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Volume 103, Issue 87
102 yean ofeditorial freedom
Serving the students and the University community since 1593
Students, Housekeepers Protest Privatization
■ Activists spoke Sunday
against contracting out
UNC’s housekeeping jobs.
BY DAIRA JARRELL
STAFF WRITER
Members of the Housekeepers Associa
tion joined forces with the Student Envi
ronmental Action Coalition Sunday in a
march to protest the treatment of UNC
housekeepers and possible plans for the
privatization of their jobs.
Sunday’s march began in Polk Place
and ended outside of UNC-system Presi
dent C.D. Spangler’s house on Franklin
Street.
“The state is washing its hands of the
issue,” said student activist Fred Wherry,
who was one of the speakers at the event.
“Privatization could result in wages falling
once again to below the poverty line and
housekeepers being given more work.”
The march was the final event of this
weekend’s national SEAC conference,
whose members have pledged to fight un
fair labor practices and to stop unsound
environmental policies.
Speakers at a rally before the march
called on UNC students to demand that
Candidates
Reach Out
To Students
Carrboro Mayor & Board of Aldermen
BY JENNIFER ZAHREN
STAFF WRITER
At The Daily Tar Heel-sponsored fo
rum Sunday, Carrboro municipal office
candidates placed emphasis on issues of
primary student concern, including stu
dent involvement in local politics, devel
opment, affordable housing, public safety,
town-gown relations and mass transit.
“It is important for students to get in
volved in the local elections. While you
may only be here four years, there is a
student behind you, and so forth. You are
permanent residents in that way, and you
may also end up settling in Carrboro, ” said
Aldermen candidate David Collins.
Twelve-year board veteran Hilliard
See DTH FORUM, Page 2
Ready to March: Leaders continue to
voice support as black men gather in
Washington for this morning's Million
Man March.
State 8 National News, Page 5
A Royal Event: Seven candidates
were selected as finalists for this year's
Homecoming queen. Check them out
in our special Homecoming insert.
#
Reading, Writing and Running:
Candidates for the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro Board of Education discuss
their plans for the system.
Op-Ed, Page 13
*
Weather
TODAY: Sunny, high 65.
TUESDAY: Sunny, high 70-75.
the administration treat the housekeepers
with respect. They also asked that students
realize that the campus would not be as
well maintained without the housekeep
ers’ efforts.
The protest came in response to a bill
which die General Assembly passed this
summer. The bill asked the 16-campus
UNC system to conduct a study about
contracting housekeepers jobs to private
companies.
Housekeepers only recently had their
wages raised above the poverty level,
Wherry said. According to recent estimates,
the starting salary for a University house
keeper is $14,800.
“It’s what I call the right to human
dignity, ” Wherry said. “Housekeepers need
not be treated so poorly by their supervi
sors. There are a lot of things that can be
done on this campus to improve their situ
ation.”
The housekeepers are concerned that
there will be a decrease in services, in
benefits and a decline in real wages, Wherry
said. “They may not have their wages cut
now, but they might not get any raises
either. Over time this will hurt."
Ajamu Dillahunt, a representative of
the Black Workers for Justice, spoke on the
See HOUSEKEEPERS, Page 2
More Students Are Binge Drinkers, Study Says
BYMEGAN MCLAUGHLIN
STAFF WRITER
Binge drinking at UNC is on the rise,
following a national trend of students across
the country, according to a study released
in August by the Harvard University School
of Public Health.
Judith Cowan, director of UNC Stu
dent Health Services, said binge drinking
on campus reflected the national trends.
“The faculty has identified alcohol as a
force that adversely affects the University
climate,” Cowan said. “The chancellor
has placed it as one of 13 problems to be
addressed.”
Several campus programs aimed at dis
couraging drinking include residence hall
presentations, Zero Proof Day and a pro
gram to discourage drinking during Spring
Break. Other resources include the Delta
Squad, a group of peer counselors, and
three other counselors who assist students.
“We have quite an extensive substance
abuse and alcohol prevention program,”
Cowan said. “Drug education leads to
alternatives.”
Becausealargenumberofstudentswere
cited in violation of the new open con
tainer law at the beginning of the year, SHS
has created an opportunity for students to
attend an educational session in order to
Dwindling space, eager developers and the hope of maintaining a community atmosphere are giving Chapel Hill
GRO H///VGPAI l\l S
DTH/MURRAY DAMERON
Construction like this future Franklin Street home of Customer Management Services create challenges for planners.
Running is an unnatural act, except from enemies and to the bathroom.
Unknown
Chual ML North Carofaa
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16,1995
Students gather at Polk Place Sunday afternoon for a rally and a march to show their support for UNC housekeepers 0 "
The rally and march were the final events of SEAC's Fourth National Conference.
fulfill their court requirement.
At the national level, the Harvard study
disclosed that 84 percent of all students
drink during the school year and 44 per
cent of all students fall into the category of
binge drinkers. As defined by the study, a
female binge drinker consumes four or
more drinks in a row and a male consumes
five ormore drinks in a row at least once in
a two-week period.
The study reported the highest binge
rate is for white males (54 percent) and the
lowest rate is for black females (12 per
cent). Eighty-four percent of fraternity or
sorority residents engage in binge drink
ing.
Students in the study said they often
have hangovers, skip classes, regret or for
get actions, argue, engage in unplanned
sex and damage property as a result of
drinking.
There are many nationwide organiza
tions designed to curb student alcohol con
sumption, said Joan White Quinlan, a rep
resentative of the National Clearinghouse
for Alcohol and Drug Information.
Several strategies promoted by this or
ganization include providing students with
alternative activities to drinking, limiting
alcohol advertising on campus and raising
See BINGE DRINKING, Page 4
SOuSSrON COUNCIL FOR
LOCAL ELECTIONS ISSUES
BY ADAM GUSMAN
SENIOR WRITER
Chapel Hill Town Council mem
ber and candidate Jim Protzman told
a popular joke at the Oct. 9 council
meeting that
begins this
way:
“How
many people
does it take to
start a business
in Chapel
Hill?” The an
swer is two
one to begin
the business
and the other
to find a place
for it in
Importance Poll
The Daily Tar Heel conducted an
intercept poll on Oct. 2 at locations
around campus. 710 respondents filled
out two pages of questions about
Chapel Hill, Carrboro and University
issues. The sampling error is +/- 3.7
percent. The following chart indicates
how important respondents thought
increasing commercial development
should be to the next mayor, Town
Council or Board of Aldermen.
I Si It
I important important I
I Very
| mil" it taut , |
Durham.
While
jokes about
Chapel Hill’s
status as a
wealthy,
mostly resi
dential college
town may be
common,
many council
and mayoral
candidates be-
lieve that the town’s relative lack of
commercial tax revenue is no laugh
ing matter.
About 80 percent of Chapel Hill’s
real estate tax base comes from
homeowners, which means that they
bear the brunt of binding for schools
News/Features/Am/Sports
Business/Advertising
C 1995 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Vote on
Partners
Delayed
■ On Friday, the Faculty
Council called for action on
domestic partners, salary
inequities and faculty-staff
relations.
BY J.C. JOHNSON II
STAFF WRITER
Members of the Faculty Council voted
to delay a vote on extending benefits to
domestic partners of employees and de
batedsalary and professional behaviorstan
dards at their meeting Friday.
According to the Executive Committee
of the council, a domestic partnership is
defined as a committed relationship in
which partners are considered life part
ners, share a principal residence and are
financially interdependent.
“Since its inception, one of the primary
concerns of the Executive Committee has
been issues of community and to try and
work to ensure that no members of the
University community (are) excluded or
disenfranchised, ” said committee member
Paul Farel, professor of physiology.
To learn how to provide benefits for
domestic partners, the committee com
pared UNC to other universities and pri
vate companies that have already done so.
The description of a domestic partnership
suggested by the committee is based on
those used by such institutions as Duke
University, Princeton University, R.J.R.
Nabisco, IBM and others.
According to University policy, all em
ployees are entitled equal-access to em
ployment benefits. The extension of these
benefits, previously reserved for married
couples, to domestic partners is under in
vestigation by a faculty ad hoc committee.
The committee, formed by Chairwoman
ofthe council Jane Brown, consists offour
faculty members.
Farel said the committee did not want
to set a hard and fast criteria for defining of
domestic partnership.
Council members will vote on the crite
ria for establishing financial interdepen
dence at their next meeting in November.
“Let me know how we’re doing. Our
hope is that we can continue to concentrate
on institutions that are part of the Univer
sity community that we can change, ” Farel
said.
On the subject of salaries, the members
See FACUTLY COUNCIL, Page 2
and services.
“That’s disproportional,” said
Town Council candidate Herschel
Slater. “There’s not very much land
left in Chapel Hill, and a greater pro
portion of our development should be
in the com-
mercial sector
rather than in
the residen
tial.”
In a recent
Daily Tar
Heel survey,
two-thirds of
the respon
dents indi
cated that in
creasing com
mercial devel
opm e n t
U p 111 C II l
should be a
very impor
tant or some
what impor
tant issue for
thenextTown
Council mem
bers and
Chapel Hill
mayor.
Commer
cial develop
ment has sev-
eral advantages over residential. Hav
ing more retail businesses in the com
munity brings in more money from
local sales tax revenue. In addition,
businesses do not demand all of the
See DEVELOPMENT, Page 6
962-0245
962-1163