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' Saily GJar JiM ANNE FAWCETT Trimming Fat Necessary for Fairer System North Carolina is not meeting its constitutional duty to educate students most likely to fail, but state leaders aren’t willing to sacrifice elective programming to save them. Judge Howard Manning ruled last week that the state must develop a plan over the next year to ensure that the neediest students in rich and poor school districts are better educated. The catch is that state and local funds in all districts must be allocated as effectively as possible before the court considers whether to require additional funding. Yet leaders already are looking past this fundamental part of Manning’s ruling. They claim that the judge’s mandate is unreasonable, given the schools’ current resources and efforts to be the best schools in America. Apparendy, being the best involves programming for the average and elite students instead of the needy. Manning explicidy states in his rul ing that funds should be diverted from other programs, the “frills and whis des” of public schools, including dance programs, multiple foreign language offerings and college preparatory cur ricula. Frills could even include voca tional programs, not just AP courses. These programs, Manning writes, are not guaranteed by the N.C. Constitution. Instead, the state’s consti tution guarantees a solid basic educa tion for every student. This requirement must be met before the schools pay for the extras. While Manning wants the N.C. General Assembly to reallocate its educational funding priorities to satisfy the basic educational needs for at-risk children, eliminating electives seems to be a foreign concept for North Carolina’s educational leaders. For instance, Neil Pedersen, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools superinten dent, says he is concerned about at-risk children, but he seems more worried that students not at risk will flee to pri vate schools if their advanced educa tions are lessened in favor of programs for needier students. And despite the ruling, leaders of Wake County schools facing a budget crunch are looking first to eliminate their Accelerated Learning Program, which focuses on helping low-perform ing students. At the top, N.C. Superintendent Mike Ward has said the state cannot “carry out our obligations to our most vulnerable children in the system” without additional financial resources. Meanwhile, Sen. Howard Lee could propose legislation this week that would funnel additional resources to the state’s poorest schools. Lee said does not plan to cut equal amounts of educational spending in other areas. Despite Manning’s ruling, it seems that North Carolina’s leaders are unwilling or unable to imagine sacrific ing the privilege of the elite for the sur vival of the children who would other wise drop out I was lucky enough to experience the ultimate college-prep curriculum at the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, but I also spent 11 years in a school district where the dance classes and the elite choral groups could have been sacrificed to ensure that more than half of my ninth-grade civics class graduated. The arts may be integral to produc ing well-rounded individuals, but these courses are not components of a strong basic education. Every school system has fat in its pro grams. Administrators must prioritize. Heck, students at NCSSM work in the kitchens, bathrooms and grounds crews to save money that would other wise be spent on salaries. In return, the state pays for the students to live and study in an advanced educational environment It’s a matter of trade-offs and sacri fices. Legislators and educators around the state should buck up. Before they insist that they can’t comply with Manning’s orders, they should take a honest look at which parts of the cur riculum are truly integral to providing a basic education for all students. The rest is just fluff that provides a superior education for a few at the expense of many. Columnist Anne Fawcett can be reached at fawcetta@hotmail.com. CEO, Business School Celebrate Community Jeffrey Swartz, president of Timberland, implemented a literacy program for his Latin American employees. By Scott Brittain Staff Writer In the spirit of the Kenan-Flagler Business School’s weeklong dedication to public service, the top official of a popular clothing manufacturer shared his company’s commitment to commu nity development Tuesday evening. Jeffrey Swartz, CEO and president of Timberland, spoke to about 200 people in Koury Auditorium as part of the busi ness school’s 2001 Dean’s Speaker Series. “This week our school is celebrating community,” said Robert Sullivan, dean of the business school. “As part of our aftjr~;; . — w —tt— . 1 : t|k DTH/MARGO KNIGHT Fred Battle, a local community activist, speaks Tuesday night at a pane! discussion about challenging institutional racism at UNC. Battle was the former campaign manager for Jesse Jackson's bid for president. The forum was hosted in part by the Campus Y. Panel Discusses Institutional Racism By Noelle Hutchins Staff Writer Something different occurred in a regular Gardner classroom Tuesday night - instead of economics, discussion revolved around institu tional racism. UNC’s Freedom Legacy Project and the Campus Y sponsored an open panel discussion challenging the issue and its place on campus. Panelists including student organizer Erica Smiley, community activist Fred Batde, former Black Cultural Center member Michelle Cottman, former Student Congress Speaker Pro Tern Sandi Chapman and women’s studies Professor Rashmi Varma assembled to encour age discussion and dialogue about this often Guest Teacher, Author Enlightens Students By Tyler Mai and Staff Writer The enlightening words of interna tionally renowned spiritual teacher and author Andrew Cohen filled the ears of more than 170 community members and students Tuesday in Venable Hall. Cohen, author of “Embracing Heaven and Earth” and the founder of “What Is Enlightenment?” magazine, spoke about his personal views of enlightenment and the ways to obtain such a state. Brad Rolen, president of UNC’s Self Knowledge Symposium, which sponsored the event, said the purpose of then group is to give “One of the most significant consequences of enlightenment is to see things clearly and to see things as they really are. ” Andrew Cohen Enlightenment Speaker students an outlet to voice ideas and concerns about the meaning of life. “I think the purpose of (SKS) is pret ty individualized,” Rolen said. “It is a way to discuss what life is about and how to get more out of life.” Rolen said Cohen’s speech was an effort to further inform students and the community about different issues of spirituality. “The heart of the matter (between Cohen’s ideas about enlightenment and celebration, we are fortunate to have Jeffrey Swartz with us. His work and pri orities exemplify many of the ideals that we celebrate this week.” Swartz said his approach to business was not that of a normal chief executive officer. He said most businessmen are more concerned with pleasing the share holders than worrying about people in the community. “Anything that traditional business does that doesn’t cater to the sharehold ers is almost immoral,” Swartz said. But he said he can create a better type of business by running his company with more compassion for the con sumers and workers. Swartz has implemented this policy by providing daycare at his corporate headquarters for employees and com munity members who can’t afford pri vate care for their children. He also has initiated a literacy program in several of his Latin American factories to better overlooked issue. “Racism has been plaguing our campus ever since it has been around,” said project member Jermain Reeves. “We want to encourage dia logue discussion about (institutional racism).” Smiley started off the discussion and said that society expects less from people of color and that blacks should fight for justice instead of trying to assimilate into society. “I think this is about liberation because we are reclaiming what we had all along.” Chapman introduced the idea of white priv ilege. She said white privilege is an unclaimed privilege that whites simply have because of the color of their skin. “White people don’t under stand that institutional racism and white privi lege are mutually perpetuating,” she said. those of SKS) is really the same - you have to figure out what you want and where your interests really lie,” Rolen said. Cohen began his speech by defining enlightenment “Enlightenment is not just an inner experience of bliss, peace, joy, mystery and majesty,” Cohen said. He said obtaining such a way of life is to have a true perception of it. “One of the most significant consequences of enlightenment is to see things clearly and to see things as they really are.” Cohen also said that individuals’ fears and desires are what deter them from reach ing a higher state of consciousness. “Eastern tradi- tions tell us that fears and desires obscure our perceptions and obscure our ability to see,” Cohen said. He also pointed a finger at humans’ distracted nature and endless preoccu pation with their own lives as a limita tion to seeing clearly. Cohen went on to say that people’s skewed perceptions lead to skewed deci sions in their daily lives. See COHEN, Page 7 News the lives of his employees and their fam ilies. Swartz said he left it up to the people at Timberland retail stores across the world to decide what programs and pro jects to financially and physically sup port. “I want the local Timberland people to calibrate what the need and service is,” Swartz said. “The localized attention gets our resources where they are most needed.” Swartz pointed to a problem that exists in North Carolina as a prime example of how businesses can improve local conditions. Swartz said more than 400,000 chil dren currendy live at or below the poverty level in North Carolina and that this condition could be alleviated if busi nesses were more caring toward the problems of the area instead of primar- See SWARTZ, Page 7 “Being and looking white is privileged.” She also said it is not enough for whites to say they are not racist because as a white per son, one benefits from racism. “You have to be anti-racist, not just saying that you have black friends.” Cottman said there is a misconception that the Chapel Hill area is affluent, diverse and tol erant. But she said she had to sacrifice and fight to have the same opportunities that white stu dents had on campus. She encouraged blacks to build a coalition with other organizations out side of the University. Varma also said the combination of different ethnicities does not equate to diversity on cam- See PANEL, Page 7 N.C. Filmmaker Earns Acclaim David Gordon Green, an N.C. School of the Arts graduate, filmed "George Washington" in the Winston-Salem area. By Ashley Atkinson Arts & Entertainment Editor “This is not a movie that’s going to make a million bucks,” said David Gordon Green, an N.C. School of the Arts graduate, of the movie that he filmed in Winston-Salem in the summer of 1999. But “George Washington,” writer/director Green’s first feature length, has received more acclaim than movies that will earn many times that. Roger Ebert selected the film as his No. 5 choice for 2000;The New York Times placed it at No. 3, and Time mag azine at No. 2. It has won awards at fes tivals around the world. “George Washington’s" crew was made up of Green’s fellow School of the Arts graduates, and the cast was recruit ed from Winston-Salem’s streets, barbe cues, chinches and teen centers. “This film needed to feel organic from the start. We were not looking for actors, sets or controlled environments,” Green said. The film focuses on George, a young would-be superhero who wears a hel met because the soft spot in his skull never closed. Green based it on a short piece he made while at the School of the Arts. “It was always something I wanted W ; s DTH/HMBERLY CRAVEN Jeffrey Swartz, president of Timberland, speaks Tuesday night about the relationship between a business and its community. 'Spin Doctor' Tells of Time At White House Former counsel to President Clinton advised listeners to tell journalists the full story despite being called "traitor" for doing it. By Mandy Melton Staff Writer Describing his former job as both the greatest and the worst in his life, former White House spokesman Lanny Davis offered his account Tuesday afternoon of his experience as a spin doctor. Davis, the author of the book “Truth to Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It AJI, Tell It Yourself: Notes From My White House Education,” served as special counsel to President Clinton from December 1996 until February 1998. The book chronicles Davis’ interactions with the media during investigations surrounding Clinton’s campaign fund raising tactics. Davis began his lecture in Carroll Hall by giving audience members a brief explanation of governmental jargon. He said “spin” is a word used to describe information leaked from the White House and that there could be both good and bad spin. “A bad spin is something that we have all seen,” he said. “It happens when a representative for a politician puts out half of the truth to the reporter in order to get a positive story by hid ing the bad half.” But Davis acknowledged that sooner or later, reporters are going to find the bad facts. “There is a bottling-up process to stop the reporter from writing stories -of course this never works,” he said. Davis said the best way to leak information to the public is to give all the correct facts from the beginning, through what he called a predicate story. “In a predicate story, you get a reporter to write a comprehensive story with all the facts - good and bad - in one spot, so there’s no new news,” he said. “The best way to kill a bad political story is to make it old news.” He admitted that this belief did not make him popular in the White House and that he was often called a traitor for giv ing information to the press. When asked if manipulation goes on between the White House and the press, Davis responded with powerful affirma tion. “I can manipulate the way a news organization plays, writes and treats a political story,” he said. “My job was to keep the story in perspective and away from hype and excess.” Davis said the most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with the media is that you cannot ignore the obvious facts. Instead, Davis said to create good spin by arguing an inter- See DAVIS, Page 7 m HI IS f |rh H mm f fwßr I • PHOTO COURTESY OF COWBOY BOOKING INTERNATIONAL Winston-Salem resident Curtis Cotton 111 stars as Buddy in David Gordon Green's "George Washington." to expand,” he said. After his 1998 graduation, Green pur sue a film industry career in New York and Los Angeles. But he returned to Winston- Salem after only eight months - “Just long enough to realize that I miss the commu nity, the landscape, the environment,” he said - to film “George Washington.” He went to learn the industry’s ropes, but “I was becoming cynical,” he said. “I felt I needed to get away before I became completely soulless like some of the other people out there.” Winston-Salem provided a more lan Wednesday, April 4, 2001 guid lifestyle (“ I want to just sit on the porch and/or take a nap on the side of the highway,” Green said), as well as the setting for “George Washington’s” anonymous Southern town. “The movie doesn’t take place any where, just the generic South - timeless, placeless. Our only goal was to make ugly things beautiful,” Green said. The city’s industrial areas contributed the decaying, yet lush backdrop to the film. He wanted to make a movie (hat por- See WASHINGTON, Page 7 3
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