10
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2004
BOARD EDITORIALS
A POOR EXAMPLE
While a Rhode Island university’s College Republicans have the right
to create a white-only scholarship, they are doing so in bad taste.
f ■ <|he controversy over the justice of minority-
I based scholarships has again become a hot
.1. topic in the arena of higher education.
In response to debate about affirmative action,
The Associated Press reports that the College
Republicans club of Roger Williams University in
Rhode Island will be issuing a $250 scholarship for
which only white students are eligible.
The money for the scholarship is completely with
in the ownership of the College Republicans. They
can do whatever they wish with private funds.
Also, given the number of race and gender-based
scholarships circulating, no justifiable argument can
deny this organization from creating a scholarship
geared toward whites.
Since the intent is to protest affirmative action
symbolically, the College Republicans’ scholarship
exists as a form of political speech, which must be
protected. Regardless of one’s approval or disapproval
of the club’s message, they have every right to express
their political opposition to affirmative action.
However, while the organization is within its right
to express its political ideology, the spirit in which
LIVELY DOWNTOWN
Joe Riddle should be praised for his effort to increase the downtown
area’s vitality as he prepares to buy land along West Franklin Street.
Developer Joe Riddle’s plans for a tract along
West Franklin Street will be a welcome addi
tion to Chapel Hill and could help efforts to
strengthen the downtown area economically.
Riddle expects to purchase next month a large
piece of property that includes the University
Chrysler-Plymouth building and other parcels of land.
He said he hopes to build anew structure that
would include restaurants, retail and residential hous
ing. Riddle has stated that the project would be simi
lar to, if not grander than, his previous foray into
Chapel Hill development: the East Franklin complex
that houses Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery.
The new development undoubtedly will further the
town’s efforts to revitalize the downtown area. Chapel
Hill’s Downtown Economic Development Initiative is
focused on developing two town-owned parking lots
with structures that have both residential and com
mercial uses.
Such a project will aid the West End in particular,
which historically has been a less viable business
location than East Franklin Street.
The town hopes to transform Parking Lot 2, at the
intersection of Columbia and Rosemary streets, and
Parking Lot 5, which occupies the block between
HOLD YOUR TONGUE
While fans occasionally are justified in their criticism of certain calls
by referees, their profane response to iffy decisions is unacceptable.
It cannot be denied that the officiating has been
consistently less than kind to the UNC men’s
basketball team thus far this season.
But despite the incessantly deplorable calls by ref
erees, there is no excuse for the uncouth response
frequently heard at the Smith Center.
Chants of “bullshit” by angry fans are inappropri
ate and should not be a feature of UNC home games.
While UNC students and fans talk a big game about
being the classiest, old-school basketball fans in the
Atlantic Coast Conference, such chants especially
when broadcast on televisions nationwide reflect
poorly on the University and its basketball fans.
Of course, few members of The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Board can claim to be innocent of uttering
the occasional angry profanity in the Smith Center
and most are guilty of berating that special referee,
who most certainly deserved scolding for missing the
obvious foul.
But individual jeers for poor officiating don’t hold
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
Congress spending to bring
Oliver North is questionable
TO THE EDITOR:
Oliver North? There’s $15,000
to spend, and you invite Oliver
North?
Speaking of uncovered scandals
that the president denied, I wonder
if Monica Lewinsky is available to
speak. OK, enough of that.
The UNC College Republicans
have the right to spend their allo
cated share anyway they want.
What is most distressing to me is
the fact there was a surplus of
finances allotted for student organ
izations.
This is a great shame.
Remember, this money is yours. It
was raised from the students to be
spent by the students for the bene
fit of the students.
In an era of drastic tuition
increases, it’s time students start
deciding how and where their
money is going to be spent.
With close to SIOO,OOO in sur
plus, either the Finance Committee
is a bunch of tight wads or the stu
dent organizations are not aiming
high enough.
Judging from the allocation fig
ures, the Student Congress
Finance Committee is a bunch of
tight wads.
But, that’s no reason to stop pur
suing your organization’s share. On
the contrary, you should try hard
er. It’s your money. Demand it!
One last point: The Finance
the scholarship was available is downright
obnoxious.
Voltaire once said, “I may disagree with what you
have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right
to say it.”
His words are particularly applicable in this case.
The tone in which the scholarship is offered is
undeniably one showing little respect. By forcing
applicants to provide pictures to “confirm whiteness”
and stating that “evidence of bleaching will disqual
ify applicants,” it is obvious that the offering is a
snide one.
Scholarships based on race or gender definitely
serve an agenda: ensuring opportunities for those
who historically have been marginalized in higher
education not just for making people angry.
Roger Williams’ College Republicans club has
every right to offer the scholarship in terms of fair
ness and legality, the offering is perfectly valid.
The spirit in which it is being offered, however,
leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who would
speak in defense of race and gender-based scholar
ships.
Franklin and Rosemary Streets adjacent to Michael
Jordan’s now-defunct restaurant, into areas that may
resemble Riddle’s previous and future downtown
improvements.
Any downtown revitalization requires a mix of land
uses. Residential space means more people will be
downtown after business hours, while office space
boosts the downtown population during the day.
Restaurants and shops can draw consumers into
a densely developed area, but parking must be easi
ly available and affordable if any outside money is to
be spent.
Riddle’s West End project appears to address these
multiple facets of desirable downtown development.
The Chapel Hill town government would do well
for itself and its constituents to assist Riddle, par
ticularly in providing guidance on specific niches of
the downtown economy that his land could fill. This
project offers an excellent opportunity for the town
to jump-start its revitalization efforts for both ends
of Chapel Hill’s traditional center.
Riddle should be commended for his willingness
to invest in the heart of Chapel Hill, and the town
should follow his lead in building a vibrant down
town, piece by piece.
a candle to thousands of people chanting profanity
in unison. In an audience 0f21,750 that plays host to
a number of families and young children, the cussing
has got to go. How can we claim to be a classier
crowd than those hooligans from Cameron Indoor
Stadium if millions witness our temper tantrum on
live television?
A chant needn’t be profane, however, to show a
lack of class.
Men’s basketball coach Roy Williams fussed at
UNC students who chanted “overrated” when the
Tar Heels were beatiqj handily opponent Georgia
Tech in the Smith Center on Jan. 11.
That particular chant makes no sense, as it is a
lofty accomplishment to knock off a higher-ranked
team. Hollering “overrated” indicates that defeating
that highly ranked opponent was no difficult feat,
thusly demeaning the opponent and inadvertently
demeaning our own players at the same time.
So cut the bullshit. It’s overrated.
Committee wanted to see the
speaker, since he’s someone who
would unify the campus.
What has Oliver North done in
the past that would give you the
impression he is here to unite?
You want unification? Invite
Nelson Mandela to speak.
Now that would be enlighten
ing.
Kevin Nesnow
Employee
Arts 13 Sciences Foundation
Women's basketball should
get equal coverage to men
TO THE EDITOR:
I know that The Daily Tar Heel
values all sports on our campus.
Therefore, I am puzzled by the
reporting of box scores for the
men’s and women’s basketball
teams.
Could you please give a ration
ale for reporting the game statis
tics for the women’s basketball
games with an “abbreviated” box
score while statistics for the men’s
basketball games receive a “full”
box score?
In the Monday edition of the
DTH, the men’s box score con
sumed 5 1/8 inches of the article
while the women’s box score was 2
1/2 inches.
While much of the statistics are
the same, the choice of format
gives the appearance that the
women’s game is of lesser impor-
Opinion
tance.
If you value the performances of
Ivory Latta and Candace Sutton as
highly as those of Raymond Felton
and Sean May, then report both
with a full box score.
Sherry Salyer
Lecturer
Exercise and Sport Science
Tanner column reinforces
climate of hate, violence
TO THE EDITOR:
Announcing that “homosexuali
ty (is) a sin and personally disgust
ing” in a classroom, as Bentley
Tanner referenced in his column
on free speech last Thursday, is
directly hurtful and harmful to
other students in the classroom,
especially those of us who identify
as LGBTQ and those of us who are
LGBTQ-affirming.
Such speech contributes to a cli
mate in which LGBTQ students
and allies do not feel safe.
Is it really all that bad? Yes.
Accounts of intimidation and
harassment based on sexual orien
tation (or perceived sexual orien
tation) are rampant in our culture.
From the frequent use of the den
igrating expression “that’s so gay”
to refer to something negatively, to
the sign that read “F**K FAG
GOTS” that was posted on the
door leading into a Safe Zone
training for allies on UNC’s cam
pus last semester, to the murder of
ON THE DAY’S NEWS
“The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak
is to support the rights of people you don’t agree with.”
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, u s congresswoman
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Ifw 0 V
COliliEiTSif
Senate candidates should
acknowledge economic ills
Like in the November presi
dential showdown, the econ
omy will be one of the chief
campaign issues for Republican
Richard Burr and Democrat
Erskine Bowles, both running for
the U.S. Senate seat soon to be
vacated by John Edwards.
But unlike the sunny projec
tions of Bush advisers, who claim
the economy is steaming ahead,
the positions taken toward job
loss by these Senate candidates
will be and must be drastically
different.
The departure of many manu
facturing and textile companies to
overseas locales has resulted in
numerous layoffs and plant clos
ings as the state attempts to climb
quf of a,pasty recession.
Last week, a report by
President Bush’s Council of
Economic Advisers brushed off
the negative effects of overseas
job loss.
According to The Charlotte
Observer, the report called the
movement of U.S. jobs overseas
“anew type of trade” and, con
cerning goods, stated that “it
makes sense to import (them)
rather than to produce (them)
domestically.”
The Observer also reported
economic adviser Gregory
Mankiw’s lousy attempt to spin
job loss, dubbing this so-called
outsourcing “just anew way of
doing international trade” and “a
good thing.”
Mankiw soon apologized for
these statements, but the message
is clear: The big heads in the
executive branch are hopelessly
out of touch to the concerns of
the thousands of suffering blue
collar workers.
Brnr and Bowles were quick to
criticize Mankiw’s economic
assessment, preferring to use
LGBTQ individuals like Matthew
Shepard, Roxanne Ellis and
Michelle Abdill, we live in a cli
mate that is hostile.
The first step toward commit
ting acts of violence against a
group of people is seeing that
group as less than human. Casting
a group of people as “sinners” and
is a step in that direc
tion. In a culture in which such
comments abound, it is more like
ly that other acts of violence (emo
tional, verbal, physical) will also
abound. This is why the “personal
Christian beliefs” that Mr. Tanner
references are harmful they have
the real threat of violence behind
them (and, importantly, they are
not the only version of “Christian
beliefs,” see http://www.religious
tolerance.org).
The message of such comments
is received loud and clear. How else
do we account for the estimated 30
percent of teen suicide victims who
are LGBTQ identified or question
ing?
Individuals who are not queer
identified are not targeted for acts
of discrimination and brutality
simply because of their sexuality.
While that is a right that should be
afforded to every human being,
when the LGBTQ community is
systematically denied that right it
becomes a privilege for those of us
who are “straight.” This is not a
matter of opinion, but an empiri
cally proven social phenomenon.
Every instructor on this campus
[plfP
MICHAEL DAVIS
COUNTRY FEEDBACK
some tact as they addressed what
should become the core issue of
this Senate campaign.
Burr told the Observer that he
and the president would differ on
these economic policies and said
Mankiw should be fired for last
week’s statements, while Bowles
had a more pointed attack on fed
eral practices that “have put thou
sands of North Carolinians out of
work.”
Unfortunately, job loss isn’t any
less of a problem now than when
Bowles ran unsuccessfully against
Elizabeth Dole in the 2002
Senate race.
According to the North
Carolina Employment Security
Commission, a grand total of
27,300 manufacturing jobs were
lost between December 2002 and
December 2003.
The issue resonates even more
when considering the more than
5,000 workers who were laid off
during last summer’s Pillowtex
closings. The former employees
streaming out of those textile
plants and later lining up for job
counseling are still reeling from
the state’s biggest mass layoff.
These unemployed workers
won’t buy the line that they are
just part of the shift to more
international trade. There’s no
comfort in that mumbo-jumbo
spouted from Washington.
Sure, the move from mills and
plants to more service-oriented
occupations is inevitable.
has the right to make their class
rooms safe for students who are
members of oppressed groups.
This does not mean censoring any
one, but it does mean that any and
all comments can be scrutinized in
relation to social consequences.
“Free speech” does not mean we
have free reign to say whatever we
want without regard to the impact
we may have on others.
We are all full human beings.
We applaud the members of this
community who are willing to
stand up against the backlash that
would have us all shut up.
Kelly White
Co-chairwoman
Feminists Students United
Trevor Hoppe
Co-chairman
GLBT-Straight Alliance
The length rule was waived.
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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.
ufyp lailg ®ar Nnl
Denying this great economic
transformation is hopelessly
naive, and trying to stop it is like
one man attempting to block a
glacier fatally futile.
This race will be shaped by
how these Senate candidates can
take frightening trends and find
ways to circumvent the grave hor
rors experienced by the thou
sands of folks now without work.
By ripping a page out of the
Bush-Cheney playbook and actu
ally putting it into practice, it is
my hope that these candidates
can project some “compassion”
toward these folks.
New job training is crucial, but
innovation will be required to
handle the needs of people who
are simply too old to restart a
career.
Burr wants tax incentives to
encourage companies to generate
more domestic employment,
while Bowles is calling for broad
er changes to federal economic
policies, which he says lead many
corporations to foreign lands.
Just how these candidates plan
to go about delivering new solu
tions to the state’s unemployed
workers will be more explicit in
the months to come, with key dif
ferences and philosophies to
arise.
These folks don’t need a dis
tant air of superiority blowing on
them from the nation’s capital
claiming that all is well, ’cause all
isn’t.
And they don’t need a bunch of
empty promises from the Senate
candidates.
Soon, these workers will decide
for themselves who can help them
out and truly show some compas
sion.
Contact Michael Davis
at davismt@email.unc.edu.
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