VOLUME 113, ISSUE 101
A SIMPLE GESTURE
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Freshman Artis L. lohnson Jr. holds a candle at the on-campus vigil for Rosa Parks held Wednesday evening. Organized by the UNC chapter of the
NAACP and co-sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Inc. and the Black Student Movement, the vigil saw a small turnout of almost 100.
BY DEBORAH NEFFA STAFF WRITER
Enclosed in a circle inside the Pit, students joined
together Wednesday evening to share a moment of
candlelit silence in honor of Rosa Parks.
Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Inc., UNC’s chapter of the
NAACP and the Black Student Movement held a vigil to
commemorate Parks —a civil rights movement leader
who died last week at the age of 92.
More than 100 people attended the event, which coin
cided with Parks’ funeral in Detroit that morning.
“It is important that we as students take time to remem
ber the civil rights movement and its pioneering spirits,”
said Danielle Allen, Alpha Kappa Alpha president.
Parks was an outstanding citizen and a benign figure
firom America’s past, Allen said, making her an ideal role
model for generations to come.
University in step with tradition
BY LEAH KONEN
STAFF WRITER
The “Divine Nine” will shake the
stage tonight at Memorial Hall for
the National Pan Hellenic Council’s
annual step show.
And for the first time ever, a
non-NPHC group, Psi Sigma Phi
multicultural fraternity Inc. will
perform with the University’s eight
historically black fraternities and
sororities.
“It’s history made,” says senior
Andrae Banks, step master for Psi
Sigma Phi.
The art of stepping certainly
has a history worth telling. Its
WHY DID YOU VOTE EARLY?
Katie Baer
Senior,
Environmenal
Sciences and
Chemistry
“(Voting is) a
good way to be
involved in the
communnity”
Vote early at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center through
Nov. 5, Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
online I daily tariitN&o mi
TOUGH LOVE City schools review a
proposal for toughening exam standards
CHIPPING AWAY Changes to U S.
passports spark privacy concerns for some
STREAMING IN Carrboro town staff
begin streaming Aldermen minutes online
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
0k Sattu 3ar Rppl
presence, both at UNC and on the
national level, stems from a variety
of traditions and influences that
began decades ago.
“It’s an
American form,”
says Jacqui
Malone, author
of “Steppin’ on
the Blues: The
Visible Rhythms
of African
INSIDE
Organizers say
tickets remain
for tonight's
competition
PAGE 4
American Dance.”
“It’s influenced by African prac
tices,” she says. “But it started in
this country. It was the coming
together of many different African
FBMt ST
Elizabeth
Matteson
Senior,
Religious
Studies
“The local elections
are more important
... you have more of
an impact”
campus I page 2
A FEWTOUCHUPS
Officials soon will begin a
series of renovations to
Gerrard Hall, including the
installation of air conditioning
and the hall's first bathroom.
www.dailytarheel.com
A cappella groups Harmonyx and Vision
sang for the event and members of Ebony
Readers/Onyx Theatre performed solo
skits emphasizing Parks’ fight for equality
for all races and her courage to speak out.
“Rosa Parks was one of the most promi
nent civil rights leaders of the 20th cen
tury,” said Ashley Heilprin, president of
UNC’s chapter of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People.
“It would be crazy if organizations such
as Alpha Kappa Alpha didn’t recognize her
and honor her like a saint,” she said, add
ing that Parks herself was a member of the
national sorority.
Those who attended the vigil lit their
candles by passing the flame from person
to person.
BSM President Brandon Hodges said
the event was aimed at fostering a sense
of community and providing people with
YOU WANNA 1 STEP?
Time: 7 p.m.
Date: today
Location: Memorial Mall
Diaspora forms.”
During the 19605, many frater
nities and sororities performed
dances on the quads of historically
black colleges, Malone says.
As it developed, stepping bor
rowed from these dances and oth
ers, including cheerleading, line
dancing, tap dancing and the cho
reography of popular music groups
Area ‘feel’ linked with getting around
BY KATHY CHO
STAFF WRITER
For Martha Hadden, Chapel
Hill’s walkability is a reason to live
here. The Hanft Knoll resident said
she often takes three walks a day.
But bikeability is another matter,
said Hadden. “There’s hardly any
where you can go on a bike path,
except in Carrboro,” she said, adding
that it is difficult to bike safely from
Franklin Street into Carrboro.
Both Chapel Hill and Carrboro
have promoted walking, biking and
busing in recent years by instituting
various requirements, such as side
walks for new developments.
dive j page 5-8
A REAL PLAYMAKER
The Play Makers Repertory
Company celebrates its 30th
anniversary this year. The
group remains one of the few
University-owned companies.
the opportunity to share their thoughts and
acknowledge Parks’ contributions.
“Even though there have been elections
and events and such over the past week, we
want to show campus we didn’t forget her
memory,” Hodges said.
Matthew Wynter, a senior member of
Ebony Readers, said he sees Parks as a
figure who made the nostalgia of the civil
rights movement of the 1950s seem real.
“What’s more important than her life or
refusing to get up on the bus is for us to
realize how easy it is to stand for some
thing or in her case to sit for something,”
he said.
Parks’ refusal to move from her seat on
a segregated bus sparked the civil rights
movement and continues to inspire today.
“It was a simple act, but it was a bold
SEE VIGIL, PAGE 4
of the 19605, Malone says.
“It began with Motown,” says
senior Charles Clemons, president
of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity Inc.
He says people began mimicking
groups such as the Four Tops and
the Temptations.
“It comes out of African-
American performance traditions
such as dance, music and song,”
Malone says. “This chanting, this
call and response, it’s a coming
together of all of those things.”
Despite a wide variety of influ
ences, stepping was not a solid
SEE STEPPING, PAGE 4
| MUNICIPAL Friday: How
'A ELECTIONS candidates plan
2005 to improve
Issue Spotlight housing costs for
ECO-FRIENDLY a growing number
TRANSIT of area workers
Now, candidates for the Chapel
Hill Town Council and the Carrboro
Board of Aldermen are looking to
follow in those footsteps, throwing
in a few moves of their own.
Chapel Hill incumbent Ed
Harrison has a suggestion for the
future: bus rapid transit, an express
service that runs on a fixed path.
Compared to light-rail transit,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2005
Church
divided
about gay
ministers
N.C. Methodists vary
in reaction to decision
BY KRISTEN POPE
STAFF WRITER
With the United Methodist Church con
fronting the issue of gay ministers, North
Carolina congregations are coping with the
challenge of ministering to a divided pew.
The church’s national-level judicial coun
cil ruled Monday that Beth Stroud, a lesbian,
cannot continue as a Methodist minister.
Stroud ignited controversy in 2003 when
she told her Philadelphia congregation of a
relationship with her female partner.
The council decision was based on the
church’s law that practicing homosexuals
may not hold a ministry position.
“It is based on the statement that we see the
practice of homosexuality as incompatible with
Christian teachings,” said Ned Hill, superinten
dent of the church’s Raleigh district.
“Therefore, to ordain and put a person
in places of leadership when they have a
lifestyle that is incompatible with Christian
teaching doesn’t make sense.”
But the church does distinguish between
allowing homosexuals in the ministry and
allowing them in the congregation.
“We acknowledge and celebrate those per
sons in the life of our congregation, but at
this point they would not be eligible to be in
a place of ordained ministry,” Hill said.
He said the church believes homosexu
als are persons of sacred worth, even if the
church does not condone their behavior.
Across the state, each congregation differs
on its level of acceptance of homosexuals.
Some UMC pastors and members might
disagree with the Church’s stance on homo
sexuality, Hill said.
Laurie Coffman, pastor of Calvary United
Methodist Church in Durham, is among the
dissenters.
“I am appalled that we would do the
things we’ve done the last few days,” she said.
“I think it’s very regretful and divisive.”
Her congregation does not support
SEE METHODISTS, PAGE 4
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DTH/BETH ELY
University students (from back left to front) Theresa Nicholas, Moneika
Owens, Loreal Neal and Kareemah Lewis practice a step dance routine.
such buses would be more cost
efficient and also flexible enough to
reach residential areas more readily,
Harrison said. •
It also could be as rapid as its
name.“( The buses) might go from
Carolina North to main campus
with no stops,” he said.
Meanwhile, the town could work
on making some places more bike
friendly. “The larger (state) roads
are kind of a tight fit for a bicyclist,”
said Harrison, an avid cyclist.
Council candidate Jason Baker
said more money should go into
sidewalks, which deteriorate notice
ably moving out of the downtown
sports i page 11
SHELL-SHOCKED
The No. 3 Tar Heels defeat
Maryland with a flurry of three
goals in the first 10 minutes.
They look to take revenge
against Duke on Friday.
corridor into surrounding neigh
borhoods.
Baker also supports the fare-free
Chapel Hill Transit bus system but
has suggestions for improving it.
First, Baker said, buses should
come more frequently in order
to lessen riders’ dependence on a
schedule. And weeknight and week
end service could be expanded to
10 p.m. or 11 p.m. in student-dense
areas, he added.
Baker also thinks that more
buses would prevent overcrowding
and that long-term costs could be
SEE PLANS, PAGE 4
weather
Sunny
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index
police log 2
calendar 2
crossword 9
sports • 11
edit 12