6
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008
Sllje Satltj Star
Established, 1893,
115 years
of editorialfreedom
nn
csp
PABLO FRIEDMANN
THE BRIGHT LINE
Senior international studies major
from Newton, Mass.
E-MAIL PABLOF@EMAIL.UNC.EDU
Even from
here, your
microloan
gift helps
U Tt was kind of a crazy idea.”
That’s how Premal
JL Shah, the president of
Kiva, describes the idea of “peo
ple lending money to people that
they’ve never met.”
Imagine that. Because of
technological advances in the
Internet, it is
now possible to
deposit 25 bucks
and become a
AT-LARGE
COLUMNIST
banker to the world’s poor.
Talk about people power.
When Muhammad Yunus and
the Grameen Bank jointly shared
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006,
many saw it as a validation of
how far microfinance had come.
Yunus’ idea went one step
further when Kiva was seeded in
the United States to tap into the
cashflow of the developed world.
I was first introduced to Kiva
when a former high school teacher
of mine asked me to join. She
seeded her account with a little
money and made microloans to
entrepreneurs from Africa to Latin
America. I thought it was a fly
by-the-night operation until I did
some research.
Kiva, which means harmony
or unity in Swahili, first gained
notoriety in 2007 when New
York Times columnist Nicholas
Kristof profiled his loan to an
Afghan baker, former President
Bill Clinton has also talked about
the group in his book, Giving.
This past Thursday night,
the Kiva storm finally hit cam
pus. The Carolina Microfinance
Initiative hosted its first Kiva
dinner, a spin on Nourish
International’s Hunger Lunch.
The Campus Y was bustling and
15 projects worth SSOO were
seeded that night.
Imagine that. Chapel Hill stu
dents providing the start up capi
tal to help entrepreneurs expand
their businesses and move up the
income ladder.
Just imagine if our Rams Head
or Lenoir dollars went to fund sus
tainable water projects in Uganda
or bicycle repairmen in Romania.
At the core of the microfinance
movement is recognizing the lack
of opportunities some people
face. As Ryan Leatham, the gen
eral coordinator of the Carolina
Microfinance Initiative put it:
“Intellectual capacity and entre
preneurial ability are universal
and equal throughout all cul
tures, but it is opportunity that
separates us.”
Microfinance aims to empow
er people by enabling ideas that
directly impact local communi
ties to take root.
Anecdotal evidence has backed
up those claims by discover
ing that microfinance directly
empowers women and discrimi
nated ethnic groups.
Unfortunately, some people
seem to believe that microfinance
weakens the cause of foreign
aid. The truth is that this debate
doesn’t have to revolve between
more foreign aid versus microfi
nance. The Kiva model is democ
ratizing thfe foreign aid process,
much like Barack Obama and
Howard Dean used the Web to tap
into small campaign contributions.
It’s enabling more people to
become donors, which in turn are
indirectly pressuring governments
to change their foreign aid policies.
It’s making us, as students and vot
ers, more informed of what’s fail
ing and needs to change.
Nowadays, you don’t have to
wait for the House to reauthorize
a foreign aid bill or the United
Nations to ask for more money.
You can take that first step by
attending the monthly Kiva din
ners CM I is hosting.
Editor’s note: Pablo
Friedmann’s column normally
appears on Thursdays.
ALLISON NICHOLS
EDITOR, 962-4086
NALLISON@EMAILUNC.EDU
OFFICE HOURS:
MON., WED. 2-3 P.M.
ERIC JOHNSON
PUBLIC EDITOR
ERIOOHNSONOUNC.EDU
EDITORIAL CARTOON By Dylan Gilroy, dgilroy@email.unc.edu
H Ask A Conservative:
Terrorist Not a Terrorist
Congress’ plan backfires
In ill-fated attempt to scapegoat organization,
Congress embarrasses itself and reveals major flaws
A s the details of last week’s
LA Concepts of Colors con-
JL JLtroversy trickle in, it has
become increasingly appar
ent that certain members of
Student Congress wanted
nothing more than a public
witch-hunt.
They wanted a fiasco —and
they got one.
But the inquiry into
Shaniqua McClendon’s fund
ing request backfired and
instead raised questions about
the effectiveness and integrity
of the finance committee.
After all of the facts have
been presented, we believe
it is clear that McClendon in
no way attempted to deceive
Congress regarding her finan
cial request.
The ethics committee ruled
similarly, stating Sunday that it
did not find her guilty of inflation
or intending to deceive them.
It seems that Congress sim
ply wanted to scapegoat her
organization as an example
to other student groups, and
in the process, they bruised
McClendon’s reputation.
Certainly, if Congress
receives information that an
Congratulations, Thorp
Thorp has been hands-on, still faces many challenges
"T 1 TT "Te joined the University
%/%/ community in
* Y honoring Holden
Thorp’s official installation as
UNC’s 10th chancellor on the
University’s 215th birthday.
Thorp’s tenure so far has
been marked with honesty,
pragmatism, accessibility and
excitement.
And we expect nothing less
from him as he moves forward to
implement his vision for UNC.
In his installation address,
Thorp acknowledged —and
rightly so that these are “try
ing times.” But the overarching
mood of his speech was opti
mistic.
His speech was full of enthu
siasm, desire and vision for the
Back on schedule
Backlog reduced, Honor Court can now better serve
The Honor Code once called
for punishment for stu
dents stealing their pro
fessors’ horses, dueling and not
attending church.
In recent years, it operated
with a protocol that resulted in
100 backlogged cases from the
summer months and previous
semesters that had to be pros
ecuted in the fall.
But this year, Honor Court is
getting its act together. Not only
is the backlog reduced, but the
court also is actually ahead of
pace.
It’s hearing a similar num
ber of cases but in less time. We
appreciate this newfound effi
ciency.
Students who are found not
Opinion
HARRISON JOBE
OPINION CO-EDITOR
HJOBEOEMAILUNC.EDU
GREG MARGOLIS
OPINION CO-EDITOR
MARGOUS.GREGOGMAIL.COM
organization intentionally mis
represented funding requests,
an investigation should be
launched.
But this case was disgrace
fully handled.
Tim Nichols, speaker of
Congress, only contacted
McClendon by e-mail about an
hour before he planned to pres
ent allegations to Congress.
Nichols stated that he had
thought catching McClendon
off-guard would ensure her
honesty.
The responsible action
would have been to contact
her beforehand to discuss the
details of the case.
McClendon was only
informed that the integrity
of her funding request was in
question a couple hours before
Congress was called to order,
giving her little time to prepare
any type of defense.
She was thrust in front of
the entire body of Student
Congress with almost no
knowledge of what she was
accused of doing.
The central issue is not with
McClendon or her funding
request, it is with the finance
future to take this University
to new heights. And we are
excited to see the great things
he can help UNC do. *
So far, Thorp has been very
hands-on. He’s working to reach
a compromise with housekeep
ers and recently raised the min
imum staff salary.
He has been accessible to
students and Daily Tar Heel
reporters and seems interested
in hearing feedback and con
cerns. And he even started a
blog.
We hope that this proactive
approach is something that
will mark all of Thorp’s tenure,
especially on the very important
issue of enrollment growth.
The UNC system is projected
guilty deserve to have their integ
rity restored in a reasonable
amount of time. A month has
been a good goal in the past.
Guilty students deserve the
same level of efficiency in getting
their cases resolved.
And it’s become apparent that
the pace is improving.
Honor Court’s summer efforts
decreased backlog at the begin
ning of this semester. They
maintained contact with par
ties involved in unfinished cases
from the end of last semester
and scheduled tentative court
dates.
These measures reduced the
makeup work needed at the
beginning of this semester.
Jonathan Sauls, assistant dean
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
LISAANDRUKONIS
YANIV BARZILAI
BEN BUCK
ANDREW STILES
SARAH WHITWORTH
committee.
Although McClendon
attached a particularly detailed
funding request, including list
ing individual items and prices,
the finance committee never saw
or reviewed this document.
It is unclear why this docu
ment was not reviewed, but
to allow such information to
fall through the cracks is irre
sponsible.
McClendon and her organi
zation simply selected the items
they wanted for their perfor
mances, including some partic
ularly expensive items, and the
finance committee approved it
with little opposition.
We believe student groups
should try to be frugal when
spending student fees, but it’s not
up to the groups to present the
most economical options. It is
the finance committee’s respon
sibility to insist that groups
economize their requests and to
scrutinize them more closely.
Congress’ handling of this
situation was irresponsible.
Its leaders unnecessarily cast
McClendon into the public
spotlight and embarrassed
themselves in the process.
to add 80,000 students within
the next decade.
UNC will have to decide
how much of that growth it can
shoulder and also assess its edu
cational mission in light of the
enrollment challenges.
It’s important for University
officials, especially Thorp, to be
cautious about this growth. And
it appears that he is.
We agree with his general
sentiment that it’s important
to be prudent in how we grow
as a University and make sure
that educational quality is still
a major focus.
As Thorp acknowledged,
the path ahead will be difficult.
And we hope he will be up to
the challenge.
of students and judicial programs
officer, said, “A quick decision is
not always a good decision.”
We agree. But taking too fong
to deliver justice is an injustice
itself. That’s why we applaud the
Honor Court in its attempt to hear
cases in a timely manner.
And now that the court has fin
ished past cases and begun tack
ling those from this semester, it
seems like it is on track.
We know Honor Court deci
sions have been highly contested
before. The way in which it deliv
ers justice has been controversial
in certain cases.
But a basic level of efficiency
is a central responsibility of the
court And we’re pleased to see it
on the rise.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Whenever I lose my car keys, /
consider calling Holden Thorp.”
ALLAN GARGANUS, NOVELIST
FEATURED ONLINE READER COMMENT:
“Chapel Hill is an affluent,
educated, privileged, liberal area
compared to most ofN.C. —and
THAT is why it is a bubble”
ON "LET'S LIVE OUTSIDE OF UNC BUBBLE"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
N.C. unfairly hinders third
parties' chances in Nov.
TO THE EDITOR:
North Carolina seems to
be a hotly contested state in
the upcoming elections. After
eight years of Bush failures,
the Republican Party has lost
some of its grip. Sert. Obama
and Sen. McCain are neck-and
neck, and your vote may decide
the next president of the United
States.
But mine won’t. You see,
I won’t be voting for either
McCain or Obama. I do not like
their platforms and will instead
vote for a third party.
Often in American history,
unexpectedly high support for
third parties can influence the
policies of the Big Two, even if
a third candidate doesn’t win.
Having a third party option to
represent many different views is
a wonderful facet of democratic
government.
Of course, not everyone
agrees. The Republican and
Democratic Parties of North
Carolina really want my vote.
But rather than compete to rep
resent my interests and win my
vote, they’ve managed to create
the third most restrictive ballot
access laws in the nation.
In North Carolina, a candidate
usually has to collect more than
100,000 signatures to get on the
ballot. By contrast, more than
two-thirds of all states require
10,000 signatures or fewer for
ballot access.
Now imagine you have over
come this colossal obstacle, after
spending around SIOO,OOO on
paid petitioners. If your party
does not receive at least 10 per
cent of the vote for president
or governor, then you’re back
off the ballot and have to start
again. This system makes it
impossible for third parties to
campaign they spend all of
their time and money collect
ing signatures.
This fall I’m voting third party.
I don’t expect my candidates
to win. But maybe, if I’m very
lucky, my vote can keep them
in this rigged game whether
our entrenched political duopoly
likes it or not.
Tom Van Antwerp
Junior
Business Administration and
Economics
Cage free eggs are more
humane; kudos to UNC
TO THE EDITOR:
It is heartening to see that
the University is moving away
from using eggs from caged
hens. Hens confined in battery
cages are unable to engage in
many important natural behav
iors such as dustbathing, perch
ing, scratching, laying eggs in a
nest, standing on solid ground
or even spreading their wings.
Each hen confined in a battery
cage has less space than a single
sheet of paper to live her entire
life.
I am pleased that UNC has
begun to take action on this
important issue but I hope it’s
only a first step to completely
eliminate its use of eggs from
caged hens.
Amanda Arrington
State Director,
North Carolina
The Humane Society
SPEAK OUT
WRITING GUIDELINES:
► Please type: Handwritten
letters will not be accepted.
► Sign and date: No more than
two people should sign letters.
► Students: Indude your year,
major and phone number.
► Faculty/staff: include your
Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily represent the opinions
olThe Daily Tar Heel or its stafl Editorials reflect the opinions of The Daily Tar Heel edito
na boafd J 7 he consists of seven board members, the associate opinion editor, the
opinion edrtor and the editor
(Lift Hath} alar Hrrl
Some McCain supporters
turning to hate at rallies
TO THE EDITOR:
Recent events in the presiden
tial campaign should make the
remaining voters for John McCain
and Sarah Palin reconsider their
choice. The almost complete lack
of response by McCain and Palin
from their supporters in official
campaign events reveals a shock
ing disregard, or perhaps silent
encouragement, for the rampant
racism that they have arguably
encouraged.
At a recent Palin rally: “Kill
him!” At a recent McCain rally:
“Off with his head!” After McCain
asked who the “real” Obama is:
“Terrorist!” and “TVaitor!”
To his credit, once the media
actually started calling McCain
on ignoring and even encour
aging such behavior, he tried to
call his opponent an “honorable
man.” Boos from the crowd.
One recent author of a letter to
the editor said he was planning
on not voting for Obama because
of stickers placed on light poles.
I hope for the sake of the nation
that you don’t consider putting
stickers on light poles worse than
hate speech.
William Schlieper
First-year
Mathematics
Obama knows there must
be many energy solutions
TO THE EDITOR:
In the second presidential
debate, Tom Brokaw asked Sen.
(John) McCain one of the most
important questions of the elec
tion. He asked whether we should
fund a “Manhattan-like project”
or fund “100,000 garages across
America.” McCain chose the for
mer, saying that “once it gets into
productive stages, we ought to,
obviously, turn it over to the pri
vate sector.”
What is not obvious to McCain
is that the American economy’s
growth comes from private inno
vation and entrepreneurship.
We only needed the Manhattan
Project because we needed to ful
fill one goal the creation of the
atomic bomb —and we needed it
done covertly. We cannot pursue
energy in the same way. We will
need dozens of solutions, includ
ing wind generators, solar recep
tors, tidal converters and many
more that we have yet to think of.
We cannot restrain the inventive
potential of the American people
by ignoring them.
• Our nation’s entrepreneurs
are already developing the solu
tions we need. Dozens of private
startups like Nanosolar and
Aurora Biofuels are bringing
alternative energy technology
to market. Cleantech companies
received $2.6 billion in venture
capital funding in 2007.
Government’s role is encourag
ing this innovation and weakening
our dependence on foreign oil.
Sea (Barack) Obama understands
this and plans to invest $l5O bil
lion over 10 years to “catalyze pri
vate efforts to build a dean energy
future.” He will create 5 million
green jobs in the U.S. and cap our
harmful emissions.
We must not squander this
opportunity. Sen. Obama has
the plan.
Adam Long
Sophomore
Pre-Business
department and phone number.
► Edit: The DTH edits for space,
darity, accuracy and vulgarity,
limit letters to 250 words.
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
Hill, N.C., 27515.