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10 FRIDAY. OCTOBER 7, 2005 MAKING THE GRADE The Association of Student Governments has finally hit on a good idea that could legitimize the organization in the eyes of lawmakers. Good news: The UNC-system Association of Student Governments, typically the poster child for dysfunction, continues to make leaps and bounds toward becoming an organization that will fight effectively for students. The makeover that began with the tabling of a frivolous trip to Washington, D.C., has progressed to a creative plan for state-level advocacy: Grading lawmakers on their friendliness to students. It’s a good idea that represents a huge step for ASG, which in the past has put its resources toward projects that too often were ineffective at best and silly at worst. Now, the trick is to not waste it. ASG delegates agreed Sunday to launch the new project, which will hold lawmakers accountable to students by issuing a report card for every member of the N.C. General Assembly. The grades will reflect representatives’ support for important legislation affecting students, the idea being that the report cards will encourage voters to elect student-friendly legislators to seats in Raleigh. The plan is a good one, though ASG didn’t come up with this one on its own the project is modeled THIS CONCERT ROCS Common, the second member of the Rocafella dynasty to give a show at Homecoming, is a fabulous choice who will add much to the festivities. On Oct. 30, Chicago’s favorite Scorpio is coming to Memorial Hall. Lonnie Rashied Lynn, better known as Common, will be performing at this year’s Homecoming concert. It’s a great buy. And it’s a great step forward for the Carolina Athletic Association, which did a fine job of helping to book a concert this year after last year and what can be described only as a mangling of the process. If you haven’t heard of Common, go down to Schoolkids Records or CD Alley or wherever and buy his latest album, Be; it’s worth your sl2. Common is one of those rare up-and-coming rappers who lives up to the hype. His rhymes are topical, political, introspective and inspiring. His beats produced by Kanye West, with whom he’s touring this year are worth the price of admission themselves. And even if we hated Common, we’d still be glad CAA and the Carolina Union Activities Board pulled this off. The recent Homecoming history has been rough, topped off last year by a premature booking of one-hit wonder Sister Hazel by then-CAA President Will Keith, so it might be a stretch to say most people expected this year’s shindig to come off without a NOT ON OUR DIME The student fee audit committee was right to recognize that students shouldn’t pay for renovations to Carmichael Auditorium, however worthy. Lost in the euphoria of The Great National Championship Chase of March 2005 was, well, a great national championship chase. Unfortunately, the women’s basketball team fell in the Elite Eight to eventual national champions Baylor. But it still had a heck of a season —one that included a win over perennial power Connecticut, an ACC championship and, yes, three victories against the Dookies. Why, then, can’t the Department of Athletics find the funds to renovate Carmichael Auditorium the ladies’ home base? And why did it come to students this year seeking a SSO increase in student fees that would in large part fund that work? With its left hand, the athletic department is slapping the team in the face by saying it hasn’t been able to raise the funds for its nonrevenue, Olympic sports programs. And with its right, it’s smacking the students by asking for another fee increase on top of a SIOO hike last year. It just doesn’t make sense, and the student fee audit committee was right to shoot down that SSO bump. It’s not that the women’s team doesn’t deserve bet EDITOR'S NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions solely of The Daily Tar Heel editorial board and were reached after open debate. The board consists of four board members, the associate opinion editor, the opinion editor and the DTH editor. The 2005-06 DTH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials. Address concerns to Public Editor Elliott Dube at dubee@email.unc.edu. RFlMlli*! 1 I® IS It H I mmlmm Edwards shoutout on “The Daily Show” CHECK PLUS + When former Sen. John Edwards namedropped UNC on Jon Stewart’s program, he did what we’ve hoped he would do since he came here: Bring prestige through his work with the University. Next time, sir, you should name check the DTH. Spencer Hawes to play for UW CHECK / Those of you who follow Tar Heel basketball closely will recognize Hawes as one the best high school big men in the country. Though we recruited Hawes, he’s decided to play for Coach Lorenzo Romar of Washington. The loss hurts. But Romar is a class act. Walker Rutherford leaves council race CHECK MINUS Walker Rutherfurd, as a Republican with little experience, didn’t have much of a chance to get elected in this fall’s Town Council elections. But he has some fine ideas for this place, and his reasonable voice will be missed. He should stick around. after a similar initiative created in Virginia. But a good imitation is still flattering. ASG officials just need to be sure that they don’t mess this one up. The effectiveness of the project hinges on the ability of the ASG to influence voters. That means the associa tion is going to have to spend money and time getting the word out. ASG should put some money toward advertising in college newspapers, issuing press releas es and registering voters steps that will get students involved and point them toward the polls. ASG also should avoid getting bogged down in try ing to convert the unwilling. Legislators with a history of voting against student interests will not be swayed by student persuasion at least not initially. Save the battle for election season, when report cards are out and voters want to know why legislators didn’t support students in the General Assembly. In the meantime, ASG can focus on wooing student-friendly lawmak ers and building relationships with those that are able and willing to provide redress to student concerns. After all the flack that the ASG has rightfully received in the past, it needs to do quite a bit to get back on its feet But this program is another good step. hitch. It might seem like we’re making a big deal out of this, but you’ve got to understand that at this time last year, things didn’t look so great. Keith, acting on the authority of just about no one, offered Sister Hazel $20,000 to play Homecoming even though he was probably the only person on campus who still enjoyed the band’s music. When the band raised the price to $28,000 SB,OOO more than what Maroon 5 and Kelis wanted at the time and only $2,000 short of what Lucinda Williams was charging negotiations fell through. For a while, it looked like we wouldn’t have a show. Thankfully, a largely unknown protege of Kanye West stepped in to fill the gap. You might have heard of him by now; his name is John Legend, and if the presence of his CDs at Starbucks are any indication, he’s blown up since he came to Tar Heel country. Now, the momentum continues. Common isn’t as unknown as Legend was last year, but he’s still a star on the rise, and we’re getting him for a fine price. Tickets, which will go on sale early next week, are sls. Pick them up, show you care, and maybe we can get someone even better to show up next year. ter facilities. There’s nothing that would showcase Ivory Latta’s jumper or Erlana Larkins’ power better than a swanker Carmichael Auditorium. But until last year, the athletic department hadn’t asked students for a dime. Now, it wants us to pay for its failure to raise funds, and that’s a dangerous precedent to set. It’s not inherently a bad idea for students to pay for things that won’t directly affect them. If students had chosen to pay for the Smith Center, for example, more of us would be closer to the floor —and Sam Cassell never would have been able to make that wine and cheese comment. Especially in this day and age of jacked-up tuition, however, students ought to pay for things that will benefit the most people. That’s just a mat ter of fairness not to mention practicality, if you consider that charging the University’s 27,000 students another SSO in tuition would raise $1.35 million for faculty salaries, reducing class sizes and other priorities. Women’s basketball deserves a world of support. But it ought to come from the athletic department; students are too busy helping themselves. ilAlllS FSIIit Changing your address in order to vote is easy to do TO THE EDITOR: The otherwise excellent Daily Tar Heel editorial urging students to register to vote before the Oct. 14 deadline stated that the many thousands of Carolina students who had registered to vote last year needed to re-register if they had moved. Actually, the process can be far simpler to report an address change. If you have your Orange County voter registration card, just turn it over to the change of address form on the back, fill it out, and mail it to the Orange County Board of Elections: P.O. Box 220, Hillsborough, N.C., 27278. If you’ve lost your card, you can write a signed letter to the same address giving your name, your old Orange County address and your new one. Or you can use the official voter registration form to report your address change. Gerry Cohen Raleigh Journalism school needs to set an example for students TO THE EDITOR: As public relations students, we are taught that communica tion is essential in any successful Opinion organization. Asa result, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication has cre ated an environment of business professionalism and holds its stu dents up to those strict standards. Interestingly enough, the school’s administration does not seem to fol low the same rules. There are a number of deadlines fast approaching, and the school has failed to notify students in a timely manner about such things as graduation requirements, senior underload applications and regis tration requirements. Effective communication of this information is essential for stu dents wishing to graduate on time, and is an important skill in the aca demic and professional realms. We find this lack of profession alism extremely frustrating and expect an improvement in com munication for future classes. Kristina Ferrari Senior Journalism Gretchen Hutter Senior Journalism Article on couples didn't emphasize what counts TO THE EDITOR: As one of the couples featured FROM THE DRY'S NEWS “We want to be more like Carrboro.” KEVIN FOY, MAYOR OF CHAPEL HILL, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEAL FRANKLIN STREET By Philip McFee, pip@email.unc.edu J SWB T " ls ■"“•'S... * This Ads to be the slow class. " Food and sports: Possibly the worlds greatest alliance A week ago today, pretty much the only thing on my mind was baseball. You see, it was a must-win series for my beloved Red Sox against the Great Enemy of New York. So on the way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store in order to do what I could to help them win from 700 or so miles away. I had to make stuffed shells. How I made the association between shells and the Sox, I don’t remember. It was at some point last season. All I know is that when were down 0 games to 3 to the Yankees in a playoff series, I was humbly offering my 13-by-9 pan of Italian goodness up to the baseball gods. And when the going got rough this year, a trip to Harris Teeter was in order to right the ship. Sports and food represent the marriage of two of the most recognizable facets of American culture. We tailgate. We hold parties for big games. During the Super Bowl, chips, salsa and similar items are conveniently moved within grabbing reach in the supermarket. The two are tied together so tightly that we even hear about it in song. Go to a baseball game and you’ll be singing about how abso lutely key peanuts and Cracker Jack are to the experience. For some, it’s an expression of gender. I know of men who can’t boil water but can fire up a grill in time for the big game, and this is only reinforced by advertising. Then there are women who rel ish the idea of making a perfectly shaped football cake from scratch just in time to scream at Tedy Bruschi to draw blood in the Super Bowl. Other times, it’s tradition. I went to Fenway Park for the sec ond time ever this summer, and somehow a friend and I got on the topic of Fenway franks. in Wednesdays interracial dating article titled “Hearts share same color,” we feel compelled to com ment about the way in which the writer seemed to emphasize race as simply color and appearance rather than bringing attention to what really matters within the subject of race. For instance, the article notes that “Yancey ... was attracted to Cristina Velez ... because she looked different.” This leads one to believe we were specifically looking for someone outside our races. We hoped the article would emphasize how in today’s society, it is not unrealistic to think that individuals may strongly identify with their race while embracing the other’s within a relationship. By no means do we imply that today’s society is void of racial ten sions, but we are personally very proud of what our relationship is and that we haven’t compromised our identities to make it work. These cultural attributes shape us, but they don’t inhibit us from con centrating on the most important aspects of our relationship. Labat Yancey Senior Business Cristina Velez Senior Romance Languages L WtoJK' 4 E v JH v 3_.es. AMY ROSSI LIFE OF SPICE “I’d like to try one,” I mused. “Wait, what did you have the first time you came here?” she asked. “Well, we were running late, so we just went to the first food stand we saw before getting our seats. They were selling chicken sandwiches.” My friend was incredulous. “Who the hell goes to Fenway and eats a chicken sandwich?” Who, indeed. Sometimes, food and sport are so closely aligned because both stand as icons of the city a team represents. Bring up Philly sports, and a discussion about cheese steak is bound to follow —a celebration of a city and its sports. A similar idea is at work in Cincinnati, where Skyline Chili is king. This little taste of the city is even available at the ballpark. The AOL City Guide to Camden Yards reflects on this concept. The barbecue from Boog’s and the crab cake sandwiches say more about Baltimore than they do about baseball. I saw this at work first-hand when I went to Fort Myers, Fla., for Red Sox spring training last March. We were sitting in the stands, waiting for the game to start, when I noticed that some one near us had a small box of Papa Gino’s pizza otherwise known as a small box of my childhood. Knowing how many of the spectators were either travel ing from the Northeast or have retired from that area, those in Speak Out We welcome letters to the editor and aim to publish as many as possible. In writing, please follow these simple guidelines: Keep letters under 300 words. Type them. Date them. Sign them; make sure they're signed by no more than two people. If you're a student include your year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff: Give us your department and phone number. The DTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity. Bring letters to our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union, e-mail them to editdesk@unc.edu, or send them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, N.C., 27515. All letters also will appear in our blogs section. ®br Soilg (Ear Hrrl Established 1893 112 years of editorialfreedom RYAN C. TUCK EDITOR, 962-4086 RCTUCKOEMAILUNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS: TUESDAY, THURSDAY 1 -2 P.M. PIT SIT: FRIDAY, 12-1 PM. JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ MANAGING EDITOR, 962-0750 JOSEPH_SCHWARTZ@UNC.EDU REBECCA WILHELM DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, 962-0750 BECCAO7@EMAIL.UNC.EDU CHRIS COLETTA OPINION EDITOR, 962-0750 EDITDESK@UNC.EDU BRIAN HUDSON UNIVERSITY EDITOR, 962-0372 UDESKOUNC.EDU TED STRONG CITY EDITOR, 962-4209 CITYDESKOUNC.EDU KAVITA PILLAI STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR, 962-4103 STNTDESKOUNC.EDU DANIEL MALLOY SPORTS EDITOR, 962-4710 SPORTS@UNC.EDU (Tljp Hatty sar HM charge of concessions at City of Palms Park went the extra mile to make sure a small piece of New England made it to Florida, even if it’s not a foodstuff particularly associated with baseball. And food isn’t just a fan experi ence. Superstitions abound for athletes as well. My brother, a baseball player, eats Bojangles on the way to every tournament he plays in. One time, my mother made meatloaf before his game, and he happened to play very well that night. Thus began an unholy string of meatloaf dinners before games. But what really matters is the bond that this all creates. There’s a reason “Nick at Nite” runs a large number of ads about “the family table.” Eating with people creates a sense of sharing and community. Watch any televised sporting event when the home team has done something incredible, and you’ll find people all over the stadium hugging and high-fiv ing, whether they know each other or not, because of the shared experience. And when you have people breaking bread together and rooting together, community, sustenance, tradition and loca tion all combine to create a real experience, not just a sporting event. Tonight, with the Red Sox down 0-2 in a best-of-5 series, it won’t be just a baseball game for me. I’ll bum up the phone lines with my dad to get a rally going. We’ll sing. We’ll dance. And there, along with the special T-shirt and my spot on the couch, will be the rally food. Ready to go. Contact Amy Rossi, a senior majoring in communication studies, at amrossi@email.unc.edu. wmiiiiytajtißsS.M TORRYE JONES FEATURES EDITOR, 962-4214 FEATURESOUNC.EDU JIM WALSH ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, 962-4214 ARTSDESKOUNC.EDU SCOn SPILLMAN CO-COPY EDITOR. 962-4103 CATHERINE WILLIAMS CO-COPY EDITOR, 962-4103 WHITNEY SHEFTE PHOTO EDITOR, 962-0750 JEN ALLIET CO-DESIGN EDITOR, 962-0750 DANIEL BEDEN CO-DESIGN EDITOR, 962-0750 FEILDING CAGE GRAPHICS AND MULTIMEDIA EDITOR, 962-0246 CHRIS JOHNSON i ONLINE EDITOR, 962-0750 ONLINEOUNC.EDU KELLY OCHS WRITERS' COACH, 962-0372 EMILY STEEL WRITERS' COACH, 962-0372 ELLIOn DUBE PUBUC EDITOR, 260-9084 DUBEEOEMAIL.UNC.EDU
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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