14 Thursday, November 16,1995 (Tty? iatly (Ear Mtd Thanass* Cimbaiue EDITOR Justin Sckeef managing editor Justin Williams STAFF DEVELOPMENT World Wide Web Electronic Edition: I all http://www.unc.edu/dlh Established 1893 BMO 102 Years of Editorial Freedom BOARD EDITORIALS Listening Is Important to Speakout I With the shock of Phi Gamma Delta’s rush letter fading from the University psyche, today’s speakout is the perfect opportunity to begin preventive maintenance —but only if it’s done right. The initial fervor over Phi Gamma Delta’s much-ballyhooed rush letter is beginning to sub side. The University is no longer in shock over its existence and is entering the most important stage of learning why it existed, what it means and what should be done to ensure that this kind of “humor” ceases to be taken as a joke. Today’s forum to discuss the attitude of the letter is an important first step in promoting dialogue that is needed to resolve the situation, but only if it is done right. When members of the University community gather at 3:30 p.m. in 100 Hamilton Hall, they should be prepared to listen and not just lash out against Phi Gam, the Greek system or a misogy nist society. Explanation, apology and accep tance need to be as much a part of the discussion as outrage. However, dialogue cannot exist without more than one side of the story presenting its point of view. This is the perfect chance for members of Phi Gam to explain their point ofview instead of just High Turnout and High Confusion When 1,500 students showed up to vote on Tuesday they were presented with a poorly writ ten ballot. The first referendum, asking for the striking or replacing of a title in the student code, was so confusing that even the members of the elections board had difficulty explaining it. Ous ters of students were gathered together at polishes trying to help each other understand what ex actly they were supposed to vote for or against. The original proposals for all of the referenda which went straight from congress to Annie Shuart, elections board chairwoman, were less confusing, but did not give students the back ground knowledge they needed to vote on the referendum. The other referenda, including the U-bus fee and the STV allocation of fees, were just as confusing. All of a sudden a mysterious trans Surf the ’Net, Fill Out the Survey There was an unfortunate time when women, like children, were meant to be seen and not heard. No longer. The Chancellor’s Task Force on Women is sponsoring a computer survey to gauge UNC’s atmosphere toward women. This survey can be accessed at any computer connected to the world wide web and should be completed by all of UNC’s faculty and students. Participation does take little effort. Go to any computer lab, and look for the bright pink papers on how to access the survey. It can be done through your e-mail account, Netscape or any connection to the world wide web at: http:// www.unc.edu/staff/survey. The survey has 20 multiple-choice questions and a space for additional comments. It takes only a few minutes to complete, yet it will provide a wealth of information to build upon. The survey was not designed only for women or even for one type of woman, the stereotypical feminist. Everyone’s opinions are integral to discovering exactly how women fare at UNC. People will have different views depending on their situation, and for a survey such as this one only to contain one particular type of view will <*ljO I _ X" ' r* J fra a :,e Y * Ryan Thornburg editorial page editor Bronra Clark university editor James Lewis university EDITOR Wendy Goodman CITY editor Robyn Tomlin Hackley state i national editor Robbi Piekeral SPORTS EDITOR Greg Kalis* features editor Dean Hair ARTS/DIVERSIONS editor Marissa Jones special assignments editor Jenny Heinien COPY DESK EDITOR Cbrissy Sweeney COPY DESK EDITOR Marc McCollum design editor M Perel photography editor Chris Kirkman graphics editor Michael Webb EDITORIAL CARTOON EDITOR James Whitfield sportsaturday editor hurling obscenities at protesters from the fortress of their house, as they did Tuesday night. This is also the perfect chance for people who oppose the implications of the letter to show that expecting women to be treated as human beings is not a radical goal. It is the chance for fraternity members to explain why they elected one of the letter’s au thors to a leadership position on the Interfrater nity Council and a chance for members of Pi Beta Phi sorority to explain why they brought Phi Gam brothers wine and flowers to express their sympathy. But most importantly, it is time for everyone to realize this is an issue which does not pit Greeks against non-Greeks, but one that pits opponents of sexist behavior against those people who condone it. Blame and punishment are not as important as a simple but firm understanding that this letter, taken even as casual remarks, promotes an atmosphere of sexual violence that can no longer be tolerated. portation fee appeared on the ballot, and many students had no idea what that was or why they should vote for it. If student groups are going to ask the student body for money, they need to be more clear in the future and not pass the blame on to someone else if the ballot is misleading. The blame for this ballot debacle was passed from the executive branch to the Elections Board and then to the Student Congress. No one knows what happened to any of the proposals on the way from one branch of student government to another. In the future these student groups need to get their act together so that it doesn’t appear as if they are trying to hoodwink students. De mocracy relies on an understanding ofthe issues, and when those issues are presented in an un clear manner, democracy becomes less self-gov ernance and more second guessing. skew the results. If you are a woman, complete this survey and educate the University about your needs, so that it will better be able to meet your needs and those of the women who follow. If you are a man, take the survey to show the male perspective, and keep in mind that this survey can affect your women friends, your sisters, your mothers and even possibly your daughters. This survey is important and will be on-line until Nov. 22, so you still have a week to make it through the waiting lines in computer labs before Thanksgiving Break. Every person on campus whether woman or man, faculty member or student, feminist or not must participate in this survey to provide the University with as accurate a picture of women’s issues as possible. # BAROMETER This is a news flash! Thanksgiving 1995 has been canceled under the assumption that all the turkeys will be in Washington, still trying to work out a budget deal. EDITORIAL With AIDS, Healing Only Began With Sharing Editor's note: The following column is the second installment of a three-part series that will culminate on Nov. 30 -one day before World AIDS Day. If there was a good place to find out about my HIV status, Provincetown, Mass., was it. Although the tourism office likes to tout Provincetown as a Portuguese fishing village and as the first landing site of the Pilgrims (that’s right... it wasn’t Plymouth Rock), the town is now a haven for artists and other creative types. And—as is so often the case—where the artists go, the gay folk soon follow. Or am I being redundant? Like a Key West of the North, Provincetown is now no more a Portuguese fishing village than is Las Vegas. It’s a thriving gay resort, a small town where it is acceptable for gay couples to walk hand-in-hand down Commercial Street. Although most of you may take holding hands in public for granted, for us gay folk, it’s the most liberating feeling in the world. That’s what makes Provincetown unique it’s more wide open than the Castro. But like the inner cities, where gay folk form mini-ghettoes to find strength and safety in num bers, Provincetown has been hit hard by the AIDS virus. Even before I found out about my HIV status, 1 had watched friends die in that little town. I also knew of several HIV positive folks living there, including my roommate. So, when I found out I was HIV positive, there was a natural support system already in place. That’s why I dreaded going back to Chapel Hill. For three months, I had lived in the gay version ofDisney World. But once August rolled around, it was time for me to return to Helms country —the gay version of Hell. Don’t get me wrong, Chapel Hill isn’t like the rest of state. There is a tight-knit gay community here, and I knew that once I returned, I wouldn’t face my struggle alone. But Chapel Hill is no Provincetown, and I secretly wondered how I would hold up without the expansive support Myths, Medicine and Marijuana Misconceptions Friday has been dedicatedby UNC’s chapter of the National Organization for the Re form of Marijuana Laws and Duke’s chap ter of the Cannabis Action Network as Medical Marijuana Day, devoted to truth, justice and public enlightenment of the medical uses of marijuana. CAN’S traveling hemp museum should be unfolding in the Pit by mid-morning, placed there for the education and enjoyment of the student body and providing for us a forum from which to dispel the controversy and speak the truth about the medical uses of the drug. That evening, at 7 p.m. in 106 Carroll Hall, gospel will be spread through the medium of rock and roll as local bands unite to raise money for NORML, to continue the fight for legaliza tion. Tickets will be sold in the Pit up until Friday afternoon; all are encouraged to come to both events ... because if you do, you might learn a few things. In important decisions such as these (To Smoke, Or Not To Smoke, in this case), knowing the facts about both sides of the issue is always desirable, because then one can rest a little easier, knowing they can make a more informed decision than before. And that’s what becoming an adult is all about, right? Making informed decisions? And yet in this case, it’s a sad fact that the majority of Americans don’t generally make informed decisions when the question of TSONTS arises —and lam thinking not so much of the people who smoke it for the wrong reasons, but rather the ones who don’t, also for the wrong reasons. Much of today’s public op position to marijuana can be traced to govern mental attempts (dating back to the 19305, be- Arab Display Has No Place In UNC Human Rights Week TO THE EDITOR: On behalf of the Campus Y, I would like to apologize to the UNC community for the inclu sion of the Arab display in our Human Rights Week events. This program was not approved by the Campus Y leadership and is uncharacter istic of our typical programming. The Campus Y strives to educate the campus about social injustices committed throughout the world in a fair, thoughtful manner. We have always encouraged dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian supporters in forums that present all sides of the complicated relations in the Middle East. In light of the recent peace talks and the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, this ex hibit is especially troubling to us. We feel the exhibit is biased and outdated. Again, I apolo gize for this oversight. Emily Roth CAMPUS Y COPRESIDENT ft NO REGRETS system I had grown accustomed to in that little resort. Times were tough when I returned I suffered in relative silence for seveial months, sharing the news about my HIV status with only one or two people. And although they tried to be understanding, even my gay friends down here didn’t know how to treat the information. Most folks who die from AIDS in the South do so quietly. Too often, they slip away in silent shame, so that even the gay community doesn’t know where they’ve gone. Their obituaries share in the sub terfuge, “He passed away after struggling with cancer ... pneumonia ... a long illness.” For most of my friends, I was the first person they knew with HIV. As my spirits fell, so did my grades. Law school is a very competitive environment, where any form of weakness can result in a quick decline. And as the semester drew to a close, it became more and more difficult for me to escape confronting the virus that consumed me. The first exam I took that December was in Trusts & Estates. The first question on the exam dealt with a gay man’s inheritance difficulties after his life partner died from AIDS I stared at the question for what must have been an hour before I struggled through it and the rest of the exam. It was the lowest grade I have ever received. I went home for Christmas determined to keep a smile on my face. I had yet to tell my family about my status, and I wanted this to be our last holiday together without the pall of HIV hanging over our heads. But as we sat together, holding candles at a Christmas Eve service, I wasn’t able to sing the words of “Silent Night” fore Prohibition be gan) to distort and demonize the drug as R.J. BEATTY GUEST COLUMNIST a powerful hallucinogen, creating a public hyste ria that allowed certain high officials to force their own morality play (the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act) on this country. Besides outlawing one of the most useful plants found in nature, a consequence of the law was the free reign given to the government to control the majority of drug information pub licly released. A population thus controlled is a population that doesn’t ask questions. With a deluge of government reports vilifying the drug, calling for tougher penalties for dealers, it isn’t surprising that many Americans never think to question the lies and distortions they’ve held as gospel all their lives. And sometimes it takes an event like a Medical Marijuana Day to get people out of that mental shell and into really thinking for a change; those of you who didn’t read the last column I wrote for the DTH (which would be just about all of you, since the DTH never ran it) may never have considered that there may be human rights involved. If you can, put aside for a moment that mari juana is less harmful to the body than nicotine or alcohol, that not one person has ever died from an overdose, that scientific theories exist that a moderate amount of drug use can, in fact, be good for the body. Put aside your prejudices and think. Are you really going to let big government say what you can and can’t put into your body? Aren’t you responsible enough to decide for yourself? I have broached the subject with many souls READIKTOUM Israeli Torture Law Violates Human Rights, Stops Peace TO THE EDITOR: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has an exhibit in the Student Union for Human Rights Week. This display is an expression of Israeli violations in the West Bank from the past to the present. Amnesty International condemned on Oct. 22,1995, abiU which could legalize torture in Israel and the West Bank, saying that it is an “outrage which violates Israel’s treaty obligations." The "Prohibition on Torture” amendment to SJjf fatly 3ar with the rest ofthe congregation. I knew thatmy trembling voice would have betrayed the fact that something was wrong. And the next day, as we tore open presents in the front of the fire, I made sure my parents got at least a few pictures of me. I didn’t know how many more Christ mases we would have together. I had wanted to be strong formy parents when I told them. I knew they would need a shoulder to cry on, and I wanted mine to be steady. I also wanted them to know that I was doing all I could to fight the virus, seeing a doctor regularly and taking care of myself. So I had waited six months before I felt the time was right. I knew that once I returned to Chapel Hill in January, I would be entering the hospital for two weeks to begin an experimental drug treatment program— and I knew it would be too difficult to conceal this from my family. After spending two hours with my minister, struggling to determine the best way to tell my parents that they might very well outlive me, I laid the groundwork for the next day. When my parents left for choir practice the next day, I built a fire in the den. Sitting there with a friend, I agonized over what was about to occur. At my church—half-way across town— my parents were sitting in a room with my minister, learning that their son had HIV. I had decided with my ministerthat, although I couldn’t deliver the punch, I could be there to pick up the pieces. I couldn’t watch their faces as they first learned about my condition, but I could be there to hug them after they got home. I sent my friend away and waited alone down stairs for the first sounds of my parents’ arrival. The front door opened and closed, and soft footsteps fell upon the stairs. At the first sight of them, the strength I thought I had quickly left me, anti I rushed for the embrace of my parent’s arms. W c had a lot of healing to do. Doug Feiguson is a third-year student in the School of Law. on campus. Have seen the shock on the faces when I mentioned the “M-word.” Watched the eyes carefully avoiding mine as they pondered this question. A popular response seems to be a general feeling of, “these laws exist for a reason. They wouldn’t have become law if they didn’t have the people’s interests at heart.” This line of reasoning seems to ride on the notion that all laws are, by definition, noble and just. Right. Everyone in this town who had to witness the Williamson verdict last week knows this isn’t true. When the values of a society become so dis torted that letting a killer walk by pleading tem porary insanity is viewed as law and order, while use of a mildly intoxicating herb is considered immoral, then it is the existence of these values which becomes the real crime. The people who pass these laws are generally unaware of both marijuana’s medicinal uses and the smoking habits of your average pot smoker. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my association with NORML, it is that no drug, not even marijuana, is evil. All kinds of people smoke it, and they are not dangerous, drug-crazed outlaws out to steal your children, but ordinary people like you and me. According to the latest DTH poll, 52 percent of UNC students have smoked marijuana be fore, and that’s just the ones who had the courage to admit it. Reality: it’s probably a lot higher (no pun intended). See you on Friday, everyone. Reginald ’RJ.’ Beatty is a junior American studies major from Lexington, N.C. Article 227 ofthe Israeli Penal Law says that any public servant who tortures or authorizes the torture of another person is liable for 10 to 20 years in jail. Yet this bill defines torture as "se vere pain or suffering, whether physical or men tal, except for pain or suffering inherent in inter rogation procedures or punishment according to law.” Article 2 of the United Nations Conven tion against Torture states that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether ... internal political instability or any other public emer gency, may be involved as justification of tor ture.” With the peace talks we thought these human rights violations would cease. Unfortu nately, they still exist. TinaDahir JUNIOR JOURNALISM Time Keeps On Ticking... That's right, the Nov 21 deadline for columnist applications is approaching. Pick up your application in the DTH office by Friday.