Ruby Sinreich's blog

Let's see... tuition keeps going up... staff and faculty need raises... and the fattest cats on campus get raises based on a bigger percentage of their bigger salaries!

Raspberries to the General Assembly and UNC Board of Governors, for handing out raises to top university officials as if they had already won the lottery.

Raise your hand if you're accustomed to raises of up to 16 percent from one year to the next. That's what we thought.

The UNC Board of Governors approved raises for system presidents of 8 percent to 16 percent. James Moeser, chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill, got a 13 percent hike.

The board said the increases were necessary to keep the state system competitive with other universities nationwide. But it's an all-too-familiar slap to regular folks, including state employees with titles less lofty than chancellor, who are told the budget can't handle more than a 2 percent raise.
- Chapel Hill News, Roses & Raspberries, 11/16/05

I am pleased to announce the 2005 Pundits of the Year! These four people got all of the winners correct in every race: Joan Petit, Carrboro Mark Marcoplos, Orange County Fred Black, Chapel Hill Anon (initials R. S. - not me!) Fred also came closest on the order of finishers. Honorable mention for Charlotte Williams, she was the only pundit who got the exact right order for the Town Council winners. Twenty-four people got the winners in the right order in the Carrboro Board of Aldermen race. Congrats, y'all!

Here are the results from the Orange County Board of Elections. The biggest surprise to me: the mayors races. Kevin Foy got less than I expected (78%), Mark Chilton got more than I expected (63%), and Tom Stevens won in Hillsborough!

 Chapel Hill Mayor

Candidate
Votes

Percent

Kevin C. Foy
4279
77.76%

Kevin A. Wolff
1173
21.32%

Write-In
51
0.93%

 

 Chapel Hill Town Council (4 seats available)

Candidate
Votes

Percent

Laurin Easthom
3774
19.89%

Mark Kleinschmidt
3757
19.80%

Ed Harrison
3098
16.33%

Bill Thorpe
3030
15.97%

Will Raymond
2332
12.29%

Robin Cutson
1618
8.53%

Jason Baker
1237
6.52%

Write-In
124
0.65%

 

 Carrboro Mayor

Candidate
Votes

Percent

Mark H. Chilton
1331
62.84%

Alex Zaffron

770
36.36%

Write-In
17
0.80%