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Gibe Satlu ®ar INSIDE THURSDAY APRIL 10,1997 Board to vote on Ist female UNC-system president ■ The Board of Governors will convene in a special meeting at 4 p.m. today. BY SHARIF DURHAMS STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR AND ERICA BESHEARS SENIOR WRITER The Board of Governors could vote today to appoint the first female presi dent of the UNC system. A highly placed legislative source B-GLAD members observe National Day of Silence BY MONIKA ELLIS STAFF WRITER With red sashes covering their mouths as a symbol of their silence, members of Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity and others sat silently in the Carolina Union Gallery on Wednesday for the National Day of Silence. Protesters found special significance in the second annual event. They said the Carolina Union Activities Board’s vote last month not to hang B-GLAD’s interactive art exhibit contributed to an unhealthy silence. “It’s hurtful to all of the community,” said Alyson Grine, a first-year law stu dent from Wilson. “(CUAB) not only silenced the gay contributors, but it also denied all members of the community straight and gay an opportunity for interaction.” The National Day of Silence is an annual event in which students and fac ulty nationwide vow to be silent to pub licize the silence forced upon lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered people. Parker Doig, co-chairwoman of B GLAD’s political action committee, Students, faculty observe moment of silence for gays BY DAVID COENEN STAFF WRITER Students and faculty at 104 colleges nationwide took a vow of silence Wednesday to bring gay and lesbian awareness. The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Union at the University of Virginia launched the National Day of Silence last year. The event gives gays, lesbians, bisex uals, transsexuals and the public a chance to recognize the problems facing the gay community, Union President Heather Trout said. ** W; W _ „ - ~ , Hf'l \ fJI , . m&\ \ ■ v m - . WJI 'H 'k: JR-•/ v 'fii HbJMf § ' DTH/CARA BRJCKMAN UNC junior Andrew Pearson leads a discussion about the problems of the public school system Wednesday in the Franklin Street post office basement. Casting the spell Pauper Piayers came to the Union Cabaret with their new production, 'Godspell.' Page 2 fejgilr confirmed Wednesday that the BOG Selection Committee would recommend Molly Corbett Broad to the full BOG. “That has been communicated,” the source said. If selected, she would replace retiring UNC-system President C.D. Spangler. BOG Chairman C.C. Cameron denied that he had heard of Broad or any other name as a potential candidate. Monday, Cameron called a special meeting of the BOG for 4 p.m. today. The memo he issued stated that the meeting would be closed to the public because BOG members would discuss “personnel matters.” said members felt the protest was neces sary in order to publicize the group’s censorship. “We felt it was really important to make the media aware of it,” Doig said. Protesters said they wanted to show support for the gay and lesbian commu nity on campus. Donyelle Eller, a third-year law stu dent from Wilmington, voiced her dis approval about CUAB’s reasons to not display the interactive exhibit. “I think that it’s offensive to do it in the name of protecting gays and lesbians,” Eller said. Students witnessing the march said they generally supported the protesters. “I support what they’re doing because I think it’s really wrong. I think what CUAB is doing is trying to silence a large majority of people,” said Katy Sweeney, a freshman from Pittsburgh. “Even if people wrote homophobic slurs on the message boards, I think that’s part of what B-GLAD was aiming at to get an idea of the heterosexist climate at UNC.” Other students said they supported B GLAD, but disagreed with some of See B-GLAD, Page 4 “Unlike marches or other protests where allies may feel uncomfortable, this protest is a peaceful, nonviolent movement that attracts many people,” Trout said. At UVa., more than 200 participants handed out flyers during their silent protest that explained the National Day of Silence, Trout said. “During the day of silence, people see their friends and teachers silently protesting, and it affects them,” she said. “This quiet outreach has a real positive effect on what it means to be homosexual.” See DAY OF SILENCE, Page 4 Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior. Socrates Legal brief Student leaders nixed a plan to visit the law school after its various problems. Page 3 A legislative source says members of the Board of Governors will nominate MOLLY BROAD. executive vice chancellor of the California State University system, to replace retiring UNC-system President C.D. SPANGLER DTH'DAVID SANDLER Members of B-GLAD march Wednesday to the Student Union in a silent protest against the cancellation of the ‘Define Queer' exhibit. The protest was held on the National Day of Silence, a day which calls attention to the plight of gays. Pearson facilitates teen ‘rising up’ BY JULIA WOOD STAFF WRITER Students disillusioned with the con straints of public schools joined togeth er Wednesday to discuss “rising up” from the oppression of public high school to the freedom of less tradition al forms of education such as “unschooling.” At the workshop entitled “Bells and Cells: School as an Oppressive Force and Rising Out,” about 15 high school and college students discussed problems they saw with the public school system. Several of the participating teens had become so dissatisfied with their educa tion that they had chosen to “rise up,” or leave the public school system, and to “unschool,” or pursue their education without the constraints of a set curricu lum. Manju Rajendran, an unschooler and former Chapel Hill High School stu dent, said schools were designed to turn out graduates who think alike. “Schools stamp out minority culture and provide baby-sitting for teens who would other Men's tennis bedeviled again Duke beat UNC for the second straight time in a tight match. Page 9 Speaking from his room at the Carolina Inn on Wednesday night, Cameron said he wanted to keep an open perspective for today’s meeting. “I’m not dealing with the newspapers so when I go before the board (today), no one will have heard what I have to say.” Broad currently serves as the execu tive vice chancellor of the California State University, a system of 21 univer sities. The Sacramento Bee reported that Broad earns $162,888 a year, with a housing allowance of $24,000. BOG member Harold Webb said he did not know the candidate’s name but added, “I heard through the grapevine wise be on the street or in the job mar ket,” she said. “They create a situation where a lot of time is wasted.” The workshop, led by Rajendran and UNC junior Andrew Pearson, focused on four main topics: why schools exist and why administrators say they exist, how the set-up of classrooms reflects the hierarchy of the class, the teacher-stu dent power disparity, and how to orga nize fellow students to change the cur rent school system. Pearson said he and Rajendran had done the workshop at CHHS’s Culturefest, and about 80 students par ticipated. “It was really exciting in that it was probably the first time students were talking about school itself in school.” “We’re trying to turn it into an ongo ing thing to learn about how to make school better,” Pearson said. Almost all of the students expressed dissatisfaction with how they were taught, the power their teachers had, and the importance of grades. Rajendran said she had been an “A addict” when in public school. “Good grades can be addictive,” she said. “You Today's Weather Mostly sunny; upper 50s Friday: Sunny; lower 60s “Fm not dealing with the newspapers so when 1 go before the board (today), no one will have heard what I have to say.” C.C. CAMERON Chairman, Board of Governors it’s a woman from California.” Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange, also confirmed the rumor that a woman from California had been chosen. think that’s what you’re learning for, when really you should learn for the sake of learning.” Aimee Argote, a CHHS student, said the emphasis on grades often led to memorization instead of thought-pro voking discussion. “This is not learning, this is not teaching,” she said. “This is memorizing mindless facts that no one knows how to turn into useful informa tion.” Unschooler Robin Lea, a former CHHS student, said rigid cuniculums made it impossible for teachers to spend a great amount of time on any one topic. “I’ve had some semi-cool teach ers, but they have so much stuff to do,” she said. “They know there’s an end-of the-year test.” Pearson said before change could come about, students must alter the rela tionships of power between students and teachers and empower other stu dents. “No matter what you do, if you don’t change the relationships of power, things aren’t going to change,” he said. “If you actively talk to other students, you might find out others agree.” 104 yean of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 News/Features/Arts/Sports: 962-0245 Business/'Ad namamg. / 962-1163 Volume 10S, Issue 28 Chapel Hill,-North Carolina CI99JOTH Publishing Cosp. All rights reserved. Although it had been suggested that the new president should have ties to North Carolina, Broad’s rbsumd on the World Wide Web does not reveal any. “I think that would be unusual," UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Richard Richardson said. Broad has worked for the California State University since 1991. Before that, she worked for the Arizona Board of Regents and Syracuse University, from which she graduated in 1962. Professor Chuck Stone said the selec tion of a woman would please him. “That would be the appropriate way for UNC to march into the 21st century.” UNC reacts to court’s OK of Prop 209 ■ Activists worry about the future of affirmative action in North Carolina. BY VICKY ECKENRODE STAFF WRITER California took another step towards its ban on affirmative action, and stu dents worry that North Carolina might not be far behind; On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s voter-approved ban. Ali Fischer, a sophomore from Miami, said she was appalled by the court’s decision on Proposition 209, called the California Civil Rights Initiative by its supporters. “I can’t believe that people think that upholding discrimination doesn’t vio late civil rights.” Although a judge’s order had blocked enforcement of Proposition 209 since it passed last November, the initiative still had far-reaching effects, said Corye Barbour, the national issues coordinator for student government’s executive branch. “The message was sent clearly that they don’t care about students of color,” she said. “Since Prop 209 was passed by California voters, applications from stu dents of color have dropped 14 percent in the California University system.” But John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, a Raleigh con servative think tank, said that because a public referendum originally passed Prop 209, democracy was served. “The voters of California voted to eliminate discrimination” he said. Ward Conaly, one of the proposi tion’s sponsors, has set up an institution that campaigns to rid all 50 states of affirmative action. So far, Colorado has raised a similar initiative, and seven other states have followed. Joanne Wendel, former co-president of the Campus Y, predicted that the issue of affirmative action would soon come to North Carolina. “Affirmative action attacks are hap pening nationwide,” she said. “This is the kind of referendum we could see any day here.” Hood agreed that it was only a ques tion of time before the UNC system eliminates affirmative action. “If I were in administration in UNC, I would be thinking of the timetable for phasing out discriminatory programs." Wendel said if the state banned affir mative action, then minority recruit ment and retention programs would be eliminated. “Any program that directly affects women or students of color are in danger of being gutted,” she said. Mo Nathan, student body president, said he was concerned about die propo sition’s vague and broad language. “I worry that the legal language of the proposition will prohibit any effort to make our campus reflective of our society,” Nathan said. Education about affirmative action’s benefits would help prevent such a ban here, said John Dervin, president of the Association of Student Governments. “You don’t want to wait for it to hit North Carolina before you start educat ing students on affirmative action.”
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 10, 1997, edition 1
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