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©be ®ailu ©ar MM J Newt/Feusres/Ara/Spora: 9624)245 • It A Bojinas/Advertinag: 9621163 SmagAtsaultmmdtheVnmnity Thursday, November 20,1997 Chipel Hill, North Carolina " WIW Volume 105, loue 115 Police officer fired, considers suing University ■ Maj. Jeff McCracken dismissed Lt. C.E. Swain for unacceptable conduct. BY ERICA BESHEARS EDITOR The University Police officer who has been at the center of the controversy sur rounding the department this fall has been fired following allegations that he falsified his timesheet. Lt. C.E. Swain was called into the police department Wednesday after noon to receive a letter from his super j JEtSSSBA DTH/ZEBULON HOU Professor Reginald Hildebrand addresses students about the benefits of affirmative action in the Pit. The rally was sponsored by ACCESS. Pit debate speaks out on affirmative action BY MELANIE FLOYD STAFF WRITER A campus group brought affirmative action to the Pit at lunch Wednesday, when students and faculty members pre sented the issue to the busy noon crowd. The event, which drew about 50 lis teners and participants, was a speak out sponsored by the Alliance for Creating Campus Equity and Seeking Social Justice. “The speak out is for anyone who wants to speak in support of or against affirmative action,” said Blessing Okeiyi, a member of ACCESS. Okeiyi said the event’s planners want ed to inform people about affirmative action and to dispose of myths associat ed with it. “A lot of people think that it’s just about quotas, and that’s not true,” Okeiyi said. Part of the initiative to hold the speak out and form ACCESS stemmed from Proposition 209 in California. The proposition said race would not be used as a factor for education, con tracting, or in public hiring policy in California, said Michal Osterweil, New state legislation vows to crack down on drunk drivers ■ The new laws will permit officers to conduct drug tests on drunk drivers. BY IDA JAMALUDIN STAFF WRITER Soon drinking and driving in North Carolina will be as hazardous to your car as it is to your health. Beginning Dec. 1, state legislation will mandate that law enforcement offi cers confiscate the cars of drunk drivers. The legislation, signed by Gov. Jim Hunt in August, is an effort by state leg islators to ensure deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving are kept to a minimum. Robert Carver, deputy director of Public Affairs at the N.C. Department of Crime Patrol and Public Safety, said this new legislation would hopefiilly lead to a decrease in drunk driving. "The idea is to take the means of visor Maj. Jeff McCracken that stated the outcome of a disciplinary confer ence held Monday morning. “It is my decision to dismiss you from your position as Lieutenant in the UNC CH Public Safety Department on the basis of unacceptable personal con duct,” the letter stated. McCracken did not return phone calls Wednesday night. Swain has denied the allegations and said he planned to sue the University. Chapel Hill attorney Alan McSurely, who called Swain’s dismissal “ridicu lous,” said he and Swain would examine their options when they met today. According to the letter, an employee of The Chapel Hill Newspaper reported ACCESS member. “Proposition 209 eliminated affirma tive action in California, and at the same time it took money away from programs like Headstart and set back women to a much lower level,” Osterweil said. Many believe the N.C. state govern ment might encounter similar legislation in the future. Several other states, such as Michigan, have already passed legis lation in accordance with Proposition 209. “Twenty-six other states have similar legislature pending, including North Carolina and the U.S. Congress,” said Reginald Hildebrand, a professor of African and Afro-American studies, who spoke at the speak out. Osterweil said one of ACCESS’ goals was to get the University to issue a state ment supporting the preservation of affirmative action, despite the growing trend in opposing legislation. Students representing many campus organizations, such as the Campus Y, Black Student Movement and Young Democrats, showed up at the event. ACCESS started about six weeks ago and meets every Thursday night in the basement of the Campus Y. habitual drunk driving away from drunk drivers, and that’s taking their cars away,” he said. “We will continue to push for stricter driving while intoxicated laws, and we certainly back any move towards it put forward by state legislators." The effects of this new legislation appear to be twofold. Should the defen dant be convicted, not only will the com munity be spared from one more drunk driver, but the proceeds from the sale of the confiscated vehicle will be given to the local school system. Fred Hartman, media spokesman for the Governor’s Office, said the new leg islation would also cut down on bureau cratic red tape involved in drug testing. “Police officers will not require the permission of judges to conduct a drug test on drunk drivers,” he said. Hunt expressed similar support for the new, stricter laws on drunk driving and drug searches. “Our drunk-driving laws are tougher than ever. We’ll take your license. We’ll that Swain was in the newspaper’s office between noon and 2 p.m. on Oct. 30, when he should have been on duty. “I don’t even stay in my office for two hours,” Swain said, admit ting that he might have dropped by the newspaper that day. “I listen to my radio no matter what I’m doing.” UNC Police 11. C.E. SWAIN was fired for reportedly falsifying his Oct. 30 timesheet. Seeking universal ■ Many universities across the country utilize student rape education programs. BY COURTNEY WEILL STAFF WRITER She said no. He didn’t listen. He said it was her fault she came to his room, and she had gotten drunk on her own. As the drama unfolds on the screen, the tension builds in the classroom. A group of Indiana University students stare intensely at the television. These students are participants in a student-run program called “He Said, She Said,” which educates about male and female perspec tives of date rape, the effects of alcohol and The portrayal of violence against women in the media See Page 8 issues of consent, said Samantha Brauner, coordinator of safety program ming for the Office of Women’s Affairs at Indiana University. Most colleges and universities strug gle to find ways to combat date rape, which is hard to define, quantify or understand. Educators believe many incidents could be avoided if people were forced to examine and discuss date rape. Throughout the Indiana program, presenters work to disprove die many preconceptions that students bring to the sessions, said Todd Paddock, an experi enced presenter. “One reaction is that women who are raped are to blame for it, especially when talking about date rape,” Paddock said. “Another reaction is, ‘Fine, (date rape is) out there, but there is nothing we can do about it.’ ” “Especially among men there is a reaction of anger angry that men are being blamed for women making bad choices, or being blamed for a few bad See CAMPUS CONNECTIONS, Page 10 “Our drunk-driving laws are tougher than ever. We’ll take your license. We’ll take your car. We’ll put you in jail. ” JIM HUNT Governor of North Carolina take your car. We’ll put you in jail. And now, we can test for other drags,” he stated in a recent press release. Cheryl Jones, state chair of N.C. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she felt triumphant about the new legis lation. “Our volunteers have been lobbying the legislators since back before 1983,” she said. “We feel that we have played a big role in its implementation." However, this only marked a mile stone in the ongoing battle against drunk drivers. MADD aims to have Journalism, is literature in a hurry. Matthew Arnold Anne R. England, the employee, could not be reached Wednesday night but reportedly told co-workers she did not mean to make a complaint. In his letter, McCracken said his deci sion to fire Swain came in part because Swain refused to clarify on his behavior at Monday’s conference. “In the absence of any information to the contrary from you, I can only conclude that the infor mation from the employee of the Chapel Hill Newspaper is correct.” McCracken wrote that four aggravat ing factors in the case, which included “the need for you and your department See SWAIN, Page 10 Preyentive measures UNC athletes are required s \ - to attend sessions on . „■ .}• drugs, alcohol and date teach UNC athletes to avoid problem situations. \ Curbing the offense BY M. LEE TAFT SENIOR WRITER Sports figures and sexual crimes seem to go hand in hand. Every year, it seems some high-pro file athlete gets busted for sex with a juvenile or aggravated assault or rape. But what hap pens when the accused is a scholarship ath lete on a college campus? The cases aren’t as few and far between as one might think. In December of 1996, two A weeklong series shedding light on the problem of date rape on college campuses. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University football players were arrest ed on rape charges. In November of Tougher diunMrhriiig laws to take effect Dec.! In August, Gov. Jim Hunt signed into law a legislative package called the Governor's Driving While Impaired Initiative. These new laws: ■ Allow seizure of vehicles used by repeat DWI offenders. ■ Prohibit registering vehicles to DWI offenders with revoked licenses. ■ Increase immediate administration license revocation from 10 days to 30 days. ■ Help police catch underage drivers who have been drinking. ■ Permit drug testing for those arrested for DWI. ■ Strengthen the sentence for habitual impaired driving. ■ Toughen the penalty for DWI offenders. SOURCE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR DTH/STAFF drunk driving classified as a felony. “This is not the end as far as we’re concerned,” Jones said. “Starting the beginning of (next) year, if you steal pine straw, it’s a felony, but drunk dri ving is classified as a simple misde meanor. I think if stealing pine straw is a felony, that drunk driving should be one too.” Paper upset by role in dismissal BY ERICA BESHEARS EDITOR The Chapel Hill Newspaper employ ee who laid the basis for Lt. C.E. Swain’s dismissal Wednesday has said she never meant to make the complaint. Anne R. England, who works as a paginator for the Chapel Hill Newspaper, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. But she reportedly told her co-workers that she never wanted to cause Swain to be fired. last year, football player James Mclntyre was arrested for rape at New Mexico State University. Sometimes the cases hit closer to home. In 1992, UNC track All- American Reggie Harris was arrested for second-degree rape of another stu dent. Following the charges, Harris was dropped from the team. In 1993, UNC football player Omar Brown was accused of second-degree rape in Ocean City, Md., but his accuser failed to show in court and the case was dropped. These cases are only a few in a growing number of rape and sexual assault cases involving college athletes. Derita Ratcliffe, assistant athletic director for student services at Virginia Tech, said she felt athletes and their problems with the law have been blown out of proportion by the media. “If you look at student athletes and their scrapes with the law when com pared to the rest of the student popu lation, I’m sure the numbers pale in Jamie Lynch, a junior from Charlotte, said the legislation was a good idea. “This punishment will not only benefit the drivers, but also the whole community,” she said. “Drunk driving happens more fre quently than drug dealing, and this severe penalty is going to stop people driving drunk.” According to co-workers, England mentioned that she had seen Swain in the office on Oct. 30 during a conversa tion about controversy at the police department. Somehow, that information reached Maj. Jeff McCracken, who approached England and asked her to' sign a statement to that effect. Her statement, dated Monday, Nov. 10, became the basis for charges that Swain had falsified his timesheet. See LETTER, Page 10 comparison,” she said. But a study done by researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that male student ath letes, though representing 3 percent of all male students at the school, are responsible for 19 percent of all sexu al assaults and 35 percent of all cases of domestic violence reported by female students at Amherst. At UNC, efforts are being made to make sure athletes stay out of trouble. Sue Gray, director of health education, and John Blanchard, director of ath letic academic affairs, have developed several programs to prevent any fur ther incidents from occurring. As part of the Student Athlete Development Program, Gray and her staff meet with each athletic team four times a year. In the group meetings, informational films and speakers cover a variety of topics, including date and acquaintance rape. See ATHLETICS, Page 10 Larry, Curly and... Mo? It's time ~ for the Big O . Quizl Thls Diversions tests your knowledge of random entertainment trivia. Page 5 A dramatic return Back from an injury, forward Antawn Jamison racked up 26 points as UNC ravaged Richmond 84-65. Page 11 Today's weather Mostly sunny; low 60s Friday: Chance of mm; high 50s
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