Daily (Tar Heel
©
Am
1104 jean of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the Umventty
community once 1893
Partisanship
occasionally
splits Suite C
■ Political ideologies play a
small but sometimes vital
role in student government.
BY JOHN SWEENEY
SENIOR WRITER
Forty years ago, the political dividing
lines on campus were clearly drawn. In
those days the University and Student
parties dominated student government.
The party system is gone now
swept away during the 1970 s— but the
politics of partisanship remain at UNC.
In one sense, the “liberal vs. conserv
ative” dichotomy is artificial. All stu-
ss/
fffffftitl *99
dent leaders
advocate for
student inter
ests, and those
interests are
fundamentally
the same.
“I try to operate as far as what would
be-best for students, what’s best for the
University," said Speaker of Student
Congress James Hoffman. “But student
issues have nothing to do with whether
you’re liberal or conservative.”
I ;But in another sense, political ide
ologies do play a tangible role in the
process of governing the student body.
In Student Congress, it is most evi
dent in the allocation process. There,
student groups with particular political
leanings have faced opposition from
representatives on the other side.
“In Congress, the groups they deal
with are a lot more partisan,” Student
Body Treasurer Marc McCollum said.
“So I think political ideologies can play
a bigger role."
Bill Heeden said he had seen it first
hand. As publisher of the Carolina
Review, a right-wing campus publica
tion, Heeden appeared before Congress
in 1996 to ask for funds.
Heeden said Congress simply rubber
stamped less controversial groups’
requests, but he said liberal representa
tives forced him to endure hours of
questioning and debate.
Such treatment of conservative
groups convinced Heeden to run for
and win —a Dist. 16 seat.
“The whole process seemed to be
inconsistent, and it could have been
more fair,” he said. “That motivated me
to become a part of the process.”
Since he took office in April, Heeden
feels he and other representatives have
made that goal a reality.
“(This year), Congress as a whole
has done a good job being apolitical
about funding issues,” he said.
Occasionally, non-funding issues do
cause controversy in Congress. Last fall,
See CONSERVATISM, Page 5
/1 :
40jBkv\ • W', ■
if ...■ "ys* '1., ..J.
A I
DTH/MBTI MCDANIEL
Sarah Thacker tries to increase awareness about sexual assault at UNC.
She is co-founding Advocates for Sexual Assault Prevention.
Committee sets list of priorities for funding
BY BETH HATCHER
STAFF WRITER
The University Priorities and Budget
Committee released Thursday a tenta
tive set of five priority areas to consider
for upcoming reallocation of University
funds.
Student government leaders, faculty
members and student body president
candidates met with the committee to
discuss the drafted priority areas.
The proposals fall under five main
categories: ways to improve campus
diversity, build on areas of excellence,
foster interdisciplinary programs,
enhance the use of information tech
nologies and intensify the intellectual
climate on campus.
fwar era: Abroad and at UNC
Fighting in far-away Vietnam caused controversy on campus as
students and faculty took to Franklin Street to protest the war.
1968 January - Tet Offensive launched.
r Febnaty- UNC wtabluhes a system to adviae atudenu
about the draft.
|' March -My Lai Massacre American forces conduct a
I- vicious and shocking “search and destroy"
[ . mission.
1 \ - President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he wont
| \ run for re-election.
I I \ " 58 sudonts arrested at a prwest against Dow
IIS, V . . ChemicaL maker of Napalm
||\ April - Martin Luther King Jr. slain in Memphis.
11. \ - 300-600 students stage aW*y rally to protest the
IIV\ war.
| | N. June - Attorney General Robert Kennedy assassinated,
fjL August - Violent dispersal of protesters at 1968
| a'V National Democratic Convention in Chicago.
\ S November - Richard Nixon elected president, calling for
“law and order
-1969 :
l __— — October- UNC participates in nationwide protest, students
and faculty walk out of class to participate in
antHsar activities.
1970 '
t May - The United States invades Cambodia.
- Six Kent State University students killed by National
Guard troops.
' AOOMOOO UNC students, faculty and staff march
1975 down Franklin Street and shut down the University.
April - Fall of Saigon
* UNC Mams in blue
ioUiiU:: DTH ARCHIVES, WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA “ Di H/lAXE 2ARNEOAR, BRIaMnA BUSCH. ERIN SWANKH
Student culture makes protesting thing of past
BY MARY DALRYMPLE
ASSISTANT SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
The Tet Offensive have you heard of it?
“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know what it is,” said a sopho
more business major.
“Does that have something to do with the Fourth of July?”
asked a sophomore in biology.
No, not even close.
“That’s Vietnam,” said a junior in political science. “1971?”
Getting warmer.
“It was a surprise attack. The North Vietnamese invaded
South Vietnam, and they attacked our soldiers, too," said a
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
George Orwell
Friday, January 30, 1998
Volume 105, loue 143
Provost Richard Richardson said
there was no distinct time line for when
the funds would be allocated.
The committee also suggested
improving academic spaces, such as
libraries and classrooms, to help the
intellectual climate.
Junior Lacey Hawthorne, a candidate
for student body president, questioned if
the committee’s planned use of funds for
more campus construction would hinder
the intellectual climate.
Hawthorne said recent construction
proved to be a distraction to students in
classes.
“I’m already in class where there’s a
jackhammer outside my door,”
Hawthorne said.
“It’s really hard to learn in that envi
senior in industrial relation and economics.
That’s right!
“And it turned the tide of public opinion against the war,"
added a senior in political science, who happened to be sitting
in the Undergraduate Library reading a book on political
knowledge.
For students 30 years ago today, the Tet Offensive wasn’t
part of a history lesson. It headlined the nightly news.
On Jan. 30,1968, Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops
launched their bloodiest offensive to date, violating a truce
agreement and seizing the American embassy in Saigon.
See KNOWLEDGE, Page 5
Freshman starts sexual assault group
■ Sarah Thacker helped
organize the Advocates for
Sexual Assault Prevention.
BY LEIGH DAVIS
SWF WRITER
Freshman Sarah Thacker wants to
help other women deal with a trauma
she has already faced.
Thacker knows from experience that
sexual assault is a reality, and she wants
to help women who have been hurt
regain their strength and courage.
Assaulted at the age of 13, she wants
others to learn from her experience.
“I’m very open about it,” Thacker
said. “I don’t want to be ashamed and
hide anymore.”
A biology and political science major
from Caty, Thacker joined forces with
freshman Kathryn Kooistra and Student
Health Service employee Elizabeth
Lindquist to start Advocates for Sexual
Assault Prevention.
The trio is working to get ASAP offi
cially recognized on campus. They are
planning a tentative budget and writing
a constitution and bylaws for the group.
Thacker’s own ordeal spurred the
idea for ASAP. She said after her assault
she tried to hide and do what others
said, but she realized even though phys
ically fine, she was suffering internally.
She wanted to join a support group,
“l’m already in a class where
theres a jackhammer outside
my door. It’s really hard to
learn in that environment. ”
LACEY HAMmOMi
student body president candidate
ronment.”
Marc McCollum, student body trea
surer, said he thought the intellectual cli
mate could be improved if funds were
allocated to train graduate students as
teachers.
McCollum said he had taken a few
courses instructed by first-year graduate
but to be admitted, she had to explain
the details of her assault and describe
her existing support network.
Thacker does not want ASAP to
function in that way.
“People have the choice to get help,”
she said. “I just want to give them help
when they want it. I want people to be
able to come in and sit in the back, be
able to listen and not feel pressured to
say a word.”
Organizing ASAP takes up most of
Thacker’s free time and energy, but she
finds her efforts are well-worth it.
“It takes a lot of my time,” she said.
“But I feel it’s very important.”
Kooistra, a Spanish and women’s
j^AjONG^AMARK
studies major from Cary, said, “I’m
impressed with Sarah because she is
responsible, dedicated, assertive and
resourceful.
“She is the kind of person ASAP
needs. She is placing sexual assault in
the public’s eyes and is raising their con
sciousness of it.”
ASAP has several goals and objec
tives. The main goal is to inform stu
dents about sexual assault and to pro
vide a forum for addressing the issue.
“No support groups exist on campus
now. We want a place where victims and
friends of victims can go,” she said.
students who had not taught very well.
“It hindered my educational experi
ences in the courses,” McCollum said.
Funding was also proposed to
improve scholarships, upgrade available
information technology on campus and
strengthen research programs.
Student Body President Mo Nathan
stressed the importance of using funds
to increase interdisciplinary programs
not only between faculty but between
students, as well.
Beth Hedt, the Human Relations
Committee chairwoman for student
government, said she would like to see
this interaction between departments
result in a simplification of perspective
and major requirements.
Hedt said the large number of neces
Saigon sieged,
campuses seethe
■ Thirty years ago, the Tet Offensive enraged UNC
students and sparked a campus anti-war movement.
BY MICHAEL MANNING
STAFF WRITER
Forces surged into South Vietnam, briefly seizing control of the American
embassy and parts of Saigon.
Thirty years ago on Jan. 30,1968, the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese
army launched the Tet Offensive, attacking South Vietnam at 1 a.m. during
a three-day truce called to observe the traditional Vietnamese lunar New Year.
Militarily, Tet was a failure for the North Vietnamese, but the attack was a
psychological and political victory. In the United States, the fallout was dra
matic. American media, troops and college students rose up in protest.
The Tet Offensive is frequently cited as a turning point. Some think it trans
formed doubts about American involvement into M-fledged opposition.
The Tet Offensive was front-page news in The Daily Tar Heel, but aware-
ness of the war grew slowly
at UNC. “The students
weren’t too concerned. It
didn’t really engage them,”
said Joel Schwartz, a protest
leader who came to UNC as
a professor of political sci
ence in 1965.
Beginning with Tet, how
ever, student involvement in
the anti-war movement
began to grow. And by May
1970, anti-war agitation
grew so loud that protesters
shut down the University
and marched on Raleigh.
Protests and arrests
In February 1968, the
University set up a draft
advising system for students.
In March, students
jammed into South Building
to protest on-campus
See VIETNAM, Page 5
“Long term, we even want support
groups for sexual assault offenders.”
Orange County Rape Crisis Center,
located on 825 N. Estes Drive in Chapel
Hill, does have support groups, but
Thacker said it had a waiting list.
“I don’t want students here to have to
wait,” she said. “If you need help, you
need help. If you want to talk about it,
you’re ready to talk about it.”
Thacker said workers at the Rape
Crisis Center helped alot when she was
organizing ASAP. Thacker also had a
conference with Michelle Cofield, assis
tant dean of students and harassment
and assault prevention coordinator.
“Everyone has been great,” Thacker
said. “Without them, ASAP would be
going nowhere.
“I’m currently working with Michelle
Cofield on organizing (the next) Rape
Awareness Week. It’s scheduled for
October and it’s going to be a lot of
work.”
Thacker thinks of her assault every
day and said it drives her to be involved.
“Now is the time to handle my
assault. It is a major part of who I am,”
she said. “It’s just a fact that it happened
to me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Thacker hopes with groups like
ASAP, victims will not have to hide.
And they help this busy freshman too.
“They provide closure and they give
me something to focus on,” said
Thacker. “It’s a public announcement. I
was assaulted, and I’m okay.”
Nfwi/Franms/Am/Spom: 9624)245
Business/Adverusiaf 962-1163
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C 1998 DTH Publishing Corp.
All h£uts reserved.
sary requirements often made it difficult
for students to graduate on schedule.
“I have to be out of here in four
years,” Hedt said.
“It’s hard to do everything I want to
do and still be on track."
Richardson reminded the group that
the proposals were still in their initial
stages.
“This is a document that has ‘draft’
stamped all over it,” Richardson said.
During the next few weeks, the com
mittee will meet with the Executive
Council, the Dean’s Council, the execu
tive committee of the Faculty Council
and executive committee of the
Employee Forum to discuss further
plans and action for the allocation of
University funds.
PHOTO COURTESY NORM CAROUNA COLLECTION
Protesters march past University United
Methodist Church during a 1969 rally.
INSIDE
UNC dismantles Coastal
The North Carolina
women's basketball
team got a breather
from the ACC slate
Wednesday, thumping
Coastal Carolina 7445
at Carmichael Auditorium. Page 7
♦
Aging research
The UNC Institute on Aging received a
five-year, $3.1 million federal grant to
create a systemwide Center on
Minority Aging. Page 4
Come out and speak
The Elections Board is sponsoring a
candidates' speak out Monday at 11
a.m. in the Pit. The audience can
question elections candidates Page 2
Today's weather
%
Mostly tunny;
mid 50s
This wetland: Partly
cloudy; rmd 50t