10
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
BOARD EDITORIALS
STUDENT WATCHDOGS
The Student Fee Audit Committee, which is just beginning its work,
must continue to ensure that groups use student money responsibly.
UNC-Chapel Hill administrators and student
leaders have started to think about potential
tuition scenarios for the next academic year.
At the same time, they are looking at another collec
tion of costs student fees.
A proposal to add $26 to the $312 health service
fee is also in the works, and admissions application
fees might be raised by $lO to S7O.
With such potential fee increases on the table,
students might wonder how their money is being
used, who decides to raise fees and what type of
process is in place to examine the need for increas
es. That’s where the Student Fee Audit Committee
comes in.
The body takes a hard look at the proposed bud
gets of campus organizations in an effort to limit
costs while guaranteeing that students’ money is
coming back to serve them in the utmost capacity.
The audit committee is a powerful tool of student
government —one that works toward making it so
the student body’s money is being spent in the best
possible ways.
This group has the power to influence the people
who make official fee increase recommendations to
higher administrative boards, so each version of the
committee must take care to be fair, rational and
efficient in their work. Members must ensure that
budget proposals made by campus organizations are
within reason and in the best interests of the student
body.
Every student member of the Chancellor’s
Committee on Student Fees also serves on the audit
committee meaning that a reliable line of com
munication connecting the two bodies is established
before members of either committee begin their dis
cussion of fee increase proposals.
The chancellor’s committee is the body that actu
ally makes fee increase proposals, which go before
the University’s Board of Trustees and then to the
UNC-system Board of Governors.
THE WRONG PRIORITY
Race relations should be a concern in the town’s police department
—but a captain’s spot shouldn’t be set aside for a black candidate.
The Chapel Hill Police Department recently
has been criticized for choosing to promote a
white male lieutenant to captain despite the
availability of two black lieutenants.
If race was, indeed, not the deciding factor in the
hiring process, as officials say, then the department
is in the right. The candidates’ qualifications should
have been at the forefront of town officials’ minds, and
there’s little reason to doubt that they were.
Bill Thorpe, a former member of the Chapel Hill
Town Council and a local civil rights leader, wrote a
letter about the promotion to The Daily Tar Heel last
week. In the letter, he took the town to task for not
choosing a black officer to make command decisions.
Thorpe wrote on behalf of the Hank Anderson
Breakfast Club, a small civil rights group that has
been active in local politics. He didn’t suggest the
creation of any type of quota within the department,
but he did comment on the importance of having a
black captain on the police force.
The letter decried the promotion of Lt. Brian
Curran, who is white, over “two qualified black males
and a qualified white female” as a sign of the town
“going backwards.” The recently vacated captaincy
was that of Capt. Bobby Smith, who retired last
month. Smith was the department’s second black
officer to rise to the rank of captain, The (Durham)
Herald-Sun reported.
If the town designated the vacant captaincy for an
officer of a specific color, it would have been contrary
to the goals of those who have worked to improve
civil rights.
The concept of equality should be tied to rewarding
work for its true value, regardless of one’s race. To give
a person a job based on his or her color would serve to
undermine respect for minority applicants who earn
higher-level positions through their own efforts.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions of solely The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Board, and were reached after open debate. The
board consists of six board members, the editorial page associate editor, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2004-05 DTH editor
decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
READERS' rOBUM
Protesting singers weren't
respectful of other views
TO THE EDITOR:
Asa conservative on campus
who firmly believes in hearing
every side of the issue before com
ing to a conclusion and talking
through differences in opinion, I
was appalled by the Missile Dick
Chicks who were featured in a
picture in Tuesday’s issue of The
Daily Tar Heel and who rudely
interrupted my dinner in Lenoir
Dining Hall on Monday.
My problem wasn’t with their
incredibly out-of-tune singing or
even with their outrageous cos
tumes (which might cause night
mares for me in the future). It was
with their total and utter inability
simply to state their views and to
tell me or anyone else their point
of view and factual information
behind it.
A handful of people, includ
ing me, decided to talk to these
women after their performance.
Asa person who believes in
hearing every side of the issue
and then making my decision on
how I will stand, I wanted to find
out more information from them
and to give my own point of view.
However, I was only greeted with
complete sarcasm and the feeling
that they did not know anything
about the issues aside from their
incredibly narrow perception of
them.
This is the problem I’ve found
with a lot of liberals on campus.
By working in conjunction with the chancellor’s
committee, the audit committee becomes repre
sentative of the input that students have in the fee
increase process.
Time is a factor for the audit committee, as the
chancellor’s committee is set to create concrete pro
posals by the end of October. And the all-student
group should make sure that its priorities are straight
in terms of its schedule and the amount of focus it
places on each fee. For one, the committee needs
to continue the work done by student officers last
year to investigate the Counseling and Psychological
Services fee, as CAPS recently has been put under the
microscope by students and parents.
Student Body Treasurer Natalie Russell, who
serves as the committee’s chairwoman, said the
education and technology fees which would be
raised by $73 to $395 under anew proposal will
be discussed when the body meets for the first time
Thursday.
Reviewing every student fee dollar before the
chancellor’s committee forms its final recommen
dations is no small task. The audit committee has
its work cut out for it so it needs to be both effi
cient and thorough in examining campus groups’
proposed budgets.
This year, students saw their fees increase by sl2l.
This particular increase seemed like an afterthought
compared to the tuition hikes that were passed con
troversially by the BOT.
'lhition is certainly an important subject to every
member of the University community. But student
fees, which aren’t necessarily being spent in the most
fiscally responsible manner, warrant serious consid
eration as well.
Students should realize that their leaders have
a system in place to examine student fee increases
—and that administrators aren’t acting arbitrarily
when they raise the amount of money coming out of
the wallets of students and their families.
But Chapel Hill’s department and other police forces
in North Carolina should maintain a foe us on race rela
tions, as concerns about racial profiling and discrimina
tion have affected officers across the state.
That certainly would be a valid subject for the
Hank Anderson Breakfast Club to address. But offi
cials shouldn’t tamper with hiring and promotion
practices which show no signs of being marked by
racial bias in this instance nor should they relegate
merit to secondary status.
The culture within the police department should
be the target of scrutiny. Turning the captaincy into
a token position would have little effect on long-term
race relations.
There have been no red flags waved to indicate
any discrimination in the hiring decision process.
The department promoted the aforementioned two
black officers and the female officer to lieutenant in
October, The Herald-Sun reported. Although Thorpe’s
letter held that the promotion didn’t meet with his
preference, it didn’t indicate any sort of misconduct
on Chapel Hill officials’ part.
Curran has 18 years of experience in the depart
ment. Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane
Cousins told The Herald-Sun that he was most
recently a supervisory lieutenant in the department’s
Investigations Division.
Although there’s no quantifiable way to judge
whether Curran was the best candidate for the job,
the facts seem to confirm this stance.
Progress in terms of civil rights should not be
measured by how many black captains there are on a
police force. Such progress has to do with how people
are being treated.
It’s evident that Chapel Hill officials did the right
thing they promoted an officer based on his quali
fications.
They have such a narrow view and
are so closed-minded that they
would not see the truth about an
issue even if it was right in front
of them.
I’ll listen to them. I don’t have
to agree with them, just as they
don’t have to agree with me.
I only wish that the same
respect I have been willing to give
them was returned.
Billy Constangy
Junior
Political science
Campus Y provides service
opportunities for students
TO THE EDITOR:
Only one organization on cam
pus has had its own building and
has remained there for 96 years.
The Campus Y’s central physical
location is representative of its
role at Carolina; with 16 com
mittees and more than 1,500
members committed to making a
difference on campus and in the
community, it is the largest offi
cially recognized student organi
zation.
This week the Campus Y cele
brates Horizon Week and encour
ages all students to learn more
about our projects.
From serving Hunger Lunch to
participating in Big Buddy pro
grams, from promoting literacy to
improving race relations, we have
a service opportunity for you.
Members of the Campus Y will
Opinion
be in the Pit through Tliesday.
Additionally, the Advocates
for Human Rights Committee
will sponsor a teach-in about the
Sudanese crisis at 7 p.m. Thursday
in Gardner 108, and a movie
exposing modern-day slavery will
be shown Monday at 7 p m. in
Hanes Art Center and will be fol
lowed by a discussion.
Whether you arrived at Carolina
a month ago or have been a mem
ber of the Campus Y for years, we
urge you to celebrate and learn
more about our organization this
week. The Y is a true testament to
the passion and commitment that
UNC’s students share for the pur
suit of social justice.
Mary Zimmerman
Junior
Romance languages
Officials seeking input on
academic progress analysis
TO THE EDITOR:
Have you ever used the degree
audit system, known to many as
the analysis of academic progress,
at http://studentcentral.unc.edu
and not been completely satisfied
with the results you received?
Well, we can’t do anything to
help you if you were disappointed
in your actual academic progress.
But if you would like to help pro
vide input on how the system will
look in the future, this letter is for
you.
The Office of the University
ON THE DAY’S HEWS
*Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish,
hut it will not replace you as the driver
AYN RAND, NOVELIST AND PHILOSOPHER
EDITORIAL CARTOON
' "lit Si
COMMENTARY
You had better call students,
because they won’t call you
Early in the week, the tem
perature hovered in the 50-
degree range. On Saturday,
for the first time since 2001, the
blue-swathed masses in Kenan
Stadium had a home-game win
ning streak to celebrate.
By early October, the leaves will
start to turn —and when the cold
wind finally settles in for good,
they will begin to fall. When we
open our calendars, we don’t have
to turn many pages before we
come across the word “midterms,”
circled twice and underlined in
red.
I don’t think we can deny
it anymore: The semester has
started.
But there’s one big difference
between this time this year and
this time the year before.
It’s cold outside, but if you
want to smoke on campus, you’d
better bring a coat because
you’re not welcome on the balco
nies of the building in which you
live.
The other option is to move
down south, because the only res
idence halls that allow students to
smoke in their rooms are Craige
and Ehringhaus.
The only reason all of the
residence halls aren’t completely
smoke-free is that the University
doesn’t have the power to make
it so. State law holds that the
administration must make a “rea
sonable effort” to provide residen
tial smoking rooms in proportion
to student demand.
How did the Residence Hall
Association, with the help of
the Department of Housing and
Residential Education, come
to the brilliant decision to exile
smokers?
They polled students living on
campus. And I can’t tell you what
a stupid idea that was.
These people including
Registrar, in conjunction with
student government, is looking for
student input on ways to improve
the system with its implementa
tion in the new curriculum.
There will be student input
sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45
a.m.today and Friday. Both ses
sions will be held in room 209
the Sonja Haynes Stone Center
for Black Culture and History. We
hope to see you there!
Brian Phelps
Co-chairman
Academic Affairs Committee
Angelica Matthews
Co-chairwoman
Academic Affairs Committee
News of beheadings is not
receiving enough attention
TO THE EDITOR:
On Monday, anew video was
posted on the Internet of yet
another innocent American hos
tage being decapitated by a mili
tant group believed to be led by
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The number of American sol
diers killed in Iraq has surpassed
1,000, and the number of insur
gent attacks has increased from
700 in March to 2,700 in August.
To make matters worse, the
number of gruesome and inhu
mane beheadings of innocent
hostages has risen as well, mak
ing it evident that the increasing
violence in Iraq is a pivotal issue
MATT COMPTON
POTENTIAL CROSSWORD SPACE ... WASTED
students elected to represent the
interests of everyone living in
University housing and adminis
trators whose job it is to accom
modate all the students in their
charge should have known
better.
They used an online poll sent
out by e-mail, and we all receive
a string of informational e-mails
every day. Of course, only about a
third of the people who received
the message bothered to reply.
By any measure, that’s a paltry
response.
It’s bad business for smokers,
but the news is worse for the stu
dent body as a whole.
If the powers that be have no
qualms about squashing smok
ers, a minority group, they are
showing their hand. They will
only pause a moment more
before they step on the rest of us.
And they’ll do it while touting a
false mandate —a mandate from
students.
In April, students participated
in an open forum with Director of
Athletics Dick Baddour to discuss
the possible placement of perma
nent commercial advertisements
in the Dean Smith Center and
Kenan Stadium.
About 50 students showed up,
and the opinion of the student
body was heard. Judging by the
forum alone, “students” apparent
ly support limited use of advertis
ing in those venues.
Please.
That’s the danger with online
that must be given the utmost
attention.
Whether one likes to read about
it or not, more and more of our
own Americans are being killed in
a ruthless and savage manner that
must not be ignored.
It is painful to see that a decap
itation of an American worker in
Iraq does not even make the front
page anymore.
This turning point in our soci
ety must stimulate one to think of
the dangerous repercussions this
violent war is having on the way
the media and most Americans
view the waging of war and the
loss of human life.
Can you imagine a society in
which trivial news overshadows
the gruesome murders of innocent
Americans during wartime?
Well, now you can.
Mike Tarrant
Freshman
Political science
TO SUBMIT A LETTER: The Daily
Tar Heel welcomes reader comments.
Letters to the editor should be no longer
than 300 words and must be typed,
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DTH reserves the right to edit letters for
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not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH
office at Suite 2409, Carolina Union, mail
them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC
27515 or e-mail them to editdesk@unc.
edu.
QBp omly ®ar MM
By Evann Strathern, evann@email.unc.edu
polls and poorly advertised
forums they don’t measure
anything except the small number
of people who read an e-mail or
bother to peruse a random flier.
It’s not just smoking or signage.
Every year, students bring up
parking and tuition as two of the
most important issues. Every year
that I’ve been here, we’ve seen
the number of parking spaces on
campus go down and the cost of
tuition go up.
These are difficult times of dra
matic change for the University
even under the best conditions,
such changes force students to
make sacrifices..
But the terrible, gut-wrenching
truth as I see it is that we would
have been called upon to make
these sacrifices no matter what we
said in a poorly attended forum or
an ill-advised poll.
Anew semester has started
—and for the past five years, we
have seen student influence on
this administration depreciate.
Right now, more often than not,
our leaders don’t do enough to
gauge student opinion or to bring
our voice to the administration.
As long as this trend contin
ues, our leaders will be complicit
in the steady reduction of our
authority. And it’s not that they
aren’t talking to the administra
tion it’s that they aren’t taking
the time to listen to us.
I cannot say this loudly, clearly
or often enough: Our student
leaders must do more than they
have recently shown themselves
willing to do. We don’t have a
responsibility to come to them.
They have a responsibility to
come to us.
That’s the definition of leader
ship.
Contact Matt Compton
at mattcomp@grnail.com.
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