In Our Words... 
Are the administration's priorities in order? 

Appalachian State University received a 2.1 percent increase in tuition for next year, which is small in comparison to the $600 increase given to UNC-CH and NCSU. But they are not schools that are similar to us, as they are research institutions. 

Schools that are closer to ASU in academic makeup are ECU, UNCW and UNCC. ECU and UNCC received a $300 increase over the next year, while UNCW’s in-state students got a $235 increase and out-of-state received a $400 hike. 

Higher tuition at schools most closely related to ASU will give them a decided advantage in several aspects. ASU competes with schools such as ECU, UNCW and UNCC for students, and if these schools have more money to devote to upgrading computers, academic facilities and faculty salaries, it poses a problem for ASU. 

Appalachian must stay competitive in areas of faculty salaries or there is a distinct threat that some of our top professors could be lured away to one of these competing schools that has the capacity to better compensate them financially. Our faculty does not have proper equipment or the proper facilities that is status quo in nationally recognized institutions. 

There is one immediate way for ASU to remain in the competitive race for exceptional faculty: a student tuition increase.  A tuition hike would provide the revenue necessary to maintain the university’s national status as a quality institution. 

However, what was our administration planning to do with the money from the tuition increase? Borkowski was quoted in the Watauga Democrat yesterday as saying the money was intended for a new information commons, among other things. Not for faculty raises. 

According to Board of Governors member Jim Phillips, tuition monies are not allotted to buildings. Only money allocated from the state legislature is for campus construction. 

Is our university trying to take advantage of our state legislature? The state legislature has no more funds to give to universities for construction after the flooding in eastern North Carolina. 

More importantly, is our university taking advantage of us, their students, by manipulating this situation? If we give more money to Appalachian State University, can we be sure that it is going to be used properly? 

How bad do we need faculty? 

How bad do we need an information commons? 

Should we have to ask that?  
  

Erased History or Embraced History 
Tiffany Fant 

I am currently taking three histories: Art history, World Civilization and African-American history. Between these three classes I have finally learned the true essence of history just being His-story. 

Over the past three weeks I have learned information that has really made me know that I have been miseducated and I am still continuing to be mis-educated. Many will argue that history is based upon facts and that I can agree with. But, what most people fail to realize is that history is only the story that people want to tell. I emphasize want because what we need to hear will probably rock too many peoples’ worlds. 

When I was in primary school I learned that my people were slaves and then we were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. After that came the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King, Jr. and his rival Malcolm X. The period between now and the Civil Rights Movement is a blur. That was pretty much how black history went. It was not until high school that I began to learn that my people were the original inhabitants of the earth and other knowledge that I picked up on my own. 

Now that I am in college, it is pretty much the same story. I learn in World Civilization that the world consists mainly of Europe and the United States. All else pales in comparison to these two topics, therefore not worthy of more coverage. When stories like these are taught I learn that over time some history becomes eraced. 

You may be wondering why I did not use spell check on the word eraced. I did not use it because the history that has been erased has been based on race therefore, eraced. The first example I have of eraced history is about our great landmark, the Statue of Liberty. According to the official history of the statue, it says “that the monument was proposed by French historian Edouard de Laboulaye in 1865 to commemorate the friendship between France and the United States born during the Revolutionary War.” However, some other sources felt “the statue was intended as a monument to the abolition of slavery in the United States and that the original model was a black woman.”  

Rebecca Joseph, a park service anthropologist, is currently investigating the situation because there is some merit to the argument. The original model of the Statue of Liberty has a broken shackle around her arm, but the one in the harbor only has shackles around her feet. I find it amazing how people can alternate the meaning of history to suit their beliefs. The statue was given in 1865, slavery was ended in 1865, the model was probably a black woman and she has shackles on her feet. Hmmm! Symbolism? 

Another example is about one of our great presidents Warren G. Harding. Many people ask today, can a black man ever be president? Well, the answer to that question is yes, and he has already served his term. Harding’s father George Tryon Harding was a “colored” and his mother Phoebe Dickerson was white, making Warren Harding half-black and half-white. This information is never disclosed in the history books. The only thing that is said is about all of the scandals while he was in  office and his questionable death. If the fact that he was half-black were known maybe his death would not be so questionable. 

History is not the factual information that people make it out to be. lt is only an interpretation that tells a story. The story leaves out some of the most important factors to complete the story. Also, the story that is told forces those that are left out to fight for classes such as African-American history, Asian history and other histories just so the real story can be told. 
  

Smoking is Disgusting so Please Stop It 
Caitlyn Payne 

Have you ever tried to get into your dorm and had to walk through a haze of smoke to get there? How often do you step on or try to walk around cigarette butts as you enter your dorm?   

This is, unfortunately, an everyday phenomenon for me. I don’t always have to walk through a smoke haze to enter my dorm (although there have been occasions when I couldn’t see much on the way in), but every single solitary time I enter my dorm, I do so walking over a carpet of cigarette butts.  

The fact that I even have to see the refuse from someone smoking disgusts me, but to have to walk over it all the time gets really old, really fast. I don’t know about you, but walking out of my hall and walking over the remains of someone’s nicotine kick is not my idea of a pleasant way to start my day.  

I don’t know if it’s as bad in other areas of campus or not, but outside my hall, the litter from cigarettes is really bad. Coltrane is the dorm to walk into if you want to walk over cigarettes and breathe in smoke, believe me.  

If it is necessary for you to have a cigarette before entering your dorm, fine. But please be considerate of other people by smoking in an area that is away from the door. Also, there is a trash can near the door to the dorm. It doesn’t take much to grind out your cigarette and throw it in the trash!  

If it is difficult to place cigarette butts in the trash, then maybe the residence hall should have one day a week where they have to pick up all the trash their smoking habits have left behind. Being forced to pick up after someone else’s nasty habit would be enough for me to want to put pressure on those creating the litter to clean up their act.  

Now, granted, having cigarette disposals outside the residence halls won’t get rid of all the trash around the halls. But maybe if people who smoke have to clean up after themselves, then other people will take notice and start cleaning up after themselves as well. Then maybe our campus would start looking better. In my experience, a clean environment improves the quality of life for those who have to live in the environment.  

So next time you decide to smoke, be considerate of others. Don’t smoke in an area where everyone has to breathe in the smoke. And when you finish your cigarette,  please throw the butt away properly! Then maybe I will be able to walk into my dorm over a dirt carpet instead of one of cigarettes left by nicotine addicts, and I’ll be able to breathe after entering my hall.  
 

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