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Economic downturn forces adjustment
BY SARAH ELLIS, ANDREW ■
HARTNEn AND ARIEL
ZIRULNICK
STAFF WRITERS
The economy took a critical
blow this year, and UNC-Chapel
Hill along with the rest of the
UNC-system schools and Orange
County are scrambling to adapt.
The UNC system faced bud
get cuts with more lean times to
come, as the systemwide Board of
Governors requested the smallest
ever increase in funds from the
N.C. General Assembly.
Meanwhile, local governments
are looking for ways to cut spend
ing because of projections of
decreased revenues from sales and
other taxes. .
A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS
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UNC Board of Governors Chairwoman Hannah Gage and UNC President Erskine Bowles applaud Chancellor Holden Thorp during the University Day ceremony on Polk Place.
N.C. native Holden Thorp
takes over as 10th chancellor
BY ANDREW DUNN
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Holden Thorp has only been in his role a few
months, but he has already established himself as a
new breed of chancellor.
In a drastic change from the resumes of chancellors
past, Thorp served only one year in a dean position, as
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and two years
as a department chairman before being selected to suc
ceed James Moeser.
UNC’s most recent previous chancellors had served in
the top role of other universities.
Thorp’s selection in May ended a nine-month national
search that received 104 applications.
“He’s risen so quickly in such a short time,” Moeser
said at the time. “The only way to accurately describe
that is to say that he’s a supernova.”
Thorp brought in about $57 million for the Arts and
Sciences Foundation last year and raised sl7 million
toward the completion of the Carolina Physical Science
Complex since 2002.
Last week he was in Maui participating in alumni
fundraising events.
But his openness has made the deepest impression.
North Carolina votes for change in ’OB
Election breaks
from convention
BY ARIEL ZIRULNICK
STATE a NATIONAL EDITOR
North Carolina elected a black
man as president, unseated a
Republican incumbent senator
and put a woman in the governor’s
seat —and they’re all Democrats.
What remains unclear is wheth
er 2008 was an anomaly or if it
marks a permanent shift in this
traditionally Republican state’s
political climate.
Many conservatives in North
Carolina say that the Democratic
sweep was a one-time event
caused by the dire state of the
economy, President George Bush’s
unpopularity and President-elect
Barack Obama’s magnetism
—and that the pendulum will
swing back toward Republicans
in future elections.
“Neither side should exagger
ate what 2008 meant and draw
sweeping ideological conclu
sions,” said Brent Woodcox, com-
Students weigh options
Many students are looking into
obtaining higher degrees and pos
sibly securing more stable jobs in
the face of substantial job losses as
a result of the economy.
UNC-Chapel Hill saw an almost
10 percent increase in graduate
school applications from 2007 to
this year.
Tabatha T\imer, senior associate
director for scholarships and stu
dent aid, said that graduate school
is a wise plan of action.
“It makes sense that until the
economy gets better we continue
to see graduate school as a positive
option for people whose jobs have
been terminated because of the
His recently launched blog holden.unc.edu is one
outward sign of that.
He’s also held three open houses with students this
semester, more than any previous chancellor.
And when Student Action with Workers marched on
South Building in September, they intending to deliver
a letter to Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for
campus services, pushing for a plan that would not force
housekeepers to work weekends.
Instead, they were greeted with handshakes from
Thorp, who invited a member of SAW and a housekeeper
to meet with him. SAW’S wishes were granted.
In April, Moeser did not meet with SAW, and mem
bers held the longest sit-in protest South Building had
ever seen.
Thorp has also proven influential with the Board of
Trustees.
The board approved his tuition increase recommenda
tions at their November meeting without debate.
Thorp also got rave reviews at his inauguration Oct 12.
Foremost in the minds of the 2,750 students, faculty
and alumni who attended was the pride of having a chan
cellor who graduated from UNC and worked his way up
the faculty ranks.
Thorp graduated in 1986, attended graduate school at
the California Institute of Technology and worked at N.C.
State University before returning to UNC as a chemistry
professor in 1993.
In his inauguration speech, Thorp spoke of his three
How N.C. voted
Presidential race
Barack Obama (D) 49.7 per
cent
John McCain (R) 49.4 percent
Senatorial race
Kay Hagan (D) 53 percent
Elizabeth Dole (R) 44 percent
Gubernatorial race
Bev Perdue (D) 5O percent
Pat McCrory (R) 47 percent,
Mike Munger (L) —3 percent
munications director for the N.C.
Republican Party.
“There are still more conser
vatives than liberals in North
Carolina.”
BUt economic diversification,
urbanization and the growth
of some demographics have
strengthened the Democratic
contingency in the state, poten
tially irrevocably.
“It’s the change in the last few
decades.... We have new residents
not tied to the political constructs.
The Year’s Top News
economy,” Turner said.
Private loans for students are also
becoming harder to receive, and
there is more pressure for students
to pay back that money sooner.
UNC officials have said they
don’t expect the University to cut
financial aid support or change
its long-standing policy of need
blind admissions, as some smaller
schools are doing.
Still things might get tougher
for some families next year, as the
Board of Trustees has recommend
ed the maximum tuition increase,
6.5 percent, for in-state under
graduates allowed by law. It’s rec
ommending a less hefty 5.6 percent
increase of $1,150 for out-of-state
undergraduates.
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President-elect Barack Obama campaigned in Charlotte at a rally of
more than 20,000 people in September. He narrowly won the state.
There’s been a pool of persuadable
voters,” said UNC journalism pro
fessor Ferrel Guillory said.
Moving from an agriculture
based economy to a service- and
technology-based one has led to
a more educated workforce and
brought many to cities and sub
The UNC-system’s Board of
Governors, which has final say over
tuition rates, should make a deci
sion in February.
Funding from the state
These proposed hikes come
alongside an unprecedentedly low
budget increase request to the N.C.
General Assembly.
“It is a budget that is lean,
focused and fully prioritized,” said
Rob Nelson, UNC-system vice
president for finance.
The request names campus safety,
financial aid and faculty recruitment
and retention as top priorities.
The board sends a recommend
ed budget to the legislature every
goals for UNC: to recruit top undergraduate and
graduate students, to attract talented faculty, and to
elevate the region and state.
The first goal could be achieved by revamping aca
demic programs to make them more attractive to stu
dents’ interests and offering more financial aid.
The second could be attained by creating more
endowed professorships and garnering more research
money, and the third by collaborating with the other 16
campuses in the UNC system. But he mostly dealt with
the interconnections between the three.
“It’s on us to do more than teach,” Thorp said. “We
must inspire our students to reach beyond themselves
and take on the great problems facing the world.”
Thorp also touched on safety as necessary to achieve
all his goals academic safety for innovation as well as
physical safety.
Campus security has been one of his main priori
ties this year represented by his direction in creat
ing a set of guidelines for protesting and his goals for
Halloween.
“We really do need you to help us tone down
Halloween,” he said at an October open house, saying
students should try to head home by midnight.
“I am concerned that there could be an incident that
doesn’t involve students that students get involved in.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
urban communities.
There has also has been an
influx of whites from outside the
state and blacks. A growing Latino
population is another factor.
By capitalizing on these social
SEE ELECTION, PAGE 7
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008
other year. UNC-system schools
get funding from the legislature,
tuition and private donations.
The Board of Governors is ask
ing the state legislature for an
increase of $l6B million in the
next two years —a 5.8 percent
increase for 2009-10 and a 4.3
percent for 2010-11. The previous
three requests asked for an average
increase of 12.5 percent
The modest requested increase
for the next two years comes on top
of budget cuts this fall.
Gov. Mike Easley has asked state
agencies, including public universi
ties, to cut 5 percent of their annual
budgets.
UNC-Chapel Hill responded
by asking individual departments
Airport authority gets j
eminent domain right
Many residents
raise objections
BY KATY DOLL
SENIOR WRITER
Orange County has seen almost
constant debate since August about
a possible new airport
The N:C. General Assembly
created an authority to investigate
placing anew airport in Orange
County to replace Horace Williams
Airport, which will close to make
way for the University’s satellite
research campus, Carolina North.
The authority, which will have 15
members, eight from the University
and seven from other local govern
ments, was granted the power of
eminent domain to seat the airport
Eminent domain, a govern
ment’s ability to seize land for pub
lic use, is centra] to the debate.
Consulting firm studies
Airport consulting firm Talbert
to oversee cuts, possibly creat
ing struggles to maintain faculty
student ratios and forcing depart
ments to look for creative ways to
save money.
Local governments cutting
And government officials
throughout the county are also
having to think on their feet in the
face of decreasing available funds.
Chapel Hill Town Council mem
bers expressed frustration with the
uncertainty of state funding used
for maintenance and public safety.
Town Manager Roger Stancil
ordered a 5 percent budget cut for
SEE ECONOMY, PAGE 7
Carson
suspect
to face
trials
Multiple charges
for March killing
BY MAX ROSE
CITY EDITOR
A man charged with kill
ing former UNC Student Body
President Eve Carson now is
awaiting both state and federal
prosecution.
Demario James Atwater, 22,
has had a busy year in court as he
faces charges
from the March
5 shooting.
Atwater
pleaded not
guilty Tuesday
to the federal
charges in a
Greensboro
hearing, and
could begin
both trials in
about a year.
The state
prosecutor said
in an August
hearing that
Atwater and
Lawrence Alvin
Lovette, 18,
were looking
for someone to
rob when they
saw Carson'
through the
window of her
Friendly Lane
Demario
James Atwater
(top) and
Lawrence
Alvin Lovette
are charged in
Carson's death.
home.
District Attorney Jim Woodall
told the court that they took
Carson in her Toyota Highlander
to withdraw money before shoot
ing her several times in a wealthy
neighborhood less than a mile
from campus.
Police arrested Atwater on
March 12 and Lovette the next
day and charged them both with
first degree murder, among other
crimes.
Carson’s autopsy, released dur
ing the summer, concluded that
she had been shot five times,
including once in the right cheek.
SEE CARSON, PAGE 7
DTH INSIDE: Carson is honored with
a memorial scholarship and sk. PG. 7
& Bright released two surveys
before this legislation was enacted,
as contracted by the University.
A 2005 study examined different
parts of the county, locating an area
in southwestern Orange County as
the top site in the county.
The study named Raleigh-
Durham International Airport
as the best alternative for medi
cal flights. The N.C. Area Health
Education Centers Program uses
Horace Williams to fly doctors and
organs to different areas of the state
and is generally cited as the main
reason UNC wants anew airport
Earlier this year, Talbert &
Bright released an economic
impact survey, stating that Orange
County could benefit up to $53
million from anew airport.
“It would be a vehicle. It would
be an asset that may be able to
attract opportunities in anew
sector,” said Bradly Broadwell,
economic development director
for Orange County, in an October
SEE AIRPORT, PAGE 7
3