10
Tuesday, April 18, 2000
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Scott Hicks
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Katie Abel
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Jacob McConnico
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Scrap the Standards
The Board of Governors' efforts to raise admissions standards
for all UNC-system schools ignores the fact that institutions differ.
Different abilities have different needs.
The Board of Governors’ Committee on
Educational Planning, Policies and Programs
failed to keep this simple truth in mind as it
discussed an increase in UNC-system mini
mum standards last week.
These new admissions standards require
students entering any system school in 2004
to take two foreign language courses.
Additionally, students entering two years
later, in 2006, will have to take an addition
al math course beyond Algebra 11, typically
a junior-level course in high school.
But the current system works just fine as
it is. Now, students entering system schools
are simply encouraged to have two years of
foreign language and are required to have
completed just three years of math.
In a large system made up of schools with
varying missions, there should be no stricter
overarching guidelines.
The UNC system is supposed to provide
low-cost education for everyone who wants
it. By raising standards across the board, the
BOG will knock out of contention a group of
students who want to go to college but who
might not be able to meet the new higher
standards.
Bring It Down
S.C. House members should follow the lead of state senators
and vote to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol,
Finally, legislators in the South Carolina
Senate have seen the light.
After months of boycotting by the
National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People in the state, state senators
voted to take down the Confederate battle
flag from the S.C. Statehouse.
Their respective other halves - House
members - should follow their lead because
the time has come for the flag’s removal.
The “battle flag” of the former
Confederacy is an incendiary symbol.
Indeed, it is a painful reminder of the ever
raging war for racial equality that many
blacks in the state and nation face.
And it is unlikely that those who decided
to fly the Confederate battle flag in Columbia
were ignorant of all its meanings.
Consider that the flag was first erected in
1962 amid a strong national civil rights
debate. Some have argued that the flag was
raised to defy integration.
Then do the math: 1962 is 97 years after
the Civil War ended. If the flag was raised to
honor the Confederacy, why did the legisla
ture wait so long to fly it over the Capitol?
And even if you claim that it doesn’t have
a tie to the 1960s civil rights movement,
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes submissions from its readers for its Viewpoints page every Monday.
Guest columns should be about 800 words, written by no more than two people and discuss an
issue relevant to DTH readers. Submissions should be e-mailed to editdesk@unc.edu and are due
by 6 p.m. the Wednesday before the column will appear. Publication is not guaranteed. For more
information, contact Editorial Page Editor Scott Hicks at 962-0245.
Readers' Forum
Heinke, Conner Thank
Respective Cabinets
For Unseen Contribution
TO THE EDITOR:
Almost always, when one person is held
out for praise, there are many more indi
viduals who deserve respect and admira
tion for their contribution to the achieve
ment being recognized. Whether they are
local, state, federal or students, this is
invariably true for elected officials.
On April 10, our administrations
received very positive reviews on the
“report cards” given by the editorial board
of The Daily Tar Heel. Our individual
names and pictures were prominently dis
played and the coverage was focused
almost exclusively on us as individuals.
We write today to broaden that focus
and to recognize the wonderful people
whose work earned those “grades.”
In addition to the hundreds of students
who served as appointees to University
committees, both the executive branch and
the Graduate and Professional Student
Federation relied on a Cabinet of highly
skilled and dedicated students.
Without the contributions of Monika
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
The worthiness of these applicants should
not hinge on their foreign language and math
achievements. Many very talented students
have trouble with those subjects, but they still
deserve the chance to go to a UNC-system
school to further develop the talents and
skills they do have.
As students differ, so do schools. But the
new standards limit UNC-system schools’
ability to decide what qualifications their
ideal students should have.
A student applying to Elizabeth City State
University probably has different abilities,
interests and goals than a student applying to
UNC-Chapel Hill, and he or she should not
be expected to have attained the same level
of achievement.
It should be left up to individual schools to
decide what their standards should be. They
should not be prevented from enacting the
higher standards, but they should also have
the freedom to bend the rules and admit
worthy students who show great potential.
By trying to raise standards systemwide,
the BOG has lost sight of the very mission of
the system they work for. Any change in
standards must not penalize the students of
North Carolina.
think about the history it would then pay
tribute to - that of stealing people and own
ing them. That is not an ideal that should be
embedded in a flag and propagated by a
democratic government.
And while no outside governing body
should have the right to dictate the state’s flag
policy, legislators should remove the flag from
its current post out of respect for those who
believe it stands for their oppression.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that T-shirts,
bumper stickers, bikinis, license plates and
other merchandise depicting the
Confederate flag should not be sold. To the
contrary, vendors have the right to sell such
items and the public to buy them; govern
ment endorsement, however, is an entirely
different matter.
The consequences of keeping the flag in
Columbia hurt everyone.
In the time spent by legislators waffling on
the issue, state tourism, its primary industry,
has been affected as private people and pub
lic figures have bypassed the state for events
or vacations.
Others have been hurt through years of
governmental flag glorification.
South Carolina, seize the day.
Moore, Lerissa Rentas, Ryan Schlitt,
George Jackson, Laura Snead, Bryan
Wenter, Caryn Madison, Malcolm Logan,
Mark Walters, Lindsey Ligett, Eric
Johnson, Justin Young, Stephen Keleher,
Zach Fay, Christian Sawyer, Joe Bonfiglio,
Matt Jones, Jessica Triche, Shannon
Ghadiri, TJ Maloney, Sarah Chisolm, Matt
Robinson, Brad Matthews, Lisa Andrews,
Steve Aldridge, Cam Lavin, Glenn
Grossman, Valerie Glenn, Jennifer Schupp,
Dena Sisk, Candy Mance, Drew Gold,
Nate Macek and Laurie Gallagher, the vol
ume of work reflected in our DTH “report
cards” would not have been anywhere
near as impressive or extensive.
We ask the student body to join us in
expressing our appreciation for their ener
gy, passion and unrelenting efforts to
improve the University for all students.
Nic Heinke
Former Student Body President
C. Lee Comer
Former President
Graduate and Professional Student
Federation
The length rule was waived.
Opinions
Saitij (Tar Mwi
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Robin Clemow
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
Miller Pearsall
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
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Biting the Government Attack Dog
What is the scariest day of the year?
If you say Oct. 31, it might be
because April 15 does not have the
same commercial appeal. I bet most
Americans would rather deal with meddle
some trick-or-treaters than the Internal
Revenue Service, no contest.
When the IRS audits, the recipients are
presumed guilty unless they can prove inno
cence. Without a search warrant, the IRS has
the right to examine the personal papers and
financial documents of American citizens, and
without a trial, the IRS has the right to confis
cate private property.
The IRS is the government attack dog. It is
always hungry, and our politicians are feeding
it well. Over the past 10 years, Congress has
nearly doubled the IRS budget, while this
year, it increased the budget an additional 11
percent.
Accompanying this monstrous growth has
been increased inefficiency and abuse. How
surprising.
A recent U.S. General Accounting Office
report found that in 1990 the IRS issued
16,000 erroneous liens, and twice in the last
five years, thejustice Department has repri
manded the IRS because hundreds of IRS
auditors and clerks were caught illegally
snooping through the returns of friends,
neighbors and celebrities.
Theodore J. Forstmann, a former member
of the National Commission on Economic
Growth and Tax Reform, and Stephen Moore,
economic consultant to the commission, offer
a personal account of their experience dealing
with agency victims.
“The commission was besieged with com
plaints about the capricious way in which the
code is enforced,” the economists state in a
briefing paper for the Cato Institute. “We
heard countless stories of ordinary American
citizens who have suffered nightmarish IRS
investigations. We received a letter from one
woman who enclosed a notice form the IRS
assessing her a $l5O penalty for a one-penny
underpayment on her taxes.”
Similar problems have prompted members
of Congress to begin crafting an IRS reform
bill to make the agency more “taxpayer-
DTH Editorial Too Hasty
To Criticize New Session
Of Student Congress
TO THE EDITOR:
I was disappointed with the April 17 edi
torial “Misrepresentation” in The Daily Tar
Heel. Although the facts of the editorial
were correct, the characterization of the
82nd Student Congress was incorrect and
entirely unfair.
The DTH and the 81st Congress had an
often contentious relationship regarding
many issues. The unfortunate thing is that
the DTH has chosen to carry this negative
bias over to the 82nd Congress.
The events that led to the resignation of
Congress members Niel Brooks and Tim
Logan were due to confusion in the Student
Code and the procedures established by
the Elections Board. Both of these factors
were the result of actions not of the 82nd
Congress. Instead, the DTH chooses to say
that “confusion and inefficiency" have set
in.
On the contrary, the DTH should laud
the 82nd Congress, specifically Speaker
Pro Tempore Sandi Chapman, for its quick
action. During the first meeting of the 82nd
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Megan Sharkey
GRAPHICS EDITOR
William Hill
ONLINE EDITOR
W tJL m
|
JSMPE*.
JONATHAN TRAGER
THE LIBERTARIAN LETTERS
friendly” and alleviate IRS abuses.
Unfortunately, asking Congress to take the
lead against IRS abuse is like asking Don
King to set the standard of business ethics in
professional sports. In both cases, the people
entrusted to be part of the solution are part of
the problem.
Recendy, documents showing how politi
cians have initiated IRS audits of political
opponents have become public record.
Consequently, The Associated Press has
reported that “lawmakers and the White
House have triggered hundreds of IRS audits
against tax-exempt groups this decade.”
In a delicious twist of irony, the agency that
penalizes taxpayers for sloppy documentation
claims it can’t find 114 files related to audits of
some tax-exempt organizations.
The IRS also says a secretary taped over a
recording that alleges agency officials might
have shredded documents to conceal political
abuses.
Nevertheless, the obtained evidence con
firms the suspicion of abuse.
“The documents show there’s a systematic
effort by Congress and the White House to
intimidate and silence organizations with
whom they disagree,” said Mark Levin, head
of the Landmark Legal Foundation, which ini
tiated the lawsuit to gain access to the IRS
audit records.
The notion that even one IRS audit has
been politically motivated is disturbing.
But the reality is that such abuse is only
possible within a tax system that is already
corrupt.
Given that the current tax code is lengthier
than the Encyclopedia Britannica, and thus
Congress, we addressed the issue of the
upcoming special election.
Chapman then urged all members that
might have to resign in the fall because of
district conflict to go ahead and do it now.
This was done in hope that we could get all
the vacant seats filled now and avoid anoth
er special election in the fall.
This bit of foresight should be applaud
ed by the DTH. The DTH should save the
criticism for an appropriate time.
So far the only thing the 82nd Congress
has done is anticipate a future problem and
take action on it; this shows that we “boys
and girls” are off to a good start.
Rep. John McGonagle, Dist. 26
Student Congress
Swim Test, PE Classes
Unnecessary Graduation
Requirements
TO THE EDITOR:
I totally agree with the April 14 editori
al “Sink or Swim.” I think it is foolish for the
University to force students to pass a
requirement that might not be fair.
A lot of people simply cannot stand to
Vicky Eckenrode & Cate Doty
MANAGING EDITORS
the possibility for making a mistake is high, is
it any wonder why so many honest Americans
five in fear of incurring the unforgiving wrath
of the IRS?
Any effort to simplify the existing tax code
is a waste of time. In the past four decades,
Congress has tried 31 times and made an
astounding 400 revisions via public laws. But
after every “reform,” the system became more
muddled than ever before.
The only real reform is to scrap the tax sys
tem that gave the IRS life in the first place.
Congress should replace the progressive
income tax with a flat-rate tax.
A few years ago, a readership poll done by
Parade magazine found that by a 50-1 margin,
readers favored a simple flat-rate tax rather
than the current progressive income tax.
There are two possible versions of a flat
rate tax: a national flat tax on income, to be
paid via a returned postcard, and a national
retail sales tax, to be paid at the point of pur -
chase of goods.
Under both tax systems, individuals living
earning wages below poverty-level would pay
nothing.
Although there are several differences
between the two, it is clear that either tax sys
tem would be a hell of a lot better than what
we have today.
No longer would individuals be punished
for productivity, saving and investment, as
they are under the current tax system. No
longer would the potential to take advantage
of the system exist via deductions, loopholes
or credits. No longer would individuals have
to spend more money on tax lawyers than
paying the actual taxes they owe or on
accountants to verify their records.
Best of all, no longer would individuals live
in fear of IRS terrorization.
Like a rabid dog, the IRS will continue to
be a threat as long as it is allowed to live. It
should be put it to sleep permanently.
Jonathan Trager is a senior journalism and
mass communication major from Long Island,
N.Y., who expects to be audited in the
near future. Please send tax attorney
recommendations to trager@email.unc.edu.
get in the water. Making them pass a swim
test to get their diploma is like making
someone who is arachnophobic handle
tarantulas to get their degree.
Are we to assume that because a person
does not know how to swim that they aren’t
prepared for a job as an English teacher, a
journalist, a lawyer, a doctor, etc.?
Sure, knowing how to swim could be a
nice thing, but it isn’t something that peo
ple necessarily use in their everyday lives.
While I’m at it, why the heck do we
have to do physical activity requirements
either? If I want to learn how to exercise or
play a sport, I can do that on my own. I suf
fered through the required PE classes in
high school already. Does the University
just enjoy wasting my time (and everyone
else’s)?
It all just doesn’t make sense.
Leave the physical education at UNC to
the jocks. They are the ones that actually
get scholarships for doing it. The rest of us
have no reason to bother. That’s just my
two cents.
jimmy Autrey II
Sophomore
English and Journalism and Mass
Communication
QJfyp Satly (Ear Hppl
Terry Wimmer
OMBUDSMAN
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A
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