The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Vol. 86 No. 30
ASG supports Ross’s tuition recommendation by HANK SHELL News Editor
The Association of Student Governments (ASG) voted last weekend to support UNC President Thomas Ross’s 2012-13 tuition increase recommendation: an average, system-wide tuition and fees increase of 8.8 percent for instate undergraduates. ASG President Atul Bhula sent the UNC Board of Governers a letter detailing ASG’s support Tuesday morning. The student body presidents of all 17 UNC System institutions
signed the letter, which said the plan offers “the flexibility needed to best serve the University’s individual campuses and their varying needs.” Ross’s recommendation also included a proposal for an average 4.2 percent increase in tuition and fees for 2013-14. ASG felt Ross’s recommendation was a reasonable compromise between the need for affordable education and the need to maintain adequate funding, Bhula said. “Other groups generally say, ‘No, I don’t want this. No, I don’t want that,’ but don’t necessarily give a
rationale or an alternative solution as to why,” Bhula said. “We believe that President Ross has done that and has tried to stay under that four-year plan as much as possible for the next two years.” The four-year plan Bhula referenced is a guideline set by the Board of Governers, which seeks to cap both tuition and fee increases at 6.5 percent. The ASG letter said Ross’s recommendation preserved three main priorities: affordability, accessibility and quality of education. Under Ross’s recommendation, Appalachian’s current proposed
tuition and fees increase of 9.3 percent would not change. The recommendation also proposed a 3.1 percent increase in tuition for 2013-14. “It is a North Carolina law to provide education at an affordable rate and President Thom Ross’s plan allows North Carolina families and students the opportunity to not only receive that affordable education without the massive and sudden increases in tuition, but it also grants them the ability to plan for college long-term,” Student Body President Lauren Estes said. Estes said Ross’s recommendation
keeps both students and families in mind. “He understands that stability for the overall cost of higher education is a plan that will allow families to plan financially for the growing cost of higher education,” she said. The Board of Governors will consider Ross’s recommendation at its Feb. 10 meeting, during which it will decide on tuition rises for each institution in the system. Until then, Bhula said he and other members of ASG will continue to voice student concerns to individual members of the board.
‘Forbes’ names Boone No. 4 fastest-growing American small town by MEGHAN FRICK Associate Editor, Editorial Content
B
oone was named one of America’s fastestgrowing small towns by Forbes Jan. 23. The university town joined a list of 14 other rapidly growing areas, including leisure locales like Heber, Utah and oil meccas like Pecos, Texas. Forbes used census data to determine which small towns are expanding most quickly, based on population growth from 2007 to 2010. For Boone, which saw a 14.7 percent increase in that time period, plenty of factors contributed to growth. The Forbes article cites retirees, the ski industry and the growth of Appalachian State University. “Boone has more students per non-student resident than most college towns, so that dictates what type of development and activities occur in the area,” said Todd Cherry, the director of Appalachian’s Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, who was quoted in the original article. “This,
combined with the relatively heavy tourism impacts, creates a unique situation for Boone.” The article also cites Boone’s 7.2 percent unemployment rate, which is below the national average. That’s largely due to the growth of area industries like health care and the expansion of the university, Professor of Economics Peter Groothuis said. “Generally, unemployment is lower in growth areas because people are moving to where the jobs are,” Groothuis said. For some, Boone’s recent growth explosion was an unexpected development. Jonathan Edwards graduated from Appalachian in December, but he lived in Boone long before that – his father has been employed by the university since before Edwards was born. Edwards said his undergraduate experience was different from what he initially expected. He didn’t quite realize how much the town had expanded until his freshman year, when he moved into Hoey Hall. “That was when I realized just how big it was and
Paul Heckert | The Appalachian
Based on data from the U.S. Census, Boone is one of the most rapidly expanding small towns in the country, according to an article in Forbes. For some Boone residents, that quick growth has come as a surprise.
how it opened up my little hometown and made it this awesome college town,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that at all.” For Edwards, the town’s growth is a welcome change. “Even with all the growth, Boone still has maintained its small-town feel, especial-
Deans of Walker, Reich colleges detail impact of recent budget cuts
ly in the downtown area,” he said. “Granted, some things have really changed. For example, I remember when Wal-Mart opened to overtake K-Mart as the place to be. But in many ways, even with the rapid growth, Boone is still Boone.” Cherry, for his part,
doesn’t believe Boone’s inclusion in the Forbes list will necessarily spur on further growth. “Population growth rates in small towns can be quite volatile and therefore changes in growth rates over a short period do not convey much information,” he said.
For Groothuis, Boone will continue to grow – but not because it was in an article. “[It’s] not so much the list, but why we are on the list,” he said. “We have great natural amenities – the Blue Ridge Parkway, state parks and mountains in general, great summer weather.”
Football team welcomes new recruits by JAKE AMBERG Sports Editor
The Mountaineer football team signed 19 recruits Wednesday – the largest recruiting class in at least the last five years. Coach Jerry Moore praised this class as possibly the best he’s ever achieved. It’s been a tumultuous offseason – one that saw six of Appalachian’s coaches leaving, four of them for rival Western Carolina. But Coach Moore was pleased with the way his staff handled the recruiting period and said the coaching turnover did little to affect Appalachian’s results. “What you have to do is evaluate your players and we had evaluated our players,”
Moore said. “We had them 1-2-3, like a pro draft, so we knew who we wanted.” The Mountaineers signed 10 defensive players and nine offensive, but another factor was more striking: the size of the linemen Appalachian State recruited. In years past, the Mountaineers have opted to sign smaller linemen, usually in the 240-pound range, and progress them through their career. This season, Coach Moore changed his strategy. “Offensive linemen was a must,” he said. “The smallest lineman we’ve recruited is 278 pounds. We didn’t compromise this year.” see Signings, page 10
RAs gain single rooms, lose pay raise Kelli Straka | The Appalachian
Pictured are (L) Randy Edwards, dean of the Walker College of Business and (R) Charles Duke, dean of the College of Education.
by KELLI STRAKA Senior News Reporter
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a threepart series exploring perspectives from the deans of Appalachian State University’s nine colleges. In December, The Appalachian spoke with the deans of three Appalachian State University colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Fine and Applied Arts and University College. The deans spoke about their efforts to rein in spending in the face of unprecedented university-wide budget cuts. Now, the deans of the Reich College of Education and the Walker College of Business have weighed in as well. Reich College of Education Dean Charles Duke said the College of Education has had to make a 30 to 40 percent cut to its operating budget. “The biggest impact for us has been two-fold: one is not to be able to fill existing faculty slots and the other is that the professional development activities for our young faculty have been severely curtailed,” Duke said. For the most part, the cuts have eliminated any opportunity to support faculty professional travel, which the college has done quite regularly in the past, Duke said. Additionally, the college scaled back its field experience office and reduced the number of visits faculty can make for observation of student teachers from five to three.
“We are not at all pleased with that,” Duke said. “We believe that the five visits are very important and that doesn’t mean to suggest that if a student needs assistance then we’re not going to help. But, as a general rule, we’re down to three visits.” Most of the remaining budget covers administrative costs like phone bills, copying and paper, Duke said. While the college has not lost any faculty positions, it has not been able to fill seven that are vacant as a result of retirement, reassignment and faculty taking other positions. “We’re adamant about providing quality instruction and to do that we need qualified people,” Duke said. “Ideally, those qualified people would be full-time faculty. That’s not to say that those people don’t do a good job, but it’s the continuity that’s a problem.” The college has found ways to temporarily fill positions so classes can be offered. It continues to seek donor assistance and stay active in grant writing. In essence, the college is doing more with less, Duke said. “I think the issue is how long this will last,” Duke said. “I think if it stretches over a number of years, there will be concerns about retaining faculty.” Walker College of Business Due to budget cuts, the College of Business has cut its operating budget approximately 35 percent - losing everything except personnel salaries, Associate Dean Heather Norris said. see Cuts, page 2
Olivia Wilkes | The Appalachian
Senior resident assistant Vonté McKenith has a "one on one" conference with a resident sophomore appropriate technology major Jacob Gentry, in Lovill Hall's lobby Sunday evening. McKenith supported the proposal regarding single rooms for RAs next year in order to have a private place to meet with residents.
by KELLI STRAKA Senior News Reporter
All Appalachian State University resident assistants (RAs) will have a private room by the fall semester of 2012, housing officials said Monday. This fall, many RAs dealt with situations that could have been mitigated by the ability to talk with residents in a private setting, said Vickie Hawkins, associate director for university housing and residence life. Living with a roommate puts limits on the amount of one-on-one conversations
RAs can have, Hawkins said. “The reaction is overwhelmingly appreciative, excited and thrilled because RAs know, too, that they’ll be able to better perform their job by more effectively assisting their residents,” she said. RA Council President Vonté McKenith wrote a supplemental four-page support piece in addition to the original proposal that was submitted. The RA Council passed the proposal in early November and McKenith sent the support piece to univer-
sity administration Nov. 17. “From there it has been a waiting game as it moved up the ladder through University Housing and Student Development,” McKenith said. McKenith, an RA of three years, said single rooms for RAs can be highly effective. “As an RA, you spend numerous hours dealing with various issues, from a resident having relationship problems to those residents seeking someone to talk to,” McKenith said. “With these encounters and more, havsee RAs, page 2