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Serving the students and the University
community since 1893
Suspension
issued after
police query
■ J.D. Langford was given
a three-day suspension for
an incident with a student.
BY AMY CAPPIELLO
CITY EDITOR
A Carrboro police officer has been
suspended for three days without pay in
connection with an Oct. 4 incident
involving a UNC senior.
According to a press release issued
by the town of Carrboro, the unnamed
officer was suspended after an internal
investigation in which, “Chief (Ben)
Callahan determined that certain viola
tions of police policies and procedures
occurred in connection with the inci
dent.”
Although the release does not name
either the officer or the individual, Troy
Hendrick, a senior journalism and mass
communication major from Winston-
Salem, was involved in an incident with
officer J.D. Langford.
Neither Langford nor Hendrick
could be reached for comment.
Langford and officer W. Smith
responded to a request to assist the fire
department at 100 Shelton St. on Oct. 4.
In a previous interview, Hendrick said
he was standing in the street taking pho
tos of the fire, and when Langford
waved him off Hendrick stepped into
his own yard.
Hendrick said Langford approached
him and told him to stop taking photos.
When Hendrick refused, he was arrest
ed for resisting, delaying and obstruct
ing an officer.
Hendrick was later “unarrested” at
the Carrboro police station after
Hendrick discussed the incident with
Langford’s supervisor, Sgt. James K.
Phillips, and it was determined that
probable cause in the case had dimin
ished.
In a previous interview Capt.
Carolyn Hutchison said Hendrick’s
unarrest was an admission on the part
of the Carrboro Police Department that
a mistake was made.
Callahan said Thursday that he was
not able to speak about the officer’s sus
pension.
“I am not authorized to comment on
the disciplinary action,” Callahan said.
Carrboro Town Manager Bob
Morgan said he was also unable to com
ment.
He said the press release prepared by
Town Attorney Michael Brough, which
is in accordance with the N.C.
Personnel Records Privacy Act, was the
only information available on the disci
plinary action.
“There’s a specific procedure we
have to follow,” Morgan said. “Only
certain information can be released.
“If I don’t follow what’s in the state
statute, I could be breaking the law.”
Afternoon fire guts attic in five UNC students’ residence
Ba 3 g IsL.-
DTH/CARABRICKMAN
On Thursday afternoon a fire seriously damaged the roof and attic of the home located at 821 Old Pittsboro Road,
the residence of 5 members of the UNC varsity women's swim team.
Missing file prompts police investigation
■ The file was missing from
an office that holds some
Honor Court case records.
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Student Attorney General Charles
Harris discovered earlier this week that
a file had disappeared from what he
called his tightly secured office.
Harris reported to University Police
on Wednesday that a file from his desk
was missing and other files in his office
had been moved from their original posi
tions.
Student leaders are keeping tight
Public-private
partnership
BY CYNTHIA EAKES
STAFF WRITER
Jeff Dangl, associate professor of
biology, studies the genes of a little
weed called Arabidopsis thaliana in col
laboration with Novartis, a company in
Research Triangle Park.
“Our goal is to understand the basic
defense mechanisms of plants by study
ing the genes in the model,
Arabidopsis,” Dangl said.
“Their goal is to take this informa
tion and develop more effective and
environmentally friendly ways for
plants to turn on their own defense sys
tem to fight off invaders.”
Dangl’s work is just one example of
the symbiotic relationships between
universities and corporations that grow
out of contract research.
Contract research means that a com
pany in the private sector provides
grant money for research in the
University. Another example of con
tract research is Glaxo Wellcome Inc.’s
providing the School of Pharmacy with
funds to research anew drug.
Although funding from the private
industry comprises only a small per
centage of the University’s research
dollars, many issues surround contract
research.
Faculty have many outlets for fund
ing, but the most money comes from
federal sources, said Robert Lowman,
associate vice provost for research.
Of the $290 million in research
grants last year, $227 million, or 78 per
cent, came from federal sources. About
sl4 million, or 4.8 percent, came from
private industry.
Lowman said most researchers use
A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.
Katharine Whitehorn
Friday, October 24,1997
Volume 105, Issue 96
lipped about what was in the file while
police search for it.
“At this point... I don’t want to com
ment on it, because it’s actually an inves
tigation,” Harris said.
The office keeps several kinds of files,
but most deal with cases that will go
before the Honor Court —a panel of
five students who rule on cases of acad
emic cheating and other violations of
the Honor Code.
Harris told police he first noticed the
missing file when he entered his office
Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
A housekeeper unlocked the office to
clean it at about 8 a.m. and did not re
lock the door.
Harris said he believed someone took
the file during that time.
GRAPHIC ILUJSTRXnON BY CHRISTIAN HEIMS
federal money as their primary support
and industry money as a supplement.
Kim Brouwer, associate professor of
pharmacy, said she uses funding from
the private sector to answer questions
she could not generate federal dollars to
support.
“In situations like these we are not
for sure we will see a positive result or
what we want to happen,” Brouwer
said.
Steven Offenbacher, professor of
periodontology, said federal funding
keeps getting tighter and tighter.
“Contract research gives scientists a
way to balance the process,”
Offenbacher said.
Federal grants are also very hard to
come by because of the competition
that exists for the money.
“I can write a federal grant and have
See PRIVATE, Page 6
The police report states he last knew
the file was on his desk Monday at 4:30
p.m.
Harris said he strictly limits access to
his office.
“I can’t stress to you enough how
much we keep that place locked down,”
Harris said.
Harris, who has already interviewed
his colleagues, has not discovered who
took the file.
Anyone who files charges against a
student for violating the Honor Code
sends the paperwork to the student attor
ney general’s office or the Division of
Student Affairs, Harris said.
The staff keeps the file in his office
until the Honor Court hears the case
sometime within the two weeks after
Publish
Perish
A five-part series exploring the importance
of research at UNC.
■ Monday: Defining
research
■ Tuesday: The
politics
of funding research.
■ Wednesday:
Where do
professors get
support to balance
teaching and
research?
■ Thursday: The
differences
between
various
departments'
research.
■ Today: The
private
sector's
influence.
BY ROB NELSON
AND STEVE MRAZ
ASSISTANT CITY EDITORS
A Thursday afternoon fire gutted the
roof and attic of 821 Old Pittsboro
Road, the home of five members of the
UNC varsity women’s swim team.
The Chapel Hill Fire Department
arrived at the scene around 4:30 p.m.
after receiving a call from an employee
at the Children’s School of Chapel Hill.
Mary McGovern, the school’s direc
tor, said the employee left work at 4:30
p.m., then rushed back into the school,
told her the house across the street was
on fire and said to call the fire depart
ment.
McGovern said officials were on the
scene and fighting the fire within five
minutes of the call.
Chapel Hill Deputy Fire Chief Myrle
Smith said the roof and attic of the
house were damaged but that the cause
of the fire was unknown.
Smith said the department would
continue to conduct an investigation to
determine the cause. Officials were com
piling damage estimates at press time.
All five students were at a swim meet
at the Koury Natatorium on Skipper
Bowles Drive when the fire broke out.
paperwork is filed.
Harris sends the paperwork back to
Student Affairs when he is done. If
Honor Court acquits a student, the
paperwork is destroyed, he said.
Harris would not say whether he has
the only copies of the files for fear of
harming the investigation.
“Literally, what I say could (harm
it),” he said.
Lane Dilg, chief justice of the Honor
Court, said she had heard sketchy infor
mation about the theft, but she has tried
to distance herself from the investiga
tion.
“It’s quite possible that if that did
occur, it would come up as an Honor
Court case,” she said.
Dilg said she did not want any prior
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3F j
DTH/CARA BRICKMAN
Leading feminist Gloria Steinem lectured about being active in political and
social causes Thursday evening in Memorial Hall.
Steinem shares ideas,
spirit with full house
■ She said people need to
understand that politics
have caused oppression.
BY ANGELA MERS
STAFF WRITER
Acclaimed feminist Gloria Steinem
shared her spirit and ideas on the dom
inance of the male hierarchy with what
she called a “chemical combination” of
people who would never again be repli
cated.
Steinem spoke Thursday night to a
packed audience in Memorial Hall.
GROWISE, Carolina Union Activities
Board, and Carolina Women’s Center
sponsored the event.
Steinem is the founder and editor of
“The fire started coming out
of the side of the house, and
then the whole roof
caught on fire.”
VALERIE BRITT
Next-door neighbor of the swimmers
Three of the students’ parents, who
arrived at the fire, later declined com
ment Thursday afternoon. The students
also declined to comment after the meet.
Two of the students’ next-door neigh
bors were eyewitnesses to the blaze.
“The fire started coming out of the
side of the house, and then the whole
roof caught on fire,” said Valerie Britt of
Garner, a second-year student in the
School of Pharmacy.
“Some guy busted the door down to
see if anybody was inside,” she said.
“He wasn’t in there long.”
Courtney Blacker, a senior journal
ism and mass communication major
from Charlotte, said she was returning
to her residence on 823 Old Pittsboro
Road when the fire broke.
"I was walking down the street, and I
thought it was my house," she said.
“We’re just glad no one was hurt.”
News/Features/Ara/Sportr
Business/Advertising;
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C 1997 DTH Publishing Carp.
All rights reserved.
information in case she had to sit over
the case.
University Police Lt. Angela Cannon
said Thursday afternoon that officers
have made no advances in the case.
An unlocked door of the Student
Attorney General’s office contributed to
an Honor Court case in spring 1996
when two students took nearly 1,500
copies of an issue of The Carolina
Review that criticized a student body
president candidate and put them in the
office.
The Review’s publisher charged the
students with stealing, and the Honor
Court acquitted them.
Margaret Barrett, judicial programs
officer, was unavailable for comment
Thursday.
Ms. magazine, the author of the book
“Moving Beyond Words,” and an
inductee into the National Women’s
Hall of Fame.
She concentrated on the plight of the
feminist movement through the ideals of
society’s hierarchy and related the ideals
of feminism with the interests of other
oppressed groups.
“I thought she was amazingly laid
back,”said Heather Marin, a sophomore
from Vermont. “She is a good example
of what feminists should be.”
Steinem started the evening out with
a simple question, “Aren’t we going to
have a good time tonight?”
She established her agenda for the
evening by telling the audience of her
role as both the outside agitator and the
See STEINEM, Page 6
Friday
SEAC chainsaw massacre
Members of
SEAC staged
a protest in
Polk Place.
They were
protesting the
deaths of
Amazon
tribes people
due to lumber
companies seeking mahogany. Page 4
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