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Volume 37 Issue 4
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
UNCA plans new science building
Ginger McKnight
News Reporter
UNCA’s new science building will
house the biology, chemistry and
multimedia arts and science
departments starting during the
2006-07 academic year.
“I think there are perceptions out
there that maybe the biology and
the chemistry department want to
have a brawl to settle this, but that
is not the case at all,” said Assistant
Professor Herb Pomfrey, coordina
tor for the biology general educa
tion program and secondary biol
ogy representative in the Building
Committee. “Both departments
are really committed to getting the
best building in that parking lot
that we can get.”
AN.C. bond referendum, passed
in November 2000, provided the
funding for the new science build
ing. UNCA placed the building
project on its agenda, and in the fall
of2002, formed the building com
mittee. The 10 members of the
committee represent the biology,
chemistry, and multimedia depart
ments, along with facilities man
agement and UNCA administra-
“This project resulted from the
bond referendum of November
2000 and is just one of a number of
major projects for UNCA that were
funded by North Carolina voters,”
said Keith
Krumpe, associate professor of
chemistry and primary chemistry
representative on the Building
Committee, in an e-mail.
The Building Committee makes
many different decisions concern
ing the new science building. The
committee chose an architectural
design company and discussed the
location of the building, the choice
to hire a construction manager and
how many departments to bring
m
DEARBORN MCCORKLE/NEWS EDITOR
Leo Klausmann, a sophomore ecology major, dissects an insect in zoology lab. The new science and
multimedia building will provide new, up-to-date labs, classrooms and research facilities.
into the new building.
“We spent several months consid
ering many possible sites on the
campus,” said Bert Holmes, Phillip
G. Carson Distinguished Chair of
Science and secondary chemistry
representative on the Building
Committee, in an e-mail. “Initially
the building was programmed to
house only biology and chemistry,
but it was determined in the spring
and summer of 2002 that a third
department should be added to the
building to better utilize the money
from the bond fund.”
The committee chose the multi-
media arts and science department
as the third department to share the
building because of its growing en
rollment.
“There’s a lot of space in the build
ing and its important to have inter
actions among and between differ
ent disciplines,” said Professor
Gregg Kormanik, primary biology
representative on the Building
Committee. “Multimedia was of
the size and of a nature that it
would be a good addition to the
science and multimedia building.”
Some students have mixed feel
ings on which department should
be placed in the new building.
Originally, the committee thought
the math department would join
the biology and chemistry depart
ments in the new building, but last
semester the committee chose the
multimedia arts and science de
partment instead.
“It would be great if the building
made more sense (and) gave the
math department some room,” said
Lyla Hance, a sophomore who in
tends on majoring in biochemistry,
in an e-mail. “But as long as the
thing doesn’t fall down, no com
plaints here.”
Many believe the new building
will provide much needed space for
the presently cramped departments.
“I definitely think that the new
building will be beneficial for all
three departments,” said Renee
Hodge, a senior biochemistry ma
jor. “Right now all departments are
sort of squished in and spread out
and we don’t have a lot of space.”
The committe plans to build the
new science building next to the
Ramsey Library, between the
Rhoades-Robinson building and
the Humanities Lecture Hall. The
new building is currently referred
to as the new science and multime
dia building, but the name could
change in the future.
“The building will be erected in
the faculty and staff parking lot
located next to Robinson Hall,
Tennent Park and the Humanities
Lecture Hall,” said Krumpe. “The
building is currently slated to be
four stories tali, so as to be some
what consistent with the neighbor
ing buildings.
Some students feel the faculty and
staff will not agree with placing the
building in the faculty and staff
parking lot.
“I wouldn’t take up all those park
ing spaces,” said Tony Vu Jr., a
sophomore who intends on major
ing in biochemistry. “The faculty
and staff are going to need the park
ing spaces.”
The committe most recently dis
cussed the finalization of how much
space and rooms each department
will receive in the new building at
their meeting Feb. 17.
“Basically what we are working on
now, is we j ust finalized what’s called
the programming, how many labs
we want to have, how many offices
we want to have, how many class
rooms we want to have,” said
Pomfrey. “You know, how much
does chemistry get, how much does
biology get, how much does multi-
media and sciences get.”
See SCIENCE Page 12
Athletics receives one third of student fee raise
Laura Logeman
News Reporter
Of the recent $33.25 per student
raise in student fees, the athletics
department received the most
amount of money.
“The increase was used for safe
transportation recommended by the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Board, increased insurance premi
ums and a required piece of equip
ment in the training room,” said
Joni Comstock, director of athlet-
The athletics department will re
ceive $11 of the $33.25 raise per
student this upcoming year. The
athletics department had the high
est fee before the raise, according to
the UNCA Web site.
Mike Gore, associate director of
athletics, declined to comment
when asked about the budget situ
ation. Several coaches and student
athletes declined to comment as
well, saying that they did not have
permission from the department to
discuss the budget.
Athletic Department Over Budget in 2001
Volleyball Recruiting $ 1905 c
Women's Cross-Country
$ 741 over Men's Cross-Country
$ 2884 over
February 27y 2003
Enrollment
rises, state
funding falls
Becky Reese
News Reporter
ED FICKLE/PHOTO EDITOR
Seven areas within the athletics department overspent their budgets for a combined total of $37,456.
The athletics department receives
most of their funding from student
fees. This year the athletics depart
ment expects to get $1,195,725
from student fees alone, according
to their 2002-03 budget.
Despite the large amount of
money the athletics department
receives from student fees, they have
run on a deficit budget in years
past. Although the current budget
does not project an overdraft of
their account, the athletics depart
ment has had trouble in the past.
In 1998, the athletics department
overdrafted their account by
$ 172,674 and had an overall deficit
balance of $220,887. They received
an audit for the balance deficit,
according to Steve Honeycutt, uni
versity budget officer.
The athletics department had five
years to correct the deficit balance.
They corrected the balance before
the end of the five year period,
according to Honeycutt.
The athletics department paid
their deficit by the summer of2001
by using its own savings and auxil
iary accounts from the Chancellor’s
office. The department did not use
any money from student fees or
from the state, according to
Comstock.
Despite the budget not having an
overall deficit currently, some areas
of the athletics department spend
more than their allotted amount,
while others spend a fraction of
their original budget, according to
transactions made as of June 2001
in the 2001-02 budget.
In 2001, the volleyball team spent
192 percent of their allotted budget
for recruiting, or $ 1,905 more than
they budgeted. “Combined sala
ries and benefits” overspent by
$15,682. The training room fol
lowed with $8,815 over budget and
sports information with $4,608 over
budget, according to the 2001-02
budget.
Various athletics department ar
eas spent a total of $37,456 over
their allotted funds as of J une 2001.
Areas such as men’s and women’s
While enrollment and tuition have
steadily increased at UNCA over
the past 10 years, state funding for
the school has steadily declined as a
percentage of total revenues.
“As the economy gets worse there
are more pressures on all state ser
vices, not just education,” said Steve
Honeycutt, university budget of
ficer.
“You’ve got more people out of
work, more people on welfare rolls,
more people on unemployment.
It’s just a fact of life. There is more
pressure on the state, but the rev
enue coming in starts going down.”
In actual dollars, state appropria
tions have increased in the last 10
years. However, the percentage of
state appropriations in the
university’s total revenues has de
creased dramatically since the 1991-
92 budget year, according to
Honeycutt.
In 1991-92, state appropriations
totaled 58 percent of UNCA’s total
revenue. However, in the 2001 -02
fiscal year, that total dropped to
49.9 percent, less than half of
UNCA’s total revenues, said
Honeycutt.
“The tuition and fees have gone
up as far as a percent and as far as
actual dollars are concerned,” said
Honeycutt. “So basically the stu
dents are paying more for their
education.”
The downturn in the economy
has created the shift in revenues
and funding in recent years, which
began just before the Sept. 11 ter
rorist attacks and decreased dra
matically after that, according to
Honeycutt.
“An economist|W(iuld say that the
pressure on a university is inversely
proportional to the economy,” said
Honeycutt. “In other words, be
cause of the downshift in the
economy, the state cannot give as
much money to universities, yet
more people enroll due to the lack
of available jobs. During bad eco
nomic times people have a ten
dency to stay in school because
there are no jobs.”
The economy has affected the re
cent rise in enrollment. However, if
the economy were to shift into an
upswing, enrollment will likely de
crease, according to Honeycutt.
“I think what you will see is that
fewer non-traditional students will
get fewer transfers from the com
munity college system,” said
Honeycutt.
Actual enrollment of full time
equivalency students has risen from
2,490 in 1991 -92 to 2,773 in 2001 -
02, according to the UNCA Insti
tutional Research Web site.
The university determines full
time equivalency estimates by tak
ing all the hours of all enrolled
students, then divides that number
by 12 hours, which gives a rough
estimate of the amount of students
enrolled full time at the university,
according to Honeycutt.
“I don’t want to paint a picture
that UNCA is unique, becausewe’re
not,” said Honeycutt. “The com-
See ATHLETICS Page 12
See BUDGET Page 12
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