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2 Monday, April 3, 2000 Center Aims to Reach Out to Campus The Johnston Center provides space for student group activities, as well as a comfortable place for study. By Beth O'Brien, Geoffrey Wessel and Jessica Joye Staff Writers Since its opening in October, the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence has been i developing ways to improve the University’s intellectual climate. The center, housed in McCorkle Place’s Graham Memorial Building, seeks to provide innovative teaching tools and a stimulating environment for undergraduate academic growth at UNC, said Assistant Director Eric Mlyn. “The purpose is to serve a wide vari ety of students,” she said. “It’s slowly but surely becoming the intellectual cross roads for students we had hoped for.” Rye Barcott, a student member of the Student Faculty Advisory Committee, said those at the center were looking to heighten academic excellence in the UNC community. “We are anew center looking for ideas. We welcome any ideas from any Next DTH Editor to be Chosen Saturday A change in the selection process added another DTH staffer to the 2000-01 editor selection committee. Staff Report A committee will choose the 134th editor of The Daily Tar Heel on Saturday to lead the publication for the 2000-01 school year. Since the DTH broke away from stu dent fees in 1993, the process shifted from a campuswide election to a selec tion method using both at-large students and newspaper staffers. This year, there are two candidates (or the- editorship. State & National ■t ' ' 5 - -V V I ■ /tT-l 11 pf F 3 . ' \ .Oh : WT a v‘ \ In organization,” Barcott said. The Johnston Center officially opened its doors to students at the end of last semester after two years of reno vations came to a close. The construction for the center cost about $7.5 million, money raised through more than 700 private contri butions. Associate Dean for Honors Jim Leloudis, the center’s director, said ren ovations would continue on a smaller scale for several months. The building now houses a luxu rious lounge, Honors Program offices and several classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art tech nology. “These are the only classrooms of their kind available ““There’s a sense because of the ... grandeur of this building that not everyone belongs here - but everyone does. ” Eric Mlyn Assistant Director of the Johnston Center to undergraduates,” Mlyn said, referring to Internet hook-ups, touch-screen com puters and video-teleconferencing in each room. “We have 50 classes booked for this semester,” he said. “We’re overwhelmed with demand, but it’s a good thing.” Barcott said most of the classrooms were used for Honors courses but that Editor Matt Dees and Managing Editor Cate Doty. Both candidates had to submit an extensive application in March and will go before the selection committee this weekend for an hourlong interview. In February, the DTH Board of Directors, at the the suggestion of Editor Rob Nelson, decided to change the com position of the selection committee. In years past, the 11-member com mittee had been composed of eight at large students and three members of the newspaper’s staff -a desk editor, an assistant editor and a staffer. It took eight votes to nab the position. The board voted in February to decrease the number of at-large students to seven, while requiring the eight votes to win. University more space was available. Outside of the classroom, the center looks to create programs that seek to heighten the intellectual climate for undergraduates. “We will have some of our own pro gramming,” Leloudis said. “But we also want to provide space for ideas that stu dents and faculty have that might other wise not get off the ground.” Barcott said a main goal of the center was to encourage student organizations to take advantage of the new space. The center encourages involvement from student groups by offering a venue for guest speakers the groups spon sor, Barcott said. Tentative plans also include a Tuesday/Thursday luncheon series featuring invited guest speakers and Friday jazz concerts on the open-air veranda. The center already boasts monthly lunch discussions with former UNC-sys tem President Bill Friday to debate UNC’s intellectual climate, called “Tuesdays With Friday.” Overall, the Johnston Center was “It had always bothered me that there were eight at-large members and it took eight votes to win,” Nelson said. “Essentially, we had a situation where people who knew very little about the internal workings of the paper making the DTH’s most important personnel decision. It was a dangerous system.” Nelson said the change in this year’s process, which required changing the bylaws of the newspaper, would boost candidates’ accountability to the news room. “Under the new system, at least one person in the newsroom - someone who knows more about the applicant than what he or she puts on paper or says in the interview - must have the confidence that the candidate could do the job well.” formed to strengthen UNC’s academic climate in a collaborative way, Barcott said. “Our long-term goal is to help unite a decentralized campus,” he said. “We want to unite undergrads through creative and academic means.” He also said thejohnston Center pro vided an atmosphere of relaxation for students in the building’s newly restored Morehead Lounge. The quiet, spacious lounge, open to the entire campus, offers such luxurious comforts as a coffee bar and working fireplace. Some students have already begun to discover this relatively unknown study haven. “This is my new favorite place to study - the couches are so comfortable and it’s quiet,” freshman Britt Lake said. However, Lake is one of the few stu dents taking full advantage of all the new center offers. “The problem is convincing under grads that they belong here,” Mlyn said. “There’s a sense because of the beau ty and grandeur of this building that not everyone belongs here -but everyone does. “It’s open to the entire campus.” The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu. The four internal members of the board will be chosen today in an all-staff meeting and will be kept secret until the interview Saturday to protect the integri ty of the process. “I believe that the board made the right decision, said Janet Gallagher- Cassel, the DTH’s general manager. “Being editor is a very important job, and this change in the process makes for a more critical committee that must pick the person best for the post.” The selection committee must choose the new editor Saturday, and that person will officially take over the job when the semester concludes. Nelson said, “It’s always great to see that, year after year, there are people in the newsroom who feel than can improve the DTH.” fjP This Week in Tar Heel History... 50 Years Ago: T / ■ This week in 1950, George Lemuel Bennet Jr. was shot to V I death in his home two blocks from campus. A former UNC \ \ mathematics professor's son was suspected of the crime. ■ This week in 1975, Mdver Residence Hall resident Barbara Earnheart added a SIO,IOO emotional damage claim to her $1 million law suit against " the Department of University Housing. The original law suit resulted from a room assignment mix-up. 10 Years Ago: ■ This week in 1990, Bill Hildebolt was inaugurated as the new student body president. His was elected under controversy after being brought in front of the Honor Court for charges of destruction of personal property. Hildebolt was accused of removing the chalked campaign signs of an opponent. Campus Calendar Today noon - The Public Policy Symposium at the School of Law will host a panel discussion on Smart Growth in the Rotunda. Panelists will include former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer, Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson, Sen. Elbe Kinnaird, D- Orange, N.C. Zoological Park Director David Jones, Wake County Homebuilders Association Executive Director Jim Wahlbrink and South Carolina Coastal Conservation League member Dana Beach. For more information, contact either Thad Woody via e-mail at twoody@email.unc.edu or by calling 933-3008 or contact Ashley Matlock via e-mail at amatlock@email.unc.edu or by calling 932-6337 5:30 p.m. - The Cystic Fibrosis ORGANization will hold a meeting in the Frank Porter Graham Lounge of the Student Union for the Great Strides Walk. All are welcome. 7:30 p.m. - Bill Harding, a mission ary, will speak to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the Ram’s Room of Kenan Field House. All are welcome, even those who are not college-level athletes. Tuesday 4 p.m. - Thomas Hunter, from the Northern Territory University in Australia, will speak on “After the Fall: the Many Voices of Post-New Order Bali” at the University Center for International Studies as part of its Indonesia Focus program. 7 p.m. - The Peer Mentoring Program will hold an interest meeting in 111 Murphey Hall for all students who would like to serve as mentors to tTlip Daily alar Hrrl incoming freshmen. Wednesday 4 p.m. - There will be an installation of the Asian Poetry Reading Series held in Room 11 of Graham Memorial.’' Shantanu Phukan, from Studies, will recite “The Lover’s. Lament: Urdu Romantic Lyrics.” Rashmi Varma, from the Department" of English, will recite and play musical tapes of Hindi-Urdu lyric poems or. ghazals, which are the basis of much of Sufi thought and Hindi film music. 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. - There will be a last-chance tax seminar for all interna tional students and scholars in 104 Howell Hall. 3:30 p.m. - Dr. Ned Block from New York University will deliver a lecture on . “The Harder Problem of Consciousness,” which is co-sponsored by Department of Philosophy in 112 Davie Hall. Admission is free. 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. - Donate Life: Marrow Typing Organization, will' hold an informational meeting for minority campus groups in Union 208- 209. For more information, please con tact donatelife@listserv.oit.unc.edu. 6 p.m. - The Management and Society Association will hold its meet ing in Union 212 to elect officers for next year. The meeting will also feature Chanda Douglas, director for human resources at Piedmont Health Services, as a speaker. Items of Interest ■ Those interested can sign up through Wednesday at the Union front desk to attend the Holocaust Survivor Luncheon, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 10. Space is very limited. For more information, contact Lisa at lawald@email.unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 3, 2000, edition 1
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