lTlu’ laity (Tar Mtd EBB 106 years of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Alumnus Leaves $28.6 Million to UNC Funds to Boost Scholarships, Restructure Advising System Bv Sophia Raff Staff Writer A UNC alumnus has donated $28.6 million to the University, the largest single gift in the school’s history, officials announced Thursday. The bequest, from the estate of David Benjamin Clayton, a member of the Class of 1949, was announced at an after noon press conference fol lowing a Board of Trustees meeting. Officials said the money would go toward Benefactor's Death Somewhat Mysterious See Page 5 funding more scholarships, restructuring the advis ing system, endowing the School of Law and build ing a freestanding black cultural center. “This is enlightened philanthropy,” BOT chairwoman Anne Cates said. “This is fulfilling a lot of needs we have been talking about for a long time." Clayton, who owned a number of H&R Block franchises, died in 1978. Before his death, he requested that the franchises be sold in 20 years LAST WORDS At 2 a.m. today, North Carolina executed convicted murderer Harvey Green. This week, the DTH conducted personal interviews with Green and family members of his victims. By Sarah Brier Staff Writer DTH: Tell me what happened at the cleaners. Green: I have no recollection of going in there to rob the cleaners. I didn’t take no weapon in there. ... I went down to the mailbox to pick up the mail ... and the next thing I know I’m trying to rob the cleaners. A customer came in and the clerk said, ‘He trying to rob me.’ Me and the man struggle and I got him off my toes and said lay down. Just get back there and Going Back to The Night of The Murders See Page 5 lay down. They lay down and I leave and he grabs me again. The next thing I know I’m beat ing him again. The weapon that I used was already there. When the thought came to rob the cleaners, I don’t know. But this wasn’t pre meditated or nothing like that. The district attorney wanted to put it JBfiKMfik. £.‘l PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID STILLSON Harvey Lee Green, who was executed this morning by lethal injection, claimed his punishment did not match his crime. and all proceeds given to the University. Provost Dick Richardson said at the press con ference the late Chancellor Michael Hooker approved the plan for allocating the money before he died of lymphatic cancer in June. “Many of these initiatives were very dear to his heart,” Richardson said. “We would have been excited to have a gift that would do any one of these things.” Student Body President Nic Heinke said the beauty of the whole gift was that all the components worked well to benefit the entire campus. “This is something that embodies to me the University community,” he said. “These projects are things that have been prior ities for so long. It’s great to see politics step aside and really look at the needs of the University.” A large portion of the money, $ 11.8 million, will create a Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund to bene fit University priorities. This year, some money from the fund will be used to build a freestanding Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center and endow the School of Law. “I think it’s important for a great university to have a great law school, and I think that way. They gave me a plea bargain for just felony murder with no pre meditation or deliberation but they still used it. So most peo ple, I heard, were looking for me to get a life sen tence or two life sen tences. When they came down with LIFE AND DEATH JJI A weektong series exploring the death penally in N.C. death, it shot the whole thing open. Now, looking back, if I had kept my mouth shut about the whole sit uation, I wouldn’t be here. It’s human nature. You want to do what’s right but you’ve also got a side saying do what’s wrong. So after a little old struggle I had with myself, I had to go on and confess for my crime which I did. I told them I was very sorry for this ‘but this is eating me up and I gotta get this off of me.’ See GREEN, Page 5 A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own. Thomas Mann Friday, September 24, 1999 Volume 107, Issue 81 We're in the Money! % If fr-Hhe University received its largest donation in campus history Thursday from the estate of late 1 ( and Benjamin Clayton. His bequest will benefit a medley of University programs 1 Skv j. ■ National Merit Scholarships. $600,000 annually to create about 400 jm scholarships from sl2 million of the endowment. fcsg|| i | ■ Undergraduate advising. $250,000 annually, from $5 million of the B endowment, to help fund sweeping changes in how undergraduates receive academic advising. i rrrfyp’ ■ Chancellor's Discretionary Fund. $590,000 annually for high priorities j jjT ' identified by late Chancellor Michael Hooker, including the completion of a jr free-standing Black Cultural Center and academic enhancements at the School of Law. These uses are supported by sll.B million of the endowment. SOURCE: NEWS SERVICES this money helps,” said Gene Nichol, dean of the law school. “It’s a tremendous gift.” Nichol said the money was part of a package that would allow the school to hire a number of new faculty members, open more scholarships to graduate students and offer a broader curriculum. “Gifts like this can make the difference in terms of providing, quite literally, the best education in the world,” he said. Money from the endowment will be used to build a freestanding BCC building. The Board of Trustees authorized a plan Thursday to build this : . S'?.. V. : ; 7 v- r y A-;'; • 4 fiy V, • ' '• -V: . . .. ' ■' ■ DTH/DAVID SANDIER Sister Joan Jurski, director of the Office of Peace and Justice of the Catholic Diocese in Raleigh, argues with G.R. Quinn, a proponent of the death penalty, in front of Central Prison in Raleigh. 'I Think Justice Should Be Carried Out' By Rudy Kleysteuber Staff Writer Editor's Note: Because The Daily Tar Heel spoke with a husband and wife, speakers in this interview are referred to on a first name basis. Margaret Barnhill is the sister of the late John Michael Edmondson, and Bruce and Judy Bland are the parents of Sheila Marlene Bland. Edmondson and Bland were killed by Harvey Lee Green in December 1983. DTH: Maybe you could just tell me a little bit about your daughter. Bruce Bland: We had two children, and of course at the time of her death she was 17 and our son was 13.... So one of the bigger losses I guess you would say, is our son losing her at 13 - made him grow up, become an adult much faster than he should have. Judy Bland: Of course you know she was a senior that year, and she had got ten this job (working at the dry cleaners) $9 million center, with $6 million coming from the Clayton endowment. Richardson said the building, which will house classrooms, an art gallery, a library and performance space, will be “a tremen dous resource of which the entire state can be proud.” The BCC, founded in 1989, has been pushing for its own building for eight years. “The Sonja Haynes Black Cultural Center is a good, strong, academic-oriented program,” interim Chancellor See BEQUEST, Page 4 because she was trying to earn money to go to college next fa 11.... She was all set for Christmas; she was real excited. She had gone out and bought gifts, and it was the first time she had been able to buy gifts with her own money. She just couldn’t wait ’till Christmas got here. Bruce. Of course, we got to deliver her Christmas gifts for her. See VICTIMS, Page 5 News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245 Business/Advertising 962-1163 Chapel Hill, North Carolina © 1999 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Wait Ends: BCC to Get Building The freestanding building will be located on South Road between Coker Hall and the Bell Tower. By Geoff Wessel Staff Writer DTH/DANA CRAIG Eight years ago, members of the University community began an ardu ous campaign to build a freestanding black cultural center. That fight ended Thursday after noon, as University officials announced that the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center would be among the programs to benefit from a $28.6 million bequest The BCC’s $6 million share of the money will combine with its current $3.5 million coffer to finance the full construction of the freestanding build ing. The BCC is currendy located in the Student Union. The new building will be located off South Road between the Bell Tower and Coker Hall. “I think it is quite an exhilarating moment,” said Ishna Hall, a senior who* has worked at the BCC for three years. “(The funding) establishes a center that contributes not only to the intellectual climate of the University but to the state and nation as well.” David Benjamin Clayton, a 1949 UNC alumnus, established the bequest before he died in 1978. His employees were instructed to sell his franchises of H&R Block 20 years after his death and donate the proceeds to UNC. Since its founding in 1988, the BCC has sponsored a number of programs intended to focus on multicultural awareness, particularly among blacks. See BCC, Page 4 INSIDE Hey Heels, Help Out! The UNC Department of Athletics has found another way to help the victims of Hurricane Floyd in Eastern North Carolina. Football coach Carl Torbush is asking all who attend Saturday’s football game against Florida State University to bring donations of nonperishable items to gates 2 and 6 of Kenan Stadium. All proceeds will be donated to the N. C. Food Bank and passed on to flood victims. Several UNC athletes will be on hand to collect the canned food. Seminole Stampede Florida State, ranked No. I in the AP poll, visits Chapel Hill for the first time since waxing the Tar Heels 20-3 in 1997 at Kenan Stadium. Can UNC take the ’Noles by surprise in '99 or will it be blowout city? Check out the DTH’s full-page coverage. See Page 7. Here’s Your Chance Applications for the Joanna Howell Fund, which honors the memory of a DTH editorial writer who died in the 1996 Phi Gamma Delta fraternity fire, will be available at the DTH front desk in Suite 104 of the Student Union and are due by Oct. 4. The fund provides $250 for a student to write an in-depth article about an issue affecting the University community. The article will be published in the DTH in November. Today’s Weather Sunny; Low 80s. Saturday: Sunny: Low 80s.

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