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p ^ Mardi Gras—UNCA Homecoming 2004
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SERVING THE UNIVERSIT^tW
Volume 39 Issue 4
NEWS
BRIEFS
WWW. unca. edu!banner
February 26, 2004
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BY James Richards
Staff Reporter
CAMPUS CRIME
Campus Police issued two stu
dent citations for underage pos
session of alcohol and one cita
tion for providing alcohol to an
underage person during UNCA’s
homecoming Feb. 21, according
to campus police reports.
Campus Police also issued an
underage alcohol possession cita
tion in front of the shuttle stop
to the homecoming dance.
In addition, Campus Police
cited a Founders Hall resident for
possession of drug paraphernalia
and misdemeanor possession of
marijuana.
ASHEVILLE
The non-profit Asheville
Community Resource Center
(ACRC) will close its Lexington
Avenue doors on March 1.
Clay Property Management,
the property supervisor, cited
large gatherings and concerts at
the center as reasons for eviction,
according to the Asheville Citizen
Times.
Several adjoining businesses
complained about large groups of
youths gathered outside the cen
ter.
Managed by community vol
unteers, the ACRC provides space
for meetings, concerts, art open
ings and social outreach programs
including a reading room, prison
book program and the Asheville
Free School.
The volunteers plan to raise
money for a new downtown lo
cation.
WILKESBORO, N.C.
Wilkes Community College is
one of a number ofN.C. state col
leges and universities offering
classes geared toward the
NASCAR industry.
Wilkes offers an associate de
gree in race car performance,
while some other colleges offer an
interdisciplinary degree of motor
sports management and automo
tive engineering.
The programs reflect a grow
ing need in N.C. to maintain con
nections to the multi-billion dol
lar NASCAR industry, with many
of its top teams located within a
50-mile radius of Charlotte.
Some colleges estimate the
placement rate for graduates be
tween 40 percent and 70 percent
with starting salaries from
$25,000 to $40,000, according to
the News and Observer.
bels intent on overthrowing
lent Jean-Bertrand Aristide
an Hati’s second largest city,
Haitien, last week,
irrently, the rebels occupy
he country and plan to at-
Port-au-Prince, the Hatian
il, according to t\\c Associated
le uprising resulted in 70
IS since it began Feb. 5. In a
ce of Aristide’s leadership, the
:d States decided not to send
)s to restore order,
owever, the U.S. plans to
a small Marine force to se-
its embassy at Port-au-
Court approves same sex marriage
BY Lauren Abe
Staff Reporter
\ .
M..
’ --
Gay couple,
TYLER BREAUX/staff photographer
Sara House and Chafe Burmstein embrace.
The Massachusetts High Court re
affirmed an original November rul
ing that allows gay couples to get mar
ried. This decision spurred lots of
controversy regarding the constitu
tionality of this decision
“Banning gay marriage is uncon
stitutional in general because we’re all
supposed to be created equal. Our
government does not see gay people
as equal,” said Porscha Yount, a se
nior environmental studies student
and president of Alliance, a group de
signed to promote unity among stu-
' dents of all sexual orientations. “They
don’t really see us as humans because
they don’t see us as full citizens, so
they give us this second class status
where we don’t have all the rights.
Earlier this month, the Mas.sachu-
setts Supreme Judicial Court ruled
that gay people will be allowed to get
married mid-May, according to
CNN.
In November 2003, the Massa
chusetts Supreme Court ruled that a
ban on same-sex marriage violates the
constitution’s guarantee of equality.
“It aggravates me that they are be
ing questioned and may have to re
call or change their decision,” said
Brian Davis, sophomore and co-vice
president of Alliance. “It is a really
good step forward, but any step back
ward could ripple throughout the
United States. States that were con
sidering gay marriage may not con
sider it or put it on the backburner
and forget about it.”
The Massachusetts
High Court found that
commonwealth attor
neys failed ro give an ad
equate reason why gay
couples should not be al
lowed marriage Nov. 18,
2003. The Massachu
setts Legislature opposes
the High Court’s deci
sion. However, the leg
islature failed to draft an
amendment banning gay
marriage by Feb. 12. The Massachu
setts Constitutional Convention will
meet March 11 to try again, accord
ing to CNN.
“1 think that anything that is in
favor of (gay people) making ad
vancements towards earning that
right is good,” said Sara House, a jun
ior mass communication major. “1
think the main i.ssue for those who
are opposed to it is fear. Cienerally
people are afraid of things they dont
understand.”
I’he decision by San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom to issue same-
.sex marri;ige licenses Feb. 12 helped
spur the debates. 'Fhe city of San
Francisco authorized more than
2,700 gay mar
riages since the
mayor’s decision,
according to
CNN. San
“This is a real relationship
with real people. These are
real human beings with
real love and real feelings
with real needs that can be
met by simply calling it a
marriage.”
F
r a n c 1 s c o
planned to sue
the state of Cali
fornia tor pro
hibiting gay
marriage Feb. 19
“To me mar
riage is just a
word, something
that mankind wrote down,” said
Davis. “Men and women in the Re-
nai.s.sance were defined by their per
sonalities not by their genitalia and
we are slowly getting back to that.
Brian Davis
undeclared sophomore
See court on page 12
UNCA re-defines liberal arts education
University to change curriculum for fall 2004 students
BY Terri Fisher
AND Adam McMullin
Staff Reporters
UNCA is set to implement
changes to the general educa
tion curriculum. This year’s in
coming freshman will be the
first to follow the new plan.
■ “What is very exciting is that
.UNCA is again taking a lead
ership position nationally on
curriculum innovation,” said
Chancellor Jiip Mullen. “We
helped lead the nation on un
dergraduate research and on the
teaching of the humanities. We
have been looked to as a leader
in interdisciplinary learning,
and now we are taking a lead
ership position in defining a
new model for liberal educa
tion.”
The new curriculum will
surely attract national attention,
according to Mullen.
“We’re going to approach
general education in a way that
focuses on issues and topics and
really, I think, takes very impor
tant steps in allowing people to
learn knowledge in a way that
is applicable in the world they’re
going to move into, said
Mullen. “I think that’s tremen
dously exciting.”
UNCAs general education
program has been under review
since 1999, according to Ed
Katz, associate professor of lit
erature, assistant vice chancel
lor of university programs and
language and chair of the
UNCA general education re
view task force.
“The revision process started
as part of an accreditation re
view process where we were to
put out a report on our present
general education program,
said Katz. “That sep'ayed into
a review of our curriculum with
possibilities to revise it. As a re
sult of a year or year and half of
very careful study, we con
cluded (a revision) was called
for.”
During the review, virtually
every department on campus, as
well as students got to weigh in
on the existing program and the
proposed one. Participants
clarified the fact that parts of the
current program weren’t work
ing as well as they should be,
according to Katz.
“At both of those (student
forums), juniors and seniors
would raise their hands and ask,
‘what is general education?’ or
‘what is liberal arts?”’ said Katz.
“They were seniors at a liberal
arts school. They dont know
and that is a huge problem.”
The faculty senate approved
the new program Jan. 29.
The major differences in the
new general education layout
and the old one is the absence
of Humanities 414, Arts 310
and Library Research. The new
education plan introduces all
three of these classes as new
courses. Humanities 414 is
changed to Liberal Studies (LS)
Senior Colloquium 479. Hu
manities 414 isn’t gone, but be
comes a different type of course
for a different purpose, accord
ing to Katz.
“Faculty expressed a desire
for a senior liberal studies course
that would offer students more
of an opportunity to do self-di
rected learning and produce
some expression of that in a
project of some kind, said Katz.
There will be some core con
tent in the new course that is
similar to Humanities 414, ac
cording to Katz.
“It will cover contemporary
issues since 1945, said Katz.
“We think at this point it will
have more of a topical orienta-
See education on page 12
Activists urge
government
to protect
environment
BY Amanda Edwards
Staff Reporter
KATE GUNTHORPE/staff photographer
Senior Erin Wood (above) takes notes in the humanities
lecture hall. The HLH, home to the current humanities
program, will host a new general education plan in the
fall. The flow chart (below) illustrates the changes that
will apply to new freshmen and transfers.
The Integrative Liberal Studies Program
Fretthman Year
liJ 179, Introductory Colloquium
Fre«hmnn Year
Learning Foundations
Foundations of Academic Writing
Natural Science Lab
Math
Foreign I^anguagex
Health and FUncHa
Ayjmore & duniar Yearj
ILS Core Cluster in
the Humanities
fftemanitiee 124, The Ancient World
IfumanittcH 214. The Medieval and
fienaisHance WuHd
HutnaniticH 324. The Modern World
^^jphomore & Junior Year
ILS Topical Cluster
ILS Social Science
ILS Natural Science
ILS Elective
Sophomore
*
orv''^.^y^ J\
Junior Year
ILS Arts/Arts Studio WorkUiop^i
Junior Year
ILS Intensifies
Writing
Infarmatum Literacy
Diversity
Quantitative Reasoning
t Senior Year
LS 479, Senior Colloquium
COURTESY OF ED KATZ
More than 60 scientists issued a statement
Feb. 18 requesting legislative action to restore
scientific integrity in federal policymaking
concerning environmental ifssues.
“Whether the issue is clean air or climate
change, it has serious consequences for all
Americans,” said Kurt Gottfried, chairman of
the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in
an open letter to the Bush administration.
The UCS released a.statement entitled “Sci
entific Integrity in Policymaking,” that the
Bush administration has consistently sought
to damage the public’s understanding of the
scientific theory that the consumption of fos
sil fuels and other human activities are con
tributing to global warming.
“I think global warming has the potential
to be the single greatest disaster that modern
humans will face,” said Bert Holmes, a chem
istry professor. “At some time in our future,
the central portion of the U.S. will become so
warm it will no longer be the “bread basket”
of the U.S., but it will be a desert.”
However, forecasting the specific outcomes
of global warming is not easy, according to
Holmes.
“It is difficult to make accurate predictions.
All we can be certain of is that folks in the
developed countries are running a global ex
periment and at some time in the future we
will learn the consequences of our actions.”
Previous studies on the possible causes of
20th century warming have generally concen
trated on a pattern of climate change on a glo
bal scale, but the Bush administration fails to
acknowledge that humans may be the num
ber one contributors, according to the UCS
report.
Global warming, the warming of the earth
due to the increase of “greenhouse gases,”
mainly carbon dioxide and methane concen
trations in the atmosphere, is also caused by
See environment on page 12
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