8
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
EDITORIALS
JOURNALISM AT RISK
The Seventh Circuit erroneously interpreted a U.S. Supreme Court
case to threaten the First Amendment rights of student newspapers.
It is a fact that Chancellor James Moeser or
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Margaret
Jabolonski have no authority to halt the print
ing of any edition of The Daily Tar Heel, even if its
content is scathingly critical of the administration.
The Daily Tar Heel, as an independent publication
that receives no University funding, is free from such
censorship. Sadly, not all college newspapers are in
the same boat, and many are at risk.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh
Circuit recently decided that college administrators
have the right in some situations to review and cen
sor the content of school newspapers that receive
university funding, stripping the First Amendment
rights of many college newspapers. Citing the 1988
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Supreme Court case, the
panel ruled that limits on the freedom of high school
publications are applicable on the university level as
well, effectively treating college-level journalists like
irresponsible children.
This ruling not only raises issues for civil liberties
on college campuses, it opens the door for admin
istrators to abuse power and stop students from
investigating and exposing actions on their cam
puses, especially with regard to student affairs. In
many cases, a school newspaper is the only source
ASLEEP AT THE HELM
Although summer is a time of rest, Student Congress shouldn’t have
become careless with its business during the two summer sessions.
Not many people would argue that student
leaders should take advantage of the summer
months and relax. Summer is a difficult time
to conduct business because most student groups are
on hiatus, but Student Congress has taken relaxation
to a dangerous level.
The Student Code requires that Congress meet
once each summer session to pass any pending reso
lutions and appropriate the fees summer students
pay, and although representatives have met during
each session, it seems to have forgotten that summer
doesn’t equal a break from accountability.
During its June 25 meeting, Congress gave nearly
$1,500 to fund a trip for a few students with Carolina
Week, the student newscast that airs on Student
Television, to fly to Chile to study former dictator
Augusto Pinochet and the disappearance of thou
sands during his reign and somehow linking it to
astronomy.
The University should indeed encourage the aca
demic pursuits of broadcast journalists, the study
of Latin America and any feasible way to link the
two with astronomy although that’s honestly very
difficult to comprehend. However, it is not Student
Congress’ place to provide funding for such pursuits.
It is not fair for summer students to foot the bill for
MORE THAN MONEY
Guest columnist questions the Carolina Covenant program’s merit
to the campus given the lack of a grade requirement for its students.
Last fall marked the beginning of the Carolina
Covenant, a program designed to help low
income students meet the costs of attending
UNC. The program offers grants, scholarships, and
work-study to match 100 percent of an eligible stu
dent’s financial need.
The problem is that not everyone is making the
grade. Recently released data from the Office of
Scholarships and Student Aid revealed the grade
point averages of Covenant scholars to be lower
than that of all freshmen. In fall 2004 only 38 per
cent of Covenant students earned a GPA of 3.00 or
higher, while 57 percent of all freshman did so that
semester.
At the same time, students who perform excep
tionally well —but who wouldn’t qualify for the
Carolina Covenant get the short end of the stick.
One non-resident high school valedictorian turned
down a full ride to his state’s flagship to attend our
journalism school. He maintained a 3.5 GPA and
earned a good entry-level job along with thou
sands of dollars in debt.
So while wealthy students can afford an educa
tion and lower income students attend for free with
no strings attached, the middle class gets squeezed
out.
EDITORS' NOTE: The above editorials, with the exception of the guest column, are the opinions of solely The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Board,
which were reached after open debate. The board consists of three board members, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2005
summer DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
READERS’ FORUM
DTH editorial demeaned the
character of the Confederacy
TO THE EDITOR:
I would like to comment on the “More
Tax Per Pack” editorial of June 23. In
arguing why North Carolina should raise
its cigarette tax, the editorial board sug
gested not doing so would “ensure that
the rest of the nation continue to think
of N.C. as a redneck-infested, backwoods,
Confederate cesspool.”
This implies that North Carolina’s role
in the Confederacy is a blight on our past,
and that our state should do everything
possible to distance itself from any asso
ciation with the Confederate States of
America, lest it be viewed as a cesspool.
Such a comment is a great insult to
our ancestors and demonstrates that
the writer does not fully understand this
period of our history.
More than 40,000 N.C. soldiers died
defending their homes and freedom
while North Carolina was part of the
Confederacy, and many civilians were left
destitute as a result of the war.
North Carolina’s motivation in joining
the Confederacy was no less honorable
than her motivation in breaking from
Britain 85 years earlier. The issues that
sparked the war were far more complex
of an accountability check for administrators.
Moreover, college newspapers should never be
compared to high school publications, neither in
seriousness or scope. This ruling stifles academic
freedom by not allowing students to gain real-world
experience in journalism, and it sets a bad precedent
for the future of university journalism by legitimiz
ing the already present problem of administrative
censorship. Although the Seventh Circuit only has
jurisdiction in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, this
ruling could affect student journalism across the
nation.
Major college newspapers in North Carolina, like
N.C. State University’s Technician, should keep a
close watch on this case. The Daily Tar Heel, which
has not received funding from the University since
1993, is the student newspaper that would be exempt
if the ruling were extended to North Carolina.
Readers should be happy that the DTH is keeping
with its tradition, which was eloquendy summarized
by Jen Pilla, editor of the centennial issue in 1993:
“But the eternal youth of the Tar Heel neverthe
less is considered a blessing because it is youth that
keeps it like a typical adolescent, defiant in the face
of authority, eager for growth and protective of its
freedom.”
a few students’ travel-study vacation to Chile when
Carolina Week could have easily asked for funding
through a Burch Travel Fellowship, the James M.
Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence or
departmental research funding.
Although Congress members will probably argue
that they appropriated the money because of a lack
of funding requests this was only one of two, they
should have been more responsible with student fee
money. But part of the blame is on student groups,
who have apparently taken a break from summer
activities. If groups were more active and sent in many
requests, Congress would have to examine subsequent
appropriations with more common sense.
Also, Congress has failed to publicize official min
utes for either of its summer meetings. It is the sum
mer, but students, as constituents, have the right to
read the details of what their elected representatives
are doing, especially since the body’s main job is to
appropriate students’ hard-earned money.
Although there is nothing that can be done about
the Carolina Week funding request, Rep. Anisa
Mohanty, the summer speaker, should not rest until
the minutes are posted from the June 3 and June
25 meetings that is, if formal minutes were even
taken.
RER KRIS WAMPLER. UNC STUDENT CONGRESS
GUEST COLUMNIST
If one is to accept the desirability of such a pro
gram as the Carolina Covenant, there has to be a
realistic balance between these two extremes. At
least some academic standards must be in place.
This goes beyond the fact that the public picks up
part of the costs through grants, and it should expect
better. Lower performing students drive down the
average GPA and make UNC less competitive. We
cannot expect our University to remain one of the
nation’s best if we fail to require academic achieve
ment as a criterion in the Carolina Covenant.
But the closest UNC comes to this standard is that
it requires students be admitted in the first place;
that is, they had to have done reasonably well in high
school. Once they get here, Covenant scholars are
bound by no GPA requirements.
We should applaud those Covenant scholars who
set higher standards for themselves than campus
officials. And we should call on our University to
uphold another covenant with the student body:
protect the academic reputation of North Carolina’s
flagship public university.
than for the South to preserve slavery.
It is a sign of tragic ignorance to boil
the war down into a Yankee equals good
guy, Confederate equals bad guy formula.
Unfortunately many of our schools today
do just that when they ignore important
facets of America’s most devastating peri
od.
I hope that the editorial comment sug
gesting North Carolina should be ashamed
of its Confederate history is not evidence
that UNC is one of these schools.
David Robinette
Employee
Microbiology and Immunology Dept.
Negative words about the C.SA
make the DTH an actual cesspool
TO THE EDITOR:
In your June 23 editorial “More Tax
Per Pack,” you stated that North Carolina
was “a redneck-infested, backwoods,
Confederate cesspool.” It showed a lack of
class and education.
First of all, who are you to call anyone
names? You who have not accomplished
anything in your short life certainly have
an inflated, unwarranted feeling of self
worth.
I am sure you think you are above those
Editorial Page
ON THE DAY S NEWS
“Ifeel like I hit four holes in one, and I’ve only had one in 54
frickin’ years”
ROY WILLIAMS, unc basketball coach
RIAL ARTOON By Philip McFee; pip@email.unc.edu
COMMENTARY
Though not a Tar Heel bom,
I will always love good oF N.C.
There are few times that I
recommend policy changes
in the state or even dream
of drafting legislation for the N.C.
General Assembly. But I’m ready
to drive over to Raleigh and beg
for Sen. Ellie Kinnaird to sponsor
an important bill for me. I want
lawmakers to make me a real
North Carolinian.
Although I’ve lived in Chapel
Hill for three years, volunteered
in the community, worked in
town and voted here in the last
election, I’m not considered a real
Tar Heel because I’m an out-of
state student.
I’m doomed to be considered
a second-rate citizen and an out
sider, but I’d like to consider N.C.
my home not for a break on the
$17,000 tuition bill, but because
a lot of N.C. students take this
University and this great state for
granted.
I can’t count every time I’ve
heard an in-state student express
shame for being from here or
comment how it’s not really an
accomplishment to get into UNC
unless you’re from another place.
They apologize for Silent Sam,
tobacco, cross burnings and Mike
Krzyzewski, and understandably so.
But even though this state has its
problems, all of its.residents should
keep in mind that things could be
much worse they could have
been raised in Alabama, like me.
Sure, this state may have con
tinuously elected Jesse Helms to
the U.S. Senate, but Alabamians
elected Governor George Wallace,
a more public and outspoken bigot,
four times. Plus, there are three
Wallace Community Colleges in his
honor, and he’s considered a hero.
Recently, Alabama slam
dunked in the backward contest
by electing nut-job Judge Roy
Moore as the state’s chief justice.
Moore was removed from office
because he defied a federal court
order to remove a 5,300-pound
granite monument to the Ten
Commandments he put in the
rotunda of the state judicial
building.
Christian or not, you’d have
to agree that it’s a crying shame
when your chief justice doesn’t
whom you call such names, but I assure
you that you are not
As for the Confederate part, you should
be proud of the Confederates of the South
and of North Carolina who fought to save
constitutional liberty, freedom, states’
rights and democracy from the overbear
ing, over-reaching socialists of the North.
North Carolina is a Southern state, our
ancestors were Confederates, and we are
proud. If you do not like that then I sug
gest you move to another place, perhaps
Detroit, PhiDy, New York, Newark, Chicago
or LA.— talk about real cesspools!
The only cesspool that I can see is The
Daily Tar Heel, which used to be a fine
publication, but has become nothing more
than a politically correct rag.
Terry Crayton
Concord, N.C.
ID 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 indude their year, major and phone
number. Faculty and staff should indude their title,
department and phone number. The DTH reserves the
right to edrt letters for space, clarity and vulgarity
Publication is not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH
office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.Q.
Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to:
edrtdeslrOunc.edu.
DERWIN DUBOSE
FROM THE DIRT ROAD
know enough about the law to
realize he shouldn’t disobey a
higher court. However, Moore
is the frontrunner for the
Republican nomination to the
Governor’s Mansion, and I bet
he’ll win it all.
Sure, the N.C. General
Assembly has its problems the
fact that there’s no budget weeks
before the fiscal year starts is
proof of that, but Alabama runs
on a 1901 constitution designed to
disfranchise blacks, poor whites
and women.
It is the longest known constitu
tion in the world with 743 amend
ments including provisions on
bingo, catfish, soybeans, dead farm
animals, mosquitoes, prostitution
and beaver tails. It also places the
tax burden on the poorest families,
instead of the rich.
North Carolina should be
thankful that it has mostly fair
laws, pretty good legislators, and
a strong Institute of Government
on the UNC campus to help it
along.
Sure, we may joke that Tar
Heel lawmakers hiccupped in
establishing N.C. State University,
but Alabama lacks a prestigious,
unified public system of higher
education. There are three sepa
rate college systems with at least
two campuses each and nine inde
pendent universities that fight
tooth-and-nail for limited funding
and resources.
Asa result, there is a large
duplication of programs, and
there are only a handful of nation
ally competitive programs in the
state of Alabama.
North Carolinians should
thank President Emeritus Bill
Friday and others for establishing
the UNC system, the model for
Southern higher education.
Each N.C. resident is guaran-
(Flje Saily ®ar Rrrl
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uJl|p Sa% (Ear MM
teed a quality education at a low
cost, but I had to pack my bags
and drive 15 hours up Interstate
85 and pay an arm and a leg just
to get a taste of it.
Even sports in Alabama can’t
touch North Carolina. Yes, Matt
Doherty’s departure was messy,
and our football team might have
a hard time beating Auburn High
School’s squad.
Yes, Hama's “Bear” Bryant was
a coaching god, and the Iron Bowl
is the most watched regular-sea
son football game in the nation.
However, N.C. has the pow
erhouses of ACC basketball, the
genius of Dean Smith, two pro
sports teams that include Julius
Peppers —and now the duo of
Sean May and Raymond Felton
with the Charlotte Bobcats
—a womens’ soccer dynasty, Roy
Williams and Woody Durham.
These are a few reasons why I
thank God for the great state of
North Carolina and embrace it
more than many resident students
do. I realize it’s not a perfect state
I wouldn’t drive alone through
Albemarle if you paid me; how
ever, I appreciate it, and I’m not
the only one.
Thidier Harris-Lopez, Sitterson
Professor of English and colum
nist for the Chapel Hill News,
and Daniel Wallace, author of the
novel “Big Fish,” are both native
Alabamians who have found their
way to this state by way of the
Hill. Two acclaimed writers or
three, if you include me can’t
be wrong.
Even though I will prob
ably leave the state once I get
that sheepskin stamped with
James Moeser and Molly Broad’s
signatures, I will never forget
the Old North State and par
ticularly Chapel Hill for showing
me there’s a world outside of
Alabama, opening doors for me,
and teaching me Thomas Wolfe’s
lesson that I can’t go home again.
In-staters, embrace the magic
that surrounds this place. It’s so
good you may enjoy life not taking
Wolfe’s sage advice.
Contact Derwin Dubose at
denoirudiibose@gmail.com.
Established 1893
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uUfp Daily (Ear MM
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DERWIN DUBOSE
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