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Volume 45, Issue 2
Serving the University of North Carolina at Asheville sinee 1982
September 7, 2006
Middle East conflict raises global concern
By Anna Lee
Staff Writer
Hezbollah, Lebanon’s militant
group, proclaimed victory in a
month-long conflict with Israel in
Aug., leaving citizens to clean up
and many wondering what will
happen next.
"I feel it's not a conflict between
Israel and Lebanon," said Howard
Jaslow, member of the College for
Seniors and the president of
Asheville's Jewish Community
Center, also known as the Temple
of Betli Ha Tephila. "It's really a
conflict between Israel and
Hezbollah. It's the poor Lebanese
people who are suffering because
they're caught in the middle."
Middle Eastern studies and his
tory professor Samer Traboulsi, a
native of Lebanon, dechned the
opportunity to conunent on the
issue.
The conflict started when
Hezbollah captured three Israeh
soldiers on July 12. The conflict
has killed approximately 1,109
Lebanese people, half of whom
may have heen civilians, and 159
Israeh people, of whom 27 percent
were civilians.
Hezbollah claims it captured the
soldiers to negotiate a release of
Lebanese prisoners from Israeli
prisons.
The Lebanese prisoners are
members of Hezbollah and terror
ists, according to Jaslow.
"Whenever Israel will capture
some of these people, Hezbollah
tries to capture one or two Israehs
or some diplomats and make a
trade, and the general position of
Israel is not to barter or negotiate
with terrorists because that gives
them more determination to con
tinue what they're doing," Jaslow
said.
Since Israel does not view
Hezbollah as a valid political
group, it attacked Hezbollah at the
expense of Lebanese civilians
instead of going through with
negotiations.
The capture of the three Israeh
soldiers by Hezbollah stands as
only a single event in a long histo
ry of offenses against Israel,
according to Jaslow and Linda
Cornett, associate professor and
director of international studies.
“This was seen as the last straw
in a series of attacks not only on
Israeli soldiers but also within the
civilian population in Israel,”
Cornett said. “They beheved they
had to demonstrate that they
wouldn’t continue to allow these
attacks on Israeh soldiers or Israeli
civihans.”
Jaslow said the conflict centers
around something other than land
or material wealth.
"What (Hezbollah) claims is
they want literally to destroy
Israel," Jaslow said. "It's not about
winning a war or gaining territory.
It's about the destruction of Israel."
Hezbollah is not just a terrorist
organization though, according to
Cornett. She said it came into
being to protect Lebanon from real
and potential threats of foreign
occupation, some of which were
from Israel.
“It has support in Southern
Lebanon because it provides not
just military protection from dif
ferent armed groups that have
gone in and out of that region for
the past 20 years, but it also pro
vides things like social security
and hospitals. It’s got scholarships
for students going abroad or who
need scholarships to continue their
studies domestically,” Cornett
said. “It gives aid to widows and
orphans, so it’s actually got a
stronger base in Lebanon than the
government itself.”
That is why it would-be difficult
for the Lebanese army to disarm
Hezbollah without international
help, according to Cornett.
“The government (of Lebanon),
moving against an armed group
that has popular support is not
going to find that task very easy,”
Cornett said. “It might incite a
civil war.”
If the international community
doesn’t properly aid peacekeeping
between Israel and Lebanon’s mil
itant, political and community
group Hezbollah, a bigger conflict
could result, according to Cornett.
Israel claims Syria and Iran are
SEE Middle East page 21
A border war between Israel and Lebanon’s militant group, Hezbollah, started when Hezbollah captured
three Israeli soldiers on July 12, holding them captive to negotiate a release of Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah proclaimed victory on Aug. 14, leaving Lebanon to repair damage of more than 30 days of war.
♦UNIFIL stands for United Nations Forces in Lebanon (1978-present day)
♦UNDOF stands for United Nations Disengagement Observer (1974-present day)
Highsmith employee retires, leaves
behind both friends and memories
By Christa Chappelle
Staff Writer
Students encounter many people
during their time at the university,
but only a few impact as many
lives as Clarence Gray.
“It’s going to be really sad not
having him here, especially since
be was the morning person,” said
junior Katarina Reuter, who works
at the Highsmith University
Union. “I know for all the morning
people that work in the Highsmith,
they’re going to miss that sense of
somebody who’s always happy.
You can come in sad or depressed
or if it’s raining, it didn’t matter.
He would do his best to cheer you
up.”
Last Wednesday, housekeeper
and floor maintenance staff mem-
l>or Clarence Gray retired.
Highsmith Union and university
employees held a retirement lunch
eon for him and invited students
for dessert. Gray has worked for
the university for six years.
“My last three years here have
been really tremendous,” Gray
Said. “My first three years were
horrible, but my last three I have
really enjoyed. I had a better
ohance of interacting with the stu
dents. I could spend more time get
ting to talk to the students.”
Due to back problems and exten
sive back surgery in the future,
Uray’s doctor reconunended he
AaiE Haake - News Editor
Senior interdisciplinary studies student Genevieve Grandadam says
recommenueu nc goodbye to Clarence Gray before he retires from Us housekeeping
SEE Gray page 21 position at the Highsmith Umversity Umon. Gray has worked at the
' school for six years.
Effects of Katrina live
fresh in the minds of
many across nation
By Calty Pelliccia
Staff Writer
One year after Katrina, UNC
Asheville faculty and students
reflect on the costhest, and one of
the deadliest, natural disasters our
country has ever seen and talk
about their time spent in the city of
New Orleans.
“I tell people here in Asheville
that my dad always kept three
things in the attic: an ax, so if the
water ever rose he could get his
way into the attic and chop
through the roof; an industriaUzed-
sized rope he could tie my mother
to so that she wouldn’t float off;
and an old Coleman cooler,
because these are great floatation
devices,” said Gordon Wilson,
UNC Asheville philosophy profes
sor who resided in New Orleans
from 1945 until 1997.
Ellen Pearson, assistant profes
sor of history at UNC Asheville,
said she and her husband sealed up
the windows of their brand new
home and left New Orleans for
good when Hurricane Andrew
began to make way toward the
city.
“The process of preparation was
so unnerving for me,” said
Pearson, who lived in New
Orleans for 14 years. “It was only
a matter of time. I couldn’t take
that kind of stress when I didn’t
have to take it.”
Mission trips to the city enabled
outsiders to witness the destruction
in New Orleans. Jordan
Skowronski, sophomore student,
spent his entire spring break gut
ting houses in the city.
“I was surprised,” Skowronski
said. “I knew it was going to be
bad, but I didn’t think about all the
aspects of it. It was kind of like the
end of the world. It was very
strange. It was surreal.”
While eligible houses received
aid, Skowronski said he wondered
about the households not eUgible
for assistance.
“We were fixing one house in the
entire neighborhood, but what
about the rest of the houses?”
Skowronski said. “I didn’t see any
progress on those at all.”
FEMA provided 101,174 travel
trailers and mobile homes as of
August. Louisiana homes were the
majority of these, topping off at
64,150 in the latest survey. FEMA
also housed nearly 7,000 famiUes
on cruise ships.
While thousands took refuge on
the sea and in unfamiliar lands
across the country, many trailers
sat unoccupied in New Orleans,
according to Skowronski.
“There was a giant parking lot
full of FEMA trailers,”
Skowronski said. “They were
SEE Katrina page 21
Community
and school
welcome the
chancellor
By Brett Albers
Copy Editor
Numerous speakers, perform
ances, exhibits and guests fill
the schedule next week to cele
brate the installation of UNC
Asheville’s sixth chancellor. Dr.
Anne Ponder, and the success
and achievements of the univer
sity as a whole.
“When we began to plan this
installation, we agreed that it is
about the university and not
about me,” said Chancellor
Anne Ponder. “We will use it as
a vehicle to express and demon
strate who we are and what we
do as a university.”
With the future in mind, cele
bration of the official installa
tion of Chancellor Ponder
includes
a
tapestry of
events rang
ing from
concerts and
speakers, to
art exhibits
and perform
ances.
“As I look
at the events
scheduled
Anne Ponder
for the week, it makes me proud
of what people will know about
the university,” Ponder said.
‘This week allows us to make
ourselves visible.”
While students are aware of
the type of community built
around the university, the instal
lation provides the public with a
strong image of UNC Asheville
as well, according to Ponder.
“Of course, we see it all the
time, but there will be some
guests for whom this will be all
they will ever know about UNC
Asheville,” Ponder said. “I want
them to feel welcomed and
included in the university we
know so well.”
The students at UNC
Asheville provide the best
image of what the university
stands for, according to Ponder.
“All you really need to do to
know about the best at UNC
Asheville is to talk to the stu
dents about who they are
becoming and what caliber of
academic life is available here,”
Ponder said.
Ponder, an Asheville native,
previously worked at other col
leges, including Elon, Guilford
and Kenyon colleges. She
served for 10 years as the presi
dent of Colby-Sawyer College.
Her experiences at schools
across the country allow her to
appreciate her hometown.
“I left Asheville to go away to
get my education after graduat
ing high school,” Ponder said.
“Although I visited regularly
because I had family in the area,
it is at once both distant in my
experience but also fully pres
ent. So, I feel like I have a main
line access to the culture and
possibility of this city, and I
have experience in some of the
finest circles of higher educa
tion away.”
Ponder plans to set high goals
and aspirations for the future.
“The university is at a great
stage in its development, and
I’m hoping to make the values
and practices of the community
even deeper and more avail
able,” Ponder said. “We have
reinstated the Student Affairs
division so there is a rich and
primary involvement of student
life, interest and well-being as a
part of the university communi
ty.”
One of the biggest challenges
facing the university revolves
around how to receive proper
SEE Chancellor page 21