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Impact of suit
sparks debate
among public
■ A federal judge threw
out the suit Paula Jones
filed against the president.
BY SCOTT HICKS
STAFF WRITER
Although a Little Rock, Ark., federal
judge threw out Paula Jones’s sexual
harassment suit against President Bill
Clinton, most experts say the standard
to prove sexual harassment has not
become more difficult.
Instead, the case has helped clarify
what sexual harassment legally entails,
experts said. People who believe they
have been sexually
harassed should
still bring their
cases to court.
“This case has
helped us refine
our understanding
of what it takes to
be sexual harass
ment,” said Karen
Booth, professor
of women’s stud
ies and sociology.
“It makes it much
clearer what the
grounds are for
going to court."
But Jones’ loss
B +>
a. * M
An Arkansas judge
dropped the lawsuit
filed by
PAULA JONES
and claimed it did not
meet the standard for
sexual harassment.
might keep some
women from taking sexual harassment
cases to court.
“On the one hand, it could make
some women less likely to report harass
ment on the job," Booth said. “On the
other hand, I think it says the legal sys
tem takes very seriously sexual harass
ment cases. “I think it’s been really pos
itive for it to be out in the open. ”
Jones’ suit was so open because it
involved the president, and despite the
trial’s conclusion, many Americans still
doubt the president’s integrity.
“Ultimately, I think he’s still guilty of
something,” said Scott Rubush of
Common Sense.
Although Clinton won this latest
round, people should not think the
courts now hold a higher standard for
proving sexual harassment.
“There is still no reason for anyone
to put up with behaviors that would
meet the legal definition of sexual
harassment in the workplace or educa
tional environment,” said Judith Scott,
the University’s sexual harassment offi
cer.
Women should be aware that there
are many grievance processes available
to them, Booth said.
“Many, many companies, including
this University, have established systems
for dealing with sexual harassment that
could be publicized more,” she said.
The media should also publicize
recent victories in sexual harassment
See REACTION, Page 2
Group seeks possible improvements to computing initiative
BY LAURA STOEHR
STAFF WRITER
One size does not fit all, especially
when it comes to computers, said the
leaders of People for Computational
Freedom on Thursday.
The group held an interest meeting to
gather support in investigating how
UNC has handled the Carolina
Computing Initiative.
The CCI, which Chancellor Michael
Hooker introduced in February, will
require freshmen to own a laptop by
2000. All laptops must be PCs. The
University will take bids to companies in
about a month, said John Oberlin, exec
utive director of Academic Technology
& Networks.
PCF leaders said they do not oppose
requiring students to buy computers that
meet certain software specifications per
system, such as a requiring PC users to
purchase Microsoft Windows 95. But
they do question the motive behind
requiring one type of computing system.
“Freedom of choice is essential” said
Michael Neece, Morehead Planetarium
assistant educator. “What we’ve heard
and seen is so sketchily laid out by the
administration. ”
March to free Camion reaches Chapel Hill
■ Organizers said unity
highlighted the march to
free Kwame Cannon.
BY ANNE FAWCETT
STAFF WRITER
Observers gradually crept across the
street from McCorkle Place to the post
office.
A kid with a mohawk dashed down
the sidewalk to take a seat beside a man
in khakis. A businessman in a suit and
tie sat at a safe distance across the street
and described
what he had seen
to passers-by on
rolleiblades.
The organizers
of the April 4th
Convergence on
Raleigh said they
wanted to pro
mote unity by
bringing to light
the imprisonment
of Kwame
Cannon. They
did.
“We don’t
deserve credit
until we have elim
inated inequity for
everyone
blacks, hispanics
and whites,” said
the Rev. Mazie
On the trail
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Ferguson, one of the march’s organiz
ers. Ferguson is a member of the
march’s sponsor Jubilee 2000, a move
ment originating in Greensboro that
promotes labor, education, prison and
political reform.
Following a rally, marchers from
Jubilee 2000, the Black Student
Movement, Campus Y, Black Public
Works Association and Student
Environmental Action Coalition took
the 1970s civil rights march route from
St. Paul’s AME Church down Franklin
of the march
The march to free Kwame Cannon will culminate in Raleigh on
Saturday. Participants began the march in Greensboro on Wednesday.
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Rob McCauley, a junior computer
science major from Hillsborough, said
he was concerned UNC would elimi
nate student choice. “The whole thing
doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
Besides the specifications of the plan,
others are worried about its timing.
Planetarium employee Drew
Gilmore said he doubted classroom
technology would be ready by 2000.
“Considering how long it’s taken for
all the dorms to be wired, I’m skeptical
you’ll be able to plug into every building
you want,” he said.
McCauley said laptops would not be
helpful in class. “I’ve taken my portable
to class, but I didn’t use it,” he said. “It’s
not effective. I left it sitting next to my
chair.”
The group voiced concerns that fac
ulty would not be trained to integrate
the technology. “Most classes are done
in a lecture format,” said Jeremy
Reynolds, a graduate student in sociolo
gy-
“To make these things effective, the
faculty are really going to have to
change the way they teach.”
But Oberlin said Thursday that class
rooms would be renovated and faculty
would receive appropriate training.
liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw
Friday, April 3,1998
Volume 106, Issue 25
Street to the post office. This course was
symbolic for many.
“We’re continuing the civil rights
movement now,” said Terrance Shawn
McGill, Campus Y committee coordi
nator. “It didn’t end by our sitting in the
front of the bus.”
African Americans are in danger and
still need help, Ferguson said.
“People at the bottom of industry are
in relatively the same shape as they were
100 years ago,” she said. “If we can take
care of those at the bottom, that will
take care of the rest of the totem pole.”
Jubilee 2000 planned the April 4th
Convergence on Raleigh as a symbolic
march to spread its mission of freedom
for Cannon. He was imprisoned in 1986
with two life sentences for six counts of
burglary, which marchers called unfair.
“(Cannon) got screwed over because
he was made an example,” said Craig
Wexler, a member of the International
Socialist Organization. “But he stands
for more than just himself.”
Other marchers agreed that they were
rallying for more than one man.
“We are not happy with the people
who Kwame Cannon symbolizes,”
Ferguson said. “There are young people
across the state with weird and crazy
sentences that don’t make sense. We
want equitable sentences and justice for
not just (white prisoners).”
Ferguson and Jubilee 2000 are push
ing for a commission to look at the sen
tences of every black inmate in the state
to see if they are reasonable and if not,
will push for the prisoner’s release.
They also support a living wage,
workers’ compensation for occupation
al injuries and commissions to examine
student suspensions from school.
“These are major issues of survival of
a race,” Ferguson said. “Our race is rel
egated to a status worse than slaves.”
BPWA representative Steve England
agreed that it was time to act “(Kwame
Cannon) is the future of this society, not
just our race,” he said. “Now is the time
for us to stand up and demand our rights
as citizens of this country.”
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Jackie Kylander and Michael Neece (right), members of People for Computational Freedom, met at McCorkle Place to
protest the Carolina Computing Initiative. Mo Nathan (left) defends the initiative.
. — •
Willena Cannon joined a rally in front of the Franklin Street post office in honor of her son, Kwame Cannon.
The group marched on Franklin Street from St. Paul's AME Church.
UNC seniors, alumnus using
film to capture Cannon story
■ Willena Cannon has
actively participated in civil
rights movements.
BY DEVONA A. BROWN
STAFF WRITER
In the wake of this weekend’s march
to free the son of civil rights activist
Willena Cannon from prison, three local
filmmakers are working to make sure no
one forgets the Cannon story.
Two seniors and a recent graduate
formed Blank Pictures, a production
company, in February to make a docu
mentary of Cannon’s activism in the
1970 sand its connection to her son’s
two life sentences for burglary.
Willena Cannon participated in sev
eral civil rights protests in the 19705,
including one she organized against a
Ku Klux Klan march in Greensboro. In
1986, her son, Kwame, received two
consecutive life sentences for six counts
of first-degree burglary. Kwame Cannon
is serving his sentence at the Caswell
County Correctional Center.
Greensboro ministers will march to
Raleigh on Saturday to petition Gov.
Jim Hunt for his release The march led
to a project for Blank Pictures.
Senior Monty Marsh of Greensboro
said Blank Pictures, which he founded,
would focus on Kwame Cannon and his
political connection to his mother.
“We’re covering 19 years of history,
from Nov. 3,1979, through April 1998,”
Marsh said. “The point here is the rela
tionship between he and his mother.”
UNC graduate Richard Harris m,
who is currently filming footage from
the march, said the documentary would
go beyond interviews and coverage of
the 1979 march. “We’re really trying to
document a process (of what the
Cannons endured) and the struggle
that’s lasted for 20 years,” he said.
“Also, we’re trying to get really per
sonal. Our focus on 1979 is minor com
pared to these relationships and the way
in which these relationships have
changed since these events.”
Harris said the documentary would
include childhood pictures of Kwame
Cannon, letters sent between Cannon
and his mother and an account of the
events occurring in the Cannon house
hold between the two marches.
Harris and Marsh, with Senior Terry
Billups of Orlando, Fla., as co-producer,
are interviewing those closely associated
with the family.
The idea for the documentary, tenta
tively titled “The Last Victim,” arose
from Marsh’s interest in acting and his
desire to educate others about the
Cannons’ plight.
“I did some research, and (the docu
mentary) became a passion," Marsh
said. “The more research I did, the more
I became enthralled.” He said a part of
that passion was because he grew up
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with the Cannon family.
Marsh said he was involved in the
issue because of his ties to the area
where the Cannons lived.
“This is my neighborhood, my com
munity,” he said. “This is where I grew
up. I felt it was my obligation in the posi
tion that I am (of having University sup
port and resources) to do this story.”
The driving force behind Marsh’s pas
sion for the Cannon story is to make
everyone aware of society’s past and
present social injustices. “I’m doing this
to bring about social change, and to edu
cate people (of high school and college)
age," he said. “We as a society have
become desensitized. There are Kwame
Cannons all over the country.”
Harris agreed something had to be
done about Kwame Cannon’s jail sen
tence. “When he went to jail, he was
fresh out of puberty. Now he has gray
hair,” Harris said. “He went in before he
was a man, and now he’ll come out an
old man. That’s wrong.”
Marsh said he hoped the documen
tary would also prompt society to take
action against social injustice.
“It hurts me to know that society
doesn’t care to preserve this history,” he
said. “We as a people need to come
together and realize that we all need to
make an effort for social change, to cre
ate true equality.”
Harris said he and Marsh should fin
ish filming the documentary in June and
that they hope to premiere it in August.
Harris said he and Marsh should fin
ish filming the documentary in June and
that they hope to premiere it in August.
INSIW
Fraternities hit Kenan
UNC football coach Carl
Torbush (left) invited 15
fraternity members to play
in Saturday's Blue-White
Spring Game. Page 7
jßaile conmigo anoche!
CHispA presents its seventh annual
Noche Latina Saturday night in the
Great Hall and Cabaret. Page 2
Today's the day
Today is the deadline to submit proposals
for the Joanna Howell Fund award, which
honors the memory of a former DTH member.
Proposals are due by 5 p.m. Call 962-0245 for
more information.
Today's weather
*
Late showers;
High 60s
This weekend: Pertly sunny;
mid 60s.
962-0245
962-1163