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 >' : 1 i' ■ !i A ^ ! i-

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