VOLUME 112, ISSUE 7
Zoning shift could halt UNC plans
TOWN REVISITS LAWS, SEEKS
DELAY IN CHANGES TO PLAN
BY EMMA BURGIN
AND LINDSEY LISTROM
STAFF WRITERS
The University and the town
could be in a deadlock after the
Chapel Hill Town Council decided
Monday to send a letter to UNC
asking officials to halt applications
for changes to the Master Plan.
Jonathan Howes, special assis
tant to Chancellor James Moeser,
Locals at
hearing
focus on
transit
BY EMMA BURGIN
CITY EDITOR
“Transportation” was the word
on everybody’s lips at Monday’s
public hearing on recommenda
tions to the Chapel Hill Town
Council concerning the University’s
plan for Carolina North.
Residents echoed the senti
ments outlined in the Horace
Williams Citizens Committee’s
recommendations to the council,
which call for minimal impact on
traffic and commuter safety.
The committee calls for trans
portation in Carolina North to
center around Chapel Hill Transit
rather than single-occupancy
automobiles.
Citizens committee member
James Coley spoke as a resident
Monday against the University's
ideas for transportation in the
development.
“If Carolina North starts as an
automobile-oriented develop
ment, it will remain that way until
it’s too late,” he said. “The pro
posed 19,125 parking spaces would
be an act of violence against the
community.”
Coley said the University should
consider radical improvements to
its “automobile-oriented design.”
During the meeting, council
members Dorothy Verkerk and
Jim Ward also showed interest in
UNC employee Katherine
Freeman’s suggestion that
Carolina North be a car-free com
munity and requested that the
idea be investigated further.
But Patrick McDonough, tran
sit service planner for Triangle
Transit Authority, brought a harsh
reality to light for the town, noting
that without anew funding source,
there would not be adequate fund
ing for a transit program until
2023.
“If the town or Orange County
is going to have additional transit,
they need to harness dollars.”
SEE HEARING, PAGE 4
Prosecutor won’t seek new
trial for Harris in rape case
BY CHRIS GLAZNER
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Assistant District Attorney
Lynn Kelly confirmed Monday
that she will not retry former UNC
football player Robert Allen Harris
for second degree rape.
Harris was acquitted Wednesday
of charges of kidnapping, burglary
and sexual offense, but a fourth
charge of rape resulted in a hung
jury, and a mistrial was declared.
Kelly said another trial would
be too difficult for Harris’ accuser.
“It’s not fair to put her through
that again where there’s not a rea
sonable possibility that the result
will change,” she said.
The jury deadlocked at 11-1 in
favor of acquittal. Kelly said she
would have been more likely to
consider another trial if the vote
had not been so lopsided.
SPORTS
KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE
The Clemson Tigers are 0-49 at the Smith Center, and
the Tar Heels hope to hand them loss No. 50 PAGE 6
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
me lathi Sar Heel
confirmed that the University has
been in discussion about changes it
wants to make to the plan.
“The University is preparing a
second modification to the devel
opment plan, and we’ve been in
conversation with the town about
that,” he said.
Howes declined to go into detail
about the modifications to the
plan.
Student body president candidates Lily West (left) and Matt Calabria campaign in the Pit on Monday. Calabria and West will make a last push
today in the second runoff election. Students can vote online today for an SBP candidate and on the student government funding proposal.
FINAL VOTE TO END
LENGTHY SBP RACE
Calabria , West hope winner's term overcomes controversy, student doubts
BY BROOK R. CORWIN
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
It’s no mistake that some campaign signs
being used for today’s student body president
runoff election read “vote February 17th.”
That was the date of the race’s first runoff
election, which is almost always when student
campaigns end.
But two weeks later and seven weeks after
candidates officially declared their intentions
to run, candidates Matt Calabria and Lily
West still are hoping to see the race conclude
and are reusing many campaign materials in
the process.
“I remember our campaign workers saying
early in the race that it was a good thing we
didn’t have to do this long because we can’t
keep up this pace,” Calabria said Monday.
“Five weeks later, we’re still trucking.”
The end should come tonight.
Students can vote on Student Central
“Without any new evidence or
anything else we could present to
change the outcome, we’re not
going to proceed,” she said.
Harris originally was charged
with entering his ex-girlfriend’s
UNC residence hall in March
2003 and sexually assaulting her.
The four-day trial brought out
strong emotions from both Harris
and his accuser as they gave differ
ing accounts of the incident.
Harris’ lawyers attacked his
accuser’s credibility by presenting
evidence that statements she made
last summer contradicted her tes
timony in the trial.
Several UNC students who knew
Harris or lived in his accuser’s resi
dence hall also testified.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
www.dailytarhe6l.com
Mayor Kevin Foy and the coun
cil agreed Monday to send a letter
to the University, requesting that
officials hold off on any applica
tions they planned to submit in the
foreseeable future.
The council is sending the letter
to ask for UNC’s cooperation in
revamping the Master Plan’s zon
ing regulations.
In September 2003, Council
member Sally Greene, then vice
chairwoman of the Town Planning
Board, asked the council to consid
er lengthening the expedited 90-
day review period mandated by the
STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT ELECTION
DTH/JUSTIN SMITH
between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. today for student
body president and for a referendum altering
the way student government is funded
through the Student Activity Fee.
Calabria and West said the prolonged cam
paign has tested their resolve and endurance
but ultimately reaffirmed their faith in their
supporters and in their candidacy.
“It pushes you to your limits, but it’s also a
process of self-exploration,” said West of the
lengthy campaign. “It’s really helped me
define who I am and what I stand for.”
The race was prolonged by a last-minute
allegation on the night of the runoff election
against Alistair Cooper, a UNC alumnus and
West’s boyfriend, for illegally soliciting votes
inside the computer lab of the Undergraduate
Library.
That charge set off a slew of allegations
against both candidates, all of which were
evaluated by the Board of Elections during a
Jones addresses rights amid protests
Academic, political freedoms at issue
BY BRIAN HUDSON
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
A meeting of the UNC College
Republicans on Monday night fea
turing a U.S. congressman result
ed in heated discussions of homo
phobia in the classroom and a
protest by several dozen students.
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.,
came to speak in Hamilton Hall to
a group of about 200 students.
Almost 50 protesters were in the
audience, advocating the rights of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans
gender students on campus.
Jones became involved in
University politics recently after he
advocated for academic freedom
by defending a student’s right to
make comments in class opposing
homosexuality. The student was
/oteTODAY
at studentcentral.unc.edu, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
special Office/Institutional-4 clas
sification.
The town’s decision to ask UNC
to halt development changes came
at a public hearing about 01-4 zon
ing, during which the council heard
an excerpt from a letter from Nancy
Suttenfield, UNC vice chancellor
for finance and administration.
Suttenfield sent the letter in
response to Greene’s petition, and
it was read aloud Monday by coun
cil member Ed Harrison.
“Tinkering with the 01-4 regula
tions, particularly with the agreed
upon review time frame for modifi
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one-week investigation. Results from the
runoff election, which gave West a seven-vote
victory, eventually were deemed tainted and
were never certified.
After a public hearing in which each can
didate defended the multiple charges against
his or her campaign, the board dropped all
but the original allegation. The board ruled
that Cooper “maliciously solicited votes from
students” and acted as a campaign worker on
the night of the election, which is illegal for
nonstudents if they are not compensated for
their efforts.
West’s remaining legal campaign funds
were reduced to less than one cent, and her
campaign was warned that any future viola
tions of election laws, no matter how small,
will mean automatic disqualification.
One week of campaigning later, Calabria
SEE ELECTION, PAGE 4
chastised by his professor, English
lecturer Elyse Crystall, in an e-mail
sent to the class.
Jones recently contacted an
attorney in the civil rights division
of the U.S. Department of
Education to investigate civil
rights violations at the University.
Although his speech was sched
uled by the College Republicans
before the incident, much of the
night focused on conservative alle
gations of a lack of academic free
dom and liberal allegations of het
erosexism in the classrooms.
Several minutes into his speech,
a group of 11 same-sex couples
walked through the doors and
stood along the aisles on the far left
SEE JONES, PAGE 4
cations, represents a broken com
mitment,” Suttenfield wrote to the
council. “A lengthened review peri
od has the potential to impair our
ability to meet our obligations to
the state of North Carolina.”
Howes said University officials
will give the town’s letter appropri
ate consideration once they receive
it. “We want to see the letter and
see what they have in mind,” he
said. “We’ll look at it carefully.”
Council member Mark
Kleinschmidt said he had heard
rumblings about the University’s
plans to apply for changes to the
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U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., speaks to a crowd of students in
Hamilton Hall on Monday as student protesters line the walls.
WEATHER
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TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2004
development plan. “I just asked out
of the blue, ‘Hey, what happened to
Sally’s petition?’” he said.
While there have been no revi
sions in plan requirements since
last year, some say the University
holds too much power.
The petition was on the table
during last summer’s controversy
regarding the proposed parking
deck and chiller plant near Cobb
Residence Hall and Jackson Circle.
“What a circus,” Kleinschmidt
said of the negotiations between
SEE ZONING, PAGE 4
Search
for IT
leader
stalls
Moeser to select
new committee
BY JOE SAUNDERS
STAFF WRITER
After a complicated yearlong
search, Chancellor James Moeser
announced Monday that he will
appoint a second committee to
restart the search for a vice chan
cellor for information technology.
The stalled search marks the
second time this year officials have
disbanded a search committee for
a position in the chancellor’s
Cabinet.
Last September, officials failed
to come to a consensus on the
three finalists recommended after
a seven-month search to fill the
vacant vice chancellor for student
affairs position.
Through a spokesman, Moeser
said that there is no timetable for
the new search for the vice chan
cellor for information technology
but that anew committee will be
appointed as soon as possible.
Provost Robert Shelton said
Friday that officials had selected a
final candidate and that both par
ties were in the process of negoti
ating the final details of the offer.
Shelton said that Larry Levine,
director of computing services at
Dartmouth College, was the final
ist for the post and that he could
serve in the position by the begin
ning of fall semester.
Sunday, however, Levine, who
lives in Hanover, New Hampshire,
said that he was no longer the final
candidate for the position and that
he had not been for almost a week.
He said he would not comment on
the reasons why he was no longer
a candidate.
Levine was one of four final
candidates the original search
SEE SEARCH, PAGE 4