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The Blue Banner
"Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier." — Kettering
Volume XVIJI Number 4
The University of North Carolina Asheville
February 14, 1991
Professors address Gulf war issues
United States should
continue foreign aid
Steve Peake
Staff Writer
A UNCA economist said Monday the United States should
maintain its commitment to providing economic aid to foreign
nations, but also said the U.S. government should reconsider who
receives that aid, and in what form.
Kofi Apraku, assistant professor of economics, told an audience in
Owen Conference Center that continued U.S. foreign aid would
benefit one country above all others: the United States.
"A nation does not give aid because it serves other people’s
interests. A nation gives eiid because it serves its own economic,
political, and strategic interests," said Apraku. "If the United States
has given foreign aid in the past, nothing has changed to demonstrate
the United States should not continue to give that aid."
Apraku said U.S. foreign aid fills a vacuum of leadership among
nations, and the uncertainty of international situations demands
continued U.S. aid. "There is tremendous need for the U.S. to
become even more assertive in playing leadership and moral roles in
the world," he said.
Apraku’s remarks were part of the "Great Decisions 1991" lecture
series, sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Western North
Carolina, and UNCA. His lecture, "Rethinking Foreign Aid: What
Kind? For Who?," focused on the direction of U.S. foreign aid in
Please see Aid, page 12
Program earns
presidential
recognition
Davey Ramsey
Staff Writer
President George Bush nanied
volunteers in UNCA’s North
Carolina Center for Creative
Retirement as the 360th "Daily
Point of Light," on Jan. 23.
"Daily Point of Light
Recognition is intended to call
every individual, group, and
organization in America to claim
society’s problems as their own by
taking direct and consequential
action; to identify, enlarge, and
multiply successful initiatives, like
the efforts of the volunteers of the
North Carolina Center for
Creative Retirement," said a White
House press release.
"The award was a pleasant
surprise," said Ronald Manheimer,
Please see Center page 12
Photo courtesy University ot Washington
James A. Banks will be the featured speaker at
UNCA’s Conference on Multicultural Education.
Media influence opinion
of U . S. involvement
Steve Peake
Staff Writer
r.
■ ,
Photo py Lisa Burleson
War in art
This three-dimensional design on display in 0\A/en Hall
expressestiheai1ist_sfeelin2S^f,war^_^___^_^_
The media can influence what a
viewer thinks about the current
war in the Persian Gulf, though
they can’t influence what a viewer
feels about that war, said Alan
Hantz, assistant professor of mass
communication, at a lecture
Monday night.
"We do what we do about the
war, and we know what we know
about the war mostly because of
information obtained through the
media," said Hantz. "However, we
feel what we feel about the war,
not because it’s what the media
have told us to feel, but rather as
a reaction to what the media have
told us is going on."
Hantz, who chairs the
department of mass
communication at UNCA, told the
audience at Owen Conference
Center that media coverage of the
gulf war has given the American
public many new things to think
about in a short period of time.
"We know more about Kuwait,
SCUD missiles' Saddam Hussein,
cruise missiles, chemical warfare,
and many other things," said
Hantz, "than we ever thought we
would in the short span of a few
weeks. More importantly, we’re
developing opinions about those
things."
The media serves as a
springboard for popular opinion
on the war, said Hantz. "Whatever
you believe about the war, your
evidence in support of that belief
will likely have come from the
media. Even your impressions
about the media are likely to be
shaped by the media."
Hantz said five "stakeholders,"
which don’t always have common
goals, have helped shape the
Please see Media, page 12
Lecture
clarifies
Islamic
views
director of the Center for Creative
Retirement program. "The biggest
value in the award is to the seniors
who have been participating in our
programs. They’re not expecting
awards or any kind of special
recognition, they are doing these
things because they like to and
(hey think its valuable. So when
somebody comes along and says
’hey, this is great,’ they get a
special feeling," said Manheimer.
UNCA’s Center for Creative
Retirement began in 1987 as an
educational program for older
adults.
"The program provides an
opportunity for people to continue
to learn and gives seniors access to
volunteer roles in the community
Stacy Libby
Staff Writer
nr" *
Photo by LeeAnn Donnelly
Students in UNCA’s Center for Creative Retirement participate in an inanimate
drawing class,
Ahmed A. Soliman, associate
professor of management, spoke
of the religion and culture of the
Persian Gulf area Feb. 7 at
Rhodes Hall.
Aimed at providing a better
understanding of the Arab people
and Islam, Soliman discussed
important war issues from a
different perspective.
"Saddam Hussein is not Islamic,"
said Soliman. "I saw a story on
CNN that Saddam killed his
brother-in-law over a dispute. That
is not surprising. He is ruthless."
The Koran, the sacred book of
Moslems, says Moslems must be
kind and hospitable to their
Please see Arab, pace 12
UNCA hosts multicultural conference
Renee Rallos
Staff Writer
UNCA will host a two-day
multicultural education conference
on Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. and March 1,
at 9 a.m. in the Owen Conference
Center.
On Thursday, there will be
readings from three authors,
African-American author Eleanora
Tate, Hispanic poet Pat Mora and
Southern Appalachian author
Wilma Dykeman.
On Friday, James A. Banks,
professor of education at the
University of Washington in
Seattle, will speak about
"Education for Survival in a
Multicultural World." Afterwards
there will be a panel discussion
including Banks, Tate, Mora and
Dykeman.
"The idea is to enable people to
see that it’s through the literature
that they can come to know other
cultures," said Jim McGlinn,
assistant professor of education.
"Multicultural education is a
movement, a contemporary issue
about the way to educate children.
It’s an attempt to promote interest
in' and awareness of a variety of
cultures," said Jeanne McGlinn,
lecturer of education.
"We’re inviting the university
community with a special focus on
students who are going to be
teachers. It’s really important for
them to be aware of how
multicultural education can be
achieved in their teaching," added
Jim McGlinn.
The McGlinns said that the idea
of the conference originated
because they wanted to "promote
awareness of different cultures
among student teaching
candidates."
The McGlinns feel that
literature is a "powerful way to
experience another culture"
because a reader can see other
cultures not as stereotypes but as
"real individuals."
By reading books of different
cultures a reader "can identify with
it," said Jim McGlinn, and "can see
that underlying this we’re all the
same people."
"A lot of people think that
multicultural education is just for
black people, or just for Hispanics
or just for the minorities, but
that’s not true. We all have culture
and it’s for all of us," said Jim
McGlinn.
"The idea behind multicultural
education is that ethnicity is
positive. It really enriches who we
are as an ethnic or cultural being.
If you study different ethnic
groups it gives you a fuller view of
life. It makes you more sensitive,"
said Jeanne McGlinn.
The McGlinns hope that
multicultural education will move
more into the school systems and
move the focus away from the
Anglo dominant perspective of
education.
The McGlinns also hope that
multicultural education will
become a way of life and that it
won’t be a month set aside to
recognize other cultures such as
February .as Afro-American
month.
The University of North
Carolina Board of Governors
Distinguished Visiting Scholars
Program to Improve the
Education of N.C. Teachers is
funding the conference with a
Please see Culture, page 12