• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2012-08-24_Vol78_No07_A02

A2 august 24, 2012 NEWS Swing state politics: By Logan Porter Staff Writer The November ballot will hold a number of im- portant elections for vot-- ers in Jackson County. The presidential elec- tion, the largest and most politically polar- izing, will be between President Barack Obama in his reelection bid and the presumed GOP: candidate former Gover- nor Mitt Romney. North Carolina residents can expect both candidates to focus their efforts on the state in an attempt for either party to pick up badly needed elec- toral votes. North Carolina is one of a few so-called swing states, meaning that polls between the Democrat and Republi- can candidates are very close, In an average of five polls conducted with North Carolina voters by Rasmussen, Citvas, Public Policy Polling, Project New America and NBC News over the past few weeks, Rom- ney leads Obama by .8 percent. This marginal amount means that the state's 15 electoral votes are essentially up for grabs. For months now, campaign tours by both candidates have made sure to take multiple stops in highly popu- lated and hotly contested N.C. counties, and North Carolinians can expect to see more of that the nearer Election Day | draws. Additionally, accord- ing to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, of the total $270 million spent on campaign ads across the United States, $31 million in ad spend- ing has been directed at North Carolina alone. Add to that an additional $10.1 million for ads aired nationally, and North Carolinians who watch television or listen to the radio are encoun- tering around 15 percent of total ads hitting the airwaves in the country. Locally, Mark Mead- ows, Republican, and Hayden Rogers, Demo- crat, face off in Novem- ber over the now vacant | congressional seat of | Heath Shuler, who an- The Western Carolinian A look at the upcoming elections in N.C. nounced earlier this year that he would not be running for another term. Now that the 11th district congressional position is available, Republicans will attempt to claim another seat in the already Republican- dominated House of Representatives while Democrats will try to retain the seat in order . to keep from losing more power in Congress. Meadows is a former business owner and real estate investor while Rogers is the former chief of staff for Con- gressman Shuler. Due to redistricting after the 2010 census, the 11th district no longer includes largely demo- cratic portions of Ashe- ville, making it a local swing district within a _ national swing state. Meadows is an oppo- nent of the Healthcare overhaul law upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. _ Obamacare is one of the most costly pieces of big government leg- islation ever rammed through the Congress, Chancellor By Tyler Auffhammer News Editor Chancellor David O. Belcher, known for his leadership initiatives while working at Mis- souri State University and University of Arkan- sas at Little Rock, has already begun to push leadership development among faculty, staff and . Students in an effort to institutionalize le ader- ship. Chancellor Belcher sat down with The Western | Carolinian to speak about the upcoming leadership initiative at Western Carolina Uni- versity. There has to be a sense of leadership, said Belcher. Its nota position, its something you do. Its a noun, but I like to think that its a verb. Skills can be learned that are important, but there are also things to be learned about pro- cesses for decision-mak- ing and to inform people about how decisions | are made, continued Belcher. Leadership de- velopment is important because it makes a good v Belcher leading the way. at Western Carolina university community. Leadership needs to be made a priority.. Belcher, always a forward-thinker, has a clear picture in his head about what WCU should look and feel like. He | has taken an active role in this future-molding by choosing the 2020 Commission, which was tasked with creating a strategic plan for WCU. This living document will give focus to the university as it enters the next decade. - The'kind of univer- sity that I want to be . apart of is one where everybody feels like a part of things and active in decision making. I think that this produces buy-in, a sense of loyalty to the institution, anda far better environment, said Belcher. Belcher, the figure- head and leader on campus, does not believe that this sense of leader- ship should be limited to himself and his fellow administrators. We have a better chance of choosing the best future if we take from everyone on cam- pus, said Belcner. ua} want people to feel a part. of the idea generating. Could I possibly make a decision on my own? I am responsible for mak- ing many decisions and I could do it on my own, but I think it makes for a better university when I pull ideas from everyone at WCU. To accomplish this ideal university vision that he has and to instill a sense of leadership in everyone on cam- ' pus, Belcher began the legwork by starting the Chancellors Leadership . Council last year. TAt WCU] we have the Executive Council, vice chancellors, Council of Deans, Faculty Senate, SGA and Staff Senate. Chancellors Leader- ship Council draws all of the leaders from those councils together, said Belcher. Belcher will admit , that last year, the Chancellors Leadership Council may have done too much talking and not taken enough action, but he knows that it was for the best. Last year we did too much talking heads, ex- plained Belcher. We did and we must repeal it immediately, said . Meadows during his campaign on his official website. He opposes abortion; supports small govern- ment and traditional marriage, and claims that the way to energy independence is by tap- ping America's natural gas reserves. Rogers claims his top priority is creating and keeping good-paying jobs in Western North Carolina on his official website. He pledges to protect Social Security and Medicare, fund high- quality education, invest in alternative energy - and infrastructure and support healthcare re- form. : Both congressional candidates support Sec- ond Amendment rights and energy indepen- . dence. Students at Western Carolina University have mixed views on the coming presidential elec- tion. Matthew Rains, a sophomore, said he is not impressed with either that to help people learn about processes of mak- ing decisions, budgets, . etc. However, out of this came a very complex but well put together budget process. We asked all of the departments to list their budget priorities, meaning, what would you spend money on first if you had x numbers of dollars. The departments debated on their priori- ties and how they would - spend money on these priorities, continued Belcher. The processes to do this hadnt been very transparent, so we had the Budget and Finance Committee go to places like Student Af- fairs and the College of Arts & Sciences to listen to their priorities. From this, the Committee _ then presented the final budget to:me in March. The budget process turned out to be a good investment, as Belcher was given a cash allow- ance to use before the end of June. To spend this one-time stipend, Belcher looked over the budget priorities that the Committee had as- sembled and from there, - presidential candidate: Obama didn't keep a lot of his promises, and Romney just isn't impressive, said Rains. Carson Dearman, another student at West- ern Carolina, said he will vote for Obama. T support him and his position. I don't think Romney did a very good | job before so I don't wantto givehimthe _ presidency, said Dear- man. However, students area bit less concerned when it comes to local politics. Many students come from all across North Carolina, meaning they may not be registered to vote in Jackson County. T'm registered to vote in Charlotte, sol. can't really comment on elections in this part of - North Carolina, Rains | ~ added. Dearman, a Jackson County resident, said he is concerned about local elections but is not as informed on them as he is with the national election. T doplan to vote, but I don't know much of. anything about Jackson County politics. I do care though, because that's where I live, but T guess not enough to actively go after the information, said Dear- man. The elections-are only a few months away, but there is still plenty of time for support or disil- lusion to grow for either party among North Carolina voters. After all, public opinion is fickle and always chang- ing. Ever since the 2008 - financial crash and the numerous bailouts that accompanied it, Ameri- . can confidence in the political system, most strikingly regarding Congress, has plummet-- ed. Both presidential | campaigns seem heavily. focused on the economic. concerns of everyday Americans, butitisup , to the voter to decide _ who would be best at getting the economy back on track. Thecandidatethat . Americans elect will be. the one that the major- ity feels stands a chance at binding together a deeply divided nation. selected the best invest- ments that he found on the priorities sheet that could be re at that time. The timing was so perfect and it firmed the process that we had ~ been working on with the departments, said Belcher. - Belcher has already put his new provost, An- gie Brenton, along with Laura Cruz, associate professor and director of the Coulter Faculty Commons, to work on - the newest leadership building experience at WCU: The Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy wont be up and running until next year, but that gives us sufficient time to properly prepare, said Belcher. Belcher attributes his love of leadership to his time in the 1997 Class of Leadership at Missouri State, where he was introduced to the issues facing the state. T learned so much about economics, healthcare and educa- tion issues. As a state school, we had a role to University play in these issues, and I believe the same goes for Western. It would be great to have something | like this on our cam- - pus, said Belcher. While Belchers lead- ership initiative may spread far and wide across the campus, it will not extend into the ~* classrooms. The development of our students is impor- tant, said Belcher. I dont want to dictate _ what happens in the classroom. Our job as ~ educators is to set people up for success the best way we can, providea great learning experi- ence, give them re- sources, trust them and let them go. If you dont provide people leader- ship opportunities, they _ won't be successful. Belcher does want to make it clear that leadership is not tied to an administrative posi- tion, but that if you give everyone opportunities to be a leader, then West- ern Carolina University will grow and develop as well. T want leaders wher- ever they are, said Belcher. WCU awarded five year, $650, 000 economic development grant By Logan Porter Staff Writer In an effort to cre- ate jobs and stimulate economic growth in an area with unemployment higher than the state - average, Western Caro- lina University has been awarded an economic development grant of _ $128,592 annually for the next five years for a total of just under $650,000. The grant, awarded through the U.S. Eco- nomic Development Agency (EDA) and the: U.S. Department of Commerce, aims to ... develop critical skill sets among students and support the regional and state economy through product development and entrepreneurship, said U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler in an article for The Ashe- ville Citizen-Times. The grant was awarded competitively, meaning that in a list of proposals.for possible grant recipients, the WCU economic develop- ment project was given priority. This signifies Western Carolinas status as a regional business leadership hub and an outlet for future economic growth ina * vital area. The bulk of the grant will be used to further the operational effective- ness of the EDA Univer- sity Center for Rapid Product Realization, located inside the Belk ' Building. The EDA University Center for Rapid Prod- uct Realization works to boost job growth for existing and emerging businesses and enter- prises throughout West- ern North Carolina. In collaboration with the Center for Entrepre- neurship and Innova- tion, headed by Zahed Subhan, an assistant professor in WCUs En- trepreneurship program, the grant money will be used to advance both product development and entrepreneurship for the benefit of the com- munity, particularly in Western North Caro- lina, said Subhan. An immense amount of research and effort is required in order for an entrepreneur to fully understand and succeed in the market he or she attempts to enter, espe- cially when introducing a new product or service. Subhan pointed out that an entrepreneur must, 4 ask him or herself what . will they sell, who their ideal customers will be, who will sell the product, how will it be promoted, financed, produced and what the terms of each of those will be. Given all that an entre- preneur has to consider when planning his or her business decisions, and the various pitfalls and mousetraps they may fall into, it is important that expert, trustwor- thy business counsel and informative market analysis be at the ready. Subhan said that to ease this process and to make Western North Carolina more entic- _ing for businesses and entrepreneurs, this sort of research and regional business perspective should be available to any and all local entre- preneurs. This grant funded initiative... enables local entrepreneurs to avail themselves of business | counsel and expertise from successful entre- preneurs that will work alongside to ensure that this degree of intro- spection, analysis and planning is achieved from early concept de- velopment all the way to - ultimate product com- mercialization, said Subhan. Interim dean for the Kimmel School of Engi- neering and Technology Dr. James Zhang said part of the grant money will be used to hire grad- uate and undergraduate students from engineer- ing, technology and busi- ness disciplines in order to provide students local jobs and carry out identi- fied projects. The new projects will be supported by using faculty/student teams ... selected based on the nature of the project, said Zhang. Ws Join Our Cause by Liking Us on Facebook at "Friends For a Better WWCU" Dr. Patrick Gardner, director for the Center for Rapid Product Real- ization at the Kimmel School, will serve as principle investigator for the grant and will lead much of the efforts of the EDA University Center. Zhang called the selec- tion process for the grant very competitive and said the university did not know of the award until the official notifica- tion went out on June 29. The Kimmel School, the Small Business and Technology Development Center and the College of Business will reap the primary benefits of the . What If... mainly played music targeted to 18-24 year-olds instead of men aged 45 to 54? eB eee percent funding. Ina press release from , July 6, Rep. Shuler (D- Waynesville) heralded the grant as an invest- ment that exemplifies . the value of public-pri- vate partnerships. Rep. Shuler went on to say that as a tool for stimulating local _ growth, the grant pro- duces a strong return on investment and we are fortunate to have this _ program right here at home. 2 - When reached for com- ment, his office stated they support the grant - application and the ini- tiative.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2012-08-24
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.50" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 20
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2012-08-24_Vol78_No07
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library