Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Nov. 18, 1987, edition 1 / Page 8
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8The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, November 18,1987 0 latlu (Ear 95 th year of editorial freedom Jill Gerber, Editor DEIRDRE FALLON, Managing Editor SALLY PEARSALL, Newt Editor JEAN LUTES, University Editor DONNA LEINWAND, State and National Editor JEANNIE FARIS, City Editor JAMES SUROWIECKI, Sports Editor FELISA NEURINGER, Business Editor JULIE BRASWELL, Features Editor Elizabeth Ellen, Arts Editor Charlotte Cannon, Photography Editor CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor Get out of the sandbox board Back in gram mar school, little kiHs nut annnvm- ous notes like OpmiOn "You are fat and have a big nose" in other kids' lockers, squashed the class nerd's lunch during recess, and made joke phone calls to random numbers. Most of these kids matured and abandoned their childish games. Most, but not all. Some have held on to the juvenile antics of the playground and spiked them with a unhealthy dose of adult malice. Several incidents of petty and anonymous harassment have occurred on campus in the last week. Dale McKinley, a prominent anti-apartheid activist, received a threatening phone call from someone claiming to be a Ku Klux Klan member. Some Carol ina Gay and Lesbian Association members have received anti homosexual phone calls. Student Congress member H.F. Watts (Dist. 17), who has been circulating a petition to defund the CGLA, returned to his room to find an abusive letter and two used condoms. These incidents might have been intended to scare the victims with a display of the perpetrators' anger, showing how far they'll go. Instead, their hostile actions only reveal their impotence and cowardice. Resorting to insults and threats is the lowest form of argumentation. These people don't even have the guts to take responsibility for their actions. By using anonymous attacks, they indicate an unwillingness to stand behind their convictions. Two possible reasons for this unwil lingness are apparent. First, the harassers are ashamed of their actions and beliefs, and do not want to be associated with them. If they were proud of what they believed in, then surely they would sign their names to their deeds. Second, they do not think they have the intelligence to argue their convictions with their opponents. If they did, they would not be afraid to debate the issues openly before the whole campus and weaken the oppo sition with logic and reason. This harassment is designed to intimidate the victims and scare them into backing down. Ironically, the effects are just the opposite. The victims are only further incited to do battle, and the threats only convince them of their enemies' ignorance and insubstantial beliefs. UNC is a university, not a sandbox. Those who resort to senseless and petty methods of expressing their views should realize this, and grow up. H unger cause no longer stylish n In 1985, the images were every where. Every newscast, every period ical displayed striking photos of millions of starving Ethiopians huddled in massive campsites waiting for death. A global effort was begun to end the starvation, and for a short while, the efforts paid off. But two years later, time is running out again. United Nations relief officials say that another famine involving several million people may be avoided maybe. But in the northern provinces, the Ethiopian government is fighting a civil war with the Eritrean and Tigrean peoples. Two guerrilla attacks on convoys in the last three weeks have greatly hampered efforts to get supp lies to the more distant regions, destroying 450 tons of relief food, enough to feed 40,000 Ethiopians for a month. The problem of how to transport food under the threat of more attacks plagues relief workers. Although the UN is discussing airlifts and military escorts, it first must have food to transport. The UN has issued an emergency appeal for $350 million for relief operations. The U.S government has pledged 1 15,000 tons of food for 1988, but because of hostile relations with Ethiopia's Marxist government, other assistance is unlikely to be forthcoming. A second global effort must be initiated to avert another 1985 disaster. Readers' Foirymni An end to shocking television images of starving children, coupled with reports of money mismanagement in help organizations, has slowed dona tions to a trickle. Yet this is the time they are needed most. Ethiopians are beginning to leave their farms in search of food. So far, they have been able to return home, but supplies are growing scarce. Officials want to avoid placing people in camps because hundreds of thousands died from starvation and diseases contracted there during the last famine. But without them, an even more concentrated and expensive aid effort is needed to reach remote areas of the country. While 1985's Live-Aid was a suc cessful relief effort, it was marred by mismanagement when came in too quickly for the staff to handle. Often in aid organizations, funds go toward administrative costs rather than actual relief efforts. Before donating money, the public should investigate the organization. Find out what percentage of gifts go straight to relief efforts such as buying food or trucks to transport the food. Then, give generously to worthy organizations. The effort has to start now. Only enough food to last through March has been pledged, and millions of people are anxiously starting another death watch. Sharon Kebschull The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Writers: Eric Fullagar, Sharon Kebschull, Brian McCuskey and Jon Rust. Editorial Assistant: Julia Coon. Assistant Managing Editors: Cara Bonnett, Melissa Daniels, Peter Lineberry, Joe McCall and Mandy Spence. News: Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, Laura Bennett, Lydian Bernhardt, Matt Bivens, Brenda Campbell, Jenny Cloninger, Staci Cox, Sandy Dimsdale, Carrie Dove, Mark Folk, Alissa Grice, Lindsay Hayes, Kyle Hudson, Michael Jackson, Helen Jones, Susan Kauffman, Hunter Lambeth, Will Lingo, Barbara Linn, Mitra Lotfi, Lynne McClintock, Brian McColIum, Justin McGuire, Stephanie Marshall, Laurie Martin, Myrna Miller, Smithson Mills, Lee Ann Necessary, Rebecca Nesbit. Susan Odenkirchen, Cheryl Pond, Amy Powell, Charla Price, Becky Riddick, Guinevere Ross, Andrea Shaw, Sheila Simmons, Mandy Spence, William Taggart, Clay Thorp, Nicki Weisensee, Jackie Williams, Amy Winslow and Lisa Wynne. Angela Joines and Helle Nielsen, wire editors. Laurie Duncan, assistant state and national editor. Brian Long, assistant business editor. Leigh Ann McDonald, assistant city editor. Kimberly Edens and Kristen Gardner, assistant university editors. Sports: Mike Berardino, Patton McDowell and Chris Spencer, assistant sports editors. Robert D'Arruda, Steve Giles, Dave Glenn, Dave Hall, Clay Hodges, Brendan Mathews, Jim Muse, Keith Parsons, Andy Podolsky, and Langston Wert?. Features: Hannah Drum, Carole Ferguson, Laura Jenkins, Corin Ortlam, Lynn Phillips, Leigh Pressley, Karen Stegman, . Kathy Wilson and Julie Woods. Arts: James Burrus, Scott Cowen, Stephanie Dean, Kim Donehower, David Hester, Julie Olson, Beth Rhea, Kelly Rhodes, Alston Russell and Richard Smith. j ' Photography: Tony Deifell, Gretchen Hock, Janet Jarman, David Minton, Julie Stovall and Brian Whittier. Copy Editors: Karen Bel!, Cara Bonnett, Carrie Burgin, Julia Coon, Whitney Cork, Laurie Duncan, Bert Hackney, Lisa Lorentz, Sherry Miller, Rachel Stiffler and Kaarin Tisue, assistant news editor. Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Bill Cokas and Greg Humphreys. Campus Calendar: Mindelle Rosenberg. . Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, general manager; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan Worth, advertising coordinator; Peggy Smith, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager; Michael Benfield, Lisa Chorebanian, Ashley Hinton, Keilie McElhaney, Chrtssy Mennitt, Stacey Montford, I f-slcy Renwrick, Julie Settle, Dave Slovensky Dean Thompson, Amanda Tilley and Wendy Wegner, advertising representatives; Stephanie Chesson, classified advertising representative; and Kris Carlson, secretary. ' Distribution Tucker Stevens, manager. Delivery Leon Morton, manager; Billy Owens, assistant. ' Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn. Rita Galloway, Leslie Humphrey, Stephanie Locklear and Tammy Sheldon, production assistants. ' Printing: The Chapel Hill Newspaper Research key to-university's future Editor's note: This is the fifth part in a weekly series. Tom Scott is a professor of biology and director of the UNC Office of Research Services. Daily Tar Heel: What do you see as the chancellor's role with students? Tom Scott: A chancellor should always be gauged by the example and model he presents to students. Such requisites as understanding, empathy and willingness to work in the best interest of the student body are primary. DTH: Should the next chancellor teach classes? Scott: The chancellor's two major constituents are the students and faculty. Although it may be desirable, I can imagine if the chancellor should teach regularly it might not be in the best interest of the students because of the drain on time and energy. DTH: How should the chancellor shape the university experience? Scott: The chancellor has a responsibil ity to the students to let them know they live in the "real world." The more a chancellor is able to succeed in rallying the students around this principle, the better and more mature they will be when graduating not from the institution, but from it and the experience. An example is the debate over divestiture. South Africa is a real world concern, and Chancellor Christopher Fordham helped create the atmosphere in which peaceful protest strongly influenced the debate and may well have shaped the outcome. DTH: How much impact does the chancellor have in shaping the University's direction? Scott: An articulate chancellor should have a great deal of impact on directing Who's Next? The Chancellor Interviews the University and shaping the lives of students and the faculty. His impact can take the form of innovative curricula revisions, the establishment of new centers for the pursuit of knowledge and research, as well as establishing an atmosphere for support and improvement of existing programs which have proven their success. It should be noted that whatever direction the University takes it must be governed by rules which ensure academic freedom, which in turn ensures freedom of thought and expression. DTH: What direction should the Uni versity take? Scott: The stated mission of UNC is that it is a research university. If one judges the success of this mission by the dollars obtained from extramural funding sources with which to do the research and the percentage of approved grant proposals, then this university's faculty has done an outstanding job in these respects in the past several years. DTH: How does extramural research funding during the past several years compare vis-a-vis previous years? Scott: The funding increase has sharp ened dramatically, and correlates with the priority placed on research by Chancellor Fordham. This is a result of his facilitating efforts to attract and hire very high quality faculty and to place limited financial resources where they had maximum affect on this mission. DTH: What should the next chancellor do to improve research? Scott: I feel that there are still people of importance who do not have a full understanding and appreciation for the role of research in the University. As we have seen too often in these last years, research is pitted against teaching as a priority. The fact is these two fundamental activities should not be seen as separate entities: Many of the best research ideas have come out of teaching and other interactions with students, and by the same token up-to-date research often is the content of the most exciting and effective teaching. Obviously, such cannot always be the case neither this university nor any I know even boasts of having such an ideal balance. Nevertheless, the creative mind generates excitement and excitement should generate good, creative teaching. DTH: What do you see as the immediate priority for the new chancellor? Scott: Ideally, I would like to see the new chancellor optimize the opportunity of the University's bicentennial celebration by imploring the citizens of the state to look at us as and nurture us as a first class research university which is, incid entally and with reason, proud of its excellence in teaching. DTH: How do you feel about the University's future? Scott: Let's end by returning to the students and faculty. The next chancellor will face many challenges in improving and modernizing conditions for the former and in increasing the collective profiles of salary and benefits for the latter. As we enter the 1990s, the only worry I have for the institution is its morale. Tom Scott was interviewed by editorial writer Eric Fullagar. Conduct spoils team victory To the editor: Sunday's match between the UNC men's soccer team and defending national champion Duke represented both a vic tory for the Tar Heels and a great loss. The victory occurred on the field where our valiant boys in blue defeated the evil nemesis in its own lair in Durham. The match was, how ever, marred from its inception when Stephen Dragisics was announced as a starter. Only days before, this person was arrested for driving while intox icated. When UNC soccer coach Anson Dorrance was questioned earlier in the week about Dragisics playing in the game against Duke he responded, "I guess youH just have to wait until Sunday to find out." And indeed we found out on Sunday just where Dorrance stood on this issue. With no regard whatsoever for his play ers' conduct, without an inkling of consideration for the stu dents being represented by the team, Dorrance started Dragisics. One cannot blame Dragisics, a senior participating in his first NCAA playoff, for wanting to play, but Dorrance must take full responsibility for the prece dent which he has set. In allowing Dragisics to start he has placed the emphasis on winning at all cost, with no concern at all for his players' welfare. Not only was Dragisics arrested, but he was also drink ing under age. Does Dorrance condone such behavior from his players or does he merely choose to overlook it when it might cost him a victory? In either case he has failed in his most important duty as a coach: teaching his players that they represent their university, and as such should behave well both on and off the field. Dorrance could learn from mm THCT ttES IT! IKE WEN MY IA&TPHNK ATOSTIME I MEAN h- T ' s Dean Smith, who sidelined both J.R. Reid and Steve Bucknall for the first game of the year against Syracuse because of their behavior at a Raleigh nightclub. Obviously Dorrance has no such moral concern for his players. In his lust for victory, he has shamed us all and marred what would have been an otherwise sweet victory. LANIS WILSON Graduate English Coverage shows racial bias To the editor: On Nov. 9, a front-page article ("UNC sophomore assaulted") contained the fol lowing: "A UNC sophomore was assaulted early Sunday morning by an unidentified black man ..." I could find no reason why the man, was des cribed as black, other than to imply that obviously a man of another race could not be guilty of such a heinous crime. On Nov. 10, another front page article ("Town police still looking for student's attacker") contained the statement: "A tall, black man assaulted a 19-year-old sophomore early Sun day morning . . ." Once again, there seems to be cause to describe the assailant, knowing only the race and general height. Perhaps it was done for the protection of the female population on campus: They should stay away from all tall black men around Chapel Hill. In the Nov. 12 edition, a retraction attributed the des cription of the attacker to the Chapel Hill police, but no further description of the attacker was available. While I do understand the obligation of this newspaper to inform and educate its readers, I do not believe that a description of "tall" and "black" merits print ing. One must ask oneself: If the assailant had been tall and white, would the description have read "A tall white man . . ." or, possibly, would it have read "An unidentified man ."? After having ascribed these incidences to the difficulties of running a newspaper, and the scholastic responsibilities of its writers, I was taken aback to find an editorial on the back page of Thursday's newspaper, entitled "Tackling a segregated campus." Although the board seems to be concerned about racial tension, it blatantly fosters racial stereotypes in its coverage of news events. In the editorial, there is discussion of possible action by the Greek system. The paper says, "If campus racism is to end, there will have to be changes in other areas." Possibly the school newspaper, supposedly reflec tive of the student body, could set a better example for the University. DAVID VAN LENTEN Sophomore Mathematics Letters policy The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments, ideas and criticisms. B All letters and columns must be signed by the author, with a limit of two signatures per letter or column. B All letters must be typed, double-spaced on a 60-space line, for ease of editing. A maximum of 250 words is optimal. B The DTH reserves the right to edit for clarity, vulgarity, disparity and verbosity. Smokers should indulge with consideration To the editor: This time I just can't help myself. Ordinarily, I'd prefer to simply be the guy standing in line at the supermarket coughing loudly over John Honeycutt's shoulder and suggesting that he put out that cigarette. I much prefer that kind of personal crusade than to air out dirty laundry in a public forum. I've never met Honeycutt, but IVe encountered plenty like him. In fact, I used to be a smoker. (Just to set the record straight, I am not one of the unititiated to whom he refers in his Nov. 16 letter, "An ode to the habit that gives life meaning.") So I invite you, the editor, and you, Honeycutt, to sit back, light one up and meditate on a few of these thoughts: 1) The years of which smoking may deprive you can just as easily (and statistically) be prime years before age 35. It is no picnic to see someone youthful and idealistic rotting away because of a careless attitude about the meaning of life. 1 believe that your life would take on a whole new meaning if you were stricken with lymphatic, metastatistic cancers including your reproductive organs, long before your hair, sex drive and teeth have departed (unless, of course, we include chemotherapy, which can take care of that for you). 2) The same people whom are referred to as "less altruistic," who campaign against smoking for its secondary health hazards (passive exposure), do not do so only for their health, but for the health of others. They belong to a class of people who are known to suffer great sacrifices of liberty (ever heard of Daniel Berrigan?) and limb (a man sitting on the railway who loses his legs in protest of nuclear waste isn't exactly in it for his own health). Just because industry is wrong enough to pollute the environment doesn't make it right for you to do the same. 3) As for immersing one's self in public behavior, need one be reminded that just as one has a right to freedom of expression, it is a two-way street? If a person insists on smoking in public or creating any other sort of nuisance, it should be considered that anyone else's response to that act should be tolerated and accepted as part of that public behavior. Surely, a person like Honeycutt is entitled to smoke in public. I dont argue that. He simply cannot expect not to have to bear the responsibility for the effect of his actions. It's a free country. A person is entitled, to indulge in all manner of self-abuse of his or her own choosing. Imagination (and a variety of laws from state to state) is your only limitation. That's your business. Just don't expect me to lie down next to you just to be polite! It is said, somewhere, that there is nothing worse than a reformed anything. As a reformed smoker, who after 15 years still has nightmares in which I start smoking again and lose control of the nasty, smelly, self-defiling habit all over, I feel that if someone like Honeycutt is selfish and rude enough to blow smoke in my face, I'm happily selfish and rude enough to ask that he cease and desist. WILLIAM LAMPLEY Junior Business Administration
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 18, 1987, edition 1
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