VOLUME 115, ISSUE 36
AN ANALYSIS OF CHANCELLOR JAMES MOESER'S PERFORMANCE DURING HIS SEVEN YEARS IN OFFICE AND HIS RETIREMENT PLANS
*■_ Moeser takes stock of UNC career
BY SHARI FELD
SENIOR WRITER
As James Moeser wraps up his
seventh year as chancellor, many
of his initiatives are well on their
way or close to wrapping up, lead
ing to speculation of his impend
ing retirement.
Other signs are there.
Chancellors on average retire in
fewer than seven years.
The last UNC chancellor to
announce his retirement was Paul
Hardin, whose seven-year reign
lasted until 1995.
Hardin retired at the suc
cessful end of the Bicentennial
Campaign, his fundraising initia
tive. Moeser’s major fundraising
initiative, Carolina First, will end
in December.
Moeser was inducted this year
into the Order of the Golden Fleece
an honor often bestowed on stu
dents or faculty near the comple
tion of their time at UNC.
And unlike the beginning of
the year, when he told The Daily
Tar Heel that he never thought
about retiring, Moeser now said
he occasionally contemplates the
idea.
“I don’t have a timetable, but
I do think about it from time to
tune,” he said.
But he made sure to reiterate that
it’s not going to happen this year.
When that yet-to-be-deter
mined time does come for Moeser,
he said he will stay involved in the
campus community.
“I have no interest in coming to
a point of rest,” he said.
Doors open
for athletes
seeking entry
BY SHARI FELD, PAUL
KIERNAN AND LAURA LEVIN
SPECIAL TO THE DTH
It wasn’t that Amelia Black was
ashamed to be on the track team.
But at times, the sophomore tried
to avoid
revealing
her identity
as an ath
lete to pro
fessors for
The state of JHglw?
athletics: r/\ >.
Parti of4
worry of being labeled unfairly.
“If I got to a teacher’s office
hours, even though I might have
practice right after class, I might
not want to go in my track clothes,”
said Black, a former member of the
track team who came to UNC on
an academic scholarship.
“They think you’re going to
come expecting a handout,” she
said.
Black is one of many student
athletes at the University who say
they face an uphill battle in con
vincing others that they deserved
their admission tickets and can
succeed academically at UNC.
“If you’re an athlete, you have
to bear the burden of that one
athlete or those few athletes that
bring down the curve,” Black said.
‘There are students everywhere
that bring down the curve. It’s easy
to target us.”
But there are large numerical
discrepancies between student
athletes and the whole undergrad
uate student body with regards to
average SAT score, high-school
grade point average and high
school class rank, according to the
admissions office.
The Knight Commission on
Intercollegiate Athletics argues
that nationally, universities
should close that gap by raising
their academic standards when
CORRECTION
Due to a reporting error,
the Thursday front-page story,
“Universities mull privacy,”
incorrectly attributed quotes
to Michael Jorge. The quotes
were spoken by David McCord,
department head of psychology
at Western Carolina University.
The Daily Ihr Heel apologizes
for the error.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
01Satlg oar Mttl
Moeser's top achievements
Moeser has met success in mak
ing an education at UNC more
attainable, in fundraising and in
making the University a more
diverse, global arena.
The establishment and growth
of Carolina Covenant is one of
Moeser’s proudest moments. The
initiative has more than doubled in
size since its inception three years
ago to allow about 345 students
from historically low-income fam
ilies to attend UNC and graduate
debt-free.
“It is right where we want it to
be,” Moeser said.
He defers most of the credit for
the program’s success to Shirley
Ort, associate provost and director
of scholarships and student aid.
“It was the gleam in her eye,”
Moeser said.
But Ort said her boss’s consis
tent advocacy and national public
ity efforts have laid a solid founda
tion for the program and ensured
its continued eminence.
“I think the Covenant will go
on regardless of who’s chancellor,”
Ort said. “The community owns it.
Because it’s such a part of our core
values, I think the Covenant will
endure for generations to follow.”
The long-term impact of
Carolina Covenant, Moeser said,
is that more students from low
income families see a UNC edu
cation as a realistic goal and then
actually apply to the University.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
magazine has ranked UNC No.
Student-athletes
aren't always up to
par when If comes
to academics
Pending faculty approval, UNC
annually admits up to 160 special
recommendation athletes, who
make up part of the more than
800 student-athletes on campus.
General student body:
Admitted: 6,734
Average SAT Score: 1,333
Average Class Rank: 24
Average GPA: 4.438
Spedehrecommendatlon
athletes:
Admitted: 153
Average SAT Score: 1,078
Average Class Rank: 124
Average GPA: 3.412
admitting student-athletes. UNC
officials contend that the Office
of Undergraduate Admissions
employs fair practices when
admitting students even those
in special categories such as ath
letics.
Steve Farmer, director of
undergraduate admissions, said
the Department of Athletics is
allowed to recommend up to
140 potential student-athletes
for admission each year —a
number approved by the Faculty
Council. The department decides
how many spots will go to each
team.
In 2006, athletic recruits
accepted through these spe
cial recommendations averaged
an SAT score of 1,078. Overall
the 6,734 students admitted to
SEE ADMISSIONS, PAGE 5
online I dailytarheel.com
BANDING TOGETHER An initiative
uses orange bands to spark discussion
SEEKING THEIR DUES A bill would give
Lumbees national recognition as a tribe
IN YOUR BACKYARD A conference
shows that sex trafficking is a local issue
www.dailytarhael.Gom
j| of 1
1 s
DTH/LAUREN COWART
Chancellor James Moeser talks with the Board of Visitors at a question-and-answer session on April 13 at the Carolina Inn. Though he's in his seventh year
and has wrapped up several key projects including meeting the Carolina First fundraising goal, Moeser said he thinks about retirement but isn't ready yet.
1 for five consecutive surveys for
offering the best value among the
best 100 public American univer
sities.
The average graduate from a
public university borrows $17,000
to pay for college, but the average
UNC graduate borrows less than
$11,750, despite steady tuition
increases.
Religious leaders defer in healing
Few mention Va. Tech
during Sunday sermons
BY ALLISON NICHOLS
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
The Rev. Ruth Stevens, whose son gradu
ated from Virginia Tech in 2004, was one of
few ministers of Franklin Street churches
to address in a sermon Sunday the deadliest
shooting in U.S. history.
“The most vulnerable
were not the 32 students
who were shot,” she said
at University United
Methodist Church, link
ing the week’s events to
Christian teachings. “The
most vulnerable was the
one who did the shooting.”
The Aftermath
Stevens said some of her parishioners have
felt out of step with society at large because
they feel empathy for Seung-Hui Cho, the Va.
Tech senior who shot 32 others before killing
himself, in addition to their compassion for his
Students wear support on their sleeves
BY AMANDA YOUNGER
STAFF WRITER
Ardent UNC men’s basketball
fans stood aghast at a January
defeat at the hands of Virginia
Tech, cringing
at the sight of
any reminder of
their Virginian
foes.
But for one
day, students
traded their
INSIDE
Early in her
term, Eve
Carson is trying
to help Va. Tech
PAGE 4
Tar Heel blue for Hokie maroon
and orange.
“Today we’re all Hokies,” senior
Liz Oden said while donning
Va. Tech colors Friday as part of
National Orange and Maroon
Effect Day.
Organized by the Virginia Tech
Alumni Association, the day was
designed to honor the 32 victims
City | page S
RIGHTING WRONGS
A forum held at Carrboro
Elementary School discusses the
challenges faced by the local
Burmese community and
different ways to address them.
“With significant increases in
tuition, we always hold harm
less need-based aid to students,”
Moeser said.
More than 20 other institutions
have created programs modeled
after Carolina Covenant.
Another of Moeser’s major
accomplishments has been
Carolina First Campaign —a
victims.
She and other area religious leaders said no
one has come to them in the past week for help
coping with the tragedy
“I think the University really counsels itself,”
said Rabbi Ben Packer of the Jewish Experience
Movement of the South, a UNC student orga
nization.
“It’s amazing how the University community
has come together to deal with it communally,
whether it’s religious or in other ways,” he said,
adding that the Va. Tech shootings were a main
topic of conversation at Shabbat meals on the
Sabbath.
Packer said the reactions of students with
whom he’s spoken about the tragedy were nei
ther uniquely religious nor uniquely Jewish.
“Everybody’s hurting from it,” he said.
“Everyone kind of feels the same pain.”
The Rev. Bob Dunham of University
Presbyterian Church said that for people within
any faith tradition, there is an element of basic
personal compassion for the pain of others, as
well as a responsibility to intervene whenever
possible.
He said the most important thing people can
of the April 16 campus shooting
and to provide a sense of commu
nity for those attempting to return
to normalcy after the tragedy.
“It’s one of the littlest things
you can do,” said Whitney Pilson,
a sophomore communications
major.
“I was really proud of our com
munity for binding together.”
Support will continue at noon
today as students across the nation
plan to commemorate the one-week
anniversary of the tragedy with a
moment of silence. Student Body
President Eve Carson is encourag
ing UNC students to gather in the
Pit for a moment of reflection.
Chicago maroon and burnt
orange Va. Tech’s school colors
for more than a century have
SEE SUPPORT, PAGE 5
campus I page 7
CENTER OF THE SOUTH
The University's Center for the
Study of the American South
dedicates its new headquarters,
a historic house on Franklin
Street, in a ceremony Saturday.
major fundraising initiative for the
University that began July 1,1999
and ends Dec. 31,2007. The cam
paign already has reached 104 per
cent of its original $2 billion goal,
which was raised to $2.1 billion.
Carolina First funds faculty and
student support, research, strate
gic initiatives and building the
campus.
do now is to listen to those most affected by the
deaths at Va. Tech.
“It’s too early to talk about forgiveness,” he
said.
Rabbi John Friedman of the Judea Reform
Congregation in Durham said he’s talked to
his congregation about gun control laws and
mental health care in America in the aftermath
of Va. Tech.
“Part of the spiritual reaction that is normal in
human beings is to look for ways to address the
underlying causes or lack of prevention,” he said.
“It helps us spiritually to feel more secure.”
Agape Campus Ministry did not address the
shootings Sunday in its Christian service in the
Student Union, nor have students approached
the organization’s ministers for help dealing
with the week’s events.
“The University as a community has done
such a good job of coping together,” Packer said
by way of explanation. “It’s really been very
helpful with the candlelight vigil, with all the
different Facebook groups.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
OTH/ALLIE MULUN
Sophomore Joseph McCormick said that he wore orange and maroon
on Friday to make sure that UNC is “vocal about what happened."
this day in history
APRIL 23,2001 ...
UNC officials recommend cutting
more than 80 faculty positions as a
way to meet the N.C. legislature's
request to reduce the UNC-system's
budget by about 7 percent
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2007
Research funding has increased
by 72 percent since 1999. The 2006
research budget was $593 million.
Efforts to increase globaliza
tion and diversity continue to
guide major University decisions
and earned Moeser the Reginald
Wilson Diversity Leadership
SEE MOESER, PAGE 5
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