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Cochran Likely to Speak at UNC
By Derick Mattern
Staff Writer
The Black Student Movement is wait
ing for financial backing that will bring
the outspoken and often controversial
attorney for O. J. Simpson, Michael
Jackson and Puffy Combs to campus.
BSM officials will go before Congress
on Tuesday to ask for more than $5,000
to bringjohnnie Cochran to UNC on
Feb. 20.
The visit has been in the works since
Ice Storm Keeps
Motorists Home,
Downs Power
UNC continues to be affected by harsh
winter weather this month, as officials
have delayed classes until 10 a.m. today.
Staff and Wire Reports
RALEIGH - A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain
knocked out pow'er to tens of thousands of N.C. homes
Sunday but caused few traffic prob
lems as motorists heeded warnings
and stayed home.
Officials from Duke Power report
ed more than 2,100 weather-related
power outages in Chapel 'Hill on
Sunday.
“All the outages at this particular time are related to ice on
trees, limbs and wires,” said Gwen Savage, corporate spokes
woman for Duke Power. “We have 2,200 employees and con
tractors working to restore power.”
Icy conditions were expected to continue into early this
morning, prompting University officials to announce Sunday
that today’s classes would be delayed until 10 a.m. The
University is operating under condition 1 of the Adverse
See WEATHER, Page 4
Storm s Gone, So Back to Books
By Alexandra Molaire
Assistant University Editor
After three days of canceled classes,
students glided and slid back to class
Friday as University groundskeepers
rushed to salt the walkways.
Campus finally returned to some
sense of normalcy after last week’s storm
dumped lb inches of snow in Chapel
Hill, as UNC officials decided conditions
were manageable enough to hold class
es Friday but delayed them until 9 a.m.
Many students disagreed on whether
classes should have been in session.
“We should have had it Monday
because no one was ready (Friday),” said
freshman Lauren Reynolds from
Lewisville.
Reynolds, who fell and hit her head
while walking from South Campus to
class, pulled down her black sunglasses
to uncover the mottled bruise above her
left eye. “I changed my hair and put on
some big sunglasses,” she said. “The
paths on campus are more narrow than
usual. It takes about 10 minutes longer
to get to class.”
But Nimit Shah, a freshman from
Atlanta, said it was OK to hold classes,
although he complained about the walk
ing conditions. “There’s ice every
where,” he said. “I saw a bunch of peo
Proposal Aims to Revamp Undergraduate Registration
By Brooke Roseman
Staff Writer
As early as this fall, some UNC stu
dents will experience the first of a two
part proposal to restructure undergrad
uate advising.
Officials are aiming to improve stu
dents’ quality time with advisers as well
as to condense the registration period
from four weeks to two.
UNC Registrar David Lanier said
that as part of a trial run, the General
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last spring, said
BSM co-chair
woman Erica Lee.
At this point,
the last peg in the
plan is getting
funding approved
by a majority of
Congress mem
bers.
The Finance
Committee passed
the request unani-
Former lawyer
for O.J. Simpson,
Johnnie Cochran
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Hunt Petitions
Clinton for Aid
In Wake of Storm
See Page 5
DTH MILLER PEARSALL
A winter storm blew through North Carolina during the weekend, leaving behind ice-coated tree limbs and slick roads
and walkways. The weather also knocked out power to thousands around the state.
pie fall down and thought ‘l’m not com
ing back this way.’ That’s the reason I
took the bus back.”
Noah Isserman, a freshman from
Rockingham, echoed Shah’s sentiments.
“I think another day off would’ve
been missing too much school,” he said.
Some unfortunates trudged over to
Student Health Service to take care of
their injuries.
SHS Director Robert Wirag said
employees were able to provide 24-hour
service for the wide range of weather
related injuries. “We had a pretty decent
day volume-wise with a broad range
(such as) upper respiratory problems,
soft tissue injuries and a fractured finger.”
Wirag said students were patient
while SHS employees focused on those
with unusual discomfort or pain before
those with less urgent injuries.
SHS employees weren’t the only
ones working long hours in spite of the
weather.
UNC Grounds Department workers
scrambled Friday to clear snow and ice
from bus stops and cover the walkways
with sand and salt, said Grounds
Department Director Kirk Pelland.
Their cleanup efforts today could be
impeded by Sunday’s storm, which left
a slick layer of ice on campus.
He said workers were assigned areas
College would mail Personal
Identification Numbers along with reg
istration dates to some freshmen and
sophomores as opposed to mandating
that all students get the information
directly from their advisers.
Officials say this move will force
fewer students to see their advisers, thus
leaving advisers to spend more time
with those who do seek help.
However, all students would be
required to see their advisers at some
point, preventing students from never
mously at a meeting two weeks ago.
Cochran’s speaker fees of $5,000 is
half of what he normally charges, said
Bharath Parthasarathy, a Student
Congress Finance Committee member.
Congress has yet to pass the propos
al because of snow delays.
“It’s the same procedure that any stu
dent group follows when they’re seeking
funds,” said Lindsay Whitfield, chair
woman of the Finance Committee.
“With a speaker we make sure (the
group has) room, a time and usually a
to clean but that they tried to respond
quickly to trouble spots. “We do have a
lot of walkways to clean,” he said.
Pelland said the University was run
ning low on salt but had been able to
haul in sand from a local contractor.
Workers will be out at 6 a.m. today to
alleviate Sunday’s damage, he said.
Grounds worker Bill Mazurek joined
the long list of people inconvenienced
by the weather.
While trying to salt the steep hill near
the Kenan Field House that runs toward
SHS, Mazurek’s tractor started sliding
backward. “I was going forward -then,
the next thing I knew I was facing back
wards and the trailer (full of sand) was
against a tree.”
The tractor had spun around and the
trailer full of sand had unlatched from it,
Mazurek said. It took a small group of
grounds workers about 30 minutes to
rearrange Mazurek’s equipment.
Even though snow impeded move
ment across campus, officials stuck by
their decision to hold classes Friday. “We
started a little later to allow more time
for the ice to melt and sidewalks to be
cleared,” said Provost Dick Richardson.
“We thought it was a good decision.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
having to meet directly with advisers.
Lanier said the proposal, which has
been in the works since late in the fall
semester, was part of the overall plan to
restructure the advising system.
Reorganization of the advising struc
ture began in fall 1998 when UNC cre
ated the Carolina Advising Initiative to
address student complaints that advisers
were not accessible.
Asa result, the General College and
the College of Arts and Sciences hired
eight lull time advisers last summer.
■
Losing is the great American sin.
John Tunis
Monday, January 31, 2000
Volume 107, Issue 142
written agreement,” she said.
“We probe them about dates, times, a
place.”
The request lists the $5,000 for
Cochran’s speaker fees and an extra
SBOO for travel and lodging,
Parthasarathy said.
“I guess the reason we agreed was
because he cut his fees in half for us.”
Student Body Treasurer Ryan Schlitt
said such high amounts were not unusu
al for famous speakers.
“I would say from my three years of
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DTH KATE MELLNIK
Patience Whitehead, a freshman biology major, carefully skates
her way home to Ehringhaus Residence Hall on Friday morning.
Lanier said the new phase of restruc
turing would allow students who needed
extra advising the opportunity to get
more assistance. “It’s not increasing
advising; it’s giving more time for advis
ing,” he said. “There would be more
time for higher quality advising.”
Advisers slill want to see students, but
they do not want students who did not
need advising to feel forced to seek it, he
said.
But, students are not released from
the obligation to see their advisers,
experience that for a speaker as well
known as Johnnie Cochran, it’s a rela
tively fair deal,” Schlitt said.
Issues of police brutality hit the map
last spring, Lee said, and inspired her to
invite Cochran, winner of a landmark
1982 police misconduct case, to speak
on injustice and affirmative action.
“He’s always been working on cases
of injustice, especially where race is con
cerned,” she said.
See COCHRAN, Page 4
Lanier said. The University will choose
which students receive PINs in the mail,
thus alternating which semesters stu
dents would have to seek advisers direct
*y-
The second part of the proposal to
revamp undergradaute advising aims to
shorten the registration schedule, which
currently allows one class to register per
weekend.
Under the new system, seniors would
See REGISTRATION, Page 4
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 2000 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Locals Call
For Boy's
Transfer
The fate of Elian Gonzalez
was the focus of a protest
which drew local activists
to Miami on Saturday.
By Kevin Krasnow
Staff Writer
Two local activists, including the
mayor of Carrboro, traveled to Miami
this weekend to speak out on an issue
that has divided a family and a nation.
Carrboro
Mayor Mike
Nelson and
Chapel Hill
resident Joan
Bartel joined in
a nationwide
Elian Gonzalez's
Grandmothers
Return to Cuba
See Page 4
demonstration Saturday against granti
ng 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez U.S. citi
zenship. The protest, sponsored by
Pastors for Peace, took place from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Immigration and
Naturalization Service’s offices in down
town Miami.
“The energy there was great,” Nelson
said. “We
marched with
about 150 to 200
concerned citizens
... and then lis
tened to speakers
representing about
a dozen interested
organizations
around the
country.”
Nelson and
Bartel demon
strated on behalf
of the Carolina
Interf a“i t h~
Taskforce for
Central America
mm m
Carrboro Mayor
Mike Nelson
went to Miami
the return
' of Elian Gonzalez
to his home in Cuba.
in Chapel Hill, an organization 400-
strong that aims to combat unnecessary
U.S. intervention in Central America.
The target of a national media circus,
Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner
tube off the Florida coast Nov. 25. Much
of his family, including his mother, per
ished while attempting to immigrate
See PROTEST, Page 4
Carolina, Speak Out!
A weekly DTH online poll
What was the most pivotal event
in 20th century black history?
( www.unc.edu/dth
to cast your vote.
1
INSIDE
Housing the Elderly
First Baptist Church has received
$3.8 million in federal funds from
the department of Housing and Urban
Development to build housing for the
elderly in Chapel Hill. See Page 3.
One More Chance
Due to the inclement weather, the
deadline for DTH staff applications has
been extended to 5 p.m. Tuesday. We
are seeking applicants for several desks.
Contact Editor Rob Nelson at 962-
4086 with questions.
Joanna Howell Fund
Applications are now available in the
DTH front office for the Joanna Howell
Fund, which honors a DTH staffer who
died in the 1996 Phi Gamma Delta fra
ternity house fire. The fund includes a
$250 grant for an in-depth story exam
ining an issue that affects the University.
Contact Managing Editor Cate Doty at
962-4103 with questions.
Today’s Weather
Cloudy;
High 30s.
Tuesday: Sunny,
mtm Mid 40s.