8
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2004
BOARD EDITORIALS
THANKS, COACH
UNC men’s basketball coach Roy Williams should be commended
for donating to and publicly representing the new Carolina Covenant.
j-|-<|he coach of UNC’s men’s basketball team has
I given the campus community anew reason to
JL be proud that “we got Roy.”
Roy Williams, along with his wife Wanda and
their children Scott and Kimberly, has lent full sup
port to the new Carolina Covenant program.
The gift from the Williams family counts toward
the University’s Carolina First campaign, the multi
year private fund-raising effort with a goal of $l.B
billion to support UNC’s vision of becoming the
nation’s leading public university.
It’s one thing if Chancellor James Moeser endors
es a project, but it’s quite another thing if Williams
is involved. Excluding politicians and former coach
Dean Smith, the wildly successful coach is arguably
the highest profile figure in the state.
Williams is giving more than just money. He
recently appeared in a television advertisement, first
aired during Tuesday’s game between UNC and the
Georgia Institute of Technology, which explained
what the Carolina Covenant is all about. The spot
ends with Williams saying, “(The Covenant) is a
promise that Carolina is proud to make, because
PROTECT THE BEACH
President Bush’s recent budget proposal eliminates funding for beach
preservation, putting undue pressure on local governments for funds.
President Bush’s exclusion of shoreline nourish
ment funding in his proposed budget is unfair
and potentially devastating to coastal commu
nities and the state of North Carolina.
In the budget proposal sent to the U.S. Congress
last week, the White' House has called upon local
governments to cover the upkeep costs of beach
renourishment programs, which involve dredging or
otherwise transporting sand for erosion control.
Currently, the federal government covers 65 per
cent of the costs associated with these expensive pro
grams. The cost of upkeep in Dare County alone is
estimated to be $1.6 billion over the next fifty years.
If federal funding is removed, the state of North
Carolina and local coastal governments are likely to
be left with two options: abandon the beaches or find
anew revenue source.
Either choice would hurt the entire state. Local
governments would be hard-pressed to find any
source other than much higher property taxes, which
could stifle development and the tourism industry
that has become vital to the N.C. economy. If the state
NO INTERFERENCE
A Colorado legislator’s proposal to prevent academic discrimination
is merely a front for inexcusable government oversight of academia.
Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill that
would protect students’ political rights at insti
tutions of higher learning.
The Republican author of the bill claims that it will
prevent ideological intimidation in the classroom.
While the bill’s actual provisions appear fairly nar
row, limited to providing prominent listings of stu
dent’s rights in places such as textbook covers, it
addresses only one specific form of discrimination
and, in the process, poses a risk to academic freedom
in the classroom.
The subject of academic bias re-emerges on
UNC’s campus with almost predictable regularity.
Because of this institution’s long history as an incu
bator for progressive causes and training ground for
future leaders in the model of Frank Porter Graham,
UNC often bears the label of a “liberal university.”
According to voter registration records, the social
science departments at UNC are overwhelmingly
Democratic. But our faculty does not necessarily
and should not force personal ideology on stu
dents. While the job of a professor is to challenge a
student’s beliefs and force them to scrutinize their
EDITOR'S NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions of solely The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Board, and were reached after open debate. The
board consists of seven board members, the editorial page associate 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.
QUOTABLES
7 think we’d, all he happy
if it were raining men”
ASHLEY O'STEEN,
UNC SOPHOMORE, ON A SONG STUCK IN
HER HEAD AND THAT OF HER FRIEND.
“He had a chance to show
everybody his jumping
ability on that breakaway
... and he showed he didn’t
have any.”
ROY WILLIAMS,
UNC MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH, JOKINGLY
REFERRING TO GUARD MELVIN SCOTT'S
LAY-UP AGAINST WAKE FOREST.
7 didn’t predict the
controversy in the first
year. I was wrong about
that. I didn’t predict the
controversy in the second
year, and I was wrong
about that. And I am not
going to make any
predictions, I am not very
good at predictions.”
JAMES MOESER,
UNC CHANCELLOR, ON THE POSSIBILITY
OF CONTROVERSY FOR THIS YEAR'S
SUMMER READING SELECTION.
everyone deserves a shot.”
For Williams to give his money and his time
speaks to his charitable ways and his sincere belief
in the Covenant.
He phoned Moeser shortly after the program was
revealed in the fall, stating how proud he was of the
University’s leadership and how willing he would be
to contribute.
Williams wanted to be a part of the program
because “it reminded him of his own upbringing,
and that it is a wonderful thing,” Moeser said.
Next fall, the Covenant will allow academically
qualified students at or below 150 percent of the fed
eral poverty line to graduate debt-free, if they work 10
to 12 hours per week in a work-study program.
No one entreated Williams to give the Covenant his
stamp of approval, as it is an innovative initiative that
stands on its own.
But he saw an opportunity through which he and
his family could support something central to the
University, and he took advantage.
He should be commended for having a significant
impact off the basketball court.
attempted to shoulder some of the costs, some form
of greater statewide taxation should be expected.
Any financial burden delegated from the federal
government to state or local governments can cause
greater indiscriminate taxation.
This action is indicative of the financial situation
of the past few years, where states and localities are
being squeezed to a greater extent, thus hurting a
greater number of taxpayers.
This budget, if passed in its current form, would
be painful to North Carolina and all of its citizens, in
one form or another. The members of the state’s con
gressional delegation should stand together and
fight the exclusion of beach renourishment funding.
While there is some merit to the argument that
beach communities enjoy a disproportionate
amount of federal appropriations, these areas
require more environmental spending and have
come to expect such funding.
To remove this source of money immediately and
completely is unexpected and unfair to government
entities with far shallower pockets.
own arguments, such discourse does not approach
the level of bullying or discrimination.
No student should fear intimidation in the class
room for any reason, not just political ideology.
Schools do not require a legislative directive in
order for their professors to act in a proper and
scholarly manner. Doing so presents the disturbing
scenario of lawmakers determining what can and
cannot constitute rigorous exploration and dissec
tion of ideas and predispositions.
After some lawmakers opposed UNC’s selection of
a book examining the Qur’an as “indoctrination,” the
University community sent a resounding message
that outside of assuring basic freedom of thought and
expression in the classroom, the job of shaping cur
riculum belongs to faculty and faculty alone.
Colorado’s own university system strongly oppos
es the legislation. Protection of political views falls
under the protection of existing standards and prac
tices to prevent discrimination of any kind by facul
ty at state schools.
This legislation is redundant, inappropriate and
unnecessary for Colorado, UNC or anywhere else.
REARERS’ FORUM
Calabria wants lobbying
that works for students
TO THE EDITOR:
I take great offense to The Daily
Tar Heel’s characterization that stu
dent body president candidate Matt
Calabria simply wants to revive the
Carolina Lobby Corps in order to
fight tuition increases in the Feb. 10
“Student Elections Guide.”
If one were to read Mr. Calabria’s
platform more closely, one would
notice that he plans to create the
UNC Lobby Corps an organiza
tion that while similar in name,
would have a very different purpose
than the Carolina Lobby Corps.
The UNC Lobby Corps, led by a
team of five students and two alum
ni, will seek to integrate students
into the University’s efforts to secure
more long-term funding from
both public and private sources.
In addition to conventional lob
bying efforts, the UNC Lobby Corps
will issue candidate report cards,
initiate letter-writing campaigns to
private donors, and deliver money
and manpower to candidates for the
N.C. General Assembly that support
higher education through the cre
ation of a campus-based political
action committee.
But the UNC Lobby Corps’
efforts will not stop there. The
organization will possess a constant
presence at all levels of University
governance on campus with the
UNC-Chapel Hill Board of TVustees,
next with the UNC-system Board of
Opinion
Governors, and finally with the leg
islature to ensure that students
develop the relationships necessary
to block future tuition increases.
In short, as students we need to
make sure that we put legislators
into office who plan to work for us
and increase the current level of
funding for higher education in the
state of North Carolina.
The mission of the UNC Lobby
Corps will be to achieve that goal.
While I don’t know the details of
Lily West’s platform to fight tuition
increases and represent the inter
ests of students statewide, I hope it
involves more than just the resusci
tation of a now defunct organization
the Carolina Lobby Corps.
Bernard Holloway
Freshman
Political Science
CAA Cabinet applications
are now available
TO THE EDITOR:
Applications for positions on the
2004-05 Carolina Athletic
Association Cabinet are now avail
able at the CAA office, room 3508F
in the Student Union.
Come by and get an application
off the folder on the office door at
your convenience. They are due by
at 3 p.m. Feb. 25. This is your
chance to become involved in run
ning the student branch of the
UNC Athletic Association.
ON THE DAY’S NEWS
“Little boys who don’t always tell the truth will probably grow
up and become weather forecasters.”
ANONYMOUS
EDITORIAL CARTOON
PEOPLE/ Iwe tub RESULTS/ \which ww
CALMRM m WEST WILL WILL 4LL BE VjfffHl ff If
0,,. THVIi
COMMENTARY
UNC officials should not
have to register as lobbyists
My Grandpops was an
eccentric, cranky, old, yet
immensely lovable and
cuddly, Irish World War II veteran.
I fondly recall the little life les
sons he tried to teach me, many of
which my parents worked hard to
eradicate. Such as cherish your
guns as you do your wife, and
keep both well-oiled. Or air quali
ty be damned (he and my won
derful Grandma lived in Los
Angeles), vehicles should be big,
burly and get crappy gas mileage.
Mom and dad, luckily and
rightly, kept my fickle little mind
in check and steered me down a
more appropriate path to eventu
al enlightenment. Even my
Grandpa, feisty old war hawk that
he was, eventually caved to the
tree-huggers and bought, of all
things, a French-made Renault.
But my folks let a few of ol’ Papa’s
kernels of wisdom remain.
Like when he told me to forever
remain skeptical of authority
(family elders excepted, of course)
and never trust people who value
power above individuals to
advance their own agenda. Unless
you’re capping off Nazis for the
Queen and Crown, but I digress.
Lately, by observing the actions
of some of my fellow townfolk, it
seems that they too share my cur
mudgeon-influenced power wari
ness. And they’ve thrown it on the
Chapel Hill Town Council's plate.
At the year’s first council meet
ing, the Coalition of Neighbors
Near Campus, a group critical of
the impact UNC’s expansion has
had on the community, petitioned
the council to adopt a law requir
ing all “paid lobbyists” to register
with the town and to disclose all
meetings between lobbyists and
public officials.
Yeah, that sounds fine.
Lobbyists are the vehicles used
Positions available include the
Homecoming chairmanship and
vice chairmanship, Carolina Fever
chairmanship and vice chairman
ship, Ticket Distribution co-chair
men and many more. We hope for
your interest in helping us run
CAA in the upcoming year!
William Keith
CAA president-elect
Lindsay Strunk
CAA vice president
DTH at fault for diminished
stature of Student Congress
TO THE EDITOR:
I am writing in response to the
editorial entitled “A Belated Effort”
from Thursday’s paper. The Daily
Ihr Heel has said Student Congress
has lost its “esteem and respect” and
places the blame squarely on
Congress. Yet, before the DTH
begins to point fingers it ought to
take a hard look at itself.
I was recently a candidate for
Student Congress from the South
Campus district. During the cam
paign I read the DTH every day in
order to stay up to date on current
events and issues facing Student
Congress. Over the course of about
a month I was only able to find a
handful of articles related to
Congress. Yet, I knew that every
week members of Congress were
meeting to conduct student busi
NICK EBERLEIN
THE VILLAGE MEGALOMANIAC
by private special interest groups
to chum the cycle of corruption
so prevalent in American politics.
But, I stress the word “private”
because UNC officials unless
we’ve become Dook aren’t
working for a private enterprise.
The coalition’s initial petition
presented Jan. 12 singled out per
sonal meetings between council
members and campus adminis
trators and asks local government
to “recognize that those UNC offi
cials participating in this effort
are acting as paid lobbyists.”
Well, as much as I can fathom,
people like Vice Chancellor Nancy
Suttenfield or campus head cheese
Da Meez have slightly different
duties than trying to swindle our
council members 24-7-
Suttenfield and Moeser, like
any of our nine elected town offi
cials, are public figures trying to
perform the public’s business.
Their jobs are to maintain the
integrity of the University and
uphold its public mission.
I haven’t read their contracts,
but I don’t think they contain
bonuses for effectively swaying
the sentiments of the council. I do
know that they are held account
able by the publicly elected state
legislature, however.
Therein lies the problem with
this petition. The one-on-one
meetings held outside of Town
Hall are merely public officials
shooting the bull about public con
cerns. Both sides might view an
ness, whether it was in full session
or in committee. Student Congress
was making news all along the
DTH simply wasn’t reporting it.
Also, the morning after Election
Day I woke up and quickly grabbed
a copy of the DTH. I was anxious
to find out who my colleagues
would be in Congress next year.
The paper reported no news of the
congressional races; not even a
tally of the votes in each district.
So I pose this question: How
does the DTH expect students to
“demand” anything of their elected
representatives if the leading news
organization on campus won’t even
publish election results?
The DTH has an important role
to fulfill in the campus political
dialogue. In terms of Student
Congress, I feel it has yet to do so.
Luke Farley
Freshman
Peace, War and Defense
TO SUBMIT A LETTER: The Daily Tar
Heel welcomes reader comments.
Letters to the editor should be no longer
than 300 words and must be typed,
double-spaced, dated and signed by no
more than two people. Students should
include their year, major and phone
number. Faculty and staff should include
their title, department and phone num
ber. The DTH reserves the right to edit
letters for space, clarity and vulgarity.
Publication is not guaranteed. Bring let
ters to the DTH office at Suite 104,
Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box
3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail
them to: editdesk9unc.edu.
laihj ®ar Bwl
By Chris Mattsson, mattson@email.unc.edu
issue differently, but both are there
to serve the people and, in the end,
must answer to the people.
By the petition’s logic, it would
seem that anyone’s a lobbyist. If
Carrboro Town Manager Steven
Stewart wanted to talk with some
folks in Chapel Hill about expand
ing bus routes into Carrboro, it
would follow that he must be
encumbered by registering him
self as a “lobbyist” and disclosing
each detail of his activity since he
receives a salary for what he does.
That’s ridiculous.
As I mentioned earlier, CNC is
reacting to what they perceive as
a power grab in this town.
Moeser’s blessing for a provision
in a 2001 N.C. Senate budget bill
that would have buggered Chapel
Hill out of its zoning authority is
reasonable grounds for suspicion.
After all, take a ride down
Mason Farm Road and see what
expansion along the campus’
periphery has done to an old, local
neighborhood. It’s ugly, man.
But town-gown struggles are
nothing new, and acrimonious
relations in the past have been
improved and mediated through
good old straight talking.
No matter which side of the
fence you sit on regarding town
and UNC relations, people must
realize that neither side is part of a
nefarious, secret cabal bent on the
others destruction; they just don’t
agree on everything.
Throwing this monkey wrench
into tenuous negotiations in
which the two groups have noble,
if opposing goals, does nothing to
add transparency to negotiations
and only breeds more of the dis
trust that fostered the petition in
the first place.
Contact Nick Eberlein
at slimkid@e7nail.unc.edu.
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