campus crime
No crimes were reported on cam-
s this week.
You can access the Annual Secu-
Statistics for UNCA as well as
:jmpus crime statistics at:
nw.unca.edu/publicsafety.
ity
Volume 39 Issue 2
NEWS
BRIEFS
WWW. unca. edu/banner
BY Amanda Edwards
Stajf Reporter
(SHEVILLE
The Asheville Independent Res
ultant Association (AIRA), a non
ofit organization for local restau-
int owners, considers banning the
of cell phones in its participat-
member facilities. From con-
writ ringing to loud talking, the
roup claims that cell phones dis-
irb the dining experience.
The AIRA, formed in 2002, is
dedicated to fostering a stronger
Hisiness environment for Asheville’s
ally owned and operated restau-
■fflts,” according to the AIRA Web
e.
AIRA member restaurants in-
ude Tupelo Honey Cafe, The New
French Bar, Cafe on the Square and
iiany other popular establishments.
K vote among the members may
:ake place next month.
FAYEnEVILLE, N.C.
A teenager convinced Cumberland
iounty Jail officials that he was his
irother. Officials mistakenly re
eased him Feb. 1. This is the fifth
such incident to occur at the
Cumberland County Jail, which
ust implemented new identifica-
ion procedures to avoid such blun-
lers.
Police arrested the escapee a week
before and charged him with rob
bery. The same day, police arrested
bis brother for simple assault. The
inmate returned to custody early
Feb. 2 and charged with misde
meanor escape, forgery and ob
structing justice.
AUSTRALIA
Private investigators working for
the Australian Recording Industry
Association (ARIA) raided the
Cremorne, Australia headquarters
f Sharman Networks, the makers
of the infamous file swapping soft
ware Kazaa Feb 6.
The raid was only one of many
that occurred across the country in
cluding the homes of Sharman ex
ecutives, universities and other soft
ware companies associated with
Kazaa.
Kazaa Media Desktop software
IS one of many file sharing pro
grams, and consistently has 3-4 mil
lion users connected at any given
time.
A statement issued by Sharman
Networks said “this action appears
lo be an extraordinary waste of
time, money and resources going
over legal ground that has been well
itid truly covered in the U.S. and
Dutch courts over the past 18
months.”
M)NESIA
Earthquakes, with magnitudes as
;h as 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit
Indonesian province of Papua
the morning of Feb. 6. The
thquake killed at least 23 people,
ured 600 and destroyed hun-
ids of houses, according to Indo-
iian officials. Residents of the
wince resorted to camping out
the streets because they are afraid
return to their homes.
LAURA COWAN/staff photographer
John Stevens, a UNCA chemistry professor, shows off a Mossbauer instrument in Rhodes Robinson Hall.
UNCA conducts own Mars research
BY Chris Cantos
Stajf Reporter
UNCA’s Mossbauer Effect
Data Center (MEDC) is an in
ternationally operated center
where researchers conduct new
studies and gather all data and in
formation published in the field
of Mossbauer spectroscopy, ac
cording to John Stevens, chem
istry professor and director of the
Mossbauer center.
“We are the ones that collect
information from all over the
world in terms of the Mossbauer
data,” said Stevens. “We have
done data on over 100,000 dif
ferent substances and over
50,000 research papers done in the
field of Mossbauer spectroscopy.”
The research center allows stu
dents and professors to perform
laboratory research in a unique,
field with instruments related to
the Mars exploration mission, ac
cording to Stevens.
“The center is really great for
UNCA because it gives everyone
an opportunity to be exposed to
this unique field of research,” said
Sara Boshamer, undeclared sopho
more.
The MEDC primarily studies
the resonant and recoil-free emis
sion and absorption of gamma rays
by atoms bound in a solid, known
as the “Mossbauer Effect,” accord
ing to the Wikipedia Web site.
“It is a nuclear technique that
the scientist uses to study the struc
ture of materials at the atomic,
nuclear, and molecular level,” said
Stevens. “You can use Mossbauer
spectroscopy to study anything
■ from Egyptian pottery to soil
samples on Mars, or even a very
complex molecule to try and un
derstand what it looks like and
how it behaves.
“You can also synthesize simple
molecules to see what they look
like on the molecular level using
this technique,” said Stevens.
MEDC utilizes data gathered
by Mossbauer spectrometers as the
basis for their research and infor
mation collection.
“We are doing a lot of impor
tant processes with iron oxides,
which cover things like rusting to
basic biological processes that
take place in your body,” said
Stevens. “We are also doing a lot
of investigations on nano-sized
particles, which are hot in the sci
entific community right now.”
Boshamer explains how the
Mossbauer spectrometer impacts
her current undergraduate re
search project.
“My individual project this se
mester is exploring the effect of
tin on iron oxides at the nano
particle level,” said Boshamer.
“Fm trying to see any changes to
the iron oxide properties that 1 can
See mars on page 12
Proposed tuition hike in the works
BY James Richards
Staff Reporter
Students face a proposed tuition increase
that will include funding for improved fac
ulty and staff salaries. Thes increase would
raise the cost of attending by $300 for in state
students and $600 for out of state students
for the next three years.
The North Carolina board of governors
will vote on the proposal this week, accord
ing to Mark Padilla, vice chancellor of aca
demic affairs.
“This would be the only tuition increase
we would seek for next year. If the board of
governors asked us to reconsider, we will go
through the process again,” said Padilla.
This is the second time in three years
UNCA proposed raising tuition, according to
UNCA’s office of institutional research.
The proposed tuition increase follows simi
lar recommended increases for most other
schools in the UNC system.
A chancellor-appointed Campus Based
Tuition Increase (CBTI) taskforce met in 2002
to work out the details.
The taskforce, comprised of faculty, admin
istration, staff and student government repre
sentatives, accepted the idea of a tuition in
crease as a last resort to offset three years of
state education budget cuts, according to
Padiila.
The taskforce proposed this increase to help
boost faculty and staff salaries not included in
a similar increase two years ago.
“The previous increase only went to stu-
See TUITION ON PAGE 12
Blue Echo sets sights on streaming lectures
by Lauren Abe
Staff Reporter
The Blue Echo, UNCA’s online
radio station, hopes to meet with the
associate vice chancellor for univer
sity programs in upcoming weeks
to discuss the broadcast of humani
ties lectures.
“The idea behind broadcasting
the humanities lectures is to supple
ment people’s notes and their lec
ture experience, said Raymond
Harmon, senior music technology
major. “We emphasize the fact that
it’s not a replacement, by having it
only on the days the lecture occurs,
just later on in the day.
The radio station and Edward
Katz, the associate vice chancellor
for university programs will meet to
discuss the logistical and legal issues
dealing with the humanities lec
tures, according to Harmon.
“The idea to broadcast the lec
tures came to us in a meeting in De
cember,” said Harmon. We started
ironing out how we could present
it to the public and to the humani
ties department, so that they would
understand that we want to help,
not bring more listeners to us. That
is not the purpose.”
The radio station needs to get
permission from the department
and the individual lecturers before
they can begin broadcasting. Pre-re
corded music or materials pose a
problem. The radio station will need
to permission or have a hard copy
in the studio, according to Harmon.
“We would like to tie ourselves
to the academic faculty on campus
a little better,” said Harmon. “We
are definitely involved with the stu
dent life and things like that, but as
far as learning and education goes,
we’ve had very little interaction with
those departments.”
According to Harmon, the air
ing of the humanities lectures can
serve as a means to bridge the aca
demic departments and the radio
station and prove to be a great
source for communication.
“We want to emphasize that it’s
a supplement, not a replacement,”
said Harmon. “I think if we went
with that, it would just be so un
ethical and so wrong for us to go in
and say that our resource is better
than the original source. 1 think it’s
See BLUE ECHO on page 12
Inside:
LAURA COWAN/staff photographer
Ramon Harmon, Blue Echo
station manager, hopes to
broadcast humanities
lectures online. Check in
with www.theblueecho.com
for more information.
Features
Buddhist monk gives yoga
lecture
■ see page 2
Sports
Fant, Harris set new school
records
■ see page 5
Opinion
Placing the dollar value ol a
human being
■ see page 6
February 12, 2003
Saddam:
back in
proverbial
spider hole
BY Terri Fisher
Staff Reporter
Weeks after Pentagon oHicials
declared Saddam Hussein a prisoner
of war (POW), the lack of coverage
on him is not surprising to some.
“I’m not surprised that we
haven’t heard about Saddam
Hussein since he’s been captured,”
.said Kevin Skolnik, a senior ethics
and social institutions major.
“Mainly because it’s often very true,
especially in our media .system, that
something gets pre.ss as long as it’s
hot and then as .soon as informa
tion is not directly available or in
tended for public consumption it
drops from the Front page ol the
newspaper.”
Under the Geneva Convention
of 1949, the United States accepted
a .set of specific guidelines, follow
ing the declaration of Hu.s.sein as a
POW.
According to Article 17, prLson-
ers of war are not required to di
vulge anything except their names,
rank, date of birth and .serial num
ber. Under the convention, they
may not be threatened, insulted or
exposed to unpleasant or disadvan
tageous treatment in order to gain
information.
“If he’s a POW, they’re not al
lowed to interrogate him, which
they’re doing,” said Mark Gihney,
professor of political science at
UNCA. “My sense is they’re doing
much more and their trying to ob
tain information from him and in
ways that are violate to the Geneva
Convention.”
The International Committee of
the Red Cross negotiated with U.S.
Central Command and the Coali
tion Provisional Authority to visit
the high-profile prisoners. The
committee is expected to evaluate
the prisoner’s conditions and report
his status independently.
Red Cross U.S. Chief Girod
Christophe told CNN in Decem
ber they visited all other high-pro
file prisoners and expect to see
Hussein after the military has given
them the OK.
“We have seen the deck of cards,”
said Christophe, according to
CNN. “We have seen the big fish
and the little fish.”
The delay in Saddam Hussein’s
classification is most likely due to
the legal stipulations that are ac
cepted when a prisoner is classified.
The U.S. accepts that, as a POW,
Hussein can only be tried under the
authority of occupying forces,
which may require a U.S. military
trial.
Both the Pentagon and Shiite
Muslims of Iraq would like to .see
Saddam Hmssein prosecuted in Iraq
by an assembly of his own people.
The POW status may be chal
lenged, therefore allowing for a
transfer in obligation.
If evidence proves that Hussein
was involved in postwar insurgency
against the U.S.-led coalition, there
are provisions to change an
individual’s status under the Geneva
Convention.
The U.S. is currently involved in
a transfer of power between Iraq
and the U.S. military. The plan is
See SADDAM on page 12
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