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Campus at Kannapolis
opens; research begins
Thorp: UNC-CH will have close ties
BY GREG SMITH
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Only three years after its
conception, the N.C. Research
Campus has opened three build
ings, launched research projects
and grappled with funding slow
downs all while continuing to
plow forward.
The $1.5 billion campus, locat
ed in Kannapolis, houses the
facilities for seven N.C. schools,
including UNC-Chapel Hill, and
biotechnology companies that
collaborate on research into the
links between human health and
nutrition.
Billionaire David Murdock,
owner of Dole Food Company Inc.,
conceived of the campus and has
invested more than $1 billion of his
personal money.
Research has already started at
the Nutrition Research Institute,
UNC-CH’s facility on the campus,
Dr. Steven Zeisel, the institute’s
director, said in an e-mail.
Current projects include study
ing how maternal nutrition dur
ing pregnancy influences brain
development, infant nutrition,
food intake and the interaction
between genes and a high-fat
diet.
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor
Holden Thorp, who visited the N.C.
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Research Campus for the first time
Nov. 17, promises close ties with the
satellite campus.
The campus is giving residents
new hope. The former mill town
was devastated by the 2003 bank
ruptcy of Pillowtex textile com
pany, which employed more than
4,000 local residents.
When the project was first pro
posed in 2005, it promised as many
as 5,000 new jobs in the center
city, many that could be filled by
locals.
“We didn’t know what would
happen to the core of the city,
which is where the mill was.
The campus really transformed
our economy,” said Mike Legg,
Kannapolis city manager.
Only eight jobs are currently
posted on a Web site that adver
tises job availability on the cam
pus and most are higher-level
positions for postdoctoral scien
tists.
This will change next year when
PPD, a global contract research
organization, moves onto the
campus, Kannapolis Marketing
Director Karen Whichard said.
Early projections predict that as
many as 200 to 300 jobs could be
created by the PPD.
Rowan-Cabarrus Community
College will offer anew biotechnol-
State 8 National
“We do see ourselves
as a direct link
for local residents
to careers on the
research campus'
JEFF LOWRANCE, ROWAN-CABARRUS
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ogy degree to locals who need train
ing to work on the campus.
“We do see ourselves as a direct
link for local residents to careers
on the research campus,” said Jeff
Lowrance, director of college rela
tions for the school.
“We’ll work with companies to
develop specific programs to train
people for what (the companies)
need.”
Ninety percent of the campus
is funded with private investment
and 10 percent with public funds,
Whichard said. Economic struggles
have left the campus with more than
$l6B million in unsold bonds.
The bonds will pay for infra
structure improvements in the city,
including water lines, intersections,
parks and greenways. Officials say
they are not concerned because the
market should improve before pay
ment on the bonds is due.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
ASG attempts to push
past tarnished reputation
BY OLIVIA BOWLER
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Last year at this time, the UNC
system Association of Student
Governments was struggling to
regroup after its president resigned
in the wake of assault charges.
This year the association, which
brings together student leaders from
all 17 system schools, has regained
much of its legitimacy, beginning
to address issues such as tuition
increases and college access.
UNC-Chapel Hill has also been
working to find its role in the asso
ciation because of Student Body
President J. J. Raynor’s decision to
send a proxy in her place —a move
that has been greeted with some
discontent by other participants.
The ASG receives $1 in fees
from each student in the system
to finance projects and provide a
voice for the students.
The association’s reputation,
which was tarnished by past accusa
tions of corruption and inefficiency,
was permanently stained after then-
President Cole Jones was convicted
of assault in August 2007.
“The association had really
become an embarrassment in many
respects,” said Greg Doucette, the
current ASG president. “No one
really knew what it was like for the
association to look good.”
Doucette, who with Vice
President Ashley Yopp came into
office last spring, was elected by a
margin of one hotly contested vote.
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“Everyone talked about the fact
that because we only won by a vote
of-one margin, we didn’t have a
mandate to make any big changes,”
Doucette said.
But Doucette said he feels that
the association has repaired its neg
ative reputation to some extent.
“We still have a long way to go.”
Logan Liles, Raynor’s official
voting proxy, has increased his
presence at the meetings and is
working with Raynor to ensure
UNC-CH’s continued and effective
presence in the association.
In August the ASG passed anew
constitution and anew budget, two
areas that presented problems in
the past.
Later in the semester, the asso
ciation weighed in on the issue of
increasing tuitions.
The resolution consisted of the
student-recommended tuition
increase for each campus, as offered
by the student body presidents and
delegates from each university.
But UNC-system President
Erskine Bowles chided the associa
tion for passing a resolution before
members had all the information.
Bowles said the Board of Trustees
at each school was in the middle of
making recommendations and that
the decision was made too hastily.
Despite the setback, the ASG
plans to present those same student
recommendations in the spring to
the Board of Governors.
Most recently, a resolution stating
support for universal access to com
munity colleges for undocumented
students died in committee.
The resolution ended with no
debate and many were disappoint
ed with the lack of discussion. That
resolution is likely to make a reap
pearance at the January meeting.
Doucette said that while the
association has made some prog
ress in the last few months, more
work is necessary.
The association has seen a
renewed effort to establish an
Advocacy Corps, which trains stu
dents from each of the schools to
lobby for student concerns in the
state government.
ASG had some difficulty recruit
ing students for the program and
schools without applicants had to
appoint students. David Murray and
Cristobal Palmer were chosen to
represent UNC-CH in November.
In January the association plans to
send students to Washington, D.C.,
to meet with legislators and tour the
city. The Advocacy Corps also will
host a students’ day in Raleigh in
March, where students will lobby the
state government on issues like text
books costs and tuition increases.
“We’ve had four really good
meetings, we’ve learned a lot from
all of them,” Doucette said. “A lot
of it is done, but there’s a lot more
left to do.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
9