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Nfws Controversial punishment divides students Market -M. — . . CONTINUED FR( By Courtn«y Metz STA^F WWTfR A death penalty forum last Thursday in the Highsmith Union addressed debate on a campus full of diverse views and individ uals. “1 don’t think that anyone should be able to decide if some one should live or someone should die,” said Sarah Young, vice-president of the American Civil Liberties Union and mem ber of the UNC Asheville chapter of Amnesty International. “Life imprisonment is a reasonable alternative.” The forum, ‘The Tragedies of the Death Penalty,” was co-spon sored by the ACLU and Amnesty International and featured four speakers with different views. “It was basically a forum to inform the student body about what the death penalty means, what are reasons to be opposed or be in support of the death penalty or just to share genuine stories of people’s personal experiences with this,” said Young, a political science and environmental policy student. “The death penalty still has major effects on our society today and there are major things going on with it.” There are many reasons to oppose the death penalty, accord ing to Young. “There are the classical argu ments that it doesn’t deter crime,” said Young. “Where the death penalty is used in the Southern states, they have much higher murder rates than in the states in the Midwest that do not use it. It is discriminatory. It is four times more likely for an African-American man to be con victed of a death penalty sentence than a white man. If you look at SGA committee, according to Noor. “We felt that appointing a com mittee which contained individu als who had already made up their minds before the investigation had taken place would not be a fair or partial trial,” Noor said. “So we gathered senators who had not voiced an opinion about what they thought and, up until that point, had remained largely unaware of what was going on.” Lange shows favoritism and a lack of respect for seniority, according to Laughlin. “I appreciate Anna Lange’s per sonal endeavors as an individual, but 1 think there needs to be a sep aration with her job as vice presi dent,” Laughlin said. Laughlin seeks Lange’s position as vice president of SGA, accord ing to Noor. “I think (Laughlin) does a lot for himself personally to help stu dents, but doesn’t help to make the body that he’s a member of very successful,” Noor said. “He, Photo Illustration by Megan Wildman Students voiced opinions for and against the death penalty at an ACLU forum Thursday. Some students said they felt execution was the only option for some criminals while others said there are no benefits of the death penalty. those on death row, 95 percent of them could not afford their own attorney.” Statistics clearly show acts of discrimination, according to Young. Over 80 percent of people exe cuted since 1976 were convicted of killing white victims, although people of color make up more than half of all homicide victims in the United States, according to the Amnesty International Web site. Many students say they are in favor of the death penalty. “In a society with so many bru tal acts of violence against inno cent victims, especially children, I believe it is a justified punish ment,” said Kathy Lockemy, a 37-year-old management student. “I have a problem with my tax dollars supporting someone spending life in a facility where many times they have access to things that many law-abiding cit izens don’t have.” Those funds would be better used to help the victims, accord ing to Lockemy. The death penalty does not help in some ways, goes out of his way to make it difficult for other indi viduals, particularly the vice pres ident.” Laughlin said he has no plans to be vice president. “My present time constraints both here on campus and in the community prohibit my ability to hold any further responsibilities,” Laughlin said. Lange said she accuses herself of being too lenient. “There are power struggles in the Senate and people fighting for my position, including Senator Laughlin, trying to make our meetings ineffective,” Lange said. “I need to be stricter on people speaking out of turn and disrupt ing meetings.” SGA meetings are notoriously lengthy, according to Lange, and tend to run around two hours. A transition in power Former Vice President Devon the victims either, according to Young. “There are a number of studies out there that victims do not find peace in another man’s death,” Young said. “Another person’s death does not lead to real justice. You can only find that type of peace through another means. There have been a number of murder victims who have stood up and said that this isn’t working and that it is tragic.” Many also believe that the death penalty is prone to human error. Sanchez-Ossorio stepped down from his senate position last week, according to Laughlin. “He said it was for time con straints, but let’s be honest here. I just don’t think we’re doing any thing, and I don’t think he thought we were being effective,” Laughlin said. Laughlin said with the end of the semester fast-approaching, he is disappointed with the lack of progress and movement in the student government. “There’s a certain sector of the group, a few key individuals, who do a lot of work, and there’s a majority of individuals who don’t necessarily do as much,” Laughlin said. Lange said she blames lack of movement on a number of the senior members. “Some senior senators, like Senator Laughlin, repeatedly do not sign up to help with events, tabling and advertising,” Lange said. “This puts many of the “The death penalty is the ulti mate denial of human rights,” according to the Amnesty International Web site. “It vio lates the right to life as pro claimed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Because the application of the death penalty is subject to human error, it is inherently flawed.” Since 1973, more than 120 peo ple on death row were found innocent and released, according to Young. This, she said, is grounds to question the system. “I don’t feel it’s right for a man to take another man’s life, no what matter the circumstance,” said Nic Goodman, freshman stu dent. Many students said they agree with this point of view. “I don’t think that it is particu larly right,” said Liz Fisher, soph omore student. “It is an easy way out (for criminals). They don’t have to live with the guilt this way.” It is unlikely there will be any legal change in the way the United States uses the death penalty, according to William Sabo, political science professor. “I think right now, it’s too sim ple, too emotional and too sym bolic an issue to imagine that there is going to be, in the near future, any kind of reversal of the death penalty rules or any kind of overt compromise on them,” Sabo said. Other students said some crimes merit the death penalty. “I’m going to go ahead and say what a lot of people want to say but don’t,” said Matt Evans, sophomore music technology stu dent. “Some people should die. Period.” CONTINUED FROM paqf i newer people in an interesting position because the senators they are looking up to are not owning and participating in SGA-spon- sored activities. They think, ‘If they aren’t helping, why should I?”’ A bright future for SGA Regardless of current power struggles, the three freshmen sen ators continue to be a positive force in SGA, according to senior senators. “I think the freshmen senators have sort of hit the ground run ning,” Laughlin said. “All the freshmen seem to be adjusting well and are very involved in all the groups. It’s great to see the new leaders of the student body taking on this responsibility in this way. I’m very impressed with every single one of them and how they’re handling themselves so far. There’s nothing but good things to come from them.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Johnson looks forward to the leadership opportunities to come. “Sometimes I feel like ‘Why did I want to do this?’ and other times I feel glad,” Johnson said. “When we did Greenfest, I felt like I was doing something good. I signed up and helped them out with something.” Controversy provides a learning experience for student leaders, according to faculty members. “The positive thing about stu dent controversy is it gives stu dents a real-life laboratory to learn skills that they’re going to need to have when they go into the work-place,” said Bill Haggard, vice chancellor of stu dent affairs. The future for SGA looks bright, according to Noor. “If you get caught up in the drama, it can really slow down what you’re trying to do,” Noor said. “Sometimes we just need to take a step back and see how it all fits together.” we work with is New Life Homes in Nairobi, Kenya and then a couple of other provinces in Kenya. We found out that 80 percent of the children get adopted within one year.” Referring to an article by Kofi Annan, Stephens said AIDS in Africa has a woman’s face, but it also has the face of an infant as well. “The word AIDS doesn’t invoke much empathy, just the term, but a baby invokes empa thy in everyone, and that’s real ly what the face is, that and a woman’s,” Stephens said. The Amani Children’s Foundation was chosen due to the gravity of the AIDS crisis, according to Dagg. “We usually choose some big charity to donate the money to,” Dagg said. “I chose Amani because recently, I was reading a bunch of articles of how AffiS was running rampantly around the world.” The total donation added up to $1,300, with $300 coming from student organizations and a $1,000-donation from Starbucks, according to Dagg. All donations will go to the Amani Children’s Foundation, according to Stephens. “One thousand dollars is the cost of supporting an infant for their first year of life,” Stephens said. “That includes the cost of rescuing the infant, nursing the infant back to health and then giving the med ical treatment, emotional sup port and its daily necessities such as food, water and shelter for a year. In effect, that saves the infant’s life.” This particular donation will go toward a recently rescued infant named Armette who was abandoned at a hospital, accord ing to Stephens. The remaining $300 will go toward the spon sorship of another child. “That $ 1,000 is going to go to baby Annette, a beautiful baby girl who was rescued from a hospital where she was aban doned within the first few days of her life,” Stephens said. “She was suffering from malnourish- ment and was severely under weight and sick. Baby Annette was nursed back to health and now she is supported for the year.” While providing a night of fun and entertainment, the Night Market allowed students to par ticipate in an event and work together for a good cause, according to Jang. “A lot of us redly don’t recog nize how easy it is and how important it is to donate some thing for a good cause,” said Jang. Although the Night Market raised larger donations in the past, there were some new “We had a great integration of all the campus organizations, so that was very successful in that aspect,” Jang said. Soccer Tl> y Courtesy of the Athletic Department Liberty nearly doubled UNC Asheville's shots on goal during regulation time, but the Bulldog’s won in overtime. and just for an exhibition match. It was a nice thing. Most people haven’t played teams like that.” The finals for the NCAA tour nament are on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3 in Cary. “I love this team. I love being around this team. I’m so excited about doing this with the team, being in the NCAA, playing against whoever we playCl Barrow said. “It will be a really fun day and an awesome experi ence and to share it with some of my best friends will be some thing I never forget.” Student tickets for the game are $5, advance tickets are also available. The Bulldogs play the No. 1 seed at Fetzer Field. More details are available on the UNC Web site. “Carolina is a nationally ranked program and has been for many years, but the crazy thing about soccer is one-zero can win,” Cone said. “We just have to play good defense and score one goal. At this point in time anything can happen.” Plasma Donors Needed Immediately Become ADonorToday! Ybur plasma will be used to make Life-saving medicines. New donors make $120 in their first 2 weeks. (i Doiauoif) Now Paying Higher Fees to Regular Donors. Proof Of Current Residence WithinThe Last 3D Days is Required. 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