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2 FEBRUARY2012
15
THE STUDENT RESPONSE TO TUITION HIKES
Dear Readers,
UNC-Chapel Hill students are cur-
rently facing an unprecedented
hike in tuition rates. Since state ap-
propriations to the university were
drastically cut by $100 million, were
facing a tough situation. How do we
approach lling in that gap without
jeopardizing the quality, the pres-
tige, or the diversity of our beloved
university?
The problem is complicated, and
the solution will not be simple.
Administrators, faculty, sta, stu-
dents and their families, and town
residents and ocials all are going
to be aected, but all of their posi-
tions are not always represented
equally. In an eort to change this,
some students decided to mobilize
to be advocates for those perspec-
tives that are given less coverage.
This issue explores the role of
those students and their movement
to oppose the tuition hikes that are
threatening the very nature of our
university. As a student publication
that receives funding from the uni-
versity, we aim to give students an-
other platform by which to have their
voices heard.
Happy reading!
Chelsea Phipps
Editor-in-Chief
FROM THE EDITOR
CONTENTS
On the Cover:
Fresh Squeezed
by Asia Morris
CHELSEA PHIPPS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SARAH BUFKIN ASSISTANT EDITOR
CAREY HANLIN CREATIVE DIRECTOR
CARI JEFFRIES, TYLER TRAN PHOTO
EDITOR
JOSEPH BIERNACKI, MICHAEL DICK-
SON, HAYLEY FAHEY, MOLLY HRUDKA,
CAREY HANLIN, AKHIL JARIWALA, AU-
DREY ANN LAVALLEE, ELLEN MURRAY,
RACHEL MYRICK, JENNIFER NOWICKI,
WILSON PARKER, LIBBY RODENBOUGH,
LUDA SHTESSEL, GRACE TATTER,
NEHA VERMA, KYLE VILLEMAIN, PETER
STAFF
For Health, For Women, For Life
Amendment One: The Musical
Eurozone Crisis
Science Censorship
Showdown in Durban
SOPA: Preemptive Punishment
Occupy Chapel Hill
Civil Disobedience in Chapel Hill
North Carolina Redistricting
Campus Y Social Innovation
Student Response to Tuition Hikes
Hybrid Class Controversy
Corporate Campaign Spending
Syrias Rebel Hospitals
Pakistani-American Relations
Interview with Mipso Trio
Improbable Artistic Foundations
21
HYBRID CLASS CONTROVERSY
26
SYRIAS REBEL HOSPITALS
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
14
15
21
24
26
28
30
31
VOGEL, KELLY YAHNER STAFF WRITERS
SALLY FRY, CASSIE MCMILLAN,
JASMINE LAMB, PAIGE WARMUS
PRODUCTION AND DESIGN
ANNE BRENNEMAN, MOLLY HRUDKA,
CARI JEFFRIES, CAREY HANLIN,
WILSON HOOD, MOLLY HRUDKA,
GRACE TATTER, KELLY YAHNER COPY
EDITORS
GIHANI DISSANAYAKE, CHRISTYN GER-
BER, SARAH HOEHN, HANNAH NEMER,
STEFANIE SCHWEMLEIN,
RENEE SULLENDER, JENNIFER TRAN
PHOTOGRAPHERS
RACHEL ALLEN, CYNTHIA BETUBIZA,
JOSEPH BIERNACKI, SARAH BROWN,
MICHAEL DICKSON, HAYLEY FAHEYAMY
HAZLEHURST, WILSON HOOD, SAM
HUGHES, AKHIL JARIWALAJANNA
JUNG-IRRGANG, JENNIFER NOWICKI,
WILSON PARKER, GRACE PHILLIPS,
SARAH RUTHERFORD, ELLEN WERNER,
AKHIL JARIWALA, NEHA VERMA,
BLOGGERS
TRAVIS CLAYTON SOCIAL MEDIA
DIRECTOR
FEBRUARY2012 3
In 2008, 8.5
million women
worldwide had
serious medical
complications
from unsafe
abortions.
Abortion rates are
higher in
countries where
the procedure is
illegal.
Abortion rates were lowest
in Western Europe (~12/1000)
and highest in Eastern Europe
(~43/1000). The North American
rate was ~19/1000.
Almost all unsafe
abortions
were in developing
countries, where the
number of family planning and
contraceptive programs have
stopped increasing.
About 47,000 women
across the globe died from
unsafe abortions in 2008.
There are higher
abortion rates and
regions with more
restrictive
legislation.
Nearly half of all
abortions worldwide are unsafe.
Better access to birth control in
developed countries resulted
in fewer unwanted
pregnancies.
FOR HEALTH, FOR WOMEN, FOR LIFE.
T
here is an unfortunate dichotomy in our
culture that says one either has to be pro-
choice or pro-life, as if those who agree
with keeping abortion legal are in eect an-
ti-life. This is how many conservatives have
come to adopt the term pro-abortion when
referring to anyone under the pro-choice
banner. But let it be stressed that no one, re-
gardless of political or religious aliation, is
pro-abortion. There is no anti-life sentiment
to be found, but rather the acknowledge-
ment that a necessary evil must be provided
in order to protect the mental and physical
well-being of women across the globe. Re-
produced here is a study from Gilda Sedgh,
et al. that brings to light the dangers of out-
lawing abortion, and shows how one can be
pro-choice and still be pro-life.
Source: Induced abortion: incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to
2008, by Gilda Sedgh et al. The Lancet
-Abortions per 1000 women ages 15-44
Why pro-choice doesnt mean anti-life.
4 FEBRUARY2012
NEHA VERMA
SWAYING
OPINION BY
SWAYING
TO MUSIC:
UNC student Rachel Kaplan, creator of Vote Against Amendment One: The Musical
holds a sign in front of Wilson Library, protesting the NC amendment.
M
any people have spoken out
against North Carolinas proposed
Amendment One, which would dene
marriage between one man and one
woman. While some wrote blogs and
others gave lectures, UNC sophomore
Rachel Kaplan took a dierent route
she made a musical.
Kaplans Vote Against Amendment
One: The Musical! encourages people
to vote against the ballot initiative dur-
ing the May 8 primary elections.
I planned on getting involved in
ghting Amendment One because Ive
realized that the gay rights movement
is the current civil rights movement,
Kaplan said.
Kaplan got the idea for the musical
from a similar musical done in Califor-
nia, called Prop 8: The Musical. Once
she had the concept in mind, her cre-
ativity and dedication quickly propelled
the project forward.
Kaplan wrote the lyrics for the musi-
cal in about a week, which she sent to
a friend, Mike Griggs at Trinity College.
In another week, Griggs wrote the mu-
sic. There were two rehearsals before
lming, and then a two-week editing
process.
The lmed performance, posted on
YouTube, now has over 9,000 views.
I would say I was cautiously opti-
mistic and hoping for a few thousand
views. I did not think we would get to
over 8,000 so quickly, Kaplan said.
In addition to the lmed version, the
musical was also performed live in Jan-
uary at the Carrboro Century Center.
The musical begins with the proposal
of N.C. Amendment One. Policymakers
claim that the amendment is exactly
what the Founding Fathers intended.
But George Washington soon appears
and proves the policymakers wrong,
saying that the majority cannot vote on
the rights of the minority.
UNC sophomore Ben Elling, who plays
George Washington, knew he had to be
a part of the musical as soon as he read
Kaplans proposal.
It simply wasnt an option to turn her
down, Elling said.
The combination of music and humor
in Vote Against Amendment One: The
Musical! attempts to make the pro-
posed amendment easy to understand.
A musical was a good format for this
because I could educate people about
the impacts of the amendment while
they watched, Kaplan said. The use of
performance allows you to present the
pertinent information in an engaging
format.
The musicals script attempts to ex-
plain all possible consequences of the
amendment, including jeopardizing
the ability of all couples, regardless of
sexual orientation, to receive domestic-
partner benets.
While it is hard to say how many
minds will be changed by the musical,
it has certainly spread awareness about
the proposed amendment, which is
what Kaplan had in mind.
I honestly dont think the musical
will completely sway anyones opinion
on gay marriage, Kaplan said, but it
might sway some peoples thoughts on
Amendment One, which goes beyond
attacking gay marriage and limits ben-
o6ts ot an, unmattioo coulos.
Vote Against
Amendment One:
The Musical takes
the stage
P
H
O
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FEBRUARY2012 5
THIS IS WHAT EUROPEAN POLITICAL
INTRANSIGENCE LOOKS LIKE
SAM HUGHES
EUROZONE CRISIS:
B
y pushing austerity measures in-
stead of working to balance trade
and capital proportionally among its
constituent nations, the European
Union is exacerbating its economic cri-
sis and pushing us to the edge of glob-
al economic downturn.
The revolutionary experiment to cre-
ate a common currency between Euro-
pean nations was risky, and everyone
knew that. In order to join, each nation
needed an ination rate of no more
than 1.5 percentage points above the
average rate of the three lowest EU
countries from the previous year, a na-
tional budget decit at or below three
percent of gross domestic product and
public debt not higher than 60 percent
of GDP.
They also created the European Central
Bank to oversee and manage the euro
currency. The ECB has one mandate--to
keep ination at or near two percent.
In the recession, almost none of these
goals have been met.
Last year, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal
and Ireland experienced a debt crisis,
making it increasingly expensive for
them to pay to keep their governments
running. Interest rates for their treasury
bonds were very high, meaning that in-
vestors in each countrys debt demand-
ed unsustainable high rates of return. This
made it more expensive and dicult to bor-
row, pushing them to the brink of default.
One common explanation for this
phenomenon is that investors did not
have condence in the abilities of the
countries to pay back the bonds. Uncer-
tainty drove interest rates higher, mak-
ing it harder for the countries to pay
back investors, creating a vicious cycle
that continued to push interest rates
higher.
The solution prescribed by the pundit-
ry and the European elites was to force
radical austerity measures onto these
countries in return for a relatively small
cash infusion to fund government debt
and decits in the near term. Instead,
the European Central Bank cheaply
found a way to open lines of cheap
credit to most of the countries, tempo-
rarily alleviating the debt crisis.
In reality, the debt crisis was more
of a symptom, rather than a cause, of
economic hardship. These countries are
trapped in a monetary union. Whereas
an independent nation could print
money and devalue its currency to sta-
bilize its economy, these nations can-
not. As a result of the Eurozone currency
union, Germany has its lowest recorded
unemployment rate since reunication
(5.5 percent), while the GIPSI nations
struggle at a persistent 15.8 percent un-
employment.
This discrepancy is due to Germany
accumulating high trade surpluses
and lower ination at the expense of
the GIPSI nations. The problem pre-
recession was not debt. In fact, in the
ten years prior to the Great Recession,
the ratio of GIPSI debt to GDP had de-
creased from nearly 90 percent to 75
percent. Instead, the problem is that
GIPSI nations saw higher real ination
and higher trade decits, making them
less competitive in Europe compared to
Germany.
What needs to happen is an adjust-
ment to make GIPSI competitive with
Germany. The price-level adjustment
can either happen through deation
in GIPSI, causing massive economic
and social hardship, or it can happen
through higher levels of ination in
Germany.
But at the same time, Germany has
no desire to see higher levels of ina-
tion and no desire to x the trade and
capital imbalance. They could help x
the recession in GIPSI through direct
transfer payments to stimulate their
economies (like direct payments from
the US federal government to states in
particularly bad economic situations).
Instead, over the past few weeks, the
leaders of the euro have opted to try to
force down prices, wages and govern-
ment spending in Greece, setting them
on the path toward prolonged reces-
sion witl no ono in siglt.
6 FEBRUARY2012
20 press release.
Researchers are lining up on both sides
of this debate. Censorship supporters
fear that publishing details of the new
virus, or proceeding to study it in the lab,
could result in its release into the world
by destructive parties or even by acci-
dent; aer all, worldwide governments
were powerless in containing the H1N1
bird u outbreak from 2009. How could
we possibly abate a pandemic of a viru-
lent H5N1 if it came to that?
Dr. Paul Keim, a professor at Northern
Arizona University and the NSABB chair,
justied the NSABBs decision in a Jan.
article for the journal, mBio.
A pandemic by such a pathogen could
reasonably be concluded to cause such
devastation that it should be prevented
at all costs, Keim said.
Several researchers are calling for a
stop to research with H5N1 altogether.
Dr. Raymond Pickles, an H5N1 research-
er at UNC, explains their concernsviral
escape from the lab is a much more
likely scenario than bioterrorist attack.
If there should have been a block on
these experiments, it should have been
at the institute level when the experi-
ments were [initially] performed, Pick-
les said.
Conversely, supporters of full-disclo-
sure are skeptical of the destructive
global impact these specic ndings
are touted to have. The current studies
all involve the transmission potential
between ferrets, but there is no guaran-
tee that the virus will produce a similar
eect in humans. Ferrets do, however,
respond similarly to humans to the in-
uenza virus.
Pickles also points out that generat-
ing a virulent H5N1 requires very little
expertise, suggesting that the details of
these studies are not as contentious as
they seem.
Someone, if they so desired, could do
this in a barn, he said.
Moreover, the 59-percent H5N1 le-
thality rate has le some researchers
exasperated, as they suggest that this
statistic ignores people that may have
been infected but remained asymptom-
atic.
In response to rising concerns, on Jan.
20, nearly 40 of the worlds leading in-
uenza scientists pledged to suspend
all research involving H5N1 for 60 days.
Keim remains optimistic that the sci-
entic community will work the censor-
ship issue out.
What is gratifying and essential is
that the debate is occurring; it is occur-
ring on an international stage, and it is
occutting taiol,,' loim wtoto.
SCIENCE
LUDA SHTESSEL
Should Doomsday Fears of Bird Flu Pandemic Trump Scientific Transparency?
CENSORSHIP
How could we possibly abate a pandemic of a
virulent H5N1 if it came to that?
I
nciting massive debates over the use
of censorship in instances posing se-
curity risks, two independent research
groups revealed in September that they
had created a bird-u virus that could
comfortably infect mammals.
The research could potentially un-
leash epidemic destruction if it fell into
the wrong hands. When the H5N1 bird
u rst hit in 1997, it le a devastating
23 percent death rate in its wake, which
is all the more dangerous when com-
pared to the two-percent death rate of
patients infected with the 1918 Spanish
uone of the most deadly pandemics
in history.
Since 2003, the H5N1 bird u has
claimed 344 livesa staggering 59 per-
cent of all patients hospitalized with
it. Fortunately, the virus has only been
transmitted from bird to person, rarely
from person to person, up until this
point.
Fearing bioterrorist threats, the United
States National Science Advisory Board
for Biosecurity deemed these ndings
dangerous and promptly recommended
a restricted communication of the de-
tails of the two still-unpublished works.
While in support of the NSABBs deci-
sion, the National Institutes of Health
acknowledged the dilemma of not re-
leasing this vital information.
Research on factors that can aect the
transmissibility of the H5N1 virus is criti-
cally important to international eorts
to prepare and prevent threats to public
health, the organization stated in a Dec.
FEBRUARY2012 7
A
t 3 a.m Dec. 11, the South African
International Relations Minister
gave the United Nations delegates
from India and the European Union an
ultimatum: come to an agreement in
10 minutes or walk away from climate
legislation.
Many delegates and ministers had
been up for days trying to come up
with a climate-change agreement that
would satisfy all 194 nations of the UN.
But, more than 29 hours aer the Dur-
ban conference was scheduled to end,
there was little hope that the negotia-
tors would come to consensus.
The stakes were high for the Durban
climate conference, which began on
Nov. 28. For the rst time ever, the world
faced the fact that, without an agree-
ment, all existing work for an interna-
tional climate solution would be on the
chopping block. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol,
which many call the most pivotal inter-
national treaty in recent memory, is set
to expire at the end of 2012.
Delegates from all around the world
descended on Durban, South Africa
with very dierent and conicting mo-
tivations. The Chinese and the Indians
threatened to walk away immediately
without an extension of the Kyoto Pro-
tocol, which gave developing countries
the funding to pursue energy-eciency
standards through the Clean Develop-
ment Mechanism in addition to setting
binding greenhouse gas emissions caps
for developed ones.
The Japanese, Russians and Canadians,
however, dismissed the notion of an ex-
tension, arguing that the Kyoto treaty
only addresses 27 percent of green-
house gas emissions. The Europeans
were willing to recommit to Kyoto, but
only if the US, India and China pledge
to cra a road map towards emissions
reductions by 2015. The Americans were
against any restriction on GHG emis-
sions before 2020.
But then began a surprising move to-
wards cooperation. The Indian environ-
mental minister and the EU climate chief
emerged from the 3 a.m. huddle with a
compromise. Delegates from the other
192 countries applauded the deal. The
slow, painful process of climate negotia-
tions was kept alive, buying time for a
real solution to be found.
WHAT THE CONFERENCE
ACHIEVED:
Ultimately, three major victories came
out of Durban:
1) An extension of the Kyoto Protocol
and its Clean Development Mechanism
until 2017.
2) The implementation of a results-driv-
en Green Climate Fund that will provide
$100 billion a year in public and private
nancing for renewable energy and en-
ergy eciency projects in the develop-
ing world by 2020.
3) The establishment of the non-bind-
ing Durban Platform for Enhanced Miti-
gation by 2015 that must produce a bind-
ing legal agreement on greenhouse-gas
emissions caps for all countries to by
2020.
Did the Durban Conference solve our
climate change problem?
No. Not at all.
Did the Durban conference put us on a
trajectory to resolve our climate woes?
Nope. Not even close.
What did the conference do? It made
progress. It put us a little bit closer to
capitalizing when the right pieces are
in place. Settling one of the most im-
mense and complex problems facing
the world today was never going to be
a sprint. Its a test of endurance.
UNC School of Law Professor Donald
Hornstein, who teaches an undergradu-
ate course on environmental law, sees
an uphill battle ahead.
Most of the time [in policymaking]
you have the corrosive eects of special
interests and lobbying, Hornstein said.
But every so oen you get these re-
publican moments (with a lower-case
r) when the public becomes aroused
about an issue and demands that its
representatives enact legislation that is
in the public interest.
Hornstein believes that these confer-
ence participants will need to feel the
pressure of some sort of public outcry
before they will take decisive action.
The real hope is that one of these
international conferences will dovetail
with such a moment, Hornstein said.
In which case it might be the only
loo to got an agtoomont.'
SHOWDOWN
The Implications of the
UN Climate Conference
AKHIL JARIWALA
IN DURBAN
What did the conference do? It made progress.
8 FEBRUARY2012
I
f you ask Neil Young, hell tell you that
piracy is the new radio. And while this
may sound like a ridiculous and inac-
curate statement to some, the driving
logic behind it stands true. Pirating mu-
sic over the Internet actually stimulates
the music industry.
Young might have to produce some
stronger statistics if he is to convert
Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), the
original sponsor of the now infamous
Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. The
bills purpose, as stated on its front
page, was to promote prosperity, cre-
ativity, entrepreneurship and innova-
tion by combating the the of U.S.
property, and for other purposes. But
if you ask many Internet pundits, the
for other purposes portion seems to
refer to a tight restriction on the ow of
creativity and information on the web.
According to the International Busi-
ness Times, the bill would give media
companies an excessive amount of
power to shut down any site they think
could be violating copyrights. Under
SOPA, any website found with any
type of copyright infringement mate-
rial would either have that material
censored or would be shut down. In
addition, Internet service providers
would have to block all access to that
particular site within the following ve
days, and search engines would have
to remove any references to that site
from their indexes. The site would ef-
fectively be blacklisted.
The term copyright infringement
here does not mean stealing another
authors work and trying to pass it o
as your own. Any site that has a com-
ment box or a way for users to upload
pictures could potentially be seen as
infringing under SOPA. Under such
stipulations, YouTube, Reddit, Facebook,
Wikipedia, Dropbox, and Craigs List
would all be subject to extreme regula-
tion, if not termination.
When the Internet was cornered, it
fought back. According to the Hu-
ington Post, over 7,000 websites, in-
cluding Wikpedia, Google and Red-
dit, joined in on the Jan. 18 blackout
protests, which served as foreboding
symbols of what was seen as an im-
pending restriction on free knowledge
and sharing. Google and Mozilla put
symbolic signs over their logos, and
Reddit and Flickr ceased all usability al-
together. The websites Wikipedia and
StumbleUpon prevented access to all
pages except those that informed the
reader about the dangers of SOPA, and
even provided links to contact local
Congressmen to ght the bills.
Wikipedias involvement in the ght
against SOPA proves this wasnt about
powerful interest groups, and it wasnt
about money, wrote Sue Gardner, Ex-
ecutive Director of the Wikimedia Foun-
dation. Wikipedia is operated, and not
controlled by, a non-prot its got no
corporate interests to protect and it
doesnt make any money from piracy or
copyright infringement.
Gardner stressed the fact that it was
ordinary Internet users who made the
blackouts a success, not the Wikimedia
Foundation or CEOs of major websites.
According to Freakonomics, propo-
nents of SOPA have argued that piracy
costs between $200 and $250 billion
per year and is responsible for the
loss of over 750,000 jobs in America
alone. But 750,000 is more than twice
the number of employees in the en-
tire lm industry. And at approximately
$800 per citizen, the $250 billion cost
was busted as being pretty implausible
as well.
SOPA was shut down because spear-
heading the battle were groups like Wi-
kimedia, Reddit, and Google groups
that are not only visible to virtually
every American citizen, but are very ac-
cessible. The National Defense Authori-
zation Act, which granted the president
the ability to hold American citizens
in indenite detention without trial
should they be suspected of terrorism,
was signed into law earlier this year.
However, bills like this which arent as
immediately relevant to major web-
sites, arent going to get the Internet
attention that SOPA garnered.
Wikipedia wont be there to hold the
hand of the public every time a poten-
tially right-infringing bill moves its way
through Congress. It is imperative that
American citizens are aware of the laws
that govern them, so that they can voice
opposition whenever civil liberties are
threatened, and not simply when that
essential Wikipedia page cant be ac-
cossoo.
PREEMPTIVE
PUNISHMENT:
HOW
SOPA
WOULD HAVE
STOPPED THE
WEB
CAREY HANLIN
When the internet was cornered, it fought back.
FEBRUARY2012 9
A
s the momentum of the national
Occupy movement begins to falter
before freezing winter temperatures,
many protesters in Chapel Hill still hold
strong to their core principles in hopes
that their ideas, as well as their legacy,
will continue to inuence the minds of
the towns residents.
I hope that we will see the Occupy
movement continue to feed into larger
events towards fundamental social
change, Occupy Chapel Hill activist Mi-
chael Bukanin said. That will put our
power and our potential back in our
hands horizontally and create an op-
portunity for a more participatory and
egalitarian society.
Yet many still question what the Oc-
cupy movement means in terms of its
goals, as the wave of protests never
seemed to articulate a unied set of
principles.
Michal Osterweil, a lecturer at UNC,
explained that one of the reasons pro-
testers never draed a set of overarch-
ing demands was because such a move
would run against one of the core be-
liefs of the movement.
One of the goals that isnt articulated
is to rethink our democracy in a way to
make it truly participatory, and one of
the prefaces is that in this form of de-
mocracy, corporations have so much
power, she said. That system is bro-
ken, and so making demands on it al-
most legitimizes [the system].
Bukanin emphasized that another rea-
son is that these issues oen material-
ize themselves in vastly dierent ways
across the nation. No set of goals could
never truly accommodate the needs of
every region, she said.
Instead, the focus shied towards ed-
ucating the citizens of each occupied
area. For Chapel Hill, the concentration
has largely centered on unfair public
property ordinances and subjective
laws that eectively prevent the free-
dom to assemble.
I think a new goal of Occupy Chapel
Hill is trying to address the issues of
economic disparity and gentrication in
the North Side community, and in par-
ticular Pine Noles, which is one of the
places in Chapel Hill where this is being
felt intensely, Osterweil said.
The education model that the Oc-
cupiersboth in Chapel Hill and else-
whereespouse keeps to their notions
of equality and participatory democracy.
The movement is an opportunity for
people to talk to each other, to educate
each other about our life experiences
and to brainstorm together about what
we want to see, Bukanin said. Its not
a one-way process of education, but its
a collectively horizontal give-and-take
education.
But not everyone is convinced about
Occupys potential. Dr. Larry Grossberg,
a professor of Communication and Cul-
tural Studies at UNC, cites the move-
ments disorganization and lack of orig-
inality as inherent aws.
On the one hand, I think its incred-
ibly important what theyre doing, he
said. But if they think theyre a revolu-
tion, theyre insane. And if they think
that simply by doing what theyre do-
ing theyre going to change the world,
theyre idiots. This is not the rst time
people have protested, and occupation
is not a new invention.
But while some may fault the move-
ments lack of revolutionary potential
to date, Bukanin sees Occupy as a fun-
damental step in the direction towards
universal change, arguing that it ts
well within the construct of past social
justice movements.
I see these issues as being all inter-
linkeddierent forms of inequality,
dierent forms of injustice [and] dier-
ent means of maintaining the inequal-
ity within our society, he said. I see
this movement as a necessary succes-
sor to those [past social justice move-
ments], one that takes up the issues
that they brought up and continues to
usl tlom otwato.'
I hope that we will see the Occupy movement
continue to feed into larger events towards
fundamental social change.
A Look at the Ideas of Occupy Chapel Hill
JENNIFER NOWICKI
SOCIAL RESISTANCE
10 FEBRUARY2012
MICHAEL DICKSON
The physical space should belong to the
community. - Maria Rowan
HOW FAR DOES FREE SPEECH GO?
C
arborros Second Annual Anarchist
Book Fair this past Nov. 12 produced
a urry of yers, all proclaiming, Wel-
come to the Experiment. Make no mis-
take: this occupation is illegal, as are
most of the other occupations taking
place around the US, as were many of
the other acts of deance that won the
little freedom and equality we appreci-
ate today. A oor plan was printed on
the back.
By 8:30 that evening, about 70 book
fair attendees had broken into an aban-
doned warehouse, the old Yates Motor
Company building, on West Franklin
Street and had begun to cover the win-
dows with banners. But to spectators, it
remained unclear was this a militant
occupation or a carefully planned civil
protest?
Aer only a few brief attempts at com-
munication, the police decided to take
action the next day. In the aernoon
of Nov. 13, about 20 heavily armed
police ocers arrived at the Yates Mo-
tor Company building. Brandishing as-
sault ries, they forced everyone on the
scene -- including two reporters -- to
the ground. Seven protesters were ar-
rested, while others were only detained
for 20 to 30 minutes.
Since then the town of Chapel Hill has
wrestled with the police response to
the Nov. 13 occupation, with many com-
munity members protesting what they
saw to be unwarranted aggression.
When a similar occupation sparked in
Carrboro on Feb. 4, however, Chapel Hill
got a chance to reevaluate how it could
have responded to the attempted Yates
occupation
These protesters called themselves
the Carrboro Commune, but their y-
ers read Welcome, once again, to an
experiment, reinforcing their connec-
tion with the Yates Motor Company in-
cident. This time, protesters occupied
CVS-owned property in downtown Car-
rboro to demonstrate against the phar-
macy chain that is planned for that lo-
cation.
This physical space should belong
to the community, Occupy Chapel Hill
member Maria Rowan said. Rowan
made it clear that Occupy Chapel Hill
was not aliated with the Carrboro
Commune, but that she had taken it
upon herself to be a spokesperson on
the street for the Commune.
The two building take-overs were
meant to convey essentially the same
message, but the two protests them-
selves ended rather dierently. Shortly
aer the occupation began, Carrboro
Mayor Mark Chilton entered the build-
ing and refused to leave until the Car-
rboro Commune had le. The building
was vacated three hours later.
Chapel Hill Town Council member Lau-
rin Easthom said that Carrboro police
denitely took the opportunity to learn
from Chapel Hills mistakes.
I wish wed have handled it that way,
she said. Chapel Hill police are still in
the midst of reevaluating their policies,
but Easthom said she hopes they take
Carrboros example into account.
According to the police report sur-
rounding the Yates incident, Chapel
Hills martial response stemmed from
unease over the involvement of anar-
chists in the occupation and the dis-
tinct tactics being used. The protesters
wore masks, covered the windows with
banners and posted look-outs on the
roof. These features led the police to
associate the protest with more violent
occupations and protests like those in
Oakland earlier in the month.
CIVIL
DISOBEDIENCE
A sign referencing Ruffin Slater, who sold the site in 2010.
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The two-building takeovers were meant to
convey essentially the same message, but the
two protests themselves a little dierently.
But Cathy Packer, a media law pro-
fessor in the UNC School of Journalism
and Mass Communication, criticized the
police response for attempting to tram-
ple the occupiers freedom to protest.
We do not need to pull our assault
weapons out on earnest young people
who are looking for political change,
Packer said.
News sources at the time said that the
Yates Motor protesters aimed to create
a community center, and their yers
were lled with plans for free childcare,
a library and even an art studio. Chapel
Hill Town Council member Lee Storrow,
however, said that there was more to it
than that.
The protesters chose to break into
the Yates building to make a political
[statement] about what the landlord
has done to the community and to think
creatively about communities and how
we can use spaces dierently, Storrow
said. I think we didnt acknowledge
that when the police reacted.
Easthom also said she was concerned
that Chapel Hills trust in their leader-
ship has been shaken by the way the
issue has been handled. A public outcry
for an investigation aer the incident
in November only led to an internal
review conducted by Town Manager
Roger Stancil, which Easthom said was
unsatisfactory.
Stancil requested that all town sta
refrain from speaking to the press dur-
ing the internal review.
This approach supports a transparent
process and the desires of the Council
and the community for a full and open
exchange of information on this issue,
Stancil said in a statement.
Another issue that the Chapel Hill
Town Council has gone back and forth
on since November is the need for an
independent investigation into the le-
gitimacy of the police response. The
idea has been shelved for now due to
cost and potential ineectiveness, but
the Consumer Policing Advisory Com-
mittee, which is currently responsible
for reviewing the incident, can bring it
to the council again if it wishes.
I had wanted an independent inves-
tigation the whole time, but I cant get
one right now, Eastholm said.
Stancil has said in interviews he still
thinks the police response to the Yates
Motor Company occupation was jus-
tied at the time. But the Chapel Hill
Town Council has acknowledged at
least some wrong-doing. In January, the
council issued an apology to the two
reporters who were briey detained
during the police raid, Katelyn Ferral of
the News & Observer and freelance re-
porter Josh Davis.
Storrow said he still believes the pro-
testers at the Yates Motor Company
building should have been removed
from the premises, but he thinks things
should have been done dierently.
I think we need to think about the
standard that we hold our community
to, Storrow said. We need to hold peo-
ple who engage in civil disobedience to
make a political point to dierent stan-
dards.
Storrow said the debate is starting to
take time and energy away from other
important issues as well.
I think that was an important discus-
sion to have, but I do think that at some
point we as a community need to think
about lessons learned and then nd
ways to move on, he said.
Easthom said she understands a lot
of people are tired of the issue, but she
thinks its essential that problems, once
identied within a community, are dealt
with.
I dont think its a good idea to take
problems and sweep them under the
tug,' Lastlom saio.
A picture of the property where armed police offers arrested several protesters.
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NEW CENSUS,

NEW ISSUES
N O R T H CA R O L I N A R E D I ST R I CT I N G HAYLEY FAHEY
Lawmakers have been at odds over the new
voting maps since the start the of redistricting
process in the summer of 2011.
F
or two million North Carolina voters,
partisan politics will begin not with
the names on the May 8 ballot, but
with the polling destination they plug
into their GPS.
Charging the GOP-dominated Gen-
eral Assembly with violating the Vot-
ing Rights Act by redrawing the district
maps along the lines of race, a group of
non-prot organizations has brought a
lawsuit against North Carolina and its
Board of Elections. The newly-drawn
district maps, they claim, play a more
invasive role than the Voting Rights Act
requires, dividing the voting popula-
tion into highly partisan communities
and creating confusion.
The plan creates two classes of vot-
ers: one that will vote the old-fash-
ioned way and another that will face
new burdens from split precincts, said
Bob Hall, the Executive Director of De-
mocracy NC, one of the lawsuits plain-
tis.
Their neighbors will vote in one dis-
trict; theyll vote in another.
Lawmakers have been at odds over
the new voting maps since the start of
the redistricting process in the sum-
mer of 2011. Democrats accused Re-
publicans of splitting counties and
precincts unnecessarily and of packing
minority voters into single districts in
an eort to dilute the impact of their
votes. Democrats were condent that
the maps would be found to be illegal,
but on Nov.1, the Justice Department
issued a pre-clearance for the maps-
-even though a glitch in the map-
making soware was discovered that
same day.
Democratic lawmakers and non-prof-
its like Democracy NC each led a legal
complaint to have the maps adjusted
before the May primary. But this Janu-
ary, a three-judge panel refused to de-
lay the election, citing both the legal-
ity of the boundaries and insucient
time to adjust and approve new voting
maps before candidate ling.

[The panel] said that the plaintis
have a lot of good claims, Hall said.
But they basically said theres not
enough time to reach a nal decision
anyway, so we might as well work
with the primary weve got.
When issuing a pre-clearance, the
Justice Department examines maps for
compliance with Section V of the Vot-
ing Rights Act, the retrogression stan-
dard, which requires that no change
in voting procedure leave minority
groups at a disadvantage.
In this case, Republicans were care-
ful to increase the number of districts
that were majority African American,
Hall said. The Justice Department
looked and saw there was no retro-
gression in the typical sense. So the
plans were approved.
But only 40 of North Carolinas 100
counties are covered by Section Five
of the Act, and changes in demograph-
ics have made it more dicult to apply
the standard.
When North Carolinas counties were
chosen, it was because minorities lived
in certain patterns at the time, politi-
cal science Ph.D. candidate Jenna Rob-
inson said. But in the last census, we
saw that minorities and non-minorities
were starting to mesh, so its more dif-
cult to create a majority-minority dis-
trict now than it was before.
While the Justice Department has
refused to delay the primary, the
complaints against the redistricting
maps will go forward. But the plain-
tis charge of minority packing, or the
shiing of minority voters into districts
where they are already electing repre-
sentatives of their choice, may not be
heard.
It seems likely that the complaint
about minority representation wont
go anywhere because the Depart-
ments pre-clearance is a strong indica-
FEBRUARY2012 13
tor that North Carolina is in compliance
with the Voting Rights Act, Robinson
said. But theres a possibility that the
court will revisit the other two com-
plaints, that the counties and precincts
were split.
While redistricting challenges are
typical, 2011 saw an unprecedented
number of investigations into possible
voting rights discriminationmore than
100.
What sets 2011 apart from other years?
The introduction of new map-making
technology.
But last November that technology
proved to be problematic when a glitch
was discovered to have le out half a
million of North Carolinas voters.
The reason for the glitch was that
precinct lines were split between two
districts, Hall said. It is symbolic of the
complexity of the plan that even the ex-
perts in the General Assembly couldnt
get people properly assigned to the
right districts.
The increase in split districts has af-
fected legislators as much as it has vot-
ers. In one case out of many, Rep. Brad
Miller (D-NC) was re-drawn into the dis-
trict of Rep. David Price (D-NC), which
includes Durham and Orange County.
The eect, called double-bunking, has
resulted in Millers announcement that
he will not run for another term.
Rep. Hackney (D-NC) and Rep. Insko
(D-NC) are also put in the same district,
so one of them is going to have to give
up their seat, Hall said. Its not always
Democratic incumbents. There are Re-
publicans in that situation, too.
In light of complaints regarding par-
tisan map-making, other states have
taken measures to adjust their redis-
tricting processes through the use of
independent commissions.
In states where commissions are
drawing maps, we get a much fairer
map for both parties regardless of
which party is in charge of legislature
at the time, Robinson said.
But independent commissions are
not the only possible solutions.
Some [states] have hybrid process-
es, Robinson said. Iowa has a com-
mission that draws three maps, and
then the legislators can pick one of
them. Other states have smaller groups
recommending maps, so they have a
fail-safe. If legislators havent drawn a
map by a particular date, another party
draws it.
A poll conducted last year by the NC
Center for Voter Education found inde-
pendent commissions were a popular
alternative in North Carolina. In a survey
of 644 North Carolina voters, 65 percent
supported the transfer of map-making
authority to a nonpartisan entity.
Our organization does support a tru-
ly independent commission idea, Hall
said. One model is from Iowa. They do
have more competitive races as a re-
sult.
While the complaints against the new
voting maps go forward, only one thing
remains for certain.
Elections are unpredictable, Robin-
son said. Everything at this point seems
to Lo witlin tlo matgin o ottot.'
Our organization does support a truly
independent commission idea. -Bob Hall
A map of the 2011 congressional redistricting.
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CAMPUS Y SOCIAL INNOVATION INCUBATOR:
FOSTERING STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP
RACHEL MYRICK
A
er 50 years, the Campus Y has re-
claimed its third oor and has huge
plans for the new space. This summer,
director Richard Harrill proposed using
the space as a Social Innovation Incu-
bator to house budding social-entrepre-
neurial groups.
It was a compelling program with
impact and visibility, aligning with the
strategic plan and the Chancellors In-
novate@Carolina initiative, Harrill said.
Thats what convinced the Provosts Of-
ce to transfer the rights to that space
back to the Y.
Harrill along with the Incubators co-
ordinator, Mathilde Verdier, assembled
a faculty group to evaluate the entre-
preneurs applying for the program. Ver-
dier said that the Incubator combines
resources from a wide variety of insti-
tutions, including the UNC Law School,
the entrepreneurship minor, the Kenan-
Flagler Business School, the Center
for Sustainable Enterprise, the BASE
program, the Public Policy Department,
Center for Public Service, the School of
Journalism and other entities.
SEA Brand Apparel, Musical Empower-
ment, HOPE Gardens and KM Water So-
lutions each won places in the new pro-
gram. Their successes were announced
at the TEDxUNC conference on Jan. 21.
SEA Brand is an apparel company that
associates colors with social causes,
donating a portion of the proceeds
from each sale. Co-founder and UNC
senior David Baron said he is looking
forward to working with the Incubators
legal advisors so that he can develop
legal copyrights for his products.
I had to come up with something that
would connect with consumers, Baron
said. This will be my semester to get
things organized nancially and strate-
gically for the business. It is already a
protable business, and its growing.
Senior Maggie Peng and junior Alli-
son Howard began the second winning
group, Musical Empowerment, together
as an extension of Carolina Music Out-
reach, a program that pairs UNC student
teachers with underprivileged children..
We thought itd be a great opportu-
nity to not only have a physical space
and a place to store instruments, but
the Campus Y would help us with gure
out how to manage a program like this
and keep it sustainable, Peng said.
HOPE Gardens, the third winner, is
hoping to obtain 501(c)(3) status dur-
ing its stay in the Incubator. Originally
under the Campus Y, HOPE Gardens is a
project of Homeless Outreach & Poverty
Eradication, a group that addresses the
specic needs of the local homeless
population.
The main reason that we applied to
join the Incubator was to get help with
legal paperwork and ling for taxes,
said Jason Dunn, UNC junior and a 2011
co-chair for HOPE Gardens. We also
hope to develop long-term relation-
ships with local partners that can help
with fundraising in the future.
The nal group awarded space on the
Ys third oor was KM Water Solutions,
which developed a portable microbial
water test. KM Water Solutions has cre-
ated and tested a beta version of their
product. Alice Wang, a Ph.D. student in
the School of Public Health, said the
team will use the Incubators resources
to apply for intellectual property rights
and create an updated test.
Were excited to be part of this In-
cubator because its a kind of synergy,
Wang said. Were meeting with other
groups in dierent timelines of devel-
opment.
This kind of synergy is exactly what
Harrill and Verdier envisioned. Harrill
said the Incubator cuts across existing
segments of the university, combining
resources from academic departments
and programs under both Student Af-
fairs and Academic Aairs.
This kind of reimagining of the uni-
versity not only delivers a better pro-
gram and is more cost-eective, but it
improves the overall student experi-
onco,' attill saio.
Were excited to be part of this Incubator
because its a kind of synergy, Wang said.
A picture of the TEDxUNC conference.
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THE STUDENT
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TUITION
HIKES
TO
A coalition of more
than protesters
LIBBY RODENBOUGH
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I
f junior Zaina Alsous could make a
single request of local media outlets
covering the proposed UNC system
tuition hikes, it would be that reporters
stop using the term protesters.
Protest is not the entirety of what
were doing, Alsous said. When were
having a meeting or holding a teaching
session, thats not a protest.
Its not that Alsous isnt proud of the
protests she has participated in as part
of the student reaction to the process
that yielded the 8.8 percent hike, which
was approved by the UNC Board of
Governors at their meeting on Febru-
ary 10th. Alsous and others organized
a march on that meeting, marking the
most recent in a series of protests in re-
sponse to tuition-related administrative
decisions. If approved by the N.C. Gener-
al Assembly (which is a near certainty),
the hike, which is an average increase
for the UNC system but varies school to
school, will go into eect next year.
Rather, shes frustrated by media reli-
ance on an oversimplied depiction of
that response, one that detracts from
the perceived legitimacy of the stu-
dents goals and neglects the totality of
their eorts toward those goals.
Although protester may seem an
apt designation, especially for students
who have marched to Board of Trustees
and Board of Governors meetings with
bullhorns and picket signs, Alsous con-
siders it part of a worryingly pervasive
trendmanifested both in the media
and in the demeanor of university lead-
ershipof condescension, conscious or
inadvertent, toward student voices. As
they attempt to inuence a decision
that will have profound implications
for all students, concerned individu-
als like Alsous get the feeling school
administrators would rather mete out
head pats than devote genuine consid-
eration to their ideas.
Thats why media portrayals of alarmed
students as a mob of hopelessly nave
UNC students gather to march in a rally against the recent tuition hikes.
FEBRUARY2012 17
If theres anything
Ive been most
radicalized by,
its that
student voices
have been
drowned out.
agitators, oen disorganized and ideo-
logically disjointed, cause Alsous and
her compatriots considerable stress;
such portrayals dont exactly suggest
that student concerns merit real consid-
eration. But perhaps the tone of those
representations will shi now that the
sweeping shorthand is no longer justi-
ed by convenience. The protesters
have a name now, and it should be
straightforward enough for most report-
ers: the Education Justice Alliance.
The EJA recently created a website,
www.edujusticealliance.org, which fea-
tures a pithy factsheet, and a tool de-
signed with Microso Excel by EJA mem-
ber Spencer Kuzmier that enables any
user to estimate the personal nancial
implications of the various tuition hike
proposals. Theres also a bulleted list
of shared beliefs and a four-point cata-
logue of demands intended for the BOG.
Concisely, the EJA demands are that the
BOG include students in any decisions
and discussions regarding tuition, reaf-
rm its commitment to diversity and ac-
cessibility, demand that the NC General
Assembly stop its privatization of public
education and institute a moratorium
on tuition increase until the former de-
mands are met. These far-reaching de-
mands, like the title Education Justice
-Zaina Alsous, Junior
18 FEBRUARY2012
Alliance itself, suggest accurately that
the students involved have expanded
the scope of their commitment well be-
yond the current proposed hike. In op-
posing the proposal in question, many
EJA members have stumbled upon
much broader reasons for discontent,
even outrage.
If theres been anything Ive been
most radicalized by, its that student
voices have been drowned out, Alsous
said.
The headline of a Feb. 2 article in The
Daily Tar Heel regarding a recent meet-
ing between Carolina students and the
system president reads, UNC-system
president Thomas Ross said student
input needed to come earlier in the
process. Whether or not the headline
accurately represents the assessment
Ross put forth at the meeting, the im-
plication may hold an especially bitter
taste for the many EJA members who
have endeavored with little ostensible
success over the past several months to
make their input heard.
Student frustration with tuition hikes
is by no means a new phenomenon.
The cost of public higher education has
been trending up for decades; a Nation-
al Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education study says that college tu-
ition and fees increased 439 percent
from 1982 to 2007 while median family
income rose 147 percent. The onslaught
of a historic economic recession in the
years immediately following did little
to ease such costs.
Tuition increases throughout the UNC
system and at UNC-Chapel Hill in par-
ticular have been a running theme in
the recent past. The increases reect
not school administrators desires for
Lamborghinis and caviar, but instead
harrowing budget shortfalls.
In the three years leading up to the
2010/2011 school year, the UNC system
took on budget cuts of $575 million,
abolishing nearly 900 administrative
positions to ll the gap. Then, in 2010,
Republicans seized control of North
Carolinas legislature for the rst time
in over a century, pledging to slash
taxes and public servicesfunding for
public education included.
In the summer of 2010, UNC saw an
unexpected $950-per-student leap in
in-state tuition. That increase set the
stage for the debate happening now
not only because it put a massive bur-
den on families already suering from
the recession, but also because student
voices were shut out of the decision-
making process. Then-Student Body
President Hogan Medlin expressed con-
cern that even he, the formal liaison
between students and the administra-
tion, had been given no opportunity to
discuss or inuence the increase.
When it became apparent last year
that the NC General Assembly intended
to deprive the UNC system of $414 mil-
lion (or 15.6 percent) of its state funding,
administrators looked again to raising
tuition. As word of the potential increas-
es reached Carolina students in October
and November, some of the rst to mo-
bilize against higher tuition belonged
to the UNC chapter of Students for a
Democratic Society. They gathered over
700 cards signed by students opposed
to the increases.
FEBRUARY2012 19
While tuition increases became an ap-
parent inevitability in the latter weeks
of the fall 2011 semester, more student
activists joined the ght, most notably
under the umbrellas of the Campus Y,
an institution with a long history of
social justice on this campus, and of
Student Government. Initial tuition pro-
posals emanating from the UNC admin-
istration suggested a nearly 40 percent
increase over the next several years.
SBP Mary Cooper draed an alter-
native proposal for discussion at the
November Board of Trustees meeting;
the Board defeated both her motion
to postpone a vote on tuition pending
further debate and her alternative plan.
A contingent of students opposed to
the 40 percent plan was also present
at the November meeting. Some ad-
dressed the Board directly, to eusive
applause from their compatriots. Al-
though there was no formal leadership
to this assembly, several of those pres-
ent felt moved to carry their sentiments
out of the Board meeting and into their
own meeting space; out of these initial
conversations came the EJA.
The EJA is a diverse group, drawing
its support from SDS, the Campus Y, Stu-
dent Government and the student body
at large. Unsurprisingly, reconciling the
20 FEBRUARY2012
...this is not
a fragmented
of
angry kids...
assemblage
oen emotionally-charged perspec-
tives of such a varied membership has
been no small task. But on a number of
foundational principles, the consensus
is palpable. All agree that tuition hikes
represent an erosion of the values that
endow UNC with its greatness seems to
be a unanimous understanding.
And although early meetings were
mired by argument over the ner points
of the EJA mission and demands, the
fully-edged group website serves as
evidence of the alliances capacity to
produce tangible results.
Media outlets and school adminis-
trators appear to be yet unconvinced
of the unity or potency of the group.
Their skepticism has been exasperating
for many EJA members, among them
junior Joseph Terrell, who, like Alsous,
has been heavily involved at the Cam-
pus Y throughout his college career. He
points to one of The Daily Tar Heel head-
linea that references the newly-welded
EJA: Protesters have formed a coalition,
but have diverse opinions.
In Terrells view, the clauses of that
headline should be reversed. Such a mi-
nor semantic distinction has substantial
implications: this is not a fragmented
assemblage of angry kids struggling to
reconcile their omnidirectional adoles-
cent indignation but rather an alliance
of students distinct from each other in
almost every conceivable way save for
their allegiance to a university of the
oolo o Nottl Latolina.
FEBRUARY2012 21
H
oping to raise student achievement
and to increase racial diversity in
their classrooms, teachers at Carrboro
High School made a signicant change
in the fall of 2012. Rather than sepa-
rate students into honors and standard
classes, the class of 2014 would learn
together. Students who opted for hon-
ors credit would have more challeng-
ing assessments and additional home-
work, but everyone would be subject
to the same rigorous in-class materials
and discussions.
It was the type of plan they thought
was in keeping with the Chapel Hill-Car-
rboro City Schools mission to educate
all children, according to Sarah Clay,
Carrboro Highs Latin and Study Skills
teacher.
By most measures, the program
proved to be a success. Teachers, stu-
dents and parents of honors and stan-
dard students enjoyed the courses.
The achievement gap between white
and black students narrowed by more
than 10 percentage points in a single
yearan unprecedented amount for
the school. Students who had taken
the hybrids for standard credit felt em-
powered to take honors classes the fol-
lowing year, and teachers noticed less
social segregation in the hallway.
But, in September 2011, shortly aer
the second group of ninth graders be-
gan their hybrid courses, the school
board changed all that, ordering Carr-
boro High to dismantle the new policy.
A SYSTEMWIDE DEBATE
While teachers at Carrboro were devel-
oping the hybrid model for ninth-grade
English and Social Studies classes dur-
ing the spring of 2010, the Chapel Hill-
Carrboro City Board of Education was
discussing the dearth of honors classes
in its high schools. Although all three
high schools in the district were man-
dated to oer students honors credit in
English and math classes, they oered
only standard classes for all other core
subjects. On Feb. 4, 2010, the school
board met to discuss honors options
for Biology, Civics and Economics, U.S.
History and Physics.
Stephanie Knott, the spokeswoman for
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said
the school board was hesitant to cre-
ate more honors classes because they
were concerned about the achievement
gap and in-school segregation.
At the time the board engaged in
that conversation, there was a sense
that creating the honors-level courses
would make classrooms racially iden-
tiable, Knott said. That would divide
our school and not create diversity and
the opportunity for interaction we want
for students.
Knott said the board reviewed a num-
ber of options, including making honors
the default curriculum for all students.
Community members who spoke at the
board meeting were overwhelmingly
supportive of dierentiated honors and
standard classes. Both students and
parents worried that teachers would
not be able to meet the needs of all stu-
dents in mixed-ability classrooms. Of 14
speakers, only one persona teacher at
East Chapel Hill High Schoolspoke in
favor of mixed-ability classrooms.
HYBRID CLASS
Why the system dismantled a program that closed the achievement gap
GRACE TATTER
The achievement gap between white and black
students narrowed by more than 10 percentage
points in a single year - an unprecedented
amount for the school.
Theres a lot of stigma associated with taking
standard classes at this school.
CONTROVERSY
22 FEBRUARY2012
Ultimately, the board voted four to
three to add honors courses in the sci-
ences and social studies courses for the
10th and 11th grades. They also stipulat-
ed that schools be provided funding for
professional development of all teach-
ers to ensure enriched instruction of all
students.
Hybrid classesfor which both hon-
ors and standard credit is oeredwere
only to be oered in specic circum-
stances, Knott said.
Teachers at Carrboro High School did
not make a connection between the
boards decision and the new hybrid
English and Social Studies classes they
were developing for the following fall.
Because students could receive honors
or standard credit, they believed they
were in compliance with the school
boards earlier decision.
But early into the second year of hy-
brid classes, a complaint from an East
Chapel Hill High School parent regard-
ing a hybrid Biology class alerted the
school board to the hybrid classes be-
ing oered at Carrboro. Although the
school year was already underway,
Carrboro High School was ordered to
separate the honors and standards stu-
dents.
On Sept. 15, seven Carrboro teachers
(including Clay), three students, two
A big argument people try to make against multi-
level classes is they say honors kids are going to
be dragged down, Mayeld said. That denitely
didnt happen.
parents and Carrboros three guidance
counselors spoke at a school-board
meeting, asking them to repeal the de-
cision.
This time, only one speaker supported
dierentiated classesEmily Martine,
the head of the Chair of Partners for
Advancement in Gied Education. Ac-
cording to Martine, the honors classes
did not threaten the equality of educa-
tional opportunity because they were
open to everyone.
But resident Marilyn McClain took up
the cause of the hybrid environment.
Her nephew, of whom she is the legal
guardian, was a standard student in the
rst group of Carrboros hybrid classes.
McClain said the experience was a turn-
ing point in his education and cited a
prayer from activist Marian Wright Edel-
man.
Lord, we have out so many children
into the tumultuous sea of life with
faulty lifeboats, McClain said. Help us
give them the sails of education.
Stevie Young, a freshman at Carrboro,
told the board how his family had
moved to the Chapel Hill area because
of its quality schools and progressive
values.
But this policy youve proposed is
contrary to those values, he said.
A parent of an honors student in the
hybrid classes addressed concerns that
honors students werent being su-
ciently challenged.
My daughter doesnt need to be iso-
lated, she said. Shes bright; shes
smart; shell be ne. A lot of kids wont
be.
But shortly before 11 p.m., the board
announced their recommendation. The
Carrboro High School has been asked by the School Board to dismantle its hybrid class policy.
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school would hire a new teacher to aid
with the separation of nearly 20 hybrid
classes.
It was very upsetting to everybody,
said Christine Mayeld, 10th grade Eng-
lish teacher who had been an avid pro-
ponent of the hybrids and who spoke at
the meeting.
Students and parents were wary of
the disruption that would be caused by
mid-year schedule changes, Carrboro
High principal Kelly Batten said.
It was more work for the teachers to
do this, but they were willing, Mayeld
said. So they should be getting paid
more and having a park named aer
them, and statues made of them, and
not being slapped down, as has hap-
pened.
A RETURN TO THE STATUS QUO
Once the decision was announced,
many white parents switched stu-
dents who had previously been taking
English or social studies for standard
credit into Honors, leaving the standard
ninth-grade classes with mostly minor-
ity students, Mayeld said.
Theres a lot of stigma associated
with taking standard classes at this
school, she said. When everyone is
going through the same door doing the
same stu, they are more comfortable
taking standard, where really maybe
thats where they should be.
The racial segregation resulting from
the decision had been what Carrboro
teachers wanted to avoid in the rst
place.
We were increasingly concerned
about segregation in our school, and
the eect, especially on our standard
kids, about always being in a segre-
gated class, and the eect of not hav-
ing a lot of positive peer role models,
Mayeld said.
Besides creating diversity, the hybrid
classes increased the standards for en-
gagement for typically low-performing
studentswho quickly rose to meet
them, according to Clay.
Theres an intellectual energy about
courses sometimes, and youd like to
feel if you aord students the opportu-
nity to work at a more advanced level,
that theres going to be that electricity
about it, she said.
Clay has taught for more than 40
years and has been involved in Chapel
Hill Carrboro schools for more than 20
years. She said she could tell which stu-
dents in her study-skills classes partici-
pated in the hybrids because they were
more engaged with the material and
proud of what they were learning.
Its always been my conviction that
students come with abilities and are
capable of learning if they want to, she
said.
Clays conviction is supported by a
study published in Februarys Ameri-
can Educational Research Journal. Re-
searchers found that taking rigorous
classes had a pronounced eect on
economically-disadvantaged students
standardized test scores and gradua-
tion rates.
But Carrboro teachers were not only
concerned about the standard level
students. Mayeld said teachers wor-
ried about honors students learning in
a segregated environment, and reading
texts like To Kill a Mockingbird or Invis-
ible Man without any minority students
in the room.
Its not a natural situation, she said.
And Mayeld is adamant that hon-
ors students did not suer by being in
classes with those who were less aca-
demically gied. She said her current
group of tenth-grade honors students,
all of whom participated in the hybrids,
are well prepared academically and
have stronger skills in teamwork than
past groups. Standard-level English II
teachers also say that their students
are more prepared than past genera-
tions.
A big argument people try to make
against multi-level classes is they say
honors kids are going to be dragged
down, Mayeld said. That denitely
didnt happen.
The 10th grade students are also frus-
trated with the boards decision to dis-
mantle the classes.
They didnt see any reason to change
it up, Mayeld said. A lot of what they
were expressing was This was great.
Why in the world [would] you want to
mess it up?
The ninth-grade teachers are currently
in talks with Dr. Tom Forcella, the sys-
tems new superintendent, to see if the
hybrid classes can be reinstated.
We feel discouraged but our teach-
ers are going to talk to the superinten-
dent and get some sense of where he
stands, Mayeld said.
Eventually, they hope hybrid classes
will expand to tenth-grade English and
social studies classes.
Theres been no downside to hybrids,
because the expectation is for honors
work, and there is support for those
who need it, Mayeld said. Whats to
loso in tlat'
It was more work for the teachers to do this, but
they were willing, Mayeld said. So they should
be getting paid more and having a park named
after them, and statues made of them, and not
being slapped down, as has happened.
24 FEBRUARY2012
PUT YOUR MONEY
Even President Barack Obama, who has
historically expressed opposition to
money in politics, has acknowledged
this new reality and embraced the lib-
eral Super PACS.
The changes occurring in our national
politics can be plainly seen: more Super
PAC advertisements in elections, less
accountability from donors, more pan-
dering to the wealthy elite from poli-
ticians and less attention paid to the
needs of ordinary voters.
These changes have made their pres-
ence known in state politics as well. In
October of last year, Jane Meyer pub-
lished an article about North Carolina in
The New Yorker called State for Sale.
In it, she oers a gripping and compel-
ling narrative about how a small group
of donors, led by dollar-store magnate
Art Pope, were able to use outside
groups to funnel spending to state leg-
islators elections and change the out-
come of many of those elections. Our
overwhelmingly conservative legisla-
ture and the many policy proposals it
has brought us the referendum on gay
equality, novel requirements placed on
abortion clinics, reductions in the state
sales tax and the cuts to education at
every level are largely the result of the
eorts of these donors.
Art Pope infused this last election with
millions of his own money and outside
conservative organization money such
as Americans for Prosperity. Progres-
sive environmental and labor laws
were repealed and many social laws
were passed, such as the anti-abortion
and gay-marriage amendment bills,
state Senator Ellie Kinnaird wrote in an
email. Kinnaird, who represents Chapel
Hill, also serves as the conference chair
for the Democratic Conference.
Prominent conservatives in North
Carolina disagree. John Hood is director
of a conservative organization that re-
ceives funds from Pope called the John
Locke Foundation.
Money oen follows rather than
causes electoral victories, Hood wrote
in an email. The principle going for-
ward should be that donors can give
unlimited amounts to whichever candi-
dates or political parties they wish...No
other system is consistent with political
freedom.
Hood holds that the heightened cor-
porate spending benets both political
camps.
It is not clear to me that either major
political party gains a great deal more
than the other from the rise of indepen-
dent expenditure politics, Hood said.
WILSON PARKER
MOUTH I S
WHERE
YOUR
CO R P O RAT E CA MPA I G N S P E N D I N G
Politicians have become even more beholden to
the interests of the wealthy big spenders who
can bankroll their campaigns.
T
hese are the facts. 1600 percent:
the increase in spending by outside
groups in recent primaries. 72 percent:
the amount of spending by outside
groups in 2010 that would have been
illegal in 2006. 9 to 1: the proportion of
outside spending by groups favoring
Republicans to groups favoring Demo-
crats in 2006.
4,700 percent: the increase in groups
that do not disclose their donors.
The data clearly demonstrates that
recent changes to campaign nance
laws prompted by the Supreme
Courts decision in Citizens United v. FEC
have changed the face of politics as
we know it. For the rst time, outside
groups have more nancial inuence
on the outcomes of elections than do
the political parties themselves.
The ramications of these changes
are clear and negative. Politicians have
become even more beholden to the
interests of the wealthy big spend-
ers who can bankroll their campaigns.
FEBRUARY2012 25
To Kinnaird, however, the changes are
not so benign;
[The new campaign environment is]
pure inuence peddling to candidates
whom the ad buyer hopes will be elect-
ed and responsive to their interests,
Kinnaird said. The changes will de-
nitely help the Republicans because of
their pro-business orientation.
The debate about the role that money
will play in politics is an incredibly im-
portant one. But it is not a new one.
This argument has been a part of the
public discourse for decades. In Buckley
v. Valeo, the U.S. Supreme Court struck
down certain portions of the Federal
Election Campaign Act, concluding that
spending money in political elections
is a form of free speech and therefore
should be constitutionally protected.
The more recent decision Citizens Unit-
ed v. FEC was merely an application of
the same reasoning to corporations.
State courts, however, have led the
way in oering statutory and constitu-
tional interpretations that are far more
reasonable. Montana Supreme Court
Justice James C. Nelson recently au-
thored an opinion that oered a com-
pelling rebuttal to the Supreme Courts
conclusions.
Corporations are not persons, Nel-
son wrote. Human beings are persons,
and it is an aront to the inviolable
dignity of our species that courts have
created a legal ction which forces
peoplehuman beingsto share fun-
damental, natural rights with soulless
creatures of government.
Nelson disagrees with conservatives
like John Hood who see these rulings
as part of political freedom.
Citizens United has turned the First
Amendments open marketplace of
ideas into an auction house for [unre-
strained] corporatists, he wrote. Free-
dom of speech is now synonymous
with freedom to spend. Speech equals
money; money equals democracy. This
decidedly was not the view of the con-
stitutional founders, who favored the
preeminence of individual interests
over those of big business.
Nelson is right. Spending is not speech.
Speech is the right to express an argu-
ment, which is protected. Spending is
the ability to magnify an argument with
nancial inuence. Everyone has equal
access to speech because everyone can
make an argument. But political spend-
ing is available to a small group of
Americans in much greater proportion
than it is available to most Americans.
As contemporary philosopher John
Rawls eloquently put it, this notion
runs the risk of endorsing the view
that fair representation is representa-
tion according to the amount of inu-
ence.
As inappropriate as the Supreme
Courts decision was, there is little
chance that we will see changes to it
in the foreseeable future. This bodes ill
for America and for North Carolina itself,
which will continue to suer from the
presence of money that, in the words
of Kinnaird, distorts the political land-
scao.'
A young girl protesting corporate personhood at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the
Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill and Carrboros new address at Barnes Street.
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A REBEL HOSPITAL
T
he climate of fear in which Syrians
live is not new. For the last four de-
cades, the Assad family has ruled the
country with an iron st, monitoring
the citizens every move and decimat-
ing any opposition. Until last March, if
people were accused of being against
the president, they risked disappearing
for twenty-ve years without their fami-
lies ever hearing from them.
When people started to raise their
voices against the brutal dictatorship,
not only did they face the regimes bul-
lets, but they had to accept the loss of
access to governmental institutions.
One government protestor, Abu Mazim
Al-Tadmori, detailed the great lengths
that Syrians must go to receive even
modest health care in an interview con-
ducted in Amman, Jordan on Jan. 2.
DOCTORS, ACCOMPLICES?
When two men on a motorbike were
shot in front of the house of Abu Mazim
Al-Tadmoris aunt last December, the old
lady and her husband rushed out and
pulled the bloody bodies inside their
home. They did not call the ambulance
and instead called the rebels.
Nowadays, in Syria, trying to access
governmental care could provoke a
death sentence.
Doctors are told to call the secret
police when a new patient arrives Al-
Tadmori said. He said if they suspect the
wounded person to be an anti-govern-
ment protester, they take the patient
from his hospital bed and bring him to
the police headquarters for question-
ing.
Al-Tadmori shows the marks he earned
from a recent trip to the police head-
quarters. His le thigh has a large burn,
which he says is from the electric shocks
he received for refusing to cooperate.
His feet are covered in scabs which he
attributes to hours of severe beating.
Along with some friends, Al-Tadmori
decided to create a makeshi hospital
in a carefully hidden nearby oasis. He
lives in the desert town of Palmyra, 100
miles away from war-torn Homs. The
citys location became a key element
favorable to the rebels organizing.
No one knows where it is, he said.
Every time we bring a new person
there, we cover their eyes so they can-
not cooperate with the security, even
when being tortured.
CLEANING THE STREETS
Al-Tadmori was one of the rebels who
came to collect the two men who fell
in front of his aunts house. One of
them was so badly wounded the bul-
let perforated his chest and opened a
ten-centimeter wound in his back that
the rebels had to pay a short trip to the
government hospital.
We went inside and threatened to kill
the doctor if he did not try to help our
friend, Al-Tadmori said. I said to him,
This is your job; this is your job.
The man agreed to help for three hours,
aer which the secret police allegedly
would be coming to check on the pa-
tients.
Three hours later, the rebels hid the
two wounded men in a farming trailer
in order to safely make it through city
checkpoints and then carried them to
the oasis, where medical accommoda-
tions are modest.
We are lucky because the pharmacy
gave us medical supplies like alcohol,
bandages and gauze, Al-Tadmori said.
We also have nurses who agreed to
help us. Doctors, however, refuse to
help because they are afraid for their
lives.
Al-Tadmori said people in his town ini-
tially did not want to protest like their
brothers in other cities because of their
geographic location.
We are only 50,000 people here,
and we are far from the big cities, he
AUDREY ANN LAVALLEE-BELANGER
Demanding a Syrian Oasis
We went inside and threatened to kill the doctor if
he did not try to help our friend, Al-Tadmori said. I
said to him, This is your job; this is your job.
FEBRUARY2012 27
said. If the army decided to bring their
tanks, there would be nowhere to run
to and we would all die.
The Palmyrians, however, have slowly
started to run out of options. Earlier this
year, prices rose as a result of interna-
tional sanctions against Syria and the
governments expenditures for its mili-
tary apparatus. When prices skyrock-
eted and tourism in the area became
nonexistent, the Palmyrians, including
Al-Tadmori and his sixteen-person fam-
ily, lost their main source of income and
began to starve and freeze.
We did not have water, gas or electric-
ity, Al-Tadmori said. How can you pray
if you do not have water? How can you
keep yourself warm in the cold weather
when there is no gas or electricity?
CARETAKER REBELS
As if it were not enough, women and
children started arriving from Homs,
the closest major city, where the Syrian
army launched its deadliest assaults
on civilians. Once more, Al-Tadmori and
a group of other rebels tried to nd ac-
commodations for the refugees. This
inux of people added to the burden of
the small city, which could barely sur-
vive on its own.
At the peak of the protests in late De-
cember, there were around 70-80 men
living within the makeshi accommo-
dations.
The problems emerged in the follow-
ing days; we did not have anything to
feed the people with. We needed meat
and milk, Al-Tadmori said.
This is when he decided to ask for
help from neighboring farmers.
We asked a rich man if he had some-
thing for Godwe say that in Arab coun-
tries, he said. He gave us two cows
and agreed to give us milk and eggs
every morning.
The two men wounded in front of Al-
Tadmoris aunts house survived their
accident and eventually returned to
their families, but others were not as
lucky. Al-Tadmoris uncles friend was
shot in the head by a sniper as he was
driving to his house.
We brought him to the oasis, but we
could not do anything for him, Al-Tad-
mori said.
He took the mans phone and called
his brother. He knew he could not tell
him anything over the phone, which is
tapped by the secret services. Hi I
think your brother lost his phone, can
you meet me and I will give it to you.
Al-Tadmori, with his hands and clothes
covered in blood, met with the man and
told him about his brothers death.
We could not bring his body back to
his family in daylight, so we had to nd
ice to preserve his body and cover the
smell, Al-Tadmori said.
When he recounts these stories, for
all their violence and oppression, Al-
Tadmori still smiles.
Together in sweet and in not-sweet
as we say in Arab countries, he said.
Before the revolution, people did not
talk to one another. Now we are one
lano ano wo wotk togotlot.'
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How can you pray if you dont have water? How
can you keep yourself warm in the cold weather
when there is no gas or electricity?
Palmyra ruins at sunset with a view of the oasis in the background.
28 FEBRUARY2012
in Kashmir and India while maintaining
close ties to the Taliban.
Furthermore, instability helps the
military justify its involvement in Paki-
stani politics because of the perceived
need to maintain security. UNC-Chapel
Hill Professor Navin Bapat has found
that U.S. client states, like Pakistan,
oen maintain violence within their
borders in order to continue receiving
economic and military aid. In the face
of this incentive structure, Pakistans
security community is acting logically.
The sooner U.S. policymakers recognize
that their actions are perpetuating vio-
lence in Pakistan, the better.
This leaves the United States with two
options: changing Pakistans incentive
structure with proverbial sticks and car-
rots or minimizing its losses by becom-
ing less dependent on Pakistan.
According to Stanford professor Ste-
phen D. Krasner, the United States has
plenty of carrots to oer, including ben-
ecial trade deals and increased eco-
nomic and humanitarian assistance.
But while these incentives are sub-
stantial, they have historically proven
ineectual in changing Pakistani be-
havior. When it comes to sticks, the
United States cannot conceivably in-
SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE:
P
akistan has received $20 billion in
aid from the United States since 9/11.
In exchange, it has reluctantly allowed
American armed forces to funnel sup-
plies through its territory, while waging
an increasingly brutal war against its
own domestic insurgency. Yet for all its
cooperation, Pakistan remains an un-
predictable and dangerous ally.
Tension between the two countries
mounted last May when U.S. Special
Forces killed Osama Bin Laden, who
was living in relative comfort in the
military town of Abbottabad, and again
in November when a NATO air strike
killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Addition-
ally, a 2010 Pew Survey found that only
17 percent of Pakistanis held favorable
views of the United States.
It is clear that the U.S. needs to re-
evaluate its relationship with Pakistan,
lowering expectations for productive
security cooperation while also scaling
back its presence in Afghanistan and
emphasizing engagement with Paki-
PETER VOGEL
A NEW VISION FOR PAKISTANIAMERICAN RELATIONS
The sooner U.S. policymakers recognize that
their actions are perpetuating violence in
Pakistan, the better.
stans civilian government.
The United States cannot expect Paki-
stan to be a fully cooperative partner in
the War on Terror because it is in the
best interest of the Pakistani military
and intelligence community to main-
tain a degree of instability along the
Af-Pak border.
While Pakistan pays lip service to
cracking down on Taliban aliates who
attack American soldiers, a leaked NATO
report recently concluded that the ISI,
Pakistans opaque and powerful intel-
ligence agency, controlled signicant
Taliban elements inside Afghanistan.
As one Al Qaeda detainee put it The
Taliban are not Islam. The Taliban are
Islamabad.
According to William E. Lucas, UNC-
Chapel Hills Diplomat in Residence, the
Pakistani government covertly supports
Taliban elements in order to ensure that
it has a horse in the race for control or
inuence on the eventual government
in Kabul once the United States with-
draws troops from Afghanistan.
Pakistans worst fear is being pinned
between its nuclear-armed rival India
and an Indian client state in Afghani-
stan. To prevent that eventuality, the
military and the ISI arm terrorist groups
FEBRUARY2012 29
vade Pakistan nor implement economic
sanctions in order to force compliance.
Fortunately, the United States is in a
relatively strong position as it prepares
to withdraw from Afghanistan, having
accomplished its original goal.
The al Qaeda that attacked the US on
9/11 has been contained and marginal-
ized, Bapat said.
The U.S. mission, however, has since
expanded. According to Lucas, success
in Afghanistan would require eliminat-
ing Al Qaeda safe havens in both Af-
ghanistan and Pakistan, stopping cross
border attacks from Pakistan, improving
quality of life for Afghani citizens and
developing a political system in which
all factions feel they have a place.
All of these goals are reachable within
the framework of the 2014 withdrawal.
Life in Afghanistan is better in every
way today than it was in 2001. Afghani
defense forces are improving and grow-
ing. Even a peaceful reconciliation with
the Taliban is conceivable.
Lucas says that he is glass half full
on peace talks, noting that the Taliban
are facing heavy battleeld losses and
that there will be no end in assaults
once the United States withdraws be-
cause of the growth in indigenous de-
fense capabilities.
Moreover, the United States intends
to maintain a presence in Afghanistan
well aer the 2014 deadline, and its
central goals are accomplished or near-
ly completed. Thus, Pakistani undermin-
ing of U.S. policy in the region should
start to decline.
Finally, the United States should focus
on strengthening the hand of Pakistans
civilian government and civil society.
No civilian government in Pakistan has
ever completed a term in oce. Current-
ly, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party un-
der President Asif Ali Zardari is engaged
in a tense stando with the military
and judiciary.
Perversely, George Fulton, a Pakistan
specialist for the BBC, argues that one
factor keeping the government in pow-
er is that the military does not want to
stage a coup and inherit an economy
and social structure in turmoil. Accord-
ing to Mehar Najeeb at the Center for
American Progress, 36 percent of Paki-
stanis are undernourished and 44 per-
cent are illiterate.
These numbers represent both a hu-
man tragedy and an opportunity for the
United States. While a unilateral tari
reduction, support for anti-corruption
initiatives or an increase in foreign
direct investment will not sway the
hearts and minds of Pakistani generals,
they will endear the United States to
Pakistani civilians while improving the
ability of Pakistans civilian government
to provide basic services to its popula-
tion.
This will create the foundation for a
transparent and eective partner that
the United States can negotiate with
on nuclear proliferation, relations with
India and the future of Afghanistan, all
while allowing Pakistans 173 million
people to develop and prosper to their
full potential.
As long as Pakistani- American rela-
tions are predicated on the myth that
Pakistan is a unitary state that shares
Americas interest in a stable Afghani-
stan and as long as thousands of Amer-
ican troops continue to ght and die in
the region, the countries relationship
will deteriorate. It is time for a revolu-
tion in out atoacl.
The United States cannot expect Pakistan to be a
fully cooperative partner in the War on Terror...
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A map of Pakistan, with with capital Islamabad.
30 FEBRUARY2012
S
ince reconvening on campus last
fall, Jacob Sharp, Joseph Terrell and
Wood Robinsonthe three UNC-Chapel
Hill juniors who comprise the blue-
grass-inspired band Mipso Triohave
played across North Carolina, sold out
Cats Cradle and jammed with Chancel-
lor Holden Thorpe on stage at TEDxUNC.
Their next album will be released on
April 14.
What does your writing process
look like?
Joseph: On our EP, we had just formed
as a band and the songs came most-
ly from our separate sources that we
brought together and worked as band
songs. But the way the process has
been working recently is most of the
songs start with one person and they
dont feel like a nished product until
they pass through the brain-space of
the other guys. So it is collaborative,
but its got to have a seed rst.
What themes do you explore in
your music?
Joseph: I love home, both the nostal-
gia and the conicted need to leave,
but we also have a song about hanging
out with the devil and a song about a
car chase, so our songs are not set by
theme at all.
Jacob: One thing weve been talking
about for our rst true collaboratively-
written political song is specically gay
marriage in North Carolina, but, gener-
ally, just equality. Weve written several
love songs that come from our manner
of knowing love, which is from a het-
erosexual male point of view. Thats
not necessarily fair because if you want
someone to connect to that song such
that they sing along, they have to sing
it from your perspective. It isnt that
youre asking them to know it from that
perspective, but it could be construed
as an abuse of the privilege of having
that platform to convey a message.
We are planning an event for Equal-
ity NC [a group dedicated to securing
equal rights and justice for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people],
which will be a fundraiser so it will be
really fun to have that as a goal of the
song-writing for that specic event. But
that can be a hard thing to write about
because if its something that you care
about enough to write a song for, you
dont want to belittle the message. It
can be hard to gure out how to taste-
fully deliver it.
So, generally youre proponents
of keeping music and political
beliefs intertwined?
Joseph: Music can be a celebration of
community and connection and equal-
ity and what that embodies. I think
thats powerful in itself. But also we
want to put our music where our val-
ues are. That can be where we play and
what our music supports, or what we
write about.
Wood: I think theres something to be
said about the ability of melody to con-
vey certain emotions that words cant.
They say that a picture is worth a thou-
sand words; I would say that a song is
worth a million because the essence of
emotion that is conveyed through this
powerful complex motion of harmo-
nies and melodies can really give you
chills. It can tell a story outside of the
l,tics.
An Inside Look with UNCs Own
Mipso Trio
MOLLY HRUDKA
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FEBRUARY2012 31
got me hooked, recalls Joseph Terrell,
with a nostalgic smile framed by the
long-repressed blush of youth. But
a-ha is so much more. Morten Harkets
vocals he says, his voice trailing o,
choked with veneration. I mean, they
dont make em like that anymore.
Jacob too seems transported to by-
gone days of pubescent epiphany by
his earliest memories of a-ha.
I was like any other Gen-Y tween,
locked in my bedroom with that rst
album, reading the lyrics on the insert
and just whispering to myself, yes. Yes,
yes, YES. These are the words my heart
has so long yearned to utter, he said.
When I probed Wood Robinson about
his attachment to Mipsos Scandinavian
counterpart, he simply closed his eyes
and shook his head. The gentle quiver-
ing of his Beatles-esque coiure said
more than enough.
It was an auspicious, tequila-
drenched night during freshman year
that brought their common devotion
to light. As Jacob tells it, he was merely
urinating o a DKE balcony, humming
the iconic synthpop instrumental line
of Take on Me, when what did pres-
ent itself to his ears but the sound of
two velvety harmonies layered upon
his own honey-sweet soprano.
I couldnt believe it, Jacob remem-
bers fondly. Suddenly I wasnt alone.
Suddenly I had a family.
And what a family it has become. To
have called myself a second cousin or
great aunt to these three, if only tem-
porarily, will surely be one of the most
cherished facts during my existence.
I can only hope, for the sake of all Or-
ange County, that Mipso Trio will not
be, as they themselves would even say,
uono in a oa, ot two.'
I
t has been truly the thrill of my life
to have been granted, somewhat un-
fathomably, the opportunity to perform
with Carrboros biggest up-and-comers:
Mipso Trio. Ive joined the boys under
the blistering stage lights a handful
of times over the last six months, and
what a ride its been: touring some
of the most populous cities in North
Carolina, selling out Cats Cradle, and
meeting the man who taught the Avett
Brothers everything they know about
Merle Travis.
But for me, the most gratifying part
of this whole journey has been getting
to know the Trio on a personal level.
Without our musical bond, for instance,
I might never have learned of Jacob
Sharps connoisseurship of wine, golf
and pretty much everything else youd
chat with middle-aged investment
bankers about.
Nor would I have unearthed one of
the more startling Trio tidbits. It might
seem incongruous with the down-
home Jason Mraz conception of Mipso
that you hold so dear, but the musical
inuence that brought them together,
as if by heavenly ordination, was none
other than that high-water mark of
1980s Norwegian pop groups, a-ha.
Obviously, it was Take on Me that
The
Improbable
Artistic
Foundations
of Mipso Trio
LIBBY RODENBOUGH
It was an auspicious, tequilia-drenched night
during freshman year that brought their
common devotion to light.
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Mipso Trio performs at Cats Cradle in Carrboro to a full house,
accompanied by CBP staff writer, Libby Rodenbough.
32 FEBRUARY2012
Published with support from:
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