Addressing
the Issues
By Darrell Johnson
Chancellor James Moeser delivered his
first State of the University address to the
UNC Chapel Hill community on Sept. 5
focusing primarily on the future of the
University.
While Moeser's community-wide
address was the first of its kind in recent
years, the Chancellor began the annual tra
dition of giving 'state of the university
addresses' while at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Much of Moeser's speech centered on
financial issues at the University. While he
did not openly discuss the retroactive
tuition increases facing students, Moeser
promised to increase fundraising efforts
substantially at the University. Moeser said
these fundraising efforts, as well as tuition
increases over the next several years, would
be used primarily to increase enrollment
and expand faculty research efforts.
Moeser also declared that faculty
salaries at the University, a major issue for
the past few years on campus, are "unac
ceptable." He praised the research efforts of
the faculty and extensively described sever
al of the companies formed from these
efforts.
"Our research is making its way directly
to the North Carolina economy at an accel
erated pace through the creation of tax-pay-
ing, for-profit spin-off companies that are
solving local, state, and national problems
and creating new jobs," he said. "Last year
alone, technology developed in Carolina
research programs spawned a dozen new
companies."
But despite mentioning several pro
gresses made for faculty at the University,
Moeser did not mention the lack of library
resources for undergraduates caused by
campus construction. Davis Library has
private faculty studies on almost every
floor but a large portion of network connec
tions still remain unavailable for under
graduate use.
Nonetheless, Moeser did mention some
other issues presently concerning students.
The chancellor said that although UNC-CH
was one of the first universities to open to
African-Americans, there are still "toxins of
racism" present on this campus.
He mentioned the groundbreaking of
the BCC last spring and spoke highly of
Carolina's placement on statistics in the
Black Enterprise magazine. But Moeser
pledged to continue to further improve
diversity on campus.
"Diversity is a vital component of our
vision to become first among America's
public universities, and we must all recom
mit ourselves to this important challenge
every day," Moeser said.
Still, Moeser left some questions unan
swered. While gearing much of his speech
towards the University's future, Moeser
did not extensively discuss its present state.
At times, it seemed that the expansions
the chancellor promised for faculty would
overshadow concerns of students including
low tuition costs and adequate academic
resources.
Moeser made a lot of promises during
his address, let's hope he makes sure they
are fulfilled.
www.unc.edu/student/orgs/nsbe/cyberpalz/
Are you interested in being a big budcV for a liigin
school student but don't have a car or the time?
Cyberpalz is an online 'big buddy' program that only
takes up a few minutes of your time, but can make a
huge impact on a young individual. See the website
for more information.
This year's Fall Region II Conference Is hosted try the NO
A&T NSBE Chapter. Itwlll be located In Charlcitte, NO,
October 26-28. Registration costs are $75 and they
include hotel and travel. The conference will bring together
over 1000 NSBE members for a weekend of professional
development workshops, presentations, discussion forurns
and much more. The conference expands far beyond
engineering and would be beneficial to any student
regardless of race or major. The conference also includes
two NSBE parties and the Region II NSBE Step Show. For
more information seethe website below.
TaCC'Region II Conference
http ://ww.un c.ed u/stud ent/orgs/nsGTe/
October 2001
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