News
Page 10
'I'hc Blue Banner - Ser\ing the Universiw of North Carolina at Ashe\ille since 1982
September 8, 2005
Budget not
a concern,
according
to officials
By Lisa Glllespla
Srvr Writer
noiit.
ACLU-NCLF sues Woodfin
Civil liberties
group calls sex
offender ban
unconstitutional
State funding has decreased in
the last five years as unemploy
ment has increased, leading to
speculation that the university is
in financial trouble because of
cut-downs in student worker
wages and a decrease in money
for student organizations.
“If you thought that the cutback
to 20 hours was because we were
trying to cut the student tempo
rary wage budget, that wasn’t it at
all,” said Pat McClellan, associ
ate vice chancellor for academic
and student affairs. “The money
that is going towards student
wages has not decreased. We are
not in financial trouble. We are
not attempting to cut student
employment wages.”
UNCA implemented the 20-
hour work week this fall. It is
very common at academic institu
tions, according to McClellan.
‘This is the school’s way of try
ing to control students to focus on
their studies. I would assume that
there has been a trend of students
working overtime and their
grades suffered," said David Cox,
■sophomore student. “I don’t think
there is any way that the school is
limiting it to 20 hours because of
financial reasons; I think that
would be a very public issue.”
In 20(K), there were 1,903 first
time-freshman, according to the
Office of Institutional Research
Fact Book. By 2004, there were
2,571 first-time freshmen.
“As the economy worsens, peo
ple stay in school longer,” said
Steve Honeycutt, university
budget officer. “This means we
have an influx of students, but the
slate has a decrease in tax rev
enue.”
The 20-hour idea is that if the
student is full-time, then that is
their full time job, according to
McClellan.
’There are some students that
are RA’s and student senators,”
said Tarik Glenn, senior manage
ment student and president of the
Student Government Association.
“If they do not get that waiver to
work more than 20 hours, they
will have to cut down on some
thing.
“If I were to guess the reason
for its implementation, there have
probably been several students
who had worked more than 20
hours and they were on academic
probation.”
In 1997, 12.1 percent of rev
enue came from tuition and fees.
By 2004, 18.5 percent came from
tuition.
“You can follow the economic
shifts in how much money we get.
The state support we are getting is
declining. The opposite is true of
tuition,” Honeycutt said. ‘The
amount of money we are getting
from tuition is going up.
‘This means that we will hear
that unemployment is going up,
and a little after that the tax rev
enues will come in at less than
expected. The students will tend
to stay in school because there are
no jobs.”
By Kella Zalc
Staff Writer
In March, the town of Woodfin
set up an ordinance that makes it
illegal for registered sex offend
ers to be on or about its public
parks. On August 26, the
American Civil Liberties Union
of North Carolina Legal
Foundation (ACLU-NCLFj filed
a complaint with Buncombe
County.
“1 feel this ordinance is justifi
able. The safety of our citizens is
number one,” said Brett
Holloman, Woodfin’s chief of
police. “In today’s times I feel
parents should have their guard
up regardless.”
The challenged ordinance.
Section 130.03, exempts the
presence of a registered sex
offender on or about public
parks. The consequences of
being caught in the parks as a sex
offender are at least 30 days in
jail or a $500 fine. The three
entrances of Woodfin’s public
parks have official signs posting
this information.
“1 think when one passes the
sign, it puts people on notice,”
said Jason Young, Woodfin town
administrator. “Truthfully
speaking, there’s no magic barri
er you can put up.”
The police department uses
this ordinance as a device for the
deterrence of registered sex
offenders from town parks.
Another tool that police and citi
zens can use to safe check indi
viduals who seem suspicious can
be found at the North Carolina
Sex Offender and Public
Protection Registry,
http://sbi.jus.state.nc.us/DOJHA
HT/SOR/Default.htm. On this
Web site you can search by zip
code for offenders and you will
receive their picture, address,
other personal information and
convictions with sentence time
served.
Community
ponders plan
for chancellor
residence
By Tara Luetkenhaus
Staff Writer
f D Tw 1 . Cherie Thompson/staff PHOTOGRAPHER
Woodfin Police Chief Brett Holoman, above, says he believes the ban on sex offenders in
public parks to be a necessary and protective measure. A sign in a woodfin park, below
spells out the specifics of the ban which ACLU-NCLF has called into question
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“We
not listed at the correct address.
Many people have been able to
their name from the
?
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}~* sophon
—»»ard,
sophomore student. ‘This makes
me think that the financial aid
office does not have enough
money to help us.”
The budget for student organi
zation is derived from campus
commission, a panel of eight to
10 people. A student organization
goes to the panel before the
school year is out.
“This year we got 16,000. In
the years past we got 16.500,”
Glenn said. “The new adminis
tration wasn’t in office in time to
submit a budget. Fortunately,
Robert Straub gave us the same
amount as in previous years.”
Concerned faculty and
Montview-Hillside residents
attended a meeting Monday
evening to discuss university plans
for the chancellor’s new residence.
“Biology and environmental
studies faculty were consulted in
this process, but the consultation
was perfunctory and appeared to
be directed more toward co-opting
rather than consulting the faculty,”
said David Clarke, biology profes
sor and resident of the Montview-
Hillside neighborhood. “How
does the university intend to con
sult stakeholders in the future?”
Charles R. Tolley, UNCA board
of trustees chair, hosted the meet
ing. According to Tolley, the
board located the residence in the
most appropriate place.
“I don’t know how much coordi
nation we could have done prior to
selecting a site,” Tolley said. “The
chosen site is on the south side of
Weaver Boulevard, and we put it
on that tip, number one because it
would be closer to campus, nun
ber two, it would leave the rest oi
that area alone.”
Siting the house on the edge of a
parcel is a central principle when
designing areas for preservation,
according to Clarke. He said this
minimizes the creation of edge.
According to The Landscape
Restoration Handbook, edge areas
are basically the place where one
habitat ends and another begins,
for example where the edge of the
forest and a roadway meet. Edge
areas have known negative
impacts on wildlife and plants,
inhibiting their ability to move
about in search of mates, food and
territories and making them signif
icantly more vulnerable to preda
tors.
Clarke suggested siting the facil
ity on the existing temporaiy
freshman parking lot as one way
to create less edge.
“I’m familiar with the parking
lot,” Tolley said. “I don’t know of
any plans to demolish that parking
lot. or to abandon it. but that mav
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