As you may have noticed, Noble Niner lay dormant for the duration of the summer.  Despite that and attempts to bring this website down, I am committed to exposing truth, holding UNCC’s officials accountable to us, their customers, and bringing a sense of pride to every Noble Niner.  Stay tuned weekly for the latest news, campus happenings and goings-on in the surrounding community.

As always, wear the green and gold, fight the good fight, and if need be, let Silence speak for YOU!

Trouble is brewing in the heartland.

It appears Noble Niner is making waves in the UNC Charlotte community. A reader commented “this [site] is anything but modeling [the] ideals that we as members of UNC-Charlotte want to represent.” Alright, fine, let’s all submit obtusely to authority without question.  That mentality worked well for Jews during World War II, didn’t it….  Funny, isn’t it, how Noble Niner is demonized, while it seems the author of the comment turns a blind eye to the sordid actions of the administration.

Another reader sent a message via Facebook: “the staff in student orgs have an agenda of trying to grow sororitys, frats, and the republicans. just my two cents”. I know no party nor brotherhood save the Niner Nation. Given that, it is interesting to note the reader is affiliated with the College Democrats. You didn’t realize we had a College Democrats chapter, did you? As to the “agenda” of the OSA staff, I’m sure they help those who help themselves.

Meanwhile, rumor has it CMPD detectives have been calling around doing investigative work to determine who is behind last month’s destruction of two Muslim Student Association signs. Proof the Rent-A-Cop has effectively run the UNCC department into the ground? You tell me….

As always, stay tuned for the latest.

“UNCC Chancellor Spends Hundreds of Thousands on Personal Projects”

While student life at UNC Charlotte suffers from inadequate funding and student organizations actually ran out of money in 2007, Chancellor Dubois is shelling out major dollars to “renovate” his facilities. A list of projects on the UNC Charlotte facilities site demonstrates the extent of injustice. To put these numbers in perspective, student organizations were only allotted $120,000 for next year. That $120,000 wouldn’t even cover the upgrades to Dubois’ landscaping. The current cost for a new Kitchen/Restroom and “Phase III Landscaping” totals $215,513.

In the list of construction projects, the estimated cost of a project is listed on the left and the actual cost to date is listed on the right. Not only are the restroom renovations to the Chancellor’s office cutting out money from students, but currently the project is over-budget by $3,682.

Inappropriate funding only hampers one part of student life. What else has Dubois done to ensure that a vibrant student community exists on the campus of UNC Charlotte? Cutting the campus-wide class schedule down to a four day work week has ensured that students have incentive to leave on their three-day and four-day weekends. This plan wastes classroom space, places additional burden upon student organizations when planning programs, ruins opportunities for non-traditional students to take classes and, more importantly, fails to properly train UNC Charlotte students for the workforce. Many employers will be ecstatic I’m sure to hire 49er graduates once word starts getting around that UNC Charlotte students expect a minimum of a three-day weekend.

As aslways, stay tuned for in-depth coverage of the news you won’t hear anywhere else. Feel free to post your comments about this and other stories. If you have a story you think needs telling, click the “Submit A Story” link above.

Until we meet again, I will remain -

Your Faithful and Humble Servant,

SILENCE DOGOOD

In March 2006, UNC Charlotte named its new Chief of Police. Marlene Hall would be the first female to serve in the post since its inception. All seemed well in Niner town, but late last semester, doubts began to rise about the validity of Hall’s credentials.

WBTV News broke a story that attacked Hall on two fronts. First, Hall had appeared nude in a 1981 issue of Playboy showcasing women of the Southeastern Conference. Second, when Hall took over the UNCC division of Police in March 2006, she still lacked the 100 training hours needed to be considered a full-fledged police officer. Though Hall did head up Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety, the force was a unit of “peace officers”, not actual policemen. Hall presented the state of North Carolina with a security guard certificate in order to be qualified to be UNCC’s top police agent.  Now, in effect, UNC Charlotte has a Rent-A-Cop running its Campus Police Department. As a result of local media attention to and parent outcry over the story, UNCC released an official statement in which we were told Hall would have her certification by March 15 of this year.

March 15 has come and gone, and Marlene Hall still has no certification. Additionally, WBTV ran this story on April 20, 2007. After the massacre of 32 students at Virginia Tech this past week, campus security has become a new-found issue for us all. All of us except, it seems, the UNCC administration. When reporters for WBTV wanted to speak with Chancellor DuBois at a meeting of the Board of Trustees about campus security, they were shot down by University Relations Director John Bland. Campus security was called to escort the reporters out of the meeting.

It is also interesting to note that of 15 vacant spots on the UNCC Police Force in November, to date only 2 of them have been filled. Equally intriguing is the fact that Hall’s job title has been changed from “Chief of Police” to “Director of Police and Public Saftey”. Do we have anyone running our police department?

Why does the administration not want to talk openly about campus safety? Why has Director Hall still not received her certification? Why has the University Times not covered this issue, especially in light of the recent events at Virginia Tech? Players inside the administration have repeatedly bullied NinerOnline.com, the online newspaper of UNC Charlotte, into keeping quiet about the issue.

Stay tuned to NobleNiner.com for continuing coverage of UNCC’s lacking security provisions. We will ask the questions it seems no one has ability or the fortitude to ask in order to keep you informed.

Your Humble Servant,

SILENCE DOGOOD

As the controversy over former Student Body Presidential Candidate John Miguel broke, the truth behind how the story was covered up is dirtier than the story itself.

The Dean of Students Office(DSO), under the direction of Dr. Michele Howard (pictured right),knew about the story for over two weeks and failed to act in any way on the issue. Even worse, the DSO scared potential whistle-blowers with threats and scare tactics to strong-arm them out of going on record with the media. The entire Student Court was briefed by representatives from inside the Dean of Students Office two weeks before the Student Government Elections commenced. After a patriot that worked with Miguel during his tenure on Student Court broke the story to NinerOnline.com, the DSO embarked on a vicious witch hunt to try and uncover the mysterious source. The worst part about the “Miguel Controversy” is not the allegations that Miguel forged an email, but the dirty weight thrown around by the DSO in trying to cover-up these facts from the student body.

Welcome to the Noble Niner.

Your Humble Servant,

SILENCE DOGOOD

The untoward actions and convenient inactions of past and current administrations have been detrimental to the Niner Nation. As the Student Body, faculty and staff strive for a remarkable college experience, we the Niner Nation must fight for truth, openness and accountability among those charged with our governance and well being.

Our aim is to rectify the wrongs of individuals, factions and organizations who have negatively impacted the character of our University, and to establish UNC Charlotte as an emerging pillar in academia and student life throughout the United States.