Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Oct. 18, 2007, edition 1 / Page 2
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{TheBLUE Banner} News Page 2 Facebook.com faces off against lawyers, students regarding security issues Emily Gray - Staff Photographf,r A .student cheeks her Kacehook pa}>e between clas.scs in a campus computer lab. Social networking sites like Myspace and Kacebook may become detrimental as students are faced with stalkers and employers. Students voice concerns about social networking sites, especially when it comes to future employers By ( larv Itdford Siam Whmi p Social networking Web sites like MySpaee.com and b'aeebook .com provide users with a chance to showcase them selves. but as Cade Carlson dis covered, that freedom of expres sion comes with a price. “Initially, when I applied for a job at the library, I had this sort of risque picture of myself on it |l'aeebook| and didn't get hired," said Carlson, senior economies student. According to Carlson, his poten tial employer saw the picture and used it to make the decision. "1 didn't know, but 1 was informed by one of the people who worked there that one of the peo ple who hires looked at it." he said. “So I changed the picture, and I got hired after that." Contrary to what many young employees might believe, making decisions based on these photo- paphs is not illegal, nor is it an invasion of privacy, “My thought would be that any thing you put out in the public on F'aeebook is going to be available to the public and people are going to be able to make decisions ba,sed on that." said Thomas Lawton, university general counsel at UNC Asheville. Pursuant to the hirst Amendment, U.S. eiti/ens have the right to free s[x;ech. The First Amendment does not say. howev er, that free speech g(K's without consequences, according to Lawton. “Anything you don’t want a prospective employer to know about, you shouldn’t put on Facebook,” I.awton said. , In recent years, the popuIaiaAet- working Web sites Facebook and Myspace have come under fire with far-reaching allegations. Many said they believe the.se sites are unsafe, making personal infor mation accessible to stalkers and child molesters, as well as employers. In .September, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed Facebook, responding to allegations the company did not investigate sex predator reports. The reports included investigators pretending to be 12 and 14 years old. MySpace user Ayana Stevenson, of Oakland, Ca. is familiar with these dangers. “I had a MySpace stalker,” Stevenson said. “We had one date and he was stalking me.” Stevenson said the stalker looked up her MySpace profile before their date. Eventually, his constant messages caused her to close her account. Lucretia Dover, artist and former public school teacher, said she agreed social-networking Web sites can pose risks. “They are potentially very dan gerous as far as putting too much information out there,” Dover said. Rachel Blake, senior drama stu dent, u.ses Facebook to keep in touch with friends, but said she understands the risks of posting too much information. “Facebook is definitely good for networking and keeping up with friends,” Blake said. “It’s also kind of weird because you’re presenting your own real ity, what you want people to see.” Blake said showing certain pic tures can lead to trouble. “I saw someone’s picture the other day and the profile picture was of him literally hitting a bong,” she said. “That’s really bad because there are police all over Facebook, along with faculty and staff.” Sophomore student Brian Ponder uses MySpace to keep in touch with friends who live far away. “It’s easier to write an email or post a comment instead of having to call somebody,” he said. “The drawbacks are that you’re putting your private information out there for anybody in the world to look at.” Aside from stalkers, molesters and potential employers, social networking services could cause people to spend a lot of time online. “A general thing that people do is to take themselves way too seri ously, and they waste too much time thinking about themselves,” Dover said. Cigarettes CONTINUED FROM PAGEl “The administration has taken a Taoist approach to this issue. If there is beauty, there must be ugliness. If there is good, there must be evil. In order to meet the needs of non-smokers, they ignored the needs of smokers, and by doing this they have lost sight of their goal." Garcia said. Freshmen face greater hard ship than upperclassmen as a result of the ban because of transportation issues, said .Sam Riddle, freshman student. "As a freshman, it is just a hin drance to purchase tobacco prod ucts being that freshmen are unable to have a car here." Riddle said. “One must take a .TO minute walk to go buy tobacco products or have them sold to you by a hustler on campus for a much higher cost per product.” Students opposed to the ban found support on Facebook through the group “I wanna buy cigs on campus.” which Garcia created. Garcia is also trying to pass a bill allowing the sale of cigarettes on campus, which he said the administration is des tined to veto. The administration could make many other more beneficial changes in the name of health and wellness, Jordan said. “The focus on health would be better aimed toward our cafeteria and main food-service provider," Jordan said. “If we want to be specific about the health of the convenience store, then adding fresh, sugary, trans-fatty donuts, slushies and ice-cream may not be the best idea.” Students need to actively voice their opinions on the ban, Garcia said. “I have received some support in the form of 91 students join ing my group, but I'm afraid that in order to make a change this will not be enough,” Garcia said. “If students want cigarettes to be sold on campus, they need to organize to express their con cerns in any way possible, whether it be through a petition or any other form of demonstra tion.” Zeis CONTINUED FROM ^ know when we’ll finally be fin ished because it depends on state funding,” Krumpe said. “It depends on how successful the development office is in raising money.” Complicating the matter, the University received $8 million in funding from the legislature this year for renovating Rhoades Hall and the Rhoades tower. The archi tectural firm in charge of design ing the project has to work around the chemistry and biology classes that will await moving into the Zeis Building. “We weren’t expecting to receive this money from the legis lature, so this has caused us some problems,” Massey said. “But it’s a good problem since we have this money to improve our facili ties.” Initial funding runs aground The funding for the Zeis Building came as part of the 2000 Bond Referendum which allocated money to universities throughout the UNC system. The bill required that universi ties spend the allotted money by 2007, which has since been stretched to 2008 for all UNC schools. With funding from the Bond Referendum, the University con structed New Hall, the Sam Millar Management Complex, the Zageir Hall Renovation, the last round of renovation to the Highsmith and a series of infra structure projects to renovate underground electrical systems. Originally the complete Zeis Building, including the science equipment, fell under the $22 mil lion in Bond Referendum funds, but as bids went out in 2005, the price of steel, concrete and other construction materials increased dramatically. Because of rising prices, the University dissolved the original contract with the con struction company, Suit, who was in charge of overseeing the proj ect. Instead of cutting building size and costs greatly, administration chose to begin construction on the plans and raise further capital later. “Once you cut square footage out of building you don’t get it back,” Krumpe said. “Although we won’t get everything when we want it, in the long run we’ll get everything we wanted. It’ll just take a little longer than we thought would originally occur.” When the contract with Suit dis solved, the University contracted out the five separate firms over seeing the building’s general con struction, heating and cooling, pluming, electrical and sprinkling system. “The University took the vari ous bids that Suit had assembled,” Eugene Moore, director of design and construction who oversees the project. “They had submitted the low bid on their particular trade. We then went through a series of the value engineering process, where parts of the project were cut out to get down near the project budget.” Departments squeeze for space The ongoing construction and plans for renovations in Rhoades and Rhoades tower have caused increased space concerns for Science projects. “Departments have pleaded their case for area. Everyone went through the process of requesting the space they want for their departments, but that’s to be expected,” Krumpe said “Currently the Rhoades-Robinso„ building is bursting at the seams with so many departments crammed into one space.” Cynthia Kaminski, senior biolo gy student, said research areas are limited because of space con cerns. “We need more research space,” she said. “I did research for envi ronmental studies and I worked in a closet. I see the department space they have for Biology and it’s a lot of people doing research in a small space.” University struggles with underfunding Out of the 16 schools in the state system, UNC Asheville ranks 14th in funding with $33 million. UNC and North Carolina State receive $492 and $430 mil lion respectively in funding, almost half of the entire $2,172 million allocated to the UNC sys tem. Despite its low standing on funding, UNC Asheville ranks third behind UNC and NC State in SAT scores of incoming fresh man and fourth in percentage of freshman in the top 20 percent of their high school class. “We’re trying to tell that story,” said former State Rep. Wilma Sherrill, who now works in the office of the Chancellor to lobby for funds. “We’re bringing it to the attention of our federal and state representatives. Every time Erskine Bowles steps on this cam pus we remind him. We are the designated liberal arts school in the system and we’re starving to death.” "3—r Christianity & Science Where faith and academics collide Tuesday, Oct 23'^'' 8pm Highsmith Grotto (143) Wed, Oct 24”’ Laurel Forum 12:30-1:30 Four Professors will share their journeys and answer your questions about the relationship between Christian faith and academic pursuits. Dr. Jane Hartsfield: Professor of Mathematics Dr. Douglas Miller: Professor and Chair of Atmospheric Sciences Dr. Daniel Pierce: Professor and Chair of History Dr. Robert Yearout. Professor of Management and Accountancy Sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
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Oct. 18, 2007, edition 1
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