INSIDE: 4 ■ t SPOHJS: Comnmfory on UNCA dklics p,5 OPItllON: leamign about olher cultures p. 2 fEAJUHES: bye's bbour'sbst / April 6, \ i 1995 ] ^ C(^ICS: Crossword p. 6 The Blue "The vital measure of a newspaper is not its size, but its spirit—that is its responsiblity to report the newsfully, accurately, and fairly—Arthur Hays Sulzberger BAt INER WEA THER: Mostly sunny this weekend, with some clouds on Saturday. Highs in mid 60s. Lows in mid 40s. VOLUME 23 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE NUMBER 23 ONE OF THE LARGEST FffiES IN RECENT ASHEVILLE HISTORY BURNED JUST OVER TWO MILES FROM UNCA i m Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, a fire tliat originated in the Earle Chesterfield Mill occurred near UNCA. The fire was not )contained until nearly 7 p.m. Photo by Lot Ray Officials Discuss Issues Of Campus Safely Chris Small Staff Writer A public forum was held kst week in the new Private Dining Room, for students and adminis tration to interact and voice their concerns about security issues at UNCA. The discussion was led by panelists: Patsy B. Reed, chancellor, Larry Wilson, vice chancellor for academic affairs, Eric lovacchini, vice chancel lor for student affairs, Arthur Foley, vice chancel lor for financial affairs and Jeffrey VanSlyke, director of public safety. Besides the panelists, eleven others attended the forum. “I believe, strongly, that people here [at UNCA] do not feel safe. There is a perception that this is not a safe place,” said lovacchini. UNCA’s public safety department is in charge of both service and security roles on campus, said VanSlyke. “We try and have two officers on each shift, 24 hours a day, except for the weekend. We just can t do it [on weekends],” said VanSlyke. “I think the students would like to see more of a presence of security officers,” said Jay Jordan, a student government representative. “There are fewer students [on campus] during the weekend, however, this campus has grown in involvement in the sense that there are enough students to justify that concern.” Despite the concern for more officers on duty during the weekends. Chancellor Reed said that the money is just not there (in the state budget) to use. “Given the political climate right now in the state, the likelihood that we can add officers is nil, said Reed. “I think that if there is a feeling that we need to have more presence [of security] on campus, then we need to look at all of the things that our security officers do,” said Karen Brinson, a junior mass communication major Reed pointed to the fact that security may not be visibly present when helping to do things like jump-start cars, escorting a student, or providing service roles for students. “I think there is an idea that we need to be proactive in having things like emergency phones, and good lighting on the quad,” said one student at the meeting. “I think sometimes we [as students] feel there is more of a goal to have aesthetically pleasing views than safety. Just because the light posts are ugly, I’d rather be safe than have a beautiful campus,” said Brinson. Foley reported that, based on the information he had, security phones cost about $5,000 a piece, and there is no revenue source for it now. “I think it [security phones] is a priority, but we don’t have the means to pay Iror it," he said. Another concern seems to be that, given the responsibilities of security officers, there is not always someone available to answer the phone in case of emergency. “We know to expect that there is going to be an officer called to jump-start a car, and if there is not an officer on duty, then there’s no back up there, and there may be a crisis that occurs while that officer is out jump-starting a car,” said one stu dent. This student suggested that resident assistants start locking up buildings, instead of the officers. The responsibility oflocking up buildings at night, and any reports of stolen goods or break-ins falls under the UNCA Security Department, accord ing to VanSlyke. It was suggested by Reed that other groups on campus possibly could be used to help with es corts, etc. to free the officers more. Until security phones can be installed in the future, it was sug gested by a student that there be more education on the part of students, and more of an effort to get to know the security officers by name. Orientation was suggested as a place to educate students about security, and to let them see the officers. “There are two pages of sexual assault policy statements that go out [to students]. To actually hear it verbatim from somebody that’s an official representative to the university would help, I think, to make it more positive,” said VanSlyke. “I think we join in collective concern about the safety of our students and about the safety of both students, and about the safety of both students properties a;jd state’s properties,” said Reed. Actor Hospitalized; Play Goes On Greg Deal Staff Writer “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” a Shakespearean play that will be performed at UNCA,, opened last night without one of its professional actors, who was hospitalized with a cardiac arrest. Jay Allen Ginsberg, the actor, said that he was in good condition and was without pain on Wednes day afternoon. He said that he was upset that he would miss the performance, but felt that the cast would fill in for him. “They’ll do fine,” he said. Arnold Wengrow, professor of drama, said that an understudy would be used in place of Ginsberg. Wengrow declined to comment further. “One of the guys in the show is going to move up,” said Ginsberg. Ginsberg is an actor with Equity who was hired for this performance, said one of the cast members. He was scheduled to perform the part of Armado. The play will be performed April 5-9 at Carol Belk Theater. Ginsberg did not say when he would be released from the hospital, or when he would be able to resume his acting career. An emergency rehearsal was called at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Faculty Members’ Trip To Ecuador Is Ex pected To Enhance UNCA Curriculum Andrea Lawson Staff Writer Thirteen UNCA faculty members will visit Cuenca, Ecuador for one month this summer as part of a two-year grant to sensitize UNCA to Latin American culture and languages. “The purpose of the grant program is to help universities to develop, increase, and improve their international studies and foreign language pro grams,” said Heidi Kelley, professor of sociology and director of the international studies program. “We’re looking for ways to increase the amount of international material that’s covered in courses all across the curriculum.” Kelley wrote the grant proposal, which was sub mitted to the Undergraduate International Stud ies and Foreign Language program of the U.S. Department of Education in November 1993. Kelley said the grant, titled “Exploring New Ho rizons .in Latin America: Sensitizing UNCA to Cultural and Linguistic Diversity,” was designed to aid faculty members to include material on Latin America in their courses. The grant will award $77,031 to UNCA for 1994-1995, and $71,727 for 1995-1996. “We started with Latin America because it’s close to home, and it’s an area that’s relatively familiar to most students and faculty,” Kelley said. “The idea of the grant is really to develop the expertise of the faculty so that [they] will include more material in the courses and get more students interested.” Kelley said the professors, who will travel to Ecuador, are taking a seminar focusing on Andean cultures in preparation for the trip. This area was chosen because ofUNCA’s con nection with the region. “UNCA has an exchange rela tionship with the university in Ecuador, the Universidad del Azuay in Cuenca,” Kelley said. “Also, pro fessor Marcel Andrade in the Spanish depart ment is from Ec uador. He has agreed to be the trip director.” Kelley said the seminar has brought in outside scholars in anthropology, history, and political science to discuss Andean culture. According to Kelley, the seminar is like “the professors taking a class.” Kelley said the Ecuador trip is being funded partly by the grant and partly by UNCA. While in Cuenca, each professor will plan their own project, and the entire group will design a unit on Latin American or Andean culture to incorporate into different courses and fields of study. Marcel Andrade, UNCA professor of Spanish, will be the trip director when faculty members travel to Cuenca Ecuador this summer. f^hoto by Tonya Melton “Some of us are designing new courses as well,” said Kelley. “I’m teaching a course on women in Latin America in the fall. Ken Betsalel in political science is developing a course on comparative legal systems. Melissa Himelein in psychology is devel oping a new course called ‘Advanced Personality’ that’s going to look at personality variables across cultures.” The 10 faculty members who will be working on projects in Ecuador are Ken Betsalel, Tom Dickens, Melissa Himelein, Cynthia Ho, Heidi Kelley, Joan Lance, Jeanne McGUnn, Gary Miller, Bar bara Rhymes, and Larry Wilson. The projects being developed will impact the Humanities, psy chology, environmental studies, political science, literature, education, Spanish, economics, sociol ogy, chemistry, and management departments. According to Kelley, the projects being devel oped by the faculty will include a unit on the Incas for Humanities 124, a unit on the protection of indigenous peoples and environment of the Ama zon, and cultural units to supplement existing Spanish programs. Kelley said while the trip is designed for faculty, one student, Evelyne Prall, has been hired as an assistant. Prall plans to do research with help from the Undergraduate Research office. “This particular program does not cover any student travel, and it’s really more focused on curriculum development, but it’s anticipated that one of the effects of this would be increasing [student] interest,” said Kelley. “I think that there is a lot of student interest in studying abroad, but one major impediment is financial. So, we’ve also been working very hard on increasing the informa tion we have about affordable programs, trying to work with the needs of students.” According to the grant abstract, the scope of foreign lan guage instruction will be enhanced through the use of a “portable Spanish language module.” This module will be used to give students in other disciplines experience with the Spanish language. Kelley said the sec ond year of the grant project will focus on the French Caribbean and Brazil. T o extend the benefits of the grant, a course on Francophonic Caribbean literature and a French-language section of the Humanities pro gram will be implemented. “We picked those areas, first of all, because of the French in the French Caribbean, and also because of the new Africana Studies program,” said Kelley. “We are interested in touching upon the African [influence] in Latin America.” See "Ecuador," page 10