ess
The Blue
Banner
Volume 35 Issue 7
The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
Sports
“Bulldog track runs well in Invitational”
■ see page 6
Also inside:
Features
“Reporter thrusts himself into the bush of
New Mexico”
■ see page 4
Opinions
“SGA candidates have too much campaign
optimism,”
by C. J. Eland
■ see page 2
March 28, 2002
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Statistics show a decrease in cul
tural diversity at UNCA from 1995
until 2002.
“I’ve never seen it this low. I’ve
never seen the students quite this
demoralized, really demoralized,
just in terms of wanting to transfer
away, unhappy, I’ve never quite
seen it like this,” said Dwight
Mullen, assistant political science
professor.
The student enrollment demo
graphic profde from the institu
tional research 2001 fact book shows
that out of 3,211 total undergradu
ate students, only 86 were black
and only 167 represent all other
ethnic backgrounds.
“When you start talking about
really what it feels like, maybe the
dorms have like around 40 (black)
people,” said D. Mullen. “That’s
what I’m talking about. It’s hard.
People leave. They just say, ‘see ya,
didn’t know it was like this, see
>♦3
ya.
Some students said they were
shocked at how few minority stu
dents attend UNCA.
“I’m actually very surprised about
that. I though there had been a
slight increase since I got here,” said
Somanna Muthana, a junior engi
neering management major. “I used
to hear stories before now about
how we don’t have any black stu
dents, and then people say there are
a few more coming now. I thought
I’d noticed they were at least grow
ing, not only blacks but other mi
norities.”
Statistics based on student census
reports show that the percentage of
black students has been steadily
declining for some time. In 1995,
3.9 percent of the student body was
comprised of black students. This
year, UNCA dropped to 2.8 per
cent black students.
It is quite possible that UNCA
will not have one black freshman
for 2003.
Percent Black Enrollment in UNC Predominantly White Institutions
Percent
UNCC
UNCG
PWl Total
i
NCSU
NCSA
wcu ■'
UNCCH /
UNCW
UNCA
82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 GO 01
Year
Source: UNC Enrollment Report Fall 2001 (http://www.northcarollna.edu/docs/assessment/Enrollment2001.pdf)
COURTESY OF UNCA
The graph indicates the declining percentages of black enrollment at UNCA since 1995. Among the other predominantly white institu
tions, UNCA holds one of the lowest black populations in the UNC system.
“I just got those numbers this
morning,” said D. Mullen. “There
were 52 applications, 13 acceptan
ces and zero have paid security de
posits for African American stu
dents.”
“Well, I’m sure they are looking at
the same figures we are seeing, and
they look at nearby schools. Chapel
Hill, Greensboro, Charlotte, (who
have) got bigger, stronger black
communities and fraternities,” said
Muthana.
Some students suggested that
UNCA officials try to recruit mi
norities.
“I’m not saying that we should
reduce admission standards or cut
people a lot of breaks to get them
in,” said Matt Witbrodt, a senior
political science major. “I’m saying
you go out there, you get your
name out, and at least try to recruit
people.”
The Director of Institutional Re
search, Archer Gravely said he does
not want to recruit minorities just
to get UNCA’s minorities percent
ages up.
“From 1981 to 1985, black stu
dents never had an average GPA of
2.0,” said Gravely. “We were bring
ing students, who could not per
form, just to get the numbers. You
don’t want to do that.”
The total percentage of other mi
norities has been slowly increasing.
The term “other minorities” in
cludes Asians, Hispanics, Native
Americans and any other ethnic
group that might check “other” on
a survey. In 1995, 3.7 percent of
the students here fell into this cat
egory. In 2001, the number in
creased to 5.7 percent.
Recruiting minorities has been
difficult for the admissions office,
according to Gravely.
“We don’t have a football team,
and we don’t have a marching
band,” said Gravely. “We don’t have
diverse community here anyway.
It’s just a hard thing to sell.”
When compared with other UNC
predominantly white institutions
in 2001, UNCA was dead last for
percentage of black enrollment.
UNCA has been in the bottom
three of this list at least since 1972,
according to the UNC enrollment
report compiled by the UNCA of
fice of Institutional Research.
“We’ve been at the bottom three
then and now. With the exception
of three schools, there hasn’t been
much movement at all,” said
Gravely. “We’re doing pretty
crappy, but nobody else has really
changed their profile.”
D. Mullen said it is difficult to
find exactly what the university
proactively does to support diver
sity on campus.
“Really, when you think about it,
when you control for the student
clubs, you have a hard time seeing
anything else that is going on, ” said
D. Mullen. “You have the Asian
student club the African-American
student club and a couple of other
groups. But if you don’t do that,
you have a hard time seeing that it
is going on.”
For now, the push for cultural
diversity seems to be at a standstill.
“We’re kind of in a transition
right now,” said Gravely. “We’re
getting whacked with budget cuts,
so it’s kind of a tough time.”
Some of the plans to increase cul
tural diversity are simply more long
term than what UNCA can see for
the present.
“Short term I’m really not sure,
like today. I’m not really sure what
is going on,” said D. Mullen.
“This capital campaign that just
ended will not really bear fruit for
See DIVERSITY Page 8
Board of Governors approves tuition increase
Kristen Willett
News Reporter
The UNC Board of Governors
approved a system-wide tuition in
crease of 8 percent for in-state stu
dents and 12 percent for out-of
state students for the 2002-2003
school year.
For full-time UNCA students,
this increase will amount to $47.84
per semester for in-state students
and $519.48 per semester for out-
of-state students.
“What is unusual this year is that
the Board of Governors is stepping
outside of the normal recommen
dation of the committee,” said
Wayne McDevitt, vice chancellor
of Financial Affairs.
A committee, which consists of
representatives from each of the 16
campuses in the UNC system,
makes a yearly recommendation to
the UNC Board of Governors re
garding tuition increases for the
upcoming school year, according
to Eric lovacchini, vice chancellor
of Student Affairs.
The Board of Governors reviews
the recommendation and makes a
proposal to the N.C. General As
sembly. The recommendation is
not adopted until the General As
sembly approves it when they con
vene in May.
Tuition increases can be expected
regularly due to an increase in stu
dent enrollment, especially during
a tough year for the state budget,
according to McDevitt.
This year, the committee recom
mended a 4.8 percent tuition in
crease, and the Board of Governors
raised the amount to an 8 percent
and a 12 percent increase, accord
ing to McDevitt.
“It’s not a finished process until
the General Assembly convenes at
the end of May,” said lovacchini.
“The legislature can change it, up,
down or sideways. They can do
anything to it.”
A year ago, the committee and the
Board of Governors recommended
a 4 percent increase, and the Gen
eral Assembly adopted a 9 percent
increase, according to lovacchini.
“We don’t know what they’re go
ing to do,” said McDevitt. “Institu
tionally, we hope they don’t go
beyond what is being recommended
to them.”
“A tuition increase isn’t always a
bad thing. It’s inevitable,” said
Jonathan Lamb, a junior atmo
spheric science major. “If there’s
anything that could be done to
preventit, UNCAwouldhavedone
something.”
This year, the UNC schools re
ceived 1,700 more student enroll
ments than expected, and therefore
did not receive money from the
state to cover these students, ac
cording to The Greensboro News &
Record.
Next year, the system is expecting
5,761 new students to enroll. The
$40 million generated by the tu
ition increase will go toward fund
ing both groups of students.
“None of us want to raise tuition,
but we do have 7,500 new students
coming,” Robert, Warwick, a board
member from Wilmington told the
News dr Record. “That’s enough
students to start a new university.”
“The tuition increase is unfortu
nate, but since it’s system-wide,
there’s not a whole lot we can com
plain about,” said Shane Moore, a
junior computer science major.
“The board isn’t singling out
UNCA.”
The UNC Board of Governors
also approved several individual
campus tuition increases of varying
amounts in addition to the system-
wide increase, according to the
Board of Governors report for
See TUITION Page 8
Whitney Setser
News Reporter
The UNCA Vice Chancellor of
Academic Affairs search commit
tee held on-campus interviews for
two of the four finalists in the run
ning for the position March 7-8
and March 18-19.
“We had a very large number of
very solid, qualified candidates for
this position,” said Tracy Brown,
professor of psychology and chair
of the VCAA search committee.
“(We) are very pleased with the
final four candidates.”
The two finalists are Susan
Coultrap-McQuin, dean of the
College of Social and Behavioral
Sciences at Minnesota State Uni-
versity-Mankato, and Rosemary
Keefe, dean of faculties at the Uni
versity of Wisconsin-Superior.
“I am most impressed by the high
quality of our finalists,” said Chan
cellor Jim Mullen in an e-mail.
“The search committee has done an
outstanding job.”
The other candidates who will be
visiting UNCA for on-campus in
terviews in following weeks are
William Frawley, faculty director
of academic programs and plan
ning for undergraduate education
at the University of Delaware, and
Mark Padilla from Bucknell Uni
versity, according to Brown in an e-
mail.
“These four people embody the
specific combination of leadership
ability, administrative experience
and scholarly background that
UNCA seeks,” said Brown.
Padilla is taking the place of J.
David Arnold, who served at St.
John Fisher College in Rochester,
N.Y. as provost and dean of faculty.
Arnold withdrew from the running
after accepting a position as a chief
academic advisor at another uni
versity, according to Brown.
McQuin, who visited UNCA
March 7-8, has served Mankato as
dean for six years. She is the author
of many scholarly articles and three
books, two on 19th century women
writers and one on feminist ethics,
according to the VCAA search Web
site.
“I am very interested in (the VCAA
position) because of the high qual
ity undergraduate experience of
fered to students,” said McQuin in
an e-mail. “I am very impressed
with this university’s many other
successes and its aspirations for the
future.”
Her book, “Doing Literary Busi
ness,” won two national awards.
She has taught at the University of
Minnesota at Duluth, said Tracy
Brown in an e-mail.
“I have a strong belief in the value
of a liberal arts education and would
like to have the chance to work in a
liberal arts university,” said McQuin
See VCAA Page 8
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