Serving UNC-Wilmington Since 1 948
Inside'
This
issue.
NC Senate candidate
Gene Menitt speaks out
about campus finance/3
Azaleas in full bloom
for downtown festival
this weekend/ 9
‘Feel the Teal”: School
spirit on the rise/13
INDEX
News
3
OP/ED
(;
Classifieds
UMCW Life
9
The Scene
Study examines link b^een agression and drinldng
John White
The National Institute of
Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol
ism recently awarded UNCW
a $600,000 federal grant to re
search the connection between
alcohol consumption and
sexual aggression.
Nora Noel, James Johnson
and Lee Jackson, professors in
the psychology department,
will collaborate on a researcl
project set to begin next f
that will cover an alcohol
yopia explanation of sexua
aggression. The project will
study which male personality
types, while under the influ
ence of alcohol, would likely
to behave more sexually ag
gressively toward females.
“It is thought of as
brainer, but the problem is tha
we don’t know how alcohol
involved in regards to sexua
aggression. We’re trying
see how alcohol affects c
processes,” Noel said.
She also said that
alcohol’s effect on the aggres
sive behavior of some
could be better understood, it
could result actions taken to
reduce tendencies toward
sexual assault or inappropriate
behavior.
The study will be con
ducted over five years
and will involve up to
^700 heterosexual
males. Those
whO’participate
will be asked to
consume one of
four doses of alco
hol. After drinking
the "doses, participants
will then take part in an
I exercise designed to de-
termine how the
fB dosages may
JS have affected
their attitudes to
ward sexual ag
gression.
After watch-
I ing a video of a
uple on a
first date,
Noes said
"participants
will answer ques-
See Alcdhdl, Page 5
UNCW leads system m protected latid
UNCW now leads the UNC sys
tem in ownership of protected prt^
eity as a result of a recent environ
mental initiative.
The land designation, made after
the university’s involvement in the
Smart Growth commission, set an
enviromentally-consious example fw
tfie community, administrators said.
University adminastrators set
aside 27 percent of its 813 acres as
areas that cannot be developed. In
cluded in the 219 acres are the Wild-
flower Preserve, which is on canpis,
and Ev-Henwood, a large tract of
woods off campus.
Political science professor Lee
Jdinston was among the first indi
viduals in the univasity to get in
volved with the Smart Growth com
mission, which studies statewide area
growth and reports the results to the
legislature.
‘The idea is to protect the envi
ronment (and keep) the community
from being turned into a strip mall,”
Johnstcm said.
Created in 1999 by the NC Gen
eral Assembly, the Smart Growth
commission was divided into four
gnxips ccmsisting of fanners, build-
CTS, elected ofiBcials, and environmen-
JohnstcHi was specifically invdved
in designating land as protected space.
He said the commission should cre
ate places like paries or areas where
people could be “out in tfie trees.”
“(People should have) a peaceful
or placid area in an urban center,”
Johnston said.
The university is also applying the
philosqrfiy of Smart Growth to en
sure the quality of life is enhanced as
it expands, said Marie Lanier, special
assistaiU to the chancellw.
‘It doesn’t make sense to just say
no growth. What you have to do is
grow in a way that doesn’t destroy
the environmenC’ he said.
SGAekctions
Heather Grady
Students are gearing up for their sec
ond year of online voting for Student
Government Association elections, and
turnout expectations are high.
The change to online voting raised
student participation to about 1,000votes,
said Kris Clapper, election board com
mittee chairman for SGA.. A figure, he
said, SGA ls still hoping to improve upon.
“(Voting) increased over 100 per
cent,” Qapper said.
To be held online Wednesday, April
10 through Friday, April 12, the election
process will be available to students
through an access code delivered via the
student's university email account Once
the sWdent receives the e-mail contain
ing the one-time use access code, the stu
dent can then click on a link provided in
the e-mail. This will bring the voter to a
ballot page, which is designed for the spe
cific class of the student. This means that
sophomores will be prevented ftxxn vot
ing for senior ckss president and so forth.
In past elections, some votes were taken
from students at voting booths for can
didates they were not eligible to vote for.
“(Voting will now take) about two
minutes or less,” Qapper said.
There are about 40 positions opened
to candidates, but stu^nts can decide
how many to weigh in votes for, Clap-
“I definitely feel it is going to be a .
competitive election,” said Neil Watson,
off-campus representative and one of the
candidates for student body president ‘1
think the main goal is to show students
that the woik we (at SGA) do is impw-
tant, and it really does have an impact
on their educatkxi.”
Correction
The Seahawk mistakely printed
the state budget shortfall as
predicted at $1.2 million.The
shortfall is actually $1.2 bil
lion. The Seahawk regrets this
error.