10
Tuesday, November 30, 1999
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comments about
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Contact the
ombudsman at
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Scott Hicks
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Katie Abel
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Jacob McConnico
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Lack of Communication
Note to communication studies majors:
hope you don’t have summer plans.
A shortage of professors in the
Department of Communication Studies has
led to nothing but frustrations as students
struggle to squeeze into filled classes that are
requirements for them to graduate.
And the students who cannot get into
classes they need for the major have few
options besides summer school.
That's unacceptable.
“We regret it deeply. It’s a huge inconve
nience for students and faculty,” said William
Balthrop, chairman of the department.
Not only is it an inconvenience, Willy, but
it is outrageous. Students should not have to
cough up money for a summer class or yet
another semester of school. They should not
suffer because University officials twiddled
their thumbs while a faculty shortage grew
out of control.
University officials should do everything
in their power to quickly corral some profes
sors into the underfunded communications
department for next semester.
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that
problems were on the horizon years ago.
Since the communication department was
created in 1993, the number of professors has
steadily gone on a downslide while student
enrollment has shot up.
A Wise Move
Two months after Hurricane Floyd’s flood
waters destroyed hundreds of homes in
Princeville, the town has decided to rebuild
rather than accept a government buyout that
would have dismantled the community.
Unfortunately, the logical choice would
have been to go for the buyout.
In the time since the far River washed
over the local dike and rendered the town
completely unlivable, many residents of the
tiny town of 2,100 have said they want to
return. Most town leaders are also deter
mined to rebuild the community, which was
founded by former slaves after the Civil War.
“We’re not planning on giving up on
Princeville,” said Linda Worsley, a
Princeville town commissioner. “Who would
want to give up that kind of heritage?”
Obviously, nobody would. However,
there comes a point where logic needs to
take precedence over heritage and senti
mentality. The 3-2 vote by town commis
sioners last Monday to ask the Army Corps
of Engineers to repair the 30-year-old dyke
was driven more by the heart than by the
mind, and that's where the problem lies.
To many residents, especially those who
Want to Blow Off Some Steam?
Write a guest column for The Daily Tar Heel. Guest columns typically appear every Monday on the
Viewpoints page. Submissions should be about 800 words in length. Bring typed copies to the DTH
office in Suite 104 of the Student Union or e-mail them to dth@unc.edu. Include your name, class,
hometown and e-mail address at which you can be reached.
For more information, call Editorial Page Editor Scott Hicks at 962-0245.
O
Readers' Forum
Firefighters Take Job
Seriously; Act to Protect
Health and Safety
TO THE EDITOR:
On the editorial page of the Nov. 23
issue. The Daily Tar Heel published two
editorial comment articles that criticized
the Chapel Hill Fire Department for our
response and handling of the Morrison
Residence Hall fire on Thursday morning,
Nov. 18. One article sought to make light of
a potentially dangerous practice, that of stu
dents avoiding compliance with rules that
are intended to protect their health and
safety. I believe this amounts to irresponsi
ble reporting and editing on your part.
Firefighters take their responsibilities
very seriously, just as you would want them
to. After all, your life may just depend on
that some day. When firefighters respond
onto the UNC campus, they feel a deep
duty to protect each and every student, fac
ulty and staff member from the tragedy of
fire. After all, this fire department has expe
rienced the ordeal of dealing with a campus
fire that resulted in five deaths.
You bet we take our job seriously, and it
is very frustrating when students choose to
ignore or make sport of our warnings.
Maybe the firefighters were a little to zeal
ous in facilitating the evacuation, but that
was the result of the lack of cooperation on
the part of a few students. I want our fire-
Rob Nelson
editor
Office Hours Friday 3 p.m. - 4 p.rn.
Matthew B. Dees
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Brian Murphy
SPORTS EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SrORTSATURDAY EDITOR
Now the faculty-to-student ratio in 100-
level communication studies classes is a stag
gering 55 to one.
Take a declining number of communica
tion professors and add a major influx of stu
dents taking communication classes, and
what do you get? It doesn’t take a math
major to figure out that giving the depart
ment more money is the only solution.
Students, especially seniors, cannot afford
to wait around to take a class.
By their senior year, most students have
jobs lined up for the summer - jobs that
hinge on their anticipated diplomas.
The University has an obligation to do
what is necessary to make the classes these
seniors need available. To do that, they need
to hire more professors for this burgeoning
department.
It might be hitting the pocketbook a little
hard to bring them in now, but the need is
not going to magically disappear next year.
The shortage is bound to get worse as more
students enroll in communications classes.
The best thing for students, faculty and the
University itself is to just bite the bullet and
shell out the cash for new faculty so that
seniors don’t have to shell out cash for anoth
er semester of school.
Note to University officials: Do it and get
it done before the start of next semester.
are descendants of the town’s forefathers, the
town is a priceless piece of history, and leav
ing is not an option. Reviving the town has
become a cause for black organizations
throughout the state and country who don’t
want to see Princeville disappear.
This is certainly understandable. Because
it was the first American town to be estab
lished by blacks, it is very tough to suggest
that the residents simply pack up and leave.
However, the bottom line is that
Princeville is located in a flood plain. The
town has been flooded before. It’s going to
flood again.
Residents fail to understand that by leav
ing, they would not be erasing Princeville’s
chapter from the history books. They would
instead be writing anew one.
By relocating the town to higher, and
safer, ground, residents would not be giving
up on or failing in their obligation to a his
toric landmark.
The town will always be considered a
symbol of black progress and determination
in the face of years of white oppression.
Princeville’s heritage lies in its people, not
in its location.
fighters to be zealous when protecting oth
ers, and so will you when your life is at risk.
Chapel Hill firefighters are willing to risk
their lives to protect yours. What level of
respect are you willing to return for that
effort? Someday 1 hope the DTH will
become a partner with the fire department,
University Police, the Department of
University Housing and Residential
Education, and the Division of Student
Affairs in promoting fire safety on the
Chapel Hill campus.
I also want to take this opportunity to
thank and commend University Police for
their extraordinary efforts to resolve this
series of dangerous arson fires and restore
Morrison Residence Hall to a place of safe
ty for the residents.
Dun Jones
Fire Chief
Town of Chapel Hill Fire Department
CDS’s Refusal to Host
Dinner for Homeless
Nothing But Excuses
TO THE EDITOR:
I take serious issue to Carolina Dining
Service remarks concerning Stephanie
Reid’s plan to host a dinner for the home
less. For me, Christine Ziemak, marketing
manager of CDS, is just making excuses.
I’m a second-year graduate student who
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Robin Clemow
ARTS St ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
Recapturing the Holiday Magic
II hope that everyone had an enjoyable
and fulfilling Thanksgiving.
There is nothing like going home to a
gluttonous home-cooked meal when pasta
and Ramen noodles have been your primary
source of sustenance for the last few months.
But it seems that now that Thanksgiving
has passed us by, Christmas and its whirlwind
of gifts that will probably be returned and
panic attacks in overcrowded malls is coming
way too fast.
Personally, I’m dreading it. What happened
to the magic that used to take us over when a
round man in a red suit could make us squeal
with such delight?
It was only a month ago that people were
flocking to costume stores and thrift shops to
find the right look for their evening of merry
making and pranks. But the eve of Halloween
had yet to pass us by before stores had begun
to remove the orange and black decorations
and replace them with ones with a more fes
tive red and green hue.
Christmas had come to town and there
were still two more months to go!
Now Thanksgiving is no longer a day to
give thanks for our blessings. It has simply
become the day before the biggest shopping
day of the year. After we have stuffed our
selves with turkey and seen a little bit too
much football, it’s time to try and catch the
sales that begin at 6 a.m. the next morning.
(You must get there early because there just
aren’t enough knitted chartreuse leg-warmers
to go around.)
As Christmas gets closer and closer, it has
begun to fill me with more dread than excite
ment.
Long lines, angry shoppers, picky friends
that simply can’t be satisfied with any gift
under S2O and a host of other joyous circum
stances make the season what it is.
Not too long ago, there was a time when a
chill in the air and the sight of amber and gold
attended Santa Clara University. While at
SCU, I ran a volunteer program that
helped feed homeless individuals. One of
my friends ran a program in which stu
dents served meals at a local soup kitchen.
One day we had the bright idea to donate
students’ unused meal card dollars to pay
for food to be given to our respective pro
grams. We worked with our dining service,
Aramarck, and came up with a plan:
Students would donate a certain amount of
dollars from their dining plans, and we
would use this money to buy meals or food
staples from Aramarck.
My fellow students were very generous,
and we were able to provide meals to low
income individuals.
I cannot believe that Ziemak told Reid
she could not help her. You can help,
Ziemak; you just don’t want to help. This
instance only cements CDS’s unwillingness
to assist homeless individuals and specifi
cally the Inter-Faith Council shelter.
Granville Towers donates all of its leftovers
to IFC. Lenoir and the other UNC dining
halls donate nothing.
I am getting a master’s degree in nutri
tion. If Ziemak needs assistance in plan
ning meals for the homeless or help in food
safety issues, I would be obliged to provide
my services free of charge.
Simone Eppich
Graduate Student
Nutrition
Miller Pearsall
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Megan Sharkey
GRAPHICS EDITOR
/in^l
K —AfL
■
LEIGHA BAUGHAM
ABSOLUTE CHOCOLATE
autumn leaves filled our hearts with a tingle.
When we were younger, this time of year
would have meant that the countdown had
begun. We would drift off to sleep with
dreams of sparkling lights on a tall tree stand
ing above a bevy of gifts wrapped in colorful
paper.
As children, the holidays seemed to mean
so much. And even as our belief in Santa
Claus gave way to an adolescent notion of
materialism, time still seemed to go just a bit
slower and the people around us seemed just
a little bit nicer as the calendar turned to
December.
That was before disillusionment hit us.
That was before we had to play the role of
Santa Claus - the same man who mystified us
for ail those years.
That was before we had to go out and
search for a parking space in a parking lot full
of deranged, homicidal parents in minivans
and station wagons.
Now we have simply become jaded - only
looking forward to Christmas because of the
break from classes, the free food and the
much-needed socks and underwear that our
moms lovingly place in our stockings.
Something is missing from the season, and
that is the magic that once filled our eyes with
wonder at the possibilities.
As college students, we are just tired and
ready for the hoopla and marketing gimmicks
Firefighters Justified
In Intimidating Students
To Make Them Leave
TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is in response to the two edi
torials on Tuesday, Nov. 23 about the fire
fighters. In one, you accused them of pur
posely harassing students by knocking on
locked doors and keeping residents out in
the cold; in the other, you made fun of
their antics in the residence halls.
I beg to differ with both: If there had
been a dangerous fire and 10 students were
roasted in their rooms, you’d be blaming
the firefighters for not making a point of it
sooner.
I completely understand not wanting to
leave my room and stand in the cold for
several hours (the amount of time it can
take to make sure the situation is com
pletely safe) on a school night; however,
what’s necessary is necessary.
Cold students have a lopsided view of
actual events; I’d be willing to bet the fire
fighters were not actually purposely
“harassing and badgering” students who
had not left the building. Even if they were,
though, they were justified. If it takes intim
idation to get students to learn to leave the
building during a fire alarm, then they
need to be intimidated.
You’re also not going to find “moder
ately overweight, middle-aged men with
Vicky Eckenrode & Courtney Weill
MANAGING EDITORS
to die down.
Alas, there is hope for our futures.
We should all realize that the special fire
the holiday season used to ignite is far
removed from our present experience.
But that is only because this is the in
between time in our lives.
The feelings of anticipation that we once
knew as we attempted the impossible - trying
to fall asleep on Christmas Eve - will be
returned to us once again. The magic that
now lays dormant will be awakened when we
look into the wide eyes of our own children
someday.
As the pitter-patter of little feet echo up and
down the hallway and cookies and milk are
gingerly placed for good old Saint Nicholas,
we will then relive the joy of the young in our
adult hearts. That is a day that we should all
look forward to with relish.
However, until that time comes, all that we
can do is try and hold on to the ideals that the
holiday season has come to represent for vari
ous cultures and countries. While commer
cialism tries to erode the warmth and charity
that this time of the year brings, we can
attempt to recapture the true meaning of the
holidays.
So the next time a nide woman with a
screaming child threatens to rob you of your
senses, just try to think back to a time when
Christmas meant a little bit more than sales at
the mall and flaring tempers.
And remember that once again the magic
will return.
That and a few prayers should get us
through the holidays this year. Now, what to
do about New Year’s Eve?
Leigha Baugham is a junior communications
major from Greensboro who wants to put
the magic back in the holiday season. Reach
her with questions and comments at
lbl@email.unc.edu.
goofy hats and oxygen canisters” quite so
funny when they’re risking their lives to
save the life of some kid who didn’t leave
the building when they should have. You’re
really not going to find it funny when some
one gets hurt or killed due to the stubborn
ness of students who don’t want to go out
into the cold.
Lindsey Neef
Graduate Student
School of Law
Northside Residents
Should Accept Students
Or Get Out of Town
TO THE EDITOR:
The Northside community needs to
wake up and realize that there is a
University right next door.
Of course there are going to be parties
and noise in the area! Why would some
body move two blocks from a university
and then complain about that?
If anybody should leave, it should be the
permanent residents of the Northside com
munity.
This University was here first; you are
secondary citizens in my eyes.
Chris Doerfler
Psychology
Junior
lTljp latlit (Ear MM
William Hill
ONLINE EDITOR
Whitney Moore
WRITING COACH
Terry Wimmer
OMBUDSMAN
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A
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