The Blue
Banner
Sports
“UNCA intramural volleyball wins
nationals”
■ see page 6
Also inside:
Features
“Art students at the International Iron
Pour Conference”
■ see page 4
Opinions
“The Bible provides a solution for the
environmental crisis”
by Art vonLehe
■ see page 2
Volume 35 Issue 12
The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
New child care center to open next fall
Lana Coffey
News Reporter
UNCA will open a new children’s
learning center at the beginning of
next semester, intended to prima
rily serve students attending
UNCA.
“We’re getting quite a package,
more than child care,” said Maggie
Smith, director of child and family
services. “Hopefully, (the facility)
makes a difference, not only to the
UNCA community, but (also) to
the Asheville and Buncombe com
munity.”
There will be approximately 35-
50 spaces to fill, and the priority
will go to UNCA students, then to
the faculty and staff. The addition
of this center may help retention
rates among students with children,
according to Smith.
“It’s crucial for non-traditional
aged students to even attend
school,” said Smith. “It’s not a
luxury. It’s a necessity.”
A modular unit will be built and
delivered to UNCA, according to
Smith. The unit will be placed on
Vivian Avenue next to the old Pe
gasus Press building, which used to
be a grammar school.
The Pegasus building will contain
offices, storage space, a family re
source area and a staff area. The
modular unit will be devoted to the
children, and will consist of an in
fant room, a toddler room and a
pre-school room.
One student said it would be help
ful if she could take her niece to the
center while she was attending
classes.
“It’s hard to get good child care
too, and it’s not just that,” said
COURTESY WW.MONDAYAM.COM
Students, faculty and staff will have access to a new childrens learning center next foil at UNCA. The
center is intended to take some of the burden off of students with families.
Victoria Hyland, a freshman French
major, who, along with the help of
her mother, takes care of her niece.
“It’s expensive, and the facilities
aren’t that great.” said Hyland.
Hyland said she believes more
mothers would attend school when
childcare is offered.
“There would probably be more
moms if they could have child care,”
she said.
The exact costs of sending chil
dren to the center will be deter
mined this summer, according to
Smith. The
costofchildcare
average ■
in Buncombe County is approxi
mately $ 150 week for infants, $ 125
for toddlers and $ 100 for pre-school
children.
The center will also offer half
time rates.
“Half-time is really going to be
affordable, but what we really need
is to focus a lot of energy on creat
ing a subsidy, create opportunities
for fundraising, and scholarships
for these kids,” said Smith.
In the future, financial aid and
grants may be offered to low-in
come students who need a day care
center in order for them to attend
school, according to Smith.
College for Seniors and the Key
Center for Service Learning may
play a role in the center, according
to Smith.
“We’re not looking for them to
just to wipe off tables and change
diapers,” said Smith. “What we’re
going do is sit down with each
person who is interested in volun
teering at the center and find out
what strengths, (passions and hob
bies they have) and create that link,”
said Smith.
The volunteers will be able to bring
their own hobbies and activities
into the center and teach the chil
dren, according to Smith.
“We knew that we did not just
want to provide daycare for kids,”
said Smith. “We just didn’t want to
provide baby-sitting services for
kids. We wanted to include the
families. We wanted it to be
intergenerational, and we wanted it
to ...be the highest quality child
care we could find.”
The childcare center is something
that UNCA has been looking into
for a long time. When Chancellor
James Mulllen came to the univer
sity, he set up a committee to look
into the idea, according to Smith.
Most of the other schools in the
UNC system already have child day
care centers for students, according
to Smith.
UNCA formed a partnership with
the Orelena Hawks Puckett Insti
tute, an institute nationally known
for early childhood family research.
“We’ve created an organization
that will have impact on the child
care community of Buncombe
County and possibly regionally,”
said Smith.
UNCA, along with Puckett, cre
ated The Center for Excellence in
Early Childhood Education
(CEECE), which is a forum de
signed to provide exemplary early
childhood practices for children
aged six months to five years, ac
cording to Smith.
The center will be funded in part
by a $50,000 grant from Smart
Start of Buncombe County, accord
ing to Smith. Puckett will also help
to fund part of the new child care
program.
Smith and the child care commit
tee set up a survey for all parents
interested in the day care center. To
access this survey, students can go
to www.unca.edu/childcare/survey.
There will also be an informational
meeting May 2 at 12:30 in the Lau
rel Forum.
Mullen named new special assistant for diversity affairs
LlizaDeih Moe
News Reporter
Dwight Mullen will begin acting
as the special assistant to the chan
cellor for diversity affairs July 1.
Brenda Greene previously held this
position, but suddenly resigned in
February due to family problems.
“Although things may not look
very bright now, I am optimistic
about the future of diversity at
UNCA,” said Afaf Omer, assistant
professor of sociology, who cur
rently acts as the special assistant to
the chancellor for diversity affairs.
“The difficulties we seem to be go
ing through right now are just grow
ing pains.”
Cultural diversity has been a top
priority for Chancellor James
Mullen since his inception into the
university in 1999.
“If UNCA is going to become as
great a university as it can be, it
needs to become a more diverse
campus environment in every way
— a place where we respect and
celebrate the individuality of each
member ofour community of learn
ing,” said Mullen. “We need to
continue to focus on this issue with
a passion and a sustained level of
commitment.”
The special assistant to the chan
cellor acts as a facilitator for diver
sity issues on campus by overseeing
the diversity project and communi
cating with the offices that have an
interest in increasing and protect
ing diversity at UNCA.
“The purpose of this position is to
serve as an umbrella for all diversity
initiatives on campus, said Jonathan
Byers, assistant director of admis
sions. “This person would help to
bridge the gap and improve com
munication between minority re
cruitment and multicultural stu
dent affairs, since the offices are in
different buildings on campus.”
UNCA has struggled with recruit
ing diverse students for many years.
African-American students have
proved particularly difficult to re
cruit for a number of reasons.
“Some of (our) black students
graduate, leave bitter, angry and
don’t want to come back to
UNCA,” said Byers. “Why is this?
We have to ask ourselves the ques
tion, ‘Is UNCA a campus that pro
vides a positive environment for all
black students?”’
Many African American students
are looking for programs of aca
demic study we do not offer here. A
large number of black prospective
students already in the Asheville
area want to leave, and some stu-
COURTESY WWW.UNCA.EDU
Head of the Political Science department Dwight Mullen.
dents currently enrolled here are
unhappy, according to Byers.
“Diversity, or the lack of it, is a
long-standing problem at UNCA,”
said Omer. “When Chancellor
Mullen took charge, he has made it
his first priority, and he is very
sincere in his.efforts. We are, how
ever, working against the tide, and
it is not an easy task to reverse such
a historical course. We are keenly
aware and disturbed by the low
number of minority students ad
mitted.”
Budget cuts make it difficult for
UNCA to offer competitive finan
cial aid packages, and many eastern
and Piedmont black students still
have a negative stereotype of the
mountains, according to Byers.
“Like everyone else on campus,
we are extremely frustrated with
the low numbers of African Ameri
can applications and acceptances
for this year,” said Byers.
“We are trying to find those Afri
can American students that are look
ing for what UNCA has to offer,
but this is not easy.”
The admissions office. Chancel
lor Mullen and multicultural stu
dent affairs have been working hard
and continue to work to improve
diversity at UNCA.
Through minority targeting
projects, like visitation programs,
summer enrichment programs and
programs where students of color
call and speak with prospective stu
dents, UNCA has been making ef
forts to reach minority groups, ac
cording to Byers.
“Two years ago, the chancellor’s
diversity task force, under the lead
ership of Dwight Mullen, made a
number ofrecommendations,” said
Byers. “The minority affairs com
mission, that I was chairing at the
time, has presented to the faculty
senate a proposal of its role to carry
out the recommendations. “
May 2, 2002
Chancellor Mullen
selected a new
VCAA for UNCA
Whitney Setser
News Reporter
Chancellor James Mullen an
nounced his choice for UNCA’s
new Vice Chancellor of Academic
of Affairs (VCAA) April 18.
“I am extremely pleased to an
nounce that, pending approval by
our Board ofTrustees and the UNC
Board of Governors, Mark Padilla
has agreed to join UNCA as our
new VCAA,” said Chancellor
Mullen, in an email.
The Board ofTrustees must ap
prove Mullen’s decision, and pend
ing their approval, Padilla will be
gin work July 1, according to Brown.
“The Board ofTrustees looks for
a proven academic leader who is,
first and foremost, committed to
the liberal arts and to the important
issues (UNCA) faces,” said Mullen.
If the university and its leadership
arefiinction-
thing I can think of would be if new
and damaging information were to
emerge in the time between when
the chancellor makes the decision
and when the board meets to ap
prove it,” said Brown, in an email.
“If a candidate is arrested for rob
bing a liquor store or something,
that would do it.”
Padilla said he is confident about
his future at UNCA and working
with Mullen.
“I, indeed, expect to work well
with Dr. Mullen,” said Padilla. “I
am comfortable with his vision for
UNCA, and I appreciate his style of
engagement. I expect to learn from
him in ways that will be profession
ally gratifying.”
Padilla is the interim dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences at
Bucknell University in Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania.
“(Padilla) is an accomplished
teacher, scholar and administrator
who shares our values and funda
mental commitment to liberal learn
ing,” said Chancellor Mullen.
“He will be a superb academic
leader of our university.”
Padilla, who earned his doctorate
in comparative literature from
Princeton, served as a professor of
classics, chair of the classics depart
ment and associate dean of faculty
for Bucknell University. Padilla also
founded Bucknell’s program of
comparative humanities, according
to the Bucknell University Web
Serving UNCA Since 1982
See MULLEN Page 8
WWW. mica, edu!banner
See VCAA Page 8