UNC-system happenings, Feb. 24

ASU tops list for drug arrests

Appalachian State University recently ranked 11th in on-campus drug arrests and 28th in on-campus alcohol arrests among universities nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education published last month.

Gunther Doerr, ASU chief of police, said he doesn’t disagree with the data, but he said he wants to focus on how people interpret it.

“There are a lot of different variables that go into the data — a lot of the arrests are not students, (and) not all (arrests are made by) ASU police,” Doerr said.

Doerr said not all arrests result in criminal charges, and few lead to jail time.

“The 142 arrests that were mentioned … 95 percent of those were citations for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and do not end with someone being put in jail,” he said.

He said ASU is committed to minimizing drug abuse.

UNC-G students protest tuition

Students and faculty at UNC-Greensboro are organizing to express their concerns about the affordability of higher education.

The N.C. Student Power Union at UNC-G held a walkout last Wednesday to protest rising tuition costs.

Dhruv Pathak, a UNC-G sophomore and one of the organizers of the event, said about 1,000 students and faculty members attended the protest.

Pathak said the organization is frustrated with the use of tuition funds to build a $91 million recreational facility.

“Our tuition money is being used on a lot of things that are superfluous,” Pathak said.

Activists said about $8 million in student fees have gone toward the project.

Pathak said he hopes the event will bring greater attention to the issue from administrators.

Student Power is also advocating for the UNC system to ensure a debt-free education.

WCU sees record enrollment

Enrollment at Western Carolina University has reached record numbers, said Phil Cauley, the university’s director of student recruitment.

“Our student enrollment has exceeded 10,000,” Cauley said. “We’re just looking for a slow but steady increase.”

Cauley said the university is not at full capacity because the accommodation for the student population is divided into several categories — undergraduate enrollment, graduate enrollment, on-campus students, off-campus students and distance-learning students.

Cauley said the university has experienced growth because of a number of factors, including publicizing the university’s academic programs and its marching band, the largest in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

“It’s a mixture of things,” he said. “There’s no magic bullet.”

WCU received 15,000 applications from high school students this fall, Cauley said.

ECU provost to step down

Marilyn Sheerer, provost at East Carolina University, will be stepping down in August.

After taking a retreat year, Sheerer said she intends to return to the classroom.

She has been provost since 2007. Sheerer expanded ECU’s honors program and engineering program and tried to combat the university’s reputation for partying.

“We needed to do something to increase the academic profile of the institution, which would change the image, and I think the Honors College has accomplished that,” Sheerer said in a release.

Sheerer previously served as a professor and chairwoman of the elementary and middle grades education department, and then as dean of the College of Education at ECU.

During her tenure as provost, she implemented budget cuts with several measures, including requiring faculty take on heavier course loads.