Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Oct. 19, 2000, edition 1 / Page 5
Part of University of North Carolina Wilmington Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
THE Seahawk/Dctober 1 9, 2DDD Ribbon, from page 1 well as the Dean of Students Office, Division of Student Affairs and the Athletic Department will be spon soring awareness and fund-raising events throughout the week. Former professional football player Don McPherson, a leading activist for the prevention of vio lence against women, will present a lecture titled “The Time Is Now, Stand Up and Be Counted: Stopping Sexual Violence” on Tuesday night. This event is open to everyone and will be held at 7 p.m. in Kenan Au ditorium. The presentation is free, but $1 donations to benefit the Do mestic Violence Center will be ac cepted. McPherson attended Syracuse University from 1983 to 1988. In 1987, as quarterback, he led the na tion in passing and the university to an undefeated season in football. A consensus All-American selection, McPherson won more than 18 na tional player-of-the-year honors in cluding the Maxwell’s award as the nation’s top collegiate player. Drafted by the National Football League, McPherson played two years for the Philadelphia Eagles before he was traded to the Hous ton Oilers in 1990. He also played for teams in Canada from 1991 to 1994. Throughout his career, McPherson was involved in commu nity organizations including Ath letes Helping Athletes (AHA) based in Long Island, N.Y. and in 1993, he founded AHA, Canada Inc. In 1996 he was named director of the Sport in Society Mentors in Violence Pro gram, a violence prevention pro gram to encourage men to take a proactive position in an effort to stop men’s violence against women. The program was introduced in more than 80 schools in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 1998, McPherson rejoined AHA and expanded the w Don McPherson Fil0 Photo/ The Seahawk organization’s programming to in clude Civility in Sports and other programs to address the wider range of school violence issues. As a con sultant for the U.S. Justice Department’s Agenda for the Nation on Violence Against Women, McPherson has made numerous pre sentations nationwide. Joseph Weinburg, noted author and president of Men Stopping Rape-Madison, will present “Men Taking Responsibility: Condoms, Communication and Consent,” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, in Dobo Hall 134. Weinberg will also present “How Rape Hurts Males and What One Male Can Do To Stop It” to frater nity members at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Warwick Center Ballroom. Two free car washes will be held this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. One will be at the Wendy’s in Land fall Center and the other will be at Central Carolina Bank on Oleander Drive. From II a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mon day and Tuesday, Oct. 23 and 24, a dunking booth will be set up near the spirit rock located in front of University Union. Also, T-shirts are on sale until Oct. 24. All donations and sale proceeds from the week’s events will go to the Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. VOU ARE INVITED TO: "THE PARTV of a LIFETIME itfHEN: MONDA\'OCT23. ANDWtDNESDftVOCT. 25 DROP-IN: 7PM-9PM WfHERE: 6RAHAM-«EWLETT RESIDENCE HALL CONNECTOR FREE DRINKS PROVIDED BY uwcwl I I MUSIC PROVIDED BY WLOZ Books, from page 1 the themes of conformity and abuse of power. Several UNCW English and education professors advise pro spective teachers to use the novel in their classrooms. The Pender County committee was given the two-tier task of de ciding whether Cormier’s theme and language were appropriate for ninth grade readers. The district-level committee ren dered a 6-2 vote. The voting group consisted of Sue Mintzes, the school district’s language arts coordinator; Beverly Bannerman, 1999-2000 teacher-of-year; Cindy Faulk, 2000- 2001 principal of the year; Rita Shiver, Pender County’s social ser vices director; David Knowles, pas tor at the Willard Baptist Church and a teacher at Pender High School; Christina Bibby, Pender High stu dent; Chris Millis, Topsail High stu dent body president; and Joann Absi, Topsail Middle School media specialist. “Periodically there is something that needs to be challenged. I think parents and community people need to be involved in our students’ edu cation,” said Diane Hayes, a librar ian at Topsail High School and the chairwoman of the school’s media advisory board. The English teacher at the heart of the controversy was this year’s Teacher of the year for Pender County, Judy Dietz. Dietz said the assignment in question was volun tary and notes were sent to all par ents telling them about the content of The Chocolate War. A complaint issued by Marcy Frazier, the parent of a Topsail High School student, prompted the initial vote by a school-level committee. The committee found the book to be acceptable. According to reports from the Wilmington Star-News, Frazier then filed an appeal. “Based on my research of the book reviews and after listening to the pros and cons, I voted to keep it on the ninth grade reading list. Cen sorship is not what I believe in,” Hayes said. The Chocolate War focuses on an incident in a private high school where a young man becomes an out cast when he refuses to participate in a chocolate sale at the school. The central theme of the book fo cuses on social alienation. The book is criticized for its use of profanity, allusions to masturbation and inci dents of violence. “Banned books are a problem, but on all levels K-I2, not just high school. A quick look at lists of the most frequently banned books re veals an odd mix of classic and con temporary novels, as well as books for adults and for children,” said David Gill, assistant professor of English education in the specialty studies department at UNCW. Gill teaches several courses deal ing specifically with adolescent lit erature and instructs high school education majors on the presenta tion of potentially controversial novels. “I urge students to always have a written rationale on file for every novel for every long work or novel that they teach, even for the tried and true classics. Huckleberry Finn is high on that list of banned books too. As teachers they should learn the procedures for adopting works, and if there is no procedure they should help create one,” Gill said. He also supports the teaching of such controversial novels because of their literary merit. “This novel is important for a va riety of reasons. It is accessible but still intellectually challenging; its characters are like [younger readers] in many ways; its protagonist is an outcast, someone that many teenag ers can identify with; its ending is more than food for thought... It is a smorgasbord for debate. In short it is the stuff of great literature but unlike some literary classics, kids will enjoy it,” Gill said. Several community members have voiced opposing views includ ing Hampstead resident Janine Ennis Plera who wrote a letter to the editor of the Wilmington Star-News saying that even one parental com plaint warranted the book being re moved from the class reading list. Gill maintains that the impor tance of the ideas in the novel over rides the means that Cormier uses to convey his message. “Like me, most of my English education colleagues are adamantly opposed to censorship because it in fringes on the freedom of ideas,” he said. “The Chocolate War is banned far more because of its fatalistic ending than for its occasional im propriety. It is Cormier’s ideas that most censors attack.” Junior Kate Kimrey, a high school English Education major at UNCW said, “If students are going to be exposed to taboo topics any way then its better for the student to start out discussing it in school so that teachers can help guide the discussion,” I ! t A * i / ) ii i j- !> 1 I I i\ ii; • >’ I ii! i? n lij II Ii 'i;! il ; Ji
University of North Carolina Wilmington Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 19, 2000, edition 1
5
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75