On the entrance of the Morehead Planetarium
was a banner that read; “Don’t Lock Me Out
of UNC.”
This banner, along with many other student plac
ards, armbands and chants, contributed to the envi
ronment surrounding the protests against the tuition
hike and this environment has been fervent since the
beginning of the semester.
The main source for student activism has been the
issue over the tuition increase. On Oct. 28, the Board
of Trustees voted 9-3 on Oct. 28 to raise tuition
$1,500 for all students during the next five years and
as a result, students gathered inside and outside of
Morehead Planetarium to have their voices heard.
At the Oct. 28 rally, Michelle Barskile, a freshman
from Garner, N.C. said, “Cost is one of the main rea
sons why 1 chose UNC. It’s a prestigious university
with a low cost. I’m just trying to show my support
so it won’t get passed.”
According to the proponents of the measure,
tuition needed to be raised to increase faculty salaries.
Provost Richard Richardson said; “We must
be competitive in terms of salary. We’ve talked the
talk of the greatest public university in the nation,
now we must be prepared to walk the walk.”
After the vote. Erica Smiley, a sophomore and
Rules and Judiciary chair of Student Congress, said
that students had been kept out of the political
process and questioned as to “why our university was
turning back over 200 years of tradition.”
Earlier in the semester, another group, the newly
formed Students Seeking Historical Truth
(SSHT) shocked the campus. Their aim was to
educate the students in a provocative way about the
racist past of the University. They decorated Saunders
Hall with signs that read KKK. Murphey Hall was
deemed “Hitler Hall” and a sign that read “David
Duke KKK” was placed on Steele Building.
The founder of the group, Kristi Booker, a sopho
more, told the Daily Tar Heel on Oct. 7, “We put up
Previous page (clockwise from top left): Student Body
President Nic Heinke speaks on behalf of the students; Bill
McCoy and Anne Cates sit among the Board of Trustees in
deciding on the tuition increase; faculty and students come
together to persuade the Board of Trustees to not raise tuition.
posters that told the truth of what Saunders was.”
Eboni Staton, a member of SSHT also told the DTH,
“We created our own memorial to show what
Saunders was; a murderer, a slave owner and the
emperor of the KKK.”
Their signs, however, were later removed by
University police who called the actions of SSHT
vandalism. In response to that, Staton told DTH
reporters, “ We wanted the University to see what
Saunders really looked like, so we created our own
plaque, but the University didn’t want you to see
that.”
Other campus activists have taken the podium to
fight for what they want. Protestors against the death
penalty, anti-sweatshop demonstrators and those dis
satisfied with University actions have all found their
place in the Pit.
This reality has reinforced the idea that student
activism, therefore, is an important and needed fact of
university life here at UNC-CH. Concern over impor
tant issues have galvanized the student body; and that
has forced them to realize that as united, they will
never be defeated.
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Photo by Courtney McSwain
December 1999
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