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Advocates
A child-care program looks out
for special-needs children.
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www.dailvtarheel.com
Student Congress Allocates Funds, Keeps Budget Tight
By Meredith Nicholson
Staff Writer
Members of Student Congress tight
ened next year’s student activity fee allo
cations for several groups this weekend
to balance the
group’s budget,
ending up with a
surplus of
$1,111.76.
Individual allo-
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For a full listing of
Student Congress'
appropriations, go to
www.dailytarheel.com.
cations were smaller this year than last
because there was an increase in student
groups requesting funding and a
decrease in available funds, said Speaker
Blue Talk
To Address
Campaign
The state representative
from Wake County will try
to garner support for his
race for a U.S. Senate seat.
By Sara Longenecker
Staff Writer
Dan Blue, who is running for the
Democratic nomination for the U.S.
Senate, will address students about edu
cation and his campaign at 8 p.m. today
in 103 Bingham Hall.
The Young Democrats, who are host
ing the event, also will hold an infor
mation session for students interested in
applying for
internships with
Blue’s campaign
at 7:30 p.m. in the
same room.
Blue has served
in the N.C.
General Assembly
as a representative
from Wake
County for almost
22 years and is a
former N.C.
House Speaker.
Blue is widely
considered to be
one of the leading
candidates for the
Uj -a
N.C. Rep.
Dan Blue,
D-Wake, will speak
on campus at 8 p.m.
today about his
campaign goals.
Democratic nomination along with for
mer Clinton White House Chief of Staff
Erskine Bowles and N.C. Secretary of
State Elaine Marshall.
The Democratic primary is slated for
May 7, but court challenges to the consti
tutionality of North Carolina’s new leg
islative districts might push back the
event.
Because the race could determine
which party gains control of the Senate,
some political pundits expect the race to
be one of the most intense in the nation.
Cecil Cahoon, Blue’s press secretary,
said he thinks Blue will use his speech to
build student support for his campaign.
“I expect he will probably talk about
his position on health care, education,
the economy and jobs,” Cahoon said.
He said Blue also will stress the
importance of student involvement in
the campaign.
Cahoon said Blue has grassroots sup
port organizations all over the state and
will probably use his speech to organize
student supporters.
Susan Navarro, co-president of the
Young Democrats, said she expects Blue
to address a proposed tobacco buyout
plan, higher education and the Senate
race.
Navarro said the Young Democrats
are hoping to bring in all of the
Democrat candidates for the Senate by
sometime in April.
Cynthia Brown, a former Durham
City Council member who is also a
Democratic candidate, already spoke to
the Young Democrats on Feb. 18.
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The one thing that stands out about any state and its future ...is its education system.
Bill Friday
H
Mark Townsend. Congress had
$195,000 to allocate.
Townsend said less funds were avail
able because part of the funds that nor
mally would be intended for next year
will have to pay off the debt from this
year’s Congress. The debt is a result of
last year’s Congress overestimating
available funds for this year and thus
overbudgeting student activity funds.
Finance Committee Chairman Tony
Larson said Congress cut religious
groups’ programming requests by about
two-thirds because Title V of the Student
Code prevents Congress from allocating
student funds to spiritual exercises.
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As the state's economy continues to falter, state 2Jf" . jL#
leaders are exploring how to strike a Jggs,
balance between funding from state
appropriations and tuition. Both sources t
of revenue have increased in the last decade, but ijpsp
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IjOWAY AND BRIAN WASSON
Officials Try to Balance Fees, Funds
By Michael Davis
Staff Writer
N.C. policymakers have a long tradition of
touting the value of a UNC-Chapel Hill diplo
ma and the benefits the University brings to the
state.
But determining who pays for higher educa
tion - taxpayers or students - has in recent
years become an issue of contention.
With significant jumps in enrollment pro
jected for the next decade, human and physical
capital at UNC-system schools are being
stretched to the limit even as the state’s fiscal sit
uation continues to slide downhill.
Group Dissects College Athletics
By Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
Speakers and panelists worked to
make a case that conflicts can exist
between intercollegiate athletics and the
mission of higher education Saturday in
a conference held in Graham Memorial.
The conference was the first in a series
sponsored by the James M. Johnston
Center for Undergraduate Excellence
and directed by a committee of under
graduates representing academic schol
arship programs at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Speakers at the conference focused
on the economic aspect of intercolle
giate athletics, describing increased uni
versity spending on athletic facilities as
an arms race that puts growing pressure
on teams to win at all costs.
“It’s one thing to have added seats,
but the only way that investment begins
to pay off is if the team wins,” said
Andrew Zimbalist, an author and an
economics professor at Smith College in
Massachusetts and the conference’s
keynote speaker. “The drive to win gets
stronger and stronger."
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“We want to fund cultural and educa
tional programs but not worship,” he said.
Larson said groups can approach
Congress for additional funds if they have
plans for programs not related to worship.
Student publications’ budget requests
also were cut in half across the board.
Larson said publications should try to raise
money on their own but that if they can
not, they can ask for additional funding in
the future. “We don’t want to shut anyone
down, but we can’t fund them all fully and
still be fair to other groups,” he said.
Larson said funds were cut across the
board to prevent Congress from having
to make value judgements about the
In the most recent development in a series of
state fiscal woes, Gov. Mike Easley announced
last month a S9OO million budget shortfall for
the 2001-02 fiscal year.
Easley asked most government agencies to
revert 3 percent of their funds to the state.
In an attempt to spare education sectors,
Easley asked that the UNC system return an
additional s2l million -a cut of only 1.3 per
cent.
But the recent budget cuts bring the total
amount of cuts made to the UNC system this
fiscal year to sll2 million, prompting univer
sity administrators to look elsewhere for fund
ing. One source of that additional funding is
Members of the Knight Foundation
Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics,
a group formed a decade ago to study col
lege athletics and their effects on higher
education, said rising costs of coaches’
salaries and capital improvements have
driven many athletic programs into debt.
“The perception is that there’s still this
bottomless pit of money waiting to be allo
cated out,” said Doug Dibbert, president
of the General Alumni Association and a
member of the Knight Commission. “But
there are very few institutions that are
operating in the black.”
Other members of the panel, included
UNC-CH administrators, faculty and stu
dent athletes, spoke in favor of UNC-CH’
s efforts to maintain the integrity of the
University’s athletic program through
cooperation between die Department of
Athletics and other departments.
“When we as a department find we
have needs, we look internally,” said
UNC-CH Director of Athletics Dick
Baddour. “We see these joint relation
ships as keeping us in balance."
But Judy White, UNC-CH professor
of allied health sciences, said she was
Maybe Next Year
Tar Heels fall to Blue Devils
93-68 on Coach K Court.
See Page 10
Volume 110, Issue 6
publications. “There are a lot of student
publications out there,” Larson said.
“We don’t want to get into censorship or
making editorial decisions."
The Black Student Movement received
the largest allocation from Congress - 6
percent of the total budget. But some
BSM members said they were upset
because the group received $11,893.40
this year, down from $14,066 last year.
Larson said it is not unusual for a
group to receive less funding this year.
“When you look at the budget, not too
many groups got more money, or even
the same amount of money as last year.”
Congress members also tried to lower
tuition.
Over the past decade, state appropriations
and tuition revenues have both increased.
But revenues from tuition for UNC-Chapel
Hill have risen at a much higher rate than state
appropriations.
Since 1990, state appropriations for UNC
CH have increased from $252 million to $402
million, about a 60 percent increase.
But during the same period, revenues from
tuition at UNC-CH climbed from $46 million
to $139 million, about a 200 percent increase.
Similarly, tuition and fees for individual
See GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Page 2
concerned about the increased pressure
and time constraints placed on student
athletes, which she said often limits their
academic choices, such as their major.
“I’m very concerned with the experi
ence student athletes have on campus,”
White said. “They shouldn’t be penal
ized by the pressure to win.”
Zimbalist said that in order to protect
student athletes’ ability to be students
rather than members of a business, a
broad series of changes must be made.
“If you introduce small reforms piece
meal, they will be absorbed by the com
mercial juggernaut,” he said. “You need
to develop major reforms all at once.”
Bill Friday, former UNC-system pres
ident and a founding member of the
Knight Commission, said he is opti
mistic reforms will be made to intercol
legiate athletics. “There may be some
bloodshed first, but (reform is) going to
happen,” Friday said. “It’s going to hap
pen because this system tears at the fab
ric of our universities.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
i.
the total budget by cutting requests for
speaker fees when groups did not have
firm plans for speakers or dates, Larson
said. He said groups can approach
Congress for added funds when they
have more concrete plans.
He said Congress used this tactic last
year and that a number of groups asked
for -and received - additional funding.
Larson said there is no guarantee that
groups will receive subsequent funding
but that he anticipates Congress will
have an additional $15,000 to $20,000 to
hand out each semester next year.
Groups that requested money but did
not attend budget weekend must appear
Town Looks for
Money for Public
Works Facility
Chapel Hill officials are considering using
one tract of land for the Transportation and
Public Works departments to reduce costs.
By Jennifer Johnson
Staff Writer
Chapel Hill officials predict it will be difficult to find $ 15 mil
lion in the town’s budget to build anew public works facility
as time runs out on the town’s lease on University property.
At a budget session Friday geared at assessing the monetary
needs of different town departments, officials discussed a con
flict between the town and the University over their shared
public works facility. The session was made more difficult by
the fact that the town is facing a $1.4 million budget shortfall.
The facility sits on UNC’s Horace Williams tract, which the
University plans to develop as part of its Master Plan. According
to the 50-year campus growth plan, officials want to use the tract
for mixed-use developments and research facilities.
The town’s lease for the 25-acre public works site ends Dec.
31, 2006, which means Chapel Hill has roughly three years
to set aside money for building the new facilities. Although the
town asked for an extension on the lease last fall, the
University denied the request.
In addition to the burden of relocating the Public Works
Department, town officials have said they have an immediate
responsibility to keep other town departments afloat during the
budget crisis. Another department the town will have to focus on
is the Transportation Department. At Friday’s budget meeting,
officials discussed putting the Transportation Department and the
future Public Works Department on the same site. “We will need
about sls (million) to S2O million for the Transportation
Department and sls million for public works,” said Town
Manager Cal Horton. “But we do hope to get some help from
the federal government, Carrboro and the University.”
Chapel FLU Transportation Director Mary Lou Kuschatka said
Carrboro and UNC will help pay for the new transportation facil
ity, but the public works facility will be Chapel Hill’s responsi
bility. “The University will generate 39 percent of the cost for the
coming year, and they are expected to pay that percent of the cost
See BUDGET SESSION, Page 2
MILK: IT DOES A BODY GOOD
■ jpf !
DTH/BRIAN CASSELLA
Junior Justin Rodermond spews milk into a trash can in the Pit on Friday
afternoon. Members of Chapel Hill Players and their fans were
attempting to drink a gallon of whole milk in less than an hour.
Weather
Today: Sunny; H 43, L 18
Tuesday: Sunny; H 50, L 27
Wednesday: Sunny; H 59, L 34
before full Congress at its two remaining
meetings this year or they will not
receive funding, Townsend said.
Larson also said that even if Congress
had the money to fully fund all requests,
it would not necessarily be a good idea to
do so. He explained that some groups
would not be able to use all the money
and that it eventually would be reverted to
Congress anyway. “We don’t ever lose
money if we don’t give it out,” he said.
“Groups can always request money later
when they have more detailed proposals.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
■* m '