April 3, 1997

Little, Parker win close election
Current SGA President Cranford to pass gavel
Vanessa Urruela - Editor-in-Chief
Chris Kinner - News Editor

A margin of only 148 votes put Fernando Little and Jake Parker over the top as they narrowly won the Student Government Association election for president and vice-president for the 1997-98 academic year. Winning 12 of the 19 residence halls and the off-campus vote, Little and Parker pulled ahead of Mike Hagerty and Jewel Irish by receiving 1094 of the 2040 votes cast.

Hagerty and Irish won seven residence halls including Gardner Hall where they received 116 votes to 30 for Little and Parker.

Vice-president elect Parker said that he and Little plan to sit down and talk with the current administration a number of times to ensure a smooth transition.

"Fernando and I plan to work with them extensively," Parker said. "We hope to get an idea of where they were at this point last year and where they are now and be able to pick up where they leave off."

Little and Parker will officially take office May 1 when they are sworn in by the Chancellor at a transition banquet.

"It's kind of hard to believe right now, we worked so hard at it and campaigning was so intense it's hard to get my bearings," said Parker.

Parker said he and Little are currently working on assembling their cabinet. "We are taking nominations and will make final decisions by May 1," he said.

The election drew only 31 fewer voters than the run-off elections held March 19 and 20 , with a total of 1811 on-campus and 229 off-campus votes cast. Ten ballots were mismarked according to SGA election records.

Current SGA vice-president Todd Poole was satisfied with the number of students who voted."I was pleased to see the amount of people that turned out for the election, normally ASU ranks among one of the highest schools in the university system as far as voter turn-out in SGA elections," said Poole.

Parker urged students to be willing to voice their concerns and participate in the student government. "What we're doing is so much bigger than Jake Parker or Fernando Little," Parker said. "This is the student's government."

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Board of Trustees now changing faces
News Bureau

Two new members have been appointed to the Board of Trustees at Appalachian State University and two have been reappointed by the University of North Carolina system's Board of Governors.

Ben D. Quinn of Atlantic Beach and Glenn W. Wilcox Sr. of Asheville are new members, and John A. Alison IV and former U.S. Sen. James T. Broyhill, both of Winston-Salem, were reappointed. All will serve four-year terms, beginning with the trustees' September meeting.

Quinn and Wilcox replace Richard T. Howerton III of Charlotte and C. Kenneth Wilcox of Boone who both served two terms, the maximum number allowed.

Quinn, who earned a bachelor's degree at Appalachian in 1955, retired as superintendent of the New Bern/Craven County Schools in 1989 after a career in education. He is a former professor of education at East Carolina University and educational consultant with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. He also worked with school systems in Onslow and Hyde counties. He is currently a partner in Carolina School Planning and Research in Raleigh.

A native of Cherryville, Quinn earned a master's degree at East Carolina and an Ed.D. at Duke University. He is a member of the Yosef Club, Chancellor's Society and the Former Athletes Association board at Appalachian.

Wilcox, a prominent Asheville businessman, founded Wilcox Travel Agency in 1951 and Blue Ridge Printing Company in 1974. He is also chairman of the board of United Broadcasting Enterprises Inc. and Tower Associates Inc. He is a former member of the development council at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and has served as a trustee of Meredith College and Wingate College.

Wilcox was named Outstanding Volunteer Fund-Raiser in 1992 by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives.

He is a past president of the Asheville Downtown City Club.

Allison is chairman and chief executive officer of Branch Banking and Trust Co. in Winston-Salem.

Broyhill, who currently serves as board chair, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962, a post he held until he was appointed to fill the unexpired U.S. Senate seat of John East.

The Board of Governors elects four trustees for each of the 16 campuses in the UNC system and the governor appoints two every two years. The student body president also serves as a trustee, bringing the total number of trustees to 13.

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Construction at ASU progressing
Darin Glass
Staff Writer

The sounds of steel crashing and cement pouring will be with us for a little while longer as ASU plans for growth in the high country.

University officials have said there will be problems with access, construction traffic, parking and utility interruptions during the next 18 months for the university community.

Phase I of the new boiler plant should be in operation by April 15. The demolition will then start on the old plant and will be scheduled for completion by July.

Physical Plant Administrator Clyde Robbins said the money for the boiler plant came from sold revenue and borrowing.

Phase II of the boiler plant includes the construction of a new campus entrance street, the redevelopment of the baseball field as a park, a major steam line extension under Rivers Street, the reconstruction of Center Street, the closure of University Drive entrance from Blowing Rock Road and the extensive installation of new walls and lighting along University Drive.

The construction should start shortly, with most of the work being completed by December.

Another large addition to the university will be the Convocation Center. The design should be completed by April and the university should have a bid on the site after the completion of the design.

The construction should start after the preliminary development and last approximately 30 months.

The parking deck project is still in the design stage and is now predicted for a completed design in September. A 12-14 month construction cycle will start after the bidding in September.

Other construction on the campus will be renovations to Farthing Auditorium, Legends, an addition to Broyhill Music Center, Founder's Hall and demolition of the greenhouse.

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Visiting writers to speak, part of series
News Bureau

James Welch, an American Indian novelist, will speak on April 8, and performance poets Nikki Finney and Kelly Norman Ellis will visit Appalachian State University on April 10 as part of the Visiting Writers Series.

Welch's lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Linville Falls Room of the Plemmons Student Union.

Welch teaches in the University of Montana's graduate creative writing program and is best known as a novelist who chronicles aspects of contemporary American Indian life. His works include "The Indian Lawyer," "Winter in the Blood" and "Fools Crow." "Fools Crow" received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an American Book Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award.

Welch has also written a collection of poetry, "Riding the Earthboy 40," and co-wrote the PBS documentary "Last Stand at Little Big Horn." He also wrote the non-fiction book "Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Big Horn and the Fate of the Plains Indians."

Finney and Ellis will read from their works beginning at 8 p.m. in the Plemmons Student Union's MacRae/Attic Window rooms. The event is free and open to the public.

The women are founding members of The Affrilachian Poets, an ensemble of writers with strong roots in the Black South.

Finney is the author of the poetry collection "Rice." Originally from South Carolina's Low Country, she published her first book of poems titled "On Wings Made of Gauze" in 1985. Her poems have recently been anthologized in "In Search of Everywhere" and "I Hear a Symphony." Finney works and writes in Lexington, Ky., where she is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Kentucky.

Ellis is the author of the chapbook "Tougaloo Blues." Her work also appears in the Harper-Collins anthology "Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry." She is a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Kentucky, where she teaches African-American literature.

For more information, call 265-0393 or 262-2979.

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In the News...

International Festival Week

Monday kicks off Appalachian State University's International Festival Week, sponsored by the International Relations Association, Watauga County Arts Council and 90.5 The APP.

The week's events start Monday with the Junior High Model United Nations exhibit from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union, and the Polish film trilogy "Blue" at 2 p.m. in I.G. Greer Auditorium.

On Tuesday, International Contact Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Multicultural Center of Plemmons Student Union. Also in the student union will be the Steely Pan Band, performing from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Cascades Cafe. At 7 p.m., the Russian film "Burnt by the Sun" will be presented in student union room 137A.

For more information on International Festival Week or any of the events planned, contact Roland May at 262-6350.

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ROTC awarded top honor

Appalachian State University's Army ROTC unit has been selected as the most outstanding among 12 units in the Carolinas.

The award is based on the unit's annual evaluation, which includes the marketing and training programs, record-keeping and adherence to Army regulations. The units are part of the 5th Brigade, commanded by Col. Stephanie Hunter, the first and only ROTC brigade commander in the United States.

"The selection of this prestigious award is based on the highest standards of professionalism and performance," said Col. William A. Steiger III, 1st ROTC region commander.

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Hawthorne scholar to speak

John L. Idol Jr., an expert on the life and works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Wolfe, will speak at the Richard T. Barker Friends of the University Library annual meeting April 11 at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center.

Idol is a retired professor of English from Clemson University currently living in Hillsborough, where he continues to study the two authors. He is associate editor of "The Thomas Wolfe Review" and has been president of the Thomas Wolfe and Nathaniel Hawthorne societies.

The luncheon begins at noon and the meeting begins at 12:30. Cost is $10. For more information or reservations, call Belk Library at 262-2188.

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Percussion ensemble to perform

Percussion instruments and electronic tape will be combined for unusual and creative sounds during Appalachian's Percussion Ensemble concert tonight at 8 p.m. in Rosen Concert Hall.

The concert will feature contemporary works by composer Arthur Kreiger of New York City and Appalachian music faculty music member Scott Meister. The ensemble will perform Kreiger's "Caprice," a composition for percussion quartet and electronic tape, and Meister's "Perconics," also written for quartet and electronic tape.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 262-3020.

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