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Volume 110, Issue 114
Tuition Vote Could Be Today
By Nikki Werking
Staff Writer
The Tuition Task Force will meet today to
discuss five potential scenarios for tuition
increases and potentially to vote to put a pro
posal before the UNC Board of Trustees.
All of the scenarios call for an annual
increase for three years and will set aside 40
percent of the funds for need-based student
financial aid, as well as increased teaching
and research assistant salaries, said task force
Co-chairman Provost Robert Shelton.
He said the differences among the five
scenarios lie in how the rest of the tuition
money will be allocated for increasing facul
SAFE Escort
Funding
Eliminated
Student leaders say
program wasted money
By John Frank *
Assistant University Editor
Citing inefficient spending practices and
limited benefits to students, student govern
ment officials have cut all funding to UNC’s
SAFE Escort program.
Tire Safety and Security Committee of stu
dent government unanimously decided late
Tuesday night to stop providing $32,000 to
fund the late-night, on-campus shuttle service.
The committee made its decision after it dis
covered numerous examples of poor money
management and low ridership rates in previ
ous years. “SAFE Escort is an inefficient use of
allocated money from our committee,” said
committee Chairwoman Alexa Kleysteuber.
Committee members also said they think
SAFE Escort is a duplication of services pro
vided by the well-established Point-2-Point
on-campus busing system.
“It wasn’t providing that much student safe
ty - it was providing a convenience,” said
Student Body Treasurer Michael Vollmer.
At the committee’s meeting Tuesday night,
SAFE Escort officials made a last-ditch attempt
to save their organization when they present
ed a scaled-back budget to the committee.
The newly proposed budget asked for about
$14,000 in funding per year -a drastic reduc
tion from the $32,000 allocation.
But after three hours of deliberation, the
committee said allocating even that much
money is a waste. Instead, the committee decid
ed to allocate $2,500 to SAFE Escort to keep it
running only through the end of the semester.
“We are all very disappointed,” said
Benjamin McKinnon, SAFE Escort vice pres
ident. “We made the appropriate changes
(from past years). We felt that we showed that
to them, and we hoped to turn it around.”
With the cuts, the committee will get back
See SAFE ESCORT, Page 2
Memorial Bids Higher Than Expected
By Arman Tolentino
Staff Writer
Renovations to Memorial Hall scheduled to begin
Nov. 30 could be postponed because of construction
bids that are pricier than designers had anticipated.
Batson-Cook Construction’s bid of $12.9 million,
the cheapest of four bids, is still $1.3 million higher
than the project’s estimated base bid for construction
cost of $11.6 million, making it the first bid to be over
an estimate this year for campus construction projects.
But Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for
planning and construction, said the bid is reasonable.
“We believe part of the higher bid has to do with the
confined area and difficulty of construction involved
with Memorial Hall,” he said.
Money for the project comes from multiple sources,
Keepin' Up With the Joneses
UNC-Chapel Hill planners are watching closely
N.C. State University's development.
See Page 4
ty salaries, staff salaries and faculty positions.
Shelton said that although the scenarios
provide varying amounts of money for each
category, there are no set figures for alloca
tion included in any of the plans.
Both Shelton and Jen Daum, task force co
chairwoman and student body president, said
figures will be discussed at today’s meeting.
“The committee will have numerous opportu
nities to decide what amount and where tuition
dollars can be used, if at all,” Daum said.
All plans include funding for financial aid
because University officials want to keep
UNC accessible to all students, Shelton said.
All of the scenarios also provide money for
TA and RA stipends because there is a great
More Basketball Tickets
Available to Public
■ W ***" * . ! '
DTH/JOSHUA GREER
The Smith Center, shown here in the Tar Heels' Wednesday night exhibition game against Team Nike, will have
592 more empty seats than last year seats usually occupied by faculty and staff season ticket holders.
Age a Factor in Season Ticket Decline
Faculty and staff are 3,000 r
buying fewer season £
tickets for this year's re '
men's basketball S’ ®
season 592 fewer 2 500 -
than last year have 3 ' \
been sold. These sales s \
have been declining 2 \
since the 1998-99 H
season. Officials ijj 2,000 -
attribute the decline S S I I e S
to a graying faculty | | S’ S’ S’ S’
and staff population, o of o .S'
not higher ticket j| 1,500 -3 pj 5 S
prices or last year's I I—l 1 1 12 1
disappointing season. z 0 '9B-'99 '99-'OO 'OO-'OI 'Ol-'O2 'O2-'O3
SOURCE: UNC TICKET OFFICE OTH/PURVI PATEL
including University fund raising, state funds and
money from the state’s $3.1 billion higher education
bond referendum passed in November 2000.
The University received about SSOO million from
the bond package, $9.2 million of which is going to the
Memorial Hall project. The total estimated budget for
the project is about sls million.
A facilities planning and construction committee on
which Runberg serves as an adviser recently agreed
unanimously to use a contingency fund from the bond
referendum to help pay for the project’s higher cost.
“The contingency fund is used to manage programs
and to provide for other expenses such as unusual sit
uations like this one,” Runberg said.
But before committee members agree to the bid,
they will meet with Batson-Cook to see where differ
ences in cost arose and to make sure the bid is fair.
■
Money is always there, but the pockets change.
Gertrude Stein
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Thursday, November 14, 2002
need for increases in that area and TAs and
RAs are relatively few in number compared
to faculty and staff.
“The students have made (TA and RA
stipends) a high priority,” Shelton said. “And
it feels good if you can do something com
pletely.”
Depending on how discussions at today’s
meeting go, he said, the task force might rec
ommend one of the five scenarios to the
BOT. But if there are too many points of con
tention, the group will meet again in
December to continue work on the plan.
“It depends on how comfortable people
are,” he said. “Sometimes everything works
out, and sometimes you need another meet
“We need to evaluate the bid and make sure the bid
der is responsible and responsive,” Runberg said.
“Evaluation is a crucial part of this project. We need to
make sure we are comfortable with the bid even
though it is over the estimate.”
When committee members finalize their evaluation,
they will forward it to the State Construction Office
with their recommendation. Renovations to Memorial
Hall will begin once the office reviews and approves
the recommendation.
“The project is slightly behind schedule from a
design standpoint,” Runberg said. “But if we move
ahead with the contingency fund, we’ll be back on
track. Each project is unique - none of them are easy.
That is why we have the contingency fund.”
See MEMORIAL HALL, Page 2
Just Did It
Team Nike edges Tar Heels
76-72 in exhibition.
See Page 11
ing.”
Task force member and Daum Chief of
Staff Rebekah Burford said that although TA
and RA stipends are the most important
issues from a student perspective, an increase
in faculty salaries is the most pressing issue
the committee is facing.
“We need to raise faculty salaries because
otherwise, we’ll be reducing the quality of
otir faculty here,” she said. “And I definitely
want to work on closing the gap between
men’s and women’s salaries.”
But discussions about staff salaries also
will be contentious, said task force member
See TUITION, Page 2
By Lance Johnson
Staff Writer
Disappointing season ticket sales and a test-case strategy for
selling single-game tickets has freed up an unprecedented num
ber of men’s basketball tickets for the general public this year.
After an increase in season ticket prices from $362 to $406 and
an 8-20 record in the 2001-02 season, the Smith Center will have
2,019 seats filled by faculty and staff season ticket holders - 592
fewer than last year. Season ticket sales have declined steadily
since the 1998-99 season, when 789 more seats were purchased
by UNC faculty and staff than were purchased for this season.
But Clint Gwaltney, director of ticket operations, said old age -
and not the disappointing nature of last season or the higher prices
- is to blame. “Instead, I see it more as being a problem of age,"
See SEASON TICKETS, Page 2
vr
Vacant Positions Lessen Blow of Cuts
UNCs permanent budget reductions for the 2002-03 fiscal year totaled
nearly sl2 million, which came from the academic and health affairs budgets and the
Area Health Education Centers budget to help meet a 2.9 percent systemwide
reduction. The bulk of the University's reductions came from vacant faculty positions.
Academic Health AHEC
Personnel Salaries & Benefits • Affairs Affairs
EPA Faculty Salaries & Benefits (Vacant)
Amount: $3,182,987 $3,194,295 $0
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 34.4 19.64 0
EPA Faculty Salaries 8i Benefits (Filled)
Amount: $0 $0 $0
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 0 0 0
EPA Non-Faculty Salaries & Benefits (Vacant)
Amount: $264,965 $135,461 $151,847
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 2.97 1.35 1.25
EPA Non-Faculty Salaries 8i Benefits (Filled)
Amount: $18,455 $42,836 $0
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 0.18 0.4 0
SPA Salaries & Benefits (Vacant)
Amount: $939,060 $865,094 $89,536
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 21.91 19.07 1.6
SPA Salaries & Benefits (filled)
Amount: $255,916 $137,431 $0
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 4.91 4.0 0
Other Salaries 8i Benefits
Amount: $26,336 $0 $0
Full-Time Employment Positions Reduced: 0 0 0
Supplies & Materials $438,659 $93,209 $0
Current Services $655,950 $28,274 $19,676
fixed Charges $6,237 $0 $0
Capital Outlay $174,400 $0 $0
Other (describe on purpose code worksheets) $45,502 $0 $1,065,500
BUDGET CODE TOTALS
Amount: $6,008,467 $4,496,600 $1,326559
Full-time Employment Positions Reduced: 6437 44.46 2.85
SOURCE- lOHN ADAMS. UNC DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL PLANNING AND BUDGETS
DTH/GARY BARRIER
Officials: Budget Cuts
Manageable to Date,
Costly in Long Term
By Daniel Thigpen
University Editor
Tom Bacon seems worried Wednesday as he talks over his
cellular phone about the future of AHEC.
As director of the state’s Area Health Education Centers
program, based in UNC-Chapel Hill, he already has seen
nearly $1.3 million cut from its operating expenses this fiscal
year. That amount went toward the almost sl2 million the
University had to cut permanently from its budget.
But with recent midyear reversions, AHEC will lose almost
another $1 million, and Bacon is not so optimistic all nine of
his centers will withstand the blows.
“1 think it’s a serious long-term problem - there just aren’t
any easy places to cut now,” he said. “I think we’re at the point
where we have to ask, ‘Do we close some programs?’"
AHEC isn’t crippled for now, but its situation mirrors a gen
eral campus sentiment articulated in the school’s latest budget
report - each small budget reduction eventually is going to
take its toll on the quality of the University’s programs.
WhatUNC-CH officials hoped would be this fiscal year’s only
budget cuts are outlined in the report’s summary of reductions,
which was submitted to the UNC-system Board of Governors last
Thursday. The report reflects the sl2 million in cuts mandated
for UNC-CH earlier this year but does not take into account the
$8.2 million in temporary cuts levied this month.
“The overall reduction to this point was much more man
ageable than in previous years due partly to the enlarged
expectation, but most importantly, due to the flexibility to
make the reductions at the discretion of the campus,”
Chancellor James Moeser wrote in a memorandum to the
UNC-system Office of the President.
As expected, UNC-CH dealt with the budget reductions
with little damage to personnel. With the state’s budget crisis
See BUDGET REPORT, Page 2
memorial
DTH/IUCAS HAMMONDS
Because construction bids for renovations to Memorial Hall were about
$1.3 million higher than expected, construction could be delayed.
Weather
Today: Mostly Sunny; H 62, L 37
Friday: Partly Cloudy; H 61, L 39
Saturday: Showers; H 52, L 36
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