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April 22, 1999
UNCA ranks low
on employee pay
By Mike Bryant
Staff Writer
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A study published by the Chancellor’s
Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) shows
UNCA employees are some of the lowest
paid in the UNC system.
“The data compiled by UNC member
institutions earlier this year indicated that
SPA employees at UNCA ranked at or
near the bottom in all four categories of
data collected,” said Steve Honeycutt,
university budget officer.
As many as 300 employees are classified
as SPA at UNCA, according to Honeycutt
who also chairs the CSAC. Honeycutt
said SPA employees are those subject to
the Personnel Act of the State of North
Carolina.
“SPA employees do not include faculty
members or department directors and
aboveatUNCA,” Honeycutt said. “There
are approximately 550 permanent em
ployees at the university. This figure does
not include seasonal, part-time or tempo
rary employees. SPA employees makeup
over one-half of the work force at UNCA. ”
“In February 1999, the Human Re
sources directors of each of the UNC
institutions were asked to provide data as
to the average number of years experience,
average salary, percent below $25,000 and
the percent at or below the midpoint of
their salary range,” stated the April 12
newsletter from the CSAC for SPA em
ployees at each member school.
The average salary of a SPA employee at
UNCA is near the bottom in comparison
to positions at the other member institu
tions in the UNC system, according to the
published study.
rhe average salary for a SPA employee at
UNCA is approximately $24,589. Only
two other system schools. Western Caro
lina University and Fayetteville State Uni
versity (FSU), ranked lower than UNCA
in this category.
In addition, the study indicated that 94.9
percent of SPA employees at UNCA are at
or below the midpoint of their salary range.
This ranked last among all member insti
tutions in the UNC system.
Only FSU ranked lower than UNCA in
percent of SPA employees below an an
nual salary of $25,000. At UNCA, 66.7
percent are below the figure. This com
pares to 32 percent below the $25,000
salary at the highest-ranked institution.
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
The study revealed that SPA employees at
UNCA averaged eight years in number of
years of experience. Again, the university
was near the bottom in comparison to the
other schools in the UNC system.
The CSAC has submitted a proposal to
address these discrepancies for SPA em
ployees at UNCA as they compare within
the UNC system and the university, ac
cording to Honeycutt.
“The proposal seeks to establish a policy
for salary adjustments among existing SPA
employees and new hires at UNCA as
well,” said Honeycutt.
“There has been a recommendation made
to the chancellor regarding a new salary
plan for SPA employees at UNCA,”
Honeycutt said. “This recommendation
was made on Jan. 7 following the advisory
committee’s meeting on Dec. 17, 1998.”
Honeycutt said the design of the new
plan should eliminate or correct the ineq
uities in the present one.
“The new plan would place a higher
priority on total state service by weighing
it twice the amount of either education or
See PAY page 9
N
5ner
UNCA’s SPA employees compared to
other UNC- system schools
In February 1999, UNCA participated in a survey of the 16 UNC-system
schools to evaluate how each school ranked in terms of those employees
who are Subject to Personnell Act of the State of North Carolina. UNCA
ranked low in all four categories, ranking lowest in percent of SPA employ
ees at or below the midpoint of their salary range.
Avg. yrs. experience
UNC-CH 9.2
ASU
UNC-C
wcu
UNCA
11.0
7.5
9.8
8.0
Avg. salaiy
% below $25,000
$30,777
32%
$25,786
58.4%
$27,306
52%
$24,571
66%
$24,589
66.7%
% at/below midpoint
39%
62%
73%
82%
94.9%
SOURCE: CSAC NEWSLETTER, APRIL 12, 1999
GRAPHIC BY ERIN KING
Illegal radio supported
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Free Radio Asheville keeps its location secret in order to continue broadcasting.
By Dru Martin
staff Writer
Free Radio Asheville (89.1 FM) is a
local community station that is pres
ently broadcasting illegally. Support con
tinues to grow, however, for the legal
ization of lower-watt radio stations, ac
cording to a press release from Free
Radio Asheville (FRA).
“It’s electronic civil disobedience,” said
Furious George, a FRA disc jockey.
“What we’re doing is legal according to
the First Amendment. According to the
Federal Communications Commission’s
(FCC) law, it’s illegal, but that’s being
challenged in court. They can come to
us and tell us we’re illegal. That’s fine. It
still won’t affect what we’re doing.”
The station would consider getting a
license so they could legitimately broad
cast if the new legislation was passed,
according to Furious George.
“As it stands right now, we serve a pur
pose to the general public,” said Furious
George. “We’re only practicing our First
Amendment rights.”
The new legislation proposes creating a
new service for low power FM stations,
according to the press release. It would
legalize wattage on two tiers, up to 1000
watts and up to 100 watts.
“Our wattage has fluctuated a pretty
good bit,” said Rankin Filer, another FRA
DJ. “We’ve been at 80 watts and then 60
watts for a while. We voluntarily went
down to 20 watts because we don’t need
to bother the strong station broadcasts. In
that way, I guess we’re kind of self-regu-
lating.”
Most of the grassroots radio stations
are under 100 watts, according to Furi
ous George.
“It all goes back to 1934 when the
Telecommunications Act went through
Congress,” said Rankin Filer. “At that
time, the people who were getting ac
cess to Congress were the engineers of
the big companies, RCA and NBC.
They basically wrote the legislation,
and it was tilted toward large corpora
tions and huge wattage. At the time, it
was impossible to squeeze in two sta
tions that were running at 50,000 watts
next to each other. Today it can be
done, but the rule still hasn’t changed.”
“The National Association of Broad-
See RADIO page 9
UNCA student conduct
system up for review
By Meghan Cummings
staff Writer
UNCA’s student conduct system will be
reviewed at the end of the semester to
ensure that the current policies are effec
tive. Some students say they hope the
system will be reworked so it allows more
students to be involved in the process.
“My main concern is that students have a
very large portion in determining the fate
of their peers when they do something
wrong,” said Alphonso Donaldson, former
president of the Student Government As
sociation.
The student conduct system reviews cases
in which students have done something
against school rules, and determines the
consequences and outcome of each case,
according to Amy Justice, assistant direc
tor of student development.
The student conduct system consists of
two levels, according to Justice. The first
level is the student conduct committee
which handles less serious cases. The com
mittee is made up of two students and a
srafF member. The second level is the
student conduct board which handles
more serious cases. It is made up of one
student, two faculty members, and two
staff members.
“The purposes of the committees and
boards are to have more people working
on them, to make sure the student has an
advocate there, to make sure there is an
other student who can kind of see their
viewpoint, and to make sure that we have
a lot of information,” said Justice.
However, some people feel that there
should be more than one student who sits
on the conduct board, according to
Alphonso Donaldson.
“One student in a group of five isn’t
really enough,” said Alphonso Donaldson.
“What I would like to see happen first of
all on the larger committee is to have more
than one student.”
The student conduct board meeting can
be very intimidating and uncomfortable
with only one student sitting on the board,
according to Justin Donaldson, a fresh
man biology major who has recently been
See CONDUCT page 9
re
Mali
New chancellor will make fundraising priority
By Krystel Lucas
staff Writer t
As UNCA bids farewell to Chan-
:ellor Patsy Reed, the newly-elected
‘tiancellor pledges to build on ex
sting programs to promote part
nerships between the campus and
-ornmunity.
I feel very honored to succeed
. hancellor Reed,” said James
Sullen, the new chancellor of
JNCA. “I will try to uphold the
'■gh standards she set for leader-
ihip.”
Chancellor Reed is also pleased
with James Mullen’s Project 2002
for T rinity College, a $200 million
initiative that will include educa
tional, health, family support and
economic development activities.
“He brings a background of edu
cation and experience necessary to
make an effective chancellor,” said
Reed.
The $200 million initiative is well
on its way to being finished, ac
cording to James Mullen.
“There was a clear sense that we
had an obligation to assist and re
build the community in Hartford,
Conn.,” said James Mullen. “We
try to form real partnerships in the
community, and our strategy gets
results.
“This project has allowed us to
build three schools at an abandoned
bus garage site,” said James Mullen.
The area has been designated as
the Learning Corridor, according
to the Trinity College Web page. It
will include the Inter-district
Montessori Elementary School
which serves 137 students from 19
school districts, the Hartford Pub
lic Middle School which serves 600
students in grades six through eight
and a high school resource center.
“It will be a wonderfial synergy of
schools,” said James Mullen.
The four components to the high
school resource center are the Sci
ence, Mathematics and Technol
ogy Academy, the Greater Hart
ford Academy for the Arts, a teacher
training center and an outreach pro
gram.
“I really think he is what UNCA
needs at this stage in history and
development,” said Dwight Mullen,
chair and professor of political sci
ence. “He has a track record in our
weak areas such as diversification,
building relationships with the com
munity and raising money.”
Trinity students will also serve in
key day-to-day positions through
work-study jobs, internships and
volunteer projects, according to the
Web page.
“We just opened a boys and girls
club this year,” said James Mullen,
“and our students at Trinity are
basically running it.”
Project 2002 has also developed
housing, street improvement,
health and technology, neighbor
hood retail, family service, and art
programs, according to James
Mullen.
“Community service needs to be a
part of UNCA’s culture and ethic,”
said James Mullen. “You can’t teach
liberal arts and ignore the commu
nity. You must teach values and
live them.”
The new chancellor says
fundraising will be a priority when
he takes office August 1.
“I feel a responsibility to raise
resources and build an additional
support system to make sure fac
ulty and students get what they
need,” said James Mullen. “I need
to raise money, and that’s my fun
damental priority.”'
See PRIORITY page 12