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Forum Explores Ways to End Campus Racism
Provost Robert Shelton
emphasized the need
for equal treatment and
historical accuracy at UNC.
By Tyler Maland
Staff Writer
Students left behind their pickets and
bullhorns Tuesday night for an intimate
discussion with Provost Robert Shelton
about ways to eliminate mistreatment of
minorities on campus.
Senior Melanie Taylor and junior
Kristi Booker, spokeswomen for the On
the Wake of Emancipation Campaign,
headed up the event, which drew more
than 50 students and faculty members.
Associate Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs Sue Kitchen and
Director of Minority Affairs Archie
By Jason Arthurs
Staff Writer
When God made the first man from a piece
of clay, the human’s soul refused to enter such
a dark object. Then God started playing music
- music that caused the soul to whirl around.
Intoxicated by the sound, the soul lodged in
the body, where it has been ever since.
Or so goes a traditional Sufi
story of creation.
But Sufis aren’t the only peo
ple who understand a deep con
nection between art and spiritu
ality -a connection you don’t
have to look far to see.
For example, “God: Stories”
and “How to Know God” are both
tides of books on display at
Student Stores.
“Five Faiths” is an exhibit at
Ackland Art Museum featuring
artists of each of the five major reli
gions of the world.
The frontman of local band My
Dear Ella sings, “God is where you
are right now, close your eyes, and let him
take you home.”
But what you see when you look around
doesn’t always reflect the artists’ thoughts about
combining their crafts with the unearthly.
For some, their inner struggles or attempts
to discover God have shaped them in ways
that are thematically expressed in their work.
For others, creating art such as music is, in
itself, a spiritual experience that is a vessel for
UNC Athletes Pray Before Games, Take Faith to Fields
By Mike Ogle
Senior Writer
Caleb Norkus could sometimes be found
reading the Bible at his locker before the North
Carolina men’s soccer team took the field.
“I started bringing my Bible to the locker
room and would read one or two of my favorite
verses or a verse someone had given me to
encourage me before games or at halftime,” the
senior said. “Or I would say a simple prayer.”
He didn’t always say his prayers alone.
Norkus, who is involved in Athletes in Action,
Campus Crusade for Christ and Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, said he and his teammates
often prayed together before games.
It’s a common event for an athletic team to
have such huddles before competition. So com
mon, in fact, that most observers probably don’t
give them a second thought. Religion has been
Stealing, stealing, stealing a car for Moe. Stealing, stealing, insurance fraud today!
Homer Simpson
Ervin were also in attendance.
The forum was organized in response
to the April 2 OWEC protest about
charges of institutional racism at UNC.
During the protest, participants pre
sented a list of demands to Shelton on the
steps of South Building and then met with
him Friday to discuss implementing
changes at UNC. “The whole premise of
these demands is to guarantee a safe cam
pus environment for people of color at
UNC,” Booker said to start the forum.
Some of OWEC’s demands urge the
University to take a more active role in
publicizing minorities’ role in UNC’s
history, increase accountability of cam
pus police to ensure no racial profiling
and increase financial support for the
Office of Minority Affairs.
At Tuesday’s forum, students were
given the chance to ask Shelton specific
questions about racism on campus and his
ideas of the situation. The future role of
truth.
For Cem Williford, a local Sufi musician
and storyteller originally from Turkey, it’s a
combination of the two.
“That’s why people enjoy music,” said
Williford, referring to the Sufi creation story.
“Because it touches the soul.”
Sufis, or Islamic mystics, use traditional
and new music, storytelling and dancing to
communicate their message.
“Music and dance are a very
important part of the whole wor
ship practice," Williford said after
gracefully switching to his native
Turkish tongue to answer the tele
phone. “It becomes more accessi
ble when it is actually sung.”
While the arts of music, story
telling and dance are crucial to
Sufis, other local artists find their
own individual spiritualities influ
encing their art in other ways.
Dan Ager’s music is a way to
share his growth, struggles, joy
and discovery in knowing God
personally.
Reilgloti
A five-part series
' examining the influence
i of religion today.
: Monday: College
Campuses
: Tuesday: Chapel Hill
; Today: Arts & Sports
Thursday: UNC
Perspectives
Ager, a senior communication studies
major, is an acoustic musician who spent
three years working for the local Christian
indie-folk label Awakening Records.
“Part of the calling of a musician is to
make aesthetically pleasing music about
what’s important to you,” Ager said.
For Ager, that’s his faith.
See ARTS, Page 4
intertwined with sports so frequendy that some
times the two seem to go hand in hand.
But early this season, Norkus said, one of the
team’s assistant coaches asked the men’s soccer
players not to have team prayers anymore.
“We went to pray like our first game, and our
assistant coach came up and said, ‘Not everyone
is down with this. Let’s not make anyone uncom
fortable,’” Norkus said.
Norkus understood the point the coach - who
is out of town this week on a recruiting trip and
could not be reached for comment - was trying
to make. “I don’t really think that guys are
against it,” Norkus said. “I just think they’re not
all for it. So it’s kind of like if you’re not all for
it then you’re maybe not comfortable with it.
And I’ve been in that place definitely.”
So they stopped.
Other teams at the University continue to
pray. Infielder Sarah Young usually leads the
Finding a Voice
An N.C. House committee approved
a bill that would give a student a
vote on the BOG. See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
the Office of Minority Affairs was raised.
Shelton said many University offices
are undergoing budget cuts next year
but that the Office of Minority Affairs
will not be affected because of its height
ened level of responsibility.
He also responded to questions about
housekeeper wages, saying that two pay
raises recendy have been given. “There
have been very specific steps taken,” he
said. “I think we need to applaud that and
then say ‘where do we go from there?’"
Shelton also said he hopes to meet the
demands of reaching truthfrd depictions of
the campus’s history, starting with printed
materials generated by UNC. Though
Shelton never mentioned it specifically,
protesters have demanded that a plaque
be placed on Saunders Hall disclosing its
namesake’s ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
Shelton stressed trying to implement
See FORUM, Page 4
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DTH/JEREMIAH SHACKELFORD
Eric Wallen practices with his band, My Dear Ella, at his local residence. Wallen's religious
faith plays a vital role in his music.
softball team in prayer before heading out on the
field for a game -a ritual the junior said was in
place before she arrived from Annandale, Va.
Outfielder Adam Greenberg said UNC coach
Mike Fox leads the baseball team in prayer
before games.
But at a public university, not everyone is reli
gious. Not everyone who is religious is Christian.
Just ask Greenberg.
“I believe what I believe, and I’m not going to
make an issue out of that,” the sophomore said.
“Being the only Jewish person on this team, a lot
of people are kind of fascinated by it, and they
ask me questions about it.”
Greenberg said the team prayers don’t bother
him because he’s used to being a minority, and
nothing is being forced upon him. He removes
his cap and bows his head, like everyone else,
out of respect. “For me, I can just let it go over
my head,” he said.
DTH/BRENT CLARK
Provost Robert Shelton and fellow panelists listen as sophomore Charles
Vakala poses a question at a forum on institutional racism Tuesday night.
Young, who spent two weeks in Mexico two
summers ago playing softball and doing
Christian missionary work, said she doesn’t think
the team prayers she leads are a problem on the
softball squad.
“Because it’s led by us and it’s not enforced by
the University at all, I don’t think there’s any
kind of issue,” she said.
But the reminders of religion in sports go
beyond team prayers.
Organizations such as Athletes in Action use
sports to help spread their religious messages.
Norkus said he sometimes kneeled and quickly
said “thank you” to God after scoring a goal.
Some baseball players give the sign of the
cross as they step into the batter’s box. Ronald
Curry points to the sky after throwing a touch
down pass. Sometimes athletes mention their reli-
See SPORTS, Page 4
* *4* * *
Go Away
Today: Drizzle, 79
Thursday: Sunny, 86
Friday: Drizzle, 83
Board to
Resolve
CAACase
Senior Liz Gardner confirmed
that she and junior B.J. Talley
were linked by the Board of
Elections to a forged e-mail.
By Kim Minugh
University Editor
The Board of Elections is slated to
begin deliberations early next week on
the guilt of two students allegedly linked
to the e-mail scandal in February’s
Carolina Athletic Association presiden
tial race.
Senior Board of Elections members
Carl Piraneo and Bryan Crumpler are
in the process of presenting their find
ings from an investigation begun by the
board’s former
vice chairman,
Fred Hill, after the
Feb. 15 disqualifi
cation hearing
involving CAA
President Reid
Chaney and his
opponent Michael
Songer.
Board
Chairman Jeremy
Tuchmayer con
firmed Tuesday
that two names
were presented to
the full board last
week in connection with the “smoking
gun” e-mail, later determined to be a
forgery, that was presented as evidence
by Songer in an effort to disqualify
Chaney from the race.
Tuchmayer could not comment on the
names, but senior Liz Gardner confirmed
Tuesday dial she and junior BJ. Talley,
both Songer campaign workers, are the
students in question and were assured by
the board an opportunity to defend them
selves. “They can’t prove beyond a rea
sonable doubt that I was involved in the
forgery,” Gardner said. “There is no con
clusive evidence that links anybody.”
Gardner said she has no connections
to the e-mail at all - its creation or its
delivery. “They can’t prove it because I
wasn’t involved in the creation of the
forged e-mail.”
Talley could not be reached for com
ment Tuesday night.
The e-mail linked Chaney’s campaign
to an e-mail sent by a former Carolina
Fever President and UNC alumnus
Davin McGinnis that characterized
Songer as dishonest and deceptive.
Under elections laws, any slanderous
actions by a campaign could be consid
ered grounds for disqualification.
Tuchmayer said the board will con
vene Monday to hear the rest of the evi
dence and then deliberate and write up
the findings agreed upon by the board
before the week’s end.
Hill originally opened the investiga
tions to determine the e-mail’s origin.
And because the elections are well in
the past and Chaney has been installed as
CAA president, Tuchmayer said the
board’s persistence in the matter has
mosdy been to answer lingering ques
tions. “Because the election was so long
ago, it would be moot to take campaign or
punitive action, but I imagine the board
could take action if they wanted to."
Tuchmayer said the findings will be
released and that the board’s involve
ment likely will end there. “The board
will probably publish something similar
to a ‘finding of fact’ - what the board
believes to be true at this point,” he said.
Tuchmayer said conclusion is needed
to close the matter. “It’s the board’s
(opinion) that it’s gone on too long, and
it’s time to resolve this issue,” he said.
“Because the investigation was
launched, we have to close it, so our
motivation is to reach finality with the
whole CAA controversy.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk9unc.edu.
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
I *•
Board Chairman
Jeremy Tuchmayer
said the board's
involvement will end
once findings are
released.