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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
Blue Banner
compiled by Sandy LaCorle and Gina Douthat
Lifestyles
Pumpkin patch proceeds go to
a worthy cause,
see page 6.
Travelogue
Student travels to
■ Hong Kong, see page 11.
THUR. ()0 .")7 FRI, (kI 52 SAT. 67 17 SUN. 68 45
luirsday, October 25, 2007
www.unca.cdu/banner
news Alcohol awareness hits campus
IN BRIEF A week of events teach students the ropes on alcohol safety
California fires
continue to blaze,
authorities
evacuate citizens
By Courtney Metz
Staff Writer
Authorities evacuated at least
346,000 homes in San Diego
County Tuesday as they battled
wildfires in Southern California.
Rising temperatures and windy
conditions caused more than a
dozen fires in the region, burning
400 square miles in three days.
Weather forecasters call for con
ditions to worsen in the coming
days. With hotter temperatures
looming and no rain in sight,
President Bush declared seven
counties in the region in a state of
emergency, speeding up disaster-
relief efforts.
Astronauts take
; Sky walker’s
lightsaber back
into outer space
Discovery space shuttle pilots
blasted off Tuesday with a piece of
cinematic history — the lightsaber
Luke Skywalker used in “Return
of the Jedi.” “Star Wars” creator
George Lucas presented the
Discovery crew with the prop to
mark the 30th anniversary of the
first “Star Wars” film.
The shuttle’s mission takes it the
international space station, where
it delivers supplies necessary for
further construction.
Haunted house
on campus
rovides scares
or students
I
Students looking for a scare this
Halloween can visit Carol Belk
Theatre as the Drama Department
hosts Haunted Theater. The event
costs $3 for students, $5 for the
public and runs from Wednesday
through Tuesday. 7-10:45 p.m.
compiled by Aaron Dahlstrom
UNC Asheville students spent
the week of Oct. 15-19 learning
about alcohol awareness from
Peers Advocating Wellness
Strategies and other on-campus
organizations.
“The point isn’t that alcohol is
bad,” said PAWS member
Jennie Burrowes. “The point is
that if you are going to drink,
you should do it responsibly.
And it’s informing students
about how to make responsible,
safe choices for their own health
and for the health and well
being of others around them.”
PAWS is an organization on
campus made up of students
who wish to become health edu
cators. Although the organiza
tion is less than a year old, they
are already learning many valu
able skills, according to Faculty
Advisor Linda Pyeritz.
“They learn skills such as con
flict resolution, communication
skills, how to present programs
and put programs together, how
to evaluate programs and they
become well versed in all sorts
of health topics,” Pyeritz said.
“Somebody may want to focus
on sexuality issues, some may
want to focus on drug issues,
some may want to focus on
exercise or stress management,
healthy eating, or relationship
issues.”
Eventually, PAWS members
will become certified peer edu
cators so that they can teach
classes on health topics, accord
ing to Pyeritz.
“It’s a fun group,” Pyeritz
said. “You learn a lot, and it’s
absolutely proven that students
learn better from other stu
dents.”
PAWS chose to organize
Alcohol Awareness Week
because it involves the exact
topics they are trying to teach
the student body.
“It falls right into what peer
educators do,” Pyeritz said. “It
falls right into that realm of edu
cating students about healthy
choices.”
PAWS cooperated with sever
al student groups to organize the
Alcohol Awareness Week
events.
“In Highsmith, there’s the
‘Just Another Brick’ display,
and it has these red bricks of
alcohol confessions that are
anonymous, but they are confes
sions about alcohol-related
Cunt Lathinghousk - Stait PnoTOGRAmiiR
Sophomore student and PAWS member Lara Martini rides in a golf cart last I’uesday with junior stu
dent Sherman Colvard, who is wearing a pair of “beer goggles,” which simulate a drunkenness, impair
ing vision, depth perception and orientation. PAWS members also gave mock field .sobriety tests.
ent
ing
experiences,”
Burrowes said. “We
have the drunk gog
gles on the quad,
which is fun. We
have a couple differ-
speakers speak-
about sex and
alcohol.”
Events such as
these are important,
especially in a col
lege setting, according to
Assistant Chief of Campus
Police Jerry Adams.
“It’s something that needs to
be done,” Adams said. “I’m
glad that it happens every year.
We have quite a bit of alcohol
violations on campus, especially
underage violations, so the more
If you are going to drink, you
should do it responsibly.
Linda Pyeritz
PAWS Faculty y\dvi,sor
attention that you can draw to
that subject and the conse
quences alcohol does to people,
the better.”
There have been seven report
ed underage drinking violations
since August, according to cam
pus police. Therefore, the pos
sibility of programs like
Alcohol Awareness
Week deterring stu
dents is important,
according to Adams.
“One program I
think would be most
effective would be
the driving the golf
cart with the simula
tor beer goggles and
stuff like that,”
Adams said.
“That’s something that they do
quite a bit every year and, to
that’s been very effective.”
Students said they agreed the
beer goggle simulator is quite
effective.
“It was really cool,” said
me,
SEE Alcohol pa(;e 21
Copyright laws threaten college students the most
By Aaron Dahlstrom
Assistant News Editor
As legal battles over who owns the
rights to music continue, students
increasingly find themselves the targets
of lawsuits ranging from $750 to
$35,000 per infringement.
“Up until now, most of the people they
have served have been students,” said
Jim Kuhlman, university librarian and
chief information officer. “And infringe
ment isn’t 100 songs. It is how many
times somebody copies it. So it can add
fp in a heartbeat.”
Kuhlman oversees the school’s com
puter systems including ResNet, the
computer network for providing Internet
access to the dorms. In compliance with
copyright laws, the school must limit
Internet access to anyone accused of ille
gally downloading copyrighted material.
The law specifies if they have reason
io think copyrighted material they own
can be found on somebody’s computer
^nd it is an infringement of copyright,
they send an e-mail to me,” Kuhlman
said. “This can be either the copyright
owner or their representative. Typically
'f it is music, it is Recording Industry
Association of America. If it is a movie.
Infringement isn’t 100 songs. It is how
many times somebody copies it. So it can
add up in a heartbeat.
Jim Kuhlman
University Librarian & Chief Infttrmation OfTieer
it is Motion Picture Association of
America.” .
In 1998, Congress passed the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, which pro
vides protection to online service
providers when their networks carry
copyright-infringing material. As an
online service provider, UNC Asheville
adheres to the policies and procedures
outlined in the DMCA, receiving legal
protection under the law.
While the school takes the law very
seriously, they do not actively monitor
student’s computers, according to
Kuhlman, j .u..
“Those guidelines actually include the
fact that we don’t police it,” Kuhlman
said. “We can’t just pick you and police
you today. We are going to have to police
everybody all the time. The alternative is
we don’t police anybody.”
The copyright owners contact
Kuhlman when they discover a possible
infringement. The school then discon
nects the alleged user and notifies them
as quickly as possible. Then the student
may admit to the violation or say it is a
mistake, Kuhlman said.
“The first choice is to say, ‘Yep. I have
this song on my computer. I have deleted
that song,’ and that is the end of it,”
Kuhlman said. “They sign a form that I
keep, I notify the computer center, and
we reconnect them as soon as we can.”
If a user claims to not possess the
infringing material, they must remain
disconnected from the network for two
weeks while the copyright holder
decides if they will pursue legal action,
according to Kuhlman.
“On the handful of cases we have had
where people have said that, I have never
had them come back and say, ‘We are
going to take this to court.’ Usually you
never hear from them,” Kuhlman said.
Unless subpoenaed, Kuhlman said he
never reveals the name of the user.
While record labels fight to end illegal
downloading, some smaller bands actu
ally embrace the idea of fans download
ing their music from the Internet.
“I am for it, both as a performer and as
a fan,” said Chris Dedousis of the
Hickory, N.C.-based band Sever the Tie.
“If it helps get music out there, it’s fine
by me.”
Dedousis said he believes true fans will
continue financially supporting the
music they enjoy.
“If your music is something that really
SEE Downloading pack. 2
ft
\bl. 47, Is.siic 8
Civil union
discussion
turns
into debate
By Caroline Fry
Staff Writer
A recent forum, which combined
open gay and lesbian panelists
with religious leaders, rai.sed perti
nent issues about gay rights on
campus.
“UNC Asheville should be
involved in an active community
discussion of (gay rights) issues,”
said Maloree Byrd, senior history
student. “This is a very important
topic for Asheville, and we should
encourage open discussion.”
The forum “Civil Unions, Gay
Marriage and Homophobia: A
Problem of Moral and Spiritual
Development?” was held Oct. 16
in the Laurel Forum. The Center
for Diversity Education Alliance
sponsored the forum, along with
the People of Faith for Just
Relationships.
Panelists included John H.
Grant, pastor of Mt. Zion
Missionary Baptist Church;
Alphonso McGlen, pastor of St.
James AME Church; Lorena
Russell, literature and language
professor at UNC Asheville; and
Jim Driggers, literature professor
at UNC Asheville. Deirdre
Wiggins, assistant director of the
Office of Multicultural
Organizations and Events moder
ated the di.scussion.
The panelists were highly divid
ed concerning their opinions of
gay rights and civil unions. Grant
and McGlen both .said the question
of civil unions and gay rights is not
an equal rights issue, but a moral
issue. Grant said hate crime legis
lation is a bad way for the govern
ment to get involved with this
issue.
“There are serious problems with
civil unions socially, spiritually,
morally and physically,” Grant
said. “When government steps into
this issue, it feels like they are leg
islating immorality.”
Grant went on to say it is a catas
trophe for an American family to
not have both a mother and father,
and homosexual relationships per
petuate this. Both pastors agreed
they believe sexual preference is a
choice each individual makes,
rather than a trait a person is bom
with.
“We don’t choose the color of
our skin or our gender,” McGlen
said. “But after reading studies
about the topic, I have come away
with the conclusion sexual prefer
ence is a choice.”
Both Russell and Driggers said
gay and lesbian couples should
have all the rights heterosexual
married couples enjoy, including
partner benefit rights such as filing
joint tax returns.
“I am a citizen with full rights,
and my relationship is deserving of
rights,” Russell said. “We should
have access to equal rights, such as
health insurance through our
spouse. Families and children need
support from the government that
they are not getting.”
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered community has a
history of being discriminated
against due to their sexual orienta
tion, according to Driggers and
Russell.
“We need to understand we are
all on the same human level,”
Driggers said. “Either we all have
the same rights or we all don’t.”
Some of the audience members
attending the forum were confused
about the organization of the event,
as it was set up to be a discussion
and not a debate.
“I am completely clueless as to
what the goal was for this event
and why it was organized as it
was,” said Alice Weldon, Spanish
professor who attended half of the
forum. “From what I saw and
SEE Unions page 21
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