VOLUME 112, ISSUE 70
Panel prepares for renaming debate
DIFFERENT STANCES TO SHAPE FUTURE OF AIRPORT ROAD
BY RYAN C. TUCK
CITY EDITOR
Chapel Hill Town Council mem
bers quickly scribbled names on
pieces of paper and passed them
to Town Clerk Joyce Smith.
After its Monday night meeting
filled with discussion of a long
range transportation a
financial feasibility report the
little bits of paper were all that
stood between the council mem
bers and the door.
They were also the final step in
Committee
to examine
student fees
BY STEPHANIE JORDAN
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Campus organizations receiv
ing student fees soon will have to
answer to the student fee audit
committee, which seeks to ensure
that spending of those dollars ben
efits the University community.
The committee, which first
meets Thursday, will begin con
ducting investigations and examin
ing the proposed budgets of those
organizations.
“We want to make sure money
isn’t being wasted,” said Daneen Furr,
Finance Committee chairwoman for
Student Congress. “(We’ll) evaluate
... every dollar to keep the cost down
as much as possible.”
Tire committee will work in tan
demwith the Chancellor's Committee
on Student Fees, which proposes
increases to the University's Board of
Trustees and ultimately to the UNC
system Board of Governors.
The chancellor’s committee
will have the proposals in place by
the end of October, so its student
counterpart will begin meeting
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
State appropriations made up 21.4 percent of total UNC revenues during the 2003-04 fiscal year.
During the same period, government contracts and grants supplied 30.7 percent of the budget.
$600,0001
$500,000 yC
- $300,000 —-
$200,000 j/p
STATE APPROPRIATIONS*
■ GOV'T. CONTRACTS & FUNDS ■
i I .1 ii ii ii ii ii ■
90-91 91-92 92-93 93-94 94-95 95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04
SOURCE: THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA DTH/MARY JANE KATZ
UNC unlikely
to imitate UVa.
BY EMILY STEEL
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
One month ago, Chancellor
James Moeser sat in his office, sur
rounded by a campus just begin
ning to simmer with activity.
It was about three weeks
before three public universities in
Virginia announced their intention
to bargain with the legislature: In
exchange for state funds, they now
are looking for more autonomy.
But Moeser had already made
a firm decision on the issue. The
trend, he said, would not find its
way to the University of North
Carolina.
“I think the philosophies of UVa.
and Chapel Hfll are very different,”
he said dining an interview Aug. 19.
“They have a very different image of
themselves and their relation to the
state than we do to this day.”
And it doesn’t look like this
vision is going to change.
The University has had a consti
tutional commitment since it was
SPORTSATURDAY
TAKE TWO
Brave the rain Saturday and grab the DTH's
football section at UNC's second home game
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
©hr Daily ®or Wrrl
the nomination process for a com
mittee that seems to be dividing
the community.
Smith tallied the votes, and
Mayor Kevin Foy announced the
names of the people who will make
up the special committee to consider
renaming Airport Road in honor of
Martin Luther King Jr.
The 20-member committee
composed of members of the local
chapter of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People, residents and business
Thursday to evaluate the sugges
tions, said Natalie Russell, chair
woman of the committee and stu
dent body treasurer.
The audit committee met with
the larger chancellor’s committee
Wednesday and set up a tentative
investigative timeline. At their first
meeting, members will discuss
the proposed $395 education and
technology fees, which marks an
increase of $73.
She said this fee will be tackled
first because of the new techno
logical services that students have
requested.
The health service fee also will
be scrutinized. It currently stands
at $312 for the 2004-05 year. The
proposed increase for next year is
$26. _ K'.-
Russell said former Student Body
President Matt Tepper’s adminis
tration examined the Counseling
and Psychological Services fee, and
this year’s committee will follow up
with last year’s work.
SEE STUDENT FEES, PAGE 7
established more than 200 years
ago to educate and serve the citi
zens of North Carolina.
In return, the state has provided
the University with ample funding.
During the 2003-04 fiscal year,
state appropriations constituted
21.4 percent of the University’s
total revenues. Government con
tracts and grants made up an addi
tional 30.7 percent. That money
equaled $905 million last year.
“It is a tremendous help to the
University, but the most important
thing, as far as I am concerned, is
that it focuses us on serving the
state, reminding us that is our rea
son for being here,” said Richard
“Stick” Williams, chairman of the
University’s Board of Trustees.
The high level of per-student
funding helps keep tuition costs
low because the ability to pay for
instructional programs comes
from both tuition and state appro-
SEE STATE TIES, PAGE 7
INSIDE
ROCK VISUALS
Theater to screen film that
accompanies indie LP PAGE 4
www.dHionline.com
owners on Airport Road, students,
professors, citizens, council mem
bers and Foy will begin meeting
on Thursday. At stake will be the
future of Airport Road.
The idea of renaming the road
originally came before the council
in January. But after a series of
heated public forums, the council
decided it could not make the deci
sion without more citizen input.
Monday, the council chose 20
people to give that input.
Joe Herzenberg, a former
|r Hratn
The Big Fat Gap, a “back porch” bluegrass band,
performs in the Pit on Thursday afternoon. The
band, which comprises residents of Chapel Hill and
Carrboro, plays regularly in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Raleigh
and Black Mountain. They will be playing tonight at the
Soyinka captivates crowd
Attracts audience
of more than 300
BYAYOFEMI KIRBY
STAFF WRITER
Nobel Prize laureate and
human rights advocate Wole
Soyinka addressed an audience
of more than 300 students, fac
ulty and community guests at the
University’s Sonja Haynes Stone
Center for Black Culture and
History on Thursday afternoon.
The seating in the Stone
Center’s multipurpose room
could not accommodate the
number of people who came to
hear Soyinka speak, forcing the
lecture to be moved to the cen
ter’s unfinished Cobb Theater.
After Joseph Jordan, direc
tor of the Stone Center, intro
duced Soyinka, commenting on
Nigeria’s two-week holiday and
the celebration of Soyinka’s 70th
birthday, Soyinka took the stage
to a standing ovation.
During the hourlong lecture,
titled “Creative Myths and the
Politics Around Them,” Soyinka
related the plight of winning inter
national social justice and human
rights to popular mythology’s
power struggles.
“There is a battle between
power and freedom that causes
the meshing of politics and
mythology,” he said. “Virtually
every form of art has a link to
political or moral manipulation.
The evidence is all around us in
music, poetry and art.”
Soyinka compared the stories
of mythological characters such
Town Council member, long-time
Chapel Hill resident and historian
of the civil rights movement, was
appointed as a citizen-at-large.
Herzenberg said the struggle to
rename the road pales in compari
son to the struggles in Chapel Hill
during King’s lifetime.
The renaming is a way to com
pensate for things that should have
been accomplished locally while
King was alive, Herzenberg said.
“We should have something to
honor Dr. King,” Herzenberg said,
HOEDOWN
DTH/ANDREW SYNOWIEZ
Nobel Prize laureate, human rights advocate Wole Soyinka speaks at
the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History Thursday.
as Ulysses and the Cyclops, Pluto,
Orpheus and Gabriel to the clash
between power and freedom in
international politics.
“I wonder if I’m alone in my
thinking that mythology often
belittles the present,” Soyinka
said. “Men, even when they deny
the realm of myths, often aspire
to play God.”
Soyinka referenced the life
threatening experiences his
colleague, the late African play
wright Ola Rotimi, endured with
Nigerian authorities as well as
INSIDE
DIGGING DEEPER
Team of UNC archaelogists and students dis
cover the ruins of a Cretan city hall PAGE 4
adding that he is willing to listen to
those who disagree with him.
Bruce Johnson is one of those
people. Johnson has lived on
Airport Road for 65 years, and he
was appointed to the committee as
one of the Airport Road business
owners or residents. He owns two
businesses on the road, including
one that his father started.
He said the question of renam
ing the road in honor of a figure
such as King is a difficult one—
and a very important one.
But he opposes the name change,
noting the road’s history and the
costs that his businesses would
Carolina Inn from 5 to 7 as part of the Front Porch Music
Series, which is an opportunity for people to enjoy live
bluegrEiss music outdoors along with a tapas menu and
drink specials. The band took its name from a forest locat
ed in western North Carolina near the Tennessee border.
the abuses of power and human
rights occurring in Sudan and
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A collaborative effort among
the Stone Center, the John
Hope Franklin Center at Duke
University, the Organization of
African Students’ Interests in
Solidarity, the University Center
for International Studies and the
Rotimi Foundation brought the
distinguished novelist, poet and
playwright to the University.
SEE SOYINKA, PAGE 7
WEATHER
TODAY Strong storms, H 80, L 68
SATURDAY T-storms, H 75, L 63
SUNDAY Rain, H 72, L 61
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2004
incur as result of the switch.
He estimated that his business
es would lose about $17,700 from
having to change business cards
and phone listings.
Chuck Stone, a professor at the
University and a one-time friend of
King’s, said King would have been
angered about any argument about
naming a road in his honor.
“Controversy over this would
have really bothered him,” Stone
said, adding that he thinks the
name change is a non-issue.
“I’ll pay for the stationery” Stone
SEE MLK, PAGE 7
DTH/JOHN DUDLEY
Employees
to benefit
from plan
Grievance change
targets concerns
BY BRIAN HUDSON
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
University employees said
Thursday they will benefit from
newly proposed changes to UNC’s
grievance process.
In a report completed
Wednesday by the State Personnel
Act Dispute Resolution Committee,
several recommendations were
made about the University’s griev
ance procedure to address the pro
cess’ shortcomings.
The recommendations include
eliminating one of the four steps
of the process, creating anew
University position to oversee the
procedure and extending some
deadlines.
Tommy Griffin, chairman of
the Employee Forum, said he
is in favor of the recommenda
tions made by the committee and
believes they successfully address
employees’ concerns.
“It’s a very stressful situation,”
he said. “They’ve taken a lot of
stress out of it.”
Griffin said he particularly sup
ports the report’s recommenda
tions that propose simplifying the
language of the process to make it
more user-friendly.
“You don’t need a law document
SEE EMPLOYEE, PAGE 7
•IF*