VOLUME 116, ISSUE 82
la colina | page 10
PROJECT UPLIFT
A program dedicated to
University diversity celebrates 40
years. During Latino recruitment
weekend, high school students
and their parents attended
information sessions.
national | page 4
THE ISSUES: EDUCATION
See how U.S. Sen. Elizabeth
Dole, R-N.C., and challenger
N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan,
D-Guilford, match up on
education.
ana
city | page 3
TRAVELS THROUGH N.C
Chancellor Holden Thorp
kicked off a statewide tour of
high schools and colleges at
an honors research class at
Chapel Hill High School.
online | daitytarheel.com
ELECTIONS DEBATE
The Young Democrats and
College Republicans face off.
TECH WEB
A fair in the Pit hopes to share
on-campus technology options.
EDITOR'S NOTES
Another blog post from the
editor-in-chief on columnists.
CORRECTION
Due to a reporting error,
Monday’s pg. 1 story, “Bill
Thorpe, long-serving Town
Council member, dies” mis
spells Thorpe’s wife’s name.
Her name is Jean. The Daily
Tar Heel apologizes for the
error.
this day in history
SEPT. 30,1983
UNC underclassmen go to local
bars to enjoy their last legal
drinks before anew law goes
into effect making it illegal for
those under 19 to buy alcohol.
Today’s weather
0 Sunny
H 82, L 64
Wednesday's weather
Sunny
y H 74, L 53
index
police log 2
calendar 2 *
nation/world 5
opinion 6
sports 7
crossword ; 9
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
iatlu (Ear Mrrl
Thorpe leaves legacy of action
To\yn leader,
67, fought for
civil rights
BY MAX ROSE
CITY EDITOR
Bill Thorpe spoke for more than
just himself on the Chapel Hill Town
Council.
Thorpe,
never hesitant
to say what
was on his
mind, used his
11 years on the
council to fight
for those who
have no voice.
He was 67
when he died
at his home
Saturday.
“What kept
him going each
year was day by
■
Bill Thorpe
served for 11
years on the
Chapel HiH
Town Council.
day being a representative for the
town,” his wife Jean Thorpe said.
When Bill Thorpe walked into a
room, he greeted everyone with a
smile and a firm handshake.
SEE THORPE, PAGE 5
Tuition likely to rise quickly
BY ANDREW DUNN
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
. Undergraduate students could
be saddled with raising faculty
salaries and providing benefits to
graduate students.
Paying for it would raise in-state
undergraduate tuition more than
60 percent over several years.
No models for how to get there
were presented at the first IXiitioh
and Fee Advisory Thsk Force on
Monday, but members spoke in
dire terms about the University’s
needs in the coming years.
And they said undergraduates
are the only sources to turn to.
The problems are threefold,
according to Monday’s discussions:
■ About 500 faculty members
will reach retirement age in the
next 10 years. In addition to replac
ing them, enrollment growth dur
ing that period will require about
330 new members to maintain
UNC’s student-faculty ratio.
■ UNC-system President
Erskine Bowles has mandated that
all campuses raise faculty salaries to
the 80th percentile compared with
peer institutions. UNC is currently
just below the 50th percentile.
■ Top graduate students, who
often teach lower-level classes, are
not enrolling at UNC in high levels
because of few merit scholarships.
“If we don’t have the teachers
to teach them, they aren’t going
to come, that’s for sure,” task force
member and Employee Forum
Chairman Tommy Griffin said.
Business converts hybrids to plug-ins
BY RYAN DAVIS
STAFF WRITER
Some of the greatest leaps in
alternative energy research are being
made in a small garage in Raleigh.
Since opening in June, the
Advanced Vehicle Research Center
has converted 24 hybrids into plug
ins, with two more on the floor this
week. The center is one of eight
nationwide certified to install the
battery packs.
The conversion process allows a
modified car to run off only electri
cal power for up to 35 miles. When
the battery charge drains, the
vehicle switches back to a standard
hybrid mode, boosted to 100 miles
per gallon, said Dick Dell, executive
director of the research center.
“Energy and dependency on oil
are the most serious threats our
country is facing,” Dell said.
The conversion is performed on
the Toyota Prius, which has sold
more than 1 million models world
wide, making it the most popular
hybrid on the market.
The process utilizes a large lithi
um-ion battery, retrofitted into the
trunk of the Prius.
The primary customers of con
versions have been energy firms and
utility companies such as Progress
Energy, based in Raleigh.
Progress Energy converted its
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, COURTESY OF IAURIN EASTHOM
Bill Thorpe (center) poses on the ladder of a fire truck after being elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council in 2005.
Thorpe, who passed away Saturday, brought guidance to younger council members like Laurin Easthom (left).
DTH/ANIKA ANAND
Student Body President J.J. Raynor and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little
lead the first Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force meeting Monday.
“I wish we didn’t have to raise
tuition one dime. But we have to
look to the future.”
The N.C. General Assembly pro
vides money for some new faculty
and small faculty salary increases
statewide, but not enough would
be given to UNC to meet its goals.
The Board of Governors is plan
ning to increase enrollment in the
system by 80,000 students because
of a booming state population.
“That’s a huge amount of growth
that the state has to fund,” task
force and Board of Trustee mem
ber John Ellison said. “There is no
extra money to do anything.”
That leaves two sources of
money to boost salaries: tuition
Prius line to do consumer research
before batl .ry-powered cars are
mass-produced. But battery charg
ing is not yet cost-effective.
“We realized we had to be com
mitted to these new types of tech
nology,” Progress Energy spokes
man Scott Sutton said. “If the utili
ties don’t get on board, there will
be a lot of obstacles for consumers,
even if the new technology is avail
able.”
At $10,400, the conversion isn’t
cheap and has been mostly used by
corporate customers, but Dell is
optimistic that the technology will
reach the average consumer soon.
“This same process would have
cost $25,000 two years ago, and it
will continue to come down from
what it is now,” he said.
The plug-in hybrid technology is
still new. The first mass-produced
plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt,
will not be released until 2010.
There are more than 250 million
vehicles in operation in the United
States today, and about a million
are hybrids. Of those, about 100
are plug-in hybrids, Dell said.
“Hybrids on the road today in
many cases just have the word
hybrid attached to them,” he said.
“In many cases, you might see an
increase in some cars from 24 miles
per gallon to 26 miles per gallon.
and private donations. But dona
tions were judged too risky at the
task force meeting.
“Nobody wants to raise tuition
and everybody wants to do this
privately,” Ellison said. “But there
are lots of people who feel poorer
today than we did yesterday.”
Ellison said he had estimat
ed how much achieving UNC’s
goals would cost: an additional
S4O million per year.
Since administrators are
already looking to provide tuition
relief to graduate students, raising
their tuition to pay for this would
not make sense, Ellison said.
Dividing the S4O million over
roughly 18,000 undergraduate
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DTH/HANNAH SHARPE
Glenn Edmonds of Advanced Vehicle Research Center finishes
converting a Toyota Prius hybrid into a fully electric, plug-in car.
Yes, that is an improvement, but
its not enough” •
Dell said the United States trails
behind Europe in the development
of fuel-efficient cars. Europe has
38 vehicles on the market that
reach 50 miles per gallon, while
the United States has only one.
.“Basically, what it comes down
to is that consumers don’t want
to pay for research,” Dell said. “At
this point, the economy is going to
become the driving force behind
changing the industry.”
2008-2009 tuition
prices compared
with selected peers
Resident undergraduate
► University of Michigan-Ann
Arbor: $11,037
► University of Virginia: $9,490
► University of Califomia-
Berkeley: $9,490
► UNC: $5,397
► University of Florida: $4,778
Nonresident
undergraduate
► University of Michigan-Ann
Arbor: $33,069
► University of Virginia: $29,790
► University of California-
Berkeley: $28,264
► UNC: $22,295
► University of Florida: $20,623
students equals a $2,222 increase.
And the final number would have
to be higher because 35 percent of
tuition increases must be designat
ed for need-based financial aid. The
time frame is still to be determined.
“How long it takes really depends
on how much our conscience will
allow,” Ellison said.
Contact the University Editor
at iulesk@unc.edu.
Dell also said focusing on a
single energy alternative will
not solve the problem, but that
technology soon will be available
to convert nonhybrid vehicles to
hybrids. >
“There is no single visible ener
gy solution right now,” Dell said.
“Time will show what technology
will grow and what technology
will survive.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
Served as
reminder of
town history
BY EMILY STEPHENSON
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
When Bill Thorpe and Laurin
Easthom joined the Chapel Hill
Town Council in 2005, a tour of
town facilities brought them to the
top of a fire truck’s ladder.
Easthom, then new to the coun
cil, was terrified to ride in the
truck’s bucket, but Thorpe encour
aged her to hop in.
“He drew me in and said, ‘This
will be fine,’” she said. “The thing
took Bill Thorpe into the air almost
100 feet. He was just so calm about
it; he put his whole trust in that
fireman.”
Thorpe died Saturday at his
home after suffering heart prob
lems. Council members said
a calm, guiding presence was
indicative of Thorpe’s mentoring
style on the council, where he
served in the 1970 sand 1980s
before running again almost two
decades later.
SEE GUIDING, PAGE 5
Hr
DTH/ANTHONY HARRIS
Cam Sexton's play against Miami
was a career-best and earned him
UNC's starting job. "My dreams
are coming true," he said Monday.
QB gets
‘dream’
second
chance
Sexton lays claim
to starting spot
BY RACHEL ULLRICH
SPORTS EDITOR
Cameron Sexton reared back,
fired and completed an 18-yard
pass to Zack Pianalto in his first
play on Saturday against Miami.
But it had been a while since
Sexton had last taken a snap as
North Carolina’s quarterback.
So long, in feet, that the press box
announcer assumed it was the ros
ter’s other No. 11 on the field.
“Completion, No. 11 Casey Barth
to No. 17 Zack
UNCRUSHING Pianalto.”
improved this it wasn’t
weekend, even long before the
if it wasn't on announcer knew
the stat sheet. Sexton’s name.
PAGE 7 After all, he
completed 10
similar passes to mark what became
a record day for the junior who had
spent so many snaps on the bench.
“After that first throw to Zack,
I kinda got a little bit of relief and
felt a little bit of confidence come
back,” Sexton said Monday.
“And if you really think about it,
over the last four years I haven’t
really played much football.”
After starting in five games dur
ing his first season, Sexton took only
one attempt last year, in the season
opener against James Madison.
SEE SEXTON, PAGE 5