litional
The Blue Banner
"If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn." -- Andrew V. Mason
Volume 22, Number 5
The University of North Carolina Asheville
Thurs., Sept. 30, 1993
Former president of Ecuador comes to UNCA
Lynne Delk
Staff Writer
Ecuador’s “President of Peace,”
RodrigoBoija, will conduct a series of
lectures during an 18-day visit to
UNCA and neighboring universities
beginning Oct. 1.
Boij a served as president of Ecuador
during the 1988-92 term and worked
to keep peace in his country. “I long to
be the president of all Ecuadorians, a
president of peace and of national
unity,” said Botja in an address before
the national congress in Quito, capital
of Ecuador.
During his visit to North Carolina,
Boija will give a series of lectures on
contemporary Latin American
problems to the Spanish 471 class.
Boija will also give several talks in
English, including a Humanities 414
lecture at 11 a.m. on Oct. 8 in Lipinsky
Auditorium.
He will speak at Furman University
Key theft prompts lock change in
in a free public address entitled, “Is
Latin America Governable,” on Oct. 6
at 7:30 p.m.
Other appearances will include talks
at the UNCA World Affairs Council,
the Hendersonville World Affairs
Council, Appalachian StateUniversity,
Blue Ridge Community College, and
other local organizations.
Botja will conduct office hours on
the UNCA campus at Karpen Hall, in
room 126, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
UNCA representatives will welcome
Boija at an all-campus reception in the
Karpen Hall lobby from 3:30 p.m. to
4:30 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Sponsors of the former dignitary’s
lecture tour will invite the public to
attend all his lectures.
Boija will attend UNCA as recipient
of the Aileen and Wilham Highsmith
Distinguished Visiting Professorship
award.
Other special academic programs
share sponsorship of Boija’s visit
including the humanities program, the
dorm
UNCA World Affairs Council,
Appalachian StateUniversity, Furman
University, and Western Carolina
University.
Botja taught at the Central University
of Ecuador, where he earned a law
degree and a master’s degree in
political science.
He began his political career as a
student leader on campus where he
criticized the current president’s
regime.
He campaigned for the presidency as
candidate for a political party called,
the Democratic Left Party.
“The Democratic Left was the first
party to incorporate economic themes
with public discussion.
"Until we were bom as a party,
political life tediously wrapped itself
in the daily, synchronous hammering
of one party’s reproaches against
another,” said Borja during a
convention address.
He initiated various reforms during
his presidency.
He instituted a literacy campaign
described as the greatest such effort in
the history of the counny.
The campaign included a massive
bilingual educational program, in
Spanish and Quechua, for Ecuadorian
Indians.
Botja’s presidency also established a
community network for poor children
to receive food, medicine, and
education.
His presidency saw the formation of
the South American Common Market,
atradeagreementbetween Venezuela,
Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, andEcuador.
He introduced laws to encourage
foreign investment in mining and
petroleum.
Other legislation during his
administration includes laws to
encourage international free ttade, to
facilitate exports of Ecuadorian goods,
to regulate part-time work, and to
control grain milling standards.
Botja attended school with Marcel
Andrade, professor of Spanish.
Ten Smith
Staff Writer
One week after a master key to Mills Hall was stolen, locks on the 75 Mills
Hall dorm rooms were changed and students learned of the theft.
Amy L. Carpenter, a resident assistant (RA) in Mills Hall, reported to the
Security Office at 2 a.m. on Sept. 21 that her wallet and keys had been stolen.
Housing officials said students were not informed of the theft sooner to avoid
letting the person who had the key know that it opened the door to Mills Hall.
The stolen keys included a master key to Mills Hall, a key to 205 Mills Hall,
and keys to other university buildings and offices.
Carpenter’s wallet was later recovered, but she reported that $100 and her
driver’s license were missing.
The theft of both the master key and a RA’s identification prompted a
decision to change the locks, according to housing officials.
“If the keys had just been lost, we probably would not have been going through
to change the locks because there’s no way anybody would know that it’s a
particular key,” said Pete Williams, director of housing.
‘The keys are coded, so there’s no way anyone would know. The fact that her
purse was stolen, that adds to it," said Wilhams.
According to the crime report. Carpenter left her wallet and keys on the bench
putside the main doors while she went inside Highrise.
Carpenter told security officers that when she returned about 15 minutes later
she discovered the wallet and keys missing.
On Sept. 23, Eric lovacchini, vice chancellor for student affairs, said that the
university was taking steps to ensure the safety of students and their property.
“That’s what we’re using the staff for,” said lovacchini. “Our night staff is
being a lot more careful about ^ho’s around.”
Later that morning, Williams said that the security office and people in the
housing department were aware of the incident, but that people in the dorm had
not been told.
“Some of the people in the dorm know, the RA knows obviously,” said
Williams. “How many other people, 1 don’t know.”
“What we don’t know is if the person knows that they have a master key,” said
Williams. “That’s the thing we prefer them not to know.
“Try to understand our point of view on this, if it gets out too far, we’re in
trouble t>ecause then obviously everbody’s going to get very hyper about it,”
he said. “We’re going to change the locks and we’re trying to minimize the
damage.
“It’s certainly not that we’re trying to hide anything,” said Williams.
“We take it from the security point of view that if people don’t know that it’s
gone right now that we’ll be in better shape,” he said.
‘The fu-st line of defense in this situation, or any other, is the RAs and night
assistants,” said Jeff VanSlyke, chief of campus security.
According to VanSlyke, the housing office “needs to alert all the RAs and
night assistants in Mills Hall and have them be more cautious of the flow of
traffic in and out of the dorm.”
“My concern is getting those locks changed,” said VanSlyke. “The person
who stole those keys is going to know that those keys belong to the university.
‘To say that someone might be alerted by running a story [in The Blue Banner]
is, I think, a bit presumptuous,” said VanSlyke.
“The university keys are these corbin-shaped keys and people know what
those are. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure that out.
“As far as security of the dorm, 1 would assert that the first line of defense is
for housing to tighten-up,” said VanSlyke.
Confidential sources said an emergency meeting was called for all RAs on the
See "Theft," page 9
Dr. Rodrigo Borja, immediate past president of Ecuador, arrived at
UNCA on Sept. 30. His schedule during his stay is as follows:
Monday, Oct. 4: 8-9 a.m. -- Humanities Lecture Hall
Wednesday, Oct. 6: 8-9 a.m. - Carmichael Hall 104
Friday, Oct. 8; 8-9 a.m. -- Humanities Lecture Hall
11 a.m.-12 - Humanities Lecture Hall
Monday, Oct. 11:8-9 a.m. - Humanities Lecture Hall
Tuesday, Oct. 12: 3:30-4:30 p.m. - All-campus reception
in the lobby of Karpen Hall.
Wednesday, Oct. 13: 8-9 a.m. - Humanities Lecture Hall
Thursday, Oct. 14: 8-9 a.m. - Humanities Lecture Hall
Monday, Oct. 18: 7:30-9 p.m. - Owen Conference Center
Borja's lectures on "Contemporary Latin American
Problems" are open to all students, faculty, staff,
administration, and community.
Inside
Opinions 2
Key snatching
S.E. Peake
Perspectives 3
sga'
Freshman housing flaws
Features 4
"Dancing at Lughnasa"
NC Shalespeare Festival
Sports 5
Victory for men's soccer
Above the Rim
Comics 6
Wild Kingdom
Calvin and Hobbes
Announcements 7
Job opportunities
Events
Weather Report
The weekend forecast
calls for mostly clear
and sunny skies.
Temperatures will be in
the 70s.
Weather Report courtesy of the National
Weather Service
UnCA Atmospheric Sclerwe Department
offers updated forecasts through the 24 hour
WeatherHne...251-6435
Classes on how to quit smoking to be offered
Dan Gilmore
staff Writer
Staff Photo By Amy Lynn Eddins
One week after a resident assistant in Mills Hall reported her keys
stolen, the Housing Office had 75 locks in Mills Hall changed.
The UNCA Student Health Services
will offer students a program from the"
American Lung Association on how
to quit smoking.
Classesarescheduledfor Friday, Oct.
8, from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.
“What we are doing is called 'Freedom
FromSmoking," said Karen Weint)erg,
a nurse practitioner at Weizenblatt
Health Center.
"We’ve had lots of students quit
smoking by using the patches. But the
ones who have come back, that haven’t
done so well, realize that they didn’t
know what else to do t>esides smoke.
This is a behavioral modification
program that helps them decide when
they smoke and what need it’s fu'filling
so that they can plan for how to deal
with it,” said Weinberg.
“That’s the main reason for offering
it, plus we’re a smoke-free campus
nowandDr. [Samuel] Schuman would
sure like us to offer something to just
give them an alternative if they can’t
smoke here,” said Weinberg.
“Students who would like to use
nicotine patches in order to quit
smoking are urged to attend classes
also,” said Weinberg.
“We will be able to prescribe nicotine
patches orgumtothose class members
desiring them,” she said.
"1 think maybe one of the more
important things is that a lot of people
have been using the transdermal
nicotine patches. But they found that
it’s been most successful when used in
combination with a behavioral
modification program such as the
American Lung Association program,”
said Weinberg.
“If 50 percent of the people in the
class quit smoking, that’s an accepted
rate,” said Weint)erg.
“If we get any more than 50 percent
quitting, that’s really neat,” said
Weinberg.
“I find that most of the people who
want to quit smoking have already
quit smoking now that they know that
there’s easy ways to do it, like using
the patch,” said Weinberg.
“So, the people we’re getting now
are people who aren’t real sure that
they want to quit smoking, and they’re
going through a program. That’s the
thing to do,” she said.
“If 50 percent of the people
in the class quit smoking,
that’s an accepted rate,” said
Weinberg.
“So it makes it a little bit harder to
help them quit, because there’s quite a
lack of motivation,” said Weinberg.
“1 think students who come to this,
the younger ones...they haven’t been
smoking long enough to have even
tried [quitting smoking], but the older
students and the faculty and staff who
want to, who are considering taking
the class, are not real motivated ,
becausethey’vehada couple of years
already that the patch has been
available and they haven’t had success
with them and they’ve tried several
times already,” said Weinberg.
“The most success stories I’ve heard,
since before the patch....are people
who just one day just threw them
(cigarettes) away and just never really
thoughtaboutthemagain,had no desire
for it, had no discomfort,” said
Weinberg.
“Lots of times, smoking is the only
time that a hyper person breathes at a
regular rate,” said Weinberg.
“But what generally happens is the
deep breath that you take with a drag,
what it does is, it relaxes you,” said
Weinberg.
“So the first thought that your body
has is, this cigarette is relaxing me,”
said Weinberg.
“Of course then, as the nicotine goes
in, it wires you up even more but, your
brain has been told that this is relaxing,”
said Weinberg.
“Linda Roper is going to be helping
with the classes. Linda Roper is an
RN. She’ 11 be helping with the classes
too,” said Weinberg.
“She’s taught it before here,” said
Weint>erg.
When asked about the current
smoking policy at UNCA and the lack
of an indoor smoking area for
commuter students, Weinberg said,
“Asheville’s areal big city. They have
a lot of places to go and sit down and
smoke, including their car.”
“I understand how frustfating it is,”
said Weinberg.
“I’ve had a lots of people talk to me.
It’s really a difference of the rights of
smokers versus the rights of
nonsmokers,” said Weinberg.
‘There’s really very few smokers
and the amount of people that they can
damage with their smoke, it far
oumumbers them hurting themselves
,” said Weinberg.
“So, you have to think of a large
majority in that case giving them cancer
versus giving themselves cancer,” said
Weinberg, who is a nonsmoker.
“It is significant and it sounds rough,
but we’ve got to protect those who
aren’t smoking,” said Weintierg.