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Serving tiie students and the University
community since 1893
Winter Break crime belies
decrease in county figures
BY STEVE MRAZ
SENIOR WRITER
When some people returned to their homes after
Winter Break, they knew someone else had been
inside —and it wasn’t Santa.
“There were a lot of break-ins at fraternities,”
said Jane Cousins, spokeswoman for the Chapel
Hill Police Department.
“A few apartment complexes and single-family
dwellings reported break-ins, but they were not hit
that hard.”
Several fraternity houses including Phi Delta
Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Beta Theta Pi, Zeta Psi and
Sigma Alpha Epsilon were broken into during
the holiday season.
The string of break-ins contradicts an Orange
County Sheriff’s Department report released
Monday, which showed that the number of major
crimes decreased in 1997. 27 fewer break-ins
occurred in 1997 compared to 1996.
According to the report, violent crimes
including murders, rapes, robberies, break-ins and
larcenies dropped slightly to 888 incidents from
Online classes
canned due
to low funds
■ Students would have to
pay more than S3OO per
course to have class online.
BY KAITLIN G7RNEY
STAFF WRUER
In the University’s pursuit of further
technology, Caroline has gotten in the
way.
Asa result of funding problems, the
Division of Continuing Education can
no longer offer its nine online classes
through Caroline. Instead of reporting
the problem, the online Directory of
Classes reports the classes as canceled.
The reason for this discrepancy is
that each online course costs $390, a fee
Continuing Education does not receive
when students sign up through
Caroline, said June Blackwelder, assis
tant director for publications and pro
motion. Blackwelder said that when the
courses were taken out of the Directory
of Classes, the system had no choice but
to list them as canceled.
The University has placed great
emphasis on increasing long-distance
learning recently. Last semester, the
same nine classes were available for reg
istration on Caroline. Out of the 92 stu
dents who registered for the classes last
semester, 30 used Caroline to enroll.
“Our courses are largely receipt-dri
ven, since we must pay faculty to teach
these courses,” Blackwelder said. “We
don’t receive these funds when students
sign up on Caroline.”
Josh Brannon, a student from
Raleigh, said he found it misleading
that the online classes are listed as can
celed. He said he only found out he
could enroll after calling Continuing
Education.
Brannon said he liked the online
courses despite the extra fee because
they were conducive to working a job
while taking classes. “The convenience
makes it worth it to me, so I’m still
interested,” he said.
Art professor Dorothy Verkeric, who
teaches an online art history class, also
said she thought the courses listed as
canceled were misleading. She linked it
to the overall lack of University funding
for Continuing Education initiatives.
“On one hand, we are told to imple
ment a lot of technology, but on the
other hand we are not given enough
time to do so,” Verkerk said. “They’re
(Continuing Education) the ones spear
heading the online courses, but they are
forced to operate on a shoestring bud
get."
Verkerk said she received $l5O for
each of her three students in the class,
a substantial drop from her regular
classes but that she taught the class
because she thought long distance learn
ing was a worthwhile cause.
Verkerk said the number of on-cam
pus students in online courses could
diminish now that the classes are not
offered on Caroline. “If the University
is dedicated to more technology, they
891 in 1996.
Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass attrib
uted community policing as one of the reasons the
number of crimes had dropped.
In Chapel Hill, major crime in July, August and
September of 1997 went down 4 percent compared
to those same months in 1996, Cousins said.
“There have been decreases in robberies, aggra
vated assaults and burglaries,” she said.
While the number of robberies has gone down in
the county and Chapel Hill, three armed robberies
have been reported on the UNC campus since Sept.
23.
In an ironic twist, Sigma Alpha Epsilon frater
nity member William D. Ashcraft reported he had
been the victim of a break-in during the break.
Ashcraft was one of the 14 fraternity members
who were allegedly involved in the theft of 150
Christmas decorations in Chapel Hill in December.
Ashcraft, 19, reported $3,900 worth of his pos
sessions, including 75 compact discs and a desktop
computer, were stolen during the break.
See CRIME, Page 5
Terminals in Union give quick access to e-mail, Web
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The usual lines piled up in Union
Station at lunch time, but lines at four
computer terminals just outside in the
Union at times rivaled them.
The students stood in line to surf the
Internet and check their e-mail at the ter
minals, which the Union staff installed
during Winter Break.
Union Systems Administrator Wendy
King started work this summer, asking
Brown’s affordable housing legacy left to local leaders
BY NICOLE WHITE
STAFF WRITER
Even though the Longhorns have
grabbed Mack Brown, Chapel Hill still
has the attention of his wife, Sally.
Before the Browns left for Texas,
Sally was active in developing a housing
project named The Cottages, designed to
show developers that affordable housing
is possible in Chapel Hill.
Before leaving, Brown chose real
estate agent Larry Short and Chapel
Hill-Carrboro City Schools attorney
John McCormick to head the project in
her absence.
“I don’t look at it as she is out of the
picture,” said Short, managing partner
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Students gather outside Swain Hall on Wednesday morning after the fire
alarm sounded. The alarm was set off by fumes from leaf blowers.
The new job of art is to sit on the wall and get more expensive.
Robert Hughes
Union employees to donate their spare
equipment for the project.
She asked Union employees to
donate their unused computers so that
students could have one-stop access to
their e-mail accounts and the World
Wide Web.
“Everybody’s always screaming
because they need to check e-mail,”
King said.
Union Director Donald Luse said he
hoped the Union would become a place
to access advanced technology.
of the Cottages.
“She is going to
remain as active as
she can.”
Brown has
agreed to return to
Chapel Hill in the
future to speak to
Town Council
about the project
and serve in a con
sulting capacity,
Short said. Brown
herself declined to
comment.
McCormick
said Brown’s asso
ciation with the
FALSE ALARM
Thursday, January 8,1998
Volume 105, Issue 128
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August Jenkins, a freshman from Winston-Salem, lines up a shot in the Student Union after the first day of classes on Wednesday.
Jenkins is a business major.
Soon one of the computers will fea
ture a survey students can fill out on dif
ferent topics. The first will let students
pick which performers they want to
come to UNC as part of the Union’s
Performing Arts series.
“We have a way of asking questions
and getting quick response that we could
not possibly ever do with paper and pen
cil,” Luse said.
Plans to expand the Union include
creating a 24-hour computer lab and
labs for students to work on group pre
project accounted for its notoriety.
“I recognize that we do not have her
track record in development,” he said.
“That is why we have worked closely
with Sally to continue with all of the ele
ments of the project she has begun.”
Both McCormick and Short said they
had been involved with The Cottages
since its earliest stages.
Although the leadership of the pro
ject has changed, its focus has not, Short
said.
“Sally’s goal and mine is to show
developers that with the cooperation and
coordination with town officials that
entry level housing can be built afford
able to moderate income people.”
The Cottages will consist of two- and
Council member
JOECAPOWSKI
said a proposal to
bring moderately
priced housing to
Chapel Hill would be
looked upon favorably.
Officials examine methods
to avoid future housing woes
BY ANGELA MERS
STAFF WRITER
University officials hope the lack of
privacy and loss of sleep temporary
housing residents suffer from will not
affect next year’s students.
With all of last semester’s temporary
housing students
having found per
manent homes,
the Department of
University
Housing plans to
make some
changes to prevent
a similar shortage
of rooms next
year.
Assistant
Director of
Conference
Services Rebecca
Casey said
University hous
ing had highlight
ed two areas to
change: increasing the interaction
between University housing and the
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
and postponing room assignments for
freshmen.
“Admissions and housing will have
closer contact with each other,” she said.
An unanticipated increase in the per
centage of students who enrolled at the
BEHIND THE EIGHT BALL
sentations.
Meeting rooms and areas will include
furniture that allows students to plug in
their notebook computers and access
their e-mail or the Web.
Academic Technology & Networks
started adding one-stop e-mail and Web
access earlier this year by dedicating
computers in Davis Library to this pur
pose last semester.
ATN will also donate to the Union’s
technology this semester by adding two
network computers boxes that access
“Now we need the permission
of the council. Our goal is to
have the permits in place in
four months, which is a very
optimistic goal.”
UUUY SHORT
managing partner of The Cottages
three-bedroom freestanding houses from
900 to 1,200 square feet in size. The 29
homes will sit on small lots that cover
3.8 acres in all. Short said the high price
of property in Chapel Hill accounted for
the steep cost of homes, adding that the
University last semester caused the
problems in housing this fall, said
Barbara Polk, associate director of
Undergraduate Admissions.
Polk said there would be a very care
ful and dose monitoring of numbers to
avoid problems in the future.
“We will monitor the numbers of
incoming students who have paid their
housing deposits and work closely with
University housing and Granville
Towers,” Polk said.
Freshmen will not receive their room
assignments until July, Casey said.
Because many students change their
housing plans after making deposits,
University housing will wait to mail out
assignments, she said.
Director of University Housing
Wayne Kuncl said although University
housing is making these changes, the
preparation for next fell’s housing would
be complex because of many factors.
“It is a difficult situation to be pre
rise,” Kuncl said.
“Some students want to live in halls
with different visitation rules or halls
with certain programs.”
Kuncl said the completion of resi
dence halls currently under construction
would also be a factor.
“If we can plan on Aycock and
Graham (residence halls) being avail
able, we can better guess what number
of students will return in the fall,” he
said.
Director of University
housing,
WAYNE KUNCI,
said next fall s
housing preparations
would be complex,
even with changes.
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Bosmss/Adwtuiiig: 962-1163
Chipd Hill, North Ctrolma
C 1998 DTH Poblifhing Carp.
All rights rescmd.
on-line applications and the Internet
to the ones already in the Union.
“We’re hoping to be able to add to
that by the fall,” ATN Director of Client
Services Lynwood FutreUe said.
ATN is also “shopping for locations”
to add quick-stop computer terminals to
reduce the wait at computer labs.
But even the quick-stop terminals are
causing a backup. King said the lines are
so long in the Union that she would
have to put up a sign asking students to
limit their time at the terminals.
small lot size for The Cottages is para
mount to their affordability.
The average price of area homes
today is $200,000 to $250,000, he said,
adding that The Cottages would be
priced in the SIOO,OOO range.
Completion of the development
depends on the town’s willingness to
approve the project, Short said.
“We have the plans; we have the
drawings,” he said. “Now we need the
permission of the council. Our goal is to
have the permits in place in four months,
which is a very optimistic goal.”
The low cost of The Cottages
depends on the council’s changing infra-
SEE BROWN, Page 5
INSIDE
Raising anew roof
Construction will start next month to
rebuild the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
house that burnt down in May 1996.
Completion of the new house is
expected next January. Page 2
Deadlocked in Denver
1
The jury in the Oklahoma
City bombing trial of
Terry Nichols deadlocked
in the penalty phase. The
jury found Nichols guilty
of conspiracy to build the bomb last
month. Page 4
Today's weather
Thunderstorms;
high 60s
Friday: Partly cloudy:
low 60s
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