12
’/The Daily Tar Heel/Tuesday, April 27, 1993
A .
Established in 1893
Century of editorial freedom
PETER Wallsten, Editor Office hours: Fridays 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Amber Nimocks, Managing Editor
Thanassis Cambanis, University Editor
Jackie Hershkowitz, City Editor
Amy SEELEY, Features Editor
Erin Randall, Photography Editor
Samantha Falke, Copy Desk Editor
John Caserta, Graphics Editor
At Carlton College in Minnesota, there is no policy
governing when men and women can visit in the
residence halls. All suites in all dormitories are co
ed.
At Rice University in Texas, male and female
students in the residence halls share co-ed bath
rooms.
The same is true for Columbia University in New
York City.
But at UNC, a Department of University Housing
policy regulates when men and women can visit.
Currently, students may have guests of the opposite
sex from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday
and from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends. The policy is
archaic and should be revoked.
And if housing department officials approve a
proposal in May, the UNC policy could change.
After two years of debate about an appropriate
visitation policy for UNC residence halls, housing
department officials and members of a housing advi
sory board have come up with a way for residents to
vote on a policy for individual dormitories.
According to the proposal, each dormitory would
have a chance to vote on one of three options: to keep
the present policy, to keep the present policy on
N.C. legislators quickly shoved a bill to legalize
sodomy and oral sex back into the proverbial closet
last week, and in doing so, they continued the long
held N.C. tradition of violating every citizen’s right
to privacy in his or her own bedroom.
The bill, which was proposed by N.C. Rep. Marie
Colton, D-Buncombe, was defeated in committee
despite rational, convincing opinions presented by
the N.C. Civil Liberties Union and the N.C. Council
of Churches.
The thrust of their argument was that the present
law is used to keep gays and lesbians silenced,
further exacerbating the problems of discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation in this state. It is
used selectively to intimidate homosexuals from
demanding their equal rights, and it even has been
used on this campus as an argument for defunding
groups like Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians and Allies
for Diversity.
But the law should be a concern to every N.C.
citizen homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual or
otherwise because it represents an attempt by our
government to legislate morality and to dictate what
one group deems “appropriate” sexual behavior.
What happens between two (or more) consenting
adults in the privacy of their own home obviously
It seemed an impossible case to crack.
The story? A 22-year-old man hit by a car amidst
throngs of people and left in the street; a driver who
realized the accident but fled the scene anyway.
But, with leads taking them as far away as Illinois
and Florida, Chapel Hill police officials made an
arrest in a chilling crime the April 5 hit-and-run
that occurred after the UNC men’s basketball team
won the NCAA Championship.
With the arrest of Theodore Edward Mosier, a 45-
year-old Durham resident, police officers demon
strated what good detective work is all about.
Authorities had little to go on. Several witnesses
identified a zero on the car’s out-of-state license
plate.
Then the Florida Highway Patrol determined that
the zero in fact was a “D” and found a car matching
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Visiting hours
A legislative low blow
Getting the job done
Dana Pope, Editorial Page Editor
Jason Richardson, State and National Editor
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weekdays but have unlimited visitation on weekends
or to implement a policy that would allow com
pletely unlimited visitation.
The housing department should be congratulated
for finally coming up with a workable proposal that
would allow students to decide how they want to live.
But the proposal still is not satisfactory. Any
student who does not vote automatically casts a
ballot in favor of the present policy.
If the proposal is implemented, students should be
informed well in advance of the day the residents will
vote. In the midst of beginning-of-the-year confu
sion, students often miss dormitory meetings. It is
imperative that students show up to vote. If they
don’t vote, they might unknowingly cast their ballot
for a policy they don’t favor.
In addition, the idea of having a policy is old
fashioned. Visitation policies exist primarily for
parents who want to make sure their children will be
watched over for another four years.
The housing department needs to come into the
20th century and realize that the present policy
already is defunct. Students are legally adults and do
not need to be watched over by a University-run bed
patrol.
should be of no concern to the N.C. General Assem
bly.
The clearly defined arguments of proponents of
the bill were a sharp contrast to the attitude of
legislators, who bent over backward not to talk about
the issue. Rep. Colton couldn’t even find a colleague
courageous enough to co-sponsor the bill.
The unwillingness of legislators to consider the
bill was not only political cowardice, it was hypo
critical.
A recent study published by the Guttmacher Insti
tute showed that 79 percent of white males had
performed oral sex, and 81 percent said they had
received it. That unsurprisingly high statistic has to
cause one to reflect on whether our own N.C. legis
lators are guilty of violating a law that they have been
so eager to protect.
Legislators might have thought they were taking
the moral highground by defeating Colton’s bill, but
their refusal to allow the legislation to make it to the
House floor is a pathetic attempt to save their own
political skin.
Proponents of the right to privacy should continue
to bring bills like Colton’s back out of the closet and
into the light, for the sake of every N.C. citizen who
values his or her own privacy.
the description given to Chapel Hill police.
But the owner of the white 1992 Chevrolet Lu
mina, an Illinois resident, informed police that the
car had been sold to Mosier.
Thanks to impressive work by the Chapel Hill
Police Department and cooperation with colleagues
in other states, friends and family of Navdeep Singh
Dhesi, a Greensboro resident, can rest easier. But
these same friends and families, as well as others
who have heard about Dhesi’s situation, must con
tinue to endure the pain as Dhesi recuperates. He
remains in a coma at UNC Hospitals.
The hit-and-run injected some bad news in what
was supposed to be a happy night in Chapel Hill. But,
if the arrest proves justified, the quick action of the
Chapel Hill police has provided a silver lining in an
unsettling story.
Correct balancing reveals strong leader, editor
Dear Peter,
I wrote my first column on this
page as a guest. The column was
an angry 1,000-word response to the
incorrect position that The Daily Tar
Heel’s editors had taken on Bradley
Smith’s Holocaust denial advertisement
in the Duke University Chronicle.
I stayed up all night writing that one;
I felt sick when I gave Doug Ferguson,
who was then the editorial page editor,
those few pages. But I also felt relieved.
If my words made an impact on a few
readers or on a few stubborn student
journalists, then the effort was worth it.
Not the effort of writing, but of recol
lection and pain.
I supported you in the DTH editor
election last spring because I knew that
your opponents defended the Chronicle
Holocaust denial ad and that you didn’t.
Your position was brave, and among
journalists it was unpopular. But you
were right. And your opponents, who
supported Bradley Smith’s hate and rac
ism, were wrong and hardheaded and
stupid. Anyhow, I’m glad you won.
Of course it’s difficult on a college
campus, in the environment of intellec
tual inquiry and philosophical ferment,
to establish clearly what is right and
wrong. Scholarship is, after all, the con
stant tugging and picking at the estab
lished. By nature, die work that goes on
at the academy is revolutionary, it is
anti-establishment.
Smart people used to believe firmly
that the entire human potential was car
ried in a sperm and that the womb was
simply a vessel in which that sperm
developed into a baby. Can you imag
ine how shocking our discovery that the
sperm and egg contribute equal amounts
of genetic information to the offspring
might seem to scientists of a few hun
dred years ago? The Catholic Church
regularly locked up any scientist whose
views did not conform to religious
dogma. If it could, would it do so today?
Truth is a tenuous thing, then, Peter.
But it must count for something. When
William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of
National Review, was here for the first
time, in December of 1962, he gave
what was then a very provocative speech
UNC s other minorities
overlooked in BCC fight
To the editor:
To quote Dennis Miller, “If you think
you’ve got an ax to grind, I’m Paul f—
kin’ Bunyan over here!” Asa Jewish
student on a campus that is struggling to
achieve peace amidst extreme cultural
tension, my concerns are invariably
overlooked.
When William F. Buckley Jr. spoke
last Tuesday night, his mention of
Auschwitz evoked a chuckle from the
substantial portion of an audience full
of educated people. Those who found
humor in Mr. Buckley’s quip might
accuse me of being defensive, but a
Nazi death camp is never a laughing
matter, regardless of the context. I am
sure I was not alone in my disgust.
Then Saturday night, Hillel, the Jew
ish student union, held a vigil for Yom
Ha’ Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance
Day), where candles and prayer sheets
were left in the Pit overnight to call
attention to victims of the Holocaust.
The next day, most of the sheets were
burned or gone, and the candles had
been rearranged to spell “DUKE.”
Also, in Thursday’s Reader’s Fo
rum, a letter from Tarrus Carr (“Christ,
prayer will help improve race relations”)
explained that the only way to achieve
peace and an appreciation for UNC’s
diversity is through Jesus Christ.
I am aware that this letter was well
intentioned, and I am not offended. But
saying “No Jesus, no peace” kind of
leaves me out of the harmony Carr
envisions, unless I relinquish my iden
tity as a Jew, which would be similar to
a devout Southerner reaching out to the
Black Student Movement by donating a
portrait Jefferson Davis. I only make
this somewhat harsh analogy to point
out that there are several minorities on
this campus with different identities,
and room must be made for all of them.
My concerns are particularly relevant
in the wake of the struggle for a free
standing black cultural center, which I
support wholeheartedly. Many BCC
on conservatism
and America’s
role in the Cold
War. In re
sponse to the
lecture, a mem
ber of the audi
ence sent a note
to the stage that
mockingly
asked, “What is
absolute truth?”
Buckley
paused and an-
Eric l
Wagner
Mind’s Eye j
swered, “Eight dollars a year.” The sub
scription price to National Review.
Sometimes it is easier to laugh than
to argue. And in the skeptical intellec
tual environment on the campus, it is
easier to argue that all truths are rela
tive, temporary and certainly products
of the prejudices of the age. End an
argument not by resolving its points of
contention, but by stating that the par
ticipants’ opinions are limited by the
boundaries of their race, class and gen
der. Kill a healthy debate by proclaim
ing that the very ground on which the
debaters are standing is weak and pa
per-thin.
As you know by now, I disagree. I
reject trite relativism and the scholar
ship of self-esteem. I think it’s all right
to be insensitive and offensive if the
pursuit of truth is our goal. The truth is
not $8 a year, nor can it be simply
another expression of our cultural bias.
No, wait. I take that back. The truth
is, in fact, another expression of our
cultural bias. Of course it is! It is the
primary expression of our bias. And so
what?
If a biologist chooses to study the
developmental functions of the wing
less gene on the Drosophila fruit fly, he
recreates the proper conditions in his
laboratory. Even though millions of flies
are buzzing about outside, even though
their genome is the result of a long and
steady evolution, the biologist will test
his hypothesis by mapping the wingless
gene, by “chromosome walking” in his
lab.
What’s the point of the biology les
son? The biologist must recreate reality
READERS' FORUM
advocates contend that the building will
serve to reduce a vast amount of the
ignorance of African-American culture
that exists here.
Well, a Jewish cultural center does
stand on Cameron Avenue in the form
of the B’Nai B’rith Hillel House, and
ignorance and insensitivity toward Jew
ish students still runs rampant. So I
encourage readers of this letter who feel
unsatisfied with their understanding of
the Jewish people to stop by Hillel. I
further hope that when the BCC finally
is erected that the University will take
advantage of its resources and stamp
out the disease of ignorance that is plagu
ing our campus.
BRIAN SHUMAN
Sophomore
Undecided
Multicultural center best
for diverse University
To the editor:
The African-American groups on this
campus deserve to be recognized for
their many important contributions to
the state and to the nation.
They do not, however, deserve a free
standing black cultural center.
Asa minority, I understand the Black
Student Movement’s complaint that
black culture has been suppressed and
that an outlet should exist for the cel
ebration of this culture. But I believe
that more recognition for African-
American culture can be gained by
changing the character of the campus
than by merely changing the appear
ance of the campus.
In order to change the character of
campus, it is necessary to educate those
unfamiliar and even uncomfortable with
black culture about this culture; in order
to educate those who deem black cul
ture foreign, it is necessary to provide
an environment that does not seen for
eign.
Sadly, a Black Cultural Center, be
cause of its very name, would alienate a
large proportion of the nonblack UNC
population.
in his laboratory. He must reinvent truth
to fit within the walls of his office.
Everything must be sterile, every speci
men free from contamination. The fly
food must contain a precise level of
sugars. I know you’re merely a political
science major, Peter, but even you could
guess that in the environment, nothing
is sterile or precise.
But again, so what? Are the results of
the said biologist’s studies legitimate?
Even though the experiment took place
in a unique environment in an cool
laboratory we can draw conclusions
from the results of the studies that apply
easily to the outdoors.
The same is true for our social ex
periments. Your opponents were wrong
about the Holocaust denial ad because
they reversed our biologist’s experi
ment. Rather than recreating the envi
ronment in the lab to reach their conclu
sions, those stubborn journalism stu
dents tried to recreate the lab in the
environment.
Peter, I know it’s hard for you with
all of these metaphors. The lab the stub
born journalism students tried to recre
ate in the real world is their self-as
sumed stewardship of the First Amend
ment. Damn it, we can print whatever
we want it says right there, in the
Constitution.
It doesn ’ t work that way. Your paper,
like most other papers, does not print
the names of rape victims in order to
protect their identity. So the First
Amendment neither requires that ev
erything be printed, nor is it too stiff to
bend occasionally.
Everything bends. Even the truth.
But that the truth is subject to occa
sional manipulations should not pre
vent us from seeking it. That we are
susceptible to occasional failings should
not slow our search for what is wrong
and right. If we cannot master the truth,
shall we not at least befriend it?
Thanks for the memories, Peter; you
are a terrific editor and a great friend.
Love,
Eric
Eric Wagner is a senior political
science major from Jerusalem.
A solution to this problem exists in
calling the building a multicultural cen
ter. Although this proposal vehemently
has been opposed by both the Black
Student Movement and the politically
astute student government, perhaps now
before controversy precludes aca
demic achievement we should con
sideracompromise: amulticultural cen
ter on the Wilson-Dey site.
Such a structure, if constructed prop
erly, would provide a space for persons
of all cultures to interact, “hang out”
and learn.
And though most of this space will
and should be occupied by celebrations
of black culture, other minorities
such as Asian Americans whose col
lege enrollments since 1976 have grown
at a rate 27 times that of African Ameri
cans —also will be represented, thereby
discouraging the false notion that racial
issues in America are just black and
white.
Granted, this compromise might ap
pear to represent acquiescence by the
Black Student Movement to the “evil,
white master.” In truth, however, such a
move represents a step forward by the
Black Student Movement toward a
world in which the specter of the “evil,
white master” is removed not only from
the landscape of the campus, but also
from the minds of the students of this
campus.
Furthermore, such a move would in
crease the amount of space available to
all groups on campus, win the gratitude
and support of the minority organiza
tions at Carolina, perhaps appease the
faculty and administration and place
Chapel Hill on the forefront of modem
race relations.
Despite our different colors, back
grounds and cultures, we must remem
ber that we are all, first and foremost,
Americans —and Tar Heels. As such,
let us work to help not only our specific
special interest groups, but the Univer
sity and nation as a whole
DAVID W. LIU
Freshman
Political Science