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12 THURSDAY. MARCH 6. 2008 & 1 ML SARAH HODGES fROM MY WORD PROCESSOR TO YOUR EARS Sarah Hodges is a senior psychology major from Durham. E-MAIL: SEHOOGESOEMAIL UNC EDU Petitions need more than just a signature College is the ideal time to form and strengthen our opinions. Many people hold views on nearly everything, especially in our liberal college town. We need to learn, how ever, to deepen our knowledge of the issues instead of just taking on more opinions. We learn about the issues facing our generation by taking classes in women's studies or social justice. We get involved in extracurricular clubs or political organizations. Then we find the corresponding button or T-shirt to wear in the hopes of sway ing someone else's opinion with catchy slogans. Wc wallpaper the back of our cars with our AT-LARGE COLUMNIST opinions on politics and religion. Think of how many more bum per stickers you could tout if you traded in your four-door sedan for a Hummer. If only it didn’t clash with the “Global Warming is Real" slogan you have on your car now. With the mob of booths and advocates flooding the Pit every day. it's easy for college students to overload on causes. We want to change the world. We want to fix the problems that our parents created when they were trying to change the world. We might be swayed to sign a petition in the Pit every now and then or to show our solidar ity with the people of Darfur by joining a Facebook group. But what is the point if we’re not going to check back and see if our petition had any influ ence on the issue? How about if we re just going to delete event announcements unless there is free food involved? We might even agree to be bombarded with listserv e-mails from the Sierra Club or the Human Rights Campaign that is. until we get tired of them ask ing for the money we need for textbooks, rent and the Thursday night pint. It takes very little effort to get involved on such a superfi cial level. There are clubs and campaigns surrounding the Pit every day at lunch. Here we can pick up a flier or talk to a spokesman and feel informed about an issue, but then we're not really getting the most out of our education. College is the proverbial time to find oneself. We should not be against abortion because that is what our parents taught us, nor should we be pro-choice just to fit in with the liberal majority. We should be able to strip all of our political convictions down to their moral foundations and build them up again. We need to take this oppor tunity to read up on the issues. It's great that we want to be involved, but we’re not well equipped to deal with social issues when much of our gen eration gets its news from “The Daily Show." Watch the six o'clock headlines. Make CNN or The New York Times your laptop's home page. Research the organizations whose peti tions you usually sign without a second thought. People like to have opinions and to be ready to argue their stance on every issue. We often fail to realize that it is not important that we have all of the answers, just that we feel strongly about the ones that we do have. Most importantly, we should show people how we feel rather than just telling them. Instead of simply signing petitions, call your legislators or join a protest. Take that step from contemplating bathroom fliers while washing your hands to actually going to an information session or volunteering in the community. Maybe it is time to trade in that sedan after all. Get a bike instead. Do something to fight global warming instead of spreading the word from next to your exhaust pipe. EDITORIAL CARTOON By Mason Phillips, mphilOemail .unc.edu ■ Its jjrr and your children arepoSNM f*. I dangerous world Mg! Its 3am and your children are safe and asleep Tr awl. False alarm ASU students actions were reckless; school reacted well Appalachian State University student Matt Haney embarrassed himself and his university Monday with a sickening dis play of insensitivity. When Haney discovered some minor damage to his apartment door Monday afternoon, he made like Greg Paulus in a close game and freaked out. Fearing that he might have to pay for the door, Hanev decided to file a police report in which he claimed to have seen an armed burglar wearing a Pink Floyd T shirt moving toward ASU. From there, the situation quickly escalated to a total campus lockdow-n before police discovered that the entire incident was a misguid ed fabrication. By spinning a mysterious tale of a Pink Floyd gunman, Haney showed a level of judg ment at best, asinine, and at worst, comfortably numb. Pulling the race card Wrights ‘Jim Crow’ complaint just doesn’t hold up The embarrassing situation concerning possible ethics violations by Rep. Thomas Wright, D-New Hanover, has reached anew low. With Wright’s joint General Assembly ethics hearing com ing to a close, one of his attor neys, Doug Harris, fired one last desperate volley at the panel in an attempt to derail the case against his client. Harris attempted to highlight Wright as the victim in this mess. So he did what all good lawyers do when their back is against the wall: Go big or go home. He dropped the race card. Unfortunately for Wright, Harris' legal argument works about as well as a black-and white TV with HD cable. Harris has pinned his argu ment on contrasting last year’s case against Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Anson, with Wright’s current predicament, claiming he is a victim of a "Jim Crow hearing." Harris argued that Gibson was in nearly the same position that Wright is in and that the only reason Gibson got off and Wright is being prosecuted is A better door than window N.C. needs better budget accessibility, transparency According to a report released Monday by the Pew Center on the States, North Carolina sorely lacks transparency in its bud geting process. It’s a no-brainer that trans parency should be required of any public body in a ftmction ing democracy. Since billions of taxpayers’ dollars are concerned, the state’s lack of transparency is an even more egregious offense. The “Grading the States" report card assesses a variety of criteria, including employment, information and technology and budget management, to deter mine how effectively the nation’s 50 states are serving the public. While the state scored a B minus overall, it was the issue of budget transparency on which Opinion The incident took place just weeks after the tragic shooting at Northern Illinois University and day's after a botched emer gency drill at Elizabeth City- State University. Fortunately, there is good news to report from this most unusual false alarm. Where Haney’s creative story telling capabilities failed miser ably, the increased security mea sures at ASU clearly succeeded. Administrators at the univer sity responded quickly just 24 minutes after the initial police response —and efficiently to the news of a possible gunman. Text messages, e-mails and online updates kept students informed and helped to tame the circus of a situation. On March 19. UNC admin istrators will test a number of on-campus sirens distributed throughout North and South campuses responsible for relay ing pre-recorded instructional because Wright is black. This, of course, is a gross exaggeration by Harris, a legal stretch and yet another hit to the reputation of the legisla ture, compliments of Wright ’s continuing antics. The attempt by the Wright defense to use race as a get-out of-jail-free card is shameless and, luckily, went more or less ignored by the assembly. The connection is nothing more than one gross, invalid logical fallacy. Gibson, who is white, was accused of misconduct and misrepresentation of a bill dur ing last session. A fellow legislator accused him of violating ethics rules by falsely certifying a local zoning bill as “noncontroversial." The charge w-as later dismissed by the ethics committee. Wright, on the other hand, has been accused of mishan dling §350,000 in campaign and charity donations. It’s also amounted to six felony charges. We hate to be the ones to break it to the Wright camp, but Lady Justice isn’t that blind. the report was most critical. North Carolina's total spend ing ranks 10th in the country-, at s4l billion every budget cycle. Spending per capita ranks somewhat lower, 34th overall at $4,642 a person. North Carolina's budget can be found online via the Office of State Management and Budget, but it’s notoriously dif ficult to wade through. The report highlighted the fact that the governor s budget document was difficult even for experts to comprehend and that public input in the legislative process is “severely limited." The online format contains links to various sections within the budget, each of which con sists of a number of individual pages that must be loaded sepa messages to students, faculty and staff in the case of a similar emergency. The tests are part of a securi ty program intended to ensure quick and efficient communi cation in the case that a tor nado. hazardous chemical spill or gunman jeopardizes campus safety here in Chapel Hill. The tests also mark the launch of Alert Carolina, a safety awareness campaign that aims to educate the UNC community about what safety measures are available and how people should react in the case of an emergency. Hopefully we will never have to deal with a real or imaginary gunman on campus here at UNC. But if the unthinkable occurs, with these new security mea sures, we should be able to expect the same level of efficiency and professionalism demonstrated by administrators at ASU. Comparing Gibsons alleged mischaracterization of a bill to the possibility of misusing upwards of a third of a million dollars in public and charity funds is ludicrous. The two events are in no way parallel to each other. Gibson’s was an internal distinction, irrelevant to citizens. Wright’s situation, for fear of understat ing our point, is substantially more serious. Wright’s irresponsible use of the race card is just another chapter in the disjointed story that’s been his defense. Wright’s legal tactic since day one has been to dodge the charges and instead challenge the legitimacy of his accusers. We can only wonder why that’s the case. As for everyone else watching this debacle, we hope those in the political sphere are taking notes. Leveling charges of discrimina tion as recklessly as Wright has done should not be acceptable to our elected officials. But with any luck, this will be the end of the cleanup of Raleigh the assembly promised last year. rately, hardly an efficient way to view- such a large document Also, there’s no aggregate bud get either within departments or for the state as a whole. Citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent particularly when the govern ment is throwing s4l billion around every two years. Whether excessive secrecy or poor information reporting is to blame, the state needs to make budget transparency a priority. The residents of North Carolina deserve the opportunity to see how their elected officials are working for them. But they can’t do that if information is not readily- accessible. Honestly, we’d be surprised if the legislators themselves know what’s in the budget. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He’s the nicest guy. ... But on the wrestling mat he’s trying to tear your arm off and heat you with it” THOMAS SCOTTON, ON WRESTLING TEAMMATE KEEGAN MUELLER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Feel strongly about something that has been printed? Post your own response to a letter; editorial or story online. Visrr www.datlytarheel.com feedback Women's-only gym hours set a dangerous standard TO THE EDITOR: I was disappointed to see my beloved Daily Tar Heel sup porting Harvard's decision of women-only gym hours (*No men allowed," March 5). In fact, it reminded me of another article I read in the DTH about how UNCs Counseling and Wellness Services has new drop in hours unless you're white (“CWS adds drop-in hours," March 3). Of course, they appar ently already have hours for stu dents unless they’re straight. Does it really hurt anybody to allow women a few hours in a gym to themselves or adding extra hours for anybody but (white people) to get mental help? No, it honestly doesn’t. But it applies a dangerous double standard that, if reversed, would bring the American Civil Liberties Union or Jesse Jackson down here in a New York minute. It is exactly this kind of seem ingly harmless helping hand to a religious or ethnic minority that can start a slow slide into separate and unequal. Of course, clearly some folks don’t believe in equal services for even- group. Chris Cameron 2005-06 Daily Tar Heel Opinion Editor ASU incident demonstrates need for campus gun bans TO THE EDITOR: In response to the article regarding the safety threat at ASU ("ASU reacts to safety threat," March 4), this incident is yet another example of how our public and private univer sities need to ban firearms on campuses. After the shooting at Columbine High School, Americans and poli ticians rushed to make our high schools safer, even going as far as implementing metal detectors in school. Yet with the attacks at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University-, there has been little to no reform in the safety of college campuses. Some argue that guns actually help make our campuses safer, yet violence begets more vio lence. Armed students that try to confront gunmen risk the chance of escalating the violence. Universities need to place clear bans on weapons just as in the high school system. In a place where learning and educa tion is a priority, firearms have no place. College campuses have begun seeking plans to improve campus safety, but many of these pro grams are still lacking because students are not required to sign up for text alerts or e-mail alerts regarding emergencies on cam puses. Campuses need to find a better way to alert all students and faculty to insure the safety of the campus. College is a time of new expe riences, cultivation and learn ing which should not be tainted with concerns about one’s safety. College campuses, students and politicians, in lieu of incidents at Va. Tech and NIU, need to become more responsible in combating violence on campuses before another college campus is ravaged by violence. Alexis Ivey Freshman History, Public Policy SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Hose typ*: Handwritten letters win not be accepted. ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Include your year, major and phone number. ► Faculty/staff: Indude your department and phone number. ► Edit: The DTH edits for space, darity, accuracy and vulgarity. Limit tetters to 2SO words. SUBMISSION. ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: toeditdeskOunc.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel HOI. N.C., 27515. EDITOR'S NOTE: Columns, cartoons and tetters do not necessarily reflect the oparaons of The Daily Tar Heel or its stall Editorials are the opinions solely ol The Daily Tar Heel edto riai board. The board consists of eight board members, the associate opinion erfltot the opinion ecfitor and the editor. The 2007-08 editor decided not to vote on the board. dhr lathi (Tar Hrri Adu should be considered an American just like us TO THE EDITOR: Wednesday’s column ‘Nationality is more than just a jersey’ (March 5) by Nathan Nyanjom completely ignored the beauty of America. He described Mauro Camoranesi, an originally Argentinean but later natural ized Italian citizen as having to justify- his naturalization. Since Camoranesi responded that it was “only a football matter’ it is con ceivable that Camoranesi did not want to join in Italian nationality. However, Nyanjom then com pared this to the case of Freddy Adu, who though was born in Ghana, moved to the United States at the age of 8. I am concerned with Nyanjom’s definition of American and the feelings of nationality in general. Now 18, Adu has lived in the U.S. for the past 10 years. Presumably, he attended a regular American elementary, middle and high school and faced what every American child deals with. He grew up in America. He has been surrounded by American ideology and lived an American lifestyle. Why should his birthplace con tinuously stop him from being an American when in fact the only part of America he cannot ever reach is the presidency-? We are all American in our experience, and that is the beau ty of America. When I consider myself a proud American, it is this acceptance, freedom and unity that I take pride in. It is how my country grew that I am thinking about every time Ray Charles' “America the Beautiful" plays on my iTunes shuffle. Maryam Al-Zoubi Junior International Studies, Arabic Media outlets blatantly ignore minority coverage TO THE EDITOR: I would personally like to thank the Daily Tar Heel for prov ing our point. The Black Student Movement and other supporters staged a silent demonstration Feb. 29 to raise awareness about the lack of media coverage for minority communities when it matters most. There are a hundred national stories about missing/exploited Caucasians and those who may suffer injustices by police and prison systems. However, cries of minority families with miss ing loved ones go unheard and Jena, La., is happening all across the nation. It was our hope that campus media outlets and beyond would take note of our demonstration and become conscious of the hidden biases in media coverage and help us enlighten our cam pus community. That coverage was missing. However, as I waited a few days to see our issue highlighted in our very own campus paper our point was proven and our question again raised. Where was the coverage? Danielle Lee Senior Journalism £hr laUij (Ear H?el Established 1893, 115 years of editorial freedom ERIN ZUREICK EDITOR, 962-4086 ZUREICICOEMAILUNC.EDU OfFICE HOURS: MON., WED.. FRI. 1-2 RM. ADAM STORCK OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 APSTORCKOUNC EDU JONATHAN TUGMAN ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 TUGMANOUNC.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS JESSICA SCISM SARAH WHITWORTH KATHRYN ARDCZONE SARAH LETRENT DUNCAN CARLTON EIYSE MCCOY GRAHAM ROWE DAVIO GIANCASPRO
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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