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Volume 28 Issue 6
October 8, 1998
Center in search
of creative funds
By Samantha Hartmann
Staff Writer
Despite recommendations
from a New-York based con
sulting firm to drop The
North Carolina Center for
Creative Retirement’s new
building from UNCA’s
fundraising campaign, UNCA
has opted to include rbc build
ing in its fundraising efforts.
“We are working as hard as
we can to include the center
in this comprehensive cam
paign because it is so impor
tant to everybody,” said Alex
Comfort, assistant vice chan
cellor for development.
In the fundraising campaign
study completed in the fall of
1997, the consulting firm rec
ommended that funding for
the new building be dropped
to allow the university to place
“greater focus on the most
compellingand urgent priori
ties for private support,” said
the firm’s report.
According to Ronald
Manheimer, director of the
North Carolina Center for
Creative Retirement, the sug
gestion to exclude the center
from fundraising efforts was
rejected by most of the cam
pus. “The consultants simply
did not know how much sup
port there would be,” said
Manheimer.
UNCA’s first major
fundraising campaign, which
is expected to be in its “quiet
phase” through the beginning
of next year, includes a $2.5
million campaign objective to
help with the cost of a new
building for the center, which
will be near Division Street
on the north side of campus.
“We are looking at what it is
going to cost to build a very
modest initial building,” said
Manheimer. “The trustees of
the university have identified
a piece of property we could
use for a building if we raise
the money for it.”
The center has hirctl an ar
chitect to do a preliminary
study of the property. “We
will probably have a render
ing of the building and a site
plan in early November,” said
Manheimer. “There will be a
report for environmental im
pact.”
Comfort said an actual draw
ing of the proposed building
would strengthen the center’s
fundraising efforts. “If you
were a donor, you would want
to know where the building
was going to be, what it was
going to look like, and what
you were going to do with it,”
said Comfort. “Before you tell
the public what you are do
ing, you need to be sure of
what you’re talking about.”
The center is presently
housed in Carmichael,
Rhoades, and Robinson Halls.
One of the imrhediate con
cerns is lack of space. The
College for Seniors, one of the
programs offered by the cen
ter, “is in a different place
because the university does
not have one area where we
can all fit,” said Tina
Schwartz, secretary for the
center.
“We are trying to put up a
new building to give the space
we are presently using back to
the university,” said Bob
Mayer, a member of the Col
lege for Seniors and a class
representative. “My under
standing is we are going out
and soliciting funds on our
own. There are several fall
back positions, such as rent
ing out space, that would help
support the building. It all
dependson how much m()iie\-
we can raise,” said Schwartz.
“It is just a question of fund
ing. When the bookstore has
to put tarps up to keep the
water from dripping on the
books, obviously (the
university’s) first priority for
funding cannot be the Center
for Creative Retirement,” she
said.
According to Comfort, the
university has to find signifi
cant up-front funding during
the quiet phase in order to
proceed.
“First, you need to bring in
somebody from the outside to
do a feasibility study,” said
Comfort. “We wanted a na
tional firm that really knew
the public liberal arts scene.
Basically, you get all the people
who make up the biggest po
tential for major gifts, and you
have them talk to consultants
on a confidential basis.”
Comfort said the university
has a positive outlook for
fundraising efforts, but at the
same time they have to be very
careful.
“If you check with other
schools, you will find that 95
See CENTER page 9
Monitoring UNCA
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
UNC-TV was on campus filming two episodes of “Black Issues Forum” on Oct. 1. The forum is a
public affairs program that deals with racial issues.
Academic honor code draft again debated
By Mat Peery
Staff Writer
An academic honor code for
UNCA may be a possibility in the
near future, as SGA prepares to
send a draft of the new policy to
faculty members for review.
Currently, UNCA has no unified
honor code, and that troubles some
people who want UNCA to be
looked upon as an equal with
schools who have honor codes, and
who want clarification of the cur
rent academic honesty policy.
“I would like to see something like
(an honor code) established,” said
Eric lovacchini, vice chancellor for
student affairs. “Many, many fine
institutions have them."
lovacchini said he knows that
honor codes are controversial, but
“as the kind of institution we are,
it’s consistent with our mission and
what we are trying to do academi
cally.”
Some faculty members also favor
the implementation of an honor
code.
Ileana Grams, associate professor
of philosophy, said that during her
three years as faculty conciliator.
“things came to light that made it
clear to me that there needed to be
ways to censure students for aca
demic misconduct.
Grams cited a lack of a unified
policy as a reason that many cases of
academic dishonest)' have been dif
ficult to resolve.
“It does seem to me that we need
a uniform policy on plagiarism and
other kinds of student academic
misconduct, and we need the policy
to take those kinds of academic
misconduct seriously,” said Grams.
Grams said that she felt such a
policy would also assist in defining
the process regarding academic dis
honesty. “Students are just seriously
confused about what level of evi
dence is needed, about on whom
the burden of proof should rest,
and about whose rights need to be
considered. ”
“1 think that the current climate is
not a very good one for people to
learn to take real responsibility for
their own behavior, which is at the
heart of the idea of honor,” Gram';
said. “I think that one way we can
work toward (educating students
about honor and their responsibili
ties) is to have students involved in
making up the code of conduct and
enforcing the code of conduct, and
also in teaching students about the
code of conduct. ”
The university currently has a
policT on ‘ academic honc-st\' that
gives guidelines for the process,
should a c]uestion about academic
dishonesty arise.
“There is something in the catalog
that does go through a very kind of
abbreviated procedure, but not ver)'
clear-cut and well defined," said
Irene Rossell, assistant professor of
environmental studies.
Last February, Doug jones, then
residential senator, introduced a
resolution to SGA that called for a
draft copy of an honor code to be
brought before the faculty senate.
The resolution cited the need for a
code based upon the university’s
lack of one and said that ' such a
code would reinforce the philoso
phy ofthis liberal arr.s learniiigcom-
munity.”
The resolution also referred to
honor codes at “institutions we con
sider our peers” as representing “a
long-standing and strong tradition
of academic integrity. ”
jones said that, following the
resolution’s adoption by SGA, he
See HONOR page 10
Oversized ceramics
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Amy Desautel’s exhibit of smooth, organic ceramics
was displayed in Owen Hall until Oct. 6.
International studies adjusts
Minor may suffer, position added in professor's absence
By John Stanier
staff Writer
The study abroad program has a
new interim director, Pete Will
iams, director of housing and resi
dence life, to coordinate programs
while the current coordinator,
Heidi Kelley, associate professor of
sociology and director of interna
tional studies, is on medical leave.
Kelley’s responsibilities will be
delegated to other current faculty
members until her anticipated re
turn from medical leave at the end
of the spring 1999 semester.
Williams and UNCA’s Interna
tional Programs Advisory Commit
tee (IPAC), will maintain both the
study abroad and international stud
ies programs.
“Sometimes people aren’t really
clear on what she did exactly,” said
Melissa Himelein, associate profes
sor of psychology and chair of
IPAC. “The international programs
director actually has two responsi
bilities. One is an academic com
ponent, which means advising all
of the international studies minors
on campus. The other half of her
job, which actually took up more
than half of her job, was the study
abroad function.”
“Because she was so overworked
having both of those responsibili
ties, we had’ been moving in the
direction of hiring a study abroad
coordinator who would be under
her supervision down the road any
way,” said Himelein. “In a sense,
what has happened is that the posi
tion just got hired much more
quickly.”
Himelein said she believes that
UNCA students will benefit from
additional staffing in international
programs.
Most campuses do not combine
coordinating the academic and
study abroad aspects of an interna
tional studies program into one
position, said Himelein.
“Every other campus in the state
has separate people in those func
tions,” said Himelein. “No one else
expects one person to do both
things. There is an awareness that
we needed that, and it was just a
matter of finding the funding. This
forced the issue.”
Although a half-time cooridinator
has been hired to assist with the
program in Kelley’s absence, the
See ABROAD page 9