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"The best way to secure future happiness is to be as happy as is rightfully possible today. - ChaHesJ/V^^^EHot^ —
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Thurs., April 28, 1994
Students and faculty propose list of alternatives to Botanical Gardens lot
Wilson says many parking lots are available, but students refuse to use them
Alex Eastwood
Staff Writer
After weeks of petitions and discussion about the location of additional
parking on the UNCA campus, members of Student Government Association
[SGA] and Gary Miller, director of environmental studies, have devised a list
of alternatives to the proposed lot slated to border the Botanical Gardens. The
list was delivered to Interim Chancellor Larry Wilson last week at acampus and
community meeting in an attempt to preserve the integrity of the gardens, said
Miller.
“I am open to suggestions, any suggestions,” said Wilson. “My main concern
is to provide safe and reasonably proximate parking for students and members
of the community who attend university events.”
Wilson again mentioned the lot beside the church on Edgewood Road as an
example of unused parking space that students know about, but seem to refuse
to utilize. A student reported that he had never heard about the lot, and had been
here for four years. Wilson assured the group at the meeting that the location
of that lot had been heavily advertised.
The current campus map distributed by the administration indicates all the
available parking spaces on campus. The lot Wilson described is clearly
marked, however, as faculty/staff parking.
Miller made a presentation of the list of this and other alternatives at last
week's SGA meeting. “I’m trained as a botanist, and I was trained as an
ecologist at Chapel Hill,” he said.
“The Botanical Gardens is enormously rich in its biological botanical heritage,
and the idea that we would be willing to invade, that we would even consider
allowing for a reduction or incursion, or the addition of runoff, the addition of
eroded materials, the addition of oil slicks, litter, of raising the decibel level of
noise to ruin the aesthetic experience, I find outrageous, not dnly as a biologist,
but as a member of this faculty and a member of the citizenry of these parts of
the state,” said Miller.
Miller then proceeded to offer options that were less environmentally
destructive than the proposed lot in the gardens, many would have much less
impact on the environment, he said, and some would represent no negative
impact on the environment. Wilson denied, however, being open to the
suggestion of banning freshman parking.
“Wecertainly could ban freshman parking,” said Miller. “I had the opportunity
to speak with a group of prospective freshman, and I asked them if UNCA
banning freshman parking would alter their decision to attend this university.”
“Not a single student said that banning parking would have any affect on their
decision to attend any university,” he said. “There obviously have to be
exceptions for those who work and for handicapped students.”
“The administration believes we will lose freshman,” said Miller. There are
literally hundreds of universities that ban freshman parking, and they’re not
losing freshman. They’re not going under.”
“There has been no data acquired at UNCA on this subject,” he said. “I say,
let’s try it for a year and see what happens, and then we can make a decision
based on scientific evidence.”
Miller had other alternatives, although he admits banning freshman parking
is his preferred option. “There are also a number of other areas that can be
utilized for parking,” he said.
“We could pave the lot down on Division Street that is now a gravel lot,” he
said. “We could commit the new dorm residents and Physical Plant personnel
to park there, thereby opening the area behind the Physical Plant for main
campus parking.”
Miller also suggested building a third tier onto the lot beside Charmichael Hail
and Rhodes Hall. “That lot is already two-tiered,” he said. “It could easily be
converted into three by building a lot level with the top lot and over the lower
lot. We could put well in excess of 100 students there.”
Wilson’s favorite option, he says, is to build a parking deck over the lot behind
Highsmith Center. Miller agrees that parking decks are an important
consideration. “We have the highest athletic fee charges in the entire University
of North Carolina system at $280 a year,” said Miller. “I’m not exactly sure it’s
worth that.”
“I suggest we reduce the fees by $40, and apply it to parking fees, and build
a modified deck. Wilson had countered the idea of parking decks at earlier
meetings by claiming that some student might not want to pay the excess fees,"
Miller said. He also suggested spreading classes out more throughout the day,
so that most classes don’t fall between 9 a.m. and noon. This has been requested
of professors before, he said, with little response in action.
“All I know is that we have to prevent the destruction of one of the most
valuable resources we have,” said Miller. “In my mind, we are dealing with
biological libraries down there [in the gardens],” he said.
Physics major awarded NASA scholarship
Robin Burris
Staff Writer
A UNCA physics major will be
participating in the NASA Goddard
summer program. Junior Deborah Hart
will attend the Summer Institute on
Atmospheric and Hydrospheric
Sciences this summer at the University
of Maryland.
Hart said that 170 people applied, but
only 14 were chosen. “I was really
shocked to get this internship. I kind of
applied to it just to practice writing my
resume,” said Hart.
“I wanted to go, but I didn’t really
think I was going to. I’d figured, well,
I don’t have enough experience. I
haven’t had enough physics courses. I
really didn’t think I had a chance,”
said Hart.
Hart said she found out about the
program through the Society ofPhysics
Students. Hart said that she believes
many students don’t apply for
scholarships and internships because
they may feel they do not have a chance.
Hart also said she hoped more
students will apply. The programs can
help them decide if this particular field
is for them, according to Hart.
Hart said that there will be lectures
given by NASA Goddard scientists.
At the end of the first week, the program
director will “try to assign you, more
or less, according to your interests.
Whichever one of the scientists is doing
research that seems the most interesting
to you,” said Hart. She said she will be
mainly assisting the scientists with
their work.
“It’s a real good chance for me to see
what people do and to actually get
your hands in there and do it yourself,
so you can get some idea of what
you’d really like to do,” said Hart. At
the end of the program. Hart said she
will prepare a presentation based on
her work.
Hart said she became interested in
physics after working with electronics
in the Navy. She was in the Navy for
six years. She said she came to UNCA
as a psychology major, but after taking
an astronomy course, she decided to
major in physics.
“It just seemed like the thing to do,”
said Hart.
“I was just really attracted to it, and
my love for electronics helped,” said
Hart.
Hart said UNCA’s physics
department is wonderful.
“They’ve been very inspirational.
They’re all really helpful. They make
everything understandable. They
don’t intimidate anybody,” said Hart.
For three semesters Hart has worked
as a lab assistant for the physics ot
light and the physics of sound classes.
Hart said she’s enjoying her work.
“They’re really fun classes. It’s all
demonstration, so that’s really great,”
said Hart.
Hart also attended a women in
science conference April 7 and 8.
The conference was held in Nashville,
Tenn.
“It was kind of fun to talk to that
many women in science in one room
because we don’t very often get to do
that. I think, right now, in the physics
department, we have two women
physics majors,” said Hart.
Planting New Life
' i ' ' -
Staff Photo By Annemarie Riley
Students helped perform outdoor projects as part of GreenFest on April 20-21.
Inside
Opinions 2
Child abuse
Susan Hanley Lane
Perspectives 3
Bad editing
Open your mind
Features 4
Forum Theatre preview
"Cops and Robbersons"
Sports 5
Women's basketball coach
Baseball loses
Comics 6
Wild Kingdom
off the mark
Announcements 7
Job opportunities
Events
Weather Report
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Students seeking summer employment
should begin looking for jobs soon
Speaker copripares
Holocaust to child abuse
Kevin Ellis
Staff Writer
With school ending in just a matter
of weeks, now is the time for students
to start looking for summer jobs,
says Jim McMahan, the Asheville
office manager of the North Carolina
Employment Security Commission.
Wait too long, and the job market
traditionally tightens, meaning more
people are seeking fewer jobs.
“It’s going to be important for
students to get out early because
later in the summer is when
manufacturing plants traditionally
slow down,” McMahan said. “If they
wait until June they may find
themselves competing against
experienced workers.”
With an unemployment rate of 3.6
percent for Buncombe County in
March, employers.are finding a
scarce available work force,
McMahan said. A low
unemployment rate traditionally
benefits job-seekers since fewer
people are actively out looking for
available jobs. Analysts with the
Employment Security Commission
consider 5 percent unemployment a
near full-employment situation.
“Historically, the best opportunities
for students have been in the tourism-
related industry, and, in this area,
that gives students a lot of potential
employment opportunities,”
McMahan said. Students will likely
be able to find employment in
restaurants, motels or hotels, or
working at landscaping at resorts and
golf courses, he added.
The problem for some will be the
pay. Service-related jobs usually start
at around $5 per hour, McMahan
said.
“You’re really fortunate if you can
land something that pays well,” he
said. “Construction work should be
available in this area, and it pays a
little better, but a lot of people don’t
want to work construction because of
the heavy work.”
For some college students, a summer
job means gaining work experience
in their academic field. Unfortunately,
those jobs are few and far between
for most, McMahan said.
“You almost need to have some
inside connection to get those because
they’re very rare,” McMahan said.
“We have little white-collar work
available. We just don’t see a lot of
those.”
The lack of white-collar,
professional jobs also means trouble
for graduates looking to stay in the
Asheville area, McMahan said.
“Graduates will have a pretty tough
time competing,” McMahan said.
“With management down-sizing,
there are a lot more white collar
workers out there looking for jobs.
We’re really feeling it locally,
although it’s a problem across the
nation.”
More professional-type jobs are
available in the Raleigh-Durham area
than Asheville, McMahan said, in
part because this area attracts so many
white-collar employees.
“New residents to Asheville tend to
be white-collar, which really
exacerbates the problem,” he said.
When looking for a job, the best
strategy may be to use personal
contacts first, he said.
“Put out as many feelers as possible.
Talk to your neighbors, your friends,
and relatives,” McMahan said. “They
may only need one or two persons, so
they won’t advertise in a wide area.”
Another good source for finding
employment is to go by the
Employment Security Commission
[ESC] office in the county. The ESC
offers a free job-listing service and
counseling. The Asheville office also
has a summer youth representative
specifically looking for temporary
employment for students.
Other good sources for employment
opportunities include temporary
service agencies, which also do not
charge fees, and looking through the
classified ads section in newspapers.
Also, if a student has worked before,
the best place to start may be where
they formerly worked.
“If people go back to the same firms,
they can often get work right away,”
McMahan said. “Sometimes a former
employee will get paid a little more
because they have experience.”
Rebekah Stivers
Staff Writer
The Center for Jewish Studies hosted a speaker from Emory University
Monday in the Owen Conference Center. The talk, which was given by Judaic
scholar David Blumenthal, was titled “The Angry Psalms,” and was the
Center’s 1994 Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture.
Blumenthal, who has done extensive research on the Jewish tradition and
culture surrounding the Holocaust, spoke on his work, relating survivors of
child abuse to survivors of the Holocaust. He reviewed material from several
sources, but focused primarily on his most recent book. Facing the Abusing
God: A Theology of Protest.
“We are tormented by the sheer 'facticity' of the Holocaust,” said Blumenthal.
“We have been sickened by the tragedy of the Holocaust— by the sheer
enormity, by the hatred, by the anti-Semitism of it. We have been oppressed
by the cruelty. We have been oppressed by the indifference,” he said. He said
that, though it has been 50 years since the Holocaust, the Jewish Community
is only now beginning to address “some of the real spiritual questions"
stemming from the tragedy.
He said there have been three generations of Jews “and serious Christians”
who have been “haunted” by the Holocaust. This includes those who have
survived it, those who have remembered it, and those who have family and
friends who were involved.
“If we have been victims of the Holocaust... who was the perpetrator?” he
said. “It is a very tough thought to think.” He said this is an important question
challenged by Jews— “Where was God?” Blumenthal said his recent book re
evaluates the Psalms in “our post-Holocaust reality.”
Blumenthal suggested three options for explaining where God was at the time
of the Holocaust. He said that either God was punishing the Jews, or that He
was not part of the Holocaust, that it was human choice and action which
brought about the occurrence of this event. Blumenthal said he did not accept
either of these explanations, since the tradition of Jews involves seeing God as
a continuing active part of their history.
“[The Holocaust] was surely human fault as well,” he said, “but it was not only
our fault.” , r „
Blumenthal said a third option was to say that God “was hiding God’s face
from Jewish history at this time. He said this question must be Answered both
See “ Holocaust speaker," page 8