Newspapers / The Daily Tar Heel. / March 25, 2008, edition 1 / Page 8
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8 TUESDAY. MARCH 25, 2008 CHARLES DAHAN EYE CANDY Charles Dahan is a political science graduate student from California. E-MAIL CDAHANOGMAII COM Spitzers shenanigans should be legalized I don't know exactly what Eliot Spitzer did. and I don't want tc i presumptively convict the innocent of a sex crime. But since Spitzer claimed to haw acted “in a wav that violates my obligations to my family and violates my. or any, wnse of right and wrong." I feel it safe to declare shenanigans. Clearly Spitzer is not your per fect Valentine, but what exactly did he do that disqualifies him from running New York state? And w hat, more interestingly, harmful act did the lady in question. Ashley Alexandra Dupre, commit? Dupre was not coerced to seek and accept employment in the world's oldest profession, and l P t S r f WaSn 1 !° rcedt °P a - v four grand per COMMUNITY COLUMNIST rendezvous. Criminalizing pros titution only works to further marginalize a group of women in society prostitutes. Both the far right and far left decry the immorality of prostitu tion. Yet legislative solutions that make extremists on both ends of the spectrum feel better about the society in which they live only exacerbate the plight of sex w ork ers in America. The problem is not just a lack of opportunity for prostitutes. Even with increased social wel fare benefits or expanded gov ernment programs, the demand for prostitution remains. Such efforts might drive up the price, yet if no legal outlet exists to ful fill the demand, those peddling its wares must still operate out side the bounds of the law. Certainly prostitution is unsavory: it is easy to encour age banning that which makes our stomach turn or with which we disagree. Like nuclear power plants and Duke students, no one wants a brothel moving in next door. Unfortunately, little cor relation exists between legislative prohibition and extinction. Indeed, even on this page a columnist decried how we, as good Christian soldiers, could allow an alleged brothel to oper ate within our town limits. 1 sus pect far less of a kerfuffle would have been made about the same joint opened up a few miles north or been advertised through the back page of The Independent. For prostitutes, the industry is rife with violence, rape and disease. The industry also offers women income two to three times the alternative opportunities. And while the demand for prostitu tion will always provide paying customers, the profession does not inherently breed such abhorrent externalities. To the contrary, crim inalizing prostitution only pushes if underground, regulated by a patchwork of gangs, pimps and, at the margins, call girl “agencies." Relying on law enforcement to actually enforce really doesn't help; a recent preliminary study by Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh demonstrates police officers in Chicago are more likely to frequent a prostitute than arrest one. Johns are even less likely to face punishment. Yet increased enforcement will only further push prostitution out of sight and women into even less desirable circumstances. Legalizing acts deemed immor al won't produce a utopian society in which the lives of prostitutes are ideal and selling sex is a desirable profession. As experienced moral crusaders know and contemporary progressives who wish to protect the downtrodden from the evils of the world through bureaucratiza tion are learning, prohibition of goods for which a demand exists creates perverse outcomes. The work of these crusaders —much like their namesakes of a millennia ago only bolsters their own view of the world while the suppliers and consumers of the prohibited good are harmed. Expanded government inter vention also isn’t the answer. Shockingly, demand is rarely satiated and armies either literal or those of paper pushers always fail to dam the forceful tide of desire. EDITORIAL CARTOON By Don Wright, Palm Beach Post „ LOOK, WE CAME FEPfc Z— TO HELP- WE'VE NEVE2 SEEN A COUKTPY SO POGPLY CUN! NCAN, STOP KJDONQ ABOUND REALLY WHO § TtXJP LEADEPr Addition by division UNC-system branch campus is a good idea, so far The wonderful thing about branches on trees is that they provide sup port to the main part of the tree. Everyone benefits from the extra branches that bear additional fruit. The UNC system has the enviable problem of" having so many qualified applicants the potential fruit that it can t let them all in. To alleviate the stress of enrollment growth, the Board of Governors has proposed cre ating a branch campus to allow community college students to finish their degrees without transferring to a univ ersity. In theory , a branch campus is a good idea, and the board should continue to pursue it. But as it is still in the early planning stages its opening would be* at least two to four years in the future, possibly more we re withhold ing final judgment until we have more concrete details. The UNC sy stem has grown at a tremendous rate in the past decade. Enrollment increased from 154,353 students (both undergraduate and graduate) Let there be light More of state employees' records should he public No one likes to be beaten by a cop. And. to their credit, we haven't heard anything lately about police whaling on innocent people. But we can t really be sure they haven't been up to that sort of hemorrhagic hijinks. because complaints against police aren’t public record in North Carolina. In fact, they’re not even open to the folks who file the complaints forget about independent watchdogs who monitor if the government is doing its job. But they should be. After all. the idea that someone needs to watch the watchers is a truism for a reason: It’s true. Right now, the only informa tion that’s public about state employees is name, age, date hired, job, salary, most recent pay change and date of most recent change of position. Instead of‘sick’ days... Employers should encourage March Madness activities Your cubicle is about to get turned blue. We all know March Madness is in full swing. Even people who don’t know what a lane violation is or can’t pro nounce Tyler Hansbrough’s name right are watching college hoopsters “take it to the house." Unfortunately, some of the most anticipated games take place during the work week. According to Chicago con sulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., employers could lose as much as $1.7 billion in productivity during the 16 busi ness days of the tournament. At least if you’re going to lose money, kudos to doing it on purpose. You can’t say that about the stock market. Plus, if you participate in a Opinion in fall 1997 to 209.059 in 2007, an increase of 35.4 percent. System officials expect this growth to continue, with 80.000 more students being admitted to system schools by 2017. A branch campus would exist as an independent entity, having its own building and staff, but would work closely with a uni versity and community college on areas such as instruction. The board outlined several possible administrative models for the campus. One. the distance education “storefront" model, would have a physical building, we imagine for things like office space, but instruction would be entirely online or by distance. However, this particular model seems to somewhat defeat the purpose of a branch campus. If the goal is to alleviate overcrowding, distance educa tion programs could be expand ed at other system schools. We doubt the solution is that simple. There seems to be a demand for on-site learning, and distance education, while it has its benefits, is an inferior And by public, of course, we mean that you can get it if you ask for it, not that it’s posted in an easy-to-find location. Ultimately, we would like to see public access (though not necessarily public posting) of a far greater range of records for virtually all state employees. However, we’re not fools, and we know that the state employee lobby has legitimate concerns about too much information becoming public and is a very powerful lobby that would be tough to beat in Raleigh. So we think it’s important that efforts to free up records focus on those that are most vital to public safety- first: dis ciplinary actions, misconduct complaints and investigations of officials who are charged with protecting specific mem bers of the public. That means police forces and other law enforcement, monetary pool, which might not “technically" be legal, you could at least get some chump change for one of those cool Styrofoam fingers. Who says poking is lim ited to Facebook? Let’s face it: People are going to watch the games anyway, so why not have some good old fashioned fun while you're at it? To hide your March Madness indiscretions from the boss, the CBS online broadcasts feature a “boss button" that quickly switches the basketball action to a fake spreadsheet. Although, bracket check ing is just one way that people waste time at work. American workers spend about 36 min utes every workday on per sonal tasks. Let’s look at it this wav: At substitute for that. The better option is the com munity college partnership model, which would entail closer collaboration between the UNC system and the community col lege system as well as the afore mentioned degree completion. It would be necessary, how ever, to draw a clear distinction between the branch campus and whatever the main campus is, possibly with the campus loca tion designated in the name. Also, although the branch campus would be a single location, it would need to be accessible to students from a number of community colleg es across the state, otherwise it wouldn't be able to adequately satisfy- enrollment demand. Many questions still remain with regard to structure, faculty and facilities, and as the plan progresses, the system will need to do some serious analysis of costs and revenue and make sure the idea is sustainable. Pending any unforeseen com plications, however, a branch campus would be a solid addi tion to the UNC system. but also the folks who w'ork with troubled youth and simi lar groups. We re not asking for every thing in their files. We don’t want to go after records that it wouldn’t be fair to employees to examine, like ordinary per formance reviews, but let’s be realistic. Misconduct investiga tions are serious business, and they're the publics business. The idea that complaints that haven't been substanti ated shouldn’t be included is rubbish. A pattern of complaints, even if they aren’t substantiat ed, can be evidence of a larger problem, and public review of the way complaints are investi gated is every bit as important as the review of the complaints themselves. There must be a standard of accountability for public servants in vital roles that isn’t laughably minimal. least the NCAA-wasted work time is totally balanced by the camaraderie that comes from an office pool or other activi ties. You can’t say that about the middle-aged employee reli giously checking eHarmony. If anything, we think profes sors should have joined in the fun, too. Hate to tell you this, but do you really think we’re paving attention to your lecture when the game we are watch ing on our computer just w ent into double overtime? Fortunately for college bas ketball fans, and America’s wal let, with the first two rounds over, the games from now on will be in die evenings for those of us on the East Coast. So check it out, and enjoy the madness. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 7 don't get caught up in how well we played today and how that relates to how we'll play next weekend." ROY WILLIAMS, MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Feel strongly about something that has been printed? Post your own response to a letter, editorial or story online. VISIT wwrw.daifytarheei.com/feedback Legal immigrants should not be unduly targeted TO THE EDITOR: The letter of Kevin Wise (“Immigrants don’t have the same rights as U.S. citizens", March 24) is a perfect example of what is wrong with America today. Wise begins by erroneously arguing that “legal residents do not enjoy the same rights of citizens." So an immigrant who has trudged through the tedious, bureaucratic and year-spanning immigration process just to become officially a legal citizen has not earned the same rights as someone who just happened to be bom here? Additionally, what does Wise mean by “assimilate into our cul ture?" It seems suspiciously like Wise is implying that all immi grants need to speak English, completely forget their heritage and basically act “white." The notion that immigrants somehow need to be “assimilated" into America is an outrage. Wise's suggestion that legal immigrants live under a “close watch" and a “trial basis" is blatantly xenopho bic and a threat to civil rights of all Americans. Drunk driving should be pun ished more harshly, but it is unfair to enforce it harder on legal immi grants while “putting up with the indiscretions" of native-born, white citizens. John Wait Sophomore Physics We must continue to stand in opposition to Iraq War TO THE EDITOR: Wednesday's protest by the UNC Coalition Against the War directed attention to the disas trous consequences of the Iraq War after five years. Even during the buildup to war, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets against what they believed would be an ill-advised and immoral decision of epic proportions. But especially now that our economy is flirting with reces sion, the sub-prime mortgage crisis has burst the housing bub ble, gas prices are ratcheting up as oil supply fails to keep up with demand, commodity food prices and health care costs are soaring, the dollar’s value is tanking and we are nearing a global climate change tipping point, it is hard to fathom that anyone is not yet outraged that, instead of address ing these pressing problems, the administration has made its legacy a SSOO billion war for oil in which nearly 4,000 American troops and 100,000 Iraqi citizens have lost their lives. TTie war’s dwindling supporters contend that the “success" of last year's troop escalation means the war has been worth it While it is true that attacks have fortunately decreased since last summer, it is a fallacy to confuse a strategic “success" in the short term with a moral one in the long term. The morality of a decision matters fun damentally more than the strategy with which it is carried out Last week's protest boldly asserted that fact We must contin ue to speak out until our involve ment in the war has ended and our troops can safely return home to their families and friends. Jeff Brubaker Graduate student City and Regional Planning SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Please type: Handwritten tetters will not be accepted ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Include your year, major and phone number. ► Faculty/staff: Include your department and phone number. ► Edit: The DTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity. Limit letters to 250 worth. SUBMISSION: ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: to editdeskOunc.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257. Chapel Kill, N.C., 27515. EDITOR'S NOTE: Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Daily Tar Heel or its staff. Editorials are the opinions solely of The Daily Tar Heel edito rial board The board consists of nine board members, the associate opinion editor the opinion editor and the editor. The 2007-08 editor decided not to vote on the board Uhr Daily £ar Hrrl Don't allow hate speech to creep into our community TO THE EDITOR: Much of the Carolina commu nity attended the powerful ser vice on March 18, which brought us together in a public moment of grief at the loss of and cele bration of the life of Eve Carson. Our campus is still in a state of vulnerability and deep sadness at the death of our leader and friend. I believe we arc all out raged at her violent (death), and we want the perpetrators to be held accountable. However, I am increasingly troubled and disturbed by some of the comments I have read and heard in response to the fact that the two people apprehended and charged with her murder are young black men. This appears to be an excuse for some people to unleash a spate of racist rhet oric and to repeat unfair and untrue stereotypes. I do not support censorship, and we, as a campus, do not have control over the larger blogosphere. But I want to encourage us ail to remember that hate speech has no place in our campus community, on our Facebook pages and in our conversations. Why do any members of our community find it appropriate to give hate-filled racist comments space in their psyches or in our public spaces? What is the impact of this on our students and friends who feel targeted and threatened by this language? What can each one of us do in our daily practice to support the students who feel at risk and unsafe because of these com ments? How can we, as individu als and as a community, call to account those among us who would voice or write such thoughts? Let us follow the advice Chancellor (James) Moesergave us at Eves memorial service. “We must remain strong as a commu nity, supporting each other and avoiding divisions. We honor Eve bv being the university that she loved when she talked about ‘the Carolina Way.” Donna M. Bickford Director, Carolina Women’s Center DTH headline stepped over line and was insensitive TO THE EDITOR: 1 was shocked when I picked up the paper (Monday) and saw your extremely poor choice of headlines. Following a story about mur der on college campuses, you chose to proclaim UNC’s basket ball victory as a “slaughter" in big bold letters. I know this is a common metaphor in sports reporting, but we are a campus still reeling from the tragedy of Eve Carson's murder. I, for one, am not ready to see such callous use of words when its reality is still so fresh in my mind and my heart. Kate McFarland Graduate Student Sociology Übr iatlii (Tar Brrl Established 1893, 115 years of editorialfreedom ERIN ZUREICK EDITOR. 962-4086 2UREICKOEMAIL.UNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS MON..WED..FRI.I-2P.M. ADAM STORCK OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 APSTORCKOUNC.EDU JONATHAN TUGMAN ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR. 9620750 TUGMANOUNC.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS JESSICA SCISM TED STRONG SARAH WHITWORTH KATHRYN ARDI22ONE SARAH LETRENT DUNCAN CARLTON ELYSE MCCOY GRAHAM ROWE DAVID GIANCASPRO
March 25, 2008, edition 1
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