VOLUME 115, ISSUE 121
Misdemeanor raises questions
Professor has arrest warrant in Ala.
BY KATIE HOFFMANN
SENIOR WRITER
A UNC professor has a warrant
out for his arrest in Shelby County,
Ala., prompting questions about
the University’s policy for faculty
background checks.
Hoy Adair, an adjunct assistant
professor of finance at Kenan-
Flagler Business School, is on the
WISH UPON A TREE
Students pledge
gifts to children
BY MATTHEW PRICE
STAFF WRITER
Sophomore Anika Fisher is
getting into the holiday spirit
by giving her favorite childhood
board game to a child in need.
Fisher picked up a Wishing Hee
ornament labeled “board game”
Wednesday, and now she plans to
give someone the childhood classic
Chutes and Ladders.
Each ornament on the tree
suggests a different gift to be
given to a child who otherwise
might not get a present this holi
day season.
The Carolina Wishing Tree
Foundation has donated toys
and other wish-list items to local'
partners since 2003.
“I remember how exciting it
was to open something cool on
Christmas morning,” Fisher said.
“When you take the time to do
this, it puts you in the spirit of
giving.”
While several campus groups
are hosting fundraising drives to
support charities during the holi
day season this year, other groups,
such as the senior class marshals,
are getting in on the gift giving.
The senior class donated to
Operation Christmas Child, a
project of the international char
ity Samaritan’s Purse, that sends
wrapped gift boxes to children
around the world.
“It’s the first time we’ve
done something like Operation
Christmas Child that I know of”
Service Chairwoman Lindsay
Mirchin said. “We’re normally
working on the Habitat house,
but this year we’re making such
good progress that we had more
flexibility.”
Mirchin said working with a
large, established charity allowed
the project to begin late in the
Fire destroys apartment building
BY SARA GREGORY
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Afire ripped through a Carrboro
apartment Wednesday, destroying
one building and injuring three
emergency personnel.
Carrboro Fire-Rescue was
dispatched to a structural fire at
Ashbrook Apartments on Jones
Ferry Road about 6:30 p.m.
The fire orig
inated in the J
building and
was contained
within about an
hour. All resi
dents have been
accounted for
and none were
ONLINE
See a photo
slideshow and a
video from the
fire at dailytar
heel.com.
injured in the fire, Carrboro Fire-
Rescue Capt. Kent Squires said.
Three emergency respond
ers suffered minor injuries. The
names of the responders were not
available Wednesday night.
The three-story building
contained 15 units. Firefighters
online
GOLDEN TICKET
American Airlines student
representatives have placed 250
golden envelopes around campus,
with one containing a free round
trip ticket for a lucky student.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Sltr Daily 3ar lUrrl
most wanted list in Shelby County
for domestic violence in the third
degree, according to police.
“This involves a nonviolent dis
pute with my ex-wife,” Adair said in
an e-mailed statement. “I was not
aware of this posting until recently.”
The warrant is not extraditable,
which means the UNC police do
not need to take Adair into custody,
■ mm 1
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DTHALUE MULLIN
Anika Fisher selects a gift from the Wishing Tree, a service project for students to buy gifts for children in need, sponsored by Alpha Kappa
Alpha sorority and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. "I picked board games. I love Chutes and Ladders, so I might buy that," Fisher said.
year.
The marshals contacted Greek
organizations and other groups
to create shoe boxes of presents.
Mirchin said about 10 different
groups donated several boxes on
the Nov. 14 collection day.
“This time of year, everyone
is really busy” Mirchin said. “But
when you give a gift that you had
to go to the store and pick out, giv
ing becomes more personalized.”
A presence at UNC for the past
“Damage ranges
from minor damage
on some apartments
to major damage on
others ”
KENT SQUIRES, FIRE-RESCUE CAPTAIN
found heavy fire when they
arrived, with flames reaching
above the trees.
“They had fire throughout the
roof area,” Squires said. “They
started pulling lines, making ini
tial attacks. They made very good
headway on the fire.”
The building’s structure is sta
ble enough to allow firefighters in
the building, but it is not livable.
An investigation into the cause of
the fire will begin today.
“Damage ranges from minor
SEE FIRE, PACE 11
arts I page 11
DEF JAM SPEAKER
Spoken-word artist Dana
Gilmore, who has appeared
on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, will
perform at 7 p.m. today in the
Student Union Cabaret.
www.dailytaiheel.com
said Jeff McCracken, chief of UNC
Department of Public Safety, after
he talked to Shelby County police.
“Essentially, if he is back in the
area that the warrant was issued,
it would be served on him,” he said,
adding that he does not think Adair
poses a threat to the campus.
The University implemented a
policy July 1 to perform criminal
conviction checks on all newly hired
faculty, but it will not perform checks
on current faculty members.
four years,
Carolina
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INSIDE
Local charities
take up several
causes for the
, ...
holiday season.
PAGE 11
staffing a booth in the Pit.
“When people see the Wishing
Tree, they know that Christmas is
on the way,” said LaToya Evans,
co-president of the Carolina
DTH/ALUE MULLIN
A three-story, 15-unit apartment building in Ashbrook Apartments on
Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro caught fire Wednesday night.'
■hßlxl
background
University officials said conduct
ing checks on previously hired fac
ulty members would be intrusive.
“You’ve already got a lot of folks
Wishing Tree and a member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Gifts on the tree range from
mechanical pencils to Easy-Bake
Ovens.
In years past, Evans said the
group has donated more than
$2,000 worth of gifts to local
partners, such as the Hargraves
Community Center.
This year’s tree will sit in the
Pit for four days, compared to the
two weeks of previous years.
diversions | page 5
JOCK JAMZ
Get a sampling of what tunes
some members of the No. 1 UNC
men's basketball team are listening
to when they warm up to take on
opposing teams.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007
who’ve been here for a long time and
are presumably doing a good job,”
Executive Associate Provost Steve
Allred said. “Why would you make
them go through a process that said
Yes, 25 years ago I had a DUI?”’
Some students said they were
concerned about the lack of back
ground checks for existing faculty
members.
“If they’re going to start check
ing new faculty, the first thing that
should be done is make sure that the
The tree was supposed to be
in the Pit for a full week, but
Monday’s drizzly weather delayed
the group’s start.
“We’re not trying to donate
a million dollars,” Evans said,
regarding the group’s shortened
time. “We’re trying to give the
best we can —and people are
always inspired to give.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
Article criticizes
schools’ air travel
Travel harmful to
the environment
BY JACKI HUNTINGTON
STAFF WRITER
Despite the commitment of
many in academia to environmen
tal sustainability, the amount of air
travel that most schools engage in
isn’t consistent with that mission,
according to a recently published
article on the Inside Higher Ed
Web site.
Colleges and universities were
criticized this week for their exces
sive indulgence in air travel by
article authors Nikki Keddie and
Joyce Appleby, professors emeri
tus of history at the University of
Califomia-Los Angeles.
“I was struck by the level of con
tribution of travel to global warm
this day in history
NOV. 29,1979...
Morrison Dance Marathon is
shortened from 12 hours to eight
because of an N.C. statute prohibit
ing marathons and walkathons that
last more than eight hours.
people we have now are good,” fresh
man Elizabeth Stephens said.
UNC also does not require fac
ulty members to disclose criminal
convictions while employed at the
University.
Allred said if a professor’s convic
tion comes to light while employed
at UNC, it is dealt with on a case-by
case basis, looking particularly at the
nature and time of the crime.
SEE WARRANT, PAGE 11
Peace
plan
sparks
talk
Speech to address
Middle East peace
BY REBECCA PUTTERMAN
STAFF WRITER
When third-generation
Holocaust survivor Shai Tamari
joined the Israeli military in 1994,
he believed that the Jews had a right
to control the land of Israel and that
the Palestinians had none.
Tamari’s once-nationalist views
are at the heart of the debate about
who should live in the holy land of
Israel, but bis ideas changed when
he studied the other side’s history.
Now a rotary world peace scholar
and a history graduate student at
UNC, Tamari touts a two-state solu
tion that he says should respect the
history of suffering in both groups.
Tamari will lecture on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict tonight, after
two days in which the world had its
attention fixed on the subject
President Bush met with the
prime minister of Israel and
the president of the Palestinian
Authority, along with other Arab
dignitaries, on Tuesday and
Wednesday in Annapolis, Md., to
hash out a plan for peace negotia
tions during the next year.
SEE PEACE, PAGE 11
ing... (and) the feeling that there
are simply too many conferences
and talks,” Keddie said.
The authors cited frequent
conference-going and recruit
ment travel as key environmental
offenses of otherwise sustainabil
ity-conscious institutions.
For example, as the search
committee for Chancellor James
Moeser’s replacement intensifies,
nominees will fly to Chapel Hill to
meet with committee members.
Nelson Schwab, committee
chairman, justified the environ
mental impact of the search with
its importance to the University.
“We’ve got to find the right
candidate, and I’m not letting
anything get in the way of that ”
Schwab said. He added that the
process is a rare occurrence, hap-
SEE TRAVEL, PAGE 11
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