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Volume 103, Issue 148
102 yean of editorialfreedom
Serving the students and the University community since 1593
INSIDE
FRIDAY
Biology Professor Found Not Guilty in Defamation Suit
■ Associate Vice Chancellor
Lawrence Gilbert did not
libel a former employee.
BY JAMIE GRISWOLD
ASSISTANT UNIVERSrTY EDITOR
HILLSBOROUGH —After more than
three hours of deliberation Thursday, an
Orange County juty found Assistant Vice
Chancellor Lawrence Gilbert not guilty in
a defamation suit brought against him by
former University employee Wilma
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Elouise Vaughn (left) and Patsy Clarke formed MAJIC (Moms Against Jesse in Congress) in response to Sen. Jesse
Helms' criticism of AIDS victims. Both women had sons who died from the virus.
Mothers Form Group to Fight Helms
BY STEPHANIE WILLETT
STAFF WRITER
Jesse Helms may have finally met his
match.
If a group led by two strong-willed
women in their sixties crusading for rights
of AIDS victims have their way, Sen. Jesse
Helms, R-N.C., could spend his next term
in retirement.
Moms Against Jesse In Congress
(MAJIC) is a Raleigh-based political ac
tion committee begun by two women
whose sons died of AIDS. Helms is the
target of their mission due to his continued
criticism of AIDS patients for what the
senator has called their “deliberate, dis
gusting, revolting conduct.”
Patsy Clarke, aformer Helms supporter,
and Elouise Vaughn, both of Raleigh, re
cently formed the group to stand up for
their children’s memories. The group’s
mission is to recognize that “AIDS is not a
disgrace it is a tragedy.”
“We want to stand up for those who
can’t defend themselves,” Vaughn said.
“They are so vulnerable.”
Clarke said her letters to Helms asking
him not to pass judgment on other human
beings have changed nothing. She said that
she saw no recourse but to protest.
Death, Murder Charge Destroy Quiet Marriage
■ Accused of killing his wife,
student William Boychuk
awaits bail from his jail cell.
BY ANDREW PARK
STAFF WRITER
When William J. Boychuk and his girl
friend, Karen, began dating in the fall of
1994, they were two intelligent and suc
cessful people on track to face challenging
careers.
Their paths crossed in the Triangle,
where so many promising young people
prepare themselves forheady futures. Karen
graduated in 1992 from the Duke Univer
sity School of Law and began working in
Raleigh. William was a first-year student
in the Kenan-Flagler Business School who
had come to Chapel Hill after a career in
I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Single Jeopardy
Freshman Bronwyn Bedient will
appear on Jeopardy at 7 p.m.
Tuesday on Channel 11. Page 3
Hanton.
Gilbert, who fired Hanton in May 1991
while he was serving as chairman of the
Department of Biology, said he was glad
the trial was finally over.
“Obviously I’m relieved and delighted
that the jury was able to see that there was
absolutely no evidence for what Ms.
Hanton alleged,” Gilbert said. “It’s a great
load off my mind.”
Hanton, a former research analyst in
the biology department’s electron micro
scope (EM) laboratory, claimed Gilbert
ruined her professional reputation in a May
1991 memo discussing her dismissal from
“It’s like a witch hunt, but there are no
witches,” said Garke with outstretched
hands and furrowed brow in Vaughn’s
Raleigh home on Thursday.
In a letterto Helms, Garke asked him to
“share his memory with me in compas
sion.” Helms’ reply said, “I wish he had
not played Russian roulette in his sexual
activity.”
Neither Helms nor his press secretary
was available for comment on Thursday
evening.
MAJIC’s members maintain that they
did not form the group solely to support
gay rights, but to advocate compassion for
AIDS victims without being affiliated with
any political party. “We have to stand
allied as mothers,” Vaughn said.
The group won’t endorse a candidate
until after the May 7 Democratic primary.
Twelve members meet monthly to give
support, talk about how to force Helms
into retirement and quilt squares for the
national AIDS quilt. “It’s the motherly
kind of thing to do," Vaughn said.
Political endeavors are not foreign to
either woman. Garke’s daughter repre
sented Susan Smith in her S.C. murder
trial, and Vaughn’s husband was a judge.
Helms has caused controversy by trying
to block federal financing of AIDS preven
A1
the Canadian De
partment of Na
tional Defense.
The pressures
were enormous:
there were late
nights studying and
working, new rela
tionships, ambi
tions for the future,
marriage and soon,
a family.
None of these
struggles come close
to the fight Boychuk
faces now. He has
WILLIAM BOYCHUK
told investigators he
and his wife were
struck in a hit-and-run.
been charged with murder in the New
Year’s Eve death of his pregnant wife.
Today William Boychuk is being held
at the Wake County Jail while District
Attorney Thomas Ford awaits the results
of Karen Boychuk’s autopsy. Dr. Gordon
Chapd Hill, North Carolina
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9,1996
Center Stage
Student body president candidates
pledge their support for a women's
center at Thursday's forum. Page 3
]
the University. Gilbert sent the memo to
about 70 faculty members and graduate
students in the biology department.
At issue in the jury’s decision were four
allegedly defamatory statements Gilbert
made in the memo. Gilbert wrote that
Hanton refused to keep track of her time
and to bill for her time.in the EM lab. He
also wrote that Hanton falsely accused
doctoral student Ji-Da Dai of stealing her
scientific data, that she falsely accused
Gilbert of stealing her scientific data and
that she falsely accused Gilbert of stealing
a letter from die University Archives.
In closing arguments, Gilbert’s attor
tion and treatment. “We’ve got to have
some common sense about a disease trans
mitted by people deliberately engaging in
unnatural acts, ” Helms told the Palm Beach
Post last summer.
Garke said Helms did not view AIDS
the same MAJIC members do. “His views
are hurtful to the whole of society,” said
Clarke, who voted for Helms in the last
election and knows him personally.
Members of MAJIC want to “expose
bigotry, mean-spiritedness and hatred” for
what they are. Their mission statement
says that “we can ask North Carolinians to
turn down Jesse Helms’ brand of virulent
judgmentalism against his fellow beings.”
“We think it’s harder for people to spit
on mothers than on gays,” Clarke said.
Vaughn stated that homosexuality is
not a choice and not a lifestyle. “People are
afraid of what they don’t understand, ” she
said.
Anyone can join the group, Vaughn
said. Correspondence to the group should
be sent to MAJIC, Box 277, 7474
Creedmoorßd., Raleigh, N.C. 27613-1665.
“This group (AIDS victims) has been
stigmatized too long,” Vaughn said. “We
want to change that."
But, Clarke said, “It’s going to take
magic.”
Legrand, Wake County medical exam
iner, said through a spokeswoman Thurs
day the autopsy would not be finished until
next week. Ford said bail would not be set
for Boychuk until the autopsy was com
plete.
Karen’s body was found underneath
the Cary Parkway bridge after a late-night
incident that William Boychuk described
as a hit-and-run. According to Boychuk’s
initial statement to police, he and his wife
were struck from behind by a passing car
around 7 p.m. on Dec. 31. As he lay uncon
scious on the bridge, his wife was dying 40
feet below on a grassy embankment.
When he came to, Boychuk saw his
wife, then ran frantically to his nearby
apartment complex to ask for help, accord
ing to police reports. A terrible accident
had happened, Boychuk said.
See BOYCHUK, Page 2
ney, Assistant Attorney General Barbara
Shaw, told the jury the memo was not
defamatory because all statements included
in it were true. “They (the defense) can’t
look at you straight in the face and tell you
that the letter is false because" the state
ments (in the letter) are true," she said.
Shaw said Hanton never disputed
Gilbert’s claim that she had not fulfilled
her job responsibilities. Shaw also said that
an ethics committee had found no substan
tiation for Hanton’s claims against Dai
and Gilbert. “What would be the motive
for Dr. Gilbert, a distinguished professor
with national and international recogni
latlg four Hggl
Student Elections Poll
About This Series
The Daily Tar Heel conducted an intercept
poll of 406 students on campus during the
week of Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 to determine how
important they thought the following 10
issues should be to the next student body
president The survey has a sampling error
of plus or minus 4.9 percent
Top 10 Student Issues
0 Conveying students' concerns to
administrators
(2) Conducting an ethical
v J administration
o Stopping increases in tuition and
student fees
0 Changing things that affect students
daily, such as dining and housing
Working with Student Congress to
allocate student activity fees
O Improving safety on campus
o Addressing the concerns of women
and minorities
0 Making cable and Internet more easily
accessible to students
0 Serving as a liaison to state officials
© Creating an executive branch diverse
in race and gender
A Message of Empowerment
Making a mark
BY JAIME KOWEY
STAFF WRITER
A student who has dedicated her life to celebrating women
and their diversity has sent a message to the University com
munity that the time has come for women to stand up and be
heard.
Katie Hultquist, a senior international studies major from
San Francisco, Calif., has made some major developments in
bringing women’s issues to the forefront at UNC.
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DTH/KELLY BROWN
Senior Katie Hultquist sets an example for UNC
women through her leadership and positive attitude.
Patriots Return From D.G.
Jonathon McMurray and Concord A
Coalition members call their trip to
Washington, D.C. a success. Page 4
tion, to steal a picture from a research
analyst working under him?” Shaw asked.
Shaw also said that there was no evi
dence that the letter Hanton claimed Gil
bert stole had existed.
A1 McSurely, Hanton’s attorney, said
Gilbert’s memo was like a late hit in foot
ball. He compared Hanton’s firing to the
initial hit that knocks a play er out ofbounds,
but he said Gilbert’s memo was like a hit
that comes after the play has been whistled
dead. “What does the referee call that?”
McSurely asked. “An intentional foul.”
McSurely also tried to prove that Gil
bert wrote the memo with malicious in
Editor's Note: The Daily Tar Heel is running a series on the top five issues and the
student body president candidates’ proposals for addressing them. Today, we
examine the No. 2 issue: conducting an ethical administration.
BY ADAM GUSMAN
SENIOR WRITER
Scandals in student government may not receive the notoriety of
an Iran-Contra affair or a Whitewater, but students are still
concerned about the behavior of their elected campus officers.
Eighty-five percent of respondents to The Daily Tar Heel
elections poll said the issue of conducting an ethical administration
should be “quite important” or “extremely important" to the next
student body president race.
“The student bodypresidentshouldbelooking out for
student interests rather than catering to the interests of
the administration or the Board of Trustees,” said Stu
dent Congress Speaker Roy Granato. “He or she should
not get involved in any petty politics or political games,”
he said.
Granato said the nomination process presented an opportunity for
breach of ethics. “The student body president is in a position of trust
with the nomination process,” he said.
The student body president nominates the student body vice presi
dent, treasurer and secretary, the members of various campus commit
tees, such as the Facilities Planning Committee, the Committee on
See ETHICS, Page 4
Katie Hultquist has taken significant strides
for women by founding WIN and POWER
Hultquist is responsible for founding the Women’s Issues
Network, a group that meets weekly to educate the campus
community about women’s issues.
“When I got here, women’s issues weren’t being ad
dressed at all,” Hultquist said. “Women were afraid to call
themselves feminists.”
Hultquist tried to amend that problem by forming WIN
and other groups that address women’s issues.
Adrienne Lockie, aseniorfrom Washington, D.C. and co
president of WIN, praised Hultquist’s efforts. “This campus
owes a debt to her,” Lockie said. “Our campus wouldn’t be
the same, if it weren’t for her work. She puts her whole heart
into improving this university for women.”
Another group that Hultquist established is the Chancellor’s
Task Force on Women. The task force, which is comprised of
staff, faculty and students, looks at services available to
women and how to improve them.
Hultquist made a smooth transition from her high school
interest in women’s issues to her college involvement. Asa
freshman, Hultquist joined the Women’s Issues Forum, a
Campus Y group. She was co-chairwoman of the group her
sophomore year, when it changed its name to People’s
Organization for Women’s Empowerment and Rights, or
POWER.
“Women’s empowerment is about celebrating women,”
Hultquist said. “(It’s about) women taking the power to have
choice in their lives and having the opportunity to do any
thing and everything they want to do.”
Asa sophomore, Hultquist and two other women wrote a
proposal for a UNC Women’s Center. WIN was formed in
spring 1994 to see their proposal get passed.
“If we establish an on campus women’s center, a lot of the
credit for that will go to her,” said Student Body Vice
President Amy Swan, a senior from Waynesboro, Penn., and
a member of WIN.
“It is almost impossible to find a university comparable (to
UNC) in size and funding that doesn’t have a women’s center
yet,” Hultquist said.
A women’s center could make resources, services and
information more accessible to students, Hultquist said. “It
would demonstrate a commitment on UNC’s part on the
lives of women faculty, staff and students,” she said.
Women’s groups on campus are scarce and fragmented,
Hultquist said. Through WIN, Hultquist has ventured to
increase communication between groups that address
See HULTQUIST, Page 2
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tent. He said Gilbert could have talked
about Hanton’s dismissal to the four or five
people who worked in the EM lab instead
of sending the memo to the entire biology
department.
“A woman’s name is important to ha
... and (Wilma Hanton’s) name has been
destroyed among her peers (and) her pro
fessional colleagues,” McSurely said.
Gilbert, who is currently a William Rand
Kenan Jr. Professor of Biology, is leaving
for Washington, D.C., today to accept a
lifetime achievement award from the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science.
IMS