VOLUME 112, ISSUE 135
Carrboro annexes 2 areas
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DTH/LEAH GRONNING
Members of the Carrborro Board of Aldermen met Tuesday night and
voted 5-2 to approve the annexation of two large areas into the town.
Proposal
sees 2nd
rejection
in 2 days
$l5O fee increase
to go before BOT
BY JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
With the clock ticking on the
eve of the Board of Ttustees meet
ing, the Chancellor’s Committee
on Student Fees became the sec
ond body in as many days to reject
a dramatic student fee increase.
The committee held an almost
two-hour emergency meeting
Tuesday to discuss a plan that
would increase both merit-based
scholarships
and funding for
the Department
of Athletics.
Much of the
committee’s
debate hinged
on the role of
student fees,
which several
members, par
ticularly stu
dents, defined
as dues paid in
exchange for
services.
■
Chairwoman
of the Faculty
Judith Wegner
proposed the
$l5O fee hike.
Judith Wegner, chairwoman of
the faculty, had called for logo rev
enues to be shifted from athletics
to merit-based scholarships dur
ing Monday’s Student Fee Audit
Committee meeting.
The shift called for a $l5O ath
letics fee to be tacked onto student
fees to replace funding for athlet
ics, increasing both athletics fund
ing and merit scholarships through
a single fee hike.
For Thesday’s meeting, Wegner
whittled her proposal down to a
SSO hike per student in a move
that she said she hoped would gar
ner a more receptive response.
Wegner addressed concerns
about the late nature of the pro
posal in her opening statement to
the committee, of which she is a
member.
“I know this seems like, ‘Why
now and why this year?’” she said.
“I wouldn’t have brought this idea
ahead if there wasn’t a real pressing
need.”
Though student fee discussions
typically are held in the early fall,
Wegner said her brainstorming
didn’t bear fruit until recently.
She outlined her rationale, not
ing the importance of attracting
top-flight students as well as main
taining the prestige and exposure
athletics provides the University.
Director of Athletics Dick
Baddour, also a committee mem
ber, supported Wegner’s claims
with evidence that the athletics
department operates on a tighter
budget than do those of competing
institutions.
Although committee members
all recognized that the athletics
department requires significantly
SEE STUDENT FEES, PAGE 4
INSIDE
MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Researchers at N.C. State University snag more than
S9OOK to develop plants to grow on Mars PAGE 5
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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Erik Townsend, Aikido instructor, demonstrates
a fighting technique with club president John
Lubbers on Tuesday night during a meeting of the
UNC Aikido Club. Aikido is a Japanese martial art original
ly developed by Morihei Ueshiba. The Aikido Club recently
ASG funding sees
increased scrutiny
Leaders debate
merits of $1 fee
BY INDIA AUTRY
STAFF WRITER
Student body president can
didate Tom Jensen’s plan to take
money away from the UNC sys
tem’s student governing body faces
criticism from fellow candidates
( and other student leaders.
The $1 fee each UNC-system
student gives to the Association of
Student Governments totals about
$170,000 money Jensen said is
wasted. UNC-CH’s share is about
$26,000.
“Across the board, the money
is squandered,” Jensen said. “The
$1 we’re spending on the ASG, we
could get more out of it if we used
it to buy a Coke.”
Much of the money pays sti
pends for ASG officials. The asso
ciation has aboqt $63,500 bud
geted toward wages and salaries
for the 2004-05 fiscal year.
It’s not just system officehold
ers who suck money from student
organizations, Jensen said. The
University’s elected student offi
cials wouldn’t get paid under his
watch either.
Jensen’s controversial proposals
come after recent tension between
INSIDE
HARD FOR THE MONEY
Students top classes with jobs as
the cost of school goes up PAGE 9
www.dthonline.com
ALDERMEN VOTE, 5-2, TO BRING IN RESIDENTS
BY ADAM W. RHEW
STAFF WRITER
Residents fighting annexation
into one local town received per
haps the final blow to their cause
Thesday evening.
After months of debate, the
Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted
5-2 to authorize the annexation of
two areas into town limits by Jan.
31, 2006.
Aldermen Jackie Gist and Mark
Chilton voted against the ordinance
to incorporate what town officials
referred to as areas A and B.
Area A includes the Camden,
Highlands, Highland Meadows and
Highlands North neighborhoods.
CHOP HOUSE
Matt Liles,
ASG vice
president for
legislative
affairs, said less
funds would
handicap the
association.
student government at UNC-CH
and its umbrella organization.
Student Body President Matt
Calabria and his predecessor, Matt
Tepper, each expressed major con
cerns about ASG spending.
But some ASG members have
charged the last two student admin
istrations with a lack of involve
ment, said Matt Liles, a UNC-CH
senior and ASG vice president for
legislative affairs.
“Calabria came in with res
ervations, and since then we’ve
revamped the situation to a work
ing relationship instead of an
adversarial one,” he said.
“We’ve worked quite a bit to heal
the rift.”
Liles said withdrawal of
University funding would be detri
mental to the ASG’s ability to advo
cate for Chapel Hill’s interests.
“The ASG gives us a lot,” he said.
“The $1 we save would be lost many
SEE ASG, PAGE 4
E3
The northern portion of Rogers
Road, along with the Fox Meadow
and Meadow Run subdivisions,
make up Area B.
Some of the aldermen who
voted in favor of the annexation
cited their duty to act in the best
interest of the entire town as one
of the reasons for their vote.
“My vote is to look for the long
term vibrancy of southern Orange
County. That’s what I was elected
to do,” said Alderman Joal Hall
Broun.
Gist, who voted against annexa
tion, said her vote hinged on how
the town’s feeling of community
would be affected by the incorpo
adopted the Tomiki style, named after Kenji Tomiki from
Japan. The Tomiki style is a more structured approach
to Aikido that introduced free-sparring competition. The
club practices every Sunday and Tuesday and focuses on
cooperative learning rather than on direct competition.
Campaigns launch amid conflict
BY KRISTLE SPELLMAN
STAFF WRITER
Campus was littered with cam
paign materials Tuesday morning
as student body president hope
fuls brought their campaigns to
life with posters, buttons and
sandwich boards.
On the first official day of
public campaigning, two candi
dates and members of the Board
of Elections also were met with
unexpected conflicts.
Student body president can
didate Seke Ballard was fined $5
for “premature use of campaign
materials” after issuing a docu
ment critiquing the platforms
of candidates Seth Dearmin and
Tom Jensen at the UNC Young
Democrats candidates’ forum
Monday night.
Jensen was issued a $2 fine for
posting campaign materials in a
prohibited location in Morrison
Residence Hall.
Ballard was reprimanded by
the BOE for issuing his docu
ment not because of its critical
nature, but because of the time
he issued it.
Election codes dictate that those
vying for the position of student
body president were not allowed
to issue campaign materials to
students until 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Jensen e-mailed Ballard
Monday night, asking him not to
give students any more copies of
the critique.
“I was hoping that given the
INSIDE
HOMEWARD BOUND
35 students visit Israel during Winter Break
to participate in birthright program PAGE 9
ration of the new areas.
“I really don’t like the idea of
bringing in people who don’t like
Carrboro,” she said.
Hundreds of residents attended
informational meetings on annex
ation leading up to Tuesday’s deci
sion to voice their opposition.
Others petitioned state legisla
tors, while some even petitioned
Chapel Hill leaders to annex the
areas into their town limits.
About 852 people live in the two
areas, which encompass 321 acres
of land.
Much of the discussion Tuesday
SEE ANNEXATION, PAGE 4
DTH/WHITNEY SHEFTE
Hiii
DTH/MIKE RAABE
Leigha Blackwell speaks at a student body president candidate forum,
hosted by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, on Tuesday night.
(incidents) in last year’s elec
tions, the four of us this year
would run a positive campaign,”
he said.
But Ballard again presented
the document to members of
the Dialectic and Philanthropic
Societies at their forum Tuesday
evening.
He said the forums are so
structured that candidates do
not have time to express their
critiques of other candidates’
platforms.
“We felt that we needed to
provide the student body with a
comprehensive critique of each
WEATHER
TODAY Partly cloudy, H 59, L 31
THURSDAY Mostly sunny, H 40, L 16
FRIDAY Partly cloudy, H 37, Ll 7
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005
Power
center
shifts
to left
Dems. to set tone
in N.C. legislature
BY EMMA BURGIN
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
A historic power-sharing agree
ment could come to an end today
as the N.C. General Assembly con
venes at noon and Democrats take
hold of the legislature.
After the 2004 elections, the
House welcomed enough new
Democrats to gain a six-seat
advantage, 63-57.
Democrats were in the minority
last session, but Republican dis
unity led to a co-speakership and
a virtual split down the middle.
Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, and
Richard Morgan, R-Moore, took
the helm in the House after one
week of stale
mate to elect
one speaker.
While Black
is expected to
continue solo
this session in
the speaker
seat, experts
say Morgan
won’t walk away
empty-handed.
“I think that
Speaker Black
will prob
ably be the sole
speaker,” said
Sen. R.C. Soles,
D-Columbus.
Soles said
Morgan will be
amply rewarded
for his loyalty to
Black, a loyalty
Democrat
Jim Black
likely will be
the sole speaker
for the session.
INSIDE
Major issues
to be tackled
by the General
Assembly.
PAGE 6, 7
that has created a divide among
House Republicans.
“Seeing the new seating chart
over there (in the House) indicates
to me that the decision has already
been made that he’ll be a key play
er, because he’s going to retain his
number one seat, and those that
are very close to him have been
moved... up surrounding him.
“I think there’s a good indica-
SEE POWER, PAGE 6
candidate’s platforms,” Ballard
said, noting that his campaign
would print a critique of candi
date Leigha Blackwell’s platform
by the end of the week.
At the forum, the four candi
dates were each given six minutes
to discuss their platforms.
After the opening remarks,
members of DiPhi posed ques
tions to the candidates.
Dearmin said his main focuses
are making life easier for stu
dents by strengthening systems
that are already in place and fix-
SEE FORUM, PAGE 4