8
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Opinion
Ullje SmUj (Tar lied
Established 1893 • 108 Yean of Editorial Freedom
www.dlytartiwicorn
Katie Hunter
Editor
Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. • 3 p.m.
Kim Minugh
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Concerns or comments about our
coverage? Contact the ombudsman at
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Readers' Forum
Directors Lend Thanks
To Granville Residents
For Fund-Raising Efforts
TO THE EDITOR:
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all
Granville Towers residents and staff who
participated in the recent “Pennies for
Peace” campaign.
Each floor competed against the other
floors to raise the most pennies to be donat
ed to the Disaster Relief Fund of the
American Red Cross.
We are proud to report that nearly
$1,050.00 was raised for the American Red
Cross!
In addition, money raised from a candy
guessing game and guest tickets for our
Late Night social event brought our grand
total raised for the American Red Cross to
$1,227.37. We are so proud of our nearly
1,400 residents!
Thank you for participating and for
helping make Granville Towers such a
strong community.
Nicolle D. Mercer
Director of University Relations
Melissa Hotchkiss
Director of Community Programming
Granville Towers
Board Editorials
Change Cannot Wait
The overhaul of North Carolina's mental health care system is long overdue and needs anew foundation
North Carolina is finally beginning to
make strides in the overhaul of its mental
health care system, but the state had better
quicken its pace and look to provide better
community health programs if it wants to
avoid costly federal lawsuits.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice
Department began a civil rights investiga
tion into the quality of care at the state’s
four mental hospitals.
The action lit a fire under legislators and
resulted in the passage of a bill setting out
the basic governance structure of local
mental health boards and service agencies.
The bill also set up plans for a network of
community-based services and allocated
$47.5 million for new mental health, sub
stance-abuse and developmental disabilities
services.
The state Department of Health and
Human Services estimates that 322,000
adults in North Carolina have a serious
mental illness.
Many of these people never undergo
Guarding Safety
If the National Guard's role in airport security increases, more training and organization should be required
American Airlines flight 587 crashed
Monday, and all indications are that a cat
astrophic engine failure was the cause.
Although investigators are denying any link
to terrorist activity, a massive blow has
been stmek to the confidence and security
that Americans were only beginning to
regenerate.
The presence of the National Guard and
federal marshals at the nation’s airports is a
welcome sight. But recent stories show that
the vulnerability of current practices and
policies illustrates the need to improve
security both in presence and in perfor
mance.
Steps have been taken, by the govern
ment as well as private business, to increase
the number and quality of security forces at
airports. But in the wake of Monday’s
tragedy, restoring consumer confidence
should be a high priority.
The federal government assigned an
additional 1,800 members of the National
Student Asks for Flag
Calls Stealing Flag From
House Truly Unpatriotic
TO THE EDITOR:
Due to recent events, patriotism and
nationalism have peaked. Americans
everywhere are displaying their true colors
outside their homes: red, white and blue.
Unfortunately, at our house, a couple of
drunken thieves and a defenseless flag
made sure, through the night, that our flag
was not there.
Had I known this was the way to show
I love my country and that we are a nation
united, I would have a closet full of stolen
flags by now.
Maybe my housemates and I just
weren’t patriotic enough. I’ll tell you what:
next time we’ll commemorate our fallen
heroes by leaving it at half-staff a few more
weeks. Besides, it will make for an easier
heist.
I would always look forward to the
warm greeting she’d give me on the way in.
Now the remains of the flag holder dan
gling from the post are saddening. I bet Old
Glory never saw it coming.
How could she, minding her own busi
ness, quietly instilling us with pride and
hope everyday?
treatment. But those who do find an archa
ic state mental health system.
North Carolina is one of the few remain
ing states in the nation that relies heavily on
large mental institutions. In the last decade
these institutions have come under
increased heat for the way they treat
patients and the way they are operated.
The backlash against mental institutions
as the primary source of mental health ser
vices came to a head in 1999 when the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that mental hospitals
should be used only as a treatment of last
resort.
But it is not only the institutions them
selves that have problems. It is the overall
mental health care system.
Communication, or lack thereof,
between hospitals, health departments and
law enforcement agencies has, for years,
been a major problem in North Carolina.
The lack of communication has resulted in
people with mental problems being
bounced back and forth between mental
Guard to meet the increased demand for
airport security that comes along with the
holiday travel season.
The additional guards, however, must
receive comprehensive training for the sit
uation they are about to enter. The time
necessary to administer that training must
not be sacrificed, no matter what timetable
the airports or passengers request.
Security breaches such as the incident at
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport,
where a man with seven knives and a stun
gun was able to pass through a checkpoint
undetected, have made a mockery of the
current state of airport security.
Without clearly defined roles and an
overall coordinated effort, the additional
guards might not be effective. Efficient
training and organization will increase the
impact of the added 1,800 guards.
Private security companies have already
begun to improve the quality, not just quan
tity, of their service. Argenbright Security,
What’s even more upsetting is that
apparently the terrorist attacks elicited from
U.S. citizens not only a positive response
but also a shameful one.
I hope whoever took the flag is as proud
of their country as I am. I hope that, after
they buy themselves anew flag holder,
they let it fly as freely as we did. I hope that
every time they watch a news story about
our brave soldiers in Afghanistan, they too
have to fight back the tears induced by the
memory of the events of Sept. 11.1 hope
they actually understand what that flag
symbolizes, and what it means to be an
American.
But if they don’t ... then I want my flag
back.
Aaron Mesmer
Junior
Journalism and Mass Communication
Sangam Nite Planned for
Saturday Night; Ticket
Sales This Week in the Pit
TO THE EDITOR:
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is probably
the most famous South Asian in the United
States of America. His chutney squishees,
arranged marriage and nontuplets have in
hospitals and health departments, and
sometimes ending up out on the street with
out receiving the care they need.
In order to get people the care they need,
the state must now set up an effective men
tal health system that recognizes the need
for people in all fields to work together.
The states that have the most successful
mental health care systems rely not solely
on one solution but on a multi-faceted
approach.
For example, Ohio has a system that puts
the bulk of the responsibility in the hands
of community programs that seek to serve
the state’s mentally ill by providing local
ized treatments, adequate housing and
vocational training.
Right now, North Carolina’s mental
health system is expensive, ineffective and
stretched to its limit.
But with the proper groundwork and
open lines of communication it can be
reformed to a quality system that will be
worth every penny.
the nation’s largest airport security compa
ny, is in the process of overhauling its man
agement and policies in response to harsh
criticism from Washington, D.C.
The combination of federal and private
security forces, however, stresses the need
for cooperation between the two entities.
Matters of jurisdiction and responsibility
should be decided well before the guards
are in place.
The public and private sectors have, to
this point, not shown the proper amount of
cooperation in accomplishing the tasks for
which they each have to be responsible.
Duplicating some services and ignoring
others will not meet the nation’s needs.
Ground crews, baggage handlers and
private airline employees must also be inte
grated into security measures. With every
one on the same page, the airline industry
and the country as a whole will better adapt
to the changing dynamics of the current
global climate.
many ways defined the image of South
Asians in America.
While cows, convenience stores and red
dots are undoubtedly an important part of
every South Asian’s life, I wonder how
many people know what Ramadan is, or
what Diwali is, or what the basis of
Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance movement
was?
After the tragic events of Sept. 11, a
whole different set of associations have
been attributed to South Asians - associa
tions that are even less justified and war
ranted than the previous ones (although I
for one do not own a convenience store, a
cow or wear red dots). With South Asians
representing 10 percent of the American
population and 5.2 percent of Carolina’s
student body, these images will no longer
do. Although Apu is as beloved to us as he
is to you, at Carolina alone there is a wide
array of South Asian students representing
every field and every walk of life.
For us as South Asian students, we are
faced with a constant struggle -of ideolo
gy, lifestyle and culture. Sangam is an orga
nization that strives to turn this struggle into
an opportunity.
An opportunity to fuse the two most sig
nificant aspects of our lives - the culture
with which we were raised and the society
in which we live. Sangam Nite exemplifies
As the World
Turns, Drama
Needs to Stop
There is a lot of drama going on round these parts.
Now don’t worry, Pauper Players. Hear me out,
Ebony Readers Onyx Theater. Relax, Lab! and
Company Carolina.
Shakespeare is above reproach. Tennessee Williams,
Arthur Miller and Henrik Ibsen are all perfeedy lovely.
Y’all are not part of the problem.
I speak of a different breed of drama - the soap operas
that are constandy enacted among
students all over campus. It’s as
though we just can’t relax - there are
so many things to worry about in
today’s world, and we still seem pre
occupied with the incidentals. UNC
students have been sweating the
small stuff hard-core.
From student social groups that
lead endless expeditions into Self-
Righteous Land to those folks who
make the daily trek back to “Eighth
Gradeville” everyone seems to make
mountains out of molehills seems to be popular around
these parts. And it often makes me feel like I’m stuck in
bad daytime television.
The fights! The intrigue! The melodrama! See it all at
UNC-Chapel Hill.
Oh, these days of our lives.
There is a distinct difference between being intentionally
melodramatic for one’s own amusement (which I do at
least hourly) and genuinely concerned about serious issues.
People often bring drama and complication to things that
really do not need to be dramatized or complicated.
Worry about war. Worry about recession. Worry about
classes. (If anyone would like to worry/pray about my
classes, you’re welcome to.) But it seems like the little
things we’re preoccupied with- what so-and-so said, who’s
rushing where, who gets what tickets. A goofy ad from
David Horowitz causes a fury. Bickering among senior class
officers turns the whole office upside-down. Does it really
matter in the grand scheme?
Often I wish I could institute my own educational
reforms here at Carolina. I would teach the primary tenets
of what I like to call the “Erin Fomoff School of
Harmonious Living.” I’d have a seminar that would consist
solely of a syllabus. On the syllabus would be printed three
words: Let it go. It would be a class about living an easier,
less frustration-filled life - ways to cut down on the drama.
It could be a “Guiding Light” for those who find them
selves caught up in the dramas we create for ourselves.
Sometimes we all seem so full of woe -and for what? It’s
all a question of what is incidental and what is integral. It
seems to me that this campus could benefit from such
lessons.
It would work - if we could just relax, cut people some
slack and try not be so quick to judge or jump to conclu
sions. Then, we wouldn’t have such a great sense of drama.
This seems to show an equally heightened sense of self
importance, we, in our college bubble, blow our small trou
bles out of proportion to a grand extent.
We’ve got friends giving each other silent treatment,
roommate meltdowns, angry protests, loud disagreements,
underhanded acts, self-righteous fervor, folks personally
attacking one another, a churning rumor mill, various sup
port given and withheld.
All we need now are some clandestine affairs, mothers
sleeping with daughter’s boyfriends, long-lost evil twins,
and people burying each other alive.
My friend Jesse said of the drama (which is not anew
thing), “It’s like I’m surrounded by a bunch of method
actors for soap operas.”
I half expect to hear thunder crash and see lightning
strike out the window when people make statements these
days.
I’m just wondering at what point “The Real World”
became the real world, or at least the one on college cam
puses. I say we harness this energy and use it for good
instead of evil. Just think what could be done if we redirect
ed our attention to things that really matter.
Don’t get me wrong - I have certainly spent my share of
time laying on a chaise lounge with my hand thrown across
my forehead, bemoaning my fate, but this is ridiculous.
It’s important to care about things and be aware - there
is just no point in worrying over little things when there are
such big ones out there.
“As the World Turns," we can end the drama that adds
so much trouble to our lives.
Erin Fornoff knows the truth about you and the poisoned
wine. Send her your suggestions, confessions and soap opera
plotlines (personal or otherwise) at fornoff@email.unc.edu.
this - uniting East and West in an extrava
ganza of dance, song, and creativity. To us,
Sangam Nite is more than a mere perfor
mance -itis a celebration -of ourselves,
our dreams and our roots.
In the past few months, America has
embraced the theme of unity. We would
like to take this opportunity to invite you
into our world - to see us at our most
exposed, yet also in our element. The
UNC community is one of the most
diverse, open-minded campuses in this
country, and this is why we urge you to be
a part of the Sangam Nite experience - not
only to share in our culture but also to help
it evolve.
We ask for only three hours of your time
-and, if none of this convinces you, at least
come to see beautiful girls, flashy costumes,
crazy dances and entertaining acts. Let us
prove that (brace yourselves ... ) our cul
ture can produce more exciting things than
tandoori chicken and spicy curry.
Sangam Nite is at 8 p.m. on Nov. 17. in
Memorial Hall. Tickets are available in the
Pit.
Justin Doshi
Junior
Business Administration
The length rule was waived.
Saily (Ear Brrl
.J^i
ERIN FORNOFF
SWEETNESS AND
LIGHT
A
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