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Page! The Banner November 11,1999 Opinions }Jovetnb - The Banner - Editorial One minute warning Tell US a lie With all the hoopla over increasing diversity awareness on campus, one would think that more than a handful of students would have turned up to listen to a national speaker on Native American civil rights. Sure, everyone will rush out to the Pow Wow demonstration on Nov. 30 to see what Native American culture was like, excitedly expecting to see the same stereotypes of feathers and tomahawks that Bruce Two Eagles condemned in his lecture. But our narrow liberal arts idea of “learning about other cul tures” shouldn’t be limited to cross-cultural entertainment. When it comes down to a serious discussion of issues facing the late 20th century population of Native Americans, who’s interested in their plight? Apparently, not many of the students who, for so long, have championed diversity as a top priority. “We want the programs we offer to be reflective of the envi ronment we’re in,” said Octavia Wright, coordinator of multicultural student programs. Kudos—a job well done. Now it’s up to the student body to support the environment we’ve encouraged. If only a miniscule number of students are going to participate in diversity education, why should the administration bother trying to bring more to campus? So take note; just as we are whining for the |>owers that be to implement more culturally diverse activities, they are watching to see how important (or unimportant, as the case may be) our existing programs really are to us. Maybe we need to stop looking so much toward the adminis tration to facilitate diversity on a university level, and start looking to the student body to support the diversity we do have on campus. Seconds Funding cuts are on UNCA’s fiscal plate again, but, with a sigh of relief, our administration can absolve itself from responsibility for the approaching monetary drought. Rather than mismanagement of finances, lack of donor money, or poor planning on the part of UNCA, this chapter in the history of money shortages can be traced back to hurricanes and flooding in Eastern North Carolina. North Carolina is apparently trying to minimize the damage at East Carolina University and other state agencies by cutting funds 1 percent across the board. Unlike the usual, we’re short of money scenario, UNCA is in a position to brace for the cuts because the administration has taken the “conservative line” in spending, according to Tom Cochran, dean of faculty. Perhaps the administration has developed foresight from past experiences with funding hurdles: adjunct shortages, dilapidated Highsmith, lack of childcare, scholarship funds, and the Greenway project. After being burnt a few times, the university is half-prepared for the funding crunch, ironically, the least predictable cut. The recent approved funding increase for our “labor-inten- sive,” liberal arts education (however true that may be), also will help minimize the unanticipated monetary cut. The first statewide cut in what may become a series of cuts has been issued to all state agencies. We hope that in all their wisdom, the legislators will continue to spread future cuts to all agencies and expenditures (like campaign financing, for example) and won’t make education carry an unnecessary burden for the natural disaster that has crippled a portion of North Carolina. Aftertaste While funding for a facelift to the Highsmith Center continues to plod along, the building will receive, at least, some minor cosmetic surgery with the addition of a new fast-food restaurant. Starting in January, students eager to escape the clutches of Sodexho-Marriott will have a new alternative: Chick-Fil-A. And while this move is a welcome change for many, it will only further emphasize the dire condition the rest of Highsmith’s facilities are in. Students munching on chicken sandwiches will munch, nonetheless, with the reality that just next door a tarp must be strung across the ceiling to protect textbooks from moisture. What the advent of this new dining option for students does signify,though, is that if students voice a need for something, sometimes their demands are heeded. So we’re holding our collective breaths that the rampant idealism surrounding the center’s funding from day one will turn into action soon. Eating good food means nothing if walking out the door means numerous reminders of why the Highsmith Center’s shortcomings leave a bad taste in our mouths. Essence of religion is seeking Christianity and academia, joined at the hip until the late middle ages, parted ways and have since endured an uneasy coexistence. For well over half a millennium now, in what may be the greatest and most enduring war, these two siblings have fought each other, kicking and clawing for the most coveted trophy of all; truth. And now, good news. This war has found a battlefield at the cam pus of UNCA. The Veritas Forum may have come and gone, but the war of words and conflicting ideas may have just begun. Sopickaside, put on your best armor, choose and draw your weapons: the batde lines have been drawn. Or you can simply sit with me on the bleachers and watch the fun. But do come, for here is where the learning begins. And you will learn much, like the fact that your pro fessors truly feel passion— that they are courageous and strong and will ing to fight nobly for their beliefs. Observe the rules of engagement (like in all wars, not everyone will): Keep an open mind and remain sensitive to all the issues; never be lieve you can change a strongly committed person’s views t6 the contrary; never believe that your views are superior (this is the hard- David Marshall columnist est rule—everyone believes their views are superior, otherwise, why have them?). Above all, come away with some thing new, something learned. I carry an agenda. Let’s be hon est, many of us carry our agendas like chips on our shoulders. Push the right button and the nicest person becomes livid. Even Jesus got mad, like when he chased the merchants from the temple. Well, I’m not mad, but perhaps a bit perplexed and frustrated. Why do Christians like myself feel com pelled to defend our religion in humanistic terms? Christianity is our tradition, our belief. We should not be merchants peddling Chris tianity in the marketplace of ideas. Thomas Aquinas seemed to agree with me on this point. During his life, the natural philosophers—the scientists’ predecessors—held the Aristotelian view that the world had always existed. Christians like Aquinas believed that it was cre ated. This belief was the late medi eval equivalent to our present-day creation versus evolution debate. Aquinas opines: “For the world to have [been created]' is a matter of belief, but it is not demon strable or knowable. And there is a utility in this, when it is consid ered that someone presuming to demonstrate what belongs to faith might adduce reasons not necessary, which would give material for laugh ter to the infidel thinking we believe what belongs to faith because of such reasons” (published in “summa theologica”). Is religious belief compatible with rationality? Is faith rational? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. These are philosophical questions. They are fun and intellectually stimulat ing and probably good for your skin. My daughter’s earliest religious in structions will revolve around truly important things like love and being good and singing “Jesus loves me this I know.” The religious equivalents to these questions are non-issues because faith is not predicated on reason. Certainly, I don’t mean to imply by all this that we should shy away from criticisms hurled at us by op posing viewpoints. Criticism, as many of us Christians don’t seem to understand, is a healthy thing. It strengthens what is true and weakens what is false. Challenges to our faith rid us of the human trap pings of religion. Galileo, for instance, dispelled the sad notion that we live at the center ofcreation. Martin Luther benefitted both the Protestants and Catholics; the Protestants by liberation and the Catholics by competition. St. Augustine, Aquinas, Abelard, and Anselm each in their own way, mini-revolutionized the Christian tradition by criticism, and that’s just counting late medievalists whose last names start with “A.” I am equally puzzled by the aca demes who huff and puff about the Christian ‘^absolute truth” position. How can we debate placidly and objectively in the classroom about the most hideous injustices, but be come unhinged when the absolutist viewpoint is proclaimed. Ok, I, too, bristle at the Christian culture’s unabashed need to de clare not only its knowledge of the truth, but a monopoly on I wish we had a better humility. But I ask again, why are academes threatened by Christian provincial ism? Auto-da-fe is out of fashion and probably illegal in m Besides, the constitution remains intact. If some Christians have o’ acted, on the other hand, it be completely understandable. Academia’s intimated promise through its liberal arts has always been to produce the complete per son. Yet, spirituality is not a hall mark of the public university. Chris tians have sensed the deceit. Furthermore, the modern univer sity purports to be a place to some significant degree defined by the free exchange of ideas. The ideal does not match reality. Academic communities fined by paradigms and methodol ogy. These are the dogmas and doctrine of the university. Anyone familiar with Kuhn’s work on para digms and how they control pre vailing notions of truth understands the machinations that make ideas either acceptable or unacceptable. We must never forget that the paradigm known as Social Darwin ism was once considered a legiti mate and accurate reflection of truth by academicians. I leave you to your assignment. Learn something from the polem ics of this debate. A friend told me two things in quick succession the other day that simply bowled me over by its wisdom. He said that the essence of reli gion is seeking. Faith, he added, is not knowing final answers, but act ing as if you did. St G( As UNCA’s 1 ined in the North Care (fears, but s inthissysten yfilled. Our schoc tionandadn rigorous Jtam, close and mainta campus. However, probably w^ Big Brother watching UNCA Eric Winters columnist This semester, the UNCA admin istration and public safety initiated a zero-tolerance policy in regards to alcohol for reasons Jerry Adams, investigator for public safety, states are, “...due to negative press cover age nationwide and public scrutiny regarding alcohol abuse, binge drinking, and alcohol-related deaths.” While this is a noble cause, Adams says that, “It is too soon to tell if it is actually working to curb abuse or lessen the scrutiny,” but students should know it is not too soon to measure the results of the harassing and intrusive manner by which this policy is being instituted. Have you ever felt as if you existed within a George Orwell novel? Probably not, but if you are a stu dent at UNCA, protected by the UN CA department of public safety, then perhaps you should. For those of you unfamiliar with Orwell’s work, he is the author of many politically motivated, satirical novels, like “1984” and “Animal Farm,” that symbolically point out the flaws of a totalitarian ruling class. “1984” deals with the fictional country of Oceania, ruled by The Party and led by Big Brother. Nearly all things that made one happy are forbidden: no book read ing, no unnecessary sex, no boom ing stereos, and of course no con sumption of alcohol. To monitor the abidance of the rules. The Party places cameras, hidden microphones, and large telescreens projecting Big Brother nearly everywhere imaginable. The masses are told not to think, that The Party will think for them, and that “ignorance is strength.” Orwell’s “Animal Farm” involves a farm in England, brimming over with the seemingly standard pigs, chickens, horses, cows, and...you get the idea. However, these politically- minded animals are, by no means, normal. Led by pigs, symbolically named Napoleon and Snowball, the ani mals accomplish an overthrow of the farm, revoltingagainst the cruel owner, banishing all humans, and establishing a set of rules aimed at keeping peace within their new animal farm. The animals elect the pigs as their rulers, trusting their obvious intel ligence of, and loyalty to, a code of law that is written on the side of a barn. Before long, the pigs begin to edit and even ignore the law altogether. They intimidate and oppress the animals who trusted them to protect and serve. So what do these writings have to do with Public Safety? Better yet, what interpretation could they possibly hold in refer ence to students at UNCA? The answer to these questions can be found on your campus any given night, before any fraternity party, or during any gathering of persons who may be drinking alcohol and, God forbid, playing music. Did you know that while shuttles were being boarded for a recent party, you were being videotaped? Sure, from the roofof Karpen Hall you were being monitored by Big Brother himself Have you, like nu merous other students, had your cup full of a beverage, yes even non alcoholic ones, smelled, confiscated, or even sipped in order to assess the content of alcohol? Or, how many of you stress-reliev ing, weekend-warrior college stu dents have been instructed by an officer of UNCA Public Safety to submit to a breathalyzer test follow ing a visit by the officer to a room where there was music and the smell of alcohol? Believe it or not, instead of a simple write-up for loud music, you could be hauled to jail. Or if you are of age and drinking, then you run the risk of having the guests in your room subjected to a breathalyzer test. In no way is this an attempt to let students know how to get away with drinking. This is a simple reminder of students’ rights and an attempt at a compromise with public safety. This is also not an attempt to bash public safety. Consider the follow ing: public safety cannot force any one that is not in or on a motor vehicle to submit to a breath test to monitor alcohol consumption. They must ask the alleged binge drinker if they would like to submit to a test, and if that person refuses, no action ,whatsoever, can be taken. Forget student conduct; without proof there can be no charges filed. For those of you who are skepti cal, be so no longer. This statement came straight from the farmhouse by one of our own officers. I’m sure all of you also know that an officer cannot enter your room due to loud music without a search warrant. All an officer can do is tell you to turn down the volume, and perhaps hush your guests. The university has attempted to bypass the law and subject students to their student conduct system by claiming that the reprimands are not punishments, but attempts at compromise. Student conduct can force a stu dent to attend alcohol assessment classes without solid proof that they were drinking and against the ob jection of the student. How is that a compromise? In an extreme situation, students could drink in their rooms every night, keeping the door shut when an officer arrives, and hiding all alcohol out of plain view if the officer peeks inside. Public safety could take all dorm doors off of the hinges to better monitor the activity of students, effectively carrying out prohibition ist policies while pleasing the pub lic and administration. Obviously, there must be a com promise. Students cannot and should not be subject to constitutional viola tions, but they also should not be allowed to drink themselves into oblivion. Public safety must abide by the rules.They must also not assume that where there is smoke there is a fire; students in dorms could be dancing, yelling, clapping their hands, and drinking communion grape juice at a Bible study for all they know. On the other hand, students must abide by the rules of responsibility and not drink to a sickening level. Veritas Dear Editoi The purp Forum has a say that Ch side. T perspective there are al them being ^ lot be any leveragf make argun God-give moved fron removed To say tha as not b> e man tl them. If th Fair wa Dear Edito I would lik Luks for hei ered the V Forum stirs solute truth I would li The article any faculty ‘Is Jesus th( siah?’ accor (associate p ics). As chair of studies min coordinates bets to respc of the Verit When I w; I insisted tl UNCA be text of the could refle( seated and i response, w academia p For somei provide a paper well i unprofessic Lett Ash bet con rela
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