Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Jan. 25, 2008, edition 1 / Page 4
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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM NEWS Two recent events point to offensive behavior on campus By Megan Feil Staff Writer On the morning of Dec. 3, Amanda Mbuvi, part-time lecturer in religious studies, reported finding a swastika and "death to fags" written in pen on the safe zone sign on the office door of Eric Mortensen, assistant professor of reli gious studies, in Dana auditorium. President Kent Chabotar called the Bias Incident Group to meet after receiving news of the defacement of Mortensen's door. An incident must meet four characteris tics in order for the Bias Incident Group to respond: it must be perpetrated by anony mous perpetrators, be widely known by the public, be viewed as threatening to a person or group, and be serious. Few members of the group, which com prises faculty, staff, and students, knew about it before the meeting. "It came close to not meeting the criteria," Chabotar said. "Fifty percent of me said we shouldn't do anything at all because the person who did it would get the attention they wanted," said Mortensen. "However, the other 50 percent finds it so offensive that we need to express that that kind of intolerance is not accept able." The group sent out a statement reaffirming the core val ues of diver sity, equality, and justice, which can be viewed on the Guilford Web site. Later in December, housekeep ing staff foimd the third- floor Milner bathroom Eric Mortenson Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in an unsani tary state. According to Lili Sharpless, Milner hall director, they had to deal with "cups of urine placed in urinals and feces wiped on the toilet seats as well as the stalls." Sharpless woke the male residents on the third floor around 7 a.m. "I fig ured since I staff, ,='r/ / rr HAS come to our ArmiiioriTHAT we (rm ^ aoc3{?Ne4) m 9BNS Dl£ TO UFiSlWARy CCMmCMS CnjR SATEROCm miTHiSMiafir be t«w* sjt bathrooms wt UNQ8?SrAND THAT E)CrREME iS l^iACOEPTABLE W! WE AU. AGf^ that On Oi? PAJJT, THE BATHROfflV^« REAHVay OEW. "EXCIPT FOR F0RGE7TW6 TO FUJSH. OR LEAWS THE 9NK ON,’CM? BATHR0»A ON CUR PART tSMOSny CLEAN. ’WHAT WE ARSUNG ABOLfT.tS HOW FOU ARE SETTTN6 US F1t«D Wtm 0 0e3DEQ TO OEAH BATHROLMS FCS? A UWG, YOU WEW WHAT you wejE sBrriNS wm yET yoj srui took the job, and ycu sm. WHLE yOUR LSFINtTiia^ OF OEWiS 15 SPRAy«^ THE SURFACE vwm alcohol and eoo so^ows what, so^y to y^M Bur THAT ISN’T OJEA}#IS. lASTiy. WHAT ABOJT THE V-TIH ALL THE UTTLE BLACK FLKS AU OVB? Tf€ ShOWERS AND EXPANDSHS INTO the GENS?AL 8ATWt»«? !S THAT OjR PROBLEM TOO? i DONT THUK S£» HOW CAN you TBJ. TO OEAN OR PAX WHB4 yOlTRE NOT EVffil DONS YOUR j(B? OR ts nr that ydy thnk m muoy the coAPANy n the SH0WB?5? also, IT'S l®mONED THAT A CERTAIN STAFF METWB? iS cmsrmny foono coimfeHiNG abcut MusaiE ff?08tEMS. f this pe^Of^ DQESNT UKE THBR JOB THB^I THEy SHOtO OUT, V/E DCUt NSD TO HEAR THE CONSTAT NAS3NG, AND NBTLP? DO THE RA'S. THIS PERSON iSN'T COMPLAiNiNS THETRE BTff R aESPlNS !N THE 1088/ OR H«?AS5US the yOCN5 WOM^ Qt4 VAR0L6 ROCP^'S. USTLX, THE BATWOQM MAX BE MOS^ HXI3&4IC IF THEX WS?E ACTUALiy aSANED MOI^ THAN TV^CE A fe "I'm not interested in knowing someone who did something fundamentally cowardly and pathetically uninventive." the housekeeping staff. The essence of the message had a "horrible tone that basically said, 'we're paying to study, you're paid to clean, do your job,'" Chabotar said. The Bias Incident Group did not respond to the issue in Milner. "Its good to have several tools for dealing with issues, you can choose the most appro priate one," Chabotar said. "We have students to students, stu dent to resi dential advi sors, Campus Life, and the Bias Incident Group. With all these options, you don't over or under-react, you've got a choice to make." Nobody has confessed to either incident. Chabotar said that the focus should be placed on making these issues "teachable moments" rather than finding the perpetrators. "I'm not interested in knowing someone who did some thing fun damentally cowardly and pathetically uninventive," Mortensen thank you, Tm w ANOTHER!^ QFwmm P.B. rr 15 UNFAIR that iVS?yCM IS pmsm fcr the rare and EXTRBVIE BVmTS. WE AS A WH(M£ WlL NOT PAX BECAUSE OF XaLf? CQm^TS. mw All xcxj what you wm mws into whs^ xaj DEoii^a TO aSrOME A ‘COLUK bathroom aCANSi.* Dan Miller/Guilfordian said. had been woken up early to deal with their mess they should have to get up early too," "The fact that people could have walked Sharpless said. by and see this or heard about it necessi- She held a meeting to talk to them about tates some sort of public thing," Mbuvi said, the inappropriateness of their actions and to "These people who have seen it won't know tell them about their shared fine. if anyone cares if nothing is done." Some residents repeated the offense a few She and other professors have created space days later and attached a note addressed to in their classes to discuss it. Reselling of local paper raises alarm in community By Jake Blumgart Senior Writer Landmark Communications, a media company based in Norfolk, Va., is consid ering the sale of all its assets, including the local Greensboro newspaper the News and Record. Landmark's decision to go on the mar ket reflects a powerful trend in America's media industry — the consolidation of independent, locally owned media com panies into mammoth transnational corporations like Viacom and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The monopolizing of the media indus try has led to decreased local control, an increased emphasis on quarterly prof its, and reduced budgets. The News and Record has already begun to experience the cost cutting bedeviling the industry including layoffs last June, the first in the newspaper's history, and a reduced cover age of certain sections. "The community concern (with a potential sale) is whether it will become an even more watered-down paper," said Richie Zweigenhaft, Dana professor of psychology and mass media expert. "It is (already) a shadow of its former self (and) I would be surprised if it wound up being a better newspaper (after a sale)." The prospect of an extra-regional inter est buying the News and Record worries many members of the Greensboro com munity. Landmark, through the newspa per, has donated around $300,000 annu ally to Greensboro area non-profits in recent years. A larger corporation might end such funding. "Landmark is not one of the giants of newspaper ownership," Zweigenhaft said. "It is mostly a regional company. If the paper is purchased by a corporation outside the region, it would become just a source of income for them (with few local concerns)." The sale comes at a particularly hard time for American newspapers as many young people turn to the Internet instead of print media, causing a decline in read ership and decrease in profits. According to Richard M. Barron, a staff writer for the News and Record, newspa per profits that used to hover around 40 percent have recently dropped as low as 20 percent. The News and Record has emphasized the cormection between Landmark's deci sion and the troubled state of print jour nalism. Barron has written articles for the paper covering the potential sale and a related piece entitled "How long can newspapers last?" "Dropping revenues have stimulated a lot of changing hands," Barron said in a phone interview. "A lot of companies don't like the dropping profits but that is the trend right now. Any business is happy with 20 percent profit but the com panies worry that it will keep on drop ping, to 15 percent, (then to) 10 percent, and eventually to zero." The News and Record is attempting to expand onto the Internet in an effort to retain readers. The paper has hired two full-time editors and one full-time reporter solely for online coverage. "The News and Record, like all news papers, has to adapt to change," said Tracie Fellers, visiting writing instructor and former editorialist for the News and Record. "One of the strengths that the News and Record demonstrated is its work in being part of the blogosphere. (Moving onto the Internet) is among the ways that newspapers will have to adapt and change in order to remain relevant to their communities." Most Guilford students are unfamil iar with The News and Record except through their extensive and in-depth online coverage of the Bryan Incident. Before the Internet, the paper was the best way for students to find movie times, but now most students turn to their laptop. "For the most part, Guilford students are internationally, not locally minded," said Ben Lancaster '07, a former Guilfordian editor, life-long Greensboro resident, and News and Record subscriber. "You can't really expect out-of-town college students to read the local paper. The only thing that is going to happen is that the News and Record will be bought and no one on campus will notice."
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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