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Satiu ®ar lUri © Ml 104 years of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 |#jL w -—Jj? SMBR*" MV V fP r 4 mjBUF ■ JmhhßT yj IP uMK-' V DTH/SEAN BUSHER Student Body President-elect Reyna Walters has worked in the past two SBP administrations. Walters has past of bridge-building BY ANDREW MEEHAN STAFF WRITER Reyna Walters has the impressive resume expected of a stu dent body president, but those who have worked with her said her ability to handle complex situations and deal with differ ent people also impressed them. “(Walters) is incredible at finding something that means something to her,” said Nic Heinke, executive assistant to Student Body President Mo Nathan. “She attacks issues very well.” Walters, the student body president-elect, defeated Lacey Hawthorne in a run-off election Tuesday, becoming the first black woman elected to the office. Walters has held numerous jobs on and off campus that have allowed her to deal with student issues and gain experi ence with the inner workings of the campus. She worked as the full-time office manager for the law office of Alan McSurely and Ashley Osment last summer. McSurely handles many UNC civil rights cases. He represents the UNC Housekeepers Association and the UNC groundskeepers. Walters said the experience at the law office allowed her to see how outsiders see the University. “I was seeing the nega tive side of the University,” Walters said. Walters made appointments, kept the law partners informed of deadlines and interacted with clients from the front desk, Osment said. The office had a very complicated case load, Osment said. “We deal with people whose entire lives have been thrown into atailspin.” Walters also brings experience from her dealings with peo ple, including students, to her new job. Aaron Nelson, student body president during the 1996- 1997 school year, said Walters had a lot of experience work ing with students as his assistant chief of staff. See WALTERS, Page 2 If jtgggEßk DTH FILE PHOTO Barbara Prear, who helped start the movement that extended benefits for UNC housekeepers, takes part in a 1996 protest in Raleigh. King addresses racism, homosexuality BY JESSICA GALAZKA STAFF WRITER A heated crowd of affirmative action supporters said they did not get the discussion they hoped for when Alveda King spoke Wednesday night The program— billed as a discussion on how King’s uncle, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., might have approached affirmative action left many audience members confused as to Alveda King’s exact stance on affirmative action. King said she believed affirmative action was an important tool used in the past but is now outdat ed. America should move into anew era in which race is not an issue. “It’s going to take more than laws to rescue the young people,” she said. But she also said that affir mative action laws were needed to fight prejudice. “It’s not so much that we are all equal, all alike. It’s that we should expect the same standards,” King said, in summing up her affirmative action views. Students attending complained during a ques tion-and-answer session that her speech, which focused on the removal of race from all government forms and on opposing homosexuality, was ambiguous. “Now I want to know if we can hear the affir mative action speech,” Black Student Movement President India Wiliams told King King said she was pushing to remove race, as a Groups reject King ’s stance on race issues ■ Speaker Alveda King invited protesters inside to listen to her speech. BY DEVONA A. BROWN STAFF WRITER Expectations of a speech against affirmative action brought chants such as “Education is a right, not just for the rich and white” from protesters gath ered outside Memorial Hall. About 90 members of the Black Student Movement, the Alliance for Creating Campus Equity and Seeking Social Justice and the UNC National Pan Hellenic Council protested affir mative action opponent Alveda King on See PROTEST, Page 2 Cleaning up the BY MARISSA DOWNS STAFF WRITER Amid claims of institutional racism within the University, black housekeepers Marsha Tinnen and Barbara Prear said earning the respect they deserve has been no easy task. But somewhere between raising their families and working two jobs, Prear and Tinnen, chair- woman and co-chair woman of the UNC Housekeepers Association, found the time and energy to fight racial and econom ic injustice. Their struggle led to a class-action suit against the University com plaining about low pay and unfair treatment. Though the suit was filed in 1991, a settlement between the housekeepers and the University was n’t reached until fall 1996. But through it all, Prear and Tinnen remained at the forefront of the strug gle, and Tinnen, who is the plaintiff in the suit and the founder of die grievance, never lost hope. “She managed to keep the spirit going even though I knew she was dog tired all the time,” said Ashley Osment, one of the houekeepers’ lawyers. “There’s never been any doubt in anyone’s mind that she would continue to fight until she got the job done.” At the time the suit was filed, housekeepers’ salaries in the lowest pay gradient started at $ 11,600 51,500 less than the federal poverty level. In addition to low wages, Prear said housekeep ers were generally subjected to disrespectful and “harsh” treatment, which she said she believed to be racially motivated. Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin Thursday, February 19,1998 Volume 105, Itsue 157 category from census information, admissions forms and government documents. Some affirmative action supporters in atten dance pointed out during the question-and-answer session that ending affirmative action programs would cause problems, such as the drop in minori ty admissions to the University caused by Proposition 209. King did not know off-hand what Proposition 209 was, but she said giving children school choice would eliminate the need for affirmative action. “Your ability to learn, your ability to create has nothing to do with skin color,” King said. Equal education will lead to equal qualifications, she said. “We don’t take those laws away," she said. “We don’t take away your right to be hired because you’re qualified.” King spent a significant amount of the speech explaining why homosexuals should not be includ ed in the civil rights movement. “God hates racism; God hates homosexuality,” King said. “God loves people who have been victims of racism and homosexuals.” Homosexuality is a binding lifestyle, she said. Many people she knows are former lesbians or for mer gay men —but she said she knows of no for mer blacks, King said. “If you were bom that way, you can be bom again.” mmm .msl - jmpk I r. rjl | v —' JR v * tig mßf: ./ % m irollw " fif r> . SpaO mf . v —H—* " , mm DTH/ION GARDINER Protesters of Alveda King’s views on affirmative action gathered in front of Memorial Hall on Wednesday night. Members of ACCESS and the BSM held a peaceful protest prior to King’s anticipated speech on affirmative action. Surviving Struggle . K *■ - <, “We are still short of help. We're still far, far underpaid. (University administrators) have not done all they can do. They can do better. ” ■mm i UNC Housekeepers Association Tinnen said black workers in general at the University were treated unfairly. “This is the type of thing a lot of black people run into,” she said. “We see it as not being fair.” The UNC Housekeepers Association filed suit when the University failed to listen to the workers’ complaints. Both Tinnen and Prear said they found them selves at the forefront of the struggle because they saw a need to push for change. Asa relatively new employee with the University, Prear said she was surprised by the unfair treatment she saw. Prear, 54, previously inspected cloth in a textile plant where she said the working conditions were much better. “I had never worked nowhere where people had been treated like this,” Prear said. Tinnen has worked with the University for 17 years, often holding two jobs at the same time. Tinnen said her early morning shift from 3:50 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. can be hectic, especially now that the housekeeping department is understaffed. While the settlement provided for training and childcare programs for die housekeepers, Tinnen See HOUSEKEEPERS, Page 2 DTH/IOHN SEDA Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., and Art Rocker speak to stu dents about affirmative action Wednesday night at Memorial Hall. s V s * M News/Feaniies/Ara/Sparts: 962-0245 Business/Advertising; 962-1165 Chapel Hill, North Carolina C 1996 DTH Pubhslsnf Cap. All rights reserved. INSIDE Jerry: ‘too hot' or too far? Jerry Springer blows in from Chicago to this week's Diversions cover. Check out the king of exploitation and S why viewers can’t get enough. Page 5 Achoo!! Now is the season for scratchy throats and runny noses. Read some helpful hints from Student Health Service on how to keep well. Page 4 ♦ There's no place like home Anew Nebraska scholarship program will encourage students to stay in state for college and for work after graduation. Page 10 Today's weather Partly sunny; low 60s Friday Partly sunny low 60s
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1998, edition 1
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