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8 Tuesday, February 5, 2002 Opinion laiUj sar lirrl Established 1893 • 108 Venn rf Editorial Freedom wwi* lUrKiartwdcom Katie Hunter Editor Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m. Kim Minugh MANAGING EDITOR Russ Lane SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Kate Hartig EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Lizzie Breyer UNIVERSITY EDITOR Kellie Dixon CITY EDITOR Alex Kaplun STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR lan Gordon SPORTS EDITOR Sarah Sanders FEATURES EDITOR Sarah Kucharski ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Terri Rupar COPY DESK EDITOR Kara Arndt PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Beth Buchholz DESIGN EDITOR Cobi Edelson GRAPHICS EDITOR Jonathan Miller ONLINE EDITOR Michael Flynn OMBUDSMAN Concerns or comments about our coverage? Contact the ombudsman at mlflyimWemail.unc.edu or by phone at 843-5794 Readers' Forum = Write-In Candidate for Student Body President Offers His Platform TO THE EDITOR: Nathan Katzin here, write in candidate for student body president. I figured since The Daily Tar Heel won’t be allowed to formal ly endorse me or print my platform - even though I’ve been active and serious at every forum -1 deserve a little back page space. I came to this school in 1998 - well, scroll backwards - I was bom on March 20,1980. My dad would tap three times on my mom’s stomach during her pregnancy, and when I came out he tapped me three times on the shoulder. That’s how I recog nized him. 1 was a quiet kid, into bird watching and then video games. Video games made me fat, and being fat kept me from getting nookie and a good lunch table position - so I got funny. I read a lot, main ly fantasy novels and comics. In ninth grade I got skinny, and by 12th grade I was cool. Not top echelon cool, but cool enough to have a lot of people yell a slang version of my name when I walked into a party. 1 kept reading. My favorite book is probably “War and Peace," and my favorite movie is “Willow” (for the obvious reason that it is an awesome movie.) I played in a 11 Who f k& best-built house Board Editorials Regaining Students' Trust Chancellor Moeser's mass e-mail to gather student input lacks substance, and action must take place Too little, too late. After being criticized for not caring about student input, last week Chancellor James Moeser sent out a campuswide e mail emphasizing the importance of stu dent input in the decision-making process. Regardless of the fact that many students delete mass e-mail immediately, it should be noted that Moeser demonstrates in the e-mail the need for change. He states in the e-mail that he wants stu dents to know that the administration “deeply” values student input and that it’s important that students participate in com mittee discussions and decisions. But Moeser needs to prove through his actions that he cares about student input. So far, all students have received is lip service. Last semester, when Moeser was looking to negotiate a business school in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, he originally had no plans to involve students in his decision. And there still is no indication that the limited student input Moeser eventually Lawmakers need to minimize loopholes that might give prisoners preference for medical treatment For someone short on cash with no med ical insurance or someone in desperate need of an organ transplant, perhaps the best way to get medical treatment is by going to jail. Last week, a California inmate received a million dollar heart transplant paid for by the state while 4,000 Americans wait patiently -and buckle down finan cially - for the same procedure. Clearly, the priority given to criminal offenders sheds light on the twisted logic of the legal system, a system in desperate need of revision. With the aging population of inmates across the country, the cost of med ical treatment for criminals is soaring, leav ing the burden on taxpayers. In California, with its 157,000 inmates, annual health care costs have risen to $663 million this year, from $282 million four years ago. However, the debate should not be over whether ailing inmates should be taken care of, even if their condition warrants intense treatment. These people are incar band. My best friend got shot, and anoth er friend broke his neck after a show. I felt like death was close. There was some point I was chasing. I went to Chapel Hill because it was good and cheap. I studied poetry and phi losophy and got wasted at the Treehouse. The mix wasn’t so good. I got disillusioned with education and mass media. I dropped out and worked as a freelance writer. I wanted to change a lot of things, but 1 felt useless. 1 traveled up and down the East Coast drunk on Radiohead lyrics and anti depressants. I came back to school. This is where it gets tricky. I learned how to navigate myself. I got a fundamental belief in communication. I like attention. 1 don’t mind being a clown, as long as I’m not an idiot. The two most pressing issues of our gen eration are campaign finance reform and Progressive Energy Reform. Both have reached a tipping point. I am focusing on Energy Reform. (Been hot for February, ain’t it?) Carolina is multimillion dollar machine that with effort and intelligence could produce something more than degrees and basketball. Give the commu nication department and the business school something to do. Let the philosophy students back up their navel gazing with articulate speech and athletes help with allowed had any measurable influence on Qatar negotiations. He also didn’t allow Student Body President Justin Young to go on the trip to Qatar, even though he too is a member of the Board of Trustees. It is also distressing that Moeser did not step up on students’ behalf last semester when students expressed concern that a decision to eliminate on-campus resident parking was made with no input from the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee. This e-mail comes only one week after the Board of Trustees approved a S4OO tuition increase for next year, a decision that was also criticized as lacking in student input. Moeser recognized in his e-mail that his torically UNC students feel a responsibili ty to stay active in University decisions. The chancellor realizes that he has been called out several times in the past year for not caring about student voice, and while the e-mail is a good first step, students might continue to be wary of Moeser’s Prisoner of the Heart cerated under U.S. law and thus deserve to be cared for under that law -and footing their medical bills is a necessary expense in keeping society safe. Besides, denying treatment is unconsti tutional. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that denial of decent medical care to prisoners violates the constitutional prohi bition against cruel and unusual punish ment. The debate, therefore, should focus on how this treatment is carried out. Should it involve top surgeons at first rate hospitals when taxpayers are paying the bill and when the offenders will spend the course of their lives in a prison cell? The average heart transplant costs around $225,000, but this particular trans plant will cost California $1 million. Perhaps some of the exorbitant cost could be explained by Stanford University Medical Center, the top-notch hospital where the inmate was treated. And what about the lengthy waiting list publicity. I have a plan. The University is the last gateway at the end of childhood. Yours and mine. We need real issues as the context for consid ering who we are and where we are going. I’ll have the runner-up take care of campus parking - he’ll probably do a better job as everyone else and a better job than me. Nathan Katzin Junior English The length rule was waived. DTH Needs to Recognize Negligence to Consider Cultural Sensitivity TO THE EDITOR: Upon reading thejan. 29 edition of The Daily Tar Heel, it became painfully appar ent that the campus newspaper is becoming increasingly more inconsiderate and less responsible in its portrayal of minorities. While I hope that it was not the intent of the cartoonist to portray the student body president as a Sambo-type character, the negligence on the part of the artist and the editors to consider what particular mes sages that cartoon projects is irresponsible behavior. Unfortunately, this most recent newly stated commitment to this goal. In order to gather more student input, Chancellor Moeser and the administration need to make themselves more accessible to the student body. It’s rare that students see Moeser on campus, and there are only 10 at-large stu dent positions on the Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor. While Moeser plans to have several infor mal discussions with University leaders, these meetings might not attract the variety of students needed for well-rounded input. In addition to this, the chancellor should use the Internet for Web forums and host places to post comments online. After last week’s BOT decision, the Qatar proposal and parking issues, students feel slighted by an University administra tion that ignored its biggest constituency. The first step that Moeser needs to take to realize his goal is not to e-mail the stu dent body but to act in a way that will regain its trust. for organ transplants? Some say assigning spots on waitlists should be based purely on one’s medical condition. But in 1996, United Network Organ Sharing, the organization that maintains the nation’s waiting list for organs, declared that people suffering from long-term liver failure -of thd kind often seen in alcoholics and drug addicts - would no longer be at the top of the list for liver transplants. Alcoholism and drug addiction are cer tainly the results of poor life decisions, but so is incarceration. If the average citizen has priority over these folks, shouldn’t some level of priority be had over serious criminals? While prisoners have a constitutional right to medical treatment, the administra tion of this treatment must be reviewed. If lawmakers fail to do so, the rising med ical costs of prisoners will cripple state bud gets while more people see criminals skip them in the line for a life-saving organ. exhibit of poor taste is only the latest of a series of oversights, gaffes and omissions made by the present editorial board. As the major media organ on campus, the onus is upon the DTH to adequately and accurately inform the campus commu nity as to the goings on at UNC-CH. Some may argue that in criticizing the DTH, that 1 challenge the paper’s right to exercise the freedom of the press. To the contrary, I only seek to charge that with freedom comes responsibility. The DTH excels in the exercise of these freedoms but fails in taking journalistic responsibility. It is only logical for the DTH as the cam pus newspaper to cover University-spon sored events such as Homecoming and the Martin Luther King celebration. Normally when Memorial Hall sells out, the event gets front-page coverage. The annual Homecoming stepshow didn’t receive a sin gle word of print despite being one of the highlighted events of the University’s cele bration. In a second example, the DTH has had quite a hand in creating a climate of scandal around Homecoming elections, yet when Ms. Homecoming, Shayla Higginbotham, sponsored a successful pro ject delivering toys to Ground Zero for vic 6ms of Sept. 11, no DTH reporter was in sight. Earlier this month, a full slate of events ranging from dinner discussions to Don't Stand Up Another Moderate Man The other day, I was stood up. Again. This has turned into such a recurring event in my life that I’m begin ning to question the wisdom of abolishing arranged marriages. As I am oft to go on the inevitable lonely walk home, I began to think about what it is exactly that makes me such a faith ful rider of the get-stood-up express. While I sometimes chalk it up to my sparse leg hair or propensity for gra ham crackers with good old fash ioned processed American cheese, the inevitable conclusion is always the same: Everything about me is too damn moderate. Just like how the American voting public holds disdain for a moderate politician, the eligible American female, it would seem, loathes the guy that is moderate in every way and therefore just like every other guy. And understandably so. There’s nothing about being moderate, whether you’re a politician or a guy just trying to get a date, that is appealing. This is true, really. To prove my point, I would like to introduce you to the Centrist party, “America’s Choice for Moderate and Practical Politics.” Admittedly, the party is only two years old, but the chance of it ever getting a vote in this country is right up there with me ever getting a suc cessful date. What is the party’s main problem? The answer is in this little gem from its Web site: Mission Statement Recognizing the freedoms granted to citizens of this democratic republic, and recognizing the productive role government should play. The Centrist Party’s mission is to And that’s where it ends. Honestly. The Centrist party has no mission, no solutions and obvi ously no problems with half-assing things. Its Web page looks to be about as well-thought-out as my fourth-grade science project, “How the Sun Affects the Earth,” which was a fairly accurate compilation of what the Encyclopedia Britannica and my dad had to say on the matter. Instead of developing any coherent party line, Centrists are no doubt too busy sit ting around in someone’s moderately priced apartment, sip ping on lukewarm decaffeinated coffee, munching on a hand ful of off-brand strawberry-flavored wafers and bemoaning in a reasonable tone their overt practicality and sensibility. Imagine an interview with a Centrist - I’m sure it would go a little something like this: Q: Thanks for coming in and talking with us today, Mr. Curry. A: Oh, you can call me Arthur. Q: Alright Arthur - tell me, where does the Centrist party stand on stem cell research? A: Well, we know about it. (pause) Q: And? A: We don’t have any solutions. But we support rational decision-making! Q: Ok. Uh ... how about abortion? A: We’re not really sure. But we support practicality and pragmatism! Q: And taxes? A: We’re stuck between raising and lowering them. We might also keep them right where they are, but either way, we want to do what is reasonable. Q: So, um, why ... why would we vote for you? A: I’m not sure - hey, did you know that I can talk to fish? The fact of the matter is that the Centrist party is as inte gral to the American political landscape as Aquaman is to the Super Friends. Sure, he probably has just as big of a locker in the Hall of Justice as Superman, and he can strut around proudly in his orange chain mail because the earth is about 75 percent water, but the fact of the matter is that Aquaman is as intimidating as a bowl of cherries and as exciting as a broken toilet seat. Silly metaphors about underwear-clad superheros and bland moderate politics aside, the fact remains: I can’t get a real date. While a large part of me subscribes to the “just-be yourself” theory, the rest of me would much rather be Batman, or even Green Lantern, than be that silly and foolish Aquaman, who at best pacifies barnacles and strikes fear deep in the hearts of shoplifters. Hell, I bet evenjimmy Olsen gets more play than I do just by saying he once saw Superman. Trust me, I’m the last person to get down on myself, but unless America’s tastes change, moderate politics, Aquaman and my love life are all out of luck. Eugene Kim has been stood up more times than a broken picture frame. Offer him your condolences at chinook@email.unc.edu, or maybe you could just apologize, Carrie. service opportunities featuring lectures by renowned UNC professors went virtually ignored despite being sponsored by the Chancellor’s Committee for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration. A snapshot and a brief article on the keynote lecture fails to do justice to the students who volunteered, performed and participated in the week’s events. So far this year, the DTH has provided the following options in regards to coverage of minorities on cam pus: complete ignorance, negatively biased opinion and cartoons printed in poor taste. This is not respectable journalism. Matthew Shaw Senior History and Romance Languages Editor’s Note The Daily Tar Heel elections endorsements for CAA and RHA candidates will run Friday, senior class candidates and GPSF president Monday, and student body president Feb. 12, Charlie Trakas didn’t submit a platform and therefore is ineligible for the DTH endorse ment Write-in candidates are also ineligible for the endorsement The last day to submit an endorsement letter is Friday by 5 p.m. to editdesk@unc.edu. Letters will run Friday and Monday. Please, only one letter per cam paign staff. Questions? contact Kate Hartig at khartig@email.unc.edu. (Eljp laily (Ear Hrrl EUGENE KIM OUTCLASSED AT BAGGAGE CLAIM © A 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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Feb. 5, 2002, edition 1
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