In a year that marked anniversaries, major changes and controversies, students were part of it all, voicing their thoughts and making their presence known.
Here is Technician‘s list of some of the biggest stories of the school year:
Tailgating and Tickets
– Josh Harrell
One of the hottest issues during the fall semester was the controversy surrounding tailgating and student tickets. The year started with tailgating limited to four hours before kickoff — a raise from the past year.
But the major problems began during the Boston College home game on Sept. 23 when stadium staff received multiple complaints of students urinating in the stands.
“I know people were urinating in their sections,” Student Body President Will Quick said after the game. “I have heard reports of individuals being splashed by urine.”
The incident resulted in a new ticketing policy for students in the form of general admission per section. But with tailgating hours remaining the same, many students complained this interfered with those four hours.
So Student Government sponsored a rally at the Bell Tower in support of raising the tailgating hours. But with poor attendance — only 30 at the beginning of the event — nothing came of the rally.
Despite the initial outcries against the ticketing system, once it was implemented, students were generally positive about it.
“I thought the lines were going to be longer,” Jenna Ray, a sophomore in sociology, said at the game.
During the spring semester, the football task force met again and decided to send a proposal to the chancellor to raise the tailgating time by one hour to a total of five. The chancellor has yet to make a decision on the proposal.
Hillsborough Street
– Josh Harrell
It took six years for the city of Raleigh to come to a decision on plans for Hillsborough Street, but on Feb. 20 the City Council passed a plan for roundabouts and streetscape improvements on the street.
The plan, Plan H-3, calls for two roundabouts, one at the Pullen and Hillsborough intersection and another just north of Hillsborough on Oberlin. It also calls for streetscape improvements along the N.C. State portion of the street, including medians.
Although the original hope was for the renovations to begin this summer, the plans have been pushed back as the city looks for further funding and plans.
Kimley-Horn, the design firm working on the project, is working on getting a more detailed plan to present to City Council and hoping to get construction started in early 2008.
“I’m just glad we’re moving forward with this,” Quick said. “It is definitely a step in the right direction.”
Chuck gets chucked
– Nick Jeffreys
Former football coach Chuck Amato talked and thought big during his time at N.C. State.
After taking the Wolfpack to the Gator Bowl in 2002 and winning 11 games in the season, the dreams of many fans faded as his teams never reached that milestone again.
And when the ACC expanded in 2004, his struggles grew as the Pack reached only one bowl game after expansion — a 14-0 win against South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
This past season, Amato reached a low when his team only won three games and lost to North Carolina and East Carolina during the final two weeks of the season.
Athletics Director Lee Fowler said firing the coach was a move the University believed was the right decision.
“[Amato’s] dreams have become our dreams, and that has translated itself into our great new facilities, record ticket sales and five bowl appearances in seven years,” Fowler said in a statement released after the firing.
“However, because the results on the field in two of the last three seasons have fallen far below where we feel our program should be at this point, we have decided to take the program in a new direction.”
During his seven seasons, Amato went 49-37 overall and 25-31 in the ACC.
Pope Center
– Maggie Luckadoo
In December, faculty members voiced concerns after Toby Parcel, CHASS dean met with Art Pope, president of the Pope Foundation, to discuss the possibility of the University accepting a grant from the foundation.
Some of the opposition, according to Professor of English Cat Warren, was founded in the Pope Foundation’s history of undermining programs in African studies, Hispanic studies and women’s studies.
Pope, however, was surprised by the faculty uprising and said the University did not submit a formal proposal. At the time, he said the foundation was open to any suggestions or requests.
In February, the some members of the Student Senate sponsored a resolution to host an open town hall meeting about the issue and to offer an apology on behalf of the faculty, which they said insulted the Pope Foundation.
This resolution has not yet been finalized.
African-Americans celebrate 50 years
– Saja Hindi
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first black students at the University, an anniversary the University celebrated throughout the entire year. Seven of those students were honored in an event in October.
The alumni, like Edward Carson, said they expected a lot more trouble than they received when they got into N.C. State.
“I talked with [former professor] Dr. Rabb several times about what could be expected from the student body,” Carson said. “Fortunately, none of that happened. The atmosphere here at NCSU was nothing like what I had read about at other Southern universities.”
According to Irwin Holmes, though, they did face some obstacles.
“Black students are largely ignored — much like I was with the study groups,” Holmes said. “They will always end up on the worst team in projects assigned by professors, with students who don’t care. Those kinds of things can have almost a letter-grade impact.”
But, he said, that is not to say the situation hasn’t improved over the years.
“It’s changing over time slowly, and State has more people who are prepared to help students succeed,” he said. “When they were honoring black students who have a 3.0 GPA or better, there were about 800 to 1,000 students there, which is about one-third of the current black student body. So the support systems are having an impact.”
