<Tl|v Satlg ®ar MM
p
HI 105 yean of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the University
community since 1893
Report says advising
system understaffed
BY CHRIS HOSTETLER
STAFF WRITER
An outside assessment of UNC’s aca
demic advising system released Tuesday
found advisers to be dedicated but the
system greatly understaffed.
The report made six principal recom
mendations,
including
“Expand greatly
the advising staff
by adding profes
sional advisers.”
Associate Dean
of the College of
Arts and Sciences
Bobbi Owen said
she saw the addi
tion of resources
as the most need
ed of the recom
mended changes.
“Many people
will be glad for
additional
resources and rec-
Senior advisor
LACEY
HAWTHORNE
said the University
would have to hire
professional, full-time
advisers.
ognize the need for more help,” Owen
said.
Owen is a member of the steering
committee reviewing the report. The
Local officials
fear copycat
teen suicides
■ One local school official
said a case of suicide was
often followed by others.
BY STEVE MRAZ
SENIOR WRITER
With two teen suicides in the area
recently, local counselors and school
officials are taking efforts to control the
possibility of more deaths.
When one teen commits suicide,
other at-risk teens see that as permission
for them to take their own lives, said
Vann Joines, a psychologist at the
Southeast Institute for Group and
Family Therapy.
Mekye Malcom of Durham killed
himself Tuesday near the baseball field
at Carolina Friends School, a private
school in Durham.
The 16-year-old student hanged him
self by kneeling forward with a thin
rope attached to a tree and his neck,
said Darius Amjadi, Orange County
medical examiner.
Officials at Carolina Friends School
declined to comment on the incident
Wednesday but did say classes were not
being canceled.
In a similar incident almost two
weeks ago, Laura Ashley Williams, 13,
a seventh-grader at Grey Culbreth
Middle School in Chapel Hill, entered a
bathroom at the school and shot herself
in the head during classes.
“It’s hard to tell how many it will
affect,” Joines said. “Usually you have
two or three (suicides) in a row, and
then it dies out.”
Joines said recognition of suicides by
the media might make some people
who feel alienated see suicide as a way
to get recognition of their own.
“Kids that age have a romantic
notion about suicide," he said. “They
don’t realize that once they’re dead they
are not going to know what happens as
a result of their death.”
Teens receiving counseling and
already at risk of suicide did not take
news of the deaths as well as others,
said Alicia Graham, crisis director at
Orange-Person-Chatham Mental
Health Agency.
“We had to put two kids in the hos
pital,” she said. “They were not able to
keep themselves safe. This is not unusu
al.
“Kids don’t realize how vulnerable
they are until something like this hap
pens.”
Sarah Tillis, director of the
Northside Clinic in Chapel Hill, said no
one could tell if Williams’ suicide influ
enced Malcom’s or not.
See SUICIDE, Page 9
I love children especially when they cry , for then someone takes them away.
Nancy Mitford
committee was formed to bring in the
outside review team, made up of three
faculty members from other universities.
Before presenting the report to
Chancellor Michael Hooker, the com
mittee will prepare each of the recom
mendations for application.
The recommendation to add advisers
means that the University would have to
hire professional, full-time advisers to
supplement the system, committee
member Lacey Hawthorne said.
Faculty members serve as advisers at
UNC. Most universities have full-time
advisers to lessen the burden on faculty
advisers who have other job-related
responsibilities, the report states.
Hawthorne said she would like the
committee to follow through with the
recommendations but that the commit
tee needed to deal with other issues
before making decisions.
"Right now, we’re making sure (the
report is) out in the public for people to
see and comment on,” Hawthorne said.
Owen said she also wanted to make
the report available to as many people as
possible.
Academic Advising Reform Co-coor-
See ADVISING, Page 9
Candidates question ethics of education survey
BY SCOTT WRIGHT
STAFF WRffER
A survey for Orange County com
missioner candidates could receive more
concerns than responses.
Ethical questions were raised by can
didates Bill Crowther and Stephen
Halkiotis after a questionnaire was dis
tributed from the Superintendent’s office
of the Chapel Hill-Canboro City
Schools.
The questionnaire was designed to
gather responses from the candidates on
funding for public education. The
responses will be printed on a flyer by
the school system and sent to the parents
of students, said Kim Hoke, spokes
woman for the school system.
Crowther said his concern was that
tax dollars were used by the school sys
tem’s administration to influence tire
upcoming county primary elections. “I
mm jjf* *
A I
Hr . f ii? ■HHr
l ......... JHIBJEI II ,hi.
DTH/DAVID SANDLER
Tracy Reid, left, announced her signing of a two-year contract with the Women's National Basketball Association. Coach Sylvia Hatchell joined Reid at the
press conference Wednesday at the Smith Center.
Reid chooses WNBA over ABL, inks 2-year contract
BY AARON BEARD
SPORTS EDITOR
There was no doubt all season that
North Carolina’s All-American forward
Tracy Reid would play professional bas
ketball following her Tar Heel career.
The only question was whether she
Thursday, April 16,1998
Volume 106, Issue 33
....... . *
. M mm
Rfr; J i / iiS
f
DTH/JON GARDINER
Assistant Professor Deb Aikat is congratulated for being named superlative favorite faculty member for the 1997-
1998 academic year Wednesday afternoon.
don’t think the
administration of
Chapel Hill-
Carrboro City
Schools should
be using money
for political pur
poses,” he said.
ELECTIONS
98
He referred to campaign finance laws
passed in 1997 which stated that if some
organization wanted to spend money on
an election they had to do it through
political action committees.
“What’s important is if anyone is
spending money to influence the elec
tion, they need to spend the money
through PACs,” Crowther said.
Technically, however, the school sys
tem is not violating any laws. Officials
from the Orange County Board of
Elections said PACs were needed when
candidates were supported or endorsed,
not for forums or questionnaires.
would sign on with the American
Basketball League or the Women’s
National Basketball Association.
And while the rival leagues courted
the two-time Kodak All-American and
ACC Player of the Year for her services,
in the end it was the sister league of the
glitzy NBA that snagged Reid, signing
CONGRATULATIONS
Hoke said the questionnaires and the
flyers were distributed purely for voter
information. “It’s not to make an
endorsement,” she said. “It’s to get the
candidates’ views on education before
the people who are most interested,
mainly die parents.”
Nevertheless, the questionnaires have
provoked criticism from the candidates.
Halkiotis said he would have pre
ferred to receive the questionnaire from
someone else. “If the PTA or SGC
(School Governance Committee) want
ed that kind of information, it should
have come from them instead of the
Superintendent’s office,” he said.
Superintendent Neil Pedersen said it
was for the sake of expediency that the
questionnaire went out under his signa
ture. “I’m the secretary to the Board of
Education,” he said. “It’s not unusual
for me to send out things on behalf of
the board.”
her to a two-year contract Tuesday and
making her eligible for the April 29
WNBA Draft.
Reid made the announcement
Wednesday at a news conference at the
Smith Center. She was joined by coach
Sylvia Hatchell, the coaching staff and
Tar Heel team.
Pedersen said the board and the
chairmen of the SGCs asked him to pro
vide questions to the commissioners that
would get their opinions on supporting
public education. “I was sending it out
on their behalf,” he said. “This was not
something I decided to do on my own.”
Though 47 percent of the board’s
funds go to the local and county school
systems annually, Halkiotis said a line
needed to be drawn between education
and politics. “I don’t think you can mix
up the superintendent’s office with any
kind of poll,” he said. “I think you need
to keep it separate.”
But Pedersen said it was important to
make sure the public was informed. “I
don’t see anything unethical about ask
ing the candidates their positions on
support of public education and then
providing that information without
comment to the parents of our stu
dents.”
“I visited New York last week and
saw what the league had to offer,” Reid
said, “it was a tough decision. I didn’t
flip a coin or anything. ... You have to
choose what league is best for you. I
wouldn’t mind playing for either. But I
See REID, Page 9
Newj/Fearana/Am/Sporo:
Business/Advertising:
Chapel Hill, Nonh Carotins
C 1998 DTH Publishing Carp.
All rights reserved.
Price unveils
campus plan
for childcare
■ Under the plan, UNC
would receive $33,000 to
establish a program.
BY ASHLEY RYNESKA
STAFF WRITER
Affordable childcare could be avail
able directly on college campuses, come
mid-October, if Congress approves leg
islation unveiled by U.S. Rep. David
Price.
Price, D-N.C., held a press confer
ence at N.C. Central University
Tuesday to address the recent lack of
on-site childcare available on college
campuses.
“Finding affordable, quality child
care is a real obstacle that Triangle col
lege students face,” said Kym Spell,
spokeswoman for Price.
“All young people, including parents,
should have the opportunity to get an
education.”
Price said he realized a better child
care option was needed after many
Triangle students expressed concerns
about the need for dependable, inex
pensive childcare at their schools.
“I would love it
if UNC had a
good childcare
system,” said
Martha
Hernandez, a
UNC senior and a
mother of a 4-
montb-old son.
“Not only do I
love the atmos
phere at UNC, but
I’d feel safer if I
knew my son was
on campus while I
was in class,” she
said.
The legislation
would provide a
I jfkr pj
U.S. Rep.
DAVID PRICE,
D-N.C., said he
developed the option
when Triangle college
students expressed a
need for childcare.
modest amount of funding to universi
ties, ranging from SII,OOO to $47,000.
Under the plan, UNC-CH would
receive $33,000 to establish a childcare
program.
Price said he hoped the funds would
serve as an incentive for colleges to
invest in better childcare. “This money
is not intended to construct and entirely
new facility,” Price said.
“This is seed money —a basis to
build on,” he said.
Price suggested schools could use the
See CHILDCARE, Page 9
INSUH
A little change for the mind
*** n y The last show
reePg 11
of the year for
( fL**’ Play Makers
Repertory Company
is Threepenny
Opera,' by Bertolt Brecht.
is Thi
W Upera,' by
The musical is more elaborate than
the other shows of the year. Page 5
♦
Spring fling
Spring finally has sprung. With warm
sunshine and blooming flowers all
around, students are finding it harder
than ever to attend their classes.
Page 4
9#
Today's weather
Partly sunny, windy;
low 80s
Friday: Chance of thunderstorms:
high 70s
m
Summertime news
Worried about the summer session blues? The
Daily Tar Heel has the cure. Come write or
work as a desk editor for the paper's weekly
summer editon. Applications will be available
Friday at the DTH front desk in Union 104.
Interested students can call Editor-select Sharif
Durhams at 962-0245.
962-0245
962-1163