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10 THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2004 EDITORIALS FOR THE CALENDAR Between this and the first fall issue of the Daily Tar Heel, there are several developing issues that merit close attention for our readers. The Primary On Tuesday July 20, registered North Carolina voters will have the opportunity to take to the polls to make primary votes for the Republican and Democratic parties. Many also will have the oppor tunity to cast votes for local, nonpartisan elections. One candidate up for re-election is Orange County School Board member Keith Cook. Orange County voters would do well not to forget that, while serv ing as chairman of the school board, Cook delivered a commencement address to Orange High School seniors that he plagiarized from a speech given by Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala. While Cook still denies wrongdoing, it is clear that he set a terrible example for the students whose educa tion he is charged with ensuring. On Tuesday, vot ers should find another candidate for the Orange County School Board. Also on the ballot is Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Fern Shubert, R-Union. With years of service to the state, Shubert is a dedicated public official, but her attacks on Democratic Gov. Mike Easley are examples of negative campaigning at its worst. While most candidates in the crowded race for the GOP nomination have attempted to stay positive, Shubert’s most recent attack stopped just short of calling the governor a terrorist. This sort of attack ad this early in the campaign season does not bode well for the buildup to the November election. Republican primary voters have a slew of alterna tives when it comes time to vote. They should keep Shubert’s negativity and dissembling in mind as they do. Commencement Speaker Sometime early in the fall semester, Chancellor Moeser is expected to announce his choice for the 2005 commencement speaker. Julius Chambers last year’s choice is a man worthy of both admi ration and accolade, but his address was a debacle TOO WELL SALARIED Granting UNC-system president Molly Broad a faculty position after retirement with 60 percent of her former salary is too generous. The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported on Saturday that the UNC Board of Governors is discussing a faculty position at a UNC-system school for UNC-system President Molly Broad after her retirement. The N&O cited Brad Wilson, chairman of the BOG, as saying that Broad was promised a faculty position when she was hired, but added that the agreement wasn’t formal and the details weren’t outlined. The BOG signed off on a plan in May that would give Broad a faculty position paying 60 percent of her salary as president. “It is our standard practice,” Wilson told the N&O. But it’s unclear what Wilson means when he says it’s standard practice, given that the UNC system has only been in existence in its present form since 1972 and has had two other presidents. It would be a hard-pressed assertion to say that Broad’s controversial record of service since 1997 is comparable to that of Bill Friday, who became presi dent of the consolidated University in 1956 and con tinued to serve as president of the UNC system until 1986. C.D. Spangler, who served as the system presi dent from 1986 to 1997, never accepted a salary. Broad’s salary as system president is $300,485 and is slated to rise to $359,182 pending available funds. If she retired without a raise, the 60 percent she would receive as a member of the faculty would amount to $180,291 a year 573,991 more than the average annual salary for a full professor at UNC- Chapel Hill which was $106,300 in 2003-2004, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. $180,291 is a significant amount of money for a faculty position that hasn’t even been decided yet. Wilson told the N&O that recent negotiations have focused securing a position for Broad in the UNC CH School of Government. “There’s conversation going back and forth,” he said. “What we’re trying to do here is do something that should have been done seven years ago.” John Davis, chairman of the UNC board’s Personnel and Tenure Committee, told the N&O 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 two board members, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2004 summer DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials. READERS’ FORUM John Kerry's pro-abortion politics disgrace the Holy Communion TO THE EDITOR: I’m writing to ask Senator John Kerry to refrain from taking Holy Communion. Asa pro-abortion politician he must not disgrace our Church by consuming our Lord’s most precious Body and Blood. I too am a sinner, but Senator Kerry is making a public abomination against basic Church teaching. He claims he is keeping his religious views separate from his political beliefs. Separation of church and state has nothing to do with dismembering and slaughtering prebom children. It’s a matter of respect for the innocent and common sense. I ask Archbishop O’Malley of Boston to contact the senator and attempt to educate him. If, after attempts of re-directing him are unsuccessful, the Archbishop must forbid the priests of the Archdiocese from offer ing him the precious Flesh of Jesus Christ. We must protect the sanctity of this most holy sacrament. St. Paul said, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” It’s our duty to protect the senator from committing a double sin by promoting and accepting abortion on demand, then at best an exercise in tedium, at worst a self-con gratulatory sermon that didn’t maintain the focus on graduation. The closed process by which the 2004 senior class officers put forward a commencement speaker has left many unsettled. It has raised ques tions about the process by which a speaker is chosen, and it has led some to ponder whether wider student input receives any consideration as the chancellor makes a decision. The students and administrators who make up the selection committee should keep in mind that graduation belongs to all of the outgoing graduates at Carolina. This should not be an occasion for the chancellor to reward a friend or for student leaders to put their personal preferences above their obligation to represent their peers. Commencement should not be about the faculty (most of whom don’t bother to attend anyway), and the Carolina gradua tion speaker should be an orator of the first rank. If a decision has already been reached, then we hope officials paid greater mind to this year’s senior class and the students in the last year of their graduate programs than they have in the past. If a decision is still pending, then they must use this time to gather feedback and make a choice we can all enjoy. Student Code Revisions All summer, student Solicitor General Matt Liles has been leading a team to revise the Student Code. The revision promises to be extensive in some places, student leaders are actually examining indi vidual titles line by line, taking steps to correct the smallest errors in grammar or numbering. But the Revision Committee shows no sign of getting bogged down in minutiae. Already, there are whispers of several bold changes, which surely will cause con troversy when they are more widely released. While the committee must take adequate time to give the Code a thorough review, they must also release their plan with a schedule that allows for adequate debate. Student Government officials should encourage that type of public discourse and allow it to runs its course. that the details of a faculty position are still being worked out. Davis told the N&O that board members Cliff Cameron and former Gov. Jim Holshouser approached him last year about securing the posi tion for Broad as they had promised her in 1997. Holshouser led the search committee that chose Broad, and Cameron was chairman of the board when it elected her. Broad was recruited to serve as the president of the UNC system from her position as senior vice president on the California State University system, in which she held a tenured faculty position. She received her master’s degree in economics at Ohio State University, however she does not hold a Ph.D. Broad told the N&O that she would be interested in taking a faculty position in areas of leadership, economic development, public policy or information technology. “There are lots of options,” she said. The prospects of setting such a large sum as her salary before even deciding what work she will do seems counterintuitive and can become out right infuriating when put in context of the recent $58,697 raise that was designed specifically to aid in the recruitment and retention of administrators to the UNC system. We’re left to wonder if it’s really all that necessary. Following through on recruiting promises should certainly be an important goal for the BOG but $180,291 could potentially fund two full faculty posi tions in areas that the University needs instead of the areas in which Broad wants to work. Talk about compensation after Broad’s tenure seems to be inappropriate in a time immediately following consecutive budget cuts to the Unviersity system. And according to Broad and BOG members, the issue isn’t exactly urgent either and they deny that talk of Broad’s retirement indicate she will be leaving anytime soon. Broad and members of the BOG should consider a more sensible future salary. by presenting himself for Communion in a state of serious sin. We mustn’t allow Mr. Kerry to mock what millions of Catholic martyrs have died for. Thomas Messe Groton, CT County projects stalled, show need for Foushee & Hemminger TO THE EDITOR: Orange County voters approved bonds in 2001 to fund projects important to our community. Asa member of the 2001 Capital Needs Advisory Task Force, which advised the commissioners to the needs of our county, I am concerned about what happened to these projects. Recently, I reviewed the commissioners’ Section 0 plans to sell the bonds needed to fund the projects and move them to completion. In September 2002, the commission ers approved a plan to sell $7.7 million in bonds for the next fiscal year to finance: several parks, Greenway Development, Lands Legacy and the Soccer Super Fund. They also approved $1.3 million for affordable housing and $1.5 million for senior centers. Now fast forward to the plan that com missioners adopted on June 21. So many Editorial Page ON THE DAY S NEWS “In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, hut in its effects.” J.W. FULBRIGHT, U.S. SENATOR 1944-1974 EDITORIAL CARTOON " I SAy IT'S ABOUT TIME W£ BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS GOT INVOLVED IN POUTICS ' " COMMENTARY Political claims to religious high ground irresponsible It’s hard to believe last week was only four work-days long. A whirlwind of events kept me on my toes, anyway, and came to a dizzying climax when I got to see the Democratic ticket in person in my own hometown. But through the maelstrom, North Carolinians seem largely to have missed a critical decision articu lated very thoughtfully to reli gious observers in this state. Bishop F. Joseph Gossman of the Diocese of Raleigh announced a decision on July 8 not to with old the Eucharist to politicians who disagree with Church teach ing on abortion. The decision came in light of calls to deny communion to Democratic presi dential nominee John Kerry, who is Catholic. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops made a state ment in June that individual bish ops should make that decision. Gossman pointed out in a letter published before Kerry’s arrival in Raleigh that Catholics always have been obliged to examine their conscience and refrain themselves from receiving Holy Communion if they feel they are not in the correct state. “This is not anew practice in the Church,” Gossman said. “And I trust that those who receive the Body and Blood of Christ in this diocese have fulfilled this obliga tion and believe they are free of grave sin.” That’s not to say Gossman backed down on abortion. He argued strongly that the debate was not about choice but about taking the life of a human being and he continued by pushing for the affirmation of moral obliga tions in political life. “We are not to leave our most deeply held convictions behind when we vote and neither are elected officials to abandon their moral and ethical convictions when they assume office,” he said. That’s an argument that I find pretty convincing. We don’t live in a religious vacuum, after all. Politics and morality aren’t apples and oranges to be ziplocked away and stored in the “fridge. They’re more like the fruits in a canned of these projects have stalled in planning that the county sold no bonds in 2003-4. There was no financing for parks, affordable housing or senior centers. Commissioners missed the chance to sell bonds at historically low interest rates. We want all our elected officials to make reasoned decisions, based on informed citizen input but constant sec ond-guessing and avoidance by saying ‘we need more information’ is not good gover nance. Let’s elect commissioners who can delegate and make reasoned decisions, while staying attuned to the best inter ests of our County. Please vote for Valerie Foushee and Pam Hemminger for Orange County Commissioner on July 20. Judy Margolis Chapel Hill 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 number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, darity and vulgarity. Publication is not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to: editdesk@unc.edu. JEFF KIM EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR cocktail in which the mix of juices sits in the pantry, waiting to be eaten, saturating the indi vidual parts so that you’re not sure what it is you’re biting into it unless you turn around and give it a second glance. And given that opportunity to reflect, I’m inclined to look at broadcast media, where such regulation isn’t new. The govern ment commonly limits the sex, drugs and violence that run on the airwaves because we deem them harmful to the upbringing of children and the moral fiber of our society. I’m one to agree with the standards that we enforce. It’s certainly a better idea than giving in to the libertarian impulse that says it’s not my problem: the one that tells you to get rid of your TV if you don’t want your kids to see the junk that’s on it. Give me a break. Democratic society has long debated the morals it deems common and important enough to promote as policy. But going about deciding which ones are common and important well that’s a pretty darned sensitive topic. There’s disagreement on almost every conceivable moral idea, and it’s very rarely a clear cut debate between the religious and the irreligious. Within the Christian denominations, you’ll find churches where the black community comes together to press for civil rights, gays gain acceptance within religious teaching and debate rages as to whether a fetus is or is not a human being. For one side to claim the unequivocal religious high ground on any of these issues is to dis miss the richness and complexity of religious ideas even within (Flic 00% (Far Ifrcl PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS STAFF Display Advertising: Andy Lunnen and Megan Gilchrist, account executives. Advertising Production: Penny Persons, manager. Classified Production: Cindy Huntley. Business and Advertising: Paul Isom, director/general man ager, Chrissy Beck, director of marketing, Lisa Reichle, business manager. Customer Service: Annette Parker, Kia Thacker and Ada Wilson, representatives EDITORIAL STAFF State & National: Alex Granados, Whitney Isenhower and Mark Puente. University: Jennifer Kawka, Fred Lameck, Caroline Kornegay and Matt Stoddard. Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn, manager. Printing: Triangle Web. Distribution: Triangle Circulation Services. Arts & Entertainment: Nicole Bobitski, Robbie Mackey, Becca Moore, Adam Rodman, Jennifer Samuels and Kristen Williams. City: Shannan Bowen, Emma Burgin and Lizzie Stewart. Design: Amy Dombrower. Graphics: Jacquelyn Pyun. Editorial: Matt Compton, edit board member. Photography: MlkeGibson, Peter Stone and Sarah Whitmeyer. The Daily Tar Heel is published by the-DTH Publishing Corp., a non-profit North Carolina corporation, Monday-Friday, according to the University calendar. Callers with questions about billing or display advertising should call 962-1163 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Classified ads can be reached at 962-0252. Editorial questions should be directed to ..... 962-0245 ISN #10709436 OFFICE: Suite 2409 Carolina Union CAMPUS MAIL ADDRESS: CB# 5210, Carolina Union U.S. MAIL ADDRESS: P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515- 3257 QE \ft Hatty ®ar Heft the Christian faith. It’s to hijack a set of ideals that Americans hold dearest to their hearts. Morality will be an issue in this upcoming election cycle, make no mistake about that. It’s more important than any other topic that will come up for debate. These issues strike at the heart of our free dom. Separation of church and state wasn’t developed to keep religion out of government it was to prevent powerful religious groups from imposing their will onto those with a weaker and less influential voice. Morality is an important issue because the American people can not afford to surrender the great balance that has been maintained for more than two centuries. Today’s,politics threaten to blur the lines between obligation and coercion. For a coordinated group of politicized religious institutions to form a powerful and potential ly unwilling voting machine is for them to impede on our tradition of separation of church and state. They’ve gone beyond inform ing the individual in his moral decision-making. They’re telling voters that their denomination’s leaders know our individual relationships with God better than we know it ourselves. They’re trying to deny our abil ity to participate in communion because of our political beliefs. They’re trying to institute an amendment to the Constitution that says that the government, not the divine power, defines divine marriage —then denies it to some members of the God fearing population. Religion and morality are undoubtedly part of public life this is no innovation of the new “conservative” argument —but these issues should be dealt with using extreme care. I’m not Catholic, but I’m going to have to agree with Bishop Gossman on this issue. I know my relation ship with God better than some outside political machine thinks it does. Contact Jeff Kim atjongdae@email.unc.edu. Established 1893 111 years of editorialfreedom K}? lathj (Ear Mhl www.daHytatfheel.Com PHILIP MCFEE SUMMER EDITOR LAURA YOUNGS MANAGING EDITOR JEFF KIM EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR CHRIS COLETTA STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR JOSEPH SCWARTZ CITY EDITOR BRIAN HUDSON UNIVERSITY EDITOR DANIEL BLANK SPORTS EDITOR GILLIAN BOLSOVER PHOTO EDITOR MICHAEL PUCCI ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / FEATURES EDITOR DAVID LORIMER COPY EDITOR RANDI DEMAGISTRIS DESIGN EDITOR MARY JANE KATZ GRAPHICS EDITOR If you have any concerns or comments about our coverage, please contact our management staff at pip@email.unc.edu or call at 962-0245.
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