INSIDE:
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Jowson Shk
COMICS: falsiaff is back '
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fEAJURES: Hair Review
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OPINION: Han(koff,SGA
Oct 6,
1994
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The Blue
VOLUME 23
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BANNER
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
WEA THER: Variably cloudy
and cool through the weekend.
Chance of showers Sunday
Highs in 60s. Lows in 40s.
NUMBER 6
PROMINENT POET ML MAKE APPEARANCE AT UNCA
Janice Sitton
Staff Writer
south
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r only
Allen Ginsberg, one of the original Beat Genera
tion poets, will hold a reading at Lipinsky Audito-
Itium on October 13,1994 at 7 p.m. The proceeds
laised will provide partial funding for the Black
Mountain College Museum & Arts Center and for
[he UNCA Creative Writing Program.
I “It is a great opportunity for people to see a
legendary and important figure in the American
literary scene,” said Richard Chess, professor of
literature and language.
ll’ve never had the chance to see a poet who had so
uch renown,” said Anthony Gagnon, editor for
e UNCA Arts Magazine. “It is definitely a rare
ipportunity.”
Ginsberg wrote poems during the 1950s and
960s which dealt with the social and political
issues of that time in a very direct way. This new
approach shook up the existing poetry world, and
(sSnspired a new way of writing, according to Chess.
Ginsberg’s first published work, “Howl and Other
Poems” came out in 1956. “Howl” was one of the
most influential poems during that literary period.
according to Chess. The poem was subjected to
censorship trials due to its controversial nature,
but was declared legal in 1957 by a San Francisco
court.
“Essentially, it is a poem that expresses a certain
amount of rage directed at the society, both na
tionally and internationally,” said Chess. “It uses
language in a way that perhaps wasn’t being used
at that particular period.”
“Howl” has been translated into over 22 lan
guages, and became “one of the most widely read
poems of the century,” according to Chess.
Although times have changed, he continues to
use poetry and music to inform people of relevant
current events and news. Ginsberg’s recent travels
have taken him into the People’s Republic of
China, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe,
and Scandinavia, according to Chess.
He has also worked with difi^erent bands, such as
The Clash and The Fugs, to reach people through
popular music culture, according to Chess.
“He has also been very outspoken in terms of
criticizing government policies and going to hot
spots around the world to speak up on the side of
freedom, of free speech, and of human rights,” said
Chess.
“I think that Allen Ginsberg has been a promi
nent voice, and he’s certainly been one really
powerful force in po
etry,” said Gagnon.
“Even more recently he
has been an outspoken
voice in a lor of issues.
He has always used his
art as a way of express
ing dissatisfaction or ex
pressing his angst about
things in society.”
Ginsberg is currently a
member of the Ameri
can Institute of Arts and
Letters, and is also a co
founder of the first ac
credited Buddhist col
lege of the Western
world, the Jack Kerouac
School of Disembodied
Poetics.
He could also be con
sidered one of the predecessors of the slam poetry
movement, according to Chess.
Ginsberg often arranges his poems by using long
lines, which he calls “breath units”. He believed
there was a connection between the arrangement
of the words on a page and the spiritual and
"The weight of the
world
is love
Under the burden
of solitude
Under the burden
ofdisstitisfuction
the weight,
the weight we carry
islove."
—Allen Ginsberg
physical experience one has when reading a poem.
By reading each line in one breath, a particular
Please see "Ginsberg," page 8
'er-
3 of
Bhod Drive
ponsored
1 ^ The Student Government Association.
i 4a blood donation from Setti Sherman. The blood drive was a success, according to Denise Tomlinson,
L.|S executive for external relations. "Our goal was 85 pints, and we collected 93 pints," she said.
1 ^ Photo by Rob Jordan
Three-year Grant Supports Biology Study
Dan Clifton
Staff Writer
The National Park Service has given a
three-year grant, totaling $90,000, to a
UNCA professor to establish a long
term monitoring program for amphib
ians in the southeastern U.S.
James W. Petranka, assistant professor
of biology, is collaborating with Charles
Smith at High Point University. They
are currently involved in studying am
phibian populations in Cumberland
Gap National Historic Park, the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, and
the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Other scientists arc involved from
Austin Peay University and are con
ducting studies in Mammoth Cave
National Park.
“We know that amphibians are declin
ing in spots where there’s been habitat
disturbances,” said Petranka.
“The real question lies in protected
habitat where you have virgin forest or
old growth forest. Are these popula
tions also in decline?”
According to Petranka, scientists don’t
agree on whether there is a decline or
not. This study will be the first to docu
ment whether populations in protected
areas are in a state of long-term decline.
“One problem in trying to determine
if these observations reflect a general
global decline in amphibians is that
scientists lack long-term data on changes
in the population sizes of most species of
amphibians,” said Petranka.
“From Australia to the U.S., we have
scientists that are tracking populations,
trying to determine if there are any
major global problems.”
These global tracking groups were put
together by the recently organized De
clining Amphibian Populations Task
Force (DAPTF). There are two major
goals of the DAPTF, according to
Petranka.
“The first goal is to document and
quantify the extent to which environ
mental alteration from activities such as
timber harvesting, wetland drainage,
and urban growth has adversely affected
amphibians,” said Petranka.
“Although many natural amphibian
habitats have been fragmented and se
verely altered by human activities, sci
entists are only beginning to under
stand the effects of disturbance and
environmental deterioration on amphib
ian communities,” he said.
The second goal is to determine
whether amphibian populations in ar
eas that have not been severely altered
by human activity are showing evidence
of decline from general deterioration of
the Earth’s environment, according to
Petranka. f
“In many places around the world,
scientists have witnessed the inexpli
cable decline of amphibians that live in
undisturbed natural habitats,” said
Petranka.
“For example, the golden toad in Costa
Rica is in a virgin forest that has never
been cut, yet the toad is disappearing.
Also, tiger salamanders are declining in
many pristine high elevation lakes in the
western U.S.”
One of the primary amphibians being
studied by Petranka and Smith is the
spotted salamander. During the spring
when the spotted salamander is breed
ing, the scientists go out and count egg
masses that are laid, which indicates
how many females are present, accord
ing to Petranka.
Please see "Study," page 8
i 4
SGA APPOINTMENTS ARE DEBATED
Janice Sitton
Staff Writer
The Parliamentarian of the Student Govern-
I ment Association (SGA) proposed a reformation
I of the Campus Commission during the SGA
I senate meeting held September 28, that would
I allow only senators to serve on that commission.
The suggestion was made during the SGA meet
ing in which the SGA president s appointments to
! the commission were to be presented.
, The Campus Commission is the student organi-
:f zation which allocates the fiinds for each organiza
tion on campus. The funds available to organiza
tions and controlled by the Campus Commission
i are derived from the total student fees paid each
f year.
“I think the process [the whole Campus Com
mission process] could be better, and I don’t think
that there are many who could argue that the
process could not be better,” said Ryan DeSear,
vice-president of SGA and chair of the senate.
Five students are “jointly named” by the presi
dent of SGA and by the Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs, according to the Campus Com
mission guidelines. However, according to the
SGA constitution, the senate must approve all
SGA president appointments. The faculty are
appointed by the Faculty Senate.
“I think there is some confusion...because the
student government constitution says the senate
has to approve or confirm all appointments origi
nating from the president, but the campus com
mission has a different set of guidelines that are
Please see "SGA," page 8
SENATORS SIltNCC CONSmJENTS
Janice Sitton
Staff Writer
A motion was passed at the Student Government
Association [SGA] held September 28, to silence
members of the student body [the gallery] who had
come to observe and participate in the senate
proceedings.
The motion was passed with a vote of six to three,
with three members of the senate abstaining.
Matthew Guinn, sophomore senator, made the
motion, and although it passed, Ryan DeSear,
chair of the senate, was willing to acknowledge any
member of the gallery, regardless of the motion.
"It [the motion] has no bearing because the chair
runs the meeting and can recognize whoever he or
she wants to, according to Robert's Rules of Or
der," said Gerard Moses, president of SGA.
“I think SGA, as a whole, has always had as a goal,
and I think more so than ever, now, a desire to have
the students involved in the student government,
said Koren Bakkegard, executive for judicial rela
tions.
“I see this as an opportunity to have an active,
vital organization, when students are coming to
meetings and wanting to be engaged in ,the same
conversations and debates that the senate is en
gaged in. To have that avenue closed down, I find
distressing,” she said.
“When they arrange the tables to make room for
a gallery, and then they make a motion that that
gallery cannot be an active part of that body, then
they’re wasting their [the senate] time and energy,
said Mark Dann, senior.