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10 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2008 and NATHAN NYANJOM AU WISDOM. NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH Nathan Nyanjom is a senior biology major from Columbia, Maryland. E-MAIL NYANJOMOEMAILUNC.EDU This year’s resolution: make ’OB the best yet If you have to come back to school from a break, it might as well be to UNC for spring semester. Throughout our academic lives, the first day of class means the joy of wearing your favorite shirt, the anticipation of what a teacher or professor will be like and the excitement of seeing what prospects for a relationship a class will offer. Sure this is the same at any school, but at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill it means a little more that this shirt might be Carolina blue, that this new teacher will be amazing and that one's fellow classmates will be more charming and appealing than AT-LARGE COLUMNIST those at N.C. State or Duke. The months of summer’s recess leave us in a state of almost forgetting how to write and spell, but the abbreviated winter break leaves us more familiar with our inner students. For some, todays arrival couldn't have come faster. For others, a few more weeks off were desired. Although the date of a spring semester’s start can be debated, consider this: the majority of universities in the Northeast don't ask students to come back until late January or early February but then require their pupils to stay until almost mid-June. I’ll start class today, thank you. Every year adds new pages to the annals of history, and 2008 is sure to be no different. Elections in Russia and the United States will introduce two new players in world politics, and the summer Olympics in Beijing will similarly see China gamer new attention on a large scale. “What’s the ani mal of this Chinese year?’ you’re wondering? Great question. It’s none other than the rat, and while Wikipedia describes them as “charming, passionate (and) charismatic,” I think of them more as pigmy honey badgers. “What's a honey badger?" you might ask. You don’t want to know. In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve or in the hangover that is New Year's Day, resolutions are often made. These plans and goals to live by in the following year usually feature the removal or cut ting back of something to lose weight, to eat less junk food, to spend less time watching TV and surfing the Internet. Sure, these plans are great But what usually happens? After an initial amazing month of January, gym membership declines to its normal level, Golden Corral sees its profits return and Facebook welcomes new addicts (I mean people) to its existence by begin ning to include middle school students in its network. To be fair, it’s not all our fault the calen dar and its holidays don’t provide much help. The quick arrival of Valentine's Day sees us eating Forrest Gump's favorite metaphor, St Patrick's Day gives us an excuse to have as many pints as we want and by Easter or Passover, we could all use a feast —a “Thanksgiving in April,” if you will. Our New Year’s resolutions don't stand a chance. But they can. In addition to cutting back on things, indulge in new ones. Keep watching TV just add that book you got for Christinas to the mix. Don’t cold turkey first food, just eat less of it and get it for ‘here’ instead of wrapped in foil or Styrofoam *lO go.’ Bv walking to class you’ll work off that fourth meal, become fitter to jump national-championship bonfires and help oonserve energy —a perfect storm of health. I'm not trying to give a Commencement address Chancellor James Moeser’s “Welcome back’ e-mail in a few days will do just that Just know that as you wear that fresh, svelte shirt for the first day of classes today, this year of2ooß can be your best yet and easily will be if you just give it a little lovin’. Go green. Go Carolina blue. EDITORIAL CARTOON By Don Wright, Palm Beach Post r~7 PYUTIUZIN© A CAUCUS \ > i iptmtc w vß* tOiNANS-KXK TWtnSr More than meets the eye UNC should work toward best value for all students The University has landed atop Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine's list of Best Value Colleges in America for the seventh year running, to the delight of every one involved in the tuition-set ting process. This probably doesn’t come as a shock to the student body, which gets bludgeoned with this claim every fall during the ritualistic tuition debate. But what the Board of This tees doesn’t tell you is that the honor only applies to in state students. If we’re really going to tout that title for all its worth, then we should be mak ing the effort for all students. As we sat down for the new year and figured how many body parts we need to sell on the Chinese organ market to pay for next year’s tuition and fees, we've decided it’s time to call the crew at Kiplinger’s and ask what makes UNC a steal. Hard to say goodbye Changes in downtown illuminate underlying problem Students returning from Winter Break were wel comed by a changed downtown Chapel Hill. More businesses have closed and fewer have opened in their stead. The once vibrant Ftanklin Street continues its decline with the close of student favorite Buffalo Wild Wings and the temporary (we hope) close of the Chapel Hill staple, the Rathskeller. Franklin Street clearly needs some kind of defibrillation to overcome the gradual deterio ration that plagues it In the wake of these closings, the White Lounge, a local night club, expanded its business into the location formerly occupied by Visions Nite Club, which was closed this summer following a shooting on the property. Anew sports bar, Carolina Sky Bar, will take the space. Remember when townies complained about Franklin Street being nothing but T shirt shops and restaurants? Now it’s little more than night clubs and empty storefronts. Buffalo Wild Wings, a Start off right Our New Years resolutions for UNC and Chapel Hill It’s a little more than a week into 2008, and we have a bold prediction: You have already broken at least one of your New Year’s resolutions. Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. The actual reported numbers vary, but somewhere in the range of 90 percent of people don’t actually follow through on their resolutions, and many fail in less than one month. Despite those incredible odds, we decided to make some resolutions for some various important University and com munity officials and groups. We wish them better luck than most people in keeping them. ■ Student Body President Eve Canon: Uae your Mnimng committee-making superpowers to make a committee for some Opinion First, the bad news: Although everyone from the BOT to Chancellor James Moeser has heralded UNC as the best value in the U.S., this is not the case for everyone in Thr Heel country. While the Kiplinger poll does rank the University as the No. 1 deal for the in-state crowd, we’ve landed only fourth best for out of-state students. Not exactly a travesty but a fact you certainly won’t hear tossed around too much at BOT meetings. According to Kiplinger's Web site, their methodology behind the poll consists of comparing two variables: academic quality and cost Academic quality is defined as a combination of SAT and ACT scores, student-faculty' ratios and admission, gradua tion and retention rates. These account for about two-thirds of the final score a university receives from Kiplinger. Minneapolis-based chain, closed in late December. Antoine Puech, manag ing partner of Prestige and Associates, which owns the building that was home to the restaurant, told The Herald- Sun that the wing joint closed its Chapel Hill location for a couple reasons, one of which is Lot 5. Lot 5, a mixed-use project that will boast residential and commercial spaces, will take the place of the current parking lot These concerns likely are not limited to Buffalo Wild Wings but to many surrounding busi nesses that will soon be plight ed with the construction of the Lot 5 development. The most unfortunate loss during break was the closing of the famous Rathskeller. The Rat as it’s more affectionately known, shut its doors because of nonpayment of taxes, accord ing to the sign posted in the restaurant s window by the N.C. Department of Revenue. Rathskeller owner Francis Henry has been struggling for months to revitalize the busi ness, which, as noted on its thing that’s desperately needed: a revision of the Student Code. ■ Association of Student Governments: Do something. Remind us that you exist ■ UNC-system Board of Governors: Save us from exor bitant tuition hikes. Please, you’re our last hope. ■ Chapel Hill Town Council: Finally realize that Franklin Street is not exactly the bustling paradise that you imagine it to be and that building a combina tion of retail stores, condomini ums and a parking deck won’t magically make it better. ■ Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership: Stage a coup and take over the revitalization of Franklin Street. ■ Town of Carrboro: Require all buddings to meet updated Cost considers total cost with housing, average debt after graduation and percentage of need met by university aid. likely contributing to UNC’s rank is the Carolina Covenant, which covers 100 percent of need to low-income students. But for ouf-of-staters, the University of Florida and the State University of New York at both Geneseo and Binghamton beat out the Carolina spirit in value. Of the three, only UF is ranked in the hallowed U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, more than 20 spots behind our dear alma mater. So, apparently we haven’t been lied to; we are a steal. But if the school wants to keep heralding itself as America's Best Value in Public Colleges, maybe it’s time we tried to extend the title to our out-of-state comrades. After all, what's winning a title if we can’t all party to it? logo, has been a Chapel Hill tradition since 1948. The restaurant faces not only tax concerns but structural issues, as the aging building which houses the Rathskeller has suffered some damages. “If the building owners wanted to keep the Rathskeller open they could certainly assist in doing so,” Henry said. When new and interesting local businesses do want to open up downtown, like Sugarland, a sweets shop owned by Carrboro resident Katrina Ryan, owners face an uphill battle. Permit requests and needed renovations to bring aging, pre viously grandfathered buildings up to code have stymied Ryan’s progress to open her shop in the location formerly occupied by Julian’s. Fortunately, Ryan hopes the store will open before the end of this month. We’d like to see the town council and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership work to get a hold on the many prob lems raining down on our once idyllic downtown before there’s nothing left of it fire codes. Then maybe they’ll stop burning down. ■ Anyone lucky enough to get lottery tickets for basket ball: Use them. Or else. ■ The N.C. voting-age popu lation (Mecklenburg County in particular): Elect non-corrupt lawmakers who won’t embez zle money, or at least vote them out of office when they do. ■ UNC football coach Butch Davis: Earn your raise next season. Our expectations aren’t that high right now, we just want a bowl game. ■ UNC men’s basketball team and coach Roy Williams: Make us proud come March. For our part, we pledge to write more congratulatory edi torials provided the above resolutions are kept QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s definitely a great honor to get my jersey retired here after the best, Charlotte Smith. So Imjust happy.” IVORY LATTA, FORMER UNC POINT GUARD LETTERS TO THE EDITOR fo read the full-length versions VISIT Post your own response to a letter, editorial or story online. VISIT wwwdaiiytarheei.com/feedback Priority registration levels academic playing field TO THE EDITOR: The Faculty Council (recently passed) the priority registration proposal giving student-athletes the chance to register for classes before the normal student. This (was) long overdue. Student-athletes typically prac tice 20 hours per week, the equiv alent of a part-time job, yet being a part of a varsity athletics team requires everyone involved to meet a stringent practice schedule. UNC athletics are known to compete at the highest level at every- sport; certainly this reputa tion hasn’t stemmed from medi ocre attendance at practices. Many athletes encounter diffi culties while registering because oftentimes the one or few sec tions of a class that are avail able during the hours outside of practice times are full by the time registration begins. Athletes are being put at a dis advantage when they cannot reg ister for the only section of a class available within their confined schedule. This is one reason why so many athletes take summer school to graduate on time. Students working part time or involved in other extracurricular activities are naturally more flex ible because they don't have to commit to a fixed schedule every day of the week. That one class outside of their desired time frame can be taken, though their work schedule may need to be altered. There is a good reason why every other school in the ACC has priority registration for stu dent-athletes; they realize that athletes are being put at a dis advantage during registration due to the restrictions inherent in being a part of a varsity team. (Priority registration will improve) the welfare of all student athletes representing and earning this institution the fine reputation it has within the NCAA David Solars Sophomore Chemistry Remember who you are, where you go to school TO THE EDITOR: I have hardly been more embar rassed to be a Carolina fan than on Jan. 2 at the Kent State game. In the first half, Kent State’s point guard A Fisher committed a (moderately) hard foul on Tyler Hansbrough. For the rest of the game, the Carolina student section would not leave him alone, booing every time he touched the ball. Fisher handled the heckling with absolute class and played a fine game. Such fan behavior is commonplace at more classless schools, like one eight miles down US. 15-501, but has not and should not take place in Chapel Hill. Despite the ways that the media might glorify- them, the Cameron Crazies are not the model for crowd dynamics. No one is asking for “wine-and-cheese," just the opposite: We should show our love for Carolina basketball by being as loud as possible. I’m just asking that you repre sent this great University proud ly by cheering for the Tkr Heels, and not against the other team. Walker Brooks First-year School of Medicine SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Hs* type: Handwritten tetters will not b* accepted. ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Indude your yew, major and phone number. ► Faculty/staff: Indude your _ department and phone number. ► Edit: The DTH edits for space, darky, accuracy and vulgarity. Limit letters to 2SO words SUBMISSION: ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: to edttdesltOiirK.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hiß, N.C., 27515. HMTOrs MOTE Colwnns. cwtoon* and tetters do not necessarily reflect the opmons of The Daily Tar Heel or its staff. Editorials ar* the opinions soWy of The Daily Tar Heal ***torial bowl The bond consists of six bowl members, the associate opinion edtor, the opinion editor and the editor. The 2007-0# edtor decided not to vote on the board. (Ebr SatUf (Ear Brrl N.C/s primary vote counts, even if it's late... very late TO THE EDITOR: Over the last week, I’ve been quite caught up in the political frenzy of primary season begin ning. I’ve spent countless hours looking at cnn.com, nytimes.com, newspapers and C-SPAN reading about the lowa caucuses. More than once, I’ve thought, ’Man, those folks are really right in the middle of the political process.” Asa resident of North Carolina, it’s pretty easy for me to say, “Well, you know, my primary vote doesn’t really count, we’re state number 42 (or something like that) in the primaries.” But, having seen all of the excitement in lowa, what strikes me is that lowa isn’t special. Or, more specifically, lowa is no more special than any other state. So what if our states primary comes late in the game? So what if lowa and New Hampshire come first? We’ve got well-educated, well informed, politically passionate and aware people here, too! So, dam it all, when we get the chance every four years to actu ally take part in picking the per son who holds the highest office in the land, by golly, lets take it Fm going to proudly send in my absentee ballot this April or May or whenever our primary finally rolls around. We all should. Not only is it, technically, a civic duty, but this year’s race may be a close one, and every candi date is going to need every sup porter they can get. Even those in states with late primaries. Tim Matson Class 0f2005 Letter espoused racist and incorrect points of view TO THE EDITOR: To compare undocumented immigrants to rapists and then to claim that the children of these people don’t deserve to go to school is just sickening (“Keep ille gal immigrants out of community colleges,” Dec. 4,2007). The claim that “illegal immi grants do not pay taxes and are a drain on our economy” is wrong, UCLA’s North American Integration and Development Center has found that undocu mented immigrants contribute at least S3OO billion per year to the U.S. gross domestic product The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, there will be five million more jobs in the U.S. than people to do them. (Lrtter author Kevin M. Wise) claims illegal immigrants have “infiltrated our population* Overlooking the discriminatory phrasing, may I remind you that the U.S. was founded as a place of refuge and opportunity? It is my sincere hope that Mr. Wise will get past his racist views and come to terms with the feet that the U. S. is a country made up of many different people and every single one of them has a right to be here. Mary Lide Parker Sophomore Journalism (Hip Sattij alar Uppl Established 1693, 114 years of editorial freedom ERIN ZUREICK EDITOR. 962-4086 2UREIOCOEMAJLUNC.EDU OEHCE HOURS MON., WED.. FRI. 12 P.M. ADAMSTORCK OPINION EDITOR. 962-07S0 APSTORCKOUNC.EDU JONATHAN TUGMAN ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 TUOMANOUNC.EDU ANDREW JONES PUBUC EDITOR XWESAWOEMAILUNC.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS JESSICA SCISM SARAH WHITWORTH KATHRYN ARDI22ONE SARAH IETRENT DUNCAN CARLTON ELYSE MCCOY
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 9, 2008, edition 1
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