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VOLUME 114, ISSUE 131 Election season officially opens BY GREG MARGOLIS STAFF WRITER Student government elections are tak ing center stage on campus, with Tuesday’s mandatory candidates’ meeting signaling the start of official campaigning. More than 30 hope fuls came to a meeting in Wilson Library to declare officially their A STUDENT 2007 intent to run in the Feb. 13 elections. Four candidates entered the race for stu dent body president: juniors Eve Carson, Teacher honored for grace under fire BY SARA GREGORY ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR DURHAM Lisa Kukla said she had the barrel of a shotgun in her face before she really under stood the lull power of guns. “We see guns everyday and don’t understand,” the East Chapel Hill High School teacher said. “The power of a gun is amazing. Frankly it makes me so angry that anything can be so powerfiil.” The shotgun pointed at Kukla on April 24 was held by William Barrett Foster, then a student at East who took Kukla and Chelsea Slegal, another student, hostage after school. Kukla and Slegal were even tually able to talk to Foster, and they convinced him to shoot out a window instead of killing them. Hiesday night Kukla was pre sented with the Citizen of the Year Award for her remarkable bravery and skill in negotiating with a dis traught, armed student. The award is given each year by the North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Education Fund. Kukla received the honor at the group’s annual membership meet ing at the TterrySanlbrdflnstitute of Public Policy atThike University. The gwrtfp, formed in 1993, educates people in the Triangle about gun violence prevention and works to get new, tougher gun laws passed. “The ultimate goal is to prevent all gun violence,” said Lisa Price, executive director of NCGV. “Short of that we want to reduce the number of people injured and killed by guns.” Price said stricter laws and enforcement was needed to keep guns out of the hands of students. “We have to take a long view of Campus dining debt spurs changes BY ANDREW DUNN ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR Like it or not, dining on campus is big business. Each year Carolina Dining Services brings in more than $lB million the majority coming from students’ pockets from meal plans and Lenoir Mainstreet sales. And while student opinion drives many of the department’s decisions, nothing trumps the bottom line. Mike Freeman, direc tor of Auxiliary Services, said dining services operates on a tight budget. “We become the constant INSIDE Carolina Dining Services targets students with new options. PAGE 5 entrepreneur.” The department must pay for all overhead costs and renova tions itself, with the only external support coming from $l.B million from a $37 per semester student fee. With almost S2O million in expenditures in fiscal year 2006, officials are pursuing changes to fill the gaps. The University is the only announcement WRITE. EDIT. DESIGN. Interested in working for the award-winning Daily Tar Heel? Stop by our interest meeting 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Union 3413 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 3lir lath} ®ar Brel Jon Kite, Nick Neptune and Caroline Spencer —one fewer than showed up at an optional December meeting. Three pairs declared their intent to run for senior class president and vice president: Sade Carter and Beth Hopkins; Emerson Baylor Evans and Janel Joyner; and Veronica Mora and Ashley Marie Shores. Kareemah Lewis plans to run without a vice presidential candidate, although the Board of Elections is looking into the legal ity of her intent. According to the Student Code, “candidates for senior class president and vice president shall run on the same 'vs:: - ■ - North Carolinians Against Gun Violence 'cation Jund V 4 1 III I II DTH/MAGGIE SARTIN East Chapel Hill High School teacher Lisa Kukla gives a speech after being presented with the 2006 Citizen of the Year award from North Carolinians Against Gun Violence on Tuesday at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. Kukla was held at gunpoint by a student in April. the situation.” Price said the United States has easier access to more guns than other industrialized nations. “We can talk until we’re blue in the face about the dangers of guns and it doesn’t change things very much.” Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center and Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, gave the keynote address at Tuesday's meet school in the UNC system that does not require meal plans for any segment of the student popu lation, which poses the biggest challenge. “If we don’t perform well, stu dents won’t buy” Freeman said. Aramark, an international food and hospitality company, governs most of what happens in die din ing halls. The company signed a contract to provide food services to the University in 2001, making UNC one of about 600 schools employing Aramark, according to spokeswoman Julie Camardo. As described by UNC Aramark representative Fred Bissinger, the University gives Aramark a specif ic budget with which to purchase food and hire workers. The University reimburses the company monthly for their expens es. Aramark makes profit by spend ing less than the budgeted amount, up to 2 percent of the total But though Aramark usu ally beats budget, the company also must pay the University a $500,000 annual space fee. This sum severely cuts into Aramark’s profits. Freeman said in the sixth year of the 10-year contract, Aramark inside A CLEAN SLATE? Expunging your criminal record can be tricky, PAGE 6 READING'S FUN Carrboro Elementary School hosts a literacy night PAGE 11 MAKING A SPLASH UNC's swim team and gymnastics team compete, PAGE 15 www.dailytarheel.com ticket as a single entity.” Juniors Colby Almond and Marcus Carpenter entered the race for Carolina Athletic Association president. Junior Brian Sugg is the sole candidate for Residence Hall Association president. The first step is for candidates to obtain the required signatures to get their names on the ballot. All signatures are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday to the elections board. The student body president race is the headline race for the election, and Jim SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 13 ing and said anti-violence groups must reframe the debate. “We need to wake up those who have been in the dark about what we’re trying to do,” he said. “And we need to take back the initiative from those on the other side of this issue.” Since the shooting, Kukla, other teachers and parents at East have worked to improve school safety. Kukla will present a 14-item Campus dining fails on hard times The University has tost nearly a million dollars through dining in the last six years. These figures indude a $500,000 rent fee from Aramark Corporation. . 'O7 ( o< October 2006) -58,984 05 rO4 ■os _j —i— a —i—i—— ii i •500,000 J -300,C00 -100,000 | 100,000 300,000 SOURCE: CAROLINA DINING SERVICES DIH/LAWSON PARKER had made less than SIOO,OOO total profit. Bissinger, resident district man ager for dining services, was sent to Chapel Hill in July 2006 to try and solve the financial woes. He said he has been with the company for 18 years and that his focus is singular. “Food service is a simple busi ness,” he said. “All you have to do is satisfy the customer.” Dining today During the past six years, dining KjftrX j§ list of goals for the school and the district to address, including fixing doors so they lock properly and adding more surveillance cameras. So far 85 teachers have signed in support of the goals. “They are a variety of things that other schools locally are already doing,” Kukla said. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board Chairwoman Jamezetta Bedford attended the services has lost about $1 million. Though the department is not try ing to make a profit, dining cannot accept losses for long. “I’m living on a dime right now, but I do have the money to pay,” Freeman said. To try to reverse these effects, several changes were instituted recently. Meal plans, which had been a semester-by-semester deal, now require a year-long commitment. The price per meal also rose, SEE DINING, PAGE 13 arts I page 14 WORDS FOR THE WISE A poetry reading in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center is part of a full week of events on campus honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Important election dates Tuesday Candidates must turn in petitions with the necessary number of signatures. Jan. 25 After checking signatures, the Board of Elections will post a list of certified candidates. Jan. 30 Candidates can begin to use campaign materials. Feb. 13 Election Day meeting and said the East shoot ing forced the district to re-exam ine its safety procedures. “We have plans for during the school day, but it really showed us we need to increase security after school,” she said. “We don’t want a fortress, but we need to make it safe.” Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. Media coverage may curb reports of rape BY ALLISON NICHOLS ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR As details, timelines, stories, evidence, charges and people involved have changed during the course of the Duke University lacrosse rape investigation, one thing has remained constant: extensive public attention and media coverage of the case. Experts who work closely with survivors of sexual assault expressed concerns that how high-profile rape cases are por trayed could have negative effects for the many women who have experienced sexual violence. Without commenting specifi cally about the ongoing investiga tion in Durham, Margaret Barrett, executive director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, said the facts in a criminal case are best evaluated through the legal process, not through die media. “I’m concerned that there will be a chilling effect any time there is a high-profile sexual assault case that seems to focus on the profile of the accused person,” she said. Sensitivity regarding reporting of sexual violence is particularly this day in history JAN. 17,1951 ... UNC hosts a delegation from the N.C. General Assembly. After dinner, congressmen and UNC officials watch "The Star of Bethlehem" at Morehead Planetarium. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2007 NCCU recalls slain woman Students remain unnerved by death BY ARIEL ZIRULNICK STAFF WRITER DURHAM Faculty, staff and students gathered Tuesday for a memorial honoring Denita Smith, a N.C. Central University graduate student killed earlier this month. Smith, 25, was shot in her apart ment complex Jan. 4. Shannon Crawley, a former 911 dispatcher, was charged with the murder. The memorial service was held in the B.N. Duke Auditorium on the N.C. Central campus. Speakers praised her positive attitude and campus involvement. A slide show was played of Smith’s work as a photographer for the Campus Echo, N.C. Central s student newspaper. “She was a true photographer. She never gave up,” said Romy Camille, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, in his speech. Camille announced that the Campus Echo staff soon will rename the newsroom in Smith’s honor. Smith was pursuing a master’s degree in English and would have graduated in May. Michele Ware, professor of English at N.C. Central, said the loss will be felt. “Denita was always smiling. She was always cheerful,” Ware said. “We feel robbed.” Many students expressed bewil derment at the murder because of Smith’s kind nature. “Because of who she was, it was a shock,” said Venus Boston, an under graduate classmate. “I wondered who could do such a thing to such a nice person.” The university community was horrified when it heard she was dead, Ware said. “When we heard she was mur dered, it was even worse.” SEE MEMORIAL, PAGE 13 important because so few survivors choose to come forward at all. Sabrina Garcia, a crisis coun selor with the Chapel Hill Police Department, trains teams of offi cers on how to respond to sexual violence. She cautioned against jumping to conclusions. “Any time that you have cases that make it to the forefront and people are getting bits and pieces of information... it lends itself to speculation, to feeding bias and myth and stereotype.” Garcia, whose job involves “helping officers get out of the cookie-cutter belief that all vic tims should react a certain way,” said some law enforcement agencies operate on the belief that if victims delay even a day in reporting an assault, they are trying to construct an agenda. “That always isn’t the case.” Rape trauma syndrome, an emotional response to the extreme stress of a sexual assault, can impact when and how vic tims choose to come forward, Barrett said, and discrepancies SEE VIOLENCE, PAGE 13 weather Sunny H 45, L 25 index police log 2 calendar 2 games 14 sports 17 opinion 18
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Jan. 17, 2007, edition 1
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