m
matures “Million Dollar Baby” pulls no punches, swings for the Oscars
D?iP’P /
Sports Women’s basketball adds two conference victories CampuS UNCA celebrates Black History Month
■ see naee ?, ^ H see page 5
Volume 41 Issue 3
WWW. unca. edu/banner
February 17, 2005
NEWS
BRIEFS
1
by Jamie Ellingsen
Staff' Reporter
«mpus Clime
'impus Police issued a cita-
for underage possession of
ohol to one occupant and a
pass warning to another
■iipant of a UNCA dorm Feb.
’ampus Police responded to
all from housing staff report-
underage drinking, accord-
to the report.
'ampus Police arrested one
dent for underage possession
t f alcohol after detecting alco-
ol on the student’s breath,
;ording to Campus Police,
e officer encountered the stu-
ni in a dorm hall while on a
yk-through Feb. 8. The stu-
ni refused a breath test, result-
ig in a state citation for pos-
sing alcohol according to the
ice report.
I8t6
lorth Carolina repossessed
75,000 worth of gas masks
chased for police officers,
icials repossessed the masks
lie to their ineffectiveness,
ording to the Associated
ss.
Jseless against toxins as basic
is'tear gas, the 2,400 masks do
meet federal protection stan
ds for safety masks.
'he masks will be improved
nil they meet federal safety
idards. Until then, the state
jichased an additional 300
isks, which do not meet feder-
standards for key personnel,
Jing about $45,000.
ation
ay Kurzweil reportedly lives
lis life with intentions of living
^ever. Kurzweil takes about
'0 supplements and drinks
!hi to 10 glasses of alkaline
Iter and 10 cups of green tea
ily, according to the AP.
Skurzweil wrote “Fantastic
tiyage: Live Long Enough to
S'e Forever,” a guide for peo-
e to follow who enjoy immor-
lity.
Mthough criticized by some
"for irrational theory, Kurzweil
leived recognition from MIT.
addition, he won the National
ledal of Technology Award in
’99 and was inducted into the
hentor’s Hall of Fame in
t2, according to the AP.
Korid
'kfter spending nearly 10 days
a hospital in Rome, pope
Jhn Paul II returned to the pul-
Ipit Feb. 13, according to the AP.
I Although an aide gave most of
jWs Sunday address, the pope
•shed everyone a happy
l^nday and thanked them at the
of the message.
Jhe hospital admitted the
PPe Feb. 1 for breathing diffi-
Jlties from the flu. The hospi-
^eleased the pope Feb. 10.
pope also suffers from
ttkinson’s disease and weak-
. |ss in his hip and knee, accord
ing to the AP.
tan demonstrated the serious-
hs of its warnings to the
pited States Feb. 13 by deny-
ng the European request to halt
Teparations for a heavy-water
^lear reactor, according to the
see briefs page 12
Students question safety after intrusion
by Natalie Jones
Staff Reporter
Some students at UNCA worry
about their safety after a student’s
report of a male hiding in the
women’s restroom of the
Highsmith University Union.
Campus Police received a call
about a male in the women’s rest
room of the Highsmith University
Union Jan. 25, according to Sgt.
Jerry Adams, investigator on the
case.
The caller said the male hid
inside one of the stalls and tried to
look under the stall wall at a
female student.
“When I heard about the bath
room incident, I thought it was
scary. I have been nervous about
going places alone,” said Natasha
Crkicos, junior psychology stu
dent. “It made me more aware of
what is going on around me.”
After the female student left the
restroom, she asked someone else
to report the male to Campus
Police, according to Adams.
“The suspect did not physically
hurt the young woman, and we
have no idea what his intentions
were,” said Adams. “He left the
building within seconds of our
arrival, and we never actually saw
him.”
A surveillance camera caught
the male on tape hanging around
the bathroom, and Campus Police
was able to get a description from
the tape.
Police described him as a white
,male in his mid-20s with black
hair and a slim build. The video
tape provided Campus Police with
enough information to conduct a
search.
“We did conduct a search of the
Highsmith University Union and
the entire campus,” said Adams.
“We were looking for someone
meeting the description of the sus
pect. In the video, he looked just
like another college student to
me.”
An e-mail sent to students
warned them to be aware of their
surroundings and to call Campus
Police if they saw anything suspi
cious. The e-mail did not include
details about the incident. Some
students said the university should
have warned them of the immedi
ate danger.
“When I got the e-mail warning
students to be safe, I skimmed
over it but didn’t pay much atten
tion to it,” said Creticos. “1 didn’t
understand that there was such a
big threat. I think the university
should have emphasized the fact
that there is someone on campus
targeting women. I would have
paid more attention to the warn
ings.”
The university’s decision to
send out an e-mail to students
rather than to warn them immedi
ately was enough for some stu
dents to complain directly to the
administration, according to
Creticos.
“I made a request to the admin
istration to warn students about
the incident because the victim
wanted us make other students
aware of the situation,” said
Adams.
“The university has guidelines
about those kinds of things, and
the administration decided what
could be put out. The e-mail was
the result.”
Campus Police sponsored a
table in the Dining Hall Feb. 10
during lunch time. The table con
sisted of brochures on crime pre
vention and safety tips.
“We have also increased our
foot patrols of the Highsmith
University Union during both the
TYLER BREAUX/ PHOTO EDITOR
A female using the Highsmith Union restroom caught a maie
intruder peeking under the bathroom stalls.
day and evening,” said Adams.
There have been two reported
forced sex offences in the last
three years, according to the
Campus Security Statistics Web
site.
“I feel like two reported rapes
are average for our campus
because we haven’t had many
reports in the 13 years I have been
here,” said Adams. “I do think
there are some rapes that take
place that aren’t reported.”
For safety measures, on-campus
students prefer the dorms
equipped with keypad entries
where only students can enter dur
ing the day and night.
“I feel safer in Governor’s
Village because keypads are used
for access,” said Angela Polly,
sophomore art student.
SEE BATHROOM, PAGE 12
UNCA reforms health and wellness program
by Leah Shellberg
Staff Reporter
UNCA approved a new health promotions
and wellness major effective this semester.
A new building and also a North Carolina
Center for Health and Wellness Promotion,
will accompany the new mapr for hedth and
wellness promotion, according to Keith Ray,
vice chancellor of academic and student
affairs and chair and associate professor for
the department of health and wellness.
The developers scheduled the construction
of the new building to begin in 2006 and to
finish by 2008.
Students can formally declare the major next
fall, however UNCA offers some of the cur
riculum this semester.
“The new facility will house the department
of health and wellness, this new degree pro
gram and all the other minors that we offer,
and it will house an outreach initiative that we
are going to call the ‘North Carolina Center
for Health and Wellness Promotion,”’ said
Ray.
Students will engaged in service learning by
developing partenerships across WNC that
deal with health promotion and disease pre
vention.
After considering the history of UNCA’s
current health program, the next logical step
included a new major, according to Ray.
“During that 20 year history, we slowp
moved forward and developed an academic
department where we offered courses in health
and wellness, and we started offering a minor
in health promotion,” said Ray.
Ray based his decision to create the major
on the current experience with the minor and
the societal need for students with this back-
OLIVIA KORMAN/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students currently attend health and wellness classes in the UNCA Health and
Fitness Center, where fitness and iab equipment are availiable to students.
ground, according to Ray.
The interdisciplinary major involves
required courses in biology, psychology, soci
ology, statistics, evironmental studies, man
agement, multimedia arts and science and phi
losophy.
“Ifiis is an interdisciplinary degree pro
gram,” said Ray. “So, I can see students and
faculty in other departments, such as psychol
ogy and sociology, having opportunities to do
internship work and undergraduate research
through this center.”
The program also allows students opportuni
ties for multiple employment and post-gradu
ate options for students participating in it.lt
will also benefit pre-med or pre-physical ther
apy students by preparing them for immediate
entry into the work force, post graduation.
Those who plan to enter graduate school in
health promotion will also benefit from this
major, according to Ray.
The major and the North Carolina Center for
Health and Wellness have three main focal
points.
US.
develops
military
robots
by Justin Wagner
Staff Reporter
The Pentagon plans to deploy 18
machine-gun-equipped, remote-
controlled robots to Iraq this
spring, according to a recent USA
Today article. They are the first
armed robots to participate in
combat.
“Hopefully, we won’t have to
worry as much about being drafted
now,” said Larkin Ford, unde
clared sophomore. “Mobile, robot
ic death units are just what
America needs.”
Foster-Miller Inc., a private
Massachusetts company, devel
oped the technology to add
machine guns to an older robot
model used by the U.S. military to
detonate roadside bombs.
Despite the fact that the technol
ogy now exists, no one expects
either private businesses or the
U.S. military to manufacture an
entire robot army in the foresee
able future, according to the USA
Today.
“You can’t really put them on an
assembly line and make them like
you can with cars,” said Stan
Frady, senior engineering student.
“Not yet.”
Operators control the Special
Weapons Observation
Reconnaissance Detection
Systems, (SWORDS) with a
remote control and view its move
ments through a video monitor.
Soldiers can operate the robot
from a location of up to half a mile
away.
The robots operate continuously
for up to four hours. They fire
between 300 to 350 rounds before
running out of ammunition when
fitted with an M240 or M249
machine gun.
Aside from making soldiers less
vulnerable to attacks, U.S. military
officials also laud the SWORDS
for their accuracy. A soldier oper
ating the vehicle can hit a nickel
sized target up to 300 meters away,
according to USA Today.
The vehicle’s precise move
ments owe its link with the Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellite
network. The system can accurate
ly relay information about the
location of a person or object any
where on Earth within 30 meters,
according to a Georgia State
University physics department
Web site.
“Most of them seem to be
hooked up to GPS, which is able to
relay back coordinates as they
need to,” said Frady.
The robot withstands abuse
which would easily prove fatal to a
human soldier. In Iraq, a roadside
bomb explosion catapulted a robot
similar to the SWORDS model
into a river, according a USA
Today. Operators used the robot’s
remote control unit to maneuver
the still-intact vehicle out of the
water.
Though the robot’s operators
hold responsiblity for pulling the
trigger, the SWORDS have a lim
ited degree of artificial intelli
gence. This allows the robot some
navigational autonomy.
“A.I. (artificial intelligence) can
SEE HEALTH, PAGE 12
SEE ROBOT, PAGE 12