VOLUME 116, ISSUE 58
>
I
la colina | page 9
FAMILY CELEBRATION
The fourth annual Fiesta de
la Familia will take place this
weekend in Carrboro. Last year
700 people attended the event
at the Carrboro Commons.
State | page 4
MORE DRILLING, PLEASE
A coastal N.C. county's board
of commissioners passes a
resolution asking state and
federal authorities to support
offshore drilling.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT
national | page 3
STUDENT DELEGATES
The group representing North
Carolina at the Democratic
National Convention features
several students.
university | page 5
UNDERGRAD RESEARCH
More than 40 students have
signed up for the inaugural
class of Carolina Research
Scholars that emphasizes
undergraduate research.
online | dailytarheel.com
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Member hopefuls can meet
leaders at an open house today.
MORRIS GROVE OPEN
Elementary school teachers
welcome students on first day.
ELECTION 2008 BLOG
Young Democrats leader
speaks about the convention.
this day in history
AUGUST 26,1985
Chapel Hill police begin
cracking down on sidewalk
cyclists. Anyone biking on the
sidewalks in the 100 block of
Franklin and Rosemary streets
receives a $1 citation.
Monday weather
■Kk T-Storms
H 77, L 68
Tuesday weather
ifk Rainy
*** H 79, L 67
index
police log 2
calendar 2
opinion 6
crossword 9
la colina 10
®hr lailu ®ar Heel
Davis: Were ready for season
BY RACHEL ULLRICH
SPORTS EDITOR
Butch Davis entered the Kenan
Stadium press room, made his way
to the podium and framed his body
behind it, a hand on each edge.
“All right, let’s get this started.”
Davis meant the press confer
ence, but he might have a slightly
bigger beginning on his mind, too.
“Today’s gonna signify the start
of a good football season for us,” he
said to open his statement.
“I am no different than probably
every football coach in the country
I think everybody’s anxious to
get the year started.”
In the first game-week press
conference of coach Davis’ second
year at the helm of North Carolina’s
team, he was complementary of his
BALLROOM DANCERS
STRUT THEIR STUFF
.japßß. ft t-v if i ■ yjfgfe., * ■+
DTH/KAITLIN MCKEOWN
Senior Carissa Chambers, captain of the Ballroom Dance Team, teaches East Coast swing in the Union Underground at the group's
first meeting Monday. Chambers started dancing as a first-year student and said now she's hooked: "I love it. It's so much fun.*
Club or team ballroom dance open to students
BY ALYSSA GRIFFITH
STAFF WRITER
You don’t have to be an ex-boy band
member, reality show princess or Grammy
Award winner to ballroom dance.
Unlike contestants on ABC’s “Dancing
With The Stars,” anyone can learn to dance
through the UNC-Chapel Hill Ballroom
Dance Club and Team.
Lauren Bailey, the club’s president, said
the number of students who participate has
doubled in the past four years.
“Ballroom dancing isn’t just for debutantes
or senior citizens anymore,” Bailey said.
The club held its first meeting of the year
on Monday in the Union Underground.
Because of a turnout that exceeded the prac
tice space, the group split into two classes.
Experience and rhythm aren’t necessary
UNC Hospitals weigh mortality rates
Study compares to national averages
BY LAURA MARCINEK
STAFF WRITER
The death rates at UNC Hospitals
are better than the national aver
ages for two critical conditions but
worse for one, according to a study
by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services.
At UNC, the heart failure death
rate is 8.8 percent and the pneumo
nia death rate is 9.6 percent, better
than the national rate for Medicare
patients. The heart attack death
rate is 16.2 percent, slightly above
the national rate.
Those numbers reflect the per
centages of patients who die within
30 days after their admission to
UNC Hospitals, whether at UNC,
at home or at another hospital.
“I would say we’re pleased where
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
www.dailytarheel.com
players and excited about the work
they put in during the offseason.
And such progress could prove
necessary after all, last year’s 4-8
record has laid route to expectations
of eight wins and ACC Coastal title
DEPTH CHART con^ on :
Davis said his
Several of staff’s expecta-
UNC s starting tions are higher
spots still are for the players
contested. themselves, too.
PAGE 5 “Last year
we truly had no
idea what to expect,” he said.
“It was new schemes for us; the
players, we didn’t know how they
were going to react.”
Not so this year.
“There’s higher expectations,”
Davis said. “We expect these players
to join in. Both the club and team are open
to undergraduate and graduate students, as
well as members of the Chapel Hill com
munity. The club is for recreational dancers,
and the team involves travel and a bigger
time commitment.
The extensive span of classes are taught
by local dance teachers and students. Inga
Sirkaite, a dancer who was internationally
ranked by the International Dancesport
Federation, teaches intermediate lessons
most Tuesday evenings.
In addition to the foxtrot and waltz,
instructors teach a range of social dancing
including swing and salsa, and international
dances such as the cha-cha and the rumba.
Ballroom dancing differs from other
styles of dance because people dance with
a partner.
we’re at, but we want to do better,”
said Brian Goldstein, chief of staff
for UNC Hospitals and executive
associate dean for clinical affairs
for UNC School of Medicine. “We’re
always striving to do better.”
The data is risk-adjusted, mean
ing that the numbers account for
other reasons why patients, die
besides the care they received from
the hospital, Goldstein said.
It’s the first time such statistics
have been made readily available to
the public.
UNC tends to get many critically
ill patient referrals from other hospi
tals, Goldstein said, so in past years
when the data weren’t risk-adjusted,
the percentages were larger.
“You could be penalized for
caring for the sickest of the sick,”
to play at a higher level and to per
form and execute at a better level.”
Running back Greg Little is one
such player. Little will start as the
lead tailback this year after starting
the final two games of last season
at the position.
“I feel like we’re going into this
season a lot more confident and a lot
more eager, just being able to know
what we’re doing,” Little said.
“And I just feel comfortable
now, knowing that I can tell when
blitzes are coming, and instead of
just waiting for them to come, I
actually can see things happening
before they happen.”
Little hopes to use more confi
dence in the position to increase
SEE GAME WEEK, PAGE 7
ATTEND THE FREE LESSONS
Time: 7:30 p.m. Mondays
Location: Student Union Underground
Info: studentorgs.unc.edu/uncbdc
“You and your partner share a common
energy,” Bailey said. “It’s like getting a high
from dancing.”
The UNC Ballroom Dance Team is espe
cially looking for men interested in dancing.
Club officers want to break what they see as
the common “macho man” stereotype.
“Men don’t have to watch football and
drink beer to be masculine,” Bailey said.
Girls are taught to lead when there are not
enough men to partner off with.
First-year Kristen Carter said she had
always wanted to learn but never had an
SEE BALLROOM, PAGE 7
Goldstein said. “I think the data
says that we’re doing a good job.
We know the numbers will never
be zero because people die.”
Death rates aren’t the only cri
teria that patients have in judging
the hospital’s quality, said Meera
Kelley, vice president for qualify
and patient safety at Wake Med.
They can also evaluate the con
sistency of patient treatment and
read surveys of other patients’ expe
riences.
“If you put all three together,
that’s much more meaningful than
looking at each one individually,”
Kelley said.
In the past, hospitals were
reluctant to publish death rates
which weren’t risk-adjusted for
fear of tarnishing their reputations,
Kelley said. The significance of the
SEE HOSPITALS, PAGE 7
; >
% 1
DTH/ANIKA ANAND
Coach Butch Davis is looking forward to opening his second year at UNC
on Saturday. “We feel better about the start of this season," he said.
Local mortality rates
Mortality rates at local hospitals are
comparable to the national average.
K ~ so ii
□ UNC ■ Wake Med
■Duke ■National Average
SOURCE: WWW.MEDICARE.GOV
DTWBUSS PIERCE
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2008
Female
leaders
step up
to task
Women fill 3 top
student positions
BY MARY COLE ALLEN
STAFF WRITER
For the first time in University
history, the Undergraduate Honor
Court, undergraduate student
attorney general’s office and execu
tive branch of student government
are all headed by women.
Male observers said there has
never been a difference in the qual
ify of leadership based on gender.
But with a history of male lead
ership behind them, the three
women said they sometimes face
challenges and stereotypes in their
respective offices.
“I used to get a lot of ‘Dear
Mr. Raynor’ e-mails, but those
have trickled off” Student Body
President J. J. Raynor said.
And Undergraduate Student
Attorney General Lisa Williford
said she has met with students
who were surprised when meet
ing her for the first time.
“I’m not sure if it is the fact that
I’m a girl that surprises people or
my personality,” Williford said.
In the past few years, women
have made up about 60 percent of
the student population but have
not been proportionately repre
sented in student government
leadership.
This year also marks the first
time that UNC has had back-to
back female student body presi
dents, with Raynor being only the
fifth female to hold the office since
women were admitted in 1897.
“If you walk through the SBP
office it’s like, ‘Where’s Waldo?’
trying to find women on the wall of
pictures of previous SBPs,” Raynor
said.
Donna Bickford, director of
Carolina Women’s Center, said she
believes women in campus leader
ship roles are here to stay.
“Having women in leadership
positions has been a long time
coming, and it’s something to be
celebrated,” she said.
Today, the women’s center is hon
oring the 88th anniversary of the
ratification of the 19th amendment
giving women the right to vote.
Caroline Schneider, the Honor
Court chairwoman, said that
when she first started on the
Honor Court it was weeks before
she heard a case with any other
women.
Schneider said the Honor
Court, which has been historically
male-dominated, is becoming
more balanced in terms of gender
each year.
This year, seven of the court’s 10
vice chairmen are female.
“I think having more women
involved accurately reflects the
character of the student body,”
Schneider said.
Tim Nichols, speaker of
Student Congress, said he hadn’t
even thought about being the lone
male in a top student government
position.
He said working alongside
SEE IN CHARGE, PAGE 7