UNC
I'm sorry, but it is never too early to be discussing lessons. Especially not in the current world of ADD, where folks move on as soon as the headlines disappear. For me, the two primary lessons to learn are: own responsibility and get involved.
What. No rant about Muslim-haters, police cover-up, irresponsible media reporting? No. Well, some about the latter a bit later. But, no. Why? Because you can't change what you can't change. What you have to do is own responsibility for what you can change, and get involved to change it.
No-one has, or will ever have, the slightest notion of what goes on or was going on in the head of Craig Stephen Hicks. Almost nothing is served by trying to find out now. Of course it was a hate crime. The man hated. Does it really change one dot, tittle or iota of anything to have a long. unseemly, pointless debate about whether it was parking he hated, or Muslims?
You can not legislate the way people feel, including hatred. What you can do is legislate the way they demonstrate their feelings. And this man had been demonstrating feelings for yonks.
"The Chapel Hill-Carrboro and UNC-CH chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will sponsor its annual Martin L. King Jr. Day Rally, March, and Worship Service. Meet for the rally at 9:00 a.m. and then join our march down Franklin Street. The march will end at First Baptist Church. At 11:00, the church service at Historic First Baptist Church (106 North Roberson Street, Chapel Hill NC) will commence. There will also be choir performances and a brief ceremony honoring those who have served in the military."
Date:
Monday, January 19, 2015 - 9:00am
Location:
Chapel Hill Peace & Justice Plaza (Franklin Street)
I signed a new housing lease about a month ago in mid-October – a lease that won’t start until June of next year. This is how competitive student off-campus housing is in Chapel Hill, and the ever-high demand for student housing in Chapel Hill continues to negatively affect non-student renters.
Niche.com estimates that 90 percent of houses near campus fill up by October. From my experience, students looking to rent an affordable house (as opposed to a townhouse or apartment) begin the search as early as September. Every year this fight to find the closest, nicest and most affordable home puts additional stress on UNC students, and our desperation to sign a lease as soon as possible pits students against each other, increasing competition and driving prices up.
According to a 2010 report prepared by Development Concepts Inc., students make up about a third of all rented units in Chapel Hill (and rented housing comprises over half of all housing in Chapel Hill). We are a huge market for property owners and developers – on-campus housing can only accommodate 9,700 students, so the remaining 9,000 or so undergrads must find off-campus places.
We - I've lived in or near Chapel Hill, NC now for almost ten years, I can say 'We.' We are not some two-bit hokey college, out in the sticks. We are the oldest public university in the United States, and one of its largest. We have made great play of our focus on student-athletes. If our esteemed coaches did not know, they should have done. Period. But that, for me, is not the real issue.
Young people come to our university to train to be doctors. To train to be engineers. To train to be stockbrokers. Take a trip through the hallways of our business departments. Our medical facilities. There is no attempt to pretend that students are being made to study other than their chosen vocation. There is no attempt to hide the fact that the best are being recruited, even while at college, for professional berths after college.
Today, the State Board of Elections will be deciding whether or not to add another site in Orange County for early voting. Jamie Cox and I issued letters in support of an additional early vote site for Orange County on the UNC campus. Both of us stressed that this is what is better for the county, not for a particular party. However, Chair Kathy Knight struck a decidely partisan tone in her response.
But this isn't about partisanship or politics, it's about fairness, because I don't stand for or support partisanship for political gain. I have previously proposed and supported election sites that members of my own party disagreed with because they believed it could benefit the GOP, but I thought those sites were viable and fair for all of Orange County. What better way to show the legislature that folks of all political persuasions oppose their elections overhaul? What better way to show that local government still works?
Below are the two letters Jamie and I submitted to the State Board, along with BOE Chair Kathy Knight's letter.
OCDP Chair Matt Hughes' Letter
BOE Member Jamie Cox's Letter
BOE Chair Kathy Knight's Letter
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