The University of North Carolina at Asheville
WWW.unca.edu/baiutter
Volume 28 Issue 4
September 24, 1998
Budget shortfall threatens adjuncts again
By Nicole Miller
Copy Editor
UNCA faces another cut in adjunct fac
ulty this spring due to a budget shortfall,
leaving faculty members uncertain and
concerned after Associate Vice Chancellor
of Academic Affairs Tom Cochran’s as
surance last spring that these cuts would
not happen again (“Adjunct positions cut,”
Feb. 5, 1998).
“We have some money for adjuncts, but
compared to last year, we have about
$100,000 less,” said Cochran.
According to Cochran, an unanticipated
rise in the number of student credit hours
this fall created a last minute need to hire
more adjuncts to teach the extra courses.
“We didn’t have any inclination that we
were going to be facing anything like this,”
Cochran said. He added that, although
administrators were aware that there was
not enough dorm space for students, they
did not see any reason to think they would
be facing an enrollment crisis.
Because the university had not planned
for the increase, and was not aware of it
until late July, part of the adjunct salary
budget for next semester was pulled to use
this fall.
Unlike the adjunct cuts last spring, which
were due a lack of funding that stemmed
from the state legislature’s delayed 1997
budget report, this spring’s cuts will not
have a severe impact on students, said Lisa
Friedenberg, chair and professor of psy
chology.
Last spring, several students panicked
because courses that they needed for gradu
ation had been cut, Friedenberg said.
“The good news is we identified the prob
lem earlier this year and were able to make
schedule changes before they directly im
pacted students,” said Friedenberg.
Due to the loss of adjuncts, many full
time faculty members will lose the depart
mentally-awarded reassigned time that they
had planned for next semester because they
will have to teach courses that the adjuncts
would have taught. Reassigned time is
awarded to faculty members in the form of
a lighter teaching load.
Faculty may take a course off in a given
semester in order to do research, partici
pate in service projects, work on curricu
lum, and do other education-related work.
UNCA’s current policy for reassigned
time has been in place for the last 12 years,
said Bruce Larson, chair and professor of
economics. He said that, in recent years,
administrators had been discussing reevalu
ating the policy, but had not taken any
measures yet. The severity of the adjunct
cut situation may have been reduced if the
reassignment policy had been revised prior
to now, said Larson.
With reassigned time, Downes said that
“faculty are doing things to improve their
ability to teach at this institution.”
Although loss of reassigned time is a con
cern for many faculty members, they are
also concerned about the loss of some of
their colleagues.
“I think that looms larger in faculty minds,
or at least as large as losing their own
reassigned time. I think that we regret the
See ADJUNCTS page 10
Parking still
a problem
Shortages persist^ tensions grow
By John Startler
staff Writer
A lack of parking spaces on the
UNCA campus is causing frustra
tion for students and the Public
Safety Department.
“We’re living with a crunch,” said
UNCA Director of Public Safety
Dennis Gregory. “We need about
20 to 30 additional spaces.”
The worst time for parking is mid
day from approximately 10:45 a.m.
to 1 p.m. “I think a big part of it is
class scheduling,” said Gregory.
I “Probably, it’s a lot of humanities
programs, which is our biggest pro
gram, plus the college for seniors
has a program at 11 a.m.. We just
have a lot more folks on campus at
that time than we normally would
jhave.”
“When I show up around 11 a.m.
I usually have a problem getting
in,” said Sean Senders, a senior
philosophy major.
Despite the shortage of parking
spaces, Greogry said that most stu
dents are still attempting to comply
with parking rules and avoid viola
tions.
“We’re very fortunate. Most of
our students at UNCA try to live by
the parking rules,” said Gregory.
“But when lots are full, students
have to improvise. Students who
are unable to find spaces are forced
to park illegally and risk being tick
eted. They end up parking any
where they can, including faculty/
staff lots or grassy areas. On an
average day, anywhere from 10 to
50 tickets are issued.”
Gray Caudill, an undeclared jun
ior, said he makes an effort to get to
campus early in order to find a
space. “I have to get here 30 to 45
minutes early everyday and drive
around,” he said. “Sometimes I find
one right away, but most of the
time it takes a while.” Caudill said
there have been several times when
he parked illegally in order to make
it to class.
“Sometimes I park in faculty park
ing and just move my car between
classes,” Caudill said. Last year
Caudill lived on campus and still
had over $100 in parking viola
tions.
Because of the parking problem,
public safety stops issuing tickets at
certain times. “On Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday at about
10:30 a.m., when every space is
full, we stop ticketing,” said Gre
gory. “We feel it is just unfair if
there are no spaces.”
Gregory said that public safety
officers only stop ticketing after
they have checked all the lots, in
cluding the overflow lots on Divi
sion Street and at the Covenant
Reformed Presbyterian Church on
Edgewood Road, to make sure that
no spots are available.
“We make a distinction between
convenient parking and no park
ing,” Gregorysaid. “Ifyou’re parked
illegally just for convenience, we’re
going to ticket you.” Students
should make every effort to find a
space before they risk a ticket, said
Gregory.
Gregory said he is worried that
not ticketing students at peak park
ing times may lead students to be
lieve that public safety is inconsis
tent in the ticketing process.
“One of the goals we set a couple
of years ago was to try to be consis
tent,” Gregory said. “1 hate to say
that we’re not going to give a ticket,
but basically that is what it is. You
can’t feel good about giving a per
son a ticket if there is no place to
park.”
Students’ reactions to the parking
problem are mixed, but most said
that at midday it is difficult to find
a spot. Students that have early
See SHORTAGE page 10
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Students often resort to Illegal parking when there are no legal spaces available. Public safety stops ticketing when all of
the parking lots are completely full.
SGA and public safety confront parking crisis
By Samantha Hartmann
staff Writer
UNCA’s Student Government
Association plans to work with
the Public Safety Department
this year to more effectively ad
dress student parking concerns.
“We have opened up communi
cations with pubhc safety,” said
Alphonso Donaldson, president
of SGA. “We participated in a
forum with public safety to dis
cuss student concerns.”
Steven Gucciardi, a senior en
vironmental studies and natural
resource management major.
said if SGA was successful in rem
edying some of the campus park
ing problems, they might be able
to make people more aware of
their accomplishments.
“So far, it does not seem like they
have been able to do very much,”
said Gucciardi. “An effective
change might legitimize their ex
istence.”
Jason Allen, a senior teaching
certification drama major, said he
is not sure how successful SGA
and public safety will be in work
ing together. “SGA, in and of it
self, does not have that much
power,” said Allen. “They can
present what they want to the ad
ministration, but there is not much
they can actually do on theirown.”
Donaldson said he and other
members of SGA have discussed a
walking tour of campus to deter
mine sources of alternative park
ing. “We are trying to find auxil
iary parking to ease the tension,”
said Donaldson. “Hopefully, this
will help until the new parking
deck is completed.”
According to Donaldson, the
walking tour will consist of stu
dent government representatives,
members of the parking appeals
committee. Vice Chancellor of Stu
dent Affairs Eric lovacchini, and
any students who would like to
participate.
“We thought we would start (the
walking tour) by Mills Hall, go
straight back toward the village,
and loop around,” said
Donaldson. “This will give us a
good idea of what we have to
work with, and whether or not
there is something we’ve been
missing.”
Allen said he does not see how
SGA is going to change the effec
tiveness of parking until more
spaces are developed.
“There was a cartoon printed in
The Banner last year with a guy in
a monster truck driving over a
bunch of cars,” said Allen. “The
See SGA page 9
Change to third shift forces housekeepers to quit
By Sara Jones
staff Writer
June 1 marked a change in the lives of
Itnost UNCA housekeepers due to a sched-
|iile shift.
To the dismay of many who previously
[worked the first shift housekeeping, from 5
la.m. to 1:30 p.m., the schedule change
Inow requires them to work third shift,
Ifrom 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
1 “They kept talking around and about it.
iThey held it over our heads for a year,” said
Donna Chandler, a previous employee.
She said the housekeepers were led to be
lieve that they would have a chance to bid
on the shifts, and that six or seven house
keepers would stay on second shift, but
that was not the case.
“I was told to my face, I either worked
third or go home. They didn’t even give us
a choice,” said Chandler.
Four housekeepers were kept during the
days, two working each shift, to help with
unplanned-for needs that arise at times,
said Steven Baxley, director of facilities
management.
Salaries were increased by 10 percent when
the change occurred, said Baxley. But the
extra money was not enough incentive for
some.
Chandler said that she and at least two
others, Jim Teague and Linda Davis, quit
because of the change.
“I worked third long enough to find an
other job. It doesn’t pay enough, but at
least it’s days,” said Chandler.
James Ramsey, who has been a house
keeper at UNCA for five years, expects that
five or six more will quit because it is too
much of a change.
“It’s turned my life upside down,” said
Ramsey, who works a second job during
the day. Though he doesn’t get much sleep,
he says he will wait to see if they will change
the shifts back before he looks for another
job.
George Rice, supervisor of housekeeping
in housing and Highsmith, sympathizes
with those who now have to work nights.
His schedule did not change, as housing
and Highsmith cleaning is controlled by
housing, but he knows what such an alter
ation of a lifestyle entails.
“If you’ve worked first shift for years, and
then you have to go to second, it’s a big, big
change in your life,” said Rice. “I would be
a little reluctant, and I would work it, but
I’d be looking for a better job with hours I
could deal with, due to the fact of my other
commitments with other jobs,” he said.
Most of the housekeepers have families
and second jobs that make it hard to just
turn their days upside down. Rice said.
Chandler, for example, has a handicapped
son she can’t leave overnight, she said.
The cleaners are not the orily ones who
think the change was unkind, if not unfair.
Students also expressed concern about the
shift change.
See THIRD page 10