North Carolina Newspapers

8The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, January 23, 1990 97th year of editorial freedom Sharon Kebschull, Editor JUSTIN McGuiRE, Unhvrsity Editor KAREN DUNN, Stale and National Editor TOM PARKS, Business Editor Jamie Rosenberg, Sfwrts Editor MELANIE BLACK, Design Editor Julia Coon, News Editor ilVAN ElLE, Photography Editor AMY VVAJDA, Uniivrsity Editor JAMES BURROUGI IS, Editorial Page Editor Jessica Lanning, City Editor CARA BONNETT, Arts and Features Editor KELLY Tl lOMPSON, Omnibus Editor Steve Wilson, News Editor PETE CORSON, Cartoon Editor Coaching for cash Salaries magnify importance of sports board opinion During recent " years the growing importance placed on intercollegiate athlet- - ics in America has grown beyond belief. Only last month a UNC Ad Hoc Commit tee on Athletics and the University made recommendations to help put athletics back in their place underneath the primary mis sion of education. The committee noted that intercollegiate athletics have become a big business more professional than amateur. The salaries of coaches in the 16 campus UNC system, some of which are higher than the universities chancellors, reflect the athletic takeover; while educa tors struggle to keep up with budget cuts and strict fiscal policies, athletic depart ments and many coaches are thriving. Five coaches in the UNC system including Dick Sheridan and Jim Valvano of N.C. State, Jeff Mullins of UNC-Char-lotte, and Dean Smith and Mack Brown make more than $100,000 a year. That does not include income from summer camps, television and radio contracts or endorsements, all of w hich many coaches most notably Valvano benefit from. Sheridan, the head footbal 1 coach at NCSU, makes $ 1 27,500 a year $500 more than UNC Chancellor Paul Hardin, the highest paid chancellor in the system. Dean Smith is second behind Sheridan, with a yearly salary of $120,185. Some schools pay salaries from athletic funds, some from state funds and some from both. Of the $8 1 6,842 that UNC pays its 19 head coaches, only $23,559 comes from state funds because three coaches have teaching responsibilities. It should go without saying that these coaches are not the most important offi cials at universities dedicated to higher learning and within a system dedicated to state service, but many of their salaries certainly imply the contrary. Collegiate coaches exist to develop student-alhQles who legally receive no salaries or endorse ments for their performance. Professional coaches get paid a great amount to lead wealthy athletes to success for the benefit of a business. There is a great difference, but many colleges and their coaches do not seem to see it. At Clemson University, former head football coach Danny Ford agreed last week to resign in exchange for $ 1 90,000 a year for up to five years. Clemson will also pay $ 1 3,000 in interest on Ford's farm and the $100,000 balance of his mortgage. It seemed a coach's buyout couldn't get any more distasteful when former football coach Dick Crum received more than $800,000 in 1987, but Ford's rich depar ture showed it easily could. Unfortunately, placing limits on coaches' salaries and endorsements would adversely affect a school's ability to attract top coaches, and competitiveness could suffer initially as a result. But this is one sacrifice that must be made if nationwide reform is ever to be a reality. Schools could retain coaches dedicated to leading ama teur student-athletes and weed out those whose primary concern is money. In an ideal ending to that, all college athletic programs could be considered truly ama teur and would exist in the right perspec tive within universities. Responsibilities for reform should now lie with the NCAA Presidents Commis sion, and a cap on coaches' salaries and endorsements would be one item to con sider when they meet next year. It would be a bold move, but all reform measures in college athletics from this point on should be equally as bold. While coaches play an important role at any university, it is essen tial that their importance not be symboli cally overblown by the size of their wallet. Selling racism Smokers should question RJR tactics The last few months have provided Ameri cans with many incidents tinged with racism, and seeing this country's backward reaction to racial issues has been fascinating, to say the le i t . The arrest of Mayor Marion Barry and the false charge in Boston believed by most of tin.: city's residents that a black man was responsible for killing a pregnant woman and wounding her husband have fired up people's emotions again. Now, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has become the latest victim of cries of racism only in this case, the charge is war ranted. Reynolds has decided not to go through with a trial run in Philadelphia of its Uptown ciga rette after strong criti- HBHHaHaMaaa cism from that city and a high-ranking health official for its plan to Target advertising may target black smokers, be gOOCl DUSlIieSS, DUt Louis Sullivan, secre- where was this company's conscience? tary of U.S. Health and Human Services, said Reynolds was pro pogatine a "culture of Cancer." That was a wmamammm good decision, but it came after the damage was done. North Carolinians may find it harder than Sullivan or blacks in Philadelphia to criticize RJR because of its reputation as a responsible member of the the state's business community. In fact, the leader of Winston-Salem's NAACP chapter said recently the company should not be reprimanded for simply using another mar keting tool, because Uptown is just like any other product marketed to a specific group. But marketing a specific style of music or clothing to a particular group is vastly different than advertising a product that kills. RJR, which already targets its Salem cigarette to blacks, knows the facts about what its cigarettes do to smokers, even though the company refuses to admit it. As company officials know, blacks have higher rates of smoking, lung cancer and heart disease than whites, but RJR chose to ignore that in designing its ad campaign. The menthol cigarette, which 69 percent of black smokers prefer, was packaged in black and gold rather than the usual green menthol pack. In choosing Philadelphia as its test site, a city with a 40 percent black population, RJR decided to ad vertise only in black newspapers and black oriented magazines such as Ebony. Some blacks have praised RJR for spending its ad dollars on black publications, but that's not the kind of advertising any magazine should be happy to get. This cold attempt to make a profit off of someone's bad health is despicable, and no amount of "good citizenship" can make up for mmummmmmumamma that. RJR may be leader in hiring blacks in Winston-Salem and giving them high-level jobs, but that cannot overshadow its attempt to kill the very people it hires. Sullivan called the advertising "slick and sinister," arguing imwm that blacks need a mes sage of health promotion rather than being tempted by this product. And that broader issue of health is what should truly concern RJR. In designing this campaign, RJR was doing what many cigarette companies have had to do lately in targeting a specific group as sales continue to decline. That may be good busi ness, but where is RJR's conscience? An under standing of the realities of America, rather than a crass attempt to turn a profit, would have kept RJR from targeting a vulnerable group desper ately in need of products and people that are uplifting. Of course, a broader campaign tar geting all smokers wouldn't be much better, but at least it wouldn't raise the specter of racism. RJR should be commended for deciding to withdraw its campaign for the cigarette, but it shouldn't take such a public outcry and a rare attack by a Cabinet official to force that deci sion it should simply be common sense. Sharon Kebschull The Daily Tar Heel Business and advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Bob Bates, advertising director; Leslie Humphrey, classified ad manager. Business stafT:Sabrina Goodson, manager; Allison Ashworth. assistant manager; Dana Cooper and Kimberly Moretz, receptionists: Monica Paris, news clerk; Laura Richards, typist: Classified advertising: Kirsten Burkart. assistant manager; Janet Gordon and Angela Spivey, assistants. Display advertising: Amanda Tilley, advertising manager; Lora Gay. Kristi Greeson. Beth Harding, Carole Hedgepeth, Lavonne Leinster, Kevin Reperowitz, Alicia Satterwhite. Pam Thompson and Jill Whitley, account representatives; Kim Blass, creative director; Pam Strickland, marketing director; Shcrrie Davis, Ingrid Jones and Tracy King, sales assistants. Production: Bill Leslie, manager; Anita Bentley, assistant manager; Chad Campbell, Erika Campbell, Stephanie Locklear, assistants. Phone: Display advertising: 962-1163; Classified advertising; 962-0252 Distribution: RDS Carriers. Printing: The Village Companies. The nation's imperial mayor blows it I smiled when I learned Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry had been arrested for possession of crack cocaine. Barry's ability to shun the press and his critics and maintain a strong power base mystified me. I remember the weekend in 1986 when he was enjoying a sunny Super Bowl vacation while the district was paralyzed by a snowstorm which left the streets uncleared for three days. When detectives aborted a raid on sus pected drug dealer Charles Lewis at a Ramada Inn in December 1988 because they learned Mayor Barry was in the room, it again looked like the end of the "Imperial Mayor's" career. Not so. Lewis's later arrest and testimony to federal investigators that he smoked crack with Barry presented the mayor with another political crisis, but he again managed to main tain credibility. He claimed charges of malfea sance were racially motivated, and his con stituency (for the most part) believed him. Washington, D.C., is racially divided in almost every respect economically, so cially and geographically. When I left my apartment in Washington every morning last summer, the area around my apartment bustled with business people, professionals and secre taries. When I returned in the evening, the same four homeless men had set up their nightly shelter and several more greeted every passerby with a cup, asking for change. It seemed all activity in my neighborhood disap peared after dark, leaving only the homeless and poverty-stricken blacks behind. It seemed that these conditions in the murder capital, cocaine capital and the nation's capital could be traced to the incompetent Barry, who seemed Chris zM Landgraff to always denounce his critics as racists. I was naive in my joy over his arrest on Thursday. I didn't understand the huge impli cations of his plunge. Barry was a symbol of black achievement in our nation. He was the first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coor dinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. After playing a big role in the civil rights movement, he was elected to the Washington Board of Education. Smart and aggressive, he won the mayoral election in 1 979 and went on to win two more terms by large margins. For tunately, he announced after his arrest that he won't seek a fourth term. The rise and fall of Marion Barry tragically represents so many of our problems today: drugs, corrupt politics and racism. Many claim Barry's charges of a racist conspiracy of the white power structure to bring him out of power are unfounded. Others persuasively argue that Barry, like other black politicians, undergo significantly more scrutiny than white politicians. Whether Barry was a victim of racism is questionable. Race is not the question competent governance is. Barry stepped out of bounds and should face the consequences. FBI investigators were joyous after the successful sting operation and even appeared as if they "were out to get him," but Barry still must be held accountable for his actions. He bought crack from an undercover agent, and the previ ously discounted testimony of Barry's associ ates who claimed they had seen Barry use cocaine or had used it with him gains credibil ity. But Barry's fall will certainly fuel racial tensions in Washington and throughout the country. No longer a role model for blacks, Barry could easily become ammunition for bigots who claim blacks cannot competently run a government. That stinks. Barry is no more representative of all blacks than Jim Wright or Oliver North is of all whites. Barry frustrated much of the Washington, D.C., community who believed him when he claimed he was clean, didn't do drugs and was the victim of racism. The dam age he did to race relations, bids for D.C. statehood and the war on drugs will continue to surface. My naive happiness over Barry's tragedy has been replaced by a sense of sorrow. The wounds opened by this incident will be slow to heal, and trust in our elected officials has suf fered a tremendous blow. But Barry's political demise should increase awareness of racism and perceptions of racism in politics, not ignite a cynical attitude among whites. The Washing ton community is understandably angry and disillusioned, but now is the time to suck it up and get the city on the road to progress. Chris Landgraff is a junior political science major from Atlanta, Ga. Readers9 For mm UNC budget process should be reformed To the editor: The Student Congress budget process is a farce. The budget process is a lengthy procedure in which leaders of student organiza tions must Fill out forms, meet deadlines, attend various meetings and come before the Student Congress each March to win fund ing for their various groups. This funding process was set up to ensure that all groups have an equal opportunity to receive a share of the available funds. But there is a way of going around the budget process. By means of a major loophole, many groups are able to obtain funding without participating in the budget process at all. This is done when Student Congress makes a "subse quent appropriation" to the execu tive branch of student government which in turn "donates" the money to an organization. Last year, many student groups received donations larger than the appropriations of groups that went through the budget process. This loophole is wrong because it is unfair and discriminatory. If your group happens to have a friend in the executive branch or in Stu dent Congress, then it's usually easy to win funding without hav ing to bother with all the require ments other groups have. But if your group does not have these connections, its only means of obtaining student government funds is by participating in the cumbersome budget process. Student government needs major reform. This funding loop hole is only one example of the corruption and mismanagement that permeates our student gov ernment. If student "leaders" re ally want to maintain UNC's proud history of student self-government, then they should work towards eliminating major loopholes and promote a non-discriminatory student government. JEFFREY BEALL Graduate student Library science Letters policy The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticisms. When writing letters to the editor, please follow these guidelines: B All letters must be dated and signed by the author(s), with a limit of two signatures per letter. UAH letters must be typed and double-spaced, for ease of edit ing. Letters should include the author's year, major, phone num ber and hometown. H The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgarity. Remember, brevity is the soul of wit. Editorial Policy The Daily Tar Heel's board opinion editorials are voted on by the board, which is composed of the editor, editorial page editors and assistant editor, and two edi torial writers. The opinions re flect the board' s majority opinion. Signed editorials do not necessar ily reflect the entire board's opinion. Society most change to end abortion I would like to offer a view on abortion. The reason that neither pro-choice nor the pro-life view succeeds in resolving the abortion issue for me and, I judge, for a great many other Americans is that both sides argue for the right of the individual while failing to recognize the interdependence of all individuals in a society. All life is sacred. That is to say, in a nonre ligious sense, that each being deserves to live a life which is not unnecessarily hindered by the lifestyle of another being. In that statement lies the validity of the pro-lifers cause. But I reject this group's argument. For one thing, as many others have noted, the pro-lifers are only concerned that the unborn reach birth. They do not care whether the infant's life after birth befits the sanctity that they believe it has. For this reason, these anti-abortionists are not "pro life," but more aptly "pro-birth." Partly as a result of not considering the infant's life after birth, the pro-lifers do not acknowledge the interdependence of all members of a society be it local, national, even global. They refuse to consider how the prospective life may injuriously affect the lives of its mothers, its siblings and the rest of the community to such as extent that this prospective life could deny them and, most importantly, itself the conditions needed for a healthy existence. If there were a system which ensured that each human being entering this world received the necessary nourishment, clothing and shel ter, emotional support and nurturing all those variables a person needs and deserves then I would oppose abortion. Until such a support mechanism is in place, I cannot em- Trevor Lain Guest Writer brace their cause. Similarly, I cannot accept the pro-choice group's argument. Pro-choicers put primary emphasis on the mother, not the unborn; yet it is the unborn whose life may be terminated. For me, and, I suspect, for many other Ameri cans, one cannot justify an abortion while neglecting the unborn's right to life. When considering the unborn's prospective life, however, one must consider the lives of all the other people who will affect this 1 ife. Of course, everyone in the community in some manner affects the unborn's prospective life and, therefore, they should all be taken into account but it is the unborn's mother who will have the single greatest impact on her child's life. Therefore, while the life of the unborn should be the primary concern, one must invariably consider what effect a child will have on the life of the mother. For this reason, any situation in which the pro-choice group justifies abor tion for the sake of the mother, one can most likely arrive at the same conclusion based on the prospective life of the unborn. In other words, abortion is justified when an additional life in the community would affect the lives of the community which includes, most importantly, the mother, father and sib lings in such a manner that it imperils its own life. In such circumstances, abortion is a necessary evil; it is deliberate killing, but not murder. This view, then, differs from the two official views by not focusing exclusively on one individual's right but rather by recognizing the interdependence of all living things, which renders any individual's concerns communal. This entire argument, however, has almost nothing to do with whether or not abortion should be legally allowed in the United States. The reason for this seemingly absurd statement is that, making abortion services illegal, soci ety does not deter women from getting abor tions but may even increase the death toll as the mothers, not just the unborn, die from unsafe methods like the infamous coat hanger and rock cocaine methods, to name only two. For proof one need only research the situation prior to Roe v. Wade. In addition, changes in the law like those made possible by Weber may be unconstitutional because it will be easier for affluent women to travel to a state or country where they can obtain a sanitary, safe abortion from a doctor. Therefore, making abortion ille gal may result in a situation in which the ability to live is related to the ability to pay. Congress has already decided that such a situation is unconstitutional since, for that very reason, it agreed to fund all kidney dialysis treatments at a cost of well over a billion dollars per year. Roe v. Wade, then, is necessary regardless of whether or not abortion can be justified. To end abortion effectively, we must eliminate the need for it. To do that, we will have to reform society at all its levels. Trevor Lain is a sophomore undecided ma jor from Dallas, Texas.