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8 Tuesday, April 2,1996 Sly? Satlg (Tar Mnl Hianassis Cambanis EDITOR Amy Piniak managing editor Peter Roybal managing editor World Wide Web Electronic Edition | ■ http://www.unc.edu/dth I Established 1893 BB 103 Years of Editorial Freedom BOARD EDITORIALS Women, Front and Center ■ A campus women’s center marks an important step toward recognizing the legitimate role of women at UNC and educating students about gender issues. Even though women are in the majority here at UNC, their concerns are often relegated to minority status. A campus women’s center is an effective, encouraging and important step to ward recognizing the importance of women’s issues on our campus and helping students to confront them now and in the future. A women’s center would allow critical infor mation for both men and women to be available in a central location. Many issues, from the high publicity problem of rape to sexual harassment, sexism in the classroom, campus safety, sexual orientation, eating disorders and curriculum re form are all part of women’s University experi ences. They can be addressed more effectively from a centrally coordinated location staffed with knowledgeable people. Recent flyers have decried the poor numbers of women on the UNC faculty. If those numbers are to increase, the University will have to make efforts to create a supportive environment. The crisis over the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity memo has revealed deep fractures in our community and an inability even to talk about the questions Another year of student government offi cially begins today as officers and representa tives are inaugurated into campus leadership positions. Student Body President-Elect Aaron Nelson should use this as an opportunity to jump-start his administration and to begin lead ing the student body that elected him. Nelson should skip the posturing that occurs yearly on inauguration day and has plagued his words since election day. Only by speaking with the students’ voices can Nelson fulfill his cam paign rhetoric. Nelson spent the first six weeks of the semes ter gaining the support of the student body. After overwhelmingly winning their support on Feb ruary 13, Nelson spent the next six weeks erod ing the trust of the students. Many people have objected to his treatment of the Carolina Review theft and to his appointments. Nelson should leave the mistakes of the last six weeks at the door of Suite C and regain that trust. Today’s ceremony should be representative Dole’s campaign may soon be running on the sound bite, “Let them eat cake.” Senator Dole and the Republican majority in Congress have blocked a vote on raising the minimum wage, going against the welfare of the American people. The increase from $4.25 to $5.15 over two years should have been implemented long ago. The minimum wage today does not provide people with economic security. Currently, a full time worker paid $4.25 an hour earns SB,BOO annually before deductions. The poverty-level annual income for a family of two is $10,030. Considering inflation, today’s minimum wage is actually 31 cents below where it was in 1979. Most Americans are getting poorer, working more time for less money and having a harder time finding a job in a market where corporate profits are soaring. Congress has increased its own salary by one-third in the five years since the last minimum-wage increase. Chief execu tives’ pay rose by 31 percent last year alone, putting their median pay at $5 million while they continue to pay workers as little as possible. raised. A women’s center places these issues squarely on the agenda and provides a starting point for debate. A poll taken in the fall showed widespread support for a women’s center. Recent successes in women’s studies also indicate enthusiasm for these topics, with classes filled to overflowing. The task force also pointed to UNC as the only university of this size that did not already have a center or plans for one. Concerns of University women are not al ready addressed by the Hillsborough Street women’s center, which targets the concerns of the entire Chapel Hill community and not issues specific to an academic community. While a women’s center cannot erase the gender disparities that exist on campus and in the world, a center is a vital first step in confront ing an obvious problem and attempting to make progress toward finding a solution. Certainly it is consistent with the University’s mission of pre paring students well for the world, a world in which men and women must work together for solutions and fulfillment in every aspect of life. Walk the Walk of the ideals Nelson espoused throughout the campaign. Nelson has worked hard in the past to bring people together, and today he will have a genuine opportunity to begin to do that again. On election night, Nelson said, “We have a mandate from the students.” This mandate is conditional. Nelson and his staff should dili gently work to break down the hierarchies sepa rating his team from students, not build them up. In one of Student Body President Calvin Cunningham’s final acts, he paved the way for Nelson to receive a generous stipend. The $2400 stipend will come directly from students’ pock ets. This stipend does not legitimize the office of the student body president, it only makes Nelson more accountable to his constituents. Nelson will set the tone for all the officers being inaugurated this afternoon, and it is up to him to ensure student government remains firmly for the. students. Best of luck to all those student leaders being inaugurated today. It Makes Cents Even though 72 percent of Americans support a minimum-wage increase, Bob Dole arrogantly contends that minimum wages hurt the worker. A Princeton University study showed that after a minimum-wage increase of 80 cents in New Jersey, 331 fast-food restaurants did not lower employment levels. Nobel Prize-winning econo mist Robert Solow agreed moderate increases in the minimum wage had very little impact. Technological advancements are making many jobs obsolete and have already eliminated millions ofpositions. A forward-looking govern ment would provide a safety net for workers who simply could not find jobs. A higher minimum wage is only one step necessary to protect work ers from exploitation. Other proactive measures include employee-owned businesses, profit shar ing and living wages to break the stranglehold a minority ofwealthy entities have on the economy. Workers should have a stake in their business, see the fruits of their labor and be paid a wage that allows them to support their families and keep them from poverty. Jeanne Fugate EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Bronwen dark university EDITOR Naney Fond UNIVERSITY EDITOR Wendy Goodman city editor Robyn Tomlin Hackley STATE 6 national EDITOR James Lew special assignments editor Robbi Piekerai SPORTS EDITOR Marshall Benbow FEATURES EDITOR Melissa Steele FEATURES EDITOR Dean Hair AKTS/DIVERSIONS EDITOR Chante LaGon COPY DESK EDITOR Courtney fiver COPY DESK EDITOR Kristin Rohan DESIGN EDITOR Candi Lang PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Chris Kirkman GRAPHICS EDITOR Michael Webb editorial cartoon editor Justin Williams STAFF DEVELOPMENT EDITORIAL You Can’t Fight Hate Speech With Weak Speech We 3O people strong gathered on Friday afternoon to speak about speech, in what had to be one of the most intellec tually masturbatory events of the season. Local leaders sat shoulder to shoulder at the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center in a roundtable discussion with a mystery guest, one I had least expected to find amidst this group. The ugly specter of censorship showed up. Self-censorship. Participants in The Daily Tar Heel’s roundtable discussion on hate speech and hate crimes seemed unwilling to speak freely. Maybe it was the lingering languor of a Friday after noon. Maybe it was the end of a hard week. Or maybe it was the terms in which the questions were couched. But it wasn't from want of trying on the part of those who organized the discussion. The DTH sought to bring together divergent viewpoints in one room to raise concerns people have been mumbling under their breaths and in the rumor mills. Yet, when put face to face, something hap pened —people froze up and weren’t half so free with their speech. At one point in the discussion, Student Body President-Elect Aaron Nelson exhorted, “I ab solutely do not think we should restrict speech. ” We didn’t have to restrict any speech. Each and every person somehow restricted themselves. Maybe it was the atmosphere. The BCC was packed. About 30 chairs formed a circle in the middle of the room, and nonparticipants (in cluding a whole passel of DTH-ers) crouched in the comers. The air hung heavy with tension Carolina Review Publisher Charlton Allen sat beside Nelson in an uneasy truce, and everyone glared at the huddled mass of DTH representa tives. Yet, the moderator, BCC Director Gerald Home, controlled the atmosphere and forum with ease. He inserted “provocative questions,” which he disclaimed neatly were “not necessar ily (his) own.” The participants each listened intently, and the level of respect exemplified what the larger community should be implementing. Graduate Student Laura Streitfeld suggested at the forum that “the most important thing is to try to promote understanding, ” as everyone was THE ,S tl .T. T ->, U' E How to Run for U.S. President in Three Easy Steps Now that the also-rans of this year’s Repub lican primary contest have dropped out and Bob Dole is established as the mono lithic, aged front-runner, most pundits talk of the November election in terms of a two-man race—Clinton vs. Dole. Even ifyou count Ross Perot, who’s recently been threatening to toss his Yosemite Sam-sized hat into the ring, and Pat Buchanan with his dwindling band of peas ants with pitchforks, you only have four serious candidates for the Oval Office. But with seven months to go before the No vember election, I think it’s time now to look at some of the less-than-serious candidates, and there are plenty of them out there. Some 248 people have officially declared their candidacy for president, according to the Federal Election Commission. By November there will likely be more than 300, far outstrip ping even the last presidential election, which boasted 273 candidates. A factor leading to this surprisingly high number is it doesn’t cost any thing to register. You simply have to fill out two forms, a statement of candidacy and a statement of organization. And ifyou’re feeling pressed for time, you can just fill out one. A quick glance at this list of self-declared candidates is like a trip through the sideshow of the election circus, with every manner of oddball, religious fanatic and earnest political novice entering the race for president, most of them facing astronomical odds of being elected presi dent of anything more than a fan club. Jack Mabardy of Framingham, Mass., is a Republican contender of whom you may not have heard. Mabardy thinks the American economy is in a shambles, and his statement gives an ominous hint of his tough-love ap proach to fiscal growth. He writes, “I have several programs that will devastate America to enhance the economy.” Mabardy also opposes abortion, favors life sentences for anyone who abuses or tortures animals, favors speed limits and is calling for, interestingly enough, “UFOs in local shopping malls.” Earnest Lee Easton (party unknown) of South Bend, Ind., is another. Easton is campaigning on a strong pro-veteran stance and includes attempting to do at the incredibly con vivial discussion. Perhaps, how ever, there was too much niceness going on. Many things were said,butjustas many' issues, concerns and— most importantly emotions were skipped. For the first 45 minutes, people discussed the JEANNEFUGATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR weighty theoretical implications of hate speech and hate crime. Instead of bringing up specific names, in stances and accusations, everyone seemed al most scared to break the ice—to utter the words “Carolina Review” or “DTH Editorial Page.” And so we talked about community and legal definitions of hate crime—valuable definitions, but straying from the anger that inspired this forum. And in some ways, this “politeness” hindered the positive outcome. Instead of Hillel Director Darin Diner immediately discussing his disagree ment with the DTH’s decision to ran an alleg edly offensive editorial cartoon, he waited until only 30 minutes remained. Diner recognized this: “I’m very glad we’re going to have this theoretical debate, but I want to know what is going to happen,” he said. What concerns us as a community is not necessarily the whys and wherefores of an ac tion, but how best to accommodate the freedoms of speech and from harassment to ensure a feeling of community without stifling free ex pression. We don’t really give a damn about the legal precedents behind being able to bum a flag or yell out obscenities or make a controversial state ment; we just want to be able to do what we want to do and not be offended when others do what they want to do. Instead of Carolina Review Editor Ashley Gamer issuing a public explanation for the con troversial cover depicting Nelson with devil horns within the first 15 minutes, she, too, waited until the very end of the discussion—as did the DTH among the planks of his platform: “the re cruitment of more Candy Stripers as volunteers for vet eran hospitals and other veteran instal lations where veter ans are confined.” Charles R. Doty, founder and pastor/ general of the little known Universal Church of God, is one of my favorites. Wt 'fjpßP JEFF GARIGLLANO IRONIC DETACHMENT His statement is filled with terse, vaguely abbre viated solutions to all the problems present and past administrations have found so intractable. Terrorism? “Have plan that, I think, will work.” Poverty? “Toppriority.” Missing Children? “Top priority item with me.” And Doty's best, most openhearted and conciliatory gesture: Israel? “Will bless.” The list of candidates goes on and on. There’s George Washington America and David Crocket Williams. There’sa Canadian professor; a Wash ington, D.C., man whose address is listed as “homeless"; and a southern California woman named Shear’ree. No last name. Just Shear’ree. Some are old hands. Billy Joe Clegg (“Clegg won’t pull your leg”) is making his seventh consecutive run at the presidency. The Constitution sets out requirements for presidential candidates; they are elemental and non-exclusive. You must be a natural-bom citi zen, at least 35 years old, who has lived at least 14 years in the country. The FEC doesn’t offi cially require you to file unless you raise or spend more than $5,000, but most people without any intention of raising even $5 send in the forms anyway. It’s part of the fun —anyone who wants can put on their resume that they once ran for president. Getting your name on the ballots of indi vidual states is another question. The laws vary. To be listed as an possible candidate in North Carolina in November, the Board of Elections requires a petition with the signatures of at least El|p Saily Ear HpH representative, Justin Williams. I wonder if, after all, this campus —or at least those sitting at the roundtable is more con cerned with nice speech than hate speech. It felt as if some genteel ideal of gentlemanly disagree ment held us back from getting to the heart of what was wrong, the heart no one wanted to put into words. The absence of any administrator at the forum further detracted from the legitimacy of the pro ceedings. By not lending his voice to this discussion, Chancellor Michael Hooker sent an even louder message to the community that the administra tion didn’t think the topic was worthy enough to devote time to. It was all well and good for students and community leaders to lend their voices, but the administration had better things to do, such as go straight from the Faculty Coun cil meeting, which ended at 5:20 p.m., to impor tant (no doubt highly profitable) dinner engage ments. Our chancellor and his staff have extremely hectic schedules. Ifhis secretary had not RSVPed for some administrative representative, it might not have been such a slap in the face. Hooker should have at least sent a written statement in absentia to add another integral layer to the discussion. Although each of us in that room probably wanted some nice, pat conclusion —a quick release of tension and anger I think we all left a little bit dissatisfied. Those who were most angry or the most upset did not get the chance to speak their peace. Those who might have been able to apologize didn’t really get a good chance. So what does this tell us? That we should have —as one participant, Beth Glenn, mockingly suggested “stood in the Pit and called (each other) names”? Or maybe we could go scrawl peace signs and puffy hearts in 60,000 library books at the Undergraduate Library. Charlton Allen suggested that in his ideal world, “hate speech would be counteracted by more speech.” We certainly have listened to more speech, but it doesn’t seem like it has counteracted any thing. Jeanne Fugate is a senior English and creative writing major from Ocala, Fla. two percent of the state’s nearly four million registered voters. Most states have similar ar rangements aimed at keeping the field narrowed to only the serious candidates, since it costs money to print ballots. But I’d say most of the 248 candidates now running aren’t worrying about collecting signatures. In 1984, a Wyoming man named A1 Ham burg ran his dog, Woofer D. Coyote, for presi dent and his bull snake, Sandra Snakey, for Congress. This year Hamburg who was con victed in 1990 of two counts of forgery involving, believe it or not, campaign signatures is man agingapresidential campaign for Wyoming Wolf, who’s listed as a Republican but is not a real wolf or even an animate object but rather a protest against a Wyoming policy on wolves near Yellowstone National Park. Often the candidates, lacking all unction and political savvy, speak with refreshing candor. What a blessed relief— after hearing Clinton in the last election blather on about how he felt our pain or watching Dole say with a straight face that he really has the interests of poor Americans at heart to listen to Daniel Zwillinger concede good-naturedly, “I’d like to say I have well defined, clear policies... but that is not the case.” Sifting through the list, I half expected to stumble across Calvin Cunningham’s name. After all, he already has a lot of ambition, likes to wear suits and speaks in sufficiently elliptical sound bites to qualify for larger office. But while Cunningham wasn’t listed, I did find three North Carolinians, two of whom could not be found using directory assistance. The third, Thomas Wayne Allen, could. A 37-year-old from Raleigh, Allen said he made two failed bids for Raleigh city council before taking the logical next step. This is his first run for president. He’s raised about SSOO, mostly from family and friends, and when asked what he thought the greatest hurdle was now standing between him and the Oval Office, he said optimistically, “I don’t think I have a hurdle.” Jeff Garigliano is a graduate student in journalism from Bayport, N.Y.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 2, 1996, edition 1
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