Duke College Republicans chairman claims he was ousted because he is gay
Duke University junior Justin Robinette claims his sexual orientation was the reason for his impeachment Wednesday as chairman of Duke’s College Republicans.
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Duke University junior Justin Robinette claims his sexual orientation was the reason for his impeachment Wednesday as chairman of Duke’s College Republicans.
CHARLOTTE — In his third visit to North Carolina since taking office, President Barack Obama brought good news to an area that faces one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates.Obama spoke to employees of Celgard, a lithium battery-manufacturing company in Charlotte, citing new figures that show signs of economic recovery. About 50,000 jobs have been added each month over the first quarter of the year, and 162,000 jobs were added in March, Obama said.“Today is an encouraging day.,” he said. “We learned that the economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs. We are beginning to turn the corner.”The announcement of the increase in jobs was met with cheers and applause from Celgard employees, who have seen the unemployment rate in Charlotte shoot up to nearly 13 percent. But, the focus of Obama’s visit shifted from job creation to a justification for the measures taken by his administration, especially when he opened the floor to questions. He defended the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, his plans for offshore drilling and health care overhaul that he signed into law March 30. Obama said although the Recovery Act has faced criticism, it was a necessary step to boost the economy.“Government can’t reverse the toll of this recession overnight,” he said.“What government can do is create the conditions for companies to succeed.”Celgard received a $49 million grant through the Recovery Act to expand production and create clean-energy jobs, which Obama said are the future of the economy, reiterating Vice President Joe Biden’s message during his visit to Durham last month. Obama also launched into a 17-minute response to an employee’s question about increasing taxes to support the health care overhaul. “I’m going to have to work hard over the next several months to clean up a lot of the misapprehensions that people have,” he said.Obama said only those who make more than $200,000 or $250,000 a year in unearned income from capital gains will have to pay additional taxes.“If this health care bill never existed, if I didn’t do anything about it, we’d actually be a trillion dollars worse off over the long term,” he said. Obama also said his plans for offshore drilling — something being considered for the North Carolina coast — will not replace his push for investing in alternate sources of energy.“Here’s the challenge that we have. We don’t yet have the technological breakthroughs that can completely replace fossil fuels,” he said.The U.S. accounts for 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, but uses 20 percent of the world’s oil. “We can’t drill our way out of the problem,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to get moving on this clean energy sector.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
DURHAM — North Carolina is ahead of the curve in gearing the economy toward the future, Vice President Joe Biden told state residents Thursday.Biden toured CREE Inc. — a LED lighting manufacturing company that received tax credits through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in January — and discussed the need for replicating the company’s success across the country.CREE hired 375 workers as a result of the stimulus funds, exemplifying President Barack Obama’s administration’s focus on creating more clean-energy manufacturing jobs for the middle class.“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a success story as I’ve seen here at CREE,” Biden said. “You all are doing here what we hope to do.”Adam Broome, a CREE employee, said he has seen the company grow tremendously in the 15 years that he has worked there.“I’m really proud that he’s giving us recognition for all the hard work we do here,” Broome said.Biden said the administration is pushing Congress to extend the tax credits in the Recovery Act from $2.3 billion to $5 billion so more companies like CREE can expand and boost the economy.“Look, this is working, and we can make it work even better,” Biden said. “We’ll get our money back in spades. This is to spark job creation today and inspire innovation for tomorrow.”Biden discussed the ongoing clean-energy projects across the country that are aimed at rebuilding the economy.“We don’t want to be exporting jobs anymore. We want to produce more stuff here in America. That’s what it’s about,” he said.Biden said 62,000 jobs were created in the state as a result of the Recovery Act, and 2 million were created nationwide.The economy has also seen a 12 percent growth rate since President Obama took office, he said.But for the growth to continue, there needs to be a shift in the economic structure, he said.“We need big. We need bold. We need ideas that are going to transform how our economy works in the future,” he said.U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Durham Mayor Bill Bell, N.C. Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and N.C. Speaker of the House Joe Hackney, D-Orange, also attended the event. John Muth, an engineering professor at N.C. State University, was invited to the event for his work with the FREEDM Systems Center, an organization that explores renewable energy.“We’ve got a lot of potential in North Carolina, and this is a recognition of it at the national level,” he said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Four years ago, the tuition process for UNC-system schools was unpredictable and chaotic.
UNC-system President Erskine Bowles is hinging his tuition plans for the system on a legislative repeal that is not guaranteed — and it could mean that tuition would increase.Bowles has requested that the N.C. General Assembly swap its plan to retain tuition revenue for the state’s general fund with his proposal to give the money back to the UNC system.But if the legislature denies Bowles’ request, it’s possible the UNC-system Board of Governors could be forced to further increase tuition to fully fund financial aid, said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the board.The board won’t know whether that’s a possibility until the legislature convenes in May.“No one wants to arbitrarily raise tuition more than we have to unless we are backed into a corner,” Gage said. “The last thing we would want to do is have (legislators) raise it and have us raise it as well. That’s plan B.”Bowles’ recommended increases align with campus-based proposals that are equal to or lower than the increases required by the legislature. The tuition recommendations are expected to be approved today.The state mandate requires schools to raise tuition by the lesser of $200 or 8 percent.That averages out to 7.2 percent or $180 for resident undergraduates throughout the system. Under Bowles’ plan, the average increase would be only 5.2 percent, or $131.Bowles wants 50 percent of that money to be used for need-based aid and for the rest to be split between improvements to retention and graduation rates and other critical needs.As it stands now, tuition revenue this year will go directly to the state’s general fund, which legislators said is needed to help make up a $4.6 billion state budget shortfall.“Hopefully, if we do our job in communicating the necessity in keeping the money, the General Assembly will agree,” Gage said.The challenge is balancing the system’s financial needs with low tuition not only for 2010-11 but in long-term planning as well, Gage said.Making further cuts in the system to address universities’ financial needs would hurt academics, Bowles said.“We can cut 2 percent more on the administrative side, but anything else will have to come from the academic side, and that will lead to a low-quality education,” Bowles said, citing 900 administrative jobs cut in the fall.To figure out how to balance budget cuts with academic quality, Gage said she wants to appoint a task force in the next four to six weeks to re-examine the system’s four-year tuition plan.A lack of state funding caused the 32 percent tuition increase in the University of California system and the 15 percent increase for Florida’s public universities, Gage said.The potential for that to happen here revealed the need for a task force, she said.“Looking down the road, we have to make sure we have enough flexibility to protect our institutions,” she said.John Davis III, chairman of the budget and finance committee, said it was the system’s dedication to low-cost tuition that have caused UNC to be recognized nationwide, especially by the Board of Regents governing the University of California system. “The UNC system is the model for other universities. It used to be Michigan — it’s not anymore,” Davis said.The full Board of Governors will vote today on Bowles’ recommendations. If approved, they will be sent on to the legislature for consideration when it reconvenes in May 2010.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Alex Williams' Sunday Style piece in The New York Times about dating culture on campuses where the gender ratio skews towards females has provoked a flurry of conversation. Many online comments have questioned whether the story paints a realistic portrait of UNC, or if it focuses too heavily on a narrow population within the campus. Williams agreed to answer Assistant State & National Editor Tarini Parti's questions about the article via e-mail.
In his first State of the Union address tonight, President Barack Obama is expected to revive his campaign rhetoric of hope and change in an attempt to improve dwindling approval ratings.According to the most recent Gallup poll, Obama’s approval rating dropped from 68 percent in January 2009 to 48 percent last week.Rapidly declining approval from Republicans has also created the largest gap in ratings between the two parties ever recorded during a president’s first year in office.
As UNC senior Jeanne Vodicka waited to board her flight home from a mission trip in Haiti, the world of the people she said she grew to love was crumbling.
Randy Woodson’s selection as chancellor for N.C. State University was described by most in three words — a perfect fit.
The UNC system Board of Governors tied up several loose ends, such as UNC-Charlotte’s potential football program, paid leave policy for university presidents and chancellors, and a policy for dealing with hate crimes at its meetings Thursday and Friday.
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
Correction (Dec. 29 9:03 p.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that there were two students on the UNC-CH Tuition Task Force, the Student Body President and the Student Body Vice-President. There are actually three students, as the GPSF President, Keith Lee is also on the task force. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
The UNC-system Board of Governors proposed a plan Thursday to balance the universities’ and state’s needs for additional money while keeping tuition costs down for students.UNC-system President Erskine Bowles also said he does not want campuses to raise in-state tuition by more than the $200 mandated by the legislature. UNC-Chapel Hill’s tuition and fee advisory task force recommended a larger increase Wednesday.“In no case can in-state tuition go higher than $200,” Bowles said. “I’m a low-tuition guy. I don’t think students need to be the primary source of funding.”Bowles’ plan would allow universities to draw money back from the tuition hike already instituted by the state legislature instead of further increasing tuition.The N.C. General Assembly mandated in the budget passed this summer a tuition increase by the lesser of $200 or 8 percent for all students. The revenue from that tuition increase goes to the state’s general fund, rather than going directly to the system.“Students are paying more and we are not getting quality improvements,” said John Davis III, chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee.Bowles said he will lobby legislators to allow universities to keep at least 50 percent of the revenue generated by money now lost to the state. Those funds would help make up for the $12 million less in need-based financial aid the UNC system received this year.Bowles said he wants the other half of the funds to go toward improving retention and graduation rates. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
N.C. legislators are considering proposals to make the state’s tax code more representative of today’s economic structure.This is the first time the legislature has taken serious steps to reform the tax code since the Great Depression, even as the economy has shifted to being service-based instead of manufacturing-based.Talks about tax reform have been in the works for many years, but the idea was proposed again this summer in the General Assembly as legislators struggled to balance the state’s $4.6 billion budget shortfall.Legislators debated between the N.C. Senate’s proposal to tax services and the House’s sales and income tax increases, and agreed to a temporary compromise closer to the House’s plan in order to overcome the shortfall.Members of the House-Senate joint finance committee met for the first time earlier this month to look for more long-term ways to increase the state’s revenue without increasing tax rates. “We have high rates now because we tax very few things,” said Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, who strongly supported taxing services this summer.Clodfelter said if the state’s tax base is broadened, tax rates could be cut across the board. Bill Fox, director of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Center for Business and Economic Research, presented information to legislators at the committee meeting. He said North Carolina taxes only 30 of 168 services and could include others such as accounting and legal advice. The committee will continue to discuss the reform once every two weeks even though the General Assembly is not in session. “The idea is to bring together some information,” said Sen. Phil Berger, R-Guilford. “I don’t know if there is going to be a bill that’s going to be put forward. Right now they are just presenting information.”Berger said the information discussed made sense in the academic field but might be hard to apply in the real world.“Right now with the economic situation that we’ve got, the high unemployment and the reduction of economic activity, I don’t think it’s the right time for us to make significant changes to our tax code,” he said. Berger said changes to the tax structure could negatively impact businesses which could be dangerous given the economic climate.“I just don’t think we need to throw another question mark in the air,” Berger said. Large budget deficits have promoted states other than North Carolina to reform their tax codes in hopes of generating more revenue. California, Texas, Ohio and Michigan are among some of the states that are considering some sort of tax reform, Fox said. “States seem more inclined to make tax changes during very severe times,” he said. Clodfelter said North Carolina is considering a more drastic reform than the other states, saying reform could take several years. “This is important work. It’s not just something you do in a couple of weeks,” Clodfelter said. “We’ll meet until we come to a proposal we agree on or decide that there isn’t one that we can agree on.”Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Some of the nation’s top business schools are changing their admissions policies in attempts to broaden their applicant pools, but UNC is not planning to make changes right now.Until recently, business schools required students applying for Master of Business Administration programs to take the Graduate Management Admissions Test.But schools are now allowing students to submit scores from a more general test — the Graduate Record Examination, which students take for a variety of graduate programs.“In the business school world, it’s a huge deal,” said Mark McNutt, manager of external relations for Educational Testing Service, a company that manufactures standardized tests such as the GRE.Both tests measure mathematical, reading and writing skills. But traditionally, only students applying to business schools have taken the GMAT, while those applying to most other programs have taken the GRE, said Liz Riley Hargrove, associate dean of admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.“It is a bit of a controversy because the GRE was never meant to be used for MBA programs,” Hargrove said.Hargrove said Duke has decided to accept GRE scores for students applying for joint graduate programs, such as graduate degrees in environment and business.Several of the nation’s top ten business schools, including Harvard Business School and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, also will accept GRE scores.But Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC won’t accept the GRE because it is content with the applicant pool it has now, an admissions official said.“If at any time we conclude that accepting the GRE in addition to GMAT would enhance our ability to enroll a higher volume of the most qualified MBA students, we will revise our policy at that time,” said Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions, in an e-mail.Wake Forest’s Schools of Business and UNC-Wilmington’s Cameron School of Business are other N.C. schools that will accept GRE scores.Karen Barnhill, graduate programs administrator at UNC-W, said they hope the shift will diversify the applicant pool.“Five times as many students take the GRE than the GMAT. Sheer numbers alone add diversity to the program,” McNutt said.Allowing the GRE also could ease the financial burden for students. The GRE, which costs $170, is cheaper than the $250 GMAT.It could also relieve the financial burden for an increasing number of U.S. students who are choosing to attend graduate schools due to the economic climate and could also encourage students from nonbusiness tracks to apply.“Schools can now recruit artists and say, ‘Look, you’re talented — why not learn to make some money off of it?’” McNutt said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
When consulting firm Bain & Company finished its study at UNC, it estimated that its recommendations could save the University up to $161 million a year.Now, the University of California-Berkeley has hired Bain & Co., hoping for similar results.But the cuts already made at Berkeley to help it cope with a $150 million budget deficit have prompted some strong opposition on campus from those upset with the cost of the hire.Berkeley is spending $3 million to fund the study, which will review the university’s administrative organization and help it cope with the deficit, as well as $67 million in permanent reductions.The study at UNC was funded by an anonymous donor, and its cost has been kept confidential.The hire at Berkeley comes amidst hundreds of job cuts, causing concern that administrators hired the firm at the expense of employees and the quality of education. “I’m outraged, shocked, disappointed, because we’ve just been going through cuts, an increase in tuition and laying off workers,” said Tanya Smith, president of the local chapter of the union University Professional and Technical Employees, which represents many university faculty members.The university will have to pay half of the $3 million up front. The school plans to use funds controlled by the chancellor that are meant to be used for infrastructure investments. The other half has to be paid in the next fiscal year.“This is a long-term investment that will minimize the cuts we have to make later on,” said Dan Mogulof, executive director of public affairs.Berkeley expects to replace the funds spent on the study through the long-term savings that will be generated by making the cuts recommended by the study.Mogulof said hiring Bain & Co. was necessary because of the lack of funding provided by the state.“Though we continue our political advocacy, striving to convince Sacramento to reverse its disinvestment in higher education, we are also planning for what is likely to be even less state funding next year,” Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said in a statement.Unlike at UNC, where University administration and faculty did not directly oversee the project, Berkeley’s study will be guided by a committee of faculty and administrators.It will focus on the efficiency of non-academic departments, such as technology, finance and business services. UNC’s study included academic departments.Smith said many employees are not convinced the study is in the university’s best interest and have planned meetings to protest it.“Education is besieged by this problem of looking toward consultants instead of looking at the classroom and see what the needs are there,” she said.But the protests will have little impact, Mogulof said.“We are a large campus and known to have diverse opinions, Talk is one thing, but watch what we do,” he said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Due to a reporting error, this story misstates the cost of Obama’s health care plan. The plan is set to cost approximately $660 billion in 10 years with the public option. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
A UNC doctor will represent North Carolina in a meeting today with President Barack Obama.Stephen Gamboa, clinical instructor in the department of family medicine, is participating in a health care reform discussion at the White House. Obama invited one doctor from each state. “President Obama organized this event and wanted a physician from each state to show that doctors are indeed supporting health care reform,” Gamboa said.The doctors, mostly selected from an organization called Doctors for America, will be expressing their concerns about the health care system and support for the president’s reform. “Our efforts are based on making insurance accessible for all, prevention and wellness, advocating for a public option and strengthening primary care,” he said. Gamboa said they will be discussing the importance of the public insurance option with Obama even though the U.S. Senate vetoed last week two proposals that included public options. “I particularly support the public insurance option because it will keep the private insurance companies honest,” Gamboa said.He said meeting will also focus on coming up with ways to make insurance affordable for all. About 14,000 people lose insurance coverage every day, and 47 million were reported to be uninsured in 2008. With unprecedented unemployment rates, the numbers are probably even worse now, Gamboa said. “We need a system that does not bankrupt families through medical bills,” he said. “I think (Obama) is a very intelligent person and has great ideas for health reform.”Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Social networking Web sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are becoming increasingly useful not only in staying connected with friends, but also in promoting job skills and exploring career options.Gary Allan Miller, University Career Services assistant director, said students should figure out which medium works best for them and establish an online presence, which could help them in securing a job in the future.Miller said about 80 percent of hiring managers are using social mediums to screen job applicants. At a time when jobs are difficult to find, students should do their best to take advantage of social-networking Web sites, he said.He has been trying to educate students through a workshop titled “Personal branding, new media and you career,” and through 12-minute instructional videos he posts on his Twitter account, Miller said.“The aim is to help them find a platform that makes sense for them,” he said. Miller added that it’s possible none of these three mediums work for a student. “It all depends on the student’s interest. If you’re in a visual career, maybe you need to be on YouTube,” he said. “Students have to explore the range of possibilities that are out there.”