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VOLUME 111, ISSUE 34 House OKs cuts, tuition increase BY ADAM CARDAIS STAFF WRITER RALEIGH After nearly seven hours of debate, the N.C. House on Wednesday passed a sls billion budget that cuts the UNC-system budget by SB2 million and increas es tuition by 5 percent systemwide. “Overall, we thought things would be worse than they are, but it’s still painful," said Mark Fleming, UNC-system associate vice presi dent for state governmental affairs. The system and other state agencies were spared from addi tional cuts because members voted to delay $384 million in tax cuts. The Democratic bloc was joined by 17 Republicans in a 75-43 vote in favor of the budget. Durham Rep. Mickey Michaux was the only Democrat to vote against the bill. Former worker appeals firing BY BILLY BALL STAFF WRITER UNC’s former sexual harass ment officer has filed an adminis trative appeal against the University for wrongful termina tion, claiming the University dis criminated against her because she was a vocal woman in the office. Judith Scott was fired Jan. 21 after nearly a decade of working in the office. A hearing on the matter will take place this summer. Along with her lawyer, A1 McSurely, Scott in February filed an administrative appeal in the Office of Administrative Hearings, a state agency that covers discrim ination cases. Scott filed a pre-hearing state ment March 12, and the University filed its statement March 17. A hearing is set for the week of June 23 in Raleigh. In her pre-hearing statement, Scott alleged that she was fired because “she was a woman who stood up for her rights and the rights of other women at the University.” “There was real animosity between people in South Building and her office," McSurely said. McSurely said Scott served as an active and vocal officer since she was hired in November 1992 and that the University was uncomfortable with her visible treatment of sexual harassment cases. “(Scott) made herself very visi ble," he said. “They really don’t want to raise these claims. If they do, they want to keep them quiet.” Glenn George, UNC’s interim legal counsel, would not comment on the case when reached Wednesday. According to Scott’s pre-hearing statement, she was fired in a letter from Laurie Charest, associate vice chancellor for human resources, for a number of reasons. According to Charest’s letter, Scott received two written warn ings: one March 16, 2002 regard ing conduct related to sexual harassment training sessions and another Nov. 8, 2002, on job per formance. The letter stated that Scott had not completed standard evalua tion forms for use in sexual harass ment training sessions and that she frequently had been absent without notice. Scott also failed to complete these manuals even after deadline extensions, according to the letter. “Based on my review of all the information available, including prior disciplinary actions, your current unsatisfactory perform ance, and (your) lack of participa tion in the pre-disciplinary confer ence, you are being dismissed from your position effective Jan. 21, 2003,” the letter stated. SEE LAWSUIT, PAGE 11 ONLINE UNC study finds lack of exercise responsible for nation's problem with child obesity Visit www.dailytarheel.com for more stories. Serving the students and the University comm unity since 1893 (Hire Satin ®ar Hrri The bill will receive a final vote today and then head to the Senate. House Co-speaker Richard Morgan, R-Moore, said the legisla tors’ goal was to balance the budg et without hurting education or economic development. The House was particularly careful to provide about $47 mil lion to fund UNC-system enroll ment growth fully. The budget also includes about $lO million for need-based financial aid. Co-speaker Jim Black, D- Mecklenburg. said that even in the event of a revenue shortage, the General Assembly will not consid er cutting enrollment funding as a way to raise revenue. “I think we always want to edu cate the people who show up, w'ho want to go to school,” he said. tjflp. I fIHHP .1 ||S DTH FILE PHOTOS Some students and faculty members believe Chancellor James Moeser might be out of touch with the campus community. Below: Moeser greets students before a basketball game at the Smith Center. MOESER TRYING TO REACH OUT BY LYNNE SHALLCROSS STAFF WRITER Wide smiles and surprised giggles filled the busy lunch line at Top of Lenoir last week when unsuspecting students found Chancellor James Moeser ready to swipe their UNC ONE Cards on their way up the escalator. “I’m the best swiper next to Vel,” he told one student, referring to Carolina Dining Services employee Vel Dowdy. Students were surprised to hear an enthusias tic “How are you?” coming from the chancellor at the cash register April 9 instead of Vel’s usual greeting. This meet and greet session in Lenoir, along with recent office hours in the Pit, reflect a strong attempt by Moeser to be more visible and acces sible on campus. The increased effort to spend more time with students comes after almost a year of controver sial decisions followed by campus backlashes. Among the most controversial decisions was Moeser’s payout deal in the fall with Sue Ehringhaus, former UNC vice chancellor and general counsel. The contract which awarded her about $320,000 for eight months of unre lated work in Washington, D.C., and a year of teaching in the UNC School of Law angered and upset many faculty members and employees. The University’s selection of “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations” as the summer reading assignment in 2002 brought complaints from campus, alumni and other factions across the country. Then Moeser made the decision to let Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship’s charter SPORTS CRUISE CONTROL Tar Heels jump out to 8-0 lead in victory over East Carolina. PAGE 4 www.dailytarheel.coin Fleming said he is pleased the House protected enrollment growth funding. “Our number one priority is access to the university (system).” House members also voted against Michaux’s proposal to reallocate sls million in overhead receipts to the system’s seven focused-growth institutions. Michaux said the funds would go toward putting the institutions on equal footing with other system schools. “Every year we have to come beg to bring these schools up to par,” he said. “It’s time to share.” Overhead-receipts are federal funds provided to cover the costs of academic research. UNC-Chapel Hill receives about SBS million in overhead receipts and lobbied heavily to keep the funds. Michaux’s proposal ultimately mlral remain unchanged in January after the University found possibly discriminatory phras es in it. Inter Varsity requires that all officers abide by its definition of the Christian doctrine, effectively excluding sexual minorities from offi cer positions. Most recently, Moeser’s handling of former men’s basketball coach Matt Doherty’s resigna tion has come under fire with complaints that Moeser and Director of Athletics Dick Baddour were too secretive about the issue and possibly too harsh on Doherty. At some point this year, with each misstep, people have seriously questioned the chancellor’s connection with the campus community. “I think to some extent, he’s a little out of touch,” said senior Sennai Habtes. “You can see that from all the bumps he’s had in the road.” But across campus, leaders say those bumps have put Moeser more than a little out of touch. SEE MOESER. PAGE 11 19 was defeated. Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said the budget already includes sl6 million to aid focused-growth institutions, mak ing additional funds unnecessary. Though legislators were satisfied with how universities fared, they were concerned about cuts to health and human services and about the delay of the half-cent sales tax cut. Although legislators from both parties said they have problems with the budget bill, they stressed it is the best possible proposal in a tough economic environment. Hackney said, “I think this budget can be described as a bipartisan budget that keeps North Carolina moving forward.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. INSIDE CURTAIN CALL Diversions presents the final part of its coverage of the Lab! Theatre season. PAGE 5 Be jmk\ L_'Jt__i %iiu_'. JKSm\ Sw' 1 la DTH/MELISSA LIN Rep. Edd Nye (left), D-Bladen, talks with a fellow legislator during discussions on the proposed budget Wednesday in the N.C. House. Palm tapped as LSU provost BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR Louisiana State University offi cials announced Wednesday that Risa Palm, dean of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, will leave UNC on July 1 to take a posi tion as provost and executive vice chancellor at LSU. Palm, who originally is from Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota, has held her office at UNC since 1997- LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert said that LSU conducted a nation al search for the position and that it had a competitive pool of appli cants. “(Palm) rose to the top of that pool very handily,” he said. Emmert said he was impressed by the work Palm has done at UNC and by the fact that with each move, Palm has taken on more responsibility successfully. Before coming to UNC, Palm served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and held several admin istrative positions at the University of Colorado-Boulder. LSU will pay Palm $230,000 per year in state funds and $30,000 per year in private funds. She makes $194,322 at UNC. Palm will leave behind a position that oversees about 70 percent of UNC’s undergraduate education. She said the new position is a wonderful opportunity for her. “It really means a great expan sion in the area of responsibility,” Study: Universities lack socio-economic diversity BY ALEXANDRA DODSON STAFF WRITER As the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates the constitutionality of race-based affirmative action in higher education, some experts are examining other means of diversi fying the college admissions process. A study commissioned by the Century’ Foundation, a New York based research organization, looked at the effect of socio-eco nomic status on admissions, espe cially for lower-income students. The study began as a collection of essays about lower-income stu dents in higher education, said Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fel low at the Century Foundation. But the study ultimately focused on the level of college preparation these students receive, their finan cial situation and the access they have to information on colleges. Kahlenberg said the study’s information comes from the 146 most selective schools in the coun try, as ranked by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. He said it was gathered with the purpose of improving the admissions rates of lower-income students. Anthony Camevale, vice presi dent of Educational Testing Service and co-conductor of the WEATHER TODAY Partly Cloudy, High 72, Low 48 V V FRIDAY Rain, High 67, Low 52 ’ 1 1 SATURDAY Partly Cloudy, High 75, Low 52 THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2003 Palm said, adding that although she is excited about her new posi tion, she will miss UNC. Provost Robert Shelton said that he has been impressed with Palm’s work and that he is confident she will excel in her new position. “Risa is provost material,” he said. Dee Reid, director of communi cations for the College of Arts and Sciences, said the college flourished under Palm. “We’re all really sad to see her go,” she said. “(Palm’s) been a really effective dean, but we understand that it’s an incredible professional opportunity for her.” Reid said improvements to and growth in the First Year Seminar program, the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Study Abroad Office stand as some of Palm’s greatest accomplishments. Palm also was active in raising funds and has raised more than $l7O million for the college since the beginning of the Carolina First campaign, Reid said. Shelton said he will discuss the need to appoint an interim dean when he meets with Chancellor James Moeser today in a regularly scheduled meeting. “I’m confident we’ll have a great pool of candidates," Shelton said. “People will want to come here to lead this great college. I imagine we’ll have some strong internal candidates as well.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. study, said he was interested in determining what sort of admis sions criteria will promote racial and economic diversity. But the end results were not favorable to schools’ claims of racial and economic diversity. “There isn’t much of either,” he said. Kahlenberg said low-income students are virtually absent from competitive schools. He said only 3 percent of student representation at these schools comes from the lowest economic quartile, while 74 percent of students come from the top quartile. Although many schools say they give needy students a leg up in the admissions process, Kahlenberg said the study proves otherwise. “For one thing, the university doesn’t do much to provide affir mative action for lower-income students,” he said, adding that this could change depending on the ruling in two University of Michigan-Ann Arbor cases before the Supreme Court. Socio-eco nomic status could replace race as an admissions criterion. But some experts say all affir mative action is discriminatory. “My sense is it’s an attempt to SEE STUDY, PAGE 11
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