Lfufes City” blends boundaries of black and white Sports Bulldogs grab top ten wins at meet Csinipus campus game to whip students into a y
see page 2
see page 4
see page 5
e
Tipagfl
>ut in(
here Vi I
imesiJ
411 i
ilal'l
m tocJ
SERVING THE UNIVERSI I'Y Ol' NOR I’ll CAROEINA AT ASI Il'A'IEEl', SINCi: ITG
K ’I i A
ternatj
by Justin Wagner
ironmtB Staff Reporter
inled
/aluaa
cks,bi|
ofstti
ients
■ices f|
liy,”4
n
' of wli
Is to
ind wlj
to ti
e have,'
studeel
the istj
icks a:
elp St,
choolo
to lw|
ks," si
phoitio;
nd soil
night ml
1 interel
cs.iott
atnigMl
on akj
. fontsl
'(iflSpU|
(T I
tion
hell
the
Din il
iraryj
m.
1.
LAD
I p.^'
ade|
and ,
salaoj
leH
UNCA almunus recounts military tour in Iraq
by Justin Wagner
Staff Reporter
■ca!
lesidents of WNC attended a
fea! forum to discuss the
Egional Water Authority
leemcnt. Developments over
Jfer rates and distribution,
Bcluding city council’s
louncement last year of its
Intion to charge higher water
|es in the county, caused
Jhc' over how city and coun-
ylrfficials will manage water
Pribution.
ate
JNC President Molly Broad
ar^ to leave her position in
ring 2006. Her eight-year
jure as head of UNC’s 16
opuses occured amid sharp
tion increases, budget cuts
id swelling student enroll-
nents.
Broad helped push the case
|or increasing tuition within the
1C system during a time
BC!i UNC officials wondered
to deal with increased
rollment as state funding
Igan to diminish.
|[tate House members voted
1 to 59 in favor of a bill that
E uld bring a state lottery to
rth Carolina. A lottery could
rease funds for WNC school
istricts by as much as $14 mil-
ion a year. The bill must still
iss in the state Senate and gain
tproval of the governor later
lis year.
Jiationai
"Authorities in Tucson, Ariz.
oncluded that three volunteers
I a civilian-based group cre
ed to monitor illegal border
^ssing played a prank on an
egal immigrant,
the volunteers located the
bmigrant along the
jizona/Mexican border. They
(ill face no criminal charges
^cause they did not detain the
_ resident Bush recently
referred to the Minutemen, a
|oup of civilians who began a
jonth-long campaign this April
to independently monitor the
U.S./Mexico border, as “vigi
lantes.” Domestic groups in the
B>untry have voiced concern
iB'er possible violent excesses
ftat may occur as a result of the
group’s efforts.
|A federal judge sentenced
latthew Hale, leader of a white
ipremacy group known as
feativity, to 40 years in prison
fpr soliciting an F.B.I. informant
to murder Judge Joan
[umphrey Lefkow, who at the
le presided over a case
ivolving the group.
[Lefkow’s interaction with the
roup gained national attention
to. 28 when police found her
jother and husband murdered
their home, and police sus-
icted members of Hale’s group
(sponsible.
jBart A. Ross, a man possess-
ig no connection to the group.
Iter confessed to the killings
(tore committing suicide.
I International
(Thousands of protesters in
leijing and southern China
raged anti-Japanese demonstra-
SEE BRIEFS, PAGE 12
A UNCA history graduate
returned after a 10-month tour in
Iraq and gave a presentation in the
Laurel Forum on April 6, revealing
daily aspects of life in post-
Saddam Iraq.
“For the most part, the people
there—most of them Kurdish—
were very receptive to the United
States,” said Louis Toms, UNCA
history graduate and current staff
member. “We attempted to mini
mize our presence as much as pos
sible.”
After receiving word in Oct.
2003 that the North Carolina
National Guard 30th Brigade
would assume active duty in Iraq,
Toms spent the winter training
before his duties brought him to
the predominantly Kurdish town
of Balad Ruz, located northeast of
Baghdad and 20 miles from the
Iranian border.
Kurds, long repressed under
Sunni Arab-dominated Iraqi gov
ernments, led a more peaceful
coexistence with U.S. soldiers
under the occupation than their
counterparts in Fallujah or
Ramadi, but local incidents of fric
tion and misunderstanding persist
ed at times, according Toms.
“When we got there, the Kurds
started going through towns and
kicking the Arabs out of their
homes,” said Toms.
“Ten years ago, 20 years ago,
their families were kicked out, so
they thought this was the thing to
do.
“We had to go back in and tell
them that they couldn’t do that.”.
Ethnic animosity also created
problems in the 30th Brigade’s
effort to train members of the Iraqi
national guard, who resided on the
base with the Americans.
This caused greater tension
between the groups than differ
ences of religion or any other sin
gle factor, according to Toms.
“The faith itself is not as prob
lematic as the ethnic portion of it,”
said Toms.
“If they have Kurds in their mil
itary, the Arabs won’t do anything,
and vice versa.”
Images of American affluence
also persisted in the minds of most
Iraqis in Balad Ruz and created a
misconception of the extent and
ability of American soldiers and
nongovernmental organization to
issue aid, according to Toms.
“They see visions of New York
City,” said Toms. “They see
plumbing, and they want that now.
And it takes a while to get to that
point.”
Assistance to the community
did, however, encompass efforts to
allow children from the town to
attend school, although many of
the children focus on work rather
than education, according to Toms.
“They have a school there, and
we were in the process of rebuild
ing it,” said Toms. “But, for the
most part, children around there do
not go to school.
“Females definitely don’t get a
full education. If they do, it is to go
work to produce a product to help
the family.”
Aside from insurgent attacks,
which were sparse around Balad
Ruz, much of the chaos in the area
was due to transportation issues
and unexploded munitions in the
countryside, according to Toms.
“In Iraq, there are no policemen
or highway patrol officers to gov
ern the road,” said Toms “So,
therefore, you wind up going on
the right side of traffic like you’re
supposed to, and you have people
coming down your right.”
“You’ve got people coming your
way and not much you can do
about it.”
Toms said Soldiers also had to
navigate Iraq’s anarchic roads
while simultaneously avoiding
roadside bombs insurgents have
used to target American soldiers.
The countryside around Balad
Ruz is also riddled with unexplod
ed ordinance left over from
decades of war, according to Toms.
“We had our engineers go out
and blow them all up,” said Toms.
“It wasn’t just one area. It was
within a five-square-mile radius
that this stuff was just hanging out
underneath the sun.”
r I ^
* 'f
Photos courtesy of Louis Toms
Louis Toms visted this mosque in Tuz during his tour in Iraq (above). A local Iraqi boy trans
ports goods through his village (bottom left). This famous Spiral Minaret was built in
Summara around 500-600 C.E. (bottom right).
One of the factors that prompted
U.S. military engineers to take
action was the local response to
the problem.
“There’s good reason for it,” said
Toms. “We had an elder sheik in
our town who would hire kids to
clean this stuff up and bring it to
our front gates.”
Architecture photographed by
Toms included structures spanning
the length of Iraq’s history, from
the contemporary period to Iraq’s
entry into Islamic civilization.
The presidential palaces con
structed by Saddam in Tikrit high-
SEE IRAQ, PAGE 12
Students and faculty raise awareness of Darfur conflicts
by Sarah Schmidt
Staff Reporter
Responding to violent conflict and suspected genocide m
the D^ur region of Sudan, UNCA students and faculty dis
tributed bracelets, held public talks and signed petitions m
an effort to raise awareness about the issue.
Conflict broke out in the Darfur region between the
Janiaweed, a government-supported Arabic militia, and the
non-Arabic people. Rebel groups from Darfur, claiming dis
crimination against non-Arabs, mounted f ^^^s agains
government forces in 2003. In response, the government
Lnt in the Janjaweed, who have since targeted civilians on
the basis of ethnicity, according to reports froin refugees^
^ough casualty lists from the region list both Arabic and
non-Arabic people, the majority of refugees are non-
Arabics fleeing from the Janjaweed.
“It’s one of the world’s hellholes,” said Mark Gibney,
political science professor. “In this area of Sudan called the
Darfur, the numbers are about 300,000 people dead^ What
you have here is the killing being done by the Sudanese
government and the Janjaweed, and the victims here are
overwhelmingly African. I think it’s genocide.
Gibney gave a series of lectures on the I^ur conflict
across WNC in conjunction with the World Affairs Council.
Sbney said that he was surprised at the level of awareness
of the lecture attendants on the subject of Darfur.
“In some respects, it’s surprising that they are so aware of
this ” said Gibney. “The reason I say that is, something like
the Congo, where almost four million people have died
since 1998, most people know about that. I would say that
Darfur is very much in the public consciousness.^
“On the other hand, I can’t imagine that there s a steady
. stream of letters going to Congress saying that we must do
something about this.”
UNCA students also joined in attempts to raise awareness
about the conflict in Darfur and to find ways to help yop it.
Caryn Gibson, senior creative writing student, subscribed to
the Web site SaveDarfur.org and has since given talks on the
subject and passed out green bracelets from the organiza-
“You can give talks about the situation, which I Lave
done, and I have another one scheduled in April,” said
Gibson.
“Wearing the bracelets encourages people to ask ques
tions, and even if you don’t know a whole lot, each bracelet
has the Web address for SaveDarfur.org, and then you can
go and get a broad range of news articles and make your
decision on how things stand.”
Other students at UNCA signed petitions to take the issue
of Darfur to Congress and attended lectures to learn more
about the conflict. ■ . i >,
“I signed a petition to go to Congress about it, but 1 don t
really know that much,” said Nikki Davis, undeclared fresh
man. “I know that it’s an ethnic thing, and I know that thou
sands of people are being killed off. I just think it’s reyiy
sad when our government isn’t doing anything about it.
Central to the lectures, talks and petitions is the question
of United States and United Nations involvement in Darfur
and whether the conflict actually constitutes “genocide.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell traveled to Darfur
in 2004 and described the conflict as “genocide.’’
A U.N. commission that traveled to Darfur in January
2005 reported that although the Sudanese government and
the Janjaweed committed serious violations of human
rights, the actions did not constitute genocide.
“What you have that’s surprising was the U.N. commis
sion that came back in January that said it was genocide.
What is also surprising is that last year the U.S. government
said that it was,” said Gibney.
“It’s the first time that a U.S. president has said that soine-
thing at that moment actually constituted genocide. We re
much better at saying that something 10 years previous, in
hindsight, was genocide.
“When the United States has tried to initiate certain meas
ures about this in the U.N Security Council, they were effec
tively blocked, so in some respects, the Bush administration
can say they at least tried to do something.
The United Nations also gave the names of 51 people that
their commission reported in connection with genocidal
activities to the International Criminal Court. President
Omar al-Bashir of Sudan said that he would never hand over
a Sudanese national to a foreign court.
“It’s a step. It’s better than nothing,” said Gibson. H’m not
as familiar with African politics as I could be, but if Sudan
is pressured by outsiders like the United Nations, the
European Union and the United States, how they respond to
what Sudan does will determine whether or not those peo
ple are brought to justice.”
Gibney also pointed to international pressure as a possible
method through which the conflict in Darfur could be halt-
“Genocide has a very technical reading in international
law, but, for most people, this standard had been met, and
most people thought the world community needed to
respond,” said Gibney. "I think that most people, if not the
overwhelming majority, think that we have failed the people
of Darfur."
A recent British Parliamentary report estimated that
300,000 Sudanese people from Darfur died as a result of
starvation, disease, and violence.
"At this point, things look bad," said Gibney. "The num
ber of people dead has increased substantially. The UN
commission estimated 70,000, the latest nufnbers I think
have estimated 300,000.”
"I don't know how many villages have been burned down,
I don't know how many people have been raped, and at least
for some period, it seemed as if that the world attention did
seem to prevent the killings for some period of time. I'm not
as confident of that anymore."