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Volume 111, Issue 10
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DPS Director
Derek Poarch
said the e-mail
informing students,
faculty and staff of
UNC s short-term
terror safety plans
was not sent in
response to any
particular threat
to the University.
DPS Forms
Safety Plan
For Terror
Attacks
By Jenny Immel
Assistant University Editor
The Department of Public Safety
issued an e-mail Thursday detailing the
University’s official procedure in the
event of a terrorist attack.
The e-mail was sent to all students,
faculty and staff in the University com
munity.
Although no official threat has been
issued, DPS Director Derek Poarch said
he thought it was necessary to inform
students of the University’s plan in case
such a threat were to arise.
But Poarch said the e-mail was not sent
because of any specific threat to the
University. “There is no significance of the
timing,” he said. “It is something that we
have been working on for several weeks.”
The Emergency Operations Center,
a multipurpose room in the basement of
DPS equipped to handle a variety of
emergencies and created soon after the
Sept. 11 attacks, will coordinate man
agement of any emergency. The center
will be led by Poarch.
This increased awareness of terror
ism comes after almost a month of
silence by University officials after the
Department of Homeland Security
raised the alert level for the nation from
yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high,
Feb. 7. Since then, the terror alert level
has been lowered back to yellow.
“Last time the alert for the nation
went to orange, (DPS and other campus
offices) got several phone calls as to
what to do,” Poarch said. Parents and
See ATTACK, Page 5
N.C. Leaders
Seek to Up
Club Safety
By Katherine Schultz
Staff Writer
N.C. legislators, business owners and
government officials are working to
improve the state’s fire safety code in
the wake of the deadly Feb. 20 blaze in
Rhode Island that killed at least 99.
Improper use of pyrotechnics by the
band Great White has been blamed for
causing the fire. A similar tragedy
occurred Feb. 17 at a Chicago nightclub,
where 21 people were killed in a stam
pede to get out of the club.
Rep. Margaret Dickson, D-
Cumberland, who serves as co-vice
chairwoman of the House Occupational
Safety and Health Committee, said fire
safety was discussed at length in a meet
ing Wednesday. “It’s an issue we’re def
initely going to look at,” she said.
“We’re going to see who’s responsible,
what the current standards are.”
Rep. Wayne Goodwin, D-Richmond,
chairman of the committee, said a leg
islative item he has prepared deals with
reviewing laws on the use of pyrotech
nics in clubs. He said he likely will intro
duce the bill in committee next week.
See CLUB SAFETY, Page 5
School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence.
H.L. Mencken
Happy Spring Break!
The Daily Tar Heel will resume publishing
with anew look March 17. The office
will open on the same date.
Research Funds Survive Early Cuts
By Stephanie Jordan
Staff Writer
Gov. Mike Easley’s budget proposed Wednesday
left untouched the UNC system’s more than $l2O
million in overhead receipts -a major victory for
UNC-Chapel Hill administrators, if only for now.
Howard Lee, a former state senator and one of
Easley’s top education and appropriation advisers,
said cutting the system’s overhead receipts was
something recommended by Easley’s staff as an
option for filling a nearly $2 billion revenue hole.
The original copy of Easley’s budget handed out
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DTH LEAH LATELLA
Student Body President Jen Daum (right) congratulates her successor, Matt Tepper, on the night of the runoff election
last month. Daum has less than a month to complete her campaign pledges before turning over her office.
IN FINAL WEEKS,
SBP SEEKS PRODUCTIVITY
By Rob Leichner
Staff Writer
During the final weeks of the lame-duck period of her presiden
cy, Student Body President Jen Daum has a full plate of tasks ahead
of her before turning over her position to Matt Tepper on April 1.
Daum has focused her transition period on key priorities she
hopes to accomplish in the near future, yet she still admits there are
various points on her platform that most likely won’t be addressed.
“I don’t really leave office until I leave Chapel Hill,” Daum said,
adding that her duties won’t cease until she finishes working with
the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Search Committee. “I won’t
serve as student body president, but I’ll serve as myself.”
As she prepares for the transition to Tepper’s presidency, Daum
said, she has been speaking with him almost every day. But she said
she is intent on having a productive final few weeks in office.
Daum said student government will focus on lobbying the N.C.
General Assembly for money, improving town-gown relations.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Friday, March 7, 2003
Wednesday actually had taken about sl4 million in
overhead receipts. He handed out a revision stating
that the system would sustain that cut but that it
could take the money from any area of its budget.
Lee said overhead receipts were the last area
Easley wanted to take money from because he
appreciates what the money does for universities.
Overhead receipts are federal funds given to
universities to cover the overhead costs of research.
Taking overhead receipts from universities could
have a serious impact on research capabilities.
By even considering taking overhead receipts,
Easley made clear the severity of the state’s budget
modifying C-TOPS and completing community service activities.
Daum said a lot of work will be done in upcoming weeks to
improve relations between UNC and the town of Chapel Hill. “We
are in the process of getting on the (March 17) Town Council agen
da to present the ‘Good Neighbor’ policy,” Daum said. The “Good
Neighbor" policy, envisioned by Daum last semester in response to
the town’s ban on the construction of duplex housing, will serve to
inform students about certain Chapel Hill policies and procedures.
Amon Anderson, Daum’s executive assistant who recently com
pleted the final draft of the policy, said he wanted to wait until the
council meeting to reveal its main points. Development of the “Good
Neighbor” policy should be complete by April I, but its implemen
tation largely will be up to the Tepper administration, Anderson said.
But he said that once it is enacted, the policy will benefit both
the students and the town. “Not only will die students be living in
the community, but they will be a part of the community.”
See DAUM, Page 5
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Lucky 7
Tar Heels aim to end
6-game skid against Duke.
See Page 5
crisis, said Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC-CH’s
Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public
Life. “Considering taking overhead receipts signi
fies that the budget shortfall remains very serious
and that the governor looked everywhere he could
to bring spending in line with available revenues.”
Rather than cutting universities’ overhead
receipts, the budget oudines other avenues to cut
spending, Guillory said. Although the UNC system
did not escape budget cuts, university officials obvi
ously got their message across to the governor, he
said. “Overhead receipts generate more research
and research activity, which in turn has a ripple
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effect on the state’s economy,” Guillory said.
But legislators still could take overhead receipts
away from the universities, a recommendation that
might be considered seriously because of the state’s
tight budget. “Universities will have to remain vig
ilant in protecting that money,” Guillory said.
N.C. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, said over
head receipts are a constant issue, one that has
been brought up in the past and will be discussed
in the future. “Anytime you have this many issues
facing you in a financial crunch, there is going to
See OVERHEAD RECEIPTS, Page 5
Wine Boycott
Fails to Take
Hold in Area
By Emily Vasquez
Staff Writer
In light of France and Germany’s recent refusal to support
U.S. ambitions in Iraq, some Americans - from talk show
hosts to the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives -
have begun to question if people should think twice about
consuming French or German products.
In High Point - just a 90-minute drive from Chapel Hill
- the answer is “yes.”
Joe Carter, general manager of High Point Country Club,
recently removed ali-French and German wines from the
club’s list, replacing over a quarter of the wine fist with
Australian and Californian wines.
Prior to the
decision, the
club purchased
an average of
$5,000 worth of
French and
German wines
per year.
“i realized
France and
Germany
weren’t sup
porting us, so
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why should we support them?" Carter said.
Members of the High Point club have been overwhelm
ingly supportive. Carter estimated that 98 percent of mem
bers have had a positive reaction to the change.
Club members now are buying more wine than before the
change to demonstrate support for the club’s decision, he
said.
It also seems the idea is catching on in the region. Carter
said six or seven other clubs in the High Point area have
expressed interest in taking a similar stand.
But in Chapel Hill, restaurant patrons and wine buyers
seem to have a different view. Monday evening, on his way
to dinner at the Lantern Restaurant on Franklin Street, Pat
Kinney had a typical reaction to a possible French boycott.
“That just makes me want to buy more French wine,” he said.
Restaurant managers across the Triangle report litde anti-
French or anti-German sentiment among their customers.
Even the few who say they’ve received comments regarding
their wine fists say their sales haven’t been affected.
Peter Van Sesters, cheese specialist at Fowler’s, an inter
national gourmet food provider in Durham, said reaction has
been mixed. “We’ve had a couple of comments from people
who felt like they shouldn’t be buying particularly French
products,” Van Sesters said.
But he said he’s seen more people who come in looking
to buy specifically French products to demonstrate their dis
approval of any talk of a national boycott.
“One group was actually throwing a French cheese and
wine party,” Van Sesters said.
See BOYCOTT, Page 5
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DTH PHOTOS TS’ATALIE HARRY
Bernie Averette browses the wine selection
at A Southern Season in Eastgate on Thursday.