Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Nov. 2, 2005, edition 1 / Page 10
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
10 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2005 BOARD EDITORIALS MAKE THE CHANGE Campus administrators should agree to add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the University’s nondiscrimination policy. In recent weeks, some members of the campus community including those from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, IVansgender-Straight Alliance have begun to state publicly that they don’t think UNC’s nondiscrimination policy is good enough. They want to add the phrases “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list. It’s a good idea that will protect marginalized students on campus. But it’s also important to pur sue any changes carefully. In case you’re wondering, the “gender identity” clause would protect students who self-identify as a gender different from their biological sex. The “gender expression” clause would protect transgender students from being denied services or singled out due to how they choose to present themselves. No one is sure how many students would receive protection under such clauses. But no student on UNC’s campus should be made to feel bad for being different, whether they’re black or white, gay or straight, Democrat or Republican. And no campus should allow that to happen on its grounds. At the same time, the practical ramifications of anew IT’S FOR THE KIDS Asking students for three dimes to help student parents get child care is a reasonable request that could improve classes and aid needy Tar Heels. Wbn’t somebody please think of the children? That’s the noble question that the Chancellor’s committee on student fees is asking —and it’s come up with a way to get the ball rolling. The committee on Monday approved a 30-cent fee increase to help student parents pay for child care. Even though it’s at an added expense to the student body, and though UNC could rethink its funding model, committee members should be thanked for their efforts to make sure parents have all the resources they need. The hike will bring the per-student cost of the child care fee to $2.30, further assisting student parents and expanding the service to four or five more people. Understandably, some opposed the fee increase on the grounds that it forces students to subsidize a service for a relatively small population on campus. But those concerns, though valid, do not outweigh the benefits that such subsidies create particularly for half the cost of a pack of bubble gum. While the undergraduate segment of campus might not be as likely to have children, there are a number of graduate students who are married and/or have children. A MISSED MOMENT . i Domestic Violence Awareness Month has now arrived and passed with little fanfare an unfortunate lack of enthusiasm for a crucial issue. Halloween marked the end of October, but it also tolled the end of something alto gether more important: Domestic Violence Awareness Month. National organizations and even corporations made some buzz about the issue, which affects countless men and women nationwide each year. But on campus, the buzz seemed nonexistent despite some students’ best efforts. And that’s a shame. Awareness in and of itself can be useful in enlight ening the general public and in making people more sympathetic to issues. But it alone does little to pro vide justice, stop ongoing abuse or prevent future attacks when it comes to domestic violence. That’s because activists and sympathizers feel safe within the awareness arena; it’s the easiest way to pretend to do something. But what victims really need to see is change. More students and student groups could have paid attention to awareness month and taken a role in raising campus knowledge including, it should be noted, this page. We, along with everyone else, should have encouraged social change and legal action using the large reserves of manpower available on campus. 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. READERS* FORUM Student government seeks to fill a crucial position TO THE EDITOR: The executive branch of student government is currently accepting applications for the position of student solicitor general. This is an important position for student self-governance at Carolina. One of the student solicitor gen eral’s most important responsibili ties is issuing advisory opinions to students on matters involving the Student Code. Applications are available on the student government Web site at http://www.unc.edu/studgov. They are due next Wednesday at 5 p.m. Student government sought a student solicitor general in the spring and earlier this semester. There are two qualities that the student solicitor general must have: (l) A good knowledge of the Student Code and (2) No other involvement in any branch of stu dent government or a willing ness to end these commitments to ensure impartiality. If you satisfy these criteria and are interested in the position of student solicitor general, please visit our Web site and submit an application. Adrian Johnston Student Body Vice President policy could prove divisive, and the University must be careful to move forward in a way that engenders as little anger and distrust as possible. One way to do so is to commit to putting at least one unisex restroom in new buildings, which UNC has done, without making the switch to all-unisex rooms. Putting unisex restrooms in existing buildings could be cost-prohibitive, but we would like to see future build ing renovations take the issue under consideration provided that a significant number of students come forward to justify the cost. Another pressing matter lies in housing assignments, as some students say all-male or all-female residence halls are insulting to the transgender community. But many students like them, and their wishes ought to be accommodated, as well. Asa compromise, students ought to be asked on their housing application whether they feel comfortable living in such a dormitory. Other problems might come up during the process, which according to University officials could take a while. But we’re a smart school with the people to solve pressing problems —and in this case, doing nothing isn’t much of a plan. Those graduate students are, in some cases, also teaching assistants who suffer from painfully low salaries —and will continue to do so even in the face of a potential raise of the minimum per-course TA stipend to $7,000. Child care expenses can quickly eat into a meager paycheck; private day care in the town can go as high as $1,500 per month for just one child. There is also the issue of access. Just as North Carolina’s most poor should be able to drink from the Old Well on the first day of classes each year, having a family to care for should not be a barrier to receiving a quality education at one of the best universities in the nation. Yes, nobody likes fee hikes. But this small increase will go toward something increasingly provided by tuition: Improving the quality of education at UNC. Better TAs are always a plus, especially when a large number of classes are taught by graduate students. And be honest. Who hasn’t thought at one point or another that they wished they had a better TA? Look at it this way: By giving up one-quarter of that Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, you could get a better classroom experience. What could have been an amazing month of action fell by the wayside. What’s there to do, you ask? Plenty. For starters, stricter regulations for first-time offenders and harsher punishments for repeat offenders are needed in order to curtail domestic violence. So is education. We need more help from the N.C. General Assembly, which in 2004 passed a bill mak ing abuser treatment programs mandatory for all convicted batterers placed on probation. Change is possible and necessary, but not without the work of citizen organizations and the community. It’s a shame that with the ample body of concerned citizens at UNC that there was so little promotion about the issues surrounding the month. Students can take a number of proactive steps in this area. Taking action can be something as simple as publicizing phone numbers for local shelters, battered women treatment programs or promoting volunteer programs at local crisis cen ters and women’s shelters. Don’t let another October pass by without raising your voice about domestic violence. Don't blame students for lousy ticket distributions TO THE EDITOR: I’m tired of seeing people criti cize the students for the Carolina Athletic Association’s mess of a ticket distribution. There are more than 1,000 tickets left for Illinois? There were leftover tickets for games last season, too. So is it the fans who are being fickle? Maybe the reason there are always leftover tickets, in good sea sons and bad, is because the CAA can’t put together a distribution that meets the needs of most of the students. If you were within 1,000 of the magic number last Saturday, you might have been waiting in line for more than two hours. I was 1,500 off, and I was barely able to pick up my tickets by 11 a.m. C’mon. It’s about time that the ticket hoarding, distribution-bungling CAA changed to actually work with the students. Brian Allen Junior Journalism GLBTSA should re-examine where its priorities are TO THE EDITOR: Asa history student and a queer person, I wanted to provide some Opinion brief insight into the recent surge of campus debate about sexuality, gender and politics. The struggle for queer libera tion goes back a long way, but its most recent manifestation is usu ally traced to the Stonewall Riots of New York in 1969. It is also related directly to the militant action of the White Night riots in San Francisco and to groups such as the Lesbian Avengers, ACT-UP, Queer Nation and the Gay Liberation Front. The reason we have the little security we have today is because of the uncompromising positions of these groups. There is a historical amnesia being practiced today by liberal groups such as GLBTSA. Drowning in a vacuum of sell-out-ism, they have now funded the Log Cabin Republicans. Beyond this, the GLBTSA is actually surprised when their speaker is disrupted by those they supposedly “represent.” Asa student of history, I can only predict that direct action by queer people, whether targeting gay or straight elites, will contin ue as long as assimilationist GLBT organizations continue to fund wealthy gay businessmen over the rest of us. James Robertson Graduate Student History FROM THE DAY’S NEWS “The way to keep a family together is doing things together.” MAMA DIP, RESTAURANTEUR EDITORIAL CARTOON COMMENTARY Its high time that workers get company at the polls Early voting is open until Saturday, and Election Day is Nov. 8. And the lines are short, let me tell you. I went in to vote Thursday, and I got a kind of sad feeling when I entered the voting room. Besides the voting administrators, I was the only one there. I was pretty surprised. I’ve voted on two on other occasions. I voted in the Orange County on the day of primary elections in the summer of 2004 and then switched my registration over to Wake County and voted early that November. There were at least a few other voters present at both of those polling sites. The different types of elections are incomparable, of course. Election Day voting draws out the procrastinators and those who are still making up their minds. And November 2004 coincided with a hotly contested presiden tial race. I stood in line for a few hours for that one. The structure of Chapel Hill elections on off years from congressional and presidential elections ensures that only the people who really care about local politics turn out to vote. The system keeps local elec tions from being diluted with vot ers who cast ballots for candidates that they know nothing about. And I can’t say I blame that system. But the system requires an extra effort from students in order to make themselves heard something that hasn’t hap pened in recent years. The last municipal election saw partici pation from 329 student-aged voters, and my limited anecdotal experience would indicate that we’re not doing much better this year. But who knows. Maybe there will be a pretty substantial voter Chapel Hill needs concrete ideas to fight local poverty TO THE EDITOR: I attended Jack Kemp and John Edwards’ discussion on poverty at UNC on Monday. But this issue requires more than a governmental economic response it requires a shift in thinking among average Americans. For example, one gentleman asked John Edwards how he would deal with the fact that the working middle class are getting squeezed out of Chapel Hill because of the high cost of living here. Besides Mr. Edwards’ answer that he did not have any ideas spe cific to Chapel Hill, the question reinforced the basic problem of thinking about our society in terms of the “haves” and the “have nots.” I believe that the average person in Chapel Hill values diversity, big ideas and the common good. That’s exactly why I think it should be just as important to the citizens of Chapel Hill that the schools in the rest of North Carolina and the country be of comparable quality to those in Chapel Hill. Excellent education should be a foundational component of our democracy for all of its citizens, not just the “haves.” Peter Rubinas Chapel Hill HH9 NO LONGER A VILLAGE turnout on Election Day. That would be great, too. If you’re a student voters who’s intending to show up at the polls that day, I applaud you. Just make sure you know where your polling place is. The campus is divided into six dif ferent voting precincts, most of which have off-campus voting locations. You can avoid that trouble altogether with a quick stroll up north, between Cameron Avenue and Franklin Street. In other words, you can cast a ballot at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. You’ve probably passed that location countless times in your regular life routines. It’s very easy. And I can guarantee you that going to vote early will not take any more than 20 minutes out of your day. I don’t think it even took me five. Don’t tell me you can’t find five minutes. And getting a grasp of who to vote for shouldn’t take an exces sive amount of work either. Reading articles from the city desk of The Daily Tar Heel is the best option to get a handle on town affairs, but there is also the quicker alternative to going back and reading through years of Daily Tar Heel archives. The endorsements from The DTH are very well researched. The board discusses and writes about town issues regularly and has a grasp of the issues at hand. The board also met with each 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. lath) (Tor 3HM Established 1893 112 years of editorialfreedom RYAN C. TUCK EDITOR, 962-4086 RCTUCK@EMAIL.UNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS: TUESDAY, THURSDAY 1-2 P.M. PIT SIT: FRIDAY, 12-1 P.M. 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 EDITDESKOUNC.EDU BRIAN HUDSON UNIVERSITY EDITOR, 962-0372 UDESK@UNC.EDU BRIANNA BISHOP TED STRONG CITY CO-EDITORS, 962-4209 CITYDESKOUNC.EDU KAVITA PILLAI STATE ft NATIONAL EDITOR, 962-4103 STNTDESK@UNC.EDU QJhr Uaily ear to By Evann Strathern, evann@email.unc.edu of the candidates before making its endorsements. You CEm find this year’s DTH endorsements by keywording “editorial board endorses” on the DTH Web site dailytarheel. com. In Chapel Hill, I personally recommend Mark Kleinschmidt, Laurin Easthom and Ed Harrison. It’s hard for me to write ringing endorsements for any of these candidates because all of them have expressed more skepticism than I am comfortable with on the development of Carolina North, UNC’s proposed research campus. Nevertheless, I believe they will be good participants in a negotiation about the campus’s development. You can find my endorsement column, which ran Oct. 26, by searching for “Jeff Kim” on the DTH Web site. There are also a number of good publications outside of the DTH that can aide in a quick understanding. The Independent Weekly, a progressive weekly newspaper, has in-depth and thoughtful explanations for its endorse ments: Mark Kleinschmidt, Laurin Easthom, Bill Thorpe and Will Raymond (inciden tally, the same people the DTH endorsed). And unlike many of the other newspapers in the area, the Indy also keeps its archives available for free online: http://indyweek. com/durham/2005-10-26/cover3. html. So do your best to find the right candidates and vote. All of the necessary resources are right at your fingertips —and if you live on campus, the polling plEice is literally within walking distance. Contact Jeff Kim, a senior economics major, atjongdae@email.unc.edu. www.dallytarheelxom DANIEL MALLOY SPORTS EDITOR, 962-4710 SPORTS@UNC.EDU TORRYE JONES FEATURES EDITOR, 962-4214 FEATURES@UNC.EDU JIM WALSH ARTS ft ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, 962-4214 ARTSDESK@UNC.EDU SCOn SPILLMAN CATHERINE WILLIAMS COPY CO-EDITORS, 962-4103 WHITNEY SHEFTE PHOTO EDITOR. 962-0750 JEN ALLIET DANIEL BEDEN DESIGN CO-EDITORS, 962-0750 FEILDING CAGE GRAPHICS AND MULTIMEDIA EDITOR, 962-0246 CHRIS JOHNSON ONLINE EDITOR, 962-0750 ONLINEOUNC.EDU KELLY OCHS EMILY STEEL WRITERS’ COACHES, 962-0372 ELLIOn DUBE PUBLIC EDITOR, 260-9084 DUBEEOEMAIL.UNC.EDU
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 2, 2005, edition 1
10
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75