have installed the fasteners
(to support the drain pipe), but we
really don’t know. That has not
been determined yet," said Efland.
Pomfrey also said "the company
that did that work neglected to put
a support right under neath the
pipe, so the weight of the water
just pushed the pipe down."
Time will have to pass before an
estimation of damage can be
determined, said Efland.
"We have placed dehumidifiers in
the room to try to pull the water
out of the room," said Efland. "In
order to save putting new carpet
down, we have used special carpet
agents in order to dry the carpet
out."
Once the cause of the incident is
determined, officials will decide
who will pay for the damages. "It’s
hard for us to tell where the true
responsibility lies," said Efland.
While other North Carolina
universities have seen a decline in
the total number of applications
for admission, UNCA has had an
increase. This has occurred despite
the declining number of high
school graduates in the state.
Why hasn’t UNCA felt the
effects of this decrease? What
draws these students to UNCA?
For those applicants who live out
of state, it may be because UNCA
has "been in so many national
publications within the last six
months," said Dr. Larry Wilson,
vice chancellor for academic
affairs.
For those living in state, "the
word of mouth [promoting]
UNCA as a quality institution"
seems to be the most effective way
of attracting applicants, said
Wilson.
UNCA has seen an overall 5
percent increase in applications
over this time last year. The total
number of applications from out
of state, the group most affecting
the increase, has jumped roughly
18 percent over this time last year.
Institutional Resecnch bases
these figures on the applications
that come into the admissions
office and compares them with the
ones received in the same week of
the previous year. The figures
change from week to week.
Despite the rise in applications,
UNCA will not have a significant
increase in student enrollment,
said Wilson. "We will accept about
the same amount of students. [The
class size] might be slightly larger."
"We are trying to hold the
enrollment down," said Wilson.
"We don’t want to lose this small
college flavor."
For the current school year,
UNCA "accepted about three-
fourths of the applicants. Of those
accepted, about 43 percent actually
enrolled," said Wilson.
The percentage of accepted
applicants which actually enrolls is
called the yield. UNCA’s yield of
43 percent "is much like fairly
exclusive schools would have,
public and private," said Wilson.
If a school has a higher yield
than this, it usually means the
school is the student’s "first choice"
or the student has "no
alternatives," said Wilson.
At UNCA, students "can have
their own personal identity, get to
know their teachers and get a
good education for the money,"
Please see Applicants, page 12
Fraternity sponsors homeless drive
By Miranda Wyatt
Staff Writer
Alpha Phi Omega, a national
fraternity focusing on community
service, sponsored a drive for the
homeless Feb. 13-15 to raise
money and awareness towards the
plight of the homeless in
Asheville.
The APO homeless drive, a
biannual event occurring once
during the fall and once in the
spring, helps supply money for
APO to provide meals for the
homeless, according to Rob
Young, president of APO.
"We really want to raise funds
for the homeless, and we also
want to raise awareness in
students that the problem
continues all year-round. You can’t
take a vacation from being
homeless," said Young.
"The drive was very successful.
We had a lot of student
participation, especially on
Thursday. It was a much welcome
thing."
In only three days, APO raised
$75 which they will use to help out
Asheville’s homeless. With the
collections from the drive, APO
buys food and then prepares meals '
at least twice a month for the
Hospitality House.
The Hospitality House, one of
four rescue shelters located in
Asheville, is a private shelter that
raises its money almost completely
from contributions of volunteers
and church support. For this
reason, APO chooses to support
them exclusively.
"It is very hard sometimes for the
Hospitality House to make ends
meet," said Young.
Some of the meals APO has
cooked for the homeless at the
Hospitality House have included
breakfast, chicken dishes and
pizza. After preparing the meals,
APO members eat with the
homeless people.
"We feed from 12 to 15 people at
a meal. It is difficult to buy and
make meals for that number for
people. We have to get very
creative with the food," said
Young.
Amy Hendricks, in charge of
finance for APO, arranged last
week’s homeless drive along with
the APO’s finance committee.
Tina Shumaker coordinated the
volunteers for the drive.
APO members all work together
to promote the idea that people
can contribute something that will
make a difference in society, an
idea that is not widely believed,
especially by college students, said
Young.
"College students feel they
cannot be a part of society and
make a viable contribution to
society. Through APO, we want to
show students that everybody has
something, some t^ent, to
contribute to others," said Young.
The organization has grown
steadily since its first meeting in
October 1988. The addition of an
APO chapter on campus supplied
a need for a community service
group that UNCA had been trying
to fill. The idea of forming an on-
campus APO chapter came from a
conference presented by COOL
(Campus Outreach Opportunity
League) which Young attended.
APO presently has about 20
members, both male and female,
and comprises itself of biology,
philosophy, art, management and
other majors. APO members come
from varied backgrounds and
interests, yet they all come
together to answer a need that will
always be there in the commimity.
"In APO, we try to integrate
people and develop leadership by
showing our members how to take
control. We help members learn
to speak in public and to be very
involved in the organization.
Everyone in APO is important in
one aspect or another. It is a very
egalitarian arrangement," said
Young.
The main idea behind APO lies
in its mission to get students
involved in helping the community,
which will bring Asheville closer to
campus.
"There is a lot of potential here.
We are students and we cannot
ignore the outside world. There is
so much we can do to help," said
Young.
APO is planning a joint mission
trip to Chicago over spring break
with the Baptist Student Union.
APO also sponsors other
fundraisers, such as doughnut sales
and penny drives to help the
homeless.