Showing posts tagged “Holden Thorp”
Joe Schwartz ·
18 Mar 2010, 3:34 PM ·
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Coal-Free UNC bookended Wednesday’s campus Energy Task Force meeting with two events, one to sway opinion through song and the other through intellectual testimony.
In between the rally and the panel discussion, university energy consultants told the task force that it would take significant legislation to drive up the cost of coal and decrease the expense of green energy to make alternative energy economically feasible for the campus.
A dozen members of Coal-Free UNC, which has been campaigning since last year to quash burning coal at UNC’s Cogeneration Plant, sang a parody of the school’s alma mater and fight song with coal free lyrics at the Old Well.
“I’m a Tar Heel born, I’m a Tar Heel bred, and breathing coal, I’m a Tar Heel dead,” they caroled to the six journalists and two onlookers in attendance.
After the boom box died down, the Coal-Free UNC leaders walked across the street to South Building and delivered two letters to Chancellor Holden Thorp’s office. One signed by 43 faculty members calls on the campus to end coal use by 2015. The other asks Thorp to meet with students on coal. Administrative assistant Barbara Leonard received and logged the letters, which will be passed on to Thorp, she said.
Read next week’s Independent for a breakdown of the Energy Task Force meeting and more on the panel discussion.
Continue reading past the jump for an audio recording of the coal-free alma mater and the full lyrics.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, environment, politics alma mater, biofuels, coal, Coal-Free UNC, cogeneration plant, Holden Thorp, Old Well, Sierra Club, torrified wood, UNC Energy Task Force
Joe Schwartz ·
2 Feb 2010, 4:47 PM ·
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James Hansen, one of the nation’s leading experts on global warming, joined a group of UNC students today in calling for the university to become coal-free.
Standing in front of UNC’s Cogeneration Facility, which powers the campus, about 20 students held signs encouraging Chancellor Holden Thorp to “be a climate champ.”
They were joined by Professor Jose Rial, a UNC glaciologist, Patricia Leighten, a Westwood neighborhood resident who lives about a quarter-mile from the plant, a handful of Sierra Club members and Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade.
The speakers praised Thorp’s creation of an Energy Task Force and said it provides an opportunity for UNC to become a national leader in renewable and clean energy.
“The best way for the Energy Task Force to address energy use on campus is to get UNC off of coal as quickly as possible,” said Stewart Boss, a freshman and media outreach coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Coal-Free UNC Campaign. “Coal is the dirtiest possible energy source we could be using today.”
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, environment Coal-Free UNC Campaign, Cogeneration Facility, Holden Thorp, James Hansen, Jose Rial, Sammy Slade, Sierra Club, UNC
Lisa Sorg ·
19 Sep 2009, 9:50 AM ·
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H/T to The Daily Tarheel, which reported yesterday that Elliot Cramer has stepped down as the faculty adviser of the ultra-right wing group, Youth for Western Civilization, per UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp’s request. Cramer has frequently written letters to the Indy; we have printed one about his opposing the Racial Justice Act and another about free speech and YWC, in which he states he offered to be the group’s faculty sponsor.
YWC has had a hard time keeping a faculty sponsor. UNC physics and astronomy professor Chris Clemens resigned as its sponsor earlier this summer. In an April interview with the Indy, Clemens admitted to not have read the group’s national charter before offering to the sponsor. He told the Indy he “hesitated at first,” due to Matheson’s focus on immigration, before sponsoring the group to foster a “diversity of opinion.”
Read the Indy’s coverage of YWC, including an interview with its UNC chapter president, Riley Matheson.
Here’s our coverage of the Tom Tancredo speech: “Youth for Western Civilization brings Tom Tancredo to UNC” and ”At UNC, student protesters crash Tom Tancredo’s party”
Related coverage: “Free speech zones, police crackdowns threaten to muzzle debate” and “Defining the line between free speech and hate speech.”
Orange County, education, news, politics Elliot Cramer, Holden Thorp, Tom Tancredo, Youth for Western Civilization
Matthew McGibney ·
23 Jul 2009, 2:42 PM ·
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Following a closed-session meeting of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, the university has dramatically changed its scooter regulations. However, some scooter owners have criticized the transparency of the decision, and argue it doesn’t go far enough in encouraging students and faculty to ride the fuel-efficient vehicles. (See the June 24, 2009 Indy story, “Scooter outrage could change UNC policy.”)
The old policy would have charged between $174 and $371 for a scooter permit, depending on whether the owner is an employee, faculty member or a student. Following the Board of Trustee’s decision, UNC will charge a flat fee of $24 for all scooter permits next year, and appears willing to find secure parking spots for scooters on campus.
Steven Gordon was one of the dozen scooter owners who showed up at the Carolina Inn on Wednesday night, while the Board discussed the scooter policy change behind closed doors. Though they were not allowed inside, Gordon and others spoke afterward with Chancellor Holden Thorp.
Thorp explained the policy change to the owners, and assured them that there would be enough parking on campus for scooters. Thorp provided a map of possible parking spots for motorcycles and scooters, though Gordon called the map “outdated” and criticized UNC for not involving scooter owners in the decision.
“It’s just interesting how if this is the typical way they deal with policy at UNC, maybe it’s not intentional, but they sneak things through with a minimum amount of public input,” Gordon said. “As far as we know, no scooter rider in the community was contacted before this was voted on.”
However, at a separate meeting Thursday morning, board members invited scooter owner Brian Moynihan to speak on behalf of the community. Moynihan laid out four policy demands: a fixed fee of $24 (the price could raise as early as next year, as the new policy is currently written), an increased number of scooter parking spaces, the ability for scooters to park at bike racks, and the notification of scooter owners before the board makes any further changes.
While there was no change in the final ordinance, Moynihan said he still felt progress had been made.
“Overall, it was positive,” he said. “We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we did get lasting recognition that we’re here and have concerns, and that we need to be involved in the process in the long term.”
Chapel Hill, education, environment Holden Thorp, scooters, UNC-Chapel Hill
Matt Saldaña ·
24 Apr 2009, 12:00 PM ·
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By now, the news has circulated widely that six protesters were arrested at UNC-Chapel Hill on Wednesday night for disorderly conduct at a speech hosted by Youth for Western Civilization, a campus group that opposes “radical multiculturalism” and “mass immigration.”
According to the arrest report (PDF, 748 KB), three men, and three women, aged 18 to 30, were arrested for “behaving in a manner that was disturbing to others,” and released on $100 bond, or written promise of bond. Their trials are set for June 1 in Orange County District Court in Chapel Hill. Though none were current UNC students, all of the individuals listed Orange County addresses.
“I regret that six protesters had to be arrested, but they gave us no choice,” UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said in a statement. “They ignored our warnings, and their disruptive behavior was completely at odds with what we expect at Carolina. I want everyone to know that these six people do not represent what Carolina stands for when it comes to freedom of expression.”
Thorp had previously apologized to former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo for a speech last week, also organized by YWC, that was disrupted by protesters, and pepper spray from UNC police. In his statement, Thorpe said that campus police “will pursue criminal charges if any are warranted.”
An investigation into the protest has so far led to one student’s arrest. Yesterday morning, UNC Police arrested senior Haley Koch, as she walked out of class, for “disturbing the peace at an educational institution” during the Tancredo speech. That charge carried a $1,000 bond, which Koch has posted. She will stand trial on May 25. (See the arrest report here - PDF, 128 KB.) Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, Orange County, education, news Holden Thorp, Students for a Democratic Society, Tom Tancredo, UNC-CH, virgil goode, Youth for Western Civilization
Bob Geary ·
9 Jan 2009, 3:09 PM ·
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Humility from Chapel Hill:
“There’s just too much distrust because of the way the authority came to be,” UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp said this morning at a news conference. “We ended up surprising people with the legislation far more than we should have.”
The N&O has it.
Orange County, business, education Holden Thorp
Matt Saldaña ·
3 Sep 2008, 10:49 AM ·
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And newly appointed UNC - Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp follows in lockstep, The Daily Tar Heel reports. The student paper reports on a memo that Bowles, the UNC system president, circulated to chancellors announcing that he would not support an effort to consider lowering the drinking age, citing a lack of evidence that it would reduce binge drinking and other drinking-related problems. Thorp has “since said he also supports keeping the drinking age at 21,” the paper writes. So far, Duke University is the only Triangle-area college to endorse the Amethyst Initiative, which has collected the signatures of over 125 college chancellors and presidents who endorse “an informed and unimpeded debate on the 21 year-old drinking age.” (The Amethyst statement cites “a culture of dangerous, clandestine ‘binge-drinking’” as one reason for signing.) The Tar Heel notes that “Duke’s political clout is less than that of the 17-campus UNC system.” But that didn’t stop Ohio State, or the university systems of Maryland or Massachusetts, from signing. Nor has it stopped UNC from supporting the discussion of controversial topics in the past.
Chapel Hill drinking age, Erskine Bowles, Holden Thorp, UNC-Chapel Hill
