Volume 29 Issue 13
May 6, 1999
this
Drug
law may
cut aid
By Krystel Lucas
staff Writer
College students across the coun
try are participating in a campaign
to have a provision of the Higher
Education Act of 1998 (HEA) over
turned, according to the Drug Re
form Coordination Network
(DRCNet), a Washington, D.C.
based non-profit organization. The
provision would prohibit persons
convicted of drug offenses from
receiving federal financial aid,
grants, student loans, and work
study.
“UNCA and other institutions
have taken posture and are not
applying the provision until it has
been reviewed,” said Carolyn
McElrath, director of financial aid.
“This means schools are held harm
less, at this point.”
On October 7, 1998, President
Bill Clinton signed into law the
HEA of 1998, which included the
provision to delay or deny finan
cial aid, according to the DRCNet
Web page. Students may receive
early restoration ofbenefits by com
pleting a drug treatment program
that fulfills the yet-to-be-an
nounced department of education
regulations.
“The provision is just another act
by the federal government that at
tacks the symptom (using or deal
ing drugs) rather than the core
problem, (inequality and racism),”
said John Gaither, a senior politi
cal science major. “If you have a
disease you don’t attack the symp
tom, you attack the disease.”
The provision will have racially
discriminatory effects, according
See LAW page 10
Weathering the stonn
fiy/'
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
April showers continue into May as UNCA students approacli exams. The rainy
days make sleeping more inviting than studying.
Reed key
speaker at
graduation
By Mike Bryant
Staff Writer
Chancellor Patsy Reed will be the
commencement speaker at UNCA
graduation ceremonies on May 22.
“The UNCA Board of Trustees
has announced that Chancellor
Reed accepted their request to give
the commencement address at this
year’s graduation event,” said Tom
Cochran, associate vice chancellor
of academic affairs.
The majority of UNCA graduat
ing seniors have completed their
academic study during Reed’s term
as chancellor at the university.
Students were unaware of the
choice of Reed as the commence
ment speaker for the 1999 gradua
tion ceremonies.
“I did not know who the speaker
for this year’s graduation was going
to be,” said Jeffery Sharpe, a senior
psychology major. “It really does
not matter anyway. The event is
more important to my parents and
family than it is to me. It might
have been more interesting to hear
someone other than Chancellor
Reed speak, but I think she is as
good a choice as anyone else.”
Additional opinions and sugges
tions were offered by other gradu
ating seniors regarding the choice
of this year’s commencement
speaker.
“I had not given any thought to
who would be speaking at gradua
tion,” said Cerise Glenn, a senior
Spanish major. “But, I must say
that I am very interested in hearing
what Chancellor Reed has to say
since she will not be returning to
the university. However, I wish
that the senior class had been given
some input into the selection or
choice of the speaker.”
“I did not know that Chancellor
Reed would be the speaker at gradu
ation,” said Marquis McGee, a se
nior psychology major. “It is fine
with me, but I would have chosen
someone like Bill Cosby. I was hop
ing the commencement speaker
m ight be someone who represented
a little more diversity in his or her
life experiences.”
Seniors said they are hoping that
Reed will address issues which con
tinue to concern students at UNCA.
“I have really been disappointed
with the lack of diversity in both
the student body and the faculty,”
McGee said. “Though my overall
experience at UNCA has been OK,
I do not feel that adequate support
for my academic interests were
available in my department or the
university. Maybe Chancellor Reed
will include these types ofconcerns
in her address to the seniors.”
“I have mixed feelings about rny
four years at UNCA,” said Glenn.
“I am pleased with the academic
aspect of my education at the uni
versity, but I feel very strongly that
cultural support was lacking across
the campus for all students. I hope
the chancellor will mention the
changes that need to take place in
the future and not just highlight
the positive points of the univer
sity.”
Many seniors were more con
cerned with satisfying family mem
bers at graduation than voicing any
real displeasure with the choice of a
See SPEAKER page 10
UNCA professors teach local prisoners
Youth offenders find personal relevance in Plato
By Emma Jones
staff Writer
Youth offenders in Western North Caro
lina are pursuing college courses under the
instruction of UNCA professors, accord
ing to one of the volunteer professors.
Though the curriculum is almost identi
cal, the differences between a college atmo
sphere and a class in prison are evident,
according to Paul McDonald, associate
professor of French.
“It really is a visit to a different planet,
said McDonald, who is teaching a section
of Humanities 124 at Foothills Correc
tional Institution. “It’s so totally different
from anything we’re used to. For them, it s
visiting another planet to study Humani
ties 124. They’ve never done any college
Work before.”
This is the first year UNCA has partici
pated in the program.
The project is funded by federal funds
that have been given to the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill for 26 years
now,” said McDonald. “Last year, the spe
cial administrative group at UNC-Chapel
Hill asked if UNCA would subcontract to
do this sort of thing.”
The prisons UNCA work with are both
^1-male institutions.
'We work with two prisons in this area,
said McDonald. “The one I teach at is
Foothills, a maximum security prison.
Western Correctional Institution is the
other facility, and it is for boys ages 16-19.
These are special institutions for young
people, and then they
get transferred to the
general prison popula
tion in other places if
they are still incarcer
ated after 25.”
Confronting a prison
situation can be daunt
ing at first, according to
McDonald.
“It’s a very sad situa
tion,” said McDonald.
“It’s a scary experience
the first few times you
go, though there is ab
solutely no sense of
physical fear. It’s sad
because (the inmates)
are almost reduced to a robot-like exist
ence.”
The program at Foothills involves around
35 of the 711 prisoners at the institution.
“They’re among the best 5 percent in
terms of motivation and ability,” said
McDonald.
Even within the uppermost sector of in
mates, the maturity level is generally lower
than other similarly aged groups, accord
ing to McDonald.
“The prisoners are manipulative,” said
McDonald. “That’s one of the things that
is kind of sad. They’re manipulative in the
“It’s sad because
(the inmates) are
almost reduced
to a robot-like ex
istence.”
-Paul McDonald, as
sociate professor of
French.
way a sixth grader might be manipulative.
They try to play the teacher off the guard.
It’s very schoolboyish. In talking to the
education counselors, I understand why
they act that way. One
of the reasons they are
here is because they have
very low self esteem.
This way of behaving
allows them to create
some sort of individual
identity.”
Over the course of the
semester, McDonald
said he has seen an im
provement in the in
mates’ work, as well as
an increased level of un
derstanding of the Hu
manities 124 material.
Just as Plato is appli
cable in an academic
sense, especially in humanities, many of
the prisoners find it personally relevant.
“I’ve found within my course there are
very clear resonances to their lives in the
texts they are asked to confront,” said
McDonald.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” depicts a
group of humans chained inside a cave,
watching shadows created by puppets on
the wall of the cave. Plato says that they will
only be able to see “true forms” if they are
able to escape from the cave into the sun
light. In an essay on Plato’s work, a pris
oner discussed the difficulty in returning to
i’.:
PHOTO BY TARA HAMMOND
McDonald brings Plato’s light to prisoners at Foothills Correctional.
society after years in Plato’s “darkness.”
“What I live out here in prison actually
exists as did the shadows,” wrote one pris
oner in his essay. “Yet the reality of the
prison is not the same reality of the free
world... People have a hard time when they
first enter prison (darkness) as well as when
they first get out (the light), such as when
the story told of how a man could be
blinded in two ways, either by coming
from the light (free world) and entering
darkness (prison), or by coming from the
darkness and entering the light.”
McDonald said he has encountered a
wide range of ability and willingness to
learn in the inmates.
“There are two or three who were impres
sive from the outset,” said McDonald. “1
had three others who didn’t have a good
attitude from the beginning. Two of those
dropped out, and one was taken out. The
others in the middle are the people who
have really improved.”
Since the prison is a correctional institu
tion, the first priority is discipline rather
jhan education. The professors sometimes
encounter a different attitude toward edu
cation than they normally see on a campus
of higher learning, according to McDonald.
“You’re aware of an element in the
guards that, to a certain degree, goes
See PRISON page 9