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Volume 43, Issue 11
Serving the University of North Carolina at Asheville since 1982
November 17, 2005
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The Blue Banner editors and
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issue of The, Blue Banner.
General Council Tom Lawton
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fied for statements made by attor
ney P J- Roth during the American
Civil Liberties Union Forum.
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The United States trains Latin
American dictators and leaders of
paramilitary “death squads,”
according to sjoeakers at the School
of the Americas (SOA) fomm last
Thursday in the Laurel Fomm.
“Many of the dictators of Central
and Latin America were trained
SOA graduates,” said Brevard resi
dent Linda Mashbum, who plans to
get arrested a fourth time at the
annual nonviolent protest next
weekend against the SOA, now
Iknown as the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation.
For example, in Guatemala dur
ing the ‘80s, there were three gener
als who comprised the very top
leadership of the military, and they
were the architects of the ‘Scorched
Earth’ policy, which then led the
Guatemalan military to destroy over
440 villages and to massacre
200,000 Mayan Indians.”
The former SOA in Fort Benning,
Georgia, now WHINSEC, was
instituted in July 1963 during the
Cold War.
“We’ve been operating our own
school of terrorism that has trained
more terrorists than any other place
in the world for the last fifty years.
So how can we as a nation say we’re
waging a war on teirorism until we
shut down this training facihty in
our own country?” Mashbum said.
About 20 UNCA students will
take the six-hour trip to Fort
Benning, Georgia on Nov. 18-20 to
participate in the protest, according
to sophomore Kati Ketz.
Last year, 16,000 people attended
the protest, and there is the potential
for 20,000 this year, according to
Mashbum. Nonviolent training in
the style of Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King Jr. is strongly
encouraged.
Those protestors who enter the
School of the Americas through the
fence this year are guaranteed arrest
3nd jail time. Before the SOA built
the fence a few years ago, thousands
crossed “the hne.”
“My husband will have a hard
time explaining where I am for three
to six months, but frankly, it’s a way
of making my friends take the issue
seriously,” Mashbum said.
SOA graduates did not only act
violently in the 1980s, according to
Mashbum.
In Guatemala this past year, poUce
arrested and killed demonstrators
after the government refused to hold
a popular referendum on the ratifi
cation of the Central American Free
Trade Agreement, according to
Mashbum.
In Colombia, where the United
States is conducting its “War on
Drugs,” efforts began to unionize
the Coca-Cola plant, according to
Mashbum.
“Coca-Cola hired their own httle
security pohee, their own httle pri
vate army including SOA graduates,
and at least six or eight union organ
izers out of that effort have specifi
cally been kUled in the last several
SEE SOA PAGE 101
UNCA receives $2 million pledge
Lauren Abe — Staff Photographer
Joe Kimmel donated $2 million to the new North Carolina Center of Health and Wellness. Kimmel, local business owner, and Chancellor
Anne Ponder discuss the new facility. The complex, which is still in its beginning stages, will include state-of-the-art biometrics labs, fitness
training facilities, areas for teaching and research, and space for competition, commencement and certain athletic events.
Local businessman donates to new health facility
By Allie Haake
Staff Writer
Joe Kimmel, local business
man, announced his donation of
$2 million Wednesday toward the
North Carolina Center of Health
and Wellness, a complex now in
its preliminary stages which will
include a multi-purpose convoca
tion center and classrooms for a
relatively new health degree.
“To have the opportunity for
UNCA to do something this
splendid rests with this initial
gift,” Chancellor Anne Ponder
said at the gathering.
Kimmel, founder of executive
search firm Kimmel &
Associates, presented one of the
largest private donations in the
university’s history, according to
Ponder.
“UNCA is not used to receiving
gifts of this magnitude,” Ponder
said. “We are delighted to receive
it, not only for what the gift will
do, but for the example it will set
for other benefactors of the uni
versity going forward.”
Ponder said she considers
Kimmel part of. the family and
plans to name the multipurpose
area Kimmel Arena.
“Joe Kimmel is the father of six
UNCA graduates,” Ponder said.
“I will be thinking of him as a
premier father not only of distin
guished alumni, but as the father
of the project we will be unfold
ing in the weeks, months and
years ahead.”
Kimmel said he owes some
thing to the area that helped raise
his children.
“I moved here in the early ‘80s
to raise my seven children, and
what a community it is,” Kimmel
said. “What I owe them that
raised my children. All are turn
ing out, by grace of God, alright.”
He said that he could not make
the donation without the support
of his employees and company.
‘This is really about the 100
wonderful men and women who
work at Kimmel & Associates
and their families, who under
stand giving and serving in a way
that has been the greatest bless
ing a man could ever have,”
Kimmel said. “It is my great
honor to give this gift.”
Ponder said she is very thankful
for Kimmel’s contribution, as
66
99
We are delighted to receive it,
not only for what the gift will do,
but for the example it will set for
other benefactors of the universi
ty going forward.
Anne Ponder
UNCA chancellor
well as his generosity in the past,
which includes a scholarship pro
vision and an addition to Ramsey
Library.
“This $2 million pledge is the
initial gift for a particular project,
and allows us to honor not only
this gift, but the philanthropy of
this previously very modest and
private person in the good that he
and his company have already
done,” Ponder said.
The complex, funded mostly by
the N.C. General Assembly’s
appropriation of $35 million, will
serve as a venue for basketball
and volleyball games, as well as a
center for the Health and
Wellness Promotion course of
study.
“We are in desperate need of
facilities that include space for
our new academic degree pro
gram which started this past
fall,” said Keith Ray chair and
associate professor of the depart
ment of health and wellness. “In
the first 10 weeks of this semes
ter, we already have at least 23
officially declared majors.”
The entire new department
will move to the center upon its
completion. The building will
include state-of-the-art biomet
rics labs, new fitness training
facilities for students, faculty and
staff, areas for teaching and
research, and space for competi
tion, commencement and certain
athletic events.
Although officials did not give
an exact size and completion
date, Ray said the Health and
Wellness Center will be large and
will affect the community at
large.
“It is going to be a significant
and complex structure on cam
pus,” Ray said. “We are thrilled
with this and intend to play a sig
nificant role in the health and
well-being of the citizenry of
Western North Carolina.
Child’s Play sets goal of $350,000 for donations this year
By Shannon Roberts
Staff Writer
The ease of giving to charity
online is a principle on which the
annual grassroots toy drive
Child’s Play operates.
“What the Internet has done is
remove barriers to impulsive acts
of generosity,” said Jptry
Holkins, co-founder of Child’s
Play. “When clicking a few tiines
amounts to an act of genuine
compassion, you can find Good
Samaritans everywhere.”
Child’s Play founders Mike
Krahulik and Jerry Holkins cur
rently mastermind the Web comic
Penny Arcade, a comic strip
devoted to video games and
gamer culture.
Child’s Play primarily donates
videogames and gaming systems,
but also distributes movies, art
supplies and other toys.
In 2003, Child’s Play raised
more than $250,000 in toys and
cash for the Seattle Children’s
Hospital.
Their goal for this year is
$350,000, and .as of Friday, after
only a week of fundraising.
Child’s Play hit $67,000 worth of
donations.
“Hospitals can be scary for
kids,” said Rob Waskom, unde
clared sophomore student. “What
they’re doing reminds me of
Make a Wish, without being as
creepy.”
According to numerous state
ments released by Holkins and
Krahulik, Child’s Play is not only
a way to brighten the Christmas
season of sick children, but is
also an opportunity to brighten
the image of gamers and the gam
ing community.
“I know for a fact that gamers
are good people,” Krahulik said.
“We are just regular people who
happen to love video games.”
Some feel that Krahulik and
Holkin’s efforts to change the
face of the gaming community is
admirable, but feel those efforts
are less important than the actual
fundraising.
“I think it’s good when people
use what they’re good at to help
others,” Waskom said. “I’m not
too worried about the gaming
community image, though; I
think the position it holds in soci
ety is part of the attraction.”
Despite the fund-raising flyers
that often paper campus bulletin
boards, online charity may not
find much support at UNCA.
“I think students are much
more likely to offer their time and
energy than money,” said
Andrew Lydick, sophomore psy
chology student. “I would per
sonally be more likely to volun
teer my time for something that
concerns me than I would to sim
ply donate money to a cause.”
While some students do sup
port the idea of a charity like
Child’s Play, many simply cannot
afford to contribute.
“I think it’s ultimately an issue
regarding lack of ‘extra’ money,”
Lydick said.
Some feel that online charities
may actually encourage giving to
needy causes.
“The Internet gives us the
chance to make charity a part of
our routine,” Waskom said. “If
people could regularly contribute
small amounts online, I think
they’d be more willing to help
when something hands-on came
up-”
Some students dislike the
uncertainty of donating money
online.
“Money transfer is generally
Students
concerned
about lack
of diversity
By Melissa Dean
Staff Writfr
faceless,” Lydick said. “That is,
you’re not ever sure what’s hap
pening with the money.”
Many people, however, enjoy
the hands-off aspect of online
donation.
‘There’s a lot to be said for
anonymous charity,” Waskom
said. “Some people are more
comfortable giving in a non-per
sonal setting.”
Some may feel that donating
online cheapens the act of chari
ty, but others see the ease of
online charity as a bonus.
“I think that giving should be
easy,” Waskom said. “I don’t
think we should make things dif
ficult for people who are actually
trying to do good.”
Child’s Play takes advantage of
Amazon’s ‘wish-list’ system to
order toys. Contributors merely
select a hospital to view its wish-
list, select a game or toy from the
list, and purchase it. Amazon
delivers the items directly to the
hospital.
This year’s sponsors for Child’s
Play include Rad Game Tools,
Blizzard Entertainment,
HardOCP, Cerulean Studios, and
Lasermach.
The lack of diversity on the
UNCA campus causes many stu
dents and faculty to question what
can be done about this growing
problem.
“Excellence without divei-sity is
not excellence, but is a vice for
inadequacy,” said Liam Luttrell,
member of The New Diversity
Task Force. “We need to graduate
with a well-rounded, cohesive
understanding of the world and a
campus without racial diversity
will never produce such a distinc
tion.”
Many people say the excuse
used most often in dealing with the
lack of diversity here at UNCA is
our student body is very diverse in
other ways, but this is not enough,
according to Eric Gardner, senior
philosophy student.
“There are students here that
identify themselves as queer and
we also have many different reli
gious groups, but the most impor
tant part of diversity here isn’t in
terms of these lifestyle choices
made by subsections of the upper
middle-class white part of the pop
ulation,” Gardner said.
The overall black population in
North Carolina is 22 percent and
most of the other universities in
the UNC system reflect that num
ber in their enrollment, according
to Gardner.
“Asheville is 18 percent black
and we are very far behind at 2.2
percent in enrollment,” Gardner
said. “At one point in UNCA’s his
tory, we had enrollment at almost
eight percent, but since then that
has gone down and it is continuing
to dwindle.”
In 2000, a campus-wide task
force addressed the growing prob
lem and set out to develop ways of
fixing the lack of diversity on cam
pus.
They compiled a report for the
administration that is now referred
to as “The Blue Book.”
“It was essentially this road map
of the problems we have and the
means of trying to eradicate them,”
said Mark Gibney, political sci
ence professor. “ It was amazing to
me that, given the amount of hear
ings, the number of meetings and
testimonials given, that when the
thing came out, it wasn’t held up
across the quad like Moses coming
down from the mountain. But it
wasn’t.”
Following the completion of
“The Blue Book,” it was set aside
and the previous administration
did not implement any of the poli
cies.
“‘The Blue Book,’ for some rea
son or another, has sat gathering
dust ever since and some of the
faculty is very bitter about that.
They see it as a slap in the face
because they worked so hard and
since then it has been abandoned,”
Garner said. “It was basically
found in a cleaning closet and a lot
of people had never even heard
about this.”
Some feel that the new adminis
tration has the opportunity to
change this problem before it gets
worse.
“We need strategic, well-sup
ported and comprehensive plans
that address this issue,” Luttrell
said. “This new administration
does not need to take full responsi
bility for past failures, but they do
need to publicly discuss ways that
these failures will be avoided in
the future.”
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