After nearly two years of wearing masks on campus, UNCW will no longer require them in most campus situations on March 7. An email was sent from OUR on Feb. 25 after UNC System President Peter Hans...

On Jan. 18, the Wilmington City Council unanimously passed the resolution calling for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment with seven “yea” votes from Mayor Pro Tem Magaret Haynes, Mayor Bill Saffo, and Councilmembers Charlie Rivenbark, Clifford Barnett, Kevin Spears, Luke Waddell and Neil Anderson. The city’s resolution is part of a growing movement across North Carolina petitioning the General Assembly to ratify the amendment. This proposed amendment to the Constitution would become the 28th if ratified and calls for the legal guarantee of equal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Almost 50 years since its first proposal to state legislatures in 1972, it is again receiving attention as states appeal for Congress to remove the initial ratification deadline.

There is a lot of uneasiness in anticipation of this year’s midterm elections. One of the key races to determine the makeup of the nation’s Senate will be right here in North Carolina. Senator Richard Burr is not running for reelection, which leaves an empty seat that many North Carolina Republicans and Democrats are fighting to fill. Since the Senate is split 50-50 between both parties (two Independents caucusing with Democrats), every seat counts in this election. Without a clear predecessor to Burr, North Carolina might become a pivotal state in November’s vote.

Over 400 students were evacuated out of Terrapin Hall last night beginning at 10:30 p.m. due to a pipe burst in the building, causing significant damage to at least 16 students’ residences. The evacuated students were placed in temporary housing for the night. This afternoon, most students were notified the building passed safety assessments and they could return to their rooms at 2 p.m. via an email from UNCW Housing and Residence Life Director Kevin Meaney. However, the rooms of 16 students are in need of repair before the students can move back in. The scheduled repair will take place in one to two weeks, and until then these students will remain in temporary housing.

In response to an ice storm warning for southeast North Carolina, UNCW announced classes are canceled on Friday, Jan. 21. Campus dining will continue to provide services for residential students during the storm, and areas with heavy foot traffic across campus will be salted by Housing and Residence Life. However, the university is urging students to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary trips across campus.

There will be a new person at the top of UNCW’s chain of command come July, and the university is currently in the process of finding out who that person will be. Since Chancellor Jose Sartarelli's retirement announcement in September, UNCW has been searching for a new chancellor. Part of this process is the formation of an 18-member search committee charged with identifying and recommending chancellor candidates to the UNCW board of trustees. That was accomplished on Oct. 13, and since then there have been seven public forums where committee members heard feedback from the UNCW community. Feedback from these sessions helped the committee craft leadership statements to draw in potential candidates that fit the university's needs.

In a change from previous guidelines, UNCW will now require all students living on-campus to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to return to campus. Previous guidance stated only unvaccinated students were required to participate in return-to-campus testing. Guidance for vaccinated faculty, staff and off-campus students attending on-campus classes will remain the same. These groups are not required to participate in return-to-campus testing. This guidance goes into effect among the rise of the fast-spreading omicron COVID-19 variant as students return from various places following winter break.

On Dec. 10, UNCW’s board of trustees voted to increase the cost of attendance for the 2022-2023 school year. In the presentation provided by the board of trustees’ website, the university requested approval from the board to increase tuition rates for nonresident students, both undergraduate and graduate, by 3%. There was also an increase of student housing rates by 3.5% and an increase of the all-access meal plan rates by 5.1%.

The deal reached between Cape Fear River Watch, The Department of Environmental Quality and Chemours was finalized in 2020. The plan was written by The Chemours Company and was edited and revised to take immediate and sustainable action against contamination. The deal addressed the contamination of the river and Chemours responsibility for contaminating the groundwater. The plan will outline specific goals and deadlines for Chemours to install additional filtration systems and treat the groundwater and surface water in order to eventually remove 99% of PFAS.

On Nov. 2, the Student Government Association met to discuss changing the OneCard system from a physical card to a mobile ID. According to director of Auxiliary Services Gino Galutera, the planned changes to OneCard would allow faculty, staff and students to add their OneCard to existing applications such as Apple Wallet and Google Pay. Students could soon start using their OneCard through their phone.

On Tuesday Nov. 9, the Student Government Association met to discuss a potential 3% increase to tuition plans for out-of-state students. UNC Wilmington changed to a per-credit-hour tuition rate this fall. This change was approved for all UNC system universities through the Campus-Initiated Tuition Increases Committee. Further changes to the out-of-state tuition plan are now being discussed.