the blue banner, volume 57, issue 5
DESCRIPTION
The 5th issue of the Fall 2012 semester.TRANSCRIPT
‘The Giver’
Volume 57, Issue 5 | Wednesday, September 26, 2012
THE BLUE BANNERThe student voice of UNC Asheville
ROMNEYCAMPAIGNIGNORESCITIZENSPAGE 9
ASHEVILLECELEBRATESPEACE DAYPAGE 2
UNCA MEN’SSOCCER TEAMSTRUGGLESPAGE 6
STUDENTSPERFORM‘THE GIVER’PAGE 4
WWW.THEBLUEBANNER.NET
Theatre UNCA presents
PAGE 4
Photo by Ricky Emmons - Asst. Photography Editor
2 9.26.12NEWS Asheville celebration rallies for global cease-fire
Students will have the chance to pick up tips on going green at Low Impact Week, running through Friday. Hosted by UNC Asheville’s Student Envi-ronmental Center, Low Impact Week will provide educational events such as Bike Day on Thursday.
“We hope that students will attend these events and not only have fun, but also recog-nize how easy it is to live with-out having a detrimental effect on the health of the environ-ment,” said Kelsey Herman, SEC member and Bike Day
organizer.Low Impact Week also in-
cludes a free market to keep salvageable items out of the landfill and a screening of the documentary “Wasteland.”
“I am the Transportation Co-ordinator here at the SEC, so I chose to host an event that per-tained to alternative forms of transportation,” Hermann said. “I think this event will be really fun and hopefully will encour-age people to choose alterna-tive forms of transportation.”
Bike Day will include games and bike maintenance tutori-als, and a volunteer from the Asheville Bike Recyclery will attend the festivities.
“We focus on teaching folks
how to build bikes from re-cycled bike parts and to get people rolling on some alterna-tive transportation for little or no money,” said Matty Sem-kowich, a volunteer at the Asheville Bike Recyclery.
The Asheville Bike Recy-clery, a nonprofit community bike shop, has been in business for 10 years in the Asheville area. Volunteers regularly at-tend events like Low Impact Week to build community learning and community shar-ing, Semkowich said.
“We’re really into reaching out to all types of folks and all ages,” Semkowich said. “Any event is an awesome thing. It’s not like we’re focused on par-
ticular demographics. We have little kids come in to get their first bikes, and we have folks who are, like, 85 that want to get back on a bike.”
Second Gear, a local business specializing in consignment outdoor gear, donated prizes for the Bike Day event.
“All our consigned gear is be-ing essentially ‘recycled’ back into use,” said Eric Smythers, the managing partner of Sec-ond Gear. “Rather than pur-chasing brand new items that have been produced, shipped overseas and packaged be-fore getting to the shelves, our used items have already been through that life cycle and are usually coming from only a
few miles away.”The Asheville community
has embraced Second Gear, and the business has expanded to a second location in downtown Asheville, Smythers said.
“People appreciate the envi-ronmentally conscious angle of our store as well as our com-paratively cheaper prices on outdoor gear,” Smythers said.
The purpose of Low Impact Week and Bike Day is to en-courage students and the com-munity to be more conscious of their impact on the environ-ment, Hermann said.
“I think that now is a piv-otal point in the global climate
Photo by Marine Raynard - Contributing PhotographerDebralee Williams, left, Laura Sorensen and Cathy Holt, right, campaign for peace at the Inter-national Peace Day celebration, last Friday at Pack Square.
Low Impact Week to educate students on sustainability Camille Wick [email protected] - Staff Writer
see BIKES on page 3
Crowds joined together last Friday for Asheville’s festival in celebration of the International Day of Peace. The event put an emphasis on youth involvement and lessening the need for mili-tary funding.
The Peace Day was estab-lished by the United Nations in 1981. In 2002, Sept. 21 was de-clared the official International Day of Peace. Celebrations take place around the world, and there is an official moment of silence at noon in every time zone, along with hope for a global cease-fire.
“The intent was to make a day where people would stop and take some time to remember what peace is, and for people here in the states, it’s a time to get together and enjoy peace,” said Jonah Bolt, the event co-ordinator for International Day of Peace in Asheville. “It’s definitely important now because of the wars that are go-ing on, and to remind people that peace is possible.”
Various speakers and per-formers served as entertainment for the peace day. Speakers in-cluded Steve Norris, a peace and justice studies professor at Warren Wilson College, Amy
Cantrell of Beloved House and Jim Barton of the Western North Carolina UN Association.
The event featured many musical performances, includ-ing St. Margaret Mary’s Youth Hispanic Folk Choir, adding to the importance the event coor-dinators placed on youth aware-ness.
“We hope to get the youth more involved,” Bolt said. “We hope that some of the youth comes out and sees what the rally is about and get involved and help us out to spread aware-ness.”
Those involved in the event urged the youth to get more involved now, so change can come more quickly in the fu-ture.
“You can maybe achieve change much more quickly than we were able to,” said Rachael Bliss, an assisting event coor-dinator for Asheville’s Inter-national Day of Peace.
Bliss said youth are now much more able to promote peace throughout the world with the use of social media and networking. Many instances throughout the Middle East in recent years serve as examples of this sort of social networking activism.
Sheldon Schenck [email protected] - Staff Writer
see PEACE on page 3
9.26.12 NEWS9.26.12 3
International Day of PeacePhoto Corner:
BIKEScontinued from page 2
crisis, and it is apparent that many people do not care about the environment,” Hermann said. “If this overall attitude continues, there is no doubt that there will be serious con-sequences.”
Environmental conscious-ness in the Asheville com-munity is prevalent, but being eco-friendly is more of a trend for some people who claim to be conscious but are not in practice, Hermann said.
“I would like my career to relate to environmental is-sues in one way or another,” Hermann said. “I think that spreading the importance of sustainability is the first step to counteracting the climate crisis, and I would certainly like to do my part.”
“The youth around the world are more connected now than ever before, giving us a greater opportunity to affect change,” said Catherine Kanwisher, a junior environmental studies and economics student. “Our generation in particular is living in a more globalized world and it’s important to celebrate those connections. We are the future leaders of the world and will be making decisions that influence the global community.”
Various organizations spon-sored Friday’s worldwide event to help ensure global peace for the future. Asheville Peacetown and Veterans for Peace, Physi-cians for Social Responsibility in Western North Carolina, The Green Party, NC Peace Action Network, Asheville Friends
Meeting and the Mountain Area Interfaith Forum were among Asheville’s event sponsors.
In addition to youth aware-ness, the sponsors and coordi-nators of Asheville’s Interna-tional Day of Peace celebration said they wanted to ensure peace for progressive econom-ic reasons as well.
“So much money goes to our defense department and it leaves very little for other im-portant things like education and health care,” Bliss said. “All these things have to fight for the rest of the budget.”
Bliss emphasized how much more we would be able to ac-complish as a nation if our de-fense department was not con-suming such a large portion of our federal budget.
“We feel that if there was peace in the world we would save so much money,” Bliss said. “We could wipe out hun-
ger, and we could have a great health care program.”
Event participants also said if the world were more peaceful, the resources being placed in defense could be used in other important areas.
“Our vision is that these (weapons) factories, could be turned into solar panel facto-ries wind turban factories or could be used for research on fighting cancer,” Bliss said. “I think it starts with our country. Our budget is the biggest in the whole world.”
Those who attended the In-ternational Day of Peace in downtown Asheville said they were pleased with the turnout and the awareness they were able to spread.
“It’s important to celebrate how far we’ve come while re-minding us that there is still work needed to be done to maintain and promote peace,”
Kanwisher said. The day also served as a
cease-fire around the world. The goal is for every warring nation to observe and respect at least one day for shots not to be fired.
“The main goal on that par-ticular day is to have a com-plete cease fire around the globe,” Bliss said. “You might say we’re starting out small, but there should be no guns fired on that day. This helps a lot of war torn countries, be-cause if people observed this, then they could do the things they are afraid to get out of their homes to do on any other given day.”
Celebrations happened all throughout the world. In Asheville in particular, the event served to promote peace within individuals, in the com-munity and then hopefully globally, according to Bolt.
PEACE continued from page 2
Photo by Marine Raynard - Contributing PhotographerThe Miguelez family, Lindsey and Adrian, and their children Lindsey, 4, and Luis, 6, make signs at the International Day of Peace celebration (above).
Photo by Marine Raynard - Contributing PhotographerLuis Miguelez displays his sign at the International Day of Peace celebration last week.
Photo by Marine Raynard - Contributing PhotographerHattie Esselstyn, 5, celebrates her birthday at the International Peace Day celebration.
4 9.26.12ARTS AND FEATURES
UNC Asheville’s drama department begins performances on Thurs-day of their latest endeavor, a theatrical adaptation of Lois Lowry’s novel, “The Giver.”
The cast is comprised of students from the drama department and other departments. The title role is played by Rob Storrs, a retired UNCA drama professor. It is directed by assistant professor of dra-ma, Lise Kloeppel.
Kloeppel chose “The Giver” because it is a story many students will recognize from their younger days, and it can appeal to young audiences. Next Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 700 middle and high school students will descend upon the UNCA campus to witness matinee performances.
“I love doing shows for young audiences,” Kloeppel said. “But the reality is that they are very honest.”
Kloeppel believes the message of “The Giver” resounds well today, perhaps even better than it did when the original book was published in 1993.
“I feel it’s become very acceptable now in our society to take pills for almost anything,” Kloeppel said.
While the dystopian future presented in “The Giver” is still far-removed from 2012 Asheville, there is a connection to modern ten-
dencies to want to suppress pain and promote conformity.“It’s been intense,” Kloeppel said. “Even though it’s a young adult
novel and we’re performing it for young audiences, it’s really mature material.”
One aspect of the show Kloeppel hints should be exciting are the scenes where the Giver instills Jonas, the protagonist, with memories of the past. Instead of relying on only light and sound as the script calls for, Kloeppel added a more theatrical element to visually por-tray the abstract nature of these interactions.
“It’s actually been quite complicated for our department,” Kloeppel said. “There’s a lot of light and sound. I did a big musical a couple years ago and we have just as many light and sound cues for this 70 minute show as we did for a two and a half hour musical.”
There will be evening performances from Thursday through Satur-day, with curtain at 7:30 p.m., as well as 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets for students are $5 and are available an hour before cur-tains.
“It’s a really powerful story, and I think people are really going to enjoy it,” Kloeppel said. “It sort of speaks to the child in all of us,” she said, before adding with a laugh, “and also it’s short.”
For more information and for online tickets, visit www.drama.unca.edu/theatre-unca.
Nathan [email protected] - Contributing Writer
Theatre UNCA brings special effects to Carol Belk Stage
The Giver
Photo by Ricky Emmons - Asst. Photography EditorFreshman Italo Medelius plays protagonist Jonas in UNCA’s “The Giver.” The play opens on Sept. 27.
What set The xx apart on their 2009 debut “xx” was not their youth, their minimalist-pop stylings or the underlying sexual ten-sion imbued in each atmospheric guitar riff and drum machine beat — it was all of those aspects, combined to create a certain indefinable quality that, according to music criticism database Metacritic, resulted in universal acclaim. The then-teenage Lon-doners Oliver Sim, Romy Madley-Croft and Jamie “XX” Smith struck gold. By the time they released a statement in December 2011 saying they would release a follow-up, the prospect seemed daunting at best.
The singular presence of their first album — and the almost-insurmountable standard it set for the band — is apparent on their sophomore record, “Coexist,” released Sept. 10.
The tension between the overwhelming success of their first LP and the desire to create something new is apparent from the opening riffs on “Angels,” the first track and single. Aesthetically, it could only be The xx, but rather than the dark instrumen-tal “Intro” on their first record, “Angels” sets the tone of the album — less sexual, more romantic.
Madley-Croft, the female half of the
main vocalists, repeats the phrase, “Be-ing as in love with you as I am,” over the echo-y guitars and bass, distilled down to the word “love” being repeated throughout and ending the song. This track offers the perfect preview to the more grown-up feel of the album.
By the second track, “Chained,” the add-ed maturity is even more apparent—male vocalist Sim’s voice is noticeably deeper than on “xx.” Considering both Madley-Croft and Sim were in their late teens when they recorded their first album, the change seems almost laughable. But Sim’s deep-ening baritone reflects more than just his crossover into the band’s early 20’s—it denotes their relationship maturity, that they perhaps know a bit more about love or are looking for different sorts of romance than they were on their last LP. The same sense of longing and insecurity that existed throughout the first record is heard here as well, perfectly echoed in their signature harmony toward the end of the track.
After the first two tracks, which also operate as the first two singles, the depar-tures begin. Here the growth and experi-
mentation becomes more pronounced, be it with the steel drum sounds that create a beach-y feel on “Reunion,” or the dance beats on “Sunset” and “Swept Away.” The songs are more up-tempo, and seem more optimistic as well. The darkest track on the album, “Missing,” counters the low mood with organ riffs, and a deliberately loud half-shout of the refrain, “My heart is beat-ing in a different way.” Although the most diverse track on the record, with the inclu-sion of piano and even a string section, this song manages to sound the most like The xx as their moody guitars remind
you it is indeed the band that stormed on the indie scene with the single “Basic Space” in 2009.
The cheesiness of the closer “Our Song,” containing the line, “I will give you me, and we’ll be us,” is both part and parcel of the older, more-polished sound The xx created on “Coexist.” The saccharine feeling of the track is a culmination of the sweetness ex-hibited throughout the album. Whether it is due to aging, evolving as musicians or becoming less insecure, one thing is sure — “Coexist” is The xx all grown up.
Local Events
Thursday
Women in IslamDiscussion Panel
7 p.m.Free
Humanities Lecture Hall
Toro Y Moiwith The Choir Quit and The Can’t Kids
9 p.m.$16 advance/$18 at door
The Orange Peel
The GiverThurs-Sun
$10 public/$5 students7:30 p.m. Thurs-Sat
2 p.m. SunCarol Belk Theatre
Saturday
Asheville Treetops Ad-venture ParkOpening Day$49 for adults828-225-2921
MondayAndrew Bird
9 p.m.$28 advance/$30 at door
The Orange Peel
ARTS AND FEATURES9.26.12 5
Jacksonville-based band The Fritz has been blending funk, jazz, and electronic to create a hybrid genre all their own. On Saturday, they will bring this blend to the Asheville Music Hall.
The unique style they have established was present from the beginning, according to lead guitarist and vocal-ist Jamie Hendrickson. “We were all going to school at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville for jazz and clas-sical music, and we just started playing music together without knowing what it was supposed to sound like, but we knew it was fun. From my end of it, I grew up going to hippie fes-tivals and stuff like that, and I was always into a jazz style of playing, so that’s what I brought into the band.”
The band’s move to Asheville in 2009 was key to the band’s
progression in several different ways.
“We decided to move up to Asheville about three and a half years ago, because the moun-tains are beautiful and we’re from Jacksonville, so this is the country to us. Plus, being up here around Moog and getting hooked up with that equipment was important too, because I like electronic music a lot too, and it doesn’t get any better than the Moog sound. So we just started doing that about a year ago and it’sbecoming the direction we want to go in,” Hendrickson says.
This direction is reflected on their sophomore album. The lead single from this album will debut at the show at the music hall. The band will release this single in conjunction with the show, as well as give it out for free to those who attend.
In response to whether this album was easier or harder to make than their first album,
Hendrickson said the sopho-more slump many bands face did not affect them.
“It was easier in some ways, because we just didn’t think about it as much. We wanted to make sure each song stood out on its own, but was still the-matically linked. We didn’t feel as pressured as we did with the first album because we knew more about the process, and we were traveling a lot at the time and it was kind of a whirlwind. So we basically went to this studio in Florida, played and left, and it ended up working out really well,” Hendrickson said.
Their unique hybrid of styles seems to be more easily heard than described, according to Travis Gamelin from Tampa, Fla.
“I thought it sounded like it could be pretentious when first described, but when I heard it, it seemed like they could ac-tually pull it off really well,”
Gamelin said.Ryan Untalan, employee at
west Asheville’s Harvest Re-cords had a similar reaction.
“I don’t really like jam bands that much, but the electronic aspect definitely makes it more appealing to me,” Untalan said. “I think this kind of band fits well in Asheville, too, because the local music scene is so in-terested in either electronic or jam styles these days.”
The local scene has been very supportive of The Fritz, accord-ing to Hendrickson.
“The community up here is great, and one of the reasons we really wanted to come up here. As soon as we were up here, for instance, Yo Momma’s Big Fat Booty Band helped us out and we’ve been friends with those guysever since. Asheville is just great. All the local music and art is so cool to be a part of, and we’re really excited to get to do the single release party here,” Hendrickson said.
“Whether it is due to aging, evolving as musicians or be-coming less insecure – ‘Coexist’ is The xx all grown up.”
The Fritz releases new single at Asheville showJonathan [email protected] - Staff Writer
Noor [email protected] - Staff Writer
The xx new album shows maturity with “Coexist”
UNC Asheville men’s soccer added another shut out loss to their record last weekend, but know their weaknesses and plan to make improvements for upcoming conference games, team members said.
“There’s a learning curve in soccer,” captain Bobby Castro said. “It just takes experience to be able to adjust to the speed and physical aspects of the game.”
The High Point University Panthers de-feated the Bulldogs 3-0 on Saturday night. They scored the first goal off of a corner kick in the second minute, taking momen-tum of the game from the start.
“They (High Point) had ball possession the majority of the game,” senior David Parra said. “They are a very direct team and went straight for the goal without
many passes, and their forwards were fast enough to do it.”
UNCA was outshot 23-1. Goalkeeper Dan Jackson had four saves and accred-ited the atmosphere at Panther field as a factor to the loss.
“Their home crowd created a lot of havoc,” Jackson said. “We aren’t used to it and weren’t comfortable from the be-ginning.”
Head Coach Matt Kern expects similar paced games for the duration of the season and plans to focus on different defensive strategies to deal with such speed.
“We need to defend collectively,” Kern said. “We’re going to work on playing de-fense in a more compact zone and avoid-ing individual match-ups.”
The Bulldogs play their third confer-ence match at home on Saturday against Winthrop.
Tyler [email protected] - Asst. Sports Editor
Men’s soccer continues to struggle on offense
Photo by Ricky Emmons - Asst. Photogrophy Editor
6 SPORTS 9.26.12
THE BLUE BANNER9.26.12 7
UNC Asheville’s women’s swimming team hosted an exhibition against Mars Hill last Saturday for the first time since 1976.
“I was pleasantly surprised with our success in the exhibition,” Head Coach Elizabeth Lykins said.
UNCA won five out of the 10 events, Lykins said.“The young ladies were a little nervous, but it was a
great experience for them because this was their first competition,” Lykins said. “I was most excited with what they did with only four to five weeks of work.”
Freshman Alessandra Troncoso won both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke.
“I was nervous on the day of the exhibition because I didn’t know what to expect as it was my first col-lege meet,” Troncoso said. “I let my body take control
when I raced and really had a great time cheering on my teammates.”
Troncoso said the swim team is already close despite it being a young team.
“We spend so much time with one another, whether it be in the pool, in the weight room, eating in the din-ing hall or just hanging out,” Troncoso said. “We con-stantly encourage each other, which is also a vital part of teamwork.”
Freshman Galen Broido finished first in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley.
“I was absolutely terrified but extremely excited to race at my first college meet,” Broido said. “I couldn’t be happier to be a Bulldog and a part of the swim team here.”
Broido said that the team has created a strong bond and their confidence will continue to build after this exhibition, Broido said.
“I’m very happy with the outcome, and I think this meet gave all of us a lot of confidence about meets down the road,” Broido said.
In addition to Broido and Galen’s events, the Bull-dogs finished the medley relay, the first event of the exhibition, a full 10 seconds ahead of Mars Hill.
Lykins said the team needs to work on a few aspects before their next meet.
“They did a great job swimming, but they need to learn how to race better,” Lykins said. “Whether racing individually or in a medley, racing strategy is what we need to work on.”
Troncoso said the amount of people in the stands at the exhibition was unexpected.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the crowd’s turn-out,” Troncoso said. “It’s exciting to know that people are becoming more familiar with the swim program here and are showing their support for our team.”
Photo by Emily Foely - Staff PhotographerUNCA swim team prepares for the 200 free relay as The Bulldogs hosted an exhibition against Mars Hill.
Women’s swim team wins half of events in debut exhibitionEmily Honeycutt [email protected] - Staff Writer
SPORTS8 9.26.12
Stephen Case [email protected] - Staff Writer
The UNC Asheville women’s soccer team returned home 0-2 in conference play after shutout losses on the road to Longwood and Liberty.
The Bulldogs suffered their first Big South Confer-ence loss to Longwood University on Thursday night.
“Tonight was a tale of two teams,” Head Coach Mi-chelle Demko said after the loss. “We were poor in the first half with regard to our commitment in the attack and defending our 18-yard box.”
Longwood scored four goals in the first 21 minutes of the game and never looked back as they cruised to a 4-0 win. Kelsey Pardue recorded two goals and two assists to lead the Lancers to victory.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Eckert led UNCA with three shots on goal, while the Bulldogs were outshot for the game, 10-9.
The Bulldogs have 11 freshmen playing significant minutes each game. This gives hope for the future of the program, according to senior team member Mary Beale.
“We have a lot of young blood on this team,” Beale
said. “We really need to work on speed of play and the knowledge of the game, which comes with age. We are asking our freshmen to grow up faster than they should, but that just happens when you have a young team.”
Even with all of this young blood, players and coach-es say they see the tenacity and heart these girls exhibit each and every game.
Demko said it was really good to watch the girls fight and insert themselves on their opponents. They did a much better job initiating the attack from their outside defenders, as well as create chances in the final third, Demko said.
This was Longwood’s first ever Big South Confer-ence win, as this is their first year in the conference.
The Bulldogs remained on the road to travel to Lib-erty University for their second conference game of the season. The Lady Flames defeated UNCA 2-0 in a game riddled with good defense, according to Demko.
“Today’s result was disappointing, as we played a very good game for 90 minutes,” Demko said. “We created some good opportunities but were unable to capitalize on them. I am proud of how we came out and sustained a high level for 90 minutes.”
Liberty got an early goal from Lauren Stell in minute
15 of the game to give the home team a 1-0 advantage. UNCA kept themselves in the game through the goal-keeping of sophomore Heather Muller, who recorded eight saves for the game.
The game was put away late by the feet of Geena Swentik, as she scored the second goal of the game in minute 77. UNCA was outshot 21-9 for the game.
“I think the thing the team can take away from this weekend is that we must give it our all for the full 90 minutes,” sophomore Amanda Dailor said. “From the first whistle to the last, we cannot let down.”
After an 0-2 conference start, Demko knows there are things her team needs to improve on as the season progresses.
“We need to continue to work on playing wide,” Demko said. “When we play wide, we are able to solve our opponents’ pressure and give us time and space to play. We also need to continue to be better in the final third of the field.”
With a record of 2-8, the Bulldogs come home this week to continue conference play at Greenwood Field. UNCA hosts VMI Thursday at 3 p.m. and then wel-comes defending conference champion Radford on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Lady Bulldogs suffer pair of conference shutouts on the roadPhoto by Marine Raynard - Contributing Photographer
Junior Erin Ryan defends against Appalachian State earlier ths month at Greenwood Field.
The hits just keep on coming. UNC Chapel Hill has come under fire during the last few years
due to a string of public controversies. In the hurricane of bad press the school is receiving, who is the real victim? Is it the school fighting negative attention from the press or the student denied a proper education?
Since 2010, UNC Chapel Hill has faced intense scrutiny after allegations of football players receiving improper advantages, and even bribery, prompted an investigation by the National Col-legiate Athletic Association. In May, internal reports claimed between 2007 and 2011, more than 50 courses of-fered by the university’s department of African and Afro-American studies showed little to no evidence of teaching to classes filled with student athletes.
In August, a transcript bearing Julius Peppers’ name, a 1998-2001 Tar Heel football and basketball player, first ap-peared on North Carolina State Univer-
sity message boards. According to the published document, Peppers entered UNC Chapel Hill, one of the tough-est schools in the country, with a grade point average well below the current standard for collegiate athlete eligibility, later graduating with a GPA still below the current eligibility standard. Also according to the transcript, Peppers’ very slight GPA increase came during the spring and summer of 2001, due to a “B+” received in Black Nationalism and an “A” taken in the summer of 2001 in an African and Afro-American Studies Seminar.
Peppers has since confirmed the now-viral transcript is, in fact, his. Peppers maintains his credibility, arguing he earned every grade, good or bad, printed on his transcript. Also adding to the uni-versity’s growing controversies, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp announced last week he will relinquish his position at the university at the end of the academic year.
Chapel Hill is not the only school caught up in a sea of academic contro-versy. Universities around the country have found themselves, at one time or another, amid scandal and controversy.
Just this summer, Harvard University found itself in the middle of the largest cheating scandal ever discovered in the university’s history.
College is incredibly difficult. A university education can be challenging for even the most studious and dedicated students. In an age of increasing job competition, a college education has become almost mandatory in order to guarantee individual success. Unfortu-nately, the societal mandate for a college education has caused some unforeseen backlash. The “education” part of col-lege has been lost and since replaced with college “hoop jumping.”
It’s not about the d stination, it’s the journey. This mantra perfectly reso-nates with college. The lessons learned throughout higher education, the time spent at the institution and what is learned during the time spent is now taken for granted. The importance is now found in the destination, gradua-tion, rather than the journey.
Instead of focusing on the information received throughout college, students today seem focused on simply get-
The Inconvincibles may sound like a new name for superheroes, but according to Senator Mitt Romney,
they are the laziest bunch in America.In a recent video released by Mother
Jones magazine, in May 2011, Sena-tor Romney attended a $50,000 plate fundraiser where he spoke to wealthy Americans about the annoying poor Americans and their dependency on the government.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it – that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them.
And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are the people who pay no income tax. My job is to not worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives,” Romney said.
Forty-seven percent of Americans are not only so poor they cannot pay income taxes due to their level of income but they are also lazy, incompetent and demand the government take care of nonelderly Americans who make under $20,000 a year, or the 10.3 percent of Americans who are the elderly of our nation.
Romney is going after your grand-mother who could not pay her taxes last year.
It is ironic to see Romney go after those who are not making more than $20,000 and even more confusing that he called these Americans the laziest bunch in the country when his own fa-ther, George Romney, was on welfare.
Buzzfeed.com released a video of Romney’s mother, Lenore Romney, talking about their economic struggles in America.
“He (George) was a refugee from Mexico. He was on relief-welfare for the first years of his life. But this great country gave him opportunities.” This video dates back to 1962 when George Romney was running for governor in Michigan.
Same Republican Party, but complete-ly different approach.
So according to Romney’s statement, even his own family would not be vot-ing for him since they were once the definition of the 47 percent.
What makes Romney completely invalid is how ignorant and fabricated his idea of the 47 percent of Americans really is.
The statistics might back up his fact on how many Americans do not pay federal income taxes, but saying they
see ATHLETICS on page 10
99.26.12 CAMPUS VOICE
see ROMNEY on page 10
Romney disregards nearly half of AmericaAmarra [email protected] -Campus Voice Editor
Heidi [email protected] Staff Writer
College athletes given advantages in classroom Unequal opportunity given to students Sheriff
takes cues from Arapio
Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arapio now has a
friend in the Alamance County Sher-iff’s Department as racial profiling becomes the new fad to end illegal immigration.
Sheriff Terry Johnson of Alamance County was accused by the Depart-ment of Justice of encouraging racial profiling, making false arrests and traffic stops, as well as calling Spanish-speaking people “taco eat-ers.” According to a two-year report by the DOJ, Johnson and his depu-ties violated the constitutional rights of many legal Hispanic and Spanish-speaking residents by stopping and arresting those who had broken no law.
Just like Arizona, Alamance County deputies are allegedly racially profiling anyone who looks Hispanic. Alamance County, a mere hour outside of Raleigh, is only home to 125,000 residents, but has a growing Hispanic population, ac-cording to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the Census, the number of Hispanics in Alamance County has increased in the last 10 years. Overall, North Carolina ranks 11th in Hispanic population.
According to the 11-page report is-sued Sept. 18 by the Justice Depart-ment, Johnson and his deputies target Hispanics between four and 10 times more than non-Hispanic drivers. Some were pulled over for minor traffic violations, while others who are not Hispanic were pulled over for the same offense, but only faced a minor citation.
Sheriff Johnson participated in a press conference on Sept. 18 in Graham, arguing his office has never discriminated against any “Spanish- speaking persons” and the Obama administration was to blame, in the same way that a young child who
[email protected] Asst. Campus Voice Editor
see SHERIFF on page 10
are lazy and expect the government to make their living is an insult to the American dream.
Romney’s blow to lower-class citizens not only hurt his reputation as a future leader of the nation, but successfully dismissed him as someone who understands the struggle.
Americans are struggling to get back on their feet after the economy plunged.
Families that were considered middle-class and who were doing well for them-selves now fall under the 47 percent category.
“Last May, my dad spoke at a press con-ference to protect unemployment benefits. I
feel anybody would be hard pressed to find someone who’s on unemployed and wants to stay on unemployment,” said Gloria Tate, senior at UNC Asheville.
“Everybody wants that American dream, and unemployment benefits don’t promise that,” Tate said.
It is rare that someone who is not em-ployed expects the government to take care of them. Part of America is fending for yourself, to become someone on your own without the need of anyone else.
If Romney wants to talk about lazy Americans, he should start with those who do pay the federal income tax. Ask them who are the ones maintaining their house-holds, taking care of their kids and running their errands. Let him answer who is more lethargic.
spilled juice on the couch might blame his sister or dog for the mess. After interviewing more than 125 people, the report found Sheriff Johnson’s anti-Hispanic pattern was only becoming more frequent.
Johnson allegedly motivated his staff to use racially inappropriate epithets and was quoted in a 2007 local news-paper article saying, “Their (Latinos) values are a lot different their morals than what we have here.” He also said, “In Mexico, there’s nothing wrong with having sex with a 12- or 13-year-old girl.” Clearly, Sheriff Johnson is ill in-formed surrounding the number of rape and molestation cases involving adults and children in the United States, or the news reports about teachers having
relationships with their students, even better, preachers having relations with young boys.
Of course a spokesman for the Ala-mance Sheriff later backtracked and said the comments were actually made in the context of cracking down on underage prostitution, the Associated Press reported.
Recently, the situation became rather complex because of an agreement be-tween federal immigration and customs enforcement authorities and the county sheriff’s office. The agreement gives deputies more power to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for possible deportation back to their country of origin. After the Justice Department’s findings, ICE decided to end the agree-ment, but clearly the Alamance Sheriff is still holding on to the relationship.
However, according to a July 2012 traffic stop and citation report published
on the Almance County Sheriff’s web-site, 39 Hispanic male and female driv-ers received traffic citations, while 114 white male and female drivers received citations. On average in June, drivers who were both white and non-Hispanic received more traffic citations than those of Hispanic descent. However, there is no information on the website as to how severe the traffic violations were between races or sexes.
Whether or not Hispanics are receiv-ing fewer traffic citations than others does not seem to be the main issue to the DOJ. The federal government seems to have a clear and assertive decision that the Alamance Sheriff’s Department is in violation of others’ constitutional rights. In a CNN report on the alleged issue, many posted comments after the online article held the sheriff’s depart-ment had every right to pull someone over based on assumption someone
could or could not be illegal. Com-menter “Tsimbi” wrote “4justice - The Constitution is in place for American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
The main issue within this case is the ongoing harassment of Hispanic-U.S. citizens and Hispanics in the country legally with green cards or other docu-ments.
While Sheriff Johnson may feel what his department is doing is within the law, assuming anyone within the His-panic race is illegal will only destroy the trust and communication between the Latino community and the Ala-mance Sheriff’s Department.
President Obama said in a Univi-sion interview that one of his biggest mistakes in his first term of presidency was the failure to implement immigra-tion reform. What really needs to be reformed is America’s definition of the term “American.”
ting through the classes, passing exams and eventually, walking across the stage as they make their way toward their diploma. Universities offering easy outs to struggling students, or student ath-letes, are not helping this growing mentality.
Colleges offer higher educa-tion and preparation for students’ futures in order to give them the tools needed to help develop strong and stable careers. How prepared for difficulty will a col-lege student be if they are given answers to assignments, or offered easier classes in order to main-tain athletic eligibility? A more severe danger is placed on student athletes who are denied a proper college education.
A very small portion of col-lege athletes go on to play sports professionally after college. For the lucky few who do move on to play professional sports, they will play for a very short amount of time, a few years maybe, and then what? What are we saying to the basketball or football star who is handed a university diploma instead of working toward the accomplishment just as any other non-athletic student would?
These acts say the athlete is only valued as an athlete. It says an athletic-student’s needs are different and greater than non-student athletes’ needs. It says student athletes need more help and less work. It says student ath-
letes do not need to find value in a college education, but value in how well they play ball and how much time they have on the field.
College athletics certainly have their advantages. Team sports unify students, bring them togeth-er in fun and school spirit and cre-ate lasting bonds and friendships. College sports also bring in a ton of money for schools. Because of the major financial value found in college athletics, student athletes spend a massive amount of time perfecting their skills, and often, their grades suffer for it.
In the case of Julius Peppers, he should never have been eligible to play ball for UNC Chapel Hill from the start. If a student athlete’s GPA is not strong enough for admittance into a university, he or she should not receive spe-cial privileges, regardless of how talented he or she may be.
Students must prove to their institutions they are fully prepared for the demands higher education places on them. Student athletes particularly ought to be held to the same standards as every other student admitted and attending, as they often have a much busier schedule than most students to manage. Accepting students and student athletes who are unpre-pared for the challenges faced in college not only sets the student up for failure, but also shows the entire national university system that particular schools’ priorities are far from where they ought to be, properly educating students and preparing them for a challeng-ing, fulfilling career.
SHERIFFcontinued from page 9
10 9.26.12THE BLUE BANNER
ROMNEYcontinued from page 9
ATHLETICScontinued from page 9
Illustration by Erich Reinhard
8.29.12 11CAMPUS VOICE9.26.12
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The Blue Banner is UNC Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Wednesday except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is located in Karpen Hall 019.
The Blue Banner is a desig-nated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be emailed to the editor-in-chief or the appropriate section editor.
Letters should include the writer’s name, year in school, and major or other relationship to UNCA. Include a telephone number to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing.
The Blue Banner Editorial BoardKarpen Hall 019 (828) 251-6586 www.thebluebanner.net
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The Blue Banner’s View
America, it is time to fight for your right to vote.
During the last legislative cycle, states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and South Carolina required voters to show unexpired, government-issued identi-fication before voting, making it more difficult for students and minorities to cast their ballots on election day. Under the myth of widespread voter fraud, GOP lawmakers are disenfranchising millions of eligible voters in order to meet their political goals.
A study released by the civil rights group. Advancement Project estimated at least 10 million Hispanic voters could be disenfranchised by new vot-ing laws.
“Voter suppression laws and poli-cies threaten to relegate eligible Latino voters to second-class citizenship and impede their ability to participate fully in American democracy,” said the report. “Like African-Americans, Lati-
nos have experienced decreased access and correspondingly lower levels of voter registration and participation than non-Hispanic Whites.”
Other laws intentionally make it harder for college students to cast their ballots. Texas allows you to vote with a gun license, but not with a college ID. South Carolina explicitly prohibits voting with a school ID, while other states like Wisconsin allow them, but have such strict ID guidelines that no college currently meets them.
Other state legislation has all but stopped voter registration drives. Six states imposed new restrictions on voter registration this year, including California and Florida. In the Sunshine State, laws requiring drives to hand in forms to the state board of election within 48 hours, as well as heavy fines for late turn-ins, caused the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote to stop working in the state and file a
lawsuit against the restrictions.The mostly GOP-led supporters of
these laws claim they help stem an sup-posed national epidemic of voter fraud. However, evidence of widespread elec-tion fraud is shaky at best, and virtu-ally non-existent in many instances. In Florida, where the registration law was enacted the day after it passed under an emergency statute for “an immedi-ate danger to the public health, safety or welfare,” only 31 suspected cases of voter fraud were received by state law enforcement, and only three arrests were made.
Across the country, investigations into voter fraud yielded similar results. A 2002 to 2007 investigation by the Justice Department failed to find a single instance of voter impersonation, and many of the 86 people convicted of fraud were former felons or immi-grants unaware of their ineligibility.
However, the political motiva-
tions behind these laws are becoming increasingly clear. After the passing of the Pennsylvania ID law, state house speaker Mike Turzai listed accomplish-ments of his party, including “Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Rom-ney to win the state of Pennsylvania: Done.”
Is this really the rationale behind behind discouraging millions from exercising their Constitutional rights? A dirty political power-play to grab a few more swing states?
It’s time for the U.S. court system and the American public to realize what is at stake. These measures to stifle the electorate are unconstitu-tional, and frankly, impede upon the progress of creating well-informed and involved citizens.
We have the privilege in this nation to shape our national policy and par-ticipate in our government. It is time to fight for it.
Voter Supression laws stall democratic process State laws target minorities, impoverished voters
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