weather
TODAY: 70% chance of showers;
high near 60
WEDNESDAY: 60% chance of
rain; high mid-60s
|S>
Century of Editorial Freedom
BMB Esc 1893
Volume 101, Issue 16
TUESDAY
IN THE NEWS
Top stories from state , nation and world
Yeltsin opposing foes'
impeachment attempts
MOSCOW Boris Yeltsin stood
firm Monday against hard-liners’
efforts to impeach him, and his
foreign minister told reporters the
Russian president was in a “fighting”
mood.
Yeltsin asserted control of the
Russian media to safeguard news
organizations from a takeover by his
foes. His spokesman accused the
chief justice of prematurely support
ing Parliament’s impeachment effort.
The Constitutional Court convened
to weigh the legality of a decree by
Yeltsin on Saturday declaring
emergency rule and scheduling a
referendum for April 25 on his
leadership.
Yeltsin stayed out of public view
for the second day, letting aides keep
up the pressure on his political
opponents.
Commission returns 2
California bases to list
WASHINGTON Two California
bases given a reprieve by Defense
Secretary Les Aspin will likely be put
back on a list of candidates for
closing, the chairman of the Defense
Base Closure Commission said
Monday.
Jim Courier said the independent
eight-member commission could
decide by next Monday whether to
reject Aspin’s recommendation and
instead give anew look at closing
McClellan Air Force Base in the
Sacramento area and the Army’s
Presidio in Monterey.
A motion to add the bases to the
list would require a majority vote of
five commission members, he said.
Crisis throws summit
schedule into jeopardy
WASHINGTON Plans for a
summit between President Clinton
and Russian President Boris Yeltsin
were thrown into question Monday by
the escalating political crisis in
Moscow.
In public, everyone from Clinton
down insisted that the United States
and Russia were forging ahead toward
the April 3-4 summit in Vancouver,
Canada, with no plans to switch the
site to Moscow or anywhere else.
In private, however, U.S. officials
said the start of impeachment
proceedings by Parliament against
Yeltsin could make the Russian leader
reluctant to leave his country. For
now, said State Department officials,
the situation was too fluid to predict
for sure that the summit would take
place.
IMunn takes on Clinton
about defense-cut plan
WASHINGTON The chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Commit
tee took on President Clinton and
liberal Democrats about defense cuts
Monday, warning he didn’t want the
Pentagon’s budget raided to help beef
up domestic programs.
As the Senate debated a measure
outlining Clinton’s deficit-reduction
plans, Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.,
introduced two amendments that
would make it harder for lawmakers
to shift defense funds to social
programs. Such a transfer is at the
heart of Clinton’s plans to revive the
economy.
“I just don’t want to see defense
wrecked,” Nunn said afterward in an
interview with The Associated Press.
Shuttle lauoch delayed
for three more weeks
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Two
main engines ignited, and space
shuttle Columbia was engulfed by the
familiar white cloud signaling a
launch. Then, with just three seconds
to go, the engines shut down.
Officials in the launch control
room gasped. Television viewers felt
a ripple of alarm. But NASA said the
seven astronauts aboard the German
sponsored lab research mission were
never in any danger when computers
aborted the launch Monday.
The launch was delayed for at least
three more weeks for a mission
initially scheduled for five years ago
but postponed by the 1986 explosion
of shuttle Challenger and by lesser
problems in the past six weeks.
After two of three main engines
ignited in the final six seconds of the
countdown for the scheduled 9:51
a.m. launch, a valve in the third one
apparently failed to close, said shuttle
projects manager Alex McCool.
—The Associated Press
Getting an award from TV is like getting kissed by someone with bad breath. Mason Williams
(Hip Daily (Tor Mtrl
Board splits from BCC working group
By James Lewis
Staff Writer
On the day that Chancellor Paul
Hardin received a report recommend
ing plans for a proposed free-standing
black cultural center, BCC Advisory
Board members announced that they
thought the plan was unacceptable and
planned to submit their own report.
Members of the chancellor’s work
ing group, led by Provost Richard
McCormick, and the advisory board
worked together for more than five
months to co-write the report. Chancel
lor Hardin charged the working group
with developing plans for the BCC last
September. The advisory board had
agreed to join the working group soon
after it was formed.
But Professor Harry Amana, advi
sory board chairman, said the board
was not satisfied with the report. He
said the advisory board disagreed with
the report’s handling of site selection
for the proposed BCC.
The site for the BCC has been nar
rowed down to two locations: the area
between Wilson Library and Dey Hall
and the land next to Coker Hall, known
as Coker Woods.
“The (advisory) board also objects to
the conclusion in the working group’s
proposal that either the Coker site or the
Wilson site would be ‘an acceptable
location for the BCC,”’ Amana said.
He said that although the joint report
was supposed to present arguments in
favor of both sites, he thoughtthe work
ing group skewed the report in favor of
the Coker site.
“The board is also dismayed by the
language of the working group report
that, in many subtle ways, favors the
Coker site, when only five working
Students may prepare
RTVMP report for dean
r
By Steve Robbiee
Staff Writer
Stephen Birdsall, dean of the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences, agreed at a
meeting Monday night to allow De
partment of Radio, Television and
Motion Pictures students, alumni, staff
and faculty members to submit their
own report recommending proposals
for die future of the RTVMP depart
ment.
The meeting between Birdsall and
interested RTVMP students, faculty,
staff and alumni was held in response
to a report external reviewers issued
March 10. The external report recom
mended that the RTVMP department
be “disestablished” and bebroken into
anew curriculum in cultural studies
and media arts sequence in the Depart
ment of Speech Communication.
Birdsall said he would meet with
Jury divided in mock date-rape trial decision
By Shakti Routray
Staff Writer
The victim held her breath as the jury
members returned to their seats from
deliberation. With her head lowered,
she listened to the judge read the ver
dict: six for not guilty and six for guilty.
It was still unresolved.
This was the decision that 12 Univer
sity students, who served as jury mem
bers in a mock date-rape trial, came to
after listening to more than two hours of
testimony from witnesses for the pros
ecution and defense.
Carolina Student Legal Services
sponsored the mock date-rape trial in
Hamilton 100 Monday night “to drama
tize for the student community how the
criminal justice system deals with (the
problem of date rape),” David
Crescenzo, a legal services attorney,
said.
Approximately 100 people, mostly
female students, attended the mock trial.
A discussion was held after the trial.
Audience members were asked to
cast a separate vote from the jury’s
decision in the case. Of those who voted,
23 out of 37 delivered a guilty verdict
with females voting guilty by a ratio of
2-1 over men.
Sharon Wang, a freshman from
Durham, said she attended the trial to
see what a real trial was like and how
fair it was.
“Rape is not a subject that you should
be ignorant about,” Wang said. “I came
because rape has hit some of my friends’
friends.”
Elaine Mosley, a senior from Win
ston-Salem, said she attended because
wanted to experience a real rape trial.
. “I came here because I’ve heard tra-
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
group members (including Provost Ri
chard McCormick) voted for the Coker
site,” Amana said. “At the same time,
the report fails to discuss the Wilson site
in a positive fashion.”
The working group would have the
option of signing on to the report, but
the report would not be sent to Hardin,
Amana said.
But Hardin said he planned to go on
with the process despite the conflict.
After he examines the report, Hardin
will send it to the Buildings and Grounds
Committee, which will recommend a
site for the center. The report will then
be submitted to the Board of Trustees,
who will make the final decision.
“We will setde the site issue in the
normal way,” he said. “I am optimistic
because basically the report is very posi
tive, and I think it is quite in keeping
with the specifications of both the work
ing group and the advisory board.”
But Amana said the group had not
been treated fairly by McCormick in
writing the report.
“The advisory board is doing this
because it feels that the restrictions
placed on it by the working group have
virtually kicked the board out of the
process,” Amana said.
Other issues such as size and pro
gramming of the proposed BCC also
would be different in the advisory
board’s new report, Amana said.
Advisory board members favor a
53,000 square foot BCC, while the joint
report calls for 48,000 square feet.
McCormick said he thought the two
groups had agreed to include “a frank
acknowledgement that we have our dif
ferences on some issues” in a joint re
port.
SeeRALLY, page 2
RTVMP student and faculty leaders
Friday to discuss a timetable for the
new proposal.
He told those attending the meeting
that he was willing to work with people
involved with the proposed changes
and wanted input from more people
involved in the department
“I think it would be a mistake forme
to work out all the problems myself
because this is not my field,” Bittf sail
said.
Birdsall said lack of funding for the
financially strapped department was
not the only reason the independent
study, which was written by four pro
fessors from universities across the
country, was commissioned.
“I won’t deny that a lack of equip
ment monies hasn’t been a problem,
but that’s not the only problem,”
See RTVMP, page 2
' ajMMgggglpt t.; 4S||
DTHflustin Williams
Attorney Bill Massengale and victim Carolyn Payne listen intently to testimony during a mock date-rape trial
ditionally that when there is a rape trial,
the victim gets put on trial,” Mosley
said. “I wanted to see if that was true or
not.”
The trial featured students portray
lit I
fH 1 igr lIM
*m W #LI .
jm m
DTHAJIake Prelipp
Ruby Sinreicn addresses about 200 students at Monday's 'information session'
Harris reinstatement repealed
By Brad Short
Staff Writer
In response to outside pressures from
campus groups, University officials
decided late Monday afternoon to re
peal last week’s decision to reinstate
Reggie Harris to the men’s track team
for the 1993-94 season.
Harris, who pleaded no contest last
month to a charge of attempted second
degree rape of a UNC student, was
initally suspended from the team in
May 1992. He was given a three-year
suspended sentence and five years su
pervised probation.
Students from Women Against Rape,
the Feminist Alliance, Women’s Fo
rum, the Rape Action Project and Bi
sexuals, Gay men, Lesbians and Allies
for Diversity composed a letter voicing
their objections to Harris’ reinstatement.
Ruth Campbell, co-president of WAR,
and Melinda Manning, co-chairwoman
of RAP, delivered the letter to Chancel
lor Paul Hardin Monday morning.
“Athletes are seen as idols,” Campbell
ing the victim, the defendant and the
friend of the victim.
Barry Winston and Bill Massengale,
local attorneys, served as defense attor
ney and prosecutor, respectively, in the
said. “If you put a convicted rapist in the
position of an idol, what kind of mes
sage is that sending?”
Harris was suspended from partici
pating in intercollegiate athletic com
petition at UNC on a permanent basis.
The decision was reached by Hardin,
Athletic Director John Swofford, the
University’s legal counsel and officials
in the Division of Student Affairs.
Hardin said he was not aware of the
decision last week by the athletic de
partment to reinstate Harris to the team.
“Some students were very upset about
the reinstatement and brought it to my
attention,” Hardin said. “I called
Swofford, and we took a closer look at
it.”
Officials debated whether Harris ac
tually was convicted of rape.
“Harris did plead guilty to second
degree attempted rape, according to the
court documents,” said Dave Lohse,
associate director of sports informa
tion. “He may have pled no contest, but
on his criminal record, it states second
degree attempted rape.”
trial.
Michele Denker, a fourth-year resi
dent in psychiatry at UNC Hospitals,
See TRIAL, page 4
sportsline
SNAGGED: All-America swimming hon
ors, by UNC's Carrie Szulc, who finished
eighth in the 400 individual medley at the
NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving
Championships in Minneapolis. Szulc, a
sophomore from Whitehouse Station, N.J.,
also garnered All-America honors last sea
son. The Tar Heels finished 16th as a team.
© 1993 DTH Publishing Coip.
All rights reserved
Newt/SporU/Arts 962-0245
Bimnew/Advertising 962-1163
Report backs
$6.9 million
BCC, no site
By Jennifer Talhelm
University Editor
A report outlining plans for a 48,000
square-foot free-standing black cultural
center hit the chancellor’s desk yester
day after a planning group spent more
than five months deliberating the new
center’s size, programming and mis
sion.
The chancellor’s working group,
which was organized to plan the free
standing BCC, issued the Report on the
Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural
Center. The report calls for a building
that would house, among other facili
ties, a 15,000-volume library, a theater,
a Hall of Fame and an Institute for
Research on the Life and History of
Blacks in America.
Provost Richard McCormick, who
led the working group, said he was very
pleased with the proposed BCC.
“I think it will be a marvelous addi
tion to the Carolina campus,” he said.
“This will be a focal point, a concentra
tion point for the development (of a
strong approach to black studies).”
The report recommends no specific
site for the proposed BCC, although it
outlines the pros and cons of two pos
sible sites —one located between the
Bell Tower and Coker Hall and another
between Wilson Library and Dey Hall.
See BCC, page 7
Hardin said: “The question was
whether we could allow someone con
victed of such a serious offense to par
ticipate in intercollegiate athletics. It’s
a tough call, but we want the young man
to rehabilitate himself and get his life
together. It’s unfortunate for him, but
this is a serious event.”
Athletic department officials didn’t
understand the legal posture behind
Harris’ sentence, Hardin said.
Campbell supported Hardin, and she
said she hoped the University didn’t
understand the legal aspects. “I hope to
God the athletic department didn ’ t know
he was convicted.”
Swofford said last week’s decision
was based on a misunderstanding. “His
plea was technically guilty from a legal
standpoint, and it was a conviction of
attempted second-degree rape.
“Last week, our understanding was
that Harris pled no contest, meaning
that he wasn’t innocent or convicted,
which left it in limbo. It was a misunder-
See HARRIS, page 2
DTH editor
process
critiqued
By Jackie Hershkowitz
City Editor
Several participants in the first
ever Daily Tar Heel editor selection
process said Monday that although
the process was more effective than a
campuswide election, the system
needed to undergo some revisions.
The selection board, composed of
eight at-large students and three DTH
staff members, deliberated for al
most five hours Sunday before choos
ing sophomore Yi-Hsin Chang to
become the next editor. The board,
which voted six times before reach
ing a final decision, voted 8-3 for
Chang.
The board was required to achieve
a two-thirds majority, or eight votes.
Chang, who will begin her term
this summer, said she thought the
selection process went smoothly.
“I think the process has relatively
few flaws,” she said. “It’s better than
an election where you choose your
next editor based on posters.”
Diane Loveridge, an at-large mem
ber of the selection board, said the
board carefully considered each
candidate’s application.
“There’s no way you can learn as
much about a candidate in a general
student body election as we learned,”
Loveridge said.
Anna Griffin, a junior journalism
See BOARD, page 2