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The Daily Tar Heel 1984
Thursday, June 14, 1984
Chapel Hill, N.C.
News: 962-0245 Advertising: 962-0252
RTF's Microelectronics Center dedicated
By JODI SMITH
News Editor
Gov. James B. Hunt, UNC President Wil
liam Friday, and an array of state legislators,
educators, and industrial leaders were among
those on hand Tuesday for the dedication of
the Research Triangle Park's new Microelec
tronics Center of North Carolina the largest
commitment by any state in support of micro
electronic research and development, Hunt
said.
The new MCNC complex, a grey high-tech
structure with ceiling windows to maximize
solar energy, is located on the corner of Alex
ander and Cornwallis Roads. The $30-million
project is a private, non-profit consortium
formed by UNC-CH, Duke University, N.C.
A&T University, N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte,
and the Research Triangle Institute, and was
created in July 1980.
"This is the culmination of a lot of dreams
and a lot of people," Friday said in an inter
view prior to the dedication. "This is a very
substantial achievement and a resource that
will be terribly important for the next quarter
century. The university will benefit from this
mightily."
The new center, a 100,000-square-foot
structure of "clean space" for semiconductor
research and development, testing labs, offices
and a centralized computer system, is designed
to allow educational opportunity and indus
trial research to work together.
"It is perhaps the closest thing we have to a
national microelectronics center," Hunt said.
"This will be important to many facets of
our lives," said N.C. Commissioner of Agri
culture James A. Graham. "Its technological
developments will help change agriculture as
we know it."
Dr. Roland Schmitt, chairman of the Na
tional Science Board and senior vice president
of the General Electric division in New York
City, agreed with Graham. "Government
should provide the opportunity and the envi
ronment conducive to research. What we are
providing here are conditions ripe for micro
electronics in profound ways that even today
we can only dimly envision."
Dr. William F. Little, president of Triangle
Universities Center for Advanced Studies,
called the complex "one more giant step in the
North Carolina story that has attracted na
tional and international attention an agri
cultural, industrial and educational partner
, ship." Little said that an institution like this
and the RTP's National Humanities Center
are "ventures that have helped the university
multiply what it could have done on its own."
To date, the N.C. General Assembly has ap
propriated $43 million for MCNC, $14 million
of which has been designated for design and
construction, and another $12 million for
technical equipment. The six consortium cam
puses have also raised an additional $40 mil
lion. UNC Chancellor Christopher C. Fordham
III, referring to the history of high-regard for
education in North Carolina, said that the
union of industry with five public state univer
sities (four in the UNC system) and Duke is an
"altogether inspiring display of advanced edu
cation in our state."
Fordham said that MCNC "has brought
and will bring some of the most talented peo
ple, energy and creativity to our area." He
hailed Gov. Hunt, President Friday and Duke
University President Terry Sanford as the
three most responsible for the development of
the center, and said that the full potential and
productivity of the new facility cannot yet be
realized.
Roddy Jones, president of Jones and
Davidson, (the construction firm that con
tracted MCNC), agreed. "This is a coming to
gether of business and industry that brings re
search onto the common man's level of usage,
the long-term effects of which are beyond our
comprehension," he said.
Dr. George Herbert, president of the Re
search Triangle Institute, acknowledged the
companies that were key contributors to the
center and have already agreed to be industrial
affiliates, including General Electric, AIRCO
Industries, GCAIC Systems Group in Bos
ton, Northern Telecom and Bell Phone Sys
tems. See MCNC on page 6
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Tar HeelJamie Moncrief
The Student Activities Center, located on South Campus behind Hinton-James dormitory,
nears completion as workers install a permanent fabric roof. The stadium is scheduled to
open in April.
Chapel Hill Town Council
Developmen t OlCd
By ART WOODRUFF
Tar Heel Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council
approved a 379-unit housing and
commercial development, author
ized negotiations with The Fiaser
Company of Research Triangle Park
for joint development of the Munic
ipal Parking Lot between Hender
son Street and the NCNB Plaza and
discussed a new policy of road im
provements at its meeting Monday
night.
The development plans approved
for the Greenfields, to be built be
tween Sage and Erwin roads, will al
low 38 patio homes, 69 townhouses,
44 duplexes, 228 apartments and
37,400 square feet of office and com
mercial space.
Council member Winston Broad
foot opposed the project because of
the strain it would put on commu
nity water supplies.
"We have one of the worst ratios
in the state of North Carolina of
water usage to reservoir capacity,"
Broadfoot said. '
"I am enabled to vote against this
and every other big development
impinging on us until we have ade
quate reservoir capacity," he said,
"and I will vote against all of them."
Mayor Joe Nassif disagreed. "By
the time most of the development
comes on line, there will be water,"
he said. Orange Water and Sewer
Authority is acquiring the land for
the Cane Creek reservoir now, he
said, expressing confidence in the
project being completed.
Not allowing development be
cause of a lack of water pushes de
velopment out into the county where
the developers use wells and septic
tanks, Nassif said. This creates a
health problem later on, he added.
The development was also op
posed because of the distance be
tween the buildings and the property
lines. One of the buildings would be
22 feet from the property line. The
town requires at least 22 feet.
, Council member David Pasquini
moved that the developer be requir-
See COUNCIL on page 4
Congress demands good faith 'effort on treaty
WASHINGTON The Senate says
President Reagan has to promise he
has made a "good faith" effort to
negotiate a U.S.-Soviet treaty to
limit anti-satellite weapons before
the Pentagon goes ahead with plans
to test such a device.
The 61-28 vote late Tuesday cap
ped more than seven hours of de
bate which included a secret session
to hear U.S. intelligence reports
about recent Soviet advances in
space, the last frontier of the arms
race between the two superpowers.
It came only a day after Soviet
President Konstantin Chernenko
said a treaty should be negotiated
"without delay" to ban anti
satellite weapons, a call which was
publicly rejected by the White
House.
Reagan insists an anti-satellite
ban would be too difficult to verify
and says the United States should
go ahead with its own anti-satellite
weapon known as an ASAT.
The ASAT weapons are different
from the successful Sunday test of
the Army's missile designed to
knock down other missiles. And
they also differ from Reagan's call
for research into a futuristic "Star
Wars" shield against Soviet mis
siles, although all three systems use
some common technologies.
The Senate restriction would ban
the next round of testing of U.S.
anti-satellite weapons unless Reagan
certifies he is "endeavoring in good
faith... to negotiate the strictest
possible limitations on anti-satellite
weapons." , r - .
The provision tacked onto a Pen--tagon
authorization bill differed
from a House vote last month to
ban the tests unless the Soviets
break their self-imposed, 10-month-old
moratorium on testing the
weapons. The two versions will be
worked out later by a House-Senate
conference committee.
The secret session, the first in 15
months, was held to discuss classi
fied reorts about Soviet capabilities
to kill U.S. satellites.
Both nations rely on satellites for
spying, communications and early
warning of attack ;
The secret session lasted 2 hours,
45 minutes and when it was finish
ed, Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said he
hadn't heard anything to make him
"ready, as the administration has
been, to throw in the towel as far as
arms control agreements over space
weapons is concerned."
But Senate Armed Services Com
mittee Chairman John Tower,
R-Texas, berated the attempts to
limit the Reagan administration,
shouting, "Why don't we pass an
amendment instead urging the
Supreme Soviet to negotiate? But
that wouldn't do any good, would
it?"
For more than a decade, accord
ing to the Pentagon, the Soviets
have deloyed a workable system
which could knock out low-flying
U.S. satellites. But critics argue that
the Soviet weapon is too cumber
some and inaccurate to pose much
of a threat to the Pentagon's eyes
and ears. ..v.v. ..
HHttt
The United States is developing
its own anti-satellite weapon, a
small three-stage rocket which
would be launched from under a
high-flying F-15 jet. The recent first
round of test firings was successful,
but a later and important series of
tests is scheduled to begin in
November against specific targets.
The "good faith" requirement
was proposed by Sens. John
Warner, R-Va., and James Exon,
D-Neb. It was a substitute for an
earlier, and more sweeping proposal
by Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D. who
had 34 co-sponsors for his proposal
seeking a halt in the U.S. tests and
calling for renewed U.-Soviet
talks. ' v --.v.-.v.