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wednesday, december 1, 2010
To Nw
The Daily Tar Heel
Campus briefs
Attempt t vee Meln’sestctn vet falls sht
Student Congress voted 23-7, withone abstaining vote, to let StudentBody President Hogan Medlin’s vetoon the redistricting bill stand at itsmeeting Tuesday night.Speaker of Congress DeannaSantoro originally introducedthe bill but said that in the end,it didn’t even seem like her billanymore.“I was really open to amendingit, and I feel like that openness and willingness to amend backfired onme,” she said.“The bill barely looks anythinglike how it did when I submittedit. I don’t even feel like it’s my billanymore. It’s Congress’ bill.” Another redistricting bill, whichSantoro said differs only slightly from her original bill, is currently in committee.This bill has the support of theResidence Hall Association andthe Board of Elections, two strongopponents of the original bill, saidChelsea Miller, a Student Congressmember.Miller and Santoro said Medlin’sstance on redistricting hinges onthe support of the RHA and theBOE.Santoro said the new bill, if passed, would not go into effectuntil 2012.Medlin declined to comment onthe proceedings Tuesday.
Electe Panhellenc Cunclffces assume ne les
The seven newly elected officersof the UNC Panhellenic Counciltransitioned into their new rolesTuesday.The officers were elected at the beginning of November by the 11Panhellenic Council sorority presi-dents. As members of the executive board, the officers will over-see the implementation of therecruitment changes outlined by the Board of Trustees along withthe coordination of a new phi-lanthropy initiative set to beginin the spring.They will also be charged withimplementing the reorganizedcouncil, which features fewer del-egates from each chapter and theelimination of the committee sys-tem.The seven new officers include:- President: Lindsey Stephens of Alpha Delta Pi- Vice President of Committees: Ana Samper of Sigma SigmaSigma- Vice President of Standards:Lorna Knick of Delta Delta Delta,- Vice President of SpecialEvents: Bekah Gould of Alpha ChiOmega-Vice President of Recruitment:Katelin Chubb of Phi Mu- Treasurer: Courtney Bale of Phi Mu- Secretary: Sarah Murphy of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
CiTy briefs
UNC men’s asketall haspatnee th Ts f Tts
Orange County Toys for Tots haspartnered with the UNC women’s basketball team to collect toys forneedy children throughout thecounty.Basketball fans are encouragedto bring new, unwrapped toys forchildren up to age 12 when the women’s team takes on Iowa at7 p.m. Thursday at Carmichael Arena.Several donation boxes will be located around the arena, andmonetary donations will also beaccepted.
Lcal nnpft anzatnhsts annual Festval f Tees
The Arc of Orange County is working to connect the community —and raise money while doing so— through its third annual Festivalof Trees.The festival is being held at theSheraton Chapel Hill Hotel fromNov. 30 through Thursday.The event allows companiesthroughout Orange County todecorate trees with descriptions of their services and donate items forongoing auctions.“The main reason we hold theevent is because funding is lim-ited,” said Robin Baker, executivedirector of the organization. “Oursignature fundraiser is the festi- val.“This is a charitable event, butit’s also a marketing event.”Baker said all proceeds fromeach event, including a gala, fam-ily night and a ladies night, benefitthe organization. Last year’s silentauction brought in almost $8,000to the group.On Tuesday evening, fami-lies from throughout the county gathered at the Sheraton to enjoy an evening with Santa Claus andholiday music.
Visit the dailytarheel.com to readmore.
- From staff and wire reports
Everclear now banned in NC
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OPenInG THe dOOr
by KATiE SwEENEy
Staff Writer
When she arrived in Chapel Hill to teachsocial work in 1966, Hortense McClinton was welcomed as the first black professorat UNC.She remembered one student saying, “theSchool of Social Work is on the ball,” whenshe taught her first class.But off campus, McClinton confronted adifferent dynamic.Several stores on Franklin Street reject-ed black patrons. At the State Employees’Credit Union, employees automatically assumed that, as a black woman, she want-ed to borrow money. After informing themof her intentions to deposit money instead,they gave her questioning looks. And as she told a crowd of about 40people at the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Buildingon Tuesday, racial discrimination persiststoday.“I don’t want to be a pessimist, but I thinkthe struggle still goes on,” she said.McClinton spoke Tuesday as part of theParr Center for Ethics’ Lunch and Learnprogram. Before a packed room, she sharedher story along with her insights on ethicaldilemmas, racism, and affirmative action.Jennie Dickson, the center’s pro-gram coordinator, said she was delightedMcClinton approached the school aboutcoming to speak at UNC.“The topics of affirmative action and rac-ism affect everyone in the school,” she said.McClinton started the talk on a lighternote before delving into the more seriousaspects of her experience.“First of all, I’m 92 years old, so if I get to wandering let me know,” she said.McClinton said she realized she wanted to be a social worker in the eighth grade afterlistening to a guest speaker at school.“You don’t have money; you can’t do that,”her teachers told her.She said her love of people helped herovercome those mental obstacles on her way to earning a masters of social work at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.Though her hiring came 11 years after theUniversity first enrolled black undergradu-ate students, McClinton said she felt com-
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See
MCCLiNToN
, Page 7
by ESTES goULd
Staff Writer
Everclear and Diesel 190-proof alcohol will today follow the trail of Four Loko — off the shelves state- wide.The Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Boardstarted the trend a month ago,removing large containers of theproducts from its stores. And theN.C. ABC Commission followedsuit, de-listing all pure-grain, 190-proof alcohol from stores acrossthe state.Mecklenburg changed its policy after realizing college students were the primary consumers of pure-grain alcohol in its 24 stores.Five of the stores comprised 50percent of the county’s sales of half-gallon containers.The three stores closest to col-lege campuses sold 38 percent.Students are the biggest buyersof high-alcohol content liquor atUNC’s nearest ABC store as well,said George Walsh, manager of the ABC store in Meadowmont.“For the group party situationit tends to be a bit more popular,” Walsh said. “It goes a lot further.” ABC stores will sell their remain-ing stock, after which the product will not be available in retail stores.Companies using it as an industrialsolvent or cleaner will have to spe-cial order pure-grain alcohol, saidPaul Stroup, chief executive officerof Mecklenburg’s ABC board.Other states, including Virginiaand New York, have already out-lawed pure-grain alcohol.The commission worked withsuppliers to replace the 190-proof Everclear with a 151-proof prod-uct. Diesel 190-proof will not bereplaced at all.“I still think 150-proof is awfully strong,” Stroup said. “I don’t thinkthis is going to curb people drink-ing as heavily.”But the state commission cited binge drinking and related healthconcerns as reasons for discontinu-ing the product.“The ABC Commission has long been concerned that young adultsdrinking nearly pure alcohol areespecially vulnerable to alcoholpoisoning,” Jon Williams, chair-man of the N.C. ABC Commission,said in a statement.But some students say discon-tinuing the product will not solvethe problem.“If that’s what they’re trying toachieve, the policy is pretty insig-nificant,” said Will Pryor, a juniorEnglish major at UNC.Senior economics major AlexKane agreed.“It’s not about what they’redrinking,” he said.“If someone wants to drink thatmuch, you can’t really stop them.”The policy alone will not change behavior, but it is better than noth-ing, said Leslie Morrow, associatedirector of the UNC Bowles Centerfor Alcohol Studies.“I think it’s just an easy way to double the punch as an alco-hol drink,” Morrow said of pure-grain alcohol. “And we know fromresearch that the higher the cost of alcohol, the less people drink.”Morrow added, “There are thesesubtle factors that contribute to binge drinking, so this is a step inthe right direction.”
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
151-poof lohol vill it
by CAroLiNE CorrigAN
Staff Writer
There may be a bit more coal inthe University’s stocking than somehad hoped this Christmas. A 500-ton wood pellet ship-ment, scheduled to arrive at UNCin November has now been delayeduntil March of next year.The pellets are part of a plan out-lined in the 2009 Climate ActionPlan to reduce the University’scarbon footprint by combiningcoal with biomass products, suchas wood pellets.Despite the delay, the shipmentdelay might be more of a conve-nience than a setback. Ray DuBose,director of UNC Energy Services,said testing the wood pellets dur-ing the winter would reduce theUniversity’s capacity for steam, which provides its heat.“Testing an alternative fuel dur-ing a period of extremely highdemand for steam and heat would be problematic,” DuBose said. “Wepostponed it to March knowing the weather is not as cold and we canrun a better test.”But the delay has caused someconcern regarding the University’sability to meet the 2020 deadlinefor becoming entirely coal-free.“This is a huge transition for a10-year time span,” said StewartBoss, co-chairman of the SierraStudent Coalition, a group that has been advocating for a coal-free UNC.“It will be pretty challenging to meetthe 2020 deadline if we keep delay-ing the initial test burning.”The transition to wood pellets wascomposed as part of the University’sgoal to become coal-free by 2020.Twenty tons of wood pellets were received from Carolina WoodPellets in September. The pelletsthen underwent tests to evaluatethe way they would flow throughequipment designed for coal. After the success of the initialtest, an additional order of 500tons of wood pellets was placed with the company to further testthe capability of boilers to burnthe material.The second shipment wasdelayed due to a miscommunica-tion between UNC, Carolina WoodPellets and Norfolk SouthernRailroad regarding the type of rail-road car that was going to be usedto deliver the pellets.“By the time it was all straight-ened out, the University decidedto hold off on the test burn,” saidRobin Chapman, a spokesman forthe railroad company.Phil Barner, the cogenerationsystems manager for UNC Energy Services, said the unavailability of covered railroad cars was anothercause for the delay.“These are dry wood pellets thatabsorb moisture,” he said. “They need to be covered against rain orthey will absorb it, fall apart and become difficult to handle.”Representatives from Carolina Wood Pellets could not be reachedfor comment.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
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ATTENd THE PoETry SLAM
Time:
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. tonight
Location:
Flyleaf Books, 752 MartinLuther King Jr. Blvd.
Info:
www.sacrificialpoets.com
CoUrteSy of WiLL MCinerney
Sccl Ps, pmc m, cucs uc wksps lcl scls c p. h 2009 ms pss Cc.
by ALi roCKETT
Staff Writer
Chapel Hill’s Sacrificial Poets breathe new life into an ancientart form.The oral tradition of recitingpoetry dates back thousands of years — before written language orprinting presses, when stories werecrafted in poetic form, memorizedand recited before crowds.UNC senior Will McInerney istrying to revive that idea. Drawn tothe spoken word, McInerney hopesto move a crowd with his words.“We love art for art’s sake, butthere are reasons why we choosethis art form in that it has the ability to reach masses and it has the abil-ity to make changes in society,” saidMcInerney, treasurer and associatedirector of the Sacrificial Poets.The performing poets in hisgroup conduct outreach workshopsat area schools to inspire studentsto try poetry.Recent UNC graduate and per-former Kane Smego said they searchfor workshop plans that complimentthe students’ curriculum.In one workshop, the students were encouraged to tell the story of a civil rights activist from the pointof view of an inanimate object, like astool at a sit-in.“If you can get someone at 15, 16or 17 to be dedicated to their commu-nity and dedicated to social justice,then we’re coming a long way in theright direction,” McInerney said.The group writes about a rangeof topics and covers a spectrum of human emotions. McInerney saidhis poems are mostly political innature due to his upbringing —his mother worked for a politicaldocumentary filmmaker — andinterest in politics as a peace, warand defense major.But his three-minute ode to hislarge and clumsy feet adds comicrelief and depth to his repertoire.“Poetry is a reflection of you as aperson,” McInerney said. “If all my poems were super serious and superpolitical, that wouldn’t be accurate.”Smego finds his inspiration instories that convey a flaw in society.His poem, “Second Amendmentto the Raven,” condemns a society where guns can be bought at Wal-Mart and arming oneself comes atthe expense of a child’s safety.“Spoken word is about taking what you’re given and figuring out why,” McInerney said.Despite its deep roots, spoken- word poetry is not accepted in many academic circles because of its per-ceived ties to hip-hop culture, saidMcInerney and Smego.“It’s the tarnished art form,”Smego said.McInerney hopes that their work will change people’s perspectives.“Poetry, regardless of formor measure, written or spoken,is about the human experience,McInerney said.“And everyone has a humanexperience.”The group holds monthly slamcompetitions and open microphonenights to find new poetic voices.Tonight’s open mic poetry slamat Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books willalso focus on Smego’s work. At each of the poetry slams, the winner is invited to compete in afinal slam, held in May each year.
See
PoETS
, Page 7