Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Dec. 7, 2001, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Stye iaily sar MM Cloning Questions Resurface The thin line between science fic tion and reality became even narrower on Nov. 25 when sci entists announced that they had suc cessfully cloned the first human embryo. A team of scientists from Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a biotech nology firm in Worcester, Mass., reported in an online sci entific journal that it had cloned three embryos it had grown to form four to six cells each before dying. The results, APRIL BETHEA STATE & NATIONAL COLUMNIST while preliminary, have sent shock waves through the science community as researchers hope they can now use the information to find therapies for now incurable diseases, such as can cers, Alzheimer’s disease and even AIDS. Almost immediately after the announcement was made on the Sunday morning television news cir cuit, a long-brewing debate was re ignited. Is stem cell research ethical? Should it be banned? Prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Congress appeared to be heading exactly in that direction. In July, the U.S. House passed The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 by a vote of 265-162. The bill outlaws the cloning of human babies and bans the creation of cloned embryos for research. President Bush added fuel to the fire this summer by saying that federal funds should only be used to further research on the 64 strains of stem cells already in existence. Bush reiterated his stance a couple of weeks ago when he said he believes cloning is “morally wrong.” “The use of embryos to clone is wrong," Bush told reporters Nov. 25. “We should not as a society grow life to destroy it.” There is now intense pressure on the U.S. Senate to follow the House’s lead and vote to'ban all human cloning. But the move might be a litde pre mature. ACT scientists have insisted over the past two weeks that the results of their research are only preliminary. There is no way to know if the results will hold up in additional stud ies. To ban any and all cloning now would keep us from knowing whether or not the method is effective. Besides, prohibiting further stem cell research is not a cure-all solution. If the procedure is banned in the United States, there is nothing to stop scientists from going to other countries to continue with their research. Still we must proceed with caution. For every successful embryo that is cloned - whether for therapies or to clone a person - many others are destroyed, and potential lives are lost. According to their report, ACT sci entists went through 71 egg cells before they were able to grow a live embryo. And of the three cells that grew into embryos, all died after a few hours. While no one knows for sure if the embryos could have survived and formed into a baby, the possibility exists that it could have happened. So it is difficult to support commit ting millions of federal funds to sup port research where there is such a high risk of failure and potential lives could be lost. Also, despite the claims of ACT sci entists that they will not use the embryos to clone a human being, we do not know what others might do if given access to the technology. And who is to say that other scien tists have not already cloned human embryos but have yet to publish the results? Is it possible that a few weeks from now scientists will announce the arrival of the first cloned baby? No one knows for sure. And that’s precisely the problem. We do not know much of anything at this point. So while it is hard to say that future stem cell research and cloning should be completely banned, it is also diffi cult to give the green light for addi tional research. Yet despite our hesitations about which way stem cell research should proceed, one fact remains true. Now that we have cloned the first embryo, there is no turning back. Columnist April D. Bethea can be reached at adbethea@email.unc.edu. Task Force to Discuss Tuition By Brook Corwin Staff Writer A task force will begin working out logistics and evaluating potential proposals for a cam pus-initiated tuition increase during its first meeting Dec. 11. Provost Robert Shelton, co-chairman of the committee with Student Body Presidentjustin Young, said the one-hour meeting will consist primarily of introductions and the distribution of background information. The meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. in South Building and is open to the public. “I think this meeting will be the most straight forward of them all,” Shelton said. “The impor tant thing is that we get the informational mate rials on the table so people can study them over break and form their views on the issue.” Shelton said the information presented at the meeting will include budgetary figures com paring tuition at UNC with tuition at its peer institutions and data examining UNC students’ individual and family income. He also will rein troduce information he presented to the UNC ■'■'■w AHOBV ..... SP ; ? lyj DTH/PATTY BRF,NEMAN N.C. Sens. Allen Wellons, Hamilton Horton, Aaron Plyler and Tony Rand celebrate the adjournment of the General Assembly. Lawmakers concluded the longest legislative session in N.C. history Thursday morning.j Longest N.C. Legislature Session Ends The 2001 N.C. General Assembly session was extended because of debates on sales tax increases, a state budget and redistricting. By Mike Gorman Staff Writer RALEIGH - State legislators ended the longest N.C. General Assembly session in his tory late Thursday -but not without a last minute flurry of legislative activity. The legislature convened its most recent ses sion Jan. 24 and remained in session for 317 days. Each chamber has met for more than 170 days. Thursday’s final Senate session was marked by rapid-fire bill passage and a number of absen tee legislators. Only 33 of 50 senators were pre sent when session convened Thursday morning. “The (amount of) time we spent here was Comedian Displays Photographic Flair By Brooks Firth Staff Writer Altered images decorate the Union Art Gallery, familiar photographs pre cariously bordering on the absurd. One image is a businessman shoved into a urinal. Another is an infant run ning through a field, clutching an over- sized hypodermic needle flanked by youthful soccer players. This is just some of the “Surreal Photomontage Ai t” created by UNC junior David Townes. CPQQ You might have seen him. Anyone who has been to a Chapel Hill Players show or to the Student Union front desk, where he works three days a week, knows this familiar face. Or do they? Average in height and dress, above average in his work and play, Townes is quite a character. Several characters, in fact. Performing for two years and count ing with the on-campus sketch and improvisation group CHiPs, his fellow players are quick to point out what he brings to the group. “He has lot of excitement and energy," said fellow CHiPs member Marc Mongiardo. Jon Karpinos, another CHiPs mem ber, also said he thinks Townes adds an Board of Trustees at its Nov. 15 meeting. The task force, which was called for by Shelton during that same meeting, plans to make a presenta tion at the Jan. 24 BOT meeting, when a formal vote by the trustees is expected to take place on a possible tuition increase. Task force members said they don’t expect to discuss the merit of any particular proposal during Tuesday’s meeting, but they also said an evaluation of UNC’s tuition policy as a whole might take place. “We’ll need at some point to discuss our school’s overall tuition philosophy,” said committee member Eric Johnson, a senior history major. “That’s where you have to start with this topic.” The dates for future meetings of the task force will be scheduled Tuesday after the individual committee members present their availability for awful, but we did some good things for the state,” said Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare. In the House, legislators slouched in their chairs Thursday, munching on candy and chat ting with each other. Throughout the day, legislators worked on last-minute unpassed legislation, including a bill that might redefine tire Board of Governor’s role. Many members of the legislature said they are glad the session is over and publicly have expressed displeasure at its length. Most long sessions, which meet in odd-num bered years, usually end in July or early August. First-term Rep. Alice Underhill, D-Pamlico, said she is glad that she can finally go home to her family. “I’ve found it to be an interesting but frus trating experience,” she said. “My family’s been supportive of me being away for so long, but I think they’re really looking forward to having me home.” Rep. Jean Preston, R-Cartaret, said the interesting element to the ensemble. “There have been some great moments in practice where Dave was a monkey, and he watched everything with the perverse fascination of a mon key. It’s been really great,” he said. To help bring realism to his many characters in CHiPs, Townes admits to being an avid people watcher, especial ly from the Union desk. He flashes a mischievous smile that means trou ble. “I’m the guy that’s watching D you when you think no one else "*^l ( And this is where his talent truly lies - taking the every- day and creating something worth watching. Most obvious in his collages, he has a knack for giving people something to talk about. “Even though they are ridiculous, they are based on things we hold to be true. It’s fun to manipulate things from real life,” he said. It’s this kind of playfulness with a solid base in reality that Karpinos believes Townes brings to CHiPs. “Dave has a really great sense of wacky charac ters who take themselves really serious ly," he said. “It’s really fun to improvise with Dave because when you are impro vising, you have to take it seriously.” But while Townes displays a soft spot for the absurd, it’s his handle on reality News Winter Break. Committee member Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid, said she does not expect any meetings to be held before the first of the year, but she added that most committee members are planning to be available during the week before classes resume on Jan 7. “It’s my expectation that we’re going to need to be available,” Ort said. “That’s a commit ment I made when I joined the committee, and I’ve scheduled my calender accordingly.” Johnson and James Alstrum-Acevedo, stu dents on the committee, said they will be avail able for meetings the first week ofjanuary, as did committee members Doug Dibbert, president of the General Alumni Association, and Stephen Weiss, chairman of the Department of Computer Science. Shelton said he thinks the individual members of the committee will hold a variety of viewpoints on a possible tuition increase after they examine the background information. “Everyone will use these numbers differendy,” Shelton said. “Some people will say we should be more like Florida on the low end of tuition See TUITION, Page 5 University Provost Robert Shelton says the first meeting will be held Dec. 11 and will be the most straightforward. extended session was the result of poor intra party management. “When you have a political majority but can’t get a consensus in your own party, you’ve definitely got management problems,” Preston said. “As for the length of the session, there’s no excuse why we could not take up the state’s business by the end of July.” Preston said she, along with other members of the Republican party, would support session limits in the future. Basnight said the extended session serves as an example of why the legislature needs session limits. “If it doesn’t, we should all lynch our selves out front, all 170 of us,” he said. Delays in the legislature characterized the prolonged 2001 session -a session marked by a contentious debate during the construction of a state budget, partisan battles over redistricting lines and public criticism for both possible bud get cuts and an increase in taxes. See SESSION, Page 5 that tends to influence his aspirations. “For the longest time, people thought I should be a game show host,” he said. He added with a straight face, “But I knew I wasn’t as smart as Alex Trebek or as good-looking as Pat Sajak, so I probably wouldn’t have made it.” Rejecting the lights of quiz show stardom, Townes has dreams of being behind the camera instead. A double major in advertising and media produc tion within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he says he would love to direct television commer cials. And if they are as popular as his surreal collages, people might start looking forward to commercial breaks. That’s because people seem to love David’s offbeat photomontage work. To date, he has sold roughly 15 pieces and says he has gotten good feedback. “I’ve gotten a lot of supportive e-mails, people who enjoy walking by,” he said. Calling his body of work a “personal habit,” Townes’ artwork, like his other projects, hints at intentions and inspira tion beyond simply ridiculous situations. “A lot of them are autobiographical I think.” Then, flashing that playful smile again, he added, “I’m not going to tell you which ones though." The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu. Students Meet To Create Qatar Presentations The seminar's six groups will present their platforms concerning a campus in Qatar to Chancellor James Moeser on Dec. 12. By Jamie Dougher Staff Writer The student seminar formed to discuss the possibility of establishing a satellite campus of the Kenan-Flagler Business School in Qatar will meet today to begin preparing its pre sentations for the chancellor. The presentations, set to take place Dec. 12, will oudine the 10-page term paper each group of students will write. Originally, Professor Bob Adler of the business school and chemistry Professor Holden Thorp randomly placed students into six groups that would make’the presentations. But the students suggested dividing the groups into those in favor of the satellite campus, those opposing it and those unde cided about the proposal. Student Body Vice President Rudy Kleysteuber said Adler and Thorp have been open to suggestions regarding the struc ture of the presentations. “They are very informed on the issue, and they’re open about their own positions.” While both Adler and Thorp have said they are in favor of establishing the satellite campus, Kleysteuber said they are open to dissenting opinions. “They have made a conscientious effort to invite professors who disagree,” he said. Adler said he and Thorp are excited to hear the presenta tions, and he said he knows Chancellor James Moeser is excit ed as well. “If the quality of the presentations is even close to the ques tions and comments the students have been making, it will be an awesome afternoon,” he said. See QATAR, Page 5 Unlimited Number of Peach Bowl Tickets Available to Students Student tickets may be purchased from the UNC ticket office, Peach Bowl office or from Burgess Foster, a student selling in the Pit. By Kara Eide Staff Writer As the last days of the semester dwindle away, students still can purchase tickets to see the UNC football team compete in the Peach Bowl. Students have a few options for purchasing tickets to the bowl, which will take place in Adanta’s Georgia Dome on Dec. 31. One avenue available to students is the UNC Ticket Office. Clint Gwaltney, direc- tor of ticket operations, said the UNC Department of Athletics already has sold 1,500 tickets to students and about 10,000 tickets overall. Gwaltney said there is an unlimited number of tickets available to students and that he hopes for more students to turn out. “We would like to take 20,000 to 25,000 people with us to Adanta,” he said. “We still have room for as many students as want to go.” The price of a ticket from the athletic department is $55, and the seats span an entire end zone from comer to comer. The other end zone will be for fans of the yet-unnamed opposing team. The ticket office is selling about 1,000 tickets per day, Gwaltney said, and he is expecting a rush once the opponent is announced and students begin to organize their travel plans. Students also can buy their tickets direcdy from the Peach Bowl ticket office at a price of $55 for upper level seats and $65 for lower level seats. See TICKETS, Page 5 b Mtahh DTH REBECCA O'DOHF.RTY David Townes (center) practices for Chapel Hill Players with fellow improvisational actors Marc Mongiardo (left) and Ben Piner. Friday, December 7, 2001 >. ..f V [go to dailytarheel.comj Check out a brief desorption of UNC's possible Peach Bowl opponents. 3
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 7, 2001, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75