North Carolina Newspapers

oJif latlu ®ar H itl 9 News/Fi J? aHo 107 years of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Committee Sets Schedule for Labor Proposal Bv Aisha K. Thomas Staff Writer A committee dealing with fair labor conditions mapped out a schedule Monday to ensure that recommenda tions concerning membership in labor rights organizations would reach the chancellor by the end of the week. As the deadline approaches, mem bers of the Licensing Labor Code Advisory Committee said they would vote Wednesday to determine if they want the University to end a partnership More than Sweet Tea and Grits: Northerners Learn Southern Style By Jermaine L. Caldwell Staff Writer It’s the line that separates Andy Griffith and Jerry Seinfeld, sweet tea and hot tea, soda and pop. Although it’s invisible, the Mason- Dixon Line is the arbitrary border between two distinct American cultures, y The regional differences often leave students who cross the Mason-Dixon for school at a loss to comprehend a culture they only know from stereotypes. So when “Yankee” high school seniors decide to pack up their belongings and trek south to the land of grits and “y’all,” they have more to get accustomed to than the weather. But despite the hurdles Northern students face in making the transition to Southern life, every year about 10,000 out-of-state high school students apply to UNC. And as many as 18 percent of the freshman class members end up making a journey to the Southern part of heaven. Magnolias and Manners Freshman Gabrielle Waligora fell in love with Chapel Hill long before the Connecticut resi dent filled out her college application. Ller sister Nicole first blazed a southern trail to UNC. During one of the Waligora family’s visits, Gabrielle, then 11, encountered some thing that would make a lasting impression. The family dined at K&W Cafeteria in Rep. Calls Tours 'lneffective' Bv Jonathan Moseley Staff Writer A legislator on the state committee examining UNC-system capital needs says campus tours to showcase vitally needed improvements might ignore the real problem of how to fund them. In place of normal weekly meetings, the Joint Select Committee on Higher Education Facilities Needs has been on the road for two Friday meetings, observing rundown facilities in nearly every university in the UNC-system. Accompanied by UNC-system lead ers, the committee, which visited the UNC-Chapel Hill campus Friday, still has three more trips scheduled - to UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Asheville and UNC-Greensboro. But Rep. Martin Nesbitt, D- Buncombe, said time spent touring cam- Funding Delay Could Hurt Farmers By Kristina Casto Staff Writer Six months after Hurricane Floyd, a spending controversy in Congress has log-jammed desperately needed relief funds for N.C. farmers. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed an sß.(i billion emer gency spending bill March 9 that would provide the state with S3OO million in emergency aid. But the bill has yet to come up for a vote in the full House or Senate. The bill includes $Bl million in loan forgiveness for farmers and authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release additional funds to aid farmers in the rebuilding process. The remaining money would be divided among housing construction, Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training. Anna Freud %*!- !1 with the Fair Labor Association and join the Worker Rights Consortium, or partner with both. The FLA is a nonprofit organi zation comprised of apparel and footwear compa nies, labor rights groups and uni versities. Labor Committee Co-chairman Rut Tufts Sweet Tea and Style seniors ed to see on a New York City street comer. Some students said “y’all” X, \ sand trek University Mall and was sold on the South. And they credit this difference to the thought was one of the first Southern A, 1 II,” they have “The lady at the front counter said, ‘May 1 that city-dwellers live every minute as if they words that struck a sour chord in te weather. help you,’ to everv customer,” Waligora said. always have some place to be- quickly. their ears. Others included “Fixin’ to” University Mall and was sold on the South. “The lady at the front counter said, ‘May 1 help you,’ to every customer,” Waligora said. “My dad began to call it the ‘May I help you,’ restaurant,” she said. It was then that Waligora received her first dose of Southern hospitality, which swayed her to exit the North and come to UNC. Other Northerners-turned-UNC freshmen experienced similar educations in politeness. “There’s a much bigger emphasis on behav ior (in the South),” said freshman Doug Neal, who attended high school in Kenilworth, 111. Waligora said she noticed random acts of politeness were not commonplace in the North. “People down here are so friendly,” Waligora said. “That’s what North Carolina is known for - it’s just instinct. When somebody walks by, you wave; you smile.” Northern students said the waving and smil- puses could be better spent hash ing out fiscal solu tions. “1 certainly knew the condi tion of the schools beforehand,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is sort out what’s got to be done and fig ure out how to pay for it.” Nesbitt also said any expendi ture, including bonds, would be Student BOG member Jeff Nieman said the committee's campus tours had been productive. unwise without a clear repayment plan. The idea for the university tours came about when last year’s multibillion dollar bond proposal, intended to pro vide for the UNC-system’s capital road and other infrastructure repair in eastern North Carolina ripped apart by the September storm’s floodwaters. The bill also funds items of pressing international concern such as American troops in Kosovo and fighting the drug war in Colombia. The House planned to vote on the bill this week. But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R.-Miss., and other Republicans said the bill was full of pork-barrel items and warned that they would oppose it. Kimberly Nielson, spokeswoman for Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said some conservative Republicans were con cerned that the bill would increase spending for the Kosovo and Colombia operations. She said she was not sure when the issue would be resolved. “We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed," she said. Tuesday, March 21, 2000 Volume 107, Issue 173 The WRC is a group recently creat ed with input from workers, students and labor advocates. While committee members weigh the pros and cons of joining the WRC, stu dent activists will meet with interim Chancellor Bill McCoy today to persu dae him to cut UNC’s ties with the Fair I-abor Association. Members of Students for Economic Justice said the recommendations from the advisory committee would not be tailored to their demands. “We are hoping that this will give us a ing to strangers was not something one expect ed to see on a New York City street comer. And they credit this difference to the thought that city-dwellers live every minute as if they always have some place to be- quickly. “People walk fast because there’s always something to do, always somewhere to go,” said Davette Zachary, a freshman from Long Island, N.Y. Neal said a Southerner’s mentality was the complete opposite. “People are much more easygoing down here. You walk to class, and everyone is strolling and chatting with each other.” Drawls and Vails While Northerners might easily find them selves in conversations with Southerners, under standing what they are saying might prove to be a more difficult task. “(When I first came here,) I couldn't under stand what people were saying because of the needs, failed in the N.C. General Assembly. The legislature decided the tours would be a way to prioritize fund ing for much needed improvements. The committee is slated to present the legislature with a recommendation of how to handle the capital improve ments problem when the General Assembly reconvenes in May. Despite Nesbitt’s concerns, most committee members said their experi ences had been effective in exploring state universities and had provided them with valuable information. “When you see firsthand what’s going on and talk to the students who have to work in those surroundings, it brings the situation direct to you,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Durham, co chairman of the committee. See TOURS, Page 4 N.C. farmer Brenda Jones said the bill’s delay or defeat would hurt farmers recovering from last summer’s drought and last fall’s flooding. Jones and her husband run a peanut and cotton farm in Nash County. She said the flood destroyed more than half of their cotton and peanut crops. She said she and her husband received no federal aid, forcing them to extend last year’s loans and take out additional loans for this growing season. “They keep talking about all this aid, and the general public thinks that farm ers are getting all this aid, and we’re not getting it," Jones said. “We just need some help of some sort.” In the aftermath of Floyd, the state spent sß3fi million on flood relief, send See FUNDING, Page 4 >.chance to get our main points across,” SEJ member Courtney Sproule said. Members of SEJ support a union with the WRC and demand that UNC’s affil iation with the FLA be severed. Last April, SEJ led a three-day student sit-in at South Building in which McCoy agreed to require full disclosure of com panies that manufacture UNC products. Members asked the advisory com mittee to provide McCoy with a recom mendation concerning the WRC by March 10, but the committee extended the deadline to Friday. MEAT-FREE ZONE - JH DTH/KATE MEIXNIK Junior Susannah Kirby, gets her fill of pita bread and hummus at the Great American Meatout on Monday. The vegetarian feast was put on by campus groups to raise awareness of animal cruelty. SEJ members want McCoy to make the final decision by April 3 to ensure that a UNC representative could attend the WRC founding conference April 7. Task force members discussed the monitoring processes and standards of the FLA and WRC at the Monday meeting. They also debated the merits of join ing both groups. Committee Co-chairman Pete Andrews said much was still unknown See LICENSING, Page 4 words that struck a sour chord in their ears. Others included “Fixin’ to” and “Fittin’ to.” And vice versa, the Northern tongue also has a uniqueness to it that can rub Southerners the wrong way. When Zachary opened her mouth to speak in Chapel Hill, she soon found that her words were followed by a “Where are you from?” or “Oh, you’re from up North somewhere.” Neal said most Southerners thought their Horthrm . HpcaVi. quickly and a lot.” But just eight months in the South can cause Southern slang to soak into those thick Northern accents like gravy on a buttermilk biscuit. See CULTURES, Page 4 News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245 Business/ Advertising 962-1163 Chapel Hill, North Carolina © 2000 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Students Split Over Fee Hike Although the fee increase will benefit students, some want increased student involvement in the process. By Jason Arthurs Staff Writer Students returned from Spring Break to find an unusually high increase in stu dent fees to add to their already inflated tuition bill next fall. While student government officials maintain the fees are justified and will directly benefit students, other students say the process of raising student fees needs to be more open. The Board of Governors voted unan imously Thursday to raise UNC’s fees by 9 percent to $850.82. In the past, the board had restricted fee increases to 5 percent per year. Student Body President-elect Brad Matthews said the fee increases should not cause concern for students because they would directly benefit from Student Union renovations and improved Point-2-Point services. Students voted in a 1998 elections referendum to raise student fees for the $3 million Student Union expansion. “(Thursday’s vote) was just the final step in a process,” Matthews said. “The difference between the (previous) tuition increase and this is that students were involved in the process.” But junior Michal Osterweil, co-chair woman of the Alliance for Creating Campus Equity and Seeking Social Justice, said that while student govern ment claimed the increase was what the students wanted, she Left students were. not well-informed of the fee increases. “Students aren’t there just to protest; we can also be strong advocates, too.” Osterweil said she questioned the tim ing of the BOG vote. “The fact that this meeting was set over Spring Break makes me a little uneasy,” she said. “I just wish the BOG and student govern ment were more informative and invited more people to be a part of the process.” Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Lee Conner stressed that the high fee increases should not be looked at collectively, but individually. “Certainly a large portion of that is for the (Student) Union (reno vations),” he said. “This is a special thing this year.” But Osterweil said she was con cerned that students were being asked too often to provide money that the See FEES, Page 4 mmt Tuesday Questions Remain After an alleged assault on a 14-year-old Chapel Hill High School student by a temporary worker, school officials say they will examine the process for screening workers. See Page S. Holocaust Backlash An insert that recently ran in Wake Forest University’s campus newspaper claiming that the Holocaust has been historically distorted and overblown has sparked outrage from minority groups on the campus. See Page S. UNC, Rice Tip Off 2000 NCAA. ' women's FotA The fifth-seeded North Carolina women’s basketball team took on 13th seed Rice at midnight, too late to make it into today's DTH on time. See Wednesday's paper for the full story. Today’s Weather Cloudy; Low 60s. Wednesday: Stormy; High 50s.