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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2005
UNC junior nabs Truman Scholarship
BY LINDSAY MICHEL
AND JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITORS
Members of the basketball team
aren’t the only students piling up
national accolades these days.
On Tuesday, the Harry Truman
Scholarship Foundation named
UNC junior Lauren McAlee one of
75 Truman Scholars, earning her
$30,000 for future studies.
The award is the most presti
gious honor available to college
juniors throughout the nation, said
Nick Didow, chairman of the UNC
Truman selection committee.
“It still really hasn’t sunk in,”
McAlee said, explaining that when
Chancellor James Moeser called
her with the news, she thought he
was referring to something other
than the award.
“I feel very, very lucky for the
scholarship and just to have so
Planetarium seeks new star to lead program
BY KATHERINE EVANS
STAFF WRITER
The search for anew head of the
Morehead Planetarium and Science
Center which defines the UNC
experience for thousands of North
Carolinians is full steam ahead.
The position is one of the most
high-profile at UNC, said Interim
Director Jeff Hill, who served as
director of marketing and business
ventures for the planetarium.
The facility which has an
annual budget reaching $2 million
draws in more visitors than any
other UNC attraction, excepting
athletic events. It pulled in school
children from three-quarters of the
state’s 100 counties last year.
“We served 135,000 to 140,000
North Carolinians (this year): 70
percent of them have no other con
nection to UNC other than attending
Wednesday,
KM March 30,2005
1:00 p.m. -4:00 p.m.
mmmSr great hall
Come meet Representatives
from the following organizations
Si and speak to them about
MW possible job opportunities.:
m-M M- JL American Express Financial Merck & Cos.
Advisors Mississippi Teacher Corps
""" ■ AmenCorps*NCCC Moore Wallace (An RR
H _ Apex Systems, Inc. Donnelley Company)
Autism Society of NC NC Dept, of Health and
H AVOS Life Sciences Human Services
K J Blackbaud Neiman Marcus
Buckle Nortel
Carolina Living and Northwestern Mutual
■ 1 Learning Center Financial Network-
I I * —Centex Homes Charlotte
V Hnp Chapel Hill Police Otis Elevator Company
■ 1 M ■ ■ I Department Peace Corps
JL- Lm Jm- CintasCorp. Philip Morris USA
City of Durham- Human Public Consulting Group
Resources Pulte Homes
# umca oo s, nc. Sun Trust Banks, Inc.
Corporate Executive board -r c
Dal-Tile Corporation Target Stores
n x a 1 earn Connection
Decision One Mortgage
Disability Determination Th vt/MW ■ I T**
Services The WM Wngley Jr.
DMG Securities, Inc. ompany
Duke University Recruitment Spr.ngs of North
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Seniors * MC Con £ ratio " r SeALling
Enterprise Rent-A-Car US Census Bureau
/Ct . US Department of State
CmCO CrPnSeS US Nav V Offset Programs
Graduate LbC (RTP) Whitaker School
Students
OlUUentS LmensNThmgs Youth Villages
Lowe s roods
Cimau/ltm O' The Wendy P. and Dean E. Painter Jr. Career Center -
O “The Career Center of the Future on Your Campus Today!”
this Spring or Business Attire Recommended!
Summer BRING
RESUMES!
Division of Student Affairs
Give the poster to your parents. Keep the stories to yourself.
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much support from people on cam
pus who helped me out a lot.”
McAlee, a Robertson Scholar
from Crofton, Md., has been active
in the Maryland state govern
ment and has targeted education
reform.
Boasting a 3.96 grade-point
average, she is spending this semes
ter establishing a youth advocacy
program to diversify activities in
the rural community of Mound
Bayou, Miss.
The passion McAlee has for
public service makes her a testa
ment to the Robertson Scholars
program, said Eric Mlyn, director
of the program.
“Lauren is really a credit to
UNC, to the Robertson program
and to everything she’s doing for
education in the United States,”
he said.
UNC was one of 299 colleges and
shows,” Hill said. “This is what they
know about UNC-Chapel Hill.”
Members of the search commit
tee met Tuesday to discuss strate
gies to publicize the position and to
revise the official job description.
“This is a real opportunity for
an unconventional candidate,” said
Chuck Lovelace, executive direc
tor of the John Motley Morehead
Foundation.
Members of the committee said
that the candidates must embody
a combination of entrepreneurial
know-how and academic prowess
but that the right balance between
the two is open for discussion.
“They have to be able to speak
in a way that would not make us
all cringe,” said Laurie McNeil,
chairwoman of the Department of
Physics and Astronomy.
Other members acknowledged
Junior Lauren
McAlee
will receive
$30,000 for
future studies
as a Truman
Scholar.
universities that nominated a total
of 602 students for the award.
UNC nominated four students,
and McAlee was one of two final
ists.
She is UNC’s 28th student to
receive the distinction since the
scholarship was created in 1977.
“She, like those who came before
her, is a wonderful person,” Didow
said. “She is genuine and dedi
cated to improving the life of those
around her.
“She continues the strong tra
dition this campus represents in
this need but stressed the impor
tance of casting the broadest net
over the sea of potential appli
cants. The committee is consid
ering hiring a private search firm
to reach candidates from outside
academia.
Holden Thorp, the planetarium’s
previous director, stepped down
from the position to become the
chairman of UNC’s Department of
Chemistry, effective July 1.
Under Thorp’s watch, the plan
etarium saw attendance increase
by 40 percent. Thorp counts an
increased emphasis on the science
center and more undergraduate
involvement at the planetarium
among his accomplishments.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that
there’s anyone in this business who
would not want this job,” Thorp
said. He also said his successor
News
social and economic justice and
providing outstanding Truman
applicants.”
McAlee was a voting student
member of the Maryland State
Board of Education as a senior in
high school. It was this experience,
she said, that fueled her desire to
provoke change.
“I just loved the work I was
doing,” she said. “So after that, I
was like, ‘I don’t want to leave (the
education field).’”
McAlee said she hopes to parlay
the scholarship into a career in teach
ing and public policy to improve the
public education system.
“I can’t think of anything that’s
more important and that really has
more potential to change people’s
lives.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
should have the desire to educate
schoolchildren and mentor under
graduates and the ability to work
well in a business setting.
While no definite timetable
for the selection process has been
set, leaders said they hope to have
finalists visit the University by the
end of summer. Officials aim to fill
the position by the end of the cal
endar year.
“This is a very important posi
tion in the University definitely
part of the fabric of the University,”
said Carol Tresolini, associate pro
vost for academic initiatives, who
helped put together the search
committee.
“He or she will have to hit the
ground running.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
B Chapel Hill police received
a report Monday of the statutory
rape of a 14-year-old girl.
According to reports, the girl
was raped without force by a 23-
year-old man Feb. 21 about 10 p.m.
at a residence at 751 Trinity Court.
B Two employees of Hams of
Chapel Hill were the victims of
separate larcenies from vehicles,
Chapel Hill police reports state.
According to reports, the first
employee’s vehicle was broken into
at the corner of Sunset and Starlight
drives at 1:40 a.m. Sunday.
The victim’s purse, which con
tained more than S9OO in valu
ables, was stolen in the incident.
The second employee’s vehicle was
broken into at 2:34 a.m. Monday at
310 W. Franklin St. The perpetra
tor gained access to the vehicle by
throwing a rock through the wind
shield, causing $250 in damage.
More than SI,OOO in valuables
were stolen in the incident.
News Talk 1360 WCHL Presents
Al Franken
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
12:00 noon - 3:00p.m.
Carolina Union Auditorium
on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill
Doors Open at 10:50 a.m
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Chapel Hill Carrboro fl
Controversial bill is
latest salvo in battle
BY LAURA YOUNGS
SENIOR WRITER
A bill designed to protect students
and faculty from political discrimi
nation hit the N.C. Senate floor last
week, but some say it’s unnecessary
and potentially ineffective.
Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie,
introduced a bill that would require
UNC-system schools to adopt an
“academic bill of rights” protecting
political beliefs on campus.
He said the document would pro
vide students and faculty with equal
protection in an academic setting.
“We don’t want our professors to
discriminate on the basis of race,
sex or religious beliefs,” he said.
“Why should we then allow dis
crimination on political beliefs?”
The issue of academic freedom
has been a hot one at UNC-Chapel
Hill. Two debates on the summer
reading program, as well as a contro
versy sparked by an English lecturer’s
e-mail, have made the University one
of the centers of a national debate.
Brock said his experiences at
Western Carolina University, as
well as incidents at UNC-CH and
national support for academic bills
of rights, inspired his action.
Under his bill, schools would
adopt a nine-point policy including
requirements to hire and fire faculty
regardless of political belief and to
provide students with fair grading.
George Leef, executive director
of the John William Pope Center
for Higher Education Policy, said
he’s pleased that the bill outlines,
in black-and-white terms, what is
permissible at universities.
The John William Pope
Foundation is in the spotlight at
UNC-CH. It’s offered to help fund a
curriculum in Western studies, but
some faculty say its financial support
of the conservative Pope Center —a
POLICE LOG
B A larceny was reported fol
lowing a Monday assault in Chapel
Hill, police reports state.
According to reports, a 23-
year-old Chapel Hill woman was
assaulted at 112 Noble St. about
4:34 a.m. The perpetrator took her
necklace, valued at $1,650, follow
ing the incident.
B Three area youths were found
in the Street Scene Teen Center, at
179 E. Franklin St., at 6:07 a.m.
Tuesday, and each was charged with
one count of misdemeanor breaking
and entering and one misdemeanor
count of underage possession of
alcohol, police reports state.
According to reports, Nathaniel
Floyd Gray, 16, of 108 Will St. in
Carrboro; Leroy Allen Lunceford,
17, of 501 Jones Ferry Road Tl in
Carrboro; and Allison Elizabeth
Murrow, 16, of 108 Hillspring
Lane in Chapel Hill all were found
sleeping in the center outside of
operating hours with several cans
of Milwaukee’s Best Ice.
El|p iaiUj Ear Mrri
group that has publicly criticized the
University is unacceptable.
But discrimination is a nation
wide trend, Leef said —one occur
ring often enough that something
should be done, even if it doesn’t
happen all the time. “The notion
behind the academic bill of rights
is to turn down the degree of politi
cization in universities,” Leef said.
Incidents like the one last year
involving UNC-CH English lecturer
Elyse Ciystall in which she chas
tised a student via e-mail for views
he expressed on homosexuality in
class might not have happened
with such a law in place, Leef said.
But Thad Beyle, political science
professor at UNC-CH, said bills like
Brock’s are part of a national conser
vative movement pushing the mat
ter. Though errors occur occasion
ally, they are not frequent enough
to call for a state law, he said.
Eric David, a second-year UNC
CH journalism graduate student,
said the bill would be ineffective
and difficult to enforce. “It seems
more like a feel-good bill,” he said.
David, who recently finished a
thesis on the campus conservative
movement, also said the bill’s vague
language makes it hard to refute.
And incidents like the one involv
ing Crystal wouldn’t have been pre
vented, he said, adding that schools
already have guidelines preventing
political discrimination.
But Brock said the bill encom
passes more than current guide
lines because it deals with students
as well as faculty.
“It’s basically trying to create an
equal protection for all,” he said.
“You don’t want to have one student
get in trouble for their views.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
B An employee of the
Timberlyne Shopping Center Food
Lion was arrested Monday on one
felony charge of embezzlement,
Chapel Hill police reports state.
According to reports, Charless
Laverne Brown, 17, of 2629
Dairyland Road in Hillsborough,
was arrested after police reviewed
videotapes that showed her writ
ing out money orders to herself.
She was released on a writ
ten promise to appear at the
first opportunity in the Orange
County District Criminal Court
in Hillsborough.
Elj? Soily Ear UM
P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Michelle Jarboe, Editor, 962-4086
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