10The Daily Tar Hc-elThursday. March 24, 1983
cHif lathi cHar Mtti
91st year of editorial freedom
Kerry DeRochi, Editor
ALISON DAVIS, Managing Editor JEFF HlDAY. Associate Editor
LlSAPULLEN, University Editor JOHN CONWAY, City Editor
CHRISTINE MANUEL, State and National Editor KAREN FISHER, Features Editor
MIKE DESlSTI, Sports Editor JEFF GROVE, Arts Editor
BILL RlEDY, News Editor CHARLES W. LEDFORD, Photography Editor
W
hen violence becomes a spectator sport
By KELL Y SIMMONS
Time to divest
Today's meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment is de
signed to conclude the question of divestment. The UNC Public Interest
Research Group has petitioned the board to establish a "socially respon
sible policy " to divest UNC of all holdings in companies with economic
ties to the apartheid regime in South Africa.
The idea of divestment is complex. Supporters believe economic
pressure will alter the racism, in South Africa. Opponents argue divest
ment wouldn't make any difference.
However, if nothing else, divestment is a symbolic gesture in defiance
of apartheid government and the oppression it 'stands for. As an institu
tion of higher learning, the University should begin proceedings to dis
solve all links with the apartheid and make a real commitment to oppos
ing racial oppression.
Apartheid regime
The institutional foundation of South African society is racism.
Human rights there apply only to whites, not to the 72 percent black ma
jority. Blacks cannot vote, and their educational opportunities are scarce.
To sustain the oppression, the South African government has developed a
powerful military force which crushes all popular uprisings.
UNC has about $2 million invested in South Africa through corpora
tions operating there. About $651,000 is invested in General Motors
Corp., a company which in 1977 drew up contingency plans stating that it
would cooperate with the South African government "in the event of
civil unrest."
On Feb. 8, students voted to change that, by passing a resolution to
have the University divest its stock from corporations in South Africa
and to implement a task force with student representatives that could
help monitor University holdings.
PIRG first attempted to address the Endowment Board on divestment
in October. The issue was deferred until February. Then, PIRG members
were given 10 minutes to address the board with the group's arguments.
It wasn't enough time. As PIRG member. Harvey Jenkins said, "We
presented only a slice of our knowledge and research."
But it was PIRG's only chance. All board meetings have been closed
and today's is no exception. Several UNC officials, including Student
Body President Kevin Monroe, were invited to attend. PIRG's request
for two representatives was refused.
! Draw the line
Critics have argued that large scale divestment would strip the United
States of any potential input into the South African government to pro
mote change. Hamish Stevenson, a UNC student from South Africa,
says divestment "would be advocating total revolution." John A. Tate,
chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment, says," Why is only
South Africa under attack?" He argues that holdings in South Africa
should not be judged without considering the investments in other coun
tries. He points out that there are several other countries with philoso
phies apart from the United States with which UNC deals financially.
A threshold determination must be made: racism is the greater prob
lem, involving the moral question of oppressing others simply because of
skin color. In the United States, racism is subtle beneath the guise of civil
rights legislation. In South Africa, it is encouraged by the government.
Laws uphold segregation.
UNC's removal of $2 million from South African-located companies
probably will do little to alter the apartheid regime. U.S. corporations as
a whole constitute only 16 percent of the foreign corporate involvement
in South Africa. But as a symbolic gesture, the impact of divestment
would be immense. As it now stands, UNC indirectly lends support to
and profits from the institutional racism in South Africa. Although Tate
has argued that endowment funds come from private sources and are
literally not the property of the state of North Carolina, the University's
name is still attached to those funds.
The logistics
The administration has pointed to the logistical problems of divestment
not to mention the possible financial loss. However, according to the
director of investments and trusts at Michigan State University, which
divested $7.5 million four years ago, alternative investments have earned
MSU an additional $1 million as of June 1980.
Farris Womack, vice chancellor for business and finance,
acknowledges that UNC can reinvest its funds, but not "with the snap of
a finger." Endowment funds are managed by investment counselors that
could be instructed not to invest in companies with financial ties to South
Africa. .
That's where the task force comes in. By monitoring the companies
with UNC holdings, the group could help University officials ensure that
no UNC money would go to the support of apartheid.
The administration of the funds of a University, an institution of
higher learning, carries with it a commitment to social responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility is important, however; the University should ensure
that its investments serve no unjust ends. Clearly, under the present
system in South Africa profit and justice are at odds, and UNC is on the
side of profit. Divestment not only will redeem the University's tainted
image, but also will serve to put it back in pursuit of social improvement,
away from what amounts to exploitation of a social imbalance.
On the night of March 6, a woman went into Big Dan's
tavern in New Bedford, Mass., to buy a package of
cigarettes. She remained in the bar long enough to have a
drink and talk to a friend. On her way out, four men
blocked her path, stripped her of her pants and gang
raped her on a pool table.
The event that took place in the tavern that night was
not a case of everyday assault. Instead it was an event
powerful enough to warrant a candlelight procession of
3,000 women marching silently, protesting the rape of a
21-year-old mother of two. ,
What they were marching for was the horrifying fact
that at least 15 men stood and observed the event without
offering any assistance to the woman or calling the police.
For two hours, the men watched and encouraged four
rapists as they repeatedly assaulted their victim.
To them it was a sporting event, a game provided for
their entertainment. Like a cheering section for the
"team," they remained in the bar yelling "go for it" and
providing the encouragement needed for the men to con
tinue the attack.
Later, after the woman had fled the bar and returned
with police, beer was flowing and business had resumed.
The men were laughing and drinking as if they were
athletes celebrating their victory. Two of the accused
rapists were arrested at the bar.
Because of the vagueness of the circumstances, no one
can be really sure what the conditions were inside the bar
that night. The bartender testified that he tried to call the
police, but was stopped by patrons of the bar. Here
another issue is raised did the bartender at Big Dan's
have a moral responsibility to the woman, possibly at the
risk of his own life?
Ethically, yes. Rape is a violent crime, and anyone who
can stand idly by and witness it is as guilty as if he had
commited the act himself. "
So many times when a woman has been raped, the
blame is thrown back on her. Several men in Big Dan's
made comments such as "she encouraged the advances;
she asked for it." And there were some rumors that she
had had a prior affair with one of the men.
The apathy of the bar patrons is not restricted to just
this one example. Last week, for example, two camera
men in Jacksonville, Ala., watched as Cecil Andrews set
fire to himself. The two men let Andrews burn for 37
' seconds before helping him. They were after a news story,
which to them was more important than the life of
another human being.
In a situation such as this, where is a person's moral
obligation? Fifteen men seemed to feel no sense of duty to
help save a woman from a violent attack; and two men
considered sensationalism more important than human
life.
Have we developed into a society which can witness an act of
violence and then stand back and watch with interest, or else
remain uninvolved?
Even in this light, rape is rape. When a woman is held
against her will and then subjected to public humiliation,
her private rights have been violated." She is the victim, she
has been raped, and she probably will have to suffer the
memory of it the rest of her, life.
Even if she did make any kind of advances toward the
men, that still would not justify the brutality and the
humiliation the woman was forced to endure for a gruel
ing two hours; two hours that must have felt like days or
weeks.
Today's society turns to violence as a form of entertain
ment in television, movies and even professional sports
events. But have we also developed into a society which
can witness a blatant act of violence and then stand back
and watch with interest, or else remain unattached in
order not to be involved?
Somewhere inside the men in Big Dan's that night there
was surely a sense of compassion maybe even the tiniest
twinge of a guilty conscience due to what they were wit
nessing. Perhaps the men were mtirnidated by the rapists;
maybe they felt that as long' as the woman was left alive,
everything would be all right. Maybe all 15 men enjoyed
the exhibition and had no qualms about it. And, depend
ing on the amount of justice the victim receives during the
trial, it could happen again in another place, to another
undeserving woman. As long as people can sit by and be
entertained by violence without the fear of being held
responsible, this will continue to occur.
Kelly Simmons, a sophomore journalism and English
major from Reidsville, is an editorial writer for The Daily
Tar Heel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Gay awareness activities under attack
To the editor:
A letter came across my desk today con
cerning homosexuals on the UNC campus
organized as the Carolina Gay Associa- .
tion. The letter was written in frustration
and disgust at the preferential treatment
given those practicing deviant behavior.
The tone of the letter suggested anger
directed to the attitudes in the area en
couraging homosexual activity.
While we feel no anger toward homo
sexuals who do not accost us, there are
those of us who believe that greyhounds
(after the famous "Greyhound"
restaurant scene in Dan Jenkins' Baja
Oklahoma) are not gay, but sad and de
viant people, indeed. Homosexuals do not
"practice an alternative lifestyle," but
rather engage in acts that sicken both their
minds and (most particularly in light of the
AIDS disease) their bodies. We consider
homosexuality as an act to be legally and
morally a perversion (in accordance with
the vast majority of our society) and as a
continuing practice to be a serious in
dividual sickness, akin to drug addiction
and alcoholism.
As it is a sickness, we do not blithely
condemn the individual, but encourage the
person to discard the unhealthy habit in
which she or he has become involved.
With regard to the campus organization
known as the Carolina Gay Association,
we feel that entirely too much support has
been given to this attempt at legitimizing
abberation. We who are left (far and away
the majority, straight and heterosexual)
are tired of being the victims of reverse
discrimination, de facto el de jure.
We are, accordingly, forming the
Carolina Straight Association, with the
goals of promoting awareness of, and pride
in, our great heterosexual heritage. We feel
this is important because it is so universal
that practically everybody born in the last
two centuries was involved in heterosexual
activity. The association will act as a
fraternal organization and awareness sup
port group. Have you been accosted and
embarrassed by some greyhound? The as
sociation can provide support to get over
such nasty encounters. Do you want more
friends Of your own beliefs to party with,
go out with or go to the beach with?
That's easily done with association
members. Remember our motto: "Almost
everybody you know is straight."
Which brings us to another point. Be
lieving, as we do, that promotion of
heterosexual lifestyles (active or temporari
ly abstaining) is very important, we are
designating Friday, March 25, and Mon
day, March 28, as Shoe Days, the two-day
kickoff to Straight Awareness Year. We
ask all students and faculty and staff mem
bers who are heterosexual or who support
heterosexualism to wear shoes during Shoe
Days. As a further expression of
brotherhood, solidarity and militant ac
tivism, we ask that all who support us par
ticipate in Straight Awareness Year, or as
We straights fondly call it, Clothes Year,
with the participant wearing any kinds of
clothes, especially in inclement weather.
This includes blue jeans, which are honor
able work clothes which may not be co
opted by a greyhound group as its uni
form. As a final point, the association will in
all likelihood be seeking both funding and
office space from the University and the
Carolina Union. As there are far more
straights than greyhounds on campus, we
know that this administration will give us
more money and office space than the
Carolina Greyhound Army receives.
Membership in the Carolina . Straight
Association is open to all students at
Carolina, in accordance with University
regulations. Wre welcome all. Huzzah for
the association!
Jase Valentine
Carrboro'
Why blue jeans?
To the editor:
In i response to the article concerning Gay
Awareness Week ("CGA pushes aware-
ness," DTH, March 18) regarding the
designation of Friday, March 25, as Blue
Jeans Day, we would like to convey our
feelings of appallment that the CGA, in
their quest for attention and recognition,
would choose an ordinary item of clothing
such as blue jeans to be their symbol of
unity. We would like to remind the mem
bers of the CGA that blue jeans are a
popular and common attire of men and
women of all ages, regardless of their sex
ual preferences. It is. not our desire to
persecute the members of the CGA, but
we feel that the choice of blue jeans is an
unjust inconvenience upon the non-gay
population of this university.
We suggest that the CGA members and
supporters wear some distinctive article of
clothing that is not as restrictive as blue
jeans, such as a pink shirt or some other
similar article. Realizing that some people
will avoid wearing blue jeans and others
will be ignorant of their significance, we
ask that some other article of clothing,
such as a dark blue shirt, be designated as
a symbol for those who are not in accor
dance with the CGA.
Our purpose is not to. deny the CGA
members their day of recognition, but
merely not to allow them to do so at the
expense of others.
Bob Smith
Winston
Mark Brooks
Ehringhaus
No tolerance in translation
i "p w ;
To the editor:
It is true that the Bible does attack
homosexuality, as Tracey St. Pierre states
in "Homosexuality from a Biblical stand
point," (DTH, March 23). But that same
Bible states that it is against God's will
for a man to shave his beard. Just ask the
Amish; they don't drive cars, have indoor
plumbing, or utilize electricity, all for the
same reason.
The truth is that religious intolerance
has caused mfinitely more suffering in
this country alone than any amount of
promiscuity or enlightened thought ever
could. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I
sensed that Christianity was all about the
alleviation of suffering. Because of the
system of government in this country,
people are free to believe that which they
wish. But ' thank goodness that our
forefathers had the insight to found our
country on the fundamental separation of
church and state. It is this basic tenet
which insures that St. Pierre's religious
beliefs can never be forced on me.
Doug Wilson
Carrboro
Labs need recognition
To the editor:
Geology two hours, biology three
hours, chemistry four hours. All labs
which count for one hour of credit. When
taking a physical science at UNC, it is
common to be required to take a cor
responding lab, but the time ind work
one spends on these classes usually ex
ceeds one hour's time. It sometimes ex
ceeds time spent in a lecture class.
The work load in a lab is equal to any
other three-hour credit class, and the labs
and exercises are not always finished dur
ing the lab period. Preparation for exams
is the same as it is for a lecture class, with
the exception of the final exam during the7
exam week at the end of the semester.
Labs are necessary and are helpful in
understanding the science a student is
taking, but aren't they worth more than
one hour of recognition?
' Stephanie Colweil
Granville
Biblical babble
To the editor:
In response to Tracey SU Pierre's let
ter, "Homosexuality from a Biblical
standpoint," (DTH, March 23):
Yes, the Carolina Gay Association is
sponsoring a speaker who will discuss
spirituality and homosexuality precise
ly to dispel the kind of religious ignorance
evidenced by her letter. It sounds as if she
considers herself an eminent Biblical
authority. I notice that most of the
references are to the "New Testament,"
otherwise known as the Christian Bible.
Does she read fluent Hebrew and
fluent Greek? I will wager that, like most
religious fanatics I have met, she has not
read either the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew
or the Christian Bible in Greek. How,
then, can she pretend to be an authority
on Biblical wisdom if, in fact, she has ac
cepted a translation of a translation of a
translation? Has she read the apocryphal
writings? Does she know how the Bible
was written in the first place? Does she
know that "the word of God" has been
edited, re-edited, added to, deleted from,
translated and mistranslated for genera
tions by all manner of both sincere and
misguided souls not to mention
outright sexists (e.g. those who omitted
the female origin of Jehovah in the
Hebrew Bible).
How can she pontificate about
homosexuality or any other matter if she
does not know how the Bible was written
and why? If she cannot de-mystify the
Bible long enough to study it objectively
to know that its present form is very
much a human creation then she will
not be able to distinguish the word of
God from the word of people. And her
views on homosexuality are very much a
reflection of the latter.
Bigotry, as I recall, is far from a Godly
attribute. Prejudiced people the world
over have used their religion to justify the
most insane of tenets (e.g. blacks are in
ferior to whites, homosexuality is sinful,
women are submissive to men, Jews are
excluded from the blessings of paradise,
nuclear warfare is God's plan for
America, .ad nauseam). Must you
perpetuate the mistake?
Rebecca Benezra
Craige
Blue jeans explained
To the editor:
This Friday, March 25, the
Carolina Gay Association will spon
sor their annual Blue Jeans Day as
part of Gay Awareness Week. In pre
vious years this event has sparked
lively discussion and . controversy,
hence we feel that this letter ex
plaining the rationale behind Blue
Jeans Day is in order.
Most gay men and women must
worry every day about how they will v
appear to society; that is, how open
they will be about their sexual and
romantic orientation. Most gay men
and women must put on a mask, so
to speak, every morning in order to
appear "straight" and to avoid dis
crimination and -verbalphysical
abuse. The incident at Little River of
two years ago clearly drives home
how close and real this danger of dis
crimination and abuse is, even in a
relatively' liberal community such as
Chapel Hill.
The rationale behind Blue Jeans
Day, therefore, is to turn the tables
on the "straight" community. On
that day "straight" people must
decide whether or not to wear their
jeans and "risk" being identified as a
gay person or a gay sympathizer. In
other words, they must consciously
make a decision on how they are go
ing to appear to society, a decision
that gay men and women must make
every day.
. We of the Carolina Gay Associa
tion sincerely hope that all of those
who believe that gay men and women
should have the same rights and
privileges as everybody else, those
who openly support the gay rights
movement, and those who may be
gay or bisexual themselves will wear
their jeans on Friday in recognition
of the problems and decisions that
gay men and women face everywhere
and everyday.
- i
Joseph E. Carter
President, Carolina Gay Association
Concert coverage
To the editor:
The Daily Tar Heel must carry part of
the blame for not generating enough stu
dent support if the Carolina Concert for
Children should turn out to be a failure.
Granted, the future of a spring concert
has been uncertain throughout the
semester. Keeping students up to date on
the most recent developments would have
been a difficult task, but considering the
substantial money involved, the DTH
could have tried.
The lack of information about the con
cert has caused an apathetic student
body. Not the lack of big name bands
and the" alcohol ban as H. Matthew
Clements claimed in his letter to the
editor, ("Lousy bands, no alcohol doom
concert," DTHt March 3). Last year's
Chapel Thrill showed us that big names
will not necessarily guarantee student
satisfaction.' I hope Clements is incorrect
in assuming that a concert without
alcohol is doomed. This would be a very
sad sign of our times. As we see at foot
ball games, an alcohol ban is unable to
prevent alcohol consumption. So
students who feel it necessary to drink
will still attend the conert and do what is
done at football games. I hope the DTH
does not print any more negative articles
about the concert and instead gives it the
paper's full support. If not.the skeptics'
predictions of a doomed concert will be
fulfilled.
Markus Steiner
Connor