12
Tuesday, November 28, 2000
Concerns or
comments about
our coverage?
Contact the
ombudsman at
ombixkmarfnirK.edu
or call 933-4611.
Kelli Boutin
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Kim Minugh
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Ginny Sciabbarrasi
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Cold and Hungry
Students returning from Thanksgiving Break found locked doors
when going to Lenoir Dining Hall for lunch. Demand better service
Hungry after getting back from break?
Don’t count on using your meal plan.
For even though UNC residence halls
reopened at noon on the Sunday after
Thanksgiving, Lenoir Dining Hall did not
open its automatic doors until 5 p.m that day.
That’s ridiculous.
Students purchase meal plans for the con
venience of eating on campus. So when they
begin returning from a break, services should
be made available to them, including dining
halls. Students should not have to scavenge
around campus for food - or pay money out
of pocket for a meal on Franklin Street.
Carolina Dining Services would argue that
it is not profitable to open dining halls for the
staggered midday arrivals of students. The
small number of students eating would not
be able to cover operating expenses.
But CDS is not a business in the purest
sense. Most people who eat at campus dining
halls already payed for their meals through
meal plans or flex dollars. So for CDS, it is
more profitable to be open fewer hours.
But the dining halls are there to provide a
service in a cost-effective way, not to turn a
huge profit.
Benefits for All
Rural N.C. counties strongly supported the higher education bond.
Now, the state must ensure that those residents reap the rewards.
Hertford County, North Carolina doesn’t
have its own university. In fact, it doesn’t
even have a community college.
But residents of rural North Carolina coun
ties understood the importance of education
and supported the Higher Education Facilities
Improvement Bond in high numbers.
Why is that? Rural counties might not
seem to be great beneficiaries of the $3.1 bil
lion bond. But the truth is, their residents
stand to gain a great deal.
Many rural residents enroll in nearby
community colleges for job training. And the
bond allocates S6OO million for improve
ments to our state’s 59 community colleges.
By providing funds for enrollment growth
at the 16 UNC-system universities, more
rural students will be able to earn a college
degree and land a good job after school.
Hertford County’s support of the higher
education bond is indicative of widespread
support in all comers of the state.
Voters have put the money in the hands of
legislative leaders and university administra
tors. It is now their job to see that the money
is spent in a fair and cost-effective way.
One responsibility: ensuring the admis
sion policy of all UNC-system schools admit
a number of students equal in percentage to
each county’s representation in the state.
Would You Like to Bea Campus Celebrity?
Apply to be a columnist, editorial board member or cartoonist for spring 2001. Applications are
available at the DTH front office in Suite 104 of the Student Union and are due back by 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 6.Those chosen will be notified by 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11.
Questions? Call Editorial Page Editor-select Jonathan Chaney at 962-4086.
Readers' Forum
UNC Failed to Give
Coach Carl Torbush
Chance to Succeed
TO THE EDITOR:
I was gready disappointed to leam that
the University had dismissed Carl Torbush
as head football coach.
In making this decision, the University
chose to listen to a discontented minority of
fans; it failed to make the best decision for
the future of Carolina football.
This action was particularly painful to
me because I know that Coach Torbush is
not only a fine coach, but a fine human
being. The first N.C. native to coach UNC
since 1943, Torbush has shown his humili
ty and high moral standards throughout his
coaching career.
He helped his players become winners
in every aspect of their lives: academically,
athletically and morally.
This, I think, is the reason that Coach
Torbush’s players have shown so much
respect for him and rallied around him
after last year’s difficult season.
By firing a man who has brought class to
the football program on the field, as well as
off, the University is making the wrong
Matt Dees
EDITOR
Office Hour Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m.
Kathleen Hunter
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SPORTS EDITOR
Will Kimmey
SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
CDS is here to provide food for the
University. It would seem logical for them to
operate when there are students on campus.
If CDS takes a financial hit a few days a
year, they can make it up. After all, many
people do not use all of their meals, and stu
dents do not get refunds for unused meals.
Top of Lenoir and every food station in
Lenoir does not have to be up and running
on slow days such as last Sunday.
But CDS should at least provide some
small number of dining options for students
on campus, whether it be Chick-Fil-A or sim
ple sub sandwiches. They pay for the service
-and it is the responsibility of CDS to
accommodate their needs as best as possible.
Unfortunately, Lenoir Dining Hall was not
the only door locked on Sunday.
Student Stores was closed all day, so after
finding the dining halls vacant, students hun
gry at lunchtime did not even have the
option of grabbing a candy bar or soft drink
right across the Pit.
Students: Let CDS know that you want
some dining service as soon as residence
halls open.
It’s your money and time.
Higher education in North Carolina is not
solely designed to beef up the transcripts of
suburban students looking for good jobs
when they graduate. It is a gateway out of
poverty for many people in the state.
These students come from rural areas of
North Carolina, sometimes without the solid
test scores of a student from Charlotte. But
when they earn their degree, they leave on
equal footing as their Charlotte peers.
Even more importantly, these rural stu
dents get quality jobs and exit the cycle of
poverty that is nearly impossible to break
without a college education.
Sending students to UNC-system schools
from these rural counties dissolves pockets of
poverty throughout rural North Carolina.
The UNC-system is as much a resource to
rural areas as it is to urban centers.
The state must be wise stewards of the bil
lions of dollars pouring into the universities
and community colleges across the state.
North Carolina has always committed
itself to a form of higher education that pro
vides opportunities to all of its residents, even
those living in rural counties.
And with the plethora of opportunities
made available through the higher education
bond, now is the time to bestow the benefits
to all of North Carolina’s residents.
decision both for the players and for the
success of the football program overall.
The current coaching staff is one of the best
in the ACC.
And had they been given a chance, I
believe that Carolina would have risen to
be one of the top teams in the conference.
In seeking another coach, the athletic direc
tor is chasing the wind.
I do not believe that the University will
be able to get a coach better than Carl
Torbush.
Ben Milam
Freshman
History
Death Penalty Column
Offensive, Crammed Full
Of Contradictory Ideas
TO THE EDITOR:
Jon Hoffman’s opinion piece on death
row inmates, “Death Row Inmates Treated
in Too Humane Manner” (Nov. 27), made
me so sick to my stomach that I regretted
trying to eat lunch while reading it. I was
offended not just by the manner in which
he described Mr. Byrd’s murder (for a hor-
Opinion
ahr imlg (Far Itel
Established 1893 • 107 Years of Editorial Freedom
www.dailytarheel.com
Jermaine Caldwell
HsATURES EDITOR
Ashley Atkinson
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
| : ! i I !
1 |j i : 1 1' \ j £ i I 'll _j
; T -j: Good q^mE,Coach. i!
\ ’ i, |
Looking for Substantive Opinions
Harsh Light" has been an experience.
From the beginning, I’ve been deter
mined to write a serious column of
ideas. Further, I wanted to cut through the
propaganda that commonly distorts our pub
lic dialogue by emphasizing the facts. I also
thought I’d (“occasionally”) drop a few hints
about my own opinions.
As it turns out, this combination is harder
to achieve than one might think. For one
thing, balancing fact with opinion is a delicate
act. In my series on racism, I received com
plaints because I used too few facts. Then I
cited facts and statistics -and received more
complaints because the facts were “insulting.”
UNC can be a tough crowd.
Nevertheless, my semester on your back
page has been a great and humbling adven
ture -and I’m proud of the conversations I’ve
shared with you during the past months.
Accordingly, I’d like to offer a quick thanks
to all those who have helped make “Harsh
Light” a meaningful experience.
First, my wholehearted gratitude goes to
the editorial page of The Daily Tar Heel -
and especially to my editor Jonathan Chaney.
I often hear my fellow conservatives com
plain that the DTH is biased against them. My
experience has proven to me that any liberal
bias at the DTH is simply due to an abun
dance of liberal writers - not to any censor
ship or unfairness. The editors have never
tried to edit my content, censor my ideas or
challenge my editorial freedom. For this 1
offer sincere thanks.
Second, I’d like to offer thanks to Megan
Bottegal, Jonathan Lewis, Locoya Hill and my
brethren in the Clef Hangers (especially Josh
Arthur) for their help in evaluating my ideas -
and for their willingness to make objections
while evaluating my work.
Finally, thanks to all who sent encourage
ment, dissent and ideas. I have been truly
inspired and humbled by our conversations
and debates, and I sincerely hope that you’ll
stop me on campus to keep the conversation
alive in the next six months.
And now, a challenge.
For the next two weeks, the DTH editorial
page will be accepting applications for colum-
rifle crime it was), but I was equally horri
fied by the notion that Mr. Hoffman
believes the same fate should be thrust
upon someone else. If it is sick and twisted
to drag one person to his death, why is it
acceptable to do the same thing to anoth
er person (even if he did something very
bad)? And if self-defense is the only vindi
cation for taking a life, would Mr. Hoffman
consider “capital punishment” self-defense?
Or is there a special category for justifiable
murder when the government does it?
In this country, we recognize the wrong
fulness of murder and to show how wrong
it is, we kill people. We’re more likely to kill
blacks and significantly more likely to put
to death people who murder whites. And
we might occasionally kill people who are
innocent of the crimes to which they are
convicted. None of this is justice.
Killing is wrong. “Capital punishment”
is killing. Ergo, capital punishment is
wrong.
Even more wrong is the mere idea that
we should recreate murders in order to
punish the offenders. That’s just sick.
Anne Wolfley
Senior
Psychology
Sefton Ipock
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Cobi Edelson
DESIGN EDITOR
Saleem Reshamwala
GRAPHICS EDITOR
■#§ ’
■
CRAIG WARNER
HARSH LIGHT
nists and editorial board members. The appli
cations take some work, and the actual job
takes a lot of work. But if you have strong
ideas, there is no better forum for sharing
them at UNC than a DTH column.
Details are available daily this week on this
very page. I hope particularly that those con
servatives who have given me such eloquent
and passionate encouragement in past months
will consider taking up the gauntlet and apply
ing for my job.
It’s worth the work. Trust me.
Meanwhile, I remain serious about writing
a column of substance -and I feel compelled
to put my thoughts about the recent election
on record. Thus, five comments on the
Florida fiasco:
1) No matter what anyone says, it is funda
mentally unfair to count the ballots of two
counties in Florida under one standard (hand
counted dimpled ballots included), while
counting every other county in Florida under
a different standard (standard machine count
ing with dimpled ballots excluded).
Every vote should be counted or discarded
under the same uniform standard - even if
that uniform standard leaves out certain ques
tionable votes.
And yes, I’d think so even if it didn’t bene
fit the GOP.
2) This Democratic talk about the “will of
the people” being more important than the
original rules of the election (i.e. the original
certification deadline on Nov. 14) is nonsensi
cal propaganda.
In a functioning democracy, the will of the
people is divined by procedures and criteria
set up before the election - not by procedures
When Toeing Party Line,
At Least Back Up Politics
With Valid Reasoning
TO THE EDITOR:
I think that the students at UNC seri
ously need to examine their political beliefs
-and the almost violent reaction they have
to anyone opposing said beliefs.
Every Tuesday and Thursday before
class, I enjoy reading the columns by Craig
Warner and William McKinney. Being nei
ther a Republican nor a Democrat, I am
free to view these columns with what I con
sider to be an objective and nonpartisan
analysis. What I find upon analysis is
incredibly disturbing. It seems to me that
a vast majority of people are Democrats
without realizing what that means. Similar
to William “I enjoy putting utterly biased
slander funny only to fellow Democrats as
people’s middle names” McKinney, what
you then get is a mass of people so devoid
of intellect that all they can say is
“Republican bad. Bush bad. Gore good.”
This, of course, is ridiculous. That is not
to say that either candidate is superior to
the other (I personally would have pre
ferred Harry Browne, the much-neglected
Cate Doty & Lauren Beal
MANAGING EDITORS
Josh Williams
ONUNE EDITOR
Brian Frederick
OMBUDSMAN
Laura Stoehr
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
altered constandy afterward by local partisans.
If the rules are imperfect (and they almost
always are) then we should change them - for
the next election. But the constant rearranging
of the law and the rules in Florida - after the
fact - has been blatandy unfair.
3) The Electoral College is good. It ensures
that citizens in each state have weight in the
election, it preserves the individuality and
power of the states, it protects us from the
dangers of mob rule and it requires presiden
tial candidates to address the concerns of
almost every region of the nation instead qf
just a few metropolitan centers.
The United States is a democratic constitu
tional republic of federated States - not a sin
gle conglomerated pure democracy. Long live
the Electoral College. Long live the Republic.
4) What’s all this I hear from Joe
Lieberman about “Republican mob rule” in
the streets of Florida? Let’s be realistic here,
folks.
Left-wingers spent the last 40 years burning
down ROTC buildings and barricading the
doors of college classrooms - without a soli
tary criticism from the Connecticut senator.
Now conservatives want to chant in the street
to protest an unfair recount process (with no
real violence or property damage) and
Lieberman thinks they’re a “danger to the rule
of law.” Sorry, Joe. Free speech is for conserv
atives too.
5) For the record, A1 Gore did not win the
popular vote. He’s ahead by fewer than
200,000 votes, while 1 million overseas absen
tee ballots remain valid but uncounted
(they’re irrelevant in their respective states).
These ballots (mosdy military) heavily favor
Bush.
The point?
The popular vote is a statistical draw -and
Gore should stop trying to bash the president
elect over the head with it.
Craig Warner is an SWM (6’ I”, 190 lbs.) ISO
conservative, Christian SF to share deep con
versations, high ambitions and athletic ven
tures. Tolerance for strong personalities, opin
ions and sarcasm an absolute must. Write him
at cmwarner@email.unc.edu.
Libertarian candidate), but if you’re going
to believe in something, be a member of a
party and vote so that your views are
imposed upon all the rest of the population,
at least have an inkling of an idea what
you’re believing in.
By voting Democratic, you are mandat
ing the government to take large portions
of your paycheck to pay for things in which
you might not necessarily believe. By vot
ing Republican, you are allowing the gov
ernment to restrict your rights and tell you
what you can and cannot do with your
love, your body and your life. Both parties
are stealing something from you, but at
least the Republicans aren’t trying to pre
tend that they’re honest.
That said, I strongly admire Craig
Warner’s dedication to at least attempting
to prove his point. You might not like what
he has to say, but at least he is giving an
arguably valid reason for his assertions.
Someday, perhaps, all the rest of us can
overcome the prevailing phobia of self
analysis and actually have justification for
what we claim to believe.
Andrea Weber
Senior
German Studies
Slip Sathj (Tar UM
(2)
4b
The Daily Tar Heel wel
comes reader comments
and criticism. Letters to the
editor should be no longer
than 300 words and must
be typed, double-spaced,
dated and signed by no
more than two people.
Students should include
their year, major and phone
number. Faculty and staff
should include their title,
department and phone
number. The DTH reserves
the right to edit letters for
space, clarity and vulgarity.
Publication is not guaran
teed. Bring letters to the
DTH office at Suite 104,
Carolina Union, mail them
to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel
Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail
forum to:
editdesk@unc.edu.