$8,000 laser stolen from Kenan Labs
When he entered Kenan Laboratories on Friday, Xiang Wang noticed something peculiar.
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When he entered Kenan Laboratories on Friday, Xiang Wang noticed something peculiar.
Gone, or at least diminished, are the days of hustled football ticket sales and students sneaking their non-UNC friends into games with borrowed One Cards.
_Correction (Setember 3, 1: 17 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, this story incorrectly states the type of colleges that received funds. They are private colleges. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error. _
Members of student government are expected to represent the voice of the students. But sometimes it’s hard to know what students think.To combat low response to random surveys, campus leaders are creating a polling group of 300 students who are representative of the student body and can give consistent feedback on campus issues.“The role of student government is to represent the interests of the students,” said Jonathan Tugman, student body secretary. “In order to do that, we need to know what they think. Town halls get a lot of anecdotal data, but this will be a constant source of quantitative feedback.”The group, Carolina Virtual Voice, will be composed of 200 undergraduate and 100 graduate students, selected to represent the demographics of the entire school, from race and sexual orientation to residency and political views.Members will take surveys organized by student government, which is forming the program with assistance from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.In the past, random surveys by student government have had response rates as low as 21 percent.Because Carolina Virtual Voice participants have agreed to respond to all surveys, the program will have nearly a 100 percent response, organizers said. Results will be more representative of the student body and a more effective and worthwhile tool for University leaders, Tugman said.“We are hoping to create a group that we can come to about all but the most important issues,” said Lynn Williford, assistant provost for institutional research and assessment. “This is more than just a source of information. This is a representation of all students.”Junior Michael Betts used a similar polling technique last year to help create his student body president platform, and Tugman, who worked on Betts’ campaign, decided to revamp the idea this year.Carolina Virtual Voice uses a ranking system to select organizations that will be invited to contribute. It automatically accepted representatives from 29 groups with more than 200 active members or more than $4,500 in annual student activity.Fraternity and sorority students, who make up about 17 percent of the student population, will have 34 undergraduate representatives. Organizers then used a list created by the Office of Student Activities and Organizations that arranges student groups into categories — such as academics, sports and arts — to determine the rest of the survey group’s makeup.Membership in Carolina Virtual Voice is entirely voluntary. Organizations selected to participate will choose three to four members to represent them in the group, none of whom may be a part of student government.Graduate students from different departments are being selected with help from the Graduate and Professional Student Federation.Though not all of the members of Carolina Virtual Voice have been selected yet, Tugman said he hopes to administer the first survey soon.The program is admittedly statistically flawed, Williford said. There is a possible voluntary response bias because students who volunteer to give their input are more likely to be of an extreme opinion — both positive and negative — than those randomly sampled.Tugman said he is aware of this, but the benefits outweigh the faults.“There is no way to counter this, but we made sure to reach out to students that don’t normally have a voice,” Tugman said. “We’re doing this the best way we know how.”University administrators as well as student government hope to use the feedback from students.“I think this is going to be a very interesting experiment,” Williford said. “I think students are more likely to respond in these surveys when they know that their input can really affect the school policy.”Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Due to a reporting error, and earlier version of this story misstated which Spanish classes will be moving to the online-only format. Spanish 101 is the only one currently slated to move online-only. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, the largest fraternity in the world, now has an active chapter at UNC after the international organization officially recognized a branch on campus.To receive recognition from the international organization, the fraternity had to gather 40 members and submit an endorsement from the UNC Interfraternity Council.Tau Kappa Epsilon, which has been operating as an unrecognized chapter, or colony, for more than two years at UNC, will now begin the process of petitioning the council for official recognition from the University.Members of the fraternity, their friends and family and chapter alumni gathered at the Carolina Inn on Saturday night to receive their formal charter from a national branch representative.The fraternity had never existed on the UNC campus until fifth-year student Kyle Madden decided two and a half years ago to begin the process of bringing a chapter to campus.“My dad was a TKE, and I grew up listening to TKE stories,” Madden said. “I’ve always wanted to be a TKE. It’s a calling, a strong one.”Kyle Madden’s father, Lee Madden, had been a part of the fraternity at Rider University, and suggested that his son start a chapter at UNC.Kyle Madden gathered a few of his friends and started the new fraternity with the help of his father. However, gathering members to meet the international requirements for recognition was difficult, as the fraternity could not officially participate in rush to recruit new members.“It was, well, it was a process,” Kyle Madden said about meeting the requirements.“We had our ups and downs, but everyone put in the effort, and it’s finally paying off.”Tau Kappa Epsilon, established in 1899, is the only fraternity that has never had an exclusionary clause requiring members to meet a certain level of social status or wealth.“We pride ourselves on not looking at wealth, rank or honor, but by personal wealth and character,” said Nat Sheppard, associate regional director at Tau Kappa Epsilon for the southern region.“To this day, it’s the only collegiate university fraternity never to have an exclusionary clause.”Senior Chris Watts, president of the fraternity, said he was in disbelief that they had received recognition.“It feels amazing right now,” Watts said. “We never thought this day would come. We’ve been full of hope, sometimes even false hope, but now its here. It hasn’t exactly sunk in yet, I guess.”Jenny Levering, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said she is optimistic about the new fraternity’s presence on campus.“I believe that TKE will serve as a role model for other fraternities,” Levering said.David Kreis, a recent UNC alumnus and former president of the fraternity, said he hopes the University will accept their petition for membership.“We want them to know that TKE is going to be an asset to the Greek system, and we want to have an active dialogue with them as for what that will mean,” Kreis said.Senior and fraternity member Akshay Ahuja said he thinks the chapter will serve as a positive force on campus.“We want to show people that fraternities are more than just partying. They can be the epitome of brotherhood and of progress and of some greater good out there.”Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.