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Records Reveal Lot Owner's Criminal Past
By Elizabeth Breyer
and Kim Minugh
University Editors
Tar Heel Parking owner Gustave
“Gus” Frederick Mueller, the target of
recent student complaints, has an exten
sive criminal record, including several
violent and sexual crimes dating back to
1986, The Daily Tar Heel has learned.
Mueller, a 32-year-old Chapel Hill
resident, has been under fire in recent
days for falsely advertising secure, easi
ly accessible parking spaces at a cost of
S3OO per year and for conducting busi
ness in an unsatisfactory manner.
“(Tar Heel Parking is) trying to cheat
N.C. Legislators:
Tuition Not Way
To Increase Pay
Several state lawmakers say they will push
for a bill that would fund faculty salary
increases at all UNC-system universities.
By Alex Kaplun
Assistant State & National Editor
State legislators gathered in Raleigh on Tuesday to discuss
future plans for funding faculty salary increases - plans not
involving raising tuition for UNC-system students.
Several members of the committee said they would like to
introduce a bill called the Excellent Universities and
Community Colleges Act at the upcoming legislative session
that would require the legislature to gradually increase facul
ty salaries over a four- or five-year span.
The legislation would be similar to the Excellent Schools
Act the N.C. General Assembly passed several years ago,
which funded annual pay increases for public school teachers.
The General Assembly approved tuition increases this
summer at five UNC-system schools, including UNC-Chapel
Hill, to fund increases in faculty salaries.
A report conducted by UNC-system officials indicates that
the tuition increases generated about $8 million this year in
faculty salary increases for the five universities.
But several state legislators have rejected the idea of fund
ing future faculty salary increases through tuition.
“(The tuition increase) was a temporary fix and could not
be used on a regular basis,” said Sen. Charles Carter, D-
Buncombe.
Carter also said a tuition increase that would raise faculty
salaries to a satisfactory level would violate the N.C.
Constitution, which calls for tuition to be as low as possible.
University advocates said they hope the legislature will pro
vide the $28.5 million UNC-system schools would need to
remain competitive with other comparable public schools
nationwide. Several schools in the system would also require
another $13.5 million to compete with private institutions. But
these funds would likely have to be generated by the univer
sities themselves, not the General Assembly.
Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, said employee salaries make
up approximately 80 percent of a university’s budget, an
amount that is impossible to fund with tuition.
She said the legislature must pass faculty pay increases for
UNC-system schools to remain competitive with other
schools. “The General Assembly has to come to the plate for
faculty salaries.”
The State & National Editor can be reached at
stntdesk@unc.edu.
Provost Finalist Opens Up in Campus Forum
By Mark Thomas
Assistant University Editor
As he solicited support from the
University community Tuesday, one of
the five candidates for the provost’s chair
said he favors a cap on enrollment to
maintain UNC’s tight-knit community.
Dr. Robert N. Shelton, one of five
candidates for provost, led an hourlong
qiiestion-and-answer forum and fielded
a variety of questions from a sparse audi
ence of students, faculty and staff at
Wilson Library. He also touched on
issues such as hiring and retaining fac
ulty and how he envisioned his role
should he be selected.
-Shelton has been vice provost for
B^ n ~ J ji>Ol i T
us out of $600,” said Shane Landrum, a
sophomore journalism major, who,
along with his roommate, purchased a
full-year lease from the company.
But this isn’t the first incident to put
Mueller’s credibility in question.
According to police reports, Mueller
has been charged with a number of
crimes since 1986, when he pled guilty
to six break-ins in Chapel Hill.
He was tagged the “toe-sucking bur
glar” by police after teenage girls report
ed waking up to find a man fondling or
sucking their toes, the News & Observer
reported in 1997.
He was already suspected in 21 local
burglaries at the time, reports state.
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Chancellor James Moeser meets with supporters of the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center on Tuesday afternoon to answer
questions and concerns about cultural diversity on campus.
Chancellor Lends Support to BCC
The forum included discussion on
affirmative action, hiring more
minority faculty and other racial
concerns facing the University.
By Kim Minugh
University Editor
Chancellor James Moeser pledged his dedi
cation to minority issues Tuesday while meeting
with supporters of the Sonja H. Stone Black
Cultural Center.
“We are at a University that is really com
mitted to diversity and inclusion,” Moeser said.
“I pledge to work with you to make sure this
happens.”
Moeser said he is anxious to see the creation
research in the office of the president at
the University of California since 1996
and is a professor of physics at the
University of Califomia-Davis.
He said his biggest worry as provost
would be balancing UNC’s role as a uni
versity of the people, which likely would
entail increasing enrollment to some
degree while still maintaining the inti
mate feel on campus.
“How do you do that and not give off
a sense of elitism?” Shelton asked
rhetorically. “It is a balancing act.”
Shelton went on to note that campus
officials might look at changing admis
sions standards as a means of maintaining
both responsibility to the state and its peo
ple while preserving UNC’s atmosphere.
If you can achieve puberty, you can achieve a past.
Truvy Jones
Anne Fawcett:
ASG needs to find suitable
replacement for Webster, and fast.
See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Mueller’s record also includes a 1996
conviction for indecent liberties with a
child.
He pled guilty in that case to involve
ment with a 15-year-old girl who worked
for him and received a sentence of eight
to 10 months in jail, six months intensive
probation and 4 1/2 years regular pro
bation, according to police reports. The
jail time was suspended, but the proba
tion was left standing.
In 1997, he was charged with second
degree rape of a 20-year-old acquain
tance, reports state. The charge of sec
ond-degree rape, which was dismissed,
involves the use of force but no weapon.
Mueller has also been charged with
of a freestanding BCC, a plan that was finally
set into motion last year. Although the late
Chancellor Michael Hooker gave his approval
to the plan in November 1997, funding was not
secured until September 1999, when the orga
nization was given $6 million of a $28.6 million
beques om a deceased alumnus.
“It’s a very exciting time to be here,” Moeser
said. “I want to thank my predecessor
Chancellor Hooker for making the opportunity
for this building to be built.”
But the controversial building was not the
only focus of the meeting. Moeser also empha
sized the importance of incorporating black cul
ture into the student body, faculty and staff.
And he urged all students to work toward
improved race relations. “Your job in part is to
reach out past your comfort zone," he said.
“Part of your University experience should be
“(The University) would have to be
more selective,” he said.
The provost operates as the chief aca
demic officer for the University. The
next provost will also assume the role of
executive vice chancellor, whose duty is
chief financial officer and University
spokesman.
Shelton said UNC’s relatively small
enrollment compared to other universi
ties was part of the position’s appeal.
“A big part of what excites me about
coming here is that this is a very small
community,” he said. “I would lose inter
est rapidly if (UNC) had plans to take on
an enrollment of 45,000 people.”
With nearly a quarter of UNC’s fac
ulty expected to retire in the next seven
assault and parole violations, the most
recent of which was a November 1999
charge of indecent liberties with a child.
Police reports stated that Mueller and
a 16-year-old girl were observed alone at
the restaurant that he owned and man
aged, Romano’s Pizza, which has since
been tom down.
The restaurant formerly stood on the
site where Mueller is now leasing park
ing spaces, and the rubble littering the
lot is from that building’s demolition.
Mueller and the girl said they were
living together, police reports state.
But the terms of the probation that
Mueller received after his 1996 convic
tion prohibit him from being alone with
years, Shelton said the role of provost
takes on increased importance.
“There are a lot of positions to be
filled here - the provost is going to be
involved in selecting them because he is
going to have to work with them,” he
said.
Shelton said the similarities between
the University of California and UNC
system, combined with his background,
make him a perfect fit here.
He said, “I think those two systems
have, at their core, a sense of responsi
bility to be among the premiere institu
tions in the country.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
<22*
a female under the age of 18 in his place
of business or residence.
He could not be reached for com
ment Tuesday.
More grievances against Mueller
came to light Tuesday after several stu
dents said they were unsuccessful in try
ing to obtain refunds.
Students began filing complaints
against Tar Heel Parking with Chapel
Hill and University police Saturday,
claiming fraud and false representation
after they found the lot did not measure
up to their expectations.
And where Carolina-blue fliers
See MUELLER, Page 5
to reach out beyond the familiar.”
Moeser, who called himself a firm believer of
affirmative action, promised to actively bring
diversity within the University realm. “We don’t
just sit back and wait for the African-American
pool to come to us,” he said. “It means we go
out and actively recruit people of color.”
He also said retention is a critical issue.
Moeser said it was students who broke the
mold of the Jim Crow South years ago. He
called for continued enthusiasm and tolerance.
“I think it is students who can show that mul
ticulturalism can work today,” he said.
“Every time there’s a one-to-one relationship
between (races) we’ve moved one step closer to
understanding each other.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
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Dr. Robert N. Shelton answers questions at an open forum Tuesday
afternoon. He is the first of the five provost candidates to visit UNC.
Storm Central
Today: Storms, 76
Thursday: Cloudy, 83
Friday: Cloudy, 83
Wednesday, August 30, 2000
ASG Leader
Announces
Resignation
Cliff Webster will step down
as the lone student on the
Board of Governors in the
wake of criminal charges.
By Kathleen Hunter
State & National Editor
For the second year in a row, the
UNC Association of Student
Governments president will resign in
the fledgling days of his administration.
ASG President Cliff Webster
announced Tuesday that he will step
down at a Sept. 7 special meeting of the
association.
The announcement comes just days
after reports surfaced in newspapers
across the state that Webster had been
arrested June 30 on one count of felony
and one count of misdemeanor laiceny.
The East Carolina University gradu
ate student allegedly stole two metal
benches from the ECU campus in
August 1999.
Webster, who took office July 1, will
appear in court Nov. 3.
Last fall, ASG President Nick Mirisis
resigned after admitting to plagiarizing
a paper at UNC-Charlotte.
Although he has called a special
meeting to name his successor, Webster
did not seem completely convinced
Tuesday night that he had made the
right decision.
“My heart tells me to stay in the posi
tion, and my brain tells me to go,” he
said.
As ASG president, Webster is also
the only student representative on the
Board of Governors. He said a fear that
the criminal charge might damage his
credibility with board members led to
his decision to resign.
UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body
President Brad Matthews said he sup
ports Webster’s decision. “I think as an
association, it is time to unify and move
forward,” Matthews said.
But who will take Webster’s place as
the lone systemwide student represen
tative remains to be seen.
ASG Vice President Liz Gardner, a
UNC-CH senior, said she intends to
pursue the post.
Gardner said she is excited at the
prospect of leading the ASG. “There is
so much to be done,” she said. “I feel I
have the qualifications necessary."
Richard Wheelahan, a junior at
Appalachian State University, also said
he is considering running.
Wheelahan lost to Jeff Nieman in last
year’s special ASG presidential election
following Mirisis’ resignation.
But Wheelahan said he is still trying
to decide whether he wants to throw his
hat in the ring a second time.
Andrew Payne, N.C. State
University’s former treasurer, ran
against Webster in April. He said he is
consulting with N.C. State student gov-
See WEBSTER, Page 5