8
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2003
BOARD EDITORIALS
PLANNING AHEAD
The five-year spending plan presented during the recent UNC Board
of Trustees meeting offers leaders a prioritized list of campus needs.
Amid a flurry of confusion about money at
UNC, administrators have brought some
sense of stability back to campus.
Officials in the Division of Finance and
Administration presented their spending priorities
for the next five years in a draft released at the UNC
Board of Trustees meeting Nov 19.
The draft lists administrators’ top 10 funding pri
orities, allocating more than S2OO million to various
initiatives.
The administration’s openness in outlining its
goals is a welcome development that might partial
ly offset the surprise from other discussions Nov. 19.
Shocks still are reverberating on campus concerning
possible tuition increases of as much as SB,OOO for
out-of-state students, as suggested by Trustee Paul
Fulton at the meeting.
Thankfully, the new guidelines will help to give
some idea of where any new tuition money might
go.
Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for finance and
administration, told The Daily Tar Heel that the plan
will help the University in its mission to become the
leading public institution in the nation.
EDITORIAL NOTEBOOKS
GIVING THANKS
Spending time with family at Thanksgiving not only is about good
food and relaxation, but offers time for reflection about privileges.
-v- -jr -That an odd fall it has been so far. With 60-
\/\ / degree weather, losing to Duke in football
t V and tuition proposals that might raise my
costs $6,000 to SB,OOO, when Thanksgiving rolls
around I’ll be glad to take a break from this campus,
which is experiencing more volatility than a milk
drinking contest.
The drive back home to Virginia only takes 3 1/2
hours, but I feel worlds apart while home.
Thanksgiving is one of the few times where I revel
in returning to my family. Usually, I can’t wait to get
back to the Hill as soon as I leave.
But something special about Thanksgiving draws
both me and my attention square to the dinner table
where a big ol’ turkey, bread stuffing and cranberry
sauce await, ready to be ravished.
Afterward, I spend hours comatosely staring at a
football game I don’t care about, drifting in and out
of sleep.
Part of the reason I love this so much is spending
these times with close family and friends. The other
UP IN SMOKE
A proposal from the Residence Hall Association to ban smoking in
campus residence halls will help to rid the University of a nuisance.
In North Carolina, tobacco is king. Talk about
tobacco borders on taboo. The state economy will
continue to cash in on tobacco, no matter what the
health hazards. Tobacco pays the bills case closed.
A recent proposal by the Residence Hall
Association to ban smoking in all residence halls won't
change any of that. If the Department of Housing
approves the proposal, which would go into effect next
fall, the North Carolina economy will still do just fine.
This is not a threat to the tobacco industry or an
attack on anyone's lifestyle. All the proposal asks is
that smokers enjoy their tobacco products away from
balconies, breezeways and open connectors.
Smokers will not be left out in the cold. Frankly,
what cold is there to be left out in? This is North
Carolina, where shorts are the norm for November.
Whether the weather is permitting is not the issue
here. The main point is that of 2,377 students polled,
69 percent said smoking should never be allowed in
residence hall rooms, and a high percentage agreed
that balconies should be included in the ban.
EDITORS' NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions of solely The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Board, which were reached after open debate.
The board consists of eight board members, the assistant editorial page editor, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2003-04
DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
Cornucopia House to host
holiday celebration Dec. 2
TO THE EDITOR:
The holiday season is quickly
approaching, filling the air with joy
and excitement for days to come.
However, the holiday season can be
especially difficult for those who
have a loved one with cancer. The
time of year dedicated to spending
time with family and friends can be
even more challenging for those
who have lost someone to cancer.
As if all-night study sessions and
marathon paper writing were not
enough stress for students, those
with parents, family members and
friends who are dealing with or
have lost their lives to cancer are
even more vulnerable to depression
and loneliness during the holidays.
I know first-hand that the staff at
Cornucopia House Cancer Support
Center is waiting to reach out and
comfort anyone who is dealing with
the disease or experiencing the grief
and loss of a loved one from cancer
during the holidays, and every day.
Cornucopia House is hosting a
holiday celebration open to the
public and the students of UNC are
invited. The Healing Power of
Friendship Celebration will be held
at Cornucopia House on Tuesday,
Dec. 2, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 111
Cloister Court, Suite 220, Overlook
Building in Chapel Hill.
Cornucopia House Cancer
Support Center offers education
and support services for cancer
The priorities listed in the draft certainly repre
sent needs that must be addressed on campus,
regardless of the way in which they are ordered.
It’s good to see anew degree of openness con
cerning the administration’s financial goals the list
is the first of its kind at the University.
Suttenfield said the list provides a mechanism for
administration officials to make more informed
decisions when allocating resources for academic
planning.
Without directly mentioning state budget cuts,
she said that organizations must make difficult deci
sions in these tough economic times.
But the planning efforts are far from over.
Suttenfield also said she expects the five-year plan
to spark dialogue among campus leaders about
issues that concern the University.
With the increasing likelihood of tuition increas
es shifting a greater financial burden onto our cam
pus, at least this draft gives the students some idea
of the direction in which the money will go.
BOT members should take note and make an
effort to communicate as early and as tactfully with
the University community in the future.
COLIN SUTKER
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER
part to it is that I have the privilege to do so.
Staring down the dinner table, I am frilly aware
that other families are not able to partake of the
same pleasures that I am.
In economic times such as these, many families
are finding it difficult to lay their table with the sea
sons’ traditional servings.
For whatever reasons, and by whoever’s blessing,
I look forward to this holiday as a time of abundance
and good memories.
During this holiday remember to give thanks for
the gifts and joys you have. I know I will.
The future doesn’t hold the same certainty as it
did for college kids before us.
And as I think of the next few years consisting of
job interviews and final projects, I am thankful for
every slice of turkey I get.
DANIEL DAVID
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER
An majority of on-campus students polled in
October supported a smoking ban. Eight residence
halls prohibit smoking. The four new halls on South
campus are on this list, because the central air of these
facilities could suck up smoke and redistribute it.
The plan's aim is consistency, since students often
wonder why the health of some residents isn’t valued
as highly as those in a neighboring residence hall.
Let the residence halls make individual movie
nights and hold individual tea parties; they should be
uniform in their rules on the prohibition on puffing.
If the proposal passes, this is one less pollution we
will have on our hands. I'd much rather contend with
a different brand of pollution prevalent on campus;
the type that afflicts anyone with a suitemate whose
beats boom so loudly, it borders on insanity.
Air pollution or sound pollution? I pick the second.
patients and survivors as well as
their friends and family members.
They offer support groups, comple
mentary therapies such as massage,
yoga and chi gung, cancer informa
tion libraries, as well as a warm and
loving staff. Everything is free.
For more information on
Cornucopia House Cancer Support
Center, visit http://www.comu
copiahouse.org.
Mary Sherrill
Senior
Journalism and Mass
Communication
File-sharing limits undercut
mission of the University
TO THE EDITOR:
Deactivation of “some” file-shar
ing applications by the Kenan-
Flagler Business School and the
Schools of Medicine and Dentistry
is not only a futile effort but is also
contradictory to UNC’s mission.
Not only is the software legal, but
aside from these specific file-sharing
applications, there are dozens, no,
hundreds of other ways to share
copyrighted work online and over
networks that are not and will not
cease. People will file share both
legally and illegally regardless of this
hindrance.
Second, is the business school’s
violation of our University’s mission.
In fulfillment of this mission,
the University dedicates itself to
“acquire, discover, preserve, syn-
Editorial Page
thesize and transmit knowledge” in
an “environment of research, free
inquiry and personal responsibili
ty.” Tell me how the ban on file
sharing applications upholds these
words which are the principle of
the existence of this institution.
Thomas Ciszek
Senior
Operations Research
Out-of-state students must
protest tuition proposals
TO THE EDITOR:
From the moment I arrived on
this campus, I was a Carolina girl.
My spine tingles when I hear the
bell tower ring, and my heart fills
with pride as I sing “Hark the
sound!” However, to the UNC
Board of Trustees, I’m only a resi
dent of Alabama and somehow
unworthy to share in the traditions
of the University of North Carolina,
that is, without paying a dear price.
I was shocked to read in The Daily
Tar Heel last week that the BOT
proposed an out-of-state tuition
hike of anywhere from 1,500 to
8,000 dollars! Other out-of-staters
shared my concern. Many of us
received little to no financial aid and
worry that future years at Carolina
could be increasingly difficult on our
families, or even impossible.
I understand that from North
Carolina’s view, UNC-Chapel Hill
is a university for the people of
North Carolina. However, don’t
ON THE DAY'S NEWS
‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the
highest appreciation is not to utter words, hut to live by them’'
JOHN F. KENNEDY, U.S. PRESIDENT
EDITORIAL CARTOON
LOCAL AFFAIRS
Personal gain, not politics
at stake in property swap
I'll paraphrase an oft-quoted “I
Love Lucy" line when dis
cussing a recent controversy
between a Chapel Hill Town
Council electee and the University.
Use your best Desi Amaz Cuban
accent and join with me: “Cam,
you’ve got some ’splainin’ to do!”
I’m talking about the house
swap between council member
elect Cam Hill and UNC that has
led many in the area to demand
that Hill explain himself. It’s been
the hot topic in the area of late.
Hill, who campaigned as a pro
neighborhood voice and raised
concerns about campus expansion,
has negotiated to trade his West
Cameron Avenue property to UNC
for a University-owned house on
East Rosemary Street and
SIOO,OOO in cash. The swap will
allow UNC to proceed with plans
for a parking lot at its cogeneration
plant on Cameron Avenue.
The UNC Board of Trustees
approved the deal last week, but
it has not yet been finalized. Still,
some are complaining that the
swap reeks of hypocrisy from Hill,
who portrayed himself as a neigh
borhood advocate in the recent
election.
That image is similar to the
one he pushed in 2001, when he
entered the town mayoral race
after the University tried to con
vince him to sell his property. His
campaign centered on UNC’s
threat to the town as it continued
expanding, and although he even
tually he dropped out of that race,
he held onto these concerns for
the recent Town Council race, in
which he placed third.
Until last year, Hill’s negotia
tions with the University had
dropped off. But when a neighbor
sold her lot to UNC, Hill faced
the possibility of having a house
between two paved slabs of land.
forget to consider that after gradu
ation many of us will stay in the
state and pay taxes. We will also
start businesses and raise our chil
dren here. For most of us, the tra
dition will not end when we wear
our robes in Kenan Stadium. It will
continue throughout our lives and
reflect how we live.
I would like to encourage all stu
dents, not only out-of-staters, to
express opposition to this proposal
and make it known to the BOT
that a UNC education should be
affordable to everyone.
Gale Scott
Freshman
Music
Thomas talk dismissed idea
of objective journalism
TO THE EDITOR:
I attended the Helen Thomas
presentation at the School of
Journalism and Mass
Communication on Monday, look
ing forward to a thoughtful review
of the presidents she’s covered
and/or some semblance of an intel
ligent analysis of world affairs.
Instead she presented a heavy
liberal/leftist rant so comforting
to the People’s Republic of Chapel
Hill resorting to every worn out,
hotly contested anti-Bush, anti-
Republican argument she could
pack into the hour, along with some
heavily biased sound bytes about
the presidents she’s “covered." Hint:
MICHAEL DAVIS
OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE
He eventually came to his agree
ment with the University, but now
that details are “surfacing,” folks
are upset that it wasn’t brought
up more extensively during the
election.
Among those peeved about the
deal is former candidate Rudy
Juliano, who finished in seventh
place in the recent Town Council
election. He told The Daily Tar
Heel earlier this week that “(these
details) should have been
divulged during the campaign. It
could have changed the outcome."
But Rudy, this issue has been
public record for some time, as
explained above. And Hill alluded
to it during one candidates forum
in October. So it was open game
then.
Sure, he probably should have
been more forthcoming about the
negotiations, just from an image
standpoint. But he was in no way
compelled to do so.
And in an editorial Sunday,
The Chapel Hill News called on
Hill either to take the market
value of his property or totally
abandon the deal, claiming that it
“potentially erodes his effective
ness as a council member in the
crucial town-gown negotiations
to come over Carolina North and
other university expansion issues."
That’s a ridiculous argument.
Hill simply was looking out for
his personal interests by trying to
get the best deal with the
University, and if that means
all of the Democrats were beloved,
kind-hearted, intelligent men; all of
the Republicans were dithering,
unqualified morons.
By her own words, she betrayed
her 40 years as a supposedly objec
tive journalist. If this is the type of
speaker the journalism school
chooses to offer for public lectures,
that is their business, but next time
offer a warning label: “ultra-liberal
journalist” invited.
The Daily Tar Heel and nearly
all other official “journalistic” enti
ties on campus don’t seem to have
a problem pre-announcing the
appearance of “conservative”
speakers. Let it be known there is
no chance that the journalism
school teaches objectivity in
reporting, their leftist/liberal bent
being so thoroughly enmeshed as
to be invisible to them.
Jeff Davidson
Chapel Hill
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Publication is not guaranteed. Bring let
ters to the DTH office at Suite 104,
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3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail
them to editdesk@unc.edu.
(lljp Satti} (Ear Rrri
By Doug Marlette, Tribune Media Services
“Sure he probably
should have been
more forth co mi ng
...justfrom an
irn age sta n dpoi nt. ”
pocketing SIOO,OOO, then so be it.
I won’t get into the numbers, but
he doesn’t really come out ahead.
But trying to link this situation
with UNC’s impending projects,
such as Carolina North, by claim
ing that he will be unable to stand
up to the University is jumping
the gun.
In the land swap deal, Hill was
protecting his interests as a prop
erty owner. When he reviews the
Carolina North plans next year as
a Town Council member, he will
be wearing another pair of shoes
those of a democratically elect
ed representative of the people.
These are two different matters,
although they can be blurred easily
as shown by this overblown issue.
Many newcomers have softies
lobbed at them, but Cam Hill gets
a hardball right off the bat. His
character as a local politician will
be tested first on how he handles
this situation.
So far, he’s doing the right
things. Hill held a press confer
ence Monday afternoon in which
he denied withholding details for
campaign purposes.
The splainin’ is necessary, but
now that the details are on the
table, maybe this issue will be
viewed for what it is: a personal
matter that has little to no bear
ing on the ability of a civil servant
to do his job effectively.
Contact Michael Davis
at davismt@email.unc.edu.
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