The -Blue Banner The Uniuersity of north Carolind at Hsheuille Uolume 33 Issue 2 February 8,2001 “Dreams in Color” at the flsheuille Art museum See page 3 mens’ basketball wins in ouertime 97-95 See page 5 “Lack of trust for residents,” by Keuin Rollins See page 8 Program begins for student safety V- WALTER FYLER/STAFF i^HOTUGRAi'HER Dale Williams, public safety officer, is part of the Adopt-A-Dorm program at UNCA. Claire O’Brien staff lUriter UNCA’s public safety in tends to establish student ties through the new Adopt-A- Dorm program, according to Lou Caliendo, director of public safety. “At the same time (pub lic- safety officers) are trying to establish community trust and understanding, they are kind of undermining it by saying ‘we don’t trust you, so we are putting a cop in every dorm,’” said Graham Duls, a sophomore engineering ma jor and resident of Founders Hall dormitory. Adopt-A-Dorm entails as signing a public-safety officer to each dormitory to patrol the halls. The program is not in re sponse to any security prob lems on campus, and will be on a trial basis this semester, according to Caliendo. Some students have mixed reactions toward rhp new pro gram. “1 do think it is a good idea in the sense that it will stop bad things that are going on. Although, this year, I have not seen any vandalism or anything,” said Duls. “It would be nice to know that no one is going to urinate in the elevators before I have to go to class.” The officers are not patrol ling dormitories to be a re strictive force on students. They are instead there to pro mote a social atmosphere and be there for extra enforce ment, according to Caliendo. Putting an officer in each resident hall will allow him to get the know the resident director, resident assistants, and residents. If they have problems, they can talk with that officer, according to Caliendo. “Each residence hall is like a neighborhood,” said Caliendo, who said he is a believer in community po licing. His goal is to have the pub lic safety officers view the university as a small town or a small community, accord ing to Caliendo. The resident director and assistants “can help identify specific problem areas (such as) doors being left open,” said Caliendo. Because public-safety offic ers will be enforcing univer sity and state laws, there are some negative impressions of the officers, according to Caliendo. This program will hopefully allow the students to see of ficers positively, and see they are there for crime preven tion, according to Caliendo. Through the Adopt-A- Dorm program, officers will “get to know some of the students. Students will in turn feel more comfortable with the officer,” said Caliendo. Since the program is still new and on a trial basis, stu dents should give public safety some feedback, accord ing to Caliendo. Some students said the pro gram will give them an in creased feeling of personal safety from Adopt-A-Dorm. “It is a good idea because I know some people who have been harassed,” said Annelise Nininger-Finch, a junior so ciology major. “There was the incident last year with the person coming into the girl’s dorm that could possi bly be avoided by having a cop in every dorm.” “I do not know if it is really fostering community trustor not, (but) to a certain extent, I can see where it would be helpful,” said Julie Fennell, an urdi. lared junior, amd a resident of Westridge dor mitory. Another program. Ride Along, that both Caliendo and Jerry Adams, public safety investigator, partici pate in, also allow students to interact with public safety, according to Caliendo. The Ride Along program has been in effect for over four years, according to Adams. Ride Along allows students to ride along in a public safety car with an officer and get an inside look at public safety’s job. The eight or nine students who have participated in the program so far have prima rily come from criminal j us- tice courses at Asheville- Buncombe Technical Col lege, according to Caliendo. A few UNCA students, completed their internships with public safety, accord ing to Caliendo. “We have some of the same equipment and capabilities of a city and county police department,” said Caliendo. Students do not always re alize the capabilities of pub lic safety when considering an internship, according to Caliendo. Caliendo said he is about community policing, and since his last job was as a community policing super visor, he has had a chance to see how well it works, said Caliendo. The public-safety offic ers are looking forward to working with the students, according to Caliendo. "It would be nice to know that no one is going to urinate in the elevators before I have to go to class.” 'Graham Duls Sophomore, Engineering Angela Brock staff Writer Two Asheville residents, who recently traveled to Colom- bia. South America talked about their experiences and activism at a lacture Jan.. 31. “The point of U.S. citizens going to Colombia was in no way (meant) to criticize the Colombian government,” said Andrew Summers, an Asheville resident who spent 10 days in Colombia. “Our focus was to find out as much as we could firsthand about the impact and effects of tax dollars of U.S. citizens, that are going to Colombia.” A total of 25 American citi zens went to Colombia for a human-rights delegation, where they met with the U.S. ambassador and staff U.S. citizens who went to Colom bia said they do not believe U.S. tax dollars should be given to the Colombian gov ernment for military aid as a solution to the War on Drugs, according to Summers. The Colombian army, mainly through U.S. fund ing, began Plan Colombia, to try and reduce Colombia’s coca crop, used to make co caine, in half by 2005. America has pledged $1.1 billion for the plan to try and reduce the supply of drugs, according to a recent article in The New York Times. Of the billions of dollars that the U.S. will give to Colom bia over the next three years. part of it may go to military aid for helicopters, according to Summers. “One of the uses of the he licopters is to accompany the fumigation plan because they are fumigating coca fields in areas that are largely con trolled by one of the guerilla groups,” said Summers. “It is impos sible to control where aerial fumigation lands, so food crops, pastures and water sources are being destroyed.” Colombian farmers, con tinue to suffer from the fumi gation practices. Military es timates showthat65,785 acres of coca fields have been sprayed with herbicide, ac cording to a recent article in The New York Times. “The U.S. government has disrupted the lives of inno- "The U.S. govenment has disrupted the lives of innocent Colombian farmers. We are letting America’s war on drugs harm people in other countries.” 'Ashley Burgess Job survey optimistic Orin Shepherd staff Writer In a recent poll conducted by the job-listing and resume Web site, Jobtrak.com, 81 per cent of college students see themselves as reaching their career goals in under 10 years, and 48 percent think it will take five years or less. “I think most people feel that Tm going to get a good job right out of school’ pretty quickly, but it is unrealistic,” said Chuck Maclaughlin, a junior pre-medical major. “Because of a good economy, folks have an unrealistic idea of what it is like to go out there.” “The results of this poll rein force the rather short-term career planning horizons that most college graduates use as they start their professional careers,” said Jim Case, direc tor of career planning and placement center at Califor nia State University-Fullerton. While some students may expect a quick entry into a professional career, many stu dents, such as senior psychol ogy major Kelly Rodriguez , who said she sees life outside of college as something bigger than a single goal. “I am well on my way,” said Rodriguez. “I am not quite there, because I have a big picture in mind. I know I have to work my way there. It will not just happen because I have a college degree.” Because career aspirations can be so varied, it may be a broad generalization to say career goals are unrealistic. It may depend more on the type ofcareer that students seeks as to how they may plan, ac cording to Kari Day Keller, director of the UNCA career center. “If you are seeking employ ment in an industry that his torically has been very com petitive can be more of a chal lenge than say, if you are look ing in a field where there s a lot of opportunities right now,” said Day Keller. Jobs also depend “geographically on where you are looking, ex perience, if you have decent grades, and if you have been involved on campus. These are the sort of things that em ployers generally look for in terms of an entry-level per son.” This sort of varied planning UNCA students make for post-college life can lead to a wide array of ideas about their future in the professional job market, according to Day Keller. Melissa Grassette, a sopho more chemistry major, said she wants to go into scientific research, but hopes that within five years, she can find a job with that description. Some students see themsevles taking longer than 10 years to accomplish their career goals, according to Jamal Mullen, a sophomore biology major. See JOBTRAK page 10 Oldsmobile gives away $5,000 scholarship Rights delegation held in Colombia Junior, Art cent Colombian farmers,” said Ashley Burgess, a junior art major. “We are letting America’s war on drugs harm people in other countries.” The demonstration in Co lombia was the first time American citizens had ever protested U.S. policy in front ofthe U.S. Embassy in Bogota, according to Summers. “The last day we spent in Colombia attracted a dramatic number of media people be cause of 25 North Americans silently marching from a block away and forming a line in front of the embassy,” said Summers. “One of the mem bers of our delegation, in a televised interview, apologized to the people of Colombia for the policies the U.S. has op posed upon them.” rtiNiiiuiNl oKtL,u/aiArf I'tiuiuuKAPHER John Rockwell, a senior sociology major, fills out the registration form to win a $5,000 scholarship.

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