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©ljf Satlg (Tar Heel |P ~ BRIEFS Stories from the University and Chapel Hill CUNY Professor to Give 1996 Dana Drake Lecture Mary Ann Caws, distinguished profes sor at the City University of New York, will deliver the annual Dana Drake Lec ture April 3 at 4 p.m. in Dey Hall’s Toy Lounge. Caws’ speech, “Bloomsbury in the Light of France,” is free to the public. The lecture is sponsored by the depart ment of romance languages in the College of Arts and Sciences. Caws, a graduate professor of English, French and comparative literature at CUNY, has written several books. Her next book, “The Surrealist Look,” is due out next year. Two Mixed-Media Exhibits Displayed in Art Center An exhibition of mixed-media works by artist-in-residence Ghada Amer will be dis played in the Hanes Art Center Gallery through April 11. Amer will discuss her work April 4 at 6 p.m. in Hanes Art Center auditorium. Another mixed-media exhibit by UNC seniors John Frank, Kelly Johnston and Hong-Eun Kim, 1996 honors candidates in studio art, will be on display April 12 through May 2. The Hanes galley is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ad mission to the gallery is free. Faculty Members to Get Distinguished Awards Four UNC faculty members have been selected to receive Distinguished Teaching Awards forPost-Baccalaureate Instruction. Stuart H. Gold, assistant professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine; Ed ward J. Kaiser, professor and chairman of city and regional planning; Lawrence L. Kupper, professor of biostatistics in the School of Public Health; and Kathleen A. Rounds, associate professor in the School of Social Work, will be formally recog nized at a dinner hosted by Chancellor Michael Hooker later this month. Former Mexican President To Speak on Leadership Miguel de la Madrid, a former president of Mexico, will discuss presidential leader ship April 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the Morehead Planetarium Banquet Hall. A reception will follow the free, public talk, which isbeingsponsoredby the Duke- UN C Program in Latin American Studies. For more information, call 966-1484. Seattle Doctor to Speak On Careers in Medicine Dr. Edward Wagner, director of the Center for Health Studies in Seattle, will give a free speech on “Careers in Preven tive Medicine” April 10 at noon in 357 Wing C of the School of Medicine. For more information, call Jackie Jones or Kathy Gest at 962-1136. Historian to Discuss North American Art Art historian Thomas Eugene Crow will discuss “The Art of Indigenous North America” April 12 at 6 p.m. in Hanes Art Center auditorium. The free talk is the first in a series of four lectures by Crow, who is the inaugural Bettie Allison Rand Lecturer in art history. Greek Organizations Raise $69,000 for Charities According to a report issued by the Office of Greek Affairs, UNC sorority and fraternity members collectively raised $69,000 for charity and performed nearly 13,000 hours of service last semester. Sigma Chi Fraternity’s annual Derby Days, held in conjunction with UNC so rorities, raised $27,000 in November for the N.C. Children’s Hospital, the largest total ever raised byaU.S. Sigma Chi chap ter. Delta Delta Delta Sorority raised $6,000 for UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Research Center. Sororities and fraternities also provided non-monetary support to several local or ganizations. Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. col lected canned goods for the Raleigh AIDS House, and Pi Beta Phi Sorority refinished a baby crib and filled it with toys to give to the local Christmas House. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. donated turkeys to the In ter-Faith Council for Social Service’s home less shelter in October. Partnership Will Accept Funding Requests The Orange County Partnership for Young Children is now accepting applica tions to fund services for the period of July 1,1996 through June 30,1997. The organization wants to fund current as well as new initiatives that meet the goals and plans of the Partnership, includ ing a focus on the areas of early childhood education, health and family support. Applications must be received or post marked by April 26 and are available at the Partnership office. The Partnership administers the local Smart Start program, which is concerned with making sure children arrive at school in good health and able to succeed. For more information call 967-9091. FROM STAFF REPORTS Room With a View _ f[ ’ ~ I 1 -91 ii * . dth/iasonum: Viral Mehta, a freshman biochemistry major from Charlotte, studies in Davis Library's eighth-floor lounge as skies clear after Monday's shower. Non-Violent Group Takes Law Into Own Hands ■ Franklin’s Our One Supreme Court claims to be the most powerful in the U.S. BY ERIC FLACK STAFF WRITER Recent incidents such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI raid on Ruby Ridge and the ongoing Montana standoff be tween militiamen and law enforcement officials have brought anti-government groups into the spotlight. Not all groups take such extreme mea sures. A group of North Carolina citizens in Franklin have found a less violent way to express their problems with the govern ment by convening “common-law” court. Peter Stem, head of Our One Supreme Police Still Investigating Rani’s Death M A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of Raineses’ killer. BYSHELLEY HARPER STAFF WRITER More than a month after the death of Rameses XXVI, mystery still surrounds the murder of the UNC mascot. The ram was murdered in the early morning of Feb. 25 on the farm of Robert C. Hogan, Jr. The Hogan family has cared for the UNC mascot since 1924. The ram was found gutted and missing one shoulder, and the chain and stake that secured the ram were gone. Crime Prevention Officer for the Or ange County Sheriffs Department Archie Daniel said police were still investigating the death. “We feel like it was caused by juveniles,” Daniel said. “We have gotten two or three really good leads. We are still investigating and hoping that someone who has information will call Crime Stoppers and tell us what they know,’’Daniel said. Despite the trag edy, the memory of Rameses XXVI still Police are still searching for the killer of RAMESES XXVI, who was found dead in February. lives at UNC. The Fall 1996 Directory of Classes was dedicated to the mascot. Janet Kerr, production coordinator for the direc tory, said she wanted to commemorate the ram’s death. “We thought it would be special to dedicate the directory to Rameses, since the ram had been a mascot for so long,” she said. Rameses has been a tradition at UNC since 1924, and the mascot has attended football games since 1987. Barbara and Leon Cassell, a Virginia couple whose family has been raising rams since 1906, heard about the slaughter of Rameses XXVI in February and decided to donate anew ram to the Hogans. The Cassells sold the last ram to the Hogan family. The new mascot does not yet reside on the Hogan farm, said Arm Leonard, Hogan’s wife. She said the new ram’s arrival would not be in the near future, but she said he would be here by football season. There is a reward offered for informa tion leading to the arrest of the perpetra tors. Anyone with information should call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 732- STOP or Chapel Hill Crime Stoppers at 942-7515. Informants may remain anony mous. Court, North Carolina’s only “common law” court, said his group was in no way related to a militia. Since Dec. 30,1995, citizen judge pan els led by Stem have heard “several hun dred” citizen grievances against the gov ernment and have found in favor of the plaintiffs most of the time. The decisions are not binding and have no legal meaning. Stemsaidthe U.S. Constitution showed his court to be the most powerful court in the United States, but he would not answer questions about what happens after deci sions are made. “Our One Supreme Court of common law has the leading jurisdic tion, power and authority in the country,” Stem said. “It is the first and last court. There are no appeals. We are the only court of original jurisdiction.” Stem added that his court was the only one that had received authority through Out With the Old, in With the New ■ Calvin Cunningham will step down today as Aaron Nelson takes over the office of student body president. BYKATIE TYSON STAFF WRITER It is out with the old and in with the new as Student Body President-Elect Aaron Nelson and his 1996-97 executive branch are sworn in today at the 5 p.m. inauguration cer emonies in the Great Hall. “I am really ex- Student Body President Inauguration Today, Great Hall, 5 p.m. cited,” Nelson said. “We have put together a fantastic administration.” Nelson said his new official status would better help him address the issues he has laid out in his campaign. Nelson said he had several issues to address in the upcoming weeks. He said his immediate efforts would be to start a voter registration campaign and to orga- Journalist Blames Media For Americans’ Apathy BYDAVESNELL STAFF WRITER Americans' growing apathy toward government and the sense of national decline can be partially attributed to mass media, CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante said Monday. “Here it is 1996, and Americans are fed up with government and the press,” said Plante, who delivered the 1996 Nelson Benton Lecture in Memorial Hall. “The attitude in the past was far less skeptical than now.” Asa CBS political correspondent, Plante has received several broadcasting awards. He became the White House correspondent in 1993 after covering President Bill Clinton’s campaign. The public sees the government as self-serving and the press as contributing to the problem, Plante said. “Cynicism is driven by negative press,” Plante said. “We the press are why America has come to dislike their leaders.” Society believes the media is more concerned with political polarization and sensational news than with informing the aver age person, Plante said. The transformation of the public’s perception of the media from altruistic to a more distrustful opinion came from the “flowering of the Information Age,” which brought increased competition for ratings and advertising dollars, he said. “Broadcast journalism was seen as a public service through the postwar years,” Plante said. “There was a notion of the news division as the crown jewel of public service that has diminished. ” Plante said he did not suggest commercials and budget con cerns had no impact on programming. “However, in the present, there is more emphasis on cost-efficiency than before,” he said. Cable news services available 24 hours a day increased the pressure on network news divisions and newspapers to make news more entertaining, he said. “The how has become more important than the why,” Plante said. In the rush to provide breaking news, media outlets neglect the research necessary for in-depth and reliable news, he said. Plante said another problem in the newsroom was the journal ists’ detachment from their audience, leading to disparities in what the journalist reports and what the consumer wants. NEWS Participants: Roundtable Was Good Starting Point ■ Students said not enough talk occurred about recent University hate crimes at Friday’s DTH forum. BY SHARIF DURHAMS STAFF WRUER Friday’s roundtable discussion on the implications ofhate speech and hate crimes was just a starting point for promoting understanding, several students who at tended the meeting said Monday. During the two-hour discussion hosted by The Daily Tar Heel and held in the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center, par ticipants tried to narrow down a definition ofhate speech and decide how the Univer sity should deal with the issue. Doug Nadler, a freshman from Bridgewater, N.J. who attended the dis cussion, said the program was not produc tive because recent issues concerning hate speech and hate crimes at UNC were not discussed until the last few minutes of the meeting. “I just think something should have theproperchannels. “Thereareothercourts like ours in 38 states, ” he said. “We are the only constitutionally createdcourtinNorth Carolina and in the United States.” However, Mike Robertson, special agent in charge of intelligence and technical ser vices for the State Bureau of Investigation in Raleigh, said Stem’s group did not con cern him because the common-law ver dicts were meaningless. “It’s not that I’m not concerned about them, but it’s not a court, ” Robertson said. “A common-law court has no jurisdiction in a state. A decision that they produce is not binding on anyone.” Local officials say Stem’s group has not caused any harm to those around them. A spokeswoman for the Macon County Sheriff’s Department said that Stem’s group had been orderly and civil in their gather ings and had broken no laws. nize a statewide lobbying effort to address the General Assembly about student con cerns during the upcoming short session this summer. “We have to make sure they don’t raise our tuition again,” Nelson said. Student Body Vice President-Elect Lind say-Rae Mclntyre said the ceremony was just the beginning of the administration’s efforts. “I think that the ceremony will be special and being sworn in will make it official,” Mclntyre said. She said the energy and diversity of the new office would be an asset to UNC. “I think that the people in this office are really dynamic, goal-oriented and service oriented students who want to make Caro lina a better place," Mclntyre said. Student Body President Calvin Cunningham, whose term ends today, said he was pleased with the progress that was made during his administration. “I think we have had an excellent year, ” Cunningham said. “Ifeelreallygoodabout the progress student government has made in the last year.” Cunningham said he had appreciated the opportunity to serve the student body. “I have enjoyed it it has been very B p BteK, I fa aßfl m DTH/SIMONH LUBCK Bill Plante, CBS White House correspondent delivers the Nelson Benton Lecture on Monday. He spoke of the importance of the media's role to convey to the public what really goes on in politics. m^ Haw 'Pruly Can We Speak? come out of it,” he said. There were no ideas produced at the forum that would make students consider hate crimes, such as the recent discovery of swastikas in University library books, as more serious, Nadler said. “Some reporter asked a girl what she thought (about the swastikas), and she said it was just a joke,” he said. “I didn’t con sider it to be ‘just a joke.’” Much concern was expressed about the vandalism, said David Taylor, an Under graduate librarian who attended the dis cussion. “My feeling about the mutilation in the library is that it was an attack on the Uni versity, not the library,” he said. “I don’t know if! think (students) should feel threat ened, but the University was attacked.” Students are not sensitive enough to the feelings of others on the issue ofhate speech, “We haven’t had any problems with them so far," she said. “They have a right to free speech and to have a lawful assem bly, and that is what they have done.” Stem said his group’s aim was not to stir up revolutionary feelings, only to rekindle the fire under the “common-law” practice that had protected citizens for decades. “(Common law) has never gone away; it has just gone to sleep for a while because of a lackadaisical attitude, and we have just reawakened it,” Stemsaid. “What we want to do is empower every person who seeks to redress a grievance to have an option.” North Carolina has produced other anti government activists. Five of the 12 “free men” holed up in a Jordan, Montana com pound are from North Carolina. Robertson said he was more wary of such groups and acknowledged the existence of militia groups in North Carolina. trying but rewarding at times,” Cunningham said. The transition between the two admin istrations has run smoothly, said John Dervin, transition coordinator for the Nelson administration. He said the executive branch received and reviewed all of the applications that were submitted for executive branch com mittees. He said about 170 people were interviewed, reviewed and then placed in various positions. Dervin said that more people applied than the executive branch had appointments or positions for but that all applicants were included in the new administration. “We are all thrilled at the amount of people who applied,” Dervin said. “There are a lot of people on this campus that want to be involved and like what Aaron stands for.” Dervin said he hoped the new adminis tration would be able to devote the same amount of time and commitment that Cunningham did during his year as stu dent body president. “Calvin has personally devoted more time to this office than just about anybody I have seen,” Dervin said. “His work ethic is one which we should embody.” Tuesday, April 2,1996 Nadler said. “I think there is a lack of understanding as to what offends people, ” he said. Laura Harris, a junior psychology ma jor from Chapel Hill who attended the discussion, said it wavered away from re cent issues at the University, but she also said it was an important first step. “It looked like we had a lot of things on our minds. We used that meeting to ex press them,” she said. Student Body President-Elect Aaron Nelson said it was important forthe discus sion to be held to help the University com munity solve the problem of hate speech on campus. “It was the appropriate forum for discussion,” he said. “I hope for future crises, this is the way we resolve them by sitting down and talking to each other.” Ashley Gamer, editor of The Carolina Review, said the discussion helped her understand some of the concerns of the University community about hate speech. “It gave me some insight on how people react to things, ” she said. “I don’t think the fear of having something unjustly labeled as hate speech should prevent you from publishing it.” Beer Patriot Asks Town For Apology ■ Jonathan McMurry said he would sue the town if officials did not respond to his request. BY VICTOR D. HENDRICKSON STAFF WRITER Graduate student Jonathan McMurry, self-proclaimed “beer patriot,” continued his crusade against Chapel Hill’s open container ordinance with letters to Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and Police Chiefßalph Pendergraph, promising not to sue the town if it issues a written apology. “I ask that the town of Chapel Hill ...give me a written apology and ac knowledgment of fault for unjustly seizing and destroy ing my property,” McMurry wrote in theletterto Waldorf and Pendergraph. In the letter, McMurry claimed his constitutional rights were violated JONATHAN MCMURRY said he will continue to fight the open-container ordinance. when police officers poured out his cup of nonalcoholicbeerFeb. 14, thereby destroy ing his property. McMurry said that if an apology was not issued, he would sue the town for $2, the cost of his Sharp’s nonalcoholic beer. “It’s what beer patriots drink when they’re not drinking beer, which is, of course, very rarely,” he said. “They’ve dragged me into court two times, so I think it’s a nice turnaround to drag them in, ’’ McMurry said. “I know it’s petty, I know it’s picky, but my arguments See MCMURRY, Page 7 3
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