The Chronicle THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 24. 2000
CIRCULATION 15.000
Merger council attracts citizens i
Nearly 120 Durham residents applied for the 40 spots on the Consolidated Charter Commission, which will guide the city-county merger. xt
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i. About 120 Durham residents submittedi apphcations to serve on the city’s Consolidated Charter Commission—the group charged with working out the details ofthe proposed city-county merger Although the list of applicants does not reflect the diversity envisioned by city officials, lawmakers, who now face the task of choosing 40 members and five alternates by Monday, remained optimistic. “l was very impressed by the people that showed a real interest in taking on this task,” said city council and selection committee member Dan Hill, adding that he was pleased to see several applicants who have empirical knowledge ofDurham and city government. According to The Herald-Sun of Durham, the applicant pool consists ofmainly white men, with 78 white applicants and 32 black applicants overall. Thirty-seven applicants are women, and 91 live within city limits. No applicants said they are Asian or Hispanic. The applicants vary considerably in occupation, however, ranging from physicians and researchers to professors and attorneys. Twelve applicants are University employees. The pool also includes a few former city officials, ineluding former Durham mayor Sylvia Kerckhoff. “I think it’s a reasonably good p001... I would have preferred a broader selection,” said council member Floyd McKissick, who also serves on the selection committee. City council members and county commission,
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THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
VOL. 95. NO. 102
WWW.CHRONICLE.DUKE.EDU
Duke settles ADA complaint Resolving a long-standing complaint filed with the U.S. Department of justice, the university to make
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with disabilities, bility of the campus in general and i mproV e the accessibility of dormitory rooms and classrooms. The package of changes reached after several years of negotiations—will cost at least several million dollarSj said Executive Vice pres ident Tallman Trask In addition, Duke must pay $25,000 in civil penalties to the United States and $7)500 to the alumna who alleged that Duke violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Justice Department began investigating Duke in 1996, after the then-student filed a complaint, The ADA, controversial since Congress passed it in 1990, requires that private organizations that provide public accommodations prevent discrimination against the disabled and remove architectural barriers to access, “The University was really coopwith us
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and that they had to agreed with make changes and disagreed with us about what the extent of the changes should be,” said John Wodetch, chief of the disability rights section of the department’s c jvil rights division. Trask said he was satisfied with the results of the on-site visits and
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endless hours of meetings with Department of Justice officials. “We reached a fine compromise there, in that they’re not going to insist on complete accessibility in our historic buildings,” Trask said of the final agreement. The agreement requires Duke to: modify elevators, entrances, •
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counters, food service lines, tele-
phones and bathrooms; create accessible circulation paths; change shuttle bus route schedules to make sure accessible buses are available; make at least 2 percent of •
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SETTLEMENT on page 12 �
Student collaboration tops Devisetty wants to lead both Chatman’s DSG platform long- and short-term projects The NPHC treasurer and Sigma Gamma Rho president The DSG legislator and academic affairs committee plans to reevaluate how campus groups work together member would like to retool financial aid infrastructure Rather, he joined out of frustration with By JAMES HERRIOTT and MARLA ZIMMERMAN campus politics. tional Panhellenic Council, president r^ie Chronicle Basically I thought DSG was an unCarliss Chatman wants to see more and charter member of Sigma Gamma Devisetty being likes tapped resource, he said. I Vik and a Sorority, genInc., Rho collaboration between leaders thought it was inexcusable eral programmer in the first. This year, he was the of student groups at the Uniever to first student that with 50 legislators, nothWomen’s Center. versity, and she feels that being a member of Caming was getting done.” be been on a lot “She’s Duke Student Government | Council, pus Devisetty found that DSG Quad committees, she’s the best to of way president is Council and Duke only appeared inactive, bedealt with a lot of ismake that happen. cause students often do not sues, she’s talked ■■■■■ Student Government “l feel a lot of student leadsame see the results of long-term year. the in with a lot of senior ers are overwhelmed and don’t projects. “My idea is to have a administrators,” said Next year, Devisetty hopes to collaborate,” the Trinity junior president who not only focusWomen’s Center Director be the first junior to serve as said, adding that part of this es on the long-term issues, president. DSG Donna Lisker. dilemma could be solved by but also focuses on shortAnd perhaps surprisingly, Vik Devisetty If elected, Chatman hopes teaching students to be leaders Carliss Chatman term projects, he said. to encourage cooperation on a broader the Chicago-raised Trinity outside the classroom. involved of in any Devisetty was not said his work ethic helps sophomore the Intercommunity Though Chatman has no previous scale by revamping year. his freshman See DEVISETTY on page 7 organizations these � page See CHATMAN on 6 in she has been active DSG experience, By MATT ATWOOD and TREY DAVIS The Chronicle
University life as treasurer of the Na-
DSG OKs ONLINE VOTING,
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CANDIDATES PRESENT PLATFORMS, PAGE
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