(ftp Satig (Ear Hppl Public schools go virtual, create learning options BY CAROLINE MOAKLEY STAFF WRITER Public education in North Carolina is now just a click away. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue offi cially launched last month the N.C. Virtual Public School, a pro gram that makes a variety of online courses available to students. “North Carolina’s economic suc cess for tomorrow is about what’s happening in our classrooms today,” she stated in an e-mail. “In order to compete in the global economy, kids need to learn in the classroom and online.” Perdue said online education is essential in providing equal oppor tunities statewide. “This is another step to ensure students have access to high quality courses and learning regardless of their ZIP code.” During the summer, a pilot pro gram for the state’s online initiative offered Advanced Placement exam reviews through the Internet for high school students. John Boling, interim director National and World News Baath party members may reclaim lost jobs BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, the country’s Shiite dominated government offered a major concession to his Sunni backers that could see thousands of purged Baath party members reinstated in their jobs. With a tight curfew holding down violence after Saddam’s guilty verdict and death sentence, the gov ernment reached out to disaffected Sunnis in hopes of enticing them away from the insurgency, which has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and is respon sible for the vast majority of U.S. casualties. The United States had recently called for the Iraqi government to stop purging members of Saddam’s Baath party from their jobs. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, has balked at U.S. requests to set up an amnesty for insurgents. Pump prices drop again WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - The price of gasoline fell to its low est level in more than 10 months. The federal Energy Information Administration said Monday that U.S. motor ists paid $2.20 a gallon on aver age for regular grade last week, a decrease of 1.8 cents from the previous week. Pump prices are now 17.6 cents lower than a year ago and have plummeted by more than 80 cents a gallon since the start of August. The last time prices were below $2.20, on average, was the week ending Dec. 26,2005. The Not So Private Life of Allen Ginsberg ~==£r jfi I '" v 1 \ 1 \ I S _ jjjjl A talk by Bill Morgan Ginsberg archivist and bibliographer *i Wednesday, November 8 5:00 p.m. - Reception 5:45 p.m. - Talk, followed by Louis Round Wilson Library UNC- Chapel Hill ||.v; ' “ * ’ ' Free and open to the public For information: 919.962.4207 or liza_tcrll(®unc.edt - ” ■■■HnfflPHwUnraHnHßHli of the virtual school, said almost 8,500 students took advantage of the online review within a period of three weeks. The recently enacted virtual school is attracting similar enrollment. “This fall we have roughly 5,000 high school students around the state taking courses online,” Boling said. “And we anticipate that num ber to grow.” All courses offered by the virtual school will be taught by a state-cer tified teacher. “We know that not all one size fits all in education,” Boling said. “Students who have a need to take a course that otherwise they can’t take at their local high school will have interest in the program, stu dents who work will have interest, students with special needs.” He said the program also could help link Spanish-speaking stu dents struggling with chemistry, for example, with a Spanish-speaking chemistry teacher in another part of the state. Power shift possible in midterm elections WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - On the eve of mid term elections, Democrats criticized Republicans as stewards of a stale status quo while President Bush campaigned into the evening in a drive to preserve GOP control in Congress. “They can’t run anything right,” said former President Clinton, taunting Republicans about the war in Iraq, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the scandal involving the House page program that com plicated GOP efforts to win two more years in power. Some late polls suggested momentum was swinging the Republicans’ way, and Ken Mehlman, the party chairman, told allies the surveys summoned memories 0f1998, when the GOP lost seats but held power. Some Republicans signaled privately they expected to lose more than 15 seats and control of the House. No loitering in this school SHALLOTTE (AP) - Students who need to use the restroom at West Brunswick High School can’t go alone. They have to be escorted by school administrators. It’s been that way since early October, when hall passes were revoked after trash cans were set on fire and fire alarms were pulled. Some students complain of being treated like preschoolers, but principal Jim Jordan is more concerned with safety. “It’s sort of a life lesson we’re trying to teach kids,” Jordan said. “It takes all of us together to be a good school.” The N.C. General Assembly has guaranteed $2.6 million in annual fiinds for the virtual school. The budget this year includes about $200,000 extra for the program. The virtual school will not be lim ited to high school students, either. “They want to have a plan estab lished for middle and elementary schpols by mid-next year,” said Tim Crowley, Perdue’s spokesman. He added that the General Assembly has appropriated $6 mil lion to upgrade broadband Internet technology in schools. Similar programs have enjoyed success in other states. Florida has been operating a virtual online school since 1997- The new school is working with the providers to evaluate their course offerings, and Boling said an important goal is providing quality education. “The new definition of literacy is who can learn online.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. Cuba leader recovering HAVANA (AP) - Cuba’s foreign minister backed away Monday from his prediction that Fidel Castro will return to power by early December, leaving open questions about the pace of the communist leader’s recovery from intestinal surgery. Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press that Castro’s recovery was “advancing,” but declined to guarantee that Castro would be well enough to attend the postponed celebration of his 80th birthday on Dec. 2. “It’s a subject on which I don’t want to speculate,” he said. Experience Refreshing Fitness at O^FITNESS "No Commitment Student Memberships!" 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Just ask one of the 144 athletes at JMU whose program was cut because of Title IX regulations earlier this fall. “I can’t say that there’s one stu dent who’s happy with this,” said JMU Student Body President Brandon Eickel. Eickel said he and other JMU students view the program cuts as the last straw in Title IX. “This must come to an end,” he said. “If this thing keeps up and continues to take teams and ath letes away, then I’m not sure where we’re headed.” The program cuts, which affect ed seven men’s varsity teams and three women’s varsity teams, will Group offers pedestrian solutions Requests overpass on Fordham Blvd. BY JESSICA SCHONBERG CITY EDITOR Last January, UNC professor David Galinsky was struck and killed by a car while walking to a basketball game at the Smith Center. Galinsky was one of five pedes trian deaths in Chapel Hill in the span of about a month. A work group, formed in February to make sure no one else is hurt on the road where Galinsky died, took its recommendations to the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday night. Its chief recommendation was construction of an overpass that would cross Fordham Boulevard somewhere between Manning Drive and Old Mason Farm Road. “This is the treatment that the group desperately wants out there,” said Joe Hummer, a professor of civil engineering transportation systems and materials at N.C. State University who helped the group draft its recommendations. The stretch ofFordham Boulevard studied has two lanes running in each direction with at least two turn lanes at the intersections. UNC’s main campus, the Smith Center, student housing and UNC Hospitals are on one side of the road, while Finley Golf Course, the N.C. Botanical Gardens, several neighborhoods and sports practice fields are on the other. Nancy Tripoli, a member of the group, said it does not make sense to have a state road disconnecting TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2006 go into effect July 1 of next year. Andy Perrine, JMU spokes man, said that the administration was not happy about the deci sion, but that as the university’s enrollment shifted to include more female students, the school needed a correlating percentage of female athletes. Adding more women’s programs was not a financial option with the school already boasting 28 varsity sports team, Perrine said. “We were so far out of compli ance that we would have had to add over 220 women athletes,” he said. “It was a tough decision, and some times those have to be made.” Still, other universities initially out of compliance with Title IX have avoided cutting programs. Paul Plinske, athletic director at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater said the administra tion focused on adding oppor tunities rather than decreasing them. “We looked at it more as ros ter adjustments more than roster cuts,” he said. The university has added 50 participation opportunities for a state university from all of those other things. “You’ve seen side one. You’ve seen side two,” she said. “The only way to connect those two is either by car or by peril.” Tripoli said that the bridge would help increase connectivity with the town and that it could be an icon for the University. She suggested inscribing UNC- Chapel Hill on the side and writing about it in promotional literature. The bridge would be a signifi cant financial undertaking, but the group also recommended some cheaper solutions. Marked crosswalks with push button countdowns could be installed at each intersection. The group also asked that police direct traffic at the intersection of Manning Drive during basketball games and all other Smith Center events. The N.C. Highway Patrol already directs traffic during foot- 250 DRAFTS ARE BACK!!! —. „/ Deep End Every Tuesday b Saturday Ni^ht OPEN NIGHTLY 8-CLOSE ■ 201 E. Franklin Street r Chapel Hill NC 27514 *> 929.0024 women since 2005 and decreased 20 opportunities for men, without having to cut any programs. “We are adamantly opposed to decreasing sports programs on our campus,” he said. Plinske added this stance is not limited to the athletic department, but it is one embraced by the entire administration. Rally attendees said the JMU scenario exemplifies the outdated nature of Title IX. Allison Kasic, director of cam pus programs for the Independent Women’s Forum and a speaker at Thursday’s rally, said the problem is how Title IX has been interpret ed since its inception. “It was obviously done at a time when women faced a lot of dis crimination, not just in athletics,” she said. “The truth of the matter is that women have made tremen dous strides since 1972.” Kasic said Title IX takes away more than it provides, injuring the entire university population as well as the community. “It doesn’t benefit men. It doesn’t benefit women,” she said. “We want it to be fair to both sexes.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. ball games. The work group asked that the University be required to study and fund its suggestions if proposed developments on South Campus are approved. After listening to the group’s suggestions, the council referred the proposal to town staff for con sideration. Council member Jim Ward, who worked with the group, encour aged other council members to consider all of their options. “It’s not a wish list,” he said. “It’s really a reasonable list of inexpen sive easy-to-do-within-six-months sort of things.” Ward also asked council mem bers not to discount the idea for the bridge. “I think we just selves be limited by wIMMIMMMI are insurmountable obstacles,” he said. “They don’t have to be that vyay.” Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. 11