COMMENTARY

Faculty must increase with enrollment

Kristina Egger

When you decide to go to school in the mountains, you are inevitably faced with certain obstacles. Snow-covered roads, the wind chill and reduced student rates at Appalachian Ski Mountain are enough to keep many students out of class during the spring semester. For those students who still manage to make their educations a priority, simply getting into the classes they need should not be a problem.

I am a junior attempting to double major in the Department of Communication in four years. This may seem like a crazy idea to some people, but it is not impossible. Life would be a lot easier for me if I could simply get into classes that are required for my major. When I registered at my assigned time last fall, I got into only one of the five courses that I needed to stay on track.

Instead of spending the first week of the spring semester settling into a new routine, all I did was run around scrambling to pick up hours. I camped anxiously outside professors’ doors, sat in on classes and stalked the secretary in the Department of Communication. I am already exhausted, and the semester has not even started. For the first few days it seemed there was very little anyone could do except assure me things would get better.

Finally, I spoke with the Dr. Stuart Towns, chairperson of the communication department, and he seemed genuinely apologetic. Unfortunately, there still seemed to be very little that could be done. “If I could find a warm body who was qualified to fill the positions needed, we could find the money,” said Towns.

I do not seem to be the only person who thinks this is a problem. You would think with all of the positive press this university has seen in the past few months that finding teachers would not be an issue. We started out as a teachers’ college, for crying out loud. “TIME magazine should have tried to get classes in the communications department before they named us college of the year,” said Carrie Wellemeyer, also a junior in the Department of Communication.

It seems this problem is not isolated within the Department of Communication. Students taking classes in the Walker College of Business are complaining of similar predicaments.

Despite all of the difficulties I have encountered this semester, I still believe Appalachian is a wonderful school. However, could you imagine how much better things would be if we had sufficient staff and appropriate facilities?

The North Carolina Board of Governors has mandated that Appalachian increase its student body by 5,000 in the next few years. Before the Board of Governors pushes this increase any further, I would like to suggest they find the funds and personnel to support the students and faculty who are already here.

COMMENTARY

January: first National Mentoring Month

Janelle Silverman

Take a few minutes and think about one person who really made a significant difference in your life. Someone who was there for you during your childhood or adolescence who made you feel important and helped you with anything you ever asked.

Think about the person whom you trusted the most, to whom you came with your biggest problems or smallest concerns.

Think of that one high school teacher to whom you could talk more easily than you could talk to your parents. That one teacher who always told you that you could make it into college and get out of life whatever it was you wanted.

Have you ever told them how much their care and consideration meant to you? Well, now is your chance.

On Jan. 18, President George Bush signed legislation to proclaim January the first National Mentoring Month, in which everyone is encouraged to become involved in mentoring a child in this country.

Founded by The Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, National Mentoring Month will be encouraged by non-profit organizations such as The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America and Save the Children, working together with companies such as ABC, NBC and Fox, who have devoted air time to promote this wonderful idea.

Now think of a child, whether it is a younger brother or sister, a cousin, a neighbor or even a student at a local elementary or middle school. These children are at the age where they need guidance and a role model they can look up to. What better role model to have than a college student making their way through school to secure a future for themselves? Instead of spending your free time sitting on the couch or in other pointless wastes of time, call a younger sibling just to talk. Write a letter or an email to a younger relative who looks up to you and tell them how much they mean to you. Give them your phone number and encourage them to call anytime they need someone to talk to.

Who doesn’t remember being 12 years old and feeling cool when your older siblings would invite you to hang out with their friends or take you to a movie?

Even if you have no younger children in your family, mentoring is still an option, even here in Boone. Visit the website for the National Mentoring Partnership at www.mentoring.org or call 1-888-432-MENTOR to find a mentoring program in any area of the country. Boone may be small, but there is a program to get involved in even here, so there are no excuses!

Just think how different their lives could be if each confused child growing up in this country could have one special person they looked up to, someone who answered their questions and calmed their fears.

So while thinking about what you can do this upcoming year to better your life, think about bettering a child’s life.

It could be as simple as a phone call a week to a younger sibling who you tend to ignore or brush aside. More likely than not they look up to you more than you realize.

Also take the time to thank that special person who helped you years ago in becoming who you are today.

This may be the most beneficial thing you choose to do in this coming year, for you and the younger child.

Our Perspective ...

Indoor track opens for recreational use

In a move aimed at allowing university walkers and runners an opportunity to escape winter weather, Appalachian State University officials announced late last week the jogging track inside the George M. Holmes Convocation Center would be made available for use from mid-January through late March.

This decision follows contradictory statements made by university officials in past months. The Holmes Center was originally planned to house a jogging surface that would be open to anyone associated with the university. During the facility’s planning stages, university officials said there was an ample amount of interest shown from faculty, staff and the Appalachian indoor track team to justify opening the track to use by the greater university community.

However, in a July 23, 2001 e-mail, Dr. Clyde Robbins, director of Design and Construction, wrote, “The surfacing of the concourse … was in response to the department of athletics request for a practice indoor surface which could be utilized as a training area for the university track teams. Because the area is a primary pedestrian path and collector during center events, the concourse could not be banked or made five lanes, which would have been required for sanctioned indoor track meets.”

Despite several statements to the contrary by faculty and staff, the concourse was never intended or designed for recreational use by the general university or town community. Opening the concourse for this purpose would present major problems in terms of security and maintenance,” concluded Robbins.

The recent decision to open the track weekdays from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. contradicts Robbins statement and seems to be only an appeasement to those in support of public, year-round use of the track.

We appreciate this shift in the Holmes Center policy, but we question the motivation behind the shift and its feasibility, such as how many members of the university community will actually be able to access the track during the alloted mid-day time slot for the following reasons:

• The afternoon hours are usually a peak time for both students and faculty members to be in class.

• If off-campus students without university parking passes wish to utilize the Holmes Center track, they will be forced to risk being issued a parking ticket.

• Students who have purchased parking permits and drive to campus with the goal of using the facility will inevitably find lots filled to capacity during these peak class-time hours.

Did the planning committee and university administrators take these glaring shortcomings into consideration when implementing the recent shift in the usage policy?

Many students, faculty and staff who wish to take advantage of the indoor track in the coming months will no doubt be confronted with these issues.

These problems could be eliminated if the powers-that-be would expand usage hours of the track to better facilitate faculty, staff and students. A way for members of the university community to help create this change is to make ample use of the track in the coming months and force university officials to respond to an out-pouring of interest, making the track accessible during non-winter months as well.