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<Tljf Bailg Ear Hrrl Speaker Says Gays Still Not Considered ‘Normal’ ■ Urvashi Vaid delivered the closing speech for B-GLAD’s 1996 Celebration Week. BY MAGGIE SCHLEICH STAFF WRITER Gay-rights activist Urvashi Vaid spoke about the state of the gay and lesbian rights movement as Bisexuals, Gays, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity ended its 1996 Celebration Week Sunday night. Vaid, a lawyer, writer and former direc tor of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Search for Vice Chanceflor Continues ■ Dean Stephen Birdsall said he will meet with a consulting firm this week. BY DAVE SNELL STAFF WRITER Almost two years after the resignation of former Vice Chancellor of Student Af fairs Donald Boulton, the committee in charge of finding his replacement contin ues its search. The committee has enlisted the assis tance of Heidrich and Struggles, a consult ing firm, to find candidates for the posi tion. “They have been actively engaged in searching for possible applicants,” said Stephen Birdsall, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the search committee. “They seek out possible candidates who may not have seen the advertisements ... and provide a much more active solicita County Candidate Presents Development Plan BYLEANNSPRADLING STAFF WRITER Landfill debates. 15-501 during msh hour. Meadowmont. The Triangle is growing fast and Mar garet Brown, a veteran of the Orange County and Carrboro planning boards who is running for Orange County Commis sioner, wants to modernize Orange County’s planning process. “We’ve come to have overcrowded schools, congested highways. Our infra structure is being used up,” Brown said. “We know we’re going to keep growing. We need to plan now to keep a high quality oflife.” Brown proposed several changes to Orange County’splanningprocess: includ ing residents in the development process, changing how the county determines fiscal impact and monitoringprojects in progress. Brown said she wanted to give Orange County residents a stronger voice in the development process. She said she wanted to continue letting local residents determine which natural or historic areas should be preserved in an area slated for development. Under the Small Area Plan, residents of a neighbor hood work with the planning board. “It’s sort of a grassroots way to get local residents involved in planning new devel opments, instead of just the government saying, ‘You have to accept this new mall or development or huge intersection.”’ As another way to increase citizen in volvement in new developments, Brown said she wanted to make changes in the public hearing format. Currently, developers have as much time as they need to present proposals at public hearings, and they can also rebut citizen speeches, Brown said. Citizen speeches are generally limited to three minutes. TAR HEEL SPORTS SHORTS TODAY AT CAROLINA! Baseball vs. N.C. A&T 3:oopm at Boshamer Stadium Women’s Lacrosse vs. Duke 7:oopm at Fetzer Field Students & Faculty Admitted FREE wHDI _ 1 MIICJMCJk DATE: Mon. April 1 9:3oam-6:oopm • Tues. April 2 & Wed. April 3 from 9:3oam-4:oopm .ffiiN v PLACE: Student Stores DEPOSIT: S2O Graduates Delivery Guaranteed! "Officially Licensed Carolina Ring Dealers" A KKA RV E D ft Student Stores X COLLEGE JEWELRY HBijß Special Payment Plans Available X COLLEGE JEWELRY Force, likened the state of the lesbian and gay movement to a victory. She said that after being “pariahs” for decades, gay men and lesbians seemed to have achieved vis ibility. Vaid said that in undertones and in more blatant forms, advertising and the media had publicized the lesbian and gay movement in recent years. However, Vaid said, while more gay and lesbian individu als were visible, these characters and ads perpetuated traditional stereotypes. Vaid said accompanying the victory is a sense of “power, yetpowerlessness” among gays and lesbians. Vaid said gays and lesbi ans live in a state of “virtual equality. ” She said this state “has an appearance of equal “I’m hoping we 're at a stage where we will have narrowed the field. The committee wants to have this brought to closure by this summer. ” STEPHEN BIRDSALL Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences tion of candidates,” he said. He said the committee was supposed to meet with the firm last week to review candidates, but the meeting had been post poned to later this week. Because the committee has not met with the consulting firm yet, Birdsall said he did not know how many total applicants there were for the job. "I’m hoping we’re at a stage where we will have narrowed the field, ” Birdsall said. “The committee wants to have this brought to closure by this summer.” “ We 're growing very rapidly, and we don't want to lose what is valuable and unique about Orange County MARGARET BROWN County Commissioner Candidate Brown said members of citizen groups should be allowed to pool their three-minute allotments. Then, a designated leader could speak at length. She also wants the devel opers to present their proposal as a list of both pros and cons and to include a ques tion and answer session. “Citizens come out not to reject, but to ask questions,” Brown said. “It’s an easy change to make.” Don Willhoit, a current member of the Orange County Board of Commissioners running for re-election, said public input is needed even before the public hearing stage. He suggested holding public meetings at the concept stage of a proposed new development, before the proposal for the development is finalized. By law, public hearings must be held, Willhoit said. “But there’s no prohibition against also having work sessions or forums. It’s been one of my goals to have more of a dialogue on things, prior to a public hearing.” When considering new development plans or zoning changes, commissioners should add the impact on local schools to the other factors considered when evaluat ing new proposals, Brown said. Brown also said she wanted to change the way the county figured the fiscal im pact of new construction projects. The county’s analysis shows how much new developments will cost the county. However, Brown said the analysis did “The dominant view is that we should remain a gay-specific movement, but 1 think that s wrong, a misguided view. ” URVASHI VAID Gay-Rights Activist ity but... is a simulation.” Vaid said gays and lesbians are still not viewed by heterosexuals as normal people. The 18-month-old search began in Sep tember 1994 after the May resignation of Boulton. Edith Wiggins, who served as Boulton’s associate, has been the interim vice-chan cellor during the search. She previously served under Boulton. “(The vice chancellor) serves as the chief advocate for student programs and ser vices among the senior administrators,” Wiggins told The Daily Tar Heel last Sep tember. “It is the chief advocate for the role that students can play.” In September, the committee expected to have named anew vice chancellor by Jan. 1 this year. “It was brought to conclu sion last summer but Chancellor Hooker asked for the deadline to be extended so he could be more involved,” Birdsall said. Because the search began during the search for anew chancellor, Birdsall said last fall that the search committee was told to pace itself to make a decision after Hooker was appointed. Hooker will make the final decision on who assumes the vice chancel lor position. not consider key capital costs, such as the cost of additional police, fire and garbage collection equipment needed to service new developments. “It’s like if you get anew job that pays you a lot of money, you might have to buy better clothes and a carto commute. You’re making more money, but you also have to spend more money,’’Brown said. “Growth is very expensive." Willhoit said the sheriffs office did sub mit a report stating the amount of new deputies needed to cover a development. To pay for new growth, Brown said she hoped the N.C. General Assembly would help out by changing the impact fee into a property tax. The fee is levied against all new con struction to help pay for schools. Brown suggested finally that input was needed while projects are in progress, not just when they are initially proposed. She said she would try to put a system in place that would periodically evaluate projects in progress. The evaluations would make sure the projects met conditions under which they were approved and check to ensure that their impact on the county and environ ment was comparable to die developer’s projected impact. Brown said these changes were a way to try and allow the county to grow while maintaining its character. “We’re growing very rapidly, and we don’t want to lose what is valuable and unique about Orange County and become another community awash in development.” mmm London $259* Paris s2B9* Frankfurt $299* Amsterdam $325* Milan $335* Warsaw $359* Budapest $365* Athens s4l9* are way from Raleigh Durham based on a PFCs totalling $3 and $45. depending on destination or departure charges paid directly to foreign governments. Call Caufoga FREE SrutstT Travels magazme! fSßfflffl Travel , 137 E. Franklin St. SurrE 106 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (914) 942-2334 http://www.ciee.org/cts/ctshome.htin IIIIIIJIHHLHIIJ.I.IMIS NEWS “We’re normal,” Vaid said. “Normal dif ferent, but normal still.” Gay adoption, job opportunities, sod omy laws and government funding were all topics on Vaid’s agenda. Vaid urged the audience to speak up about acts of violence against homosexuals and in defense of gay and lesbian rights. She said discrimination based on sexual orientation is still legal in 41 states. One of the most important issues facing gays and lesbians, Vaid said, is the struggle to gain government funding. "We are, af ter all, tax payers,” she said. “We have every right and responsibility to demand our fair share of tax dollars.” Absentee Voters Must Register by Next Week ■ If you want to vote in local primaries, call the Orange County Board of Elections. BY JAMES PALMER STAFF WRITER As the May 7 primary approaches, some UNC students face the problem of voting in a county where they are not permanent residents. Absentee voting allows registered vot ers to participate in elections by mailing in their ballots instead of visiting a poll site. The process is not complicated —a student from outside Orange County needs only to call or write his or her local county board of elections, and the department will send out an absentee ballot. Requests for the ballot need to be received by the local boards as soon as possible. Registered voters in OrangeCountywho will be out of town for the May 7 primary can receive an absentee ballot by calling the Orange County Board of Elections at 967-9251. Since the primary election falls five days after the last day of exams on May 4, many students will have already returned to their hometowns. Joy Sparks, a freshman En glish and communications major, said she would vote in Goldsboro, her home town. BUDGET FROM PAGE 3 in the fall, there are members who feel if they give the governor that power they need to take some away.” The exchange of power would not con tinue with the UNC system, which would receive nothing in return for giving up the budget flexibility. “There is... an interest in having money to use as they (the University) see fit,” Senator Betsy Cochrane, R-Davie, said. “But we have a responsibility to the tax payer to make sure the money is being spent the best way possible.” However, Susan Ehringhaus, UNC-CH legal counsel, said she thought the change might do the opposite. Her first impression of the proposal was negative. “I think it will negatively influ ence the flexibility of Special ResponsM iFA ST, FR EED E LIVE RY | i stta, i iz, | Funding for educational campaigns about AIDS and AIDS-related issues which referred to homosexuality in any way was banned by the federal government in 1987. Vaidsaid this stopped the “lifesavingwork” that some organizations are involved in. Vaid urged gay men and lesbians to be active in multiple key issues. “The dominant view is that we should remain a gay-specific movement,” Vaid said, “but I think that’s wrong, a mis guided view.” Vaid said it didn’t matter whether gays and lesbians were conserva tives or progressives; they should be in volved in working with larger issues, such as health care. ELECTIONS But seniors waiting around Chapel Hill for the May 11 commencement might have to worry about being away from their local counties. “I’ll probably use the absentee ballot,” said Margaret Deal, a senior from Mooresville. However, some seniors have established residence in Orange County and are regis tered in the county. If a student has not registered to vote in the primary, that deadline is also nearing. April 12 marks the last day to register for the election. Students looking to register can pick up the forms at Davis Library, the Chapel Hill Public Library or either the Chapel Hill or Carrboro Town Hall. Volunteersforpolitical parties often visit the Pit and other parts of campus to try and register student voters. Traditionally, the turnout for primaries is lower than the turnout for November elections. However, this year’s primary election will determine the Democratic and Republican party nominations for sev eral key offices, including N.C. governor and U.S. Senator. “I don't understand how the UNC system feels they have anything to fear ” DONFOILMER Communications Director for N.C. House Speaker Harold Brubaker. R-Randolph ity Institutions that have been able to be more responsive to the public,” she said. However, Ehringhaus said she was cur rently reviewing that impression. Follmerand Cochrane said the system’s fears would be addressed by a panel that had been established to review the pro posal. “I don’t understand how the UNC sys tem feels they have anything to fear,” Follmer said. Monday, April 1,1996 Proposals For Grants Drop Off ■ Chancellor Michael Hooker challenged faculty to find external grant funding. BY JOHN SWEENEY STAFF WRITER Chancellor Michael Hooker said he was concerned about a recent drop in faculty grant proposals and challenged faculty to work harder in finding external funding sources at the Friday meeting of the Fac ulty Council. “I’m concerned that production of pro posals has dropped off,” Hooker said, cit ing a 12.5 percent decrease in proposals during the 1995-96 year. Hooker said UNC had experienced an “almost phenomenal” increase in spon sored research activity during the early 1980s. Hooker blamed the decrease on corre sponding decreases in funding of research projects from the federal government, say ing many faculty members had been “de moralized" by the government’s growing decline in educational funding. But Hooker also said UNC was the only campus in the UNC system that had a decline in grant proposals. The decrease in government spending should make faculty more determined, Hooker said. “Weshould redouble our efforts to compete because if the rest of the world is reducing their num ber of proposals, then more money is ours for the taking,” he said. Hooker also spoke to faculty about the teacher workload study mandated by the General Assembly. He said the average workload of teach ers at UNC was four classes per year and the state legislature wanted to reward fac ulty who taught more than the average load. Hooker also said he wanted the study to account for teaching that went on out side the classroom, such as tutoring. “It is important to recognize all these modes of teaching; and so defining teach ing will be quite a challenge, but a very important challenge,” he said. Hooker also discussed campus parking and recent reports that the University was considering building anew parking deck on the recreational fields beside Carmichael Auditorium. “We haven’t ruled that out, but we haven’t ruled it in,” Hooker said. Hooker said the two biggest complica tions for such a project would be funding the construction and dealing with the vol ume of traffic the deck would create. In other faculty council business, the Educational Policy Committee’s recom mendation on take-home final exams or projects was passed without opposition. The recommendation requires profes sors to inform students that their final exam would be take home in the course syllabus and to make the exam due on the day the final exam was originally scheduled. Educational Policy Committee Chair man James Gallagher said many students had complained of overload during the last week of classes because professors required final projects during that week. 5
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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