VOLUME 112, ISSUE 20
BOT seeks town’s input
URGES IMPROVED RELATIONS AS
CAROLINA NORTH PLANS PRESS ON
BY EMILY STEEL
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The University’s governing board is
drafting a letter to be sent to Chapel Hill
officials next week, urging town leaders
to bridge communication throughout
the planning process for Carolina North.
Several members of the UNC Board of
Trustees expressed interest at their
Thursday meeting for increased input
during a crucial planning period for the
University’s 50- to 70-year project to cre
ate a mixed-use research park.
“We have been pushing hard to get
their input,” said Trustee Roger Perry,
pglr
Members of the Carolina Style Dance Company perform to
music from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” during their annu
al Spring Showcase on Thursday night for a packed audi
ence in Hill Hall Auditorium. Carolina Style is a student dance group
made up of ballet, jazz and tap companies. Dancers in the group’s
Council for
more local
financing
BY EMMA BURGIN
CITY EDITOR
The N.C. Senate passed a bill in July
that would allow local communities to
publicly finance municipal elections
and the Chapel Hill Town Council
seems determined to join that fight.
The council has included public
campaign finance in its legislative pri
orities that eventually will be sent to the
N.C. General Assembly.
And, some locals say, not a moment
too soon.
“I’m concerned about this trend of
self-financing,” said Will Raymond, a
Chapel Hill resident and activist. “Are
we going to price ourselves out of good
candidates?”
Former N.C. Sen. Wib Gulley, D-
Durham, introduced the legislation that
passed the Senate and will head to the
N.C. House of Representatives in May.
“The problem we’ve seen nationwide
at the federal and state levels has begun
to hit local elections hard in North
Carolina,” Gulley said. “The theory of
democracy is that anyone can run, any
one can serve.”
For the past five years, campaigns for
Town Council have become increasing
ly reliant on self-financing.
A study conducted last April by
Democracy North Carolina found that
SEE PUBLIC FINANCE, PAGE 7
INSIDE
GOING GREEN
Winona LaDuke, who ran alongside Ralph Nader in
2000, discusses solutions to the country's ills PAGE 6
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
(She lathi ®ar Hrrl
who serves on the Carolina North
Executive Committee. “Hopefully efforts
will be made by the town.”
Town-gown relations have been
strained since the University announced
plans to develop 240 acres of the UNC
owned Horace Williams tract.
“We haven’t been able to engage as
much as we would have liked to,” said
Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for
research and economic development and
one of the project’s leaders. “We are eager
to do so. We are ready to talk.”
Town leaders have raised concerns
regarding the transit and parking plans
Fleece unites past, present
BY CLAIRE DORRIER
AND RAND ROBINS
STAFF WRITERS
After a century of service to UNC,
members of the Order of the Golden
Fleece both present and past maintain a
shared vision for the University.
“The Fleece,” as members call it, was
founded in 1904 to unite student leaders
with the common goal of advancing UNC.
Saturday’s centennial celebration repre
sents the culmination of 100 years of exem
plary service firom Golden
Fleece members, called
Argonauts.
Bound by their commit
ment to UNC, the Argonauts
are a diverse group of leaders
in fields ranging from com
munity service to the honor
court, and who hold posi-
tions from U.S. senator to two-time NCAA
men’s basketball all-American and nation
al player of the year.
Prominent businessmen, journalists,
authors and doctors all are represented in
the list 0f1,700 people tapped by the order
since its inception.
Annual gatherings of Fleece members
serve to connect present active members
and leaders from the past, said senior Leia
Kelly, who serves as Jason the top exec
utive for active order members.
The group derives its name and titles of
officers from the Greek myth of Jason and
the Argonauts and their quest for the
Golden Fleece.
Each year the nomination process is
opened to the University community.
Students, faculty and alumni are selected
www.dailytarheel.com
for Carolina North, but University offi
cials said they are looking to work with
the town’s traffic engineers and planners.
University officials said they want to
present the revised plan to members of
the Chapel Hill Town Council so that the
planners can receive feedback regarding
significant revisions made to proposals.
The changes, first presented March
18, include the addition of a school site
and a reduction in parking spaces.
Chancellor James Moeser said the
University has tried to work with the
town but has been unsuccessful thus far.
Moeser sent two letters to Mayor
Kevin Foy and members of town council
in September and January requesting
the inclusion of the town’s planning staff
throughout the development process.
In the second letter, Moeser stated that
EN POINTE
other companies also performed in the showcase, along with mem
bers of the UNC Dance Team and Pierrette Sadler Danceurs from
Raleigh. Modernextension, another campus dance company which
focuses on modem dance, will hold its annual spring performance at
8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday nights in the Women’s Gym.
based on their contributions to the UNC
and are then evaluated by the order.
At 6 p.m. today, the order will tap anew
class of members, each given the number
that corresponds with the order of their
initiation.
lb be “tapped,” or chosen as an Argonaut,
nominees must exhibit a strong commit
ment to service in the form of a long-lasting
contribution to the University, Kelly said.
Usually present at the tapping cere
monies are several older members, said
Student Attorney General Jonathan Slain,
who was tapped as an Argonaut in 2003.
“When someone is there from the 400s
and they are tapping number 1,700, that
serves to keep the traditions alive,” he said.
The tapping process is often deceptive
to new members, said American studies
Professor Rachel Willis, who was tapped
as an honorary member in 1997 for her
work with the Triangle Transit Authority.
Honorary membership is awarded to
people not currently enrolled at the
University.
Willis said she was summoned to a meet
ing in the Student Union, but when she
reached the Pit, she saw all the people with
whom she was supposed to meet.
Willis said she was flabbergasted at
being chosen. “I saw so many people I
loved and respected,” she said. “I was
deeply honored because I know how dif
ficult it is to be selected.”
Renowned sportscaster Woody
Durham had a similar experience when
being tapped into the order.
“I had been asked to introduce Coach
SEE PEOPLE, PAGE 7
Hill
A three-part
series an The
Order of the
Golden Fleece
Today: People
prior requests for similar meetings with
the town’s technical staff were denied.
“We simply cannot advance our analy
sis on several of the most important
aspects of the plan transportation,
parking and environmental matters
without the town’s technical staff
involvement,” the letter states.
“However, if we are unable to work
with the town, many of the questions
being asked by the community cannot be
addressed as part of the revised plan.”
BOT Chairman Richard “Stick”
Williams, stressed the importance of open
dialogue with town officials. “We have
been very understanding.... We need to
open lines of communication.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
I liifai
WRITTEN IN GOLD
The Golden Fleece has tapped
more than 1,700 members,
including these notable names
■ Erskine Bowles (above)
U.S. Senate candidate
■ Frank Porter Graham
Former UNC president
■ Terry Sanford
Former U.S. senator
■ Mia Hamm
Professional soccer player
■ Roy Cooper
N.C attorney general
* Marc Basnight
N.C. Senate speaker pro tern
■ Robert Hanes
President of Wachovia Bank
■ Paul Green
Playwright, actor
■ Michael Jordan
Basketball player
■ Dean Smith
Former UNC basketball coach
■ Charles Kuralt
Television news program host
SPORTS
BATTLE AT THE BOSH
The Tar Heels welcome No. 15 Florida State to
Chapel Hill for their ACC home opener PAGE 4
ANALYSIS
Mayor to
introduce
marriage
legislation
Bill would nullify parts
of marriage defense act
BY CHRIS GLAZNER
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson plans to intro
duce a proposal in April to the Board of
Aldermen that would ask state legislators to
draw up a bill that would nullify portions of the
federal Defense of Marriage Act
The proposal will come as the Chapel Hill
Town Council takes action on similar petitions
brought forward this week by council member
Mark Kleinschmidt.
The petitions ask state legislators to pass leg
islation that would disregard portions of the
federal act that allow states to ignore same-sex
marriages performed in other areas.
Kleinschmidt said he was pleased with the
response at a Wednesday public hearing on the
petition.
“It was wonderfully encouraging,” he said. “It
probably reflects generally the sentiment of the
people of Chapel Hill.”
In particular, Kleinschmidt praised the
diversity of the residents supporting his motion.
“It was a wonderful cross section,” he said,
noting that heterosexuals, gays, lesbians and
members of the clergy spoke. “This isn’t a town
that wants to discriminate. This isn’t a town
that wouldn’t recognize a legal marriage
license.”
The council will vote on the petition April 14.
If it passes, it will modify the list of legislative
priorities the town asks state representatives to
consider.
“Our local delegation has been supportive,”
said Kleinschmidt, who specifically mentioned
the support of N.C. Rep. Verla Insko, D-
Orange.
SEE MARRIAGE, PAGE 7
ANALYSIS
Same-sex
issue stirs
controversy
BY ADJOA ADOFO
STAFF WRITER
Reaction from the N.C. General Assembly
remains mixed as gay rights activists and con
servative groups in the state drum up support
on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate.
“There is a certain degree of uncertainty on
this issue as to what action to take,” said Senate
Democratic Leader Tony Rand of Cumberland
County. “No consensus has been reached.”
Mark Kleinschmidt of the Chapel Hill Town
Council presented to the council Monday a
draft petition that would ask the state legisla
ture to disregard portions of the federal
Defense of Marriage Act. The council’s ultimate
action could force legislators to take a firm
stance on the issue sooner than anticipated.
DOMA, which allows North Carolina to
ignore the legitimacy of same-sex marriages
performed in other states, was approved in
1996 under the Clinton administration.
With talks of repealing the law, and support
for same-sex marriage catching fire nationwide,
Sen. James Forrester, R-Gaston, has drafted a
new bill to amend the N. C. Constitution as a way
to protect the law he sponsored eight years ago.
It would take a two-thirds majority in both
chambers of the General Assembly to put a ref
erendum for the proposed amendment on the
statewide ballot.
“I would hope we could keep any constitu
tional amendment off the agenda,” said Rep.
Verla Insko, D-Orange. “We don’t need to be
dealing with these morality issues in our con
stitution.”
Lisa Kimbrough, spokeswoman for House Co
s Richard Morgan, R-Moore, said that the
speaker does not support same-sex marriage, but
that he thinks the current laws are sufficient
Kimbrough said Morgan’s office will wait for
the outcome of a lawsuit a gay couple filed
against Durham County this week after they
were denied a marriage license.
“Before we go into a tedious, long process of
amending the constitution, we will look at the
SEE LEGISLATION, PAGE 7
DTH/LAURA MORTON
WEATHER
TODAY Partly cloudy, H 76, L 49
SATURDAY Isolated T-storms, H 77, L 54
SUNDAY Partly cloudy, H 66, L 34
FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2004