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Yield To Heels
UNC Pedestrian Safety Awareness Campaign
Be Aware
Pedestrians: Do not assume drivers can stop. Look across all lanes you must
cross. Even though one vehicle has stopped, another may pass in another lane.
Drivers: Be attentive when entering a crosswalk area. Drive slowly. Be prepared
to stop. Do not overtake and pass other vehicles stopped for pedestrians on your
side of the roadway.
Be Safe
Pedestrians: Cross the street between the lines within the crosswalk. If you
cross the street at a place other than a designated crosswalk or intersection,
remember the vehicle has the right-of-way.
Drivers: Yield to pedestrians crossing in marked crosswalks or at intersections.
Failure to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk is a violation of
North Carolina law.
Be Considerate
Pedestrians: Establish eye contact with drivers before crossing. Do not enter the
crosswalk suddenly. Wave or thank drivers who yield.
Drivers: Establish eye contact with pedestrians who are crossing. Be patient.
To celebrate the kickoff of the
"Yield to Heels" campaign, V. VI Cl T\ //
volunteers will be distributing //
informational fliers about the //
campaign along with discounts /I
from local merchants from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 24th at
the following crosswalk locations: jA
South Road by the Bell Tower, \
Manning Drive by the Dental JJ
School, Pittsboro Street across tj
from the State Employees’ Credit yyL
Union and Ridge Road by the
George Watts Hill Alumni Center.
Sponsored by the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and the UNC Department of Public Safety
News
Racial Conflict Spurs NCSU Survey
By Julia Lamm
Staff Writer
N.C. State University officials, prompt
ed by allegations of racially offensive
speech in a class, have announced plans
to examine racial tolerance on campus.
The offensive speech allegedly
occurred in February before a law and
justice class taught by Phillip Munoz.
Before class started on Feb. 19, a
black student at N.C. State allegedly got
into a argument with a white female stu
dent that escalated into a racial conflict.
Paul Cousins, N.C. State director of the
office of student conduct, identified the
student as Najja Baptist. Baptist did not
return calls to comment on the incident
Munoz said the black student, whom
he refused to identify as Baptist, was
arguing that the United States was a
racist country during a dispute with a
female student in the class.
The professor said he heard the
woman’s reply to the argument. “A
white woman responded that if he did
n’t like it here he could go back to
Africa,” Munoz said.
UNC-CH Weighs Free Speech, Civil Discussion
By Ruthie Warshenbrot
Staff Writer
Asa liberal arts university, UNC-
Chapel Hill offers many classes that
encourage discussion among students,
but sometimes discussions can get out of
hand and turn offensive.
Officials at N.C. State University are
investigating racial tolerance after sev
eral offensive comments were
exchanged in classroom discussions -
an issue many UNC-CH officials do not
think is a problem here.
N.C. State officials are looking into an
incident in which junior Najja Baptist
allegedly was the victim of a racially
motivated verbal attack in a class discus
sion. The professor, Phillip Munoz, said
he encouraged the exchange to remain
civil, although he said the dialogue
became personal when he heard a stu
dent tell Baptist to “go back to Africa.”
Even many on UNC-CH’s campus
say there exists a difficult balance
between protecting free speech rights and
maintaining civil, academic discussion.
Julius Nyang’oro, chairman of UNC
CH’s Department of African and Afro-
American Studies, said free speech is
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At that point, Munoz said he inter
vened. “I heard the comment and
immediately stopped the conversation,
and I spoke of the need for more civi
lized academic discussion,” he said.
A second incident allegedly occurred
Feb. 21 in the same class.
In this incident, Munoz said a differ
ent student allegedly called the same
black student a “fucking yuppy.”
On Feb. 28, Baptist responded to the
events in class with a protest. “The black
student organized a protest in my class,
where 15 to 20 African-American stu
dents silendy occupied the classroom,”
Munoz said.
Munoz said the student met with
administrators but walked out of the
meeting. He then filed racial harassment
charges against Munoz and several cam
pus administrators.
In response to the events and as a
result of earlier efforts to stabilize race
relations on campus, N.C. State officials
are planning to conduct a survey of the
racial climate on campus.
The racial climate survey will take
place in the fall to determine how prob
fundamentally necessary in the class
room and can be maintained in a posi
tive manner.
Nyang’oro said that even if a student’s
comments become offensive, there are
ways to handle it. But being overly sen
sitive does not create an environment
that is conducive to discussion, he said.
“Once you make people walk on
eggshells, that begins to stifle debate.”
But some professors say they find the
boundaries of appropriate classroom dis
cussions difficult to establish and maintain.
Joel Williamson, a history professor
teaching a course called “White Culture
and Race Relations” this semester, said
issues discussed in his class force him to
be careful with his words. “You do have
to be sensitive to the feelings of the peo
ple in the audience,” he said.
Williamson said he uses a variety of
words to describe the same race, like
alternating between “black” and
“African-American."
“It seems to work OK,” he said.
The University also has policies in
place to protect students’ rights, even in
the situation of a classroom discussion.
UNC-CH’s racial harassment policy
states that “It is the responsibility of every
lailg (Tar
lematic race relations are on campus,
Cousins said. “(Administrators are)
putting together an instrument to survey
the community, both their attitudes as
well as their experiences,” he said.
Cousins said there have been mini
mal problems in the past. “I’ve been
here for 12 years and there have only
been a couple of instances,” he said
about controversial racial issues.
But Cousins said the controversy
over the issue indicates that some racial
tension might exist. “There is a problem,
as indicated by the amount of debate
around this situation raised by Najja
.Baptist,” Cousins said.
He said the climate survey is the first
step toward change on campus. “It ought
to change people’s understanding of what
is happening on campus," Cousins said.
But he said there will need to be
more changes implemented after the
survey is taken. “What interventions will
occur after that will be driven by results
of the climate survey.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
employee and student in the University
community to strive to create an envi
ronment free of racial harassment.”
In the circumstance a student believes
he has been racially harassed, the
Instrument of Student Judicial
Governance lays out a grievance process
for the student to follow.
Archie Ervin, director of the Office of
Minority Affairs, said the policies help
protect students from attack. “Our cam
pus does seek stability, respects individu
als and understands who they are,” he
said. “(It) does not tolerate one being
attacked on who they are or their beliefs.”
Students also say it’s crucial to be
conscious of the impacts of statements
made in classroom discussions.
Freshman Courtney Robinson, a
journalism and political science major
from Fayetteville, said people should be
allowed to express their own opinions in
classroom discussions as long as they are
respectful. “You want to keep in mind
that there are people with different back
grounds than you,” she said. “You have
to be conscious of who is around you.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.