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12 Thursday, January 25,1996 (Hip Oatlg alar lirrl Thimsas Cimknij EDfTOR M*rt McCoDm MANAGING EDfTOR Peter Roybtl managing editor World Wide Web Electronic Edition: V http://www.unc.edu/dth 1 Kelly Jo Gamer ELECTRONIC EDITOR Established 1893 102 Years of Editorial Freedom 0 M BOARD EDITORIALS Recognized Efficiency Two candidates for student office SBP candidate Aaron Nelson and CAA president candidate Seth Nore have created officially recognized student groups for their campaigns. While the move has been criticized as unprec edented, forming recognized campaign groups was common during elections until 1990 and constitutes a legitimate strategy. With Elections Board oversight, recognized groups could im prove their efficiency and accountability. Giving campaigns access to University facili ties would allow large-scale organizing to take place. Campus-wide campaigns usually involve the coordination of 50 to 100 students. Large classrooms offer all candidates the chance to organize conveniently. All candidates, not just those with access to Gheek houses or apartments close to campus, can maximize participation. Allowing campaign organizations to meet in University buildings renders individuals more accessible to students, especially those without transportation off-campus. The required post- Equal Work, Unequal Pay Women and men are not treated equally on campus, and we need to remedy the situation. According to data compiled by the Affirma tive Action Office for the 1993-94 year, 81.5 percent of professors with tenure at UNC were male while only 18.5 percent were female. The difference in salaries between men and women in the 1994-95 school year was 11.4 percent for professors, 5.5 percent for associate professors and 10.8 percent for assistant professors. Because Chancellor Michael Hooker has al ready expressed his displeasure with these re sults and has a record for addressing gender equity concerns, we should demand immediate action for combatting promotion and salary policies that perpetuate this discrimination. Just because no one has complained thus far does not excuse the University’s failure to re form. Administrators should conduct a compre hensive study targeting promotion and salary problems. This type of study is common through out the country and helps universities deal with gender discrimination. By using controls on factors such as research grants, time elapsed since degree completion and involvement in departmental activities, concrete and unbiased information can be obtained. UNC must establish definitive guidelines for BAROMETER TV Trauma The good behavior of Student Congress after being televised last week is commendable. But maybe camera shyness explains why thus far only 24 students are running for 37 seats. j. "!pP : Give Me Beer or Give Me Death When Jonathan McMurry, founder of the Sons of Liberty, goes to bat for beer drinkers in Chapel Hill in district court today - where he's contesting an 'open container' violation - let's hope he goes without beer (whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic) on his breath. -M --1 Heartbreak Hotel Now that Lisa Marie Presley is suing Michael Jackson for divorce, Jackson really is going to have to 'Beat It' But we hope he's learned to stay in his age group. Jeanne Fugate editorial page editor Bronwen Clark UNIVERSITY EDITOR Nancy Fond university editor Wendy Goodman CITY EDITOR Robyn Tomlin Haekley state i national editor Robbi Pickerel SPORTS EDITOR Michelle Crampton FEATURES EDITOR Dean Hair arts/diversions editor Chante LaGon copy desk editor Conrtney Piver COPY DESK EDITOR Kristin Rohan DESIGN editor Candi Lang photography editor (Iris Kirkman graphics editor Michael Webb editorial cartoon editor Amy Rniak writing coach Justin Williams STAFF DEVELOPMENT ing of meetings would inform interested students about organizations, giving more than political insiders experience in elections. As always, the more students active in something, the better. The posting of campaign meetings would also render campaigns more accountable. Any meet ing held by a student organization would fall under the open meetings law and could not be “closed. ” This prohibition should reduce under handed tactics accompanying elections. Also, if groups reserve rooms, they may feel more re sponsible for their behavior there. The Elections Board must address concerns. Elections Board Chairwoman Annie Shuart has issued regulations to avoid premature campaign ing. Also, Congress should pass resolutions to preempt these groups from applying for student fees. Rather than facing criticism, organizers of these groups deserve praise for employing inge nuity in taking their campaigns closer to the students they seek to represent. promotion and implement them immediately. A uniform code will give more equal opportunity to all assistant professors seeking tenure and associate professors seeking promotion to full professor. It also will clarify any disputes con cerning gender-related promotions. An exit interview program would target par ticular gender-related problems, specifically on a department-to-departmentbasis.lfwomenwere asked to explain what factors were key in their decision to leave, University officials could ad dress these problems more readily and put an end to discrimination against women. Although the problem is more pervasive in the Academic Affairs Division, it is not specific to one certain department. The abysmal figures are averages, which means that some depart ments fall below the average, while some are above. Therefore, it is important that this issue be dealt with on a departmental basis. One set of criteria for all the departments would be ineffec tive and could cause more problems than it would solve. The specific action to be taken is debatable, but gender inequity on this campus must be recognized and eradicated. Such a despicable form of prejudice cannot be accepted and should not be tolerated in general. Challenging Address President Bill Clinton issued more challenges in Tuesday night's State of the Union address than the leader of the Mission Impossible team. But it wasn't as much fun to watch, and who knew Newt could sleep with his eyes open? $ Mission Impossible? Good luck to the crackerjack Food Services Advisory Task Force. Fruitful results would be much appreciated. If not, how about just some fresher fruit? £ JSp Like , Cool Intellectual Climate jgffgr Dick Vitale will be a campus speaker next week at Student Stores, and the Xanadu male revue will be performing in a local bar. What do you mean there's no intellectual environment in Chapel Hill? EDITORIAL Men Can Save Virginity for Right Partner, As Well Whatever they may tell you, graduate stu dents watch a lot of television. In my department, this is euphemistically known as “staying in touch with our students’ discourse community,” or, for 20th-century majors, “keeping abreast of postmodern cul ture." Graduate procrastination not only keeps the “From Hell to Breakfast” test kitchens in busi ness, but also subjects trash TV to hours of deconstruction, New Historicism, Jungian ar chetype theory and any other critical paradigms lying around the living room next to the empty beer cans. It makes us feel smart. Even commercials are fair game, which is how a half-dozen of us English folks (how we would like to have a nice term like “sociologists” or “historians” on which to hang our hats, in stead of “literary critic, ” which sounds like some one who writes crotchety reviews for a living), started fighting about those new public service messages aimed at school-age girls. One of these messages, put out by the Arthur DeMoss foundation, features a young girl prac ticing ballet and talking about her future. She doesn’t know what she wants to be— she says this forthrightly to the camera—but she wants to be something, and having sex before marriage could mess that up. In another spot, a girl asks her teenage sister whether it’s true guys won’t like you unless you have sex with them. “Of course theywill! "retorts the teenager. Her friends aren’t having sex until they’re married, because they don’t want to get sick or pregnant. A third, less sunny ad shows a 15-year-old mother re flecting on her hard and unexpected lesson in adult responsibility. The bone of contention at our dinner-table panel was whether these ads are mere Christian Right propaganda, meant to demonize sexual ity and restrict women’s individual choices, or whether they urge girls to think of themselves as people witha future, whose sexual choices aren’t about virtue but about controlling their destinies as individuals. I actually liked the ads, because they imply the reasons behind sexual choices should be practical, not just moral. They also suggest sexual decisions can be made beforehand, in the light of Activists Should Fight GOP To Protect Environment TO THE EDITOR: Over 500 plants and animals on the North American continent have become extinct since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During the past 25 years there has been sig nificant improvement in the protection of the American environment. The critical factor in such progress was the introduction of a number of environmental bills by theU.S. government, including the Gean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the En dangered Species Act. The Republican Congress aims to eradicate these acts. A number of politicians are receiving payments from companies unwilling to cover the costs of pollution they create. In return, the politicians vote against environmental acts. The conflict here is irreparable damage versus short term economic gain. To help raise awareness about the impor tance of the environment, anew environmental group, The Last Round, is being set up. In conjunction with Student Environmental Ac tion Coalition (SEAC), The Last Round aims to facilitate action on environmental issues, ac tively pursuing political, educational and phil anthropic goals. This semester the focus is the Endangered Species Act. The action will comprise of a peti tion to Newt Gingrich (had he never made it as a politician, he always dreamed of becoming a zoo keeper) and letters to local senators and representatives. On an educational level, there will be a Wildlife Lecture Series. Locally, there are projects to clean up rivers and woodlands. The Last Round believes these issues are so vast they transgress separatist action. We urge the whole campus, regardless of color, creed or way of living, to unite and show concern for actions that affect our futures. Time is running out. We need your support. For more information, come to our first meet ing, Thurs. Jan. 5, at 5 p.m. in the Student Union Frank Porter Graham Lounge. We can be con tacted at 933-6288, 932-7526 or ccauthen@email.unc.edu. “The Earth was not given to us by our par ents, it was lent to us by our children.” Kenyan Proverb Galahad Clark SOPHOMORE ECONOMICS Jamie Whittle JUNIOR FRENCH day, not only in the heat of the moment, as most TV shows prescribe. But the gripes my colleagues had re spond to underlying problems and atti tudes that can’t be fixed through the politics of represen tation, anymore than mandating hermaph roditic, multiracial, aft f MARYA DEVOID 1 FROM HELL TO BREAKFAST team mascots will fix what’s wrong with racism, sexism andsports in America. Our culture resists and reproduces these assumptions every day. For one thing, all the girls in these ads are pretty, well-scrubbed, well-spoken, hopeful-look ing solidly middle-class. (The one black girl’s parents can clearly afford toe-shoes and tutus as well as ballet lessons.) Like the happy families in the “Life is a Beautiful Choice” ads which also aired recently, these ads suggest such decisions aren’t made in an economic context. The pro-life ads imply that being bom to a poor and unwilling single parent won’t significantly compromise a child’s quality of life (it will —and pro-lifers should admit that cost, just as pro-choicets should admit that abortion takes life). Here it seems as if all girls face an equally bright future if only they keep their legs crossed. No doubt it’s too compli cated to address in a 30-second spot whether that future will be real enough to a girl raised in poverty to merit putting off sex and babies. For another thing, these ads puts the respon sibility for chastity right in the laps of women, where it has always rested. The lack of matching ads for boys leads to more arguments. What mother in her right mind, after all, would trust her daughter’s future to the self-control of the average 15-year-old boy?IfI had a daughter, I’d tell her almost exactly what DeMoss does, mi nus the marriage message. But the failure of just about anyone to suggest male adolescent sexual ity or its consequences should be controlled (we laugh at it instead look at the bleakly homy comedy section at Vis-Art for evidence) suggests that however puritanical a nation we are, we READEMIRUM The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people. Students should include their year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and phone number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity and vulgarity. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to dth@unc.edu. 'Gilbert' Fans Refuted; They Have Never Been to Qatar TO THE EDITOR: This letter is in response to the letter to the editor by “Dilbert” fans Matt Oakley and Tim Bulizzi (“New Comic in Same Vein As Dead Puppy, Kitten Humor,” Jan. 22). I can obviously tell that they routinely share a six pack of Zima Gold. I’ll agree with the fact that Crystal Pepsi slays my inner thirst, but my heart still belongs to that wonderful soft drink in the pretty pink can, TAB. Qatar? My uncle resides in Little Neck, Qatar, and sings backup for the local rock hero, Johnnee Abduul. So obviously you peppies don’t know what you are talking about. According to my uncle, Qatar is leper-free and filled with magical lambs whose wool is softer than goose down. By the way, my kitten Squiggles passed away this week after being mauled by the Sweet Pick les bus, and I derived more pleasure from clean ing up his twisted skull with past “Dilbert” comics than from reading them. To ease the pain of this incident, my neigh bor, 01’ Russ of the Maynord Clan, rented “My Life” after reading the letter. His bid to cheer me up failed miserably and resulted in my mother running away with Amie, the village idiot. Another thing, why are you two still living at home with “Daddy?” Are you really in college? Why exactly do you laminate past “Dilbert” comics? Maybe you derive some odd scatologi cal fantasy from emptying your colon while staring deeply into the eyes of Camping Carl or Shr Satlg Car Hwl aren’t interested in helping boys share the conse quences of sex. “You know who never comes around? That guy who said he’d love me forever,” says the 15- year-old mother grimly. “Too bad we can’t do anything about that,” we are supposed to think. Well, why not? In the post-DNA-testing world, paternity is hardly the mystery it once was. In a political climate where imprisoning women who imperil a fetus by drinking isn’t unthinkable, where a mother is by state law empowered to tell her daughter to carry a pregnancy to term, what’s so shocking about mandating paternal babysitting? Public service messages can’t fix these things, and a graduate thesis makes lousy TV. But if we can’t put all the messages we want in a single ad and shut out all the ones we don’t want (I doubt, for example, that Arthur DeMoss would like my assumption that “until I’m married” is code for “until I’m with someone mature enough to handle the birth control thing”) we can talk about what’s wrong, what’s missing and what we’d like to see changed. Mr. DeMoss, I’m eagerly waiting for that fresh-faced guy saying fearfully: “No way do I want to pay for child support instead of college. So I’m waiting until I get married.” When you do get married, guy, challenge some other gender expectations and fix your wife some roasted vegetables. Roasted Vegetables Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash, dry and cut into 2-inch chunks about 1/2 lb. new pota toes (i.e. potatoes with thin skins; Yukon Golds are especially good); peel and remove tops from 1/2 lb. each carrots and parsnips and cut into pieces of about the same size. Brush the veg etables on all sides with extra-virgin olive oil and toss with 1/2 tsp thyme and 1 tsp garlic powder. (Do not salt, or vegetables will ooze liquid and will not become crisp.) Bake in a thin bottomed baking pan until lightly browned and chewy on the outside and tender inside, about 30-40 minutes. Salt and serve while hot. Marya DeVoto is a sixth-year graduate student in English. Dogbert. I keep a laminated photo of John Cou gar Mellencamp in my schoolbag, but I really don’t consider that strange, because he’s the greatest. I would rather grease my tongue with Vaseline and lick the Haw River thorn-pole than lay mine eyes upon “Dilbert" again. Robbie Brooks FRESHMAN BUSINESS Jon Goff SOPHOMORE JOURNAUSM College Loans Are Priority for Making Society Better Place TO THE EDITOR: Ms. Servatius’ advocacy of cuts in federal college loans is based on some rather specious reasoning (“College Education Should Be Earned, Not Given,” Jan. 22). She believes it is unfair to ask the public, many of whom have no college education and no children of college age, to pay taxes that provide for college loans. By that logic, senior citizens whose children are grown should not have to pay taxes for local schools. Or if I decide not to drive my car, I shouldn’t have to pay for highway construction. Taxes go to support public goods, though not every person will utilize goods equally. Those goods, taken together, help make our society a better place. Better-educated citizens produce a more lively, thoughtful and productive polity. Every citizen will benefit from that. Adding to college students’ debt burdens will certainly place this public good at risk. Servatius also attempts to blame colleges them selves for increased tuition. I find that ironic, considering that as a conservative, she holds to a laissez-faire capitalism whose market forces are the very ones driving up the costs of higher education. Those costs are the very reason we need affordable loan programs. Servatius asserts that the time has come for these cuts because we must reduce the deficit. In doing so, she falsely treats the federal budget as a zero-sum game: every billion in college loans is another billion added to our debt. That’s not true. We can keep college loans intact and in stead take cuts elsewhere, particularly the bloated sums spent on corporate welfare and national defense. The question is one of priorities. College loans should be one of those priori ties. John Sides SENIOR POUTICAL SCIENCE
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 25, 1996, edition 1
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