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(09/22/06 4:00am)
Students might be forced to pay part of a $1.4 million lawsuit through their fees, the student fee audit committee discovered Thursday.
The University recently was sued by a contractor who was fired for unsatisfactory renovations to the Student Union.
This revelation came during a nearly two-hour discussion of a $15.35 proposed increase to the Carolina Union student fee during the committee's meeting. Students already pay $109 for the fee.
An unspecified portion of that fee would pay for the $500,000 loan the Union took out to pay the claim.
Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, said additional student fees, if approved, would help recover that amount during the next 10 years.
A total of $61,667 would be taken from the 2007-08 fees.
Payne said the rest of the $1.4 million is coming from Union reserves and facility debt funds maintained by campus recreation and the Union.
"I do think we should have looked for other ways to pay this claim," Student Body Vice President Brian Phelps said. "If this were another entity, I think we would see a vastly different solution."
The committee, which is led by Student Body Treasurer Anisa Mohanty, decided not to recommend the increase by a vote of three to one. Four other members abstained from the vote.
But the group does not have the final say. The student fee advisory subcommittee will meet at 9 a.m. today to further discuss the request.
Sophomore C.P. Helms, who recently was appointed to the committee by Speaker of Congress Luke Farley, was the only member who voted for the fee increase. Helms said the increase is reasonable because students benefited from the renovations.
Farley has said he selected his appointees to scrutinize all fee increases, after pledging to oppose all increases himself.
Don Luse, director of the Carolina Union who presented the request, said the University fired its first contracted company because renovations took twice as long as expected, and UNC officials were not satisfied with the workmanship.
The original contractor and UNC settled this summer, Phelps said.
Luse said officials knew the University was subject to a claim when it terminated the original contract but did not expect the suit to materialize.
"I'm not sure anybody really believed we would be in this situation," he said. "Of course you knew there was a risk, but we strongly felt that this was the best course of action."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/20/06 4:00am)
The Honor Court is scheduling more cases - but not because students are committing more crimes.
Student attorney general Candace Debnam said the Honor Court system is at a level of efficiency unprecedented in the past five years. As of Tuesday 40 cases were scheduled and 25 were unscheduled.
Scheduled cases are those assigned counsel and hearing dates.
"Unscheduled means students are in limbo," Debnam said. "They know they're in trouble but are not working towards a resolution."
Last year's average ratio saw the amount of cases flipped and about 100 cases backlogged, she said.
This benchmark comes despite a smaller-than-normal staff taking on the same amount of referrals, she said.
The attorney general's office - which schedules cases and provides counsel - staffs 24 students this year.
When cases are not scheduled, the process of hearing cases and coming to resolutions is slowed.
"I've been trying to make sure cases aren't lingering on the backlog," Debnam said.
Last year the median amount of time for a case to go to trial varied by offense. It took 23 days for an academic case, which includes plagiarism and cheating, and 27 days for a conduct case, such as drug possession or driving under the influence.
Debnam said she hopes to lower that median by one or two days this year. She said moving cases more quickly would diminish the counsel's ability to prepare for the case.
In addition, she said she hopes the committee on student conduct will examine sanctioning for certain offenses, and to consider implementing mandatory minimum sanctions for some crimes, such as driving under the influence.
The committee begins meeting next week.
Another major development is the addition of junior Rob Sellers to a new position as undergraduate post-hearing coordinator.
In that role, Sellers will help students complete their requirements after they receive verdicts.
Sellers will oversee the completion of community service and probation and assist students applying for reinstatement to the University after suspension, Debnam said.
In addition to Debnam's efforts, Honor Court Chairman Mark Ihnat attributes this year's success to better transparency between the Honor Court and the attorney general's office.
"We've gotten better at communication overall - between the attorney general's office and the Honor Court, between the court and professors, and between the students and counsel," he said.
Ihnat plans to increase the awareness of the Honor Code's regional application.
He said students are bound by the Code no matter where they are in the world so long as they are enrolled at the University.
Debnam said this semester's efficiency is key to the program's goals.
"We want the 2 percent who come through the system to have a good experience," she said.
"And we want to protect the 98 percent who do not."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/20/06 4:00am)
The rules and judiciary committee reported favorably Tuesday on a bill that would allow Student Congress to make temporary appointments to the body until a special election can be held.
The committee also supported a bill dealing with the ticket distribution committee and reserved tickets for Carolina Athletic Association cabinet members.
The legislation will be heard next Tuesday by a full meeting of Congress.
The temporary appointments bill would allow students to become interim members of Congress after gathering 20 signatures from their respective districts. If chosen after an interview with the speaker of Congress, those selected also would need to be confirmed by a two-thirds vote from the full body.
The bill was proposed because resignations and no-shows of members frequently cause Congress to meet well below capacity.
"Students deserve a full Congress," said Tyler Younts, chairman of the student affairs committee and the sponsor of the legislation.
"Do we want full representation, or to slide around with 12 or 13 people deciding everything?"
Former chairman of the Board of Elections Walker Rutherfurd, who graduated in 2005, opposed the bill, suggesting that special elections be held more regularly.
But Younts said the election laws make it difficult to set a date for a special election. He said the shortest time span between a vacancy and an election he has heard of lasted two months.
Younts also said the temporary appointments would be valid only until special elections could be held.
The appointees would be eligible to run in the special election.
"This only fills a gap in the months between the vacancy and the special elections," Younts said.
Rutherford suggested streamlining the special election process.
The committee also discussed a bill designed to eliminate the tickets previously reserved for CAA cabinet members and the now-defunct ticket distribution committee.
The old system had 86 tickets reserved for the ticket distribution committee, and the new system has 28 tickets reserved for the CAA cabinet.
The legislation would strip the cabinet of those tickets and would require members of CAA and student government to apply through the lottery like all other students.
"It will make them more in touch with students because they're in the same boat," said Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls, who created the bill.
He also said he hopes this bill will spur the CAA to pursue the option of group seating at basketball games.
The bill would require the student ticket review board to gather student input and hold at least one public meeting each spring to discuss the ticket distribution process.
Ingalls said the spring meeting would aim to ensure student feedback is received before final decisions are made.
The bill also guarantees seniors priority the basketball game against Duke University on March 4.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/15/06 4:00am)
The student fee audit committee recommended five student fee increases Thursday, despite strong opposition from Student Congress Speaker Luke Farley.
The individual fee increases next will be considered by the student fee advisory subcommittee.
Eight of the 11 committee members supported the increases, leaving Farley and the two Congress representatives he appointed to account for all but one of the dissenting votes.
"I will say no to any fee increase after just a 15-minute presentation and one sheet of paper," Farley said.
Despite Farley's opposition, all five proposals passed, totaling $22 for current students and $25 for incoming students because of an orientation fee.
The largest proposal was for Campus Health Services, which called for a $17 increase.
Mary Covington, assistant vice chancellor for campus health services, said this proposal rooted from a lack of income from the CHS pharmacy and an increase in employee salaries.
"We're constantly looking at services and trying to balance the most comprehensive services at the lowest price," Covington said.
Brian Phelps, student body vice president, said he was concerned about out-of-pocket expenses.
"Is $17 enough?" he asked.
Covington said she could have asked for more and probably should have.
"I will probably be at this table next year asking for more," she said.
All five committee members who were present at the time voted 'yes' to the increase. Student Body President James Allred abstained because he came to the presentation late.
Other members trickled in as the proceedings continued.
The next three fee proposals revolved around campus recreation. Campus recreation officials requested a $2 increase to support Rams Head Recreation Center, $2 for general campus recreation, and $1 for the Student Recreation Center.
Marty Pomerantz, director of UNC campus recreation, attributed the proposals to the state's increase to the minimum wage and campus recreation security needs.
"We were a lawsuit waiting to happen," Pomerantz said, referring to unauthorized people using the recreation centers.
All present voted in favor, including Allred. Farley had not yet arrived.
Several members of the committee were wary because of the out-of-pocket C-TOPs fee students already pay. Melissa Exum, dean of students, said the increase would help fund Fall Fest and the Week of Welcome.
Each freshman pays $42 for these programs.
"If I had known as a freshman that I had paid $42, the wind would have fallen out of my sails," Farley said.
This was the first meeting for Farley's two provisional appointees.
"I didn't ask how they would vote," Farley said.
"But I did ask if they would scrutinize fees."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/13/06 4:00am)
A team of UNC biologists has discovered a link between aging and cancer that might have direct effects in improving medical care.
Their report states that a gene known to suppress cancer also has been linked to the aging process.
The gene is responsible for the division of stem cells, thus the regrowth of organ tissue. While greater cell division means slower aging, it also causes a higher risk of cancer.
"Not having (the gene) is a good thing because it causes tissues to regrow better, but it is a bad thing because of the increased risk of cancer," said Norman Sharpless, professor at the School of Medicine and a cancer biologist who co-authored the report.
Three groups of researchers, from UNC, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan, participated in the project. UNC holds the patent for the idea.
Others who contributed to UNC's report include: Dr. Janakiraman Krishnamurthy, a research associate; Matthew Ramsey, a graduate student; and Chad Torrice, a research technician.
The clinical applications of this discovery are not yet known, but Sharpless outlined four likely uses for the information.
First, he said the genetic marker could better tailor cancer treatments to individual patients.
Sharpless said that doctors could test the cellular age of bone marrow in chemotherapy patients and prescribe a less-intensive treatment to patients with more advanced cellular age.
Second, Sharpless said the gene could predict the onset of diseases related to the regrowth of tissues, which it governs. His lab is working on its applications with cirrhosis - a potentially fatal disease that results in scarring of the liver.
Third, Sharpless cited the proliferation of anti-aging products on the market today. "Wouldn't you like to have some idea if they were working?" he asked.
Finally, Sharpless said the gene could measure the cancer-causing toxicity of workplaces, specifically noting the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
He said he heard doctors say that those people affected by dust and debris "had the lungs of a 70-year-old," and that these studies could verify those claims.
Determining a reliable correlation between a person's age and the prominence of the gene will take about two years, Sharpless said.
Limited clinical applications might be ready within a year, he said, and widespread use will come in about four years.
About 30 labs across the nation are working on clinical applications, Sharpless said.
The link between the gene and aging was published first in the medical journal "Nature" last week.
The breakthrough has been publicized nationally and Sharpless received federal funding from the National Institute on Aging.
Felipe Sierra, who allocated the funds from the institute, said he has been pleased with the results from the UNC team. "It is very satisfying," he said. "It points to the need to learn more about stem cells. That's the bottom line."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/12/06 4:00am)
Logging on at UNC might be a very different experience in the coming years.
Most of the major computer processes in three main areas - student affairs, human resources and financing - are being replaced.
"The University is looking to replace the backbone of the computer system," University Registrar Alice Poehls said.
"This is a huge purchase for the University and will be a huge process."
The new system will cost about $100 million, she said.
Dan Reed, vice chancellor for information technology and a member of the executive steering committee for the project, said the committee has not decided where the funds will come from.
David Perry, interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, is working on that problem, Reed said. A funding source will be announced this fall in preparation for next year's budget.
The project probably will not result in a tuition increase.
"I'd be surprised," Reed said. "There are scenarios far more likely."
Information Technology Services is in charge of implementing the new system, known as Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP.
"We have been leading the process, which reflects all the possible constituents," said Stephanie Szakal, associate vice chancellor for enterprise applications at ITS.
The student affairs component will be the first change implemented, Szakal said. The software provider for student computer programs expires in 2009.
Involved in this first stage is the implementation of a new registration process. Poehls said the changes made this year to registration had nothing to do with the new system.
Twenty programs that students use will be replaced, including Student Central, Applicant Central, student billing and student aid. Seven more are being considered, including course evaluation, the UNC PID system and loan processing.
The second phase - changes to the human resources department - is slated to be finished by January 2010.
The human resources communications department said that since the changes are so distant, it has not developed objectives yet.
The finance division will be revamped in the third stage but will be affected in each phase, said Janet Kelly-Scholle, finance communications director.
The cashier's office will be affected in the student phase, payroll in the human resources phase and the rest in the finance phase.
Kelly-Scholle said the finance division is very supportive of the changes and hopes the ERP will "expand on functionality and flexibility."
She said some of the division's systems will be 40 years old when the changes are set to be completed in June 2010.
A vendor for the project has not yet been solidified.
Poehls said she anticipates three major vendors to submit bids: Oracle PeopleSoft, SunGard SCT and SAP.
Each vendor will come to UNC for five days in late October and early November, Poehls said. Several committees representing the project's University stakeholders will review the software based on score sheets.
The executive steering committee is made up of 10 members, including Chancellor James Moeser and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little.
A vendor will be chosen in December, and installations for the system will begin in the spring, Poehls said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/30/06 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 100 students packed the student government suite Tuesday for the start of the executive branch's open house.
Representatives from all 12 executive committees were on hand to explain their projects and sign up interested students.
"Before people commit we wanted to give (them) a chance to see who you're working with," said Student Body President James Allred,
"The role of the executive branch is to be the primary voice of students to the administration," he said.
The branch represents students in matters from parking and dining to advising and student health.
No application is necessary for the committees, which meet once a week.
Student Body Vice President Brian Phelps oversees the appointment of students to about 50 external committees, and each position requires an application.
The executive branch isn't the only part of student government accepting applications. All three branches and the Board of Elections actively are recruiting new members.
n?Student Congress' primary responsibility is appropriating student activity fees to pay for campus events or speakers and making laws that pertain to student government.
Although representatives only are chosen during February elections or limited October elections, some positions - such as committee clerks or legislative assistants - are available now, said Luke Farley, speaker of Congress.
Interested students can send Farley their resume and a cover letter. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.
(08/28/06 4:00am)
Student government officials said they want the idea of student safety to extend beyond the campus borders this year.
Student Body President James Allred said he is working with Chapel Hill Police and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership to install four "blue light" police call boxes in areas near Franklin Street and Rosemary Street.
About 100 police call boxes are scattered throughout campus, said Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.
However, the "near-campus" area has none, Allred said.
"As soon as you step off campus, you lose that blue light protection," he said.
"We want students to be able to come together and enjoy a viable nightlife."
Freshman Emily Billet and two of her friends were held up Friday by a stranger with a handgun while walking along Cameron Avenue, according to police reports.
Billet said that more available police call boxes could help others in her situation.
Chapel Hill police also have started beefing up safety within the downtown area by hiring five additional officers to patrol downtown and shifting resources to have a larger team in place.
Although an increase of on-campus call boxes was part of Allred's campaign platform, he said there are not sufficient funds to add any more call boxes this year.
"We felt it was a better use of funds this year to add the ones off campus," Allred said.
But Allred said he is concerned with making sure current call boxes are accessed easily and working properly - especially in light of numerous ongoing campus construction projects.
Another main step toward increasing safety is improving the lighting along walkways that are located on and off campus, Student Body Vice President Brian Phelps said.
"Sometimes it's as easy as trimming hedges around streetlights," he said.
Phelps also said student government officials have contacted Duke Energy - which provides energy services to Chapel Hill - about conducting lighting surveys around campus.
He said he hopes to have more lights installed along the most-populated nighttime paths.
"It's important for students to feel safe where they walk," he said.
Allred and Phelps said they also have begun to develop a plan for a student-run campus patrol system.
Phelps said this would entail students patrolling campus and the downtown area with police radios Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
"Just to have more eyes on the streets where people live," Phelps said.
"A lot of it is still in the planning stage," he added. "We have a lot more exploration to find out if it's feasible."
Allred said he is looking to implement a student escort service.
All escorts would be equipped with police radios, and the program could provide on-campus jobs, he added.
Young said public safety encourages such initiatives.
"Certainly we welcome anything that has students take their safety into their own hands," he said.
"In enhancing students' safety, we welcome a dialogue."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/25/06 4:00am)
The Kenan-Flagler Business School has created an alumni council that will meet for the first time this fall.
The council will represent the interests of former students and report to the business school dean, Steve Jones. Beginning Nov. 3. they will meet twice a year.
Jones will support the council and its recommendations, said Jeff Terry, executive director of alumni affairs.
The council's goal is to improve networking and to help communicate school activities to business school alumni everywhere, said public relations director Allison Reid.
"It's a way to get our alumni more involved with the school and its programs," she said.
"Networking is a huge part of the school."
Terry, along with Jim Gray, the school's associate dean for external affairs, decided to form the council in November 2005.
Terry said the initial vision was to create an advisory board that would represent both the demographic diversity of alumni and the various degrees offered at the business school.
The council is made up of 15 people living throughout the country. Terry said he targeted a mix of ages - but two-thirds of the members graduated after 1990.
Terry said he approached alumni who demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the school.
The council will evaluate the business school's current programs to see if they are meeting the needs of all alumni, Terry said. They will pass recommendations along to Jones.
In the long term it will shape the set of programs that will be offered to alumni, he said.
"It will not be a 'come to the meetings and work,'" Terry said. "There will be a lot going on in between. Once we begin our work, there will be a number of ideas we generate."
He added that other alumni are encouraged to submit their ideas to the council.
Amy Farley, a 1986 graduate of the business school and a resident of Chapel Hill, is the council chairwoman. She said she was tapped because of her proximity to the school and her involvement in organizing the class of 1986's twentieth-year reunion.
"I was kind of a logical choice," she said.
Farley said her main short-term goal for the council is to establish closer ties with alumni. She said she intends to do this by creating an active online community and by establishing more business school clubs around the world.
Farley also said she wants to institute techniques used by the General Alumni Association - particularly targeting students before they graduate.
"The council will be really helpful to professors to keep aware of what is really happening in the real world," Farley said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu
(06/15/06 4:00am)
Each summer, the campus is swarming with students.
But they're not here to study - at least, not yet.
C-TOPS, the University's orientation program, has become a rite of passage shared by all incoming students and remembered fondly by those who have gone before.
Guided tours for prospective students are another summer staple, giving the campus a unique air of renewal.
And Project Uplift, which brings minority high school students to campus in hopes of drawing them in, adds to the hubbub of excited, friendly and sometimes disorientated young faces on campus in the summer.
Gatherings of C-TOPS students at the beginning of each of the program's 12 sessions start out small, with restless high school graduates standing alone in a crowd.
Chance encounters and group activities give the gatherings cohesion and allow new students to make their first friends at the University before spending their first night in a UNC dorm.
John Calabrese, a freshman Gastonia native, took advantage of C-TOPS to get a sense of direction on campus and a feel for the general atmosphere.
"The people are very friendly; people will just walk up and talk to you," he said. "I'm looking forward to learning how to find my way around, so I'm not wandering around aimlessly."
Abby Farson, a freshman from Davidson, said the size of the campus - and the number of students who call it home - make her nervous.
"I like C-TOPS because there's a feeling of solidarity," she said. "We're all just starting here. It makes the campus a lot less intimidating."
For orientation leaders, the most important task of the summer is smoothing the transition to college for hundreds of recent high school graduates.
"I was nervous about coming to Carolina," said Cameron Randall, a sophomore OL.
"After coming to my C-TOPS, I knew I had made the right decision. I want to pass that feeling on."
Courtney Moser, also a sophomore OL, said C-TOPS is an important first opportunity for incoming students.
"It's the first time that the students get to see Carolina in a school setting," she said. "They learn things they can get involved in and meet new people."
Student Body President James Allred is also a part of the C-TOPS experience - delivering a welcome speech at the beginning of each of the program's sessions.
"Most important is to try and convey a sense of the spirit, the culture of Carolina, what makes Carolina unique," he said.
"There is a strong sense of engagement here. We want to give students a jump-start on that culture."
Allred said the strongest point of UNC's orientation is its timing.
"So many other colleges do it the first week before classes, and that's a mistake. Carolina's orientation allows a flavor of college life without the pressure of having to worry about moving in and preparing for a full year of school."
Freshman Ramsey Cardwell, who hails from the N.C. School of Science and Math, said he likes what he's seen of UNC so far.
"There's more of a community feel," he said. "Less of a city. It's a lot more inviting than Duke."
Contact the University Desk at udesk@unc.edu.