VOLUME 111, ISSUE 158
STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT RUNOFF ELECTION
RULING WAITS ON
WITNESS ACCOUNTS
BY JENNIFER IMMEL
AND EMILY STEEL
SENIOR WRITERS
The Board of Elections will
scrutinize today eyewitness
accounts and written statements
pertaining to campaign violations
alleged against student body pres
ident candidates Matt Calabria
and Lily West.
The board’s decision in the mat
ter will determine the final out
come ofTuesday’s election.
By 9 p.m.
Thursday, the
board had
received more
than the 16
statements orig
inally solicited
in an e-mail
INSIDE
Investigations
hinge on a
vague Student
Code section
PAGE 4
sent early that morning. “It was a
lot,” said Student Attorney General
Jonathan Slain, who is acting as
the board’s adviser. “Definitely
more than we expected.”
The board had requested state
ments from Calabria and West in
addition to members of their cam
paign staffs and students who
allegedly witnessed the violations.
Some of the eyewitnesses, whose
statements were solicited by the
board, were interviewed Thursday
by The Daily Tar Heel but had been
advised not to comment.
As of press time, board mem
bers still had not released specific
information regarding the exact
violations with which both candi
dates Eire being charged.
Four campaign violations report
ed in the final minutes of the elec
tion are: campaigning within 50
feet or visible sight of a campus
computer lab, which if done with
the candidate’s knowledge, is
grounds for automatic disqualifica
tion; using a polling site in a public
venue for campaign purposes;
altering the home page of a campus
computer for campaign purposes;
and sending an unsolicited mass e
mail for a campaign.
According to uncertified elec
tion results, West won by 7 votes.
BOE Chairwoman Melissa
Anderson sent separate e-mails
Wednesday to the Calabria and
West CEimpaign staffs, reporting
that both are under investigation.
The e-mails outlined the allega
tions without offering specifics.
West said she had never been
told personally by any member of
the board the charges for which her
campaign is being investigated.
“Things are kind of going on
around me, which is a little unset
tling,” she said, Eidding that she
SEE WITNESSES, PAGE 4
UNC lays out plan
for potential cuts
Examines effects
of tighter budget
BY CHRIS COLETTA
AND EMILY STEEL
SENIOR WRITERS
Campus administrators are
drafting a blueprint for Gov. Mike
Easley that describes how poten
tial cuts in state funding would
affect the University.
The N.C. Office of State Budget
and Management has requested
that all UNC-system schools craft
similar plans for Easley to use when
making his 2004-05 budget.
The scenarios will analyze the
impact of the cuts, which could
range from 1 percent to 3 percent.
This translates to between $3.8 mil
lion and $11.4 million at UNC-
Chapel Hill. The University now
receives S3BO million in state funds.
“It is very prudent of the gover
nor to ask this question before he
puts the budget together instead of
afterward,” Provost Robert Shelton
INSIDE
FROM DOWNTOWN
A first-half buzzer-beater by Ivory Latta
propelled the Tar Heels to a win PAGE 6
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OTH/BRIAN CASSELLA
Student body president candidate Matt Calabria arrives at the student government office to deliver his written statement to the Board of Elections
just before Thursday's 9 p.m. deadline. The BOE solicited statements from witnesses regarding alleged campaign violations against both candidates.
STUDENT REACTION
“I think the proceedings should
be public. This is an issue
involving all of us.
This is our election too.”
LEKITH LOKESH. junior
“If one candidate gets
disqualified, even if it is the
correct decision, there will
be a natural stain on the
presidency of whoever is
declared the winner.”
MATT STRICKLAND, sophomore
“People are trying to make a big
deal out of nothing. Because it’s
a close election, everyone thinks
it’s a conspiracy.”
EMILY HODGES, senior
said. “It gives us a chance for input,
which is always good.”
Shelton said administrators on
UNC-CH’s budget committee met
Thursday afternoon and now are
gathering information to compile
a report, which officials will submit
to the UNC-system Office of the
President by March 5.
The report will specify details
such as the number of faculty posi
tions that would be lost and how
that loss could affect research and
the size and number of classes.
Shelton said the report also will
use narratives to illustrate how the
budget cuts would affect the
University.
“Our faculty brings in a certain
average number of dollars in
research,” he said. “If we couldn’t
hire 20 new people, then we would
be forfeiting millions of dollars of
funding.”
But the scenarios now in the
works could change dramatically
once tuition increases are finalized.
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 4
www.dailytarheeLcom
Controversy spurs
strong opinions
BYWILLAREY
AND LAURA BOST
STAFF WRITERS
Allegations of improprieties from the cam
paigns of the final two student body president
candidates have left many students eager for
more information on the ensuing investigation
and worried about the implications on the
next president’s credibility.
“We need strong leaders to reach out to the
community,” said Lekith Lokesh, a junior eco
nomics major. “How are you going to get the
whole community to come and sit down with
you if you have questionable leadership?
“When it’s game time, you’ve got to make
sure your team is correct and disciplined.”
Matt Strickland, a sophomore communica
tion studies and political science major, said
a stigma on the office is unavoidable at this
point.
Chuck D sounds off on politics
DTH/ELSPETH CALLAHAN
Chuck D, frontman for rap group Public Enemy, speaks
to a sold-out Great Hall in a "vibe session" Thursday.
INSIDE
SBP RUNOFF 2004
Check www.dailytarheel.com this weekend
for updates on the elections controversy
“If one candidate gets disqualified, even if it
is the correct decision, there will be a natural
stain on the presidency of whoever is declared
the winner,” he said.
In a situation of disqualification, Strickland
said, it would be easy to question the election
results.
In addition to voicing concerns about the
credibility either candidate now would have in
office, almost all who were contacted voiced a
desire to make public the Board of Elections
proceedings and allegations against the candi
dates.
For her part, Olivia Burchett, a junior polit
ical science and international studies major,
said she wants to hear more details from the
board. “I believe we deserve to know more
about what happened,” she said. “Facts should
SEE REACTION, PAGE 4
Addresses dumbing down of U.S. culture
BY MICHAEL PUCCI
ASSISTANT ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
The world according to Chuck D is a
complex one, at once mired in bleakness,
redeemed by a cautious optimism and
characterized by the need to be informed.
The frontman for the legendary rap
group Public Enemy engaged a sold-out
Great Hall audience in a “vibe session”
Thursday night that primarily forewarned
of a perpetual dumbing down of America.
“We’re all being slaves to commerce,” he
said. “With everything being homoge
nized, we have a unified sense of dumb
assificiation.”
The challenging, profane and often
humorous 21/2 hour speech, sponsored
by the Carolina Union Activities Board,
covered a wide range of subjects that
included rap, race, reality and technology.
Dressed all in black, with a backward
baseball cap, jeans and long-sleeve shirt,
Chuck D was unsparing in his perspective
of the music scene today.
“Rap music is no different than it was
in the beginning,” he said. “It looks the
same and sounds similar, but the mind
and soul have been extracted.”
Along those lines, while he acknowl
INSIDE
COUNTDOWN
As organizers prepare, students rest up for
this weekend's Dance Marathon PAGE 3
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2004
Harris’
accuser
testifies
in trial
Former athlete
accused of rape
BY CHRIS GLAZNER
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
HILLSBOROUGH - Robert
Allen Harris, a former UNC foot
ball player accused of rape, went on
trial Thursday in Orange County
Superior Court as jurors heard
graphic testimony from his accuser.
Harris is charged with forcibly
entering a UNC student’s resi
dence hall room March 28,2003,
and sexually
assaulting her.
The charges
against him are
second degree
rape, first
degree burglary,
second degree
kidnapping, sec
ond degree sex
ual offense and
assault on a
female.
When the
incident
occurred, Harris
was a senior and was taking time off
from the varsity football team
because of a knee injury.
It took more than two hours of
direct examination to explicate the
events that took place between 4
p.m. on the date of the altercation
and 4 a.m. the following morning.
Assistant District Attorney
Lynn Kelly questioned the accus
er, who seemed detached from the
harrowing events she described.
The accuser said that on that day
she missed an afternoon engage
ment with Harris, with whom she
had broken off a relationship about
a month earlier.
She said she got a call that
evening from Harris, who berated
her for not meeting him. “He was
angry on the phone,” she said. “He
was yelling and cursing.”
She said Harris called and
asked her to let him into her South
Campus residence hall, but she
hung up on him twice.
Around 11 p.m., the accuser, a
resident assistant who lived alone,
heard a knock on her door.
As she got up to answer it, she
said, Harris opened the unlocked
door, entered, closed it and locked
it behind him. “By the time I was
halfway to the door, Robert was
already in my room,” she said.
After a few minutes of arguing,
SEE TRIAL, PAGE 4
edged the importance of higher educa
tion, he lamented the perception corpo
rate America has of college students.
“Not much hip-hop speaks to college
students anymore,” he said. “The younger
people (ages 11 to 14) are now being mar
keted too heavily.”
The 43-year-old rapper also was
unsparing in his analysis of the country’s
political climate, harshly criticizing
President Bush and his pursuit of
“weapons of mass disappearance.”
“A thug is a cat who can do a crime and
get the fuck away,” he said, while pointing
out how the emerging catchphrase “colle
giate thug” is an oxymoron. “That’s why
Bush is the biggest thug of all.”
That his words had implicit political
tones came as no surprise. Following the
release of its first album in 1987, Public
Enemy became perhaps the most politi
cally outspoken band since The Clash.
Thursday’s speech warned of a U.S. trend
toward isolationism.
“The best American is one who realizes
he’s a citizen of the world,” he said.
“American opinion is becoming less of a
SEE CHUCK D, PAGE 4
WEATHER
TODAY Mostly sunny, H 68, L 46
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Former football
player Robert
Allen Harris is
charged with
sexual assault.
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