VOLUME 113, ISSUE 21
Final Four distribution causes distress
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Students irked at CAA treatment of Monday lottery
BY ERIN ZUREICK
STAFF WRITER
The Carolina Athletic Association once more is
facing criticism of its ticket-distribution methods.
Officials of the student athletic organization
were charged with publishing the distribution of
Final Four tickets that took place Monday. Those
who entered their names in a lottery had a chance
to obtain the coveted prize.
Now students who were hoping to support the
men’s basketball team in St. Louis this weekend
CAA President
Lindsay Strunk
said her group
did its best to
promote tickets.
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Morth Carolina center Sean May (center) soaks up
support from the Tar Heel faithful as he departs from
JL the Smith Center with his teammates, heading to St.
Louis for the Final Four. May, who was named a Wooden Award
finalist Wednesday, will lead UNC into battle against Michigan State
Dean search nears its end
BY RACHEL BROCK
STAFF WRITER
After search committee meetings, a review of
applications from across the country and inter
views with finalists, the search for a dean of the
journalism school is coming to a close.
Officials are in the midst of negotiations with
Gerald Baldasty regarding his taking over the
deanship of UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass
Communication, Steve Allred, executive associate
provost, confirmed Wednesday afternoon.
Baldasty now holds the post of professor and
chairman of the Department of Communication
at the University of Washington.
He received his doctorate in communications
from the University of Washington in 1978 and
has a background in journalism and communica
tion history.
“We haven’t reached an agreement, but he is
coming back next week for more discussions,”
Allred said.
Baldasty declined to comment Wednesday.
Officials said they are glad to see the search
process which began last September come
to a close.
Gell, Hunt lobby for moratorium
BY STEPHEN MOORE
STAFF WRITER
RALEIGH As the crowd waited
patiently, Alan Gell and Darryl Hunt sat
silently on stage in the auditorium of the
N.C. Museum of History.
Both men served hard time in N.C.
prisons. Hunt was twice sentenced to
life in prison, and Gell sat for years on
death row.
But there was another common thread
between the two: their innocence.
The pair spoke Wednesday of their
time in prison, the pain they experienced
and their continuing search for justice.
They came together to voice support
for a bill in the N.C. General Assembly.
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Gerald
Baldasty is in
negotiations
with officials to
be the dean of
UNC's school
of journalism.
a strong candidate with a good reputation.”
Baldasty would be a good fit for the school, said
Ruth Walden, associate dean for graduate studies
and professor in the journalism school.
She said Baldasty interacted well with students,
SEE DEAN, PAGE 11
The measure, introduced March 9,
would create a two-year moratorium on
executions while a special panel would
review the state’s death penalty system.
The stop in Raleigh was part of a
statewide tour featuring former inmates
who are calling for the temporary halt.
Gell, tried and convicted of mur
dering Allen Ray Jenkins in 1995, was
sentenced to death in 1998. Hunt spent
18 years in prison for the murder of
Deborah Sykes.
Both were found innocent in 2004.
But Gell said he fears there might be
others on death row who are innocent.
SEE MORATORIUM, PAGE 11
www.dHionllite.coni
are saying that CAA did not adequately publicize
the contest to purchase tickets.
And some are questioning just how many tick
ets went to members of the group.
The association posted a message on its Web site
and sent an e-mail to its 2,000-member listserv
the best possible ways to pass along the information
given time constraints, CAA officials say.
Student Solicitor General Matt Liles said he
did not find out about the process until after the
deadline passed.
DTH/BRANDON SMITH
starting at about 8:47 p.m. Saturday. If the team can beat the
Spartans, it will take on the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal
game, featuring Illinois and Louisville teams that finished No. 1
and No. 4, respectively, in the year-end polls. UNC hasn’t been to the
Final Four since 2000 and last won the championship in 1993.
Richard Cole will step down
as dean of the school on June
30, after serving in the post for
26 years.
Although it will not be an
easy task, building on Cole’s
legacy might be possible for
Baldasty, said Chuck Stone,
Walter Spearman professor in
the journalism school.
Stone said throughout the
search process that he hoped
a woman would be named the
school’s next dean. But he now
is satisfied with the likely lead
ership of the program.
“It’s time to move forward,”
Stone said. “(Baldasty) really is
Alan Gell, who
supports a
moratorium,
spent 6 years
on death row
for a crime he
did not commit.
“I consider myself pretty well-connected on
campus, and if I didn’t hear about it, then the aver
age student probably didn’t either,” Liles said.
CAA President Lindsay Strunk insists that the
association tried its best to spread the word.
“When you find out Sunday night at 10 o’clock,
there’s not a lot you can do,” said Strunk, who will
not attend the Final Four.
Liles said posting the information on the
Internet was not sufficient.
“Yes, it’s on the CAA Web site, but that’s not
somewhere people frequent every day,” he said.
Ticket-holder Bayley Crane, co-chairwoman of
CAA’s Homecoming committee, said she found
Surprise Spartans will
battle UNC in the paint
BY BEN COUCH
SENIOR WRITER
It was supposed to be like this.
With only four college basket
ball teams in the nation still play
ing, two of them hail from the same
conference.
But that
conference
wasn’t sup
posed to be the
Big Ten. And
that second
team was not
supposed to
be Michigan
State.
“Well, I can’t say that we totally
expected to go to a Final Four,” said
Spartan coach Tom Izzo. “I expected
to have a great year with the nucleus
of the guys that went to the Elite
Eight two years ago, with the addi
tion of a Shannon Brown.
“You know, you always dream it.
But reality is it’s been a little bit of
a surprise.”
Even if his team’s run caught the
Spartan coach unaware, MSU won’t
be able to sneak up on its competi
tion any longer.
With the season on the line and
a week of preparation, it’s unlikely
North Carolina will regard its semi
final opponent lightly.
The Spartans (26-6) are balanced
and versatile. They have an eight
man rotation that can be extended to
10 and six players averaging at least
9 points per game.
SEE MSU, PAGE 11
INSIDE
WEIRD SCIENCE
As University runs its Ist research day, officials worry
about the effects of cuts on UNC’s endeavors PAGE 4
out about the tickets through word of mouth.
“My roommate called me at 11 a.m. and said we
were going down to the ticket office,” Crane said.
Crane said 500 students signed up for the lot
tery. She said there were 20 sign-up lists, each
containing the names of 25 UNC students.
Students were given a choice between $l3O
upper-level seating and $l7O lower-level seating.
“I heard that everyone who signed up got tick
ets,” Crane said. “But that doesn’t include people
who changed their minds because of the cost.”
CAA President-elect Justin Johnson, who will
SEE FINAL FOUR, PAGE 11
In budget,
echoes of
past cuts
BY JAMES EDWARD DILLARD
STAFF WRITER
In 1991, the economy was slow, there was a war
in Iraq and the N.C. General Assembly had a $1.2
billion dollar budget gap.
Now, 14 years later, the wheel of fortune has come
full circle especially for the General Assembly,
which once again is laboring to cover a similar
shortfall.
The cure was the same then as it is now: Either
raise taxes or cut costs.
“We don’t know which pill to swallow,” said Sen.
Bob Atwater, D-Durham.
Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, and Sen. Richard
Stevens, R-Wake, both said legislators are consider
ing a strategy similar to the one used to bridge the
1991 gap: erasing half of it with cuts and covering
the other half with taxes.
While both were quick to note that the current
gap is more manageable, UNC-system officials still
are worried that this year’s cuts could be the straw
that breaks the camel’s back.
“We can look at that budget that was passed in
1991, but if they pass a budget like they did in 1991,
there will be a negative impact on the quality of
education received by students,” said Mark Fleming,
the system’s lobbyist.
Compounding cutbacks
This year’s proposed cuts, which might reach 4
percent, or S9O million, come on the heels of five
straight years of funding reductions.
And system officials repeatedly have warned of
SEE SHORTFALL, PAGE 11
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COURTESY OF THE STATE NEWS/CLINT SPAULDING
Michigan State center Paul Davis (40) will give UNC all it can handle in the
post. Davis had 20 points and 12 rebounds in MSU’s victory against Duke.
WEATHER
TODAY P.M. showers, H 76, L 56
FRIDAY P.M. rain, H 69, L 53
SATURDAY Few showers, H 61, L 35
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2005