2
Friday, March 20,1998
Sangam Nite to offer window
into South Asian culture, art
BY CAROLYN INGRAM
STAFF WRITER
Twilling skirts and recitations are just
a small portion of how Sangam Nite is
intended to celebrate and share South
Asian culture.
Saturday evening will mark the 11th
annual Sangam
Nite celebration at
UNC. The pro
gram will kick off
with a dinner fea
turing Indian cui
sine at 5:30 p.m.
in the Morehead
Banquet Hall. The
show will begin at
7:30 p.m. in
Sangam Nite 1
Saturday
Dinner 6:30 p.m.
Morehead
Banquet Hall
Show: 7JO pm
Memorial HaH
Memorial Auditorium.
Members of Sangam, the South
Asian awareness organization, have
been planning the event for months.
“A lot of people haven’t seen many
other cultures,” said Susan Kansagra, an
event coordinator. “This is a way to
Officials: jobs aplenty but hard to fill
■ The low unemployment
rate has caused a shortage
of workers in Chapel Hill.
BY NICOLE WHITE
STAFF WRITER
While students are scrambling to find
internships and summer work, local
employers are scrambling to find
enough employees.
The low unemployment rate in
Orange County is making the hunt for
reliable employees to fill part-time and
blue-collar positions more difficult, said
Pat Thomas, personnel director for
Chapel Hill.
Bill Webster, Department of Parks
and Recreation director, said the depart
ment was facing the same problem.
“There’sjust a tremendous amount of
competition among employers to hire
lower-paying positions,” he said. “There
just aren’t enough bodies to go around.”
Although the town’s turnover rate has
held steady at about 10 percent, Thomas
said hiring people to fill positions had
taken longer than usual in the last two
Order of the Bell Tower,
the Student Ambassadors Organization, presents
“Chancellor for a Day”
One student will be selected to spend tlie day
witli Chancellor Michael Hooker
* Experience first-band a day in tbe fife of the chancellor
* The chancellor attends class with you to get an up
close and personal glimpse of student life
•: . y | Applications arc available at 1
the Union Desk or at
m •* I the George Watts Hill Alumni Center .
1 - ' 1
Applications ore due by noon, Wednesday, March 25, 1998, at IPT JiJW
the George Watts HU Alumni Center or at the Union Desk.
NO LATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED!
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open their eyes to a totally different
world.”
The celebration will feature approxi
mately 100 performers who dance, act in
skits and read poetry.
This year, Sangam will announce the
first recipient of the Mahatma Ghandi
Fellowship, a $3,000 scholarship for a
student to study abroad in a field of
interest related to South Asia.
Event coordinators Kansagra and
Neha Shah said they worked with about
50 other people to put the show togeth
er.
“There were some weeks that we
worked 40 hours,” Kansagra said. “It’s
been hard, but everybody’s been dedi
cated to the same vision, to put on a
good Sangam Nite.”
Tickets for the combined dinner and
show are $lO. Tickets for the show alone
are $5.
Both are open to the public. Sangam
members will sell tickets today in the Pit
and at the door on Saturday.
Coordinators said they expected the
years. The town is also receiving fewer
applications for the positions, she said.
“In past years we might have had 10
good candidates for one position,” she
said. “Now we have only two or three.”
In particular, the town has had diffi
culty hiring groundskeepers, heavy
equipment operators, bus drivers and
lifeguards. Chapel Hill, however, is not
the only employer having difficulty fill
ing these kinds of positions, said Greg
Payne, acting director of the Orange
County Economic Development
Commission.
“The problem is widespread through
out the county, throughout the state and
throughout the nation,” Payne said.
The unemployment rate in Orange
County for 1997 was 1.4 percent, the
lowest in North Carolina, Payne said.
The statewide annual unemployment
rate was 3.6 percent, which is lower than
the national rate of 4.8 percent.
Payne said Orange County tradition
ally had the lowest unemployment rate
in the state, mostly because of the steady
base of employers. The University and
UNC Hospitals are the largest employ
ers in the county, with about a quarter of
the work force, and tend to be resistant
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event to sell out.
Although Saturday night’s celebra
tion is the 11th annual Sangam Nite at
UNC, this is only the second time it has
been held in Memorial Hall.
Nirav Shah, president of Sangam,
said that the last time die show was held
in Great Hall, its previous location, tick
ets sold out in 45 minutes.
“We changed the venue so that more
people could go,” Shah said.
“It’s a very popular event. It’s a
dynamic program,” said Nalin Parikh,
Sangam adviser. “If you come, you’ll
enjoy it.”
Richa Gupta, a Sangam Nite per
former, said, “It’s not just about danc
ing; it’s more than that. It’s about cul
tural awareness.”
Last semester, Sangam sponsored
programs called Rang-e-Sangam and
Namaste.
They are also involved in the Cross
Cultural Interaction, a program of the
Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center,
and several other service projects.
to downturns in the economy.
In addition, some of the manufactur
ers in the county, such as General
Electric, have been here for 30 to 40
years, he said.
The educated, college-oriented nature
of the area might also be a factor in the
town’s difficulty in finding laborers,
Payne said.
“We have heard many employers
complain that there is a lack of empha
sis on a blue-collar job as a career oppor
tunity,” he said.
Aside from increasing wages, Payne
suggested offering more training, more
benefits and advertising more aggres
sively to cope with the competition.
The town is offering courses to train
current employees for unfilled positions.
The Parks and Recreation Department
also recently raised its hourly wages,
paying between $6 and $7 per hour,
Webster said. Although the town is
attempting to offer more competitive
wages, many positions remain empty.
“The cost of living in Chapel Hill is
well above the rest of North Carolina,”
Payne said. “People with blue-collar
jobs, if they don't make a lot of money,
they can’t afford to live in the area.”
Pentagon adviser challenges Gulf War illness
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON The Pentagon’s
specialist on Persian Gulf War illnesses
is denouncing a contention by a veterans
group that as many as 400,000 troops
may have been exposed to depleted ura
nium from shells fired during the war.
Bernard Rostker, Pentagon adviser on
Gulf War illness questions, told
reporters at a Pentagon briefing
Thursday that too few Americans were
on the battlefield during the war and
shortly afterward to have had so many
Friday
7 p.m. The Student Environmental
Action Coalition and the Triangle
Vegetarian Society will co-sponsor a lecture
by Erik Marcus on vegan/vegetarianism in
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NEWS
Condom company targets fraternities
■ “Condom Cash” allowed
fraternity members to earn
points for condoms used.
BY LAURA STOEHR
STAFF WRITER
In the same spirit of Pepsi Points,
Camel Cash and Marlboro Miles, a con
dom manufacturer targeted UNC frater
nities with a Condom Cash campaign in
February.
The London International Group,
which owns DUREX condoms, sent
information about safe sex, free con
doms and a flier, which introduced the
incentive program to 2,750 fraternities at
200 universities nationwide.
Under the program, members receive
points for every condom used. Points
can be redeemed for prizes such as pool
tables or vacations.
But UNC officials were surprised and
disgusted when they were told about the
campaign.
“There’s certainly no way in hell that
we’d sponsor a contest,” said Ron
Binder, director of UNC’s Office of
Greek Affairs. “Sure we support safe
Corner of Franklin and Elliot
to feature new business center
■ The center will house a
travel agency, a dentist and
an advertising agency.
BY BERNADETTE GILUS
STAFF WRITER
The ever-changing face of Franklin
Street will soon get a facelift with the
opening of three new businesses.
The travel agency Kalos Tours, a den
tal office and an advertising agency
broke ground this week in two separate
buildings called the Elliot Road
Professional Center. The center is locat
ed on the comer of Franklin Street and
Elliot Road.
Construction of the project should be
completed by October, said Roger
Jennings, owner of Jennings & Cos., an
advertising agency that will be located at
the center.
Jennings, who played a major role in
exposed to the hazardous substance.
The Pentagon estimates that about
250,000 service members were involved
in ground combat or served in Iraq or
Kuwait in the months following the
1991 war. When hostilities broke out,
541,000 men and women had been
shipped to the region, with at least
83,000 at sea and tens of thousands
based in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or nearby
nations.
“If you look at the number of people
who were in combat situations, who
209 Manning Hall.
Come find out more information on how
and why to stop eating meat. Refreshments
will be served.
8:30 p.m. Hip Hop Nation will have its
March Madness party, featuring D. J. Pez and
sex, but we do not support a contest.”
UNC fraternity houses received pro
motional goods, including T-shirts, door
hangers, 50 condom wallets which hung
out of the mouth of a blue cardboard
moose and safe sex pamphlets.
“It sounds like those high-schoolers
who have a club where you get a point
for every girl you have sex with,” said
Anne Parker, co-chairwoman of the
Women’s Issues Network. “It’s like,
have the most sex possible, and we’ll
reward you. It doesn’t talk about respon
sible sex.”
But Paul Byrne, an account executive
for Manning, Seldage & Lee, the firm
that designed the DUREX advertising
campaign, said it would be a popular
program among the college-aged group.
“(It) is an encouragement for people to
use DUREX condoms over other con
doms.”
Elisabeth Winkler, market analyst for
DUREX Consumer Products, said the
campaign was meant to inform students
about safe sex.
But Binder questioned the campaign’s
motives. “If they’re serious about
health, what are they doing about the
other 90 percent (of non-Greek stu
dents)?” Binder asked. “What in the hell
initiating and designing the center, said
he and his wife decided to relocate their
business two years ago. They felt the
center area would be an ideal location.
The Jennings & Cos. building will
occupy 3,300 square feet, and the other
office building will cover more than
4,700 square feet, Jennings said.
Barry Hill, a project architect with
Michael Hining Architects, said the cen
ter’s design is standard. Each of the
buildings will be one story.
“The building design is consistent
with the buildings surrounding it,” he
said.
Johnny Morris, owner of Morris
Commercial Inc., said United Carolina
Bank was the seller of the East Franklin
Street property. Morris described the
project as an office condo project and
said it would cost almost $1 million.
Jennings said that though the plan
ning of the project took a few months, it
was not an extremely difficult task.
“The town of Chapel Hill is very pro
could have even come in contact (with
depleted uranium), it is much less than
400,000. The number is not credible,"
Rostker said.
The National Gulf War Resource
Center released a study this month that
estimated 400,000 men and women had
contact with depleted uranium either
during combat, while recovering conta
minated weapons or while visiting the
battleground after the conflict.
Paul Sullivan, the center’s executive
director, said at the time that his group
Campus calendar
other in D.J. competition, the Hip Hop
Nation All-Stan and others in the Great
Hall. Admission is $5.
hems of Interest
Orange Community Recycling will pre
sent a mixed-paper collection at the
University Mall recycling site from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. Saturday. For more information call
968-2788.
The Duke University music department
will present a symposium honoring Peter
Williams at 1 p.m. Mondayin Bone Hall in
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SPORTS SHORTS
Coming up at CAROLINA
Women’s Tennis vs. Maryland
10:30am at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center
Men’s Lacrosse vs. Maryland
2:oopm at Fetzer Field
Outdoor Track - UNC 10-Team Meet
12 Noon at Belk Track & Fetzer Field
Students ct- Tacultx Admitted I REE will}!
2% Satly (Tar fieri
is behind this contest?”
Some fraternity members said it was
unfair the campaign targeted them.
Worth Liipfert, president of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon fraternity said, “If I’d
gotten (condoms) from anyone else, I
would have laughed, but because I’m in
a fraternity I’m a little offended because
that’s portraying us in a negative light."
Liipfert said the moose at SAE was
tom tjp after two days.
Many UNC fraternities said they
treated it like a joke. “We just laughed at
it,” said Steve Saville, Interfratemity
Council president. “We thought it was
strange that someone could gain enough
points by using condoms to win a pool
table.”
Byrne said it excluded sororities but
that they might later receive a similar
promotional package.
But Parker said she was concerned
that DUREX did not include sororities.
“It reinforces the image of a studly
male and women who are coerced into
sex,” she said. “Once again, we’re tar
geting fraternities who aren’t the full
problem.”
But despite reactions at UNC, Byrne
said he has received a lot of telephone
calls requesting more blue moose.
tective of the development (of the area)
because it’s the first thing people see
when you come off the interstate,” he
said.
Jennings said he had to attend hear
ings at the Chapel Hill Town Council to
make sure the plans were in compliance
with general planning.
Jennings said he hoped the center’s
pleasant design and convenient location
would attract customers.
Jennings said the center, which will
be located near a residential area, should
fit in well with the existing architecture.
“We’re going to do everything to
make it compatible with the neighbor
hood,” he said.
Jennings said his company had also
tried to make the center convenient for
the employees.
The building will have extra-high ceil
ings, and every office will have a win
dow.
Jennings said, “I think it’s going to be
a pleasant place to work.”
believed the number “is a conservative
estimate of those exposed.”
But Rostker contended Thursday,
“The basis for their estimate of hun
dreds of thousands is not at all credible.
The surveys they have are not compe
tent, are not scientific surveys.”
Depleted uranium is a metal residue
left when natural uranium is refined. It
is used in artillery shells and bombs
designed to penetrate the armor of tanks
and forms protective shields for armored
vehicles.
the Biddle Music Building on the Duke cam
pus.
The public is welcome, and admission is
free. Call 660-3333 for more information.
The Ballroom Dance Club will sponsor
ballroom dances with taped music from 2
p.m. to 6 p.m. March 29 and April 26 in the
Great Hall of the Student Union. Students,
nonstudents, couples and singles are wel
come.
Admission is $4 for students and $6 for die
public. Please call 914-4003 for more infor
mation.