Sailg (Bar MM
Clownin' Around
Senior class officials kick off
the senior gift campaign.
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wtvw.dailytarheel.com
UNC, Qatar End Negotiations
Bv Lizzie Brever
University Editor
Months of negotiations about estab
lishing a business school in Qatar have
ended after University and Qatari rep
resentatives failed to agree on the finan
cial terms of the deal.
Chancellorjames Moeser said Friday
that he met last week with representa
tives from the Qatar Foundation for
Education, Science and Community
Development, which first approached
UNC in June.
Moeser said the discussion ultimately
ended in an amicable but final resolu
tion not to proceed with the project.
“Both the University and the Qatar
Foundation held to a very high standard
of excellence for the program, but at the
end of the day Tuesday, we concluded
the distance between the two positions
was too far to negotiate,” Moeser said.
Moeser said the disparity between the
two positions was the result of disagree
ment on several points, including the
amount of the management fee the
foundation would pay to UNC and the
size of faculty compensation packages.
“There was no one sticking point -
there were a number of issues, both
financial and conceptual, that we were
unable to resolve,” he said.
Negotiations between UNC and the
foundation had intensified in recent
months, especially after University offi-
Proposal Might
Ease Affordable
Housing Crunch
Nonprofit organizations will use the fund
to buy existing houses and sell them at an
affordable price to low-income families.
By Jennifer Johnson
Staff Writer
Nonprofit organizations are encouraged that local officials
have passed a Community Land Trust proposal meant to main
tain the price tag and availability of affordable housing, despite a
virtual moratorium recently passed on new development.
The Chapel Hill Town Council last week approved the
$150,000 trust, which will allow nonprofit community devel
opment organizations, such as emPOWEßment, Inc., to buy
existing houses and sell them to low-income families with
almost no cost to the organizations. The proposal targets res
idents who earn below the average income in Chapel Hill.
The decision to fund affordable housing came shortly after
council members passed a resolution that effectively halted
development until September so officials can finalize a devel
opment ordinance.
Robert Downing, director of the Orange Community
Housing Corporation and Land Trust, said the money will
give nonprofit organizations the edge they need to protect
affordable housing.
The housing corporation is a nonprofit affordable housing
group. “I think it’s a wonderful tool for nonprofit organiza
tions,” he said. “It’s $150,000 that can be used and reused so
houses that are affordable stay affordable.”
According to the Orange County Economic Development
Commission, in 2001 an average home in Chapel Hill cost
$219,050. Downing said the average Chapel Hill family can
not afford the high cost of housing in the town.
Downing said the fund will probably mean little to local
developers because the nonprofit organizations will be pur
chasing existing houses in neighborhoods such as Northside,
which generally attracts student renters.
“Students as a whole can afford more than the average
working family,” Downing said.
Although town officials recognize the need for more rental
property for students, Town Council member Flicka Bateman
said students drive up prices in neighborhoods and that some
areas need to be kept affordable for low-income families.
The nonprofit organizations have already begun searching
for affordable houses in Northside and Pine Knoll to buy so
the loan can be utilized as soon as possible.
Mark Chilton, executive director of emPOWEßment, said
he is pleased with the fund but said developers’ concerns about
the effect the decision to halt development would have on afford
able housing were unfounded.
“We’ll probably buy a few houses this year."
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
grjjj|
cials submitted a revised budget pro
posal to the foundation in December.
Robert Sullivan, dean of the Kenan-
Flagler Business School, said Friday that
the projected cost for the program was sl6
million to $lB million a year in operating
costs, for which the University would be
fully reimbursed by the Qatar Foundation.
One of the major requests that
University officials added to the budget
in December was more money for safe
ty and security, although Moeser said
security was not a concern when the
negotiations concluded.
University representatives also had
been engaged in discussion with Qatari
officials about the possibility of includ
ing a pre-engineering curriculum as part
of the General College offerings.
But Moeser said the engineering pro
gram had not been a factor in the final
decision.
He said the discussions about the cur
riculum were fairly smooth, with no
concerns arising over academic freedom
or standards.
Moeser said he expects the Qatar
Foundation to approach other schools
now that UNC is no longer in negotia
tions, but he said the foundation’s dis
cussion with the University of Texas at
Austin had not affected its negotiations
with UNC.
The proposal spurred intense debate
on campus in recent months, including
an endorsement from a split Faculty
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DTH 'VICTORIA FRANGOUUS
Student Body Vice President Rudy Kleysteuber leads a demonstration against tuition increases at the Nov. 24
UNC Board of Trustees meeting. Student government has taken a leading role in tuition protests in recent years.
SBP Candidates Share Tuition Ideas
By Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
At UNC, paying for an education
isn’t what it used
to be.
Since 1999,
tuition increases
from various
sources have
raised the cost of
attending UNC by
nearly 40 percent.
A one-year, S4OO
increase has
already been
approved by the
UNC Board of
Trustees for 2002-
03.
These increas
es were approved
My reputation grew with every failure.
George Bernard Shaw
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Be A Part of History
Help choose the next editor
of The Daily Tar Heel.
Applications available in Union Suite 104
Council and a forum where about 75
students debated many pros and cons of
the project with faculty panelists.
Student Body President Justin Young
said he was glad negotiations were con
cluded to the University’s satisfaction,
despite the outcome.
“If it wasn’t a perfect fit for us and a
perfect fit for them, we shouldn’t go for
ward,” he said. “It made me feel better
knowing, in essence, we didn’t sell out
and there were some things we wouldn’t
compromise on.”
But English Professor James
Thompson, who went on a foundation
sponsored trip to Qatar with about 50
other faculty members, said he was dis
mayed that the negotiations failed.
“I think it would have been a good
opportunity for a cultural exchange with
a progressive Arabic state,” he said.
Moeser said that although he also was
disappointed, the failure of the negotia
tions would not affect UNC’s goal of
strengthening its global presence.
“I can’t count the number of relation
ships we have existing with countries
around the world - that number will con
tinue to grow,” he said. “We’re engaged
in a number of smaller efforts every day
that don’t come to the public eye.”
“I have no shame nor discomfort that
this was not concluded to our satisfaction.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Student Elections
A five-part series
examining
campus issues
and how the
candidates plan
to address them.
■ Today: Tuition
■ Tuesday: Parking
■ Wednesday:
Curriculum
■ Thursday:
Development &
Construction
■ Friday: Leadership
Standing Proud
Wrestling beats Maryland
and stays on top of the ACC.
See Page 5
Volume 109, Issue 150
l lljjagjHf* '§§§[ •”
DTH SARA ABRONS
Chancellor James Moeser announces UNC's decision
to end negotiations with the Qatar Foundation.
despite vocal opposition from students.
Historically, student government has
taken a major role in that opposition,
and Student Body President Justin
Young said next year’s student body
president will once again play a promi
nent role.
“It’s not just about understanding all
the numbers, it’s about making sure stu
dents are involved in the tuition
process,” Young said.
But although almost all of this year’s
student body president candidates say
they will fight to prevent continuing
tuition increases, their proposed strate
gies of achieving this goal vary widely.
Candidate Jen Daum said student
government needs to be more assertive
in pressuring the N. C. General
Assembly to maintain University fund
ing so that UNC doesn’t need tuition
increases as a source of revenue.
Daum said she plans to take biweek
ly student polls and create a position
solely dedicated to gauging student
interests and concerns.
She said once student voices are
actively engaged, she will take an aggres
sive approach to lobbying administrators
and BOT members. “If the administra
tion wants to play hardball with us, we’ve
got to play hardball with them,” she said.
“We’ve been too polite for too long.”
Candidate Correy Campbell said he
would stress that the University establish
a multiyear tuition plan so that parents
and students can better prepare before
they choose to attend UNC.
“When you choose to attend a uni
versity, they’re providing you with a ser
vice,” Campbell said. “After you sign
that contract, they shouldn’t be able to
See TUITION, Page 2
Weather
Today: Mostly Sunny; H 48, L 22
Tuesday: Mostly Sunny; H 49, L 27
Wednesday: Cloudy; H 41, L 28
IMMMMMM
Income-Based
Tuition Plan
Under Study
Sen. Marc Basnight's office will be studying
a plan that would base the amount students
pay for tuition on their families' incomes.
By Elyse Ashburn, Lucas Fenske
and Jennifer Samuels
Assistant State & National Editors
UNC-system administrators and legislative leaders say a pro
posal that might radically alter how students pay tuition is worth
researching, but some are questioning the plan’s feasibility.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, one of
the state’s most influential politicians, recently asked his leg
islative staff to study alternative ways to appropriate higher
education funding, including how to fund new enrollees.
Basnight said one of the aspects the staff is studying is a plan
that would base tuition on a student’s family income. The
extra money paid by affluent students would be used to pro
vide financial aid for lower-income students and fund some
university programs. “I don’t know if it’s a good or bad idea,”
he said. “That’s why it’s being studied.”
Basnight said staff members also are investigating establish
ing a grant fund where students could withdraw money and then
repay it. “If you’re in the middle-income bracket, we should help
subsidize your education, but you should repay some of it”
He pointed to income taxes, which base payment partly on
a person’s income. “Depending on your ability to pay is what
you pay,” he said. “It’s part of the American system."
Basnight said the decision to examine funding was partly
prompted by UNC-Chapel Hill’s slip in the U.S. News and
World Report rankings. “The declines are so shocking that we’ve
got to do something about it,” he said, pointing out that UNC
CH recendy fell out of the top 25 schools in the magazine’s fist
Basnight also pointed to the low amount it cost his daugh
ter, Caroline, to attend UNC-CH. “We could definitely have
afforded to pay more (for her education),” he said.
UNC-system President Molly Broad said Basnight’s propos
al likely would expand access to universities but added that tying
tuition payments to income would result in difficulties. “Once
you move from the objective and move into the details, we find
a number of insurmountable problems,” she said. “Families of
significant means are sometimes unwilling to reveal their finan
cial circumstances. They believe that they are paying significant
taxes already and that they should not get double duty.”
Broad said the tuition proposal would also require a signif
icant amount of administrative oversight, since all students
would “essentially have to file a financial aid application.”
She said the UNC system already has effective plans in place
to help low-income students, pointing to need-based aid and
early-intervention programs that prepare students for college.
Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, chairman of the Senate
Higher Education Committee, said Basnight’s proposal is a
bold move and might be appropriate given the state’s multi
million dollar budget shortfall. “I think it’s an intriguing idea
and a responsible way to approach the situation,” Dalton said.
Dalton expressed some concern about the difficulty of
administering such a plan. But he said legislators have plenty
See BASNIGHT, Page 2
Chancellor Pledges
To Include Student
Input in Decisions
Chancellor James Moeser wrote in an e-mail
to all students that he plans to hold informal
discussions to gather student opinions.
Bv Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
Chancellorjames Moeser pledged publicly Thursday to
incorporate student input into important University decisions
after a semester in which many students said they were frus
trated by administrators ignoring their concerns.
In an e-mail sent Thursday to the student body, Moeser said
he values student viewpoints and hopes to host a number of infor
mal discussion groups this semester to hear student concerns.
“I want you to know that my colleagues in the administra
tion and I deeply value student input,” Moeser wrote in the
e-mail. “We will face many challenging issues, and we will
make better decisions by hearing many perspectives.”
Moeser said the e-mail was not triggered by any one fac
tor but that recent concerns about a lack of student input in
decisions over tuition, parking and a proposed satellite cam
pus in Qatar prompted him to contact the student body.
“I wanted to communicate that we do value student opin
ion,” Moeser said Friday. “We have not been perfect in gath-
See CHANCELLOR, Page 2