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VOLUME 111, ISSUE 58 Cuts take toll on class choices BY JENNIFER IMMEL ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR Today is the last day to add classes, but it’s not indecision or pickiness about cours es on Friday or at 8 a.m. that are holding up students. It’s the fact that not as many classes are available this year. In the third year of UNC’s budget crisis, cuts are affecting the number of course sections offered. Since 2001, UNC has faced more than SSO million in budget cuts from the N.C. General Assembly. Programs such as Arts Carolina and HEELS 4 Health were eliminated entire ly to help alleviate the problem, but this EDGERTON’S ‘KILLER’ COMEDY TURNS TO SONG AND DANCE Book transformed into blues stomp BY MICHAEL PUCCI ASSISTANT ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR If your appetite for unorthodox religious comedies hasn’t been suf ficiently satisfied lately, “Killer Diller," anew musical in Studio Six Theatre in Swain Hall, might be just the cure. This two-act production, based on the Clyde Edgerton novel, has returned to the University until Sept. 14. It initially was presented in a one-hour workshop format at the 2002 N.C. Literary Festival. Writer/director Paul Ferguson said that what audiences saw last year was the culmination of a year’s work on the script and that it required input from Southern writers at the festival as well as additional funding. “The things we wanted to say about race, the blues, about romance we couldn’t tell those stories until (the show) reached two hours,” he said. The off-beat plot concerns Wesley Benfield (John McGrew), a semi-reformed juvenile delinquent forced to make a life-altering deci sion: whether to be an evangelical priest or a blues musician. What the story seeks to empha size is how making such an impor tant decision in the pursuit of hap piness ultimately is a most coura geous undertaking. Meanwhile, Wesley finds him self infatuated with Phoebe (Sarah Kocz), a member of the local Christian weight-loss center. His confusion about how to express his affection without betraving his religion provides another humor ous subplot. “I love the character develop ment between the two of them and how he’s always been biased against women of size but finds that for some reason, when he meets her, it’s not even an issue.” Ferguson said. Edgerton, who collaborated with Ferguson and the actors dur ing the musical’s development, noted that something as SEE KILLER DILLER, PAGE 4 States support of UNC could become peripheral BY ALEX GRANADOS STAFF WRITER As the UNC system is saddled with cutbacks induced by the state deficit, officials at the system’s 16 schools increasingly are forced to look to out side sources for funding. But as schools at “the university of the people” open to those outside sources, the system’s ability to serve the needs of North Carolina has come into question. The largest proportion of state uni versities’ budgets still comes from the state, but as schools turn elsewhere for i BOG Chairman Brad Wilson says the UNC system cannot handle more budget cuts. HELP WANTED! DTH INTEREST MEETINGS Today, 8:30 p.m., Union 226 Thursday, 5 p.m., Union 226 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 ate iatlg aar Jtel year the classroom also is bearing some of the burden. Richard Soloway, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said that although the college did not cancel any required courses this year, many recitation sections were cut to offset the loss of about $5 million in the college’s budget. Some lecture classes also were made bigger to account for the University’s increased enrollment. “The overall budget declined, and the overall number of faculty declined, and the overall number of students increased,” Soloway said. The continual budget cuts have given faculty bigger classes to teach and have left mkj 1 * ; H 4 / ;• m , / ■*. V - isMHr B JrZ*. rfeAl. in i DTH PHOTOS/GILLIAN BQLSOVER Above: Wesley (John McGrew) and Phoebe (Sarah Kocz) discuss their relationship in the musical "Killer Diller," based on the Clyde Edgerton novel. Below: Shanita (Ericka Ross) makes a point while rehearsing for her group's upcoming performance. Musical gets by on irreverence ;|4 5 IHi * HH' / y AhajiA f JBhII funding, the state’s money might become peripheral —a serious con cern for higher education officials. Brad Wilson, chairman of the UNC-system Board of Governors, said that he is concerned about the sys tem’s survival and that he does not want to see the state’s funding rele gated to a supporting role. Wilson addressed this issue at the BOG’s August meeting, distinguishing between a state-funded university sys tem and one that is merely state-sup ported. “There is a difference,” he said at the | www.dailytarheel.com | less funding for teaching assistants to lead discussion sections. The loss of money suffered by the College of Arts and Sciences meant that 25-30 fewer faculty than usual were hired this year. Most years, vacant faculty posi tions would mean more money for teach ing assistants, but this year the college had to give that money back to the state, Soloway said. Provost Robert Shelton said the number of vacant positions is one of the main prob lems facing UNC this year. “The budget cuts don’t allow us to fill faculty positions with faculty and they don’t allow us to fill faculty positions with TAs,” Shelton said. SPORTS TROUNCED Tar Heels can't stop the 'Notes offense in 37-0 loss PAGE 14 BY BRANDON WHITESIDE STAFF WRITER “Killer Diller,” a musical adapted from a Clyde Edgerton novel, is a story about the lives of halfway house residents seeking a balance between the temptations of youth and the pressures of their conservative North Carolina environment. The cast in large part composed of UNC graduates features roles including petty thieves, a slick radio DJ and an autistic boy obsessed with tomatoes. The result is a varied array of char acters populating the play’s Southern environment —a world tied to con temporary America while still main taining an old-time, rural undertone. Essential to this backwater feel are the stage setup and the swampy meeting. “A big difference.” UNC-system schools have seen their percentage of state funding evaporate slowly over time, and recent budgetary decisions have further dried that well. During the 1991-92 academic year, for example, UNC-Chapel Hill received 34.4 percent of its budget from the N.C. General Assembly. This percentage has decreased every year since. For the 2002-03 school year, UNC-CH only received 23.8 percent of its total budget from the state. In the state budget for 2003-05, the jW“ Because of the drop in recitation sec tions, professors have had to deal with longer lines at their classroom doors and a flow of e-mails requesting special permis sion for enrollment. The New York Times reported last month that 1,000 UNC students were closed out of introductory Spanish because there were not enough sections. The University since has rectified the problem, leaving only about 100-150 stu dents unable to enroll in the class this semester. To meet the increased demand from students, many professors across campus overenrolled their classes by as SEE CLASSES, PAGE 4 PLAY "KILLER DILLER" l k k t* . IF YOU GO Date: Through Sept. 14 Time: 8 p.m. Thurs., Fri.; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sat.; 3 p.m. Sun. Location: Swain Hall Info: www.rideagain.org blues score performed by an in-house band, segueing the scenes. Bulky wooden gates conceal the band dur ing dialogue but are drawn open for each performance. The main character is Wesley SEE REVIEW, PAGE 4 system suffered more than $61.7 mil lion in flexible budget reductions about 4 percent. The budget calls for the BOG to raise all students' tuition by 5 percent. Bigger classes, higher course loads and fewer available courses are only some of the coping mechanisms sys tem schools must use. Schools increasingly have to rely on corporate grants, fund raising, alumni and other outside contributions, said Melvin Johnson, provost of Winston- Salem State University. But it is not certain that the univer INSIDE REACHING OUT Carrboro Alderman John Herrera spends weeks in Mexico PAGE 6 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2003 Age, cuts usher in teaching shortage BY STEPHANIE HORVATH SENIOR WRITER A number of UNC department heads are struggling with a nearly impossible equation. Begin with a large number of aging faculty approaching retire ment. Add some state budget cuts that are keeping salaries low and throw in the confounding factor of faculty tempted by lucrative offers from other universities. Finally, add to the equation the fact that there are fewer young professors in the job market. The result is a faculty shortage. Many campus departments and schools are trying to balance their limited resources between retain ing faculty members and hiring new ones before the older faculty retire. Such resources already are stretched thin. Last month’s U.S. News & World Report college rankings showed an eight-point drop for UNC in the category of faculty resources. Like many University schools and departments, the School of Education is feeling the pinch. The school, in which the average facul ty age is 54, was hit with a number of faculty retirements in recent years and is looking for replace ments, said Interim Dean Fenwick English. English said hiring will be made harder by state budget cuts that don’t allow him to offer high ly competitive salaries to a small pool of applicants. “We’re going to do everything SEE FACULTY, PAGE 4 Aging Faculty at UNC Law Fine Arts and Humanities Statistics Art Biology Dentistry Musk § x Mathematics 5 s Geography 5 Drama “ African American Studies English Journalism and Mass Communication Social Work Nursing Classics History Romance Languages I I 1 I I I I I 0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 Average Age of Professors SOURCE: UNC DEPT, of INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH DTH/MICHAELA IDHAMMAR sity system, weaned on the state, can provide its own sustenance from sources outside the legislature while still providing as many services to a public that depends on it. Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice pres ident for finance, said outside sources will not be able to fill the hole left by the state perpetually. “I think we are still heavily reliant on state funds,” he said. “I don’t think we can make up, from outside resources, all that funding.” SEE SUPPORT, PAGE 4 WEATHER TODAY Partly Cloudy, H 90, L 68 WEDNESDAY T-storms, H 89, L 68 THURSDAY T-storms, H 86, L 67 i>v
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