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.