October 27, 2006
Volume 93, Issue 7
Students listen at the Wednesday forum led by Menemsha Milnor regarding
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CAFETERIA WORKERS. NeWS PaGE 2
Eleanor Branch
denied tenure
By Bryan Cahall 1 staff writer
Guilford College President Kent Chabo-
tar upheld last year's contested recommen
dation of the Faculty Affairs Committee
(FAC) to deny tenure to Eleanor Branch, as
sistant professor of English.
The decision follows an external inves
tigation into alleged racial discrimination
and comes despite Branch's formal appeal
in which she stated that the (FAC) has by
turns ignored, dismissed, reduced or
torted (my) contributions to the college."
Chabotar delivered his most recent deci
Sion to Branch in writing on Oct. 11. In his
letter, the President described the impor
tance of the tenure process to Guilford Col
lege.
"As a significant means to economic se
curity and academic freedom," Chabotar
wrote, "tenure is more important than hir
ing, promotion, extension, and perhaps any
other personnel decision that the College
Chabotar proceeded to justify his deci
sion within the context of Branchs overall
Continued on News page 3
Ricky Clousing goes AWOL
Sergeant thinks Iraq war is immoral
By Pete McGuire ] staff writer
S
the elections.
"I was terrified to be going into a combat
ergeant Ricky Clousing of the 82nd air- zone, but at the same time I was excited, m a
1 ^ _ j- iinrlp.rQirlp nrofessioual seuse, to be able to do my job.
,borne division has seen the underside
of the American military machine.
Over a year
ago. Clousing's
experiences in
Iraq prompt
ed him to pin
the following
quote from
Martin Luther
King, Jr., to the
door of his bar
racks, announc
ing that he had
gone AWOL:
"Coward
ice asks the
question, 'Is it ,
safe?' Expedi
ency asks the
question, 'Is
it politic?' But
conscience asks
the question, 'Is
it right?' And
there comes a
I time when one
must take a
position that is
neither safe, nor
politic, nor popular but because conscience
tells one it is right."
On Oct. 5, in front of a crowded audience
Charlie Clay/Guilfordian
Sgt. Ricky Clousing talks about the war and why
he disagrees with U.S. actions in Iraq.
professional sense, to be able to do my job.
Clousing said. "I wanted to make good de
cisions in a position
where I could make
a difference.
When he arrived
in Baghdad and be
gan his work as an
interrogator. Clous
ing was surprised
to find that the real
ity of American op
erations in Iraq was
dramatically differ
ent from the image
of the war portrayed
by the media at
home.
"One day I heard
my commanding
officer briefing his
superior; he told
him that we had
'37 terrorists in cus
tody,' when we had
a total of 37 people,
few of whom had
been linked by any
evidence to terror
ism," Clousing said
"This taught me that in Iraq there is no black
and white as the media would lead you to
believe — the use of the word 'terrorists is
in Commur; Ce^teraousing told misleading and attempts to justify an unjust
1 u;.- in Tran bad led him to the war.
Charlie Clay/Guilfordian
Eleanor Branch was denied tenure after an
EXTENSIVE REVIEW AND APPEALS PROCESS
how his service in Iraq had led him to the
belief that the American occupation of Iraq
was immoral, and that he could not partici
pate in it.
In November 2004, Clousing's umt was
ordered to deploy to Baghdad in support of
As Clousing's tour of duty drew to a
close, the perceived injustices of the war be
came more difficult to live with. He spoke
of an incident in Mosul where an iimocent
Continued on News page 2
U.S. falsely accuses Canadian of ties to
al-Qaida, deports man to Syria
By Robbie Fisher \ staff writer
A uthorities were "positive" he was al-
Qaida.
Maher Arar is a Syrian-bom Ca
nadian who was held under arrest nearly
four years ago by United States authorities
at JFK International Airport. Authorities say
they were positive he was part of al-Qaida,
and because of this "certainty" he was sent
to Syria where he was tortured for months.
Maher Arar is a telecommunications en
gineer who lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with
Ws family. After visiting his wife's family in
Tunisia, Arar was returning home via JFK
Airport when he was abruptly taken into
custody by United States Immigration and
Naturalization Services (INS) officials. It
was then that he was questioned for an esti
mated nine hours about his alleged connecj-
tion to al-Qaida, without the presence of a
lawyer.
After 13 days he was out of United States
custody and deported to Syria where he was
repeatedly tortured. On Oct. 21, 2002, Arar
was given to Syrian authorities where he re
mained in custody for nearly a year, where
Arar was never informed of the details of
the case against him. Canadian officials vis
ited Arar, but were never allowed to speak
to him alone. Between April 22 and Aug. 14,
Canadian officials were banned from seeing
him.
The United States violated international
law by not allowing a fair hearing for Arar,
as well as failing to inform Canadian au
thorities of intending to deport him.
On Oct. 5, 2003, the night of Arar's trial,
he was unexpectedly released to the Cana-
CONTINUED ONW&N PAGE 4
Aleks Babic/Guilfordian
Child holding up an anti-gay sign at
recent Gay pride rally in Greensboro.
U.S. Debt Forgiveness
The U.S. government has agreed to forgive
about $20 million of Guatemala's national
debt in exchange for Guatemalan protec
tion of tropical forests.
World & Nation Page 4
Study Abroad
The number of GuiL3rd students enrolled
in Study Abroad programs has declined in
recent years despite a wide-open program
offering study in 20 cities in 15 countries.
Features Page 7
Quaker Athletes
Athletes apply Quaker values to the prac
tice of their sports, and reconcile their
Quaker beliefs with sometimes-violent
athletic activities.
Features Page 6
Duke Memorial
Hall reveals true
history
Duke family has only
minimal ties to
Guilford College
By Katie Bailey | staff writer
A s the golf cart rolls by, you can
hear the tour guides telling pro
spective students and their par
ents, "Duke Memorial Hall was built by
the Duke brothers in memory of their
sister Mary who died as a child while at
tending New Garden Boarding school."
You then wonder how that could be
possible when the plaque inside Duke
Hall dedicates it to Mary Lyons who
died in 1893 after having five children.
The Quakers must have looked
down on that delinquent student.
The truth is that Duke Memorial Hall does
not have as interesting a background as tour
guides and history buffs would like it too.
"First, our cool story that the wood
chair in the library being the Guilford
tree is debunked, now this, another cool
story, turns out to not be true, said
Carl Simon, co-coordinator of tours.
Rumor has it that during the 1880s, Benja
min and James Duke wanted to donate enough
money to make New GardenBoarding School
into a college, but the Quakers did not want
to accept money made by the sale of tobacco.
"This story is just a mixed up combi
nation of two separate stories about the
Dukes and boarding schools," said Max
Carter, campus ministry coordinator.
Continued on Features page 8