The University of North Carolina at Asheville
www.unca.edu/banhcr
H
Volume 27 Issue 1
January 22, 1998
ch Local phone fees may increase in near future
first grad(
Itoaschoo
said,
and I’m
cudents;
with i
Weld’s Lan
Experiena
I continua
nunity set
>g Day ii
ished win
an at thi
nter facili
to Hillcresi
y with th(
the studen
est thing 1
Ifield said,
different a
J be parti(
las party,
ertain spa
good idea
lurchase
, as studen
sity mustdi
m buying
ter than tb
ng a cheap
students
ave. Mass
H
est
ic
d
>ck
ihip
1
>225
By Amanda Thorn
Copy Editor
Students that currently use the on-cam-
pus local phone service from Bell South
may see an increase in their telephone bills.
“The dial tone charge may be increased
because UNCA is losing money on that
charge vs. what we have to pay BellSouth,”
said Mike Small, bookstore manager, who
oversees the phone and voice mail systems.
“With what BellSouth charges on a 12
month usage and the revenue UNCA gets
from students on a nine month year, the
student charge is not covering the BellSouth
costs,” Small said.
The dial tone charge is currently $16 a
month per line.
According to Small, AT&T is not raising
their long-distance rates, students using
AT&T will still receive their discounts
every month.
“AT&T ACUS actually lowered their rates
to students under the AT&T ACUS pro
gram,” he said. “Effective last August, at
the beginning of the fall semester, AT&T
ACUS customers were being charged 15
cents a minute for domestic long distance
calls.
“The change to 15 cents a minute in
August increased the discount off regular
rates to AT&T ACUS customers,” Small
said.
Small thinks there is confusion among
students about local service and dial tone
service.
“The local service is provided by BellSouth
and provides the student hook-up and dial
tone for $16 a month per phone line. Long
distance is provided by AT&T which is an
optional feature of the phone systeiri and
phone contract even though the rates are
attractive,” Small said.
“As stated in the phone contract, students
are not required to use AT&T ACUS, even
if the telephone contract is signed,” Small
said.
One feature provided by the university
that students do not have a choice about is
the voice mail system that will go into effect
next month.
“I think it is odd that a program that
nearly half the resident students did not
want is going into effect anyway,” said
Alphonso Donaldson, SGA junior senator,
who conducted a residential student survey
about voice mail last year.
In Donaldson’s survey, 404 students op
posed voice mail, while 124 were in favor of
the system.
Small feels that students using voice mail
would be beneficial to the campus, as well
as to the students.
“We bought a voice mail system large
enough to include students, and, to me, it
would be a waste of the software and all this
See Phone on Page 10
G)mi repairs nearing completion
Ilf/
z.
PHOTO BY PRESTON GANNAWAY
Many UNCA students are
By Greg Sessoms
staff Writer
The bowing glass, warped floors,
and leaking roof which plagued
the $6 million addition to the
justice Center last semester have
been repaired, according to uni
versity officials.
All four racquetball courts,
dosed last semester due to struc
tural problems, are now in opera
tion. Cracks that developed in
the sheet rock in the lobby were
also fixed over the holiday break.
“It has all been done,” said
-aggie Smith, facilities manager
for the center. “Any facility that s
600,000 square feet is going to
have a couple of problems.
“We are ahead of the game right
now.”
disturbed by broken equipment
The repairs were made under
warranty by the facilities contrac
tor, L.P. Cox.
In addition, the contractor and
architects involved in the con
struction ofthe facility performed
a “one-year walk around” on Dec.
31 todeterminehowthebuilding
has settled and troubleshoot for
problems which loay have previ
ously been overlooked.
According to Ronald Reagan,
director of facilities planning, no
major problems were discovered
during the inspection.
One piece ofweightliftingequip
ment, a pull-over machine, re
mains inoperable due to a broken
weld which occurred last semes
ter. Most ofthe equipment in the
weight room was purchased from
Universal Gym Equipment at a
cost of around $100,000. Uni
versal provided a warranty for the
equipment, but declared bank-
in the weight room. Repairs should be made by Friday.
ruptcy and is not honoring the
warranty.
“One of the problems we are
having is that Universal filed
Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] last
year, and what we are waiting for
is them to come out of Chapter
11,” said Smith.
In the meantime, UNCA facili
ties management personnel are
providing the labor to maintain
the equipment. Money needed
for spare parts is coining out of
the athletic center’s operating
budget.
Smith said that she is keeping
track of the costs incurred from
in-house repair of the weight
room equipment so that money
may be recovered if Universal
emerges from its current finan
cial troubles.
“If I need to buy a piece [of
equipment] such as a bolt, a screw,
what have you, that needs replac
ing, then I will take care of that
expense, but will also document
it to bill to Universal,” said Smith.
“We havekept track of any hours
that our staff or facilities man
agement staff spends in that
room.”
Students who use the weight
equipment are frustrated by the
length of time it has taken to fix
the inoperable pull-over ina
chine. “I think it is pretty ridicu
lous that we pay our fees for our
equipment to work properly, and
then it not work,” said Eric
Fehlman, a senior sociology ma
jot. “Its been broken the whole
year it seems like, and it is ridicu
lous that they will not get any
body in here to fix it.”
Smith said that the broken pull
over machine should be fixed by
Friday. “I would not want to see
any piece of equipment down
for more than a couple ofweeks.
Professors
call for
Afrocentric
city school
By Chris Brooker
News Editor
Brian Castle
Editor-in-Cfiief
Two UNCA professors are push
ing for further investigation into
the idea of establishing an African-
American theme school in the
Asheville area.
Dwight Mullen, department chair
and associate professor of political
science, and Dollyjenkins-Mullen,
lecturer in political science, served
on an Asheville City Schools task
force seeking to improve student
achievement in the city schools.
The city school system organized
the 100-member task force in re
sponse to North Carolina Gover
nor Jim Hunt’s concern about the
flagging academic performance of
the states primary and secondary
students.
The task force consisted of five
committees, and the Mullen’s
served on the dropout prevention
committee.
One stiggestion that the commit
tee found to warraiu further inves
tigation was the idea of establishing
an Afrocentric school.
“We have an overwhelming num
ber of African-American students
here in Asheville who are falling
prey to the system,” said Jenkins-
Mullen. “We think the problem is
severe enough to probably warrant
something as dramatic as a whole
new school.”
The Mullen’s are particularly con
cerned about the low retention rate
of African-American students at
Dwight Mullen
Asheville High School. Statistics
show that of the 1994-95 Asheville
High freshman class (the current
class of seniors)", 70 of the original
197 (36 percent) African-Ameri
can students made it to their senior
year at Asheville High, compared
to 148 out of 215 (68 percent)
whi te students and students ofother
races. African-Americans in the
Asheville High class of 1998 have
seen their
numbers di
minish from
48 percent of
the class to 32
percent.
African-
American stu
dents at
Asheville High
also scored
lower than
their white classmates on standard
ized tests.
In 1996, the average Scholastic
Aptftude Test (SAT) score of
Asheville High African-American
students was 840, as compared to
an average score of 1018 among
white students.
The Mullen’s propose that an
Afrocentric school would help curb
the high dropout rate and improve
the low standardized test scores
com toon among local African-
American students.
Sandra Byrd, lecturer in educa
tion, also served on the student
achievement task force. She said
that the task force will propose sys
tem-wide changes designed in part
to improve African-American stu-
See SCHOOLS on Page 8
New student organization GRASPs UNCA
By Catharine Sutherland
Contributing Writer
A push for student activism at UNCA
surfaced this week in the form of posters,
flyers, and “guerrilla theater” presentations
advertising GRASP UNCA, a new move
ment aimed at bringing together students
of diverse backgrounds and beliefs to dis
cuss and take action on real world issues.
grasp, or Grassroots Revolution Achieved
by Student Power, plans to hold its first
discussion forum Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. in the
Highsmith Center lounge.
“The goal of this project is to start a
network of campus activists,” said Randy
Williams, sophomore philosophy major
and one of the group’s founders. “The
group that is organizing this event is not a
new organization. We are a conglomerate
of people from every activist group on
campus.”
Williams defined activist groups as those
whose members use their power to change
the world from what it is to what they
believe it should be. Organizations such as
the African American Student Association
(AASA), the Ecology Club, Reformed
University Fellowship (RUF), and Women
Act in Liberation (WAIL), as well as many
non-affiliated individuals, have already
committed to participate in GRASP:
Despite its classification as North
Carolina’s only public liberal arts college,
many students and faculty members feel
that UNCA ranks far too low when it
comes to student activism.
“Is there student activism on our campus
at UNCA?” said adjunct history professor
Ken Banks.
“I know of a few groups doing some very
good work, but they are not, at least to me,
very visible,” he said.
“I am not quite sure what activism is,”
said sophomore psychology major Lee
WTriteside, voicing an uncertainty that may
be common among UNCA students.
“Student activism is students getting in
volved toward the end of furthering causes
they believe in,” said Toby Prosky, junior
philosophy major and GRASP activist.
“Students have a unique position, due to
the vast bank of ideas to which they are
exposed, their often-privileged positions,
and alternative necessary concerns, to af
fect societal change. They must take a more
active role,” Prosky said.
Dolly Jenkins-Mullen, chair and associ
ate professor of political science, strongly
supports the goals of GRASP.
“College is a time in your life when you
can mesh social activism with your intellec
tual growth. You are in a sea of knowledge.
WTiy not go out and tell folks what you
have learned and what you think? Why not
organize? I think it is healthy. I encourage
it,” Jenkins-Mullen said.
Jenkins-Mullen referred to the activism
of her own college and graduate school
years, in which she and her classmates
petitioned state government and univer
sity administration, among others, for
change.
“We were busy,” she said. However,
Jenkins-Mullen feels UNCA’s lackoftake-
to-the-streets activism may not be entirely
reflective studen t apathy, but of a change in
the way youths choose to express them
selves.
“There is largely a public mood that the
See ACTIVISM on Page 8