Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 13, 2006, edition 1 / Page 10
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10 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2006 ioaro EDITORIALS FREE PRESS FOR ALL UNC administrators have historically backed free speech and a free press, but comments by an administrator jeopardize that great tradition. Last week, the opinion page of The Daily Tar Heel published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad, reflecting on the violence stirred by a series of Danish cartoons that offended many Muslims across the globe. Here at UNC, we’re blessed with a history of sup porting an unfettered freedom of the press, even from our campus administration. Chancellor Moeser in particular has done an outstanding job in the past of protecting the autonomy of campus publications, both independent of University control and not. But then along came Margaret Jablonski. The vice chancellor for student affairs responded to the cartoon in an Associated Press article, saying that The Daily Tar Heel has a long history of journalistic indepen dence, but that University officials hope it would use restraint in relation to a topic that is hurtful and offen sive to members of the campus community. “Many of our national media outlets chose not to publish the original pictures or cartoons, and we believe our student paper should have used the same editorial judgment.” No one is denying Jablonski’s right to free speech, nor her need for sensitivity as an administrator for student affairs. But she holds a great deal of author ity and comes off as condemning the actions of an autonomous organization. After years ofthe administration’s backing the DTH’s right to freedom of the press, that reeks of hypocrisy. In 2001, the DTH ran a column by David Horowitz in its Viewpoints section speaking out against slave reparations, causing many to protest at South Building. But Chancellor James Moeser backed the DTH’s edi torial decision. He even went so far as writing, “Our campus community is not afraid to discuss issues that divide us, and we often look at such opportunities as a chance to broaden our horizons and define —and sometimes redefine our personal beliefs.” The administration has shown in the past a clear dedication to open debate. After all, we are a uni LET THE PEOPLE PARK The town of Chapel Hill should pay private businesses to allow the public to use parking lots when those lots would otherwise sit unused. Nothing feels better than killing two birds with a single, well-placed stone. And that is exactly what the town of Chapel Hill or any other municipality could do with regards to a perennial downtown parking shortage and the evil of predatory towing. What would solve both problems? The town simply should throw some money to businesses to convince them to open parking lots to the public when the businesses in question aren’t using them. We’ve all seen the stark, empty lots of places such as University Baptist Church or University Square when cruising around looking for a place to park our automobiles. To be quite honest, it’s very distressing to see all those unused spaces, beckoning to passing motorists like an oasis to a man dying of thirst. Unfortunately unlike that oasis all those prime spots might as well be a hundred miles away for all the good they’ll do you. And what happens if you do park in those spaces? Well, along comes some good ol’ boy in a tow truck and he’ll take your car home with him until his com pany can be paid a ransom often in cash, adding to the suspiciousness. So here we are, stuck between a rock and a hard place, which should lead any rational person to ask, “What am I doing on this side of the rock?” Last semester in an interview with the edito rial board, Chapel Hill Town Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said there were about 3,000 parking spaces in the downtown area. However, we know not all those spots are open to the public. Chapel Hill should offer to pay places with prime real estate to allow folks to park there after busi ness hours. It just seems silly to see large parts of University Square’s lot roped off simply to keep unwanted people from parking there. And it’s just as bad to be walking down Franklin EDITOR'S NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions solely of The Daily Tar Heel editorial board and were reached after open debate. The board consists of six board members, the associate opinion editor, the opinion editor and the DTH editor. The 2005-06 DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials. Address concerns to Public Editor Elizabeth Gregory at elizagre@email.unc.edu. READERS’ FORUM Allred commits to 'standing up' for all student concerns TO THE EDITOR: I would like to thank my oppo nent, Bernard Holloway, for his apology for what was implied dur ing the Young Democrats’ endorse ment forum a few weeks ago. Furthermore, I am glad Bernard has made a public pledge to return the debate of this year’s student body president campaign to the issues students care about most. That is particularly important because there are fundamental dif ferences in the platforms of the two candidates. Bernard’s platform is mainly centered on changing the way student government works and changing the way student govern ment advocates for students. My platform is mostly centered on policy changes that will have an impact on the daily lives of every student on campus. That includes overhauling stu dent health, enhancing academic advising, improving student park ing on campus, providing more field space for athletes and keep ing tuition increases predictable and accountable. My platform might be exten sive, but I want to promise every student right now in this pub lic forum that it is 100 percent versity dedicated to educating our students, and an education that is nothing but incomplete if we don’t receive as much information as possible. The cartoon has angered many, but it should be noted that public discussion has been the result. This year Moeser even signed a written agreement to respect and uphold the press’ freedom of all publi cations, not just the independently run DTH. That same day, the chancellor said, “Even if we had an editorial group that I didn’t trust, that I thought were actually poor journalists and making bad judgments —and (in) the most extreme case, abusing their privilege of putting ink on paper I still think that’s not grounds for our stepping in to censor a newspaper.” While Jablonski does not appear to be trying to censor anyone, it’s a slippery slope once the admin istration becomes involved. It also is unfortunate that an administrator of a university that encourages openness would instead choose to simplify her comments to national rhetoric that draws on unequal comparisons. There is no way to reconcile the University’s stance during the Horowitz affair or even this year’s Jillian Bandes incident —with Jablonski’s state ments now. Because of that, we call on the University to clarify what, if any, position it has on the debate. The University administration owes it to all students to assuage our concerns. Many students have spoken out against the DTH cartoon. Regardless of the disagreement, students should take notice that a University administrator has publicly condemned an independent publica tion’s decision-making process. The DTH has spent 113 years defending its editorial freedom, and though it is run by students, we publish a newspaper of a professional caliber. The decision to run the cartoon was not rushed. We not admin istrators must deal with the consequences of our actions, and we are frilly prepared to do so. Street at 2 a.m. and see some yahoo in a tow truck about to whisk away the only car sitting harm lessly in the parking lot of a church in the center of town. But as much as Chapel Hill might demonstrate socialist leanings at times, we’re not suggesting prop erty rights be thrown out the window. Instead, Chapel Hill should hand over a couple of copies of Mr. Benjamin Franklin every month or two. It’s a win-win situation. Downtown restaurateurs and retailers become more accessible after all, it’s hard to find some where to park to get take-out from Franklin Street Pizza & Pasta unless you want to tack an extra buck onto your bill by parking in a paid lot for all of five minutes. There’s a little extra income for property owners with a good location. And residents can now actually make it downtown and not have to leave by the time the last bus rolls out. Not only that, but it’s got to be cheaper than the town’s buying more land and building a parking lot within easy walking distance of the business district. Really, the only people it would hurt are the tow truck operators that circle around town looking for unsuspecting cars to swoop down on and carry off. And even if the option of the town’s renting public parking from private owners is unpalatable, maybe a deal could be worked out so that businesses could put up parking meters the town could split the take with them. More free parking would be great, but more park ing in general would be an even greater gift to give residents of the town. In fact, if you’d like to see more parking, why don’t you e-mail Mayor Kevin Foy at kevinfoy@townofch apelhill.org it’s his job to represent and to serve you, which surely includes guaranteeing a reasonable place to park. achievable. I know it can be done because my staff and I interviewed more than a hundred students, faculty and administrators before ever putting an idea to paper. In fact, I’ve already made sig nificant progress on many of the proposed changes. I promise that if elected, I will be a strong, independent advocate for students, and I will not ask stu dents to solve their own problems. I will fight unreasonable and disproportionate tuition increases not just for undergraduate stu dents, but especially for graduate and nonresident students. And I will be sure that every dime students pay goes toward services they can take advantage of, not for unused conveniences. I encourage all of you to check out my full platform at my Web site, www.unc.edu/allred. If you have any questions or would like a clarification about my platform points, please visit me in the Pit or send me an e-mail at jsallred@email.unc.edu. I’m glad this debate has returned to substantive issues, and I’m look ing forward to standing up for stu dents and helping Carolina reach its full potential. James Allred Candidate Student body president Opinion Administration duo chastise DTH for publishing cartoon TO THE EDITOR: The Daily Tar Heel has a history of journalistic independence, and with that comes responsibility. Last week’s depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in a student drawn cartoon was hurtful and offensive to members of our cam pus community. The world’s journalists have had to decide whether to show cartoon images of Muhammad that origi nated in Danish newspapers, lead ing to protests and violence. The majority elected not to. The New York Times’ executive editor, Bill Keller, said publishing the cartoons would be “perceived as a particularly deliberate insult” by Muslims. We believe the DTH had a civic responsibility to contextualize its reasoning for entering the global debate with anew cartoon. We support freedom of speech and of the press. We believe a public university is a place to have informed dialogue on difficult and important issues. We also believe our campus should be one that respects all cul tures and religions those we know well and those we are only learning to appreciate more fully. As Chancellor Moeser said in his 2005 State of the University Address, “The essence of the diver FROM THE DAY’S NEWS Tou know there will he a man call at 9 a.m. on Valentine’s Day who wants one red rose delivered to Timbuktu.” BROOKS LOWERY, chapel hill florist manager, on the valentine's day rush * ' 00N By Philip McFee, pip@email.unc.edu mumii Knowledge is power when creating good governence James Madison once wrote, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and the people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power, which knowledge gives.” Two hundred years later, those words still ring true. Information is power, and in the interest of empowering the citizenry, gov ernments have a responsibility to work under the light of public review. Luckily, that review is available in our fair town provided resi dents have the gumption to make it happen. On the federal level, our right to know has been on a steady decline. It’s as if Sept. 11,2001, ->sa§,sffliejsrt of blanket mandate for the government to completely ignore citizens’ right to informa tion. The Clinton era’s support and enhancement of the Freedom of Information Act has been beaten into a hardly recognizable pulp through executive order, the Patriot Act and other un- American assaults on our freedom of knowledge. We have, on the local scale, a chance to redeem ourselves. Chapel Hill can’t claim to be pro tecting valuable state secrets or defending us from foreign espio nage by keeping us in the dark. And they haven’t been doing an awful job, either. Through enough persistence, enough phone calls and enough patience, you can find out almost anything you want to know about how our town works. That is, as long as you know what you’re looking for. It’s time we take the next step. Using the power of the Internet, e-govemment is the way of the future. Technology such as e-mail, Web sites, blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds allows a level of com munication and openness that could only be dreamed of just a few decades ago. sity we seek is not something that can be captured in data. It is intan gible; it deals with the spirit, with the culture of the campus. “I want to extend this idea to every dimension of human inter action, including race, religion, politics and sexuality. “Some of these categories are the very fault lines in the culture wars in America today. This is our raison d’etre. “This University was created at the beginning of the American republic to be a laboratory for democracy. We can show America how to have civil discourse about difficult topics.” We continue to work with the students involved to foster a dia logue of understanding and respect. And we hope the campus seizes this opportunity to come together and learn from this, embracing Chancellor Moeser’s charge. Margaret Jablonski Vice chancellor Student affairs Archie Ervin Associate provost Diversity and multicultural affairs 'BiiOGeiirj http://apps.daHy tarheel.com/blogs /editor.php Discuss letters from the readers’ forum or add your own at the Editor's blog JASON BAKER FEAR AND LOATHING IN CHAPEL HILL The Chapel Hill technology committee has been attempting to take a step in the right direction by trying to get the town to allow them to hold meetings through a listserv. The committee is not trying to supplant regular meetings just add to them by allowing for com munication in an open and freely accessible way that, as an added benefit, is much timelier than waiting for a monthly meeting. That seems like a reasonable request, at least to me. Many of us in the University community couldn’t even imagine having a functioning organization without the assistance of regular listserv communication. And what could be more open than a preserved electronic record of town events delivered to your inbox seconds after action has been taken? But whether due to typi cal bureaucratic hang-ups or intentional sidelining, it has taken months for the technology committee’s request to make it off Town Manager Cal Horton’s desk and onto the council’s agenda. The town management has made reluc tance its trademark when it comes to using the power of technology to present residents with the most accessible, accountable and engag ing government possible. Everyone benefits when gov ernment is made to be more open, more accessible and more avail able to its residents. I think it’s reasonable for the average person to be able to review the town’s budget in detail, whether for abuse, slack or just to know what’s Speak Out We welcome letters to the editor and aim to publish as many as possible. In writing, please follow these simple guidelines: Keep letters under 300 words. Type them. Date them. Sign them; make sure they're signed by no more than two people. If you're a student, include your year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff: Give us your department and phone number. The DTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity. Bring letters to our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union, e-mail them to editdesk@unc.edu, or send them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, N.C., 27515. All letters also will appear in our blogs section. ©lf? IBaily ©ar Ueri. Established 1893 113 years of editorialfreedom RYAN C. TUCK EDITOR, 962-4086 RCTUCKOEMAILUNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS: MON., WEDS., FRI. 2-3 P.M. JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ MANAGING EDITOR. 962-0750 JOSEPH_SCHWARt2OUNC.EDU BRIAN HUDSON NEWS EDITOR, 962-0372 UDESKOUNC.EDU REBECCA WILHELM PROJECTS EDITOR, 962-0750 BECCAO7OEMAILUNC.EDU CHRIS CAMERON OPINION EDITOR, 962-0750 EDITDESKOUNC.EDU BRIANNA BISHOP CITY EDITOR, 962-4209 CITYDESKOUNC.EDU KAVITA PILLAI STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR, 962-4103 STNTOESKOUNC.EDU MARY DUBY BRIANA GORMAN SPORTS CO-EDITORS, 962-4710 SPORTSOUNC.EDU 21{|p Botlij (Ear Hrri going on. I think it’s reasonable for the average person to have the same daily updates available to them that the Town Council does. It seems to be no problem to let council candidates in on the same e-mails as sitting members why should the average resident be any different? The answer, of course, is that keeping control of information is a way to keep power in the hands of the powerful. I don’t think any sane person would claim that Chapel Hill is intentionally lock ing us out of our right to know. The town staff has a legal obligation to share with us most information. But is it truly pro gressive to only take the steps necessary to meet the minimum requirement of the law? What Chapel Hill needs is a vision, not so much on the elected end, but more so on the manage rial end, to make technology an integral part of town operations, and through that, the free distri bution of information a top prior ity in the years to come. And we as residents have a responsibility, too. We haven’t just a right to know what is going on, but an obligation to use this infor mation to better our community. A town budget that is easily accessible to everyone is no great thing without new eyes to look it over. Residents know best their own streets and neighborhoods. They know where the crosswalks ought to go, they know when the best time for trash pickup is and they know when bus stops are in bad places. The easier it is for those people to engage in their own government, the more likely they will. The real power of any commu nity is its people. I hope our town lets them go to work. Contact Jason Baker, a junior political science major, atjason@jasonbaker.us. www.dailytaiheei.coin MEGHAN DAVIS FEATURES EDITOR, 962-4214 FEATURESOUNC.EDU JIM WALSH ARTS ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, 843-4529 ARTSDESKOUNC.EDU GALEN CLARKE PHOTO EDITOR, 962-0750 DTHPHOTOOUNC.EDU LINDSAY NAYLOR KATIE SCHWING COPY CO-EDITORS, 962-4103 JEN ALLIET DANIEL BEDEN DESIGN CO-EDITORS, 962-0750 FEILDING CAGE GRAPHICS AND MULTIMEDIA EDITOR, 962-0246 CHRIS JOHNSON ONLINE EDITOR, 962-0750 ONLINEOUNC.EDU CHRIS COLETTA EMILY STEEL WRITERS'COACHES, 962-0372 ELIZABETH GREGORY PUBLIC EDITOR, (919) 612-6020 EUZAGREOEMAIL.UNC.EDU
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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