8
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2004
BOARD EDITORIALS
KEEPING A TIGHT LIP
UNC officials made a wise decision when they declined to respond
to suggestions from an advisory committee regarding Carolina North.
Members of the Horace Williams Citizens
Committee presented some valid concerns
regarding Carolina North plans in the
finalized report that they released last week.
But UNC officials haven’t bent over backwards to
accommodate those concerns —and rightly so.
Administrators made an understandable deci
sion when they chose not to respond officially to the
report, which calls for “radical improvements in the
(University) plan with respect to transportation.”
Officials are caught between the push for an
increasingly research-driven academic environment
—with important long-term economic implications
for a state in transition —and the concerns of town
residents. The University shouldn’t be excessively sti
fled in its attempts to meet both of these standards.
Statements by committee members have criticized
the University’s planning as being shortsighted, but
they also have advised against University administra
tors and members of the Chapel Hill Town Council
meeting to work out kinks in planning.
In its August report, the committee asked the coun
cil not to enter discussions on transportation plans with
UNC officials because the Carolina North proposals did
not include information about the types of Carolina
North tenants and their transportation needs.
The language in that report made clear the com
mittee’s desire that the town shouldn’t proceed in
working out problems unless it precisely follows the
committee’s guidelines.
The comment read as follows:
“The Town Council has not responded to the
principles, goals and strategies of the HWCC. In
view of this, we resubmit our portion of the HWCC
report and call upon the Council to further discuss
and react to the HWCC report. Therefore the Town
should not enter into discussions with the University
at this time. Under the present circumstances, the
Town Council cannot do its job.”
Except for a short section that demands that the
CLASH OF THE TITANS
Student voters would do well to analyze the widely divergent stances
on education taken by candidates Mike Easley and Patrick Ballantine.
Along with some of the other usual suspects
jobs, economic development and health care
education has been a major issue in this year’s
gubernatorial race between incumbent Gov. Mike
Easley and former state Sen. Patrick Ballantine.
Students, especially those who live in North
Carolina and those who have some time remaining
in their UNC careers, would be wise to pay attention
to the education proposals of each candidate.
Anew source of revenue
Easley consistently has championed the idea of a
state lottery, the revenues from which would be used
to fund education. Ballantine maintains that a lottery
would be too much of a financial risk and that the
state could get the money it needs partly by cutting
back on wasted expenditures.
Objecting to a state lottery on moral grounds
makes sense, as gambling widely is considered to be
a societal ill. But frankly, North Carolina needs anew
source of revenue if it intends to build more schools,
reduce class sizes and increase teacher pay —and the
state shouldn’t go about improving some important
services by cutting funding to others.
The fact is that many other states are making good
use of the money they get from their lotteries. By not
going down this potentially lucrative albeit mor
ally ambiguous avenue, North Carolina is letting
itself fall behind.
Facing the inevitable
Ballantine would allow for tuition hikes at state uni
versities as long as they don’t come at current students’
expense. Easley would try to avoid such increases.
The incumbent’s stance might sound better to stu
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 six board members, the editorial page associate editor, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2004-05 DTH editor
decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
READERS’ FORUM
Forum will explore minority
vote in upcoming election
TO THE EDITOR:
Still undecided? Here’s your
chance to make up your mind. In
honor of Race Relations Week,
the Campus Y’s Students for the
Advancement of Race Relations will
hold a forum titled “The Minority
Vote in the 2004 Election.”
The forum is not exclusive to
minorities issues important to
all students will be addressed by an
esteemed representative from each
presidential campaign. The forum
will take place at 7 p.m. today in the
Great Hall of the Student Union.
Stella Adams, president of the
African-American Caucus of the
N.C. Democratic Party, will repre
sent the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Bill
Cobey, a former U.S. congressman
and N.C. gubernatorial candidate,
will represent the Bush-Cheney
ticket. We encourage everyone in
the University community to attend,
especially undecided voters.
See you at the forum!
Stephen Lassiter
Sophomore
Political science
Crowd will be needed for
Late Night during Fall Break
TO THE EDITOR:
Students:
Our second Late Night basket
ball practice will take place Oct. 15
at the Smith Center.
University “strictly limit” parking, few of these guide
lines regarding transportation reflect new views from
residents, and many are vague statements of purpose.
Shortly after the report was finalized, several com
mittee members cited concerns about the planning
and implementing of proposals and the impact on
residents. Member Al Burk mentioned Carolina
North’s potential burden on infrastructure. “That
was totally absent from the plan,” he said. “It was a
glaring omission.”
Concerns about air pollution from the increased
traffic also emerged.
Planning meetings between the town and the
University are precisely where these issues should
be worked out.
Tony Waldrop, UNC’s vice chancellor for research
and economic development, said UNC has been willing
in the past to work with the town on transportation:
“We were disappointed that the town of Chapel Hill
didn’t allow its planners to sit down with us,” he said.
The committee did well to set forth a groundwork
of generally agreeable guidelines for Carolina North
construction. But the principles set out in its report
are vague enough so that some town residents might
see them one way and University officials might view
them in another.
Carolina North is vital for the future of the
University and the state —and although town resi
dents shouldn’t have to take on additional financial
or traffic burdens, Chapel Hill must recognize that
these measures are needed as part of a broader ser
vice to the people of North Carolina, their education
and their economy.
An anonymous observer put it very frankly once.
“Chapel Hill’s problem,” he said, “is all of those people
who remember it the way it never was and want it to
stay that way forever.”
Town residents are right in looking to preserve
what’s good about Chapel Hill.
But they should keep the future in mind, as well.
dents, but his opponent’s view is more reasonable.
Ballantine seems more accepting of the fact that
raising tuition is one of the surest ways for UNC
system officials to come by much-needed funds. He
also realizes that students who are already in col
lege shouldn’t have to deal with unforeseen hikes for
which they might be completely unprepared.
Tuition hikes are necessary evils. The rate of
increase of higher education costs has shown no signs
of slowing down. The governor should be compassion
ate toward students, but he also needs to be realistic.
Sticking to the mission
The candidates also differ when it comes to the
UNC-system potentially enrolling more out-of-state
students. While Easley has stated his opposition to
raising the nonresident cap now at 18 percent
Ballantine wouldn’t be averse to making exceptions.
In both its own mission statement and the N.C.
Constitution, the UNC-system is mandated to serve
the people of North Carolina. Having diverse cam
puses is important, but the state’s citizens come first.
Whoever wins the election shouldn’t lose sight of this
reality to any extent.
Admitting more nonresidents would mean more
tuition money for the system. But there are possible
ways to acquire more funds that wouldn’t conflict
with the system’s core charge. Allowing for a higher
percentage of nonresidents likely would make for a
wider array of perspectives on the system’s campuses.
But if N.C. students are going to be left out in the
cold, it won’t be worth it.
Unlike other high-profile public university systems,
the UNC-system has managed to stay true to the citi
zens of its state. Lawmakers and administrators alike
must do everything in their power to keep it that way.
If you were in attendance at last
year’s event, you would know that
we had a great time tipping off the
start of the college basketball sea
son. It’s an evening of fun, laughter
and basketball. This year, the start
of basketball practice unfortunate
ly coincides with Fall Break. We
had no choice but to keep the Late
Night activities on the 15th.
The players spend several hours
each night during the week leading
up to the event working on skits and
other activities. It would not have
been practical to move Late Night
back a few weeks and to expect the
players to be able to practice bas
ketball for several hours per day
and still to prep for the entertain
ment portion of Late Night.
We are going to have a great time
at Late Night and need all of your
support, even though classes are on
break. It’s important for us to have
a great crowd, and we need to have
the Smith Center at full throttle!
Thanks for your support for UNC
basketball and for all the Tar Heel
teams. I look forward to seeing and
hearing from you at Late Night!
Roy Williams
Coach
Men’s basketball team
Debates allow candidates
to use persuasive powers
TO THE EDITOR:
I am writing in response to
Joshua Diver’s letter that appeared
Tuesday. While he makes a good
Opinion
point in the assertion that issues
should decide the vote of a citizen
and not their “presidential pres
ence,” I think he is missing one of
the essential goals of a debate.
A debate serves not only to
“inform the public about the can
didates’ substantive and ideologi
cal policies” but also to allow the
candidates to persuade voters that
their policies are better and more
effective for the nation.
If Diver’s view was correct, there
would be no reason for debates
candidates could simply circu
late literature about their policies
and expect voters to decide based
on those. In fact, citizens want to
see a president who can clearly
articulate their position and think
on their feet, traits that are just as
important to a chief executive as
having good ideas.
That is why we have presidential
debates, not for another opportunity
for their campaign managers to spin
their policies but to see how the can
didates act without scripts —and if
they can live up to the hype.
Liz Carter
Senior
Romance languages
Intellectual merit should be
basis for judging professors
TO THE EDITOR:
I fully believe that Malcolm
Forbes has the constitutional
right to host a Playboy shoot at his
house it’s right there in the First
ON THE DAY'S NEWS
“Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear
twice as much as we speak.”
EPICTETUS, ROMAN STOIC
EDITORIAL CARTOON
:VANN
CX
LAST PAY to REGISTER IS FRIDAY...
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Winning a campus election
is simpler than you’d think
There are two easy ways to
win a campuswide election
in February.
The first is to spend two
years in the Carolina Athletic
Association. Spend your time
working to promote yourself and
drawing potential opponents to
your comer. Then, toward the end
of your sophomore year, promise
basketball tickets and cabinet
positions to everyone who agrees
to support you. Announce your
candidacy, show up to forums,
spend a couple days in the Pit
—and, magically, you are presi
dent of the CAA.
The second way is to spend two
years building connections in the
UNC Young Democrats and then
to run for student body presi
dent. In the fall of your junior
year, spend a lot of time getting
to know the freshmen the
ones who come in wide-eyed and
eager. They will be crucial before
Election Day. Ask them to work
for you. Then find the people who
worked on student campaigns the
year before. Ask them to work for
you, as well. Run the same cam
paign as the year before, adding
one informed-sounding solution
to a hot-button issue to your plat
form. Sit back. Allow others to
bask in your reflected glory. Win.
The painful, unspoken truth
about campus elections is this:
the kids who run for office are lazy
and unimaginative when it comes
to finding ways to win your vote.
The same people ran the same
campaigns every year. For all the
attention they receive, the club
endorsements are pitiful little
efforts at debate that seldom make
any difference on Election Day.
But there are other ways to win.
First of all, you have to get neg
ative. The Student Code provides
no definition of negative cam
paigning, and chances are that
Amendment. No one should take
that away from any American, much
less a University “for the people.”
However, when students such as
Derek Martin idolize a man based
solely on his affiliation with such
actions, I become extremely wary.
In a society filled with thoughtless
admiration of half-dressed pop
stars, the academic community
should be a place where brains are
admired instead of breasts.
Why not pick a professor based
on the thousands of hours they have
spent researching and mastering
their field, instead of their associa
tion with a pornographic magazine?
Most of these chemistry professors
dedicate their lives to their work,
and now we’re supposed to like
them because of the company they
keep? That’s degrading to every
chemistry professor teaching here.
I, for one, intend to pick my
teachers based on their intellectual
merit, not on how “cool” they are.
Christina Teeter
Sophomore
Pharmacy
West House deserves to be
saved like other landmarks
TO THE EDITOR:
I write in support of saving the
lovely West House on our old UNC
North Campus, a part of our archi
tectural and educational history.
Those of us who care about pre
serving West House strongly sup
port the Arts Common and its pro-
MATT COMPTON
POTENTIAL CROSSWORD SPACE ... WASTED
Student Congress will leave the
term vague until someone forces
its members to make a change.
Short of violating the University’s
Honor Code, you are free to make
any charge you like. And as much
as we hate to admit it, negative
campaigning works. Sure, it
makes you look bad. But it makes
your opponents look worse. So if
an idea is stupid, have the cour
age to say so. And if anyone tries
to hit you, be prepared to hit back
and hit back hard.
Second, use direct mail. This
year, the two major political par
ties will spend millions of dollars
sending mailers to promote their
candidates and to attack their
opponents. In fact, they’ve been
using this system since the 19605,
and cost is the only thing that
keeps them from saturating every
home in the United States every
two to four years.
We don’t do it, and that’s
because we are stupid. Campus
mail is free. We could send a mail
piece to each student in every
room in each residence hall for
the cost of paper. We just don’t
have the chutzpah to make the
effort.
Third, find a way to make
student organizations useful.
Not long ago, endorsements by
student groups were the only
things that mattered, but online
voting has diminished their
power. Showing up to vote en
masse just doesn’t mean what it
used to. Really, endorsements are
grams. But we also believe that the
common can support those needs
without sacrificing West House. We
ask if the Arts Common architects
considered incorporating the house
into the common an exciting chal
lenge for any firm —and we would
like to ask that they now do so.
We praise UNC’s preservation
efforts, and we feel that West House
should be a part of that commend
able commitment. It should be
noted, however, that Smith and
Swain halls were to be demolished
until a leading preservationist
objected and urged that they and
West House be saved. Indeed, Y-
Court, also slated for demolition,
was saved by an outcry from stu
dents and alumni.
We urge the University to con
sider its importance to the ambi
ence of the old part of campus and
our visual history.
Carmen Mayer
Carrboro
TO SUBMIT A LETTER: Ihe Daily
Tar Heel welcomes reader comments.
Letters to the editor should be no longer
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DTH reserves the right to edit letters for
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office at Suite 2409, Carolina Union, mail
them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC
27515 or e-mail them to editdesk@unc.
edu.
©jp laihj (Tar Hppl
By Evann Strathem, evann@email.unc.edu
only helpful for a headline, and
it doesn’t require much to cre
ate a student organization. Find
an issue, have someone form a
special interest group, tailor your
comments accordingly, publicize
the forum, hold a vote, then wake
up the next morning to a favor
able story in The Daily Tar Heel.
It really is that easy.
Or you could let the organiza
tions that support you run a shad
ow campaign. There is a loophole
in the Student Cbde that allows
organizations to make expendi
tures supporting their endorsees,
so long as contributions are made
without the consent or prior
knowledge of the candidates
or their campaigns. Where the
boundary extends after that is
unclear, but there is a strong case
to be made that limits on organi
zational spending do not exist.
Fourth, take the time to
build an Internet presence that
amounts to more than a static
Web page listing platform points
and campaign supporters. Write
a blog, organize Meetups and use
listservs for something more than
a generic press release generator.
TVack IP addresses so that you
know which areas of campus have
noticed your campaign.
Find a way to do something
that no one has ever done before.
With any luck, student lead
ers will find ways to plug the
loopholes I’ve just pointed out
before February. But you can still
beat the system if you are willing
to out-work and out-think your
opponents. There are creative
ways to campaign that never get
considered. The other guys will
waste hours during which you can
get ahead. You just have to know
where to look.
Contact Matt Compton
at mattcomp@gmail.com.
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