The Appalachian Online

Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock informed members of the Bookstore Advisory Council Monday that the body would be dissolved and replaced with the new University Bookstore Committee.

The Bookstore Council dealt with formulating all bookstore policies related to student involvement, and provided input regarding bookstore operations, according to the Faculty handbook.

The new committee, whose primary responsibility will be investigating the textbook rental system, is now in place.

“[Peacock] sees this as the best way to address issues and concerns of the faculty.” Bookstore Director Michael G. Coston said. Coston was an ex-officio member of the Bookstore Advisory Council.

Faculty Senate passed a motion in December to create the University Bookstore Committee. The committee would “respond to administrative policies regarding Bookstore operations and recommend policies regarding textbooks and other educational materials.”

Peacock approved the committee, but said it would not respond to administrative policies regarding bookstore operations. Bookstore operations are fiscal in nature and should remain under the Office of Business Affairs.

In Monday’s letter, Peacock said he revised the responsibility of the University Bookstore Committee to include “to respond to administrative policies” as well. The committee will not make decisions about daily operations, he said.

Faculty appointees were announced at Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
They include: physics professor Dr. Patricia E. Allen, finance, banking and insurance professor Dr. John P. Geary, economics professor Dr. Tim J. Perri, librarian Glenn Ellen Star Stilling and philosophy and religion professor Dr. T. Patrick Rardin.

“I’m sure most people are hoping for … a compromise that will leave both faculty and students satisfied,” Stilling said.

Rardin is the only Faculty Senate member on the committee. Rardin is the chair of the body’s Welfare on Students Committee that initially made the motion to discontinue the textbook rental system last semester.

Peacock waived the motion to remove the textbook rental system while approving the University Bookstore Committee.

Graduate Student Association Senate was allowed one appointment to the new committee. Rebecca J. Stamilio was selected, GSAS President D. Merlin Tilley said.

SGA’s two undergraduate appointments to the University Bookstore Committee are off-campus senators Amanda G. Zeddy and Laura A. Westmoreland.

“Our main goal is to do the most objective research as possible,” Westmoreland said. A lot of issues, such as the reason textbooks are so expensive, have not been investigated, Westmoreland said.

SGA Vice President Nick V. Albu said SGA will form its own ad-hoc research committee as well.

“The initial goal of establishing the ad-hoc committee is first and foremost, to add equal representation on all sides: students, faculty and staff,” Albu said.

“The chancellor and provost spoke to SGA President Miriam Makhyoun directly and said they will look at our fact-based findings when making a decision [about the textbook rental system],” Albu said.

Students across the nation could face reduced grants, fewer work-study jobs and eliminated programs under a new federal budget that has Appalachian administrators up in arms.

The cuts, announced Feb. 7, include reducing Pell Grants, cutting funding for work-study programs by 10 percent and eliminating Upward Bound and other programs, according to information from the Office of Student Development.

Vice Chancellor for Student Development Cindy A. Wallace said she believed the cuts were damaging and that the university would speak to representatives at the national level.

“We intend to fight this one out, it matters too much to Appalachian students and to the entire university,” Wallace said.

“My first reaction is that these cuts were fairly draconian,” Chief of Staff Dr. Lorin A. Baumhover said. “They affect a lot of people, and they are definitely a point of concern.”

Baumhover added that the budget was far from final and significant changes would probably still be made.

Baumhover said Appalachian would represent its interests and that Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock had spoken to elected officials from North Carolina about the cuts in his recent visit to Washington, D.C.

Wallace said approximately 1,800 students at Appalachian would see their Pell Grants reduced by the cuts and 200 students would lose their grants entirely.

“This really aggravates me, I just don’t understand why they would cut Pell Grants, which go to the most needy families and students,” Wallace said.
Wallace said the cuts in work-study programs could result in less work-study opportunities for students.

“Work-study affects thousands of students,” Wallace said. “I don’t understand that cut either, students working to pay for college seems like something President Bush’s agenda would support.”

The proposed cuts also would completely eliminate Upward Bound, a program aimed at preparing first generation college students from low-income backgrounds for a university education while they’re in high school.

“My reaction was one of shock and awe when I heard that,” Assistant Director of Upward Bound Matt W. Ruble said. “Upward Bound is one of the oldest programs of its type on campus; we’ve been here since 1972.”

Ruble said 92 percent of Upward Bound graduates have finished college, and Upward Bound worked with the department of education to provide opportunities for student teachers.

Although the University of North Carolina Board of Governors unanimously voted to freeze campus-proposed in-state tuition raises Feb. 11, out-of-state tuition and student fees might still go up.

BOG member Cary C. Owen said the board will vote on possible increases in March. She said the board voted to freeze in-state tuition raises because the BOG felt it was time to do so.

“We feel that we’ve had several increases in school-initiated requests for tuition increases and the constitution of North Carolina says that we’ll provide as free as possible education for students,” Owen said.
BOG Chair Bradley Wilson said the decision was not easy.

“A lot of people struggled with this decision,” Wilson said. “We all understand the needs of the university, but we have to strike a balance between the costs and we decided this year was not a year to raise tuition.”
Wilson said he was happy with the outcome.

“I stated my position publicly in December that I didn’t think tuition should be increased, so I was pleased with the result,” Wilson said, referring to a memo he sent to the board members, urging them to vote against raising tuition costs.

“I think students across the university system are breathing a big collective sigh of relief,” Association of Student Governments (ASG) President Amanda M. Devore said.

ASG is a student body representing all 16 schools in the UNC system. Devore, a graduate student at North Carolina State University, is a non-voting member of the BOG.

The North Carolina General Assembly could still increase tuition in its state budget it prepares this summer. Devore said feelings from the legislature are mixed, but an overwhelming majority of its members are pleased with the BOG’s decision.

ASG Vice President Victor P. Landry, a graduate student at Fayetteville State University, said state deficits are a challenge for education funding.

“I think [state legislators] are going to have to get creative to maintain a commitment to higher education,” Landry said.

SGA President Miriam N. Makhyoun said tuition increases were still an important issue.

“Though North Carolina is graduating high schoolers at one of the fastest paces in the nation, we must be mindful of the burden that out-of-state students carry,” Makhyoun said.

Full-time out-of-state students pay approximately $6,396 per semester for tuition, according to the Office of Admissions Web site.

The BOG Budget and Finance Committee listened to proposals from 14 chancellors of the 16 UNC schools. However, the committee’s recommendation to the BOG was to not raise tuition.

The BOG also voted in November 2004 not to initiate board-based tuition increases.

The university has not laid off employees due to less money coming but instead does not fill open groundskeepers and housekeepers positions, Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Jane P. Helm said.

“We might leave positions open when they become vacant, but we’ve made a real effort here, even in hardest of times since I’ve been here, not to lay off anyone because we’re the largest employer in the region,” Helm said. “It’s hard for people if they’re laid off. We just try to plan ahead enough so we can leave positions vacant so individuals aren’t hurt.”

With less positions filled, the campus environment and residence halls might not look as nice as they once did, Helm said.

The Appalachian State University Board of Trustees voted in December 2004 to raise tuition prices by $300, but the proposal was not approved by the BOG.

As presidential declarations come to a close, several changes were made to Student Government Aassociation elections by-laws that may affect the upcoming election.

One change that may prove significant is the removal of a ban on “negative campaigning.”

“[The term] ‘negative campaigning’ was really ambiguous,” off-campus Senator John C. McDonald said. “In the past, if a candidate tried to show contrast between one ticket or another, it was seen as negative.”

McDonald was a member of the Elections Review Board that made changes to elections by-laws. The “negative campaigning” restriction also violated the First Amendment, he said.

“Hopefully we won’t see a ton of mud-slinging, but … candidates in the past felt limited to what they could say, even if it was true,” SGA Rules Chair Chris R. Pereira said.

Instead, elections by-laws now forbid campaigning with “malicious intent,” such as libel or slander, McDonald said. Other changes include limiting the number of e-mails and phone calls candidates can make.

The Elections Review Board also separated the former Elections Committee into an Elections Board and a Judicial Board. The Elections Board will oversee the general elections process while the Judicial Board will institute sanctions on candidates in violation of elections by-laws.

Last year, presidential candidate Matthew D. Whisenant and vice presidential candidate Justin W. Moore were sanctioned by the Elections Committee after allegedly failing to submit campaign materials and related receipts to the committee.

Whisenant and Moore were prohibited from campaigning for 24 hours.
Students interested in running for SGA president or vice president must declare this week. Declarations are due tomorrow by 4 p.m.

Elections Board Chair H. Dustin Bayard said he wants no less than a 50 percent voter turnout.

“I want this to be the most actively participated-in election in ASU history,” Bayard said.

Candidates must be juniors by May 24, have a 2.25 cumulative GPA and have attended Appalachian since fall 2004. Interested students must pick up a declaration packet from the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership office or the SGA office.

Both offices are on the second floor of Plemmons Student Union.
Running a campaign does not come without costs.

“It can be very expensive,” Whisenant said. While elections by-laws set campaign spending limits, there are exceptions to those limits, he said.

Campaigning begins March 14 at midnight. A debate between candidates will occur March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Grandfather Mountain Ballroom in the student union.

“Student government is the best way to voice concerns to the administration and to get things done without the administration,” Bayard said. “If we don’t have good participation in student government, it takes away some of its legitimacy.”

The Counseling and Psychological Services Center and Campus Eating Concerns Taskforce will sponsor an Eating Disorders Awareness Week Feb. 21-24.

According to the Web site of the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males suffer from anorexia and bulimia. Twenty-five million more individuals struggle with a binge-eating disorder.

"We're hoping to work to change the culture from one that values thinness and raise the self esteem of our students so one can learn to value themselves in a way not related to a scale ... our goal is to challenge the perception that one's worth is related to their size," staff psychologist Dr. Denise M. Lovin said.

A contact table will be set up all week in Plemmons Student Union where people can pick up information and participate in the Great Jeans Giveaway.

Students are encouraged to bring in jeans that don't fit them and that may "trigger you to feel bad about yourself," Lovin said. All clothing will be donated to local charities.

Students may attend "An Idiot's Guide to Dietary Supplements" Monday to learn how supplements affect performance and the body.

Students are invited to the lecture "Let's Do Lunch" on Tuesday, where they can come and increase their knowledge about good eating habits and how to maintain them on and off campus. Also planned for Tuesday is a showing of the film "Killing Us Softly 3," which explores America's obsession with thinness and advertising's image of women.

On Wednesday, an information session titled "Fat Like Me: One Size Doesn't Fit All" will be offered. The session will deal with the topics of body image and self-esteem.

The activities will end Thursday with a talk on "How to Help a Friend, Lover, Roommate, Etc. Who Might Have An Eating Disorder."

"Eating disorders are a problem on college campuses," Dr. Sarah R. Jordan said. "Girls this age range or younger are the ones that typically have this problem. Awareness is important on college campuses because roommates, friends and others can be made aware of this."

In addition to these special events, the counseling center offers a free online screening for eating disorders that is available at all times through its Web site.

There is also an on-campus Eating Concerns Taskforce. Faculty, students and staff meet once a month to discuss eating and body related issues.

"It would be nice if we could include more people on the Task Force that value these issues and want to create a healthier environment on campus," Lovin said.

The student union has seen the additions of Peer Career, Appalachian & the Community Together, Community Outreach Center, Whitewater Mountain Laurel Room, Blue Ridge Ballroom, Greenbriar Theatre and the Summit Trail Solarium since 1995, Director of Student Programs Dave L. Robertson said.

The Multicultural Center was also created in 1995 in an attempt to support and enhance existing cultural programs, provide members of the community a more intimate space for small group discussions, promote an environment of tolerance and understanding and encourage the appreciation of all cultures.

“The center is, in keeping with the overall philosophy of a student union, where students with shared interests and backgrounds can not only meet together but also be exposed to those [students] of different interests and backgrounds,” Associate Director of the Office of Student Programs Philip K. Arnold said.

“The Multicultural Center brings programs, exhibits and guest speakers to the Union,” Robertson said. “The purpose of a student union is to unite the campus and build a sense of community at Appalachian."

" The Multicultural Center contributes to the mission of the Plemmons Student Union by reminding each of us of the rich cultural diversity which exists at Appalachian and the importance of understanding and strength through diversity as the first ingredients in having a strong, unified university community,” Robertson said.

The Multicultural Center also serves as a place for students to hold meetings or study sessions.

“The Multicultural Center is a really great place to hold meetings,” Student Government Association member and freshman communication major Jada L. Jonas said. “The setting is really very intimate and I think that helps to make the meetings a whole lot more productive.”

Reservations can be made for the Multicultural Center by any Appalachian State University campus club, organization or department by filling out a request form at the student union.

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Keystone trains seniors for leadership

by Amy Burnette
Staff Writer

The goals of the Keystone leadership program are revealed in its name.

The program is designed to give Appalachian State University seniors an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and work with each other in a cohesive environment.

"We have leadership programs for organizational leaders, freshmen, women, fraternities and sororities," Associate Director for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership Jim Street said. "This one is for seniors and it will prepare them for the transition they will go through after graduating from ASU."

The Keystone program, sponsored by CSIL, will meet every Wednesday for seven weeks in the Attic Window Room of Plemmons Student Union from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

"Each week, the participants will discuss a topic or an issue that, in our minds, all students should discuss or think about before they leave here," Street said. "While students have been here at Appalachian, they have gotten involved in a variety of communities. We will be talking about how important it has been to be involved in those communities and how important it will be to get involved in new communities when they graduate."

Keystone has a different theme relating to leadership each meeting. The group plans to have guest speakers, such as Appalachian alumni, discussing their personal transitions after graduating.

"When seniors leave here they need to have a strong sense of their personal values," Street said. "Our values hold up all the decisions that we make. Before we leave here we need to stop and clarify our personal set of values."

The Keystone program will afford seniors the chance to step out of their hectic normal day routines and talk about the transition that is about to take place in their lives.

"I think it helps seniors prepare for interviews and it's a great opportunity to find others that are in that same place," Street said. "In other words, it's for students who are getting ready to graduate and have realized that they aren't the only ones that are curious about the future--they are stressed out about what is to come."

"The Keystone program was kind of a support group," Appalachian alumni and master's candidate Richard E. Fulton said. "I graduated three years ago and some of my friends and I still talk about what we did in Keystone."

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Greenbriar offers classic films

by Kyle Conrad
Intern Writer

The Greenbriar Theatre in Plemmons Student Union will host a variety of events in its state-of-the-art facilities throughout the remainder of the school year.

Greenbriar, which has traditionally shown classic Silver Screen pictures, will present films for both the APPerture Short Film Festival series and the Women's Study Spring Film Series.

The Women's Study Series will present its first picture Saturday and will show a related film each Saturday for the next five weeks. The series concentrates on the lives of women living in the Middle East.

The APPerture Film Festival, which is a student-run program for student filmmakers, will run April 1-3 with one presentation-taking place in Greenbriar.

Greenbriar will also be presenting films from the American Classic era every Wednesday and Friday night for no charge.

"A lot of people see films as [just] entertainment, but we think of it as an edifying experience; these films can have a large impact on [someone]," Associate Director of Student Programs Phil J. Arnold said.

The Greenbriar Theatre is a state-of-art venue that supports the newest technology and features available. It was funded during the late 90s by John McElwee, a collector of films who was also involved with the university.

"The theatre was really John's vision from the beginning," Arnold said. "When you walk into the theatre, you really walk into another world or space."

The theatre is constructed in an "art-deco" theme, Arnold said, and the curved ceilings and walls add to the theatre's affect on the viewers.

Each leather chair also has its own two armrests and there is much more space allotted to the viewers than is available in conventional theaters.

Greenbriar is also used by many professors to show films related to teaching material.

"It's used very heavily by our film classes," associate English professor Dr. Craig J. Fischer said. "Of all the video projection facilities at universities, Greenbriar is by far the best."

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