Golden Leaf
Tobacco industry
in peril. See Page 3
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www.unc.edu/dth
Community in Mourning After Principal's Death
Bv Matt Mansfield
Staff Writer
The principal of Guy B. Phillips
Middle School was found dead in his
home by Chapel Hill police Tuesday
morning.
Alton Cheek, 57, died of what author
ities believe to be natural causes.
Phillips officials alerted police after
becoming concerned when Cheek did
not arrive for work.
Male Halls Get Woman's Touch
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Sophomore Whitney Greene walks to her room in Old West Residence Hall,
which for the past 205 years was all male.
Old East Residents Ease Into Change
By Jermaine Caldwell
Features Editor
Lisa McKeithan wasn’t just unlocking the
door to the room in which she would sleep,
study and live this semester when she moved
into Old East Residence Hall last Wednesday.
She was entering a door not open to her or
any other female for more than 200 years.
That entrance symbolizes the controversial
end to the all-male tradition in Old East and
Old West. And McKeithan said she is proud to
be one of the first women to set her bags down,
plop on the bed and call a room her own.
“I wish we could have had the chance to
move in here earlier,” the senior from
Elizabethtown said.
Old East’s cornerstone was laid October 12,
1793, making it the oldest structure of any pub
lic university in the country. It stood as the
University’s lone building for several years,
serving as a classroom and residence hall.
McKeithan said she w'as ecstatic about “the
Godwin: Rangers' Offer Unacceptable
Bv Will Kimmey
SpoitSaturday Editor
Don’t expect to see Tyrell Godwin
wearing a Texas Rangers hat around
campus today.
The outfielder, who was selected 35th
overall in June’s first-year player draft,
turned down the Rangers’ latest offer
Tuesday. He said he will attend class
today, thereby forgoing his rights to
negotiate with the club.
“Right now, I’m just planning to go to
class, and we’ll know more later,”
Godwin said Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s disheartening and frustrating
because I was ready to sign. I’m down
about the whole thing, but I’m not out.”
Once he attends his first class, the
Morehead Scholar will retain his ama
teur status and will not be able to strike a
deal with any major league organization
All things that a man owns hold him far more than he holds them.
Sigrid Undset
Cheek had undergone bypass heart
surgery in June, but returned to work in
late July,
“Everyone is shocked with the news
because he seemed to be doing fine,”
said Kim Hoke, director of public rela
tions for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools. “In fact, he seemed vigorous.”
Cheek came to Phillips in 1992 after
serving as principal of A.L. Stanback
Middle School in Hillsborough for six
years.
chance to make history.”
But she said that before she had even settled
into the place she called “paradise,” she saw
something that reminded her of the contentious
circumstances that preceded her arrival.
On one of her first days in the hall, a man
walked by sporting an Old East T-shirt with the
phrase: “These bricks weren’t laid for chicks.”
Enter Brandon Herring, the T-shirt’s owner
and model.
Herring, a two-year veteran of life on Old
East hardwood, was yanked from temporary
housing his freshman year and dropped into
one of the most historic buildings on campus.
And at the end of Herring’s sophomore year -
when a female presence in Old East was becoming
a more likely proposition - Old East residents
adopted the provocative slogan for their annual
residence hall T-shirt.
“It insulted me," said McKeithan, who thinks
both sexes deserve to enjoy the buildings. “I
See RESIDENTS, Page 4
until next June’s first-year player draft.
Godwin’s health was the major stick
ing point between the two sides. He tore
the anterior cruciate ligament in his right
knee while in high school but didn’t real
ize it until a few years later. He has played
in that condition ever since.
Godwin also suffered through several
knee problems during his two seasons as
a member of the UNC football team.
He had arthroscopic knee surgery to
repair a tom meniscus in 1998.
Those medical problems presented so
much concern for the Rangers that they
reduced their initial signing bonus offer
of $1.2 million after receiving reports
from two independent physicians. That’s
when Godwin, who was willing to defer
his bonus until he could prove he was
healthy, cut off negotiations.
“They dropped on the bonus to a
point that I couldn’t accept,” Godwin
Jumping Ship:
Basketball player Jackie Higgins
forfeits last season of collegiate
eligibility. See Page 7
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
“I hired Alton as principal in 1992,”
said Neil Pedersen, superintendent of
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. “I
saw Alton as an advocate for children,
particularly minorities.
“He loved Phillips Middle School and
was very concerned with its reputation.
Through his eight years, he improved
the school dramatically.”
Counselors arrived from across the
county Tuesday to help students and
teachers deal with the shock of Cheek’s
Historic Doors Open
To University Coeds
By Karey Witkowski
Assistant University Editor
The addition of women to UNC’s two oldest residence halls this year breaks
from the 200-year-old tradition of creating a striedy male community in Old
East and Old West.
When junior Katie Ahrendt first heard rumors last year that Old East and
Old West residence halls were becoming coed, she was concerned about pre
serving this tradition.
“At first I was against letting girls in,” said the Columbia, S.C., native. “I felt
there are so many girls on campus, there should be something left for the
guys.”
But after she had been assigned one of the spacious rooms in the oak-laden
Old East, Ahrendt didn’t put up a fight.
“1 was really surprised 1 got in,” she said. “You walk in, and it’s so nice. It’s
like a hotel.”
The second floor of Old East and the third floor of Old West have been con
verted into all-female floors beginning this semester.
Dean Bresciani, associate vice chancellor for student services, said a strong
push to integrate the two residence halls started two years ago, when members
of student government and the Residence Hall Association approached him.
A series of open forums followed, revealing mixed opinions.
“All the women thought it was a good idea,” Bresciani said. “The only peo
ple who had a problem were some of the guys and the alumni w'ho thought
it was a good tradition to maintain.”
But Bresciani said the move garnered overwhelming support and that the
change was way overdue.
“It’s somewhat artificial to place women and men in different buildings,” he
said. “The only other institution that does that is prison.”
To ease the transition, Bresciani said housing officials personally talked to
all men living in the halls last year and assured them that no one would have
to leave.
He said a large number of upper-class men moved out of the buildings last
year, clearing up enough room for the women to move in.
Officials also tried to choose upper-class women to participate in the inte
gration. “They’re more mature and self-confident,” Bresciani said. “We just
didn’t know guys’ reaction, but as it turned out, they’ve been great.”
Junior Eric Boggs from Dallas, N.C., who has lived in Old West since his
freshman year, said most of the men in his hall were strongly opposed to the
integration at first.
“But once we found out we couldn’t do anything about it, we accepted it,”
Boggs said.
He said the men’s largest concern was that the addition of women would
disrupt the all-male community. “We were really afraid that there would be a
lot of sexual tension,” he said. “It’s fine and dandy with all guys, but if a hot
girl moves in upstairs, it can mess things up.”
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
said. “I was going to sign now for a small
amount and put off my bonus for a year
based on me being game-ready. That
way, the Texas Rangers wouldn’t put
themselves out there.
“I don’t want to take anybody’s
money unless I would be able to play
ball for them.”
Rangers General Manager Doug
Melvin told Baseball America that none
of the 30 major league organizations
received an up-to-date physical on
Godwin before the June draft.
“We did not have a hands-on physi
cal,” Melvin said. “We only had a report
of the surgery that was done two years
ago. If we had the information then that
we’ve gotten through MRIs and X-rays,
we probably wouldn’t have drafted him.”
Godwin’s knee never forced him to
miss any baseball games in college, and
surgery isn’t a necessity - he can still
sudden death.
“It was a difficult day for everyone,”
Pedersen said. “We had a fairly large
number of students who looked visibly
upset.”
Teachers also expressed their shock at
Cheek’s death.
“I was really surprised,” said Heather
Maisch, a sixth-grade teacher at Phillips
Middle School. “Just the other day he
and I were talking about mentoring
another teacher.”
move without trouble. But it could have"
long-term effects for Godwin, whom
Baseball America rated as the best col
legiate athlete and fastest collegiate
baserunner in the 2000 draft.
“I’m in a strange situation because it’s
not an issue of whether I can go out and
run and play baseball today,” Godwin
said. “I’m an investment. Teams are
looking 15 to 20 years down the road. If
I’m the caliber player they are looking
for, they aren’t going to feel confident
until I get that repaired.”
If Godwin has reconstructive ACL
surgery, he could miss an extended
amount of game time. Doctors told him
he was looking at a rehabilitation period
of six to nine months. Melvin said the
Rangers concluded that the surgery and
rehab could possibly keep Godwin out
of action for the entire 2001 season.
Godwin will consult his doctors for
i
Faculty fondly remember Cheek as a
man who often stopped by classrooms
to get to know his students and who
emphasized student achievement
“He was always upbeat when I came
by in the morning,” Maisch said.
Cheek’s popularity earned him the
Administrator of the Year Award in 1998
from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Association of Educational Office
Personnel.
Pedersen said he had not thought of a
Mandate Forces
Sorority Mixers
Dry or Uptown
A national Panhellenic Council ruling
requires sororities to hold social mixers
with fraternities off campus.
By Robert Albright
Staff Writer
UNC’s Panhellenic sororities must adjust their social inter
actions with fraternities this fall following anew regulation
requiring on-campus mixers to be dry or taken off campus.
The rule states that if alcohol is present at a fraternity social
event, Panhellenic sororities cannot have 40 percent or more
of their membership in attendance, and they cannot offer
monetary support for the event.
UNC adopted the plan in accordance with a three-year-old
national Panhellenic Council policy, which will force sorori
ties to find social alternatives such as having mixers with fra
ternities at off-campus bars.
Ron Binder, director of UNC Greek affairs, said UNC’s
Panhellenic sororities agreed to adopt the ruling even though
some Greeks expressed concern over renting out bars and
looking elsewhere for mixers.
“Fraternities and sororities aren’t thrilled about this new
rule,” he said. “They may not like it, but they’ve got to do it”
Binder said UNC’s Panhellenic Council had to adopt the
mixer policy because the national governing body enacted the
ruling.
He said that if local chapters do not abide by the national
Panhellenic rules, they run the risk of losing some of their
insurance privileges.
Asa result, UNC’s Panhellenic Council, which consists of
a representative from each of the 11 participating sororities,
agreed unanimously to the ruling in April.
Jamie Harper, president of UNC’s Panhellenic Council,
said the council wanted to adopt the policy to uphold their ties
with the national Panhellenic Council and to show their sup
port for the six alcohol-free fraternities on campus.
Although the decision was unanimous, Harper said the
transition to anew policy will not be easy.
And Interfratemity Council President John Gardner said
many fraternity members reacted negatively to the mixer pol
icy.
“We’re not particularly happy about it, but we’ll adjust," he
said. “Most mixers will move to other locations (away from
fraternities), making it more expensive."
While the price will likely go up for mixers, Binder said a
number of bars on Franklin Street had agreed to allow par
tygoers under 21 to attend the mixers.
See MIXERS, Page 4
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DTH FILE PHOTO
Tyrell Godwin is considering reconstructive surgery on his right knee.
He batted .363 with 11 homers, 67 RBI and 24 steals for UNC last year.
more opinions before deciding whether
to have surgery. He said he is leaning
toward doing so because he feels it
would make him more attractive to
teams in the 2001 draft.
Sun and Rain
Today: Sunny, 87
Wednesday: Rainy, 89
Thursday: Stormy, 87
Wednesday, August 23, 2000
permanent replacement, but Assistant
Principal Richard Pierce will be serving
as interim principal.
“Richard has been there for many
years and certainly did a good job
today,” Pedersen said.
Cheek is survived by two daughters.
At press time, funeral arrangements
had not been made.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydeskQuncedu
“Hopefully, I’ll put myself in a better
situation for the next draft.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.