The Blue Banner
“We do not live to extenuate the miseries of the past nor to accept as uncurable those of tlie present. - Fairfield Osborne—
Volume 22, Number 27
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Thurs., May 5, 1994
Committee meets to discuss student fee increases for next year
Some committee members question increase proposal from health services
Teri Smith
Staff Writer
A committee met for the first time last week to begin the process of deciding
student fee increases for next year. Much of the meeting was reportedly spent
discussing a proposed fee increase for Student Health Services.
At least one member of the committee wondered if health services was even
needed, and another questioned its cost effectiveness, according to Eric Pyeritz,
medical director of health services.
'I presented a proposal from health services for a $2 per year, $ 1 per semester,
per student fee increase to cover the cost of mandated salary increases,” said
Eric V. lovacchini, vice chancellor for student affairs. “I very much supported
that proposal.”
I think student health service has a tremendous affect on recruitment and
retention of students on this campus,” he said. “I feel very strongly that we need
a strong health services department on this campus.”
lovacchini said that, without this fee increase, the health services center will
have to cut services to offset the cost of salary increases or cut some of its
operating costs.
Arthur P. Foley, vice chancellor for financial affairs, would not comment on
the meeting except to say that the health service center was “in no danger of
being closed.”
lovacchini said that health services does seem to be in danger of not getting
a fee increase.
Gerard Moses, president of the Student Government Association [SGA], and
Ryan DeSear, vice president of SGA, are the student representatives on the fee
review committtee. Moses did not attend the first meeting of the committee,
but DeSear was present.
“I haven’t had time to think about it [the health services fee increase] yet,” said
DeSear. “We have to consider all fee proposals. If we give that to the Health
Center, then something else may have to be cut.”
DeSear said he thinks the health services proposal is "deserving of equal
consideration.”
DeSear and Moses plan to survey the opinions of SGA senators, conduct door-
to-door interviews with resident students, and call or contact commuter
students to get their opinions on student fee increases, according to DeSear.
DeSear said they plan to do this next week before the majority of students leave
for the summer.
The health services center averages 650-700 patient visits per month, according
to Linda Roper, nurse at the health services center. “Some months, we see 800-
900 patients,” she said.
Roper cited several examples of services frequently used by students and the
costs that would be incurred if the services were not available on campus.
“Students who receive allergy injections would pay a minimum of $7 per shot
in a private physicians office,” said Roper. “Most students who get allergy
shots average two times per week.”
Roper said that off-campus students would pay a minimum of $65-$85
for a woman’s general wellness visit that included a breast and pelvic
exam.
“That’s for the office visit alone,” said Roper. “The lab fees for the pap
smear would be an additional $30.
The health services center conducts the general exam for free and charges
$15 for the pap smear.
Pyeritz said he did not get the sense that health services was “an
endangered species," but he was concerned that some members of the
committee did not seem to understand the scope of services provided.
Pyeritz said that students “would not receive the close personal support
and contact, and would not know their health care provider as well as they
do here if they had to seek services off campus.”
“Private doctor’s offices couldn’t care less,” he said. “They are in it for
the profit.”
“College health services have an ear tuned to the special needs of
students, much more that a private physician across town,” said lovacchini.
“We are trying to provide a cost-effective way of providing cost effective
health care,” said Roper.
Roper said that it is often frustrating that they can’t be more available,
especially for students who attend classes in the evenings.
Graduation fees pay commencement costs
Kevin Ellis
Staff Writer
UNCA expects to award degrees to
its largest class ever on May 14, and
for the first time, those graduates will
pay for their commencement,
everything from the flowers on the
podium to the cost of getting
graduation speakers here.
Commencementexercises will begin
at 6 p.m. on the terrace of D. Hiden
Ramsey Library. In case of rain,
graduation will be at the Asheville
Civic Center.
In January, college officials decided
to increase commencement fees from
$20 to $50. The college made the
change so that the university would
not be subsidizing the graduation
ceremony. Interim Vice Chancellor
Thomas Cochran said.
The college will make about $ 16,500
off the 330 students expecting to
graduate in May and another $3,450
from the approximately 170 who
finished their coursework in August
or December, but are considered part
of the 1994 graduating class.
C: m
Dudley Flood
Those funds will go toward paying
$ 10.75 for each diploma, at a total cost
of approximately $5,375. Other
graduation fees will defer the $4,000
expense of graduation programs,
$2,000 for diploma covers, $ 1,800 for
site preparation on campus, and another
$2,500 to rent and do site preparation
at the Asheville Civic Center in case of
rain.
Other commencement cost borne by
graduating students include $500 for
platform decorations, $2,200 for
commencement awards, $100 for
commencement memos and $30 for
flowers.
Included in those costs to students is
“at least $1,000” to bring former
Ecuadorian President Rodrigo Borja
to the commencement.
Borja, who was the Aileen and
William Highsmith Distinguished
Visiting Professor at UNCA this past
fall, will receive an honorary degree
from the university at graduation.
The fee increase has drawn few
complaints, Cochran said, which he
attributed to the relief of getting out
of school that most students feel.
“We’ve gotten three complaints, and
those complaints have come from
people not planning to march,”
Cochran said. “Most of the students
going through the ceremony are just
happy getting through.
“This is the first year the fee has
been instituted, and we’ll takeaclose
look to see if it’s accomplishing what
it was intended to accomplish,”
Cochran added.
The UNCA Alumni Association
pays for the reception it holds, and
Student Affairs will pay for a
breakfast for graduating students prior
See "Commencement," page 8
Awards Presentation
Staff Photo By Let Ray
The UNCA Academic and Leadership Awards presentation was held at the Grove Park Inn on
May 4.
Inside
Opinions 2
Get well, Brenda
Susan Hanley Lane
Perspectives 3
Convent doors
Concerned professor
Features 4
Student exhibit
Elderly sisters
Sports 5
Farewell seniors
Athletes of the year
Comics 6
off the mark
Chaos
Announcements 7
Job opportunities
Events
Weather Report
Friday
Saturday
H 74
LO 52
Hi 76
Lo 50
Weather Report courtesy of the National Weather
Service
UNCA Atmospheric Settee Department offers
updated forecasts through the 24 hour
Weatherline...251-6435
World Affairs Council holds
final lecture of the year
Rebekah Stivers
Staff Writer
The World Affairs Council hosted Bill Sabo, professor of political science,
as the guest speaker for its final lecture Monday night in the Owen Hall
Conference Center.
Sabo, who has been a member of llNCA’s political science department
since 1979, spoke on the impact of the Vietnam War on domestic politics
from an American perspective.
The Vietnam War experience, taken as a whole, provoked a lingering
public skepticism about the use of military force abroad, reluctance to spend
more money on defense, resistence to foreign aid and foreign investment,...
and suspicion of presidential power,” said Sabo.
He reviewed how, until the early 1960s, American policy-planners saw the
United States as the economic cornerstone of the world. “What was good
for America was good for all,” said Sabo.
As the office with the closest connection to the people, the president was
seen as having the ability to build popular support for necessary actions.”
Sabo said John F. Kennedy “was the ideal spokesman for this view.”
Sabo said Kennedy “incorporated the establishment’s aspirafion for world
leadership, and he possessed the rhetorical skills to link the priorities of the
elite with the myths of American greatness.”
Sabo said America entered the Vietnam era in an optimistic state, but the
economy slowed in the mid-1960s, and inflation rose steadily throughout
the war. He said Lyndon B. Johnson struggled with decisions regarding the
war. He “could not decide which was more important, the war or the great
society,” said Sabo.
Though the war “boosted” the business economy, the middle and working
classes regressed in the economic state during Vietnam, said Sabo. This led
to an overall decrease in the public’s confidence of its government’s ability
to manage the country, he said. The public was often kept in the dark about
what was happening with the war, and, as a result, was not very informed
on foreign policy, he said.
Technology became the “culprit” to the politics of American foreign
policy. The “advent of television” gave less control to the “establishment
elites” in forming the public’s perceptions, said Sabo.
“In the early days of the war, Washington’s interpretations of events
See "Final lecture,” page 8
Biology department and Botanical
Gardens to sponsor wildlife tours
Alex Eastwood
Staff Writer
The UNCA biology department is
sponsoring its 22nd annual Spring
Wildflower and Bird Pilgrimage May
6-8. The Botanical Gardens is a co
sponsor of the three-day event and will
serve as the gathering center on both
Saturday and Sunday.
“We have designed tours that will be
informative as well as enjoyable,” said
James Perry, professor of biology and
organizer of the pilgrimage. “You will
come away with a fuller appreciation of
the beauiy of our region’s wildflowers
and birdlife.”
The event is both a university and a
community event and costs $2 per
person or $1 for students for the entire
weekend of tours and lectures.
Registration for the tours on Saturday
and Sunday will be Friday night at 6:30
in Robinson Hall.
At 7:30 p.m. in Robinson Hall, Alan
Heilman, associate professor of botany
at the University of Tennessee-
Knoxville, will give a presentation on
how plants adapt for pollenation.
Heilman is known forhisdramatic close-
up photography of plant life, and will be
showing some of his shots during the
presentation.
On Saturday, there are 14 tours over
the course of the day, beginning at 9
a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. The tours are
guided through various areas off the
Blue Ridge Parkway, and vary in
hiking distance.
Both sets of Saturday’s tours are half
day events, the morning tours returning
for lunch and the evening tours
returning for more presentations in
Robinson Hall. The Botanical Gardens
will be selling lunch in the gardens.
Morning tours begin at different times
from 6 to 9:30 a.m. Each person must
provide their own transportation to the
site, and Perry encourages carpooling.
On Sunday, there are two additional
tours. The first begins at 6 a.m. and
runs until noon. It is a birding trip and
will travel along the Blue Ridge
Parkway to Old Fort and back.
The afternoon tour is a wildflower
walk through the private gardens on
the Thomas S. Shinn property in
Leicester. The Shinns will guide the
tour of their wildflowers, shrubs, and
trees.
The tours will be roughly limited to
about 20 persons per tour, and the
sponsors would prefer no more than
10 cars per tour. The tours will take
place rain or shine.
The Nature Tour for Hikers, on
Saturday, will begin at the Folk Art
Center and go to Craggy Gardens. It
will follow the Carter Creek trail 6.5
miles through several vegetation zones.
A shorter tour will leave from
Robinson Hall and drive to the Craggy
Mountains in the Bamardsville area.
This tour for beginners will feature an
introduction to flowers, salamanders,
and birds of the region.
An afternoon tour titled Wildflower
& Bird Identification for Beginners
leaves at 1:30 p.m. from the Folk Art
Center and tours the Parkway for about
15 miles with brief walks totaling one
to two miles.
All day on Saturday the Botanical
Gardens' staff will be featuring tours
of the gardens, guided and self-guided,
to discover the more than 700 species
of wildflowers, shrubs, and trees in the
area.
Perry hopes these tours will
encourage more people to speak out
against the proposed parking lot that
will alter the aesthetics of the gardens.
Perry plans to provide opportunity
for visitors to sign the petition
circulating the campus and community
to prevent action being taken by the
UNCA administration on paving that
area.
Visitors are welcome to bring their
children. Some of the shorter tours, or
the driving tours, might be better suited
for young children. Perry also suggests
bringing along a hand-lens, or
magnifying glass, and a pair of
binoculars.
Perry has organized these tours every
year for the past 22 years they have
been offered.
“Because of its great age, the
Appalachian region has a rich
assortment of wildflowers unequaled
on the continent, and flowering plants
abound along the Blue Ridge Parkway
in the spring,” he said. “We attract
visitors every year from many states,
and often see regulars returning to
enjoy the tours.”