Daily (Ear MM
ACC snags Miami, Va. Tech in expansion
SYRACUSE, BOSTON COLLEGE LEFT OUT IN
UNEXPECTED VOTE BY CONFERENCE LEADERS
BY TIM CANOON
SENIOR WRITER
When Big East Commissioner
Mike Tranghese ripped into ACC
Commissioner John Swofford in
late April for trying to lure three
schools away from the Big East and
to the ACC, it looked as if ACC
expansion was a done deal.
But it wasn’t even close. Weeks of
campus visits and conference calls
ensued, and in the end what was
supposed to be a 12-team super
conference that would have added
Miami, Boston College and
Syracuse wound up adding only two
members Miami and Virginia
Tech leaving onlookers wonder
ing how a sure thing came not to be.
“Our best path in a changing
landscape was to grow,” Swofford
said at the July 1 press conference
formally announcing the admit
tance of Miami and VT to the ACC.
“And I believe that a superb deci
sion was reached to invite Miami
and Virginia Tech to join us. I think
that this will truly enhance all of us,
and we're here tonight to celebrate
Virginia Tech and the University of
Miami becoming an integral part of
the Atlantic Coast Conference.”
While Swofford called the Hokies
GROUPS GRAPPLE AGAIN
OVER SUMMER READING
Group says book
shows liberal bias
BY BONNIE KLUTTZ
STAFF WRITER
The Committee for a Better
Carolina —a conservative UNC
group spoke out in July against
what it called the liberal bias rep
resented by the University’s
Summer Reading Program.
The committee has argued that
this year’s book selection, Barb
Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed:
On (Not) Getting By in America,”
is a one-sided view of the condi
tions of low-wage workers.
“This book
is not very aca
demically or
intellectually
done or useful,"
said Michael
McKnight, the
committee’s
leader.
“They need
to at least pro
vide a balance
two per
spectives.”
Last year,
UNC selected
Michael Sells’
DTH/BRIAN CASSELIA
Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Alamance,
shows his displeasure with UNC.
“Approaching the Qur’an: The
Early Revelations,” which was
criticized by another conservative
group, the Family Policy
Network.
State Sen. Hugh Webster, R-
Caswell, a UNC alumnus, said
that he opposed this year’s selec
tion and that Ehrenreich’s
account lacks any academic value.
State budget includes 5 percent tuition hike
DTH/ELLIOTT DUBE
Gov. Mike Easley holds up a copy of the state budget after the General
Assembly passed it June 30. It passed on time for the 1 st time in 3 years.
INSIDE
LOCAL ELECTION SEASON HEATS UP
One UNC student, one employee join those hoping
to win Chapel Hill Town Council seats. PAGE 6
integral after they had joined, they
weren’t wanted in the beginning.
Miami, Boston College and
Syracuse were supposed to be the
new members, which would’ve
allowed the ACC to hold a lucrative
football conference championship
game. The additions of BC and
Syracuse also would’ve opened the
ACC up to the the TV markets of
Boston and New York, which the
ACC was going to use as leverage
after the 2005 season, when its
current television deal runs out.
But after campus visits to Miami,
BC and Syracuse, a formal vote to
add those three schools never took
place. Duke President Nan
Keohane and North Carolina
Chancellor James Moeser were
staunchly opposed to expansion.
That wouldn’t have been a prob
lem because expansion only need
ed seven yes votes to pass, but
Virginia President John Casteen
111 came under pressure from
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner to vote
against any expansion plan that
excluded the Cavaliers’ in-state
rival, Va. Tech.
Casteen obliged, brining expan
sion to a standstill.
After a conference call June 24,
“I refer to (the book) as intel
lectual pornography with no
redeeming qualities,” he said.
He added that he is “disap
pointed that my alma mater can't
find a book that’s no more aca
demically and intellectually chal
lenging than that two-bit novella.
Our University can do better."
The book, Webster said, might
even have a negative impact on
students. “I don't think there’s any
thing in this book to give a student
what he needs to keep trying.”
McKnight
said the reading
selection is rep
resentative of a
much larger
problem at
UNC, where he
thinks the facul
ty is over
whelmingly lib
eral. “When dis
cussing issues,
it’s helpful to
have balanced
perspectives," he
said.
Sophomore
Tripp Costas, a member of the
Committee for a Better Carolina,
echoed McKnight's rationale. “It's
just lack of objectivity' in the intel
lectual community.”
Joe Stansbury of the John
William Pope Foundation
which funded newspaper adver-
SEE READING CON, PAGE 5
JHJ
Welcome Back
Swofford called for a vote from the
ACC Council of Presidents, and it
then was proposed that Virginia
Tech be included with only Miami
as additions to the ACC.
The vote passed by a 7-2 margin.
While it was a plan no one saw
coming, the potential existed for it
to still fall apart.
Miami President Donna Shalala
said she and Athletics Director
Paul Dee would need to take the
weekend to mull over joining the
ACC.
Miami was surprised by the invi
tation to the Hokies and needed
time to look at financial projections
of an 11-team conference.
Dee and Shalala ultimately
decided that the long-term advan
tages of the ACC outweighed their
current status in the Big East. But
the decision was not an easy one.
“In coming here tonight, it’s real
ly bittersweet for me and for the
University of Miami because we
really do wish to accept this invita
tion in the way that it’s intended
and the way it’s meant," Dee said
on July 1.
"But we also leave behind great
friends and great universities in the
Big East Conference."
1 1 tfcr
r -- • "1
"milmiiiiiim,
Vicicel
Quriet
BY ELLIOTT DUBE
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
The possibility of a partial gov
ernment shutdown. Heated
debate over a one-time federal aid
infusion and increased alcohol
and tobacco taxes. The looming
shadow of a shortfall of hundreds
of millions of dollars in revenue.
State legislators staying up well
past their traditional bedtimes.
All these things ended when
Gov. Mike Easley signed anew
$14.8 billion state budget plan
into law June 30, beating the start
of the new fiscal year by hours.
A significant game of tug of
war had taken place in state leg
islative offices, halls and cham
bers since April 17, when the
House offered the first in a string
INSIDE
PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL
N.C. Sen. John Edwards continues his quest for the
Democratic presidential nomination. PAGE 8
. ; |fc. ; BL
DTH/BETH FLOYD
Miami Director of Athletics Paul Dee (left) accepts a polo shirt from ACC Commissioner John Swofford at a
July 1 press conference where the conference formally announced the additions of Miami and Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech, however, was a lit
tle more giddy about its invitation.
“Virginia Tech is pleased to have
received an invitation for member
ship into the Atlantic Coast
Conference," said John Rocovich,
head of the VT Board of Visitors.
"It shows the ACC and its mem
Tepper, others
defend selection
BY ALESIA DICOSOLA
STAFF WRITER
A coalition of UNC student
organizations held a Raleigh press
conference July 15, focusing on
academic freedom and the impor
tance of fostering discussion.
Student Body President Matt
Tepper, alongside representatives
from 11 student organizations,
met with state legislators to voice
support for the summer’s reading
selection for incoming freshmen.
The book, Barbara
Ehrenreich’s
“Nickel and
Dimed: On
(Not) Getting
By in America,”
details her
experiences
working mini
mum-wage
jobs among
America's poor.
For the sec
ond year in a
row, UNC’s
selection has
been scruti
nized.
~flr
DTH/BETH FLOYD
Matt Tepper defends UNC’s
choice at the General Assembly.
This time, the criticism has
come from the Committee for a
Better Carolina. In response to
the committee’s newspaper ads,
which claimed that the book has
a liberal bias, Tepper and a num
ber of student leaders decided to
hold the conference.
“(The committee) took every
thing out of context,” said senior
of budget proposals and possibil
ities. The Senate countered with
its own plan, bringing two
months of compromise amid a
struggling economy.
“It is always a formidable chal
lenge in tough economic times to
find a way to keep a budget bal
anced and to pass one to begin
with,” Easley told budget writers
and members of the press.
Both chambers of the General
Assembly also approved adjust
ments to the plan to assuage
some of the governor’s worries.
Easley had warned legislators
that he would veto the bill if it
came to his desk unchanged, say
ing they were being too optimistic
in anticipating revenue growth of
5.5 percent for the 2004-05 fiscal
NEWS UPDATES
Tepper kicks off year as SBP
UNC Hospitals among best in nation
BOT approves new general counsel
SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2003
her schools hold our athletic pro
gram and our university in high
regard."
While the end that came was
unexpected, the ACC said that it
was a positive conclusion and that
the future is bright.
“Working with these outstanding
Justin Guillory', representing
UNC’s Young Democrats.
He said the press conference
itself was an example of how the
book can foster intellectual dis
cussion.
A number of state legislators as
well as representatives from UE
Local 150, the N.C. Public Service
Workers Union, also were present
at the event.
Tepper began the discussion by
pointing out that the students in
attendance represented a diverse
cross-section of
the UNC popu
lation and that
they were not
funded by any
outside groups.
The
Committee for
a Better
Carolina’s ads
were funded by
the Raleigh
based John
William Pope
Foundation.
Tepper called
the book “a
legitimate selection" and praised
it for the debate and discussion it
has sparked.
Incoming freshman Anne
Marsh Treadwell of Fayetteville
also spoke highly of the book as
“an informative and extremely
worthwhile assignment.”
SEE READING PRO, PAGE 5
year and that the plan was unbal
anced by more than S4OO million.
But the governor stepped away
from his threat once legislators
passed the Budget Adjustment
Act, which gives Easley the power
to take SSO million out of the
state’s “rainy day fund” for every
1/2 percent of expected growth
that goes unmet for the second
year of the biennium.
The plan puts $l5O million into
the rainy day fund and SSO mil
lion into a repairs and renovations
fund, among other allocations.
Democratic Rep. James
Crawford of Vance County, a co
chairman of the conference com
mittee, said budget writers devel-
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 5
members, both of whom share aca
demic and athletic agendas, we
believe the best days of the ACC he
ahead,” said Georgia Tech President
G. Wayne Clough.
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports (cl unc.edu.
UNC
accepts
court
ruling
Affirmative action
policy upheld
BY ELLIOTT DUBE
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
UNC officials praised the U.S.
Supreme Court's June 23 decision
to allow colleges and universities to
use race as a factor in admissions
processes and said the court’s find
ings won’t alter the structure of
UNC’s own race-conscious policies.
“We’ll be unaffected,” said
Chancellor James Moeser.
The court voted 5-4 in ruling
that the University of Michigan-
Ann Arbor was acting constitu
tionally by giving preference to
minorities in admitting applicants.
In a separate ruling, the court
upheld a decision to ban UM’s
point-based admissions system by
a 6-3 vote, ruling that the system
violated the 14th Amendment,
which demands equal protection
SEE AFF-ACTION, PAGE 5
Threat of
SARS dies
down at
University
Campus formed
plans just in case
BY MEREDITH OAKES
STAFF WRITER
After the first case of severe
acute respiratory syndrome in
North Carolina was confirmed,
local health centers leapt into
action. Officials now are returning
to their normal pace.
An Orange Counts' man was
diagnosed with SARS on June 6,
and local officials began taking
steps to identify other possible
cases.
It was the eighth confirmed
case of SARS in the United States
and the first in North Carolina.
Eight other suspected cases had
been reported in North Carolina
between March 19 and April 28.
All recovered fully, and their lab
tests for SARS turned out negative.
SEE SARS, PAGE 5
Town Council examines Master Plan
Campus sees host of new deans
Proposed act tough on file sharing
3