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INSIDE
TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 17,1996
Q
UNC employees misunderstand Hunt, take time off
BY KELLY O'BRIEN
STAFF WRITER
Gov. Jim Hunt’s decree last week that
gave some state employees the option of
taking the week off to help victims of
Hurricane Fran has caused confusion
among UNC employees.
Employees of 24-hour facilities, in
cluding University faculty and staff, were
not supposed to be included in Hunt’s
decree. But some UNC workers, who
misunderstood the statement, took days
People march to protest
racism, religious violence
BY TIFFANY CASHWELL
STAFF WRITER
RALEIGH State religious and political lead
ers marched a diverse group of approximately 40
people to the state capitol Monday afternoon in
Raleigh to protest the racism behind recent black
church burnings across the Southeast.
“The burnings are minor compared to the racism
reflected in the acts. This is what we need to focus on
most,” said S. Collins Kilbum, executive director of
the N.C. Council of Churches.
March organizers wanted to show the unity of
various church denominations against racism, said
Harold Wallace, a planning board member of the
Religious and Political Leaders Seminar and assis
tant of minority affairs at the UNC.
“The symbolism of the march is important,” he
said. “It sets an example for others to follow." The
Rev. John Mendez, pastor of the Friendship Baptist
Church in Winston-Salem, led the march.
The burnings, a total of 45 from January to
August, sparked discussions about what churches
could do to combat racism.
Council hears traffic concerns
of East Franklin neighborhoods
BYALEXPODLOGAR
STAFF WRITER
Residents voiced opposition to lan
guage regarding limited retail develop
ment in the East Franklin Street Corridor
Study at the Chapel Hill Town Council
meeting Monday night.
The study, developed by the Planning
Board, concerns the development and
preservation of the portion of East
FranklinStreetfromElliotroadtoWCHL
radio station. The study also includes
techniques designed to enhance the ap
pearance ofthe “Gatewayto the Town.”
The area deals with four properties,
including the residential Oxford Hills
and Coker Hills. The fear of potential
retail development has residents in these
areas in an uproar about everything from
safety to an increase in traffic congestion.
■ | | ijji
DTH/GRAHAM BRINK
John Franklin, recipient of the 'Historian of the Century' award, is commended by former U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford
during the first session of the civil rights conference held in the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center.
Cash overflow
The journalism school
received yet another
donation from the
Millholland family. Page 2
offlast week.
“What the governor said and what his
press release said were two different
things, ” said Drake Maynard, director of
UNC Human Resources.
“His speech explained that nonessen
tial employees had the option of staying
out of work if they engaged in some form
of cleanup.”
Drake said confusion arose when Hunt
made additions not stated in the policy.
The term “nonessential workers" was
not defined in Hunt’s speech, leaving
“We want to work collaboratively with black
churches,” Kilbum said, speaking for the predomi
nantly white council. “I would like to form a single,
merged committee between both groups to discuss
the issues.”
Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and Muslim minis
ters and white and black citizens walked in pairs
down Hillsborough Street from St. Paul AME
Church. Once at the capitol, several ministers de
scribed acts of racial violence as the result of a
decaying moral climate. Each denomination prom
ised to improve that climate by teaching their con
gregations racial tolerance and trust.
The Rev. William Barber of the Christian Church
Disciples of Christ in Goldsboro helped plan the
march and rally. He is also a member of the Reli
gious and Political Leaders Seminar and a co-spon
sor of the march.
“After the recent church burnings, discussion
centered around law enforcement and criminal pun
ishment. No one wanted to address the moral cli
mate. That’s why we are here today,” he said .
See MARCH, Page 2
“We highly commend the planning
board (forthe study),” DanielMcCauliffe,
president of the Coker Hills organiza
tion, said. “However, we are dismayed at
the planning board members on the sub
ject of retail development.”
Many residents said that any increase
in retail stores would add to the already
disturbing problem of traffic congestion.
“I am in strong opposition to the plac
ing of a supermarket and any retail store,”
Coker Hills resident Ruby Juliano said.
“Coker Hills is a quiet and tranquil place
where kids are safe to walk to school.
Retail development of any kind would
lead to negative impacts on traffic and
safety for sure.”
The study touted a mixture of uses.
The area would be organized around a
“village” ideal, maintaining residences
and designing buildings to complement
Housework can’t kill you, but why take the chance?
Phyllis Diller
Campaign Reform
North Carolina has its share
of Reform Party members
who hope to catapult Ross
Perot into office. Page 5
workers the week off.
University employ
ees unsure if they
were included,
Drake said.
Even faculty
leaders faced con
fusion.
“The staff in the
Faculty Council of
fice was not clear
whether they were
essential or nones
sential employ-
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Several people listen to presentations about the best way to deal with the recent wave of black church burnings in the Southeast.
Predominantly white and black churches co-planned the event, held Monday in Raleigh.
each other.
“We want something to signal this is
the arrival to this town,” Mary Reeb of
the planning board said. “This is not yet
a commercial area, and there is a good
deal of vegetation. There is a residential
goal there that we want to retain.”
The plan also stated that it would be
sensitive to the neighborhoods’ privacy.
But some residents are not convinced.
“There will be many noise concerns,
truck deliveries and odors from
dumpsters,” Donna Hudson said. “The
biggest issue for me and my neighbors is
privacy, and the peace and tranquility
would be greatly threatened by retail de
velopment.”
The planning board wants the study to
become part of the town’s Comprehen
sive Plan. The planning board will meet
again with the council Oct. 16.
Medal of honor
Lauren McDevitt competed A
in the Paralympics this ”
August and brought home
a bronze medal. Page 7
•a
ees,” said Jane Brown, chairwoman of
the Faculty Council. “It was a good ges
ture on the governor’s part, but it was
confusing.”
But Associate Vice Chancellor for
Human Resources Laurie Charest said
the decree was clearly not for University
workers.
“The University system was specifi
cally exempt,” Charest said.
“(Hunt’s decree) did not cover UNC
employees.”
Charest said the media caused the
BOG chairman criticized by students
■ C. Cliff Cameron said he
didn’t mean to refer to
students as employees.
BY ERICA BESHEARS
STATES NATIONAL EDITOR
UNC student government officers criti
cized comments from Board of Gover
nors Chairman C. Cliff Cameron about
why no students will be on the committee
to select anew UNC-system president.
Cameron told a reporter for The Daily
Tar Heel following Friday’s meeting that
selecting a replacement for UNC-system
President C.D. Spangler was like choos
ing anew company leader. “It’s sort of
like the board of directors of a company.
You don’t consult employees and stock
holders before electing the CEO.”
UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body Presi
dent Aaron Nelson said he didn’t like the
quote, which appeared in “BOG names
search committee for UNC head.”
Conference explores centuries of racism
■ John Franklin was
awarded “Historian of the
Century” at the program.
BY LESLIE QUIGLESS
STAFF WRITER
The horror of the Plessy vs. Ferguson
decision, which established the “sepa
rate but equal” clause, challenged future
generations to fight the horrors of racism,
said famed author and historian John
Franklin at a symposium Tuesday.
Franklin, a Harvard University gradu
ate and former N.C. Central University
professor, gave a speech in the first of
three sessions that make up the confer
ence “From Plessy to Brown to
Hopwood,” after which representatives
from UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke Univer
sity, N.C. State University, and NCCU
presented him with the “Historian of the
Century” award.
The conference traces blacks’ struggle
for equality through three landmark cases,
Today's
Weather .
Partly cloudy, chance "
of rain; low 80s.
Wednesday: Sunny low 80s.
confusion. Many stations failed to broad
cast Hunt’s entire speech, and employees
were unsure if they were exempt or not
based on what they heard, she said.
Chancellor Michael Hooker had an
nounced that the University would be
open Sept. 9 and operate under the “ad
verse weather” policy.
“The adverse weather policy contem
plates catastrophic weather and finds
ways to deal with it,” Drake said. “The
policy was perfectly adequate to handle
last week.”
“How can you run an effective com
pany if you don’t consult the employees
or die stockholders,” he asked. “I find
that attitude to be very frustrating."
John Dervin, president ofthe Associa
tion of Student Governments and non
voting member of the BOG, said reading
Cameron’s comment made him even
more upset about the search process. “I
am greatly troubled and bewildered and
will be getting in touch with him. ”
Monday, Cameron said he had merely
used a bad analogy to explain the search
process. “Ireckon I did use that,” he said.
“Having been all my business life in cor
porate involvement I don’t know that
that was the best example to use.”
Cameron said he did not mean to
imply that students and faculty members
were stockholders or employees. He said
he meant taxpayers and employees at
UNC General Administration.
Dervinsaid, “I’m glad he has retracted
that statement.”
Controversy over Cameron’s state
ment kept open the debate over why only
the first being Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Franklin began his speech with the
story of John Punch, a black indentured
servant who ran away in 1640 with two
white indentured servants. Punch was
sentenced to one lifetime of servitude.
The others were sentenced to one year.
Franklin said the road to Plessy began
with this incident and led to the Civil
War. He said the black soldiers’ role in
the Civil War was essential to the Union
victory, but many people are still un
aware of black soldiers’ importance. “It
is a story told over and over again only to
be forgotten,” Franklin said.
Franklin said, “Black Americans
plead(ed) with white Americans to re
spect the law” when the Civil Rights Act
was passed, while Southern whites balked
at obeying it.
The Supreme Court decision in 1883
to declare the act unconstitutional made
passing the Separate Car Act, which sepa
rated blacks and whites in train cars,
fairly simple in 1890, he said. Plessy was
arrested in 1892 for refusing to move to
the car reserved for blacks, although he
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UNC employees will be given the op
portunity to make up some of the missed
time. Under the “adverse weather”
policy, workers will bepaidfor any sched
uled hours from Sept. 6 through Sept. 9.
Temporary employees are not included,
because they are only paid for the hours
they work.
Under the policy, workers also were
provided with a chance to take time off
after Monday to deal with any hurricane
related problems. These employees have
a year to make up the missed time.
BOG members were placed on the search
committee. Dervin, a UNC-CH senior,
is a member of the leadership statement
committee and the only student on a
committee in the selection process.
The search process, which was deter
mined before Dervin joined the BOG
this summer, specified that only BOG
members join the search committee.
Dervin said the leadership committee
was not enough because the new presi
dent must be able to communicate with
students, faculty and chancellors. “Mem
bers ofthe University community should
be interacting with the candidates.”
Student body presidents at other UNC
system institutions agree. “150,000 stu
dents make up the system,” said Angela
Nix, student body president at East Caro
lina University. “We should have mem
bership on the search committee.”
Kaye Cranford, student body presi
dent at Appalachian State University,
said, “I can see where they’re coming
from, (but) I definitely think the students
need to be involved in that decision.”
could have passed for white. Plessy had
argued that the separate car law violated
his rights because the law could not be
enforced when “no one knows who’s
black and who’s white.”
Franklin said the Supreme Court’s
decision to uphold the doctrine of “sepa
rate but equal” legitimized “formal racial
classification as legitimized.”
Franklin said, “Perhaps the road to
equality could be reached before another
century has passed.”
Iyailu Moses, the director of African-
American Cultural Center at NCSU,
pledged to “make use of history” by tak
ing time to teach students black history.
“We must be active bearers of the
truth,” she said.
UNC-CH Professor of African and
Afro-American Studies Valerie Kaalund
agreed with Moses’ sentiment that the
the best way to honor Franklin is to
educate people about black history.
“Everyone needs to read some of his
work,” she said. “We are lucky to have
him for as long as we do. He helped to set
the standard for scholarship.”