10
Tuesday, March 23, 1999
Nahal Toosi
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
DeVona Brown & Ashley Stephenson
UNIVERSITY EDITORS
Jon Ostendorff
cm: EDITOR
Board Editorials
Bill the State, Not Us
A recent report found that the UNC system needs about $7 billion
in repairs. The money should come from taxes, not tuition.
It’s going to cost the UNC system approx
imately $7 billion to prepare for an increase
of 48,000 new students in the next 10 years.
Any wagers on possible sources of that
funding?
You got it. Tuition increases, right out of
students’ pockets. They keep coming and
coming -but their typical justification could
soon surface in a sleeker, more svelte version
guaranteed to please the folks at home.
The UNC system must pay for repairs -
stuff like removing asbestos from buildings
and fixing leaking dorm roofs. Plus, the sys
tem must expand to meet future needs.
That’s it. That’s the argument. You weren’t
expecting a good one, were you?
Obviously, tuition can’t carry the $7 bil
lion burden. The state’s tax coffers can and
should. But logic might not stop legislators
and University officials from raiding stu
dents’ bank accounts.
One must wonder where state lawmakers
- those charged with the system’s upkeep -
were for the last few decades, when today’s
looming structural problems slowly festered.
Taxes are the key to adequately funding
the system -but tax hikes aren’t the answer.
In principle, the money should come from
taxpayers. In practice, the money already
comes from taxpayers - state lawmakers just
need to spend it better.
Corporate incentives, such as the $155
million tax credit that brought Federal
Express to Greensboro, and write-offs for
Ballooning Vanities
There are more important things the filthy rich and famous can do
with their millions than float around the world in a hot-air balloon,
The Biblical book of Ecclesiastes describes
the recent ballooning feat perfectly: “vanitas
vanititatum” (“vanity of vanities”).
In recent months, countless millionaires
have attempted to write aviation history by
circumnavigating the globe in a hot-air bal
loon, none finding success until Bertrand
Piccard and Brianjones landed in Egypt last
week. Even then, they were disappointed -
they had dreamed of landing near the pyra
mids. Maybe next time, fellas.
At least these two had enough sense to
know that their trip around the world was
indeed nothing more than mere vanity. As
Piccard noted, it was “heartbreaking that
people were suffering on the Earth” while his
enterprises carried him above it. Too bad he
didn’t notice until he was airborne.
The information age has provided count
less forums for people both to spotlight their
personal achievements as well as to compare
them to the victories of others around the
globe. It seems everyone wants to be the best
in the world at something. And rightfully so.
We enjoy the benefits of manufacturers who
want to create the finest products and doctors
who hope to find a cure first. Without such
competition we might still live in caves or
rely on horses for transportation.
But ballooning is quite a different story.
Readers' Forum
DTH Editorial Trumpets
Dairy Products’ Benefits,
Fails to See Drawbacks
TO THE EDITOR:
I am writing in response to the March 15
Board Editorial promoting the consump
tion of dairy products.
■ Contrary to the Dairy Council’s claims,
dairy products do not prevent osteoporo
sis. In one study (sponsored by the Dairy
Council!) women consuming three eight
ounce glasses of cow’s milk per day still lost
calcium from their bodies and remained in
negative calcium balance. High protein
diets, including heavy consumption of
meat and dairy products, deplete the
body’s calcium stores and cause osteo
porosis. Calcium is readily available in
other foods, such as leafy green vegetables,
nuts, figs, dates and prunes.
Moreover, dairy products are laden with
artery-clogging forms of animal fat. Eating
diets that contain high amounts of animal
fats has been conclusively linked with heart
attacks, strokes and cancer growth.
Dairy products contain casein, which
can contribute to allergic/inflammatory
reactions, such as chronic runny noses,
Shark Durhams
EDITOR
Office Hour Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m.
Trisha Dabb & Courtney Weill
STATE & NATIONAL EDITORS
Jonathan Cox
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
Brian Murphy
sports editor”
wealthy citizens, such as the low limit for lux
ury taxes that makes taxes on a Porsche the
same as taxes on a Buick, all cost the state
incredible amounts of money every year.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have gotten away
with under-funding the UNC system for
years. Suddenly, they have a $7 billion dam
age bill on their hands, and no way to justi
fy refusing to honor it. Of course students
don’t want to live in a leaky room. Nor do
parents want their children attending class in
an asbestos-infested environment. Legislators
are going to have little choice but to ftmd the
repairs - they just can’t raid students’ pock
etbooks to do it.
Lawmakers must obey their constitutional
duty to provide cheap education for resi
dents, though. Tuition increases are some
times necessary - in extreme situations.
Otherwise, legislators must find the money
elsewhere. They are obligated to keep tuition
low, not low in comparison to Duke
University or the University of Virginia, but
just low. Current UNC students won’t be
here in 10 years. They won’t reap the bene
fits of University growth or better living con
ditions. Consequently, they shouldn’t be
asked to shoulder the grind of steep tuition.
Taxpayers will benefit, though, because
the UNC system serves residents well. It
gives citizens a great college education, and
it keeps high-paid professionals in the state.
Raising tuition is a cop-out of momentous
proportions.
Worse than its vain nature are the compar
isons between this “accomplishment” and
that of the Wright brothers. The Wrights
struggled for years to realize one of man’s
oldest dreams with nothing more than a bicy
cle and a hammer. These balloonists, on the
other hand, sailed a multi-million dollar tank
for 20 days with the entertainment of com
pact disc players and the convenience of
satellite communications.
Why are we so quick to praise these joy
riders? Certainly the time, money and efforts
of these self-proclaimed adventurers could
have been better spent voyaging into the labs
of medicine in search of a cure for cancer. Or
maybe the rich and famous could invest in
an exploration of the too-often uncharted ter
ritory of the inner-city and its crime, home
lessness and sub-standard way of life.
The same goes for the rest of us. It’s fine to
enjoy life and pursue dreams, but we should
n’t presume that such self-aggrandizing activ
ities make the world a better place. Only
those who successfully realize dreams that
capture the imaginations and fulfill the hopes
of both themselves and society earn respect,
and they’re the only ones who deserve it.
We ought to set our aspirations above the
clouds towards improving this earthly life.
There’s no vanity in that, only admiration.
recurrent ear and bronchial infections,
eczema, asthmatic bronchitis and inflam
mations of the skin and bowels.
I suggest that the DTH and the
University promote the public interest,
rather than commercial interests. How
about an editorial promoting water con
sumption? Or an editorial listing the ben
efits of breast-feeding over bottle-feeding in
order to counteract the advertising and the
free samples that the dairy industry pro
vides to new mothers? No one sends out
press releases or plans promotional events
to promote noncommercial products.
The Dairy Council doesn’t need the
extra free advertising - the noncommercial
products do.
Ron Lugbill
Third-Year Law Student
Guthridge Should Stay,
Upholds UNC Tradition
Of Honesty in Recruiting
TO THE EDITOR:
In Wednesday’s Daily Tar Heel,
Franklin Hurley called for Coach
Guthridge to resign “for the good of UNC
Editorial
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FEATURES EDITOR
Will Kimmey & Erin Wynia
ARTS/DIVIRSIONS EDITORS
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Students Must Push for Full Code
Let’s start with a simple premise: North
American consumers have power.
When consumers wanted no-fat potato
chips, they were invented. When consumers
wanted makeup not tested on animals, we got
that option.
Now, consumers want clothes not made by
exploited workers: it can happen.
Another simple fact: North American stu
dents have power. When students didn’t want
universities to support apartheid in South
Africa, universities divested.
Now, some students want to make sure
UNC clothes aren’t made in sweatshops, and
we are patiently working with she University
to make that happen.
The anti-sweatshop movement has been
revived in the last five years by North
American and international labor activists
who exposed brutal working conditions in
Asia and Latin America, including forced
overtime, poverty wages and physical and
sexual abuse endured by workers making
some of our favorite brand names.
The combination of public pressure on
high-profile companies like Nike and the Gap,
combined with a teary-eyed Kathie Lee
Gifford on national television confronted with
the reality that 13 year-old Honduran girls
were sewing her label, contributed to the for
mation of President Clinton’s Apparel
Industry Partnership in 1996.
When Nike and UNC signed a major
endorsement contract, student and faculty
activists questioned the ethics of dealing with
a company notorious for labor abuses over
seas. UNC recognized the potential scandal of
a revelation that malnourished children were
sewing our beloved Tar Heel for 14 hours a
day.
That motivation, combined with a genuine
concern about the allegations, prompted
UNC to set up a task force to explore the
problem and subsequendy adopt a Code of
Conduct for its licensees.
The Code of Conduct sets out minimum
standards for companies manufacturing UNC
licensed products, that is, anything that bears
the UNC trade mark. It includes provisions
and the state of North Carolina.”
Not only do I think Coach Guthridge
should stay, but 1 fail to understand how a
University coach affects the welfare of the
state. Perhaps Mr. Hurley takes basketball
too seriously, evidenced by his admission
that he came to UNC “just for tickets."
I am proud of the players and coaching
staff for their accomplishments this season.
How many thought UNC would wind up
third in the ACC, win the preseason NIT,
make it to the ACC Tournament title game
and win 24 games this season? Quite
impressive considering the personnel loss
es. Don’t forget that Guthridge had his top
eight players available for only a few
games due to injuries, illness and the
NCAA. Hurley claimed that a six-man
rotation has no chance of winning a title in
the modem era. I believe there are many
coaches out there who would be happy to
take their chances with Duke’s current top
six players.
The recruiting assertions Mr. Hurley
made were ludicrous. Elton Brand is a
sophomore, meaning that Coach
Guthridge was not head coach when Brand
signed with Duke. As for Jason Williams,
he would enter as a freshman with Cota a
senior and Curry a sophomore (who was
Cara Brickman
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Brad Christensen
CARTOON EDITOR
■
MARION TRAUB-WERNER
GUEST COLUMNIST
dealing with freedom of association and pro
hibitions against labor, forced labor, forced
overtime, discrimination and sexual harass
ment.
A coalition of student groups, led by
Students for Economic Justice, sees two major
flaws with the code adopted by UNC.
First, the code calls for wages that meet the
basic needs of workers, either the minimum
wage or the prevailing industry wage. To
attract direct foreign investment, countries
often set minimum wages well below what is
needed to live.
According to the U.S. State Department’s
1997 Human Rights report, for example,
Indonesia sets its average minimum wage at
95 percent of living needs.
Students believe that as a progressive insti
tution, UNC should be spearheading the
effort to establish and to enforce a living wage
for the workers who make their products.
The second flaw of the code deals with its
implementation. It does not require the full
public disclosure of factory sites.
If we do not know where factories are, how
do we know what the conditions are?
Companies have claimed they can’t dis
close because there are trade secrets involved,
but there isn’t much of a secret to making
sweatshirts (or mugs or pens for that matter).
One company even argued that factory
sites would become new spring break destina
tions for student activists, putting them at seri
ous physical risk. (I am not kidding.)
Public disclosure is the only way to ensure
accountability in the process of monitoring
and verification of the Code. With public dis
closure, students would be able to pass infor
mation on to local labor groups and non-gov
emmental organizations in the countries of
manufacture, thus enabling an extensive net
work of monitoring to develop.
Students for Economic Justice has been
told numerous times by the chancellor and
one of the top point guards of the 1998
class). Would a talented player want to sit
on the bench as the third option? At the
time of Williams’ recruitment, no one
knew that Curry would end up as starting
quarterback after Davenport’s injury and
would have less time for basketball.
Coach Guthridge could have told
Williams what he wanted to hear and
promised him playing time, but I am glad
that he has upheld the tradition of being
honest with recruits. If a recruit is not
promised playing time then, he does not
have to worry that his place is being
promised to a high school player a few
years down the line.
Anybody in coaching will tell you not to
place much stock in rankings. UNC “fans”
griped when Shammond Williams was
signed and when Duke got Joey Beard,
Ricky Price and Greg Newton. Jon Holmes
has played well for Bloomington South,
one of the top teams in the country. He was
quite effective playing against top recruit
Jason Gardner and is regarded as a great
passer and excellent shooter.
Debbie Stengel
School of Medicine
Class of 2001
Rob Nelson & Leslie Wilkinson
MANAGING EDITORS
the task force he appointed that these
demands seem reasonable. The chancellor
even signed his name to a petition calling for
full public disclosure and a living wage. So
what’s the holdup?
For now, we have started picketing outside
of South Building every Friday at 1:15 p.m.
just to remind him of his commitment. Do we
really need a media-frenzied event so that the
University agrees to do what they have been
saying is right and realistic for months?
Public disclosure is especially important in
light of the decision last week of 17 major uni
versities to join the Fair Labor Association
created by Clinton’s Apparel Industry
Partnership.
UNC has not decided to join yet.
After announcing the code, labor and reli
gious groups left the “partnership” because
they felt the agenda had been co-opted by
industry. The Code is weak and the proposed
monitoring is even weaker. Companies
choose which sites get monitored, there are no
unannounced visits and the entire process is
almost completely confidential. Universities,
whether or not they are members of FLA, still
have the power to require public disclosure as
a condition of licensing. If FLA is the moni
toring mechanism UNC chooses, pubic dis
closure will be the only way to balance corpo
rate interests.
Once you wade through the acronyms and
the legalese of labor codes, the reason we
should care is simple. We support the employ
ment of thousands of workers overseas and in
the US. UNC alone sells over S7O million of
merchandise annually. This isn’t about guilt.
It’s not about whether you love Nike or you
love to hate Nike. We should care because as
consumers and students, we have the power
to help stop sweatshops and improve the lives
of the workers who make our Tar Heel gear.
As consumers and students we have the
power to convince our University to pick up
its feet and lead the way.
Marion Traub-Werner is a senior
Latin-American studies major from Toronto.
Reach her at mtraub@email.unc.edu.
Rinehart Impacts Lives,
So Why Is Department
Asking Her to Leave?
TO THE EDITOR:
Because I love my University, I must ask
why students should be denied superb
teaching. Asa student taking Susanna
Rinehart’s Dramatic Art 16 class, I have
learned to truly appreciate and enjoy
drama. She has made such a profound dif
ference in my education and my fife.
Rinehart has opened my eyes to theater
and, in effect, achieved the goal of her pro
fession. Having said this, why is the
Department of Dramatic Art asking her to
leave at the end of the semester? If the
members of the University community
truly care about education, personal growth
and inspiration, then we cannot afford to
lose such a valuable educator. Because of
her teaching, I have learned, I have grown
and I have been inspired. I am heartbroken
to think that future students will be denied
this opportunity.
Katherine Schafer
Sophomore
Psychology and French
OJljp iaily ®ar llppl
Kyle Hanlin
ONLINE EDITOR
Amy Cappiello
WRITING COACH
John Sweeney
OMBUDSMAN
j?
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