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14 THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008 LA SARAH HODGES FROM MY WORD PROCESSOR TO YOUR EARS Sarah Hodges is a senior psychology major from Durham. E-MAIL SEHODGESOEMAIL.UNC.EDU Leave the movies to go to the theater I enjoy sitting around a movie theater after the credits begin to roll and letting the last hour and a half sink in. So one of my biggest pet peeves is when people disrupt this post-viewing Zen by clap ping at the end of a film. 1 don’t understand it. It's not as if the filmmakers can hear the audience reaction. And the way movies are categorized by their gross earnings for the week, it seems like many of the people involved are more con cerned about how much money the film makes than how much the audience appreciates it. Audience interaction is a big part of live theater, and it's something AT-LARGE COLUMNIST that cannot be replaced in film. Many people our age seem to substitute film for live theater when they are actually two completely different art forms. It’s time live theater got more recognition from us. Not to show any disrespect to the film industry. Big-budget films have their positives, like special effects and shoots on location. Movies like "10.000 BC" and “Iron Man" just wouldn't be the same if per formed on stage. I’ll admit that I've been to the movies at least six times this semester and not seen one stage production. In fact, I find it a bit sad that I went to a Carmike Cinemas showing of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter’s per formance rather than the local production of “Sweeney Todd." We usually opt for the conve nience and often cheaper cost of a film. Deciding on a whim to go see an action movie on a Saturday afternoon is a lot more realistic than saying “let’s find a production of a George Bernard Shaw play to see tonight!" But there are drawbacks to film. Movies are a one-sided affair. The actors do multiple takes in front of a camera and the best is chosen to present to the public. We watch the same finished product multiple times. We might go see it in the theater, rent it for a night in or have the network television premiere playing in the background while we wash dishes or write a paper. Some movies we watch so many times that we can recite entire scripts with various actors' into nation and flair. All of the CGI and elaborate sets used in movies nowadays means less work for the actors and audience alike. Performers have more complete sceneries with which to work, and audi ences aren't forced to use their imagination nearly as much. Laugh tracks on television and movie soundtracks alert the viewers to emotions they didn't know they should be feel ing. Even the use of the word “viewer" by industry executives is a dead giveaway to the lack of interaction between audience and performers. It's the shared energy of a live performance that is lacking in the movie theater. The actors and audience feed off of each other’s emotions. And sure you laugh when other people laugh, but it is all genuine reaction rather than the editor’s cue of repeated recordings. A play is a living thing. It's different every time you see it, no matter if you watch the same company performing the same script over and over. The audi ence has an impact, whether it's made up of a class full of drama majors or a field trip from the retirement home. Local produc tions reach out into the commu nity for technical, artistic and moral support. So support the local arts and take advantage of the many the aters in our area every once in a while. But when you do choose to go to the movies, please let others enjoy the credits in peace. EDITORIAL CARTOON By Mason Phillips, mphil@email.unc.edu [lßoOgftT2oC?ftl2oo7l|t2ooßf IMO RCKca| JASMi|GUrf|cNAiEHEM^EOAr| ~HOBODY _ Too big to handle Enrollment growth can’t outstrip University resources Ask anyone who's ever organized a prom din ner among friends, and they'll tell you how dangerous it is to be overly inclusive. It might make you feel warm and fuzzy inside to accept each and every one of your friends' dinner requests, but pulling up extra seats at the table often comes at the expense of intimacy. As North Carolina's popu lation continues to grow at a staggering rate, UNC-system officials encounter a similar problem of inclusion. Studies indicate that we might have to increase the num ber of seats at the UNC-system table by 40 percent, or 80.000 students, in the next 10 years. University officials here in Chapel Hill are currently considering three preliminary growth plans in which student enrollment would increase to anywhere between 29.447 and 33,000 students by 2017 in order to help alleviate some of the pressure on state public universities. We re happy to issue the extra UNC invites to meet the A real boondoggle Outside group should investigate Easleys e-mail policy Gov . Mike Easley is becom ing a master of denial. Easley's continuing insistence that his office's e niail policy doesn’t violate pub lic records laws is becoming more ridiculous by the day. Though he formed a com mittee to review the policy, we think it's time for an outside, independent review by the State Bureau of Investigation. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby could make that happen. The (Raleigh) News & Observer obtained notes from two state public information officers from a meeting with the governor's press secretary that both said almost exactly the same thing: “delete e-mails to/from gov. office every day." Yet, remarkably, Easley called the meaning of those notes unclear. He said they could also mean to print out e-mail mes sages and keep them in a file Stolen code Plagiarized honor code indicative of deleterious trend Students are often warned of the damage they can do to their educational career by cheating or plagiarizing. But what happens when the code that tells students that has been lifted from another source without proper citation? That is exactly what hap pened at the University ofTexas at San Antonio, where an honor code it was producing to help prevent cheating was found to be virtually identical to the honor code of Brigham Young University. It should go without saying that plagiarizing, particularly plagiarizing a document that is supposed to guide people not to plagiarize, is foolish and will only serve to cheapen everyone’s education. Opinion demands of the state population. However, given the extreme lack of facilities and available space here at UNC, it would be best for the state to focus its public uni versity expansion in other loca tions and allow our University to maintain its intimacx and com petitiveness by keeping enroll ment growth to a minimum. Don’t get us wrong. We are extremely excited that a large volume of students, many of whom will probably be first generation or Latino, will have the opportunity to pursue pub lic higher education in the state of North Carolina in the com ing years. They will provide much-needed diversity to the educational system while also becoming crucial players in the beximing N.C. economy. It's just that when Lenoir lunch lines seem endless with a student body of 28,136, it's hard to imagine that the already con struction-concentrated campus can successfully provide ade quate services for another couple of thousand incoming students. Paulien and Associates, a con sulting group hired to research before deleting them. It’s ironic and more than a little bit suspect that Easley would call the notes "cryptic” when it appears that the only party behaving surreptitiously in E-mailgate 2008 is the gov ernor himself. Easley has given the appear ance of taking the issue seriously by assembling a review panel, but we have reason to question the legitimacy of that. Franklin Freeman, the com mittee's Easley-appointed chair man, is a top aide to the gover nor and announced publicly that he did not know how to turn a computer on and he did not communicate by e-mail. In Easley's defense, the com mittee does include members from outside state government. But with reason to question both his motives behind the review and his legal interpretations, we still want an SBI investigation. N.C. G.S. 132 defines a pub BYU adopted its honor code from the Center for Academic Integrity, It, however, cited its source. The student in charge of the UTSA honor code project, Akshay Thusu. said the plagia rism was an oversight, a result of the draft being passed down for five years, and drafters plan to appropriately dte and give credit to the rightful authors when the final draff is proposed. If the drafters of the honor code themselves violate the honor code, it would seem a lit tle hypocritical to try to enforce it on other students. While drafting an honor code probably involves more work than most would think, you shouldn’t have to copy to tell people not to cheat. possible consequences of uni versity expansion in Chapel Hill, has determined that UNC is already functioning at a whop ping 1.4 million square feet less building space than it needs. If the University adopts the low growth plan, it will need to find another 2 million square feet. Carolina North might be able to shoulder some of the space burden, but the campus is main ly for research and graduate pro grams, not undergraduates. Even if there was enough space for such a dramatic increase in students, it's likely that it would result in some degree of decrease in quality of students and number of small classes. Director of Admissions Steve Farmer suggested that both drop-offs could result in decreased interest from top students. We should make sure to include more students into the UNC system as popula tion increases. However, we must do so with a constant eye tow ard maintaining a rich and rewarding “Carolina experi ence" for everyone at UNC. lie record as any of a whole list of media "made or received ... in connection with the transac tion of public business by any agency of N.C. government.” It goes on to further define an “agency" as any of a slew of government units. Basically, it’s very inclu sive, and deleting public records without the consent of the Department of Cultural Resources happens to be a mis demeanor offense in the state. Public records law's fill a valuable role to society on the federal and local level by ensur ing that the government is responsive to its people. They are premised on the belief that public records belong to the people and that without them, there is no possibility for a free marketplace of ideas. North Carolinians should not tolerate any more of Easley's not so-clever diversions. It’s about time he gives up the fight. Sadly, the cheating problem is far more widespread. Ttimitin.com, which inspects student papers for plagiarism, screens about 125,000 student papers per day against online and library materials and a data base of old student papers. About 30 percent of papers screened are classified “less than original." Around 50 percent of cheating incidents come from the Internet, and the other half from old student papers. Barely any come from library sources, probably because it requires more than a copy and paste.. Just because there is a plethora of information out there doesn’t mean that the information over load is too big for students to be held responsible for giving credit where it’s deserved. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Multiple staff... saw this case and saw the redflags in supervision and did not do anything ROBERT LEE GUY, DIVISION OF COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Feel strongly about something that has been printed? Post your own response to a letter, editorial or story online. VISIT www.daßytarheel.com/feedback Use of statistics without context is misleading TO THE EDITOR: It should be noted that C.P. Helms' citation of the U.S. Census and Department of Justice data was misleading ("Description was reflection of statistics on criminals." April 2). He claimed that the 2005 data shows that “a person who com mits robbery is statistically eight times more likely to be black." This simply is not accurate. Black folks may be eight times more likely to be CONVICTED of robbery, but conviction rates do not necessar ily mirror rates of offense. But yes, it is true that the rate at which blacks commit felonies is disproportionate relative to the rate at which whites do. These crime rates, however, reflect spe cific conditions stemming from a number of socioeconomic reali ties which disproportionately face the black community. Several studies reveal that socioeconomic variables account for the difference between white and black violence rates. When economic conditions are compa rable between whites and blacks, there aren’t any significant racial crime differences. Some of you must be thinking. “But it's still statistically accurate to say that blacks commit more robberies!" Sure, but since these rates are clearly correlated with socioeconomic variables, we can explain that claim in either of two ways: Black people are intel lectually inferior to whites and thus are not capable (of) reach ing the same economic stabil ity as whites, or socioeconomic inequalities are primarily a result of state policies, macroeconomic policies and unbalanced levels of opportunity and support. The first explanation uncov ers individual racism, while the second uncovers institutional racism (systematic inequalities that people of color face). Simply stating a statistic, however, strips the situation from this context and only serves to reinforce the false claim that black culture, in and of itself, is damaged. Anthony Magi i one Junior Psychology interested students should apply for appointments TO THE EDITOR: The executive branch of stu dent government has released applications for 16 external appointments for 2008-09. We will be making appointments to the Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, Student Technology Advisory Board, Student Fee Audit Committee, WXYC Board of Directors, among many other committees. You can fill out an application and see a full list of committees with their descriptions on the student government Web site (www.unc.edu/studgov). We are in search of any stu dent applicants who are enthu siastic about serving the student body; prior experience is not necessarily required! Applications are due Friday, April 11 at 5 p.m. I look forward to reading your application and invite you to apply for multiple appointments. Thank you and good luck! Todd Dalrymple Student Body Vice President SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Please type: Handwritten letters will not be accepted ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Include your year, major and phone number. ► Facutty/staff: Include your department and phone number ► Edit: The OTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity limit letters to 250 words. SUBMISSION: ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: to editdesk@unc.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill. N.C.. 27515. tDCTOR'S NOTE: Columns, cartoons and totters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Dy Tar Heel or Its staff Editorials are the opinions solely of The Daily Tar Heel edito rial boaidThe board consists of nine board members. the associate opinion editor, the opinion editor and the editor The 2007-08 editor debded not to vote on the board Shr Daily ear iHrrl Health care must be cheap, accessible and reliable TO THE EDITOR: The health care system our presidential hopefuls envision for America's future centers around three simple adjectives: affordable, accessible and reli able. But the one thing we aren’t hearing anything about could be the most influential factor in the fate of health care overall: the growing shortage of practitio ners nationwide. North Carolina has been affected dramatically by this growing health care crisis. Of all citizens, however, those living in rural or inner-city areas are hurt the most by the growing shortage of medical providers. They are also the least represented among practitioners in the field. How can we as a nation real istically expect to provide com prehensive, culturally competent health care that truly is "afford able, accessible and reliable" if only those most affluent in soci ety have the chance to attend medical school and later practice medicine? The N.C. Health Careers Access Program, located on the campus of UNC, has w orked for more than 35 years to empower minority and educationally/eco nomically disadvantaged stu dents, giving them the opportu nity to recognize the possibility of a future in health care. The inter institutional program provides academic enrichment activities designed to make students more competitive applicants to health sciences schools. Organizations like N.C.-HCAP are needed now more than ever to ensure that the future of health care really can be afford able. accessible and reliable for all Americans. For more infor mation about N.C.-HCAP, visit the Web site at nchcap.unc.edu. Caroline Herion Junior Journalism. Inti Studies Unity Conference aims to spark discussion on issues TO THE EDITOR: This weekend, (Friday through Sunday), the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual. Transgender-Straight Alliance invites everyone to its sixth annual Southeastern Regional Unity Conference. The Unity Conference is an annual student-run gathering of LGBTIQ-identified people and their allies to discuss the intersections of gender and sexuality with ability, age, class, faith, health and race/ethnicity; strategies for effective grassroots organizing; and to discuss work that other LGBTIQ activists are doing in the Southeast. Our theme this year is “Are You Being Served?" which focus es on LGBTIQ representation in the media and its effect on the rights of sexual minorities. The conference is free to UNC students, and registrants are free to attend however many events they choose. For more informa tion or to register, please visit unc.edu/glbtsa/unity. Robert Wells Unity Conference Director ahr Daily liar lirrl Established 1893, 115 years ofeditorialfreedom ERIN ZUREICK EDITOR. 962-4086 ZUREICKOEMAIL.UNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS: MON.. WED.. FRI 1-2 P.M. ADAM STORCK OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 APSTORCKOUNC EDU JONATHAN TUGMAN ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 TUGMANOUNC.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS JESSICA SCISM TED STRONG SARAH WHITWORTH KATHRYN ARDIZZONE SARAH LETRENT DUNCAN CARLTON lIYSE MCCOY GRAHAM ROWE DAVID GIANCASPRO
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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