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Students oppose Playboy ad in newspaper
■ Students are planning to
petition The Daily Tar Heel
to not run Playboy ads.
BY ANDREW MEEHAN
STAFF WRITER
Some students are hopping mad
about whether an ad recruiting nude
Playboy models that ran in The Daily
Tar Heel on Tuesday was appropriate.
The ad announced that the magazine
was looking for models for its “Women
of the ACC” issue.
The students decided to develop a
petition asking the DTH to stop running
Big plans from on high
spark debate, changes
BY DEVONA A. BROWN
STAFF WRITER
Ever wonder what happens behind
the closed doors of South Building daily
before 5 p.m? It’s more than most people
imagine.
As the home of the chancellor’s
office, what many students pass daily on
Polk Place is the breeding ground for
such programs
as freshman
Under the
Magnifying
Glass
seminars and
campuswide
activities like
Fall Fest.
The ideas
that prompted
such programs
are prime exam-
ples of the University administration’s
action to avoid possible problems of
campus issues.
“In order to keep a university vital, it
is necessary constantly to infuse it with
new energy," Chancellor Michael
Hooker said. “That is done by projects
It keeps going and going...
After years of public input and debate, the Chapel Hill Town Council must eventually decide the fate of the
controversial Meadowmont development, a 435-acre mixed-use development off N.C. 54.
Meadowmont development
Meadowmont bonuses
• 435 mixed-use acres in Orange and Durham counties
■ 1,298 residential dwellings
a 802,600 square feet of non-residential use; 110 acres of
open-space areas
B Recreation, parks and open-space plan
B Solid waste management plan
B School, mass-transit system and greenery improvement
SOUKCE:EAST-WESr PARTNERS
Council delays Meadowmont decision
BY JOHN GARDNER
STAFF WRITER
Despite a continuation for a second
straight week in the battle over the pas
sage of an infrastructure special-use per
mit for the developers of Meadowmont,
the Chapel Hill Town Council failed to
reach a conclusive decision.
Another hearing was scheduled for
April 2, and the final decision will prob
ably be delayed beyond the original
April 6 deadline, Chapel Hill Mayor
Rosemary Waldorf said.
Council members at the Wednesday
meeting heard arguments for and
against the special-use permit for
Meadowmont, a 435-acre mixed-use
Playboy ads after hearing Gail Dines
speak Tuesday night.
Dines spoke as a part of Women’s
Week about violent portrayals of
women in the media.
“I refuse to let this University buy
into one more capitalistic, sexist prac
tice,” said Katherine Kooistra, co-chair
woman of Advocates for Sexual Assault
Prevention and a member of the
Women’s Issues Network. “I’m sure it’s
not going to end with a petition.”
Judith Scott, the University’s sexual
harassment officer and an adviser to
WIN, said the petition should ask the
newspaper to voluntarily pull the ads.
“(The students’) position was that
false images of women in Playboy are
like the first-year
seminars and
other projects that
will grow out of
the faculty’s report
on the intellectual
climate.”
The driving
force of that new
energy emerged
with the report
from the
Chancellor’s Task
Force on the
Intellectual
Climate and the
administration’s
commitment to
maintaining acad-
Chancellor
MICHAEL HOOKER
said the projects
officials had
worked on this year
had energized the
University.
emic standards. The programs resulting
from a yearlong debate among students,
faculty and staff greatly assisted in the
administration’s quest to keep up with
competing universities.
The idea of improving the
See PROACTIVE, Page 4
6-3 vote by Town Council approves Meadowmont's Master Land
Use plan
B 4AAA
may <990
Council approves Meadowmont rezoning application and second
Master Land Use plan
Meadowmont developers submit speciakise permit applications to
Town Council
October 1996
Meadowmont developers resubmit speciakise permit application
to the Town Council
April 1997
Council approves Meadowmont's speciakise permits
Public hearings before Town Council
Dec. 2,1997
Residents and attorney Michael Brough take Meadowmont to court
to argue speciakise permits. Superior Court Judge F. Gordon
Battle orders investigation of infrastructure speciakise permit at a
mandated public hearing.
March 11,1998
First public hearing on infrastructure speciakise permit
March 18,1998
Second public hearing on infrastructure speciakise permit
development,
which is to include
a school, parks
and a shopping
center.
Residents who
live on Pinehurst
Drive have fought
against some of
the permits
because they claim
the proposed
development
would increase the
amount of traffic
on their road.
The primary
debate between
Former Town Council
member
RICHARD FRANCK
said a rail system
through Meadowmont
would increase
property values.
What one beholds of a woman is the least part of her.
Ovid
Thursday, March 19,1998
Volume 106, Issue 14
woman hating and woman bashing,”
Scott said. “They are asking the DTH to
take a stand on this."
The DTH has faced opposition to
Playboy ads the last two times they ran
them, in 1983 and 1990.
But the paper has continued to run
the ads despite opposition because its
policy has always been to accept ads that
offer legal products and services.
Andrew Pearson, a campus activist,
said the ad, which describes posing for
Playboy as a “chance to turn fantasy
into reality,” misleads women about the
risks of posing for the magazine.
“I don’t think that many people real
ize that a photograph in Playboy follows
you for the rest of your life,” he said.
- ™ ™
DTH/LOMUE BRADLEY
Devin Bigoness collects money from his perch on a scaffold in Polk Race as part of Pi Kappa Phi's fund-raiser for
People Understanding the Severely Handicapped of America.
the Meadowmont developers and
Pinehurst Drive residents is about a con
nector road that Meadowmont oppo
nents argue does not comply with parts
of the special-use permit.
The residents argued the increase in
traffic would lead to a decrease in their
property values and, therefore, would be
in violation of the specifications of the
permit. The council originally passed
the special-use permit last spring, but a
Superior Court ruling mandated more
investigation and a public hearing.
One of the stipulations of the special
use permit is that it the “use or develop
ment is located, designed and proposed
See HEARING, Page 4
“I refuse to let this University
buy into one more
capitalistic,
sexist practice.”
IUTIKIME KOMSIIA
Cochairwoman of the Advocates for
Sexual Assault Prevention
Pearson said a pictorial leaves women
open to harassment in the work place.
“If (a model) gets a job in anew
town, three weeks later the centerfold is
posted up around the workplace.”
However, other students said women
SITTING DOWN TO RAISE MONEY
Latest debate just 1 bump
down road to Meadowmont
BY HUGH PRESSLEY
STAFF WRITER
It’s Chapel Hill’s version of the never
ending story.
After almost a decade of public
scrutiny and countless inquiries from
Chapel Hill Town Council,
Meadowmont developers seem to be
fighting an uphill battle in making the
project a reality.
The saga emerged during the early
19905, when the development firm East
West Partners introduced to the town
the idea of Meadowmont, a 435-acre,
mixed-use development.
However, many Chapel Hill residents
disapproved of the development, claim
ing it was too big for Chapel Hill.
“It’s the mother of all developments,”
said Barbara Chaiken, a neighbor of
Meadowmont. “It’s a misconceived pro
ject that’s way out of scale to anything
else we have in Chapel Hill.”
However, Meadowmont developer
Roger Perry refuted such claims, adding
that the project was necessary to handle
Chapel Hill’s future growth.
“You have to accept the assumption
that growth is going to occur in Chapel
Hill,” he said. “Meadowmont allows
(the town) to condense a lot of people
into a small area.
“That way, it won’t have to destroy
the rural countryside to accommodate
the people coming in.”
Despite heated debate from residents,
the Town Council approved
Meadowmont’s master use plan in 1995,
Perry said.
But he said that because of Chapel
Hill’s long developmental review
process, East West Partners had to wait
until April 1997 for the council to
approve five special-use permits for
Meadowmont.
“That’s the Chapel Hill way,” he said.
“Chapel Hill considers any new devel
opment in a very deliberate manner,
which is why the process has taken so
long.”
DTH/StAFF
should have freedom to choose for them
selves and the ad was not offensive.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong
with the DTH letting people know that
the opportunity is there,” said Darin
Mullis, a sophomore from Asheville.
Brandy Carr, a freshman from
Fayetteville, said she planned to submit
an application to pose for the magazine
because she heard it paid well.
“People read it, and people buy it, so
it can’t be that terrible,” Carr said.
Joe Thompson, a freshman from
Burlington, said he did not have a prob
lem with Playboy recruiting on campus.
“If women choose to celebrate their
personal beauty in that matter, that’s
their personal decision.”
The permits included applications for
Meadowmont’s infrastructure and resi
dential neighborhoods, apartments, a
school and recreation center.
Even after the Town Council
approved Meadowmont’s special use
permits, residents continued to protest
the development, claiming too much
traffic would flow in the area.
Chaiken said experts claimed
Meadowmont's 1,300 residential
dwellings would add 2,000 to 3,000 cars
a day to Pinehurst Drive and N.C. 54.
“I think it’s unconscionable for a
developer to plan his development and
not be able to handle the traffic it
brings,” she said.
Several Pinehurst Drive residents and
their attorney Michael Brough took East
West Partners to court Dec. 2, arguing
that two of the special-use permits were
invalid.
Two weeks later, Superior Court
Judge F. Gordon Battle ruled that the
Town Council should re-investigate the
infrastructure special-use permit at a
mandated public hearing.
Perry said three appraisers gave evi
dence to the Town Council and Chapel
Hill residents at the March 11 meeting,
showing that an increase in traffic would
not be detrimental to residents living
near Meadowmont.
“The appraisers did very extensive
studies, and it’s clear that property val
ues don’t go down with increased traf
fic,” he said.
But in an earlier interview, Brough
said the infrastructure permit’s proposed
connector road between Pinehurst Drive
and N.C. 54 would significantly lower
property value in the area.
“Increased traffic will adversely affect
how desirable the property is,” he said.
Due to overwhelming public interest,
the public hearing over the connector
road was extended to Wednesday night,
Perry said.
The Town Council could vote as
See MEADOWMONT, Page 4
News/Features/Aro/Sports: 9624)245
Business/Advertising: 962-1163
Chape! Hill, North Carotins
C 1998 DTH Pubhshmg Carp
All rights reserved.
Fans vie for
tournament
game tickets
■ If UNC makes it to the
Final Four, tickets will be
available through a lottery.
BY SARAH BECK
STAFF WRITER
March Madness is in full effect, and
Tar Heel fans are scrambling to get their
hands on tickets to this weekend’s
NCAA Tournament games in
Greensboro and to the Final Four.
Tar Heel fans said they were willing
to go to extremes for a coveted ticket
“I would go a night without drinking
for a ticket to the Final Four,” said John
O’Brien, a freshman from Greensboro.
If the Tar Heels make it past today’s
game against Michigan State and
Saturday’s game, tickets for the Final
Four in San Antonio will go on sale
Monday.
Ticket Office Assistant Matt Roberts
said ticket distribution would follow the
same lottery process as was used in dis
tributing tickets for the first round of the
tournament on March 9.
Students may sign up to participate
in the lottery at the Smith Center Ticket
Office on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m
by showing their UNC ONE Cards.
Officials will post the winners’ names
outside the ticket office around 6 p.m.
Monday night.
The lottery winners may buy Final
Four tickets Tuesday.
Last year’s ticket distribution process
caused problems when students were
not informed of ticket distribution pro
cedure or the number of tickets that
would be distributed.
A total of 370 tickets, each selling for
SIOO, were allotted for students to last
year’s Final Four in Indianapolis.
The University opened the Smith
Center with its large-screen televisions
for students, faculty and the general
public who were not lucky enough to
score a ticket for last year’s Indianapolis
game.
Though many students won’t be able
to attend this weekend’s games, their
spirits haven’t been dampened.
“I’m excited that Carolina has made
it this far," said Zach Lawless, a fresh
man from Jefferson.
“I just hope that we can win it all, so
I can party on Franklin Street again.”
March Madness was especially excit
ing the fust time around for Melissa
Cottone, a sophomore from
Fayetteville, she said. “The whole ride
there was amazing!”
INSIDE
Material girl to mommy
She has anew baby,
anew album and a
new hair style.
Diversions honors the
queen diva of pop
culture, Madonna,
and takes a peek at her recently
released CD 'Ray of Light.' Page 5
#
Stand by your woman
Republican women in Congress lobby
Democrats to support Kathleen Willey,
Clinton's latest accuser. Page 4
Next stop: Greensboro
The UNC men's
basketball team
faces Michigan
State in the third
round of the
NCAA Tournament
tonight in Greensboro. Pages 10-11
Today's weather
_ Mostly cloudy;
high 60s
9 ■ . Friday: Thunderstorms
high 60s