March 2012 by Campus BluePrint

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MARCH

2012

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FROM THE EDITOR

CONTENTS

THE STUDENT RESPONSE TO TUITION HIKES

HYBRID CLASS CONTROVERSY

SYRIA’S REBEL HOSPITALS

Dear Readers, UNC-Chapel Hill students are currently facing an unprecedented hike in tuition rates. Since state appropriations to the university were drastically cut by $100 million, we’re facing a tough situation. How do we approach filling in that gap without jeopardizing the quality, the prestige, or the diversity of our beloved university? The problem is complicated, and the solution will not be simple. Administrators, faculty, staff, students and their families, and town residents and officials all are going to be affected, but all of their positions are not always represented equally. In an effort to change this, some students decided to mobilize to be advocates for those perspectives 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 university, we aim to give students another platform by which to have their voices heard.

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

STAFF CHELSEA PHIPPS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

VOGEL, KELLY YAHNER STAFF WRITERS

SARAH BUFKIN ASSISTANT EDITOR

SALLY FRY, CASSIE MCMILLAN,

CAREY HANLIN CREATIVE DIRECTOR

JASMINE LAMB, PAIGE WARMUS

CARI JEFFRIES, TYLER TRAN PHOTO

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN

MICHAEL DICKSON, HAYLEY FAHEYAMY HAZLEHURST, WILSON HOOD, SAM

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PHOTOGRAPHERS

RACHEL ALLEN, CYNTHIA BETUBIZA, JOSEPH BIERNACKI, SARAH BROWN,

EDITOR

ANNE BRENNEMAN, MOLLY HRUDKA,

JOSEPH BIERNACKI, MICHAEL DICK-

CARI JEFFRIES, CAREY HANLIN,

HUGHES, AKHIL JARIWALAJANNA

SON, HAYLEY FAHEY, MOLLY HRUDKA,

WILSON HOOD, MOLLY HRUDKA,

JUNG-IRRGANG, JENNIFER NOWICKI,

CAREY HANLIN, AKHIL JARIWALA, AU-

GRACE TATTER, KELLY YAHNER COPY

WILSON PARKER, GRACE PHILLIPS,

DREY ANN LAVALLEE, ELLEN MURRAY,

EDITORS

SARAH RUTHERFORD, ELLEN WERNER,

RACHEL MYRICK, JENNIFER NOWICKI, WILSON PARKER, LIBBY RODENBOUGH, LUDA SHTESSEL, GRACE TATTER, NEHA VERMA, KYLE VILLEMAIN, PETER

Happy reading! Chelsea Phipps Editor-in-Chief

Campus Y Social Innovation 14 3 Student Response to Tuition Hikes 15 4 Hybrid Class Controversy 21 5 Corporate Campaign Spending 24 6 Syria’s Rebel Hospitals 26 7 Pakistani-American Relations 28 8 Interview with Mipso Trio 30 9 Improbable Artistic Foundations 31 10 12

On the Cover: “Fresh Squeezed” by Asia Morris

GIHANI DISSANAYAKE, CHRISTYN GERBER, SARAH HOEHN, HANNAH NEMER,

AKHIL JARIWALA, NEHA VERMA, BLOGGERS

STEFANIE SCHWEMLEIN,

TRAVIS CLAYTON SOCIAL MEDIA

RENEE SULLENDER, JENNIFER TRAN

DIRECTOR

FOR HEALTH, FOR WOMEN, FOR LIFE. Why “pro-choice” doesn’t mean “anti-life.” About 47,000 women across the globe died from unsafe abortions in 2008. Better access to birth control in developed countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.

Nearly half of all

abortions worldwide are unsafe.

There are higher abortion rates and regions with more

restrictive legislation.

Almost all unsafe

abortions were in developing countries, where the

number of family planning and contraceptive programs have stopped increasing.

Abortion rates were lowest in Western Europe (~12/1000) and highest in Eastern Europe (~43/1000). The North American rate was ~19/1000.

Abortion rates are

higher in

countries where the procedure is

illegal. 8.5 million women In 2008,

worldwide had

serious medical complications from unsafe abortions.

-Abortions per 1000 women ages 15-44

here is an unfortunate dichotomy in our culture that says one either has to be “prochoice” or “pro-life”, as if those who agree with keeping abortion legal are in effect “anti-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, regardless of political or religious affiliation, is pro-abortion. There is no anti-life sentiment to be found, but rather the acknowledgement that a necessary evil must be provided in order to protect the mental and physical well-being of women across the globe. Reproduced here is a study from Gilda Sedgh, et al. that brings to light the dangers of outlawing abortion, and shows how one can be pro-choice and still be pro-life. M

Source: “Induced abortion: incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to 2008,” by Gilda Sedgh et al. The Lancet FEBRUARY2012

SWAYING OPINION BY SWAYING TO MUSIC:

PHOTO BY RENEE SULLENDER

“Vote Against Amendment One: The Musical” takes the stage UNC student Rachel Kaplan, creator of “Vote Against Amendment One: The Musical” holds a sign in front of Wilson Library, protesting the NC amendment.

NEHA VERMA

any people have spoken out against North Carolina’s proposed Amendment One, which would define marriage between one man and one woman. While some wrote blogs and others gave lectures, UNC sophomore Rachel Kaplan took a different route – she made a musical. Kaplan’s “Vote Against Amendment One: The Musical!” encourages people to vote against the ballot initiative during the May 8 primary elections. “I planned on getting involved in fighting Amendment One because I’ve 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 California, called “Prop 8: The Musical.” Once she had the concept in mind, her creativity and dedication quickly propelled the project forward. Kaplan wrote the lyrics for the musical in about a week, which she sent to a friend, Mike Griggs at Trinity College. In another week, Griggs wrote the music. There were two rehearsals before 4

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filming, and then a two-week editing process. The filmed performance, posted on YouTube, now has over 9,000 views. “I would say I was cautiously optimistic 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 filmed version, the musical was also performed live in January 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 Kaplan’s proposal. “It simply wasn’t 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 musical’s script attempts to explain all possible consequences of the amendment, including jeopardizing the ability of all couples, regardless of sexual orientation, to receive domesticpartner benefits. 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 don’t think the musical will completely sway anyone’s opinion on gay marriage,” Kaplan said, “but it might sway some people’s thoughts on Amendment One, which goes beyond attacking gay marriage and limits ben j3% 2 0 <, -,*<00 ( -) %" M

EUROZONE CRISIS: THIS IS WHAT EUROPEAN POLITICAL INTRANSIGENCE LOOKS LIKE SAM HUGHES

y pushing austerity measures instead of working to balance trade and capital proportionally among its constituent nations, the European Union is exacerbating its economic crisis and pushing us to the edge of global economic downturn. The revolutionary experiment to create a common currency between European nations was risky, and everyone knew that. In order to join, each nation needed an inflation rate of no more than 1.5 percentage points above the average rate of the three lowest EU countries from the previous year, a national budget deficit 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 inflation 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 investors in each countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debt demanded unsustainable high rates of return. This made it more expensive and difficult to borrow, pushing them to the brink of default.

One common explanation for this phenomenon is that investors did not have confidence in the abilities of the countries to pay back the bonds. Uncertainty drove interest rates higher, making 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 punditry 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 deficits in the near term. Instead, the European Central Bank cheaply found a way to open lines of cheap credit to most of the countries, temporarily 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 stabilize its economy, these nations cannot. As a result of the Eurozone currency union, Germany has its lowest recorded unemployment rate since reunification (5.5 percent), while the GIPSI nations struggle at a persistent 15.8 percent unemployment. This discrepancy is due to Germany accumulating high trade surpluses and lower inflation at the expense of

the GIPSI nations. The problem prerecession was not debt. In fact, in the ten years prior to the Great Recession, the ratio of GIPSI debt to GDP had decreased from nearly 90 percent to 75 percent. Instead, the problem is that GIPSI nations saw higher real inflation and higher trade deficits, making them less competitive in Europe compared to Germany. What needs to happen is an adjustment to make GIPSI competitive with Germany. The price-level adjustment can either happen through deflation in GIPSI, causing massive economic and social hardship, or it can happen through higher levels of inflation in Germany. But at the same time, Germany has no desire to see higher levels of inflation and no desire to fix the trade and capital imbalance. They could help fix 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 government spending in Greece, setting them on the path toward prolonged reces% , 3+ , ,( , % ?+3" M

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SCIENCE

CENSORSHIP

Should Doomsday Fears of Bird Flu Pandemic Trump Scientific Transparency? LUDA SHTESSEL

nciting massive debates over the use of censorship in instances posing security risks, two independent research groups revealed in September that they had created a bird-flu virus that could comfortably infect mammals. The research could potentially unleash epidemic destruction if it fell into the wrong hands. When the H5N1 bird flu first hit in 1997, it left a devastating 23 percent death rate in its wake, which is all the more dangerous when compared to the two-percent death rate of patients infected with the 1918 Spanish flu—one of the most deadly pandemics in history. Since 2003, the H5N1 bird flu has claimed 344 lives—a staggering 59 percent 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 findings dangerous and promptly recommended a “restricted communication” of the details of the two still-unpublished works. While in support of the NSABB’s decision, the National Institutes of Health acknowledged the dilemma of not releasing this vital information. “Research on factors that can affect the transmissibility of the H5N1 virus is critically important to international efforts to prepare and prevent threats to public health,” the organization stated in a Dec. 6

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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 accident; after all, worldwide governments were powerless in containing the H1N1 bird flu outbreak from 2009. How could we possibly abate a pandemic of a virulent H5N1 if it came to that? Dr. Paul Keim, a professor at Northern Arizona University and the NSABB chair, justified the NSABB’s 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

global impact these specific findings are touted to have. The current studies all involve the transmission potential between ferrets, but there is no guarantee that the virus will produce a similar effect in humans. Ferrets do, however, respond similarly to humans to the influenza virus. Pickles also points out that generating 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 lethality rate has left some researchers exasperated, as they suggest that this statistic ignores people that may have

How could we possibly abate a pandemic of a virulent H5N1 if it came to that? at all costs,” Keim said. Several researchers are calling for a stop to research with H5N1 altogether. Dr. Raymond Pickles, an H5N1 researcher at UNC, explains their concerns—viral 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 experiments were [initially] performed,” Pickles said. Conversely, supporters of full-disclosure are skeptical of the destructive

been infected but remained asymptomatic. In response to rising concerns, on Jan. 20, nearly 40 of the world’s leading influenza scientists pledged to suspend all research involving H5N1 for 60 days. Keim remains optimistic that the scientific community will work the censorship issue out. “What is gratifying and essential is that the debate is occurring; it is occurring on an international stage, and it is -00 ,? 0<) ( 1J B * 0 3 " M

SHOWDOWN

IN DURBAN

The Implications of the UN Climate Conference

AKHIL JARIWALA

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 after the Durban conference was scheduled to end, there was little hope that the negotiators would come to consensus. The stakes were high for the Durban climate conference, which began on Nov. 28. For the first time ever, the world faced the fact that, without an agreement, all existing work for an international climate solution would be on the chopping block. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which many call the most pivotal international 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 different and conflicting motivations. The Chinese and the Indians threatened to walk away immediately without an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, which gave developing countries the funding to pursue energy-efficiency standards through the Clean Development Mechanism in addition to setting binding greenhouse gas emissions caps for developed ones. The Japanese, Russians and Canadians, however, dismissed the notion of an extension, 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 craft a road map towards emissions reductions by 2015. The Americans were against any restriction on GHG emissions before 2020. But then began a surprising move towards cooperation. The Indian environmental minister and the EU climate chief

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-

What did the conference do? It made progress. 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 negotiations 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-driven Green Climate Fund that will provide $100 billion a year in public and private financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the developing world by 2020. 3) The establishment of the non-binding Durban Platform for Enhanced Mitigation by 2015 that must produce a binding legal agreement on greenhouse-gas emissions caps for all countries to by 2020.

mense and complex problems facing the world today was never going to be a sprint. It’s a test of endurance. UNC School of Law Professor Donald Hornstein, who teaches an undergraduate course on environmental law, sees an uphill battle ahead. “Most of the time [in policymaking] you have the corrosive effects of special interests and lobbying,” Hornstein said. “But every so often you get these “republican 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 conference 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 + ) 3 ? 3 <, <?0 * ,3"J M

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PREEMPTIVE PUNISHMENT: HOW

SOPA WOULD HAVE STOPPED THE WEB CAREY HANLIN

f you ask Neil Young, he’ll tell you that piracy is the new radio. And while this may sound like a ridiculous and inaccurate statement to some, the driving logic behind it stands true. Pirating music 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 bill’s purpose, as stated on its front page, was to “promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation by combating the theft 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 flow of creativity and information on the web. According to the International Business Times, the bill would give media companies an excessive amount of power to shut down any site they think 8

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could be violating copyrights. Under SOPA, any website found with any type of copyright infringement material 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 five days, and search engines would have to remove any references to that site from their indexes. The site would effectively be blacklisted. The term “copyright infringement” here does not mean stealing another author’s work and trying to pass it off as your own. Any site that has a comment 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 Craig’s List would all be subject to extreme regulation, if not termination. When the Internet was cornered, it fought back. According to the Huffington Post, over 7,000 websites, including Wikpedia, Google and Reddit, joined in on the Jan. 18 blackout protests, which served as foreboding symbols of what was seen as an impending restriction on free knowledge and sharing. Google and Mozilla put symbolic signs over their logos, and Reddit and Flickr ceased all usability altogether. The websites Wikipedia and StumbleUpon prevented access to all

dation. “Wikipedia is operated, and not controlled by, a non-profit – it’s got no corporate interests to protect and it doesn’t 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, proponents 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 entire film industry. And at approximately $800 per citizen, the $250 billion cost was busted as being pretty implausible as well. SOPA was shut down because spearheading the battle were groups like Wikimedia, Reddit, and Google – groups that are not only visible to virtually every American citizen, but are very accessible. The National Defense Authorization Act, which granted the president the ability to hold American citizens in indefinite detention without trial should they be suspected of terrorism, was signed into law earlier this year. However, bills like this which aren’t as immediately relevant to major websites, aren’t going to get the Internet attention that SOPA garnered. Wikipedia won’t be there to hold the

When the internet was cornered, it fought back. pages except those that informed the reader about the dangers of SOPA, and even provided links to contact local Congressmen to fight the bills. “Wikipedia’s involvement in the fight against SOPA proves this wasn’t about powerful interest groups, and it wasn’t about money,” wrote Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foun-

hand of the public every time a potentially 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 can’t be ac %% (" M

SOCIAL RESISTANCE A Look at the Ideas of Occupy Chapel Hill JENNIFER NOWICKI

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 influence the minds of the town’s residents. “I hope that we will see the Occupy movement continue to feed into larger events towards fundamental social change,” Occupy Chapel Hill activist Michael Bukanin said. “That will put our power and our potential back in our hands horizontally and create an opportunity for a more participatory and egalitarian society.” Yet many still question what the Occupy movement means in terms of its goals, as the wave of protests never seemed to articulate a unified set of principles. Michal Osterweil, a lecturer at UNC, explained that one of the reasons protesters never drafted a set of overarching demands was because such a move would run against one of the core beliefs of the movement. “One of the goals that isn’t 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 democracy, corporations have so much power,” she said. “That system is broken, and so making demands on it almost legitimizes [the system].” Bukanin emphasized that another reason is that these issues often material-

ize themselves in vastly different ways across the nation. No set of goals could never truly accommodate the needs of every region, she said. Instead, the focus shifted towards educating the citizens of each ‘occupied’ area. For Chapel Hill, the concentration has largely centered on unfair public property ordinances and subjective laws that effectively prevent the freedom to assemble. “I think a new goal of Occupy Chapel Hill is trying to address the issues of economic disparity and gentrification in

a professor of Communication and Cultural Studies at UNC, cites the movement’s disorganization and lack of originality as inherent flaws. “On the one hand, I think it’s incredibly important what they’re doing,” he said. “But if they think they’re a revolution, they’re insane. And if they think that simply by doing what they’re doing they’re going to change the world, they’re idiots. This is not the first time people have protested, and occupation is not a new invention.” But while some may fault the move-

“I hope that we will see the Occupy movement continue to feed into larger events towards fundamental social change.” the North Side community, and in particular Pine Noles, which is one of the places in Chapel Hill where this is being felt intensely,” Osterweil said. The education model that the Occupiers—both in Chapel Hill and elsewhere—espouse 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. “It’s not a one-way process of education, but it’s a collectively horizontal give-and-take education.” But not everyone is convinced about Occupy’s potential. Dr. Larry Grossberg,

ment’s lack of revolutionary potential to date, Bukanin sees Occupy as a fundamental step in the direction towards universal change, arguing that it fits well within the construct of past social justice movements. “I see these issues as being all interlinked—different forms of inequality, different forms of injustice [and] different means of maintaining the inequality within our society,” he said. “I see this movement as a necessary successor to those [past social justice movements], one that takes up the issues that they brought up and continues to )-%+ 3+ * 2 0 <0("J M

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PHOTO BY TYLER TRAN

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE H OW FA R DOES FREE SPEECH GO?

MICHAEL DICKSON

arborro’s Second Annual Anarchist Book Fair this past Nov. 12 produced a flurry of flyers, all proclaiming, “Welcome to the Experiment. Make no mistake: this occupation is illegal, as are most of the other occupations taking place around the US, as were many of the other acts of defiance that won the little freedom and equality we appreciate today.” A floor plan was printed on the back. By 8:30 that evening, about 70 book fair attendees had broken into an abandoned warehouse, the old Yates Motor Company building, on West Franklin Street and had begun to cover the windows with banners. But to spectators, it remained unclear —was this a militant occupation or a carefully planned civil protest? After only a few brief attempts at communication, the police decided to take action the next day. In the afternoon of Nov. 13, about 20 heavily armed police officers arrived at the Yates Motor Company building. Brandishing assault rifles, they forced everyone on the scene -- including two reporters -- to the ground. Seven protesters were arrested, while others were only detained for 20 to 30 minutes. Since then the town of Chapel Hill has wrestled with the police response to 10

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A sign referencing Ruffin Slater, who sold the site in 2010.

the Nov. 13 occupation, with many community 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 flyers read “Welcome, once again, to an experiment,” reinforcing their connection with the Yates Motor Company in-

message, but the two protests themselves ended rather differently. Shortly after the occupation began, Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton entered the building and refused to leave until the Carrboro Commune had left. The building was vacated three hours later. Chapel Hill Town Council member Laurin Easthom said that Carrboro police definitely took the opportunity to learn from Chapel Hill’s mistakes. “I wish we’d have handled it that way,” she said. Chapel Hill police are still in

“The physical space should belong to the community.” - Maria Rowan cident. This time, protesters occupied CVS-owned property in downtown Carrboro to demonstrate against the pharmacy chain that is planned for that location. “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 affiliated 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

the midst of reevaluating their policies, but Easthom said she hopes they take Carrboro’s example into account. According to the police report surrounding the Yates incident, Chapel Hill’s martial response stemmed from unease over the involvement of anarchists in the occupation and the distinct 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.

But Cathy Packer, a media law professor in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, criticized the police response for attempting to trample 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 flyers were filled with plans for free childcare, a library and even an art studio. Chapel

that when the police reacted.” Easthom also said she was concerned that Chapel Hill’s trust in their leadership has been shaken by the way the issue has been handled. A public outcry for an investigation after 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 staff refrain from speaking to the press during the internal review. “This approach supports a transparent

The two-building takeovers were meant to convey essentially the same message, but the two protests themselves a little differently. 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 differently,” Storrow said. “I think we didn’t acknowledge

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 legitimacy of the police response. The idea has been shelved for now due to

PHOTO BY TYLER TRAN

A picture of the property where armed police offers arrested several protesters.

cost and potential ineffectiveness, but the Consumer Policing Advisory Committee, which is currently responsible for reviewing the incident, can bring it to the council again if it wishes. “I had wanted an independent investigation the whole time, but I can’t get one right now,” Eastholm said. Stancil has said in interviews he still thinks the police response to the Yates Motor Company occupation was justified 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 briefly detained during the police raid, Katelyn Ferral of the News & Observer and freelance reporter Josh Davis. Storrow said he still believes the protesters at the Yates Motor Company building should have been removed from the premises, but he thinks things should have been done differently. “I think we need to think about the standard that we hold our community to,” Storrow said. “We need to hold people who engage in civil disobedience to make a political point to different standards.” Storrow said the debate is starting to take time and energy away from other important issues as well. “I think that was an important discussion to have, but I do think that at some point we as a community need to think about lessons learned and then find ways to move on,” he said. Easthom said she understands a lot of people are tired of the issue, but she thinks it’s essential that problems, once identified within a community, are dealt with. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to take problems and sweep them under the 0-?1J <%3+ * %< ("M

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NEW CENSUS,

NEW ISSUES

HAYLEY FAHEY

N O RT H CA R O L I N A R E D I ST R I CT I N G

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 General Assembly with violating the Voting Rights Act by redrawing the district maps along the lines of race, a group of non-profit 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 population into highly partisan communities and creating confusion. “The plan creates two classes of voters: one that will vote the old-fashioned way and another that will face new burdens from split precincts,” said Bob Hall, the Executive Director of Democracy NC, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. “Their neighbors will vote in one district; they’ll vote in another.” Lawmakers have been at odds over the new voting maps since the start of the redistricting process in the summer of 2011. Democrats accused Republicans of splitting counties and precincts unnecessarily and of packing minority voters into single districts in an effort to dilute the impact of their votes. Democrats were confident that the maps would be found to be illegal, but on Nov.1, the Justice Department 12

FEBRUARY2012

issued a pre-clearance for the maps-even though a glitch in the mapmaking software was discovered that same day. Democratic lawmakers and non-profits like Democracy NC each filed a legal complaint to have the maps adjusted before the May primary. But this January, a three-judge panel refused to delay the election, citing both the legality of the boundaries and insufficient time to adjust and approve new voting maps before candidate filing.

looked and saw there was no retrogression in the typical sense. So the plans were approved.” But only 40 of North Carolina’s 100 counties are covered by Section Five of the Act, and changes in demographics have made it more difficult to apply the standard. “When North Carolina’s counties were chosen, it was because minorities lived in certain patterns at the time,” political science Ph.D. candidate Jenna Robinson said. “But in the last census, we

Lawmakers have been at odds over the new voting maps since the start the of redistricting process in the summer of 2011. “[The panel] said that the plaintiffs have a lot of good claims,” Hall said. “But they basically said there’s not enough time to reach a final decision anyway, so we might as well work with the primary we’ve got.” When issuing a pre-clearance, the Justice Department examines maps for compliance with Section V of the Voting Rights Act, the “retrogression standard,” which requires that no change in voting procedure leave minority groups at a disadvantage. “In this case, Republicans were careful to increase the number of districts that were majority African American,” Hall said. “The Justice Department

saw that minorities and non-minorities were starting to mesh, so it’s more difficult to create a majority-minority district 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 plaintiffs’ charge of minority packing, or the shifting of minority voters into districts where they are already electing representatives of their choice, may not be heard. “It seems likely that the complaint about minority representation won’t go anywhere because the Department’s pre-clearance is a strong indica-

tor that North Carolina is in compliance with the Voting Rights Act,” Robinson said. “But there’s a possibility that the court will revisit the other two complaints, that the counties and precincts were split.” While redistricting challenges are typical, 2011 saw an unprecedented number of investigations into possible voting rights discrimination—more than 100.

The increase in split districts has affected legislators as much as it has voters. In one case out of many, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) was re-drawn into the district of Rep. David Price (D-NC), which includes Durham and Orange County. The effect, called “double-bunking,” has resulted in Miller’s 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,

“Our organization does support a truly independent commission idea.” -Bob Hall 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 left out half a million of North Carolina’s 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 experts in the General Assembly couldn’t get people properly assigned to the right districts.”

so one of them is going to have to give up their seat,” Hall said. “It’s not always Democratic incumbents. There are Republicans in that situation, too.” In light of complaints regarding partisan map-making, other states have taken measures to adjust their redistricting 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 processes,” Robinson said. “Iowa has a commission 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 haven’t drawn a map by a particular date, another party draws it.” A poll conducted last year by the NC Center for Voter Education found independent 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 truly independent commission idea,” Hall said. “One model is from Iowa. They do have more competitive races as a result.” While the complaints against the new voting maps go forward, only one thing remains for certain. “Elections are unpredictable,” Robinson said. “Everything at this point seems 3 & 3+ , 3+ *<0? , 2 00 0"JM

PHOTO BY WIKIMEDIA

A map of the 2011 congressional redistricting.

FEBRUARY2012

CAMPUS Y SOCIAL INNOVATION INCUBATOR:

FOSTERING STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP RACHEL MYRICK fter 50 years, the Campus Y has reclaimed its third floor and has huge plans for the new space. This summer, director Richard Harrill proposed using the space as a Social Innovation Incubator to house budding social-entrepreneurial groups. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a compelling program with impact and visibility, aligning with the strategic plan and the Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Innovate@Carolina initiative,â&#x20AC;? Harrill said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what convinced the Provostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office to transfer the rights to that space back to the Y.â&#x20AC;? Harrill along with the Incubatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coordinator, Mathilde Verdier, assembled a faculty group to evaluate the entrepreneurs applying for the program. Verdier said that the Incubator combines resources from a wide variety of institutions, including the UNC Law School, the entrepreneurship minor, the KenanFlagler Business School, the Center

forward to working with the Incubatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal advisors so that he can develop legal copyrights for his products. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had to come up with something that would connect with consumers,â&#x20AC;? Baron said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This will be my semester to get things organized financially and strategically for the business. It is already a profitable business, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing.â&#x20AC;? Senior Maggie Peng and junior Allison Howard began the second winning group, Musical Empowerment, together as an extension of Carolina Music Outreach, a program that pairs UNC student teachers with underprivileged children.. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We thought itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be a great opportunity to not only have a physical space and a place to store instruments, but the Campus Y would help us with figure out how to manage a program like this and keep it sustainable,â&#x20AC;? Peng said. HOPE Gardens, the third winner, is hoping to obtain 501(c)(3) status dur-

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to be part of this Incubator because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a kind of synergy,â&#x20AC;? Wang said. 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 Empowerment, HOPE Gardens and KM Water Solutions each won places in the new program. 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 14

Â&#x2122;

FEBRUARY2012

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 specific needs of the local homeless population. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The main reason that we applied to join the Incubator was to get help with legal paperwork and filing for taxes,â&#x20AC;? said Jason Dunn, UNC junior and a 2011 co-chair for HOPE Gardens. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We also hope to develop long-term relationships with local partners that can help with fundraising in the future.â&#x20AC;?

The final group awarded space on the Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third floor was KM Water Solutions, which developed a portable microbial water test. KM Water Solutions has created 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 Incubatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resources to apply for intellectual property rights and create an updated test. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to be part of this Incubator because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a kind of synergy,â&#x20AC;? Wang said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re meeting with other groups in different timelines of development.â&#x20AC;? 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 Affairs and Academic Affairs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This kind of reimagining of the university not only delivers a better program and is more cost-effective, but it improves the overall student experi , 1J <00 %< (" M A picture of the TEDxUNC conference.

PHOTO BY RACHEL MYRICK

THE STUDENT

RESPONSE

TUITION

HIKES A coalition of more than protesters

PHOTOS BY HANNAH NEMER AND GIHANI DISSANAYAKE

LIBBY RODENBOUGH

FEBRUARY2012

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 we’re doing,” Alsous said. “When we’re having a meeting or holding a teaching session, that’s not a protest.” It’s not that Alsous isn’t 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 February 10th. Alsous and others organized a march on that meeting, marking the most recent in a series of protests in response to tuition-related administrative decisions. If approved by the N.C. General 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 effect next year. Rather, she’s frustrated by media reliance on an oversimplified depiction of that response, one that detracts from the perceived legitimacy of the students’ goals and neglects the totality of their efforts 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 considers it part of a worryingly pervasive trend—manifested both in the media and in the demeanor of university leadership—of condescension, conscious or inadvertent, toward student voices. As they attempt to influence a decision that will have profound implications for all students, concerned individuals like Alsous get the feeling school administrators would rather mete out head pats than devote genuine consideration to their ideas. That’s why media portrayals of alarmed students as a mob of hopelessly naïve 16

FEBRUARY2012

UNC students gather to march in a rally against the recent tuition hikes.

“If there’s anything I’ve been most

radicalized by, student voices

it’s that have been

drowned out.” -Zaina Alsous, Junior

agitators, often disorganized and ideologically disjointed, cause Alsous and her compatriots considerable stress; such portrayals don’t exactly suggest that student concerns merit real consideration. But perhaps the tone of those representations will shift now that the sweeping shorthand is no longer justified by convenience. The “protesters” have a name now, and it should be straightforward enough for most reporters: the Education Justice Alliance. The EJA recently created a website, www.edujusticealliance.org, which features a pithy factsheet, and a tool designed with Microsoft Excel by EJA member Spencer Kuzmier that enables any user to estimate the personal financial implications of the various tuition hike proposals. There’s also a bulleted list of shared beliefs and a four-point catalogue of demands intended for the BOG. Concisely, the EJA demands are that the BOG include students in any decisions and discussions regarding tuition, reaffirm its commitment to diversity and accessibility, demand that the NC General Assembly stop its privatization of public education and institute a moratorium on tuition increase until the former demands are met. These far-reaching demands, like the title “Education Justice FEBRUARY2012

Alliance” itself, suggest accurately that the students involved have expanded the scope of their commitment well beyond the current proposed hike. In opposing the proposal in question, many EJA members have stumbled upon much broader reasons for discontent, even outrage. “If there’s been anything I’ve been most radicalized by, it’s that student voices have been drowned out,” Alsous said. The headline of a Feb. 2 article in The Daily Tar Heel regarding a recent meeting 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 implication 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 National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education study says that college tuition and fees increased 439 percent

FEBRUARY2012

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 particular have been a running theme in the recent past. The increases reflect 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 fill the gap. Then, in 2010, Republicans seized control of North Carolina’s legislature for the first time in over a century, pledging to slash taxes and public services—funding 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 burden on families already suffering from the recession, but also because student voices were shut out of the decisionmaking process. Then-Student Body President Hogan Medlin expressed concern that even he, the formal liaison between students and the administration, had been given no opportunity to discuss or influence the increase. When it became apparent last year that the NC General Assembly intended to deprive the UNC system of $414 million (or 15.6 percent) of its state funding, administrators looked again to raising tuition. As word of the potential increases reached Carolina students in October and November, some of the first to mobilize 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.

While tuition increases became an apparent inevitability in the latter weeks of the fall 2011 semester, more student activists joined the fight, 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 proposals emanating from the UNC administration suggested a nearly 40 percent increase over the next several years. SBP Mary Cooper drafted an alternative 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 addressed the Board directly, to effusive applause from their compatriots. Although there was no formal leadership to this assembly, several of those present 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, Student Government and the student body at large. Unsurprisingly, reconciling the

FEBRUARY2012

Â&#x2122;

often emotionally-charged perspectives 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 finer points of the EJA mission and demands, the fully-fledged group website serves as evidence of the alliance’s capacity to produce tangible results. Media outlets and school administrators 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 Campus Y throughout his college career. He points to one of The Daily Tar Heel headlinea that references the newly-welded EJA: “Protesters have formed a coalition, but have diverse opinions.” In Terrell’s view, the clauses of that headline should be reversed. Such a minor semantic distinction has substantial implications: this is not a fragmented assemblage of angry kids struggling to reconcile their omnidirectional adolescent 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 ) ) 2 03+ <0 ,<" M

FEBRUARY2012

...this is a

not

fragmented

assemblage of angry kids...

HYBRID CLASS

CONTROVERSY Why the system dismantled a program that closed the achievement gap

GRACE TATTER

oping to raise student achievement and to increase racial diversity in their classrooms, teachers at Carrboro High School made a significant change in the fall of 2012. Rather than separate students into honors and standard classes, the class of 2014 would learn together. Students who opted for honors credit would have more challenging assessments and additional homework, 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-Carrboro City School’s mission to educate all children, according to Sarah Clay, Carrboro High’s Latin and Study Skills teacher. By most measures, the program proved to be a success. Teachers, students and parents of honors and stan-

the hybrids for standard credit felt empowered to take honors classes the following year, and teachers noticed less social segregation in the hallway. But, in September 2011, shortly after the second group of ninth graders be-

“There’s a lot of stigma associated with taking standard classes at this school.” gan their hybrid courses, the school board changed all that, ordering Carrboro High to dismantle the new policy. A SYSTEM-WIDE DEBATE While teachers at Carrboro were developing the hybrid model for ninth-grade English and Social Studies classes during the spring of 2010, the Chapel HillCarrboro City Board of Education was discussing the dearth of honors classes

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. dard students enjoyed the courses. 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. Students who had taken

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-

in its high schools. Although all three high schools in the district were mandated to offer students honors credit in English and math classes, they offered only standard classes for all other core subjects. On Feb. 4, 2010, the school

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 identifiable,” 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 number of options, including making honors the default curriculum for all students. Community members who spoke at the board meeting were overwhelmingly supportive of differentiated honors and standard classes. Both students and parents worried that teachers would not be able to meet the needs of all students in mixed-ability classrooms. Of 14 speakers, only one person—a teacher at East Chapel Hill High School—spoke in favor of mixed-ability classrooms. FEBRUARY2012

Ultimately, the board voted four to three to add honors courses in the sciences and social studies courses for the 10th and 11th grades. They also stipulated that schools be provided funding for professional development of all teachers to ensure enriched instruction of all students. “Hybrid classes—for which both honors and standard credit is offered—were only to be offered in specific circumstances,” Knott said. Teachers at Carrboro High School did not make a connection between the board’s 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

board’s earlier decision. But early into the second year of hybrid classes, a complaint from an East Chapel Hill High School parent regarding a hybrid Biology class alerted the

‘A big argument people try to make against multilevel classes is they say honors kids are going to be dragged down,’ Mayfield said. ‘That definitely didn’t happen.’ school board to the hybrid classes being offered at Carrboro. Although the school year was already underway, Carrboro High School was ordered to separate the honors and standards students. On Sept. 15, seven Carrboro teachers (including Clay), three students, two

PhHOTO BY WIKIMEDIA

Carrboro High School has been asked by the School Board to dismantle its hybrid class policy.

FEBRUARY2012

parents and Carrboro’s three guidance counselors spoke at a school-board meeting, asking them to repeal the decision. This time, only one speaker supported

differentiated classes–Emily Martine, the head of the Chair of Partners for Advancement in Gifted Education. According to Martine, the honors classes did not threaten the equality of educational 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 first group of Carrboro’s hybrid classes. McClain said the experience was a turning point in his education and cited a prayer from activist Marian Wright Edelman. “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 you’ve proposed is contrary to those values,” he said. A parent of an honors student in the hybrid classes addressed concerns that honors students weren’t being sufficiently challenged. “My daughter doesn’t need to be isolated,” she said. “She’s bright; she’s smart; she’ll be fine. A lot of kids won’t be.” But shortly before 11 p.m., the board announced their recommendation. The

school would hire a new teacher to aid with the separation of nearly 20 hybrid classes. “It was very upsetting to everybody,” said Christine Mayfield, 10th grade English teacher who had been an avid proponent 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,” Mayfield 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.” A RETURN TO THE STATUS QUO Once the decision was announced, many white parents switched students who had previously been taking English or social studies for standard credit into Honors, leaving the standard ninth-grade classes with mostly minority students, Mayfield said. “There’s a lot of stigma associated with taking standard classes at this school,” she said. “When everyone is

about segregation in our school, and the effect, especially on our standard kids, about always being in a segregated class, and the effect of not having a lot of positive peer role models,” Mayfield said. Besides creating diversity, the hybrid classes increased the standards for engagement for typically low-performing students—who quickly rose to meet them, according to Clay. “There’s an intellectual energy about courses sometimes, and you’d like to feel if you afford students the opportunity to work at a more advanced level, that there’s 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 students in her study-skills classes participated in the hybrids because they were more engaged with the material and proud of what they were learning. “It’s always been my conviction that students come with abilities and are capable of learning if they want to,” she said. Clay’s conviction is supported by a study published in February’s Ameri-

‘It was more work for the teachers to do this, but they were willing,’ Mayfield 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.’ going through the same door doing the same stuff, they are more comfortable taking standard, where really maybe that’s where they should be.” The racial segregation resulting from the decision had been what Carrboro teachers wanted to avoid in the first place. “We were increasingly concerned

can Educational Research Journal. Researchers found that taking rigorous classes had a pronounced effect on economically-disadvantaged students’ standardized test scores and graduation rates. But Carrboro teachers were not only concerned about the standard level students. Mayfield said teachers wor-

ried about honors students learning in a segregated environment, and reading texts like To Kill a Mockingbird or Invisible Man without any minority students in the room. “It’s not a natural situation,” she said. And Mayfield is adamant that honors students did not suffer by being in classes with those who were less academically gifted. 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 generations. ”A big argument people try to make against multi-level classes is they say honors kids are going to be dragged down,” Mayfield said. “That definitely didn’t happen.” The 10th grade students are also frustrated with the board’s decision to dismantle the classes. “They didn’t see any reason to change it up,” Mayfield 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 system’s new superintendent, to see if the hybrid classes can be reinstated. “We feel discouraged but our teachers are going to talk to the superintendent and get some sense of where he stands,” Mayfield said. Eventually, they hope hybrid classes will expand to tenth-grade English and social studies classes. “There’s been no downside to hybrids, because the expectation is for honors work, and there is support for those who need it,” Mayfield said. “What’s to % , 3+<35J M

FEBRUARY2012

PUT WHERE YOUR MONEY YOUR MOUTH IS C O R P O R AT E C A M PA I G N S P E N D I N G

WILSON PARKER

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 Democrats in 2006. 4,700 percent: the increase in groups that do not disclose their donors. The data clearly demonstrates that recent changes to campaign finance laws – prompted by the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC – have changed the face of politics as we know it. For the first time, outside groups have more financial influence on the outcomes of elections than do the political parties themselves. The ramifications of these changes are clear and negative. Politicians have become even more beholden to the interests of the wealthy “big spenders” who can bankroll their campaigns.

FEBRUARY2012

Even President Barack Obama, who has historically expressed opposition to money in politics, has acknowledged this new reality and embraced the liberal Super PACS. The changes occurring in our national politics can be plainly seen: more Super PAC advertisements in elections, less accountability from donors, more pandering to the wealthy elite from politicians and less attention paid to the needs of ordinary voters. These changes have made their presence known in state politics as well. In October of last year, Jane Meyer published an article about North Carolina in The New Yorker called “State for Sale.” In it, she offers a gripping and compelling 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 legislators’ elections and change the outcome of many of those elections. Our overwhelmingly conservative legislature and the many policy proposals it has brought us – the referendum on gay equality, novel requirements placed on abortion clinics, reductions in the state

“Art Pope infused this last election with millions of his own money and outside conservative organization money such as ‘Americans for Prosperity.’ Progressive 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 receives funds from Pope called the John Locke Foundation. “Money often follows rather than causes electoral victories,” Hood wrote in an email. “The principle going forward should be that donors can give unlimited amounts to whichever candidates or political parties they wish...No other system is consistent with political freedom.” Hood holds that the heightened corporate spending benefits both political camps. “It is not clear to me that either major

Politicians have become even more beholden to the interests of the wealthy “big spenders” who can bankroll their campaigns. sales tax and the cuts to education at every level – are largely the result of the efforts of these donors.

political party gains a great deal more than the other from the rise of independent expenditure politics,” Hood said.

To Kinnaird, however, the changes are not so benign; “[The new campaign environment is] pure influence peddling to candidates whom the ad buyer hopes will be elected and responsive to their interests,” Kinnaird said. “The changes will definitely help the Republicans because of their pro-business orientation.” The debate about the role that money will play in politics is an incredibly important 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 United v. FEC – was merely an application of the same reasoning to corporations. State courts, however, have led the way in offering statutory and constitutional interpretations that are far more

reasonable. Montana Supreme Court Justice James C. Nelson recently authored an opinion that offered a compelling rebuttal to the Supreme Court’s conclusions. “Corporations are not persons,” Nelson wrote. “Human beings are persons, and it is an affront to the inviolable dignity of our species that courts have created a legal fiction which forces people—human beings—to share fundamental, 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 Amendment’s ‘open marketplace’ of ideas into an auction house for [unrestrained] corporatists,” he wrote. “Freedom of speech is now synonymous with freedom to spend. Speech equals money; money equals democracy. This decidedly was not the view of the constitutional 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 argument, which is protected. Spending is the ability to magnify an argument with financial influence. Everyone has equal access to speech because everyone can make an argument. But political spending 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 representation according to the amount of influence.” As inappropriate as the Supreme Court’s 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 suffer from the presence of money that, in the words of Kinnaird, “distorts the political land% <) "JM

PHOTO BY ASIF KHAN

A young girl protesting corporate personhood at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s new address at Barnes Street.

FEBRUARY2012

A REBEL HOSPITAL Demanding a Syrian Oasis

AUDREY ANN LAVALLEE-BELANGER

he climate of fear in which Syrians live is not new. For the last four decades, the Assad family has ruled the country with an iron fist, monitoring the citizens’ every move and decimating any opposition. Until last March, if people were accused of being against the president, they risked disappearing for twenty-five years without their families ever hearing from them. When people started to raise their voices against the brutal dictatorship, not only did they face the regime’s bullets, 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 conducted 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-Tadmori’s 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” AlTadmori said. He said if they suspect the wounded person to be an anti-govern26

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ment protester, they take the patient from his hospital bed and bring him to the police headquarters for “questioning.” Al-Tadmori shows the marks he earned from a recent trip to the police headquarters. His left 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 makeshift hospital in a carefully hidden nearby oasis. He

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, after which the secret police allegedly would be coming to check on the patients. Three hours later, the rebels hid the two wounded men in a farming trailer in order to safely make it through city

‘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.’ lives in the desert town of Palmyra, 100 miles away from war-torn Homs. The city’s 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 cannot 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 aunt’s house. One of them was so badly wounded – the bullet perforated his chest and opened a

checkpoints and then carried them to the oasis, where medical accommodations 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 initially 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

PHOTO BY AUDREY ANNLAVALLE-BELANGER

Palmyra ruins at sunset with a view of the oasis in the background.

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 international sanctions against Syria and the

army launched its deadliest assaults on civilians. Once more, Al-Tadmori and a group of other rebels tried to find accommodations for the refugees. This influx of people added to the burden of the small city, which could barely survive on its own.

“How can you pray if you don’t have water? How can you keep yourself warm in the cold weather when there is no gas or electricity?” government’s expenditures for its military apparatus. When prices skyrocketed and tourism in the area became nonexistent, the Palmyrians, including Al-Tadmori and his sixteen-person family, lost their main source of income and began to starve and freeze. “We did not have water, gas or electricity,” 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

At the peak of the protests in late December, there were around 70-80 men living within the makeshift accommodations. “The problems emerged in the following 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 something for God—we say that in Arab countries,” he said. “He gave us two cows and agreed to give us milk and eggs every morning.” The two men wounded in front of AlTadmori’s aunt’s house survived their

accident and eventually returned to their families, but others were not as lucky. Al-Tadmori’s uncle’s 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-Tadmori said. He took the man’s 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 brother’s death. “We could not bring his body back to his family in daylight, so we had to find ice to preserve his body and cover the smell,” Al-Tadmori said. When he recounts these stories, for all their violence and oppression, AlTadmori 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 +<,( <,( 0A 3 ? 3+ 0"J M

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SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE: A NEW VISION FOR PAKISTANI-AMERICAN RELATIONS

PETER VOGEL

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 supplies through its territory, while waging an increasingly brutal war against its own domestic insurgency. Yet for all its cooperation, Pakistan remains an unpredictable 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. Additionally, 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 reevaluate its relationship with Pakistan, lowering expectations for productive security cooperation while also scaling back its presence in Afghanistan and emphasizing engagement with Paki28

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stan’s civilian government. The United States cannot expect Pakistan 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 maintain a degree of instability along the Af-Pak border. While Pakistan pays lip service to cracking down on Taliban affiliates who attack American soldiers, a leaked NATO report recently concluded that the ISI, Pakistan’s opaque and powerful intelligence agency, controlled significant 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, UNCChapel Hill’s 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 influence on the eventual government

in Kashmir and India while maintaining close ties to the Taliban. Furthermore, instability helps the military justify its involvement in Pakistani politics because of the perceived need to maintain security. UNC-Chapel Hill Professor Navin Bapat has found that U.S. client states, like Pakistan, often maintain violence within their borders in order to continue receiving economic and military aid. In the face of this incentive structure, Pakistan’s security community is acting logically. The sooner U.S. policymakers recognize that their actions are perpetuating violence in Pakistan, the better. This leaves the United States with two options: changing Pakistan’s incentive structure with proverbial sticks and carrots or minimizing its losses by becoming less dependent on Pakistan. According to Stanford professor Stephen D. Krasner, the United States has plenty of carrots to offer, including ben-

The sooner U.S. policymakers recognize that their actions are perpetuating violence in Pakistan, the better. in Kabul once the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan. Pakistan’s worst fear is being pinned between its nuclear-armed rival India and an Indian client state in Afghanistan. To prevent that eventuality, the military and the ISI arm terrorist groups

eficial trade deals and increased economic and humanitarian assistance. But while these incentives are substantial, they have historically proven ineffectual in changing Pakistani behavior. When it comes to sticks, the United States cannot conceivably in-

PHOTO BY WIKIMEDIA A map of Pakistan, with with capital Islamabad.

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 marginalized,” Bapat said. The U.S. mission, however, has since expanded. According to Lucas, “success” in Afghanistan would require eliminating Al Qaeda safe havens in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, stopping cross

defense forces are improving and growing. 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 battlefield losses and that “there will be no end in assaults once the United States withdraws” because of the growth in indigenous defense capabilities. Moreover, the United States intends to maintain a presence in Afghanistan well after the 2014 deadline, and its central goals are accomplished or near-

The United States cannot expect Pakistan to be a fully cooperative partner in the ‘War on Terror’... 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

ly completed. Thus, Pakistani undermining of U.S. policy in the region should start to decline. Finally, the United States should focus on strengthening the hand of Pakistan’s civilian government and civil society. No civilian government in Pakistan has ever completed a term in office. Current-

ly, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party under President Asif Ali Zardari is engaged in a tense standoff with the military and judiciary. Perversely, George Fulton, a Pakistan specialist for the BBC, argues that one factor keeping the government in power is that the military does not want to stage a coup and inherit an economy and social structure in turmoil. According to Mehar Najeeb at the Center for American Progress, 36 percent of Pakistanis are undernourished and 44 percent are illiterate. These numbers represent both a human tragedy and an opportunity for the United States. While a unilateral tariff 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 Pakistan’s civilian government to provide basic services to its population. This will create the foundation for a transparent and effective partner that the United States can negotiate with on nuclear proliferation, relations with India and the future of Afghanistan, all while allowing Pakistan’s 173 million people to develop and prosper to their full potential. As long as Pakistani- American relations are predicated on the myth that Pakistan is a unitary state that shares America’s interest in a stable Afghanistan and as long as thousands of American troops continue to fight and die in the region, the countries relationship will deteriorate. It is time for a revolu3 , , -0 <))0 < +" M

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PHOTO BY MOLLY HRUDKA

Mipso Trio An Inside Look with UNC’s Own

ince reconvening on campus last fall, Jacob Sharp, Joseph Terrell and Wood Robinson—the three UNC-Chapel Hill juniors who comprise the bluegrass-inspired band Mipso Trio—have played across North Carolina, sold out Cat’s Cradle and jammed with Chancellor 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 mostly 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 don’t feel like a finished product until they pass through the brain-space of the other guys. So it is collaborative, but it’s got to have a seed first. What themes do you explore in your music? Joseph: I love home, both the nostalgia and the conflicted need to leave, 30

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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 we’ve been talking about for our first true collaborativelywritten political song is specifically gay marriage in North Carolina, but, generally, just equality. We’ve written several love songs that come from our manner of knowing love, which is from a heterosexual male point of view. That’s 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 isn’t that you’re 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 Equality 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 specific event. But that can be a hard thing to write about because if it’s something that you care

MOLLY HRUDKA about enough to write a song for, you don’t want to belittle the message. It can be hard to figure out how to tastefully deliver it. So, generally you’re proponents of keeping music and political beliefs intertwined? Joseph: Music can be a celebration of community and connection and equality and what that embodies. I think that’s powerful in itself. But also we want to put our music where our values are. That can be where we play and what our music supports, or what we write about. Wood: I think there’s something to be said about the ability of melody to convey certain emotions that words can’t. They say that a picture is worth a thousand 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 harmonies and melodies can really give you chills. It can tell a story outside of the 0 %" M

LIBBY RODENBOUGH

t has been truly the thrill of my life to have been granted, somewhat unfathomably, the opportunity to perform with Carrboro’s biggest up-and-comers: Mipso Trio. I’ve joined the boys under the blistering stage lights a handful of times over the last six months, and what a ride it’s been: touring some of the most populous cities in North Carolina, selling out Cat’s 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 Sharp’s connoisseurship of wine, golf and pretty much everything else you’d 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 “downhome Jason Mraz” conception of Mipso that you hold so dear, but the musical influence 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

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 Harket’s vocals … “ he says, his voice trailing off, choked with veneration. “I mean, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.” Jacob too seems transported to bygone 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 first 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

It was an auspicious, tequiladrenched night during freshman year that brought their common devotion to light. As Jacob tells it, he was merely urinating off a DKE balcony, humming the iconic synthpop instrumental line of “Take on Me”, when what did present itself to his ears but the sound of two velvety harmonies layered upon his own honey-sweet soprano. “I couldn’t believe it,” Jacob remembers fondly. “Suddenly I wasn’t 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 temporarily, will surely be one of the most

It was an auspicious, tequilia-drenched night during freshman year that brought their common devotion to light. his attachment to Mipso’s Scandinavian counterpart, he simply closed his eyes and shook his head. The gentle quivering of his Beatles-esque coiffure said more than enough.

cherished facts during my existence. I can only hope, for the sake of all Orange County, that Mipso Trio will not be, as they themselves would even say, K! , , < (< 0 3 "J M

Mipso Trio performs at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro to a full house, accompanied by CBP staff writer, Libby Rodenbough.

PHOTO BY MOLLY HRUDKA

The Improbable Artistic Foundations of Mipso Trio

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Published with support from: Campus Progress, a division of the Center for American Progress. Campus Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org Also paid for in part by student fees.

Campus BluePrint is a non-partisan student publication that aims to provide a forum for open

dialogue on progressive ideals at UNC-Chapel Hill and in the greater community. 32

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