What We Want & What We Believe*
UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society
http://www.unca.edu/sds | uncasds@gmail.com
1. We want a university that serves the people. We want a university that responds to the needs of the students, faculty, and staff.
We believe that in light of the current economic crisis, we, as students at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, are justified in making certain demands of the administration, and that the university administration is responsible first and foremost to the students that it serves. We believe that this is at the core of what a public, liberal-arts university should always aspire to be.
2. We want transparency. We want to know exactly how the current economic crisis is going to effect our education at UNCA.
We believe that if we are to make sound decisions about the future of our education, we must be informed of all of the facts. Since the administration is responsible to us, the students, it is likewise responsible for providing us with all of the facts. This includes what departments are going to be cut, what positions are going to be cut or discontinued, what continuing positions will be taking a pay-cut. This should be submitted in writing to the students, faculty, and staff of UNCA for approval immediately.
3. We want a moratorium on layoffs and pay-cuts to non-administrative personnel.
We believe that the budget should not be balanced on the backs of poor and working people. Unfortunately it is a tendency in all too many cases to lay off unskilled, low-wage workers first. We believe that the university administration should instead assure the faculty, staff, and student body that it is committed to justice and equality, and that it intends to CHOP FROM THE TOP.
4. We want a curriculum that reflects the needs of the people.
We believe that, since the historic struggles of previous generations, public universities have provided important programs like Ethnic Studies to teach about the history of systemic oppression in this country, including racist, national oppression, and the oppression of women. As a result of such programs dangerous tendencies towards Eurocentrism in education have begun to be dismantled. Unfortunately, during times of economic hardship, it is often the case that the first departments to be cut are those that were won through the struggles of past generations, such as Women’s Studies or Africana Studies. We believe it is the responsibility of the university, as a public institution committed to diversity, to protect and safeguard these departments.
5. We want an immediate tuition-freeze.
We believe that UNCA must live up to its mission statement and be a home to “faculty, students, and staff of diverse cultural backgrounds”. As public universities move to increase tuition, we believe that it is the oppressed nationalities in this country to whom the doors of higher education are being systematically closed. UNCA currently is a school where only 4% of the student body is African American, and only 2% are “Hispanic”. We believe that this fails to represent any kind of real diversity, and we believe that any tuition hike, whether big or small, will only exacerbate the problem, further segregating the school.
6. We want the Chancellor to sign a statement of her commitment to these points before a gathering of the press.
We believe that it is an important step in any process to open a dialogue based on good faith. We believe that all that we have outlined in this statement is reasonable, and in accord with the spirit of the Mission Statement of the university.
[…] Anne Ponder to address students’ grievances against the administration. The statement, What We Want & What We Believe was presented by our delegation of students and community members on May 1, International Workers […]
First, I applaud your activism. It is far too easy for the university to forget it exists for the students.
Second, you lost the game before you ever began. You are simply out matched by Chancellor Ponder.
You will not follow up with your concerns; you will not ask hard questions; you will forget about your demands as the semester ends and the decisions are made when most of the students leave for the summer.
If you are truly interested in transparency, force the administration to answer the questions at
the end of this message. Forewarned, they will give you spin, they will ignore you,
and they will give you misleading answers. Are you up to the task or are you like the other student groups from years past who made a lot of noise but didn’t follow through?
I don’t mean to be mean, but I’ve worked at UNCA since before 1999, and students never challenge the administration.
Good luck but UNCA will look much different when you
return to classes in the fall.
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1. Where does every dime of your student fees go? Concentrate on the athletic fees and technology
fees but don’t forget the other ones.
2. How many consultants has UNCA hired over the last two years? This includes state and non-state
funds (one of the tricks they’ll use to mislead you).
3. How much did they pay for the Rhoades property and what (specific!) plans do they have for the
property in the next three years?
4. Ask to see the layoff list (it exists!) and make sure it jives with the needs of the students. This is
a top secret document so they will claim it doesn’t exist, it is not official, nothing has been approved
by general administration, etc. Be persistant.
5. Ask to see a list of the top 25 paid employees on campus and see how many impact you in the classroom.
In the case of the chancellor’s salary, be sure to demand the total cost. If they don’t include her condo, car,
utility bills, discretionary funds, and staff she has added to support her efforts then they
are not giving you the complete picture. You will be amazed.
If you really want to get them angry, get a list of all employees over the last five years and track the
salary increases and new postitions created. Again, did they improve the classroom experience for
you? By the way, the Office of Instituional Research can do this report in about an hour so don’t
let them put you off.
Apparently, the economic crisis has all ready affected your education.
The effect has been amazing.