Hotly (Ear Heel
Speak Out
On Housing
Ordinance
r ■ lhe term “Land-Use Management
I Ordinance” is a little intimidat
ing. These weird town terms can
scare me sometimes, too. But the draft
of the proposed changes in this specific
ordinance is worth your attention.
So allow me to try to explain how
exacdy it will affect students. “Land-Use
Management
Ordinance for
Dummies,” if you
will.
More impor
tandy, here’s
why you should
take all your frus
trations after
reading this col
umn and channel
them into a con
cise, intelligent
but angry e-mail
to Chapel Hill
CAROLYN
PEARCE
CITY
COLUMNIST
Town Council members protesting the
implementation of the ordinance.
Behind its intimidating title, the
document could directly affect the stu
dent population’s off-campus housing
options. Main concerns to students are
proposed housing unit occupancy limi
tations and duplex prohibitions.
First, the current limit on occupan
cy is four unrelated persons per unit.
Already, this is not enforced unless a
complaint is issued. But the new ordi
nance will decrease this limit to an
unreasonable two unrelated residents.
Inevitably what will happen is land
lords will only put two names on the
lease while still allowing more resi
dents to live there. The rule will just
force renters and landlords to find
ways to around the laws.
The problem is, leases are legal docu
ments. Dorothy Bemholz of Student
Legal Services said she is concerned for
students’ rental protection if their names
are not on the lease. Those who aren’t
on the lease are not legally bound to
pay rent, nor are landlords obliged to
acknowledge their rental concerns.
And those renters who aren’t down
with cheating the system will just
move to Carrboro or lower-rent areas
farther from campus, only increasing
the urban sprawl and traffic concerns
the ordinance is trying to prevent.
Second, the ordinance would prohib
it the further development of duplexes.
But this change is largely a result of the
complaints of residents from the
Northside community, whose close
proximity to the campus and downtown
area has recently attracted students.
However, the non-student residents
of the Northside community argue that
students bring noise, trash and parking
problems. They are asking the town to
prohibit the further development of
duplexes in their neighborhood to
deter the student population.
Common sense would say stricter
enforcement of traffic and noise viola
tions would solve the problems. But the
town is considering banning the build
ing of duplexes all together and phasing
out the use of existing duplexes.
There are many duplexes around
Chapel Hill, not just in Northside.
Sweeping legislation has the ability to
affect large amounts of residents quick
ly and drastically. Large changes
should not be implemented simply to
help out specific neighborhoods that
don’t want to deal with students.
Town officials are accepting com
ments on the issue until their Oct 21
meeting. If off-campus housing is impor
tant to students, inform the town the
proposed restrictions are unreasonable.
Carolyn Pearce can be reached
at cpearce@email.unc.edu.
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Professional Schools Propped From Budget
By Matt Hanson
Staff Writer
Funding for a stand-alone pharmacy
school at Elizabeth City State University
was cut from the final state budget
despite being included in budget pro
posals from both the N.C. House and
Senate.
The Senate version of the budget
called for only the new pharmacy school
at Elizabeth City State, while the House
version also included plans for a stand
alone engineering school at East
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DTH/GARRETT HALL
Sophomore biochemistry major Suzanna Hahn talks to representatives from the Study Abroad Office about
studying in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the fair Tuesday afternoon in the Great Hall.
Study Abroad Still Strong
By John Lipps
Staff Writer
Despite the economic recession and
military conflicts overseas, students at
the Study Abroad Fair on Tuesday said
they were not discouraged from study
ing abroad.
According to study abroad officials,
the number of applications turned in this
semester is close to last year’s number.
Sophomore Michael Minder, a chem
istry major who attended the fair, said
he has not been deterred from studying
abroad. He also stressed the importance
ASG to Work on Credit Transfers Within System
Plan to aid transfers is expected this fall
By Kimberly Timko
Staff Writer
The UNC-system Association of
Student Governments is developing a
program that Would enable general col
lege course credits to transfer more eas
ily between the 16 system campuses.
ASG President Jonathan Ducote said
the program aims to improve gradua
tion rates within the system.
He said students are often unable to
graduate in four years when they trans-
Carolina University and engineering
programs at UNC-Asheville and
Western Carolina University.
The Elizabeth City State program
was reviewed by the UNC-system
Board of Governors after a provision in
the 2001-02 budget called for the board
to review the benefits and feasibility of a
new pharmacy program.
The BOG recommended a pharma
cy program at Elizabeth City State to
work in conjunction with the UNC-
Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy.
Senate Appropriations Committee
of studying away from UNC-Chapel
Hill’s campus.
“The terrorist attack on September 11
was an isolated incident,” he said.
“(Studying abroad) is good because you
can get an idea of what’s going on out
side Chapel Hill. Plus it gives a first
hand experience with other cultures and
lifestyles.”
Mark Nielsen, information systems
coordinator for UNC’s study abroad
program, said he is not surprised by the
number of applicants.
Nielsen said the number of applicants
does not necessarily reflect the number
fer between two system schools because
general requirements at one school
transfer to another as elective credits.
“We want to help students get out on
time and save the state and students
money,” Ducote said. “If a student wants
to go to an institution, then nothing
should stop him. This program could
help that become a reality.”
The ASG has no definite plan, but it
expects to present a firm proposal to the
UNC-system Board of Governors by
December or January.
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Chairman Howard Lee, D-Orange, said
that for the pharmacy school at
Elizabeth City State to get funding, the
committee also would have had to
approve the other new programs.
He said the tight budget did not allow
for the entire provision to pass.
“There were too many other addi
tions in the same provision that would
have short-circuited the process of
approving new additions,” Lee said.
“The question is finding money to sup
port it so it can move ahead.”
Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank,
of students who will actually go abroad.
Nielsen estimates that 310 students will
go this spring, as opposed to last spring’s
302.
Programs in the Middle East seem to
be most affected by recent events over
seas, Nielsen said.
Four UNC-sponsored programs to
Israel and three UNC-approved pro
grams to Israel offered through other
institutions have been suspended.
In addition, a summer program in
India offered through N.C. State
See STUDY ABROAD, Page 4
It hopes the program will be imple
mented next year.
“This idea has been tossed around for
a long time,” Ducote said. “We didn’t
have the resources to work on it. This
year, increased funding has allowed us
to work on it.”
Marsha Moore, ASG vice president
of academic affairs, the committee
researching the transfer program, said
she has talked with students who have
had problems transferring credits.
Moore said it is easier to transfer
credits to a system school from another
UNC-system institution than from a uni
versity outside the system. But she said
whose district includes Elizabeth City,
said the budget crisis contributed to
many legislators’ refusal to support the
proposal.
“In the budget crisis we’re in, it does
n’t take much when someone says, ‘We
don’t want it,’” he said.
But many legislators said they sup
port an independent pharmacy school.
Senate President Pro Tern Marc
Basnight, D-Dare, and other supporters
of the plan were displeased by its omis
sion from the budget.
“He was pretty disappointed that it
Task Force Meets
To Discuss Water
Conservation
The organization focused on
ways to promote awareness
By Laura Bost
Staff Writer
A task force charged with brainstorming ways for the
University to conserve water during the worst drought on
record met Tuesday to consider several options for reducing
UNC’s water usage.
The meeting was the first of the University Housing and
Residence Hall Water Conservation Task Force, which is com
posed of seven students and staff members.
Committee members discussed rumors they had heard
around campus about the steps that officials planned to take
to limit water use and said water fountains and showers will
not be shut down. There are no plans to bring in portable
bathrooms either.
But the main focus of the meeting was to come up with
ways to increase student awareness and education about the
drought.
“Students see it raining, and it gives them a false sense of
security,” said Associate Housing Director Rick Bradley.
“We’re in a five-year drought -one week of rain is not going
to fix it. We need to make sure students realize that.”
Several ideas were suggested, such as listserv e-mails, fre
quent conservation updates on the housing department’s Web
site, informational bulletin boards in the residence halls, hous
ing community programs and floor meetings.
Committee members also discussed the plan to begin an
inter-residence hall competition, tentatively named “Water
Wars.” Based on the traditional Green Games, Water Wars will
be a competition between residence halls comparing reduc
tions in per capita water use.
Matt Todd, waste reduction coordinator for UNC’s Office
of Waste Reduction and Recycling, said there will be 10 teams
in the game, with divisions according to North, Middle and
South campuses. Family housing also will be involved.
Incentives include a banner for the weekly leaders and pos
sible cash prizes for monthly winners.
Several members of the task force said that incentives are effec
tive but that the threat of consequences might also be helpftd.
“Students may react to the incentive programs,” said George
Arey, the community director of Whitehead and Carmichael
residence halls. “But if they walk outside and see a Port-A-John
See MEETING, Page 4
she thinks there is room for improve
ment, as many courses only count as
electives when transferred to other sys
tem schools.
“We’re good, but we want to make it
better,” she said.
Jerry Lucido, UNC-Chapel Hill
director of admissions, said he doesn’t
know of any difficulties students face
when transferring class credit from other
system schools to the University.
“We were unable to find any exam
ples of people having problems with
general requirements.” he said. “This
issue is more of a problem for students
transferring into technical programs, not
f
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Wednesday, September 25, 2002
wasn’t in there because it had gone
through a review by the BOG," Amy
Fulk, said Basnight’s press secretary.
She said the proposals came under
fire for being a convenient way for leg
islators to tack on provisions that bene
fit their constituencies.
But Fulk emphasized that Basnight
thinks the pharmacy school would have
provided a specialty program for an
institution other than the system’s two
flagship campuses - UNC-CH and
See SCHOOLS, Page 4
Chapel Hill.”
Admissions officials decide whether a
course taken at another university cor
responds with a course offered at UNC
CH.
Lucido said credit for most classes
will transfer if the students received a
grade of C or better in the class.
Carolyn Cannon, associate dean of
academic advising for the UNC-CH
College of Arts and Sciences, said trans
fer students usually don’t struggle to ful
fill general college requirements because
students can challenge any courses that
See TRANSFER, Page 4
3