THE
BLUE BANNER
Volume 33 Issue 7
Film Festival
Celebrates
Women’s
History
See Page 3
UNCA Tenms
Defeats
Liberty
University
The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
UNCA to Cut Budget by $499,670
North Carolina Orders Mandatory Budget Cuts of all UNC-System Schools
Amounts State Universities Mus
Cut From Current 2000 Budgets
University
Amount
Appalachian State
$1.7 million
East Carolina
$3.3 million
Elizabeth City
$425,447
N.C. Central
$880,090
Fayetteville State
$600,828
N.C. A&T
$1.2 miUion
N.C. School of
the Arts
$310,462
N.C. State
$5.2 million
* UN C-Asheville
$499,670
UNC-Chapel Hill
$7.4 million
UNC-Charlotte
$1.9 million
UNC-Greensboro
$1.8 million
UNC-Pembroke
$472,792
UN C-Wilmington
$1.2 million
Western Carolina
$1 million
Winston-Salem
State
$551,010
GRAPHIC CONTRIBUTED BY UNCA’S BUDGET OFFICE
This graph shows amount of funds schools must cut.
Keith Cromwell
Investigative Reporter
UNCA will have to cut
$499,670 from its budget in
order to compensate for the
1.9 percent budget cut is
sued by the state.
“Cutting the budget to uni
versities seems the wrong step
to take,” said DerekCoulson,
a freshmen health and
wellness promotion major.
“It seems UNCA does not
have enough money as it is
in some programs.”
This is a result of the $1
billion in spending cuts or
dered by N.C. Governor
Mike Easley to help the state
meet a projected budget
shortfall of at least $700 mil
lion.
The university has identi
fied $300,000 in repair and
renovation money that will
be cut.
“A number of those projects
are at the N.C. Arboretum,”
said Wayne McDevitt, vice
chancellor of financial affairs.
“Those projects on campus
include several roofing
projects that will have to be
put off”
The other $199,670 will
come from delaying the pur
chase of equipment. In ad
dition, some of that money
will come from unfilled fac
ulty and staff positions.
“When a position is opened
for a week or a month, that’s
salary money (the university)
is not paying out,” said
McDevitt. “Also, when
someone retires, and they are
paid at one level because they
have been here 30 years, and
von hire in at a lower level,
that also creates access
money.”
No money will be taken
out of academic programs,
according to McDevitt.
“65 percent of our budget
goes to academics, and we
are leaving that untouched,”
said McDevitt.
In 1999, the university
spent $491,586 on travel
expenses.
Broken down, $216,197
was spent for in-state travel,
$216,065 for out-of-state
travel and $59,324 for out-
of-country travel, according
to the UNCA budget.
Some students said they
question why travel expenses
were not cut.
Close to $500,000 on travel
“seems a little steep and I
think it should be lowered,”
said Ginger McKnight, an
undeclared freshmen.
“UNCA could use the
money on renovations, new
labs or air conditioning.”
The university also spent
$719,316 for library books
and journals, $706,021 on
office, household, educa
tional, repairs and motor ve
hicle supplies, $345,538 for
printing and binding and
$106,456 for advertising.
There are several reasons
the state faces such a massive
deficit.
In the 1999-2000 fiscal
year, N.C. had a number of
challenges. The state com
mitted $836 million to di
saster relief in the eastern
part of the state, according
to McDevitt.
The state faced two law
suites in 2000, which cost
N.C. about $500 million,
according to McDevitt.
This year is the first year
the state is implementing tax
cuts that were passed in 1995,
which equals about $1.45
billion.
Also this year, the state lost
two additional lawsuits to
Chrysler and Ford compa
nies, which cost the state be
tween $60 to $80 million.
In addition, revenues de
creased due to a slowing
economy.
“As a result of all this, Easley
asked the university system
to cut $32 million from its’
budget,” said McDevitt.
The 1.9 percent cut will
affect schools such as UNC-
Chapel Hill, Appalachian
State and N.C. State.
Since those schools have
larger budgets, they will have
to cut more, according to
McDevitt.
The governor plans to make
these statewide cuts: $500,000
in college aid, $2 million
from the Teaching Fellows
program, and $95 million in
local government aid.
$151 million will be cut
from the state employee pen
sion fund, $ 157 million from
the state’s emergency re
serves, and $40 million from
the Hurricane Floyd relief
package.
Conference Brings Experts on China
Claire O’Brien
'Jews Reporter
UNCA hosted a discussion
orum concerning China
vlarch 16 and 17, to improve
acuity knowledge of the coun
ty, according to Bill
Spellman, director of the hu-
manitieis program.
It really opened my eyes to
he big picture of how much
rouble China is in,” said Eo
rrueblood, a senior art ma-
or, who attended one of the
ectures on China. “It was a
50od overview.”
The conference was co-spon-
'Ored and co-funded by the
iJniversity of Hawaii’s East-
west program, and featured
peakers from around the
country.
The primary goal of the con-
erence was to educate faculty
ibout modern China, accord
ing to Spellman.
We looked at our own fac
ulty expertise, and decided
hat we really don’t have
-nough Ph.D. expertise in ar-
•as like South Asia or China,”
-aid Spellman.
Speakers ranged from schol
ars from the University ofHa-
waii to scholars from UNC-
Charlotte, according to
Spellman.
Other schools represented
were Appalachian State, Uni
versity of Colorado at Boul
der and Kennesaw State Uni
versity in Georgia, according
to Spellman.
The goal of educating
UNCA faculty is to allow them
to take this new knowledge
and educate students, accord
ing to Spellman.
UNCA hosted a similar con
ference on India last fall, ac
cording to Spellman.
“We’d like to develop fac
ulty workshops on Sub-Sa
haran Africa and on the mod
ern Middle East,” said
Spellman.
Speakers at the conference
were those who are an expert
in some aspect of Chinese his
tory, philosophy, literature, or
folk culture, according to
Spellman.
“(We) can immerse our
selves, at an introductory level
in Chinese issues and history,”
said Spellman.
The topics covered by these
experts varied. Terry Weidner
gave a lecture on “The Price of
Modernization in China,” and
Roger Ames spoke on “Con-
fucian Religiousness: Another
look at the Godless Chinese.”
“Each speaker brought with
them a one or two page bibli
ography of books that we can
turn to and develop more ma
terials for the humanities pro
gram,” said Spellman. “The
idea is to enhance the non-
Western component of the
humanities program.”
Weidner’s presentation was
incorporated into the present
humanities curriculum.
Weidner has a doctorate in
Chinese history. He has also
served as a political officer at
the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
He is currently the director
of the Asian Affairs Center at
the University of Missouri-
Columbia.
Weidner said China grew so
rapidly that it faces a massive
downslide.
He addressed issues of pollu
tion, the transition from a
Communist government to a
more capitalistic government,
and Western cultural imperi
alism.
I
f..
L
O
See Page 5
WALTER FYLERySTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Penny Prime, economics professor at Kennesaw State
University in Georgia, speaks about trade with China.
When Weidner lived in
China, the air quality was so
bad, he often awoke to the
sound ofhacking coughs from
his roommates.
The cough, caused by air
pollution, was so prevalent
that “I thought it was the
Chinese national anthem,”
joked Weidner.
These type of issues are what
students and faculty need to
be more aware of, according
to Spellman.
March 22, 2001
Judge Gives
Former Officer
Prison Term
Thad Fckprd
News Reporter
Former UNCA public safety
officer Darrell Rathburn re
ceived a prison sentence Feb.
28 for abusing suspects while
he served as Woodfin’s chief
of police. U.S. District Court
Judge Lacy Thornburg sen
tenced Rathburn to threeyears
in a federal penitentiary for
physical abuse on
six people as he
arrested or inter
rogated suspects.
“His sentence
should send a
clear message to
law enforcement
officers who over
step their author
ity,” said Eric
Winters, a senior
history and politi
cal science major.
“I think the sen
tence is very fair.”
UNCA’s public
safety does not
want to comment
on the subject.
Louis Caliendo, director of
public safety, said he did not
feel comfortable commenting
on the sentence. He also said
he felt that directing inquiries
to another source would be
inappropriate.
Rathburn overstepped his
authority on one specific oc
JASON GRAHAM/
PHOTO EDITOR
Darrell Rathburn
was convicted Feb.
28.
casion shortly before his dis
missal from UNCA, accord
ing to Winters.
“Several guests and I were in
my room when Rathburn and
another officer entered,” said
Winters.
Since Rathburn saw beer cans
in Winter’s room, he threat
ened to give everyone in the
room a breathalyzer test, ac
cording to Winters.
“I basically told him he was
going to do no such thing,”
said Winters.
Rathburn did not
have the legal
right to take such
action because
Winters was over
the age of 21, ac
cording to Win
ters.
When Winters
refused the test,
Rathburn threat
ened to take Win
ters to jail.
Rathburn did
not press the mat
ter further, but
did issue citations
for alcohol and
noise violations,
according to Winters.
Winters said he filed a com
plaint immediately with Jerry
Adams, public safety investi
gator.
An Oct. 28, 1999 Blue Ban
ner article quoted Merianne
See SENTENCE Page 10
Public Safety
Arrests Suspects
Angela Brock
News Reporter
Four individuals were ar
rested early March 5 and
charged with breaking and
entering an office in Rhodes
Hall. The suspects were also
banned from the UN CA cam
pus.
“We were sitting in the office
for creative retirement,” said
Abe Haim, 21, a local resident
involved in the UNCA com
munity and various student
groups on campus. “A couple
of minutes later, public safety
officers (came) in, and we
(were) arrested,” .
Prior to the arrests, public
safety received information
from the creative retirement
officestating that faculty came
in that morning and noticed
their offices and computers
had been tampered with.
Public safety set up surveil
lance cameras in this area, and
with the cameras, arrests were
able to be made, according to
Jerry Adams, public safety in
vestigator.
The “night of the arrest, we
observed one person, Charles
Johnson, who came in the of
fice earlier in the night, and
then three others entered
later,” said Adams. “Johnson
let the three other people into
the building while he finished
up his computer work. That is
when we made the arrests.”
“They did not physically
break down the door, but they
gained entry somehow,” said
Adams. “There was no dam
age to the computers, but
Johnson and the others had
no right to be in the build
ing.”
Johnson was the only person
inside the office for a couple
of hours.
He let three other people
who were there to pick him
up inside the office, according
to Adams.
Johnson “told me he had a
See ARREST Page 10
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