News
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The Daily Tar Heel
3
Campus Briefs
Chancellor Thorp to speak at Brown Bag Lunch event
Chancellor Holden Thorp andBuck Goldstein will speak aboutentrepreneurship and innova-tion at a talk for the Brown BagLunch series today.Thorp and Goldenstein are co-authors of the book “Engines of Innovation: The EntrepreneurialUniversity of the Twenty-FirstCentury.”Light lunches will be providedto about 25 people. The event will be in Room 02 of Peabody Hall from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Center for Global Initiativeswill screen film Wednesday
The Center for GlobalInitiatives will host a film screen-ing Wednesday from 6 p.m.to 8 p.m. in the FedEx GlobalEducation Center.The film — “Crossing Borders”— is a documentary that fol-lows four Moroccan and four American students as they travelthrough Morocco. A panel will follow to discussimplications of depicting clashes between Islam and the West.
UNC research could lead toless expensive, safer drug
A team of scientists led by UNC’s Jian Liu have conductedresearch that could lead to thecreation of a new version of thedrug heparin.Heparin is an anticoagulantoften used to prevent blood clots,especially in patients who have just undergone procedures suchas heart bypass surgery.Liu, of the Eshelman Schoolof Pharmacy, and his team of researchers published a paperlast week detailing chemical pro-cesses that could make a cheaper,synthetic version of heparin.Heparin sales are estimated at$4 billion worldwide and a new version could reduce side effects.
City Briefs
Fire department says tocheck safety at time change
The Chapel Hill FireDepartment suggests residentscheck fire alarms when changingtheir clocks on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6. A fire department press releasesaid that it is a good idea tochoose an annual date to checkfire devices to ensure that they are in working order. Anyone with questions orconcerns can call the fire depart-ment, according to the release.Those without fire alarms can be provided them free of chargethrough a fire department pro-gram, the release says.
Chapel Hill receives trafficsafe community award
Chapel Hill was recognized by the AAA of the Carolinas asa traffic safe community for thefifth year since 2004.Fourteen other North Carolinacommunities received the award. Winners were determineddepending on their crash statis-tics, number of law enforcementofficers per capita and the pres-ence of a formal traffic safety program that holds year-roundtraffic safety initiatives.
- From staff and wire reports
in
BRIEF
By Lucinda Shen
Staff Writer
Although formal announce-ments unveiling the new mem- bers of the Big East athleticconference might not take placefor several days, East CarolinaUniversity has received supportin its bid from the state’s toppolitical leaders.Gov. Bev Perdue, U.S. Sen.Richard Burr, R-N.C., and U.S.Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., sub-mitted last week a joint lettersupporting ECU’s bid to join theconference.In the letter, the governor andsenators said ECU’s academicrecord and commitment to ath-letics would “strengthen the BigEast as a conference.”“ECU, by virtue of its grow-ing academic reach, its proventrack record in football andother intercollegiate sports, andits ardent fan base throughoutNorth Carolina, is a school thatcan and will serve the Big East well,” they wrote.If ECU’s bid was accepted, it would be beneficial for the uni- versity’s surrounding community during tough economic times,said Mark Owens, chairman of Pitt County Commissioners.“ECU’s not centralized, but itrepresents the whole eastern partof the state,” he said. “Certainly economics is a factor.” At the annual meeting of BigEast member presidents Tuesday in Philadelphia, members votedto decide which schools wouldreceive invitations to join the con-ference. The conference will thensend invitations to the schools, which can be accepted or denied.“I will be speaking to rep-resentatives of those (invited)schools shortly and look forwardto announcing with them theiracceptance into the Big East,”said John Marinatto, conferencecommissioner, in a statement.Chuck Sullivan, director of communications for the confer-ence, said invitations won’t besent for another week to 10 days.ECU has yet to receive an invi-tation, said Tom McClellan, assis-tant athletic director for mediarelations at ECU.The Associated Press reportedTuesday that the conference willinvite six schools into the confer-ence. ECU was not one of the six.Two of the schools who will beinvited to join the conference areSouthern Methodist University, forall sports, and the U.S. Air Force Academy for football only, accord-ing to The Associated Press.But the conference has notformally announced the schoolsthat will receive invitations. TheU.S. Air Force Academy has notreceived an invitation, said Troy Garnhart, associate athletic direc-tor for communications there.SMU declined to comment.The Big East’s decision toaccept bids from universi-ties comes after the University of Pittsburgh and SyracuseUniversity applied to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and West Virginia University appliedto join the Big 12.
Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.
NC ledessuoECU
Sae oliicias wroea joi leer backigECU’s Big Eas bi.
Courtesy of Carolina performing arts
Rosaleen Linehan, left, and Des Keogh perform in the Gate Theatre’s production of Beckett’s “Endgame,” directed by Alan Stanford.
By Sarah Haderbache
Staff Writer
Irish accents and wordplay will begin afour-day run tonight.Carolina Performing Arts is sponsoringthe performance of two of Irish absurdistplaywright Samuel Beckett’s pieces, “Watt”and “Endgame.”Producing a play by Beckett is a differentprocess and is a challenge for the audienceto view, said Ellen James, marketing man-ager for the executive office for the arts.The plays will be performed by theGate Theatre of Dublin — which launchedthe careers of such actors as Orson Welles, of “Citizen Kane” fame, andMichael Gambon, most recently seen asDumbledore in the “Harry Potter” series —in Historic Playmakers Theatre.“A Gate production is very much about what’s being said and what isn’t beingsaid,” James said.The Gate Theatre is known all over the world as the premier Beckett presenters,James said.“If you want to do Beckett, you are goingto want the Gate Theater to do it,” she said.“Watt” is an adaptation of an autobio-graphic novel written in 1943 and pub-lished in 1953.“It’s one man, Barry McGovern, just onstage,” James said.She said the event entered the scheduleafter Emil Kang, executive director forthe arts, saw a Gate Theatre production of “Watt” in New York City.“The idea was to show how skillfully thisperformance was done,” she said.James said it was a priority to makeGate Theatre’s schedule fit with that of Carolina Performing Arts while the com-pany toured the United States.The play will be performed in rotatingrepertory until Saturday. “Watt” is being per-formed tonight and Friday and “Endgame” will be performed Thursday and Saturday.The Saturday performance is already sold out.Ray Dooley, professor of dramatic art,said Beckett was a seminal figure in 20thcentury theater.“He examines the human condition inits essence without the cover of civiliza-tion,” he said.Beckett was Irish but lived most of hislife in France and mostly wrote in French.“Watt” and “Endgame” are inspired by hisexperiences in France during World WarII, Dooley said.Lois More Overbeck, managing editor of a two-volume collection of the playwright’sletters called “The Letters of SamuelBeckett,” said the playwright began writing
By Nathan Vail
Staff Writer
An information campaignon Orange County’s proposedquarter-cent sales tax increaseis garnering criticism from localpolitical organizations that say it misappropriates taxpayermoney.The John LockeFoundation, a conserva-tive think tank based in theTriangle, sent a letter Tuesday to the Orange County govern-ment stating the county had broken the law by using publicfunds to provide educationalmaterials about the tax.“They’re giving one side of a very long story,” said Stephen Xavier, director of public rela-tions and media for OrangeCounty Republican Party.The tax increase will appearon the Nov. 8 ballot. After it failed to pass in last year’s election by slightly morethan 1,000 votes, the county increased its informationalcampaign budget to $50,000this year to help educate thepublic.Bernadette Pelissier, chair- woman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners,defended the county’s use of thefunds.“The county is not promotingit, the county is providing infor-mation,” she said.If approved by voters, themeasure could bring in an esti-mated revenue of $2.3 million.Those funds would be dividedevenly between economic devel-opment and education.But Xavier said he thinks thecounty’s educational campaignhas been incomplete.“They have broken the law by taking $50,000 of taxpayermoney and promoting a very one-sided campaign,” he said.“They produced 15,000 fliersfor students to give to their par-ents, but it doesn’t identify any of the pitfalls of the tax.”The county has released apublic service announcementand informational fliers.On Wednesday, OrangeCounty Schools SuperintendentPatrick Rhodes refused theRepublican Party’s request todistribute other informationabout the tax to Orange County school families.Daren Bakst, director of legaland regulatory studies at theJohn Locke Foundation andauthor of the letter, said N.C.law states that local govern-ment cannot use public fundsto endorse or oppose a referen-dum, election or a candidate forelective office.Bakst said he would likethe state to prevent futuremisuses.“My hope is that the leg-islature will come back andstrengthen the law to make surethat this doesn’t happen again,”Bakst said.Despite criticism fromthe foundation and the localRepublican Party, Pelissier saidshe thinks the county is doingits job by informing voters.
Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.
By Madeline Will
Staff Writer
Facing impending tuition hikes,the UNC-system Association of Student Governments is taking aharder look at how well it repre-sents students. ASG President Atul Bhulaissued Monday an executiveorder that will create a task forceto examine the inner workingsand effectiveness of the associa-tion.The association represents all17 UNC-system schools and isfunded by a $1 annual fee fromeach student in the system.“We want to make sure that when we do meet and use stu-dent fee money to come together, we’re being effective as possible,”said Mary Cooper, UNC-CH stu-dent body president and chair- woman of the task force.Bhula said the executive order— which charges the task forceto address the performance andthe long-term sustainability of the association — is a formality,and the task force has been inthe works since he was electedfor his second term as president.“This was one of our campaignpromises from last year, that we were going to look at how ASGoperates,” Bhula said. Arjay Quizon, ASG’s senior vice president, said he hasexpressed concerns about theassociation’s occasional inabil-ity to meet quorum and attractdelegates from different univer-sities.“As a former student body president, I’ve already told Atulthat there may be something we’re not doing right,” he said.“The idea of the task force is justto look at how ASG is running.There may be a better structurefor us to use to better serve ourstudents.”Lauren Estes, AppalachianState University student body president and a member of thetask force, said she hopes theexamination furthers the asso-ciation’s mission to representstudents.“I think some of that gets lostin the politics of everything —there’s 17 different wants andneeds in the association.”The task force will hold Bhulaand Quizon accountable so they represent all students, she said.Cooper said the efficiency of the association’s monthly meet-ings will also be called into ques-tion.“The question has always been, what did we do for stu-dents this weekend?” she said.“And the answer in the past hastypically been, ‘Well, we haven’treally done anything. We’re goingto save it for next month.’”Members of the associationare still unsure how they willimplement the task force’s rec-ommendations.“I can’t give you an answeron how we’re going to do this, but we’re going to try our best,”Quizon said. “Our system might be the best way or it might bethe worst way. The task force willdecide.”The association will wait untilthe task force’s recommendation before making changes, Bhulasaid.“We don’t know how to solve itif we don’t know what the prob-lem is.”Cooper said the task force isnecessary to help the associationreach its potential.“It’s great that it’s happening, but it’s well overdue,” she said.
Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.
I e face of uiioikes, ASG is workig obeer serve sues.Local orgaizaios sae camaig misusesaxaer ollars.
BECkEtt By thE gatE
‘Endme’ nd ‘W’ o be efomed b ge tee
AttEnd thE pLAyS
Time: “
Watt” is tonight at 7:30 p.m. andFriday at 8 p.m.; “Endgame” is Thursdayat 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Location:
Memorial Hall
Tickets:
$30 for faculty/staff, $35 generaladmission
“Watt” early in World War II.Overbeck said she and her colleagueMartha Dow Fehsenfeld got Beckett’s per-mission to edit Beckett’s letters in 1985.The collection is composed of more than15,000 letters written between 1941 and 1956.Fehsenfeld will lead a pre-performancediscussion tonight before Watt, moderated by Karen O’Brien, the David G. Frey Fellow Assistant Professor of Dramatic Art at UNC.Both “Watt” and “Endgame” are char-acterized by Beckett’s love of language,Dooley said.“His plays are funny, full of what we call black humor,” he said.“Beckett’s plays illuminate in a distilled way the existential predicament that wefind ourselves in when feeling alone.”
Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.
aSg nlzes s e≠eceness
Que-cen cmn lel quesoned
SErviNg Up JUStiCE
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NC law students gathered in Van Hecke-WettachHall to listen to a panel discussing food justice.Speakers expressed their opinions on the move-ment to provide, distribute and grow heathy, affordableand local food.
dth/eliza williams