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14 Thursday, September 27, 2001 Opinion £ljr Dmhj (Tar Mtd Eslabtished 1893 • 108 Yean of Editorial Freedom www dwJytartweLtom Katie Hunter Editor Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m. Kim Minugh MANAGING EDITOR Scfton Ipock VISUAL COORDINATOR Jermaine Caldwell SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Kate Hartig EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Lizzie Breyei UNIVERSITY EDITOR Kellie Dixon errv editor Alex Kaplun STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR Rachel Carter SPORTS EDITOR James Giza SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR Faith Ray FEATURES EDITOR Russ Lane ARTS St ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Terri Rupar COPY DESK EDDOR Kara Arndt PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Beth Buchholz DESIGN EDITOR Cobi Edelson GRAPHICS EDITOR Catherine Liao ONLINE EDITOR Josh Myerov OMBUDSMAN Concerns or comments about our coverage? Contact the ombudsman at jmyenjv@emaiLunc.edu. Readers' Forum Graduate Student Notes Lack of Water Fountains In University Stadium TO THE EDITOR: First I would like to congratulate Coach Bunting and the Tar Heels on crushing the Seminoles last Saturday. I was proud to be at the game cheering on my team. However, I found what I believe is a seri ous problem at Kenan Stadium. On my way to my seat I had difficulty locating a water fountain. An usher informed that there was one between sections 119 and 120. I looked by those sections but still could not find a water fountain. At this point, I could not believe that there was no public access to water except for the overpriced bottled water for $2.50. I went back to the stadium Sunday to thoroughly search for a water fountain. I did find the elusive fountain near sections 119 and 120, but it was not working and was filled with leaves, dirt and dead bugs. On the lower level of the stadium, I found four water fountains, one on each comer of the field. None of these were working. The only working fountains I found were a group of four in the concourse area. I find these conditions outrageous in a stadium that seats 60,000 people, especially when i ilif gsfe Board Editorials The campus gay community responded positively to a false posting and further legitimized its need for a center In Monday’s Daily Tar Heel Campus Calendar, an announcement ran that stated that a “gay pride march” would take place Tuesday. However, the contact student listed in the ad, Jim Carlton, is not associated with the Queer Network for Change nor did the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lead ers have any march planned. Although UNC might consider itself an enlightened and progressive university, one must wonder how sentiments such as the one motivating this prank still exist on cam pus. One explanation for the false ad is that someone might have wanted to assemble a large group of gay students and cause them harm. What is more likely is that someone thought it would be funny to link Jim Carlton with a visible gay campus organi zation - implying that being gay or hang ing out with gay people is an insult. There are those that might consider this Cites all across the country are putting an end to forced busing, but many still don't show progress After more than 30 years of forced school busing, Charlotte - the city that brought the case to the Supreme Court in 1971 - will launch a race-neutral assign ment plan for the 2002-03 year. fAtL J il Other cities across the nation, including Boston and Seattle, have already put a stop to across-town busing, follow ing parents’ demands to send their children to schools closer to home. Charlotte has similar concerns, and its school board is looking forward to refocus ing the energy, time and money spent bus ing kids around towards addressing more students’ needs. But just because a city or a school board decides to stop busing doesn’t mean that there is an absence of discrimination or inconsistencies in the quality of schools. By the summer of 1999, Seattle had spent two years without forced busing, and school officials found that they were expe temperatures flirted with 90 degrees on Saturday. I hope that the stadium officials will fix the water fountains that are already in place and add more accessible fountains. I for one cannot afford to pay for water that should be readily available and will be boy cotting the concession stands. Neil Vogeley Graduate Student Chemistry Alumna Counters Idea That Violence Is the Only Way to Answer Attacks TO THE EDITOR: Christina L. Cleland’s Letter to the Editor, “Alumna Sees Present Situation Asa ‘Killed or Be Killed’ Type Scenario” (Wed. 26 Sept.) typifies the simplistic and short sighted reaction of many Americans to the recent tragic terrorist events. The idea that the situation we are faced with is simply a “kill or be killed” scenario depends on sev eral assumptions - the most important of which Cleland outlines in her letter. The main sentiment seems to be that those involved in the perpetration of the attacks are “not a civilized people” and are “nothing like us.” Such terms suggest that Invalid Source an innocent prank. However, one can hard ly characterize this action as innocent. Perhaps those responsible for the false ad didn’t consider how such an ad would cre ate a hostile environment for gay students on campus. And perhaps the pranksters didn’t con sider how such a joke might make some students that are already ostracized in many realms of society feel out of place. But even if those responsible for the false ad didn’t consider these aspects, it does not make their actions any less reprehensible. Deep down this was not just a stupid prank but a hateful and ignorant action that should not be confused with humor. Instead of being brought down by such a puerile hoax, LGBT leaders chose instead to hold a march anyway, even though they had never planned the alleged one. WTiat an unfortunate reality it is that this group of students had to enlist the aid of campus police because they felt threatened on their own campus. Missing the Bus riencing a whole batch of new problems. Some schools’ enrollments were at almost 100 percent minority, while others, which had reached their minority caps dur ing the busing period, had seen a drop in overall enrollment. Also, poverty in schools was a prob lem, resulting in low perfor mance rates. So is forced busing just a Kate Hartig Editorial Notebook lost cause if situations returned to similar conditions once it was suspended? What is the real solution? Parents in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district express satisfaction with the decision, saying that now they can focus on strengthening neighborhood schools and start new programs for students of certain backgrounds. But while the addition of programs is nothing but positive, there are still so many problems to be addressed, many of which were part of forced busing’s original agen- Cleland and other like-minded Americans have fully dehumanized the “Other Side” in this conflict, called “America’s New War” byjingoists everywhere. Regardless of their deplorable actions, those involved in the attacks - our enemies, for lack of a better term - are indeed human beings. Dehumanizing them is a natural reaction but is an altogether too simplistic one. Highlighting our differences will not resolve underlying issues. Fighting violence with more violence does not quell the situation but rather escalates the entire cycle of hate and pulls innocent bystanders (the Afghan people, for one) into the con flict. Cleland says that since bin Laden’s group “uses shocking force,” we as a nation must do the same. How exactly does this make the United States any less of an “uncivilized monster” than the attacks on SepL 11 make bin Laden’s group? Responding to terrorist attacks in a similar fashion makes us terrorists too, no? To assume that there is no alternative to reacting in an overly violent, militaristic way is to truly compromise our intelligence and strength as a nation and as a people. There are other ways to react to this dis aster besides destroying, as evidenced by the flurry of anti-war sentiment over the past few weeks. People participating in vig ils, peace rallies, teach-ins, etc., are not Provost Robert Shelton recently announced the formation of a committee that would analyze the needs for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center on campus. Perhaps the committee should consider this incident in their evaluation as direct support of the demand for an LGBT resource center. Students on this campus, both gay and straight, can benefit from such a resource center. Perhaps if the resource center existed, those students responsible for this prank would have been provided with the infor mation to understand the implications of their actions. For now, every student at UNC should consider the consequences of this action and make a conscious effort not to laugh. Also, campus calendars, including the DTH, should be more careful about the validity of submissions, and learn from this mistake. da, including diversity in schools, equal dis tribution of resources and quality eduction for all students. Dissenting opinion said the decision only nullifies all the hard work of minorities during the past 30 years, especially that of blacks. And if cities like Seattle that have ended forced busing are seeing the resurfacing of similar problems, those who disagree with the decision are right to point out that there are still problems forced busing has failed to solve. So what are school districts going to do, and what is the best way to get the educa tion students need? More resources and teachers. Spreading financial resources evenly among schools, especially impover ished areas and neighborhoods. It’s time to improve the use of human resources as well - teachers are the catalyst to quality education -but apparently bus ing didn’t quite make the mark. “obtuse” (as Cleland asserts). They are the courageous and peace-loving citizens of the United States who can and will bring this country out of its arrogant, jingoistic rut and into a peaceful 21st century. It’s 2001 - can’t we do any better than this? Jennifer Betowt Class of 'OO The length rule was waived. Student Emphasizes That Many Liberties Resulted From Success in Fighting TO THE EDITOR: I think that many of the students at UNC that have been protesting U.S. mili tary action in Afghanistan and writing arti cles of this sort are overlooking a very important fact. Everything we do in our lives from morning to night, from writing in to a newspaper to voting, has been given to us because people fought, killed and died for these freedoms. So before you sign your petition protesting war, think about how that right was given to you. U.S. retaliation against terrorism is not “an eye for an eye,” it is a protection of freedom and democracy. Bombing a build Absent Minds Meet Kindness of Humanity I’m a ditz. In the past five weeks alone, I’ve locked myself out of my room twice, lost a sweater and set of room keys, left my clarinet in someone’s car and mis placed my purse and UNC ONE Card enough times to make my roommate start noticing where I place them. Last semester I studied abroad in England. Within the first three days, I locked my keys in my room and had to call security to retrieve them, lost a claim ticket for my coat at a club and had to wait until everyone went home before they’d give me my coat, and left a sweater in a public restroom. I’ve gotten it all back, though, which overwhelms me with people’s kindness and my luck and convinces me that some higher power appreci ates my permanent spaciness. During Easter break, I visited my friend Linda in Sweden. On my way to meet her, I got on the wrong train and didn’t realize it until the conductor looked at my ticket and shook his head. He just smiled, wrote a note for me so I wouldn’t have to buy another ticket and made a list of my train changes. The next day, I left a purse carrying all of my tickets, money and identification on a train headed to Stockholm, about three hours north from her town. Someone sent it back to the station, and within a half hour of losing it, I had it back with the money, cards and tickets still inside. Today, I was planning tell the area office I’d lost my keys and needed to have my room re-keyed. Before I got a chance to go, the area office assistant called and said that someone had returned my keys to the housing office and that housing had found out the keys belonged to my room. Two weeks ago, I came out of the shower in my bathrobe and realized that I’d locked myself out of my room. Not only did one of my friends go to the area office for me, but the area office assistant walked over to my resi dence hall so that I could initial for the spare keys without having to walk to the area office half-dressed. And, while I was waiting in the bathroom, a girl I didn’t know let me wait in her room. In recent memory, the only thing I’ve permanently lost has been a watch, which was sad but almost expected. After about six months, earrings and watches seem to get bored with me and seek out better company. The best I can do is to buy cheap Wal-Mart varieties to ease the pain when I inevitably lose them. It just seems to be the way I am. My mom is the same, maybe worse. Once, she locked her car with her keys in the ignition. The car beeps when you do that, but she didn’t know until a co-worker told her a few hours later. Another time, she was grocery shopping and saw a woman across the store. She thought the woman looked familiar and then finally realized it was her mother. In many ways, though, I think her spaciness has helped her. While other people notice how to drive to Harris Teeter or where they left their keys, my mom thinks about China’s government system or an editorial in The Charlotte Observer she read that morning. She might spend her life lost, but the time she spends thinking makes her a great social studies teacher and inter esting person. At any rate, every time my mom misplaces her piano books or forgets to shave one of her legs because she’s thinking about something else, I no longer feel panicked when I see myself. Being a ditz also lets me witness other people’s kindness and honesty almost daily. Strangers go out of their way to return purses, wallets, and keys, give you detailed directions and sometimes even personally lead you to your desired destination. Almost without fail, my experiences losing belongings (or losing myself) end happily. In small little ways, peopie 1 don’t know take care of me and make me thankful. I wish I could keep up with things or give a campus tour without asking directions. But since I can’t, I’m glad to have strangers and friends who accept my shortcomings, keep me together and let me think about other things. Marian Crotty can be reached at mcrotty@email.unc.edu. ing in Afghanistan filled with 5,000 inno cent men women and children would be “an eye for and eye.” The United States will not do this. Will there be civilian casualties? Of course, but we will not purposely kill the innocent people of Afghanistan. It is a terrible fact that there is certain evil in this world that cannot be ignored or dealt with peacefully. It can only be fought. Imagine if the entire world during World War 11, in the name of pacifism and peace, threw down their arms against Nazi Germany and allowed Hider to take over the world, exterminate the Jews and place all of us under a fascist dictatorship. This is obviously not an acceptable option. Certain evil must be removed by force and terrorism is an evil that falls under this category. I agree that the United States has engaged in questionable wars and military action in the past, but certainly nothing can be compared to our current situation. The students of UNC must not contribute to any division of our country during these times. The United States must indeed remain one nation under God, or we will very well lose the freedoms that millions have given their lives for. Jason Rolland Graduate Student Chemistry (Tljp latly alar Hrrf MARIAN CROTTY COUNTERPOINT (2> & 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, dou ble-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people. Students should include their year, major and phone num ber. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and phone number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vul garity. Publication is not guaranteed. 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.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 27, 2001, edition 1
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