Chillin'
Franklin closes
for fair. See Page 3
(She lathi ®ar Heel
www.dailytarheel.com
Moeser Urges Faculty, Students to Fight Proposed Budget Cut
Friday's Faculty Council
meeting also addressed a
report concerning grading
policies and grade inflation
By Ann Had
Staff Writer
Rousing applause echoed through the
halls of Wilson Library on Friday as fac
ulty members lauded Chancellor James
Moeser’s powerful argument against the
possible budget cuts from the UNO sys
tem.
Moeser rallied those attending the
'Greek Freaks' Step to Raise Money
The step show, hosted by
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
Inc., featured eight teams.
By Jenny McLendon
Staff Writer
Hours of planning and organization
proved the recipe for success for the
Mu Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity Inc., bringing a spicy blend
of music, dance and cultural pride to
the UNC campus again this year.
Greek Freak 2001 drew an audience
of nearly 8,000 as well as eight step
teams from regional universities Friday
night, making Carmichael Auditorium
the venue for what organizers call the
largest step show on the East Coast
Stepping, which originates from a
form of worship in African culture,
incorporates both traditional and
modem dance elements to express
cultural pride. For the 14th year in a
row, Greek Freak succeeded in
showcasing this sense of unity.
As Alpha Phi Alpha’s primary
philanthropic project, the annual
show generates funds for the Sonja
H. Stone Black Cultural Center, the
Inter-Faith Council homeless shelter
and academic scholarships.
The 2000 competition raised
more than $6,000, but organizers
would not disclose how much
money this year’s event garnered.
BET television personality Hits
From the Street was the emcee the
event, infusing the crowd with ener
gy and not missing the opportunity
to poke fun at some audience mem
bers, bringing many to their feet
with his trademark comedy.
Senior Charles Campbell, Greek
Freak’s coordinator for the second
year, said months of planning went
into Friday’s step-off. “This is our
biggest event and one of the most well-
Hooker's Vision, Moeser's Direction Merge to Shape UNC
By Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
James Moeser didn’t step into the office
of UNC chancellor with a clean slate.
The University’s top administrative
official inherited an ambitious plan to
give every student Internet access, a
blueprint for 50 years of campus growth
and a lofty goal of making UNC the best
public university in the nation.
They all came from the unfinished
agenda of the late Michael Hooker, who
died of cancer in June 1999.
Board of Trustees members and fac
ulty who worked with Hooker said the
late chancellor was a man driven by his
goals and ideas.
“I would characterize Michael
Hooker as a visionary,” said Billy
Armfield, who served as BOT chairman
during Hooker’s tenure. “He saw things
in terms of being the number one pub
lic university that others had not seen nor
articulated nor endeavored to do.”
Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
Henry Miller
ASG Asks State
To Find Budget
Cuts Elsewhere
See Page 3
Faculty Council
meeting to sup
port him in his
stand against
the 7 percent
budget cut
from the UNC system -a total of $125
million - that the state legislature’sjoint
Appropriations Subcommittee on
Education formally requested last week.
If enacted, the University’s share of the
cuts would total close to $25 million.
“He came out, both barrels blasting,”
said Faculty Council Chairwoman Sue
Estroff.
Moeser asked faculty members to
fight to protect the integrity and quality
DTH/BRENT CLARK
Hampton University student Didi Wells steps with other members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Inc. at
Greek Freak 2001 on Friday night. Celebrity host Hits From the Street (below) keeps the crowd laughing.
known step shows on the East Coast”
Eight teams representing seven of
the nine National Pan Hellenic
Council groups vied for the two
$1,500 first-place prizes and two
SSOO second-place prizes. The
money was awarded to each of the
two top fraternity and sorority teams.
Kevin McDowell, a senior from
South Carolina State College, said his
team started rehearsing nine months
in advance. “We’ve worked really
hard, and we came to win,” he said.
“(To us), this is a sort of fund-raiser to
help keep our chapter going."
In the end, McDowell’s group,
That vision now lies on Moeser’s desk.
But while Moeser said he has main
tained the direction of sever
al programs implemented
under Hooker’s reign, he also
said aspirations to become
the best public university in
the nation have been rede
fined under his lead. “I’ve
changed the rhetoric a little
bit from Chancellor
Hooker,” he said. “I think he
was really focusing on the
U.S. News & World Report
(rankings), and I’ve tried to
pull us away from that. I
think that’s a trap.”
Moeser said he hopes the
University’s greatness will be
seen in its students’ and fac
ulty members’ commitment
to service, development of
intellectual capacity and
Qielm
A five-part series
examining Chancellor
James Moeser's vision for
the University and how he
will see it to fruition.
Today: Inheriting a Legacy
Tuesday: Activism's Impact
Wednesday: A World Focus
Thursday: Money Matters
Friday: Funding Priorities
demonstration of leadership.
Such qualities, Moeser says, will not be
Courage Under Fire
Professional women's soccer team
loses opening game against
Boston Breakers. See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
of UNC. He also emphasized that the
tuition money intended for faculty salary
increases would not be used to offset the
budget cuts.
Estroff followed with a call to “join
together to form an embrace for the
common cause.”
“We will not sell North Carolinians
short,” she said.
“We will not undermine their confi
dence (in the University).”
Moeser’s speech at the meeting was
part of an effort to spark a grassroots
campaign by UNC faculty, students and
parents to put pressure on state law
makers.
He sent an e-mail to the University
the Eta Alpha chapter of Phi Beta
Sigma fraternity Inc., walked away
with second place, edged out for first
by the Beta Zeta chapter of Alpha
Phi Alpha fraternity Inc.
Ending with Eve’s “Who’s That
Girl?,” the Gamma lota chapter of
Delta Sigma Theta sorority Inc. told
the audience exacdy who they were,
taking home SSOO for second place.
But the Rho Alpha chapter of Zeta
Phi Beta sorority Inc. left with first
prize, dedicating part of their routine
to unity between competing groups.
See GREEK FREAK, Page 2
reflected in national rankings but in the
personal standards held by the University
community. “We don’t hear
people at Harvard
(University) talking about
whether they are the best uni
versity in America or not,” he
said. “They just know they’re
good.
“My sense of being the
best public university is that
we get to the point where we
have so much confidence in
ourselves that we don’t real
ly talk about it.”
Moeser also said he sees
UNC’s fundamental goals as
different from those of other
large public universities,
which he feels are too great
for UNC’s tastes. “I think
maintaining the balance
between being a great
research university and a university that
prides itself on teaching is an important
community Thursday informing it of the
possible cuts.
The meeting also addressed a report
of the Committee on Grading
Standards, which was formed last year
to investigate University grading policies
and suspected grade inflation.
Committee Chairwoman Beverly
Long presented the report and answered
questions from concerned faculty.
The report served to raise faculty
members’ consciousness about grading
standards, and it attributed rising student
grade point averages, which have been
increasing at UNC and at colleges
around the country, to a variety of
causes.
! jf •
Pan M £B|^|PT||
\h MM? * 1
part” he said. “I don’t think (the
University of) Michigan or (the University
of California at) Berkeley defines them
selves that way at all or ever has.”
An aspect of Hooker’s definition of a
great public university was providing
Internet access and up-to-date technolo
gy for every student and faculty mem
ber. These goals led to the January 1998
creation of Carolina Computing
Initiative, which required all freshmen to
own laptop computers by fall 2000 and
promised to help students who could not
afford the purchase.
The program made its official debut
this year but has yet to fully incorporate
the new technology into the classroom.
Moeser said such development has
proceeded smoothly without an active
role on his part. “(CCI) was a well-devel
oped plan ready to be implemented,” he
said. “I could walk in and basically bless
a process that was already well under
way and would have happened without
me because the leadership was in place.”
CJc-
It offered recommendations to the
council on how to address the
University’s grading policies.
The report proposed an annual
review of grades and a general summa
ry of grading patterns by each depart
ment. It also supplied specific definitions
of letter grades.
Some faculty members questioned
the frequent review of grades.
One professor said it was “too intru
sive.” Another said the authority of pro
fessors was “being eaten away.”
Others questioned the semantics of
the definitions and called for anew grad
ing system altogether.
The differing viewpoints and grading
Education Funding Cuts
Likely, Legislators Say
Other state agencies such
as law enforcement, social
services and public schools
also are facing budget cuts.
By Cuff Nelson
Staff Writer
Gov. Mike Easley continues insisting
that legislators avoid dipping into the
state’s education funding, even as the
state budget deficit grows.
But state legislators, struggling to.
draw the balanced budget required by
the state constitution, said it is unlikely
that a financial alternative to education
cuts will be found.
Lawmakers on the Joint
Appropriations Subcommittee on
Education recently asked education offi
cials to present a plan for cutting $290
million from the education budget -
$125 million from the UNC-system
budget. UNC-Chapel Hill would lose
about $25 million under this proposal.
The budget deficit has reached near
ly SBOO million, but some analysts are
predicting that the deficit will continue
growing.
Fred Hartman, Easley’s press secre
tary, said making students suffer is the
Wrong approach to deficit reduction.
“The governor has made his position
clear," Hartman said. “Easley believes
we can cut government and still make
progress in education. That’s why (the
cuts he proposed) were in state agencies,
not classrooms.”
Hartman said the $125 million cut to
the UNC system would harm recent
efforts to bring the schools in line with
their peer institutions. “It’s hard to imag
ine how we could cut that much and
remain competitive,” he said.
But both Democratic and Republican
But Marian Moore, vice chancellor for
information technology services, said
simply having Moeser’s full support was
essential for CCI to move forward into
licensing new computers to professional
schools’ faculty members and students.
“If the leadership at the top doesn’t sup
port this, it’s not going to happen," she
said. “We’ve been very fortunate to have
a chancellor who’s behind the program.”
Moore said that it has not been
Moeser’s responsibility to undertake
direct involvement in CCI but that the
program is proceeding as planned under
his authority. “I think Michael would be
really proud,” she said.
But CCI wasn’t the only long-term
program ignited by Hooker’s vision for
the University. The UNC Master Plan, a
50-year blueprint for campus growth, was
placed under the guidance of anew
architectural firm during Hooker’s tenure
to redesign the plan, which was approved
last month by the BOT.
Jonathan Howes, the director of the
Summer Yet?
Today: Sunny, 87
Tuesday: Sunny, 84
Wednesday: Sunny, 70
Monday, April 23, 2001
issues raised by the report will be revis
ited in the fall when the Faculty Council
votes on grading resolutions.
There was also dissent regarding the
proposal to change the academic sched
ule and shorten the current 150-day
requirement
The faculty postponed voting on the
resolution to raise die issue at the facul
ty assembly of the UNC system after
lengthy debate of the pros and cons.
Among other items discussed at the
meeting, the council re-elected Secretary
Joseph Ferrell to his position.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
legislators said something has to give to
compensate for the state budget deficit
Rep. Eugene Rogers, D-Martin, was
one of the legislators who asked UNC
system President Molly Broad to present
a plan for making the budget cuts.
Rogers, chairman of the appropria
tions subcommittee, said other state pro
grams also are facing possible budget
reductions.
“The public schools and community
colleges took a big hit too -and other
state agencies as well,” he said. “The
budget deficit isn’t getting any better.
We don’t have any alternative."
Republican legislators said one of the
few things that will preserve the educa
tion budget is an increase in state rev
enues - which is highly unlikely.
Rep. George Holmes, R-Wilkes, who
sits with Rogers on the subcommittee,
said state officials still have no definite
idea on how high the budget deficit
might ballon. “It could be even worse
than currendy projected because it is
still rising,” Holmes said.
Rep. W. B. Teague Jr., R-Alamance,
another member of the appropriations
subcommittee, also said that the pro
jected shortfall continues to grow.
“Everybody in the state is taking hits
- law enforcement, social services, coun
ties and cities,” Teague said. “Some local
ities might have to raise property taxes,
and you know how controversial that is.”
Teague said he still is surprised at the
state’s rapidly growing budget deficit,
which caught many officials off-guard.
State budget analysts were predicting
a budget surplus of about SSOO million
last year.
“I don’t know how we got into this
mess so suddenly,” Teague said. “The
merchants tell me if there’s a recession
going on, it isn’t a bad one as far as they
See LEGISLATORS, Page 2
Master Plan, said it was Hooker’s idea to
hire Ayers Saint Gross, a Baltimore
based firm, to redevelop the plan and
improve the aesthetic beauty of campus.
Moeser said some of his most impor
tant work as chancellor has been provid
ing input on revisions made to the plan,
although he said his influence on the
final product was only minimal. “I was
only one voice among many, which was
scores of people,” Moeser said. “I saw
my role as one of asking hard questions.”
Moeser said his primary focus when
making suggestions to the plan has been
keeping campus traffic to a minimum
and preserving UNC’s ambiance, prior
ities he suggested came from his back
ground as a doctorate in musical arts. “I
may have a heightened sensitivity to aes
thetic issues,” he said. “I have a great
concern that the construction we do and
the landscapes we make are a heavy,
heavy responsibility.”
See STANDARD, Page 2