10
Monday, November 10,1997
(Th? Scrih| aar Hrrl
Erica Beshears EDITOR
Office Hours. 2-3 p.m. Fridays
Laura Godvii and Lesic Wilkinson managing EDITORS
(S>
A '
Established 1893
104 Years of Editorial Freedom
BOARD EDITORIALS
H Although students think there is nothing better than free pizza for dinner,
RHA should stop buying so much pizza and start sharing their finances.
Ask most students, or even certain resident
assistants, what the Residence Hall Association
has done for them, and the answer you get
won’t vary much. Unless they happen to know
who pays for the pizza that disappears within
the first five minutes of those occasional RA
floor parties, most students are unaware of any
perks or services RHA can offer to campus life.
The student fees allotted automatically to
this student-run body each year do not go
through Student Congress. Some of the fee
money goes directly to each residence hall,
where it is spent on such things as vacuums,
VCRs and board games for residents. The rest
of the money goes to the association as a
whole. It’s not commonly known exactly what
this money does, nor is RHA historically
known for sharing that information.
One of RHA’s biggest functions is publicity.
We can tell this because it gives out a lot of
pizza. And as any campus organization knows,
the easiest way to get a mass of students to
come to any particular location is to offer them
food. The usual strategy is to offer the pizza as
bait and then hook ’em with the cool part of the
club. RHA organizers tend to abandon this idea
and just hand out free food, hoping that resi
dents will hang around and get to know each
Some rules on Point-2-Point and P2P Xpress
must be enforced more reasonably.
As of now, students cannot take food onto
P2P vans, even if it is in a closed container,
obviously not for immediate consumption.
Therefore, students returning from any of the
glamourous campus eateries or better local
restaurants cannot take leftover food home with
them. This rule is unreasonable in many cir
cumstances.
The P2P drivers should sparingly enforce
this rule. Food especially food good enough
to take home is a precious commodity
among students. They should not have to throw
it away just so they can catch a ride on a van
that their fees pay for.
Students also should be able to take their
children on P2P vans, especially if they live in
Odum Village or work late into the night. Not
allowing them to do so creates some serious
safety problems for obvious reasons.
Safety should not be sacrificed. Tired parents
dragging their children miles across the dark
ness is not a good thing. Moreover, students
who are parents cannot take advantage of cer
tain opportunities simply because they do not
have proper transportation. Lack of trans
portation can make nighttime employment out
of the question.
Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz.
director/general manager. Chrissy Beck, advertis
ing director Rachel Lomasz. classified ad manag
er Lisa Reichle, business manager Eileen Hintz.
advertising manager Elizabeth Johnson, business
assistant.
Customer Service: Lee Brooks. Tamika Denny.
Assistant Editors: Brock Pierce, arts and
Diversions; Jon Ostendorff and Sunny Smith, city.
Anna Pond and April Simun. copy Katie
Murchison, design. Trisha Dabb. features. Andrew
Fernandez, graphics; Sean Busher and Andy
Drewry, photo. Forrest Eber. Joe Robson and Kurt
Tondorf. sports; Dave Alexander and John
Sweeney. Sport Saturday; Forrest Anderson and
Karen Joyce, university.
Arts/Diversions: Melissa Milios and Lily Thayer.
senior writers. Michael Aramon. Marisa
Brickman. Phillip Buiser. Amerlia Favere. WiH
Garvin. Django Gilligan. Betsy Greer. Jon Howie.
Carl Jacobs. Katie Massey. Matthew Miller.
Gregory MiNikin. Todd Mozingo. Amelia Rasmus.
Nina Riggs. Shanti' Ross. Scott Rudicil. Jesse
Tampio, Erin Wynia and Lindsey Zuckerman
Cartoon: Brad Christensen. Tolly Long, Adria
Mueller. Lucious Oliver, Miles Travis, Zach
Warkentin and Michael Wlodek.
City: Carol Adamson. Chris Andrew. Amanda
Boci. Barrett Brawer. Christy Clemmons, Robin
Clemow, Brooke Dancy. MoilyOamofall. Anianette
Flowers. John Gardner, Alisa Gumbs, Bradley
Howard. Mike Iskandar, Darrell Jones. Angela
Lea, Betsy Lee. Shelley Levine. Kathryn Oates.
Jon Ostendorff. Hugh Pressley. Reynolds Richter.
Meegan Smith. Sunny Smith. Jennifer Springs,
Carla Strayhom, Jim Vinson. Sejal Vora. Nicole
White and Jefferey Wong.
Coffr Melissa Froemmmg, Stacey Hartley.
The editorials are approved by the majority of the editorial board, which is com
posed of the editor, editorial page editor, cartoon editor and 11 editorial writers
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Pizza parties
other out of good will, and that somehow they
will also figure out that their area desks have
neat stuff they can borrow on their IDs.
Is this really the best use of the fee money?
Is the money allotted an appropriate amount,
and does it provide the kinds of benefits stu
dents want? A public accounting of expendi
tures without a large “miscellaneous” catego
ry would provide the starting point for looking
at this important question. Can RHA do any
thing to help alleviate the current problem of
some bathrooms remaining uncleaned? This is
the University’s domain, but until more house
keepers are hired some residents might be will
ing to cash in their pizza for healthier living
conditions.
Much as we like to save on dinner occasion
ally, letters or flyers sent directly to each resi
dent detailing exactly what is available at his or
her area desk would be more effective and less
costly. While they were at it, RHA could also
send out a list of expenditures so all students
can see where their student fee money is going.
The time has come for RHA to describe all
the ways it benefits on-campus residents effi
ciently, and not just with a pile of pizza boxes.
RHA uses student money, and the students
should know where it goes, and why.
Be reasonable
Drivers should use sound judgement when
laying down the law in their vans. They should
not make students throw out food in closed
containers nor prevent them from riding alto
gether because of this. They should also let par
ents take their children onto the vans, so long as
the tykes are well behaved. Students rely on
P2P for safe service for themselves and their
dependents.
The purpose of P2P is first and foremost
safety, not nifty rules. Students pay in order to
receive safe and dependable service. This ser
vice should include reasonable enforcement of
reasonable rules by reasonable drivers.
Students do not pay their student fees to be
inconvenienced and occasionally harassed.
Admittedly, rules are a necessary part of any
transit system. However, some P2P rules must
be sparingly and more reasonably enforced to
better accommodate travelers.
Never should parents have to compromise
the safety of their children and themselves. Nor
should students ever have to throw away food
that they have properly secured in a container.
As long as students are respectful to the dri
vers and courteous to their fellow travelers, they
should be allowed to take their children and
their food onto P2P.
After all, they are paying for it.
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
Business ft Advertising Staff
Sherry Martin, Laurie Morton. Kitra Sheppard and
Dorcas Young, representatives.
Display Advertising: Jodi Brown, Beth
Cresante. Susan Hoang. Wendy Holmes,
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Editorial Staff
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Design: Adam Aiken. Tammy Ashton. Tom
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Graphics: Jeremy Doetsch. Christian Helms.
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Photography: Dare Blackburn, Lorrie Bradley,
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Special Assignments: Mary Dalrymple and
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Alexander Howell, assistant account executives
Advertising Production: Beth O'Brien, manag
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Classified Production: Penny Persons.
Nawsderk: Chris Ooirichak.
Sports: Harrison Rand and Lee Taft, senior writ
ers; Beverly Morgan and Barry Summerlin, copy
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State and National: Navid Ahdieh, Lauren
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mK
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
ISN #10709436
EDITORIAL
Asking for life’s lessons just not good enough
Last week two news items made me
realize what a whacky thing college
has turned out to be.
The University of California at Berkeley’s
history department will offer a course on die
late rapper Tupac Shakur, his lyrics and
unpublished poetry. To add to my increasing
ly skewed view of what college is about, I
recently found out about a feminist group at
the University of Wisconsin. Women there
are intensely studying former Surgeon
General Jocelyn Elders’ policies. Every other
Sunday at 2 o’clock, a chapter of Women
Happily Advocating Masturbation (WHAM!)
meets in a public park and happily advocates.
I wonder how the real world is for these
women. (Are they George Michael fans, too?)
If they weren’t in college, would they have
license to start such a group? We have space
here to print our magazines, send some e
mail, write papers, study what we want to, live
how we want to, pray for future employment,
start up political groups without worrying
about company policies and the like.
College is a huge group of people thrown
together in a small space. It’s a pastiche of
classes, work, living, baking, eating, making
out, cleaning up, throwing up, sleeping, stay
ing awake. We’re given some hazy rules from
assorted sources of authority and told to
behave. When we don’t, unless we break a fed
eral law, the world doesn’t judge us too harsh
ly. We’re in college. Give us a break. And a
discount.
Four years from now, I’ll be trying to
remember if I ever took an economics class (I
did). I will have forgotten that Caroline con
sistently rejected my demands for social dance
classes, even in my last semester. I’ll be won
dering if I should have taken the History of
Rock and Roll, or if just reading a book would
have done. I might be finally pinning down
l fsu zo awe 3
Where' A -Vretf go?
Changes with housekeeping
reason behind poor services
TO THE EDITOR:
A recent editorial about residence hall
housekeeping services ("Broken promises,”
Nov. 6) identified a two-part problem; 1) the
responsibility of University housing to pro
vide consistent and timely common area and
bathroom cleaning services, and 2) the need
for resident cooperation in keeping the resi
dence halls clean.
The following is not an excuse, but an
explanation. The Housekeeping Services
Department is in transition. In a move to
become more efficient, a focus group of
housekeeping staff and others identified
cleaning standards, staffing requirements and
equipment needs for providing service to res
idence halls. From these discussions, house
keeping services reorganized its operations.
University housing is assisting with this tran
sition through the identification of issues and
concerns, information sharing and involve
ment in smoothing out the rough spots.
The main challenge has not been vacancies
or staffing levels, but rather the fine tuning of
the reorganization and the subsequent coor
dination of existing resources. As with any
change, this transition has brought about
some improvements, while accenting con
cerns in others. Housekeeping services is
attempting to resolve these concerns as they
arise. Admittedly, we fell behind in some
areas, but over the past week have moved to
resolve these bottlenecks to service. We will
continue to focus our attention on these con
cerns until all are resolved to our residents’
satisfaction.
For the most part, the issue is bathrooms in
some areas. Simply stated, resident bath
rooms and common areas are to be cleaned
daily each weekday. Staff have followed up
on tire neglected exceptions. Where there are
staff vacancies, other staff have been brought
in to provide service.
Residents can also be of assistance, simply
by not leaving personal items in the bath
rooms. In addition, each resident is responsi
ble for recycling and depositing personal trash
in the dumpsters. Some have chosen to short
cut this responsibility by depositing trash in
the hallways and/or bathrooms. This
impedes the housekeeper’s ability to clean
these facilities. We ask that these residents be
responsible.
It is our desire to quickly respond to prob
lems. our goal is to provide the quality service
students have a right to expect. If your con
cerns are not being addressed at the local
the relationship
between tum-of
the-century archi
tecture and post
modern. Will I
curse taking bowl
ing? Will I be able
to afford bowling
or will I be the best
bowler in the
world? There’s no
way to tell.
It’s a crazy
world. Thank
jp#
: SARAH CORBIT T |
MINOR THREAT
goodness for that. When I came to UNC, I
wasn’t ready. First year grades testify to that.
But, that second year, I gradually grouped
together some things I wanted to know before
I left school. Postmodernism. Structuralism.
Basically everything in the Dictionary of the
History of Ideas. I swore I wouldn’t graduate
without them firmly tucked in the gray sponge
that rules my world.
Now, a short time later, I’m graduating
with vague notions of nations. What I learned
most wasn’t on my list, but is useful in every
situation: how to use the library. That’s the
beginning of the framework you’re supposed
to take with you when you leave.
As I’m coming closer and closer to a head
on collision with the job market, I get the feel
ing that one of us isn’t going to make it. It’s
either me or the market. Some huge monster,
the “real world” is heading straight for me
and it doesn’t care that I threw away my high
heels for Doc Martens, or that I’m not blond.
I’m fed up with that dichotomy. College is
real. There is no “real world,” anymore than
the MTV show is the “real world.” Nearly the
same rules apply to us in college than out,
although we seem more likely to break them
in school. School gives us space before we
READERS’FORUM
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and
criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer
than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced,
dated and signed by no more than two people.
Students should include their year, major and phone
number. Faculty and staff should include their title,
department and phone number. The DTH reserves
the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgari
ty. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104,
Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel
Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail torum to: dth@unc.edu.
level, please contact us directly through e-mail
at: BarbaraD@fac.unc.edu and
WayneKuncl@unc.edu. Thank you.
Barbara DeLon
DIRECTOR OF HOUSEKEEPING ADMINISTRATION
Wayne Kuncl
DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION
Small ethnic groups deserve
as much coverage as others
TO THE EDITOR.
The University aims to promote cultural
diversity on this campus. When The Daily
Tar Heel failed to mention the Homecoming
Step Show/Cultural Extravaganza, I felt a lit
tle bothered and worried by why they would
do such a thing. It was a night where minori
ty groups came together to celebrate their
common bond between music and dance. If
there is one thing that united us that night, it
was every minority group’s common bond in
the expression of their cultures through song
and dance. It was a perfect example of how
pluralism is promoted. Asa representative of
the Hellenic Students Association, the small
est minority group represented there, I felt
that the DTH had a sense of responsibility of
at least mentioning that Memorial Hall was
packed with supporters of cultural awareness.
How else can we show that apathy isn’t as big
of a problem as many people make it out to
be? It is events like this that enhance our intel
lectual climate.
But I figured we all make mistakes some-
She Saily Sar Heel
face employment. We search for meaning
beyond our class titles, reading lists and
requirements. We search for it in school and
out. With any luck we come out of college
having looked for it, and then having found
something meaningful in a subject some
thing we could think about everyday. With
luck and discipline, we hold on to the creative
space college offers us.
But it is a proving ground. Some people
will take the work they’ve done in school and
run with it, present their next schools with
excellent scores, portfolios and resumes.
Others will join what is jokingly and perhaps
mistakenly referred to as the “real world,” a
Dilbert hell of lame office parties and stupid
bureaucracy. Save us from that, oh, easy col
lege life.
College is a blur really. The day after grad
uation we’re all going to wake up and wonder
how it ended. Was the ceremony right? Was it
long enough? Did it fulfill our need for a for
mal and proper end to an not decorous four
years? Did the commencement speaker talk
about streaking campus while drunk on
vodka? Was that more important than what
she said?
Of course college is a privilege, and comes
at a cost. We’re buying a future, collecting
debts, pissing off our old friends, outgrowing
our hometowns, wrecking cars, losing clothes,
growing freaky hair, flying, driving, spending.
We work our way into a system with old and
deep ruts. We grab for meaning when it flash
es brightly at us. All I’m asking out of life is
the time to think about things I care about,
time to act on what moves me. I’m not sure
that the best way to get it is to ask for it. You
have to take it.
Sarah Corbitt is a senior American studies major
from Charlotte.
times. When I picked up the DTH on Nov. 3,
though, I felt the same disappointment. The
previous Saturday, Sangam, the South Asian
awareness organization, hosted one of its
biggest events of the year, Range Sangam.
Invited to make a special guest appearance,
the Hellenic Students Association practiced
hard once again to put on an excellent show.
Dancing is a big part of Greek culture, and
with our new costumes, we have set it as one
of our personal goals to become as culturally
proactive as possible. It becomes hard though,
when minority groups not receive the atten
tion we deserve. We may not be as large as
some of the other groups on campus, but we
work just as hard and help to make our own
contributions in enhancing the intellectual cli
mate. Learning comes from many different
sources, and small groups, like the Hellenic
Students Association, contribute to it as well.
TakieHondros
HSA PRESIDENT
SENIOR
BIOCHEMISTRY
Practices don't glorify Nike,
damn our economic system
TO THE EDITOR:
Regarding your editorial (“Quiet riot,”
Nov. 5) advising anti-Nike demonstrators not
to disrupt the big game: It seems to me you
have it backwards. It is not the protesters who
need to do more listening, but those who have
not yet listened at all to the invigorating con
cept of social responsibility on the part of the
University. You ask if there is no greater injus
tice to attack I would say not. The fact that,
without Nike’s jobs, the children of southeast
Asia would be on the street, is not a compli
ment to Nike’s employment practices but a
condemnation of the world economic system.
If we face the fact that mega-corporatiOns
actually control the lives of the poor of the
world, then we must ask why they are hot
accountable for their actions, as would be a
government. If in fact corporations are actu
ally governing the world, then who governs
the governors? “Less developed nations,” in
your parlance, are not just less developed,
they are plundered, daily, by such as Nike. To
answer your question, for the thousandth
time: we single out Nike because they are the
ones with the $7.1 million contract with us,
the University. Those who are raising these
questions should be lauded —and listened to.
Dave Lippman
GRADUATE STODENT
COMMUNICATIONS