12A
Tuesday, August 20. 2002
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Senior Brock Towler, SURGE member, addresses students Monday in the
Pit about free speech prior to the summer reading discussions.
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From Page 3
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DTH'BRIAN CASSELLA
Freshman Megan White speaks to the media Monday after talking with
"Pit Preacher" Gary Birdsong about the summer reading program.
DISCUSSIONS
From Page 3A
book’s excerpts from the Quran. Some
students questioned the authors’ selec
tions, others applauded them.
Most admitted they had little under
standing of the Islamic faith and said the
book gave them a fresh perspective. A
few even tried to unravel motives
behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The one thing I thought about when
I was reading this book was, what about
all the terrorists - what went wrong?”
asked one student.
The mood inside Provost Robert
Shelton’s discussion section was equally
civil.
After a cautious start, most of the 19
students openly exchanged views about
a variety of topics surrounding the con
troversial book.
Shelton moderated the discussion,
posing challenging questions to students
about individuals’ own interpretations,
cultural barriers of studying the religion
and the national debate about the book
in the media.
None of the students who participat
ed said they were offended by the book,
and most reflected the willingness to
learn about a culture and religion very
foreign to their own.
The reviews of the book were mixed,
with some students looking for a more
conclusive analysis of the religion and
not just the favorable aspects.
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HEARING
From Page 3A
haps, guilty of perjury.”
But University officials said they have
no intention of changing the Web site.
Glover said FPN officials plan to
continue fighting this case, and he said
it is possible that the case would reach
the Supreme Court. “Our greater goal is
to re-establish a precedent that you can
not require students at a publicly fund
ed university to submit to any sort of
religious indoctrination,” he said.
But Susan Ehringhaus, vice chancel
lor and general council for UNC, said
Thursday that this was not a victory for
FPN and that UNC would not change
the reading assignment. As of Monday,
the program had continued as planned.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
“He did a good job of presenting the
the more positive side,” said one student.
“But he is honest about his limitations.”
But there were first-year students
who decided to sit out the discussions.
Freshman Casey Jennings disagreed
with the assignment of a book about
Islam and wrote a 400-word essay
explaining why.
Jennings, who said he read a couple of
the suras, said religion is a personal mat
ter and cannot be forced upon students.
“Just because September 11 has made
people more aware of different cultures
doesn’t mean I have to be open to
them,” he said.
Cameras and crowds congregated
one last time around Moeser and
Student Body President Jen Daum in a
press conference following the discus
sion groups’ conclusions.
And to Moeser, the controversy was
worth it.
“I am so proud of our students,” he
said. “We’re doing the right thing here.
... I hope the thread of this discussion
continues throughout the year.”
Assistant University Editors John Frank
and Jeff Silver contributed to this article.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
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RESPONSE
From Page 3A
not followed when proposing and con
sidering the resolution.
But she conceded that concern about
stepping on legislators’ toes while they
were still considering university funding
might have influenced some votes.
“It could have had an impact with
some of our folks,” Litde said. “None of
us want to anger the people that hold
our purse strings.”
Simply put, timing was bad, she said.
The BOG Education Policy and
Planning Committee will hold a hearing
Thursday to consider passing an addi
tional resolution supporting academic
freedom.
Responding to the initial BOG vote,
the Executive Committee of the UNC
CH Faculty Council unanimously passed
a resolution Aug. 12 almost identical to
the one the BOG failed to approve.
“It is a much broader issue - it’s not
about the book anymore,” said Sue
Estroff, Faculty Council chairwoman.
Taking that perspective, other cam
pus contingencies followed suit. The
same day, the Campus Minister’s
Association at UNC-CH adopted a
statement supporting the University’s
summer reading choice.
UNC-CH’s Student Congress passed
a resolution in support of academic free
dom by a vote of 20-4 during an emer
gency meeting Monday night.
Speaker of Congress Tony Larson
said he called the meeting because a stu
dent perspective had not been present
ed in the debate. “As the voice of the stu
dents, it’s our responsibility to say what
we believe,” he said.
U.S. Congressman David Price
echoed the sentiments of students and
faculty members who contend that the
assignment is harmless and enhances
the overall academic experience.
“I do think that this is an assignment
for freshman that is perfectly legiti
mate,” Price said. “It’s like assignments
at many universities. The opinion (in
Washington) overwhelmingly is that this
is something that universities do.”
He added that it is inappropriate for
outside groups to attempt to control a
university’s academic offerings.
“I am hopeful that attempts to inter
fere with the function of the University
will cease.”
Assistant University Editor Jeff Silver
contributed to this article.
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
HISTORY
From Page 3A
“You either have it or you don’t.”
Friday actively protested the ban on
Communist speakers, which was
approved by the General Assembly in
1963 and then declared unconstitu
tional five years later.
“We spent an awful lot of time and
an awful lot of tax money trying to
resolve the issue,” Friday said.
UNC journalism lecturer Jock
Lauterer, who was a student during the
bans, said he immediately thought of
the speaker controversy after reading
an article about the summer reading
debate.
“I. saw (the article), and I just said,
‘This is the speaker ban all over again,’”
Lauterer said. “The issues of academic
freedom are hauntingly similar.”
One of the most memorable images
from the speaker ban is Frank
Wilkinson, who was not a Communist
but was still prohibited from lecturing
on campus, speaking to a crowd of stu
dents across the wall separating
McCorkle Place from Franklin Street.
“We were out there not because we
were Communists or radicals. We
were out there because we supported
the University,” said Lauterer, who
attended the speech.
In more recent history, the
University came under fire last year
when a group of professors held three
teach-ins to denounce U.S. military
involvement following Sept. 11.
“It was the first teach-in, as far as we
know, held in the country after
September 11,” said Elin O’Hara
Slavick, an art professor who helped
organized the events.
“It just seemed so logical and edu
cational to me.”
Slavick said she is impressed by
how the University has dealt with
recent controversies.
“We were still able to have our
teach-ins, and students are still reading
this book,” she said.
Chancellor James Moeser, who has
defended the University during both
the teach-in and summer reading con
troversies, said he is willing to fight for
academic freedom.
“People are fearful of what they don’t
know and don’t understand,” he said.
“We’re not afraid of controversy.”
Friday also said that although the
nature of the fights might change, the
issues remain the same.
“There is one thing, above all else,
that the University must maintain,
retain and nourish, and that is its free
dom,” he said.
“Freedom is the very soul of its exis
tence.”
The Features Editor can be reached
at features@unc.edu.