8The Daily Tar HeelThursday, October 13, 1988
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96th year of editorial freedom
Karen Bell, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K. RUST, Managing Editor
Will Lingo, city Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Arts Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
DAVID MINTON,
Boxing in town
A great thing about Chapel Hill is
that it's always easy to find a news
paper. News racks of all sizes and
colors are clumped haphazardly on the
Franklin Street sidewalks, adding to
the town's quaint yet cosmopolitan
charm. It's heartening that so many
people here read about their surround
ings, that so many curious minds
forage among the town's ample news
selection.
But some Chapel Hill officials think
the news racks detract from the town's
appearance. They say the racks block
pedestrian traffic and cause litter, and
they imply that the different colors and
sizes of the boxes, coupled with their
random arrangement, are unsightly.
They propose that the boxes be
consolidated in one area, or that the
town lease spaces in generic drop
boxes to newspapers.
The proposals are hard to justify.
Certainly no one, from bikers to
wheelchair-users, should have trouble
maneuvering around the racks. And
as long as there are newspapers,
thoughtless people will drop them on
the ground; moving the news racks
would move the litter, not eliminate
it. As for the charges of unsightliness,
that's a matter of taste.
Deb
ate withdrawal admira
Tonight, the American people are
to be hoodwinked again, according to
Nancy Newman, the president of the
League of Women Voters.
Just after the first George Bush
Michael Dukakis debate, Newman
announced that the league would drop
its sponsorship of the presidential
debates. She said the campaign leaders
agreed in advance on the debate's
format and staging without soliciting
or considering suggestions from the
league, the event's primary sponsor.
The league's primary reason for
pulling out was the lack of involvement
of the league in the agreement, she
said.
Such an agreement, Newman said,
"would perpetrate a fraud on the
American voter" and "add debates to
their (Bush and Dukakis list of
campaign-trail charades devoid of
substance, spontaneity and honest
answers to tough questions."
The last debate was rather . . .
sedated. With every response planned
carefully, neither candidate made any
serious gaffes, and both came across
fairly well in the sound bites the
television networks replayed several
hundred times. But neither truly
discussed the issues as much as 1)
whether their running mates were
suitable for office; 2) whether they
cared about the American people and
ending drug use among the nation's
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Louis Bissette, Sandy Dimsdale, Dave Hall and David Starnes.
Assistant Editors: Jenny Cloningcr and Justin McGuire, university. Staci Cox and William Taggart,
state and national. Felisa Neuringer and Clay Thorp, managing. Dave Glenn, Andrew Podolsky and
Chris Spencer, sports.
News: Lynn Ainsworth, Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, John Bakht, David Ball, Crystal Bernstein, James
Benton, Tammy Blackard, Patricia Brown, Charles Brittain, Brenda Campbell, Julie Campbell, Lacy
Churchill, Daniel Conover, L.D. Curie, Karen Dunn, Erik Flippo, Laura Francis, Lynn Goswick, Eric
Gribbin, Susan Holdsclaw, Kyle Hudson, Helen Jones, Chris Landgraff, Jessica Lanning, Bethany Litton,
Lauren Martin, Helle Nielsen, Glen O'Neal, Beth Rhea, Thorn Solomon, Michael Spinas, Larry Stone,
William Taggart, Laura Taylor, Kathryne Tovo, Sandy Wall, Amy Weisner and Amy Winslow. Elizabeth
Bass, Laura Hough, Dorothy Hutson and Peter Lineberry, wire typists.
Sports: Neil Amato, Mark Anderson, Robert D'Arruda, John Bland, Steve Giles, Doug Hoogervorst,
Bethany Litton, Brendan Mathews, Jay Reed, Jamie Rosenberg, Natalie Sekicky, Dave Surowiecki,
Lisa Swicegood, Eric Wagnon and Langston Wertz.
Features: David Abernathy, Cheryl Allen, Craig Allen, Jo Lee Credle, Jackie Douglas, Mary Jo
Dunnington, Hart Miles, Myrna Miller, Kathy Peters, Cheryl Pond, Leigh Pressley and Ellen Thornton.
Arts: Randy Basinger, Clark Benbow, Cara Bonnett, Beth Bufflngton, Ashley Campbell, Elizabeth Ellen,
Andrew Lawlcr, Julie Olson, Joseph Rhea, Nancy Szakacs and Jessica Yates.
Photography: Brian Foley, David Foster, Becky Kirkland, Tony Mansfield, Belinda Morris and Dave
Surowiecki. -
Copy Editors: Cara Bonnett, Michelle Casale, Yvette Cook, Julia Coon, Whitney Cork, Joy Golden,
Bert Hackney, Susan Holdsclaw, Anne Isenhower, Gary Johnson, Angelia Poteat and Steve Wilson.
Editorial Assistants: Beth Altman, Mark Chilton, Jill Doss, Sandi Hungerford and Kelly Thompson.
Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Adam Cohen, Pete Corson, Trey Entwistle, Luis Hernandez and Greg
Humphreys. .
Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan Worth,
advertising coordinator; Chrissy Mennitt, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager; Michelle
Harris, Sarah Hoskins, Amy McGuirt, Maureen Mclntyre, Denise Neely, Tina Perry, Lesley Renwrick,
Amanda Tilley and Joye Wiley, display advertising representatives; Leisa Hawley, creative director;
Dan Raasch, marketing director; Diane Quatrecasas, sales assistant; Diane Cheek and Stephanie Chesson
classified advertising representatives; and Jeff Carlson, secretary.
Subscriptions: Cody McKinney, manager.
Distribution: David Econopouly, manager; Cindy Cowan, assistant.
Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn, coordinators. Anita Bentley, Leslie Humphrey, Stephanie
Locklear and Leslie Sapp, assistants.
Printing: The Village Companies.
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Jean Lutes, Editor ;
KAARIN TlSUE, News Editor
LAURA VEARUAAN, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
KIM DONEHOWER, Design Editor ,
Photography Editor
newspapers
Placing all the newspapers in town
owned boxes an action too extreme
to be likely, according to Cassandra
Sloop, head of the Chapel Hill
Appearance Commission sounds
more like a scene from a big city than
from Chapel Hill.
Even if everyone agreed that the
newspaper racks should be made more
orderly, town officials should give
newspaper carriers a chance to solve
the problem on their own before
enacting an ordinance.
There's a much more serious issue
at stake than appearances: news racks
are, at least in part, protected by the
First Amendment. Trying to regulate
press distribution could be perceived
as a step toward censorship, and it
would be a very sticky undertaking.
The ordinance would have to be
carefully worded, so future town
officials would not be able to use it
to interfere with the operations of a
newspaper that had criticized them.
No matter how well-intended the
ordinance, the idea of guidelines for
newspaper distribution is unsettling.
Officials who are supposed to uphold
the First Amendment should not tell
journalists where and how to sell
newspapers. Matt Bivens
young people; and 3) whether they
wanted the economy to fail. What
politician would answer "no" to any
of those questions?
The league long has been a nonpar
tisan supporter of public debate during
elections. League workers truly believe
what so many politicians say they
believe: we don't care for whom you
vote, if you just vote. The role they
have played in past elections is an
admirable one.
Now the league is disillusioned with
the entire debate process because of
conniving campaign managers who
want their respective candidates to win
so badly they are overlooking the
primary goal of a campaign: convinc
ing voters they should vote for one
candidate because of his qualifications
and what he believes in. That's the
reason presidential debates were first
held. That's the reason they should be
held in the future.
An anonymous Bush campaign
source was quoted at the league's
"pullout" . press conference as saying
its action "guarantees they're out of
the debate business for good. They
made the mistake of misunderstanding
their role."
Rather, league members seem to be
the only ones who remember their role.
Campaign managers who make agreeA
ments that keep voters in the dark are
forgetting theirs. Sandy Dimsdale
ble
...
; Readers9 Fora
Shining domes
A lmost every day now you can hear,
Y or at least read on this page, lofty
jtVA-Lpraise for Thomas Wolfe. For we
are in mid-celebration. We are installing
a chancellor and remembering a well-laid
cornerstone. The colors are flying over the
spacious lawns of old campus. Figures as
noteworthy as Eudora Welty have come,
to help us celebrate ourselves and our
history. At Oktoberfest gatherings admin
istrators and educators invoke the name
of the great one, Thomas Wolfe. We smile
and clap.
Imagine this scenario: Young Thomas
Wolfe seeks his academic adviser to inform
him of his intention to take five philosophy
courses under his mentor Horace Williams
(another University hero).
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wolfe. You're a senior
and you haven't filled your perspective
course load yet. In fact, all youVe really
taken here is literature and philosophy.
You need two maths and a lab science.
If you want to take five philosophy courses
youll have to graduate, then seek a Ph.D."
"But I'm Thomas Wolfe. I'm going to
die when I'm 38. I have to develop a
philosophy of living and dying. When will
I write novels?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wolfe. How about Bio.
11?"
"But we all take math and biology in
high school . . . ."
"Yes. But many people don't get the
skills they need in high school, so we're
taking over." . .
"Sounds like a vocational post-high
school."
"Mr. Wolfe, we're ranked third in the
nation! And we're going to be one of the
top research universities in the nation."
"Yes, I heard."
. . . We would park in the dirt lo t where
Davis Library now stands. I would take
my, ticket from my fathers hand and sprint
for the game. There were usually mud holes
to dodge or ice flats to skate. All the better.
I would slice through the rest of the late
crowd and skip through the sounds which
fell from bells. Ten minutes early was late
to me ..... Finally I would break breath
lessly into the warm womb of Carmichael
Auditorium, and squeeze my way to our
seats. Dad would arrive with 18 minutes
to go in the half Just after they had turned
down the lights. They used to do that. The
Letters policy
All letters must be typed
and double-spaced, for ease of
editing.
H Place letters in the box
marked "Letters to the Editor"
outside the DTH office in the
Student Union.
The DTH reserves the
right to edit letters for spacefJ
clarity and vulgarity.
We goofed
Tuesday's editorial, "One,
for all and all for one,"
incorrectly reported that one
of the UNC students accused
of rape last fall pleaded guilty
to a lesser charge. He pleaded
no contest.
The DTH regrets the error.
Pledging allegiance to freedom of choice
TT Tnlike the presidential candidates
U these days, I reluse to uphold
something in which I do not
believe. The issue, of course, is the pledge
of allegiance. .
I believe it to be a false, childish
statement of fealty which doesn't mean
anything, even to those who fervently hold
hand to breast and shout it aloud.
The reasons are for my opposition to
it are as follows. I do not pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America,
precisely because it is meant to stand for
the Republic. I do not uphold all that the
Republic stands for because I think the
United States is not always right.
Secondly, we are not one nation indiv
isible. That is the whole purpose of a
democracy, that you are divisible. If you
are not, or are not allowed to be, then
you have a dictatorship.
Thirdly, we do not all have a Protestant
God, or even a god at all, and when we
do, our beliefs should be separated from
the state to which we are supposedly
Campus Watch: hands off our campus
0
nee again, people are attacking the
(Carolina Gay and Lesbian Asso
ciation without having any idea
what the organization does. This has
happened almost every year since I have
been here. Fortunately, CGLA seems to
withstand all these attacks and continues
to be funded by Student Congress. This
year, however, the difference is, the CGLA
is being attacked from outside the Uni
versity by a group which has no business
dabbling in campus issues.
I would like to take issue with some of
the Comments made by members of the
Campus Watch ("Group calls for end of
funding of CGLA," Oct. 12). First of all,
the debate about last year's referendum to
defund the CGLA is moot. If I remember
correctly, about 5,000 students voted in the
student elections. Of the 3,000 or so who
responded to the referendum question, 58
percent voted to defund. Now simple
mathematics says that 58 percent of 3,000
is 1,740 students who voted to defund,
which in no way constitutes a majority of
a student population of over 22,000. It is
actually only about 8 percent. So, the
and the past's
Jay Leutze
Guest Writer
court below seemed illuminated by candles.
This was a ritual that mattered. This
rectangle of light held our dreams and
expectations of excellence. Here we were
invincible, as if by magic. Out beyond the
rectangle I knew there was a confederate
soldier guarding . . . something, and out
there too, was Thomas Wolfe. I believed
this.
Carmichael Auditorium was home to the
loudest and the best mannered crowd in
the nation. And there was that mystic
something that made our shots fly truer
and our purpose seem higher. The talk also
said that we played football in the loveliest
spot anywhere. Our gridiron game was
famous, for it was ruled by the pines.
I sit in the contoured chair bathed
in the surreal wash of many watts. My
father won't be coming. The lights don't
go down in the Smith Center. Ever. There
is a soft murmur in. the glitter dome as
we score two more. With eight minutes
to go and a comfortable margin, many
head for the parking lot. They'll beat the
traffic this time. There are, after all, more
exciting places to watch a basketball game.
There will be editorials urging the fans to
be more spirited. Spirited is not something
to be. Spirit either exists, or it doesn't.
Stubbornly, stoically, I stay put . . . ."
Of course, athletics are only the front
porch of the University. The word from
the upper chambers is that we must
compete academically with Michigan and
Harvard for grants and prestige. The word
is only drowned by the clanging of
hammers and the groaning of cranes.
While the new School of Public Health
and the computer sciences building open
their doors, Battle Park shudders for her
safety. "I was a gift on the condition that
I wouldn't be developed," she cries.
"Gratuitous promise" say the attorneys as
the planners blueprint her future. Reams
of grant money pour in. "What's our rank?"
they ask with a nervous glance over the
shoulder.
Thomas Wolfe, on the evening of his
graduation stood beneath the Davie Poplar
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Marguerite Arnold
Guest Writer
pledging allegiance.
And last, of course, that anyone can
believe that we do have liberty and justice
for all in this country is ludicrous. Perhaps
we have political liberty, economic,
definitely not, and when 80 percent of the
poor's legal needs in this country go unmet,
how can we say we have justice?
The overall pledge is a falsehood. Why
should I say something I think is false?
That, in itself, is what America stands for:
the right to disagree, and say so.
Perhaps it is silly to get upset about a
silly pledge, but I wonder why so many
people react positively to this sort of
garbage. Can you, as educated college
students, really dismiss America's prob
lems? Can you really believe there is liberty
and justice for all, or is it some abstraction
Rhonda Thissen
Guest Writer
assertion by Peter Hans, the student
spokesman for Campus Watch, that the
"overwhelming majority of students" do
not want to fund CGLA is ridiculous. I
think, based on the numbers, that a more
accurate assumption would be that the
overwhelming majority of students" at
Carolina simply don't care whether the
CGLA is funded or not. If they did, they
would have voted to defund.
As for the assertions by Cottingham and
Hans that CGLA is political, "given to
theatrics," dominating in campus politics
and forces its beliefs on others, political
activity is forbidden to groups funded by
student fees! Do you think CGLA really
wants to do anything more to put its
funding in jeopardy? They have to bust
chops as it is to get support in Student
Congress. The march last year was a
perfectly legal, non-political way to
muted spint
and faced his class and the venerable
cornerstone to read his poem to his class.
In part he read:
. "Think again of this night here And of
these old brOwn walls, of white old well,
and of old South With bell's deep boom
ing tone, They H think again of Chapel Hill
and thinking come back home."
What will we see and feel when we come
back home to Chapel Hill? Will it feel like
home? When we put forth our resources
and energies toward the goal of competing
with, or emulating, other institutions, we
become more like them at the expense of
being ourselves. What could possibly be
wrong with measuring ourselves against
Our own standards of excellence as
opposed to relying on the standards of
others? 1 ' ':
Victory can be the saddest thing of all'.
In the name of competition we built a state:
of-the-art basketball dome with Carnegie
caliber acoustics. We did it. We won, in
a sense. But there is a haunting failure
about that place. When we do rise to cheer
we seem to be looking for approval saying
"See, we're loud. We're rowdy, arent we?"
Now they say Cameron Indoor Stadium
is the toughest place to play. No one fears
playing here anymore And if you think
the folks in Durham arent smug about
this . . . somehow they won without even
playing. When we "win" and become a top
notch research university will we then
pause, stunned to discover at what cost
to our spiritual sovereignty and time-honed
character? -
Someone swore to me that Thomas
.Wolfe is our state treasure, our hero. We
talk a lot about him, but will we use him
and our past as a model? They said that
Silent Sam has a rifle that fires when the
conditions are right, but we haven't heard
it in some time. They said there is a rule
that Kenan Stadium can never grow
beyond the pines . . ; they said Battle Park
is an eternal realm for dreaming. Maybe
all is myth here. What sad folly to have
thought it was true.
Jay Leutze is a second-year law student
from Chapel Hill.
Editor's note: David Rowell's column,
"Pardon Me, "will reappear next Thursday
in its regular space
a professor in some required class brought
up to be regurgitated at test time? And
if you don't believe it, why do you say
it?
Before you dismiss this as the ramblings
of a godless pinko, consider which is worse,
my objection to this pledge on moral and
legal grounds, or some politician who says
it to get that "patriotic" fervor out of his
constituents and couldn't care less if it is
true or not.
I think I should mention just where this
"scrap of paper" came from. It did not
come from one "of the "founding fathers
of this country," but it came from a contest
held by a children's magazine in the late
1800s to see who could come up with the
most patriotic oath.
Therefore, you could say that the pledge
was thought up by children for children.
Perhaps it is time that America grew up
and smelled the roses.
Marguerite Arnold is a junior interna
tional studies major from Chapel Hill.
increase the group's visibility in the
commumty. There is no way CGLA could
dominate campus politics when they are
forced to hold such marches in order to
raise student awareness and interest in their
issues.
As for forcing beliefs on people, the
Campus Watch , is guilty of exactly what
it accuses CGLA. As a fees-paying student,
which Mr. Cottingham is not, I consider
the imposition of so-called "traditional
values" espoused by Campus Watch to be
an infringement of my rights, and in no
way would I support his group or its
outside involvement in campus politics. He
is no longer a student here, and Mr.
Krynski, another spokesman, is a Duke
professor. They have no rights here, and
if the purpose of the proposed bill is to
ban all funding of gay student groups in
North Carolina, they are way out of line.
Student Congresses must be autonomous
for the democratic process to work. 5
Rhonda Thissen is a senior sociology
psychology major from Miami, Fla.