Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / April 18, 2001, edition 1 / Page 6
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Meredith Herald April 18, 2001 Campus Opinion From the N.C. businesses: gold mine The United Stales Congress is examining and re-examining a bill lhat would reform the way political campaigns are financed. Current problems with campaign finance exist because some corporations and private donors give what is termed “soft money.” which is raised and spent outside the regu latory structure for federal election cam paigns. (Editor Bui North Carolina corporations will not —I 1 take campaign finance reform lying down. Indeed, Democracy South, a Carrboro- ba.sed campaign finance watchdog group, has found that from 1997 to 2000, soft-money donations to ihe Democratic and Repub lican parties from North Carolina corporations and private citizens reached $8.4 million. Most of the money went to the Republican party, not surprising in a historically conservative state. And. also not surprisingly, a good deal of the soft-money dona tions came ftom tobacco companies, power companies and banks, three of the state's major industries. In fact. RJ. Reynolds Tobacco gave $1.6 million, with S8 per cent of that going to the Republican party. First Union and Bank of America gave a combined $1.6 million, and almost 90 percent of their donations went to the more conser vative of the two parties. Duke Energy and Carolina Power and Light (now known as Progress Energy) also gave their share of money to energize polit ical campaigns. Together, the two power providers gave $365,000, and 77 percent of that went to the Republican party. But other not-so-expected companies also donated their share of soft money. The Research Triangle Park’s [^armaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, gave $1.1 million, with 93 percent going to the Republican party. Is there a trend here? It’s to be expected that the tobacco com panies would donate to die Republicans, who favor less stringent govemmeni control of tobacco. And the banks rely on many Republicans' desires to earn money as a sign of success. Now. it seems that drug companies are feeling that conservative slant as well, donating their money to the Republican party. Maybe it's to be expected from a company lhat is currently try ing to prevent affordable AIDS treatment from reaching South Africa. Let’s hope not. Meredith Herald Editcs" in Chief. Leslie Maxwell Associate Editw. ...Christina Holder Copy Editor. Stephanie Jordan Layout Editor. ....ieesha Austin News EditOT..... Jenny Costa Reporters Jennifer Boyce, Laura Collins, Elizabeth Crowder, Chelsea DeSantis, Lindsey McAdams, Betsy Rhame, Christy Sadler, Joni Smi^, Tracy Sumner, Lora Tillman. Jamie Tunnell, T^esha Williams. Lisa Wilson, Lindsey Wray Photographers,...-... Emily Collins. Tanesha Williams Distribution v Jennifer Boyce Subscriptions .Chelsea DeSantis, Lind.sey Wray Faculty Adviser..™ Dr..Rebecca Duncan Editorial PoHcv; The Meredith Herald is published by the College throughout the academic year. 71k paper is funded by the College and through independent advertising. The opinions expressed in the editorial columns do not necessarily reflect those of the college administra tion, faculty OT student body. How to reach the Herald: If you have an article idea far the staff, contact the office at 760- 2824. You can also e-mail the paper at maxwelll@meredith.edu>. Atl ideas will be considered but may not necessarily be used. Campus forum All author wants is a little respect as a Meredith student Dear Editor; You know what I love about this school? I love that when I come home from a friend’s house at 2 a.m., I have a smiling face to greet me at the gates of Mered- th. I love that if I am tired or it IS raining. I can ask. and one of bur security officers will escort me to my dorm. I feel as safe walking across Meredith’s tampus at night as I would in my own back yard. But there are some things jibout this school that bother ine. I have issues with the way pur rooms are searched, as well ps the results of those searches. When I arrived at school fter a late-night movie, I was eeted a yellow slip alerting that 1 was being fined $15 br a halogen lamp, which real ly contained a 40-watt bulb, dding to that, my things had n ransacked. After talking with several other students. I learned that their living space had been similarly violated. I know that room searches are necessary, but when we signed a contract giving the college permission to search our rooms, we did not give permission for our belong ings to be strewn about. What is worse is that we cannot even watch this happen; instead, we must stand outside our rooms and wait while our privacy is violated. This is a borderline violation of our con stitutional rights. If Meredith College is going to require us to live on campus for two years of our education, something must be said about this. My next issue is why I “vio lated the Honor code.” I think that the rules concerning empty alcohol bottles and shot glasses are a bit extreme. So when I purchased a Meredith College “toothpick holder” from the Student Supply Store, I thought nothing of it. I bought it because it would look nice on >my window sill and would show my pride for Meredith College. The residence hall officials who searched my room also confiscated the Crown Royal bags my friends had given me. I had both of these things in plain sight because I did not consider a Meredith College toothpick holder and 20 Crown Royal bags to be contraband. But now I join the distin guished ranks of Honor Code violators. And why? Because the bookstore sells alcohol- related paraphernalia. The bookstore is privately owned and operated, so they can sell these glasses, but if that is the case, then Meredith College should not brand them as alco hol related. As for the bags, I think that calling them alcohol-related paraphernalia is extreme. If they are alcohol-related, then almost anything could be con sidered alcohol related. The Absolut Vodka ads many of us have on our walls or just about any glass, cup or mug could, under different cir cumstances. be considered alcohol-related paraphernalia. As students, we all have busy lives. We have home work, jobs, boyfriends and sports, not to mention finding the time to eat, sleep and breathe. We do not have time to waste. Nevertheless, because of these recent events, I have had to waste my time proving myself not to be an Honor Code violator. I refuse to pay thousands of dollars a year so that this insti tution can point accusing fin gers my way and force me to waste time clearing my name. We are grown women living away from home and making our own decisions. The more occurrences like this that happen, the less respect we will have for this institution. So try to treat us and our space with more respect so that we may all peacefully about pursuing higher ieducation. Sincerely, Mary Caudle, '04 Letters to the Editor Policy: Eveiyone in the Meredith communily is invited and encoura^ to write a letter to the editcs-. All published letters mast be typewritten with a contact name, address and telq)hcMie number, and all letters must be signed by the author in order to be published The Herald reserves die ri^t to place any other article submissions cm file until needed or to choose not to print tfian The Herald also has ttie right to edit submissions for space restrictions, grammar and style. OpinicHis expressed in liters to die eddtor do not nec essarily represent the q^inicMis of die editorial staff. Inclement Weather Policy D^isions to change the CoH^e operating hours or to cancel classes due to adverse weather condi tions are made fay appropriate members of the Senior Management Team. Once a decision has been made, the inrormation is immediat^iy updated on Meredith’s inclement weather line, 760-2384. Nodce of canceltatioDS and ddays are also phoned in to WRAL-TV 5 (or ch^ the WRAL website at www.wraI'tv.coni/»nten&s>) and to other local television and radio stations as time allows.
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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April 18, 2001, edition 1
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