8
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2004
BOARD EDITORIALS
PICK CALABRIA TODAY
Matt Calabria is best suited to represent students, given his thorough
understanding of the important role of the student body president.
f ■ Daily Tkr Heel Editorial Board consistent-
I ly has been of the opinion that the single great-
JL est challenge facing the student body president
in the coming year will be representing the student
voice beyond the bounds of the UNC-Chapel Hill
campus.
For this reason, vote for Matt Calabria for the office
of student body president today on Student Central.
He is well-prepared to argue on behalf of students
as a member of the UNC-CH Board of Trustees,
before the Chapel Hill Town Council and in the halls
of the N.C. General Assembly.
Calabria’s best quality is that he knows his stuff.
His well-researched, comprehensive platform and his
extensive experience confirm that he is an extraordi
narily knowledgeable candidate. When he takes up
student interests before the trustees, council mem
bers or legislators, he will have his facts straight.
And he is sure to spend plenty of time presenting
those facts. From his plans for municipal govern
ment outreach to his UNC Lobby Corps, Calabria’s
plans for external relations include a number of
ideas that will strengthen students’ involvement in
GO VOTE ... AGAIN
Vote in today’s runoff election for UNC student body president at
http://studentcentral.unc.edu and name the next University trustee.
On Feb. 10, students voted in the first round of
the student body president election. The pack
of candidates was led by Lily West, who gar
nered 27.4 percent of the vote while Matt Calabria
came in second with 24.6 percent.
But of course, there can be only one president.
The election has changed in the past week. With
only two people remaining in the contest, the make
up of the election has changed.
Most of the student body president hopefiils who
didn’t make the runoff have gotten behind one of the
two candidates still standing. Matt Compton, Matt
Liles and John Walker have endorsed West. Ashley
Castevens and Faudlin Pierre are supporting
Calabria
West’s numbers were slightly higher than those of
Calabria, but there’s no clear front-runner. This race
is likely to go down to the wire. The only certainty
is that whoever wins today’s election will have a
major say in future debates about tuition increase
proposals, fee appropriations, town-gown relations
and other significant issues.
West and Calabria have outlined different
DOCTORS’ MEDICINE
An insurance pool from which doctors would draw money for
malpractice suits ultimately would help the N.C. medical community.
Agrowing number of doctors across the nation
are having to deal with the painful problem of
skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance
rates, some totalling upwards of SIOO,OOO per year,
or more.
Some fear that local doctors could be priced out of
coverage and might leave North Carolina in search
of work in states where insurance premiums aren’t
as high.
Last week The Associated Press reported that
administrators at Wilmington’s New Hanover
Regional Medical Center are considering the idea of
an insurance pool to which doctors could contribute
a yearly premium and draw from in the wake of mal
practice suits.
Though the plan isn’t perfect, an insurance pool
would be a wonderful alternative for doctors who can’t
afford prohibitively expensive insurance policies.
Doctors could buy into the pool with a $30,000
(on the average) yearly contribution. In order to make
the program work, pool coordinators would have to
enlist about half of the hospital’s 400 doctors.
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.
READERS FORUM
Calabria's experience, work
ethic make him best choice
TO THE EDITOR:
We encourage everyone to vote
for Matt Calabria in today’s runoff
election.
Please examine Calabria’s plat
form before you vote. When cam
paigns end and fanfare subsides, the
platform is the only element that a
candidate carries to office.
Calabria’s platform reflects a
remarkable level of research and
knowledge. He has built the most
potent tuition plan we’ve ever seen,
one that will finally force policy
makers to take students seriously.
He also addresses a vast array of stu
dent concerns with great depth,
offering solutions for students inter
ested in legal music downloads, the
availability of turf fields for dub and
intramural sports teams and finding
part-time jobs around campus. If
you’re a student, chances are Matt
Calabria already has a plan that will
make your life easier.
We could say he’s the best pro
gressive candidate, the best candi
date for graduate students or the
best candidate for women. We think
Calabria’s platform and endorse
ments bear out each of those dis
tinctions, but we’d rather you meet
him, or at least visit his Web site,
and find out why he’s the best can
didate for you.
Maybe the best thing about his
platform is its feasibility. Because
Calabria has gathered so much stu-
state and local politics.
But Calabria is no slouch as far as campus affairs
go. His extensive plans for the University are sure to
make students’ lives better step by step, and given his
work ethic, his goals are sure to be accomplished.
Calabria’s opponent, Lily West, is a confident, pas
sionate speaker who has brought a refreshing slate of
creative ideas to the table throughout her candidacy.
She would provide spirited leadership for campus
and empower student organizations with her plans
to represent groups thoroughly in her administration.
West’s candidacy, however, ultimately falls short
because she demonstrates a lack of understanding of
the politics facing the University in the coming year.
A quick read of West’s platform or a short chat with
the candidate reveal that she would work endlessly for
student organizations and enliven campus affairs.
But students and all members of the University
community need a student body president whose
impact will be felt beyond Franklin Street. At this
moment in the life of the University we need a trustee,
a lobbyist and a convincing, well-informed advocate.
That candidate is Matt Calabria.
approaches in their platforms, and they have dis
similar strengths and weaknesses.
Helping to elect someone who will represent stu
dents’ interests adequately next year certainly will be
worth the mere seconds it will take each student to
navigate through a few pages, select a candidate and
click “submit.”
In any case, students should take whatever knowl
edge of the candidates and issues they have acquired
during the past month, get in gear and visit
http://studentcentral.unc.edu.
This election —and any student body president
contest, for that matter is too important for stu
dents to sit idly by while others choose their leader
for them.
Today, students will have 15 hours to decide who
will represent the student body on the UNC Board
of Trustees next year. To say that’s enough time
would be a major understatement.
Students should see voting for their next student
body president not as an inconvenient duty but as a
great opportunity to help forge the path of student
affairs during the 2004-05 academic year.
While cheaper than a SIOO,OOO premium, a com
mon figure, $30,000 still could be prohibitively
expensive to young residents the very people for
whom the program would be most beneficial.
Pool coordinators might see more interest if the
contribution cost was mandated by the doctor’s spe
cialty instead.
A higher risk specialist, such as a heart sturgeon or
neurosurgeon, would pay a higher buy-in price than
a general practice doctor.
This could lower the cost for younger doctors and
recent medical school graduates and could bring
more people into the program.
Ultimately, if the pool is successful, the idea of
lower malpractice insurance could help draw new
medical talent into the state. If the pool proves com
petitive enough, it also could force insurance com
panies to lower malpractice rates for fear of losing
significant amounts of business.
Though the program is still in its embryonic stage,
if it gets off the ground, it could be a boon to North
Carolina’s medical community.
dent and administrative input, the
issue of whether his proposals will
work is largely moot.
Of course, he has many more
fine ideas than this space permits,
so please peruse the whole platform
and the fonny videos on his Web
site at http://www.unc.edu/cal
abria. And if you have a minute,
meet him in the Pit.
Scott Jones
President
N.C. Federation of College
Democrats
Robin Sinhababu
Vice President
UNC Young Democrats
TO THE EDITOR:
Though I was unsuccessful in my
bid for student body president, I am
proud to have had a campaign char
acterized by its integrity and com
mitment to substance above poli
tics, which I do not wish to see end
with my candidacy. As such, I
extend foil support to Matt Calabria
for the runoff election. He is not
only the most qualified, but person
ifies a deeper passion and the ener
gy to affect change in a way that his
competition does not.
Next year, external relations and
attention to oft-overlooked seg
ments of campus will be crucial
issues. They must be made a prior
ity, and Matt has a keen awareness
of the characters and conflicts with
respect to University administra
Opinion
tion, the towns and the N.C. General
Assembly. This knowledge sets him
apart, and his willingness to devote
extensive effort and the work inti
mately with others makes him the
only option for success at every
level. In addition, I was the only
candidate to truly prioritize the arts,
honor and the Greek community.
Matt has demonstrated the desire
not just the willingness to
incorporate many distinct ideas
from my platform. His enthusiasm
and positive reception of diverse
ideas are valuable not only for these
issues, but promising for his success
once elected.
I urge every student to support
Matt today, as his integrity, strong
and respected demeanor, and
unmatched knowledge base make
him the very best choice for our next
student body president
Ashley Castevens
Former student body president
candidate
West's plans reflect passion
for women, minorities
TO THE EDITOR:
I care a lot about minority
issues. So do the Black Student
Movement, the Gay Lesbian
Bisexual Transgendered Student
Alliance and Sangam. They’ve all
endorsed Lily West for student
body president, and I am too.
If Lily is elected, she will create a
document called To Ways to Make
ON THE DAY’S NEWS
“We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but
even that is a decision”
GARY COLLINS, ACTOR
EDITORIAL CARTOON
3W
COMMENTARY
Southern heritage invokes
generations worth of guilt
Isn’t the South romantic?
Beautiful Scarlett O’Hara
draped in the arms of Captain
Rhett Butler. Their relationship is
doomed, and everyone knows it
from the start except for them.
Since its release in 1939, “Gone
With The Wind” has fascinated
many with its lush and romantic
treatment of Southern life. That’s
Southern myth. Southern reality is
an entirely different thing, one we
have to face up to every day.
Set in the deep South just
before the Civil War, the film is a
testament to the Southern mys
tique.
The region’s art and literature
are so distinctly its own that its
greatest.figures are household
names hundreds of years after
their deaths, and its greatest films
are interwoven with the
American imagination.
Its accents are so marked that
a moment’s listen to a Southern
speaker can give away a person’s
homeland, religious preference
and political party with a degree
of relative certainty.
So it’s clear that we know
exactly what a Southerner is, but
what exactly do we think about
ourselves?
Ever since I can remember, it’s
been hard not to be ashamed of
my ancestors, and rightfully so. It
begins in elementary school.
Slavery —one of the most inhu
mane, terrible, backbreaking
institutions in human recollection
was so entrenched in Southern
society that we were willing to
fight and die for it.
I use “we” because it’s too often
that Southern children identify
their ancestors as “they.” Fess up,
take what’s yours. It’s your great
great-grandfathers. No, it wasn’t
my idea, but it’s in my bloodline.
And while it’s easy to separate
Carolina the Institution of Choice
for Women and Minorities,’ which
will provide a blueprint for making
our university the most diverse and
harmonious in the nation.
She is going to build on this by
creating the first ever permanent
diversity training program at UNC.
She is going to create a Community
and Diversity Committee in the
executive branch, work with
Minority Student Recruitment to
bring more Latino and Native
American students, which are cur
rently underrepresented, to UNC,
and she’s going to provide Safe Zone
training for cabinet members.
Any candidate can say they will
do these kinds of things, but Lily’s
been doing them as long as she’s
been at UNC. This year as co
chairperson of the Campus Vs
Students for the Advancement of
Race Relations Committee, she put
together the best Race Relations
Week UNC has ever had. It hap
pened because of Lily’s incredible
passion for her work, and she’ll
bring that passion to her duties if
she is elected.
This is a great place, but it needs
to be improved, and Lily is the can
didate with the leadership skills
and background best suited to
making that happen. Please join
me tomorrow in voting Lily West
for student body president.
Mona Benrashid
Freshman
Undecided
. nraMi jL I
BILLY BALL
FOR KIDS WHO CAN'T READ GOOD
myself from my past, it’s not so
easy for African-Americans, even
today, to forget where they’re
coming from.
It’s precisely that brand of
Southern denial that allows slav
ery’s greatest cruelties to linger.
John Pendleton Kennedy, a
leading Southern writer before
the Civil War, published his most
successful novel, “Swallow Bam,”
to the acclaim of plantation read
ers. Kennedy’s fictional plantation
is a romantic and wonderful
place. So romantic that the mas
ter’s slaves “hold him in profound
reverence and are very happy
under his dominion.”
It’s that same kind of denial
that led to a belief that the
singing of the slaves was a sign of
joy. Frederick Douglass addressed
those songs in his groundbreak
ing “Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass.”
“The songs of the slave repre
sent the sorrows of the heart; and
he is relieved by them, only as an
aching heart is relieved by its
tears,” Douglass writes.
It’s Southern denial that led me
to believe affirmative action is an
unnecessary institution in modem
America. And I only began to
believe otherwise when my former
employer at a movie theater
mused, “Here come those damn
monkeys now,” when black patrons
were looking to buy tickets.
The only job he saw fit for a
black kid in my time there was a
TO THE EDITOR:
Today, I would encourage all
students concerned with minority
or women’s issues to take a minute
and review Lily West’s platform.
There I hope they will see that, in
addition to being the best candi
date overall, Lily’s plans are both
innovative and feasible.
To Lily “minority” is an all
encompassing term for any group
whose voice is not heard as it
should be on our campus. Working
with recruitment to attract more
Latino/Latina and Native
American students, requiring
Safe Zone training for all members
of student government and making
night time travel more secure are
all some of her major goals but she
will take student’s concerns direct
ly to the administration by pre
senting them with a document that
identifies “10 Ways to Make
Carolina the Institution of Choice
for Women and Minorities.”
Lily’s ideas can and will work;
this has been recognized by
endorsements firom the Black
Student Movement, the Gay
Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered
Straight Alliance, Sangam, Asian
Students Association and ACLU.
But don’t take their word for it;
go to http://www.unc.edu/west
and see her vision for Carolina
yourself.
Amber Jenkins
Senior
Biology
(Zltjp Hatty Star BM
By Andrew Johnson, johnso4o@email.unc.edu
janitor and any application from
a black for another position might
as well have dropped straight into
the paper shredder.
It’s that same utter Southern
silence that led critic H.L.
Mencken to conclude in the
1920s that if a tidal wave were to
drown the whole of the late
Confederate states, its impact on
the civilized cultures of the world
woujd be minute.
All of this and more has pro
duced something of an identity
crisis in the South today. Everyone
deserves to love where they’re
from and to love their fathers, but
what if your fathers and your
homeland are the centers of the
greatest wounds in the American
conscience? What then?
Talk then is what I say. It’s
denial that brought us here. Denial
that the cruelty of slavery didn’t
end with the Civil War. Denial that
blacks were set up to join the rat
race with broken legs.
Some of the greatest American
visionaries did precisely that. Talk
it. Write it. Sing it. Paint it. Read
it. And I hope that leads to doing
something about it.
“Silent Sam” is the oft-attacked
monument to Confederate sol
diers on North Campus. The fact
that he was a Confederate doesn’t
change the fact that he’s a father
to many Southerners, and we can’t
talk about the whole dirly busi
ness without recognizing that fact.
When we talk about that busi
ness, we can find the love of our
land that’s been so elusive, and
our children won’t have to be
ashamed of their fathers.
I hope that statue never comes
down. But I also hope that Sam
won’t be so silent anymore.
Contact Billy Ball
at wkball@emailunc.edu.
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