INSIDE:
SPORTS: UNCA signs b-ball player
Iran Hie Bronx p.5
OPINION: ind-of-h'semster trials
P.2
The Blue
FEATURES: New reslaurant review
p. 4
COMICS: Soap Summary
p. 6
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"Spring comes laughing down the valley
All in white, from the snow
Where the winter's armies rally loth to
go. "—Amelia Josephine Burr
BANNER
WEA THER:Mostly sunny this
weekend. Highs in the low
70s. Lows in the 40s
VOLUME 23
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
NUMBER 27
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Biology Professor
Receives Award
for Excellence
Chris Small
Staff Writer
A UNCA associate professor of biol
ogy was awarded the UNC Board of
Governors Award for Teaching Excel
lence April 21 in Chapel Hill.
“This is the crowning glory of my
professional career, and there is no
greater affirmation that I could get from
my students first, and my colleagues
second,” said Michael D. Stuart, the
award recipient.
Stuart has an undergraduate degree
from North Louisiana State College
and a Ph.D. in zoology from North
Carolina State University. Stuart has
been a UNCA faculty member since
1986.
“Students are always the fundamental
goal, and so it becomes a teamwork
operation,” Stuart said. “It’s a coopera
tive learning process, and it’s really spe
cial.”
Stuart said he has found his experi
ences at UNCA unique.
“I am rewarded for using my research
as a teaching tool for getting students
involved in my research, and doing it
with me,” he said.
Stuart said what students notice and
appreciate most about his teaching is
sincerity and enthusiasm.
“If they [the students] know that you
genuinely care about what’s going on in
the classroom, they tend to respond to
that very positively,” Stuart said. En
thusiasm is very important [and] every
thing else is just technique.”
Stuart teaches introductory biology,
general zoology, mammalogy, parasi
tology, and invertebrate zoology.
“The most satisfying aspect o£ teach
ing, for me, is not what I do, said
Stuart. “The rewards come when [stu
dents] take off. It’s about watchirig
students live up to their potential.
Stuart said he is repaying a favor that
was given to him when he was a student.
“The difference was that they (my
instructors) treated the knowledge not
as if they were the owners of it, but they
treated me as a junior partner in the
handling of this knowledge,” said Stuart.
“I have the opportunity here to work
one-on-one with the students. I can
afford to invest the time in getting to
know them as an individual.”
Stuart started the course ,Biology
499, in which students actually get hands
on learning experience in the labora
tory.
“We take junior and senior students
and bring them into the classroom with
us, not as an extra pair of hands, but as
a learning experience so that they can
work with us to learn where the pitfalls
in teaching are, and where the high
points are,” Stuart said.
He has taken his students on trips,
but said traveling abroad is no longer as
safe as it once was.
“I have taken students to Costa Rica,
Stuart said. “I was in Egypt when
Anwar Sadat was assassinated, hopped
an air flight to get into Madagascar
when they were not recognizing the
United States. I probably won t be
Construction Continues In Highsmith Center
Todd Hagans
Staff Writer
As construction on several UNCA fa
cilities continues, a problem with the
newly-constructed dining hall was cor
rected over spring break.
According to Ken Barefoot, director
of Marriott dining services, the carpet
in the new dining hall was replaced
because it did not lay-smoothly in cer
tain areas. The problem was detected
by state-construction inspectors.
“The manufacturers [of the carpet]
admitted that there were problems with
that carpet,” said Ronald Reagan, direc
tor of facilities planning and construc
tion. “They agreed to replace the entire
carpet in the dining hall at no additional
expense.”
Barefoot said the carpet, covering ap
proximately 5,000-square feet, was re
placed in the main dining room, the
private dining room, and the dining hall
office. The carpet removed from the
dining hall was salvaged by the univer
sity.
Other construction projects at UNCA
include the proposed renovation and
expansion of the Highsmith Center, the
addition to the Justice Center, and the
renovation of Ramsey Library.
Construction and renovations on the
Highsmith Center could begin in the
summer of 1996, according to Sharyn
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Get your piece of the rock wliile you can. The Mud 500 rock is being demolished.
[^oto by Tanya Melton
McDonald, director of Highsmith Cen
ter and student activities.
McDonald said an architect for the
Highsmith Center project will be se
lected this week, and the architect will
meet with the expansion committee
appointed by Chancellor Patsy Reed.
The renovations and expansion will be
designed during the next academic year.
According to McDonald, students at
two forums last week discussed possible
additions to the Highsmith Center.
Some of the possibilities included an
area to accommodate performances
sponsored by Underdog Productions, a
student art gallery, a 24-hour computer
lab, a television viewing area, and lounge
space.
McDonald also said an office for the
counseling and career center is a possi
bility as well as a job placement office.
See "Renovations," page 8
Guest Editor Visits Campus, Offers Advice
. , rr» Kiiiln m;
Jay Malinoski
Guest Writer
Newspapers should be hon
est, accurate, and fair, the
managing editor of the
Spartanburg [S.C.] Herald-
Journal told a UNCA
newswriting class April 20.
The short definition [of
journalism ethics] is honesty,
followed by accuracy, fol
lowed by a sense of fairness,”
Scott Kearns said. “You try
to apply that as it comes up
in a newspaper.”
The impacts of the Susan
Smith murder case and the
BMW plant on media ethics
were discussed during the
class.
“Basically, you take those
virtues, if that’s what they
are, and apply them to situa
tions that come up in the
newspaper,” Kearns said.
Kearns, who came to
UNCA to critique the Blue
Banner and speak to mass
communication classes, said
See "Professor," page 8
journalism ethics are hard to
define.
Kearns, the managing edi
tor for thefor
the past four years, graduated
from the University of South
Carolina at Columbia in
1975. He has been in jour
nalism for the past 20 years.
One dilemma that newspa
pers face, according to Kearns,
is when a tragedy strikes a
family. He said although he
doesn’t like questioning fami
lies immediately after such an
event, “If you, have to, you
have to.”
When the Susan Smith story
first broke, the Herald-Jour-
nal immediately placed re
porters at the scene. “We were
real lucky because we got on
the story early,” Kearns said.
“We were able to talk to David
Smith, Susan Smith, and the
grandparents. Then they cut
everyone off”
Kearns said as the case pro
gressed, he began doubt the
validity of Susan Smith’s
claims that a black man kid
napped her two sons.
Kearns said Mark Klaas, a
California man whose daugh
ter had been kidnapped, at
tempted to console Smith. Af
ter being denied access to Smith,
Klaas returned to California.
When the Herald-Journal
called him to find out why he
had gone back to California,
Klaas told them he had not
been admitted, and that he did
not believe that Susan Smith
was telling the truth, according
to Kearns.
When the news broke that
Susan Smith confessed to the
murders ofher children, Kearns
said he had some regrets about
the information received.
“My regret is that we did not
have enough sources on state
law enforcement,” said Kearns.
Kearns said another prob
lem involving ethics occurred
when BMW was looking for a
site for a new manufacturing
plant.
“BMW was looking at
Spartanburg County as a place
to build a manufacturing
plant,” Kearns said. “It was
at the same time as the cel
ebration of the Holocaust.
They canceled it [because]
getting BMW was so im
portant that they didn’t
want to do anything to up
set BMW. And since BMW
is a German company, they
thought ‘Well, lets not say
anything about it,’” said
Kearns.
Kearns went on to say the
mayor then announced
there was never going to be
a celebration, and if the
Herald-Journal published
the article, it would scare
off BMW. However, the
newspaper published the
story anyway.
“I think that a reporter
should think about who he
is writing for,” said Kearns.
As for journalism ethics
involved in both the BMW
story and the Susan Smith
case, Kearns said, “It is prob
ably the most difficult thing
to nail down.”
Mors Establish Scholarship Fund As Gift
- ■.mmuinL w/=* Af^r'iAeA fo esrahlif
Christy King
Staff Writer
This year’s seniors have decided the
best way they can contribute to UNCA
is through a senior gift scholarship fund.
“We could have planted a tree, or
bought a plaque with the donations, but
we wanted to do something more mean
ingful with the money,” said JayJordan,
one of the seniors involved in the orga
nization of the senior gift. That s why
Seniors Willie Black, Patty Chakales, and Jew
Jordan are planning the senior scholarship fund.
Photo by Chrisly King
we decided to establish a permanent
scholarship fund.”
Patty Chakales, JayJordan, and Willie
Black are the three seniors who were
recruited to work on the senior gift with
Mary Chakales, director of Alumni
Relations.
“Mary approached us about the
project, and we willingly volunteered,”
said Patty Chakales, an accounting
Nearly 500 Will
Graduate As
UNCA’s 25th
Class
Andrea Lawson
Staff Writer
See "Senior Gift," page 8
Approximately 470 stiidents will re
ceive degrees at UNCA’s 66th com
mencement, to be held May 13 at the
Asheville Civic Center. Organizers said
the class of 1995 is one of the largest ever
to graduate from the university.
“I’m ecstatic to be graduating,” said
Adam Wemberly, a management ma
jor. “It brings closure to four years.”
Many seniors said they were disap
pointed that graduation will not be held
on the quad this year. According to
Thomas Cochran, associate vice chan
cellor for academic affairs, the library
construction made it impossible for the
ceremony to be held on campus.
“There didn’t seem to be any other
logical place [to hold the ceremony],”
Cochran said. “We have, for the last
three years, rented the Civic Center as a
backup site. We obviously never in
tended to use it, but we didn’t see any
good alternative.”
“Since my freshman year. I’ve wanted
it [graduation] to be on the quad, and
that’s where I always thought it would
be,” said Jessica Jones, a literature and
education major. “I guess I’m sort of
sad because it’s not going to be there.”
Although some seniors are disap
pointed, Jones and Wemberly said the
library addition was a good idea.
“I’m happy to see that the library is
going to be as wonderful as it’s going to
be,” said Jones. “I wish it could have
been that way when I was here.”
“The university has gone through a lot
of changes, and it’s really exciting to be
here,” Wemberly said. “I kind of feel
like I’m leaving in the middle of a lot of
the changes going on.
"I think the construction is really sym
bolic of the growth that the university
has experienced over the past several
years. The idea behind graduation, for
me, isn’t the place; it’s more or less the
experience,” Wemberly said.
Carol Levin, a history professor at State
University ofNewYork-College at New
Paltz and the 1994-95 Carol Belk Dis
tinguished Professor in the Humani
ties, will serve as featured speaker at the
ceremonies, according to organizers.
Levin’s fields of specialization are late-
medieval/early-modern England and
Europe, and late-medieval/early-mod-
ern women’s history.
Irwin Belk, the civic leader responsible
for establishing the Carol Belk Profes
sorship, will receive an honorary degree
at the ceremony.
In celebration of UNCA’s 25 th anni
versary, the class of 1970 will also be
honored, according to Cochran.
“It’s great to be in the 25th class,” said
Jones. “I guess there’s more going on
this year than in previous years.”
“I think the 25th anniversary is fantas
tic,” said Wemberly. “In the four years
I’ve been here. I’ve been able to witness
See "Graduation," page 8
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