10The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, March 24, 1988
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96 th year of editorial freedom
KATHY PETERS, Managing Editor
Karen Bell, Neus Editor
MATT DIVENS. Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Am Editor
MANDY SPENCE, Design Editor
Closed rape hearings needed
No one knows exactly how many
sexual assaults occur each month
on this campus or any other. Campus
police say only one to three rapes are
reported each year. And only nine
rapes were reported to Chapel Hill
police in 1987.
But a campus survey conducted by
the UNC School of Journalism shows
that one of every seven women is raped
during her college years. That means
an average of 450 rapes occur on this
campus each year. These numbers
indicate that the vast majority of
sexual assaults, especially cases of
date acquaintance rape, are never
reported.
In an effort to encourage victims to
report rapes, students and faculty are
trying to secure private student court
trials for rape victims.
The proposed changes to the Instru
ment of Student Judicial Governance
the document that governs the
student judicial system would
guarantee closed hearings for sexual
assault victims. Victims would also be
permitted to have a "personal suppor
ter" present during all hearings, since
they often suffer emotional stress,
flashbacks or breakdowns during
testimony.
Student Congress approved the
proposals Wednesday night, and they
now must be approved by the Faculty
Council and the chancellor.
Under the present student court
rules, a defendant on trial may request
an open hearing. In a hypothetical
sexual assualt case, if the chair of the
Honor Court allowed an open hearing,
Leave PF option open to all
As students pore over the fall 1988
class schedules and scribble potential
schedules in their notebooks, the
Faculty Council's Educational Policy
Committee has recommended changes
jfn the target grade proposal for the
J)assfail system.
j Under the latest proposal, students
jvould still select target grades; If a
Student earns the target grade or
Jiigher, the grade earned would be
JTecorded with a special notation
uch as "PA" or "PB" on the
Student's transcript. If they don't earn
those grades, they would receive the
raditional UP" or WF."
i Receiving credit for good grades
Without risking bad ones is a student's
(lream come true, but the original
foroposal made things a bit too easy,
pncouraging students to register for
courses they would otherwise avoid is
bne thing; allowing them to receive the
$ame grades as students who are
putting themselves under more pres
sure is another.
; The new proposal refutes the "you
fcan't have your cake and eat it too"
Argument. Students can still set target
grades, but their transcripts will note
that those grades were received in
pass fail courses. Thus, they have
incentive to do well in such courses,
fut aren't given an unfair advantage
over students who take courses for
Regular letter grades.
"Qrp-n-Save"
The coming of spring brings birds singing
anew in the fresh gentle breeze; blossoms
i. k: u l i i i i
peeking through their bright green buds:
the smell of an earth reborn in the timeless
splendor of the seasons; and another
semester of superficial banter and sup
pressed urges to do serious physical harm
to your beloved roommate.
By now, the treasured relationshiD vou
I and your roommate have nurtured is
J wearing quite thin. How thin? As thin as
you would be if you were left in Lenoir
for lunch with only $10. What can you do?
j Add some spice to that relationship with
I one or any number of the following
I delightful pranks. So, without further ado,
from the home office in Bughill, N.C., the
j Top 10 Stupid Roommate Tricks for 1988:
J 10. Use your roommate's student ID to
I ; check out library books and donl return
them, leaving himher unable to pre
I register due to library fines.
9. Wrap your roommate in wet toilet
ufar Unl
Jean Lutes, Editor
JON RUST, Managing Editor
KAARIN TlSUE, News Editor
AMY HAMILTON, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
Will Lingo, aty Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
the victim would be forced to give
testimony in front of anyone who
chose to attend. However unlikely that
scenario may be, it could be keeping
victims silent.
Newly-appointed Student Attorney
General David Fountain and Bob
Loggenbaard, deputy chairman of the
Health Policy and Administration
Department, have spearheaded the
drive to amend the student court rules.
Their proposal is directed at the
incidence of date-rape. Victims are less
likely to report rapes if they know they
would have to stand trial in a public
hearing. Particularly in cases when the
victim knows the assailant, she may
not want the assailant to face prison.
By guaranteeing confidentiality to
victims, Fountain and Loggenbaard
hope to accommodate students "who
wish some recourse, in a setting which
is not open to the public, (where they)
can make their point with the support
of the University community." Also,
possible offenders may be less likely
to commit assaults if they can expect
their would-be victims to report them.
Fountain, Loggenbaard and those
who have helped them should be
commended for their efforts. Sexual
assault is a destructive crime, one that
occurs far too often on this campus.
Guaranteeing closed hearings sends a
message to would-be assailants that
they are more likely to be prosecuted.
It also reassures victims that the
University will support their efforts to
fight back against this violent crime.
Stuart Hathaway
Under the new plan, students must
carry 12 academic hours for regular
letter grades to qualify for the pass
fail option. The committee recom
mends that exceptions be granted only
for seniors in their last semester.
It makes sense to prevent a student
from taking four pass fail courses at
once and ending up with four "P A's."
However, the proposal would keep a
substantial number of students from
taking courses pass fail. In fall 1987,
more than 40 percent of students
taking a course pass fail registered for
less than 12 hours of regular grades,
according to the committee's report.
The committee doesn't consider a
course-load "full" unless it includes at
least 12 hours for regular letter grades.
However, circumstances vary greatly
from student to student. A student
involved in extra-curricular activities
or working to pay for school is
carrying a full load with 12 hours
even if three of those hours are
declared pass fail.
The committee members should not
eliminate pass fail as an option for
students who don't meet the 12-hour
requirement. These students should be
allowed to declare courses pass fail
without setting target grades. This
would permit them to experiment
academically without jeopardizing
their grade point averages. Jean
Lutes
paper during the night.
8. Place a personal to your roomie from
a "hot, hungry babe stud" that tells him
her to meet at the Old Well wearing only
a blue ribbon.
7. Tie-dye hisher underwear.
6. Call your roommate's parents and tell
them that you're from the Registrar's Office
and that their child is in serious academic
trouble. Then, leave a message telling your
roomie to call home.
5. Replace your roomie's shampoo with
hydrogen peroxide.
4. Leave a batch of Ex-Lax-chip cookies
out while you're gone.
3. Order pizzas for Hinton James the
whole dorm using your roommate's
name.
2. Write in your roomie for your district's
Student Congress seat.
1. Put vodka in your roomie's contact
lens solution.
Wair ob" grahanm crackers:
my childhood experiences
been lost to time, the once-
-sharp edees of specific adven
tures oiurred into a memory ot use-to-do s.
I remember kickball, the sweet smell of
two-by-fours and the tetanus shots that
went into our clubhouse, and morning
swims in a pool freshly sprinkled with
crabapples. Above all, I remember the
neighborhood's terrain, vague and com
plete in my mind like the painter's first
color wash on the canvas. I see myself with
friends playing army-like games of search
and destroy, and capture the flag.
But in the color wash, a dozen or so
moments stand out with compelling clarity.
In one of these moments, I am four years
old and in kindergarten. I sit at a veneer
topped table with three friends, all of us
in miniscule wooden chairs. We are sharing
an afternoon snack of graham crackers,
which we are eating off brown paper
towels. We also have juice.
As I break my graham cracker in half
along the perforated line, we begin talking
about the war, and the cracker breaks
unevenly. The war is Vietnam and, since
my protective parents prevent me from
watching the news clips, I know it only
as an everpresent, foreboding darkness that
threatens my colorful wash of childhood.
One voice asks if we will have to fight.
Another says no, the war will be over by
the time we are old enough. The last voice
says, knowingly, that we will have our own
war to fight when we get older.
Though I cannot honestly say which of
these voices was mine I wager the second
the scene itself has stuck with me and,
like all such memories, become a point of
self-definition frequently recalled, chewed
like cud until it is finally digested and its
essence absorbed. Here in this moment,
in calamitous conflict with the wondrous
pleasure of the graham cracker, I tasted
gnawing fear and the foul-smelling breath
of war.
Large for my age at four years old, I
ruled the playground and took a great but
No longer Eden
for minorities
To the editor:
The Alma Mater of our great
University glorifies Carolina
UNC, that wonderful, priceless
gem whose luster and brilliance
is incomparable. Our Univer
sity is, in effect, paradise: the
"Southernmost part of
heaven," as it is called by both
those who have left its ivy
covered walls and by those who
wish to breach them.
And yet, there lurks within
our University an apathy that
subtly biases our illustrious
administration against its
minority population. This
apathy, personified in the
administration's refusal to
listen to minority students'
concerns over the Office of
Student Counseling, renders
UNC a paradise lost. The
minority population has been
quietly expelled from the mar
velous paradise enjoyed by
their non-minority counter
parts. Unless this indifference
toward and failure to hear the
minorities is curbed, and
curbed soon, Carolina, "the
brightest star of all," will
rapidly diminish to nothing
more than a dying ember, and
the beautiful Alma Mater will
be a simple lie.
WILLIAM JOHNSON
Junior
Political Science
Soimimeirs shouldn't stone
Irn response to the March 16 letter, "Up
in arms about hypocrisy," I address
-Smyth and Hooper.
Gentlemen, first vou sav that it is not
Jimmy Swaggart's sin that the world is "up
in arms about, only his hypocrisy. You
are incorrect in two senses. I am a
Christian, and unfortunately I know many
people who have rejected Christ. Manv of
my non-Christian friends and family are
I
upset simply because of the fact of Jimmv
Swaggart's sexual immoralitv. Secnnrilv
hypocrisy is a sin it would behoove you
to look into the Z5rd chapter of the Gospel
of Matthew. The entire passage is not auite
a page long, yet you will find that Christ
specifically condemns the hypocrisy of men
six times. Christ saw hvoocrisv as a sin
before this "nation," or, as you would say,
"anyone with morals" was outraged hv
Jimmy Swaggart's sin.
You sav that "onlv Christians are
outraged that Swaggart was with a
prostitute." Gentlemen, the Christians that
you refer to are simply being hypocrites
themselves, lo see a tallen Brother in
Christ, and not have mercv for him. is a
sin of omission; likewise, by acting as if
they have never sinned, these Christians
are committing the sin of hvoocrisv. To
verify this, read the 23rd verse of the
passage already mentioned. You will see
that Christ castigates men who are without
mercy. Also see 2 Corinthians 2: 5-11, in
which the apostle Paul writes that we
should forgive and comfort those strug
gling with sin. One final point about
outraged Christians : some people are
Louis Corrigan
From the Womb
friendly pleasure in swinging other boys
around like a windmill. No doubt it was
my utter confidence in my physical strength
and agility that caused this sudden
realization of war to strike me so forcefully.
I enjoyed my life so much that I could
not bear the thought of combat, of
encountering a force that could easily
destroy me.
I come to these thoughts by way of two
recent events: President Reagan's ordering
3,500 American troops to Honduras and
a recent Rolling Stone survey of the baby
boom generation.
Since registering for the draft four years
ago, I have faced the fact that there is no
possible situation that would compel me
to fight for my country. I will fight with
my lover, my friends and my parents, but
I simply won't fight for a foreign policy
conceived in idiocy and executed with
profound indifference for the civilized
values I do my best to maintain.
If a thief entered my home, I'd throw
a paperweight at his head and clobber him
with a wine bottle. If Chapel Hill were
attacked by blue demons or State students
wielding pitchforks, I would empty my
bookcase to build a bunker and contribute
my futon to the barricade on Franklin
Street. If the Mexicans invaded Texas, I'd
write a clever letter to their president asking
if he planned to finance the war with
American bank loans.
Seriously, the domino theory about
Central America has done as much good
as has funding the contras in their
ridiculous attempt to oust the popularly
backed Sandinista government. After all,
the last genuine threat to American soil
came 25 years ago with the Cuban Missile
Crisis. With significant reforms under way
Readers5 Foramn
TflE 5ADTR0TO BEHINDThe
LUCKY CHARriS LEPRECHAUN
iTBe-ft' rtgr- UP A SUBMACHINE, GUN AT
Just a
bleeding-heart liberals com
plain about if the press por
trayed an accurate and unbi
ased picture of life in these
countries? No more anti
apartheid screaming, no more
anti-CIA frenzies and no more
"Kiss-ins." How depressing
that would be for those indi
viduals who have nothing bet
ter to do than complain about
problems in other peoples'
countries.
That's another thing: why are
. they getting so steamed about
a country that they have never
been to, will never go to and
probably would never want to
live in anyway? I have formed
a theory that it is just the "in"
laughing matter
To the editor:
I am writing in response to
Danielle Nieman's letter of
March 22. The Israeli problem
she points out is one of media
coverage, but the same case can
be made about South Africa.
The majority of the apartheid
problems are confined to the
black "nations," with the rest
of the land being fairly "civil
ized." However, the press is
always looking for wars,
murders, beatings and other
such things to hold the mindless
populace in thrall.
Anyway, what could all the
Michael Andrews
Guest Writer
very religious, and some people talk about
their own righteousness, but this does not
mean that these people have made Christ
their Lord. I am simply saying that anyone
can talk Christ even those that do not
know Him.
In your third paragraph, you say that
because of his character flaws, the public
can no longer trust Swaggart in a position
of power. Gentlemen, when did. "the.
public" ever trust in Jimmy Swaggart?
More importantly, when did Jimmy
Swaggart ever say, "Trust in me?" Jimmy
Swaggart's ministry has not been without
flaw. By no means; he is just a man and,
therefore, is not perfect. But gentlemen,
if the "public," as you say, had trusted in
Swaggart and by that I mean trusted
in the fact that what he is professing is
the Truth then the same "public" would
know what Christ is all about: love, grace
and mercy. So once again you incorporate
a false premise. The public never did trust
Swaggart; if they had, they would not have
put faith in him, but in Jesus Christ, who
is perfect. Putting faith in Christ, the public
would have applied to this situation one
of the teachings of Christ. It is found in
the Gospel of John. The Lord is speaking
to a group of hypocrites with high rank
in the Jewish community (they are called
an easy call
in both the Soviet Union and China, our
nation is more secure than in recent
memory. Despite uncertainty in economic
markets, the nation is still enjoying its
longest peacetime economic expansion
ever. Global economic interdependence, if
viewed properly, can serve as a source of
good will, rather than a cause for protec
tionisism. And we would enjoy this
security, were it not for the peculiar
wisdom of foreign affairs that suggests
America must make symbolic gestures that
irritate foreigners and U.S. citizens alike
to protect so-called national interests.
(Greenpeace, by the way, reports that
Middle East oil costs $170 rather than $17
a barrel if U.S. military costs incurred there
are included. That money would do
wonders for the Texas economy.)
To my pleasant surprise, Rolling Stone's
recent poll found that 27 percent of the
men surveyed could not think of any
situation that would lead them to enlist
in the military. Only about 20 percent
would enlist to keep a Third World country
from falling to the communists or to
protect America's strategic interests. Two
thirds of male baby boomers would sit out
an attack on a close European ally. Only
in the case of war in Mexico or Canada
would a majority (73 percent) enlist in the
cause. v
Such numbers illustrate continued
repercussions from the Vietnam War and
the prevailing anti-interventionist senti
ment. Yet, Reagan's decision last week
highlights the continued failure of Amer
ican leadership. If the lack of popular
support for the Vietnam War was so crucial
to American military failure, why does
Reagan insist on a Central American policy
the American people so oppose?
If Nicaragua is the issue, 111 stay home
and eat graham crackers with the growing
number of my non-interventionist
compatriots.
Louis Corrigan is an Evening College
student Jrom Atlanta, Ga.
OF THE. FAfMS
CHARMS, eU ? VLL 3
SOBrtfXCmNE.
thing to do nowadays like
add-a-beads and driving your
Mom's BMW. How would they
feel if another country formed
fanatical student groups pro
testing the "Great Satan" of the
United States while burning
American flags in the street?
They would do exactly what
everyone does when they see
Iranian students they'd
laugh.
Come to think about it, if
you listen to the countries these
protestors attack, you can hear
them laughing. I know I am.
RICHARD POLLARD
Medical Student
wa
Pharisees). These hypocrites are about to
murder a woman for committing the sin
of adultery (a sin of sexual immorality).
This is what the Lord says: "If any of you
is without sin, let him be the first to throw
a stone at her" (John 8:7). In pointing
fingers at Swaggart hypocrisy, are you not
guilty of the same? For who on this earth
has never sinned? Who has never been a
hypocrite? Not you, gentlemen, and
certainly not I. All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God.
You men are paragons of pride and
hypocrisy; you stand in proud judgment
of Swaggart while one who is greater than
you righteously judges you for your own
hypocrisy. Ultimately, gentlemen, you are
guilty of the greatest hypocrisy ever to
exist; you propagate ignorance within
yourselves and others. You totally reject
the one who came to this world, lived a
perfect, holy, sinless life and then died that
we, I and you, could have Life through
faith in Him and Him alone; not by trusting
in ourselves, for we are all sinful. Jesus
Christ lived a perfect life in this world and
is perfect on his throne in Heaven trust
and faith in Him are well-founded. Rather
than judge men by your own faulty means,
I challenge you both to disregard your ill
begotten concern with Jimmy Swaggart
and learn the Truth of Jesus Christ. His
is the only perfect standard.
Michael Andrews is a sophomore
English major from Matthews.
ggart