12
Wednesdav, March 1, 2000
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Scott Hicks
EDrrORIAI PAGE EDITOR
Katie Abe!
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Jacob McConnico
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Smart Growth
Town leaders should help make UNC's idea for affordable housing
for graduate students and faculty at Horace Williams tract a reality.
In a town where housing is limited and
prices soar through the roof, UNC graduate
students are often left without a place to hang
their hat. But that could all change if a recent
proposal for the development of UNC’s
Horace Williams tract comes to fruition.
When University officials meet in April to
discuss the plan, they must do everything in
their power to make this idea a reality.
The plan, presented by architects and
campus planners to the Airport Advisory
Committee, includes 1,000 to 2,500 units of
affordable graduate student and faculty hous
ing. That would be a vast improvement over
the sparse 300 units currently available on
campus.
In addition to housing units, the proposal
includes 5 to 6 million square feet of private
and University research space, green spaces
for recreation and a mass transit system capa
ble of shuttling students to and from campus
in five minutes.
Commercial developments, similar to
downtown Franklin Street, are included as
well. The proposed community would mea
sure up nicely to the living-and-iearning
environment envisioned in the Master Plan.
But University officials need to factor in
the costs for the niceties early into develop
ment process, so sticker shock doesn’t hit
after construction has begun.
Federal Lifesavers
Kudos to U.S. Sens. John Edwards and Frank Lautenburg for doing
what UNC should have already done pushing for fire sprinklers.
U.S. Sens. John Edwards and Frank
Lautenburg apparently have designs on the
jobs of Interim Housing Director Dean
Bresciani and Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs Sue Kitchen.
Last week, Edwards, D-N.C., and
Lautenburg, D-NJ., proposed a bill that
would provide SSOO million in federal fund
ing for fire sprinklers in university residence
halls. Their concern for the safety of students
everywhere is admirable, and the two sena
tors should be applauded for their efforts.
However, those efforts should have at least
started with Bresciani and Kitchen, not the
federal government.
The senators’ proposal comes two months
after a fire at a Seton Hall University resi
dence hall killed three freshmen and four
years after a fire at a UNC fraternity house
killed five students.
UNC has lagged in upgrading its resi
dence halls. Chapel Hill quickly passed an
ordinance requiring fire sprinklers in frater
nity and sorority houses following the 1996
Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house fire, but
the University and the UNC system chose to
Readers' Forum
Monday Guest Column
Slamming New President
Reeks of ‘Liberal Idiocy*
TO THE EDITOR:
I’m writing in response to Christopher
Brook’s Monday Point of View column on
the Matthews/Smiley election. It is appar
ent that this type of poorly written liberal
idiocy has become synonymous with The
Daily Tar Heel.
Obviously Brook’s objective was to bash
Matthews by making him look ineffectual,
while trying to deify Smiley as someone we
should all admire. The irony lies in the
examples the writer gives in his attempt to
prove his “points.’’
Brook tells us that Matthews is so inef
fectual as to actually care about issues that
affect students. His example: off-campus
Internet access. Brook goes on to make all
kinds of unsubstantiated allegations that
Matthews could have instituted this pro
gram under Heinke’s presidency, but chose
not to.
I’m interested to know just how Brook
found all this out. If he did indeed have any
proof of this ridiculous allegation why did
he not put it in his article?
Brook then tells us of all the wonderful
things that Smiley has done, such as her
support for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on
Iraq and putting a moratorium on the
death penalty.
Call me crazy, but isn’t that just a little
bit outside of student government’s juris-
Rob Nelson
EDITOR
Office Hours Friday 3 p.m. • 4 p.m.
Matthew B. Dees
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SPORTS EDITOR
Leigh Davis
FEATURES EDITOR
If a desirable living space for graduate stu
dents and faculty is the goal, these amenities
must be carried through. All the perks look
good on paper, but it becomes far too easy to
get wrapped up in the costs and slash the
“luxuries.”
After all, the University does not want to
construct a 979-acre ghetto. Just look at South
Campus. As Mr. Rogers says, mistakes can
be good if you learn from them.
And officials have to be prepared for the
Chapel Hill Town Council’s reaction as well.
Local politicos have a history of using debil
itating caution when it comes to growth,
unable to see the town for the neighbor
hoods. Thousands of new housing units will
undoubtedly spark their interference.
But town officials should be in favor of this
proposal as well. Such a centralized commu
nity with readily available mass transit will
boost ridership on buses. And Chapel Hill
has long been an avid proponent of the mer
its of mass transit.
What’s more, the town and Orange
County spend millions every year to increase
affordable housing. The council should read
ily support the University when it offers to do
something about the problem.
It’s time the town helped the University
give back to a group that has given it so
much.
commit themselves to a more gradual imple
mentation program for the residence halls.
Even after the Seton Hall fire, Kitchen and
Bresciani seemed content to maintain their
glacial pace. They made no efforts after the
disaster to lobby legislators for additional
funds to upgrade fire safety measures.
While UNC plodded on toward its goal of
fire sprinklers in all residence halls, fires con
tinued to break out. This year, Morrison
alone has had several fires break out in stu
dent lounges. Morrison is one of 23 resi
dence halls on campus that does not have
sprinklers, though UNC officials now say
they are looking at installing them there.
While no one was seriously injured in the
Morrison fires, it would be the height of arro
gance to believe that what happened at Seton
Hall could not happen here. Instead, it
appears that it will take an act of Congress to
do what four years, a fire in another state and
pyromaniacs could not: promote the imple
mentation of fire safety measures on campus.
Unfortunately, UNC students are left with
the inescapable conclusion that their univer
sity doesn’t care to agitate for their safety.
diction? Trying to legislate issues well
beyond her scope of power makes her
“gutsy,” which is why we should all think
Smiley would be a great president.
Much to the chagrin of liberals, democ
racy is a results-oriented institution. The
assumption that government should serve
the people in concrete ways is radical to be
sure - just as radical as the 13 colonies
breaking away from a government that no
longer served its citizens.
Finally, I doubt it was slander that led to
Smiley’s defeat, as Brook suggests, but
rather her own radical views. In the future,
if Brook wants to learn how to argue a lib
eral point of view effectively, instead of
writing attack pieces, he should take notes
from Daniel Brezenoff.
Anthony Pirozzi
Senior
Political Science
The length rule on letters was waived.
Shutting Down Poll Sites,
Moving Ballots to Chi Psi
Would Improve Elections
TO THE EDITOR:
In response to your Feb. 28 editorial
entitled “Fair Move,” we felt inclined to
offer a modest proposal of our own.
First, all current voting sites should be
closed. This would cleanse the current poll
sites of their inherent biases, allowing new
Opinions
(Tit? latlg Mtd
Established 1893 • 107 Years of Editorial Freedom
www.unc.edu/dth
Robin Clemow
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
Miller Pearsall
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
JYiaRCH MtjDNESSL.
; - if - -i
Free Time Leads Naik to Epiphany
Some things off the top of my head as I
sit here trying to escape Regis Philbin ...
How many of you guys who missed
class on Sunday were conveniendy bom again
for the weekend? Come on, you can tell me -
I used to use religion as an excuse to miss
class all the time in high school.
To many of the fine folks in Robeson
County, anything that wasn’t Protestant was
completely foreign.
I guess that’s why one of my substitute
teachers didn’t find it odd when I excused
myself from class as part of the ritual to pray
facing Bombay five times a day.
(To those of you who may not know, many
Muslims pray facing Mecca five times a day.
I’m not Muslim, making the whole situation
stated above comical... get it... brown joke
... all right, just forget about it...)
Speaking of which, one day when I have a
lot of time and money, I’m going to write a
book entitled “Growing up Indian in
Southeastern North Carolina.”
Now before you dismiss this as a verved
out idea, give it a chance. Think about it:
Chapter 1 could be called “What Are Them
Red Dots For?” where I discuss the trauma of
being the only Indian in a neighborhood
while playing cowboys and Indians.
I could deal with other pressing matters
that would be of aid to fellow Indians, such as
“How Not to Look Like You’re Fresh Off the
Boat,” “Why You Aren’t a Bum If You’re Not
Pre-Med” and most importantly, “How to
Acquire the Most Prominent Table on Davis
Library’s Second Floor.”
I’m not saying this book would make The
New York Times’ bestseller list, but at least
it’d get some laughs...
Is anybody else looking forward to meeting
with their advisers as much as I am?
I find that in the two and a half minutes
that I am allotted with my adviser every
semester, all the questions I have about my
future are answered, with maybe even five or
traditions to be established.
To replace them, one centralized loca
tion should serve as the only polling site.
Our proposed site is within a 10 minute
walk of parts of Carrboro, Franklin Street,
Granville Towers and the Pit.
Even more importantly, it is fortified by
a stone wall. And for one day a year there
is a moat.
The Chi Psi Lodge is an ideal polling
site.
The members of this fraternity, as you
have already mentioned in previous edito
rials and articles, control most processes on
this campus.
Placing the elections here, where they
are discussed in smoke filled rooms, is the
obvious choice.
Please, consider the benefits: the mem
bers of Chi Psi are busy people and could
save time in their busy schedules by voting
in their own kitchen.
Additionally, those closed-minded fools
in “the Granville bloc,” who always vote
for the same person, will have to walk
across the street to do so.
As you suggest, they probably won’t
make the effort.
Kudos to you for your insight that “no
one constituency should have such political
clout!”
Alex Little
Junior
Industrial Relations
Eric Fletcher
Freshman
Mechanical Engineering
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Megan Sharkey
GRAPHICS EDITOR
William Hill
ONLINE EDITOR
AMOL NAIK
FROM THE DANK CAVE
10 seconds to spare for small talk.
The only thing I like better than being
advised is registering with Caroline herself ...
On a completely separate topic, what about
this circus they’re calling the Republican pri
maries?
First John McCain is supposed to be the
reformer, now George W. Bush is the
“Reformer with Results.”
It really seems like neither one of them has
a true identity, but both of these guys definite
ly have serious quirks.
Many respect McCain because he’s a war
hero, but his bitter nature and nasty cam
paigning are somewhat unsettling. Sometimes
it seems as if all those years in the Vietnam
jungle as a POW have, in the words of
Eminem, “made him one Excedrin tablet
short of a full medicine cabinet.”
One of the shadier things about Bush is
that he spoke at Bob Jones University in
South Carolina before the GOP primary. If
you haven’t heard about this fine institute of
higher learning, it has openly banned interra
cial dating, and the founder, Bob Jones him
self, horrifically called the Pope “an instru
ment of the devil.”
Bush has since apologized for not taking a
stronger stand against these views, but conve
niently doing so after he’s already won in
ultra-conservative South Carolina.
As of now, choosing between the two
major Republican candidates looks like a
Cut Coach Some Slack
Tar Heels Hoops Squad
Can't Excel Every Season
TO THE EDITOR:
It’s time to call the dogs off Coach Bill
Guthridge. And didn’t we just go through
this with Carl Torbush?
Someone serves a UNC sports team for
a number of years, toiling in obscurity
while the head coach at the time receives all
the credit.
After moving up to head coach there’s
somg success, some disappointing losses
and the caustic columns that inevitably
point out that it’s the coach’s fault for not
“motivating” the players.
Am I missing something? The young
men on the basketball team are given hous
ing, tuition, meals and the opportunity to
play in fine facilities for one of the storied
teams in a usually top-notch conference,
and they’re somehow unable to be moti
vated without a whining, yelling, pushing,
spoiled “role model” like Bobby Knight?
No.
Let’s review: You can’t be on top every
year. Period.
And for all the legends of St. Smith,
there were a grand total of how many tides?
Bill Guthridge has the best first-two-year
record here, including Coach Smith. Yes,
he inherited players (which he helped bring
in), but what coach doesn’t?
In recent years the number of players
opting early for the NBA has skyrocketed,
Vicky Eckenrode & Cate Doty
MANAGING EDITORS
choice between dumb and dumber ...
If you still haven’t gone to the Mexican
food stand at Lenoir Dining Hall, hurry
before it’s too late. It seems as if others have
also stumbled upon our discovery and are
now gorging themselves with mass quantities
of refried beans.
For their sakes, let’s hope they’re also stum
bling across to the Student Recreation Center
before they bare it all during Spring Break ...
Did you catch N.C. State find yet another
way to lose, this time against Clemson? Those
poor kids down in Raleigh just can’t seem to
catch a break.
1 think pretty soon State Coach Herb
Sendek is going to be writing his own book,
“How to Go From Being the Coach of a Top
25 Team to Unemployed in Less Than a
Month.”
If Mike O’Cain is any indication, Sendek
will be an assistant on the basketball staff just
days after his dismissal ...
While we’re talking basketball, there was
an article in The Daily Tar Heel on Friday
about some fan purchasing the rights to the
Web sites bearing the names of Ed Cota,
Jason Capel and Ronald Curry. Supposedly
the fan bought the rights to these sites so
nobody else would be a “squatter” and try to
sell them back to the players at exorbitant
prices if they became famous.
This of course led me to wonder who
owned www.amol.com, which I discovered is
actually in use and is run by some company
called Ask Me On Line.
Fortunately, www.amolnaik.com is as of yet
still unclaimed, but might be a wise invest
ment for somebody that has a hundred bucks
lying around.
Damn, I have way too much time on my
hands ...
Amol Naik is a junior history major from
Lumberton. Send questions and comments to
unc2ool @hotmail.com.
making consistency harder to maintain.
Oh, think of the glory if Stackhouse and
Jamison had stayed!
But porous defense and turnovers have
proliferated all over the country, not just
here.
After all, it’s those highlight-reel dunks
and three pointers that get you to the NBA,
right?
Thank you. Coach Guthridge.
And please don’t bring back the four
comers. It was as much basketball as ball
room dancing is an Olympic “sport.”
Mark Vitali
Graduate Student
Romance Philology
Share Your Point of View
With 39,000 Readers
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say it loud and clear —and let 39,000 stu
dents, professors and UNC employees read
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desk@unc.edu and are due by 6 p.m. the
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will appear. Publication is not guaranteed.
For more information, contact Editorial
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ahp Daily (Ear Uppl
Terry Wimmer
OMBUDSMAN
(2>
A
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