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BRIEFS
Stories from the University and Chapel Hill
On Third Try, Delcor
Acquires National Gypsum
National Gypsum Cos. agreed Tuesday
to be acquired by the North Carolina in
vestment firm Delcor Inc., for $1.2 billion
in cash.
Delcor, a subsidiary of Golden Eagle
Industries Inc., will
buy the Charlotte
based wallboard
producer in a cash
merger valued at
$54 per share, Na
tional Gypsum said
in a release.
Delcor is an in
vestment firm that
owns 19 percent of
National Gypsum
and is controlled by
its ex-chairman,
C.D. Spangler Jr.,
one of North
Carolina’s wealthi-
C.D. SPANGLER s
holding company
finally succeeded in its
takeover bid for
National Gypsum.
est residents and president of the Univer
sity of North Carolina system.
Spangler, who is also chairman of
Golden Eagle Industries, Delcor’s parent
company, was removed by a special direc
tors’ committee as the non-executive chair
man of National Gypsum.
Delcor’s successful bid comes on its
third try for the company. However, the
agreement permits National Gypsum to
solicit other offers through June 30.
“The transaction represents an excel
lent opportunity for the company’s share
holders to realize the value of their stock
while preserving the company’s ability to
identify and obtain the benefit of any supe
rior transactions that may be available,”
said Steve Humphrey, chairman and chief
executive officer of National Gypsum.
Memorial Service for
Student in Arboretum Sat.
A memorial service for Katie Power,
who would have graduated this past week
end, will be held Saturday, May 20 in the
Coker Arboretum. The rain site is Gerard
Hall. May 20 is Power’s birthday, and last
year she celebrated it in the same spot of
the Arboretum. Power was a double major
in journalism and English. She committed
suicide on April 19, only weeks before
finishing school.
Susan Reantjes, a close friend, said that
holding Power’s memorial service at the
same site as her previous year’s birthday
party would be appropriate.
“I know she would want a celebration
more than a mourning thing,” Reantjes
said.
Power’s friends will set up a collection
to purchase a bench which they hope will
be put in the arboretum to honor Power.
Reantjes said that anyone interested in
making contributions to the memorial or
to defray the costs of cremation should call
Reantjes at 929-0640.
Serial Killer Trucker to
Face Trial in Orange Cos.
An Orange County grand jury indicted
suspected serial killer Sean Patrick Goble
on Monday. Goble confessed to strangling
34-year-old Sherry Mansur of Clearwater,
Fla. at the intersection oflnterstates 85 and
40, near Hillsborough. Mansur’s body was
found in Guilford County in February.
Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl
Fox said he did not know when the trial
would be held.
Professor's House Safe
Professor and Mrs. Richard
Wolfenden’s home at 1307 Mason Farm
Rd. is now seemingly safe from being over
taken after having been threatened by uni
versity expansion. A press release from the
University, Tuesday, stated plans are
moving ahead for the building of the Rizzo
Executive Education Conference Center,
a part of the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
The Education Center will now be built on
the Baity property, just off Mason Farm
Road.
According to the press release, this site
is compatible with the design plans for
construction. A final decision for this site
will be made in a few months.
First Domestic Partners
Register in Chapel Hill
Mark E. Beasley and David W. Tho
mas, both 29, have become the first couple
to register under Chapel Hill’s new law
allowing unmarried heterosexual and gay
couples to register their partnership. The
couple registered their partnership three
days after the Town Council passed the
law. Chapel Hill is the second North Caro
lina town to grant such recognition.
Carrboro was the first.
Bus Fares to Rise
At a budget work session on May 1, the
Chapel Hill Town Council voted to raise
bus fares to 75 cents, a 15 cent increase
from the current price. The reason for the
fare increase is to help offset other losses in
the budget. This decision, which three coun
cil members voted against, is only tenta
tive. Until June 5, when the council is
scheduled to adopt a budget for the 1996
fiscal year, council members can change
their minds on the issue. Other ways the
council discussed to increase the town
budget’s money were to raise the cost of
university parking permits and to allow
advertisements to appear on the sides of
buses.
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
SACS: UNC Must Shape Up TA’s, Ram’s Chib
BYTHANASSIS CAMBANIS
EDITOR
After visiting the campus last week, the
committee that decides whether or not to
reaccredit the University told officials to
strengthen standards for teaching assis
tants and to reign in the Ram’s Club.
The visit came as the culmination in
UNC’s two-year reaccreditation process
from the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools (SACS).
The committee issued four recommen
dations that cany the force of law: If UNC
officials do not begin to comply with the
recommendations by October, SACS will
not reaccredit the University.
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SBP Calvin Cunningham grilled Gov. Hunt about the revised budget proposal at a meeting of student leaders in Raleigh
May 10. The biggest point of contention for the students was the proposed tuition increase for out-of-state students.
Budget Switcheroo Reverses UNC Cuts
BY WILL SAFER
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Gov. Jim Hunt announced a proposal to budget an additional
$35 million for North Carolina’s public universities at a press
conference Thursday in Raleigh.
Hunt was joined by University of North Carolina System
President C.D. Spangler in making the
announcement, which came as a welcome
signal to university officials and students.
“President Spangler and I stand here
today united in our belief in the university
system, and united in our belief that strong
universities make a strong economy and a
strong state,” Hunt said.
Hunt and Spangler had been at odds
over the governor’s original proposal in
early February that sought to cut more
than $26 million from the system’s budget.
“As I told a group of UNC chancellors, faculty and student
leaders this week, our proposed budget...was not designed to
harm the university system,” Hunt said of his first proposal. But
the cuts recently presented by the N.C. House of Representatives
went much too deep, he said.
Spangler said he agreed with Hunt, and that the new proposal
would do much to strengthen the university system.
“I am hopeful that the General Assembly will welcome these
ideas, as I do, and vote to support them,” he said.
See HUNT, Page 8
Buckheads
Under
Investigation
BY JOANNA HOWELL
STAFF WRITER
A Franklin Street bar is closed while
officials investigate the death of a Univer
sity ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill fresh
man who fell 30 feet while climbing on the
outside of a campus building during the
early morning hours of April 27.
Jamie McGee, 18, of Wilmington, had
a 0.19 blood alcohol level when she fell to
her death just one day after classes had
ended for the spring semester. Her blood
alcohol level was more than twice the legal
limit for operating a vehicle.
The accident occurred around 4:45 a.m.
while she was climbing on the outside of
Phillips Hall Annex. According to the re
port of witness 23-year-old English Blaine
McClure, of Raleigh, said he turned away
for a moment and didn’t see the actual fall,
butheardher impact theground. She landed
on the back of her head and was “in a pool
of blood” when medical personnel first
saw her.
She was pronounced dead 30 minutes
later at UNC Hospitals.
Buckheads, owned in part by McClure,
is where McGee was drinking earlier in the
evening even though she was below the
legal drinking age. For this reason the bar
is closed while Chapel Hill Police and
Alcohol Law Enforcement officers investi
gate the incident.
After leaving Buckheads, McGee, who
was a resident of Granville Towers East
and a sister at the Pi Beta Phi sorority, went
to the Zeta Psi fraternity house in the “little
See BUCKHEADS, Page 4
UNIVERSITY & CITY
In a preliminary report read Friday
morning, the SACS team said that UNC
must exert stronger financial control over
the Educational Foundation, also known
as the Ram’s Club, establish and publish
guidelines and standards for TAs, clarify
the criteria used to award merit pay in
creases to faculty members and establish
oral communication and computer train
ing standards for UNC students.
None of the recommendations came as
a surprise to English professor Darryl Gless,
who over the last year headed up the self
study report that highlighted areas needing
improvement.
“To get only four recommendations is
unusual,” Gless said. UNC’s self-study
Gov. Hunt Meets With
Student Representatives
To Gather Input on Needs
BY WILL SAFER
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Student leaders from each ofthe University ofNorth Carolina’s
16 campuses trekked to Raleigh last Wednesday to meet with
Governor Jim Hunt at his invitation to discuss plans for increasing
the amount of money proposed for the state university system’s
budget.
Student Body President Calvin Cunningham was among
those who attended. He said he was encouraged by what the
governor had to say.
“He sat down and told us what he planned to do with the
surplus revenue and then asked us what we would like to see done
with it,” Cunningham said.
Amy Swan, Cunningham’s vice president, said she was im
pressed with the governor and the other student leaders present.
“Hunt was very genuine about wanting student input,” she
said. “None of us were there for the posh meeting, you know, for
the chance to meet the governor. It was a serious meeting,” she
See MEETING, Page 8
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Freshman McGee’s Life Full of
Promise Before Tragic Accident
BY JOANNA HOWELL
STAFF WRITER
In nearly every newspaper story since
her tragic death April 27, Jamie McGee
has been described as a wonderful young
woman, delightful and full of promise and
potential.
McGee was a freshman at the Univer
sity ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill, and
only one day rfter the end of spring term
classes, she fell to her death while climbing
on the outside of Phillips Hall Annex.
committee came up with 17 recommenda
tions and 73 suggestions, all of which are
already being dealt with by the University,
he said.
Once the visiting committee writes a
draft of its report, it will give the university
a chance to respond over the summer.
A final draft of the report will go to
SACS sometime in the fall, and by Decem
ber, SACS will evaluate how well the Uni
versity is complying with the recommen
dations.
“We’re going to act on all of the sugges
tions,” Gless said.
James Pewitt, professor emeritus from
the University of Alabama at Birmingham
and a member ofthe visiting reaccreditation
Though alcohol has been cited as one of
the reasons for the fall, drinking and risk
taking did not characterize McGee’s life
until that fateful morning.
Though McGee’s name has been in the
news mostly because of that incident, her
life was full of other notable achievements
and positive moments.
“The best thing I know to say about
Jamieissheloved everyone with her smile, ”
said her father, Kenneth J. McGee.
See MCGEE, Page 4
committee, said the Educational Founda
tion had too much autonomy in the control
over its funds.
The Educational Foundation is a pri
vate organization with about SSB million
in assets that raises money for athletic
scholarships and athletic department con
struction. This year, the foundation gave
scholarships worth $4 million, according
to a UNC media guide. “Should there be a
disagreement between University plans and
Educational Foundation plans, the Uni
versity should ensure that the chancellor’s
office has institutional control over the
booster club,” Pewitt said.
See SACS, Page 8
Carolina Review To
Fight Funding Denial
BY WILL SAFER
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The publisher of The Carolina Review,
a conservative student publication, said
this weekend that he planned to fight a
Student Supreme Court decision that de
nied funding to the magazine.
On the steps of the South Building, the
Student Supreme Court announced Fri
day that Student Congress classifies The
Carolina Review as a politically partisan
organization and subsequent denial of their
funding would stand.
The court also decided that other stu
dent group’s budgets would not be frozen,
a possibility that caused apprehension
among many student leaders.
Charlton Allen, publisher of The Caro
lina Review, said he anticipated the court’s
decision, and that he and The Carolina
Review’s legal counsel were ready to go on
to the next step in the appeal process for
funding.
“The goal of the people involved was to
kill The Carolina Review, and they have
been totally unsuccessful,” he said.
The court's decision was read by Asso
ciate Justice Gene Davis, a second-year
law student at the University.
The court’s decision said: “The Student
Congress acted within its authority and
within the laws set forth in the Student
Constitution and the Student Government
Code.”
Allen and Review editor-in-chiefßryson
Koehler filed their case against former con
gress Speaker Monica Cloud, former Stu
dent Body President George Battle, cur
rent Student Congress Speaker Roy
, Granato, current SBP Calvin Cunningham
and former Student Attorney General
George Oliver.
Neither Cloud nor Battle attended any
of the pretrial or trial hearings while the
court was hearing the case. Granato said
he was “appalled” that neither one decided
to attend the hearings.
But Allen said he wasn’t surprised that
the two didn’t come to argue their side of
the case.
“They (Cloud and Battle) probably view
this as ancient history,” he said.
Cunningham and Granato were named
as defendants only because they are the
current student government leaders.
Granato said his main concern was for
other clubs and organizations’ budgets.
“I’m relieved with the decision. Now I
won’t have to redo the entire budget for
next year,” he said. If the budget had been
frozen he would have had to organize a
new budget review process for the fall.
“I think by losing this case, this is ex-
Residents Ask Council to
Slow Meadowmont Plans
BY WENDY GOODMAN
CITY EDITOR
The Chapel Hill Town Council heard
pleas from town residents to slow down
the Meadowmont development and to
consider public interest rather than
developer’s at a public hearing Monday
night.
“The perception that is being created is
that everything is so mixed up because the
council is not representing the interests of
the town, but those of the developer," said
Bill Davis, a member of Alliance ofNeigh
borhoods.
In a marathon five-hour hearing, town
residents criticized the proposed
Meadowmont Development, which would
create anew housing community at the
N.C. 54 East entrance way to Chapel Hill.
The proposed Meadowmont Develop
ment would cover 435 mixed-use acres in
Orange and Durham Counties. The pro
posal includes 1,298 residential dwellings,
802,600 square feet of non-residential use
and 110 acres of open-space area.
After hearing the arguments of many
Chapel Hill residents, the Town Council
decided they needed additional work ses
sions on the Meadowmont project. They
also said they needed to hear reports from
the different town boards before a final
decision is made.
“We should go slowly on this matter
because we need to hear from the public,”
said council member Joyce Brown. "The
public deserves a chance to comment.”
The council agreed that the May 22
meeting would be a work session to amend
the Comprehensive Plan and to refer it to
different town boards. The Comprehen
sive Plan regulates all development within
the town’s limits.
The council could then decide to hold
Thursday, May 18,1995
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In a Nutshell
The visiting re accreditation
committee mandated that UNC:
■ Establish University-wide
standards for teaching assistants
■ Create guidelines for granting
merit pay increases to faculty
■ Make sure each UNC graduate is
computer literate and has ‘oral
communications' skills
I Exert stronger control over the
finances of the Educational
Foundation, also known as the
Ram's Club
vB
DTH/ERIK PEREL
GENE DAVIS, associate justice of the
student Supreme Court renders the
decision in the matter of funding for
the Carolina Review.
actly what Charlton wanted,” he added.
Allen has said that if The Carolina
Review’s case does not find support within
the University he would take it to federal
court.
Before that happens, the next steps for
The Carolina Review are appeals to the
Chancellor’s office, the Board of Trustees
and the Board of Governors.
Allen said it was important to exhaust
all opportunities for internal appeals. That
way The Carolina Review’s case would be
at its strongest before going to federal court.
Edith Wiggins, Vice Chancellor for Stu
dent Affairs, whose office would deal first
with the matter, was unavailable for com
ment.
“I hope we can have that done before
December is out,” Allen said. “If they (the
Chancellor’s office, the Board of Trustees
and the Board of Governors) don’t act on
it then we’ll turn around and file in federal
court.
“In the meantime, the Review will con
tinue to publish. It will just be in a smaller
format and less frequent,” he said.
“We receive funding from individuals,
Carolina alums and parents of students.
But it’s very expensive to generate those
funds because we spend about half of them
just on the effort,” he said.
“W-’re going to be working on fund
raising during the summer,” he added.
Cunningham said Monday that The
See REVIEW, Page 4
Chapel Hill
DIN FILE GRAPHIC
additional public hearings. “Let’s just take
it one step at a time,” Jim Protzman said.
Residents voiced their opinionsontbree
agenda items related to Meadowmont; an
amended Comprehensive Plan for the town
of Chapel Hill, re-zoning the areas around
the town’s east entrance way along N.C.
54 and continued public discussion of the
development.
Residents echoed each other’s concerns
throughout the night that the Town Coun
cil was moving too fast especially in regard
to the Comprehensive Plan.
Some critics of Meadowmont said a
change in the Comprehensive Plan was
not in the public’s best interest, but would
give developers free reign over the area.
Residents also said the council was ig
noring their opinions and was not taking
See MEADOWMONT, Page 8
3