The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Volume 25 , Number 19
February 20,1997
NEWS
BRIEFS
ti
JJ
Discussion of
religion in
Angels
Two UNCA student religious organi
zations, the Latter-day Saints Associa
tion and the Jewish Student Organiza
tion, will sponsor a lecture on Mormon
andjewish themes in theTony Kushner
play “Angels in America.” on Feb. 21.
Michael Evenden, chair of the depart
ment of theater smdies at Emory Uni
versity, will speak on “Religion and
PoliticalProgress in‘Angels in America’.”
The UNCA Theatre production of
Kushener’s work will continue at the
Carol Belk Theatre until Feb. 23. The
lecture, followed by a discussion, is free
• andopentothepublic,andwillbegin at
4 p.m.
Piano recital
Pianist Deborah Belcher, an adjunct
faculty member with UNCA’s music
department, will perform at 4 p.m.
on Sunday, Feb. 23 in Lipinsky Hall
018. Included in the recital are works
by Haydn, Chopin, Schumann ,and
Prokofiev. Admission is free.
“Big Yellow”
search engine
NYNEX, a communications cor
poration, created an online job
search site for college students nearly
a year ago, and more than one mil
lion visitors access the web site
(www.bigyellow.com) each month.
The site, known as Big Yellow, has
a database that includes 16 million
businesses across the country, cat
egorized by business type. Students
can use a search engine to locate the
type of business they want to target
by location, file a resume with the
JobBank, or access listings for em
ployment services across the coun-
try-
Dale Wachowiak, director of the
UNCA Career Center, said the Ca
reer Center’s home page
(www.unca.edu./career/) has links to
many other online job search sites as
well. “I think it is very valuable to
learn the methodology, and I think
there are some valuable job connec
tions,” Wachowiak said. “People are
having alot ofluck using the Internet
as a networking tool. Ifyou can target
geographic regions or specific com
panies, you can often get valuable
information.”
Behind-the-scenes
industries tour
New jobs, plant openings, and
economic opportunity will be the
focus of a Behind-the-Scenes tour
of Buncombe County businesses
and industries. The day-long tour
will feature speakers and site visits.
The Center for Creative Retire
ment is sponsoring the tour on Feb.
22. Advance registration is required.
The tour will cost $40, including
transportation and lunch, and is
open to people of all ages. For in
formation and to register, call the
Center for Creative Retirement at
251-6140.
Corrections
In the Feb. 13 edition of The Ban
ner, in a story r^arding the suspen
sion of smdents from the gym, Steve
Comish, themen’sheadsoccer coach,
was incorrectly identified as the per
son who contaaed campus security
in the incident.
Also in last week’s edition, a public
service announcement incorrecdy
stated that the UNCA track teams
would compete at the UNCA High
School Invitational on Feb. 14.
UNCA hosted the event.
The Banner regrets these errors.
Theta Chi returns
Philadanco helps UNCA celebrate
African-American History Month
By Stephanie Hunter
staff Writer
Nina East
The spring 1997 semester marks
a new beginning for one of
UNCA’s fra
ternities. After
a probation
period of ap
proximately
five years,
Theta Chi re
turns to
UNCA’s cam
pus,
Theta Chi’s
probation
sentence
banned the
fraternity from recognition by the
university, and the university also
banned the fraternity from any
involvement in campus functions,
said Richard Reed, a senior me
teorology major and member of
Theta Chi.
“There were several processes
that we had to go through to get
back on (campus),” said Reed.
“Basically, we had to serve out
most of our probation sentence.”
The original incident that led to
the fraternity’s probation had to
do with a racial slur communi
cated by a fraternity member, and
the fraternity accepted responsi-
bility for this, said Nina East,
director of student development.
This incident occurred at a
UNCA basketball game in 1992.
Two African American students
saw a member of Theta Chi wear
ing a hat with two racial slurs
written on it.
As a result, the fraternity re
ceived an 18-month social proba
tion, said Sam Jones, a senior
political science major and vice-
president of Theta Chi.
This incident attached a racist
image to Theta Chi, said Jones.
Another activity led to the com
plete removal of the fraternity
from the UNCA campus for five
years, said East.
This activity occurred after the
campus administration had prom
ised to have the Greek letters of
UNCA’s fraternities and sorori
ties painted on University Heights
coming off of W.T. Weaver Bou
levard.
The administration found out
later that these letters had to be
painted over because a city ordi
nance called for the removal of
these letters.
“Those letters were not painted
over at the time they had said they
would be,” said Jones.
Campus administration hired
students to paint over the letters,
and they did so around 11:30 at
night, said Jones. “There is a ra
cial stigmatism attached to the
incident,” said Jones. “Two of the
students hired to paint over the
letters belonged to the African
American Student Association.
Representatives from all the fra
ternities were there, but one of
our members was involved in a
confrontation with those two stu
dents,” said Jones.
“We never construed ourselves
as a racist organization, even
though we do take responsibility
for one of our members having,
acted in that way,” said Jones.
“We’ve made efforts with the
African American community on
campus, as well as other groups,
to educate our members on racial
tensions and racial issues. We’ve
made it a direct effort to integrate
the fraternity, and in doing so, .
See FRATERNITY page 8
PHOTO BY DEBORAH BOARDMAN
Philadanco, Philadelphia’s modern dance company,
will perform at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Feb. 25.
See story on page 4.
Book co-op attempts to save students mon^
By Chanse Simpson
staff Writer
In response to retail prices on
text books, a group of UNCA
students took matters into their
own hands this semester, and the
results could likely mark a long
term change in the way books are
bought and sold on campus.
‘You go to any college book
store and their prices are going to
be just like our prices,” Student
Government Association Presi
dent Sergio Mariaca said. “Col
lege books are expensive any
where.
“Fortunately, a lot of schools
have co-ops that save students
money.”
It was last year that Mariaca and
Tiffany Drummond, president
of UNCA’s delegation to the N.C.
Student Legislature, began dis
cussing the possibility of their re
spective organizations creating a
student book co-op. The idea was
to design a system in which stu
dents could sell used books to
each other rather than the book
store.
This would not only create a
centralized resource of books,
Mariaca and Drummond said, but
it would also allow students to
buy those same books at a cheaper
price.
“Students are
saving themselves
money and help
ing each other out
at the same time,”
Drummond said.
“We’re all bond
ing together
against the book
store.”
Last summer Mariaca went to
Asheville-Buncombe Technical
College to examine its manage
ment club’s existing book co-op.
Organizers with A-B Tech’s co
op allowed Mariaca to copy their
cash-handling system and operat
ing procedures.
Here’s how it works: Students
bring in books they want to sell,
fill out administrative contracts
with the co-op, and list their de
sired price inside the front cover.
The book is then placed with
others and classified by subjects
so that prospective buyers can
browse through the stacks.
When a purchase is made, the
co-op creates record of the trans
action and places money into a
“Textbooks are costly. We can’t do
much about that fact. But I do see
this co-op as one way to make used
books cheaper.”
were quick to offer their praise to
book store manager Mike Small
for his role in helping students
establish the co-op.
Though it caused direct compe
tition in the same building, Small
helped co-op organizers by pro
viding them with information on
which specific books teachers
planned to
use this se-
Mike Small, bookstore manager
special university account. At the
end of the book sale period, gen
erally a week or two into the be
ginning of the semester, co-op
organizers mail checks to students
for the books that sold. The co
op keeps 15 percent of sales
money to serve as a fund-raiser
for the organizations staffing the
co-op.
Both Drummond and Mariaca
“The bot
tom line is
the benefit to
students,
^ whether it’s
* something
the book
store does or the co-op,” Small
said. “Text books are costly. We
can’t do much about that fact.
But I do see this co-op as one way
to make used books cheaper.”
Initially, Drummond said, many
students were confused about the
way the co-op worked and ex
pected money for their books up
front, the way wholesalers pay
when they buy used books. By
the end, however, people began
to realize how the system worked.
“It took people a little while to
understand it,” Drummond said.
“We referred to it as a consign
ment shop so that people would
begin to understand that they are
not selling their books to us.
They’re selling them to other
people.”
In this first semester,
Drummond and Mariaca said
that “several hundred” commut
ers and residents participated in
the co-op with about $2,500
changing hands between stu
dents. Although organizers ad
mit the program has not impacted
the overall student population
yet, they readily embrace the pros
pect of a new permanent co-op
on campus.
“The book co-op saves people
money and takes the hassle out of
it,” Mariaca said. “We hope the
mind-frame is for students to
think about the co-op first, and
then go to the bookstore.”
See BOOKS page 8
Women's coach suspended
PHOTO BY MICHAEL TAYLOR
Coach Ray Ingram (left) is seen here coaching members of
the 1995-96 women’s basketball team.
By Jennifer Thurston
Managing Editor
Ray Ingram, UNCA’s head
women’s basketball coach, was sus
pended until further notice on Feb.
17, according to Merianne Epstein,
director of public information. State
law prevents the university from re
vealing the reason for the suspension.
However, the Asheville Citizen-
Times reported on Feb. 19 that two
university sources said the suspen
sion arose from a disagreement be
tween Ingram and one of his players.
When asked whether a charge of
sexual harassment stemmed from the
disagreement, Epstein said, “The law
is so clear we have no choice about
not being able to release personnel
matters. The law does not allow you
to confirm a charge of sexual harass
ment or deny one.”
Chancellor Patsy Reed made the
final decision about Ingram’s suspen
sion, Epstein said.
Two assistant coaches are taking
over Ingram’s responsibilities in his
absence. Basketball practice wasclosed
yesterday and a Banner reporter was
asked to leave the practice area.
The campus public safety depart
ment was notified of the susp>ension
on Feb. 17 as part of normal univer
sity procedures. On Feb. 18, a cam
pus officer escorted Ingram from his
office to his car without incident, said
Public Safety Officer Bruce Martin.
Ingram is not allowed to return to
the university while the suspension is
in effect. No reason for the suspen
sion was given to campus security
other than personnel matters, Martin
said.
The personnel files of state employ
ees are closed under N.C. state statute
126-22. Only the employee, the
employee’s supervisor, the General
Assembly, or an official of the federal
government can access the files with
out a court order.
Kevin Davis, a senior majoring in
economics and history, agreed with
the intentions of the statute. “For
privacy’s sake I can understand (the
law) when it’s for something such as
this, Davis said. “In this case with
Coach Ingram, I think a privacy stat
ute is agood thing. Ifyou putyourself
in that situation, privacy is the best
way to go.”
Kenya Smith, a freshman biology
student, disagreed. “We’re students
of this campus and support the uni
versity and we should know what’s
going on,” Smith said. “They control
what we know and don’t know, even
what’s going on right under our
noses.”
All calls to the athletics department
r^arding the suspension were re
ferred directly to Epstein.
Members of the women’s basketball
team were contacted and declined to
comment.
Ingram could not be reached for
comment.
Chanse Simpson, Kyle S. Phipps, and
Michael Taylor contributed to this re
port.