The Broncos' Voice
February 13,1998
EDITORIAL COMMENT
TRUTH BE
TOLD? YOU
TELL ME
by Roger A. Harris
Truth be told, it is very rare
that a former student gets the
opportunity to become the
chancellor of his alma mater.
That former student is Dr.
Willis B. McLeod, our chan
cellor, and I challenge (no, I
dare) anyone to question his
passion of or commitment to
wards making FSU the num
ber one university in the UNC
system. But after almost two
years at the helm, I thii\k itls
fair that we now'try to assess
his effectiveness,as our leader.
In short, are we a better or
worse university since Dr.
McLeod took over as chancel
lor? You tell me.
Truth be told, if it wasn’t for
the energy and passion of the
freshman class (and generally
most students that live on cam
pus), SAC, SGA, this newspa
per, and most other campus
organizations would be straight
booty (for real). And it’s no lie
that most junior and senior stu
dents don’t or won’t adopt a
freshman student (each one,
teach one: ever heard that
axiom?) to guide them through
the past and present pitfalls that
could delay, deny, or derail their
successful exit from this uni
versity. Upper-classmen, as
mentors, do we exist to eat or
eat to exist? Is this question to
deep for you (hope not)? You
tell me.
Truth be told, I still can’t
understand why we can’t av
erage at least a paltry 300 stu
dent attendance at our-tome,
basketball and football games
when we have at least 1000
students living on campus, al
most 4000 students attending
this university, and we all get
in for free. This sad situation
has nothing to do with winning
or losing and everything to do
with pride: Bronco Pride. Are
we the shiznit or just a lot of
clowns playing in it? You tell
me.
Truth be told, the general
perception in pur surrounding
cbmniUriitieS'is that-for most
intents arid purposed, FSU ei
ther doesn’t exist or is playing
an outstanding role as the in
visible man. No impact. Period
(and for that matter, include our
fraternal orders). You know (I
hope) and I know (for sure)
that this perception is more
myth than truth and more
fancy than fact, but on the real
and for most situations, per
ceptions are far more real than
truth is relevant. Our chancel
lor is very aware of this per
ception and is taking direct aim
at and making direct strides
towards changing its circum
stance. But as students, what
are we doing about changing
this perception (or is my take
of this perception all wrong)?
Truth be told, on this cam
pus if you’re not in a “click”
or down with a particular
“set,” then you are definitely
“left out” of FSU’s social
scene. That’s sad. We don’t
talk enough to each other, take
enough time out for each other,
or take full account of our re
sponsibilities and actions to
each other (myself included).
And our united apathy effects
everything from campus crime
“motive” lurkes behind every action we
make or take in life like shadows lie in
wait in the shade or at night
You tell me.
Truth be told, no matter
how humble and revered our
professors at this university
may seem, you better believe,
like Human League put it,
“[they’re] only human.” My
point is direct: professors can
hold grudges, give you lower
grades than what you earned,
and do all the other malicious
acts that we humans tend to
do to each other. But you can
gaffl.e the gaffl'ers. Be on time,
be‘on poirlt, and Iceep copies
of all. y3Ur returned papers/
tests/etc. so that when needed,
you can defend your position
when you’re trying to prove
your point. Is there a fallacy in
my claim; has this situation hap
pened to you (I hope not)? You
tell me.
(20-plus officers just can’t do
it all by themselves, gang:.it’s
impossible) to getting a job se
cured before you graduate (ca
reer placement can straight do
this for you). Who do you love:
your Bronco self (which should
mean my Bronco me) or no
one (which definitely means -
america)? You tell me.
Truth be told, if you are a
minority in -america, you are
constantly (socially, culturally,
politically, economically, and
via the rriedia) under attack.
Proof? Ask my Sodoirii^ed-
By-New-York- City’s-finest-
With-A-Toilet-Plunger Haitian
brother. Accepting (or not) this
fact, if you don’t take every op
portunity this university offers
to develop (thus defend) your
self intellectually, spiritually,
and consciously, then you have
no one to blame but yourself
when you get vicked like va
por rubs. Racism is alive, big
otry is well, and their pro
tracted war in -america is not
yet over because we cannot
yet simply be. Paranoia? Re
alism? Schizophrenia? You tell
me.
Truth be told, inquiring
minds want to know why stu
dents who know they will not
attend sporting events are still
charged an athletic fee (espe
cially considering that these
_fees are due to increase to
“save an athletic department
that is some 300 G’s in the
red); why FSU can’t seem to
clear the approval of a minor
in African-american studies
even though we have the
classes to support its attain
ment; why we have class
presidents and Mr/Miss FSU’s
when the positions don’t re
quire them to do anything
(other than vogue at selected
university and community
functions); why dormitory ceil
ings are crashing down on stu
dents heads two years after
more than S6 million was spent
on dormitory renovations.
Concerning these concerns, is
there a need for clarification?
You tell me.
From preacher to pauper to
player to pimp’to politician to
prince to punk to queen to ev
eryone else who falls in be
tween, “motive” lurkes behind
every act or action we make
see Truth pg. 11
THE SLAVE
MASTER’S
LEGACY
by Jason Arthur
Recently, w’hile conducting
some private business of my
own, I was privy to a conver
sation between an FSU staff
member and a fellow female
student, the contents of which
perturbed me greatly. The girl,
hereafter referred to as Sally,
had decided to avail herself of
one the many services pro
vided by the University College
and as procedure demanded,
she had to fill out a form de
tailing personal information
before she could do so. She
then handed the said form to
the staff member, hereafter
referred to as Molly, who then
proceeded to look it over for
any errors. Molly immediately
noticed that Sally had checked
off the categories “Black” and
“White” in answering the
question about her ethnicity. A
slight disagreement followed.
but, in the end, Sally was told
that she could not be both and
that she had to choose.
What perturbed me was
that, though Sally was living
proof of what is. known as a
mulatto, Molly was insistent
that Sally could, not be such.
Mulatto, as defined by the
Oxford dictionary is, “a person
of mixed white and black par
entage.” The dictionary makes
it clear that interracial mixing
is a reality; however, some
members of our society still
refuse to acknowledge the off
spring of interracial unions.
Why must one be forced to
choose one half of his or her
own heritage?
One may be tempted to ask
why Sally chose to check the
aforementioned categories in
stead of “mixed” or “other.”
The answer lies in the fact that
mixed or other are very imper
sonal categories which do not
give the sense of identification
which is inherent in all of the
other choices.
Tiger Woods, Masters golf
champion, was recently given
a lot of flak for the fact that he
seemed to be denying his
blackness when he said that
he was not Black but indeed
both Black and Thai. While I
was in New York a few
months ago, I was in a con
versation with two friends of
mine who both acknowledged
that they were also upset with
Woods. They attributed this to
the fact that Woods’ placement
of the word “not” before the
word “Black” was, to them, a
denial of his blackness. Has
this issue become a game of
semantics? There are many
ways to frame a sentence con
veying the same idea, and I
agree with Woods’ use of the
word “not,” because the real
ity of the situation is that though
he may always be considered
Black, he can never be one
without the other.
Woods and Sally are just
two of a great many of our
people who have had their lives
plagued with unfair questions
about their ethnic allegiances.
This problem dates itself as far
back as the days of slavery.
See Legacy pg. 3
TLB
roncos
’V
OICG
Faculty Advisor
Operations Advisor &
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Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
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Staff
Brandon Ramcharan
Keron James
Vadrin Colvin
Reeshemah Parkinson
Dr. Linda Barlow
Shawn Torry
Roger A. Harris
Jason Arthur
Latoya Bozier
Doug Barnes
Tameka Kenan
Rencia Bennett
Jason downey
Neron Ferguson
Andre Whitehead
Richard Corley
Janina Berkeley
The Broncos’ Voice
1200 Murchinson Rd.
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ph. (910)486-1357
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email edt@sequent.uncfsu.edu
Copyright 1998