10
WWW.GUILFORDlAN.COM
FORUM
input with Pepsi contract
As students, sometimes it's
easy to feel like the admin
istration doesn't listen to us.
Sometimes there isn't the level
of transparency we'd like to
see.
Or sometimes they put stu
dents in a catch-22, like when
they tell us to make decisions as
a student committee, decisions
that will change the school But
when a group of organized,
dedicated students form, the
administration tells them that
the group cannot possibly rep
resent the whole student body.
This was the response to stu
dents attending the beverage
forums when students consis
tently voted against having
Coca-Cola or Pepsi on our cam
pus.
Students met and researched
several ethical alternatives to
these soda providers.
Considering that the grounds
for the objections to Coke
and Pepsi regarded imethical
business practices, one might
assume that the replacement
would not commit crimes
against humanity, privatize
water, exploit the communities
that house their factories, or
spill endless amounts of toxins
into the groimd near farmland.
If that was your assumption,
you'd be wrong.
The issue of expelling Coke
from Guilford College was han
dled at a very superficial level.
The administration did not
address the meat of students'
arguments.
Looking at the business prac
tices of both companies, Pepsi is
comparable to Coca-Cola. Both
soda providers have committed
similar offenses to its workers
and the environment.
Now with a brand-new con
tract with Pepsi, additional
changes will prove to be very
difficult if not impossible for
the next few years.
Pepsi-Cola has been found
guilty of unfair hiring practices;
giving toxic fertilizer to local
farmers; privatizing, depleting,
and polluting water in drought-
prone areas in India; and sup
pressing (often violently)
attempted mion organization.
But hey, at least it's not Coca-
Cola, right?
With the administration
working hard to alter the
course of Guilford College, stu
dents are going to have to fight
harder, even in the small battles
to make ethical changes in our
community. While its admin
istration-1, studentSrO at the
moment, don't get discouraged.
That statistic could change any
time.
Ruckus respouds
to auti-P2P bill
By Carl Farlow
Staff Writer
Earlier this year. The Guilford-
ian ran an article about Ruckus, a
new filesharing program distin
guished from the rest of the peer-
to-peer networks by its unques
tionable legality.
Supported by the Recording
Industry Association of America
(RIAA), Ruckus is now officially
endorsing a new bill set forth by
Democrats that would require
college campuses to provide their
students and employees with the
"policies and procedures related
to the illegal downloading and
distribution of copyrighted ma
terials," as well as legal alterna
tives to peer-to-peer sharing.
I can see why Ruckus sup
ports this bill now. It practically
mandates that colleges look into
the kind of services that Ruckus
and its competitors (few and far
between as they may be) offer.
Since Ruckus is the most popular
college-oriented network of its
kind, small wonder they are so
hot to support the measure.
There has not been a better
example of shameless profiteer
ing since Haliburton moved into
Iraq. I applaud Ruckus for recog
nizing, but only for recognizing,
this as a massive business oppor
tunity. They would be daft not
to support the legislation, since
it hands them colossal money
making opportunities on a plat
ter.
In addition, campuses are
required to begin developing
"technology-based deterrents" to
online piracy. Under this bill, the
secretary of education would be
authorized to make grants, not
only to institutions undertaking
research projects of this nature,
but also to organizations operat
ing in concert with them.
The short of the whole thing is
this: Ruckus could apply for a fed
eral grant to develop anti-piracy
measures. In all likelihood, this
is something they have already
delved into, since a crackdown
on piracy would mean they get
access to an exponentially larger
market. A particularly devious
strategy, since college students
today grew up with Napster and
Limewire providing them with
thousands of songs at a whim.
Ruckus is counting on old habits
to drive more students to utilize
their services.
It all fits into a giant corporate
game of connect the dots, since
the RIAA officially "endorses"
(use your imagination with that
one) Ruckus, and Ruckus offi
cially endorses this new bill.
If this bill passes, the RIAA
would be one step closer to
dominating all avenues of main
stream music distribution. At this
rate, in 10 years we will have to
start paying royalties every time
a stray song falls on our ears.
Now who wants to volunteer?
By Reid Cranfill
Staff Writer
The Student Athletic Advisory Committee
(SAAC) has decided to implement volunteer
programs through athletics. After all, who bet
ter to serve the community than the Fightin'
(Quakers?
Except there are times when volunteering
isn't volunteering, like when it's a condition
of your allowance, your fraternity, or your pa
role. Even your high school had the courtesy to
call them "community service hours."
Even if SAAC's requests aren't mandatory,
how much of a right do athletes have, or feel
they have, to say no?
In the sweltering August heat, when your
lungs are burning, your legs are lead weights,
and that bruise on your forehead is starting to
swell, you nod and get back to work with noth
ing more than a single word from your coach.
Coming from the same person, how much less
weight does a request to do community service
bear when it's merely very inconvenient?
Athletes are already donating countless
hours to the college's athletic department on
top of being students. Are they really the best
people on campus to press-gang into reading
to fourth-graders on a Tuesday morning?
Included in the plan is a system where ath
letes get points for selected cultural activities
on campus, part of an effort to make the ath
letes more involved in the community.
I'd rip logic behind this hollow gesture a
new one, but there's already an organization
on campus created by the NCAA to shout
down a patronizing, brownie-points based
bother for the athletes. In theory, it's supposed
to be SAAC's job.
According to the NCAA, SAAC's were ad
opted NCAA-wide along with a national con
ference in 1989 to "generate a student voice
within the NCAA structure."
With an extra judicial process, departmen
tal and team guidelines, the authority to drug
test at will and access to the athlete's for hours
a day, the athletic department exercises consid
erable control over its athletes.
As the representatives of student athletes to
the school, SAAC is supposed to be a shield be
tween the athletes and the athletic department
and administration, the closest thing they have
to a union. They're supposed to be the people
who have the athlete's backs when the school
or the league goes too far, not generating loads
of new work for them.
And while it is within their mandate to
promote a positive image for the athletes, this
plan is not a viable solution to the divide that
exists between athletes and other students at
every middle school, high school, and college
in this coimtry. Coercing athletes into sitting at
the back of a seminar and signing a sheet, or
volunteering by themselves, isn't going to cre
ate the level of interaction that would foster a
sense of community with the other students.
As long as we're drafting people let's use
a random selective-service across campus for
volunteer work. What better way to build fel
lowship than the athletes and non-athletes
volunteering together? An athlete-exclusive
volunteer program misses out on a great op
portunity for the different elements on campus
to bond.
This is Guilford, after all. Surely there are
already dozens of underused programs or
some club through Campus Life that keep ur
ban youth from peddling arms to the Iranians
or save kittens or something, and provide an
experience that would bring Guilford's "vol
unteers" together.
Breath of life
By Paula M.Wilder
Contributing Writer
I dreamed once of getting a
degree in Journalism, joining
a newspaper staff and writing
about real life, real joys, and real
pains. My passion has always
been writing. I wrote my first
book (still unpublished) when I
was in fourth grade.
I started using my middle
initial in eighth grade because
my English teacher told me that
"Paula M. Wilder" sounded like
an author's name. My dream
burned within me, but when I
was 18,1 let the dream die down
to embers.
Painful things happened,
painful choices were made, but
when it all comes down to the
bottom line, I let my dream go.
Then one day I decided to take
my life back. It was like com
ing out of a coma and looking
aroimd to see that life and time
had passed. There were some
gray strands, there were some
wrinkles and somehow there
were four children that looked
up at me and said, "Mommy."
But the reclaiming of my life
was like blowing a sweet breath
on the embers of a dying fire. The
embers started burning a little
brighter - more breath, and then
the embers started to flicker. More
decisions had to be made - more
breath was blown on the fire that
now caught hold. My dreams
were coming back and they were
excellent and beautiful.
I started to write, I started to
speak, and I started to get pub
lished. I foxmd my passion again
and my zeal for living returned.
I knew I didn't know enough. I
knew I needed more training, I
needed to finish school. "V^at
for?" people asked. "How can
you do that and be a good mom?"
My answer - "It's just for me and
my kids will make it." I came to
Guilford to finish school, but also
to live out my dream.
I know some of you (old and
young) are out there saying,
"What is the big deal? Go to col
lege already without having to
make it into a 'dream' situation."
You say to me, "I'm getting my
degree to make more money" or
"It's just what you do when you
are 18." You drag yourself to class
everyday just waiting to gradu
ate with your degree so your real
life can continue.
Hey, that's ok, that's you and
I'm me. I am here; loving it, and
I am writing and I am learning
and my fire is burning and my
dreams are alive.
I know I'm not the only one
breathing life as I walk into these
classrooms here at Guilford. I
walk by you and sit across from
you in class and I see that spark. I
wonder what dream you are pur
suing. I've shared mine and here
I hope to share yours.