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(02/22/10 5:10am)
More than 1,000 students packed into Fetzer Gym Friday, pledging to stand — and often dance — for an entire day to raise money for the N.C. Children’s Hospital.The 12th annual Dance Marathon ended after 24 hours having raised $421,851.32 — a record for the event — bringing the event’s total fundraising to more than $2.5 million since its first year. With the aid of 4,980 donors and 255 volunteers, the Treasure Island-themed marathon featured nonstop dancing and entertainment from campus performance groups, athletes and speakers. The Daily Tar Heel experienced the marathon through the eyes of sophomore Chase Miller of Cary, a marathon veteran. 7:30 p.m. FridayMiller, who danced last year, said he felt prepared. He spent most of Friday napping and bought drinks at Wal-Mart to prevent dehydration, a painful mistake he made the year before. Miller said his motivations for participating this year were different.“Last year, it was more of a personal test,” he said. “I learned that the feeling I got after the marathon was not because I was doing it to prove something for myself, but to help the children and the cause.” Miller danced in the first rave of the night and learned this year’s line dance, which was performed 13 more times throughout the event.After kickoff, Miller said he felt relieved. “I have just been waiting and waiting on this to happen all year,” he said. 11 p.m. Friday By nighttime, aches and pains began to set in.“We just did Zumba. It got my blood pumping, but now my feet are starting to hurt,” he said. Going into the night, he was looking forward to a morning delivery of Red Bull from his mom.He said he wanted to hold out on the energy drinks until then to avoid crashing too early. 3:30 a.m. Saturday After dancing to the band Carolina Blues, Miller noticed new aches — this time in his lower back. But despite the physical pain, Miller said he still felt strong. “Mentally, I am wired,” he said. For the first time, he noticed time passing slowly. But a delivery of Oreos and pizza from friends put him back into gear, he said. Still fighting the urge to caffeinate too soon, Miller said he was craving a Red Bull. 9:30 a.m. Saturday Not until he received some downtime Saturday morning did Miller recognize the latest pain. “Once you hear one person complain about their knees hurting, your knees start to hurt,” he said. With the pain shooting straight up into his neck, Miller said he would give anything for a pillow. Instead, he settled for neck massages from friends. But a sunrise walk around Kenan Stadium put Miller into a refreshing high. Joining a mass exodus from Fetzer Gym at 6:30 a.m., Miller circled the stadium to music from the UNC drum line and cheers from the dance team. “The gym is burning up right now, and it was nice to get fresh air,” he said. For yet another morning mood-lifter, Miller finally indulged in the long-awaited Red Bull delivery from his mom at 9 a.m. “Now I’m going for the caffeine high until after lunch,” he said. 3:30 p.m. Saturday Miller had no additions to his list of aching body parts, but instead a subtraction.“My knees no longer hurt,” he said. “They are just numb now.” After watching the basketball game against Boston College on a projection screen, the dancers took another trip outside, this time to break the Guinness world record for longest massage train. The previous record was 430 people.“It’s the home stretch,” he said with a few hours left. “It will be easy from here on out.”7:30 p.m. SaturdayFive families that have benefited from money raised by Dance Marathon took the stage, providing dancers a time of reflection. “I realized how much the marathon meant to more than just me and my friends,” Miller said. Jessica Hill, whose 2-year old daughter has a heart condition, told the dancers that they’ll never realize all the lives they have touched.Later, Miller joined his fellow dancers in simultaneously collapsing to the ground to sit for the first time in 24 hours. Ten seconds later, dancers got back up and started dancing again, fueled by the spirit of celebration. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/19/10 7:45pm)
Tonight, 1,600 dancers will gather in Fetzer Gymnasium to kick off the 12th annual UNC Dance Marathon. Patience Obasaju, the operations chairperson for Dance Marathon, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the marathon.
(02/03/10 6:01am)
Three University presidents, a former U.S. senator and even a semi-pornographic film have had a home at 115 Battle Lane in the last 100 years.Edward Kidder Graham, the ninth president of the University, built the two-story colonial-inspired house in 1908 while he was an English professor. More than a century later, the house is condemned and set to be demolished in September.“If the termites let go of their hands, this place would fall down,” said Ernest Dollar, executive director of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill.The demolition order comes from the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission and is part of a 2006 town ordinance known as demolition by neglect. It was created to require owners to either fix their buildings or to tear them down. The Graham house has become a death trap, Dollar said.A tarp covers a massive bay window, plywood and a bicycle lock serve as a front door, and a once-graceful staircase is infested with termites.The local preservation society and Preservation North Carolina have searched since 2007 for a preservation-conscious buyer to bring the house to the historic district’s standards, said Cathleen Turner, regional director of Preservation N.C.Preservationists are fighting to save it because of its ties to the University’s history, she said.“There is a great tradition of wonderful North Carolinians who went through those doors,” Turner said.The house is owned by Sherman Richardson. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday.Graham is credited with attracting liberal professors to enlighten the South and with spreading education across the state, Dollar said.Frank Porter Graham, Edward Kidder Graham’s cousin, the 11th president of the University and a U.S. Senator, lived in the house until he finished law school in 1909, along with roommate and future University President Kemp Battle.Edward Kidder Graham and his family moved out in 1914 when he became president of the University. Dollar said the house stayed in Graham’s family until the University bought it and rented it to Alpha Gamma Delta sorority in the 40s.Jean Snyder Hicks, who lived in the house as a sorority member from 1946-1948, remembers sitting on the front porch with dates and singing rush songs about the house.“At the time we had no idea about the background of the house and who had lived there,” she said. A 1948 fire led to the University selling the house, and it was in the hands of one private owner for 50 years. Richardson bought the house in 1998.Relatives of Graham and the University have shown no interest in saving the house, said Dollar.The University has acquired other historic properties, like the Love House on Battle Lane. But Wendy Hillis, UNC’s historic preservation architect, said the University does not plan to buy the Graham house. “The Edward Kidder Graham house is just way too much money. There also isn’t a use for a space like that,” Hillis said. The house is listed for about $850,000 and Dollar estimates restoration costs of $720,000. After state tax credits for upkeep of historical property, he said the total price is comparable to other houses in the Rosemary-Franklin historic district. A similar house on nearby Senlac Road recently sold for $2.2 million dollars, Dollar said. “It is right across the street from where the University began,” Turner said. “It could be a wonderful home once again.”Since its efforts to find a preservation-conscious buyer, Dollar has showed the house to about 15 interested buyers. Dollar said he will remain hopeful until the bulldozers roll down Battle Lane.“This house has dodged many bullets, but September is its last one.”Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/02/10 7:12am)
A former Carrboro Alderman with a self-published book of haikus makes for a rare combination.
(12/08/09 4:03am)
Correction (Dec 8. 11:00 p.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Daryl Ann Dunigan’s role with UNC College Republicans. She was executive vice chairwoman in 2008-09. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
(12/03/09 6:17am)
Harris Googe has enough pairs of TOMS Shoes to wear a different style Monday through Friday.The sophomore chairwoman for the unofficial UNC TOMS club will don a pair today alongside many in an attempt to promote the shoe company, as today has been deemed the first unofficial TOMS Day by the campus group.TOMS Shoes is a for-profit company that operates on a “One for One” premise. For every shoe purchased, one is donated to a child in need. More than 150,000 pairs of shoes have been donated since the company’s start three years ago.Googe credits the recent popularity boost of the shoes at UNC to a campus visit in September by Blake Mycoskie, who founded TOMS Shoes.“I got the idea after seeing people in my classes,” Googe said. “I wanted to reward people for wearing them every day.”Those spotted by a TOMS representative wearing the brand will be entered in a drawing for prizes, including gift cards to Franklin Street businesses.Googe said the club aims to spread the purpose of TOMS and hopes to become an official campus organization next semester.She said she plans to spread more than the company’s philanthropic message and also wants to open a dialogue about business ventures that are socially conscious.“We want to inspire people to do things that are similar, especially in the business world,” she said. “You can be socially conscious and still be successful.”Toots and Magoo, a Franklin Street store and the only TOMS retailer in Chapel Hill, has witnessed this success.“They fly out of here,” said Cheryl Jernigan-Wicker, one of the owners of the store. “We sell them as fast as we can get them.”She said she noticed traffic pick up immediately after Mycoskie’s campus visit.The store keeps about six to seven styles in stock at one time, and they are always in high demand, she said.But Jernigan-Wicker also said the shoes’ popularity goes beyond the recent campus trend. She cited a frequent customer in her 70s who has at least six pairs.Some students said the new TOMS Day is no different from any other.“I would probably wear them anyways,” said Brye Balkum, a freshman who plans to participate in the event.Balkum bought her first pair in July without knowing about the TOMS business plan, but then bought a second pair when she discovered it.“You are contributing to someone else’s life somewhere else in the world and you don’t even know them,” she said.Jernigan-Wicker calls purchasing TOMS a “feel-good buying experience.”“Everybody loves the idea that they can do something to help someone else in the world,” she said.Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/20/09 6:10am)
Students will simultaneously fall to the ground at noon today in the Pit, symbolizing those who have been killed in the past year because of their gender identity or gender expression.Today is the 11th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. It concludes a weeklong effort the UNC LGBTQ Center has organized for transgender awareness.Terri Phoenix, director of the UNC LGBTQ Center, said the organization spent the week leading up to this event educating people about transgender communities and experiences through speeches, panels and service projects.Today’s event, called a die-in, will memorialize the reported 101 transgender people killed this year. Eleven of these deaths were in the U.S., Phoenix said.Each person’s name will be read with a brief description of his or her life, and a flower will be placed on a student who has “died.”Maggie Carlin, a graduate student assistant for the LGBTQ Center, plans to participate and said she expects the die-in to bring up many emotions. “You’ve got blank minutes where you are doing nothing but thinking about the person you are representing,” she said.The LGBTQ Center has honored this day of remembrance in the past, but Phoenix said this is the first year it has held a die-in.She also said she doesn’t expect to be able to represent all 101 deaths with a student volunteer who will “die,” but she said there will still be placards for all the names.“It is being a voice for those whose voice was taken away and don’t have the opportunity to speak out anymore,” said senior Angel Collie, who is transgender. “You never know when it could happen to you.”Collie said he recognizes how open-minded Chapel Hill is about the transgender community. “I can’t forget about my trans siblings who do have to stay in these places that aren’t like Chapel Hill and face transphobia and fear on a daily basis,” he said.Carlin also said she hopes the week will improve awareness about transgender discrimination.One way to do this was through a service project called “C’mon, I Just Have to Pee.”On Thursday, students assisted the campuswide project, which helps document gender-nonspecific bathrooms on campus by plotting the ones around Polk Place and McCorkle Place.“One of the places on campus that consistently people feel discomfort or harassment is the bathroom,” Phoenix said. “Someone who looks more masculine may encounter strange looks about being in the women’s bathroom.”Carlin said the end goal is to have a searchable map posted on the University Web site.“We will get a better estimate of which parts of campus are more comfortable and safe,” she said.In the town of Chapel Hill, there is no legislation about having to use the bathroom of your legal gender, Phoenix said.UNC made a commitment in 2006 that any new or refurbished buildings would have at least one gender-nonspecific bathroom added to them, she said.Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/19/09 6:16am)
“Turn it Back” policy: Students who decide not to go to a game can return their tickets to the CAA by e-mailing them to ReturnUNCTickets@gmail.com.Other students can pick up these tickets by going to the Student Union information desk the day before any ticketed home basketball game at 5:15 p.m. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.Standby line:Students not selected to receive a ticket in the lottery can line up outside Koury Natatorium 90 minutes before tip-off to fill empty seats. Students will be given a bracelet on a first come, first served basis. Students with bracelets can line up 30 minutes before tip-off by their numbers.
(10/30/09 4:32am)
Lindsey Ragsdale measures everything she buys by the hours she will have to work to pay for it.She worries about tuition increases because she finances her education with four federal loans, a private loan and a part-time job.“It is such a mental sacrifice,” she said. “The last couple of years, I have only been thinking about how much money is in my accounts or how much I need for bills. I worry about it all the time.”Administrators will discuss next year’s tuition increases at a tuition and fee advisory task force meeting today. A proposed increase of $1,126.68 for out-of-state undergraduate students will be considered.In-state tuition will increase by no more than the $200 mandated by N.C. law.For Ragsdale, an out-of-state sophomore from Leesburg, Va., the increase would mean another job and another federal loan. And no more groceries like the cookies or chips that amount to a half hour of work either.“I understand the hike because the economy sucks right now,” she said. “It just isn’t fair to put the whole burden on out-of-state students by jacking up the tuition.”Interim Provost Bruce Carney said once the task force has made up its mind and makes a presentation to the chancellor and UNC Board of Trustees, he predicts the tuition increase to go through smoothly. He also said it would likely reach N.C. legislature by spring.Carney said the increases would go toward scholarships, student aid, the tuition remission budget and new faculty hires.Ryan Morgan, the president of the Out-of-state Student Association, said they are not against tuition increases, but are against the unpredictability of it.He said he will attend the task force with other OSSA members to make a presence and to get out-of-state students’ voices heard.“Wouldn’t you be pissed if you thought you would have to pay one amount and then it went up a thousand dollars?” he said.Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid, said non-resident students who are qualified for need would receive an additional tuition grant equal to the amount of the added tuition.Yet Ragsdale still has concerns because of her financial situation. Her parents paid for some of her freshman year, but she still racked up thousands of dollars in debt. She took the next year off, working full-time to pay it off.Now she finances everything without aid from her parents. “She has a mission and she will complete it regardless of tuition increases or not,” said Ragsdale’s mother Dorothea.Ragsdale works for an event planner which sometimes requires up to 30 hours of work per week. “When I have free time, I have to be mindful not to goof off,” she said.When she heard of the potential tuition hikes, she had just found out her rent will increase next year, too — something she also finances on her own. “My private loan has a set amount I can dig into, and I’ve already used a sizable chunk,” she said. “I could borrow more from that but I worry about long-term paying it off.” Ragsdale said she will have to pay $200 a month for at least 10 years after graduation to settle the four federal Stafford loans she uses to finance school.She wants to go to Japan to teach English after graduation but is now rethinking those plans.“I have to grow up a little bit faster,” she said. “I can’t just go willy-nilly and travel everywhere.” Still, she said she doesn’t regret choosing a more expensive out-of-state university.“It is worth the thousands of dollars of debt. I wouldn’t consider going anywhere else.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(10/14/09 5:51am)
Gravedigger is something Patrick Burrows can add to his resume, thanks to living in The Chapel of the Cross for the last year.Burrows, a senior French and linguistics major from Asheville, has lived in the Episcopal church on Franklin Street since his junior year.“It is somewhat estranging to other students because they suddenly assume things about you, like that you are a prude,” Burrows said. “It certainly can establish a stereotype — an image that isn’t necessarily true.”The Chapel of the Cross has housed students for at least 50 years and its not the only area church to do so, said Mary Anne Handy, parish administrator.Burrows shares responsibilities of the church building with his roommate, junior John Allen, an environmental studies major.They split duties like locking and unlocking the church, setting up for weekly meetings and turning on the sound and light system.In exchange, they pay no rent.But Burrows and Allen said financial reasons weren’t their only motivations.“It is just quiet, comfortable and there are always leftovers in the fridge,” said Allen, who is a youth leader at the church.Allen is undecided about his future, while Burrows plans to be a priest.Burrows said living at the church has shown him a glimpse of his future.“At the point you become a priest, you are no longer yourself. Part of what you say is always understood under the lenses of that being the word of God,” he said. “Realizing that was a major shock.”Residents are not required to be Episcopalian or to participate in religious functions, said Handy.Burrows found out about the living option through the Episcopal Campus Ministry listserv.Burrows said he acts as front line for the church, often receiving some strange work requests.In addition to gravedigging, he has herded animals and wrapped a life-size cross with chicken wire for Easter.Although denying that he’s a Quasimodo figure, Burrows does ring the church bells for basketball victories.Students who live in churches are not uncommon in a campus community, Handy said. University United Methodist Church and University Presbyterian Church each house a graduate student.Comparable to a dorm, they share a room on the second floor with bunk beds, two desks and two chests of drawers. They have an attached, private bathroom.Handy said the church does not encourage drinking or sleepovers, but there is a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for the residents.“There are really no set rules on our room,” Allen said. “Just use common sense.”Mary Brenda Joyner, an office volunteer, said having residents reminds them of the long-standing bond with the University and its mission to minister to the students.Although equipped with mace when locking up the church, Burrows said his potentially eerie surroundings don’t scare him.“Things don’t take you so much as a surprise because you see God everywhere,” he said. “It has allowed me to make God more of a banal part of my life, because I just know He is there.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(10/08/09 4:33am)
As a liberal-leaning Indian, Nikhil Patel is an unlikely leader for a conservative group.President of the UNC chapter of Youth for Western Civilization, Patel has found himself caught in the crossfire of accusations stating that the group is radically right-wing, racist and close-minded.Patel had reservations about the group’s values at first, too.“You can’t take the stances of a few people and stereotype the whole club to be neo-Nazi nut jobs,” he said.Patel first came to a YWC event last year after encouragement from his friend Riley Matheson, former president and founder of UNC’s YWC chapter.This summer he stepped up to serve as president after two others before him declined. Patel wanted to ensure minority opinions would be represented on campus.“If he hadn’t offered to be president, the group wouldn’t exist,” said Elliot Cramer, a YWC adviser.A senior biology major from Huntersville, Patel said his belief in free speech for all gave him a greater drive to be involved with YWC after the group was silenced by protestors at the Tancredo speech in April.“Censorship did not fly with me. I thought it would be nice to have a conservative point of view on campus just for the spirit of debate,” Patel said.Born and raised in the U.S., his mother is from Zambia and his father is from Zimbabwe. But Patel associates most with his maternal grandmother’s Indian heritage.Patel admits his own beliefs do not fit into those of YWC’s. “My dad always taught me when I was a kid, instead of being angry at everything I hear that I disagree with, that I should understand it,” he said. “You can’t be a man without being able to re-evaluate yourself and listen to other people.”Patel said he is hesitant about the group’s desire for immigrant assimilation and against radical multiculturalism. He believes individuals should balance their heritage with that of the dominant culture.As president, Patel has taken a lot of heat for the group this year, something that has not gone unnoticed within the group.“He didn’t quit in the first place. Most people in his situation would,” said Hugon Karwowski, one of YWC’s three advisers. “He became a poster boy for all the negative things being said about his organization. He is strong-willed, and his efforts are to protect the freedom of speech here.”Patel said one of his goals is to join with other cultural clubs to create a day in which each organization displays the positives and negatives of its culture at a booth. “He really did join the group to get a different prospective,” said senior Jon Courtney, a friend of Patel’s. “We need more skeptics in this world.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(09/28/09 4:40am)
“Kings, queens and everything in between,” UNC’s regally themed float, held about 60 students donning everything from Burger King crowns and rainbow-feathered wings to sweaters and jeans.The float rode through Duke’s East Campus on Saturday afternoon as part of the 25th annual N.C. PrideFest.“Our float’s theme symbolizes the royalty we give to each other in the community. It represents the respect we’ve earned through our struggles,” said junior Brett Kessler, who wore Mardi Gras beads.The festival is now marked more by celebration than protest, but it hasn’t always been that way.North Carolina’s first pride event was in 1981, said Keith Hayes, spokesman for N.C. Pride. He said it was a spontaneously organized solidarity march when a local man was killed for being presumed gay.“The country and the Triangle has moved so far away from that, and now the parade is really about celebrating what we have accomplished for gay civil rights — free from fear,” Hayes said.Terri Phoenix, the director of the UNC LGBTQ Center, recalled a smaller-scale N.C. Pride parade in 1990. She said there were no elaborate flatbed floats like UNC’s this year, which was complete with a colorful throne made of boas and tissue paper.“More people feel safe to be visible now,” she said, adding that the emotion was reason for celebration.A diverse mix of thousands of spectators, including straight couples, middle school students and families, lined Ninth Street, Broad Street and West Main Street in Durham. The mile-long parade included more than 2,000 marchers.Although tame protestors shouted scripture through bullhorns from the corner of Swift Avenue and West Main Street, they were outnumbered by the churches that joined the parade in support.Imani Metropolitan Community Church of Durham had a float carrying members who wore shirts that vertically spelled “GAY,” standing for “God Adores You.”A roller-skating Jesus glided about 50 feet behind the UNC float carrying a cross that read “Love God and Your Neighbor.”Not all aspects were as colorful as the gyrating dance moves from the Legends Night Club’s float. Some celebration was as simple as holding hands with a partner.“A lot of times, people feel like they have to be quiet about who they are and what they really think,” said Noel Bynum, co-president of UNC’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender-Straight Alliance. Despite the wet weather, the upbeat music and impromptu sidewalk dance parties proved Hayes’ description correct.“It is the largest feel-good gay event in the gay community of North Carolina.”Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.