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www.dailytarheel.com
Fever Picks
Chaney for
CAA Post
Candidates Reid Chaney and
Michael Songer debated the
merits of revoking Fever
members' basketball tickets.
By Elizabeth Parrott
Staff Writer
Carolina Fever members voted over
whelmingly Friday night to endorse
Reid Chaney’s
bid for Carolina
Athletic
Association pres-
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ident, a move some members felt was
crucial to Fever’s survival.
Hostility filled the audience in
Gerrard Hall as Chaney and his oppo
nent, Michael Songer, debated the mer
its of giving basketball tickets to Fever
during a forum sponsored by Fever.
Songer plans to revoke the 169 tick
ets Fever is given per game to distribute
among its members, while Chaney
would keep the current ticket policy in
place.
Chaney’s plat
form was met with
great support by
the many Fever
members who
attended.
“I feel that the
amount of support
they give at these
basketball games
is tremendous,
and they deserve
these tickets,”
Chaney said.
But Songer said
taking away the
seats now given to
CAA president
candidate
Reid Chaney
said he plans to
make minimal
changes to Fever.
Fever would increase the number of seats
available to the student body. “I firmly
believe that every student at the
University of North Carolina should have
an equal opportunity to go to men’s bas
ketball games,” he said. “I would like to
convert Carolina
Fever to a true spir
it and support
organization.”
Frustration per
meated the audi
ence as Fever
members fired
questions at
Songer about his
plans to raise sup
port for Olympic
sports.
Fever Co-chair
man Eric Ellis said
Fever members
endorsed Chaney
because they
CAA president
candidate
Michael Songer
advocates revoking
the 169 tickets given
to Fever members.
feared that revoking the group’s tickets
would decrease its membership and also
See FEVER, Page 2
SBP Candidates Respond
To Progressive Concerns
By Jenny Fowler
Staff Writer
Five candidates for student body
president fielded questions on issues
ranging from
background
checks for UNC
employees to
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sexism and racism on campus at an
open fomm Friday led by the
Progressive Student Coalition.
Eleven student organizations, includ
ing the Student Environmental Action
Coalition, Feminist Students United!
and the Queer Network for Change,
submitted a total of 23 questions for the
Student Groups Aim for Fare-Free Transit
By Jenny McLendon,
Mandy Melton and Katy Nelson
Staff Writers
Student organizations are driving a
quiet campaign to pass next Tuesday’s
referendum for fare-free transit in
Chapel Hill.
Student government officials say they
are confident the proposal will pass and
are not actively lobbying for its passage.
They cite broad support for the student
fees increase required to finance the pro
posal, with only isolated concerns about
the program’s consequences.
Student Body President Brad
Matthews is bringing the issue to students’
attention through door-to-door visits in
residence halls and by asking presidents
of student organizations to rally their
NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
Under federal court order, UNC admitted the first three blacks to the freshman class (from
left) John Brandon, 18, Leroy Frasier, 17, and Ralph Frasier, 18, on Sept. 15,1955.
candidates to answer.
Candidates Correy Campbell and
Caleb Ritter and write-in candidates
Charlie Trakas and Matthew Wilhite did
not attend.
The Advocates for Sexual Assault
Prevention asked candidates if they would
work toward a University policy that
requires background checks for all
employees with access to students’ per
sonal information. The ASAP supports
this policy in light of two recent sexual
assaults on UNC students, both allegedly
committed by a former UNC employee.
“I feel it is an outrage for anyone to
See PROGRESSIVE, Page 2
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
members’ support for the referendum.
If passed, the proposal will increase
undergraduate student fees by $8.49 each
semester for free busing in Chapel Hill. A
year-round bus pass now costs students
$250 for unlimited rides on city buses.
But a UNC student active in transit
issues says that the proposal was not
planned sufficiently and that it could
have detrimental effects on the quality of
the area’s public transportation system.
Student Congress recendy voted unan
imously to put die proposal on the ballot
Speaker Pro Tern Sandi Chapman said that
unless referenda are controversial, most
usually pass on election day. “Students
aren’t all that fiscally conservative with an
increase in the fees,” Chapman said.
She said the intention of fare-free bus
ing is to provide a service for all stu
Officials Discuss UNC's Growth Cap
By Isaac Groves
Staff Writer
UNC leaders asked the Chapel Hill
Town Council to remove restrictions on
University expansion to facilitate the
University’s Master Plan at the second
town-gown meeting Friday.
The town-gown committee, com
posed of University and town officials
and co-chaired by Chancellor James
Moeser and Chapel Hill Mayor
Rosemary Waldorf, was established so
UNC and town officials could discuss
growth that affects both communities. '
University officials said they want the
town to remove a cap on building space
to expedite the process of obtaining build
ing permits. Master Plan Director
Jonathan Howes said UNC now has 13.7
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Japanese proverb
A New Leader
James Ammons was appointed
chancellor of N.C. Central
University on Friday. See Page 3
dents, particularly those who cannot
afford a car or a parking pass.
The towns of Chapel Hill and
Carrboro will pay 60 percent of the bus
ing costs if the student body votes to off
set the remaining 40 percent. Taxes
would not be raised, Matthews said.
The Student Environmental Action
Coalition voted Tuesday to support the
referendum. SEAC members said they
are lending their backing because they
believe free busing will decrease the num
ber of cars on campus. “It will lead to an
increase in public transportation, which is
a good thing for air quality,” said Heather
Yandow, a senior member of SEAC.
The Black Student Movement also is
mobilizing members to vote yes for fare-
See FARE-FREE, Page 2
million square feet of floor space either
built or authorized for construction.
In about three months, the University
will reach the limit of about 14 million
square feet the Town Council placed on
UNC floor space in the early 1980s, said
Bruce Runberg, UNC associate vice
chancellor for facilities services.
Chapel Hill Town Council members
were not enthusiastic about giving up
authority, but some, like Council mem
ber Lee Pavao, were willing to discuss
raising it to a level that would allow the
University to build for the next 10 years.
“You have the flexibility, we’re not
tying you down, but we maintain knowl
edge of what goes on, so that if things
become a little out of hand, we can step
in and protect our citizenry,” Pavao said.
But Runberg said University officials
Get on the Bus?
On Tuesday, students will vote whether to increase undergraduate student fees by $8.49 each
semester to make Chapel Hill transit free to all riders. But opinions on the issue are divided.
■ Senior history major Brad
Rathgeber says Chapel Hill Transit
now receives a revenue of $600,000
from UNC students, but fare-free
busing will only generate $400,000
to $500,000 —a potential shortage
of up to $200,000 that the town
can't afford to cover.
■ Rathgeber said the Transportation
and Advisory Committee hasn't
completed a survey
about the likely affects
of fare-free transit on
ridership in Chapel Hill.
First Black I)NC Students
Recall Hostility, Strife
By Karey Wutkowski
Assistant University Editor
In 1951, UNC accepted its first black students -
but not with open arms.
Compelled by a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court,
five black students were allowed to enroll in the
School of Law after the court decided that equal facil
ities did not exist in state-maintained black schools.
With those five students, the mandatory practice
of segregation was dead, but the idea behind racial
separation was still very much alive.
The first black UNC students were allowed to
eat with other students in the dining hall, but the
administration tucked them away on the third floor
of Steele Building, which was a residence hall at the
time, and seated them in the sec
tion of the football stadium
reserved for “colored persons.”
“They were still trying to main
tain segregation after the court
order,” said Harvey Beech, one of
the first black students to enter the
law school in the summer of 1951.
Beech said he wanted to come to
UNC because the University did
not want to let him in. And once he
came to campus, he was met with
indifference and, in some cases, hostility.
“I wasn’t even told where the dormitory was,” he
said. “When they gave me my room, it was on top
of Steele on the third floor with just two people."
Beech said he found companionship with the
other black students, especially Kenneth Lee, but
that he had to be wary of other students.
“Them all being the same hue, the color white,
we couldn’t tell the good ones from the bad ones,”
he said. “But they could tell us. It was nigger this
and nigger that.”
While many people at UNC treated the black
students with ambivalence, Beech said there were
pockets of violent behavior.
Beech said he was walking out of the dining hall
with Lee when they saw that armed officers had
blocked the sidewalk in front of them.
“I said, ‘Kenneth, are you ready to die?’”
Beech said they walked up and stood within 15
believe the cap is more of a problem
than it was during the expansions in the
1980s because the current expansion is
going to be much faster.
The most UNC has spent on campus
construction in one year is around S6O
million, Runberg said.
According to the timetable of the
Master Plan, the University will be
spending about twice that annually start
ing within a year.
“It’s a big project,” Runberg said.
“We’re going to fix 21 percent of the
buildings on campus and touch 120
classrooms. That’s about five years or so
to do all these classrooms. That’s about
$l2O million in the ground every year.”
The town-gown committee came to a
tentative agreement to discuss the possi
bility of an extended cap in the new Town
Snow??
Today: Sleet, 32
Wednesday: Clouds, 51
Thursday: Sunny, 63
m
* 4 4 4 4 4
■ Chapel Hill Town Council member
Kevin Foy says cutting fares will
lead to an increase in demand and in
buses, therefore encouraging growth
in the transit system.
■ Foy said fare-free busing also
could increase demand enough to
warrant more routes, thus increasing
the number of cars on the road.
ehasnt a
or 20 inches of the gun and stayed there until the
officers backed away and let them pass.
While Beech and his fellow black classmates
broke ground, the first black undergraduate stu
dents did not step on campus until 1955.
Leßoy Frasier, one of the first black undergrad
uate students at UNC, said he didn’t dwell on the
isolated incidents of hostile behavior.
“I just let those things roll off my back because
there were lots of balances,” he said. “Overall, I
enjoyed it. I had friends.”
Frasier said the most trying element was the lack
of female black students on campus. “The only
unusual thing was going to a place that long and
never dating,” he said. “It’s not a normal thing in
a college experience.”
■ Today: The initial stages
of integration at UNC.
■ Feb. 19: Black and white
relations at UNC today.
■ Feb. 26: Paving the way
for an improved racial climate.
participated in the efforts to desegregate Franklin
Street stores. “Once I started the picketing in
February 1960, people exploded cherry bombs at
my window and door as an intimidation tactic,” he
said. “There were also threatening telephone calls.
I thought they were cowards.”
At the same time, however, Dansby began to
enjoy his college experience more. “The tension
came out, and I did better in school,” he said.
But UNC’s past racial climate has taken its toll
on some of the University’s first black students.
While Beech said he is now able to look upon
UNC fondly, he said the way he was treated was
shameful. “I’m 78 years old, and it still bothers me,”
he said. “It causes tears to come to my eyes. I
thought God had left his post for a while.”
The University Editor can be reached at
udesk@unc.edu.
Development Ordinance. “If you could
give us an amount of space within the cap
that would allow us to work for the next
10 years, that would be acceptable to us,”
said Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for
finance and administration.
Officials from both sides came to the
conclusion that they could not make any
final decisions until the Board of
Trustees approves the final version of
the Master Plan at its next meeting on
March 22.
Moeser invited council members to a
Feb. 22 Board of Trustees workshop at
the Morehead Planetarium to further
discuss these issues. The meeting will be
open to the public.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Monday, February 12, 2001
Senior Heather
Yandow says an
increase in public
transportation also will
improve air quality.
But David Dansby, the first
black student to earn an under
graduate degree in 1961, said isola
tion plagued his time at UNC.
“You just weren’t a part of any
thing,” he said. “At the age of 18,
you expect to interact with other
students and exchange notes if you
miss class. Those were the kinds of
things we were not privy to.”
Dansby’s UNC experience took
on an element of danger when he