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Hatty (Sar Htfl News p Shß 105 yean of editorial freedom Serving the student and the University community since 1893 Police offer apology for car break-ins ■ A letter of apology was written to victims of seven recent car break-ins. BYSEJALVORA STAFF WRITER An official police apology has helped to clear up questions surrounding recent car break-ins in the Southern Village park-and-ride lot. In a Feb. 13 memo from Chapel Hill Police Chief Ralph Pendergraph to Town Manager Cal Horton, Pendergraph said the responsibility to inform residents about car break-ins rested solely with police. “This was an oversight on our part,” the memo stated. “The officer should have made contact with the owners.” Seven cars were broken into Feb. 9 at the lot, and some victims complained that they first found out about the crime through The Daily Tar Heel, either through an article or when contacted by a reporter. In letters to the DTH after the inci dent, Scott McClellan, administrative assistant for Chapel Hill Transit, said miscortimunication between the police and the transit company resulted in the victims not being notified. In earlier interviews, Bob Godding, director of transportation for Chapel Hill Transit, said it was the company’s general policy to notify car owners of a theft or break-in. “If we found a car that had been broken into, and we identify the car’s owner as a permit holder, we attempt to call them,” he said. In the memo, Pendergraph said an officer went to the scene, made a report of the incident and left his business card on each of the cars. But Pendergraph said the officer never made personal contact with any of the victims. “It is our responsibility to contact vic tims of crime,” Pendergraph stated. “I have written to each victim, apologizing for the mistake.” In an interview Monday, Horton said the episode was a case of human error but that he thought the right action had been taken. “We try to make sure we take the most immediate corrective action that we can,” he said. Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf said she thought the letter was a full apology. “It is an acknowledge ment that the officer in charge did not act correctly,” Waldorf said. “I consider the matter corrected.” Town Council member Joe Capowski said he joined in the apology made to the students. “I am satisfied with the chief’s response.” Pendergraph and McClellan could not be reached for comment. UNC computer priority: fixing year 2000 bugs BY CHRIS HOSTETLER STAFF WRITER The Student Information Services Committee gave high priority to two computer-programming projects Monday: rewriting the Undergraduate Admissions World Wide Web applica tion and setting up a program allowing transcript requests via the Web. B u t Administrative Information Services’ focus on the impend ing year 2000 computer prob lems and prepa- TGC4INOUKV iJif*" rations for the new personal identifica tion number system have slowed down high-priority projects so far. “I would say at least three-quarters of our work is on those two areas right now,” said Steve Jarrell, SIS committee member and executive director of Administration Information Services. Experts expect computers all over the world to stop functioning when the year 2000 arrives because they are pro grammed to register dates only until 1999. The problem is called Y2K. ALL BOOKED UP > S |r § : ::<■ BP- :*t3.’ Bp I A j ■-J DTH/AMANDA INSCORE Megan Randall, a sophomore from Greensboro, helps organize books for the "big dog sale" at the Bull's Head Bookshop on Monday. Macintosh-PC wars rage in campus labs BY KARA KIRK STAFF WRITER The fiercely competitive battle between Macintosh computers and Intel-based PCs continues to rage, and the PCs are winning at least at UNC. “We are clearly seeing a decline in the number of students using and bringing ““ ” lota Tt(4INBLOCM Oberlin, execu- _~‘t TANARUS, five director for Academic j ii Technology & Networks. TnkmT"" Last month, TOWIV the University unveiled the Carolina Computing Initiative, which will man date an Intel-based laptop for all fresh men starting in 2000. But Omar Marza, president of Computer Services of Carolina Inc., said Macintosh was by far the better computer. Marza said not only does the Mac have a “friendlier” user interface, it is also technically superior to the PC. “Windows 95 is only a 16-bit appli cation, while the Mac is a 32-bit appli “I think we’re all frustrated at times, but I believe superhuman efforts have been going into trying to take care of those problems.” PEGGY BERRYHILI Student Information Services Committee Jarrell said AIS was working to solve the Y2K problem on the University level and that it was also preparing the University’s computers to accept the new 16-digit student personal identifica tion numbers. According to SlS’s project priorities list, other projects, such as placing course syllabi and Work Study job infor mation on the Web, are lower on the list of priorities. AIS is not likely to attend to those other projects until the PIN preparations and the Y2K problem have been solved, the list stated. The SIS committee meets the first Monday of every month to prioritize See FLOYD, Page 5 Anxiety is the interest paid on trouble before it is due. Dean William R. Inge Tuesday, March 3,1998 Volume 106, Issue 7 cation,” he said. “Windows 95 is very behind, by at least 5 or 6 years.” Julie Stephen, owner of Accu Serve, said PCs were more popular simply because they have always been cheaper. “Macintosh has always been over priced, because they refused to allow themselves to be cloned,” she said. “IBM allowed cloning, which caused (PC) prices to drop.” Over the years, Apple lowered prices but many field experts said the decreas es came too late, after IBM had a firm hold in the growing market. Oberlin said the decline in the Macintosh’s popularity was becoming increasingly apparent in the student computer labs. “(In the labs) we are seeing long lines of people who want to use Intel, even when the Macs are open,” he said. “There’s almost always an empty seat in front of a Mac computer.” This trend also extends to the com puter training center, where Oberlin said the demand for Macintosh classes has been quickly diminishing. See MACINTOSH, Page 5 DTH/ION GARDENER Student Body President Mo Nathan lost a bet with Duke’s student body president, Lino Marrero. Nathan had to wear a Duke sweatshirt Monday and pass out issues of The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper. Groundskeepers headed to court in racism case ■ A steering team will recommend that UNC not privatize groundskeeping. BY ASHLEY STEPHENSON ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR More than 14 UNC groundskeepers filed a petition for a contested case hear ing against the University on Monday after months of going through the University’s grievance process. The case was filed in Orange County’s Office of Administrative Hearings and can be classified as a Step IV grievance or a lawsuit, said Alan McSurely, attorney for the groundskeep ers. McSurely said University-level oper ations put groundskeepers at a disad vantage. “At the University level, they investigate themselves and rarely find they have discriminated against any body,” he said. The groundskeepers filed their first grievance against the University in July 1997, citing discrimination within the Web, recycling intended to ease paperload BY ANDREW MEEHAN STAFF WRITER University officials have looked to the World Wide Web and recycling to give students ways to obtain clear informa tion and save a few trees at the same time. Officials throughout the University have implemented and are working on plans that will help reduce the 152 mil lion sheets of paper purchased by the University in the past 12 months. Administrative Information Services is working on sev eral programs that will move paperwork onto the Web. Stephen Jarell, executive director of AIS, said the depart ment had worked hard to develop a system allowing stu dents to pay their bills through the Web by credit card. AIS hopes to start implementing the plan by July. Application fees will probably be the first bills to be paid over the Web, Jarell said. AIS also wants to implement anew pur chasing card for the faculty that will work as a debit card against University accounts and eliminate checks, Jarell said. Officials want to use the Web to help new students obtain information in a format that is easier to understand than a flood of mail. The Enrollment Services Team, which started meeting in February, will examine ways to present information, such as the due date of tuition bills, to new students using the Web, said Sue Kitchen, vice chancellor for student affairs. “(The team) is looking at all the points of contact between students and the University between the times they are admitted to the time they start classes,” Kitchen said. “We are looking at a page that we would call ‘For New Undergraduate Students.’ ” The University does not want to exclude incoming stu dents who do not have access to computers, so the Web page will supplement the mailings, Kitchen said. DEVIL OF A PRESIDENT Grounds Department. Chancellor Michael Hooker has since denied the groundskeepers’ grievances, which proceeded all the way up to a Step HI grievance level, saying the griev ances were filed in an untimely manner. McSurely said he expected the case to go to trial within six months. Three to four months will offer time to discover evidence, he said. “We’ll gather as much information as we can to buttress the allegations,” he said. McSurely said the court-level system would treat groundskeepers more fairly. “At the court level, we can conduct discovery, take depositions and ask for statistics to show discrimination (toward the UNC groundskeepers),” he said. “At the court level, if people don’t want to come to a deposition or be a witness, they can be held in contempt of court” McSurely said action taken by administrators at the University level regarding the case was strictly voluntary. Susan Ehringhaus, University legal counsel, said she could not comment on the contested case or the University’s position because she had not read the case. She classified it as a Step IV griev Piles of paper The University's paper load during the last 12 months consisted mostly of nonrecyded paper. Students, faculty and staff used 98 percent of the purchased paper. ~ ,v SttndartpSJarsize 8.5 inches by 11 inches A case of paper contains 5.000 sheets of paper. SOURCE MATERIALS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT DTH/SIAFF Other departments have also made efforts to reduce the amount of paperwork filled out by students and faculty. David Lanier, University registrar, said his office has made several reductions in paperwork. Lanier said recent reforms, such as putting grades and degree applications on the Web, were conserving more than 160,000 sheets of paper per year. Before the office eliminated grade report mailings last year, 63,000 pieces of paper were used each year to inform the stu dents of their grades, Lanier said. Now, Lanier said, the office produces about 1,500 pieces of See PAPERWORK, Page 5 Ncws/Feanim/Ans/Spora: 9624)24} Business/Advoimag 962-1163 Chapel Hill, North Carolina C 1998 DTH Pufchshinf Cusp. All rights reserved. ance. “I’m not commenting in any way,” she said. “It’s a personnel matter.” McSurely said Ehringhaus was downplaying the situation by calling it a grievance. “It’s exactly the same thing as a lawsuit,” he said. According to the petition, a racial reversal has occurred within the Grounds Department. Four years ago, about two out of three groundskeepers were black. Today, four out of seven are white, the contested case states. The petition states that until recently, groundskeepers were promoted to the crew-chief position based on seniority. However, the petition states that exter nal white candidates were appointed to the job in several instances instead of veteran groundskeepers. The Grounds Department has also been under scrutiny by the Outsourcing Steering Team, which decided in a meet ing Monday to recommend that UNC retain control of the department and not privatize it. Bruce Runberg, team chair man, said “That’s our recommendation, but it still needs further review.” Nahal Toosi contributed to this article. INSU£ Get ‘Singled Out’ Applications are due today for students looking to participate in UNC's version of the MTV show 'Singled Out.' Page 2 Developing ties Local officials met Monday to discuss development issues important to the town, the University and the city school system. Page 2 Reaching out A Helping Hand sends UNC students out into the community to help elderly and disabled Chapel Hill residents. Page 5 Today's weather Partly cloudy; low 50s Wednesday Partly cloudy; mid 50s
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 3, 1998, edition 1
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