10
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2005
BOARD EDITORIALS
SETH’S STILL THE ONE
Students should choose Seth Dearmin to be their next student body
president because he has what it takes to be a strong, capable trustee.
There are two hopefuls remaining in
the race to be next year’s student body
president. Both have their pluses and
minuses —but one candidate’s merits out
weigh those of his opponent.
In Tuesday’s runoff election, voters should
elect Seth Dearmin to be the next leader of
the student body.
At the core of the student body presi
dent’s set of responsibilities are his or her
relationships: ties to other officers, Cabinet
members, student group leaders, administrators,
certain faculty members, UNC-system officials and
town and state representatives.
But most importantly, a student body president’s
key relationships are those with the other stewards
of the University. Perhaps the greatest power of the
post lies in the vote the officer holds as a member
of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Board of TYustees —and of
the two candidates, Dearmin would wield this power
most effectively.
Although he has never held such power, Dearmin
has been particularly close to it. Asa member of for
mer Student Body President Matt Tepper’s adminis
tration, Dearmin got his feet wet in BOT affairs.
He was instrumental in the creation of an alterna
tive tuition increase proposal that Tepper presented.
It wasn’t adopted, but Dearmin gained valuable
experience that shouldn’t be discounted.
Now, he’s itching to dive in head-first. The student
body should give him the opportunity.
Dearmin has referred to himself as an optimist.
But in terms of tuition, he has demonstrated that he
is a realist —and that’s the type of BOT represen
tative that students need. He has shown that he is
wary of the rapidly rising cost of education for out
of-state students, and he is especially keen to both
the possibilities and limitations surrounding future
lobbying efforts.
His platform certainly isn’t the most original list of
PICK BOBBY & JENNY
In their bid to be the Class of 2006 s officers, Bobby Whisnant Jr. and
Jenny Peddycord have made clear that they have the right priorities.
The DTH Editorial Board
once again firmly endorses
Bobby Whisnant Jr. and
Jenny Peddycord for senior class
officers.
Juniors should be sure to vote
for Bobby and Jenny on Tuesday
during the runoff election.
Bobby and Jenny have clear,
pragmatic goals that focus on the
core duties of being senior class
president and vice president.
In particular, the three principle areas of the senior
class officers’ obligations Commencement speaker,
class gift and senior service project receive much
more attention in their platform than in that of their
opponents, Madison Perry and Whit Walker.
This emphasis is especially important after past
years’ Commencement choices by the chancellor
have evoked criticism from students. In addition,
Bobby and Jenny have shown support for continu
ing the newly created Senior Class Address —a great
idea for which Madison and Whit haven’t expressed
as much enthusiasm.
Bobby and Jenny also have promised to get an
early start on procuring ideas and funds for the senior
class gift, an area that Madison and Whit leave off
their platform entirely perhaps on purpose —but
it would still be nice to hear it mentioned.
Bobby and Jenny’s ideas about a senior week of ser
vice, coupled with monthly service projects, present a
good approach to public service. They plan to co-spon
sor numerous events with other campus organizations
and to continue the Literacy Project, providing a means
for seniors to help others and themselves.
Madison and Whit’s service ideas are solid and cer
tainly deserve to be incorporated regardless of the out
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 2004-05
DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
HEADERS’ FORUM
Leaders have opportunity
to improve campus service
TO THE EDITOR:
On Tuesday, leaders of UNO’s
public service and advocacy orga
nizations have an opportunity to be
a part of the greatest move toward
collaborative service on our cam
pus in recent history.
From the Public Service and
Advocacy Committee of student
government to the Campus Y to
the Center for Public Service to
more than 50 service and advo
cacy-related student organiza
tions, the resources of our campus
community too often have been
characterized by decentralization,
duplication of effort and a failure
of programs to achieve far-reach
ing impacts.
At 6 p.m. in the Student
Organization Resource Center of the
student government office in Suite
2501 of the Student Union, leaders
of student service organizations and
other interested parties are invited
to consider ways to establish regu
lar contact and collaboration across
organizational boundaries from
regular meetings to a shared, inter
active, online calendar.
I would like personally to invite
and encourage all who are inter
ested in creating a more united
front for service and advocacy on
our campus to attend.
MarkLaabs
Director of outreach
Campus Y
promises to come along in recent memory.
Still, it includes some initiatives that war
rant students’ attention.
The goal of extending wireless Internet
access to Franklin Street is particularly
notable.
And his plan to increase access to con
doms in residence halls is a fine idea.
By making condoms more widely avail
able, Dearmin would be making campus life
safer and better for students who have sex in
Dearmin
their residence halls —and it’s hard to shake one’s
head at that.
Although small-scale platform points are less
impressive than larger, sweeping proposals, they can
be carried out more easily and with greater efficiency.
Dearmin has left himself room to address unforeseen
issues and responsibilities, and he clearly has done a
good job of prioritizing.
His opponent, Seke Ballard, also has student gov
ernment experience, and Ballard’s platform offers a
number of enticing promises. But the DTH Editorial
Board doesn’t believe that he would be a better trust
ee than Dearmin.
A person has only one year to operate in the
capacity of student body president. Although
Ballard has intriguing ideas about how to affect
tuition policy in the long term, we think that
Dearmin would make better use of the position
given the time constraint.
Developing good platform planks and implement
ing them has always been important.
But ultimately, the trustee role has proven to be
what counts the most when all is said and done.
Recent student body presidents have been gauged
primarily by their effectiveness, or lack thereof, on
the BOT.
If elected, Dearmin will get results. He has the
potential to be a student body president upon whom
history will look with kindness.
Peddycord
Whisnant
past the basic obligations of senior class offices.
A senior supper event to raise money for charity
certainly would mesh well with both the service and
entertainment sections of their platform.
Their proposed senior sports spotlight, where
seniors come out to support each sports team for at
least one game, sounds like fun as well complete
with tailgating at some games.
The choice of marshals is another major respon
sibility that Bobby and Jenny would do a better job
of handling. They told the DTH Editorial Board that
they wouldn’t choose leaders of student organiza
tions as marshals because those students wouldn’t
be able to dedicate as much time as others would.
It’s clear that Bobby and Jenny have thought about
the selection process. Madison and Whit don’t men
tion marshals in their platform.
Bobby and Jenny have an easy-going and
approachable qualify in addition to a well-grounded
and feasible platform that will make them effective
senior class officers. The class of 2006 can look for
ward to an active year of service and Commencement
speaker and class gift selections they have an active
role in.
Juniors should be sure to vote Tuesday for Bobby
and Jenny on Student Central.
Carolina-Duke is a rivalry,
and it's all about the game
TO THE EDITOR:
I’m sorry, but you’ll have to for
give me. For a minute, I honestly
believed Friday that I might have
been reading The Dook Chronicle.
The back page showed the sad
dest part about being a Carolina
fan. First, a student stands against
The Daily Tar Heel taking part in a
rivalry. It’s a rivalry that’s what
it’s all about.
That’s what makes the Carolina/
Dook rivalry equal the one between
the Yankees and some team from
Boston. There’s history, division
and, of course, great games.
True, it sucked to lose the game
Wednesday, but those boys in
baby blue poured out their hearts
and souls for 40 minutes, and the
DTH rightfully played the part of
the Gracious Loser.
Secondly, Timur Hammond’s
column showed that I and many
others were correct in our evalu
ation of the lack of underclass
man tickets available. Fairweather
seniors who simply heard that
we had a pretty good team because
they ran across the headline while
flipping to the crossword will
flood the Dean Dome on March 6,
while people who remember Chris
Webber’s travel before his “time
out” in ’93 (the most excited I ever
saw Dean Smith, not to mention
the highest he’d ever jumped) will
be sitting there hugging their tele
vision. Thanks a bunch, guys.
Opinion
come of Thesday’s runoff election.
Their clean sweep initiative
could help keep campus tidy
while rewarding seniors at local
bars. Organizing a campaign for
students to donate unused meals
to the homeless at the end of the
semester is another admirable
idea of Madison and Whit’s that
should be examined.
But Bobby and Jenny also look
Granted, these seniors were here
during the 8-20 season. But, then
again, they probably didn’t know
that we were having any problems
unless it happened to be on the
same page as the crossword.
Get real, Hammond. It is about
the game it’s all about the game.
Charles Warren
Junior
Exercise and sport science
SUDAN set to emphasize
Darfur awareness Tuesday
TO THE EDITOR:
With reports of the tsunami in
Southeast Asia dominating the
news, we have seen Americans
band together, donating mil
lions upon millions of dollars to
help those whose lives have been
destroyed. This raises the question,
however, of where we (and the rest
of the world, for that matter) have
been while other tragedies strike
our human family.
For more than a year now, eth
nic cleansing has been occurring
in Darfur, a region of Sudan, which
makes me wonder why the world has
not responded with heroic efforts
paralleling that of the tsunami aid.
While the media has attempt
ed to play down the death toll in
Darfur, it is now becoming appar
ent that up to 300,000 people have
died as a result of this genocide.
Thousands more have been dis
placed from their homes and put
at risk of the same horrible fate.
ON THE DAY'S NEWS
“Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides.
It must bring sides together.”
REV. JESSE JACKSON, civil rights and political activist
EDITORIAL CARTOON By Philip McFee, pip@email.unc.edu
! ,MCi*iMeaL wis a <.*oc<. ————- -—.'.onvT.Jvo noH.asn ,
COMMENTARY
Despite what they say, there is
little glory in dying for a cause
Two weeks ago, President
Bush gave his State of the
Union address. Out of 44
standing ovations, perhaps the
biggest came when he introduced
Janet and Bill Norwood.
Why? Because their son had
been sacrificed for Bush. The
Norwoods are the parents of the
late Byron Norwood, a soldier
who was killed during the assault
on Fallujah.
In the fiihrer’s quest for world
domination I mean, freedom
and liberty Byron died for the
fatherland.
Byron was 25 years old, just
two years older than me, yet he’ll
never get to experience many of
the things that I hope to experi
ence while I’m alive.
He’ll never get to enjoy another
home-cooked meal, go on another
road trip with his buddies or get
married and start a family.
But what is more tragic is the
fact that, for some reason, we are
celebrating his death as some
thing that is good and honorable.
We’re being told that Byron’s
death was “worth it.”
When he wasn’t busy cheer
leading or pumping up his frat
stats at Yale, Bush must have
studied a lot of Karl Marx. Marx
said the state functions to keep
class-divided societies together
but does so in a way that favors
the ruling class.
One way the state does this is
through coercion via laws, police,
jails and so forth.
The other way is through sym
bols such as flags, parades and
other forms of “patriotic” fervor
to get all classes —but especially
the lower classes to pledge
unquestioned allegiance to the
state.
Bush says that it’s honor
able and patriotic to die in war,
and that there’s no higher glory
To me, the fact that humans
would intentionally begin a regime
of such destruction is more horrify
ing than a natural disaster. So now,
while tragedy is fresh in all of our
minds, we must take action.
I urge you to take note of the
events occurring here on campus
and to get involved, educating
yourself about the situation in
Sudan. How much longer can we
allow this to continue?
The student organization
SUDAN (Students United for
Darfur Awareness Now) will be in
the Pit on Tuesday from 12:30 p.m.
to 2 p.m. CDs will be sold to benefit
Darfiir, and there will be plenty of
information about what you can do
to help. On Thesday at 6:30 p.m., a
candlelight vigil will also be held by
the Pit. All are welcome to join in
raising awareness of the atrocities
occurring in Sudan.
Beth Payne
Senior
Psychology and English
Carolina baseball team to
start its season Wednesday
TO THE EDITOR:
“Is there anything that can evoke
spring... better than the sound of
the ball smacking into the pocket of
the big mitt, the sound of the bat as
it hits the horse hide...” Thomas
Wolfe
The ping of today’s aluminum
bats isn’t quite what Mr. Wolfe
heard in his day.
PHILIP HENSLEY
LIBERTARIAN STEEZE
than giving up your life for your
country.
But it’s easy for him to say that
“freedom” is worth dying for. He’s
never died in a war or even faced
the possibility of dying in a war,
and he never will.
Neither will either of his chil
dren, or any of the children of any
politically connected person in
Washington, D.C.
What else is he going to say?
Is he going to tell families that no
longer have loved ones that they
died in vain?
Obviously, the answer is no.
Instead, they died for something
higher than themselves, such as
“freedom” or “liberty.”
That way, Bush can keep send
ing soldiers off to their deaths
—and instead of people being
upset with him for doing so, they
think that it’s honorable.
The warmongers in
Washington like to tell us of all
the “sacrifices” that our troops are
making.
Troops aren’t the ones sacrific
ing. Individuals are.
When a soldier is shot in battle
and his body is ripped open by
bullets and his guts and organs
pour out of his body, emitting a
terrible odor, and his corpse col
lapses into a pool of blood on the
ground, troops didn’t shed their
blood.
America didn’t shed “her”
blood.
That individual soldier shed his
blood.
UNC baseball begins anew
Wednesday at 3 p.m. at beautiful
Boshamer Stadium. Come out and
enjoy the sounds of spring and
the colors the green outfield,
red-clay infield and Carolina blue
skies. This year’s team shows a lot
of promise.
No waiting in line for tickets, no
obnoxious fans just good base
ball.
Elena Elms
Library technical assistant
Academic Affairs Library
ATTENTION
The Daily Tar Heel is accepting
endorsement letters for the student
body president and senior class offi
cer runoff elections. They should be
submitted today. Writers can either
send letters to editdesk@unc.edu
or deliver them in person to the
DTH’s front desk in Suite 2409 of
the Student Union. Selected letters
will be printed TViesday.
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 num
ber. Faculty and staff should include their
title, department and phone number. The
DTH reserves the right to edit letters for
space, clarity and vulgarity. Publication is
not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH
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.
ullje iattg oar Rwl
My dad is going to Iraq soon.
No matter what George Bush
thinks he’s accomplishing in Iraq,
I would never consider the cost of
my dad’s life as worth the price.
Whatever would be supposedly
gained by his death, I would glad
ly give it up and live without it.
And even if my dad did die,
nothing in Iraq would change. We
wouldn’t be any closer to a “demo
cratic Middle East.”
He would be dead, and the
world would go on.
One month, five years or 10
years from now, George Bush
wouldn’t remember anything
about my dad, but I sure would.
I would know every day that he
wasn’t alive anymore.
If you die in war or for some
other “cause,” what’s the point?
You don’t exist anymore. You’re
not around to enjoy it.
Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“If a man hasn’t discovered some
thing that he will die for, he isn’t
fit to live.”
If you agree with him, then
you have my deepest sympathy.
Because I can’t imagine a life
that is so empty that you would
willingly give it up for a “cause”
especially for some politician
and his empty promises.
We aren’t living in Nazi
Germany. You don’t owe anything
to your country, especially your
life.
Your body and life are yours,
not resources for a politician to
“utilize” in pursuit of his politi
cal utopia, whether it’s here in
America or in some country half
way around the world that most
of us will never even set foot in.
So when are we going to quit
glorifying needless deaths?
Contact Philip Hensley at
http://philiphensleyjr.blogspot.
com.
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