Saily ufetr Heel
Coming Home
Students recount dealing
with Sept. 11 while abroad.
See Page 3
www.dailytarheel.com
Med School
Nabs Guest
Speaker
Former U.S. Surgeon General
David Satcher reduced his
speaker fee and will speak
at the school's graduation.
Bv Eshanthi Ranasinghe
Staff Writer
For the first time ever, UNC’s School
of Medicine has secured a professional
from outside of the school to speak at its
graduation ceremonies on May 17.
Former U.S. Surgeon General David
Satcher was overwhelmingly voted by
fourth-year graduate students to be this
year’s guest speaker.
“There was a big call from the stu
dent body saying that we wanted a pub
lic event,” said Eric Ball, head of the
graduation committee for the medical
school. “We e-mailed everybody and
asked who they wanted to speak at
graduation - David Satcher was by far
the most popular.”
A former Robert Wood Johnson
Clinical Scholar and Macy Fellow,
Satcher is the recipient of 18 honorary
degrees and numerous distinguished
honors. In 1998 he became the surgeon
general under President Clinton, a post
he held until February.
Committee members said his work
as surgeon general during times of great
national concern over bioterrorism, as
well as his work to diminish disparities
in available health care, made Satcher a
popular choice among students.
“He’s an outstanding leader in med
icine and health care,” said Patrick Link,
a member of the gr aduation committee.
“Being an African-American, he’s an
outstanding minority role model.”
In previous years, guest speakers have
been members of the school’s faculty.
But due to renovations, this year’s cere
mony was moved from Memorial Hall
to the Smith Center, making it possible
for the graduation committee to book a
speaker from outside of the school.
“Because of the larger venue, we
were able to make the event public and
bring in an outside speaker,” Ball said.
But committee members encountered
a problem with their new plan - because
the school never had a speaker from out
side its doors, there was also no speaker
allowance set aside for the ceremonies.
The lack of funding presented the
committee with an obstacle to over
come in time for gr aduation, especially
with Satcher’s regular speaking price set
at $20,000, committee members said.
But Satcher said he was willing to be
flexible with his asking price, and when
members of the graduation committee
informed him that they had no money
set aside for the speaker, he brought his
price down to $5,000, Ball said.
To raise the money, the committee
went to several student organizations
See SURGEON GENERAL, Page 5
Southpoint Well Received by Triangle
The area's new mall, located
in Durham, is 1.3 million
square feet and features
the state's first Nordstrom.
Bv Jennifer Samuels
Assistant State & National Editor
DURHAM - The thousands of
Triangle shoppers aren’t exactly drop
ping, but they are pushing themselves to
the limit exploring the Streets at
Southpoint since its March 8 opening.
A week after its opening, heavy
crowds still lined the mail’s corridors.
Some shoppers stopped at a Time
Warner Cable booth to watch Texas Tech
El
Officials Defend Need for Overhead Receipts
By Lucas Fenske
Assistant State & National Editor
RALEIGH - UNC-system officials
petitioned members of the N.C. Joint
Legislative Education Oversight
Committee on Wednesday to protect
overhead receipts from a revenue
starved state budget.
N.C. officials are projecting a budget
shortfall for the 2002-03 fiscal year that
might exceed $1 billion, forcing legisla
tors to consider budget cuts in most
areas of the state budget. Some legisla
tors argue that overhead receipts are a
significant source of potential revenue.
Overhead receipts, also called facili
ties and administrative funds, are part of
federally funded research grants that
cover indirect costs of the project such
as electricity or administrative fees.
Universities nationwide also use over
head receipts to fund miscellaneous pro
jects on campus. Overhead receipts at
UNC-Chapel Hill, which total about
$75 million, fund everything from
% .*-'***
H ;A < ‘^JNm
DTH/KARA ARNDT
Eric Mihalyi repeats, "More goldfish please," during snack time in his class at Frank Porter Graham Elementary
School. Eric has been taught to ask for things politely, even during snack time.
Local School Leaders Address Learning Disabilities Statistics
Bv Kathleen Wirth
Senior Writer
In theory, the numbers say it all.
According to the National Center for
Learning Disabilities, 35 percent of chil
dren with learning disabilities drop out
of school.
Sixty percent of adults with severe lit
eracy problems are found to have
untreated learning disabilities.
But in a school system with an aver
University beat Mississippi State
University in the semifinals of the NCAA
Tournament, while others stopped to lis
ten to musician Brace Stevenson.
More than 300,000 shoppers visited
the mall within three days of its opening,
far surpassing the expectations of many
retailers and critics who feared recession
might hinder the project.
The 1.3 million-square-foot mall fea
tures more than 150 stores and restau
rants, including 24 retailers unique to
the area, such as the state’s first location
of upscale department store Nordstrom.
The parking lot has 6,400 spaces.
Many shoppers said they are over
whelmed by the variety of stores at
Southpoint.
“I’m in amazement,” said Amy
Money is always there, but the pockets change.
Gertrude Stein
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Meet the Candidates
Candidates for the 2002-03
DTH editor are introduced.
See Page 2
employee salaries to faculty training to
building construction.
UNC-system schools received $110.4
million in overhead receipts during the
2000-01 fiscal year. About 80 percent of
the revenue is used to cover personnel
costs, supplies and utilities.
’ UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser
said overhead receipts are key to the
University’s continued growth. “We’re re
investing those revenue sources and grow
ing a great research university,” he said.
Moeser said the University is relying on
projected revenue from overhead receipts
to serve as collateral for issuing bonds and
to fund future construction projects. “A
reliable stream (of overhead receipts)
helps us achieve a highly favorable bond
rating, which enables the University to
lower construction budgets by reducing
the cost of borrowing money,” he said.
“A substantial threat to our (overhead
receipt) revenue stream could jeopardize
our bond rating and escalate costs.”
Moeser added that some campus
buildings already under construction
age SAT score of 1,175 and 81 percent of
its graduates going on to four-year col
leges and universities, it might be hard
to believe that these statistics could
apply.
Even The Wall Street Journal took
note of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools in 1999, when it honored
Chapel Hill High School as one of the
top 10 high schools in the nation.
But some educators say the statistics
and accolades given to Chapel Hill-
Kapsch, a senior at Cardinal Gibbons
High School in Raleigh. “(There are) so
many stores for so many different types
of people in one place.”
Kapsch, who was shopping at
American Eagle Outfitters, said she
expected her time at the mall to top four
hours by the time she left. She said that
though the mall itself is overwhelming, she
thinks it is a good addition to the Triangle.
“Yeah, I definitely think (it’s good),”
she said. “There’s not really a great mall
in the area.”
Tara Uthe of Raleigh, who was shop
ping at Banana Republic, said
Southpoint mall is a welcome change
from other area malls, such as Crabtree
Valley Mall in Raleigh. “(Southpoint is)
nice, from what I’ve seen,” she said. “It’s
Keep it Cornin'
Baseball sweeps three-game
weekend series.
See Page 12
Volume 110, Issue 11
rely heavily on overhead receipts. The
Bioinformatics Building is funded with
$27 million in overhead receipts and
only $2 million from state bonds.
Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice presi
dent for finance, said overhead receipts
are crucial to funding construction and
cannot easily be seized. “(Overhead
receipts) cover a portion of building pro
jects,” Davies said. “It’s difficult to build
30 or 40 percent of a building.”
He also said overhead receipts sup
plement state funding for items like util
ities. “Overhead receipts have been
used to make up that gap,” Davies said.
But some legislators repeatedly said
UNC-system officials should not rely on
retaining 100 percent of overhead receipts.
Rep. Robert Grady, R-Onslow, hinted
that the N.C. General Assembly might
seize some of the receipts to cover part of
the budget shortfall. “In 1991, the legisla
ture retained 50 percent of the receipts,”
Grady said. “I would urge you to stop and
See OVERHEAD, Page 5
Carrboro schools, while impressive, do
not always tell the whole story.
“Chapel Hill seems to focus on the
cream,” said Jane Byron, director of
learning disabilities at UNC. “If you’re
an averagejoe, then you’re kind of over
looked.”
The awards tend to leave out about
1,380 special-needs students with diag
nosed disabilities like attention deficit
disorder, hyperactivity, autism and
dyslexia.
nice to have different stores.”
But not all shoppers praised the mall
as innovative.
While standing in line at Frank &
Stein’s, Raleigh resident Donovan Gill
said that despite the mail’s unique
design, he does not think the stores are
anything unusual. “It’s pretty neat, but it
has all the same stores as other malls,
except for Nordstrom,” he said.
Some mall employees said the
crowds prevent them from experiencing
the mall themselves.
Rufus McLaurin, an employee at
Buckle, a clothing store geared toward
young adults, said he has not had much
time to explore the mall because he has
See SOUTHPOINT, Page 5
JN
Weather
Today: Light Rain; H 53, L 45
Tuesday: Cloudy; H 67, L 59 *** t ** \
Wednesday: Cloudy; H 76, L 38
Slicing the Overhead Receipt Pie
Overhead receipts, whjch are funds from research grants that cover expenses, are used by UNC-system
schools to pay for a variety of services. In 2000-01, the UNC system spent $96 million in overhead receipts.
renovation and capital —. r educational awards
improvements Qther expenditures
4 - 4% I l 0.4%
debt service 1 ■ ..
5% pii
educational, ■
computing and
other equipment
10.5%
supplies, utilities, “—■
fixed charges and ■ personnel
other current services
services 40.1 %
38.7%
SOURCE: UNC-SYSTEM GENERAL ADMINISTRATION DTH/COBIEDELSON
Autistic Children
Learn Life Skills
By Jon Dougherty
Assistant City Editor
Eric Mihalyi is upset. He wants cook
ies and is not interested in waiting his
turn to receive them. The 9-year-old
shows his frustration by chanting non
sensically and rocking in his chair.
When autism instructor Kathy Yasui-
Der’s requests for Eric to wait are disre
garded, Yasui-Der sends him to a timeout
Even snack time has an educational
purpose in Yasui-Der’s classroom at Frank
Porter Graham Elementary School.
The goal of the exercise is to force the
students to articulate their wishes, an
ability that autistic children often lack.
Every morning, Yasui-Der and her two
assistants, Alyssa Calverta and Kate
Kalleberg, teach the school’s Upper
Primary Autistic Class, which is composed
of third- through fifth-grade children. The
school also offers a Lower Primary Autistic
Class for younger children.
“Our final goal with these kids is to
And a survey on Exceptional
Education, presented to the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro Board of Education last
September, sparked extensive discus
sion among some board members.
“There are some things we do very
well,” said former school board member
Roger Waldon after the survey’s presen
tation. “But a document like this tells us
what we are not doing well.”
But Byron said the survey results
merely put into writing what teachers
Ml
DTH/SARA ABRONS
Shoppers crowd the new Streets at Southpoint mall Sunday. More than
300,000 people visited the mall in its first three days.
Monday, March 18, 2002
teach them to be as independent as possi
ble,” Yasui-Der said. “We place the major
emphasis on life skills - many of these
kids cannot dress themselves in the morn
ing.” Yasui-Der, who has more than 10
years of experience working with autistic
children, said most can overcome at least
part of their autism with sufficient training.
The disease’s origins are shrouded in
mystery. Usually it is difficult to predict
which children will be struck with autism.
The condition affects a person’s abil
ity to relate to the world as most of us
know it. In severe instances, autism can
leave the individual nearly incapable of
communicating with others and almost
blind to the functioning of the world.
Autism is four times more likely to
occur in boys than in girls. At any given
time, the majority of children in autistic
treatment programs are male -a statis
tic that holds true for Yasui-Der’s class,
which consists of five boys and no girls.
See AUTISM, Page 5
have known for years. “All the survey
did was to get it out in the open - teach
ers have been straggling with this for a
very long time,” she said.
One statistic Byron and board mem
bers pointed to is the tenuous relation
ship between resource teachers, or
teachers specifically trained to teach
exceptional children, and regular teach
ers.
See FACTS, Page 5