UNCAMONT arrives
April 29 4
Bulldogs fallto
Radford 7
Students clean up
campus 9
Weekend Weather: Cloudy ond worm with a chonce of fhundersfom on Sunday. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
The Blue
BANNER
Volume 24, Number 25 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
April 17, 1996
Basketball Payment of athletic salaries from student services account questioned
coach accepts
job offer
Jennifer Thurston
Staff Writer
UNCA head men’s basketball coach
Randy Wiel accepted an offer to coach
at Middle Tennessee State University
in Murfeesboro last Friday.
Wiel has coached at UNCA for the
last three years and posted a record of
32 wins and 50 losses, including an
18 and 10 record and a second place
finish in the Big South Conference
this year. Wiel came to UNCA from
an assistant coaching position at
UNC-Chapel Hill, where he played
basketball before graduating in 1979.
“I thought he was a marvelous coach,
absolutely fantastic,” said Tom
Hunnicutt, director of athletics. “He
treated the players well and that is real
important with me. Someone that
they can look up to in pride. We’re
trying to build a mold. And that mold
is a mature person with a proven record
as a coach.”
A search committee has already been
formed to begin narrowing down the
candidates. The committe is chaired
by John Gupton, chair of chemistry
and includes members of the admin
istration, the athletics department,
community members, and students.
“I’m disappointed (about Wiel) be
cause I think he was a good coach and
a really good role model and teacher,”
said Eric lovacchini, vice chancellor
for student affairs. “We’re going to
have really big shoes to fill.”
lovacchini stated that when a coach
leaves a program, athletes inevitably
transfer to other schools or new re
cruits fail to sign letters of intent.\
“That happens,” he said. “We hope
that students will stay. We’ll try to get
a new coach as soon as we can. But
they’ll have to fit UNCA in terms of
recruiting students who will do well
academically.”
Both Hunnicutt and lovacchini ex
pected to fill the position in less than
four weeks. “Really, it’s pretty slow
when you’re hiring a basketball
coach,” Hunnicutt said. “Most schools
do it in about two or three weeks. But
we’re trying to follow the established
procedures here at UNCA which are
a little more involved.”
Hunnicutt said that his phone was
“ringing off the hook” with candi
dates interested in the position. Po
tential candidates for Wiel’s job in
clude Chris Ferguson, an assistant at
Virginia Tech and a native of
Hendersonville. Others are Matt
Doherty, an assistant at Kansas Uni
versity, Jimmy Black, a former assis
tant at Notre Dame University, Butch
Estes, the former head coach at
Furman University, and John Lentz,
the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne Col
lege.
Wiel replaces MTSU coach David
Farrar, whose contract was not re
newed after a 15 and 12 season. MTSU
is a Division I school in the Ohio
Valley Conference and has about
17,000 students. According to the
Asheville Citizen- Times, Wiel will earn
more than $100,000 a year and has
signed a three-year contract with
MTSU. Wiel’s assistants at UNCA,
Andy Herzer, Jim Ryan, and Rich
Yonakur will go with him.
In addition to Gupton, the search
committee will include Jesse Ray from
the Board of Trustees; Michele Cor
nish, UNCA’s senior woman admin
istrator; Sergio Mariaca and Eric
Filipek, students; Phil Murphy, a lo
cal businessman; Tom Cochran, vice
chancellor for academic affairs; and
Bobby Robinson, community mem
ber.
Jennifer Thurston
Staff Writer
More than $100,000 in partial salaries for eight
athletic department employees, including more than
$25,000 of the athletic director’s salary, was paid
last year from a student services account, according
to UNCA records. The account’s funds are used to
“support and complement academic programs” that
contribute to the “cultural, social, intellectual, physi
cal, and emotional development” of the student
body, according to a definition of the account in the
UNCA Budget Manual.
“They (athletics) recruit 30 or 40 students a year.”
said Eric lovacchini, vice chancellor for student
affairs. “(Their duties include) advising students
and counseling students. That’s why we use stu
dent service dollars.”
“I doubt that it costs that much,” said Dhaval
“Doc” Patel, SGA president. “My argument is,
why not put it all into one account? So that every
one knows how much athletics is costing. I did not
know that this much was coming out of (the
student services account). I’m not happy with the
answer. But this is the answer I got from Yav
(lovacchini), ’ Patel said.
The functions of the account, supplied to The
Blue Banner by the administration, include stu
dent services administration, admissions and record
maintenance, including recruitment of athletes,
counseling and career guidance, financial aid ad
ministration, social and cultural student develop
ment, and intramural athletics programs. The ac
count is paid for by state funds.
In the UNCA Chart of Accounts, last updated on
March 31, Tom Cochran, the vice chancellor for
academic affairs, is listed as the responsible admin
istrator for the account. When contacted about this
story, Cochran said the account had not been used
by his department for at least three years. The
account is now controlled by lovacchini, who also
ATHLETICS cont. on pg. 12
Campus prepares for national conference
courtesy ol Undergraduate Research
The tenth annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research will be held on campusthis weekend. Close to 20(X) people are
expected to attend.
Student complaints prompt opening of cafeteria
Michael Taylor
Staff Writer
In a reversal of a decision made
last year, the administration has
asked that University Dining
Hall remain open during the
National Conference on Under
graduate Research (NCUR) this
weekend. Ken Barefoot, direc^
tor of dining services, says that
he was contacted on Friday, April
5 and asked to open the cafete
ria.
“NCUR has realized that they
need to take care of the students
that they’re asking to stay here,
so they’re paying for it,” said
Barefoot. “Their philosophy is
that if you’re here, then you’re
here for the conference. So if
you want to eat, you need to be
part of the conference.”
Close to 2000 people are ex
pected to attend NCUR this
week from all over the United
States. Originally the Univer
sity Dining Hall had been
scheduled to be closed.
“I think that originally every
body felt that the students were
just going to leave and go to
the beach, like this was a sec
ond spring break,” said Bare
foot. “As it’s gotten closer,
there’s going to be 200 volun
teers, and professors are urging
people to stay. Somebody said,
‘We’ve got to take care of these
people.’”
Marriott, who has provided
food service for UNCA since
1986, already had a significant
commitment to NCUR to pro
vide refreshments throughout
the conference. Although they
were never providing any sig
nificant meals, they will be de
livering drinks and muffins to
several locations
across cam-
commitment with
was just to do basic
pus.
“Our
NCUR
refreshments, such as coffee and
juice,” said Barefoot. “So I cer
tainly don’t mind being open,
because in the end, if the uni
versity would have decided to
open up, it wouldn’t have been
CAFETERIA cont. on pg. 8
Student, staff reactions to
conference are varied
Denise Sizemore
Staff Writer
The tenth annual National Conference on Under
graduate Research (NCUR)will begin tomorrow on
campus. Faculty and most students said they are
pleased about the conference, but some were con
cerned about use of campus facilities during the
conference.
Many students expressed concern s about the clos
ing of the dining hall during NCUR. “NCUR is a
great thing for the students participating in it be
cause they get to show their work and what they’ve
accomplished,” said Kellie Gosnell, a freshman ma
joring in psychology. However, Gosnell said she was
also concerned about the closing of the dining hall.
“If teachers expect us to attend these (presenta
tions) , how can we attend them hungry?” said Tonya
Vess, a freshman.
“I know there was some concern about the cafeteria
being closed,” said Kathy Whatley, professor of
physics and director of the Undergraduate Research
Program. “People who are in the dorms who are
either volury;eering to help with the conference or
attending sessions will be provided for. We’re still
working out the details.”
Whatley also said the days NCUR is taking place
were not included in the meal plans for students.
“A lot of people are saying ‘I paid for these meals
and I’m not getting them,’ and that’s not true,” she
said.
Another concern of students is requirement by
some professors to attend NCUR presentations.
“My education class requires me to go to a session of
NCUR and write up a paper for 25 points of my
grade,” said Melissa King, a sophomore majoring in
biology with teacher certification. “Another section
of the same class gets extra credit if they go to a
session.”
“I heard that every professor is supposed to make it
part of their syllabus for students to attend a session
to show support for NCUR, but obviously that
didn’t get across to every professor,” said King.
Several students, who wished to remain unidenti-
CONFERENCE conf. on pg.9
UNCA growth minimal, not eligible for more funding, study finds
Susan Sertain
Staff Writer
An April 12 study approved by the University of
North Carolina Board of Governors included an
assessment of the current method of distribution of
operating funds across UNC’s 16 campuses.
The study indicates that there are five institu
tions, based upon the criteria that the consulting
firm and the general administration agreed upon,
who appear to be significantly underfunded, said
Arthur Foley, vice chancellor for financial affairs at
UNCA.
“Those five universities had experienced signifi
cant enrollment growth over the past 10 years.
UNCA was not one of those five,” he said.
Even though UNCA seems to have more stu
dents now with the need for larger dining hall,
sports facility and more dorms, the UNCA Fact
Book reveals there has not been a significant in
crease in enrollment compared to those five insti
tutions, he said.
“UNCA was not one of the five campuses iden
tified as eligible for equity adjustment,” said Joni
Worthington, assistant vice president for commu
nications for UNC general administration.
“This was only phase one of a two-part study,”
said Worthington. “We aren’t saying that any
campus has more funding than it needs.”
The effect that this report will have on UNCA is
not known. “At this point it is only a study,” said
Thomas Cochran, vice chancellor for academic
affairs. “We had hoped that this could be a real
opportunity for us to get some improved funding
and it still may be. We haven’t lost hope.”
This report is the result of a legislative mandate
for a study on different means of funding the state
institutions. This became known as the Equity
Funding Report, said Cochran.
Kent Caruthers of MGT of America, Inc., was
retained by UNC general administration after the
special provision was adopted in the 1995 session
of the North Carolina General Assembly.
“The consulting firm was hired to assess the 16
STUDY cont. on pg.8