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Students showcase work
at international festival
BY SEAN VONLEMBKE
STAFF WRITER
It’s high time the world discov
ered what communication students
are up to at UNC.
It seems it finally has.
On March 18, seniors John
David Devirgiliis, Courtney Garcia
and Matthew Cunningham arrived
in Casablanca, Morocco, to dis
play their work at the weeklong
International Video Art Festival.
Two years ago communication
studies professor Francesca Talenti
became the first American to pres
ent her work at the festival. The
U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco,
invited Talenti to select three stu
dents to attend this year’s festival.
At the end of fall semester, Talenti,
Eng with professor Ed Rankus and
irk Robinson, communication
dies director, sorted through a
Vvast quantity of submissions.
I “They were each quite differ
ent from each other,” Talenti said
Kof the three students’ submissions.
{“Yet they were each all, in their own
{jway, quite sophisticated.”
J As their work was slotted for
in Morocco on March 24,
jjthe three had five days after their
before the big day.
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The festival and the city offered
plenty to fill that time.
“It totally shattered my expec
tations,” Cunningham said of the
festival. “There were probably
over a hundred artists and students
presenting their work, and the vol
ume and quality of their work was
intimidating to say the least.”
Every morning there were work
shops with industry professionals,
and while helpful, the students said
there were even greater opportuni
ties offered by the festival.
“Just meeting people and social
izing with them was one of the best
experiences there,” Devirgiliis said.
After days of exploring Morocco
and taking in the festival’s sights, the
students’ turn had arrived.
Devirgiliis showed three short
films. Among them was “The
Laugher,” a black-and-white film
originally shot on 16 mm film
with Justin Williams and William
Earnhardt, which focuses on a
father who lied to his son about
his profession.
Garcia unveiled “The Way Out,”
a documentary she began on her
free time while interning in Los
Angeles last summer. The story
centers on Angela and Carmen,
daughters of a crack-dealing pimp
who are struggling to make it as
musicians in South Central Los
Angeles against the constraints of
their father and environment.
Cunningham’s piece, “Dreamland’s
Spine: A Love Story” started as a
video project for his experimental
video class. The story shows how two
people in a bad relationship come to
destroy each other’s life. As an artistic
twist, Cunningham used nine actors
to portray the two characters.
The three considered their work
to be well-received.
Though there were students
from Spain and Holland, the three
UNC seniors were among only eight
Americans to attend the festival.
“I loved being in the minority ...
and being around people who are
interested in the same thing as me,”
Garcia said.
Contact theA&E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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News
Book rental system analyzed
BY KYLE CHORPENING
STAFF WRITER
Students at Appalachian State
University likely will continue to
avoid SIBO chemistry books and
$42 course packs.
The University Bookstore
Committee published a report last
month recommending that the
school’s textbook rental program be
continued with a few alterations.
ASU students pay a $76 fee every
semester to rent textbooks from the
university and pay for supplementa
ry materials in certain classes. They
end up paying an average of $209
per year for all of their books.
On average, college students
spend SB9B on books and supplies
every year, according to the U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
The ASU textbook rental policy
requires that books be used to
teach classes in a three-year cycle
and allows courses to be taught
from one textbook.
The two primary changes suggest
ed by the committee are to establish
a two-year cycle and to allow profes
sors to assign two books per class.
“We voted on these changes to
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2006
recognize faculty complaints and
still address student needs,” said
Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling, chair
woman of the committee.
The high price of textbooks
has prompted new UNC-system
President Erskine Bowles to look
into textbook rental possibilities
for the entire system.
Elizabeth City State and Western
Carolina universities are the only
other school&to use such a system.
Stilling said that ASITs 68-year
old rental system came under fire
in December 2004, causing the
administration to create a special
committee to study the issue.
“The charge was to maximize
faculty flexibility and still minimize
student cost,” Stilling said.
In a survey conducted by the
committee, 47 percent of the fac
ulty polled said that textbook rent
als harmed their ability to teach.
Faculty complained that they
didn’t like texts chosen for their
class by the department and that
the texts go out of date before the
end of the three-year cycle.
“It’s hard to know how effective a
book is going to be until you teach
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it,” Stilling said.
The report is under review by the
school’s provost. ASU administra
tors say that the recommendations
will be regarded highly in deciding
the rental program’s fiiture.
“The administration wants to
listen to those who are affected by
this system,” said Wilbur Ward,
senior associate vice chancellor for
academic affairs at ASU.
He said that the administration
recognizes that some of the faculty'
is opposed to the rental system, but
that some complaints are overstat
ed.
Ward said he has seen the text
book rental program trigger debate
several times. “This issue flares
up every four or five years, but it
always goes back to renting.”
Stilling said that despite the
work the committee has done, the
system isn’t perfect.
“Even in the year’s worth of work
we put into it, we didn’t solve all the
problems,” she said. “We could have
spent another two years on it.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
9