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■ ^ J > W|
Position cut stuns, angers faculty
By Aaron Dahlstrom ^
NASA scandal
centers around
love triangle
Staff Writer
Authorities arrested NASA
astronaut Lisa Nowak Monday,
charging her with battery, attempt
ed kidnapping and attempted first-
degree murder. Nowak allegedly
attacked Colleen Shipman, the
other point to a love triangle, and
attempted to abduct her from a
parking lot; according to reports.
Nowak, an astronaut since 1996,
was a mission specialist on the
Discovery shuttle, and Shipman,
an Air Force captain, were both
reportedly involved with astronaut
Bill Oefelein, according to police
reports.
NASA revoked flight privileges
and sent Nowak on a 30-day sus
pension, preventing her from par
ticipating in any mission-related
activities and preparations.
NASA reported they would
review their psychological screen
ing tests in response to the inci
dent, according to officials.
Ihrner Broadcasting
pays $2 million for
Boston bomb scare
After causing a city-wide bomb
scare in Boston last Wednesday
that cost the city around $500,000,
Turner Broadcasting said they
accepted full responsibility for the
incident, according to reports.
Citizens reported suspicious
devices in tunnels and on bridges
to police, mistaking 38 light box
advertisements for Cartoon
Network’s Adult Swim show Aqua
Teen Hunger Force as potential
bombs last week and shut down
many populated areas of the city,
according to Boston officials.
The light boxes were part of a
guerrilla marketing tactic to pro
mote the show and were also
placed in other heavily populated
cities, including Los Angeles and
Chicago, without incident. In a
statement released by Turner, the
company admitted fault and said
the reaction from the public was
reasonable, considering their post-
September 11 environment.
Authorities arrested two men
hired by the ad agency working for
Turner who installed the light
boxes, and their charges are still
pending.
UNC Asheville’s student affairs
department recently implemented
faculty restructuring and received
skepticism from faculty and staff.
“It is something that the univer
sity needed to do in order to serve
students better,” said Ann Ponder,
chancellor of UNC Asheville. “We
had both evidence and advice that
we needed to make these
changes.”
Affected departments include
I the counseling center and the
health and wellness department.
The school made the move in the
' best interest of students, according
to Ponder.
“The student affairs area will be
updated and will focus on current
: student needs,” Ponder said. “It
will allow us to serve students bet
ter and be more responsive.”
j Despite the school’s intentions,
the move drew controversy from
I those affected. The restructuring
eliminates the position for a direc-
j tor of the counseling center, a posi-
1 tion currently filled by Maggie
j Weshner, who has worked for the
j university for 28 years.
“So far the restructuring has
been pretty devastating. We don’t
I know any of the details,” Weshner
said. “The only thing we have
f been told is that we will be admin
istratively combined with health
i services and that there will no
longer be a counseling center
director position.”
Bill Haggard, vice chancellor of
student affairs, said he made the
final decision to combine the two
departments.
“The main rationale for doing
that was that today’s college stu
dents have much more complex
issues related to their psychologi
cal and emotional
U
4- J- X • 447 . . . Ci.iNi Latuinohouse - .Staff PuoRXiRAPHKR
Counseling center director Maggie Weshner sits in her office below health services. Soon, Weshner will discontinue her se.ssions
with students after administration issued her a two-week notice after 28 years of service, a decision Chancellor Ann Ponder said
they made in order to combine the counseling center and health services into one department.
for what we feel like is an impor- pist say they’re gone,” Saucier will allow the university to see stu-
health needs,’'
Haggard said. tt/
- ,7 We
had
tant part of our lives,” said Maggi
Saucier, outreach coordinator and
counselor in the counseling center.
The move gives counselors addi
tional workloads, which creates
difficulty for counselors wanting
to give students their full attention,
according to Saucier.
“I am really
conscious of
both evidence and
The two weeks’ ev^aence ««« having a coun
notice Weshner advice that we needed to make
received creates dif- these changes. stressed
ficulty when trying because they
to say goodbye to Aatxt tj4..t4.4.44
students, she said.
‘Two weeks is an
Ann Ponder
Chancellor
impossibly short time to even get
in touch with students that I have
seen, let alone terminate with
them,” she said.
The school offered her no
chance to remain as a counselor or
be reassigned to a different posi
tion, according to Weshner.
“I think the main thing for us is
the abruptness and not being
included in any kind of planning
are having to
see too many
people or stu
dents not being able to get in,”
Saucier said. “To them maybe it
feels we are not being as respon
sive as they would like us to be.”
Saucier said she worries about
the students receiving counseling
from Weshner and how her sudden
departure affects them.
“For people in counseling, that
can be pretty traumatic, to just
all of a sudden have your thera-
said. “When we get people com
ing in and telling us things about
themselves that maybe nobody
else on the planet knows, you
have a special relationship with
that person.”
The school received advice from
consultants brought in by the uni
versity to evaluate the student
affairs department, according to
Ponder.
“A combined health and coun
seling center is practiced in the
best colleges and universities
and is responsive to current stu
dent needs,” Ponder said.
The combination of the two
departments helps the school
assist students better, many
dents and serve them in a better
way than two separate depart
ments.”
Some faculty members see
flawed logic behind the school’s
decisions.
“It makes no sense to dismiss or
terminate someone on the argu
ment of restruc
turing when the
troubling is that, if they arc not
doing a good job, how did they last
so long?”
University officials refused to
comment on the other five
employees, saying they were per-
.sonnel issues and could not be dis
cussed legally.
A recent move by the
University of
North Carolina
decisions about J’ weeks is an imnossihlv pressures
how to restruc- , is an imposswiy i . .
ture haven’t been ^ime to even get in touch «ut of their oro
made yet,” said students that I have seen, tection under^the
WiW Sabo, let alone terminate with them, state Personnel
of
whom require more than just
counseling.
“Few students who need coun
seling or psychological support
need only that support. They also
need access to health care profes
sionals, prescriptions and other
attention to their whole well
being,” Ponder said. “So a com
bined health and counseling area
spr of political
science and
member of the
faculty senate at
UNC Asheville.
Sabo said he suspects the school
may have additional motives
behind the restructuring, citing a
pattern in university behavior.
“In the last year, there have been
five people, all of whom had more
than 20 years’ experience, who
have been either pressured to retire
or dismissed,” Sabo said. “What is
J^GGiE Weshner
Director of (ioun.scling
C^entcr
allows the
Act and become
exempt, causing
another issue to
arise. The move
potential for
increased pay and benefits, but
allows the school system to ter
minate employees without any
given reason, according to Sabo.
“If the university system wants
to turn its employees into EPA
(exempt status), it shouldn’t go
SEE Faculty page 21
Physics students gain momentum The Grove reconciles with residents
By Sara Pardys
Staff Writer
IAV(|
UNC Asheville’s Chapter of the
jSociety of Physics Students
j recently received their ninth
jOutstanding Chapter Award from
fthe American Institute of Physics’
jSociety of Physics Students.
I “They never tell you how many
j(chapters) get the award, but it’s a
jsmall amount,” said Randy
IBooker, physics professor and
jehair of the department.
I The American Institute of
physics gives this award to less
■than 10 percent of more than 700
|chapters nationwide.
UNC Asheville’s chapter is pret-
p active, according to Booker,
fhe Society of Physics Students
uns programs such as Physics is
jBhun in UNC Asheville’s Supier
jSaturday program for academical-
I y gifted students in grades three
Through eight. The pro^am takes
place on Saturday mornings for six
'''eeks during both the fall and the
ppring.
The Society of Physics Students
® so participates in a program
railed Physics Festival at the
ealth Adventure, a health and sci-
pnce museum that promotes health
rri Pack Place.
It s the students who run the
; ^J?r>nstrations,” Booker said,
hough Booker is the organiza-
By Neal Brown
Staff Writer
Megan Wildman - Staff Photographer
Junior physics and music student Alex Sell, left, and senior physics .
and music major pose in front of the blackboard. The American
Institute of Physics issued UNC Asheville’s Society of Physics Students
their ninth Outstanding Chapter Award this year for achievements in
the community, including tutoring and demonstrations.
tion’s advisor, the students take the the Society of Physics Students
lead role in activities. At the
Physics Festival, the Society of
Physics Students holds demonstra
tions on topics such as sound,
magnetism and waves. The group
participated in this program both
last year and this year.
In addition to these programs.
will run the Science Olympiads for
middle school and high school stu
dents in Highsmith Union on
March 17.
“We have weekly free tutoring
for people who are taking intro-
SEE Physics page 21
After three masked men intruded
into a resident’s apartment with a
gun in January, the general manag
er of The Grove Apartments organ
ized a meeting to address safety
concerns.
About 25 out of approximately
500 residents gathered in The
Grove’s clubhouse to listen to
Amanda Wiles, the complex’s gen
eral manager, and senior police
officers Casey Roberts and Leona
Hamilton speak about the issue of
residents’ growing concern for
their own safety at the apartment
complex.
“I still am very proud of where
we live and what we do,” Wiles
said during the meeting.
Wiles welcomes any resident to
come into her office between the
hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to dis
cuss any number of topics they are
concerned about, according to
Wiles.
The Grove staff and manage
ment are starting monthly meet
ings as part of a new residents’ life
program. During these meetings,
residents can voice questions and
concerns they might have, accord
ing to Wiles.
“The Grove wants to have
informative sessions on topics that
you feel need to be discussed,”
Wiles said.
Hamilton is the community
resource officer for the north dis
trict of Asheville, which includes
The Grove as well as the Klondike
Apartments, a complex adjacent to
The Grove.
“I keep an intimate eye on the
neighborhood,” Hamilton said.
A resident can approach
the
resource officer with problems
Personal responsibility
i ) should be a number one
priority.
Casey Roberts
Grove Resource Officer
they have been unable to resolve
with traditional policing, accord
ing to Hamilton.
“As a community resource offi
cer, I enjoy working with people
and I am very excited about this
job,” Hamilton said.
The Grove does not have a
crime problem, according
Roberts. Most likely, the non-resi
dents attending the parties occur
ring at The Grove are the ones
responsible, Roberts said.
“The residents themselves are
not committing these crimes,”
Roberts said.
Tenants need to remember to be
big
to
responsible for themselves as well
as their guests, according to
Roberts.
“Personal responsibility should
be a number one priority,” Roberts
said
Residents are younger at this
complex, and, for some, it is the
first time they are out on their own,
according to Roberts.
The fact that younger people live
at The Grove makes it an easier
target, according to Hamilton.
“People of an older generation
are probably more careful than
someone who is between the ages
of 18 to 30,” Hamilton said.
Some parties at The Grove prob
ably should not happen, but it hap
pens everywhere and is not neces
sarily a party problem as much as
it is a drinking problem, according
to Roberts.
“The crime that goes on at The
Grove stems from the abuse of
some type of substance,” Roberts
said.
Some residents felt the meeting
did not resolve current safety con
cerns.
“I guess it spelled out what they
think the problem is in some
respect, but I was looking for more
safety tips,” said Jenny Nichols,
senior psychology and education
student.
SEE Grove page 21
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