VOLUME 112, ISSUE 69
UNC’s gender gap begins to narrow
Myriad factors lead to disparity and its reversal
BY SARAH RABIL
STAFF WRITER
When more women than men gradu
ated with awards and honors from Stanford
University in 1901, the university’s leaders
barred females from certain courses and
reduced overall female enrollment.
Stanford alumni later set an enrollment
ratio of three men to one woman, which was
not revoked until 1933, according to Barbara
Miller Solomon’s book “In the Company of
Educated Women.”
“When institutions admitted women for
the first time in higher education, there was
a concern that women would be better stu
dents,” said Bob Ackerman, associate profes
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The Smith family (right) follows as Rabbi Sharon Mars
leads a reform Rosh Hashana service Wednesday
night in Gerrard Hall. Rosh Hashana, the
Panel starts look at diversity
BY CLAIRE DORRIER
STAFF WRITER
Diversity at UNC will be under
a microscope during the coming
year as officials assess how issues
on campus measure up to those
at other leading public universi
ties in the nation.
Chancellor James Moeser has
charged the Chancellor’s Task
Force on Diversity with assess
ing the current state of diver
Soccer league looks to regain footing
WUSA eyes return
to public spotlight
BY BRIAN MACPHERSON
SENIOR WRITER
U.S. National Team captain
Julie Foudy hung up the phone
in frustration and gathered
her teammates together in
the team’s Charlottesville, Va.,
practice facility.
The date was Sept. 15,2003,
and the opening game of the
Women’s World Cup loomed
less than a week away. But
Foudy had no choice but to
break the news none of her
teammates wanted to hear.
The Women’s United Soccer
Association had decided to
suspend operations immedi
ately to re-evaluate its business
structure and to put a halt to
mounting financial losses.
“We left the room all quiet,”
said Catherine Reddick, a for
mer North Carolina star who
likely would have been the
league’s top draft pick had the
2004 season taken place. “It
didn’t come as a shock, but I
DIVERSIONS
TAR HEEL VOICES
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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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sor of higher education at the University of
Nevada-Las Vegas. “And at Stanford, in fact,
they were.”
For the past several decades, women have
dominated undergraduate populations nation
wide, including at UNC. But the last decade
has seen a narrowing of UNC’s gender gap.
The historic dominance of men at UNC
ended when women surpassed them in 1975.
Male students have been a minority at UNC
ever since, and in 1996, UNC’s male enroll
ment hit a record low of 39.8 percent.
But male students account for 41.5 percent
of this year’s 3,589 freshmen, indicating that
overall male enrollment is up from 41.2 per
cent of total undergraduates last year. Data on
QUIET REFLECTION
sity at UNC not because the
University is falling behind, but
because “good enough is not
good enough.”
The task force will create a list
of core values and, ultimately,
research the state of diversity
at the different schools within
the University. Officials said
they hope the results will rank
where UNC stands in regard to
diversity.
just think we were all opti
mistic about the situation.
We never thought that it
would happen.”
But the WUSA had hemor
rhaged money at an alarming
pace during its first three years
of operation, and the deficit
spending couldn’t be sustained
through another season.
One year later, the league
remains on hiatus, and players
and investors continue to gath
er support for another attempt
at establishing a professional
women’s soccer league in the
United States.
Officials have taken a two
pronged approach in their
efforts to resurrect the WUSA
cultivating the enthusiasm
for women’s soccer that origi
nally spawned the league and
creating a model for a sustain
able business structure.
The most prominent
American players especially
those who won gold in Athens
in August have taken on
the task of ensuring that fans
don’t lose the enthusiasm they
SEE WUSA, PAGE 4
www.dthonline.com
the gender distribution of this year’s under
graduates has not yet been released.
“People have an impression that it’s more
imbalanced than it is,” said Stephen Farmer,
director of UNC admissions, adding that
UNC’s admissions process is gender-blind.
Although female applicants have outnum
bered their male counterparts nearly 3-to-2 in
recent years, in 2003 the University accepted
male and female applicants at nearly identi
cal rates 36.3 percent and 36.9 percent,
respectively.
UNC still has less than its share of men
when compared to other colleges and universi
ties. In 2000,44 percent of students in higher
education were men, while just 40 percent of
Tar Heels were male.
SEE GENDER, PAGE 4
beginning of the Jewish new year, is the start of a 10-day
period of personal and communal soul searching that
ends with the celebration of Yom Kippur Sept. 24 and 25.
“We haven’t systematically
addressed diversity, and we want
to talk about this in a commu
nity way,” said Archie Ervin,
chairman of the new task force
and director of minority affairs.
“It will be a checkup of what is
in place already.”
Moeser, along with six other
University officials, attended
a diversity conference last
February at the University of
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UNC alumna Catherine Reddick (4) likely would have been the WUSA's
No. 1 draft pick —but the league folded after facing financial losses.
DTH/JUSTIN SMITH
Texas-Austin that inspired them
to assess where improvements
can be made at UNC.
Ervin said the University’s
academic plan will be used as a
guideline to determine how well
UNC is following its goals. The
plan states that the University
should strive to increase diver
sity and to create a climate that
SEE DIVERSITY, PAGE 4
INSIDE
DREAM DEFERRED
Rams Club employee, former world-class swimmer
speaks of the boycotted 1980 Olympics PAGE 5
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004
The Gender Gap
This is the percentage of male undergraduates at UNC versus the percentage at all universities and
colleges. Women became the national majority in 1979.
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SOURCE: U. 5. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DTH/MARY JANE KATZ
State schools
aim to register
5,000 voters
Actions are part of national campaign
BY KAVITA PILLAI
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Anew national voter registra
tion campaign has plans to reg
ister 5,000 young people in the
state before the November elec
tions and will use the UNC sys
tem to achieve its goals.
The New Voters Project has the
support of the UNC-system Board
of Governors and Association of
Student Governments and will
conduct voter drives at all 16
campuses until Oct. 8, the last
day to register.
The group also plans to con
tinue working past that deadline,
with door-to-door campaigning
and media events, to make sure
students show up at the polls.
“It’s important to students in
the UNC system to make sure
that they are registered, they
are voting and they are getting
their voices heard,” said Breanna
Peterson, state director of the
New Voters Project.
“We need to make sure stu
dents realize that registering
to vote is not the end of their
responsibility.”
In 2000, only 36 percent of
the nation’s voters aged 18 to 24
voted in the national election. The
drive, which is sponsored in part
by N.C. Public Interest Research
Group, is trying to reverse the
downward trend of college voter
turnout.
“It’s critically important and
probably something that should
be done on an ongoing basis, not
Report: N.C. schools
lack true accessibility
BY MARK PUENTE
STAFF WRITER
A national report card released
Wednesday on higher education
gave North Carolina a D-, and
failing marks to 36 states, in their
ability to provide affordable educa
tion to college students.
The National Center for Public
Policy and Higher Education’s
biennial study dropped the coun
try’s affordability grade to an F
from its previous grade of D in
2002.
Only California, Utah and
Minnesota earned higher than a
D in the affordability category.
The report card, titled
“Measuring Up 2004,” graded
states on four other categories as
well: preparation, participation,
completion and benefits.
North Carolina received a B in
preparation, a C+ in participation,
a B in completion and a C in ben
efits.
“It’s the most comprehensive
report of its kind,” said Mark
Musick, president of the Southern
Regional Education Board, an
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just on the eve of an election,” said
Brad Wilson, BOG chairman.
The North Carolina project
began less than a month ago and
has a relatively short time frame
within which to reach its goals,
Peterson said.
The campaign also plans to
work with professors at univer
sities statewide to make civic
responsibility a bigger issue in
the classroom.
“We’re working with professors
so that (voting) is mentioned in
classrooms and there’s a forum
for'discussion,” Peterson said.
ASG President Amanda Devore
said in a statement released today
that students can’t afford to
ignore this election.
“The issues facing students in
the University make it imperative
for them to exercise their right to
vote,” she stated in the release.
The nationwide project plans
to register 265,000 voters and
currently has registered more
than 220,000. In addition to
state public interest research
groups, the project is supported
by The Pew Charitable Trusts and
is led by a bipartisan committee
that includes former President
Gerald Ford and former Vice
President Walter Mondale.
It touts itself as the “largest
grassroots youth voter registra
tion and mobilization campaign
in history.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
“There are some
messages in the
report for state
leaders to pay
attention to.”
MARK MUSICK, EDUCATION EXPERT
educational think tank. -
“There are some messages in
the report for state leaders to pay
attention to.”
Yet Musick said he is skeptical
of the weight placed on individual
grades that have pluses and minus
es, adding that the grading system
is not precise or fine-tuned enough
to make clear distinctions.
“If a state had all Ds and Fs,
there is a message there,” Musick
said. “But if a state had B-minus
es and C-pluses, it is too close to
call.”
North Carolina’s affordabil
ity grade baffled some officials at
SEE REPORT CARD, PAGE 4
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