Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 21, 1989, edition 1 / Page 8
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8The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, March 21, 1989 Ug 2Tar Hl On the road with Zamphir and Mom 97th year of editorial freedom Sharon Kebschull, Editor WILLIAM TAGGART, Managing Editor LOUIS BlSSETTE, Editorial Page Editor MARY Jo DUNNINGTON, Editorial Page Editor JUSTIN McGuiRE, University Editor JENNY CLONINGER, University Editor TAMMY BLACKARD, State and National Editor CHARLES BrITTAIN, City Editor ERIK DALE U??0, Business Editor DAVE GLENN, Sports Editor CARA BONNETT, Arts and Features Editor JAMES BENTON, Omnibus Editor JVUA COON, News Editor DAVID SUROWIECKI, Photography Editor Kelly Thompson, Design Editor BSM mistakes hurt image The Black Student Movement serves an invaluable service to the University community, acting as an advocacy group for an often-ignored minority. Unfortunately, it under mines its own potential for improving the disastrous racial situation at UNC by its own mistakes and unprofes sional behavior. The BSM holds elections for officers today after postponing them twice. The most recent postponement is understandable: the weather was bad and may have limited students' ability to get to campus to vote. But the first postponement was inane. Originally the elections were scheduled for the general body meeting, but the agenda was so long that the leaders decided the meeting would take too long if they had the elections. Anything that important should not be postponed simply for convenience's sake. ; The BSM also missed the Student Congress funding deadline again this year, for the second time in three years, and has appealed to the Student Supreme Court. BSM leaders may have a good reason for appealing the details of the case are unclear. But appealing a missed deadline asks Student Congress to decide the appeal based on the value of the organization, rather than on equal terms, as each organization deserves. Although some may consider the .BSM more impor tant than other organizations, no one deserves special consideration. The BSM is responsible for one of the most outstanding examples of student activism at UNC in recent years the protest against the dissolution of the Office of Student Counseling. Over 400 students marched on South Building, confront ing then-Chancellor Christopher Fordham and Gillian Cell, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences who made the decision. It was reversed the next day. The BSM should be commended for this sort of responsible activism. But for the organization to be truly effective, instances of respon sibility should not be isolated cases. Student apathy permeates almost every aspect of UNC, from poor turnout for campus elections to a recent lack of letters to the editor. But those who want to see the BSM succeed in its lofty goal of campus racial unity are troubled even more by the apathy apparent within the organ ization. It is sad that black students have to fight for every inch they get in the first place; it is equally sad when they refuse to fight at all by making irresponsible decisions. All BSM members should vote today, even though most of the candidates are running uncontested. But more importantly, all black students should become actively involved in the BSM. Responsible, effective leadership is the best tool for fighting ignorance, of whatever kind. Kimberly Edens "Mommy track" a step back Vpmen interested in business man ag$me,nt . careers may have a new challenge ahead, if a new and troubling idea circulating in the business world catches on with com pany executives. The proposal would categorize female managers as either "career primary" or "career and family." 'Women targeted as the former would tie groomed for top management positions, while those identified as the latter would be given more flexible options at the mid-management level. This was proposed to make it easier for women who choose to work and raise a family. Executives could guarantee them jobs at mid management level, where they could benefit from flexible hours and not have to worry about constant compe tition to get ahead. Theoretically, such women would also bring more enthu siasm to these positions, because they would not be disillusioned by failed aspirations to top-level positions. But the numerous problems with establishing a so-called "Mommy Track" make this idea more likely to harm women in business than help them. Feminists have struggled for years to make the business community recognize there should be no difference between the sexes in the workplace. This idea, on the other hand, carries the message that there is a difference between women and men which calls for-business executives to treat them differently. It would also be difficult to deter mine how executives would decide which women to target for the upper track. And what happens if a woman who has been hired and targeted for the top level decides she wants to have a family after all? Carrying this only a little further, such a program could set a frightening precedent for a system which assigns roles to women with some being designated childbearers. Surprisingly, the originator of the "Mommy Track" concept is a woman, Felice Schwartz. The president of Catalyst, a women's business-research group, Schwartz defends her idea by pointing out that women who must decrease their hours or leave their jobs to have and care for their children hurt companies trying to maximize profits. Companies that decide to adopt her proposal, however, would only prove that profits are more important than women's right to be treated equally in the workplace. Certainly companies need more flexible policies to help both parents meet the demands of career and family. But a "Mommy Track" which would limit a woman's career options if she plans to have children, reinforcing the notion that a mother is the primary parent, is the last thing women need. Mary Jo Dunnington The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Writers: Kimberly Edens, Chris Landgraff and David Starnes. Assistant Editors: Jessica Lanning, city; Myma Miller, features; Staci Cox, managing; Anne Isenhower and Steve Wilson, news; Andrew Podolsky, Jay Reed and Jamie Rosenberg, sports; Karen Dunn, state and national; James Burroughs and Amy Wajda, university. News: Craig Allen, Crandall Anderson, John Bakht, Kari Barlow, Maria Batista, Crystal Bernstein, Heather Bowers, Sarah Cagle, Brenda Campbell, James Coblin, Staci Cox, LD. Curie, Blake Dickinson, Jeff Eckard, Karen Entriken, Deirdre Fallon, Lynn Goswick, Susan Holdsclaw, Jennifer Johnston, Tracy Lawson, Rheta Logan, Dana Clinton Lumsden, Helle Nielsen, Glenn O'Neal, Simone Pam, Tom Parks, Elizabeth Sherrod, Nicolle Skalski, Will Spears, Larry Stone, Laura Taylor, Kelly Thompson, Kathryne Tovo, Stephanie von lien burg, Sandy Wall, Leslie Wilson, Jennifer Wing, Katie Wolfe and Nancy Wykle. Sports: Mike Berardino, senior writer. Neil Amato, Mark Anderson, John Bland, Christina Frohock, Scott Gold, Doug Hoogervorst, David Kupstas, Bethany Litton, Brendan Matthews, Qobby McCruskey, Natalie Sekicky, Chris Spencer, Dave Surowiecki and Eric Wagnon. Arts and Features: Leigh Ann McDonald and Kelly Rhodes, senior writers. Cheryl Allen, Randy Basingcr, Clark Benbow, Adam Bertolett, Roderick Cameron, Ashley Campbell, Pam Emerson, Diana Florence, Laura Francis, Jacki Greenberg, Andrew Lawler, Julie Olson, Lynn Phillips, Leigh Pressley, Anna Turnage and Jessica Yates. Photography: Steven Exum and David M in ton. Copy Editors: Karen Bell, B Buckberry, Michelle Casale, Yvette Cook, Joy Golden, Bert Hackney, Kathleen Hand, Angela Hill, Susan Holdsclaw, Karen Jackson, Janet McGirt, Angelia Poteat and Clare WeickerL Editorial Assistants: Mark Chilton and Anne Isenhower. Amy Dickinson, letter typist. Design Assistants: Kim Avetu, Melanie Black, Del Lancaster, Nicole Luter, Bill Phillips and Susan Wallace. Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Adam Cohen, Pete Corson, Bryan Donnell, Trey Entwistle, David Estoye, Greg Humphreys and Mike Sutton. Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan Worth, classified manager; Stephanie Chesson, assistant classified manager; Chrissy Mennitt, advertising manager; Sabrina Goodson, business manager; Dawn Dunning, Beth Harding, Sarah Hoskins, Amy McGuirt, Maureen Mclntyre, Denise Neely, Tina Perry, Pam Strickland, Amanda Tilley and Joye Wiley, display advertising representatives; Leisa Hawley, creative director; Dan Raasch, marketing director; Genevieve Halkett, Camille Philyaw, Tammy Sheldon and Angela Spivey, classified advertising representatives; Jeff Carlson, office manager and Allison Ashworth, secretary. Subscriptions: Ken Murphy, manager. Distribution: David Econopouly, manager; Newton Carpenter, assistant. Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn, managers; Tammy Sheldon, assistant manager; Anita Bentley, Stephanie Locklear and Leslie Sapp, assistants. Printing: The ViUage Companies. T7" have decided that the key to a successful spring break is to avoid car trips with parents at all cost. Those of you who spent 20 hours in a car to get to Key West can probably identify with my mental state after four hours in a car with my mother to get to Chattanooga and grandparents. And just as you probably had a stiff drink when you arrived at your sun-baked destination, I desperately needed one upon arrival at mine. Before we even got out of Asheville, my mother and I had an argument. I didn't want to drive because I had just driven in from Chapel Hill the day before, and Mom didn't want to drive because she didn't want to drive. I finally agreed to, but announced that whoever drove would have domain over the tape deck and what went into it. Mom drove the whole way, so I was vindicated ... I thought. On the way out of town, .we had to stop so she could rent some books on tape. On the other side of Waynesville, she popped in Sam Waterson reading Irving Stone's "Lust for Life." Foolishly I believed, I could put up with anything for four hours. So there we were, weaving around the mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee listening to the life of Vincent van Gogh. Right around Knoxville, Vincent cut off his ear. I. was ready to amputate both of mine. Knoxville is memorable if for no other reason than it is the halfway marker between Asheville and Chattanooga. When we were younger, my sister and I would spend the first half of the trip ignoring the rugged scenery of the mountains and fighting over the back seat. We would put down the Laura Pearlman Casting Pearls armrest and forbid each other to cross that neutral zone. Usually one of us would end up in tears, and by the time the Knoxville skyline loomed ahead, my father would be threatening to pull the car over. "Do I need to pull this car off the road?" he would bellow at the rearview mirror. "If I do, then youH have something to cry about!" Elizabeth and I would sniff in the negative, both of us weeping at this point, and the rest of the trip would proceed without incident. I don't recall the car ever actually being pulled off the road, but this ritual was repeated religiously on every pilgrimage to the grandparents for a number of years. Now all I have to mark the end of the first half of the trip is the fact that I wanted to cut my ears off. But stoically, I persevered. Anything beats driving, I thought especially if you're on the highway with someone who subscribes to the Sally Pearlman Philosophy of the Road. "Lust for Life" was over, and I refused to listen to any more books on tape, so Mom chose "Zamphir Plays the Panflute." Yes, someone did actually order this off televi sion. She swears to this day that someone gave it to her, but I know for a fact she ordered it herself. So anyhow, halfway into side one of Zamphir, I realized about five cars had passed us on the right. I looked at the speedometer and noticed Mom was going about 60 mph in the left lane. ' . "Why don't you get in the other lane if. you're going to drive slower?" "I'm not driving slowly," she said. "The right lane is for people going below the speed limit. I am driving over the speed limit." I tried to explain to her that I think it's all relative and if the traffic is moving at 65 or 70 miles an hour then by travelling at 60 miles an hour in the left lane she is holding up other drivers who want to go more quickly. Obviously I didn't articulate my theory too persuasively because we breezed on to Chattanooga in the left lane and I, fortunate enough to be in the passenger seat, received enough (expletive deleted) looks to make me wish I had driven." Since we weren't listening to "Lust for Life" any more we could talk peacefully with Zamphir piping away in the background. Mom: "So how are your grades going to be this semester?" Laura: "Boy, that sun sure is bright today. " How can you drive with the sun in your eyes like that?" Mom: "It looks like rain. Did you get that poetry paper back yet?" Laura: "Poetry paper? Didn't I tell you I switched my major to physics?" . And on and on to Chattanooga:. Exhausted from my verbal ballet, I collapsed-, into a deep sleep, not to awaken until we , pulled into my grandparents' driveway , another column altogether. Laura Pearlman is a junior English major '. from Asheville. Readers9 Foram Howard protest condemned To the editor: It was astonishing to see an endorsement by the Daily Tar Heel ("Protesters push their luck," Mar. 10) of the protests 'at Howard University that led to the resignation of that uni versity's newly elected board member, Lee Atwater. The students leading the protests claimed Atwater had been the mastermind behind the Bush campaign's "Willie Horton" commercial. These students, echoing the desperate charges of the failing Dukakis cam paign, claimed the commercial had a racist message. The explicit message of the commercial was that Willie Horton was an extremely vio lent man whom any prudent person would leave behind bars, yet under the administra tion of Gov. Dukakis he was allowed a furlough, and this resulted in more violence by Horton. Whether there was any other more covert message is something about which reason able people may differ, to say the very least. Atwater shares with others responsibility for the content of the Bush campaign, including Madison Avenue ad executives and, naturally, the top dog, Bush himself. To ascribe any alleged covert message of the campaign to Atwater person ally is to make a gross generalization. fairness and reasonableness, one should at least balance alongside this fabricated evi dence the unprecedented efforts Atwater made to defeat former Klansman David Duke in Duke's bid for the Louisiana legislature. Certainly this is a better indication of Atwater's philosophy since as chairman THE AtoGilMIFl NT A. John Towhr, Bobby Kn iglht, anp the Eastern w&&& 1m Q. Name a &ooze, a Hooker, AMD A 5G LOSER. A.Jeff Ubo, an AK-H1 user, ANP AN ATHLETE ON STEROIDS. Q.UAHE THREE PEOPLE W0 SAY THY 5H0DT FOR SPORT. , A. Bobby fese Zghan, JR. Ueo and Kenneth Perky. Q.Nme pour people mo vjerb ONLY A fw HtNUTES LATE. of the Republican Party he is now much freer to plan his own agenda rather than carry out that of any particular candi date. In addition, we should ask ourselves just how likely it is a racist would have any interest in sitting on Howard's board to begin with. The real tragedy in all this, however, is not the unfairness to Lee Atwater. For the last eight years black leaders have charged that the Reagan administration was unrespon sive to their needs. Atwater is obviously someone who occa sionally may bend the presi dent's ear and thereby tap into the considerable power of the executive branch which some claim was inaccessible to black leaders during the Reagan presidency. By accepting How ard's offer of a seat on its board, Atwater signaled his willing ness to establish lines of com munication. It is incompre hensible that he should be scorned for doing so. I sincerely believe that the brand of racism civil rights leaders battled in the 60s has been replaced. The new, much more subtle racism of today is not the bitter hatred in narrow minded whites that results from a belief that blacks are genet ically inferior. Today's racism is ignorance. It is fear of the unfamiliar and the different. This racism plagues both members of the white and black communities. To rid ourselves of this racism, communication between the two Americas is the only answer. Achieving a constructive dialogue is less likely after the rebuff to Mr. Atwater from the Howard students. The Daily Tar Heel was rash in its deci sion to commend another protest. PHILIP SKILLMAN Second year Law Letters policy The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticisms. When writing letters to the editor, please follow these guidelines: fl Place letters in the box marked "Letters to the Editor" outside the DTH office in the Student Union. B The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity , and vulgarity. Remember, brevity is the soul of wit. Racism demands practical solutions To the editor: In the March 1 issue of the DTH, Eric Rosen proposes in "Change in racial attitudes comes from education" that we can change the racial problem of today's society by social education. Rosen, coming from the North, finds Southern racism appalling. Being of Jewish origin, he legitimately compares the adversity his family became victims of in Germany to the pain caused from slavery in America. Rosen informs the reader that "if we want change, we must educate not from a place of hate, but from a sincere love of mankind." Athough he interests his readers, the meaningfulness of the proposal is lost. Rosen fails to back his proposal up with a plan, and he does not show sufficient evidence that education will be a correct choice. He also does not see the true causes of racism. Spending most of his article telling us what a great problem racism portrays on our society, it is only in the end that the actual proposal is made. At surface his idea seems logical, but the solution of education has been used unsuccessfully for many decades. Rosen claims that "social educa tion" would take care of the problem, but neglects to define the term. I understand social education to mean "any educational procedure that makes an effort to explore and improve relations among people." The Black Cultural Center falls under the category of social education, as do classes such as African-American studies and sociology. Obviously, these education sources have not been very efficient, so Rosen needs to show us how his plan differs from the current system and how to carry out his ideas (assuming that they are feasible). A new approach to the problem needs to be discovered because the old-fashioned education answer has solved little. In order to find a workable solution, one must realize that the causes of racial discrimination lie deeper than Rosen has dug. He shows that racism results from a lack of knowledge in cultural differences. I know that racism exists today as the product of a tragic flaw in history: slavery. Many whites still hold a superior attitude towards blacks, while some blacks also feel supreme to whites as compensation from past years. Resentment of history, pain of torn loved ones, and stubbornness of those not willing to accept everyone as equals these are the causes of racism. A change does need to take place, not in one's educational background, but in one's attitudes. I suggest that actions be taken to provide interactions between blacks and whites in order to learn culture differences, thus allowing for appreciation. In other words, instead of learning by sitting in a classroom atmosphere, it is more important that people learn another culture by becoming part of it. The only way to insure complete equality would be for a complete social reconstruc tion to take place. It would involve all property and possessions being taken from everyone and then redistributed evenly, thus allowing everyone to take off with a fair start. But I am assured that this will never happen, so we must take more realistic measures. A good alternative would be an actual Live-In program, which would involve a white living with a black family for a week and vice versa. All the participants would learn first-hand the other cultures, and this perhaps would create a better appreciation on both sides. Free food could be provided to each partaker in the program during this week (for attracting more people to become involved). This Live-In program would turn ignorance into compassion as it did for Carol Stack, author of "All Our Kin." She moved into a black community in the flats of Newark and learned about their culture and kinship network, the system they use in which they exchange services for family and friends. Completely oblivious to black culture in the beginning, she returned from the flats with an enormous appreci ation of black culture. To fund the Live In program, an International Cultural Center (ICC) needs to be developed. An ICC would represent many different races, and as a group, people could learn about other cultures than their own. The ICC would provide activities in which both blacks and whites could participate together. These proposals may seem ridiculous to some, but I have come to the conclusion that it will take this kind of approach to change people's attitudes. Altering one's beliefs and prejudices is not an easy process, and active interaction between races seems to be a viable overture in obtaining our goal of equality. Not many have the chance to study cultures of different races in a direct approach, and it is only after becoming a part in another's world that prejudice and, unjust attitudes can be changed. Rosen's argument needs a more concrete solution and less emotional appeal that serves nothing more than bringing pity on an already pitiful situation. Sympathy will not solve anything, for only determination and cooperation on both parts will! And only then can we achieve Rosen's desire for the "winds of change to blow." CAMILLE DUFF Freshman Criminal justice
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 21, 1989, edition 1
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