THE BLUE BANNER
Asheville’s
Urban Trail An
Educational
Tour
See Page 3
Track and Field
Sets School
Records at
Georgia Meet
See Page 5
“UNCAs
Re-Education
Camp,” by
Josh Day
See Page 8
)
Volume 33 Issue 10
The Unwersity Of North CaroUnn At Asheville
April 12, 2001
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Parking Decals Exceed Spaces
WALTER FYLERySTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Public safety officer Steve Metcalf issues a parking citation to a vehicle parked in front of a fire hydrant behind the Highsmith
Center. UNCA issues more parking decals than it has parking spaces.
Keith Cromwell
Investigative Reporter
University officials said parking
is sufficient at UNCA, with park
ing spaces around campus total
ing 2,157. However, the univer
sity issued 6,642 parking decaJs
last year.
“I live in Mills (Hall), and can
never find a spot to park close to
Mills,” said Brian Smith, a sopho
more literature and language ma
jor. “It’s nice (that) they build
parking decks for resident stu
dents. However, building them
closer to the resident halls would
be nice.”
UNCA has approximately 768
spaces for residential parking, 427
spaces for commuter students,
471 spaces for faculty and staff,
407 open spaces, which is used
for faculty, staff and commuter
students, and 33 visitor spaces.
Of the decals issued, 1,026 were
for resident students, 2,856 were
for commuter students, 1,197
were for faculty and staff, 856
were for graduate students and
586 were for the participants in
the College for Seniors program.
Campus Parking Management
Associates, a national group that
studies campus parking, said they
recommended one parking space
for every 1.5 permits issued for
faculty and resident students and
one parking space for every two
permits issued to commuter stu
dents, according to Williamson.
Over the last several years,
CPMA has worked with hun
dreds of campus-parking admin
istrators from colleges and uni
versities throughout the United
States in an attempt to develop an
acceptable standard for how many
parking spaces a campus should
have, according to the CPMA
report.
“Although the results of these
efforts have not been entirely con
clusive, they represent what may
well be the best guidelines cur
rently available,” said the report.
UNCA maintains a ratio of 3.4
permits per parking space for
commuter students, 1.3 permits
per parking space for faculty and
staff and 1.3 permits per parking
spaces for resident students.
Location is always going to be a
problem because the university
cannot put everyone right out
side where they want to beO, ac
cording to Diane Williamson,
public safety supervisor for park
ing services and communications.
Parking spaces “in the con-
See PARKING Page 10
Multimedia Chair’s Contract Renewed
John Kundert-Gibbs Granted Another Three-Year Contract
Thad Eckard
News Reporter
The future of John Kundert-
Gibbs, director of multimedia arts
and sciences, no longer hangs in the
balance. Kundert-Gibbs received
notification that the school in
tended to reappoint him for an
other three years after his current
three-year contract.
The arrangement came after a prior
notification two weeks ago that the
school would not reappoint him.
“There was officially no reason for
terminating me, and then, when
the decision was reversed, there was
no reason for the reversal,’ said
Kundert-Gibbs.
Rules prevent the tenure commit
tee and Tom Cochran, vice chan
cellor of academic affairs, from re
leasing any information pertaining
to UNCA’s rationale for releasing
faculty.
The original letter Kundert-Gibbs
received indicated that the school
did not plan to keep him sparked
concern from some students.
One student said he feared if
Kundert-Gibbs’ contract were not
renewed, the multimedia depart
ment would suffer.
“They are not cutting the pro
gram,” said Eric Black, a sopho
more multimedia arts and sciences
major. “But, they are eliminating
something that will cut the pro
gram. This will look like somebody
else is the bad guy.”
After Kundert-Gibbs received the
first notice, he sent an e-mail mes
sage to his students asking them to
write letters on his behalf
“I am having problems concern
ing my perceived ability to teach
effectively in and out of the class
room. If we can’t deal with this
problem, it pretty much means I
will not be with you in the future,”
said Kundert-Gibbs, in the e-mail
message to his students.
Kundert-Gibbs said he asked stu
dents to write letters on his behalf
to Cochran to help him stay at
UNCA.
“I strongly believe a letter writing
campaign will have a significant
impact on the outcome of the deci
sion being made this week. If I
“I am having problems concerning my perceived
ability to teach effectively in and out of the class
room. If we can’t deal with this problem, it pretty
much means I will not be with you in the future.”
-John Kundert-Gibbs
Director of Multimedia Arts and Sciences
might, I would ask any of you who
feel so inclined to do me a very large
favor; write a short letter explaining
any significantly positive elements
of my teaching and mentorship with
you,” he said, in the e-mail.
“When I was talking with him
about this, there were 25 written
letters in his office for him to take to
the meeting,” said Black. Cochran
said he did not count the letters,
but 25 seemed “a little high.”
Gordon Wilson, chair of philoso
phy, served on the current tenure
committee and helped review
Kundert-Gibbs’ case.
The tenure committee did not see
any of the letters, according to
Wilson. All the tenure committee
sees is a folder with five documents.
Testimonials, such as letters, are
not part of the folder.
The documents included a letter
from the candidate applying for the
position, a letter from the
candidate’s supervisor, a curricular
vitea, an annual faculty report de
scribing the candidates accomplish
ments in teaching, scholarship and
service, and student evaluations.
The candidate’s supervisor then
meets with all tenured faculty mem
bers in the department to discuss
the candidate, according to Wil
son. To better evaluate the candi
date, these members are supposed
to observe him or her in class.
Cochran said his recommenda
tions will go to the chancellor Jim
Mullen’s office.
UNCA Event to
Inform Public
About Injustice
Angela Brock
News Reporter
UNCA is taking steps to prevent
ing hate crimes on campus by hav
ing Judy Shepard, a mother who’s
21-year old son was murdered be
cause of his homosexuality, speak.
The event focuses on addressing
the issue of social injustices, specifi
cally within the UNCA commu
nity, according to Bunny Halton,
assistant director of student activi
ties for programming.
“The level of support we’ve had in
getting Shepard on campus has been
remarkable,” said Amy Love, a fresh
man sociology major and member
of the UNCA-OUT! organization.
“I hope this is reflective of growing
recognition of the need for a change
in climate and consciousness on
campus.”
Shepard is focusing on hate crimes
in general, not just crimes targeted
towards gays and lesbians, accord
ing to Josh Kumm, a senior psy
chology major and coodinator for
the event.
“Shepard experienced something
in her life that was tragic, but she
has been able to turn that around
and use what happened to her to
educate people so people feel safe in
their community,” said Halton.
“We are incredibly lucky to get a
speaker of this caliber, and it is the
kind of thing we need to make
happen at UNCA more and more.”
Shepard speaks nationwide about
the prevention of hate crimes and
ways communities and schools can
become safer for everyone. The
Shepard family established the Mat
thew Shepard Foundation, which
advocates social justice and pro
motes equality for gays and lesbi
ans.
“In Fall 2000, our campus found
itself with die situation of harass
ment of men and women on this
campus due to their perceived sexual
orientation,” said Kumm. “Our
hope now is to establish a greater
sense of acceptance toward our dif
ferences, to create a campus-wide
environment of safe space for men
and women,of all backgrounds and
choices, and to discuss life issues
and learn from one another posi
tively and safely.”
There has been vandalism and
harassment in the past toward gays
and lesbians on the UNCA cam
pus, according to Kumm.
“I am sure Shepard is familiar
with the school environment and
these issues, and I think that is why
the administration is backing this,”
said Kumm. “We cannot change
the state environment without first
making sure our environment is
safe, even if not supportive, and it is
not right now.”
Those who attend this event are
opening their awareness to what
hate crimes mean, according to
Kumm.
“The more exposure you have to
subculture, the better chance sub
cultures have of being seen as some
thing that can be talked about fur
ther,” said Kumm.
“Our hope is to have a very egali
tarian environment,” said Kumm.
Washington Protest
UP
H
Serving UNCA Since 1982
PHOIO CON 1RJBUTED BY CIAIRE JONETH
Protestors in Washington, D.C. display banners against the
United States’ drug war in Colombia, South America.
WWW. unca. edu/banner
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