Our Perspective......

Plan to handle university growth must be considered

You may have had a longer wait in the lunch line or noticed the prominent enter/exit signs posted on the doors of Whitener Hall. Maybe you have had more difficulty getting parking than last year or are one of the students what were moved to Holiday Inn at the start of the semester. To explain these phenomena, we believe Appalachian State University is growing too big in a campus that cannot support it.

On a campus designed for approximately 12,500 students to learn comfortably, the levee is beginning to bulge. Preliminary reports from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning say the total number of enrolled on-campus students this semester is brimming near 12,500. This year we also welcomed 2,600 freshmen, the largest class Appalachian has ever seen.

If we continue at the same growth rate for on-campus enrollment (1.24 percent, the average growth from Fall Semester 1996 to Fall Semester 2000), our campus will balloon to nearly 13,000 students in 2003. Our freshman class will climb past 3,000 at a growth rate of 6.59 percent (averaged from Fall 1996 to Fall 2000) on a campus that has had a shortage of dormitory space for an average of 81 residents during the past four years.

The numbers quoted above are conservative, since the projected 30 percent growth in class size of high school graduates over the next few years was not used for calculation. As Appalachian becomes more popular, we need to find an appropriate plan to handle it. While Appalachian swells consistently and steadily, the window of opportunity for prudent planning is closing quickly.

Three ways to make millions without Regis Philbin

Ian Hutchinson

Where do I begin? Do I start with the dramatic conclusion to "Survivor?" Do I start with Al and Tipper's big TV kiss? Or should I just start with Eminem's world of contradictions?

I guess I'll start from least pathetic to most pathetic. "Survivor," which is the worst reality show I've seen since the last five seasons of "The Real World," ended its first (and hopefully, last) season this week.

I have to tell you, this show was riveting! "Riveting" in the sense that you would have to rivet my arms and legs to a chair to make me watch that steaming pile of intellectual manure.

If watching people eat rats is your idea of a good time, then you would also probably enjoy getting drunk and playing "Hot Potato" with a hand grenade. I can proudly admit that I found better things to do than watch "Survivor." Sadly, thanks to the folks on TV and the Internet, I still remained informed of the events of the show, whether I wanted to be or not.

Oh well, good riddance to bad rubbish. Now, on to the Gores. I'm no expert on romance, but I have done theatre and I know a stage kiss when I see one. I grant you that the Gores are married and it is probably normal for them to kiss that way.

However, playing tonsil hockey on live television while millions are watching isn't a normal situation. I could buy it if an athlete just won Olympic gold and their significant other ran out to engage in some PDA with them.

However, winning a gold medal is an achievement, getting the Democratic nomination is a formality. We all knew it was "Gore for President" since Super Tuesday, so nobody should be surprised.

The kiss was fake and looked forced, and all it did was boost him in the polls. If you believed the kiss was real, I'm here to tell you you've won a trip to Scotland courtesy of the Easter Bunny.

Now, will the real Slim Shady please shut up? I find it difficult to believe a guy who wonders why people are mad at him after he says a million hateful things. I didn't buy John Rocker's "play dumb" routine, so I'm not going to let Eminem's "play aloof" routine work on me, either.

I find it hypocritical that Eminem can't bring himself to say "nigger" yet can readily say "bitch" and "fag" on a frequent basis with no remorse. In a recent Rolling Stone article, Eminem said the infamous racial slur, "is not even in my vocabulary... I do black music, so out of respect, why would I put that word in my vocabulary?"

Now, the last time I checked, any slur, whether it is directed at gender or race, is still a slur. It doesn't matter what kind of music you do, hate is hate in any form. I don't care if Eminem saying what he says to joke, not everyone lives in his world.

All people deserve respect, not just your musical audience. But who am I to judge? I didn't make a million dollars by being a jerk and prancing around naked on an island. I didn't boost my polls and get millions in donations by kissing my wife on TV.

I didn't make millions by putting out hateful music, either. Maybe I'm just jealous or maybe I think the world can do better. I'm sure CBS could have filled that timeslot with something more positive than "Survivor."

I'm hoping that one day, politicians won't rely on polls for approval. I know there is positive rap music being made today, I just wish more people would buy it. It may not get people millions, but it might help the world a bit. But nonetheless, there you have it, three ways to make millions without Regis, all of which are pathetic.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, let's give a nice round of applause for social responsibility!

COMMENTARY

Pageant reflects societyâs chauvinistic slant

Last Saturday night marked the 18th annual Miss Teen USA Pageant. I did not plan to watch it, but realized it was on in the moments of cable before my VCR movie kicked in. Suddenly, there were lots of girls, wearing few clothes, dancing and smiling across my television screen. Miss Teen USA has an online logo that reads "Redefined for Today."

I watched the pageant last night, and I didn't see anything redefined. As a matter of fact, I saw the show blatantly display the same old chauvinistic attitudes. I don't know what America thought they were watching, but even I was shocked atthe images and insinuations.

For several hours, 50 girls (I say girls because they were all 18 years old or younger) pranced across the great stage of public television selling their homemade beauty and sponsor's products. It was Tommy Jeans, Nina Footwear, bikini.com, Caboodle's, and Clairol mixed in between the mention of their names. It was all smiles, legs and advertising. Is this title, Miss Teen USA, supposed to be an award? For what?

The Miss Universe Organization web site stated that "titleholders personify the combination of beauty and intelligence that defines the beginning of the 21st century." Beauty is a relative term, one that cannot and should not be defined by a panel of judges.

By having this competition, a standard is being created. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls in America are made to feel that they need to recreate that same look. To the screaming delight of the audience, bikini.com exemplified their best examples of beauty. The swimsuit competition: underage girls walking around in bikinis that leave very little to the imagination.

It looks and sounds like legal pornography. After a beauty competition like that, the intelligence round should be intense. To make this equal, I would expect them to be given the SAT onstage, have a history bowl, or in some way test their knowledge. Instead, they ask the girls big, general questions, to which they provide big, general answers.

They prove they have a brain and can hold a conversation. Understand that I uphold one's right to freedom of speech. There is nothing wrong with a girl participating in this pageant, if she chooses to do so. The problem is in the lie. This pageant is held under the pretense that people are watching them compete and be awarded for their beauty and intelligence.

This pageant is about sponsors and money, with beautiful girls as part of the advertisement. Who are they kidding? This contest is of beauty alone. People, this is the millennium! We do not need to give girls growing up in America today any more reasons to feel less than human.

Every magazine you read, every movie you see, every time you turn on the television, they are selling you sex and a life that doesn't exist. Buy the shampoo that gives you an orgasm, get this bra that will save your life.

In every way, girls and women are told their only goal should be physical attractiveness. Reading Glamour or Teen, you would think that women spend ninety-five percent of their time buying products that will (you guessed it) make them beautiful.

So what about the other side to this, the male equivalent? There is no Mister Teen USA pageant. The closest thing to it would be basketball courts and football stadiums in high schools across America. Meanwhile, girls are supposed to stand around and look pretty. The competition for that is Miss Teen USA.