(Slip Daily (Sor Mppl
Fading
Francisco fights to keep his
vision despite surgery.
See Page 3
Congress
Won't Fill
Positions
Speaker Mark Townsend
said he won't fill the vacant
seats because they would
only last until early April.
By Jeff Silver
Staff Writer
The speaker of Student Congress has
not filled several positions on the boards
of directors for three campus groups -a
move that some say is allowing student
fee revenue to be spent without proper
oversight.
< At Monday’s Student Congress
Finance Committee meeting, committee
Chairman Tony Larson said Speaker
Mark Townsend has failed to make
appointments to the boards of WXYC
and the Carolina Union Activities Board.
The boards for WXYC and CUAB
each have two seats allotted to
Congress, all of which remain empty.
Larson said Congress has representa
tion on these boards because, unlike
other campus groups, CUAB, WXYC
and Student Television automatically
receive congressional funding every year.
Combined, the three groups receive
$4.88 in student fees from each under
graduate student and $4.03 from each
graduate student. Of these amounts, 79
percent goes to CUAB.
Only one seat out the five allotted to
Congress by these three groups -a
position on the STV board of directors
- has been filled.
Larson said congressional represen
tation on the boards is one of the only
ways Congress can keep track of how
the student fee money is spent.
“We can’t micromanage eveiything,
but we need to keep in touch with
what’s going on,” Larson said.
Townsend said he is not going to fill
the four vacant positions because the
appointments would last only until
inauguration in early April. “It’d be
kind of pointless to do it now,” he said.
Townsend also questioned why
Larson brought up the issue of the
vacant posts at Monday’s meeting,
which was meant to deal with a possible
student fee increase to fund all student
organizations.
Larson said the vacancies are the
result of a lack of communication
between Townsend and the three stu
dent groups.
But Bill Burton, chairman of student
educational broadcasting for WXYC,
said the vacancies are typical and result
from the fact that filling board positions
is a low priority for Congress speakers.
“About 245 things come first,”
Burton said.
Townsend also said other issues like
parking and tuition were given higher pri
ority than filling the slots. “It got lost in
the shuffle with everything else,” he said.
CUAB President Krisi Young said
that not only are the two Congress posi
tions vacant but Townsend also has not
attended CUAB meetings, even though
the speaker is automatically a member
of CUAB’s board of directors.
Townsend said he and Young have had
trouble communicating about the CUAB
appointments. Townsend said he has
asked Young to make recommendations
for the two positions but that CUAB has
been unable to find someone for the job.
But Young said the job of finding
people to sit on the board of directors is
solely that of the speaker. “It’s not my
responsibility,” she said.
Townsend said he is working to make
sure the next speaker will have an easier
time making the appointments.
Larson also said it is important that
Townsend’s successor be more persis
tent in finding students to fill the posi
tions on the various boards of directors.
“The next speaker needs to be sure
to make all the appointments.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
g
Students Write to BOG, Protest Tuition Hike
By Erin Ganley
Staff Writer
In an attempt to fend off looming
tuition increases, several members of
student government sent personal letters
to the UNC-system Board of Governors
on Tuesday.
The letters are in response to the pro
posed S4OO systemwide tuition increase
already approved by the UNC-Chapel
Hill Board of Trustees that the BOG will
vote on at its March 6 meeting.
On Tuesday, each of the 32 voting
members of the BOG was sent copies of
the 15 letters written by the student lead
ers.
...fep .
■ ** £ Wk
ft
KjQbLh.
DTH/KARA ARNDT
Donald, a New York native, stays in homeless shelters around the Triangle, occasionally holding down small jobs.
Donald said he came to Chapel Hill seeking more jobs and better health care.
A Roof Over Chapel Hill's Poverty
tfrcratching
Surface
A three-part
series examining
poverty in
Orange County.
■ Monday:
Facts and Figures
■ Tuesday:
Socioeconomic Issues
■ Today:
Below Standard Wage
By Matt Viser
Senior Writer
It’s 6:15 p.m., and
people are getting hun
gry. It’s been a long day
of work for some. Others
have spent the day hang
ing out on Franklin
Street. A few have been
asking for spare change.
People are congregat
ing outside, talking and
smoking. A small crowd
Daum Seeks Cabinet Applicants
By Nikki Werking
Staff Writer
Student government is now accepting
applications for next year’s student body
vice president, treasurer and secretary
and will select students for the positions
late next week.
Applications for the positions in
Student Body President-elect Jen
Daum’s Cabinet are available online at
the student government executive
branch Web site, and they are due by
midnight Saturday.
Interested students also need to sub
mit copies of their resumes to Student
Body Secretary Dustyn Baker.
Almost any student can apply for the
positions. The student body vice presi
dent must be an undergraduate, and the
student body treasurer is expected to have
previous finance experience, Baker said.
As identified in the Student Code, the
Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
Bertolt Brecht
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Play a Part
Help the DTH editor selection board
choose next year's editor.
Applications Available in Union Suite 104
“This way they get to hear real stories
of how tuition increases will affect stu
dents,” said Frances Ferris, executive
assistant to student government’s
External Relations Committee. She said
the letters expressed opposition to tuition
increases, although she said she didn’t
have time to read them individually.
Ferris said she thought of the letter
writing campaign last week.
She said she sent e-mails to a large
number of student leaders on campus,
urging them to send her letters that
would be sent to the BOG. She said she
sent e-mails to the former student body
president candidates and Student Body
President-electjen Daum, although none
sits in the lounge, watching die evening news and
waiting for a receptionist to allow more people to
file into the small dining room. The Inter-Faith
Council Community House serves three hot
meals a day, 365 days a year, and offers tempo
rary lodging for at least 56 people nighdy.
Tonight, the shelter’s menu consists of beef
pasta, collard greens, salad, peaches and a pastry
along with a choice of water or hot chocolate to
drink. Some eat alone. Others - the regulars -
congregate together and discuss their days.
Donald, wearing an old jacket, blue jeans
and a skull cap, sits alone and eats quietly.
Forty-two years old, he grew up in New York
selection committee
is led by Chief
Justice of the
Student Supreme
Court William
Long. But Long
does not vote in the
process. Student
Body President
Justin Young and
Rachel Hockfield,
Daum’s transitional
coordinator, who
was appointed to
the committee by
Daum, will serve as
voting members in
each of the three selection processes.
Student Body Vice President Rudy
Kleysteuber and Speaker of Student
Congress Mark Townsend also are part
of the selection committee for the stu
dent body vice president and secretary.
Hope in Sight
Tar Heels look for win
against Clemson tonight.
See Page 7
of them participated in the campaign.
She also sent e-mails to people who
attended meetings of the Coalition for
Responsible Tuition Decisions, a student
group formed to fight tuition increases.
All but two of the 15 letters Ferris
received were from student government
Cabinet members.
The two non-Cabinet members are
members of the UNC Common
Cause/Democracy Matters Student
Alliance for Campaign Finance Reform,
a coalition of student groups that lob
bied to get a referendum on the Feb. 12
student ballot that urges the N.C.
General Assembly to pass “meaningful
campaign finance reform.”
Outgoing Graduate and Professional
Student Federation President Mikisha
Brown is on the selection committee for
secretary and treasurer. But for the student
body vice president selection, Brown is
replaced by Congress’ Rules andjudiciary
Committee Chairman Blair Sweeney.
Student Congress Finance
Committee Chairman Tony Larson and
Student Body Treasurer Kativa Parker
also are voting members of the student
body treasurer selection committee.
Committee members will review the
applications and recommend three final
ists for each position to Daum, Baker said.
Daum is not on the committee but
will select one of the three finalists to fill
each position through her own selection
process. Daum said she will announce
her choices before Spring Break.
Baker said finalists are selected based
See CABINET, Page 4
Student Body
President-elect
len Daum
said she will make
Cabinet selections
before Spring Break.
%
The referendum passed with a vote of
5,886 to 786.
Ferris said she was expecting more
interest in the letter-writing campaign. “I
was hoping for more involvement out
side student government,” she said.
Ferris said that she hopes the letters
will make an impact on the BOG’s deci
sion and that even a few letters can be
effective. “I doubt the BOG receives a
lot of letters,” Ferris said.
“Mass e-mails are generally looked
down on; it seems like we’re lazy,” she
said. “This shows students have taken
the time to sit down and write letters.”
Ferris said the letters could help voice
the opinions of students not able to
City and moved to Raleigh in 1997 to be closer to
his mother. Donald said that when he was 19, he
contracted HIV. He says doctors have told him
that being homeless likely will affect his immune
system. But Donald points out that his circum
stances are not his choice, adding that he believes
he is in good health in spite of his lifestyle.
Since moving to the area, Donald has held
a few jobs but has mainly spent his time in
homeless shelters throughout the Triangle.
“After a while, it doesn’t get hard,” Donald says
in a raspy New York accent. “It gets normal -
See HOMELESS, Page 4
IlfS
DTH BRF.NT CLARK
Senior Amanda Roach performs in "The Wizard of Oz Cancelled: Now
Presenting Oedipus Rox!" a play put on by the Lab! Theatre.
Weather
Today: Partly Cloudy; H 41, L 18
Thursday: Sunny; H 46, L 20
Friday: Sunny; H 49, L 28
attend BOG meetings. “They don’t hold
meetings at times that are accessible to
students,” she said. “Midterms are next
week, and most students can’t just skip
their tests to attend a meeting.”
She said the letter-writing campaign is
an effective way of conveying the view
points of individual students rather than
just a leader representing his interests.
“It was a first try, but in the future it
could be an example (of action) for any
issue we take on,” Ferris said. “In the long
term, letter-writing campaigns could be
very effective in bringing about change.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Subdivision
Approved by
Town Council
The amendment approving the Larkspur
Cluster Subdivision will let developers make
15 percent of the units affordable housing.
By Jenny Huang
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously approved
Monday an amendment to the town’s development ordi-
nance, giving a green light to the
Larkspur Cluster Subdivision.
The development is one of four
projects that the council decided to
review despite ajan. 28 decision that
essentially halts all new development
until town officials can craft anew ordinance. The new ordi
nance is expected to go into effect by Sept. 18.
Council members approved an amendment to the existing
ordinance that allows developers to make 15 percent of a
development’s units affordable as
opposed to making 25 percent of hous
es below a certain size.
Carol Ann Zinn, a representative of
Cazco Inc., the Larkspur developers,
petitioned the council Jan. 14 to consid
er an affordable housing proposal that
included the amendment passed Monday
night and also a measure that would
allow developers to make payments
instead of building affordable housing.
Through the new amendment, Cazco
will be allowed to construct 13 or more
affordable housing units rather than
reduce the size of 25 percent of the hous
ing units in the Larkspur development.
Larkspur is a 39.5-acre development
that will be located northwest of Weaver
Dairy Road and will include 85 lot cluster units, 12 acres of
open space and pedestrian trails.
After the council decided to exclude the payment-in-lieu
option from the original amendment, it passed unanimously.
Council members then debated key terms of the proposed
See TOWN COUNCIL, Page 4
WHO'S YOUR MAMA?
Council Debates
Police Jurisdiction,
Delays Action
See Page 2
Chapel Hill Planning
Department Director
Roger Waldon
saia the council's
goal is to maintain
affordable housing.