Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 6, 2001, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE SEAHAWK/SEPTEMBER 6, 2DD1 SGA president presents university vision for coming year Wes Melville With a tough financial year ahead for the uni versity, SGAand administrattxs are joining forces to invdve students more completely in the cam pus community. In front of a small crowd of students and staff members. Student Government Association Presi dent Adrien Lopez addressed some issues that confront the university, including the budget cri sis, as she described SGA’svisirai for the 2001- 2002 academic year. Some of the themes that surfaced during Lopez’s remarks included a commitment to be ing a proactive student government, a strong en couragement to the entire student body to get in volved and to build a sense of community, within the UNCW campus and throughout Wilmington. In her ^xech, Lojaez highlighted four central goals that she hopes will help unite the university under (u^t goal paigned Adrien Lopez which she has stressed heavily. ‘Tf our instituticm wants to excel and be a pro gressive voice for change, we must reafBrm our commitment to diversity,” Lopez said. For this reason, Lopez has pledged to creates Spending, from Cover Student fees are mac easily traced because they are set to go straight into a certain fimd, such as student housing fees, which go solely toward financing the department or activity specified in their name, Jonto said. However, in light of this year’s budgetary short fall, the legislature is altering the planning for ap propriations slightly. This year the tuition inctcase is being subtracted for the stale- appn^ations normally given across the state to universities to accommodate the total enrollment growth of the 16 system campuses, according to Jordan. The expense is then further driven up by lack “This institution is .. .the lowest frinded insti tution in the entire system. We get less state-ap propriated funds per student than any other of the 16 can^juses,” Jordan said. “Also, we are the most utilized institutioa By that I mean, we have the Ckxnection In last week’s edition of The Seahawk in “Increased student txxJy causes dorm overcrowding,” Bob Fry, assis tant to ttie chancellor for planning, was mistakenly quoted as saying, “Stu dents in overflow are going to be there for a while.” This was instead a quote from Brad Reid, director at the Office of Housing and Residence Ue. We apotogize for the error. lowest per square foot to student [ratio]. We have less space per student than any other institution in the system.” One of the most commonly sited examples of university misspending among students is the gate way structure beside Lakeside Hall. Tlie structure was frinded completely through state appropria tion based on a proposal put into gear several years before the structure’s groundbreaking Some stu dents have mistaken the structure fw one frinded 1^ tuition instead. However, not all students agree that such projects enhance campus, regardless of how they are funded. ‘There’s got to be a better way to use that mcHiey,” said Susan Bisht^, student Several administrators said that beautification and ground keeping operations are extremely impwtant to the atroosfdiere of the university for both present and fiiture students. “Our faculty and students deserve to have at tractive and comfortable envinwrnents, and it is not always true that a white tik floor and cinder Hock walls provide die facility they deserve,” said Maik Lanier, assistant to the chanceUor. The fiicility should reflect the feel of the uni versity, Jordan said. ‘1 think one of the important aspects of this univasity is its.. .amlaence. I really think its im portant that as you walk around this university that you are poud erf it,” Jordan said. Not only frtMn the standpoint of its intellectual reputation or its academk reputatiwi, but also that its beauti- fiil from an aesthetic standpoint too.” commissiMi on race, in order to identify the needs and improve the recruitment of minority students. The seccMid goal stated was to "build a com munity focused on students’ needs.” In this point, she discussed the current issues of how to frind the new smdent unicm and the idea (rf privatizing thebodcstore. She expressed ccmcem for rising student fees and said she is interested in investi gating whelher the increases are “wwth the ef fort.” * Thirdly, Lopez said that SGA is committed to “building a community that utilizes technology.” She said she wanted to make sure that the entire can^xis is “adequately equipped with technok^.” Her final goal addressed “building a progres sive community,” which she said meant “giving back and playing an active role in society.” She proposed getting UNCW more involved in kxal affairs and even said that SGA would be conven ing some of their meetings ofF-campus in the cran- munity. ‘1 hope SGA can provide the leadeishiptoheln students get involved,” Lopez said, FoUowing her speech came a report by Chan ceUor James Leutze. Leutze praised SGA’s am. bilious goals and responded to some of the key I poinlsthatLopezmadeinherspeech.AflerLore finished her speech, Leutze spent some time |^ spaiding to sonje of her prt^itions and can- mending SGA «i the “ambitious goals [they haw] set for students this year.” Leutze also ^nt much of his speech explain ing the recent budget crisis and possible implio- tionsofthesituationfortheuniversity,suchaslht increased tuition and student fees. “Overthelast 10 years, the percent of the cost of education is being bom by the state (rfNoith Carolina has decreased about one penm..ik state no laiger pays 50 percenL..they pay 43per cent of the state’s education,” Leutze said. Union, from Cover centralized location within the Univeisity Uniwi. Other ideas include covering the existing court yard with a one-stay roof, creating covered walk ways to tie the space between the Warwick Cen ter, and the Bumey Student Support Center, adding a convenience store and additional food service ^ace. The cAJ bookstore will be renovated into a new ballnxxn that will seat 850-900in auditorium-style seating. ‘TTiis building, more than any other on cam pus, belongs to the university community,” Fariey said. “What we are Hying to do is give people a sense that there is more than academks going on here.” To gather student input, an educational cam paign will occur ova-the next six weeks. This is when Fariey, Dick Scott, vice chanceUor of busi ness afiEairs and Teirence Curran, vice chanceUor of student affairs, of wiU hold separate meetings with groups such as the Association for Can^His Entertainment, the Student Enptoyee Commit tee, the Student Government Ass^ation, the Stu dent Media Board, the Greek Goveming Groups, the Student Oiganizations Committee, the Resi-^ New residence hall to set for approva Katie Blanchard The construction of a new residence hall may prevent a repeat of this year’s housing crunch. Since the construction of the Honors and International Houses, administrators have seen planning another residence hall to com plete the set. University officials have not set dates for the groundbreaking of the hall, and are cur- ^ntly awaiting approval from N.C. Depart- Jient of Construction and the N.C. Depart ment of Insurance on the building plans. Fdlowing final approval, it will take be tween 18 and 21 months to complete build ing construction. “We are hoping to have the new building com{rfetBd by fall of 2003, but we do not enough information, as of yet, to de- muiise a completion date,” said Timothy fartan, vice chancellor of business affairs. University officials are woridng to match 1» timeframe for construction with the re- a to school for the semester. “The problem with building a new resi- tencc hall is the timing.” said Pat Leonard, “~5 chancellor of student affairs. “If the *trac^ is completed too soon, then » is no way to pay back the loans be- 8C nobody is living in the building. But denre HaU Association and the University Union Advisory Board They wiU also hostacoffee break with the Seahawk Perch to reach out to commuter and non-traditional students. “We will explain the project and the fee usage assoaated with the project,” Fariey said. It IS that fee usage that has many students con- ^TTKthreephasesoftheprojecthaveaprice tag of $27 million dollars. “We arc requesting a fee increase to be imple mented in faU of 2002,” Faney said. Fariey said she acknowledges the concern that many students have, when ttiey think of paying for the new union with their fees, but not being if construction is not completed at the be ginning of the term, then we have to find someplace else to house the students.’ If approved, the building will house about 200 students, the same number housed both Honors and International House. The new building will look similar to fee International and Honors Houses from the outside, but officials hope to give theiiimie a unique design. “We are trying to upgrade the type housing at UNCW in order to increase lie students’ desire to live on campus,” Fry said “Students who live on campus generally per form better academically.” The need for student housing was ied by a consulting firm contracted byi|c university. The consultants looked at At university's total enrollment, the amounti^ off-campus housing and the available M get to determine future housing needs. “[They] said that we could probably ^ 800 more beds and have students toB them,” said Robert Fry, assistant i cellor for planning. According to studies done by the«|^f ing firm, university housing demand isA creasing by about 100 residents a year. The cost of the building will be fiQg by bond money and capital projects, as1 as through university housing fees. around to enjoy it. ‘It is such a tremendous legacy for students B leave,” Farley said. Student Government Association Ptesideni Adrien Lopez said she realizes that there is no way around a fee increase, but said that she is encouraging frinding for the project through sub sidization. “We are already dealing with a tuition increase of 9 percent across the board,” Lopez said. Student involvement in planning for the new union is highly appreciated. “Student input is critical,” Fariey said It hdps us to see this through a different peispective.”
University of North Carolina Wilmington Student Newspaper
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