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■■ 104 nan of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the University
community since 1893
360° contract radiates problems for staff
■ Anew UNC contract
could mean cellular service
antennas on campus.
BYLESANAGY
STAFF WRITER
University staff members are upset
about possible radiation emissions from
antennas that a private cellular phone
company wants to put on the roof of
Hamilton Hall.
Faculty members who heard rumors
about the proposal to place antennas on
Hamilton reported their concerns about
high radiation to University administra
tors who called a meeting Thursday to
hear their complaints.
Associate Vice Chancellor for
Facilities Management Bruce Runberg
said that last year 360' Communications
asked UNC for permission to put anten
nas on the campus to expand cellular
A community
borderline
■ The Midway and Northside areas
were once a part of a thriving black
business district and community.
Tomas Britton spends most of his time on the
front porch of his house on Broad Street. He
said the police drive by like clockwork.
“They come by every five or 10 minutes,” he said.
Britton can expect more police in the future. He lives
just inside the Canboro town limits, in an area that will
be the focus of a joint task force made up of Chapel j
Hill and Canboro police officers. The task force will i
patrol the border areas of both towns in an effort to ~~
crack down on illegal drug activities. This area, made
up of the Midway and Northside communities, is one
of the oldest parts of both towns.
Carrboro Alderman Hank Anderson said the
Midway commu
nity used to be a
thriving black
business district,
but it has seen
BY JON OSTENDORFF
CITY EDITOR
some hard times in the last 20 years.
Anderson said he has asked the board to help the
youths of Midway stay out of trouble through more
support in recreation and education. “I have asked my
town to work with these kids, to get them involved in
something,” he said.
Like many communities with similar problems, '
most of the people want to stop the drug abuse. But
Anderson said without support many will fall through
the cracks. “There are a lot of good kids out there, but
unfortunately some of them hang out with the bad
kids,” he said.
This is where local government can come into play,
he said, adding that the town government’s role was to
give each of its citizens a fair shot in the community. “We
need to teach kids how to think independently, not just
how to become robot employees.”
Dip Council, owner of Dip’s Country Kitchen on West
Rosemary Street, said many of the black businesses she
remembered from her youth have disappeared. She said
this trend began shortly after integration in the late ’sos.
Council, who has owned her restaurant for 21 years, said
many of the black businesses could not compete with
national fast-food chains and other larger businesses. “We
don’t have many black-owned business any more,” she
said. “I think a lot of it has to do with competition.”
Council said one of the big problems of the commu
nity is the working poor. She said she has raised eight chil
dren and knows what it’s like to struggle to get by. Council
said she had faith in welfare-reform programs like North
Carolina’s Work First and felt this will be the next big step
Groundhog Day is based on a custom that people from 4
Germany and Great Britain brought to America. According
to legend, the groundhog awakens from its long winter sleep
on Feb. 2. It sticks its head out of its home in the ground ■
and looks around. Ifthegroundhogseesitsshadow.it
means six more weeks of winter, if the goundhog does not
see its shadow, spring is just around the comer.
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phone service.
“Until recently I didn’t realize there
was opposition to the antennas,”
Runberg said.
The project involves placing an 8-by
-10 fiberglass unit and four antennas,
each 1 foot wide by 4 feet tall, on the
roof of Hamilton Hall, home to the
departments of political science, history
and sociology.
Carol Nichols, an administrative sec
retary in the political science depart
ment, asked why the University would
allow the private company to use the
campus buildings. “Will someone at the
University receive kickbacks, such as
free cellular phones and service, from
the deal?” Nichols asked.
Runberg said UNC and 360’ were
negotiating a use agreement but that the
agreement’s specifics, including the fee
paid to UNC, had not been agreed
upon.
Jane Lindley, who works in the histo
ry department, was also one of the fac
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Joe Fernell (left) stopped by Tomas Britton's Broad Street home on Friday afternoon to wish him a happy birthday. Fernell, who has lived
in the Northside area for 26 years, says he has noticed a dramatic change in the community during the past few years.
to follow integration.
But the most important tool to improve the communi
ty is the people, she said. “Every town needs to use its
people to make things work,” Council said.
The mission of the Hargraves Community Center on
Roberson Street is in line with Council’s philosophy. The
center offers many programs, most of them free of charge,
that concentrate on education and recreation. Any mem
ber of the community is welcome to attend a class, or just
show up to hang out.
Andre Boynton, assistant manager of the center, said
most African-Americans in Chapel Hill have used the cen
ter at one time or another. “This is the heart of the black
community,” he said. Boynton said one reason for the
community’s problems was a lack of employment for
teenagers. He said more programs concentrating on entre
preneurial skills would be one way to fight this problem.
See MIDWAY, Page 4
Boys don’t make passes at female smart-asses.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Monday, February 2,1998
Volume 105, Issue 144
ulty members heading the opposition.
She said that in negotiating the contract,
University officials should consider the
health effects on those in Hamilton from
electromagnetic radiation.
UNC radiation safety officer Bob
Wilson said he had requested a survey
from Duke Power on a similar tower in
downtown Chapel Hill. The survey
showed that the radiation emitted was
not strong enough to cause immediate
danger.
“A cell phone antenna would not be a
radio frequency risk unless someone was
working on it with it directly pointed at
them,” Wilson said.
Nichols, however, said she was con
cerned about any hidden health risks of
the antennas.
“Cell phone usage is something new,”
Nichols said. “How many things did we
think were safe when they came out and
found out 10 years later that they were
dangerous?”
Another major concern among facul
Platform promises get passed down
BY EVAN MARKFIELD
SENIOR WRITER
Promises, promises.
Every year they are what student
body president hopefuls depend on to
get into office.
But looking
back at several
years of student
body president
platforms, the
method is not the
only consistent
Elections m
part of this process the promises
themselves often remain the same from
year to year.
Student Body President Mo Nathan
“A cell-phone antenna would
not be a radio frequency risk
unless someone was working
on it with it directly
pointed at them. ”
808 WILSON
University radiation safety officer
ty members was the lack of consultation
with the faculty, staff and students who
walk into Hamilton daily.
“The project was well under way
before anyone was asked about it,”
Lindley said.
Lindley and Nichols agreed that the
failure to notify faculty of the plans was
either a serious failure in communica
tion or an effort to maintain secrecy to
avoid negative publicity.
Nichols said faculty members were
told during Thursday’s meeting that
\ Chapel
said a candidate’s platforms would often
contain a combination of issues impor
tant to the candidate and issues added
solely for the sake of adding them.
“(As a student), it’s important to
deconstruct platforms for different
things tasks and initiatives,” Nathan
said.
An example of an initiative would be
reform of the advising system, some
thing Nathan’s administration has been
working on this year. A sample task
would be Nathan’s effort to put garbage
cans on the path to South Campus and
receycling bins on Polk Place.
“The tasks usually change, but the
initiatives can be repetitive,” Nathan
said.
their permission was not needed because
it was a “University problem.”
Runberg said the University planners
were interested in the concerns of the
faculty but insisted that the University
should help 360' because UNC was a
public institution with high usage of cel
lular phones by people on campus.
Runberg said the Hamilton site
would not be approved until safety
issues were resolved. He said Hamilton
was the best choice of the buildings con
sidered because of the roof’s layered
structure.
“It’s still in planning,” Runberg said.
“We are interested in reviewing the con
cerns and will consult more with faculty
before final decisions are made.”
Lindley said that although she would
not wish the possible health risks on
anyone, she hoped the University could
find a more suitable place.
Facilities planning and the building
and grounds committee will make the
ultimate decision.
He said most initiatives are seen year
after year because they usually involve
situations that the University cannot
remedy during a single president’s
tenure.
Platform items consistently repeated
in recent years include environmental
issues, advising reform, campus safety
and several minority student issues.
“Nothing of value changes at this
university in a span of less than three
years,” Nathan said.
And the concept of gradual change is
not lost on the various campus groups
and individuals on the receiving end of
a candidate’s promises.
See PLATFORMS, Page 4
Nesvs/Feanms/Am/Spoits: 9624245
Bimnar/Advrrnxmg: 9621165
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C 1998 PIH Publishing Coup.
All lights reserved.
Housing plan
leaves some
feeling angry
■ Officials say that giving
students priority for other
rooms was a fair decision.
BY BIANCA D’SOUZA
STAFF WRITER
The University decision to make Old
West, Manly and Winston residence
halls “substance free” has left many cur
rent residents feeling as if they have
been shortchanged.
Senior Jennifer Pender, a Manly res
ident, said that she felt bad for residents
who wished to continue to stay in their
rooms but would now have to abide by
the new substance-free policy or get
kicked out.
Melissa Rutala, a sophomore and
Winston resident, said she wished the
notice had not come as such a surprise.
Last week, residents received letters
from the Department of University
Housing informing them about the sub
stance-free plan. The policy bans any
use of tobacco products, alcoholic bev
erages, illegal (frugs and the misuse of
legal drugs.
Residents will lose the right to live in
their rooms next semester should they
choose not to follow the policy.
“I wish we could have had more of a
say, to respond with ideas how to do it
differently and make it more beneficial
to everybody involved,” Rutala said.
Jason Darwin, a senior and Old West
resident, said that having a say did not
necessarily mean being listened to.
He and other residents attended an
interest meeting Thursday to voice their
concerns, which they said officials did
not address.
Darwin suggested making Aycock
and Graham residence halls substance
free rather than those proposed.
Students are not living there this year
because of construction. Another alter
native would be to make the residence
halls partially substance free to leave
a floor or two open to all students,
Darwin said. He said that a policy that
gives certain students room priority over
those who are older than 21 and drink
responsibly is discrimination.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Sue Kitchen said that the decision “was
n’t just about underage drinking.
“A lot of students of all ages want to
live in substance-free halls, and up until
now, their only option has been
Ehringhaus,” she said. She said that
contrary to popular belief, students, at
least those on the Housing Advisory
Committee, had been involved in the
decision-making process.
And University housing Director
Wayne Kuncl said that giving residents
first priority on next year’s housing
assignments fairly compensated those
who didn’t want to join the program.
Darwin said most residents were not
against a substance-free program. But
he said that by converting some of the
campus’ best residence halls, officials
would attract individuals who were
more interested in the halls’ location
than the program.
INSIDE
The Road to Suite C
& StHflMt no Gettin 9 into
\XWWWBH the spirit of
the election
season, this
Hfi&i IS ’9B weeks
uwiivho wv Op-Ed page
lists the platforms of the student body
president candidates. Page 11
♦
Bring in the coffee
As sipping coffee becomes a symbol
of the intellectual climate, libraries are
bringing it between the stacks. Page 4
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