India Autry

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Construction projects engross system schools

By India Autry | August 30

UNC-Chapel Hill isn’t the only campus in the state with bulldozers and piles of dirt gracing its quads. Most UNC-system schools have reached their peak in construction projects funded by the 2000 bond referendum, said Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice president for finance. “There’s more construction in progress right now than there ever has been before,” Davies said. The state’s bond money paid for 316 projects, and work has been completed for only 116 of them, he said. The other 200 are under construction.

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Dreaming of college

By India Autry | April 26

A Chapel Hill High School junior, who has lived in town for more than six years, will graduate next year. But he will have to wait for a legislative decision to determine whether he will be able to attend college straight out of high school. A controversial bill in the N.C. House would allow the children of undocumented immigrants who have attended state high schools for at least four straight years to pay in-state college tuition. Right now, those students, usually from lower-income families, are forced to pay out-of-state tuition, which can

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Columnist echoes students' cries

By India Autry | April 14

Last week, a mock refugee camp stood near Polk Place, drawing attention to the deaths of thousands in Sudan. Today, in what some hope will be the state’s largest demonstration against genocide in Darfur, about 100 students will stand in the middle of campus, holding photos of the casualties in a battle over land and resources. Wednesday night, Nicholas Kristof brought those images into focus. The long-time New York Times columnist and arguably the biggest media voice opposing genocide shared his experiences in Darfur through the words of others.

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Senate to focus on flow of cash

By India Autry | April 12

RALEIGH — N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight will form a committee in the near future to examine a state lottery before allowing the bill to come to a vote on the floor. The Senate convened Monday night, less than a week after the House passed an education lottery bill last week, but the measure wasn’t discussed during the session. The session was adjourned early for no stated reason before senators addressed the bill.

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Cutbacks won't be limited to UNC

By India Autry | March 29

All state agencies will see their budget pies sliced during the 2005-06 fiscal year, with the biggest bite coming from education spending. Public schools, community colleges and universities would split about $9.2 billion in funds, about $245 million less than their projected need, according to a preliminary decision by the N.C. General Assembly’s Senate Base Budget Committee.

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Budget gap forces quick decisions

By India Autry | March 22

UNC-system campuses are struggling to meet a Wednesday deadline to submit suggestions for budget cuts to the N.C. General Assembly. Legislators have not made a final decision on university spending, but the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education has called for the universities to assemble potential cuts totaling 4 percent of their budgets. Campus officials, still coping with funding reductions during the past few years, are hopeful that the state will not go through with the drastic cut.

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Bill would alter redistricting

By India Autry | March 10

A bipartisan bill filed Tuesday in the state Senate aims to take the political tool of redistricting out of legislators’ hands. Sens. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, and Hamilton Horton Jr., R-Forsyth, are calling for an independent committee to redraw district lines every 10 years. After every census, states are required to ensure that each district has a comparable number of constituents. The majority party in the legislature typically uses this process to its advantage.

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March takes on AIDS

By India Autry | February 28

About 100 UNC students joined a crowd of thousands in the nation's capital Saturday to rally for policy change relating to the AIDS epidemic, which kills 8,000 people each day. The Student March Against AIDS will go down as the second largest anti-AIDS rally in U.S. history, the last one being about 10 years ago, and UNC participants say they're hopeful their demands for improved treatment and prevention will be heard.

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Governor unveils budget plan

By India Autry | February 24

Gov. Mike Easley wants to expand funding for all levels of education and raise the cigarette tax, according to his budget proposal released Wednesday. Easley’s $16.9 billion budget would offset any financial aid cuts by President Bush, including those to Pell Grants, and take on the costs of increased enrollment at colleges and universities, said Ran Coble, director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. “He’s asking North Carolina to do what the federal government isn’t doing,” he said.

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UNC-W is proud to be 'laid back'

By India Autry | February 23

WILMINGTON — UNC-Wilmington — an easygoing, coastal school — prides itself on its small environment, but student demand has called for incremental expansion. UNC-W, with a world-renowned marine biology program and the nation’s highest athletic graduation rate, receives about 9,600 applications each year. The university enrolls about 2,000 students each year. And many of those turned away are quality applicants, UNC-W Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo said.