VOLUME 112, ISSUE 43
Neb. taps Milliken to lead universities
UNC-SYSTEM VICE PRESIDENT
TO BEGIN IN NEW POST AUG. 1
BY CHRIS COIETTA
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
The UNC system will lose one of
its top administrators later this
summer when J.B. Milliken, senior
vice president for university affairs,
leaves his post to take the reins of
the University of Nebraska system.
The official announcement of
Milliken’s hiring came Saturday at
a meeting of the UN Board of
BOTto
analyze
campus
projects
New renovation
options on table
BY BRIAN HUDSON
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The UNC Board of Trustees is
in the midst of discussions that
could result in drastic changes to
residence halls on South Campus.
During today’s meeting,
trustees will discuss proposals for
the renovations of high-rise build
ings such as Morrison Residence
Hall. They also will decide the fate
of the more than 40-year old
buildings.
Trustee members originally
considered a plan to demolish the
buildings, but at an April work
shop they scrapped that plan.
After learning of the domino
effect that would occur by restart
ing housing plans from scratch,
the BOT members resolved to fur
ther investigate proposals to reno
vate or replace the residence halls.
As plans now stand, the demo
lition and reconstruction of
Morrison would cost more than
$64 million.
Student Body President Matt
Calabria said Monday that the
trustees decision will hold great
consequences for the future of
South Campus.
“Our discussion on Thursday
will inevitably change the face of
South Campus, but also what is at
stake is ... millions of dollars,” he
said.
An aspect of the renovation pro
posal is to convert Morrison into a
“green” energy building.
Student Congress Speaker
Charlie Anderson, who is chair
man of student government’s
Renewable Energy Special
Projects Committee, is a propo
nent of the renovation option.
The committee has worked to
allocate $185,000 of student fees
to the installation of a large solar
power array.
BOT members will also discuss
this week the funding policy for
renovating the Campus Y building.
“The Campus Y is operating
essentially on one floor in a build
ing that’s in desperate need for
renovation,” Calabria said, explain
ing that the top two floors cannot
be used due to deterioration.
The renovation project is esti
mated to cost about $3.6 million
s2 million of which has been
raised by members of the Campus
Y.
Student and Campus Y leaders
have been working to bring the
plight of the building to adminis
trators. He said both Chancellor
James Moeser and Provost Robert
Shelton have expressed interest in
renovating the building.
Several other construction proj
ects will be considered by the BOT
during this month’s meeting.
The Buildings and Grounds
Committee met Wednesday to
approve designers for renovations
to Steele Building, Coker and
SEE BOT, PAGE 7
ONLINE
Area fifth-graders get published
David Cross, indeed, Isn't Funny
Look for more stories online
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
(Sift lathi ®ar Jfrel
Regents. It marked a homecoming
for the fourth-generation
Nebraskan, who attended UN-
Lincoln as an undergraduate and
spent time working for the system
before spending the last six years in
North Carolina.
In his speech to the regents,
Milliken expressed a desire to
return UN to the upper echelon of
American universities —a position,
F"A MMi £ ,v' jfl
MwaH il 111
* WkSird •-
m '“fig
North Carolina second
basemen Greg Mangum
hits his first home run of
the season on May 20 against
N.C. State. Mangum hit another
TA minimum wage
to see SSOO increase
BY JENN KAWKA
STAFF WRITER
Teaching assistants at UNC
are one step closer to a raise
with last week’s announcement
of the planned allocation of
$625,000 to reach the new min
imum salary set by the graduate
school.
“I’m ecstatic that it’s really
happening,” said Jen Bushman,
president of the Graduate and
Professional Student Federation.
“I never had any doubt that it
would,” she said. “The provost
always had the intention it
was always if the money was
there.”
The money, anticipated from
tuition increase revenues, allows
UNC to raise the minimum
salary of TAs from $5,000 to
$5,500 per semester, said UNC
Provost Robert Shelton.
The proposal is subject to the
approval of campus tuition
increases by the N.C. General
Assembly later this summer.
Shelton said he thinks the
proposal will be approved. “I see
no setback in tuition-based
income,” he said.
WEEKLY SUMMER ISSUE
www.daiXytaiheel.com
he said, Nebraskans deserve.
Milliken added that he wants
UN to become “the home of excel
lent teaching, research and schol
arship, and outreach, engagement
and health care that best serves the
state of Nebraska.”
In his post at the UNC system,
Milliken is responsible for federal
and state relations, special projects
and economic development on the
system’s 16 campuses and at its
headquarters in Raleigh. His work
in that position has helped guide
the system through a tumultuous
period during which the need for
SMASHING, BABY
home run Saturday in UNC’s
only win in the three game
series. After losing two-of-three
games to State, UNC dropped to
fifth in the ACC standings. The
“Itsvery nice
... that the
administration
and students
work together”
JEN BUSHMAN, GPSF PRESIDENT
In January 2003 the Teaching
Assistant Advisory Task Force
found that UNC was in the low
est quartile of TA stipends
among peer institutions. The
findings resulted in a goal to
move UNC to the top quartile in
four years.
Stephen Allred, executive
associate provost at UNC, said
the TA raises are a good move
toward reaching the goal.
“It’s a beginning, but we’re not
there yet,” he said.
UNC Student Body President
Matt Calabria said the raises are
“a step in the right direction,”
and that it is important to “make
sure TA stipends are a top prior-
SEE RAISES, PAGE 7
INSIDE
JOHNNY'D BE GOOD
As elections near, the N.C. Senator
could swing state voters. PAGE 5
Nebraska native
i.B. Milliken
has spent 6 years
with the UNC
system as senior
vice president for
university affairs.
federal and state grants to univer
sities has increased as state appro
priations have dropped.
In his new role, Milliken will
lead a university system with four
campuses and a student population
of about 45,000. By contrast, the 16
DTH/PETER STONE
Tar Heels are now in Salem, Va.,
for the ACC Tournament, which
started Wednesday. For more
coverage of the baseball team, go
to www.dailytarheel.com.
Fire lights up Franklin St.
BY CHRIS COLETTA
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
A fire broke out early
Wednesday morning inside a
building at downtown Franklin
Street, damaging businesses and
sending smoke billowing down
Chapel Hill’s main thoroughfare.
No one was hurt or injured.
The blaze on the first floor of
the 135 E. Franklin St. building,
which houses Salon 135 as well as
Indian clothing store Anjana’s and
a variety of other businesses, got
called in at about 3:30 Wednesday
morning.
It was snuffed out in less than
an hour by Chapel Hill and
Carrboro firefighters, who then
lingered to ensure that the blaze
remained in check.
“They got it knocked out pretty
quick,” said Robert Bosworth,
deputy chief of operations for the
Chapel Hill Fire Department.
Investigators had not yet
determined the fire’s cause as of
press time Wednesday.
All stores were locked and
vacant when firefighters arrived,
and there was no evidence of
arson.
Bosworth said the brunt of the
water and fire damage was
restricted to the first floor of the
INSIDE
SHREK WITH LAUGHTER
The cheeky green ogre pussyfoots
it past the sequel slump. PAGE 7
UNC-system campuses enroll
about 180,000 students.
Milliken also is recognized for
his shaping of system policies and
his work toward voter approval in
2000 of a $3.1 billion bond for
renovation, repairs and construe-
tion at UNC-system schools and
community colleges.
Brad Wilson, chairman of the
UNC-system Board of Governors,
said Milliken’s leadership in those
areas and his understanding of a
modern university are among his
best assets.
“J.B. understands the role of the
Proposed
renaming
sparks ire
Change from Airport Rd.
to MLK Rd. incites debate
BY JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
CITY EDITOR
Chapel Hill citizens of every ilk gathered Monday
at the town council meeting to express their feelings
—be it through loud proclamations, applause, stick
ers and even tears on renaming Airport Road to
Martin Luther King Road.
Chapel Hill Town Council member Edith Wiggins
proposed the change as a means to honor King and
promote his message of unity and equality, but sev
eral citizens claimed that the issue is dividing the
town as clearly as black and white.
More than 20 citizens signed up to speak, includ
ing residents and business owners of Airport Road
and members of the local chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Several people donned stickers that read, “Preserve
History Save Airport Road.”
Jan Cosby was the first to approach the podium
and set the tone for the fervent debate by challenging
the council directly and displaying outrage at the
process that several called “under the radar.” “I’d like
to remind all of you that you have been elected to rep
resent all the people of Chapel Hill, not just some.”
Becky Johnson, 34, a lifetime Airport Road resident
followed, uttering only a few words before succumbing
to tears. Her sister finished the emotionally charged
prepared statements. “Why and how will this really
honor Dr. King? A road is just a way to get from point
Ato point B,” the statement read. “We are looking for
frivolous ways to spend taxpayers’ dollars.”
Council members have estimated that changing the
signage would cost at least $16,000. Business owners,
said that renaming the road and changing business
cards, letterhead and signage would be devastating.
But Charlie Kast, parish minister at the Community
Church of Chapel Hill, was the first person at the forum
to support the change. “To name this road after him is
the very least we can do. The cost and inconvenience of
this is small in consideration of the price he had to pay.”
SEE AIRPORT RD., PAGE 7
DTH/PHILIP MCFEE
Alan Corpus, owner of Salon 135, watches firefighters work to put out
a blaze Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire was not known.
building.
Adjacent areas such as the
Bank of America complex took
smoke damage, but businesses
there were open for business later
that day.
Firefighters’ main concern in
fighting the blaze was ensuring
that it did not spread outward.
Recalling the arson of the
Intimate Bookshop in September
WEATHER
TODAY Isolated T-Storms, High 83, Low 66
FRIDAY Isolated T-Storms, High 90, Low 66
SATURDAY Partly Cloudy, High 90, Low 67
THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2004
21st-century American university,”
Wilson said. “He possesses the
intellect, the professional skill and
the political instincts that are,
quite frankly, rare in the position
that he’s going into.”
Milliken will assume the UN
presidency Aug. 1 under a three
year contract at an annual salary of
$270,000.
Don Blank, chairman of the UN
Board of Regents, said Milliken’s
personality, his Nebraskan ties and
his adroitness in dealing with
SEE MILLIKEN, PAGE 7
1992, Bosworth said fires in older
areas such as downtown Chapel
Hill need to be contained quickly
before the flames get out of hand.
“They’re real susceptible to go
horizontal on us,” Bosworth said. '
He added that fires occur once
in a while on major local avenues
and that last night’s response was
SEE FIRE, PAGE 7