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News
Organization takes on
global pandemic
Photo Courtesy oi' SGAC
Baby Sharon’s new mother holds her alter her adoption. UNC Asheville’s Student (ilobal AIDS Campaign
sponsored three AIDS orphans, including Sharon, raising enough money to provide food, medical care and
shelter. It takes $I,(M)() to support an AIDS orphan for a year through New Life Home in Kenya.
UNC^ Asheville\s Student Global AIDS Campaign
opens the year with concert, jewelry sales
By Jon VValc/ak
' sistt WmitR
44
The UNC Asheville chapter of
the Student (ilohal AIDS
Campaign raised enough money
last year to support three AIDS
orphans in Kenya and hopes to
sponsor even more children this
year, according to co-founder and
alumnus John Stephens.
“What we reali/.ed is that we are
a bunch of students, and we need
to use the resources in our commu
nity,” .Stephens said. “One of the
resources we have at UNC
Asheville is an enormous wealth
ot usable talent. We knew that we
needed to tap into that, and that's
one of the main things we’ve been
doing."
S(iAC enlists local bands for
fund-raisers, according to (irant
Carlisle, senior political science
student and SCiAC member. The
organization sponsors a series of
concerts each year, culminating
with the “Big Day." an all-day
music and arts festival at the end
of the spring semester.
“Last year, with the help of
UNCA students and the bands and
everybody who helped us throw
these events, we raised enough
money to support baby .Sharon,
baby Annette and baby Kate."
Stephens said. “What that means is
we can provide food, care, medical
attention, shelter and everything
for one year for $I,(MK). Fiighty
percent of babies get adopted
within a year, so in effect, it's sav
ing a baby's life."
At eoncerts SGAC members sell
African jewelry to raise money.
“We sell handmade beads made
by single mothers in West Afriea.
and all the money goes directly
back to them." Carlisle said.
“Tho.se are pretty popular. They
are probably our biggest avenue of
fund-raising."
Two years ago. a group of
We felt morally obliged, and also, we wanted to keep
doing something. All of our efforts are now in honor of
and in the hope of helping the children we met at
New Life Home.
John S tephens
S( i/\( j cthfoLindcr
UNC Asheville students visited
Kenya through the Aniani
Scholars program. They toured
an orphanage, the Kenya New
Life Home, and fell in love with
the orphans.
“When we came back, we want
ed to continue the work we started
there, so we founded this SGAC
chapter because a lot of the chil
dren were orphaned as a result of
HIV/AIDS, and had lost their par
ents to AID.S basically,” Stephens
said.
Students who traveled to Kenya
saw first hand the devastating
effect ot AIDS, according to
Stephens.
“AIDS is one of those diseases it
never only affects one person. It
altects many people our age,” he
said. “People our age are the ones
who are having children and are
working jobs. So it affects the peo
ple who have children, and they
leave those children behind and,
they can’t work jobs. It’s a partic
ularly sinister disease in that
regard."
Over the summer. Stephens said
he received a phone call from
Kenya on his birthday, telling him
that Baby Sharon had been adopt
ed.
“We got to see one of the babies
we met and fell in love, and her
mom is also adopting another baby
there," he said.
Over 42 million people live
with HI'V and AIDS around the
world, according to SGAC,
Every day, 15,000 became
infected, and 8,200 perish from
the disease.
The organization is a national
movement with more that 85 chap
ters at high .schools, colleges and
universities across the United
States, according to SGAC.
Members focus on bringing
awareness and an eventual end to
HIV/AIDS around the world
through education, advocacy,
media work and action.
After seeing the orphaned
babies, students felt the need to do
something to make a difference,
according to Stephens.
“We felt morally obliged, and
also we wanted to keep doing
something,” he said. “All of our
efforts are now in honor of and in
the hope of helping the children
we met at New Life Home.”
Student involvement is essential
to support AIDS victims all over
the world, especially children,
according to Carlisle.
“Without us and without other
organizations that help them, they
wouldn’t really have a chance,” he
said.
SGAC is stepping up to take care
of those who are not fortunate
enough to enjoy a standard quality
of life, according to Scott Scerri,
sophomore student.
"With SGAC, you don’t give
money just to make yourself feel
better," Scerri said. “But it’s good
tor good s sake, and you see real
results.”
Sigma Nu
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ty could conduct prirgrams and
even go into health classes to
teach, according to Rolfe.
“1 think it’s great," said Evan
Foote-Hudson. sophomore stu
dent and Sigma Nu member. “I
just wish there were more pro
grams like this mainstream. I
just want to help somebody.”
OurVOICE is also looking to
start other programs on campus,
according to Dutton. They are
currently looking at having a
women’s empowerment class in
October and forming a task
group on campus to talk about
rape and sexual assault to raise
awareness.
“I would really like to .see
some students get involved and
maybe meet every month or
every couple weeks and just
raise awareness on campus and
talk about the issue and that type
of thing,” Dutton said. “The
sole purpose would be to actual
ly talk about it."
Talking about the issue is one
of the most important things stu
dents can do, according to
Dutton.
“It’s just so prevalent, but peo
ple don’t talk about it,” Dutton
said. “It’s just one of those
things people don’t like to talk
about, and it we’re going to see
a change in society and with this
issue, then we really need to be
able to talk about it."
To get involved in rape
prevention, contact
OurVOICE, Linda Pyeritz
or Dietrich Rolfe.
University hosts panel
educating on the privilege
of the right to dissent
By Caroline Fry
Staff Writer
U
UNC Asheville and Western
North Carolina chapters of the
American Civil Liberties Union
held a “Right to Dissent” forum
last Thursday evening, where
attendees discussed the rights and
restrictions of the First
Amendment when dissenting.
“The right to dissent is not a
privilege,” said Dwight Mullen,
political science professor at
UNC Asheville. “It is your obli
gation and your responsibility,
not to the government, but to each
other.”
Along with Mullen, panelists
included attorneys Frank
Goldsmith and Bob Oast; Robin
Cape, Asheville city council
member; William Hogan,
Asheville police chief; Van
Duncan, Buncombe County sher
iff; Kati Ketz, senior interdiscipli
nary studies student and regional
coordinator for Students for a
Democratic Society; and Clare
Hanrahan, ACLU board member.
Goldsmith spent the majority of
the event discussing where one
can legally dissent. He described
in detail the differences between
public, designated public, limited
public and nonpublic forums.
Goldsmith addressed the recent
flag case in Asheville, in which
citizens Mark and Deborah Kuhn
were arrested for pinning mes
sages to an American flag and
hanging it upside down.
“It is perfectly OK to attach
things to the flag or fly it upside
down,” Goldsmith said. “It is
clear that the flag, like arm bands
and other objects, can be used as
symbolic speech. This has been
recognized by the court a number
of times.”
Oast, who represents the city
of Asheville, discussed the do’s
and don’ts of protesting. His
main message was although cit
izens have a right to protest,
they have to do it legally and
cannot do things such as
obstruct the street or sidewalks,
disrupt church services or
schools or incite riots while
protesting.
“While citizens have the right
to express their opinions on any
subject, cities have the obligation
to protect pedestrians and protest
ers from harm,” Oast said. “We
don’t care what you say. We are
just interested in the manner in
which you say it.”
One of the main topics the
panel discussed was the differ
ence between legal dissent and
civil disobedience, outlined by
Cape.
We who dissent are not terrorists.
We must speak out and stand up.
Our challenge is nonviolent activism
and to escalate morally, not
destructively. Get up, stand up for
your rights.
Citizens have to take responsi
bility for their actions, no matter
what form of dissent they choose,
according to Cape.
“The government is our govern
ment,” Cape said. “It’s not ‘them’
who are the bad guys. We have to
take the obligation to stand up
and start participating in the
process.”
Both Hogan and Duncan said
the people misunderstand their
departments, and their primary
job is to protect the rights of
Asheville citizens. Hogan said he
is very willing to sit down and
work with anyone to organize a
protest in a lawful way.
“A lot of people don’t believe
this, but we protect your constitu
tional rights,” he said. “We want
to work with folks who want to
protest and express themselves in
a lawful way.”
The panel also discussed the
Iraq war, a topic led by Ketz.
It is the people’s duty to end the
war by making their voices heard,
according to Ketz.
“We are going on almost five
years of war in Iraq,” Ketz said.
“This is unacceptable. Some
might disagree with me, but I feel
that as citizens, we need to stand
up if we disagree with our gov
ernment until they do something
about it.”
Hanrahan, also a community
activist, discussed her view of
militarism in America. She also
discussed her time in jail as a
result of protesting the School of
America, and said the only way
people can change the govern
ment is through protest.
“We who dissent are not terror
ists,” Hanrahan said. “We must
speak out and stand up. Our chal
lenge is nonviolent activism and
to escalate morally, not destruc
tively. Get up, stand up for your
rights.”
A variety of people attended the
forum, including many UNC
Asheville students. Paulina
Clare Hanrahan
ACH^U Board Member
Mendez, senior political science
student, said the panel was only
geared toward a certain type of
protester.
“The issues discussed were OK.
but they were more pertinent to
people who have the time and
money to dissent within certain
boundaries,” Mendez said. “I
appreciated the technical
approach, but it was a little dry,
and I thought that they could have
appealed to more of a variety of
people if done differently.”
The panel was moderated by
Professor Mark Gibney, who
began the discussion by giving
a brief history of the Supreme
Court’s decisions when dealing
with dissent since the 1950s,
Each panelist spoke for about
five minutes, which was fol
lowed by a question and answer
session.
“Public education about our
rights is very important, especial
ly today,” said Zach Shitama, sen
ior psychology student. “If "re
don’t know our rights, they can
and will be infringed upon.”
Testing
tern,” deBeer said.
Still, .standardized tests may be
the most convenient way to look
at massive quantities of applica
tions.
“I don’t see how you could
design a test that wouldn’t be
biased against somebody based
on experiences or previous
knowledge,” Schenck said.
As long as the tests are used for
things that are consistent with that
purpose, they are fine, according
to Whatley.
“It’s a measurement of not only
what you know but how you hap
pen to be feeling on a particular
day,” Whatley said. “There are a
lot of factors that go into your
performance. A lot of times, stan
dardized tests can be pretty high
However, many colleges con
sider test scores as a small part of
the whole, looking at extracurric
ular activities and leadership abil
ities as well.
CONTINUED FROMPAGG
U
Are (the tests) perfect
Absolutely not. There is
way you could measure
human with really any instru
ment and have that be perfect.
no
a
Nancy Williams
Coordinator,
professional education
programs
“Are they perfect? Absolutely
not.” Williams said. “There is no
* lO IIU
way you could measure a human
with really any instrument and
have that be perfect. But are they
the best money could buy right
now? I think they probably are.”
‘Some of the cultural bias and
other kinds of issues people have
had with them have been brought
to the test development arena.
That s why colleges use them as
one part of the profile and not the
whole picture,” Williams said.
The SAT prep class meets
Mondays and Wednesdays from
Oct. 15 to 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. The
course costs $275 and includes
study materials. The registration
deadline is Oct. 8. Students regis-
nwilliam@unca.edu.
Additional information i*
available online at
www.unca.edu/distedu/c6'
tering late must pay an additional
$15 fee.
The GRE prep course will
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Ot-Co
to Nov. 8 from 6 to 9 p-ui- Tn^
GRE is a computer-generated test
that is required by most graduate
programs for admission.
Cost for the GRE course is
$325, which includes study matt'
rials and a practice dis^-
Registration deadline is Oct. ■
and students who sign up late wi
be charged an additional $15 fee-
The LSAT prep class will
on Wednesdays from Oct. 1' ®
Nov. 28 from 1 to 5 p.m.
the course is $400, includmc
study materials and a
disk. The deadline for LSM
prep courses is Oct. 8. Late sign
up will cost an additional $15-
For more information or
register, contact ,
Williams at (828) 250-2353
‘ii* . . Zi/1ll.