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"Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier
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— Kettering
ler
Volume XVII, Number 10 .
The University of North Carolina Asheville,
November 15, 1990
Campus speaks out against prejudice
See related story, page 5
LeeAnn Donnelly
Staff Writer
Speak Out Against Prejudice
Day activities ended Tuesday night
with a panel discussion and open
forum in the Humanities Lecture
Hall. Several UNCA instructors,
students, and community members
spoke on issues concerning
prejudices and discrimination.
Ileana Grams, assistant professor
of philosophy, spoke about the
definition of prejudice.
"Prejudice is literally pre
judging," she said. "If before we
know someone, we think we know
what they will be like because of
certain characteristics about them,"
she said.
"Prejudice is irrational because
members of groups aren’t alike,
usually, except in virtue of the
feature they share," she said.
Grams cited women as an
example of this type of
categorizing.
"Women are alike in being
women, but aren’t alike in size,
skin color, intelligence, interests,
temperaments, or anything else,"
she said. "What makes prejudice
irrational is that we’re generalizing
n I- i It I iivi Kci II rx from one characteristic being the
Panelists (from left) Cat Nilan, Ileana Grams and Dollie same in all members of a group to
Mullen speak out against prejudice.
concluding we know all about
those people."
Cat Nilan of the history
department added to Grams’
discussion on the general
definition of prejudice.
"One of the things that
differentiates bigots from non
bigots is a willingness to be
apathetic, to understand what it’s
like to be in somebody else’s
shoes," she said. "All of us want
rights, and all of us increase our
own rights by increasing other’s
rights."
Nilan focused her discussion on
the women’s movement and
sexism. She said she thinks crime
rates against women are growing
in the nation, while other types of
crimes seem to be declining.
"The kind of crime that would
affect women most directly, in
most cases, is going up," she said.
According to Nilan, women
aren’t the only people who suffer
from rape and family violence.
"These crimes damage everyone.
They certainly damage children in
fiunilies where this is going on.
They damage men who are
abusers themselves, and men who
are going to be raised by abusive
mothers," she said. "Society suffers
in that it pays the price for this
level of sexu^ violence."
Joan Marshall, permanent
deacon in the Episcopal Church, is
currently serving at All Soul’s
Parish. She spoke about her
ministry in the gay community.
She shared personal experiences in
dealing with people infected with
AIDS who’ve been discriminated
against.
Marshall talked about a gay man
who had committed his life to
taking care of his AIDS-infected
lover.
"When the man died," she said,
"the mother and father said ’you’re
welcome at the funeral, provided
that you sit on the back row. We
don’t want you around us. You
aren’t part of the family.’ And
then, as a closing remark, they
said to him, ’By the way, we’re
sending you the bill for the
funeral.’"
Marshall said she can only
imagine what it must be like for
someone to experience
discrimination.
"As a straight person who is not
HlV^ositive, I can only feel into
their [infected persons] situation a
little bit. I’m a real outsider to the
prejudice that these dear friends of
mine, experience," she said. "I will
certainly affirm that I cannot know
what this [prejudice] feels like."
Marshall said it’s important for
society to understand its prejudices
and homophobia in order to deal
with emotional-filled topics such as
AIDS.
"[The prejudices] can become
past history for us if we can all
make an honest effort to address
the prejudices within ourselves,
and to expose prejudice when we
find it."
Lane HoUifield, a student
majoring in mass communication,
added to Marshall’s comments
regarding the gay and lesbian
populations in the country.
"The constant negative messages
have a serious psychological
impact on the members of these
groups, affecting not only their
concept of self-worth, but their
overall concept of their own
personal identity," he said. "It is
very important that positive
messages are sent out to tell these
groups that it’s OK for them to be
who they are."
Hollifield said he thought
education should provide accurate
and truthful information about the
gay and lesbian lifestyle in order
Please see speak, page b
Location and
cost for child
care discussed
Bonnie Philips
Staff Writer
Money and space are the main
obstacles when on-campus child
care is discussed. But according to
Amy Potter, vice president of
Corporate Child Care, Inc.,
students feel like a portion of their
fees should be used to back a
child-care program. Potter
conducted focus groups over the
summer to get student feedback.
"All of the students felt that
student activity fees should be
used. A lot of times student-
government people feel strongly
that this is only serving a narrow
population of people, and there
should be an extra fee for this. I
didn’t find that here at all.
"In fact, I found that traditional
students (of course, they were in
leadership positions, so you have
to remember that) being very
supportive of this concept and
willing at least to consider and
help with the financial obligation,"
said Potter.
Space, in addition to funds, is
another obstacle to overcome. "If
you could address the space
challenge in a cost-effective way, it
would go a long way to addressing
the cost challenge," said Potter.
Several areas on and off campus
were looked at as possible sites.
"We looked at classrooms in two
places. I looked at land that might
be available for either construction
or a modular," said Potter.
Potter suggested that the parking
lot below the athletic center be
used to construct the child care
center. Suggestions included the
Baptist Student Union and
Edgewood Bible Church.
There are several choices that
the university could select from in
terms of child care programs. "I
really looked at two things in
terms of program options. Sort of
the pie-in-the-sky, if you can do
whatever, what should it be, and
what would that cost. And that’s
why I’m calling it. the full-service
option.
"More of your traditional child
care, with the components added
that would meet the university
needs; drop-ins, age range, 10 to
12 hour days, heavily weighted
Compliance with
affirmative action
rules questioned
Leslie Gilliam
Staff Writer
Photo by Miranda Vt^att
Please see Child, page 5
Historic Site
The Vance monument is one of the many historic sites
that can be found in Asheville.
A Federal Appeals Court ruled against the University of North
Carolina (UNC) in a lawsuit UNC hoped would narrow the
interpretation of affirmative action rules, an Associated Press release
said.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of the U.S.
Labor Department’s broad mterpretation of affirmative action
requirements. The Labor Department was joined by several
organizations representing women and minorities to argue against
UNC’s lawsuit, according to the press release.
Richard Robinson, assistant to the president for legal affairs at the
UNC General Office, said the lawsuit grew out of UNCA’s and N.C.
School of the Arts’ refusal to submit to federal reviews documents
showing compliance with non-discrimination and affirmative action
requirements.
Andy Brantly, director of personnel for UNCA, said the issue was
not whether the schools were following the requirements. "The point
[of the lawsuit] was over whether or not we should be subject to
federal reviews," he said.
Brantly wanted to point out no one has contacted UNCA smee the
ruling to review whether or not they are complying with affirmative
action rules.
According to Robinson, the two schools should not need to provide
compliant documentation because they [UNCA and N.C. School of
the Arts] didn’t enter into any federal contracts with the government.
The court ruled federal laws that bar employment discrimination
apply to the entire UNC system and not just campuses that get
federal contracts, the press release said.
Please see Action , page 5
New Director of Student Development named
Kimberly Cooley
News Editor
Nina East has been named the
new director of student
development for UNCA. She
replaced Cissy Petty who left
UNCA this summer.
East was formerly the area
coordinator for the housing office
at Appalachian State University in
Boone.
As director of student
development, some of East’s
responsibilities will include
supervising student organizations
and activities, advising the student
government association,
supervising leadership programs,
and being a liaison between faculty
and staff.
Along with these responsibihties.
East will serve as assistant to Eric
lovacchini, vice chancellor of
student affairs. She will also work
closely with Carolyn Briggs,
coordinator of multicultural affairs
and Anita Rose, assistant vice
chancellor of student affairs.
"I loved UNCA when I saw it,"
East said. "I was impressed with
the student leaders I met. I was
impressed with other students I
met who aren’t classified as
leaders and the staff was definitely
encouraging to me."
• East is not a stranger to North
Carolina. She is a graduate of the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, and of Ohio State
University.
East said she wanted to make
sure that UNCA had a real
comprehensive leadership
program. "When people talk about
leadership programs they talk
about preparing for the future. To
me that makes sense but I want to
prepare students to create their
future."
East found out about the
director of student development
job through her former supervisor
who thought East might be
interested in the iob.
East said she sees UNCA as a
place she would like to stay for a
while. "I see this as’a' personal
stepping stone for my own
personal growth and what I will
experience while I am here. I’m
going to learn so much more
about me and about the students
here and the impact I will have on
them and what impact they will
have on me."
Student Government president
John Schoultz said he was very
happy to see East take the job of
director of student development.
"Nina seems very open to student
ideas and I think she will fit in
well with the students, if fact, she
already has," he said.
East said she wants to hear from
students anytime. She said she
encourages them to drop by her
office anytime and let her know
what they like and don’t like and
see what can possibly be done to
enhance certain aspects of student
development.
East