18
Thursday, April 27, 2000
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oui coverage?
Contact the
ombudsman at
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Scott Hicks
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Katie Abel
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Jacob McConnico
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Something to Hide?
The Worker Rights Consortium must have Nike's Phil Knight scared
he just pulled a S3O million gift from his alma mater for joining.
It looks like all those full-page Nike ads in
The Daily Tar Heel proclaiming the compa
ny’s innocence might have been bogus -
Nike Corp. might have something to hide
after all.
Phil Knight, the chairman and CEO of
Nike, has yanked a scheduled S3O million
gift to his alma mater, the University of
Oregon, after the school had the audacity to
join the student-backed Worker Rights
Consortium.
Nike recently pulled a similar stunt at
Brown University, when the company decid
ed to stop giving supplies to its hockey team
in response to Brown’s significant contribu
tion to the WRC.
These incidents are nothing more than
scare tactics designed to make other schools
reconsider joining the WRC, while simulta
neously strengthening the validity of the Fair
Labor Association.
Mr. Knight and other CEOs around the
country would like every university to join
the FLA, a monitoring group that allows rep
resentation from corporations, something the
WRC refuses to do.
The real crux of the issue, however, is not
representation but validity. The WRC checks
in on overseas factories unannounced,
whereas the FLA notifies each factory in
advance - plenty of time to get the sweat
shop up to code before Mr. Knight stops by
Learn From Your Peers
Thanks to Kristen Miller and Marie-Lucienne Lambert,
officials have a great idea for boosting UNC's intellectual climate.
If you ever thought UNC offered just a
few too many lame courses that failed to
stimulate you in any profound way, well,
now it’s time to stop whining and do some
thing about it.
Starting next spring semester, you -as an
undergraduate - could actually teach a class
of your own design, thanks to a program
known as Carolina Students Taking
Academic Responsibility Through Teaching.
Then, if the class sucks, it’s your fault!
C-START could greatly boost the
University’s intellectual climate by extending
academic opportunities for both the students
who teach the courses and those who enroll.
Senior Kristen Miller and sophomore
Marie-Lucienne Lambert are responsible for
the proposed program. They recently
received funding from Provost Dick
Richardson to design a couple of pilot cours
es that will be reviewed this fall.
Once those pilot courses are approved,
student instructors who decide to take advan
tage of this new opportunity will be given the
green light to start teaching in spring 2001.
It’s no secret that the University’s class
selection just isn’t that broad. C-START
could add a much-needed spicy twang to the
rather bland choice of classes that now exist.
Crosswords, Pimps and Rape: A Wild Year at the DTH
One year ago today, I became
the most hated man at UNC.
On this same page that day,
I threatened to remove the beloved
crossword from the paper and chal
lenged readers to e-mail me with story
ideas to salvage the precious puzzle.
Word spread through campus like
fire, evoking some of the angriest e
mail messages and phone calls I’ve
ever received.
It was heaven. And more important
ly, it was only the beginning.
I walked into this job determined to
make this year anything but business as
usual at The Daily Tar Heel.
Waving a banner of “boldness,” I
said it was the very mission of this
newsroom to be edgy, daring and dis
missing of the status quo.
In many ways, those goals have
been realized - at least in my book -
and now, with the end near, I’m forced
to come to terms with the madness.
The DTH has taken its fair share of
flak in the last nine months.
The “Pimpin’ An’t Easy” storm of
September blew hard, with criticism
gushing from readers as well as some
Rob Nelson
EDITOR
Office Hours Friday 3 p.ra. • 4 p.m
Matthew B. Dees
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SPORTS EDITOR
Leigh Davis
FEATURES EDITOR
with his photographers.
The perfect example of this type of pseu
do-monitoring is the recent factory tour that
Nike officials coordinated with select student
representatives.
The students visited 32 factories with an
independent consulting firm, but each stop
on the tour was announced by Nike before
hand.
The students on the tour were dubious of
what was presented to them by Nike -and
with good reason.
If Nike’s sweatshops have nothing to hide,
there is no reason why Mr. Knight should be
nervous about the impact of the WRC and its
unscheduled visits by monitors.
If the factories are operating as they
should, whether a visit is a surprise or a
monthly event should make absolutely no
difference.
Certainly Mr. Knight has the right to do as
he wishes with his S3O million, but UNC
must not be scared into passivity by this little
stunt.
UNC generates an immense amount of
revenue for Nike. If anyone has the power to
shape the future of sweatshops, it’s us.
Mr. Knight’s action might be understand
able on a personal level, but it should be a
red flag to anyone who believes in the valid
ity of the FLA or doubts the culpability of
Nike factories around the world.
If there’s some specific subject or topic
you’re interested in studying but can’t find in
the directory of classes, C-START is your
answer. Under the program, you would
research your topic of interest and participate
in teacher training workshops during the fall
to prepare for your spring class.
That way, you’ll get an educational oppor
tunity to leam about a subject that intrigues
you and go on to share that knowledge with
fellow students in a structured classroom set
ting.
On top of that, you get a total of six hours
of academic credit for both researching and
teaching the class, while your students would
receive one hour of credit for enrolling.
But it’s too bad the University doesn’t
already offer a broader, more engaging selec
tion of classes to choose from all on its own.
Administrators should encourage profes
sors to design more creative classes to meet
students’ interests. Too many professors seem
more concerned with finishing their next
book than they are with the academic inter
ests of students.
C-START will broaden educational
opportunities for all students. And UNC’s
top priority should always be to offer stu
dents the best education possible.
ROB NELSON
EDITOR
of my colleagues in the office.
It became fodder for some journal
ism professors and triggered accusa
tions of racism and poor taste.
Looking back, the choice of wording
was dangerously reckless, and I under
stand some folks’ raised eyebrows.
The taste argument, however, I’ll
never buy. For those folks with a clue
about pop culture these days, the
catchline was clearly a compliment for
the elderly gentlemen -a way of giv
ing him credit but using today’s lingo
to do it
Get with the times!
And as soon as Tropical Storm Pimp
moved out to sea, Hurricane Fennell
cTbp Sailg (Ear 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
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When Teaching, Politics Collide
Although education has always been a
means for transferring or maintaining
social power, discussions of education
have become more and more highly politi
cized in recent decades. These discussions
affect students and educators at all levels,
from Head Start to English 11 at UNC.
Currendy, several issues are prominent in
national debates on education policy. First, on
a practical level, educators who value the
teaching of skills and content using traditional
methodologies often consider themselves at
odds with educators who favor more inven
tive strategies.
For example, in a public school district
near Pittsburgh, Pa., last year, a group of par
ents strenuously opposed the introduction of
the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics’ new standards for problem-solv
ing out of concern that their children would
not leam basic mathematical operations, such
as multiplication.
The chairman of the math department
defended the standards, but the ensuing batde
took time and energy away from actually
implementing the curriculum and developing
instructional materials.
Similarly, in the field of composition, teach
ing “process writing” has found much support
among educators. Using this methodology,
some English teachers (including the 130 com
position instructors at UNC) help students
draft and revise papers rather than simply
assigning a grade to one final copy; teachers
take the role of coach rather than traditional
authority.
Opponents to these teaching methods
worry, however, that students will fail to leam
the grammar they need without traditional
instruction.
But no teacher would really suggest that
students don’t need to leam mathematical
operations or meaningful communication
skills, and no parent wants his or her child
kept from learning problem-solving approach
es or tools for self-expression.
These are differences over means, not over
ends, and advocates for both sides do a disser-
worked his way up the coast. A Dec. 3
column byjosh Fennell that linked fra
ternities to gang rape had the Greek
community up in arms - again.
The same bogus “DTH hates
Greeks” cries that have swirled around
this place since I was a freshman rang
loud again. The letters to the editor
were furious; the meetings in my office
with fraternity and sorority members
were intense; the criticisms of the
DTH’s “irresponsibility” were height
ened.
Through it all, I defended the col
umn - not the deplorable point
Fennell’s hate-laden work was trying to
make, but rather his right to say it and
the right for this paper to publish it.
It was a classic case of pitting the
First Amendment vs. the inability of
some to accept the earth-shattering
thought that the DTH is a newspaper,
not a University brochure, and that
sometimes there will be words or
images within its pages that will incite.
It’s journalism, folks, not public rela
tions.
Suck it up!
And before campus had a chance to
Opinions
totally thaw from the recordjanuary
snowfall, the heat from our student
elections coverage began to sizzle.
Claims of bias quickly surfaced, as
some said the pro-Erica Smiley attitude
of the DTH was smothering and guid
ed by some great Nelsonian agenda.
That was the rhetoric from the
bandwagon. Here’s the truth: There’s a
division between our newsroom and
our opinions page, and an endorse
ment of Smiley by the opinions folks
doesn’t mean there’s a DTH-wide
agenda to get her into office.
My position as editor allows me to
straddle this often-misunderstood
fence, as I sit on the editorial board as
well as run the newsroom.
But through it all, I consider myself
a serious journalist -one who can
write a balanced, fair profile of two
candidates Monday and write a col
umn supporting one of them Tuesday;
one who can support a harshly criti
cized front-page elections story that
others saw as biased when, in actuality,
it was a piece that reported the event
just how it happened. (The reporter
was there; the critics weren’t.)
Cate Doty & Vicky Eckenrode
MANAGING EDITORS
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Megan Sharkey
GRAPHICS EDITOR
William Hill
ONLINE EDITOR
TARA ROBBINS
SMALL PRINT
vice to the students involved _
as if their opponents’ goals differ from their
own in cases like these.
The content and teaching methodology of
some other fields are more closely finked with
specific political agendas. For example, in the
study of history, the privileging of certain
movements over others effectively conveys a
hierarchy of values - slavery is bad, civil
rights are good. Those distinctions are now
easy to make because our society has come to
a consensus over the issue of slavery.
But what about the use of violence in John
Brown’s raid? Brown opposed slavery and
believed that the viciousness and immorality
of the system necessitated open rebellion,
including the use of violence to achieve its
end.
Some members of Operation Rescue, the
violent anti-abortion organization, have
expressed similarly belligerent convictions.
And what of our treatment of our enemies
when we study foreign wars?
In hindsight, it is easy to see the gross injus
tices of portrayals of Japanese Americans dur
ing World War 11, but it is still difficult for
many people to set aside contemporary
stereotypes of recent immigrants or religious
fundamentalists, for example.
The fact that politics influences education is
inherendy neither good nor bad; it reflects the
reality of the fact that school communities
provide some kind of moral instruction,
whether implicit or explicit.
When discussions of contested political and
moral issues must play a role in the curricu-
More importantly, I am a journalist
who realizes that public perception,
while important, is often based on
ignorance of how this paper really
works and feeds on people who are
hellbent on finding wrongs when they
simply don’t exist.
What’s your agenda?
And even once the elections fervor
calmed down, criticism still fingered
about how much coverage the paper
had devoted to the tuition batde and
the search and selection of UNC’s next
chancellor. The DTH produced thou
sands of inches worth of text on both
this year, to the point many said it satu
rated our pages and turned readers off.
What these people fail to grasp is
that both were monumentally signifi
cant issues at this University. We were
reporting on tuition strategies that test
ed both the financial and philosophical
mission of this University.
We were covering a search and a
selection that produced a man who will
guide the future and define the land
scape of UNC for years to come.
With news like that on our plate,
you’re damn right that the DTH wrote
(Ebr Daily (Ear Hrrl
Terry Wimmer
OMBUDSMAN
lum, educators have a responsibility to handle
those discussions with a conscientious respect
for the various beliefs held by members of
their communities.
Too often, teachers are tempted (as many
people would be) by a desire to produce stu
dents who think like themselves, not students
who think independently.
It is no more just for contemporary educa
tors to marginalize a fundamentalist Christian
student than it was for Christian teachers to
anathematize an atheist student years ago.
... ■■. irk" -leacher treats issues of cultural
difference in the curriculum signals the level
of personal acceptance students of different
backgrounds and beliefs can expect to find in
the classroom.
If students are to leam to participate in a
diverse democracy, they need to be encour
aged to think independently even, sometimes,
of their teachers.
In spite of the difficulty of teaching in com
munities of mixed cultural beliefs, a common
middle ground exists and has been document
ed.
The book “The Case for Character
Education” reports that hundreds of cultures
all over the world, in spite of many specific
differences, share 15 common values. These
values include personal traits like courage,
kindness, responsibility and honesty.
In other words, though Asian cultures
emphasize the good of the community over
the happiness of the individual, whereas
Western cultures emphasize the success and
fulfillment of each individual, both Asian and
Western cultures value a sense of social
responsibility, honest dealings with others and
a compassionate oudook.
It might be impossible to keep education
value-neutral, but prioritizing values like these
would help the American educators balance
the needs of the diverse communities they
serve.
Tara Robbins is a graduate student in the
Department of English from Millville, N.J.
Reach her at trobbins@unc.edu.
a thousand inches on it.
Good newspapers present com
pelling, influential news from as many
angles as possible because the impor
tance and complexity of such stories is
worthy of extensive coverage.
When the DTH devotes its front
page to the latest style of hairnets in
Lenoir Dining Hall or about new soap
cakes in Morrison Residence Hall’s uri
nals, then complain.
Shut up, read and leam something!
Serving as editor, I have learned
much- the most important thing being
what type of journalism I believe in.
And it just so happens that those
beliefs, as this year has illustrated,
sometimes attract a lot of heat.
But I don’t mind the sweat if it
means producing the type of paper that
welcomes experimentation, defies con
vention, tells it like it is and, yes, pisses
people off every now and then.
Mission accomplished.
Editor Rob Nelson is a senior jour
nalism and mass communication and
political science major from Mt. Laurel,
N.J. Get him at rnelson@email.unc.edu.