®h? lailg ular Heel
Posting
Farewells,
Memories
It’s comical how terrible I am at
saying goodbye.
When I leave home for summer
adventures, I plant parting Post-it notes
for my family around the house -
which they find weeks later -and I
hold back my tears until I’m safely seat-
ed in the depart
ing airplane.
My parents
are accustomed
to a quick hug in
the airport and
mumbled part
ing words from
me rather than
articulate speech
es. At best I can
provide a “to
do” list of last
minute errands,
KATY NELSON
UNIVERSITY
COLUMNIST
and in my last column, I want to do
more than ask you to make a dentist
appointment for me, although I could
use a cleaning in December, if you
know an Asheville dentist...
Given that I frequently frighten
strangers on airplanes with my emotion
al displays, I am reluctant to even
attempt explaining how much I have
appreciated the honor of being your
University columnist this semester. As I
have two other papers to write after I
finish writing this column, however, I’m
going to risk smearing some ink with a
tearful eulogy for this weekly rant.
Here goes my first public, farewell
Post-it.
Looking back, dear readers, on our
good times together, I realize how
much this experience has taught me
about our University. Writing this
weekly column has solidified some of
my outrageous opinions and also
widened my made-for-TV perspective
to cinema-scope proportions.
It turns out Chancellor James
Moeser is not the great and powerful
Oz, hiding in South Building plotting
international UNC franchises, and that
the Board of Trustees knew night park
ing was as fishy as Bob Knight’s
escapades with the Transportation and
Parking Advisory Committee.
A woman can indeed be elected
student body president (Who knew?),
and real students can fill perpetually
empty Student Congress seats - if only
on Election Day. I’ll leave it to my suc
cessor to check attendance.
It is true that in the not-so-distant
future, underground parking, public art
projects and a revitalized curriculum
will improve the UNC experience.
like Madonna, UNC is constandy
reinventing itself. Change is constant at
UNC, and the campus might be unrec
ognizable to current students when we
return to campus with our own children.
It is true UNC is slowly becoming
the first publicly funded Disney World
-a sprawling complex overflowing
with fun attractions and theme parking
lots. Even if UNC leaves building
another Animal Kingdom to N.C.
State University, there are many UNC
attractions awaiting discovery.
One of my professors wonders how
students have time to study with so
many wonderful lectures, plays and
concerts, just to name a few opportuni
ties enriching our college experiences.
Somehow we manage to ride all of the
attractions while learning how to think
and who we are.
There are thousands of interesting
people walking around campus with sto
ries of self-realization during their under
graduate journeys. After three years at
the University Desk, I think the real
story of this University has little to do
with the politics newspapers cover and a
lot to do with young people discovering
who they are in this magical place.
How has the University changed in
the last semester? And how have those
changes been affected by our mix of
students? Beyond tuition increases,
what did we protest? What frustrated
us? What did we fight for? How did
we spend our time?
As the University grows, we must
remember the students studying in the
quad, protesting on Franklin Street and
hanging out in the Pit We must remem
ber those individual experiences as the
University grows for the masses.
Our expectations and visions of the
UNC experience can influence South
Building’s choices. Students have to be
the quality-control monitors of our
University’s growth.
When we come back to Chapel Hill
in 2030, we may not recognize the
buildings, but we should recognize the
spirit of the place. We should recog
nize the faces of students bleary-eyed
from late-night studying and long con
versations. We should see a part of
ourselves in the future.
I hope this column was as good for
you as it was for me. Consider yourself
hugged - I’ve got to finish writing my
other papers and catch a plane in a
few weeks.
Columnist Katy Nelson can be
reached at knelson@email.unc.edu.
Officials Urge Faculty to Fight Cuts
By Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
University officials stressed the impor
tance Friday of fighting state budget cuts
this summer at the Faculty Council’s
final meeting of the academic year.
Speakers at the meeting specifically
focused their concerns on how the
University will be direcdy impacted by
the state budget deficit, which is estimat
ed to amount to more than $1 billion.
“I realize that all of us are feeling a
great deal of stress and anxiety about
what we don’t know and what we fear,”
said Chancellor James Moeser in his
opening remarks. “The more news we
hear from the state, the greater cause we
have for concern.”
Moeser emphasized looking at the
long-term potential of the University
when dealing with short-term budget
cuts. He cited the Horace Williams tract
Party Aims to Take Back Area Streets
By Jennifer Johnson
Staff Writer
Residents, with their children in tow, congregated at Sykes
Street in northwest Chapel Hill on Saturday to socialize with
neighbors - an activity that residents say is often hindered by
frequent drug deals.
For three hours, starting at 2 p.m., a vacant lot at the comer
of Graham and Sykes streets, which community members say
is notorious for drug activity, took on a different look.
The picnic tables that outlined the gravel lot were loaded
with food and games. Laughing children sprinted between the
activities as older residents chatted with neighbors. The second
“Take Back the Streets” block party, which drew between 60
and 70 residents, was even more successful than the one last fall.
EmPOWEßment Inc., a local affordable housing advoca
cy group, and the Sykes Street Steering Committee organized
the event. The committee is composed of various communi
ty members, including representatives from UNC’s
Department of City and Regional Planning. “This is really
great,” said Mark Chilton, director of EmPOWEßment. “Last
time we had about 30 people, and 15 of them were cops.”
Fewer than 10 cops and fire officials mingled with the resi
dents, while the blaring beats of Destiny’s Child were inter
rupted periodically to conduct a drawing for free prizes.
Deborah Bailey, a Northside resident and an active mem
ber of the steering committee, was the emcee for the party,
announcing that there were free cookies for children 10 and
under and later for children 13 and under. “The connotation
is that (the party is) just for children, but we want everyone to
come out,” Bailey said.
As promised, the party delivered free food, good music and
fiery speakers. But some residents said they got more out of the
event. Vera Compton, who fives at 620 Sykes St., sat with her
friend Dekisa Denning while her two grandchildren played. “I’ve
been here three months on Sykes Street, and I’ve seen some
chugs,” she said. “I think it’ll help if everybody sticks together.”
Asa second attraction, EmPOWEßment took advantage of
the party to market an affordable house in the area. The one
story house, which stands across the street from the party at 501
Sykes St., is for sale for $70,000 after EmPOWEßment gutted
it and made it livable. The average home in the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro area costs about $237,355, according to the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce’s Web site. “The old ten
ants actually abandoned it, but we’ve put in new windows, car
pet and fixtures,” Chilton said. “It’s totally reconstructed.”
Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy made an appearance at the
party and commended the work of EmPOWEßment and the
steering committee before he joined in on the cha-cha slide.
“They’re changing the nature of this neighborhood one house
at a time.”
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Access Advocates
To Work to Expand
A UNC educational access
advocacy group is hoping
to create chapters at more
campuses systemwide.
By Michael Davis
Staff Writer
N.C. Students for Educational
Access, a UNC-Chapel Hill student pro
gram geared toward attracting under
privileged students to universities, is
expanding its efforts by encouraging
other UNC-system schools to join.
The program is running in conjunc
tion with GEAR UP North Carolina, a
nonprofit organization that stresses the
importance of higher education, with
the aid of a federal grant filtered through
the system administrators.
UNC-CH senior Eric Johnson, who
spearheaded the initial program in
Chapel Hill, said the expansion has
yielded positive reactions.
Johnson said he hopes other UNC
system students will soon participate in
the outreach.
“We are trying to get other universi
ties involved ... so that we get more
than just (UNC-CH) students going to
high schools,” he said.
Johnson said the program’s mission is
similar to the UNC-system Association
of Student Governments’ Keep N.C.
Educated campaign, a program
designed to demonstrate the affordabil
ity of higher education and encourage
-a parcel of land owned by the
University -as the prime example of
UNC-Chapel Hill’s untapped potential.
Moeser invited the Faculty Council to
become engaged in the process of devel
oping the tract, which he said will now
be referred to as “Carolina North.”
Finding alternative sources of funding
and collaborating with other universities
were both presented by administrators
at the meeting as ways to deal with the
budget cuts.
N.C. State University Chancellor
Marye Anne Fox spoke at the meeting
about the possibility of UNC-CH and
N.C. State sharing research facilities and
academic resources.
“In this time of a budget crisis, we
must recognize that cooperation is vital,”
Fox said. “We dott’t compete with each
other, we go forward together.”
Fox also spoke on the subject of
receiving additional funding from feder
■iJ | jqu
DTH/ANNE MEADOWS
Chapel Hill firefighter Jamie Joseph helps Jequan Currie, 8, out of a fire engine during a
neighborhood block party organized by EmPOWEßment Inc. on Saturday afternoon.
N.C. residents to support the system.
He said the UNC-CH chapter plans
to contact each UNC-system school’s
student government and encourage it to
seek out interested college students for
the program.
“I think long-term we’ll have all 16
(campuses) involved,” Johnson said.
Although the UNC-CH branch will
create a loose organizational model for
other UNC-system schools, Johnson
said it will not oversee the program’s
expansion.
“It’s not going to be something that’s
UNC-Chapel Hill-run,” he said.
ASG President Andrew Payne said
that the mission of N.C. Students for
Educational Access mirrors that of Keep
N.C. Educated but that the campaigns
differ.
“Part of the Keep N.C. Educated
campaign is to inform ... about the
opportunities for education,” Payne
said. “We show that there are benefits
still about going to college.”
Payne said he is pleased with the
reactions from various UNC-system
schools.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm about
doing this and opening chapters across
the state,” he said. “This is an avenue for
students to give back in their communi
ty-”
He added that N.C. Students for
Educational Access should help
improve UNC-system fund-raising
efforts.
See ACCESS, Page 7
News
al grants and private contributions, a
suggestion Moeser endorsed.
Moeser said his conversations with
Senate President Pro Tern Marc Basnight,
D-Dare, have convinced him that
increasing private funding will improve
the University’s chances of receiving
greater allocations from the state.
Provost Robert Shelton said represen
tatives from the governor’s office have
asked UNC-CH to prepare for a 4 percent
to 5 percent budget cut for next fall.
Shelton said the reduction would likely
force UNC-CH to revert between $l2O
million and $240 million in state funds.
Shelton said that he plans to lobby
the state legislature this summer to max
imize the flexibility UNC-CH officials
will have in dealing with the cut but that
such A shortfall will probably result in
the loss of funding for unfilled faculty
positions. “This is a long and difficult
process,” Shelton said. “We need to be
Minority Leaders Support Ruling
About 15 people showed
their support for a ruling
to pull state funds to help
minority students excel.
By Jennifer Samuels
Assistant State & National Editor
RALEIGH - Black leaders urged the
N.C. State Board of Education and
other state officials at a press conference
Friday afternoon to support a ruling
requiring that state funds provide equal
education for all students.
About 15 people gathered outside the
Legislative Office Building to speak out
in support of an April 4 ruling by Wake
Superior Court Judge Howard Manning.
In a 112-page report, Manning wrote
that the state must take action to ensure
every classroom has a “competent, certi
fied, well-trained teacher and every school
has the leadership and resources it needs.”
Manning’s ruling concludes an eight
year-old legal dispute over inequalities
in school funding. As part of his report,
he directed the state to provide written
reports every 90 days on the steps it has
taken to comply with his order.
Organizations represented included
the North Carolina branch of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, the
N.C. Black Leadership Caucus and the
Latin American Resource Center.
Gladys Robinson, chairwoman of the
N.C. NAACP Education Committee and
a member of the UNC-system Board of
Governors, said the ruling cannot be
enforced unless school officials recognize
the potential of all students. “We stress that
teachers and principals must have high
in this with stamina.”
Litde discussion and no debate took
place at the meeting, which was one of
the few Faculty Council meetings of the
year to adjourn early.
But Faculty Council Chairwoman
Sue Estroff urged faculty members to
exert pressure on University adminis
trators and state legislators when budget
decisions are made. “I ask that you
speak out, stand up and be heard,” she
said. “Resignation for us is defeat.”
The council also unanimously
approved a resolution to revise the
Instrument of Student Judicial
Governance to make the document eas
ier to use and amend. The revisions
were recommended by student govern
ment in March and by the Committee
tm Student Conduct earlier this month.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
pa m
$,, mm\ ii
BlHmm BRENEMAN
Gladys Robinson, chairwoman of the N.C. NAACP Education Committee,
speaks at a press conference Friday afternoon.
expectations,” she said. “To deny access to
education is denying civil rights.”
Robinson said she hopes that by
speaking out, the speakers will make it
clear to the state board of education that
it should not appeal Manning’s ruling.
The state education board will meet
Wednesday to discuss several issues,
including eliminating the achievement
gap between whites, minorities and low
income students on end-of-course tests.
Several speakers said denying minori
ties and low-income children equal access
to education is equitable to enslavement.
“Let (neither) race, geography, income
nor poverty be the litmus test for educa
Monday, April 29, 2002
Clean Air
Plan Gets
Backing
Duke Energy and Progress
Energy would freeze their
electricity rates for five years
but would recover the losses.
By Rachel Leonard
Staff Writer
Environmentalists are lauding a plan
announced by Gov. Mike Easley last
week that would reduce pollution emis
sions from North Carolina’s 14 coal
fired power plants without increasing
utility rates for consumers in the near
future.
To finance pollution-reducing equip
ment, electricity rates would be frozen
for five years, followed by a seven-year
period during which electric utilities
could recover the estimated $2.3 billion
needed to make the improvements.
The state’s two largest electric utili
ties, Duke Energy and Progress Energy,
also have thrown their support behind
the plan, which would reduce sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions
by about 70 percent from 1998 levels.
Mercury emissions also would drop
substantially.
N.C. Sierra Club Director Molly
Diggens said Friday that the plan holds
great promise.
“If passed as proposed, it would be
one of the strongest pieces of environ
mental legislation ever approved by the
(N.C.) General Assembly,” she said.
“Everyone will benefit.”
A similar plan, called the Clean
Smokestacks Act, was passed by the
N.C. Senate last year but stalled in the
N.C. House because of questions about
who would finance the costs.
The Senate bill allowed for modest
electricity rate increases amounting to
less than $5 per month for average res
idential consumers. But large manufac
turers, who would have seen substantial
electric bill increases, opposed the rate
increase.
Easley stated in a press release that
the new clean air plan would “benefit
the health of our people by reducing
lung disease and asthma; benefit our
environment by reducing smog and
acid rain and benefit oqr economy by
preserving ouj investment in tourism.”
Easley spokeswoman Amanda
Wherry said the nevrplan has a better
chance of passing in the House because
rates will not increase and utility com
panies support it.
“The holdup was working with utili
ty companies,” she said. “The governor
didn’t want the consumers to have to
pay for it.”
One sponsor of the clean smoke
stacks bill in the House, Rep. Phillip
Haire, D-Jackson, said that although the
details of the plan are still unclear, he is
pleased with the new framework.
“I think it’s a win-win bill,” he said. “I
think we’re going to be able to get the
61 votes to pass it”
Haire said he and others would work
See CLEAN AIR, Page 7
tion of North Carolina’s children,” said
James Rayford, president of the Carolinas
Associated Minority Contractors.
Lavonia Allison, president of the
Durham Committee on the Affairs of
Black People, said it is important that
state officials address the problem of
unequal education at every level.
She cited the amount of funding pris
ons get in comparison with schools as an
example of an area where officials
should look to reallocate funds. “It is
important that North Carolina realizes it
is not important to pay $30,000 for peo-
See RULING, Page 7
3