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GPSF to Push for Independence
The group's president, Bryan
Kennedy, and others are
trying to sever ties to the
rest of student government.
By DeVona A. Brown
University Editor
The Graduate and Professional
Student Federation is mounting a seces
sion from student government to gain
complete graduate student autonomy.
Currently, graduate and professional
organizations are circulating petitions
for 2,000 graduate student signatures in
efforts to have a referendum in
February’s elections that would sever
GPSF ties to student government.
The petition calls for a constitution
Residents: Students
Not Good Neighbors
Some Northside residents
say UNC students living in
the area do not contribute
to community togetherness.
Bv Angela Lea
Staff Writer
Several residents blamed students for
problems in their neighborhoods in a
report presented to the Chapel Hill
Town Council on Monday night.
The report summarized a meeting
between the town’s planning board and
residents of the Northside Conservation
Area, a traditionally low-income neigh
borhood near the border of Chapel Hill
and Carrboro.
“The residents’
main interest is in
maintaining and
preserving the
character of their
neighborhood,”
said planning
board member
Madeline
Jefferson.
Northside resi
dents expressed
concern over
man)' issues, rang
ing from noise and
parking violations
to a lack of com
munity cohesive
ness, Jefferson said.
Chapel Hill Town
Council member
joe Capowski
doubts the town can
prevent students
from renting houses.
And according to the board’s report,
local residents believe these problems
are aggravated by student residents.
Neighborhood resident Estelle
Mabry states in the report that student
residents do not contribute to the sense
of community as long term residents
could. Single-family housing should be
preserved, she said.
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DTH/LAURA LEIGH PAGE
Orange County Board of Commissioners candidate Barry Jacobs speaks at a candidate forum Monday night
sponsored by the Black Student Movement, student government, the UNC Young Democrats and The Daily Tar
Heel. He and his opponents, Alice Gordon, right, ana Steve Halkiotis, left, addressed education and pollution.
Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
Harry S. Truman
f-m j
separate from stu
dent government,
control of gradu
ate and profession
al student fees and
for dialogue with
the Board of
Trustees for an ex
officio seat.
GPSF President
Bryan Kennedy
said the plans for
automony sparked
from graduate stu
dents’ dissatisfac
tion with the way
the undergraduate
Graduate and
Professional Student
Federation President
Bryan Kennedy
initiated GPSF's
move for autonomy.
majority ran Student Congress and stu
dent government.
Kennedy said that as he attempted to
get students to fill the eight open
Eld Caldwell, also a Northside resi
dent, states in the report that students do
not want to be a part of the community,
and resident and non-resident students
caused parking overflows.
Miles Pressler, director of
EmPOWEßment Inc., an affordable
housing advocacy group, stated that stu
dent rental housing had a negative
impact on the neighborhood. The town
needs to find an ethical way to prevent
the transformation of Northside from a
residential neighborhood to student
“dorms,” Pressler states in the report.
But council member Joe Capowski
said he was not sure the council could
pass laws to curb student occupancy of
the Northside area.
“Some of these are things I just don’t
know if we can have, like restrictions on
renting to UNC students,” Capowski
said. “We need to check on whether this
legislation is feasible.”
However, Capowski said the preser
vation of Northside was a valid concern.
Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary
Waldorf said the conservation of
Northside would become increasingly
important as the University’s student
population grew.
“With the University expanding by
3,000 to 5,000 in the next decade, we’ve
really got to come up with some good
preservation strategies,” she said.
The council referred the matter to the
town staff for further study and expects
a report in December.
Reyna Walters, student body presi
dent, said she would definitely keep an
eye on the possible restriction of student
housing by the council.
“There is a need for low-income
housing in Chapel Hill,” she said.
“But also, there is another need for
students to have a place to live.”
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
Tuesday, October 27, 1998
Volume 106, Issue 104
Congress seats, he got an overwhelming
response that no one thought they could
ever be fairly represented in Congress.
“Professional students were saying,
‘Maybe it’s time for us to control our
own money,’” he said. “I received pret
ty much a mandate from student lead
ers. Every graduate student I talked to
said this is the next step.”
Kennedy said in past years, Congress
gave limited consideration to graduate
student groups wanting money. “If we
weren’t an officer in it or a member (of
the groups), we didn’t get the respect to
pass anything through.”
Although he is spearheading the
move for autonomy, Kennedy said he
initially did not support the measure.
“Being hard-pressed to find anybody
See GPSF, Page 5
,'A . ' .
DTH/RACHEL LEONARD
Sophomore Justine D'Amico (right) receives help from freshman Cathy Brooks with picking out a Halloween costume at Time After Time,
a vintage clothing shop on West Franklin Street. With Halloween this Saturday,
many students have started the rush to find outfits for the celebrations.
Conflict-of-interest Rules Rejected
The council decided to add
an oath for board members
to report interest conflicts.
By Nicole White
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council reject
ed council member Julie McClintock’s
proposed ordinance Monday that would
The Money Trail
Graduate student leaders plan to use the
following steps to have student fees now
distributed through Student Congress
given to the GPSF Senate to allocate.
1. 7.5 percent of graduate students need
to sign the petition to create a
referendum.
2. The referendum is written.
3. Graduate students are educated about
the changes proposed by the referendum
and their effects.
4. Graduate students would vote on the
referendum in February.
5. If the referendum passes, graduate
student fees will likely be transferred to
the GPSF Senate.
DRESSED TO IMPRESS
have imposed conflict-of-interest regu
lations for advisory board members.
Rather than passing an ordinance,
the council decided to attach an oath to
board applications ensuring that mem
bers would abstain from voting on items
if they had a conflict of interest.
McClintock’s proposal included pro
visions requiring full disclosure of
income sources that totaled more than
$5,000 in a given year.
Candidates Address Students
Six local election candidates
spoke to a crowd of about
20 students at a forum held
on campus Monday.
By Eleanor Cameron
Staff Writer
An elections forum Monday night
brought six local political hopefuls to
campus to articulate their platforms and
discuss issues rele
vant to students.
The forum was
sponsored by the
Black Student
Movement, stu
dent government,
the UNC Young
Democrats and The Daily Tar Heel.
About 20 people showed up to listen to
the candidates.
Orange County Board of
Commissioners Alice Gordon and
Stephen Halkiotis, both of whom seek-
History Spells Out Frustrations
Graduate issues have not
gotten the respect they
deserve, leaders have said.
By Sharif Dirhams
Editor
Representatives for graduate students
have fielded threats to their financial
support and questions about their cred
ibility since the University’s first such
organization was formed 30 years ago.
And these threats have created frustra
tion.
Former Graduate and Professional
Some council members said the dis
closure rules would discourage residents
from applying to advisory boards.
“I’m concerned about getting too
stringent with anything we do with our
advisory boards,” council member Lee
Pavao said. “We need our advisory
boards. We have difficulty sometimes
filling out positions. When we do things
to deliberately make it harder to partic-
See CONFLICT, Page 5
ing re-election, and candidates Barry
Jacobs and Kirk Nelson attended the
forum.
Also speak
ing were candidates for the Register of
Deeds Judy Anderson and incumbent
Joyce Pearson.
The forum began with an abbreviat
ed statement from each of the candi
dates. Each oudined their platforms and
identified the issues that concerned
them most.
Student Body President Reyna
Walters, who moderated the forum,
opened the floor for questions.
Problems addressed by the candi
dates included education, job-placement
programs, tax increases, public safety,
public health and social services.
Halkiotis said river pollution was a
major concern confronting state leaders.
“I believe the government does have
an important function, he said. “ People
are getting sick from this thing called pfi
esteria, which the government denied its
See FORUM, Page 5
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 1998 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Student Federation President Brad
Torgan voiced it in 1985.
“I would be surprised if there was
greater than a 5 to 7 percent turnout to
the polls period, for any race,” said
Torgan, who was discouraged after only
one of the nine student body president
candidates addressed the GPSF Senate
before elections.
And although all four student body
president candidates spoke to GPSF
senators this past year, the current pres
ident, Brvan Kennedy, expresses similar
disdain now.
“This has been the best it has ever
See HISTORY, Page 5
I? Wk ?' li ii| gfy
Tuesday
Issues at Hand
U.S. Secretary of
Education Dick
Riley and Rep.
David Price, D-
N.C., will be at
South Building
on Wednesday to
discuss higher
education issues and field questions
from students. See Page 2.
Healthy Choice
The screening committee for the
Director of Student Health Service
position announced Monday that it has
narrowed the search down to three
finalists for the post. Interviews will
take place on campus in November
and December. See Page 4.
Today’s Weather
Sunny and clear;
Mid 70s.
Wednesday Partly
cloudy Mid 70s.
Are you worthy?
Do you have an idea for an in-depth
story? Is it worth writing for $250? Is it
a good enough idea to make it into the
pages of The Daily Tar Heel?
If the answer is yes, then pick up an
application for the Joanna Howell Fund.
Proposals are due by 5 p.m. Friday so
don't delay in getting that idea down on
paper. The winner will receive $250 and
the story will be published in the DTH.
Questions? Need more info? Call
Editor Sharif Durhams at 962-4086.