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Doherty Shifts Into Overdrive at UNC
By T. Nolan Hayes
Sports Editor
Matt Doherty used to drive a Ford Taurus
when he went on recruiting trips.
Now he drives a BMW.
The change in cars is just one of many
Doherty has experienced since becoming the
men’s basketball head coach at North
Carolina on July 11.
He has new players, new secretaries and
new fans to please.
But one thing that hasn’t changed for
Doherty is his work ethic, which earned him
praise as a player at UNC and helped him gain
recognition as one of the hottest young coach
es in the country last year at Notre Dame.
“Right now I’m going to work every day
just like I did at Notre Dame,” Doherty told
a group of reporters at the Smith Center on
Wednesday morning. “I just have a nicer car
and a bigger office.”
The new car and desk have been easy
adjustments for Doherty, but coaching the Tar
Heels will be more difficult He has had to get
BOG Members:
Webster Made
Right Decision
Board of Governors member John Sanders
says the scandal surrounding Webster's
recent resignation might hurt a push to win
a vote for the board's sole student member.
By Kathleen Hunter
State & National Editor
Some UNC-system leaders say the next UNC Association
of Student Governments president will have to work espe
cially hard to regain credibility with the Board of Governors.
On Tuesday, ASG President Cliff Webster announced his
intention to step down Sept. 7, making him the association’s
second president to resign amid scandal in two years.
Webster’s decision came just days after reports surfaced
that he was arrested June 30 on two counts of larceny, and
almost a year after Nick Mirisis resigned as ASG president
because he plagiarized a paper at UNC-Charlotte.
Webster, an East Carolina University graduate student, was
charged for stealing two benches from the ECU campus.
UNC-system President Molly Broad said Webster’s resig
nation did not at all cloud her view of the ASG president, who
also holds the lone student seat on the Board of Governors. “I
think this is an extraordinary coincidence to have two student
leaders resign back-to-back,” Broad said. “I can’t imagine this
has ever happened before in the history of the University.”
But BOG member John Sanders said he feared the two con
secutive resignations might damage future ASG presidents’
credibility with and influence over some board members and
legislators. He urged ASG members to carefully select a
replacement whose character could withstand scrutiny.
Such a person could successfully instill a positive percep
tion of the ASG president in board members, Sanders said. “I
don’t think it’s a long-term handicap with the board,” he said.
But Sanders said the scandals might also hinder the ongo
ing push to persuade members of the N.C. General Assembly
to award a vote to the student member of the BOG.
Opponents df the idea would likely use recent events to fuel
their arguments as to why the student BOG member should
remain voteless, Sanders said. “It does not make a strong case
for giving student members a vote as well as a voice,” he said.
Sanders said Webster’s choice to resign was the right one.
“I think he made the right decision and the respectable
See BOG, Page 2
Calif. Proposal Could Set New Trend in Aid
By Lucas Fenske
Assistant State & National Editor
The California state legislature is try
ing to open up the world of higher edu
cation to children from low-income fam
ilies through a $1.2 billion financial aid
package.
California’s Student Financial Aid
Bill, which is being debated in the state
Senate, rejects a decade-old financial aid
trend emphasizing merit scholarships for
students and tax breaks for their parents,
a system that predominantly benefits the
over the fact that he left behind a team he
loved at Notre Dame. The Tar Heels must
adjust to the idea of not having either Dean
Smith or Bill Guthridge on the bench for the
first time since 1961.
“I’m getting settled in more and more each
day, but it’s been a very difficult transition,”
Doherty said. “A lot of people have to put
things aside. You have to create separation.
You have to mourn your losses. I’m mourning
the loss of my team at Notre Dame, and the
secretaries here are mourning the loss of their
staff.
“There’s a lot of that going on, but I think
each day the healing process gets better.”
Doherty said Guthridge and Smith have
offered their advice whenever he wants it. But
the man who has perhaps been the greatest
help to him in changing jobs for the second
time in two years is Roy Williams.
Doherty worked as an assistant under
Williams for 10 years at Kansas, and Williams
gave Doherty a sheet of notes when Doherty
left to take the head job at Notre Dame before
last season. The piece of paper recommended
Bid Day Brings Sorority Smiles
DTH/LAURAGIOVANELLI
Rain Fails to Dampen
Spirits of New Pledges
By Elizabeth Breyer
Assistant University Editor
Songs and screams of joy echoed through the air from Rosemary
Street to Hamilton Hall as hundreds of UNC women received their
bids to Panhellenic sororities Wednesday night.
Bid Day marked the end of formal rush, a 10-day process during
which rushees experience the Greek system at UNC and select the
chapter they want to pledge.
“I’m really excited for the girls to get their bids so I can talk to
them,” said Allyson Lippert, a sophomore member of Kappa Delta
sorority. “Everyone’s not a stereotypical rushee, and it’ll be so cool to
sit down and talk and get past the surface stuff.”
Bid Day is the culmination of four rounds of visits and parties, and
the excitement that had been building up throughout the process was
visible as rushees joined their new sisters.
“I don’t know what to say - I’m so excited, and this process is just
wild,” said sophomore Kate Pearson, who received a bid to Sigma
Sigma Sigma sorority.
Pearson had barely finished her sentence when she broke into song
with her new sorority, clapping and jumping up and down.
The evening began with an assembly in Hill Hall auditorium. Before
the doors were opened, girls clustered outside in the light rain, chatting
nervously and checking their watches.
Many had final questions for their rushee counselors, also known as
middle class.
Some analysts say this bill could mark
the first step toward reversing this trend
across the nation.
The plan mirrors an N.C. initiative
that also provides aid based on need
rather than merit. But the California
plan dwarfs North Carolina’s, which is
only slated to receive $32 million.
The California bill, beginning in the
2001-02 school year, would supply near
ly one-third of the state’s high school
graduates with funds to attend a state
university or community college.
I could never love anyone as I love my sisters.
Nuclear Reaction
CP&L fields questions about the
safety of Shearon Harris.
See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
17 things for Doherty to do to help make his
transition as smooth as possible.
Doherty held onto the paper in his planner
and pulled it back out upon arriving in
Chapel Hill. At the top of the list was a sug
gestion that he meet with his new players as
quickly as possible.
Doherty did that.
“Any time there’s a major coaching
change, players start thinking, ‘l’m going to
transfer, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do
that,”’ Doherty said. “That’s normal, so I did
n’t react to any of that stuff.
“I just came in, and to me it was important
to sit down and talk to them with my jacket
off. I think that let them know to relax, that
I’m not going to be a dictator, and that I’m
not going to tell them how to feel right now.”
But he will tell them how hard they must
work. Doherty and his staff have already set an
example by logging incredible hours since their
arrival. They have regularly been working two
shifts per day. Their basic plan has been to get
to work early in the morning, leave in the
evening to spend time with their families and
California Senate officials say the bill
has broad support from both sides of the
aisle, as well as the governor, and is
expected to pass.
Abbie Blackman, press secretary for
Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento,
who is an author of the bill, said it was
drafted to help children from poor fam
ilies attend college. “Our state is cur
rently going through a highly prosper
ous period,” Blackman said. “This bill
will help extend that prosperity to peo
ple of all backgrounds.”
In the past, students qualifying for a
then go back to the office late at night.
Doherty executed that game plan to per
fection Tuesday. After a full day of work, he
broke out of the office to go out to eat with his
family at Outback Steakhouse. The Dohertys
then headed over to Dick’s Sporting Goods,
where Doherty bought his son some soccer
shoes and shinguards. Doherty was back at
the office by 9 p.m.
“When you’re chasing your passion, you
do that,” he said.
Doherty has spent much of his time in the
office burning up the phone lines. He has been
calling his share of recruits, of course, but he
recently had a conversation with the most
famous Tar Heel of them all: Michael jordan.
Doherty askedjordan, his UNC teammate
for three seasons, to come back for Midnight
Madness at the Smith Center this year. Jordan
declined, but he did say that he wanted
Doherty to have his radio show at his restau
rant, 23.
The restaurant will provide Doherty with
See DOHERTY, Page 2
DTH/JEFF POULAND
Rushees run down Frankiin Street from Hill Hall after
receiving their sorority bids Wednesday.
Kindi Shinn (above left) and Tilghman Carroll wait in
anticipation for this year's crop of Kappa Delta rushees to
arrive at the sorority's house on East Franklin Street.
rho chis. The counselors are assigned about 15 women to guide
throughout rush without revealing their own sorority affiliations.
“Excited is really the best word for how we’re all feeling,” said Katie
Brennan, a junior from Charlotte and a rho chi. “I can’t wait for them
to get their bids - all these girls are going to great houses.”
When the doors opened, the rushees poured into the auditorium for
roll call and to watch short skits. The 44 groups of girls each did their
best to add to the feverish pitch of noise in the hall, screaming and
shrieking as they were called.
Once the on-stage activities were finished, each rushee eagerly
ripped open the envelope with her bid and raced to her new sorority.
See RUSH, Page 2
Cal Grant were listed according to their
grade point average. Funds were dis
tributed until money ran out.
Blackman said the amount students
would receive under the new program
depends on their financial situation and
the type of school they attend.
A student from a low-income family
with a “C” average would receive
enough money to attend a community
college. A student with a “B” average or
higher would recieve further funds to
cover the higher costs of attending a
state school or up to $9,700 for a private
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DTH FILE PHOTO
Tar Heel basketball coach Matt Doherty and his
coaching staff have been working two shifts per day.
school.
Shirley Ort, UNC’s assistant vice
chancellor for scholarships and student
aid, said administrators and legislators in
North Carolina largely view low tuition
as the best form of financial aid.
“North Carolina has traditionally
taken a different approach to funding
higher education than California,” Ort
said. “We tend to rely on low tuition.”
Despite the University’s low tuition,
Ort said UNC has always been com
See AID, Page 2
Guess What?
Today: Storms, 80
Friday: Storms, 83
Saturday: Storms, 85
Thursday, August 31, 2000
Students
To Move
Courtside
Altered seating assignments
will be announced today at
a 2 p.m. press conference
with top athletics officials.
By Karey Wutkowski
Assistant University Editor
Students’ rallying cry for seats closer
to the floor during UNC men’s home
basketball games has finally been
answered.
Director of Athletics Dick Baddour
will introduce the rev ised student seating
system at 2 p.m. today at a press confer
ence on the Smith Center floor. The
conference will be open to the public.
“A lot of people counted us out and
thought we couldn’t do it,” said
Carolina Athletic
Association
President Tee
Pruitt, who helped
initiate the project
last year in hopes
of bringing more
energy to the
game floor.
Pruitt said he
worked with
Baddour and
Educational
Foundation
Executive Vice
President John
Cherry this sum
mer to complete
Carolina Athletic
Association President
Tee Pruitt
is pleased with the
new seating at the
Smith Center.
the seating revision. He said the final
plan is a compromise by everyone.
“We never had cross words or difficult
times," Baddour said. “We had plenty of
obstacles, but we worked though them.”
Students will now have access to
lower-level seats formerly reserved for
Smith Center donors, who agreed to be
moved to comparable seating in anoth
er area, Pruitt said.
Pruitt also said he originally pro
posed bringing in stand-only risers to
replace the first 10 row's of seats behind
the basket on the UNC side and the first
10 rows in comer of the lower level stu
dent section. But the plans were hin
dered by fire safety concerns and archi
tectural limitations. “There w r ere a lot of
facility issues,” he said.
Pruitt said most of the changes will
be ready for UNC’s first regular-season
home game on Nov. 10 but said other
changes can’t be completed right away.
The push to add more student seat
ing near the floor gained strength early
last year after the Jan. 27 home game
See SEATING, Page 2