ASU's success means inevitable expansion

John t. Bennett

Recently I had the good fortune to sit in on a discussion between several students who were engaging in a groupthink about problems facing Appalachian State University.

The assemblage covered everything from parking (or lack thereof) to class sizes.

As the discussion wore on, one young lady raised concerns about the size of the Appalachian State student body.

According to the university, the current enrollment is almost 12,500. If the powers-that-be in Raleigh have their way, Appalachian State will be forced to increase its enrollment to 17,500 in the next decade.

The men and women who make up the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors (BOG), as well as UNC-System President Molly Broad are steadfast in their proposal that 5,000 additional students be added to the rolls.

High-ranking university officials have stated publicly time and again their disapproval of the mandate from Raleigh.

Unfortunately, the student from the aforementioned groupthink, as well as university officials may be fighting a losing battle Ñ despite their good intentions.

As students, we tend to experience tunnel vision when we think of Appalachian, viewing it only as an educational institution. The bigger picture reveals the Boone campus to be more than a mere school.

Appalachian State University is a powerful business in Western North Carolina. In the world of business, one thing is certain: as a business becomes successful it will grow.

Be it a small-town insurance company that comes to dominate the region due to the hard work of an ambitious entrepreneur, or a mid-size airline that swells into one of the nationÕs major carriers over time, any business that achieves a healthy dose of success will inevitably grow.

This is definitely true of Appalachian State, and as a business, the university has no choice but to expand.

The students from the groupthink session, as well as university administrators are quick to caution that any additional growth will cause Appalachian to loose its long-held identity as a top-notch institute of higher learning tucked into an ultra-scenic mountain environment.

It is certainly difficult to argue with this notion. As student enrollment increases, so do the need for more parking spaces, wider highways, and new residence halls.

This means as enrollment increases, so will the number of trees cut down in the Boone area.

University officials find themselves in a perplexing situation. Supporting the enrollment increase proposal of UNC-System officials will only generate the need to cut down more trees, clear off more land, and destroy more forests, thus eliminating a cornerstone of the Appalachian State identity.

But fighting the mandate would create tension between Appalachian and system officials. In the always-competitive UNC System, administrators who find themselves in a feud with the BOG or system president will be doing substantial harm to their respective university.

A wise man once told me that one must pick his or her battles, opting to fight only those that are winnable.

By petitioning system leaders who seem to have already decided that Appalachian's enrollment must climb to 17,500, university officials would be fighting a loosing battle by potentially inviting future backlash from UNC-System officials.

They are charged with the task of seeing to it that Appalachian is a successful university and business. Given the recent success of Appalachian State, it seems inevitable that the university will soon become a victim of its success as a business.

Our Perspective ...

ASU needs more campus-initiated social events

The 3rd Annual Winter Wonderland Gala was an evening in which students, faculty and members of the Boone community convened to dine, dance and have a good time.

The event originated with the intention of celebrating Appalachian State University's 100th anniversary in 1999. After a successful inaugural year, the Winter Wonderland Gala is quickly becoming a tradition, providing an opportunity for all of Boone to enjoy a night on the town.

As an everyman event, Winter Wonderland gives an opportunity for students, professors, faculty and administrators to rub elbows in a more relaxed atmosphere than schooldays and workweeks. This benefits people such as faculty and staff, in addition to Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski and Vice Chancellor of Student Development Gregory S. Blimling, both of whom make themselves visible on campus, but may not get to socialize in a relaxed situation as often as they would like. Not only that, but it is rare occasion that you can cut up the rug alongside the chancellor of a university or that professor you thought was far from hip.

The unfortunate consequence associated with the Gala is that it happens only once every year. Being that everyone has a good time brings the downside that attendees of the Gala have to wait until the spring semester. With the exception of performances and concerts from the department of Theatre and the department of Music (and occasionally APPS), the university has no events that incorporate the community. It may be that two events of its kind could not work in a year, but it could have more positive effects than expected.

People get involved in events like this, and since Appalachian comprises a substantial portion of Boone population, regular social functions for everyone are crucial. Many residents of the town work for the university or are associated with it through their own work, which means they will know about the event and get involved. This year, even the restaurants in town held a buy-one-get-the-second-meal-half-price for advanced ticket sales, spurning more of the community of Boone step out for the evening. With participation like this from businesses, future galas will only get larger and more popular.

It may not be feasible to have two galas in a year, but we can definitely have more social gatherings like it to let a town and university come together under the name of fun.

Choose the right attitude to counter the bad-week witch

Kara Hodge

We all have bad days. Heck, we all have bad weeks, even months. Life doesnÕt always go as planned and no matter how hard we try to avoid them, mistakes and mishaps happen.

A lot of, well, crap, happened to me last week. Let me vent a little to you.

Last weekend I was at Hawksnest snowboarding with friends. As we left, my new jacket and my car keys fell out of the car as we got in.

A few days later as I was driving on Hodge's Gap Road, my car hit a patch of ice, did a 180 and the next thing I know my SUV was in a ditch. I also had the typical college-student week of forgetting a homework assignment, sleeping through a class and having the weekly roommate argument over who left the dirty dishes in the sink.

I know that there are a few of you who have had a week like mine. Maybe youÕre having it this week.

We all get stuck with the too-little-time-but-too-much-to-do syndrome. If it isn't one thing it's another. Like they say, when it rains, it pours. I freaked out when I found out that all my keys were gone and that I would have to leave my car in a parking lot close to four days till I got a copy made.

I got angry knowing that I was going to have to spend close to $200 on new tires because I accidentally hit ice one morning.

I was a jerk with my roommates about their mess and a crybaby about that awesome coat that's probably under a snowdrift up at Hawksnest.

The worst part about all of it is that I let all those ridiculous situations ruin my attitude last week.

Hard as it may seem to believe, attitude is a choice. Attitude is not dictated by some external cosmic force that causes us to be out of control. Attitude is decided by the individual, every moment of every day.

And I didn't choose the right attitude that week.

I'm not saying that because I reacted the way I did, you should learn from my mistakes and do better. I'm saying that you have control over your attitude, despite your circumstances, good or bad.

I understand that anger, sadness, even a little bitterness is healthy and vital to life. But to allow those emotions (that are due to those uncontrollable circumstances) to ruin your week is unnecessary.

There is a message behind all this mayhem that happens to us. It just took getting all my keys remade, buying two new tires and spending a few sleepless nights to catch up to help me realize what that message was.

Life is sometimes unfair.

My point is that bad things happen all the time, even to those of us who really don't deserve it. And how we react to those situations is the part of our lives that really count and make a difference in the end.

I hope I react better next time the bad-week witch comes to visit.