Girl Talk
Black issues in
focus. See Page 3
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Marisela Vazquez, an IBM technician from Mexico,
works on a recalled laptop Tuesday.
The Napstei£
Battle Rages
From Courts
Battle Rages
From Courts
To Campuses
By Daniele Eubanks
Staff Writer
A nasty little word has wriggled its way into
American culture; perhaps someone has shared
it with you. It rolls off the tongue and pricks the
ears, enticing many and inciting others.
The word? It’s Napster. Naaaaap-sterrrrr.
Sounds dirty, doesn’t it? Perhaps that’s part of
its appeal to the more than 20 million members
of the Napster MP3-sharing community.
But while a computer program that allows
members to download virtually any song from
the Internet for free seems great to the average
Joe, many musicians and members of the
recording industry say Napster is allowing peo
ple to steal their music.
They want to put the com- 1
pany to bed for good.
It’s funny, then, that ■
the chief operating offi
cer, Milton E. Olin, Jr., ji
used to work for the
companies suing
Napster, A&M Records *
and the Recording Industry
Association of America.
The RIAA is waiting for its second bout of
bickering with Napster, which will be staged in
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals beginning
The RIAA represents a number of musi
Magazine Names UNC 'Best Buy' of Public Universities
By Leslie Bumgarner
and Michael McKnight
Staff Writers
Despite this year’s S3OO tuition
increase, one publication recently
named UNC the best bargain among
public universities.
The October issue of Kiplinger’s
Personal Finance magazine ranked
UNC the best value among the nation’s
public colleges and universities for the
second time. The rankings are primarily
based on two factors - quality and cost.
Music is the only one of the arts that cannot be prostituted to a base use.
Elbert Hubbard
ATN Officials Say Freshmen
Not Lining Up for CCI Recall
By Daniel Thigpen
Staff Writer
Academic Technology & Networks officials
envisioned massive lines of freshmen awaiting
service on their newly purchased computers
when they launched a recall of A2O IBM lap
tops this week.
Instead, the basement of Wilson Library was
desolate for Monday and Tuesday’s repair
schedule. “Right now, it’s pretty slow,” said Steve
Fearrington, ATN associate director. “We were
hoping for a much better turnout."
At the start of the semester, many students
unknowingly damaged the networking ports on
their laptops by forcing in telephone cords,
Fearrington said.
When ATN noticed a surge of these incidents
reported since classes started, it promptly offered
free maintenance to squelch the inconveniences.
ATN issued multiple e-mails to nearly 1,100
A2O owners, urging them to have their laptops
inspected. Technicians anticipated 100 to 150
students a day and began scheduling visits
based on students’ last names.
1181
cians, like Dr. Dre and Metallica, who think
Napster’s file-sharing technology helps people
___ steal musi
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See Page 7 sin
See Page 7
ogy and how it is used by the Napster commu
nity,” Napster said in its appeal.
Two days after the ruling, Napster was grant
ed reprieve, allowing it time to present its case.
The problem with this case is that no one is
sure how to apply existing copyright laws to the
UNC received the high ranking in
spite of the largest percentage tuition
increase of any public university in the
nation last year - 22 percent.
This summer, the N.C. General
Assembly approved a S6OO tuition
increase at UNC and N.C. State
University to be phased in over a two
year period.
UNC-system officials are also in the
preliminary stages of discussing a 4 per
cent across-the-board tuition increase
that would go into effect next school
year.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
steal music and is a violation of
copyright law.
On July 26, the U.S. District
Court agreed, ordering Napster to
take its service offline. But
Napster refused to pull
f* the plug. “We believe
that the District Court
simply did not under
stand the Napster technol-
Kiplinger’s Senior Associate Editor
Kristin Davis said UNC could easily
increase tuition even further without
impacting the ranking.
“Even with an increase in total costs
of up to SI,OOO, UNC would remain the
nation’s best value among public uni
versities,” Davis said.
But Shannon Goodrum, a senior
political science major, who was an out
spoken opponent of last year’s tuition
increase, said she doesn’t think rankings
are a reliable measure of value because
they vary in methodology.
Phone Home
Chapel Hill residents complained
about the local telephone services
Monday night. See Page 6
But officials say the actual turnout is not
meeting expectations. Fearrington said IBM is
offering six technicians and hopes students will
take advantage of the resources.
“We’re ready when (the students) are able to
come in,” said Bruce Egan, a computer consul
tant with the IT Response Center.
Egan said the procedure for inspection and
repair is simple. Upon check-in at ATN, the
computer is quickly disassembled. The faulty
part is removed and replaced, and diagnostic
tests are run before the computer is returned.
The process takes about 20 minutes, and stu
dents get their computers back within hours,
depending on how many students come to the
center. “I think they’re pleased that we can do it
so quickly,” Egan said. “We’ve done the hard
part - we’ve gotten the logistics down.”
Both Egan and Fearrington stressed the
importance of making students aware of the ser
vices being offered.
But the 1,100 e-mails sent to students only
produced about 30 student visits Monday and
just over that Tuesday, Egan said.
Fearrington said he believes that the word is
***&*#
new Napster technology, said UNC media law
instructor and attorney Karl Schmid.
Erik 4-A, founder of Vagrant Records, an
independent label based in Seattle, thinks
Napster robs artists. “At this point in time,
everything I have worked for is no longer valid
because they steal it,” he said.
4-A started the small, punk label in 1989. A
large part of Vagrant’s profits comes from
Internet sales, 4-A said, and while Napster may
help publicize some of the label’s bands, he
thinks its benefits do not outweigh its costs.
“It becomes accessible to everybody, which
is great in theory ... but harms little businesses
like myself who are selling their stuff.”
4-A said he is also concerned about protect
ing his artists’ creative property. “I don’t give a
shit about greedy bastards like Lars Ulrich (of
“I don’t trust any rankings because
they differ so much in qualifications,”
Goodmm said.
Many students vehemendy opposed
the tuition increase last year when it was
being considered by University officials,
claiming that rising costs would prevent
lower-income students from gaining
access to UNC.
But several University officials said
the high rankings vindicated the deci
sion to raise tuition.
Jerry Lucido, undergraduate director
of admissions, said the recent tuition
%jsr
getting out, but that many students are not as
concerned as expected. “Unfortunately, it tends
to be human nature to think, ‘Well, (ATN) will
be there for two weeks,’” he said.
Students are not charged for the service or
replacement part, and Tim Blair, spokesman
for IBM, said the cost to IBM does not seem to
be a prevalent concern. “We haven’t deter
mined any costs from that perspective,” he said.
“It’s just the cost of business.”
Among the students who actually heeded
ATN’s e-mails, few seemed to have any prob
lems with their computers. “I’m just bringing it
back just in case,” said Elizabeth Crutcher, a
freshman political science major. “It’s just a
pain to lug (the laptop over to ATN).”
Fearrington said a recall so early in Carolina
Computing Initiative’s development is not a
negative predictor of the program’s future.
“The biggest concern is to make sure people
are aware and to come on down,” he said. “I
think they’ll be pleased with the process.”
The University Editor can be reached at
udesk@unc.edu.
OTH/JASON COOPER ANiiim RESHAMWALA
Metallica), but his fear is that he is going to lose
control of his stuff, and that’s valid.”
Some might say Shawn Fanning, who creat
ed Napster during his freshman year at
Northeastern University, does not give much
thought to Ulrich’s feelings either.
Sporting a Metallica T-shirt at the recent
MTV Video Music Awards, Fanning told MTV
VJ Carson Daly, “You like it? Thanks, a friend
shared it with me. I’m thinking of getting my
own though.” The camera caught his coy wink
and panned to a grimacing Ulrich.
Roger McGuinn of ’6os rock icon the Byrds
testified before the Senate about the controver
sy in July. He explained his fence-straddling
position when he spoke at UNC on Sept 11.
See NAPSTER, Page 7
increases will not impact lower-income
students because the University will con
tinue to provide an appropriate level of
financial aid to such students.
Lucido also said the tuition increase
would not hurt the University’s place
ment in future rankings and in recruiting
top students.
“Obviously, we are pleased that an
independent source has recognized
what we already knew,” he said. “When
you look at institutions of similar quali
ty, our tuition is very low.”
UNC’s tuition increase went to fund
Maybe?
Today: Sunny, 89
Thursday: Storms, 85
Friday: Sunny, 79
Wednesday, September 20, 2000
Push Starts
To Relocate
Students
Officials say students living
off-campus limit affordable
housing options for needy
residents of Chapel Hill.
By Isaac Groves
Staff Writer
Two UNC alumni have been hired to
rewrite a town ordinance that would
push students out of residential neigh
borhoods, freeing up more affordable
housing.
Because of the large number of UNC
students moving off campus, affordable
housing options across town have
decreased, Chapel Hill planning con
sultant Dwight Merriam said during a
Tuesday morning press conference.
In response, the Chapel Hill Town
Council has hired two planning experts,
Lane Kendig and Merriam, to revise the
town’s development ordinance, which
sets regulations for residential construc
tion and zoning.
Because of its age and evolving hous
ing issues, the 1981 ordinance needs
simplification and clarification, which
Kendig and Merriam said they intend to
provide. But the effort is still in its fledg
ling stages, so no concrete plans have
been established.
Merriam said families found it diffi
cult to compete with “six or eight stu
dents with four can and two kegs.
“Students in single-family neighbor
hoods are at least a nuisance, if not a
blight,” he said.
A possible solution, Merriam said, is
steering students to housing closer to
campus where they can get by without
a car and without disturbing neighbors
with children.
Chapel Hill Hanning Director Roger
Waldon agreed that students’ combined
buying power is a problem for working
families but said many parts of town
already have regulations reserving the
neighborhood for families.
“The general rule is that if there are
more than four unrelated people, that
does not qualify as a family,” Waldon
said.
While the process of updating the
development ordinance began in July,
Waldon said the issue picked up speed
after Monday night’s Town Council
meeting. Council members had the
opportunity to discuss some of their
hopes and concerns for the project
“The process is fewer than 24 hours
old,” Waldon said.
But Merriam and Kendig stressed
that, even at these early stages of the
project, residents’ comments are impor
tant
“This is the most critical period for
public input and, characteristically, the
lowest point of public interest," Kendig
said.
Kendig and Merriam will return with
their diagnosis Oct. 18. The Town
Council also will hold a public hearing
at that time.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@uncedu.
faculty salary increases -a factor some
tuition proponents claim is crucial to
ensuring a school’s quality.
Economics Professor John Stewart,
who vocally supported the tuition
increase last year, said he did not expect
the University’s rising cost to dampen its
image as an affordable, quality institu
tion. “(The ranking) doesn’t surprise me,
given how low we were, even with the
tuition increase.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.