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Petitions Push Referendum Back on Ballot
By Katie Abel
University Editor
A three-week debate over a contro
versial student referendum ended
Wednesday after its biggest proponents
managed to get it back on next week’s
election ballot.
Following a successful petition drive
by students, Student Body President Nic
Heinke ordered Elections Board
Chairwoman Catherine Yates on
Wednesday night to place the referen
dum on the Feb. 15 ballot for the second
time.
Students spent three days circulating
Committee
Presents
Rental Plan
GPSF President Lee Conner
presented the Chapel Hill
Town Council with a plan
to ease housing tensions.
By Kate Hartic,
Staff Writer
In light of a proposal that could limit
he number of nonrelated residents who
:an live together, a committee present
'd a plan to the Chapel Hill Town
Council on Wednesday calling for com
jromise between students and locals.
The committee, which is composed
>f student leaders and local landlords,
imposed a plan called the Residential
lental Responsibility Program, which
iroponents say would facilitate better
ommunication and improved relations
letween the two factions.
The concerns and the plan stem from
n ongoing struggle between residents
nd students living off campus.
Complaints of noise and suburban
ecay by students prompted residents
> ask the council to help them improve
eighborhoods’ conditions.
Residents have asked for stricter
nforcement of existing housing ordi
ances, including a possible reduction
f the number of nonrelated people
■ho can live together.
Lee Conner, Graduate and
’rofessional Student Federation presi
ent and committee member, present
d the plan on behalf of the students.
"We have worked out a comprehen
ive plan involving landowners and stu
ents that doesn’t go to the extremes.”
The extremes Conner referred to
ealt with the proposal to lower the
linimum housing occupancy to fewer
lan four unrelated individuals, which
ould apply to groups of students who
ve in residential areas. Currently there
i no limitation on the amount of stu
ents who can live together.
"Reducing the number ... in a house
; not going to stop the parties,” he said.
It’s just going to raise the rents.”
Under the committee’s plan, each
iroperty manager would be required to
ibtain a $lO privilege license before
enting their property to tenants, much
ike the license a business must have
lefore il opens its doors.
After obtaining the license, landlords
vould then include two addenda to
eases -one that spells out the land
ord’s responsibilities and the other
pelling out the tenants' responsibilities.
These two additions include specific
nformation regarding tenant’s rights.
“This program solves problems like
jarbage, parking and noise - these are
ome of the complaints that students are
jetting blamed for in some neighbor
ioods,” said Steve Mills, committee
nember and proprietor of Steve Mills
lental Properties.
Mills said the license fee would pay
or a database including tenant and
iwner information that would be acces
ible to the public on the town’s Web
ite. That way, when neighbors had
omplaints, they could address their
iroblems directly with the right person.
Carole Capper, a Davie Circle resi
-lent, said that having the tenant and
See LICENSING, Page 9
campus to collect
more than 2,800
student signatures
to get the referen
dum on next
week’s ballot.
The Student
Constitution man
dates that any
UNC student can
get a referendum
on the ballot by obtaining the signatures
of more than 10 percent of UNC’s stu
dent body.
The student signatures garnered by
United States Student Association sup-
1 ' \ \
•;" ■ >,
’~j n \^i
* H
DTH/MEREDITH LEE
Parking hassles on campus seem to be a perpetual gripe of UNC students, once again leaving this year's crop
of student body president candidates suggesting ways to improve the system.
As part of our
student elections
coverage, the DTH
will examine the
top five student
issues based upon
the paper’s survey
of 300 students.
MONDAY:
Dining sendees
TUESDAY:
The accessibility of
student government
WEDNESDAY:
Race relations
TODAY: Parking
FRIDAY: Tuition
BSM Endorses Smiley,
Bell for Campus Posts
By Katy Nelson
Staff Writer
The Black Student Movement issued
its coveted endorsements last night in a
forum which had candidates scrambling
to prove their commitment to diversity.
The BSM endorsed Erica Smiley for
student body president, Jason Cowley
and Sherilynn Black for senior class
president and vice president and Corey
Bell for president of the Carolina
Athletic Association.
The BSM did not issue an endorse
I still can't see why democracy means everybody but me.
Langston Hughes
porters constitute more than the 10 per
cent of the UNC’s 23,370 member stu
dent body.
The Student Supreme Court upheld
Sunday the removal of the referendum
that would ask students to pay $3 more
in student fees to join USSA, a higher
education lobbying group.
Congress Speaker Mark
Kleinschmidt removed the referendum
Jan. 21 after the Student Code's provi
sion for a two-thirds majority vote was
brought to his attention.
The 12-10 congressional vote did not
constitute the required majority to place
the referendum on the ballot.
By Matthew Smith
Staff Writer
For many students, campus parking
spaces are even more coveted than tick
ets to the UNC I)uke basketball game.
The lack of adequate student parking
has prompted stu
dent government
leaders to examine
dozens of solutions
to the problem
over the past few
years.
But as student
frustration contin
ues to heighten, this
year’s student body
lAmmmmmtsmmmmdhs
president candidates are under more
pressure to lobby for additional student
spaces.
Students are doled out only about
2,440 of the 17,249 campus spaces, leav-
ment for
Residence Hall
Association presi
dent, voting not to
endorse Gaffney
Gunter, the only
candidate who
attended the
forum.
For four consec
utive years, the can-
,
didate endorsed by the BSM for student
See BSM, Page 9
Thursday, February 10, 2000
Volume 107, Issue 150
After Sunday’s Supreme Court deci
sion, the plaintiffs vowed to get the ref
erendum back on the ballot and have
lobbied students across campus to col
lect the necessary signatures.
“It was definitely a challenge and
very time-consuming,” said freshman
Sandi Chapman, a USSA advocate.
“But we vowed to fight for this.”
The code says a referendum must be
submitted for consideration six calendar
days before the election.
Wednesday marked the last day stu
dents could submit signatures before the
election.
The constitution mandates that any
ing more than 3,500 students who apply
for a space without a place to park.
Most campus parking lots have wait
ing lists of 200 to 300 students.
Fighting proposals that would remove
student spaces, providing more public
transportation and maintaining unre
stricted nighttime parking are some of
this year's largest campaign trail promis
es.
Student body president candidate
Michael Harris said he would work to
provide free busing from the PR lot for
commuters and off-campus students.
He said he also wanted to set up more
efficient student parking on campus. “We
have to stop the bleeding of spaces,”
Harris said. “We can’t give up anymore.”
Harris said he opposed night permits,
which would require students and facul
ty to pay for campus parking from 5 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
Discussion of campus night-parking
* smm
DTH/LAURA GIOVANELLI
Erica Smiley addresses the crowd Wednesday during the Black Student
Movement's candidate forum. The group later endorsed Smiley for SBP.
student-initiated referendum must be
approved by two-thirds of the students
who vote in campus elections.
There are two other referenda on the
ballot, but because they were passed
through Congress, they only require a
simple majority vote.
USSA supporters said they were con
fident the referendum could gain the
required student vote.
Senior Corye Barbour said USSA
proponents would lobby support from
campus student organizations and set up
information tables in the Pit until elec-
See USSA, Page 9
permits came after faculty expressed con
cern that there were not adequate spaces
for professors who wanted to return to
campus in the evening for research.
A University parking committee is
now mulling night-parking fees, but a
final decision has not yet been made.
“That argument doesn’t fly with me,”
Harris said. “Students have to come back
to use the libraries, too.”
To maximize efficient use of resources,
Harris said free shuttles from the PR lot
would help students who had to utilize
off-campus parking.
Candidate Brad Matthews, who is also
opposed to night permits, said students
should not lose any more spaces.
With the University’s plan to increase
enrollment figures by as much as 5,000
students during the next 10 years, he said
the problem was likely to get worse.
See PARKING, Page 9
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 2000 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
President
Postpones
Fee Debate
The Board of Governors will
discuss a proposed S2OO
tuition increase at UNC-CH
today at The Carolina Inn.
By Jonathan Moseley
Staff Writer
The Board of Governors plans to dis
cuss several amendments to UNC-sys
tem President Molly Broad’s tuition
proposal at a meeting today and Friday,
but Broad said a decision on a student
fee increase would be put off to a later
date.
In January, Broad set forth a $275
systemwide student fee increase for cap
ital improvements to UNC-system cam
puses and a S2OO tuition increase for
raising faculty salaries at UNC-Chapel
Hill and N.C. State University.
Broad said Wednesday she would
delay making a decision on the capital
improvements fee today, pending
review by the N.C. Citizens for Business
and Industry, a conglomerate of N.C.
business leaders and Chamber of
Commerce members.
The fee increase would mark the first
time ever students would be asked to
support academic facilities - the portion
of the plan that has raised the most con
cern among officials and students.
“(The citizens group) has agreed to
help N.C.’s universities and community
colleges respond to our capital needs,”
she said. “We’re going to put off address
ing that issue so that we can analyze the
problem the way a business would.”
But even with the postponing of a
definite decision on the fees, board
members have also questioned other
facets of the proposal
Suggestions include eliminating the
capital improvements fee, lowering pro
posed tuition increases and allowing
East Carolina University, UNC-
Charlotte, and UNC-Wilmington to
See BOG, Page 9
Carolina, Speak Out!
FINAL RESULTS WILL BE PUBLISHED
Which student body president
candidate will you vote for?
I Goto
www.unc.edu/dth
A to cast your vote.
i
Thursday
Tinseltown Meets D.C.
A growing number of entertainers
have leapt from the silver screen to
legislative floors, with former President
Ronald Reagan leading the pack.
Wrestler Ric Flair is the latest to make
a bid for public office. See Page 5.
Hitting the Town
Local gay and lesbian leaders are calling
for more entertainment opportunities
in Chapel Hill. Friday's debut of
Insomnia at Gotham night club is a
step in that direction See Page 4.
Home Wreckers
The UNC men's basketball team dealt
N.C. State its first loss ever at the
Entertainment and Sports Arena by
knocking off the Wolfpack 70-62
Wednesday night. See Page 10.
Today’s Weather
Sunny;
Mid 60s.
Friday: Cloudy:
Low 70s.