Yet they are equally likely to encounter it while ordering food from employees at the school's dining halls.
Liz Kistin, a junior political science and Latin American studies major from Albuquerque, N.M., has spent much of her free time at UNC helping to alleviate local poverty among unemployed and working people alike.
"There's this aspect (of poverty) that's more hidden, that of people working 40 hours a week and still not making ends meet," she said.
Kistin helped found and co-coordinates Project Rush Hour, a student-led initiative that keeps open the Inter-Faith Council's Crisis Intervention Program Center in Carrboro from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. The program attempts to help struggling families by paying for expenses such as bills, food or clothes.
"There was always this desire to be able to have evening hours so that clients that work traditional hours could come after work and not take additional time off," Lavergne said.
Kistin, along with five other students, facilitated this need when they founded Project Rush Hour in January 2002.
The program resulted from the Tzedek Leadership Initiative, a one-year fellowship sponsored by N.C. Hillel, that trained six students, including Kistin, in community organizing and Jewish values of social justice.
Or Mars, executive director of Hillel, said he hand-picked the candidates. "I saw this spark of articulate and passionate idealism in (Kistin), and I thought she'd be great," Mars said. "I was right."
While the Tzedek (which is Hebrew for justice) Leadership Initiative is rooted in Jewish values, its ultimate goal is to bring social justice. "The focus of Judaism in my family has been less religious and more on social justice," Kistin said. "What was neat about this program was that it allowed me to do both."
The Tzedek students participated in three short-term projects, such as serving food at the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill, during their first semester of training. They had to decide on one large project by the beginning of Kistin's sophomore year.
Chris Moran, executive director of IFC, pitched the idea of extending the Crisis Intervention Program Center's service hours to Mars.
The group decided to take on the project, training for four months. Kistin became devoted to the center, volunteering her free time to work there twice a week during her training.
"I was really blown away by the organization," she said.
Kistin said she was impressed by the strength clients had in asking for assistance. "I grew up being independent, and it was amazing to me how difficult it is (for clients) to ask for help."
She also learned the "American Dream" of enjoying success through having a job is, in her eyes, not true.
"I realized there is a very thin line between who makes it and who doesn't in this country," she said.
But Kistin has played a role in helping Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents achieve and maintain success. In addition to her work with Project Rush Hour, Kistin tutors Spanish-speaking students in the Campus Y's MANO program and also has worked with UNICEF.
After spending a semester abroad in Nicaragua, she returned to Project Rush Hour and took on the role of coordinator, along with senior Michelle Bercovici.
"She's an extraordinary young woman," said IFC worker Adi Rapport. "She's insightful and intelligent, and she has really made a contribution to the IFC."
To nominate someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the University community to be a Star Heel, e-mail features@unc.edu.
