Page 2
The Blue Banner
February 28,200}
I
II
Opinions
Unified Solar making an
effort to improve campus
Tier Friedman
Unified Solar Columnist
UNCA is beginning to establish
itself as a leader in environmental
responsibility among higher edu
cation institutions.
All across campus, many environ
mental actions are brewing,
prompted by a strong realization
that UNCA is a large organization
with a significant ‘ecological foot
print’ and much room for improve
ment.
For example, every year the school
spends more than $1 million on
coal-fired electricity when there are
proven ways to drastically decrease
this cost, save taxpayers’ monies,
and reduce UNCA’s contribution
to Western North Carolina’s un
healthy air.
These savings would be a start in
lightening the current budget
crunch.
By no means are these economi
cally and environmentally sound
measures new to UNCA.
Many forward-
thinking faculty
and staff have
been working
behind the
scenes to trans
form UNCA
into a more inte
grated, efficient
and responsive
campus.
Their accom
plishments and
processes are be
coming a template from which
many other universities and com
munity members will derive inspi
ration.
In September 2001, the school
hosted a design charette and dedi
cated itself to meeting stringent
LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) standards
on its new science and facilities
managementbuildings, mainly due
to the sustained efforts of Vice-
Chancellor Wayne McDevitt, Steve
Baxley, director of facilities man
agement, and Paul Braise, head of
design and construction.
In addition, the science building
will be built using the U.S. Depart
ment of Energy’s new Labs for the
21st century environmental design
program, created to deal with the
complex environmental issues
unique to the laboratory setting.
This science building is well on its
way to becoming one of the ‘green
est’ and most modern lab buildings
in the nation!
Thanks to the timely intervention
of Paul Braise and UNCA Recy
cling Coordinator Lynn Patzig,
UN CA carried outa deconstruction
recycling project with the Gover
nors Village Dorms in November
2001 that received nation wide
praise and media coverage, and pro
vided metal with which the art de
partment is creating artistic bicycle
racks for campus.
Here are some of the projects cur
rently on the proverbial green plate:
*An effort to comply with the Kyoto
Protocol at the university level in
order to reduce UNCA‘s climate im
pact.
This effort, modeled after Oberlin
College and Tufts University by
UNCA environmental manage
ment students, will involve an as
sessment of all of the infrastructure
and activity on campus that in any
way leads to greenhouse gas emis
sions; the assessment will be fol
lowed by recommended infrastruc
ture modifications to reduce those
emissions.
Many people believe that GHG
emission reductions by institutions
and industries cannot wait for the
United State’s diplomatic approval.
* Creation of a sustainability library,
this will be housed in Ramsey Li
brary and will comprise a reservoir
of books, journals, and electronic
resources that will make informa
tion on many facets of sustainable
living readily accessible to UNCA
students and the Asheville commu
nity.
The green library will include an
in-depth array of topics ranging
from instructions for building an
inexpensive solar water heater from
scratch to the toxic by-products of
photovoltaic production to grass
roots organizational strategies to
biomimicry in architecture.
It will serve as a comfortable data
base for those who do not primarily
“Many forward thinking faculty
and staff have been working be
hind the scenes to transform UNCA
into a more integrated, efficient and
responsive campus. ”
identify themselves as environmen
talists but still wish to incorporate
environmental consciousness into
-their lives and professions.
* Sustainable speaker series. A cen
tral theme to UNCA’s greening
efforts is that everything done here
only acquires real significance if it is
subsequently adopted on a larger
scale by others.
So, in addition to the green li
brary, we are organizing a promi
nent series of speakers on
sustainability issues targeted not
only at students and faculty but
also at community members who
have the opportunity to incorpo
rate these ideas into their homes
and businesses.
* Faculty green lunch group. Five
years ago, faculty members at Emory
University formed a lunch discus
sion group that met every two weeks
to discuss sustainability issues. They
ended up becoming quite active
and accomplishing great things for
Emory.
The first UNCA Faculty Green
Lunch will be held soon. Although
it will begin by meeting only once a
month, we have high hopes for
what the faculty can accomplish by
joining together explicitly for this
purpose.
When the names of the participat
ing faculty are printed, be sure to
thank them for helping to make
UNCA a better place!
*Public transportation improve
ment. Beginning with participation
in the Buncombe County Public
Transportation Forum on May 17,
UNCA will become a leader in the
effort to reduce traffic, fossil fuel
consumption and air pollution
around Asheville by helping to tai
lor the bus system to connect cam
pus with the rest of Asheville.
Most people realize the Asheville
public transportation system is not
as useful as it could be. In addition,
the city is aware of the bus system
deficiency, but does not have the
kind of funding necessary to imme
diately improve it.
So, UNCA will be one of about 15
major public transportation con
stituencies that will gather to deter
mine exactly what services we all
need and how we can help the city
to get there.
Student participation would be
wonderful here. Imagine a city
where you can get from anywhere
to anywhere in 15 minutes, at any
time, as many times as you need to
per day, without carrying money
and without worrying about park
ing!
Boulder, Colorado (a city roughly
complementary to Asheville in size)
has fulfilled that dream, and Bob
Whitson, the mastermind of
Boulder’s project, is coming to our
Forum in May.
*Highsmith Center deconstruction
recycling project. When the
Governor’s Village Dorms were
deconstructed, approximately 70
percent of the materials were di
verted from their standard landfill
destination and were recycled.
When Highsmith is
deconstructed, we hope to bring
that percentage up into the 90s, as
well as actually reusing a large por
tion of those materials on campus.
As with the dorms, student partici
pation will be
welcome. Rip
ping apart
buildings is like
yoga.
* Campus-
wide greening
charette.
“Charette” is a
fancy word,
quietly stolen
from Parisian
artist terminol
ogy, which re
fers to an inter
active meeting of interdisciplinary
individuals to discuss and deter
mine action on an issue.
Charettes usually include several
layers of “breakout discussions,” in
which small groups are formed to
talk about different aspects of the
central issue.
By including, say, a plumber and
a landscaper in an architectural
charette, problems with water dam
age and shading might be avoided
before the building is designed,
rather than discovered when they
occur in the faulty building.
Similarly, Wayne McDevitt would
like to organize a campus charette
to discuss if and how UNCA will
become a leader in environmental
responsibility.
The idea is that environmental
consciousness is not simply an in
dependent branch of thought, but
instead can add richness to any
discipline, deepening our under
standing of our impact on ecologi
cal systems and enhancing the qual
ity of our lives.
It is only reasonable to expect that
artists, political scientists, econo
mists and chemists will create fresh
and useful outlooks on issues that
are frequently constrained to envi
ronmental dialogue.
The administration, along with
Unified Solar, is beginning to orga
nize the campus greening charette,
which will probably occur in fall
2002.
If this strikes a chord with you,
contact us and get involved!
Through this weekly column. Uni
fied Solar will continue to do our
best to keep everybody updated on
the development of these efforts
and abreast of hot local and na
tional environmental news.
Get in touch with Unified Solar
and we can help you find a niche in
the campus movement that is fiin,
fits your energy commitment, and
can aid you academically by pro
viding research resources.
Letters to the Editor
Webcasting in
jeopardy
Dear Editor:
All Educational and Community
Radio Webcasts are in jeopardy.
Educational and Community ra
dio stations around the country are
putting their audio on the internet
and are VERY concerned that soon
they must stop “webcasting” due to
new fees, content restrictions and
costly reporting requirements.
Other stations want to start
webcasting, but are afraid to be
cause of the fees and other require
ments.
If you want to be able to listen to
these stations on the web, jump to
the TAKE ACTION PAGE now.
It only takes a minute of your time
to help Save Our Streams!
If you are a station that is
webcasting, or about to start
webcasting (streaming audio on the
internet) you need to know this
information.
The Digital Millennium Copy
right Act (DMCA) imposes new
fees for stations that put their audio
on the internet, in addition to the
fees that stations are already paying
to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
That’s not the only problem!
Whether your are a station or an
on-line listener, you must act today
to Save Our Streams!
Here’s what stations must con
tend with as a result of the DMCA.
Fees? Stations already pay royalty
fees. Yes, they do, for the use of the
composition, not the recording.
The DMCA establishes new fees
that could exceed $ 10,000 per year,
just for putting a station on the
internet.
Once the fees are determined, they
are RETROACTIVE to 1998! Sta
tions on the internet are likely to be
asked to produce monthly reports
containing information about ev
ery song they air, including artist,
song title, album retail title, record
label, catalog number, International
Standard Recording Code (ISRC),
date and time of transmission.
These requirements are not only
onerous, but cost prohibitive! Sta
tions will also need to adhere to
content restrictions.
Do you want your station to be
forced to determine the songs it
plays by some arbitrary restrictions?
Imagine if the reporting require
ments were in effect now, how many
stations would have broadcast spe
cials concerning the death of George
Harrison with music that exceeded
the content restrictions?
Did these broadcasts spur the sales
of his music? Beatles Music? Ac
cording to local press, it sure did!
Don’t let them rest in peace!
Educational and Community Sta
tions no longer streaming due to
the DMCA.
KXCI WUVT KBOO KDHX
WPTS KBCS WMHW KBVR
KXRJ and many more to come,
unless you take action today!
Get involved! Take Action!
Tarl Beckman
Senior, business
UNCA students
competitive with
scholarships
Dear Editor:
Having spent a great deal of time
this semester and last helping out
UNCA students with scholarship
and fellowship opportunities, I have
made a few frustrating discoveries.
It might come as a surprise to
some that identifying funding op
portunities for top students has not
been frustrating in the least.
Indeed, opportunities abound for
partial as well as full fellowships for
graduate and continuing under
graduate study.
Nor has the process of identifying
qualified students been difficult.
UN CA has more than her fair share
of competitive and competent stu
dents.
My greatest challenge has been
convincing our top students that
they are not only qualified to com
pete for these prestigious scholar
ship awards, but that they are among
the best students nationwide.
On several occasions, I have had
students shy away from national
competitions because they did not
feel qualified.
I thought I would take a moment
to clarify a few points about the
education that UNCA student re
ceive, and why our students and
alumni have, in many instances, a
marked advantage over the compe
tition.
First, as liberal arts graduates,
UNCA students are often more at
tractive to prospective patrons and
grant-making agencies.
Independent scholarship and fel
lowship providers are typically look
ing for the well-rounded academic
qualities that our graduates pos
sess.
Second, our rigorous curriculum
and major programs of study en
sure that UN CA students are among
the best prepared for post-graduate
study.
As an alumnus who has gone on to
further study, I can testify to this
fact.
Indeed, this level of preparation
has not escaped the notice of grant
makers and graduate schools.
Finally, top UNCA graduates ex
hibit a degree of professionalism
and competence that is tough even
for more prestigious schools to
match.
These qualities shine through in
interviews, thanks to the rich aca
demic and co-curricular experiences
that UNCA students enjoy.
But don’t take my word for it.
Consider the long list of UNCA
graduates and alumni who have
received the prestigious and nation
ally competitive Fulbright Scholar
ship at a rate of about one per year
for the past 26 years.
Consider the remarkable success
we have had with Goldwater Fel
lowships.
Consider that UNCA had two
back-to-back Rotary Ambassado
rial Scholars, who received full fund
ing for a year of graduate study
abroad in 1999 and 2000.
Of course the list goes on, but the
important point to gather from this
success rate is that these founda
tions and grant-making agencies
certainly believe that UNCA stu
dents are competitive, often to the
tune of $20,000 or more.
This impressive record of student
achievements is steadily building
UNCA’s reputation for academic
excellence, a reputation that has
most likely preceeded your scholar
ship application.
UNCA students are among the
most competitive in the country, so
I will ask you to remember that the
next time you learn of a scholarship
or fellowship opportunity.
And if you are thinking about
graduate school, or if you would
like to apply for an undergraduate
award, please stop by or check the
list of opportunities that we have
compiled on the honors program
Web site, www.unca.edu/hon-
ors.
If you have worked hard as a
UNCA student and have earned
exceptional grades, there is simply
no reason not to apply.
Doug Jones
Coordinator, University Honors
Appalled by
Heffner story
Dear Editor:
I would like to begin by sayin si
that this is not so much a critiquei i
just an expression of a concern, jjltha
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Picking up the Feb. 15 issue i
your paper, I discovered that thri
out of the four front-page storif
deal with investigations and chargf
brought against people.
I will not even try to pretend I at
unbiased. One particular article;
focus, Sean Heffner, was someone'
considered to be a good friend sinq
high school.
One article dealt with embezzli
ment, and I can see some relevanc
there.
The student body may indeed havi
a right to know how UNCA
money is spent, even though on
tuitions are only a small fraction
the school’s budget.
The other two, however, dealt wit[
personal disputes and/or charges,
do not believe these things are nec
essarily the business of the entiii
student body.
What I am trying to say is tk
when I picked up this copy of D-
Blue Banner, I expected to ra
news that was relevant to at least
large portion of the campus ani
walk away with that post-enligb
ened, tingly feeling.
Instead, I found myself with tli;
wretching sensation I usually cart
away from the tabloids in checkoiii
lines.
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So, in conclusion, I know thercjWa/ha
not an overabundance of camp
news to fill up a regularly publish
paper.
I would greatly appreciate it,
however, ifyou wouldn’t fill upit
extra space with stories of even
student who is kicked off campus
This campus does not have a hug
student body, and every story lik
Sean Heffner’s surely has a con
cerned group who hates to see thei
friends’ names smeared on the froi
page.
Ryan Madden
Junior, undeclared
The Blue Banner is
currently looking for;
* columnists
^photographers
Submit your work!
Direct inquiries to
banner@unca.edu
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Nothing in the
Opinions section
necessarily reflects
the opinion of the
entire Blue Bannei
staff, advisor, or the
university faculty,
administration or
staff.
Unsigned editori
als reflect the opin
ion of a majority of
The Blue Bannef
editorial board.
Letters, columns
cartoons and re
views represent only
the opinions of their
respective authors.
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