• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2013-08-19_Vol78_No18_A04

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to the Sylva, mene and Cullowhee unity for welcom- i us like an old friend. ately, The Western Carolinian has part- nered with an increas- ing number of Jackson inty community members. In the past fw months, we have established a Citizen Spotlight series and a food review column because of how gracious the towns have received us. They make time for us in their hectic lives to-answer our never- ending questions and go above and beyond to make sure we have plenty of information for our articles. Also, businesses in the town of Sylva, as well as shops located on West- ern'Carolina Universi- tys main campus, have requested that they be able to share The West- ern Carolinian with their patrons, like Jack the Dipper ice cream parlor and Xpressions Hair Studio. Because we run The Western Carolinian not just as a registered student organization but also as a business, we are overjoyed to see more community members become involved with our'distribution. As Murat Yazan, as- a - Our Take Thank you! sistant director of WCUs | Writing and Learning Commons, said, Western Carolina can seem like a gated community, but we have many exciting activities and breaking news stories occurring on campus that affect the people of Sylva, Cullowhee and Dills- boro. To have their input | : reaction toward Chancel- - lor David O. Belcher from : alumni and students is a _ bit too harsh. with interviews, Letters to the Editor and places to distribute the pub- lished paper allows us to expand our news cover- age and provide student staff members with more opportunities to shine and learn about other aspects journalism. We hope to continue this expansion and give coverage to events, busi- nesses and citizens in these towns. If you know someone who has made an outstanding effort or has a unique story to tell, nominate them for the Citizen Spotlight se- ries. Eat at an excellent dish unlike any other at a restaurant? Tell us to review them for our col- umn. Want to distribute The Western Carolinian, a free newspaper, at your business? Do not hesitate to contact us. For all of these issues as well as Letters to the Editor and other story ideas, please email Editor-in-Chief Lex Menz at Imenz@ westerncarolinian.com. Again, thank you! Lex Menz, Editor-in-Chief 109-D Old Student Union Cullowhee, North Carolina 28723 828-227-2694 Justin Caudell, Journalism Adviser jcaudell@westerncarolinian.com Dr. Brent Kinser, Faculty Adviser Tyler Auffhammer, News Editor Ryan Michaud, Sports Editor Kaitlyn Connelly, Copy Editor Allison Adkins, Staff Writer Brandy Carl, Staff Writer Katie Marshall, Staff Writer Sandra Nikula, Staff Writer Jamie North, Staff Writer Laura Odom, Staff Writer Ceillie Simkiss, Staff Writer/Photographer Chris Ward, Photographer Colby Murphy, Designer Megan Burrell, Distributer The Western Carolinian P.0. Box 66 RESESSRERG RES PEceeeeaeuteee. PLETE AER VL ESS Cullowhee, North Carolina 28723 Imenz@westerncarolinian.com www.westerncarolinian.com Lex Menz Editor-in-Chief As Ive been following - and writing articles on _ the program prioritiza- : tion recommendation list for nearly the entire . summer, I have noticed : several themes from this _ whole process. First, I can safely say _ Inever want to see the . words program or pri- ' oritization again. Secondly, I believe the Dont get me wrong. : | wholeheartedly agree _ that cutting 10 pro- | grams was not only a : shock but unfair. Aside : from the high number : of cuts, some of the : lost programs, like ' womens studies, were : acontroversial move : on Belchers part. For ' the past several weeks, ' [have read the multiple : comments found on : The Western Carolin- : jans Facebook page as : students and alumni ral- : lied in outrage over the : loss of several education : programs, a foreign lan- | guage program and the - only gender studies of- : fered at Western Caroli- : na University. I support ' most of these comments : as well. Alumni should : stand up for their alma : mater and feel free to : express their concern, Don't beat up Belcher praise or disapproval of where the University is heading. They are the ones who send checks, cheer for various athlet- ic teams and encourage future college students to check out WCU. Their voices are just as impor- tant as current students, faculty and staff, if not more so because they can look back and reflect on what Western Carolina was when they were students. While interviewing the various program leaders before the announced cuts, they all stood firmly in the belief that their program would be saved for any number of valid reasons. In fact, I had never heard such passion in an interview from pre- vious years. Their quotes speak of the caliber of employees that Western Carolina has brought to its doorstep. Who wants to take a class witha professor who wont fight for the subject he or she is teaching? However, the bottom line was that the numbers didnt add up. Now, before we all storm over to the H. F. Robinson Administration Building with torches, scythes and pitchforks to demand justice, take a moment to consider this! While Belcher called the shots, his hands were tied. All of the blame should not fall in the Chancellors lap when it is partly the fault of todays students. Belcher stressed repeatedly in his final re- port that Western Caroli- na needed to focus on en- rollment rates, and when looking at the programs, he saw very little interest in the 10 he cut. With the states budget the way it is, Belcher can only pull so many rabbits out of a hat, so he made the tough choices for the betterment of the University. Isnt it better to cut programs that receive little student interest than registered student organizations or funding for groups that help students like the Counseling Center? To make up for the states lack of support for educa- tion, the University needs to focus on the enrollment and retention rates that Belcher discussed. This means that programs with low numbers dont have a leg to stand on. This brings up the question: why arent students interested in seeking masters degrees in education? Why is womens studies ignored by our society? I highly doubt its because WCU is offering less than superb programs in these areas, so it brings to light extremely compli- cated questions of todays society and how students perceive education. Could tuition rates across the nation be too high for them to even consider Quotable A decision to discontinue a progra does not imply a lack of value for the discipline. It is, rather a statement about current program reality. . . Chancellor David Belcher on recently cut programs continuing their educa- . - tion? Suddenly, teachers ' are facing the harsh truth that masters de- grees hold little merit for - them. Do students believe that womens studies and foreign languages like : German arent worth their time? The issue ex- - tends much further and deeper than the assump- tion that Belcher doesnt: care about education pro- grams or disregarding ~ WCUs original identity as a teachers school. - While the news of the | - lost programs is hard to swallow, I would like to take a stand for Belchers sake. So far, he has proven himself to not only be astrong and : worthy chancellor, but ~ he also connects with the - students on a personal level by interacting with them on a regular basis - in many types of settings. He must have lost sleep over this decision, but his: reasoning is sound and backed up by the finan- * cial strain of the states - - budget cuts. If you want to rally and pick a fight, I sug- gest a strongly worded letter campaign to our state representatives and local government so - that Belcher never has to make decisions like this again. Personally, I'd much rather writea headline reading, Chan- ' cellor approves 10 new programs at WCU. Letter to the Editor _ Better Back it Up | As an alumni of West- ern Carolina University, I was a little shocked to see all the proposed program cuts. Now, dont get me wrong, I trust the com- mittee that decided on the cuts and the criteria they used to make such a hard decision. With that being said, I think the program leaders and the University as a whole need to take more responsibility for whats happening with the cuts. As a former student, I want a university that will work with me and. for me. When looking at the criteria for deciding on these program cuts, I think it would make more sense to give every program the grace period to bring the pro- grams numbers up. When I think of Western Carolina, I think of mountains, music and education, which is weird for me to say because Im not a musically inclined person. However, in my four years at WCU, music was the end all be all of the University for many people. How can we call the band Pride of the Mountains if we cut back the music ed. program? I know that not all band members are music degree seek- ers, however, some still are. Its their passion, so they pursue it. Im not saying that changes dont need to be made, but I believe the Uni- versity needs to havea top down approach not a bottom up one. This is simple logic. Over the course of my time at WCU, I saw ev- ery year an increase in the freshman class size, to the point that there wasnt enough housing. This pleads the question for the top tier of the University: if our pro- grams are struggling so much, why do you con- tinue to bring in more and more people every year? Your programs and degrees should have higher standards, of course. If you really want to see numbers in programs improve, you weed-out the students who dont want to be at WCU. The programs could have higher GPA standards, which means that only the students who truly want to be there will seek the degree and maintain the require- ments. I know for a fact that I would have worked harder in my programs if a simple 2.0 wasnt all that was re- quired. Many universi- ties across the country do this. No, getting into the university shouldnt be tremendously hard. However, there has to bea cap to how many students you accept. In- creasing the freshman class size every year or ry semester doesnt mean you're achieving a higher standard. It means youre biting off more than you can chew. Take the bachelors in German, for example. I bring this up, because I know its one of the cut programs. I took German when I was at WCU. I know people that wanted to go above and beyond the require- ments for their degree because of a good experi- ence. We live in a world where knowing another language is immensely important. So, I had friends who got bache- lors in German because they either loved the language and culture, or they wanted to improve their marketability once they graduated. While I was a student, the university offered a bachelors in French. So many students signed up for this degree that there was a waiting list, and they were no longer accepting degree seek- ers for the foreseeable future. Now, I ask, what do students do who want to make them- selves more marketable by becoming fluent in another language? They cant go take German anymore. Youre not leaving students with much of an option. WCU.doesnt have the luxury, as asmall university, to start alienating people that want to go there for a specific program like music education. Thats LETTERS POLICY We welcome letters from our readers. We urge brevity, both for the sake of effectiveness and the demands of space; a letters should be no longer than 500 words. All letters are subject to the same editing for clarity applied to our staff contributions. We will not publish anonymous letters; letters praising or criticizing professors by name; letters mak-: } why I say the seiner o within the University : and within the programs needs to be higher. Make the students who choose those degrees be. * motivated, true degree seekers. Those are the ones you wantin your - programs anyway, right? Dont keep the require- ments lax so anyone can | skate by for four years. . I believe noncommittal > students performances . - are skewing thenum- - bers that the task force - so strongly focused on. Furthermore, if you increase the GPA re- quirement, you might have to make the re- quirements for the * universitys admissions - a little higher. If youre - going to play like a big school university, where * you say, Sorry we dont - have that program, take - it or leave it, youhave - to back it up. From what - I can tell in what I have read, the line between programs that are do- ing well, programs that need some work and cut programs is a very fine one. So, if youre going to * make a take it or leave it statement without giving all programs a chance to improve with . new standards, you bet- : ter back it up. ; Tapologize to the pro- gramsI didnt mention as examples. You areall just as important. Cory McDowell, class of 2012 ing personal attacks or personally hurtful statements, endorsements of or letters from political candidates; or copies: ui of letters to other publications. Because we want to provide access to a variety of viewpoints, each letter writer will: : be limited to one letter every four weeks. All letters should be signed, and writers should enclose their addresses and_ |: daytime phone numbers. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published but will be used to verify letters. We reserve the right not to print any letter.

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)
  • Text
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2013-08-19
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 12
• 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_2013-08-19_Vol78_No18
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library