8
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Opinion
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Established 1893 JO9 Fean Editorial Freedom
* iWvUriiwL<om
Katie Hunter
Editor
Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. • i p.m.
Kim Minugh
MANAGING EDITOR
Russ Lane
SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Kate Hartig
EDITORIAL PAGE. F.DITOR
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 F.DITOR
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
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843-5794
Readers' Forum
UNC Women’s Center
Director Praises Daum,
Supports Her Platform
TO THE EDITOR:
As one of my tennis competitors used to
say when she blew an easy shot at the point
of her victory, “I can’t stand prosperity.”
While she meant to criticize her self-defeat
ing style, as a woman she not only had to
deal with her inner self-criticism but also
with negative comments from others about
her skills.
Take Jen Daum, our new student body
president, as a case in point. While Jen did
not sabotage her own campaign to the
point of defeat and I have no idea about
her inner self-doubts, she was met with sev
eral negative commentaries in The Daily
Tar Heel after her election.
I am favorably impressed with Jen
because she took the initiative to develop
a mentorship proposal for undergraduate
women with a couple of other students and
then brought her ideas to the Carolina
Women’s Center for implementation. She
also worked tirelessly with a group of
employees and students to improve child
care options and actively participated in a
press conference on the topic. Last Friday,
during the Faculty Council meeting, the
Board Editorials
Behind the Times
Now that Sen. Jesse Helms has reversed his position on AIDS, he needs to make up for lost time
For almost 20 years, U.S. Sen. Jesse
Helms, R-N.C., fought to keep millions of
dollars of federal funding from going to
AIDS research.
He recently stated that for many years he
had taken the wrong stance on AIDS.
While this is encouraging, it is nothing
more than too little too late.
When AIDS first emerged in America in
the 1980s, the popular belief was that it was
strictly a gay man’s disease. Sadly, many
people allowed their prejudices to override
their compassion for humanity and ignored
the disease - Helms included.
As more people learned that AIDS is a
disease that affects everyone from pregnant
mothers to children who have undergone
blood transfusions, attitudes about the dis
ease changed. People became better
informed, and support for a cure grew and
grew.
All the while, Helms held to the old idea
that AIDS was a disease that only affected
the gay community and people with reck
Abandoning the Environment
The Bush administration needs to rethink its decision about Superfund and support its progress
Even though the Bush administration is
apparently supportive of the chemical and
oil industries, special interests are not an
excuse to lay off important work for the
environment.
In 1980, the Superfund program was
established. It uses special corporate taxes
to clean up abandoned industrial sites that
pose an environmental risk.
However, the reserves have decreased,
and the Bush administration didn’t reau
thorize the taxes, which expired six years
ago. This has put a dent in the progress of
the fund’s work and is perpetuating possi
ble risks to the environment.
If the Bush administration doesn’t reau
thorize the taxes, continued funding for this
program will be passed on to taxpayers.
This is unacceptable and goes against the
foundation of the program, which is based
on the idea that “the polluter pays.”
The corporate taxes from the fund are
used to clean up sites where a party can’t be
chairwoman, Sue Estroff, congratulated Jen
on her election as student body president
and said that Jen was the only candidate
who had talked with Sue about faculty con
cerns prior to the election.
My hope is that Jen can celebrate her
victory and then continue to reach out to
her supporters and to her detractors to
build coalitions that can provide the
strongest student voice.
In this way, she will continue to win by
incorporating the views of all into her game
plan (including any nagging self-criticism
she may have).
Congratulations, Jen!
Diane Kjervik
Professor and Director
Carolina Women's Center
Overall Dance Marathon
Committee Deserves
Praise for Hard Work
TO THE EDITOR:
Scott Werry and the 2002 Dance
Marathon Overall Committee deserve lots
of praise for their efforts in putting on the
largest student fund-raiser in UNC history.
Not only did they raise over $122,000 to
give to the families of children in the N.C.
less sexual habits. Ten years ago, Helms
lamented that money was allocated to
AIDS research not because of the threat of
epidemic but because of media hype and
the people who “make the loudest noise in
Congress.”
It took nearly 20 years, anew century
and long talks with Franklin Graham and
U2’s Bono for Helms to finally realize the
errors of his ways. This is unacceptable for
any political leader, especially one as pow
erful as Helms.
The country needs leaders who are will
ing to listen and become informed on issues
without allowing their prejudices to over
ride their good judgement - especially on
issues of life and death.
Fortunately, Helms has been trying to
make amends for his past misdeeds in the
last few years. In 2000 he praised the
Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act,
which provided funds to help children
orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Helms strongly believes that AIDS can
identified as responsible. Seventy percent
of the sites are cleaned up by the compa
nies themselves because it’s cheaper, and
the other 30 percent is paid for by the fund.
Taxpayers should not be responsible for
the negligence of companies to bring sites
up to standard.
Since 1999, taxpayers have picked up 50
percent of Superfund’s costs -a program
founded on the principle that the public
shouldn’t have to suffer both financially
and environmentally from the effects of
abandoned sites.
There are 1,551 sites recommended for
cleanup by the Environmental Protection
Agency, 30 percent of which have already
been brought up to standard.
But since the fund has been dwindling,
progress has significantly declined. The rate
of cleanup has declined since Bush took
office, with only 47 sites cleaned in 2001
compared to 80 repaired each year from
1996 to 2000.
Children’s Hospital, but they also changed
the lives of coundess UNC students by giv
ing them the opportunity to help those less
fortunate. As former Overall Committee
members, we can attest that these 12 indi
viduals spent between 30 and 40 hours a
week for the last several months in fund
raising and preparation for the event. Their
dedication, drive and compassion should
not go unthanked. So if you see Scott
Werry, Julie McManus, Ashley Hux,
Shannon Saunders, Marcellus Parker, Leia
Kelly, Mark Hosemann, Sarah Katherine
Leaver, Natalie Halbach, Callie Taintor,
Katie Jackson or Sarah Slater on campus,
please give them a pat on the back and say
thanks.
Dan Brand
Senior
Business Administration
John Wallace
Senior
Business Administration
DTH Criticized for Not
Covering African Events
On Continent, Campus
TO THE EDITOR:
As members of the Organization of
best be fought in Africa through the work
of faith-based programs. This idea might
have come from his close relationship with
Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and
head of Samaritan’s Purse.
While Helms’ strong push to control the
epidemic in Africa should be applauded, he
must work harder to end AIDS here in the
United States and be a visible, vocal advo
cate in his last few months in office.
Helms still believes that AIDS is ulti
mately a “moral problem.” This outdated
view of the AIDS epidemic has likely kept
him from making a complete turnaround in
his views.
Helms and other right-wing conserva
tives must realize that AIDS is much more
than a moral problem. With more than 40
million people in the world suffering from
AIDS or HIV, there is no time to tell peo
ple they shouldn’t have contracted AIDS.
Now is the time for action, and Helms
has the opportunity to be an effective AIDS
advocate. Who would have thought?
Groundwater contamination is the
largest risk, and as many sites continue to
fall into further disrepair, the effect on the
environment worsens. Only 40 sites are
scheduled to be cleaned up this year.
In addition to financial issues, manage
ment problems have also most likely attrib
uted to Superfund’s degradation. Not only
does the Bush administration need to
rethink its decision about the the program’s
funding, Superfund also needs to be reor
ganized to promote its progress. Many
will be added to the EPA’s list in the next 10
years, which further recognizes a need for
the government to continue its support of
the fund.
Democrats in Congress plan to push the
Bush administration to reconsider its deci
sion -as well they should.
Protection of the nation’s environment is
one of the president’s commitments, and
the support and reorganization of
Superfund is an important part.
African Students’ Interests in Solidarity, we
feel that it is important that certain issues be
addressed by the most widely read paper
on campus, namely The Daily Tar Heel. In
respect to the critical events involving the
African continent, we are greatly disap
pointed by the DTH’s lack of coverage
given to several significant events occurring
on the African continent. Since it is our
mission as an organization to educate our
fellow students about the culture, history,
and future of Africa, we felt it is our oblig
ation to bring this matter to your attention.
We take it for granted that our campus
newspaper would be equitable in distribut
ing as diverse an account of the world
events as the student body that is suppos
edly represents.
An example of a blatant neglect in cov
erage is the absence of information about
the natural disaster that occurred in sever
al West African countries. This tragedy,
which took place earlier this year due to
unexpected amounts of rain during the dry
season, caused a flood, which resulted in
the death of thousands. Is this not a news
worthy event? Then there is the formal
apology the Belgian parliamentary com
mission gave to the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. After 41 years, the Belgian
parliament concluded that Belgium was
“morally” responsible for late indepen-
It's Never Too
Early to Get a
Few Supporters
I trust that if you’re at all like me then you’ve been rejoic
ing for the past week because election season has offi
cially ended!
But before you begin celebrating too heavily, 1 must be
the bearer of bad news. If I’m not mistaken, we’re only 47
weeks away from the beginning of
next year’s election festivities. Yuck!
Over the past few days of post
election revelries. I’ve come up with
a sure-fire way of not becoming
homicidally annoyed at the hundreds
of people giving me pieces of paper
and telling me to vote: to become the
name on some of those sheets of
paper.
That’s right. I’m officially declaring
my candidacy for (insert name of
some campus office).
But before you start blindly jump-
ing on my campaign bandwagon, allow me to fill you in on
some of the more important elements of my platform. Due
to space limitations, I can’t display all of them, but you’ll
get the point that I am the candidate for you, the everyday
student.
Tuition: My plan to fight tuition increases is foolproof.
You do not have to pay tuition. What about everyone else?
Who cares? But you will get a free ride for your experience
here.
If you pledge your vote now, I might even find a way to
throw in a toaster.
Parking and Transportation: I have a two-pronged
plan of attack on this issue. First, I think we’re all in agree
ment that, aside from Franklin Street, there is little use for
the rest of Chapel Hill. I say that we seize control of the
rest of the town (in a nonviolent coup) and turn it into a
giant parking lot. This would guarantee that you’d have a
free parking spot no more than two blocks from campus.
The only downside I see to this is that it might be difficult
to find your car periodically.
Don’t despair; I’m working on training cute little chimps
to escort you to your car.
By the time my administration takes office, I fully expect
them to be housebroken.
The second element to my parking plan’ is one that I
think we can all relate to ... what to do when you’re run
ning late. Sometimes it’s your fault. But oftentimes it’s com
pletely beyond your control, and why should you be pun
ished for that?
In the event that you are “seriously” late, you may park
your car anywhere you’d like. Late for a chemistry exam?
Park your car right outside the doors of Venable. In fact,
better yet, we’ll just have valet parking at every campus
building.
Good idea, me!
Grades: Sadly, this is something that no student leader
can completely control, but I do have one idea that I think
is super nifty. Every semester, there’s that one class that, no
matter how hard you work, you just don’t have enough
time to do well.
What I’m proposing is that you’re allowed to take one
class every semester as your “gimmie” class. When you
register, you can designate which class you’d like to do this
with. You never have to attend the class, you don’t have to
do any of the work, you don’t even have to buy the book,
and you get an A-.
If you’re a real gunner and want to try for the 4.0, you
can.
Men’s Basketball: I’m sure the most pressing issue on
your mind is the fact that, barring a surprising increase of
the schedule length (by a hundred games or so) it looks like
our men’s basketball team is going to fall short of the 20-
win mark. That’s a shame and something that you should
never have to endure here. While there’s not much I can
do about the state of the basketball team, I do think that
you should be compensated for a season where we don’t
win at least 20 games.
In the event that this happens again, I say that Coach
Doherty will buy each student a steak.
I do trust that I can count on your vote next February. I
know that these issues (along with making sure someone
can flush the toilet and you won’t die from boiling water
during a shower in Connor) are on the top of your agenda,
and that makes them very pressing for me.
I’ve given these issues a lot of thought (about four min
utes), and I’m pretty sure that at least part of my platform
consists of ideas.
Travis Raines is currently accepting applications for
campaign positions, as well as feedback on his well-thought
out platform, at traines@unc.edu.
dence leader Patrice Lumumba’s death,
saying the government and Belgium’s late
King Baudouin knew of plans to kill
Lumumba but did nothing to prevent
them. In addition, the DTH failed to doc
ument the formal apology made this month
by the Dutch government for their involve
ment in the slave trade.
While you underestimated the impor
tance of these current events on the conti
nent of Africa, it is an even greater disap
pointment that our own DTH forgot or
neglected to cover a very substantial event
regarding a large annual celebration of the
African continent, Africa Night. This event
that had a large number of people in atten
dance from UNC and surrounding com
munities took place on Feb. 17 in the Great
Hall.
Since you have been reluctant to adver
tise or acknowledge these important events
pertaining to a continent we take this
opportunity to invite the UNC communi
ty to attend OASIS meetings at 7 p.m. on
Sundays in Room 206 of the Student
Union and hope that that this letter will
bring forth worldwide news in the DTH.
Zawadi Barskile
Maureen Ben-Davis
OASIS
£Thp Daily (Tar Herl
TRAVIS RAINES
UTTERLY
RANDOM
QUIPPING
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