Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 20, 1995, edition 1 / Page 13
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flailg (Ear Hwl Stronger Coverage, Meeting Readers’ Needs Keys to a Better DTH Editor's Note An 11-member selection board will choose the next DTH editor Saturday. The text that follows is Thanassis Cambanis' platform as it appeared in his application. Cambanis is the only applicant The 11-member selection board is com prised of eight at-large students and three DTH staffers -one desk editor, one assistant editor and one staff member - who will be chosen Wednesday during an in-house election. To protect board members from lobbying, their names will not be made public until after the editor is named. The 1995-96 editor will be profiled in the March 27 paper. If you have any questions about the process or want to talk about the paper's future, feel free to contact Editor Kelly Ryan at 962-0245. Asa newspaper, we can’t forget what we are here to do: Serve the campus and community. We’ve been doing it in some form or another for more than 102 years at Everyman: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation John Travolta, although he would deny it, made the biggest comeback of his career with “Pulp Fiction.” He still had the hips (although a little paunchier) and he still had that great “duh” face. George Foreman (nice KFC “KO cholesterol count”), Andie Agassi (nice hair) and Tony Bennett (more raw un bridled talent than Dexy’s Midnight Run ners) all have had career comebacks as well. In their wake comes a return no one has been waiting for... Everyman is back on the prowl. No no no, not EverywhereMan, the glass-bottle-bottomed spectacle-wearer/ David Koresh look-alike that wandered the ban of Chapel Hill looking for Ms. Goodbar, but ME, the goofy hat-wearing, wine and cheese-less good-time boy of past DTH fame. This past year I’ve studied slackdom in all of its forms. I did no homework. I did no textbook readings. I wrote no papers. And for this, I made a good living. Yup, I am bartending at Spring Garden until I decidewhich less-traveled road I wish to make my fame and fortune walk ing down (“less-traveled” in the 1990s means repaved fewer times than 1-40 through Asheville). With that in mind, Iwil now proceed to bring to you my educational experiences in the real world via tripartite subject mat ter. As I exited one of the UNC home games that I attended this year, commenting with my roommate that this year’s team was definately the most entertaining and ex hilarating thing this side of Disney World, we happened to encounter an example of what has become an almost frighteningly commonplace in today’s world: Smokebashing. At the foot of the Dean Dome we over heard some student with a drawl yell out, “get that f@#sing thing outta my face! I don’t need your Gs##amn smoke killing me or my girlfriend!! Wait till you get in your f@#sing truck to smoke so you are only killing yourself!” It seemed like ironic justice that as those last words left his mouth, one of the umpteen buses that ferry fans to Franklin Street blinded and choked us with its ex haust. Now I’m no doctor, but I think this anti smoking thing may have gone just a bit too far. I don’t smoke. I hate the smell of smoke. But the argument that cigarettes kill other people is only slightly stronger than the argument that saccharin gives you cancer. I mean, sure, if both of your parents have always smoked a pack a day and they’re both unemployed and you are home-schooled, inhaling secondhand smoke from every single cigarette either of them light up, then I’m sure you’re at risk for lung cancer. But I can’t imagine that little tobacco filled sticks smaller than my pinky finger can be more deadly to nonsmokers than walking across the Dean Dome parking lot after a game. That lot, in addition to all of those buses, has hundreds of idling cars, revving out carbon monoxide andGodonly knows what else directly into our faces. But that doesn’t faze us. The Daily Tar Heel, and as your editor, I would raise this service to new heights. I have spent more than two years in positions of responsibility at the DTH, gaining valuable experience and working knowledge. However, I also spent my sophomore year at UNC not working at the DTH, gaining something equally valu- perspective of a student and reader. As editor, I would continue to participate in campus life, attending meetings and social events to keep in touch with the readership and retain my sense of perspec tive. My approach to the paper would be two-pronged: strengthening news cover age and creating a campus publication that responds to reader wants and needs. I would use my experience inside and outside the newsroom to strengthen the Tar Heel’s most successful aspects and remedy its shortcomings. Issue Coverage. A frequent complaint is that the Tar Heel picks up an issue of interest anything from staff grievances to the football stadium expansion to tu ition hikes —and then proceeds to ignore Neither do the dozens of trafficjamswe sit through ev ery year (hun dreds if you live in a big city). Why, if nobody would ever be dumb enough to attack the BILLY PAIRES GUEST COLUMNIST autoindustry for endangering our lives with automobile exhaust, would people feel the need to attack the tobacco industry for endangering our fives with one-hundredth of the exhaust of an automobile. It’s Just a thought. IWHI Folio* Everyone says that my generation has no one to follow, that the so-called leaders we have to choose from are all corrupt or too flawed to truly follow. But I think we’ve come to expect too much from today’s leaders, and conse quently, no one fits our mold anymore. You follow a leader for a specific purpose, not always for the lifestyle or beliefs that leader holds. George Washington was definately a great leader. He was an upstanding man, a courageous soldier and a potential dictator who made the decision to allow his coun trymen rather than his semen to choose his successor. That was leadership. But he had his flaws. The man who “could not tell a lie” also chopped off many a British soldier’s head. He also had slaves (“If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?”—don’t defend him just because it was accepted in his time). And as if that wasn’t enough, he had wooden dentures, which obviously means he couldn’t have been a very good leader in the fight against gingivitis and tooth decay. Yet, without much argument, these flaws did not and do not change the fact that he waswitnout doubt a great leader. In the areas that he was asked to lead, he shone, and the rest of his fife and lifestyle shouldn’t matter. In the same manner, the leaders of to day need to be scrutinized for their talents and abilities in their field, regardless of how many times they’ve had sex out of wedlock or how many times they’ve in haled. Many a “good upstanding Christian” has in secret cheated, robbed or killed, sometimes in the name of God, so we should not make a poor leader a stronger candidate simply because of supposedly better morals. This is all in regards to Fred X Hall. Mr. Hall, I’m fairly certain that I have never owned slaves. I’m quite sure my parents live on a two or three acre lot with a two story house which they clean and keep up completely unassisted. I can honestly say that I have never intentionally said nor done anything that would injure or prevent my brothers and sisters of African-American descent from being my equal if not my better. I am appalled that you would accuse me of doing so. However, there are racists in this world. Many more of them are probably white EDITORIAL it for months. I would make sure we followed relevant and important is sues regardless of whether they were making headlines in other local newspa pers. Restructuring news desks and the jobs of other editors would allow editors to spend more time outside the office, in the community. A strong managing editor would help news desks stay on top of issues and write fol low-up stories. The growing Special Assignments Team would bolster the news staff and address community issues in depth. The state&natidnal desk would cover stories and issues of interest from other campuses across the natiofr. Diversity. More than just a catchword, diversity is something we want to see more of on the newspaper staff and in the events we cover. A staff that more fully represents the makeup of the campus puts out a paper than black or brown or green or yellow. Your race, Mr Hall, is in a struggle against many different oppressors and mahny diffemt prejudices. In that fight, I have no doubt that you are a good leader. But I do not agree with your belief that I am your enemy. Nor do I agree with your dislike if not disgust with those of Jewish heritage. They do not all own banks and conspire to end your race. Respectfully, I wish you the best in all your efforts to lead and simply ask that you do not teach your those who follow you to either fear or hate me simply be cause of the color of my skin, because if you did, you would then be leading back wards. xoxoxxo Last, but not least, I want to send my love and best wishes to one of my heroines, Jeanne Fugate. Only Mia Hamm made me more speechless with her footwork than Jeanne with her wordwork. Shame on all of you who happen to dislike her because she is “slutty” or “shameless” or “vulgar” or any of the other negative adjectives, because she has happens to have the almighty power of independent thought. That power allowed her to say what she wanted with little regard for your reserva tions that a young lady shouldn’t behave or talk in such a way. It was the responses to her column that reminded me how far the South still has to go before it can consider itself rid of the many stereotypes it’s garnered. First, many many church-going girls curse, drink, have premarital sex or all of the above. Not to say that’s right, but just because you didn’t or don’t do it doesn’t make it wrong. Second, in college, having a good time should always take an equal billing to do ing well in school. Too many kids end up losing their souls, not to mention their personalities, to the study of a profession that will continue to rule the rest of their lives. All of the money they might someday earn will be pointless if they have gained the social skills of a pencil sharpener. And didja ever hear the words “It’s not what you know...”? I know more people making good bucks because of connections they have made than I will ever know who did it because of their sheer intelligence. Of course, here I am bartending, banking on that second option to get me a job ... Finally, masturbation, although not a greatdnfinately not a potential dinner topic with your future in-laws, is an amaz ingly intriguing thing. Safe sex. No such thing as premature ejaculation. Ready when you are. Any advertising company looking to sell a product would die for something that is as easy as masturbation to promote. So just because Jeanne Fugate happens to admit that she does it, and that you, in all likelihood, do it too, doesn’t make her Satan. It just makes her less likely to wed a eunuch. Rock on, Jeanne. Rock on, Tar Heels. And rock on, Michael Damien. I’ll see you in Disney World. Billy Faires is a former DTH columnist and a 1994 UNC graduate. that more accurately captures real commu nity life. Unlike this year’s half-hearted and disorganized effort, aggressive recruit ment and sincere outreach at C-TOPS, Pre-O and existing student organizations will create a stronger and more representa tive newspaper. A recruitment team like the one proposed but never created this year could reach more students than the editor alone. Student Congress reports. In the news hubbub following the biweekly congress meetings, much of congress’ work is over looked. After each congress meeting, we would publish a full summary of every bill passed by congress and every representative’s vote. Editorial Page. The back page of the paper should continue to serve as a reader’s forum. But the editorial and op-ed pages can also raise issues, not just react pas sively to letters and news articles. Building on this year’s op-ed section, next year’s DTH could provide more op-eds that fully explore issues by betterplanning issuepages and better recruiting guest commentary from outside the paper. Support a Women’s Center for UNC In the spring of 1994, several UNC stu dents started investigating the need for a campus women’s center. After research ing the facilities available for women at other campuses around the state and na tion, they compiled an initial proposal for an administratively based task force to study the possibility of such a center at UNC. After a year of working with the administration on this issue, a task force hasbeen established,the Chancellor’s Task Force on the Status of Women. Faculty and staff members, as well as the Battle administration, have all been supportive. This task force will study how the admin istration can most effectively meet the grow ing needs of women on campus. Whether this involves establishing new services or simply improving accessibility of existing ones remains to be studied. It has been observed by the DTH and others that there are already many resources and activities available to women both on campus and in the Chapel Hill commu nity. This is true. The Chapel Hill women’s center offers financial and legal counsel ing, career workshops and support groups. However, most of these services are not widely known among or easily accessible to students. In addition, many off-campus opportunities are not geared toward stu dents, so needs specific to them often go unrecognized. Those services available to women on campus are often underpublicized and offered on an incon sistent basis. This leads to these resources being underutilized, which completely de feats their purpose. The Women’s Issues Network was formed in response to this fragmentation ofresources. Our purpose istobuildbridges between campus groups and to act as a clearinghouse for information about on and off-campus services for women. As Sorority Rush—Access for Everyone Fall sorority rush at Carolina is an excit ing and dynamic program, whose pri mary function is to assist young women in finding a sorority they feel comfortable with. As students search for a smaller commu nity to be part of, one that makes a large campus like UNC seem more manageable, sororities fill an important need. Fall soror ity rash is very popular at UNC with over 700 women participating annually, of which over 75 percent join a sorority The rush process begins by dearly ar ticulating the expectations and priorities of sororities at UNC, and how the rush pro cess works. One of our highest priorities is scholar ship. Scholarship plays an increasingly important role in sorority rush. All sorori ties have minimum GPA requirements for joining (some as high as a 3.0 high school GPA). However, these academic requirements have an effect of limiting who can join a sorority. We support such high academic requirements since they signal that schol arship is our highest priority. It is one reason that the sorority grade point aver ages have been consistently above the over all undergraduate women’s GPA for over a decade at UNC. As we strive to make rush more inclu sive, we are sensitive to any barriers to partidpation. First, the rush fee is kept low ($35) to make rush affordable. Second, rush occurs after school begins so that no one needs to end their summer jobs or internships early (this avoids a large eco nomic and academic barrier for many of our students). Third, rushees do not dress up as they have in the. past, or like at other schools. We want our rushees to look very much like our students normally do (this also avoids another economic barrier). Fourth, we limit what sororities can spend on rush to minimize costs. Fifth, we clearly articu late the average costs for sororities. The average cost of a sorority per se mester is around $250 and covers items such as national dues, local dues, leader ship school tuition, academic incentives, scholarships, philanthropy projects, sorial activities, liability insurance, etc. All at tempts are made to keep UNC sororities affordable. Housing and meal charges, for those who choose to live in and eat at the chapter house, are comparable to UNC charges. The rush process is a streamlined opera tion that maximizes the amount of infor mation that rushees receive about sorori ties, and that sororities receive about rush ees. The process also maximizes the inter- Aggressive but responsible coverage. The campus community needs complete news coverage of issues that affect it, like how student government spends fee money, what the administration does with student services and academic policies, and how faculty and staff affairs are handled. An editor with community perspective can organize assertive but informed coverage. Diversions should be more than a dis traction. The weekly entertainment sec tion should address more than music esoterica and weekendhobbies. Diversions would guide weekend entertainment choices and provide intelligent reviews of student productions and performances. Recruiting more knowledgeable writers would improve drama, film and music reviews. An organized weekly calendar, including full listings of campus entertain ment options, would establish the basis for informative coverage of all local entertain ment. Keep Sport Saturday. Despite the rising cost of newsprint, I would work with the advertising and professional staff of the DTH to keep the football season supple S' < ■ AMY SWAN/SUSAN COVINGTON GUEST COLUMNISTS part of this effort, WIN Las established a newsletter, Women’s Watch, as a first step in bringing women’s resources to one easy to-find place. We have co-sponsored fo rums with groups as diverse as B-GLAD and the Asian Students Association in an effort to raise awareness of women’s con cerns in all areas of campus. WIN is also a participating organization in the Human Relations Coalition established this year. In answer to those who say that services directed toward women are unnecessary, the statistics tell a different story. Despite the fact that women make up 60 percent of the student population, they are underrepresented in campus leadership positions and have few female role models among faculty and administrators. This year only 40 percent of Student Congress was women, and in its entire history UNC has only had one female student body president. Only one-fourth of the Board of Trustees are women. To top it all off, the number of tenured women faculty will not reach parity with male faculty until the year 2056. For a university that’s been around 200 years, we sure have a long way to go. A campus women’s center will give women’s concerns support and legitimacy in the UNC community. It would take the action time be tween rushees and members. The total rush process consists of three evenings (5:00-8:00 p.m.) and two days (Saturday and Sunday) spread over an 8 day period. We try to keep RON BINDER GUEST COLUMMST rush short, but also allow time for academ ics. During each phase of this four step process, both rushees and sorority women slowly narrow their choices, while spend ing an increasing amount of time with each other. The ultimate goal is that rushees and sororities are satisfied with their choices. Asa measure of this satisfaction, over 90 percent of those who join a sorority are still members one year later. To participate in rush, a rushee fills out a biographical form listing her academic credentials, scholarships, internships, hon ors, awards, leadership positions held, other activities, etc. (it is like a professional re sume). Sororities receive these resumes to study. The first round rushees visit all 10 so rorities for 25 minutes each. This round is held on Wednesday and Thursday evening, after most classes and labs, from 5:00-8:00 p.m. (rushees or members with labs or evening classes are automatically waived on to the next round). During the 25 minutes with each soror ity, rushees and members are engaged in conversation to get to know each other. After the first round rushees narrow their list of sororities slightly from 10 to 8, and sororities slightly narrow their fist of rush ees. The second round rushees visit the 8 sororities they selected, this time for 30 minutes each. This round is held on a Saturday, so that no one misses classes or labs. During this round sororities provide rushees with more extensive information about their sorority: activities, goals, pri orities, philanthropy projects, etc. The idea is to provide every rushee with enough information about the sorority so that they can decide if they can identify and feel comfortable with the group. After this round, rushees again slowly narrow their choices from 8 sororities to 5, and sororities slightly narrow their fist of rush ees. Monday, March 20,1995 ment, even if it required downsizing die popular publication. Sports coverage should include the athletic department’s finances, graduation rates and more inves tigative reporting of athletics issues—not just game stories. Readership survey. The Daily Tar Heel conducts routine market surveys every few years. I would supervise a readership sur vey that would come out early in the fall arid ask readers what they want to see more and less of in their newspaper. I would use this information to create a product that meets the needs of its readership rather than condescends to it Over what promises to be a turbulent year, with new leaders taking over the most important positions in die UNC ad ministration, The Daily Tar Heel must serve asastrong and informed voice for the campus community—students, staff and faculty. As editor, I will provide die leader ship, skill and vision necessary to expand the scope and quality of the paper. Thanassis Cambanis is a junior history major from Chapel Hid. “running around” out of finding informa tion. Our vision for a campus women’s center is not a freestanding structure but rather a centralized area composed of a library, office space, meeting room, bulle tin boards for posting announcements and a computer. Services that are now scat tered throughout campus could be repre sented in one central location. A UNC Women’s Center would be a safe space to learn about gender issues. Staffing would ideally include a full-time director, but volunteers and work-study students could be heavily depended upon. These are not ideas pulled out of the blue. We’ve done our homework. Inter ested students and faculty have been re searching and visiting campus women’s centers in the Triangle, Atlanta, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. We’ve done a year’s worth of reading and article collecting about what kind of centers work best on various kinds of campuses, the array of services that a center can provide and much more. Anyone with questions is encouraged to stop by the WIN office. We can put notebooks full of information into your hands. Our requests are certainly not un reasonable. Most major universities have had women’s centers since the early ’7os. Interested in participating? Stop by the WIN office, room F in Suite B of the Union, or call us at 962-5620. Pick up a copy of our newsletter, Women’s Watch, at the Union Desk, Davis, the Undergrad or check out your RA’s bulletin board if you five on campus. Amy Swan is a junior women's studies major from Waynesboro, Pa., and Susan Covington is a senior English and women's studies major from Greensboro. Swan and Covington are co presidents of the Women's Issues Network. During tire third round rushees visit the 5 sororities they selected, this time for 35 minutes each. This is held on a Sunday so that, again, no one misses classes or labs. Very much the same thing happens as during the previous round but with more time. After this round, rushees narrow their choices from 5 sororities to 3, and sororities narrow their fist of rushees as well. The final round is the most formal. During this round rushees and sororities have the most interaction, spending 45 minutes with each of the 3 sororities se lected. This round is held on Tuesday evening, after most classes and labs. After this round rushees rank order their choices of sororities, and sororities rank order then list of rushees. A computer program matches the lists, which results in over 90 percent of the rushees receiving their first choice. Rush concludes on Wednesday, 8 days after beginning, with rushees receiving invita tions to join a sorority. In an effort to ensure that every rushee has an equal opportunity, a maximum size pledge class is established, called quota. Quota is determined by the number of rushees who attend the final round, di vided by the number of sororities in rash. Last year quota was 56, the same as the year before. While overall, around 75 percent of rushees join a sorority, we are always con cerned with those who do not. Our re search shows that some women drop out of rash because they found it was just not for them. Many drop out because of the academic standards, and a few drop out because they did not receive the sorority they chose. We encourage everyone who is going through the process to keep an open mind. We generally find that those joining a sorority are overwhelmingly pleased with their choices. Our future goals are for 80 percent of rushees to join a sorority, and to streamline the process further. We will be successful if sororities work together so that everyone makes quota, and rushees keep an open mind. The key is to keep improving every year. We are extremely proud of all 10 so rorities that participate in Fall Rush at Carolina and we are confident that each sorority would make a fine home for any rushee. Ahome that promotes: 1) academ ics, 2) community service, and 3) campus involvement, in an atmosphere of 4) sister hood. Ron Binder is the director of Greek affairs. 13
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 20, 1995, edition 1
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