First-generation students bond
On their first day of classes, first-generation students were introduced to an organization intending to make the first day one of many.
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On their first day of classes, first-generation students were introduced to an organization intending to make the first day one of many.
Members of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty weighed in last month on a dispute over a controversial three-part documentary by UNC-TV.
The traditional themes of charity and community will be on particular display throughout this year’s Ramadan celebration.
A modest card table and banner graced the Pit on Saturday, providing a glimpse into the political activity on UNC’s campus for the midterm elections.
Orange County residents have been green in their water usage, but their water bills may leave them blue.The average water bill in the county has nearly doubled since 2000, and with a proposed fee increase of 9.25 percent that could go in effect in October, it could go up even more.Although the number of accounts for Orange Water and Sewer Authority — the county’s public water utility — has nearly doubled since 1985, water usage for 2010 is only projected to be 20 percent more than 1985 levels.“It says a lot about the way we live in Chapel Hill and the way we respect the environment,” said Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.OWASA customers used an average of 5 million gallons per day in 1985. Water usage climbed steadily for the next 15 years, reaching 9 million gallons before a drought in 2001 forced conservation.OWASA has estimated customer sales will be an average of just more than 6 million gallons per day for 2010.Greg Feller, OWASA’s public affairs administrator, said customer awareness has helped reduce water use despite an increase in the number of customers.Decreased water use also means decreased revenues for OWASA. That decrease is one of the reasons for the proposed fee increase.“Two key factors in our rate increases in recent years have been reduced demand for drinking water and the need to renew, replace and improve our ‘infrastructure’,” Feller stated in an e-mail.The pre-recession growth in the county, which provided OWASA with revenue from connecting new properties to the county’s infrastructure, has also fallen off.“I don’t anticipate that there will be rapid growth in the OWASA service district,” said Adam Klein, vice president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. He said the increased fees are part of the “conundrum of conservation.”The utility is raising its rates along with a budget increase of 1.7 percent and cutting three employee positions from payroll.The proposed budget for the 2011 fiscal year takes into account an 8 percent increase in employee health care costs and a 32 percent increase in required employee contributions to the Local Government Employees’ Retirement System. A 2.5 percent increase in merit pay for employees is proposed in OWASA budget.There will be a public hearing May 25 at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to discuss the proposed budget.Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
For the black community, help must come from within.That was the conclusion reached by a panel of black professors and the president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter of the NAACP at the “State of the Black Union” discussion Wednesday night.A mostly black crowd of nearly 200 students gathered in the Upendo lounge in the Student Academic Services Building.The event was based on Tavis Smiley’s now-defunct State of the Black Union, although there is no official connection between the two.The discussion, moderated by seniors Emeka C. Anen and Jessica Lynch, began with a discussion of the nature of the black agenda and whether President Barack Obama should be pursuing it. “I don’t think he should embrace a particular agenda that’s specific to the African-American community any more than any other president of the United States,” said Michelle Cotton Laws, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch of the NAACP. Panel members, while not criticizing Obama to the same extent as Smiley did, said attention should be paid to the black community, which they said has higher levels of unemployment and less access to government services.Panel members also called for increased levels of personal responsibility within the black community.“Why is it that we as a society have this tendency to abdicate our own individual responsibility for the state of our community to our elected officials?” asked Geeta Kapur, an adjunct UNC law professor and civil rights lawyer who practices out of New York and North Carolina.Next, the panel discussed education, the discussion’s main theme. The talk covered subjects like the disparities of education between white and black students as well as the lack of representation of black men on UNC’s campus.Kapur said that for each black man in college, there were four times that number in prison. Less than 20 black men attended the talk.Parts of the discussion focused on the decision of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district to expand its honors programs, which panel members said has a lower proportion of black students. The NAACP protested that decision in February, saying not enough had been done to close the racial gap.Students were also urged to give back to their communities. “Go into these communities to make sure that you are showing those kids the positive messages and symbols that they are not receiving,” she said.Dekory Woods, one of 10 members of UNC’s chapter of the historically black Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, called for increased discussion of black issues within the community.“How can you expect uneducated people who are uneducated to have this conversation when people who are educated only do it once a year?” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Zackie Achmat, renowned AIDS activist, does not think that half-naked, buff white men are the only queer people in the world.In a speech at Rosenau Hall on Monday, the founder of the South African AIDS group Treatment Action Campaign spoke about the need for more inclusion in the African struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer rights.“Identity politics is severely limited,” said Achmat, whose group was called the world’s most effective AIDS group by the New York Times in 2006.After praising the United States for its relatively advanced level of LGBT rights, he criticized global rights movements for too closely following its lead.“We have copied, uncritically, the American, European and Australian model,” he said. Achmat said the American model focuses too heavily on institutions like courts, governments and media for action and attention.He said LGBT rights movements in Africa should do more to engage traditional African community leaders like chiefs and matriarchs.Achmat also said those interested in advancing LGBT rights in Africa should work harder to include and have more respect for those who are not educated on LGBT issues.“Unless I can convince my mother of anything, I don’t think I should ask for it from my state,” he said.He also called for African LGBT rights groups to include women and stateless people in civil rights campaigns so African leaders would not be able to isolate LGBT people.Barbara Shaw Anderson, assistant director of UNC’s African Studies Center, which co-sponsored the talk, said it was important for students to hear about the fight for LGBT rights in Africa. She mentioned the African nation of Uganda, where legislation is under consideration that could make homosexuality a death penalty offense.“This is an important issue on the continent,” she said.Achmat was brought to the University in part by graduate student Daniel Cothran, who interned for Treatment Action Campaign while studying abroad in 2006.Cothran said he had asked Achmat to speak at UNC two previous times.Cothran said a donation of about $1,000 was made to the Coalition to End Discrimination in lieu of paying Achmat for speaking.Achmat expressed his displeasure with the use of the word “pride” in relation to the LGBT community. “If I have to be proud of you, I have to be proud of (Liz) Cheney,” he said. “And I cannot be proud of (Liz) Cheney.”After his speech, Achmat answered questions, including one from an audience member seeking advice in regards to helping black gay men.“Look for allies in the most unexpected places and you’ll find them,” he said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Low-paying jobs are like bad boyfriends — they’ll never give you what you deserve.Or at least that’s what Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, told a group of mostly women Monday in her speech about balancing personal lives and careers as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.The speech was sponsored by the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and organized by student government’s speakers committee.Several hundred people attended the event, in which Brzezinski encouraged young women in the audience to place importance on both work and family.“As a woman in this business, I have found that you bring more to the table when you have chosen other things in life and you bring them with you,” she said. “And if you are throwing it all away for this business, then this business will throw you away, and you will have nothing.”She spoke fondly about her mother’s ability to blend being a mother, wood sculptor and wife to a White House national security adviser.Brzezinski said that discrepancies in pay are the “last glass ceiling” for women in the work force.“You’ve got to demand what you’re worth,” she said.She likened low-paying jobs to being in a relationship with a bad boyfriend: The woman moves in and begins to “play wife” without getting a commitment of marriage.In the same vein, a woman should not perform high-level work without a guarantee of better pay.“It will never happen if you play wife first,” she said.She said she told her boss she would quit her job if he did not “marry” her, or commit to her value as an employee.Brzezinksi went on to tout her show as a model for the future of network journalism as well as partisan cable news networks.She said transparency regarding her own political stances, as well as those of co-host Joe Scarborough, is a part of her show’s success.“I think we’ve found the immediate future of television,” she said.Brzezinski is currently promoting her book, “All Things at Once,” which discusses issues of family and work balance.Will Bondurant, co-chairman of student government’s Distinguished Speakers Series committee, said he sought to bring Brzezinski to campus because she had a wide array of perspectives that are important for students to hear.The Distinguished Speakers Series, an idea proposed by former student body president Eve Carson, also recently brought Fatou Bensouda, deputy prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, to campus.Former student body president Jasmin Jones said she enjoyed Brzezinki’s tales of battling workplace inequality.“We don’t see limitations here, but we know that in the real world they do exist,” Jones said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Eric Bryant, a law student who was set to graduate in December 2010, was described by classmates Thursday as a friendly, kind individual. Bryant, who also attended UNC as an undergraduate, was identified as the individual who died in an Odum Village apartment Wednesday. He was 25.Bryant spent his first year of law school at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University and transferred to the UNC School of Law in 2008.David Brown, a second-year law student and president-elect of the law school’s Student Bar Association, described Bryant as “a good, friendly, all-around nice person.” Brown, who shared a class with Bryant, said that other students had not seen him in class this week and that he was shocked by the news of Bryant’s death.“It completely caught me by surprise,” he said.Brown said the Student Bar Association has been speaking with Bryant’s family about how best to respect his memory.“We’re all torn up and want to do something,” he said.Members of the Student Bar Association will meet with law school administrators Monday to determine the best course of action for remembering their former classmate, Brown said.Bryant’s body was found in his apartment Wednesday. Alert Carolina released a statement at 11:46 a.m. that day announcing the death. A statement released by the law school said the death appears to have been a suicide, although the investigation has not been closed.Personnel from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said an autopsy will not be performed.Although the office’s guidelines recommend that suicides be reported to medical examiners, the guidelines do not expressly recommend autopsies for cases of apparent suicide.As of Thursday afternoon, an incident report had not been released by UNC’s Department of Public Safety.Winston Crisp, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, said that suicide is not a common problem at the University and that UNC has lower rates of suicide in comparison to peer institutions.“We stay under the national average,” he said.Crisp said the Division of Student Affairs sends information about suicide prevention out to students in anticipation of exam-related stress.Crisp encouraged students to find resources on campus if they are distressed or looking for help.“If anybody is experiencing emotional difficulty because of this or any other reason, they should seek assistance,” he said. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Freshman Avery Lee logged on to the on-campus housing Web site at 9 a.m. to select her room for the 2010 fall semester.An hour later, she was late for class and still without housing.Lee was one of an estimated 1,100 freshmen who were unable to register Monday for rooms in residence halls other than their own. Only seven students successfully received room assignments through the program, said Rick Bradley, assistant director of the housing department.Students unable to register will likely have to wait until next week for another chance.The problems with the system were restricted to students who tried to select rooms in residence halls other than the ones in which they currently reside. Those students were divided into two registration groups, at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.Lee said she called the Office of Housing & Residential Education about 15 times. When she was finally connected, Lee said she was told to e-mail the Student Affairs division with her desired room assignment. As of Monday afternoon, she said that e-mail had gone unanswered.“We had several hundred phone calls and e-mails this morning,” Bradley said.Bradley said the problem with the system was possibly caused by an overload of the server. He said officials within the housing office would not know for sure what caused it until Residential Management Systems, the Raleigh-based software company that provided the system, could officially pinpoint the problem. Kyle Hammett, a customer success manager at Residential Management Systems, declined to comment on the situation.Bradley said the University has been using Residential Management Systems software for nearly a decade for housing assignments, but this year was the first in which the system allowed students to pick and choose individual rooms.No issues were reported with earlier housing registrations for upperclassmen or students seeking apartments in communities such as Rams Village and Odum Village. Bradley said the problems on Monday were unrelated to problems students had last month attempting to register for other rooms within their current residence halls.Although some students said they heard the system would be back online today, Bradley said the housing module might not return until next week.He said housing is working to contact students about what might happen in the near future regarding their living situation.“We’re not going to relaunch until we’re certain that we’re not going to have the same issue occur,” he said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
If there’s a gun fired on campus, the Department of Public Safety wants you to be prepared.It has a goal of training 50 groups by the end of the year through Shots Fired on Campus, a program nicknamed “shooter training” by some, which teaches participants how to remain safe during an active shooter situation.The program has been at UNC since April of last year, said Lt. Angela Carmon, who conducts the training. In that time, she has led 20 sessions.
About 30 students marched to the Daily Tar Heel office Thursday to deliver a petition calling for a revision of the newspaper’s language policy, which petitioners claimed was discriminatory.The petition, which included more than 430 signatures, requested that the DTH adopt a gender-neutral language policy that would remove terms such as “chairman” and “freshman” from the publication.Editor-in-Chief Andrew Dunn said the DTH’s language policy would not change during his editorship. Next year’s editor-in-chief could make a different decision.The petition campaign was the result of collaboration among 11 campus groups and has the support of Chancellor Holden Thorp and Student Body President-elect Hogan Medlin.The push for a revision comes six months after the University officially adopted a gender-neutral language policy.Billy Kluttz, the outreach coordinator for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender -Straight Alliance, said the petition solely targeted the DTH due to the newspaper’s prominence on campus.Under the 2008-09 editorship of Allison Nichols, the DTH used the term “first-year student” but kept other gendered terms.“I think it’s important for a newspaper to respect the way that people self-identify,” Nichols said.Dunn changed the DTH’s language policy back to gendered language this year. He said it provides better clarity.“We are in the business of communication,” he said. “The terms that we use, like ‘freshman,’ are the ones that are most recognizable.”Those opposed to the DTH’s language choices argued it discriminates against women and the transgender population.“I wrote a letter to the editor, and I was referred to as a ‘chairman,’ and that was very unfortunate,” said Leah Josephson, co-chairwoman of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood.UNC Young Democrats, one of the groups supporting the campaign for gender-neutral language, raised 100 signatures in the Pit by 12:30 p.m. on Thursday alone, said Marissa Gluck, the group’s co-chairwoman.“We’re a forward-thinking liberal arts University,” she said. “It’s the next logical step.”That was a central point argued at the forum Thursday concerning the current policy.Dunn said the DTH’s language policy is based on the Associated Press Stylebook. The book is a guide used to create uniform language in publications.The DTH does, at times, diverge from the Associated Press Stylebook.“(AP style) is not progressive, and it tends not to follow trends,” said Carolyn Edy, a Roy H. Park fellow in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the forum.UNC’s Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coordinator Bob Pleasants said small steps such as changing language policy could help solve overall problems of gender inequality.
Fifty years ago, a group of students gathered together to fight social injustice as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
In 2008, 10 sexual assaults were reported in Chapel Hill, including four on UNC’s campus. The Haven Program is attempting to reduce those numbers to zero. Haven is a program dedicated to educating students, faculty and staff about issues dealing with sexual assault. It is operated by the Carolina Women’s Center, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Duke University Women’s Center.The program has been highly popular at UNC among students in its first five years, program leaders said.
Bounce Magazine hearkened to the days of yore — yore being the 1990s — with its “Legends of the Hidden Temple”-themed student body president forum on Monday. Shruti Shah was voted the victor in a poll of the audience. About 100 people turned out for the annual comedy-fest sponsored by UNC’s satirical magazine.
With rainbow flags unfurled and pamphlets in hand, members of UNC’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have been passing out rainbow ribbons and ally pins in the Pit since Monday as part of Ally Week.Ally Week is a celebration of the University’s more than 1,400 Safe Zone Allies, who are trained to provide a supportive environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and to discuss LGBT issues. The annual event consists of student outreach in the Pit and will conclude with a Safe Zone Ally reception and resource fair today in the Student Union. More than 300 ally pins were passed out throughout the week.“It’s about making visible the support available on campus for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions,” said Terri Phoenix, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center at UNC.Safe Zone Allies are students, faculty and staff who undergo four-hour training sessions conducted by the LGBTQ Center. Those who complete the program are officially certified to provide support for LGBT students.Phoenix said the program has become increasingly popular in recent years. During the 2005-06 school year — her first at UNC — 125 allies signed up for training. Last semester alone counted 197 new allies.UNC’s Safe Zone program was created in 1997, and the weeklong celebration of allies has been held since 2001. Celebrations of the LGBT community have happened on campus since Gay Awareness Week began in 1978.Area businesses have expressed support for Ally Week by offering discounts or free goods for patrons sporting ally pins and ribbons. On Thursday, campus coffeehouse The Daily Grind participated by giving away a free small coffee to allies. “I thought it was a good thing to support,” said Daily Grind owner Jane Brown.Students don’t have to be Safe Zone trained to receive a ribbon or pin.Scott Hudson, senior associate director for operations with the Student Union, has worn a rainbow ribbon on his lapel every day this week. “I’ve probably been asked a dozen times, ‘What’s up with the ribbon?’” he said. “It’s an opportunity to talk about the program.”Various Triangle organizations will support Ally Week Friday by coming out to the Triangle Resource Fair, which brings together gay-friendly businesses to tell attendees about their services and present volunteer opportunities.Attending organizations include The Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church and the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. N.C. State University’s GLBT Center will also have a table. Although the UNC Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender-Straight Alliance will participate in Ally Week, the group’s publicity co-coordinator Enrique Perez said he feels allies should be celebrated year-round.“Allies are essential for the future of the LGBT community,” he said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Of the two major suggestions proposed Wednesday night to counteract the Franklin Street bonfire tradition, one was actually another bonfire.The forum, held with the goal of devising an alternative to celebratory bonfires in time for the Feb. 10 game against Duke, was an extension of the ideas that Student Body President Jasmin Jones has advocated this school year.But the forum received a lukewarm response from students, raising the question of how much support Jones has in her mission to change the celebrations.The talk attracted representatives from the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center, Carolina Athletic Association, UNC Department of Public Safety, Chapel Hill Police Department and Carolina Fever.Only four students outside of CAA and student government came to the discussion. Two of them, Monique Hardin and Hogan Medlin, are candidates for student body president. The event had 341 confirmed guests on Facebook.Students proposed two alternatives to the student-generated bonfires that erupt following important basketball wins. Jones presented an idea to supply the crowds with beach balls and DJs on rooftops. The other was a proposal for a bonfire to be organized by the town.Jones said things like beach balls and a DJ would occupy students and prevent them from starting fires out of boredom.“We can have a rave mob like Oprah,” she said.CAA president John Russell said Jones’ plan could keep students on Franklin Street longer, increasing the possibility for student violence and injury.His words echoed those of Chapel Hill police Captain Chris Blue, the department’s special events commander, who said the town’s goal was to get Franklin Street back to normal as early as possible after wins.Hardin asked whether organized fires were a viable option, but Blue said the idea was too dangerous.“We’re not trying to be sticks in the mud here, but that’s just a reality,” he said.Blue said the large crowds can be risky, especially for firefighters trying to extinguish the bonfires.“We have had a couple of occasions where firefighters have been assaulted,” he said.Bruce Cairns, medical director for the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center, said he was opposed to bonfires of any kind. He pointed to an incident at Texas A&M University in which 12 people died during a bonfire celebration.“What is it about fire?” he asked. Sophomore Chase Miller, creator of the 1,335-member Facebook group “Keep Fires on Franklin,” said that the bonfires are “a symbol of camaraderie,” and should be continued.Junior Mark Warden said he felt safer at the Franklin Street fires than he did at the Davis Library rave.Jones said she hopes to announce a specific plan in relation to the bonfires in the next two weeks.Because of the clear support of bonfires expressed through surveys circulated before the event, Student Body Secretary Jonathan Tugman said it will be difficult to change the culture.“Anything we do is going to be a hard sell,” he said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Student government says the $200 tuition increase proposed for the next school year is the students’ money. And they want it back.To help shore up a state budget deficit this summer, legislators increased all UNC students’ tuition by $200, money that would go back to the state, instead of the UNC-system schools.In response, student government has begun circulating petitions on campus to gain support for sending the money to UNC.If the petition is successful in persuading legislators, Student Body President Jasmin Jones said the school can expect to see $5.3 million in additional revenue, which administrators said would help counter budget cuts.Student government members were already in the Pit on Monday afternoon gathering signatures.“We want to make sure that our tuition money goes to things that we care about,” said Holly Boardman, co-chairwoman of the academic affairs committee, as she collected signatures.Sophomore Lindsey Hensler said Monday she hadn’t heard about the petition but supported the idea.“I agree with what student government is doing because I don’t see why the government should be targeting students to make up for their deficit,” she said.Last semester, the Board of Trustees approved a tuition increase of 5.2 percent for all undergraduate students. This would hold in-state tuition increases to the state-mandated $200. For non-residents, undergraduate tuition would increase by $1,127, and graduate tuition would go up $732.Student government’s goal is to get 5,000 signatures for their cause by the end of the month. Jones said student government is trying to successfully lobby the General Assembly before it meets this summer to make changes to the state budgetThe effort is being replicated at other campuses throughout the state.Deanna Santoro, the chair of the rules and judiciary committee, said larger schools such as UNC are aiming for 5,000 signatures, while smaller schools such as Western Carolina University are aiming for 3,000 signatures.Jones said she and representatives from other campuses entered a verbal agreement at an Association of Student Government meeting to circulate petitions at all UNC-system campuses.Plans for phone call and letter-writing campaigns are also underway.“I want everyone to know about this important cause because it affects the whole UNC system,” Jones said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Students will be able to spend two more hours a night holed up in Davis Library next school year.
The second tree to fall in as many weeks came down Wednesday onto Saunders Hall, breaking at least one window and triggering the flood lights on the first floor.Around 2:15 p.m., a crew of UNC groundskeepers were checking campus trees for signs of weather damage when they said they heard the tree fall.Senior Evan Raczkowski, who was on the third floor of Saunders Hall, said he felt the room shake, followed by the sound of breaking glass.He said he saw the fallen tree through the window when he went to check on people in the next room.“It was a strange sight to see a tree leaning against Saunders Hall,” he said.The grounds crew was behind Murphey Hall near Polk Place when the red oak between Saunders and Manning halls fell.No one outside at the time was injured by the tree’s fall. University Forest Manager Thomas Bythell said the poor weather reduced pedestrian traffic on campus, lowering the risk to students.“The beautiful thing about trees falling is that it usually happens in storms,” he said.The area was immediately taped off by the University grounds crew.Bythell said saturated soil and high winds combined to bring down the tree, which he estimated to be more than 95 years old. The National Weather Service forecasted gusts of 36 mph. The grounds crew removed some debris but did not clear the fallen tree because Bythell said it would be dangerous with the evening approaching.Another tree fell Nov. 2 on South Columbia Street near Mitchell Hall, hitting two students and shutting down traffic on the street for nearly an hour.Bythell said students still should not be afraid of trees falling.Raczkowski said the two incidents have not changed his sense of tree safety on campus.“I don’t feel unsafe walking around,” he said.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.