About twenty-five people squeezed into the Internationalist Books and Community Center Friday for a "teach-in," a dialogue on some of the controversies surrounding UNC's Master Plan effect on the Chapel Hill.
"UNC's plans for construction on the main campus and Horace Williams tract will have a bigger impact on our community than any other single development in our past or the foreseeable future," said Internationalist Advisory Board Chair Ruby Sinreich.
The Internationalist, 405 W. Franklin Street, is a non-profit organization run by volunteers and one part-time manager and serves as a small, independent bookstore that organizes programs for the community.
For this Chapel Hill citizens were invited to attend in order to develop a better understanding of UNC's development plans.
Topics discussed included UNC's Master Plan, the Horace Williams tract and UNC's rezoning request, associated protest petitions, the threat of legislative zoning exemptions, and a brief history of town-gown relations in Chapel Hill.
Some citizens expressed concerns over the fast pace of the rezoning which could get the project approved at a very accelerated rate.
Adam Sotak, who received a master's degree in social work at the University, presided over the meeting along with Sinreich, who also graduated from UNC in 1993.
Eric Knight, an N.C. State University Student serving as an intern on the publicity committee for the Internationalist, also helped in organization.
"It seemed the University was trying to circumvent the democratic process, thus taking away citizen's power in deciding what happens to Chapel Hill," Knight said. Two panelists, Kirk Ross of the Chapel Hill News and Dan Coleman of the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club, joined the discussion and were available to answer citizens' questions.
