2
Thursday, February 23,1995
tHalr’-Based Mhumusical Tackles Tough Issues
BY MICHELLE CRAMPTON
STAFF WRITER
l “Hairpieces,” a minimusical put on by
second-year graduate student Thomas
King, isn’t about wigs, toupees or other
false head coverings.
, It’s about stereotypes and controversial
topics like sex, homophobia and racism.
To develop “Hairpieces” for his master’s
thesis, King added a '9os twist to the musi
cal “Hair,” which was first performed in
the 19605.
“I call it ‘Hairpieces’ because, first of all,
it’s a play on a hairpiece being fake or as a
part of something
else,”hesaid.“lalso
see it as taking
pieces of the show
and making anew
show that may be
similar or at least as
thought-provoking
as the original.”
Hairpieces
Thursday and
Friday: 8 p.m.
Saturday: 3 p.m.
All shows in
203 Bingham
Admission: free
His production, which runs about 45
minutes, takes the reactions to the original
and uses them as part of the script.
; Other portions of his musical are de
rived from lyrics from “Hair” songs. “Songs
are actually just poems,” King said. “So I
took several of the songs and changed the
lyrics into a performance text.”
Cast members brought their own views
to the performance by helping to write the
script. They spent the first two weeks after
auditions in January getting to know one
another. By divulging personal informa
tion to each other and voicing concerns
about issues such as homosexuality, drug
use and racism, they developed their char
acters.
The characters themselves embody such
figures as an overzealous feminist, a pro
miscuous woman and a lesbian.
There is also a character who represents
society, one known as the Earth mother,
STAFF
FROM PAGE 1
“In part, this unfortunate climate may
result from recent budget cuts, the recent
absence of salary increases, fear of staff
layoffs, and (in the view of some) a pro
tracted debate concerning changes in the
University grievance process,” the report
continued.
Thus, the report concluded that although
progress was being made, there were sev
eral “hot spots” (probably a reference to
the Keith Edwards and housekeeper cases)
where blacks faced a “hostile work envi
rpnment.”
Are Staff Problems Always About Race?
.. The casual observer of the Keith
Edwards, Eric Browning and housekeep
ers court sagas might conclude they are
oainly about race. But actually, it is not
always easy to identify which staff prob
lems are distinctly racial.
~ For example, Barbara Prear, a leader of
the Housekeepers Association, character
ized the housekeepers’ fight for better pay,
training and working condition as a fight
on behalf of “the working-class poor.”
, “I think that race keeps us divided on
certain issues,” she said. “If you haven’t
got money to buy a loaf of bread, it doesn’t
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another known as the wigger or “white
nigger,” and a character called “da man,”
a white male oppressor. Together, the seven
characters form a group called “the tribe.”
In addition to playing their roles as
these stereotypes, die cast members also
portray themselves. “They can play, at any
given point, their character, but they also
play themselves, ’’ King said. “And while it
is them telling their own stories, these
people are still performers, so they are
performing their stories.”
Jasme Kelly, a senior communication
studies major from Durham, plays the Earth
mother. “It’s a threefold play,” she said.
“There’s the lyrics from the songs of‘Hair,’
and the criticism that gets added to it, and
then there’s us actually living it. I think
that’s brilliant.”
Since much of the material for the show
involves sensitive issues, the cast realizes
that it might offend some in the audience.
“I myself don’t necessarily agree with
all the sexual messages in it,” said Rita
Walter, a senior biology from Albemarle
who plays Tuna, the promiscuous woman.
“I really believe those things are immoral,
but I do believe the racial things.”
Travis Laughlin, a senior who plays “da
man,” likes the ideas the show brings up
and the way they are presented.
“I think it’s good to bring issues such as
the ones that (King) raises in this show to
the forefront, ” he said. “A lot of times you
have to offend people and raise contro
versy in order to help people see things. If
you keep it quiet, people are going to re
main ignorant.”
Kelly said: “I think it’s really daring in
the sense that (King) pushes the issues to
the edge. There’s actually a scene where
we are basically sitting around doing
drugs.”
That, paired with other things, could be
aproblemforsome viewers, Laughlin said.
“People could be offended because we
matter if you’re black or white.”
Rachel Windham, chairwoman of a
group that provides a forum for UNC staff
ers, agreed that the problems facing house
keepers were not necessarily racial.
In fact, Windham said she could not
remember any issue that had been brought
to the Employee Forum having been de
scribed as about race.
“We’ve never had a discussion of an
issue as a black and white issue,” she said.
“Our approach is generally looking at is
sues that are related to the entire work
force. I’m not going to take an issue and
turn it into a black and white issue when it
is not that at all.”
It's About Institutional Racism
Chapel Hill attorney A1 McSurely, who
represents Keith Edwards, Eric Browning
and the housekeepers, had a different take
on what had happened to black staffers at
UNC. He calls the concentrations ofblacks
in lower-paying jobs an example of institu
tional discrimination that has survived at
UNC from the times of slavery through
segregation and the fight to end it.
“It is that history that has to be looked at
when you look at the treatment of minori
ties,” he said. “My view is that (UNC) has
a legal duty to remove the vestiges of that
history.
FEATURES
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DTH/LAURA THOMAS
Cast members of the musical -Hairpieces' rehearse in 203 Bingham Hall. The
free play runs tonight through Saturday.
re-enact smoking dope on stage, and there
is sensuality just oozing everywhere,” he
said.
King said: “The material may be offen
sive, but I’m not actually trying to offend
anyone. What I’m trying to focus on is that
McSurely said the primary goal for black
employees was to get higher salaries. The
starting salary for housekeepers is $ 14,767,
which is below the poverty line for a family
of five.
“These (pay) grade classifications were
based on the idea that black people can live
on less than white people. That initial (idea)
has been accepted by the state (which sets
the base pay for UNC employees).”
Because of the low pay, many house
keepers hold two full-time jobs, keeping
them at work and a way from their families
for long hours, McSurely said.
And the problem is not only the pay
itself but also the significant difference in
compensation between the job categories
where blacks are clustered and the job
categories filled by mostly white employ
ees, he said.
“There is still a disparity between the
lowest paying jobs and the predominantly
white job categories right above that
clerical and skilled trade. The origins of
that practice are racial.”
Beyond pay, McSurely points to a laun
dry list of problems facing the black staff at
UNC from a workday that begins at
3:50 a.m. and poor health to a punitive
supervisoiy system and half-hearted ef
forts by the University to provide training
that would give black staffers a genuine
opportunity to get a better job.
McSurely said pay increases and pro
motions for housekeepers depended on
goodsupervisorevaluations. “Inthehouse
keeping department, these evaluations are
given by supervisors who are under a great
deal of pressure from their managers to
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we do need to think about this and talk
about why we say these things and think
this way.”
Admission is free, and doors will open
half an hour before the performance be
cause seating is limited.
keep the budget as low as possible. They
have set up a very punitive system.”
He also criticized the University for not
setting up an apprentice program to help
housekeepers move into the higher paying
trade jobs such as carpentry and plumbing.
“Despite it’s (public relations) on that, the
University has not done anything but a few
cosmetic programs,” he said, referring to
the clerical skills classes.
Dissonant Voices
Others add to McSurely’s list of prob
lems by citing recalcitrant administrators
and an increased use of temporary labor.
Said housekeeper Prear, “There are still
some supervisors who treat black and white
workers differently on the same job. Some
things have improved and others haven’t
really. I think that there are certain people
who refuse to change, and it seems like our
administrators allow them not to change.”
Prear cited instances of blacks being
asked to do additional work when the
same was not asked of white employees.
“People refuse to acknowledge that
things happen, and when you try to deal
with it you have fears from a lot of people,
especially housekeepers, (in addressing the
problem).”
She also said there was a perception that
promotions were given unfairly. “To me
it’s not that they move up the most quali
fied people—it’s that they move up people
who kiss butt.”
Housekeeper superintendent Hardy
White responded, “We have discussed the
housekeepers’ feeling that there may be
perhaps some skeletons still in the closet as
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It Sure Beats Mitchell Hall:
Gass Breaks in Bahamas
BY CATHLEEN LINEBERRY
STAFF WRITER
When Spring Break begins in less than
two weeks, at least one class will still be in
session. Students enrolled in Marine Sci
ences 123,crosslistedas Geology 123,aren’t
complaining, however.
After all, there’s something to be said
for taking a field trip to the Bahamas.
As part of the four-credit course called
“Marine Carbonate Environments,” stu
dents will be conducting their own re
search projects in San Salvador Island,
Bahamas.
“It’s going to teach us a lot, and I think
it will be fun,” said Nancy Black, a gradu
ate student in the geology department.
“We’re going to draw on a lot ofthe knowl
edge that we’ve learned through our other
course work. We’ve studied a lot of litera-
far as supervision is concerned. We hope
that we have been and are taking an ap
proach that will perhaps eliminate it—l’m
talking about the perception and not say
ing that it exists.
“We do discuss the perceptions that are
out there and the ways to change the per
ception. I think that we still have to work
on bridging the gap as far as communica
tion is concerned, and hopefully that will
be the thing that will remove whatever
perceptions there are about supervision.”
A final problem that was often men
tioned was the growing use of temporary
labor at UNC. Administrators portrayed
temporary employ ees as a way to cover for
employees who were temporarily not work
ing because of sickness, injury or mater
nity. Workers often said the temps were
yet another way for the University to “keep
people poor,” as Prear put it.
Many of the temps used at UNC come
from Tar Heel Temps, a University em
ployment agency that was formed three
years ago.
Tar Heel Temps manager Sheri
McCaskey said the service had registered
about 6,000 area residents who were will
ing to do temporary work in areas from
housekeeping to nursing to accounting.
The number of temps actually employed
varies dramatically from week to week,
McCaskey said. This week, 240 temps are
working at UNC, she said.
McCaskey disputed claims that temps
worked alongside regular housekeepers for
months on end without the benefits of full
time employment such as health-care in
surance. State policy forbids UNC to hire
temps continuously for more than a year,
she said.
No housekeeping temp has ever come
close to the one-year limit, McCaskey said.
In fact, she said that working as a temp was
sometimes a step toward full-time employ
ment at the University.
“If someone’s there (at housekeeping)
for an extended period of time and doing a
good job, they’re usually hired into the
next vacant position if they are the most
qualified."
For the Record
In the "Briefs” column in Wednesday's
edition of The Daily Tar Heel, it was incor
rectly reported that the reception for the
'Humpty Smiled’ exhibit would be March 3.
The reception actually will be held from 5
p.m. to 7 p.m. March 2 in the Union gallery.
The DTH regrets the error.
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ture and now will be able to conduct our
research and take measurements. It’s a
great opportunity.”
San Salvador Island, about 375 miles
southeast of Miami, was chosen as the
location of the trip because it offers stu
dents the opportunity to study various en
vironmental settings, said Bret Jarrett, a
teaching assistant for the class.
Conrad Neumann, professor of marine
sciences, teaches the course and is also
leading the trip, which costs students S6OO.
“We’re hoping to have some good science
and good fun,” he said.
The group going on the trip will consist
of 12 graduate students and six under
graduate students from different depart
ments, including geology and marine sci
ences. Five faculty members, including
Neumann and two members of the Insti
tute of Marine Sciences, will also be going.
“It is a rather intense exercise,”
Neumann said. “Students are very stimu
lated to learn in that environment, even
when they are working in muddy, hot,
stinky ponds and lagoons.”
Neumann, who has taught this class in
the spring every other year since 1972, will
be making his 10th trip with students to the
Bahamas. While there, the class will stay
in a converted Navy tracking station.
Neumann said the students’ learning
would be mostly self-directed. “Each stu
dent does his own research on the trip,”
Neumannsaid. “The selected undergradu
ates have a science background that will
aliow them to conduct their own research. ”
He isn’t worried about the students’
varying level of experience with these sorts
of projects. “We’ve already had almost 20
hours of lecture to prepare students,”
Neumann said. “They will also have an
exam before the trip.”
Black History Month
Spotlight
The Statue of Liberty
After the Civil War, the French gave the Statue
of Liberty to the United States of America in
honor of its newly freed citizens.
The French gave America the Statue of Lib
erty. However, when the statue arrived, its fea
tures were manipulated to appear more Cauca
sian (the statue was in the image ofablackpeison).
Therefore, the next time that you journey to New
York City, keep in mind that that tourist attraction
was supposed to be a black woman.
Campus Calendar
THURSDAY
3:30p.m. “Opportunities: Resources Abound/’
a program for Womentors and protegees, will be held
in the Assembly Room ofWilson Library. Sponsored
by Leadership Matters...
Astrophysics/Theoretical Physics Seminar in
247 Phillips.
Partide and Field Theory Seminar in2sß Phillips.
“ Solutions for Multimedia Networking” will be
presented by Bert Dempsey, Ph.D., from the Univer
sity of Virginia Department of Computer Science, in
208 Manning Hall.
4 p.m. “The Endangered Species Act Reautho
rization” will be presented by David Wilcove ofthe
Environmental Defense Fund in 128 Wilson Hall.
5 p.m. Psychology Club meeting/movie/free
pizza night, will be held in 101 Davie Hall.
Only members are invited to attend this dub
meeting.
5:30 p.m. VSA in Union 205.
7 p.m. SNCAE will meet to discuss “Student
Voices” in 10 Peabody.
Outing Chib in 109 Fetzer Gym.
8 p.m. UNC Symphony Orchestra, with winners
ofthe annual UNC Concerto Competition, will spon
sor a Scholarship Benefit Concert in Hill Hall Audi
torium.
Tickets are on sale now in 1048 Hill Hall: $9 for
adults, $5 for senior dtizens and $2 for students
Call 962-1039 for more information.