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SEPTEMBER 12,1996
University community unites to tidy up Fran’s mess
DTH/AMY CAPPIELLO
Cooperation was the name of the game at McCorkle Place. These two University students helped each other roll
part of a tree trunk off the quad and over to the debris pile for pickup Wednesday afternoon.
Victims
of Fran
to get aid
■ Forty counties in the
state have been declared
federal disaster areas.
BY MELISSA STEELE
SENIOR WRITER
Forty counties inNorth Carolina have
now been declared federal disaster areas
due to the damage done by Hurricane
Fran. Asa result of this state of emer
gency, Gov. Jim Hunt announced that
$25 million would be put forth to help the
public get buildings, land and lives back
in order.
“This money will go a long way to
ward helping our citizens in the worst-hit
areas put their lives back together," Hunt
stated in a press release. “This immediate
assistance from the state will help us get
the relief we need—and fast—from the
federal government.”
The state is required to match 25 per-
cent of federal
funding. Since the
total amountoffed
eral funding has
not been deter
mined, the $25 mil
lion is just the ini
tial state aid.
“This is just a
start,” said Tom
Hegele, the chief
information officer
of the state emer
gency response
team. “We have to
announced the state
would get $25 million
in state aid.
provide 25 percent of the total amount. It
may be years before it all comes out.”
Hegele said they were still working on
the details of putting 1989’s Hurricane
Hugo to bed.
One of Hunt’s main concerns was
getting public schools back in session.
Much of the money provided will go to
cleaning up debris and making school
yards safe for teachers and students.
“We have to work quickly to get our
schools up and running again,” Hunt
stated in a press release. “We have to
make sure their grounds are cleared and
that they have safe water and adequate
power so students and teachers can get
back into their classrooms."
Assistant Press Secretary Kim Brooks
said Hunt did not yet have a date by
which he hoped the cleaning and repairs
would be done.
“It’s still a little early to tell when
See HUNT, Page 9
tP is for peeved
P2P workers are upset with A
the way students reacted T
to their early closure Friday
morning. Page 2
Activists say Defense of Marriage
BY ANNE HARDEN
STAFF WRITER
When the U.S. Senate voted to ap
prove the Defense of Marriage Act on
Tuesday, outlawing same-sex marriages,
gay rights activists turned the blow into a
call for action.
“Clearly it was a step backward... but
those sort of things have a way of mobi
lizing the troops,” said Carrboro Mayor
Mike Nelson, the first openly gay mayor
elected in North Carolina. “The next
battleground will be the courts.”
The act defines marriage as only the
“union between one man and one
woman. ” Both Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
and Sen. LauchFaircloth, R-N.C., voted
for the bill.
In a press release, Helms stated that
the bill “will safeguard the sacred institu
tions of marriage and the family from
those who seek to destroy them and who
are willing to tear apart the moral fabric
of America in the process.”
Helms’ opponent in this year’s Senate
race, Democrat Harvey Gantt of Char
lotte, has said he supported the bill.
In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro commu
nity, unmarried couples —same-sex and
different-sex—have been able to register
as domestic partners for the last two
Freshman
dropout
rates rising
State of the University in America
BYJEFF YOUNG
STAFF WRITER
The number of college freshmen who
return to school for their sophomore year
is declining nationwide. Across the coun
try, college administrators are searching
for ways to reverse this trend.
The current national freshman drop
out rate is 26.9 percent, according to a
report released by the American College
Testing Program in July. That number
has increased 2.5 percent since 1983, the
report concluded.
“We’ve been gathering this informa
tion from the nation’s colleges and uni
versities for 13 years, and never has the
Mother, food, love and career are the four major guilt groups.
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B9| Area schools may have A
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Jg to make up for days lost to
years. To date, nine have registered in
Carrboro and four have registered in
Chapel Hill. Mark Beasley and David
Thomas were the first to do so in Chapel
Hill.
“I was certainly disappointed when I
first started hearing about (the bill),”
Beasley said. “It distracts us from the
more winnable fights... but it makes me
see how important it is to get some
progress in the courts: the courts are
where we’re going to see change in the
next five years.”
Rick Neal, a health educator and re
cent UNC graduate, shared Beasley’s
disappointment.
He said the bill denied homosexuals
the recognition and benefits that hetero
sexuals were guaranteed in marriage. To
counter what he saw as discrimination,
Neal advocated a communal coming out.
“We have to speak the truth individu
ally, but the necessary second step would
be to speak the truth as a community,” he
said.
Ken Hewett, co-chairman of Bisexu
als, Gay men, Lesbians and Allies for
Diversity at UNC, said marriage created
an incentive for couples to stay together.
“People are always talking about how
gay people are promiscuous... if we were
able to marry, we’d have the same incen
1983 1986 1993 1996
overall dropout rate been as high or the
graduation rate as low as was reported
this year,” ACT President Richard
Ferguson said.
A separate U.S. Department of Edu
cation study tracked 1,000 freshmen from
1989 through 1994. After one year, 17
percent did not return for their sopho
more year. Of those who left school, 89
percent had failed to receive a bachelor’s
degree by 1994.
The concerns generated by these num
bers permeate all campuses, private and
public, large and small.
“Freshmen retention has been a major
issue for the last year or two,” said Jim
Major, assistant vice president for enroll
Men's soccer
mnn punished again
Coach Elmar Bolowich ”
handed down penalties
Wednesday. Page 13
■ Students, faculty and
staff cleared fallen trees
and raked leaves.
BY ASHLEY STEPHENSON
AND RAY WATTERS
STAFF WRITERS
The hum of chain saws and leaf blow
ers accompanied the campuswide
cleanup that began at noon Wednesday.
With classes canceled from noon to 7
p.m., students, faculty and staff gathered
at three different locations on campus.
Participation was most evident at the
Old Well, where nearly 1,000 students
arrived within the first hour. Because of
the overwhelming support, only 15 UNC
workers were needed to oversee the site.
“There’s no way we could’ve accom
plished close to this much without this
extraordinary effort,” said Kirk Pelland,
the University forester in charge of the
Old Well site.
Student Body President Aaron Nelson,
who suggested the widespread cleanup,
also participated at the Old Well cleanup
area.
“I couldnotbe more pleased,” he said.
“There is a tremendous sense of commu
nity."
The first 1,000 students to volunteer
five to stay together as straight people.”
Hewett also said same-sex marriages
were important in cases of serious illness
and custody. If married, same-sex couples
and their children could take advantage
of the health benefits of either partner.
Nelson saidthe vote disappomtedTum
but did not surprise him. “It’s still upset
ting that there are so many senators that
would take part in gay-bashing."
Helms’ press release stated, “This bill
in no way (can be described) as a hate
driven bill.”
The American Civil Liberties Union
is questioning whether the act is constitu
tional. Matt Coles, a lawyer for the
ACLU, argued that Congress couldn’t
allow states to ignore the laws and ac
tions of other states.
Coles pointed to the U.S. Constitu
tion. “The ‘full faith and credit clause’
makes it absolutely clear that one state’s
decree would have to be respected in
other states,” he said.
Coles said the bill was also unconstitu
tional under the Fifth Amendment’s
“equal protection clause” because it drew
a distinction between the marriage of a
man and a woman and the marriage of a
same-sex couple.
See SAME SEX, Page 2
ment management at Ohio State Univer
sity.
Ohio State’s freshmen retention rate is
77 percent; the national retention rate for
public universities is 67 percent, accord
ing to the ACT.
“We are utilizing a number of small
programs in an attempt to help our fresh
men,” Major said. One program, known
as “clustering," attempts to align fresh
men class schedules with their dormitory
neighbors’ schedules.
“Hopefully by sharing living areas and
some classes, these freshmen will de
velop ties that will prevent them from
See UNIVERSITY, Page 4
Today's
Weather .
Partly cloudy, chance "
of rain; low 80s.
Friday Cloudy; low 80s.
DTH/AMY CAPPIELLO
Hundreds of University students, faculty and staff joined together in McCorkle
Place on Wednesday afternoon to help with the cleanup effort. People used
chainsaws, rakes and blowers to remove tree trunks, branches and leaves.
were issued red coupons redeemable for
a free meal served in the Pit on Wednes
day evening. Local vendors donated
enough food for 1,000 meals. Due to
inclement weather, the cookout was
moved underneath the awning in front of
the Student Union.
Volunteers also helped clean up Coker
Arboretum.
Act a ‘step backward’
New bill rejects same-sex marrige
■ President Bill Clinton
Was said that he vnU the
bill that the Senate passed
Tuesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON The Senate
Democratic leader threw cold water to
day on gay-rights activists’ hopes to
quickly revive a bill prohibiting job dis
crimination against homosexuals. An
other bill placing federal curbs on same
sex marriages is going to President Bill
Clinton for his signature.
In a double blow to gay-rights activists
Tuesday, the Senate voted 50-49 to kill
the anti-discrimination bill and to reject
same-sex marriage in federal law, 85-14.
Heartened by the closeness of the vote
on job discrimination, activists said they
would lobby supporters to pass the bill
before Congress adjourns this fall. Sen
ate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-
S.D., asked whether the Senate supported
it, said, “I don’t think so. I suspect that
given the time that we have and the
realization that it’s not likely to pass in
U.S. sends more planes to
Iraq following missile attack
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON Warning Iraq
that America is “not playing games, ” the
Pentagon ordered a pair of B-52 bombers
and eight radar-evading F-l 17 jets to the
vicinity of the Persian Gulf on Wednes
day to prepare for possible new hostilities
with Iraq.
Defense Secretary William Perry, us-
ing uncharacteris
tically harsh lan
guage to discuss an
Iraqi attempt to fire
on U.S. aircraft in
the region, pledged
a U.S. response to
Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein
“disproportionate
to the provocations
which were made
against us.”
At a campaign
rally in Arizona,
President Bill
SADDAM HUSSEIN
ordered his army to
fire at U.S. jets in the
'no-fly' zone.
Clinton spoke in similar terms. “We will
do what we must to protect our people,”
Clinton said. “The determination of the
United States to deal with the problem of
Iraq should not be underestimated.”
The confrontation between the United
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Ken Moore, assistant director for the
Botanical Garden and the Coker Arbore
tum, said the recovery of the Arboretum
probably would not be complete until the
beginning of winter, but he said the
cleanup had expedited the process.
“I think it’s great what the students,
See CLEANUP, Page 4
the House that we’ll try to find more
votes and make an even more concerted
V Can<lace Gingrich, the les
bian half sister of House speaker Newt
Gingrich, said congressional battles over
gay rights were far from over.
“In the long run, the things that have
transpired over the past two months are
going toproduceawhole new generation
of active, involvedgay and lesbian Ameri
cans and our allies,” she said.
Twenty-six of the Senate’s 47 Demo
crats joined Republicans in voting for the
marriage bill but also voted for the job
discrimination measure.
The Senate expressed overwhelming
approval of the Defense of Marriage Act
and sent it to Clinton, who said he would
sign it. The House passed the same bill by
a 5-to-l margin in July.
The Defense of Marriage Act defines
marriage in federal law as a legal union
between one man and one woman and
allows a state to refuse to honor a same
sex marriage performed in any other state.
States still would have the authority to
legalize gay marriages, but the federal
government would not recognize them.
States and Iraq began after Saddam sent
troops into his country’s northern areas
in support of one of two contending fac
tions of the country’s Kurdish minority.
In retaliation, Clinton sent 44 Navy and
Air Force cruise missiles to destroy south
ern Iraq radar sites that might pose a
danger to U.S. pilots flying missions to
enforce a southern “no-fly” zone barring
Iraqi flights.
Republican vice presidential candidate
Jack Kemp blamed the Iraqi problem on
vacillation by Clinton in formulating for
eign policy. “Our alliances are in disar
ray, and support for our mission is at risk,
because President Clinton’s policy is
vague and uncertain,” Kemp said in a
statement he issued while campaigning
in Georgia. He issued the statement also
in the name of the GOP presidential
challenger, Bob Dole.
White House spokesman Mike.
McCurry, when asked if the administra
tion is worried that Iraq is becoming a
political issue, said he had heard of
Kemp’s comments. “I’d say, as we’ve
said in the past, that when we’re facing
provocative behavior by Saddam
Hussein, the United States will fulfil its
See IRAQ, Page 4