10
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2005
board editorials
OFF ON A GOOD FOOT
UNC s proposed 99-year lease to Carrboro would help bring the town
and the University closer together and signals a change of relations.
It’s heartwarming to see the University and
Carrboro town officials play nice. The Board of
Trustees approved last week the lease of 1.6 acres
of University land to the town of Carrboro so that it
could build anew fire substation.
The agreement is advantageous for both parties,
and it’s nice to see such constructive interaction.
This tentative agreement will permit the town of
Carrboro to lease the land for 99 years at a rate of $1
per year to build the substation.
The future substation will provide fire protec
tion for northern Carrboro neighborhoods, includ
ing those that will be annexed Jan. 31, and UNC’s
proposed satellite campus, Carolina North.
The land was going unused by the University, and
Carrboro was anxiously seeking a location for the
much-needed fire substation; the new lease simply
is a practical use for the land.
It’s encouraging to see University and town offi
cials working together, particularly in regard to an
area so close to the highly contested Carolina North
site. Usually the mere mention of Carolina North
stirs heated emotions in the eyes of local officials,
POINTS FOR EFFORT
N.C. State students had the right idea in being creative, involved and
mature in their protest of higher tuition —and we could learn from it.
Y fears of shrinking funds have left students
and administrators at North Carolina’s pub
lic universities fighting tuition increases. And
after years of lobbying, UNC should take a cue from
N.C. State University students who found a creative
and mature way to negotiate this year.
Wolfpack students surrounded their Board of
Trustees members Friday with a quarter-mile-long
paper chain of student signatures. With those sig
natures making up 5,500 links students lob
bied to reduce the proposed tuition increase. It
was part of their student government’s “Chained
by Tuition” campaign.
Though the tmstees didn’t back down, the fight was
not a failure. And students at UNC ought to admire
their Raleigh counterparts and follow their lead.
UNC students don’t necessarily need a paper
chain. And tuition negotiations are different for
every school— but how Tar Heel students currently
lobby is either non-existent or juvenile.
Every year at UNC, tuition becomes a dicey topic.
Yet as indignant as students often get about the pros
pect of rising tuition, few actively campaign to make
a difference. Only reporters or members of student
GIVING OUR THANKS
During the Thanksgiving holiday, students should keep in mind how
fortunate they are —and those that are not as blessed as the rest of us.
Thanksgiving is once again almost upon us.
This Thursday we will gather with friends
and family and eat copious amounts of food,
furthering the nation’s obesity epidemic.
After we go home Wednesday, some of us will be
watching football while others will begin studying in
preparation for finals. As we occupy ourselves with
familial traditions, work or both, let us not forget
what this holiday is about giving thanks.
It is easy for all of us to take for granted everything
we have. It is normal that we get sucked into our lives
and focus on those things that frustrate us most.
Early morning classes no fun. Tests they
suck. Term papers due after holiday breaks they
suck more. Having the Duke Blue Devils lead during
the first half of a football game that’s just embar
rassing.
Yet we should take a moment to remember how
fortunate we are and appreciate it.
This Thursday most of us will be surrounded by
those we care about most while feasting and having
a good time.
No one has to travel too far from the dorms or
search the stories on The New York Times Web site
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 three 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.
Try something new and let
turkeys be thankful as well
TO THE EDITOR:
Friday’s article on turkey farm
ing highlights its inherently cruel
nature. The article describes a
“humane” turkey farm where tur
keys have room to roam until they
are slaughtered.
I agree that the sort of environ
ment at Alison’s Family Farm is
better than at a major poultry man
ufacturer where birds are kept in
deplorable conditions before their
feet and claws are ripped off while
still fully conscious.
However, being humane means
being compassionate, and I would
argue that raising a turkey for the
sole purpose of killing it is anything
but that.
While people are giving thanks
on Thursday, I encourage them to
make some changes to their tradi
tional menu: "fry a vegetarian alter
native to turkey this year.
Many people will automati
cally dismiss the notion of a
meat-free Thanksgiving as
“hippie,” but for those of you who
say you would never sacrifice your
beloved turkey, I say don’t knock it
till you try it.
Brands such as Tofurky, UnTkrkey
and Quorn make Tofu-based
“turkeys” that are cheaper, healthier
and far easier to prepare than regu
lar turkey but have the same texture
but in this matter, UNC and town representatives are
collaborating and communicating positively.
The 99-year lease speaks volumes about the future
of town-gown relations, which hopefully will con
tinue to strengthen.
While UNC officials are feeling generous, some of
their unused office space in downtown Chapel Hill
could be leased to the town or to a tax-paying busi
ness. It’s impractical to waste good office space, espe
cially when there is a limited amount in the area.
A few more leases, albeit with an opt-out clause if
necessary, will reinvigorate vacant spaces and benefit
those that are in need of the space or land.
The partnership between the University and
Carrboro established by the new lease will advance
current relations and should make collaboration
more productive in the future.
The University is to be commended for its aid in
offering Carrboro inexpensive, long-term use of land
for an important and necessary service.
That sort of cooperation should become the norm
between Carrboro and Chapel Hill and the towns’
largest constituent.
government turn out to BOT meetings or let school
officials and lawmakers know their position.
While members of student government are elected
to represent students, especially on tuition matters,
the effect is much stronger when the student body
can collectively argue for their needs.
If students want to negotiate more reasonable
terms, they have to prove they’re willing to take
action. State’s students showed the kind of initiative
needed here among Carolina students though
preferably we wouldn’t start as late in the process
and would prove more effective than State’s efforts.
It isn’t enough to show up at the last trustee meeting
demanding lower tuition talks started months ago.
And showing up to UNC-system Board of
Governors meetings in cowboy hats —as happened
in 2004 hardly warrants being taken seriously.
If you want to at least be heard, come to the table
as a mature, rational adult. And start early board
members simply won’t listen otherwise.
State students set an example of how it should be
done. Even if officials didn’t heed students’ protests,
the fact that everyone can act like adults means that
the process wasn’t a failure.
for long to see that there are many who are not as
fortunate as us.
Franklin Street has more than a few regulars who
can testify to real problems. Trying to get enough
money for food and finding a warm place to spend
the night is infinitely more of a problem than hav
ing to cram for a biology final or write an economics
paper. Sometimes it’s easy for students to lose sight
of how fortunate they are in the midst of political
rallies for distant causes of social justice and the
personal drama that naturally results from putting
thousands of college students together for four years
of self-discovery.
Around the globe, from the genocide-ravaged
Sudan to the gutted suburbs of Paris to the ruins of
New Orleans, we see that some people are not as for
tunate as we are in our slice of Blue Heaven.
So this Thanksgiving remember all you have in
your life, remember all you have worked for and all
that you enjoy, and then give thanks.
And after you have eaten way too much and have
enjoyed the company of those you love, take a second
to remember all those who go without those blessings
and how you might be able to make a difference.
and taste.
Most can even be stuffed, and it
only takes some vegetable stock and
flour to make a delicious gravy.
If you’re not the cooking kind,
RSVP to the Triangle Vegetarian
Society’s annual Thanksgiving feast
by today.
Catered by Cafe Parizade in
Durham, it is the country’s largest
vegetarian Thanksgiving. So why
not make your holiday cruelty
free?
Then the turkeys will have rea
son to give thanks, too.
Liz Winter
Senior
Communications
UNC should be exploring
more new registration plans
TO THE EDITOR:
In response to Monday’s arti
cle, “Input sought on registration
options,” I am really glad to see that
University officials and student
government recognize the prob
lems in registration and are taking
initiative to change the registration
process.
When I went to school at
the University of Georgia, they
assigned registration times to stu
dents based on total credit hours
and GPA.
It was efficient and rewarded
Opinion
students who did well in school.
Those who would take classes
seriously and do well in them
would be rewarded and able to
get the classes they wanted and
needed.
I hope that University officials
would explore more options than
just the three they gave students to
vote for because I think there are
more fair and efficient ways to reg
ister for classes than basing it just
on random selection or total credit
hours.
Katie Dinterman
Junior
Spanish/Nursing
In the 'good ol' days' UNC
students had school spirit
TO THE EDITOR:
The reason Erskine Bowles, class
of 1967, stood up and cheered dur
ing a crucial moment during a ball
game (“Show some spirit,” Nov. 9)
probably was that he, like numer
ous UNC alumni, still carries the
school spirit, which was fostered
in an era when it was cultivated on
campus with pre-game pep rallies,
bonfires, parades and cheerleaders
who knew how to work the fans
and generate that special Carolina
enthusiasm that is so lacking
among today’s undergraduates.
Back in the “good ol’ days” we
FROM THE DAY S NEWS
“Some people would call us amateurs. I’d call us enthusiasts.’’
JUSTIN WARD, SOPHOMORE, ON DODGEBALL
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COMMENTARY
Parties focus on dividing
and ignore their messages
The road to hell is paved with
partisan bumper stickers.
‘W: The President. F
The President.’ Enough hastily
spackled declarations of ideology
to keep cafepress.com busy for
decades.
And then there are the T-shirts,
the books and the Web sites buzz
ing like locusts around the alter
nate apathy and arrogance of an
unassuming public.
Ann Coulter wants you to
know how to talk to a liberal.
Michael Moore wants you to feel
the Fahrenheit of 9/11. Neither is
doing more than stomping and
shouting around tangible issues,
and both manage to be the center
of attention while circumventing
change.
Cowering somewhere behind
the rhetorical hysteria is a far
more diplomatic history, a now
cracked foundation of partisan
politics that meant more than
Birkenstocks and Sperrys. And
though it’s hard to hear beneath
the cacophonic din of CNN and
Fox News, there is the ever-pres
ent rustle of America’s forefathers
rolling in their graves.
The right to political identifica
tion was hard-won and remains
invaluable, a shrill note of the
uncensored voice that America
often chooses to shout its views to
the world with.
But a considerable problem
arises when no one can define the
words on their voter registration
cards. And when the ignorance
erupts, collecting in syrupy pools
around Capitol Hill, the bum
per stickers suddenly lose their
humor.
There are conservatives who
identify as such for the sake of
familial legacy, and liberals who
dabble in civil disobedience
because it is par for the college
course. There is a dusty chalk
line, staining feet and clouding
eyes, beyond which partisanship
stopped being cerebral and start-
had a head cheerleader with a PA
system who could work the crowd
and direct the noise from the side
lines. A good head cheerleader,
assisted by the squad, could really
fire up a crowd at both football and
basketball games.
Of course that was before the
original Carolina blue was altered
for TV (resulting in a plethora of
light blue shades mixed with Duke
blue fashion statements) and the
cheerleaders became an extension
of the sports marketing depart
ment and turned into a gymnastics
team; and those sexy dance team
gals in their black and blue look like
Carolina Panthers cheerleaders.
Plus we can’t even get the
Victory Bell (what’s that?) up to
Polk Place for Old Well walks on
game days. Finally, the second
and third verses of the alma mater
have been dropped from all official
University occasions except, ironi
cally, the freshman convocation.
When marketing alters or aban
dons traditions, then the fabric
of the institutional memory also
changes. The conditions described
in your editorial are the end result
of the neglect of our Carolina spirit.
Pleas to fill the stands with students
will go ignored until somebody gets
off their butts, like Erskine Bowles,
and gives ’em hell, Heels.
F. Marion Redd
Class of 1967
SARA BOATRIGHT
KEEP 'EM ON THEIR TOES
ed being fashionable.
Yet still we haven’t learned that
pastel Polo shirts and knotted
hemp bracelets hold little sway
over effective policy-making.
While differences in opinion
and position inevitably will result
in an eventual clash, they are at
the same time vital aspects of
effective evolution. Opposing
parties were never intended to
direct so much energy toward the
destruction of their dissenters
that they abandoned civic stake
holders entirely.
In some semblance of a perfect
world, the endlessly warring sides
would serve as checks on one
another, creating an impermeable
filter of moderation between the
donkeys and the elephants. From
a wide angle, this is sometimes
the case.
But on an everyday basis, on
campus, in workplaces and on
any given editorial page, partisan
opponents are far more interested
in blood than in bureaucracy.
The realities of political debate
gather dust along with their
origins as a landslide of collec
tive ignorance gains momentum,
sweeping the downhill slope of
society so clean that only the over
simplifications remain.
Near the University this is
apparent from the first flicker
of a glance; hippies cluster at
Weaver Street Market while the
power cell of Republican alumni
lumbers in for sporting events in
a sleek fleet of luxury SUVs. The
raw stereotypes of such an image
are as offensive to their targets as
they are to community bystand-
Spaak Oat
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She Saily (Ear Hrrl
By Philip McFee, pip@email.unc.edu
ers, the greater public languishing
dazedly as backyard debaters hack
out their points.
And the points by now have
grown markedly dull, worn down
by far too many years of sense
less rhetorical stabbings. Because
while the often self-appointed
pundit elite sit within the smug
comfort of their own sealed
spheres, pounding out a party
driven mantra bound to save
society, society itself is endlessly
adrift.
The screaming has by now dif
fused into a dull roar, a soft groan
of static that middle America has
learned to ignore. Thus what once
held the capacity for a mutually
beneficial forum is now little more
than a fraternity system, offering
occasional bursts of scandal but
for the most part lying latent and
overlooked by the uninitiated
majority.
The irony is as tragic as it is
comic, as the Coulters and Moores
of the world only add to the dis
cordant noise that they purport to
turn into music.
Perhaps the most harmful
aspect of the charade is the fact
that such grandstanding filters
down, trickling tangled through
the landslide until college stu
dents spend more time blogging
than sincerely sweating for the
greater good.
And for all our shimmering
facades of sophistication, sweat
may be the only thing to save us.
Even the wittiest barb won’t solve
health care policy problems or
eliminate poverty. Better now to
roll up your sleeves, bare your
arms to the sun and put your
hands to the plow.
When your shoulders bend to
the effort, no one will be able to
read the political cartoon on your
T-shirt.
Contact Sara Boatright,
a junior public relations major,
at scb4l9@email.unc.edu.
www.dlailytaihee!.coin
DANIEL MALLOY
SPORTS EDITOR, 962-4710
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