Borkowski: Dollars from second year could be diverted from faculty salaries, financial aid

John T. Bennett - Associate Editor

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG) approved a request by Appalachian State University officials to increase student tuition by $300 at its annual March meeting.

Under the plan, the increase will be implemented through two $150 installments, with the first included on students' tuition bills next fall and the second installment coming during the 2002-2003 academic year.

"I am not supportive of tuition increases; I am opposed to them," said Appalachian State Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski. "I think it is a public responsibility ... to provide access to higher education at as low a price as possible."

Despite this sentiment, in a recent interview, Borkowski said an increase was needed if Appalachian is to remain on equal financial ground with institutions it competes with for top faculty members.

Borkowski said administrators plan to devote all the increase-generated funds to boosting faculty pay, but will remain open to the possibility that the monies generated from the 2003-2004 portion of the increase could be diverted to other areas, a fact confirmed by university officials earlier this week.

The chancellor said university administrators began discussing the tuition hike in September, and as the process continued through the end of the semester, it became clear the state would be facing a major budget deficit.

With North Carolina being forced to deal with a $700-million budget deficit, Borkowski said university officials may opt to divert those dollars away from faculty salaries and student financial aid if the state's financial picture is still bleak when the 2003-2004 tuition installment is implemented.

"If the (state's) financial situation is worse next year, we may need that money for other things," Borkowski said.

The administration presented the tuition increase plan to the Faculty Senate and Student Government Association (SGA) Senate in December, but did not disclose any notion of the possibility that dollars from the second year of the increase could be redirected from faculty salaries and student financial aid.

Both presentations were made shortly before university officials made public for the first time the chance that funds brought in by the tuition hike could be used for other things.

The Appalachian State University Board of Trustees (BOT) provided its stamp of approval for the proposal with little debate only minutes after Borkowski initially announced that the second year of the increase blueprint was different from the one presented to the Faculty and SGA senates.

Borkowski was quick to reject the notion that university officials intentionally lied to either campus body in an attempt to garner support for the plan because the decision to leave the funds from the second year open for possible reallocation was made in the time span between the pair of presentations and the December BOT meeting.

"My commitment was for the tuition increase to go to faculty salaries (because) we are not where we should be according to the Board of Governors own analysis," Borkowski said.

"However, no one in September when (university officials) started this knew what the financial situation of the state would be."

According to Borkowski, university officials were merely waving a "cautionary flagÓ by warning that the funds from the second year of the hike could be reallocated if North Carolina's financial situation warrants such an action.

Appalachian was one of seven UNC System institutions to successfully petition the board for tuition increases at the recent March meeting. The seven universities did so after five system schools broke precedent by asking the board to boost tuition rates at their respective universities last year.

Roy Farris, a BOG member from Charlotte, voiced concern in regards to the board's campus-initiated tuition-increase policy.

Farris could not be reached for comment at press time, but was quoted in The Winston-Salem Journal as having said, "I think it's dangerous. If you look at our tuition policy, it's not reasonable and consistent."

In other business, the BOG approved a system-wide student-fee increase.

This latest hike comes just four months after the board boosted fees by 4 percent at all 16 UNC System schools in November.

In addition to the November increase, student fees at Appalachian State will climb $329.50 next fall.

Robyn Dailey - Business Affairs Beat

Appalachian State University students can stay in New York or Washington, D.C., for only $30 a night, thanks to the Appalachian House and the Appalachian Loft.

The $30 rate is open to all current Appalachian State University ID holders.

The facilities are open to guests of Appalachian students for $40 a night.

The Appalachian House in D.C., affectionately called the App House, is a four-story brownstone house on Capitol Hill.

The New York Loft is a 4,400-square-foot space on the third floor of a 13-story building in midtown Manhattan, at East 24th St. between Park and Lexington avenues.

"Both facilities have been around for about 25 years," said Jennifer K. Mecho, administrative assistant for the Instructional Technology Center, although the Loft was moved from its former location in TriBeCa to its present location.

"They are basically hostels, not hotels," she said.

Guests pay for bed space rather than room space. The Loft can house 22 people, while the App House accommodates 20.

Each facility has a living area and limited kitchen space.

Departments across the university take groups of students for various reasons.

Groups from departments such as theatre and dance, business, interdisciplinary studies, sociology, art and political science regularly go to each hostel.

"We have a lot of repeat guests," said Mecho.

Dr. Robert L. Cherry, professor of finance, banking and insurance, has taken up groups of 10-12 graduate students to the Loft every spring for the last five years.

"It's a cultural visit as well as a business visit,Ó said Cherry.

He said that the loft is a 15- to 20-minute walk to Times Square.

The business groups that he takes usually do things like visit the Federal Reserve Bank, New York Stock Exchange, various stock and trading companies, museums, Yankee games and Broadway shows.

They usually go from Wednesday until Sunday.

Other business groups that go, such as the Finance Club, are composed of undergraduate students.

"It's in anice neighborhood. It's very nicely done," said Cherry.

The business groups have also gotten tickets over the years to be part of the audience at "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Live with Regis and (Kelly)."

"The only problem that I've seen so far is storage and where to put things," said Cherry.

His groups generally have several requirements and lots of free time.

"There's nothing that compares to New York City," he said.

Marianne Adams, associate professor of dance, also takes groups to the loft every year.

Her focus is quite different.

While in New York, the dance students are required to attend classes and performances.

"It's just such a great place for dance students," said Adams.

In a selected-topics course she conducted last summer in New York, Adams required her students to have a 9 a.m. breakfast seminar every morning to discuss what experiences they had the previous day.

Adams said this was to get together as a group as well as to discourage students from staying out late at night.

She thinks that trips to New York are important culturally and that there is a lot to learn about survival there. Sometimes the Department of Theatre and Dance will book the whole place together and go as a joint venture.

According to Adams, unlike most other groups, the theatre groups often drive to New York so that they may save money to see Broadway shows.

"I encourage students to see some of those things that they wouldn't know about," said Adams.

Adams usually opens up her trips to anyone who is interested.

"There's a self-confidence and there (are) skills that you can get from finding your way around the city and hanging out with other dancers in New York. It's just invaluable. The diversity of dance that's offered there is unparalleled," she said.

Information on the Appalachian Loft in New York and the App House in D.C. are available online at http://www.ny.appstate.edu and http://www.dc.appstate.edu.

Office of Cultural Affairs

As part of the 2000-2001 Forum Lecture Series, Appalachian State University's Office of Cultural Affairs will present a lecture by Howard Gardner, one of the nation's most respected leaders from the field of education and cognitive psychology, on Thursday, March 29 at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium, on the Appalachian campus. Gardner, whose lecture is free and open to the public, will speak on the topic: "A Multiple Intelligences Approach to Disciplinary Understanding."

Preceding his evening lecture on March 29, Gardner will lead a workshop for area educators from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m., at the Boone United Methodist Church.

The workshop, organized by the Office of Cultural Affairs, is co-sponsored by Appalachian's Public School Partnership, in conjunction with the College of Education, as well as the Watauga County School Board. To register for this free workshop, please call 262.6084, ext. 101.

Gardner is credited with having profoundly changed the way people think and work in the fields of education, the arts, cognitive psychology and medicine.

Support from NAACP, ACLU not enough to generate ample support for legislation

L. Nicole Tallent - SGA Beat

In its eighteenth business meeting, the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate narrowly defeated a resolution of support to repeal a 1998 congressional reforms made in Section 484 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965.

The federal reforms state in Section 484 that "any student who has been convicted of any offense ... involving the possession or sale of a controlled substance shall not be eligible to receive any grant, loan, or work assistance under this title."

A roll-call vote revealed a total of 22 senators in favor of the resolution, 24 senators against the resolution and two abstentions.

The SGA legislation, which is a resolution supporting the repeal of 1998 congressional reforms made in Section 484, was not passed.

Reforms made to the HEA of 1965 specifically include a provision that denies federal financial aid to students that reveal a drug conviction on their application form and have not successfully completed a specified rehabilitation process.

Initially, the HEA was created to open opportunities for higher education.

It established federal financial aid programs including Perkins Loans, Pell Grants, supplemental educational opportunity grants, PLUS loans and work-study loans. According to the U.S. Department of Education, over 7,500 students in the U.S. have lost all federal aid this semester, and more than 810,000 left the relevant drug conviction question blank on their Federal Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA).

The SGA piece of legislation concerning the HEA was originally written by senators Patrick Cash, Ryan Eller and Paul Funderburk.

After four months of preparation and research, including a randomly distributed on-campus survey, the senators presented the legislation to the Senate as well as to other members of the student body. According to survey results, 73 percent of students surveyed were in favor of reforms to the current HEA.

Additionally, the survey results showed that 97 percent of students questioned knew of people who had used drugs and 83 percent knew someone who had been convicted because of drug use.

Senators Eller, Cash and Funderburk maintain that their legislation, which resolves to support repealing reforms made to the original HEA, does not condone drug use, but merely addresses an issue which limits many people from obtaining a higher education.

When asked why Appalachian was in need of this resolution of support, Cash commented that while the 1965 HEA was originally intended to discourage drug use, "it does not do a good job of that."

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 7,000 out of nine million applicants for federal financial aid are ineligible for aid due to drug convictions.

Several campus organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Hemp Club attended the meeting.

The ACLU and the Hemp Club also sponsored contact tables in Plemmons Student Union earlier this week to accept student signatures on a petition supporting a repeal of the 1998 reforms to the HEA.

According to Dustin Bayard, a sophomore who helped coordinate the petition, 327 students gave their signatures of support. Additionally, the NAACP gave its endorsement of the resolution through "a letter of wholehearted support to SGA," said NAACP member Barron Monroe.

Despite numerous supporters of the resolution of support to repeal the reforms in Section 484, many were against passing this piece of legislation. Senators Marsha Moore and Rachel Bowling, members of the Rules Committee, were both adamantly against the non-policy bill.

According to Bowling, some clubs and organizations were not represented as equally as others were.

Fant: Graduate assistant understands, cares about minority issues

Elizabeth Frye - Multicultural Beat

One might be surprised to find a Caucasian woman working in the Office of Multicultural Student Development. In fact, a few even felt threatened when Margaret G. Rada, a student seeking a master's degree in community counseling with a concentration in expressive arts, took the position as graduate assistant in the office.

However, through her hard work and friendly personality, Rada has overcome any doubt and has built strong relationships with many multicultural students across the Appalachian State University campus.

Rada began her job as gaduate assistant in the Office of Multicultural Student Development serving 20 hours a week at the start of the Fall 2000 semester.

According to Tracey L. Wright, director of the Office of Multicultural Student Development, Rada was hired after the person originally chosen to fill the position decided not to attend Appalachian State University. Rada's name was recommended to Wright and an interview was set up.

"After talking to Margaret about her life experiences, community service, and previous work, it was clear she had the right heart and compassion for issues of diversity and multicultural life," Wright said.

Rada said, "My primary role (and the one I love the most) is developing friendships with our multicultural and underrepresented student populations. At Appalachian, these are primarily African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American and bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgendered students.

"My favorite days are those that are filled with appointments with students (and drop-in visits) when they tell me about what's going on in their lives, issues they see as important and help to define how I can best serve them through this office and my job."

Other duties of Rada include organizing programs given by the Office of Multicultural Student Development such as the Diversity Series, leading a group she helped form known as the Presidents' Round Table where heads of multicultural organizations meet together to discuss issues facing their clubs and participating on the Multicultural Center Advisory Board.

Rada said she also works with "several other committees that deal with diversity on our campus (as time and my class schedule permit)."

Rada and Wright often give presentations on diversified life to people on campus.

"As a member of the majority population, I am able to present the experiences, views and opinions of the minority students with whom I work so closely to other students who, from the outside, may look a lot more like me.

"I consider this liaison role very important and believe I am able to challenge students to consider their own fears, biases, etc. in a unique way," said Rada.

"Margaret can go some places with the majority population that I, as an African-American woman, cannot go. Having her on the team has added a different flavor to these dialogues," Wright said.

When asked how people within the multicultural community have responded to her, Rada said, "Overall, I have felt extremely well-received and supported. From the very beginning students have been friendly and warm. It was important for me for students to get to know me as a person, not as an outsider with an agenda for their lives and activities.

"Interestingly enough, some of the most negative comments, looks, etc., (that) I've gotten have been from other white heterosexuals when I'm making an announcement about B-GLAAD (Bisexuals, Gays, Lesbians, and Allies Associated for Diversity), telling a story about an African American student's experience in Boone or trying to raise a question from a different cultural perspective."

Tiffany M. Fant, president of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), said of her encounters with Rada within the Office of Multicultural Student Development, "At first it seemed a little awkward. I thought, 'How can she relate?' But she has ideas you don't have to be black to come up with. I mean, she may not have the experience of being black, but she's willing to understand and has a genuine concern for us and for our issues. She's also willing to examine and push the issue of white privilege on our campus."

"Margaret has a great personality and is very outgoing, creative and organized. She's been a great pleasure to work with," Wright said.