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Raleigh, North Carolina
Plans advance for Centennial dorms Housing units will be geared to sophomores, upperclassmen Annie Albright Staff Writer
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Genesis Atkins, junior in accounting, speaks during Wednesday night’s Student Senate meeting. “We are each individually responsible for both what we do and what we allow by doing nothing,� Atkins said. The Student Senate discussed the possibility of fast-tracking the Free Expression Tunnel Hate Crime Act, which calls for the expulsion of those students who painted racist messages in the tunnel last week.
Senate delays reading of hate crimes legislation
BILL PROPOSED EXPULSION FOR STUDENTS IN TUNNEL INCIDENT Chris Allred News Editor
The Student Senate voted Wednesday not to fast-track a bill that called for the expulsion of the four students who painted racist messages in the Free Expression Tunnel last week targeting President-elect Barack Obama. Maritza Adonis, a junior in political science who wrote the bill, said the Senate’s response showed that “nobody cares,� and while some students have pushed for a University hate crimes policy, Adonis said these four students must be punished first. “I don’t want to be sitting next to them [in class],� she said. The Senate will reconvene for a special meeting next Wednesday to discuss the bill further, after it has been voted on by a committee. The messages left in the Free Expression Tunnel Nov. 5 came the morning after the election of Sen. Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president, and the University community has since been confronting racial issues. Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored People, tion, said the incident has made her feel joined a meeting of student leaders last night, unsafe on campus. and has called for the students responsible “They don’t care about the safety of mito be expelled. nority students,� she said. Chancellor James Oblinger released anChalkings advertising a Ku Klux Klan other statement on the issue Tuesday. meeting caused similar concerns among “Many of you have asked what the Uni- students earlier this year, and James versity can do to stop hateHankins, a senior in filled speech on our campus,� political science, said the release stated. “There are the University must inlegal limits to our ability to vestigate if any students make rules against such mesare a part of the group. sages.� “There are students When explaining her oppoon this campus who are Maritza Adonis, a junior in legitimately afraid,� he sition to Adonis’ bill, Morgan political science Donnelly told the Senate the said. bill should move through Lock Whiteside, stucommittee before reaching dent chief justice and a vote. graduate student in political science, said “We cannot have a knee-jerk reaction to the even without the fast-tracking of the bill, events that happened last week,� Donnelly, a it will continue to be a focus of the Senjunior in political science, said. ate. Scott Kincaid, a junior in political science, “We have enough people in the comsaid the University should not punish the munity and in Student Government to students because the Free Expression Tunnel keep an eye on this to make sure it doesn’t should allow for free speech. go away,� he said. “We can’t kick out the problem we have to Whiteside pushed for a University hate address here at home,� he said. Antoinette Russell, a junior in communicaHATE continued page 3
“I don’t want to be sitting next to them [in class]�
University architects and University Housing settled on a location, building structure and a general time frame for the student housing project on Centennial Campus at a meeting Wednesday morning. “We know where it will be — inside ‘the oval,’ that it will house approximately 1,200 beds like Wolf Village and that it will be apartment style,� Tim Luckadoo, associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said. “They will be targeted towards sophomores and upperclassmen because even freshman engineering students have the majority of their classes on main campus.� According to Luckadoo, the University has conducted a study to address the need for student housing on Centennial Campus. “[University Housing] hired an architectural company to do a study based on the need for housing on West Campus, Centennial and Greek Village,� Luckadoo said. “We have to study what students want as well as other local projects. We have to make sure we are competitive because nobody has to live on campus, so we are doing a lot of background work right now and moving towards making some decisions in the spring- when, how much,
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etc. In general terms we can look forward to seeing buildings up in 3 to 5 years.� Student housing on Centennial Campus would allow for students who normally commute from main campus to be within walking distance of all of their classes , Luckadoo said. “I think the proximity is what will really sell this project,� Luckadoo said. “I know students have a lot of late night assignments so being able to work late into the night and then being able to walk only a few feet home or to the new library would benefit many students.� Even students who are not involved with engineering or textiles will be able to benefit from the project, he said. “We are working with the living and learning villages to potentially host a few in the new buildings,� Luckadoo said. “There is the possibility of a partnership between the entrepreneurship program that currently works with our Engineering department, and the engineers for a village. We may also have a strictly engineering or textiles village.� Sammi Mandani, a freshman in English education said she would consider living on Centennial Campus regardless of the inconvenience of transportation. “I would live on Centennial Campus simply for the experience,� Mandani said. “As an education major having the opDORMS continued page 3
Discovery makes life on Mars more plausible
Evidence of water, millions of years old, could indicate microbial life on the red planet. See page 5.
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Rallies across country protest Proposition 8 STEPHEN BATEMAN/TECHNICIAN ARCHIVE PHOTO
Group joins against measures banning same-sex marriages Russ Witham Correspondent
Join the Impact, a group organizing around the country to protest for same-sex marriage and equality, will hold a rally in Raleigh Saturday. The group has joined against California Proposition 8, in which voters in the state voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Chapters of the group are holding rallies in every state Saturday between 1:30 and 3 p.m., and Will Elliot, a Raleigh resident, is organizing the Raleigh rally. Elliot said the goal is a “peaceful rally� that wants to “show
solidarity with California and not understand why Americans the rest of the nation.� are sensitive on an issue of civil Justine Hollingshead, director liberties like same-sex marof Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and riage. Transgender Center, called the “I was surprised to see Califorresults “a major setback [toward nia regress,� Hall said. same-sex equality].� There are more than 1,000 “I’m not sure what people are rights granted to heterosexual threatened by,� couples by the Hollingshead federal governsaid. ment not grantJim Neal, fored to same-sex mer candidate couples because for U.S. Senate, of inequality of Jimmy Creech, marriage status, Justine Hollingshead, direcwho performed accord i ng to the first civil tor of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Hollingshead. and Transgender Center union in North Amber Carolina, and Meachem, a juSophia Bush, a GLBT advocate nior in history and GLBT ally and star of the CW’s One Tree who will participate in Saturday’s Hill are scheduled to speak at rally, said same-sex marriage has the rally. “become a civil rights issue.� Jeremy Hall, a junior in tech“This is a strike against everynology education, said he could one’s civil liberties,� Meachem
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“I’m not sure what people are threatened by�
said. The California Proposition was listed on the ballots as an elimination of the right of same-sex couples to marry, and similar measures were passed in Arizona and Florida. The three states joined 25 other states which have formally banned same-sex marriage in their state Constitutions. Twenty other states which have statutory laws in place in accordance with 1996’s Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law which provides that no state must allow a relationship between persons of the same-sex as marriage, even if that relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2007’s Krispy Kreme Challenge winner Auburn Staples, a senior in engineering, finishes off his dozen doughnuts Jan. 26.
Registration open for KKC Chris Allred News Editor
Registration is open for the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a student-founded event that raised $20,000 for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital last school year. Since opening registration earlier this week, Jordan Pung, a junior in biomedical engineering and co-chair for the event, said organizers have gotten a strong response. Registration is $10 for observers and $16 for challengers and casual participants. Pung said many people choose to be observers if they want to
support the group but cannot come to the race. Racers will get to use technology new to the KKC, Pung said. “We’re putting in a chip timing system for challengers so they’ll wear a chip on their shoes that will more accurately record their time and make sure everything gets sorted out correctly,� he said. “It’s all provided in the registration costs.� More than 3,000 people attended last year’s event. To complete the Krispy Kreme Challenge, runners must run two miles from the Bell Tower to a Krispy Kreme on Peace Street, eat a dozen doughnuts, and run the two miles back.
ering for Spring 2009 is OP d r O k o o b t EN! x e T e n i www.ncsu.edu/bookstore Onl