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INSIDE
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 5,1997
Police chief challenges charges
of racism at aldermen meeting
■ A professor’s comments
painted a false image of
race relations, leaders said.
BY ROB NELSON
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
The issue of alleged discrimination
by Carrboro police was put at the top of
the Board of Aldermen’s Tuesday night
agenda.
Police Chief Ben Callahan was invit
ed to speak to the board to address con
cerns and answer questions about
alleged racism involving an incident last
Wednesday.
The controversy began when when
four black men were held at gunpoint by
Carrboro police at Highland Hills
Apartments after a woman phoned
police because she suspected the males
were breaking into a car.
“I know a large concern has been
raised because your department has
The sound of silence
BY APRIL SIMUN
STAFF WRITER
Catherine Hair walks into her
Thursday class, takes a seat near the
front and pulls out a notebook.
Her friend smiles at her, turns a
chair around to face her and begins a
polite-looking conversation.
But it’s hard for a hearing person
who can’t lip-read very well to know
exactly what they are talking about.
Hair and her transliterator aren’t
speaking aloud. They are speaking
silently with Cued Speech, because
Hair was born deaf.
Hair is one of 17 University stu
dents who is deaf or hearing-impaired.
“We do not know why I’m deaf,”
she wrote on a slip of paper. “I’m the
only one in both sides of (my) family.”
Hair, a senior from Cary, learned
Cued Speech when she was about 3
years old.
“My parents taught my sister first,
and I learned it from her,” she wrote.
Cued Speech is a form of commu
nication in which the speaker mouths
words while making handshapes.
Eight different handshapes and four
placements around the mouth are used
to distinguish between words like met
and bet which look similar on the lips.
UNC’s Department of Disability
Services supplies notetakers for the 17
hearing-impaired and deaf students
and interpreters for four of them.
Out of the classroom, social com
munication is a different story.
When Hair first meets hearing peo
ple who don’t know Cued Speech, she
communicates by writing notes.
“I’ve met a lot of people that were
afraid to talk to me, so I usually make
the first move,” she said. “I usually say,
jPUMI • .!1j i!
JSH MBK B f /
DTH/MICHAEL KANAREK
ASG President John Dervin talks to student volunteers Ali Fischer (left) and
Joanne Werdel on Tuesday about their National Student Day of Action work.
Putting their
heads together
UNC officials met with
students to discuss
concerns. Page 2
worked to build a
good relationship
with the commu
nity,” Alderman
Alex Zaffron said
to Callahan.
Zaffron said it
was important for
the public to have
a better under
standing of proper
police procedure
in high-risk inci
dents such as the
one last week.
“It would be
helpful to go
through the histo
ry of what you do
Alderman
HANK ANDERSON
said Carrboro police
now had to defend
themselves because
of Professor Chuck
Stone's comments
when you respond to calls like these so
the public sees there was no difference
between proper procedure and what
actually happened,” he said.
Town Manager Bob Morgan said the
incident has caused worry among
Carrboro police. “The officers are very
. -
DTH/MATTKOHUT
Catherine Hair looks to her interpreter during a lecture. This real time
interaction allows her to participate normally in class.
‘Ya know, I’m only deaf. I don’t have
a disease or something. I’m normal
like ya’ll but only with no hearing.’”
After a while, she said, they become
familiar with reading each others’ lips,
Humankind can’t stand too much reality.
T.S. Eliot
Quick cash in a
college town
Students earn money
through alternative
methods. Page 5
4^
concerned with their public perception,”
he said.
Alderman Hank Anderson said com
ments made Thursday by UNC journal
ism Professor Chuck Stone about the
incident bothered him.
“I don’t understand what Stone was
talking about,” Anderson said.
“What he said about Carrboro hurt.
Now we have to defend ourselves
because of what someone said.”
Stone upset Carrboro officials last
week when he said in an interview with
The Daily Tar Heel, “I would not be sur
prised to see a young black man killed in
Carrboro soon.”
In an interview following the meet
ing, Administrative Capt. Carolyn
Hutchison said the department had
taken Stone’s comments personally.
“When a renowned professor in an
academic community makes generaliza
tions like that, it’s something we take
very seriously,” she said. “In my mind,
his comments have taken us back 30
years.”
so they do that instead of writing.
But deaf people have different ways
of communicating signing, lip read-
See DEAf, Page 6
Petition project strives to empower, educate students
BY WHITNEY MOORE
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Students hungry for legislative power
on the national level streamed into the
Pit on Tuesday afternoon to urge law
makers to vote for student issues.
The National Student Day of Action
encouraged students to sign postcards
addressed to Sens. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
and Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., President
Bill Clinton, and Rep. David Price, D-
N.C., that dealt with higher education
issues.
“This effort is to draw attention to the
fact that students are really concerned
about higher education issues,” said
Mandy Hitchcock, a junior from
Charlotte who helped pass out petitions.
"We have the power to make (legisla
tors) pay attention to our opinions."
John Dervin, president of the
The Eagles have
not landed
UNC women’s lacrosse
blasted Boston College
on Tuesday. Page 7
“My officers are devastated.
This kind of thing hurts their
pride, and they’re concerned
some people are going to
throw this in their faces.”
BEN CALLAHAN
Carrboro Police Chief
Callahan said accusations of racism
have had a tremendous impact on his
department. “My officers are devastat
ed.” he said.
“This kind of thing hurts their pride
and they’re concerned that some people
are going to throw this in their face.”
Callahan said the incident had been
difficult for everyone involved.
“It was an unfortunate situation, and
I’m sorry it happened, but it’s the nature
of the job. We have to combat this by
telling our side, which is what I’m trying
to do.”
■ Some students hope to
implement a course in
sign language for credit.
BY APRIL SIMUN
STAFF WRITER
Four years ago, senior Lindsay
Rae Mclntyre started an extracur
ricular class to teach interested
undergraduates American Sign
Language, one of the ways to com
municate with the deaf and hearing
impaired.
Since then, she’s tried to get the
University to offer an undergraduate
course in sign language and deaf
issues. She’s gotten petitions signed,
spoken to department heads and
even designed a syllabus.
“There are so many academic
possibilities for (a course) in terms of
learning about sign, learning about
deaf culture,” she said.
But Mclntyre has been told that
the University lacks the resources to
offer the course.
Jackson Roush, director of the
Division of Speech and Hearing
Sciences, said he thought an ASL
course would be popular.
“We just haven’t had any way to
finance it,” he said. “If we could get
the funding, I think it is a worth
while issue. We have a graduate
course, and people are beating down
the doors.”
Mclntyre’s class, which she has
taught every semester since she was
a freshman except one, has proven to
be popular, she said. She said she
See COURSE, Page 6
Association of
Student
Governments, pre
dicted that stu
dents would sign
almost 500 post
cards on the first
day. The postcards
will be available in
the Pit throughout
March.
He said the
postcards stressed
to lawmakers the
importance of
supporting higher
education by con
tinuing funding for
the State Student
Association of Student
Governments
President
JOHN DERVIN
said students could
secure higher
education victories.
Incentive Grant, which provides grants
for needy students.
The postcards also urged opposition
Today's
Weather
Partly cloudy;
low 70s.
Thursday: Showers: low 60s.
Camping out
Construction on Camp Lenoir will begin during Spring Break. The facility will be
built partially in the Pit and should take about a third of the space. Camp Lenoir
will be open for use May 20.
Pit space to remain available
despite interim dining area
BY MERRITT DEMPSEY
STAFF WRITER
Activities will continue as usual in
the Pit, despite construction on the alter
native dining area, Camp Lenoir.
The facility, which will take up one
third of the Pit, will open on May 20.
Construction is set to begin during
Spring Break.
Increased congestion in the Pit area
and enhanced noise are both concerns
the UNC community.
“I think everyone’s going to have to
make sacrifices,” said Campus Y co
Phi Gamma Delta starts
reconstruction of house
BY KATHARINE OATES
STAFF WRITER
Hopes are high as plans for the recon
struction of the Phi Gamma Delta fra
ternity house get underway.
Monday the Chapel Hill Town
Council approved a request for expedit
ed review of a Special Use Permit
Application to reconstruct house which
was destroyed May 12 in a fire that
killed five people.
Roger Waldon, director of the
Chapel Hill Planning department, said
the approval process would take
months. “It is a process that could take
as short as six months or as long as 18,
but most likely closer to the six,” he
said.
Phi Gamma Delta President Garrett
Perdue said plans to build the house are
already underway. The new house will
be located on Cameron Street, where
the old house now sits.
Perdue said the new house would be
rebuilt from the existing structure. The
porches will be closed in, and a terrace
will be added to the rear of the house.
“Full blueprints and site plans have
been drawn up for the new house,” he
to attempts to force student welfare
recipients out of school and into work
and attempts to end affirmative action
programs for universities, Dervin said.
“We hope to win these three issues,”
Dervin said. “Our major goal is to edu
cate and empower students, but our sec
ond goal is to win these three legislative
victories.”
The petition drive is part of a nation
al push by the United States Student
Association, an organization that lob
bies with student funds for a variety of
college issues, including federal aid for
education.
USSA caused controversy at UNC in
January when Student Congress voted
against a possible student referendum
that would have increased student fees
to fund USSA.
Student Body President Aaron
Nelson said UNC had a responsibility to
104 years of editorial freedom
Serving the student! and the University
community nee 1893
NcwvFcatura/Arts/Sports: 9624)245
Volume 105, Issue 7
Chapel HiU, North Carolina
C 1997 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved
DTH/ELYSE ALLEY. IESSICA GODWIN AND PHILLIP MOLAKO
minister of information Malav Doshi.
Camp Lenoir comprises part of the
University’s interim dining services,
while the regular dining hall is closed for
renovations. The temporary structure
will take up Pit space until July 1998.
But Anne Varley, central reservation
ist in the Carolina Union, said much of
the Pit would still be available to student
groups.
“We’re planning on continuing to
reserve the Pit,” Varley said.
Martin Pomerantz, director of the
See LENOIR, Page 6
said. “Our goal remains to be moved
into our new house by fall of 1998.”
Further steps property owners must
make toward finalizing the plans for the
reconstruction oe include submission to
the Planning Department, Appearance
Commission and a final submission
before a public hearing, where the
Council will decide on the permit,
Waldon said.
Before the May fire, Phi Gamma
Delta alumni had been formulating
plans to remodel the existing house said
Ron Binder, director of Greek Affairs.
The alumni now have the task of rais
ing the 1.5 million dollars that will be
needed for the reconstruction, Binder
said.
Garrett said the alumni already have
some money, but they do not have insur
ance money yet. “They have already
raised $750,000 for the reconstruction,"
he said.
The new house is scheduled to con
tain state of the art fire safety features
and technology including an elevator,
computer hook-ups in every room and
new internal wiring that will allow for
See PHI GAMMA DELTA, Page 6
get involved with national issues.
“If we are going to call ourselves one
of the number one universities in the
country, we have to take a leadership
role on national issues,” he said.
USSA Organizing Director Rebecca
Flynn said empowerment came from
teamwork.
“Students all over the country are
holding high visibility actions today,”
Flynn said.
“We want to show, on a national
level, our power over our elected repre
sentatives," she said.
UNC students who signed the peti
tions said they hoped their legislators
would consider student opinions.
“I don’t feel my one petition will
make a difference, but it’s one of many,”
said Stephen Lui, a junior from Dallas.
“Sheer numbers are the only way to
get to these representatives."