VOLUME 116, ISSUE 12
News takes wide angle at UNC
Carson’s death
draws attention
BY ELISABETH GILBERT
STAff WRITER
To say that the March 5 death
of Student Body President Eve
Carson has captured the attention
of UNC students, employees and
supporters is an understatement.
Carson's story has attracted
notice from local and national
sources, including the media,
religious groups and other uni
versities.
News coverage has been pro
nounced since the initial press
conference announcing the iden
tification of her body March 6.
"In Eve’s case, the reason that
we gave a lot of coverage to her
was pretty simple: She's a promi
nent person," said Linda Williams,
a senior editor at the (Raleigh)
News & Observer. She added that
the newspaper covered the story
as though Carson had been the
mayor of a small town.
Carson’s death has drawn much
more attention than other local stu
dent slayings such as N.C. Central
University student Denita Smith in
Jan. 2007 and Duke University stu
dent Abhijit Mahato in Jan. 2008.
But Carson’s killing also has
attracted protest. The Topeka,
Kansas-based Westboro Baptist
Church has announced plans to
picket Carson’s memorial service,
scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the
Dean Smith Center.
The group has a history of stag
ing protests following high-profile
tragedies, including the shootings
at Virginia Tech and other colleges.
WBC member and daughter
of the church's founder, Rebekah
Phelps-Davis, said the group
believes God punished Carson for
not using her position to denounce
homosexuality.
WBC affiliates requested permis
sion and police protection March
12 for a protest outside the Smith
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UNC gets tough draw in bracket
Williams claims not to envy committee
BY GREGG FOUND
SENIOR WRITER
As his North Carolina team learned
their NCAA Tournament path Sunday,
Roy Williams said he was repeatedly
shocked.
But he tempered that shock with a
dose of relief that he isn’t a member of
the committee that sets the bracket.
“They have no way of winning com
pletely,’ Williams said at his news confer
ence Monday.
It’s too confusing. Anybody can stand
up and make a case that sounds good.
And the next person can get up and make
a case that sounds good.’
Still, a few things caught his eye
most notably that Tennessee, the coun
university | page 9
BSM ELECTIONS STARTING
Black Student Movement will hold
a forum Wednesday to introduce
prospective candidates. The offices
up for grabs are president vice
president secretary and treasurer.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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Kandis Rich, a junior from Fayetteville, is interviewed by a television news crew Thursday, March 6, following the news of Student Body President
Eve Carson's March 5 death. The story has been covered by local and national media outlets and has also been the target of protests
Center to coincide with the memo
rial, Lisa Katz, director of UNC
news services, wrote in an e-mail.
Officials denied them access to
the Smith Center, citing traffic and
safety concerns. They proposed a
McCorkle Place site instead, which
the group declined. Katz said she
thinks WBC will no longer protest
Several Facebook groups have
fofmed with hundreds of students
pledging to participate in a coun
Grieving t father shares message of hope
FROM 808 CARSON
Editor's Note: The following was
written by Eve Carson’s father and was
read aloud by a minister at herfuneral
March 9 in Athens, Go.
I’ve always cherished the look Eve
greeted me with as I held her in the
delivery room. She was wide-awake,
and she sweetly peered right into my
eyes with such pleasure —as if saying
thanks and *l’m so glad to be here now,
Dad* A specialist would say it was a
reaction to the newness or just being
unadjusted to the hospital birthing
room, but please believe me, some
thing was just a touch different about
Eve from birth.
Evety parent knows how special
their child can be. We know from our
own lives that growth and growing up
are best continued over a lifetime. But
DTH/JUUE TURKEWITZ
try’s top team in the RPI, was dropped to
a No. 2 seed and matched with UNC.
'I mean, I thought that Tennessee was
going to be a No. 1 seed 1 was sure of
that,’ Williams said.
“And yet when they lose on Saturday,
it throws that doubt in there. And I’m
thinking, my gosh they’ve proven some
thing over three and a half months, why
should this one game throw doubt in
there?"
Williams also plugged for the ACC, say
ing the conference should have received
more than just four bids UNC, Duke,
Clemson and Miami. The ACC was the
nation’s top conference in the RPI rank
ings, and Virginia Tech narrowly missed
the cut
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| www.dailytarheel.com |
terprotest in which they would
silently surround WBC protesters
to block them from view.
The memorial has drawn show’s
of support from other UNC-sys
tem schools. At least three N.C.
State University, East Carolina
University and UNC-Wilmington
have started campaigns urging
their students to wear Carolina
blue today in honor of Carson.
“Obviously not everyone is going
there seems to be a moment early on,
when a parent can look at their child
and know that they’ve got the building
blocks and the character for a good
life. I feel blessed because I had that
moment with both of my loving chil
dren at early ages. 1 call it my Papua
New Guinea moment when, should
your child be lost upon a distant shore
and even in a different culture, that
child would grow up into a fine, help
ful, caring person.
The senseless murder of my sweet,
sweet Eve is sadness defined, unfath
omable and bottomless, but so appre
ciatively interrupted by each friend or
family member who shares our grief.
Yesterday, a red-tailed hawk glided
effortlessly close to my car as I drove
from my mother’s home. It touched
more deeply than normal. To me, these
moments with nature represent a
And Williams supported friends with
teams on the bubble Virginia Tech
coach Seth Greenberg and former N.C.
State coach Herb Sendek, who now
coaches Arizona State.
’lt’s just a hard thing to do,’ he said.
‘And so far, knock on wood, I haven’t
been in the awful position that Seth
Greenberg and Herb are in right now
about believing that their team is good
enough to be playing in the thing and
they’re not playing."
But more than anything, Williams
said, he has reverence and not a drop of
envy for the tournament selection com
mittee.
‘I have tremendous confidence and
faith in how hard they work, but it’s
impossible to get it right for all of us,"
SEE TOURNAMENT, PAGE 6
WOMEN S HOOPS
NCAA TOURNAMENT
BRACKET ON PAGE 6
The Tar Heels learned Monday that they are the No \
1 seed in the New Orleans regional They will face 9
Bucknell in the opening round at noon Sunday.
to want to wear Carolina blue, but
I think most students will under
stand that this cause is bigger than
our rivalry," N.C. State Senior Class
President Zach Adams said.
ECU Student Government
Association President Keri Brockett
said she received phone calls from
students wanting to make sure
they would be able to obtain one
of the Carolina blue ribbons ECU
student organizations will distrib
circle of everlasting life, but so also, do
the friends of Eve and Andrew —and
the babies of relatives and neighbors
and friends.
The irony of Eve’s murder is that
she, along with these blessed friends
and fellow students, are the ones who
can solve the most pressing problems
of this time. Please don’t attribute this
to hyperbole or relate it to a father’s
sadness. I see a stunningly beautiful
convergence of talent and caring in
this, our children's, generation. It is the
most fantastic realization.
I believe that these kids, along with
their peers around the globe, can reach
reasoned solutions for mitigating vio
lence and tackling many of the inequi
ties of poverty, prejudice, inadequate
health care and under-education. This
is no pie-in-the-sky wish! These kids
are smart! They’re so capable.
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North Carolina coach Roy Williams yells during the ACC Championship. He spoke Monday
on the NCAA selection committee and the road to San Antonio for his top-seeded Heels.
ute. She said a delegation of ECU
student leaders also will attend the
memorial service.
“She’s really touched a lot of lives
not just at Chapel Hill," Brockett
said of Carson.
Assistant Uniirrsity Editor
Danielle Kncera
contributed reporting.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk (a unc.edu.
this day in history
MARCH 18,2002...
Members of the Chape! Hill-
Carrboro Board of Education say
they plan to address students with
learning disability problems after a
survey says they're overlooked.
TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2008
Cabinet
picks
up SBP
duties
Two weeks left
in leaders’ terms
BY WHITNEY KISLING
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Although the campus commu
nity is still mourning the death
of Student Body President Eve
Carson, the work in her office
must continue.
There are exactly two weeks
left until the inauguration of next
year’s student
government.
And in the
time between
now and then,
this year’s
leaders said
they will func
tion as a group
to finish their
work. Next
year’s leaders
are squeezing
plans to stay
on track.
The Student
Student Body
Vice President
Mike Tarrant
will lead official
duties if needed.
Code calls for the vice president to
assume the duties of the student
body president if that person can
not continue them. The executive
branch decided Monday night
to work as a unit in the last two
weeks, turning to Student Body
Vice President Mike Tarrant for
all official duties, as needed.
“We’ve already started a little
bit," Tarrant said. “It’s sort of
simple things."
SEE GOVERNMENT, PAGE 6
They’re more productive because
they collaborate and communicate like
no generation before them. And what
is even more wonderful is their gener
osity. Isn’t that tremendous?
There are needs now, and there
are reasons for and solutions to those
needs. Those dilemmas that keep get
ting shuffled along by our generation
will gain solutions from the student
sitting near you, your friends’ sons and
daughters or the young mentored stu
dent from another place.
But I must tell you even with
an aching heart, and yet with such
hope and love that the friends of
Eve. and their generation, will not
be denied. They’ve got miles to go,
and missions to keep, and we will be
so much better for their undaunted
perseverance!
May God bless each one of you.
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