Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 7, 1989, edition 1 / Page 8
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I" tj'"' n" m n"1 q iq-i--'Tm-nU--Uj-i aThe Daily Tar HeelTuesday, September 5, 1989 ul The irapid-foire pace of the arms race 97th year of editorial freedom Sharon Kebschull, Editor WILLIAM TaGGART, Managing Editor MARY Jo DunninGTON, Editorial Page Editor JUSTIN McGuiRE, University Editor TAMMY BLACKARD, State and National Editor ERIK DALE FUPPO, Business Editor DAVE GLENN, Sports Editor MELANIE BLACK, Design Editor Julia Coon, News Editor JENNY CLONINGER, University Editor Charles Brittain, City Editor t CARA BonneTT, Arts and Features Editor Kelly Thompson, Omnibus Editor KlM AVETTA, Design Editor DAVID SurOWIECKI, Photography Editor board opinion Social work needs space After 68 years, building long overdue none of the $8 million requested for the school, appropriating instead money for the planning of a building for the Graduate School of Business Administration, a proj ect not among the BOG's requests. The House did give the school $4 mil lion, but the result is all too familiar: the School of Social Work has been put on hold again. Granted, state purse strings have had to be tight in recent years, but the General Assembly needs to re-evaluate this cam pus' most urgent needs. While the bus ness school's facilities are also inadequate, the situation has not yet reached the ur gency which accompanies a major univer sity graduate school without a central build ing. Perhaps some of the businessmen in the legislature cannot see the many merits of the proposed social work facility. For example, more than 1 1,000 square feet of the building would be shared by other University departments related to social work, creating greater academic exchange on this campus. The building may also house a museum, in cooperation with other departments, to inform students and the public about modern family life. The legislature should pay more atten tion to the recommendations of the Board of Governors, and it should also consider those departments and schools that seldom receive large private grants, forcing them to rely heavily on the state. When the budget process rolls around again, it will be time to end the waiting. The School of Social Work deserves a home. Although most m students know little of its existence or purpose, the UNC School of Social Work has been an important graduate school at this university for 68 years. Sur prisingly, the school has never had a build ing to call its own; instead, it must settle for office space in four locations, including two off campus, with classes located in several different buildings. John Turner, dean of the School of Social Work, and other administrators have discussed the need for a new facility since 198 1 , but the urgency of other campus construction has delayed serious consideration of the new building. Now, it seems, the state has new reasons for delaying an already overdue project. On Dec. 9, 1988, the UNC Board of Trustees approved the site and design for the new social work facility. Optimistic officials within the school projected con struction to begin by the end of this year, but the N.C. General Assembly recently denied the funds required for building, thereby sending a message that the school can continue to wait. The General Assembly appropriated more than $400,000 two years ago for advance planning of the building, and a beautiful design was created. Following the approval by the BOT, the UNC Board of Governors passed the building plans on to the General Assembly, labeling it a high priority. But this summer the Senate granted Once there were two successful confidence men named McLean and Coloney. McLean and Coloney claimed that, in an effort to 'compel all nations to keep peace towards each other," they had created the ultimate weapons. In a 200-page pamphlet, they de scribed their imaginary inventions as "terrible engines of destruction ... which will create an enthusiasm and a sense of security in every nation on this globe." The weapons described had names like the McLean Peacemaker, the Annihilator, the Pulveriser, the Broom and the Vixen. McLean and Coloney ran these con games in the late 1800s, selling imaginary machine guns. It may seem strange to us to think of the machine gun as an engine of mass destruction. But when it first appeared, the machine gun was even hailed by some as a device to end all wars. The idea was that machine gun warfare would be terrible too terrible for any sane people or government to ever allow it. There's an obvious parallel here to our 20th century attitudes toward nuclear warfare. In the 1 800s, the machine gun was going to save man from himself. These days, we've turned to nuclear weapons and Mutual Assured De struction to protect us from our evil natures. Two world wars have gone by since the machine gun arrived on the American scene; so what exactly have we learned about ourselves? I'd like to think we're a little wiser about war and technology, but we still have a lot to learn. In the 1800s, people had an unshakable Matt Bivens Staff Columnist faith in the ability of technology to improve their existence. Their optimism at times seemed almost ludicrous such as when Richard Gatling claimed his new machine gun would reduce casualties, by making war quicker, thus cutting down on disease. That may sound like a rationalization to us, but Gatling and others were able to accept it. Confident that they were truly serving mankind, the scien tists and inventors ofthe 1800s worked cheer fully to develop more efficient ways to kill. Nineteenth century America was relatively new to technology, so perhaps it should be excused its naivete. But what about us? We're certainly more sophisticated, more familiar with technology. I'd like to believe we know what technology can do for us, and more importantly what it can't. I'd like to think we're too savvy these days to ever fall for a McLean and Coloney scam, like, say, a magic rainbow to protect our country from incoming missiles ... Well. Apparently someone missed that lesson. Luckily, there are other lessons to learn. For example: At first, the machine gun got a cold reception from many soldiers, in part because they doubted it would work. But there was another, even deeper reason for their resistance: career soldiers correctly iden tified the machine gun as part of a larger trend, that of the mechanization and depersonalization of war. Heroism, glory, guts, physical strength, will power, courage all of these attributes of a "good soldier" were slowly becoming obso lete. But soldiers slowly learned to adapt, despite their personal qualms. It took a while, but you can only witness so many cavalry or bayonet charges against a machine gun nest before de ciding to change tactics. So soldiers traded in their horses for machine guns, and learned to live with it. Before long, they got used to the new rules of war, and even managed to see heroism and glory in the machine gun. If the machine gun was a step toward the depersonalization of war, nuclear weapons are the culmination of that path. There's little use for strength, or guts, or heroism in machine gun warfare. There's no use for these things in nuk ing a city. Of course, I doubt we'll ever become com fortable with the idea of nuclear warfare, at least not in the way we have with the machine gun. But the nature of war has changed dramatically in the past 150 years, while our ideas about war seem to be lagging behind. Maybe we have finally found a weapon too terrible to use. Or maybe we're wrong again. I don't mean to be overly dramatic I just don't think we should let ourselves be conned into counting on Peace makers to forever keep the peace. Matt Bivens is a senior political science major from Olney, Md. Readers9 Foreran Racism flares again Virginia Beach poses tough questions For the past few years, it seems that at least once a week, a new story about racially-connected violence appears in the newspaper. A white woman is brutally beaten and raped by black teen-agers in Central Park. A black man is attacked and murdered by white men in the Bensonhurst section of New York. A black teen-ager claims she was raped and smeared with feces by a group of white men. And this week, the NAACP accused Virginia Beach police and Virginia National Guardsmen of using unnecessary force against rioting black fraternity and sorority members who were in town for "Greekfest." Most students don't remember the 1 960s, so . it s hard to identify As racism continues to when people say that this feels like the 60s shOW itS Ugly and an over again. rui as racism handle, since Gov. Gerald Baliles called out the National Guard at 4 a.m. Monday. It's still difficult to judge whether the police overreacted or whether their reaction was racially motivated. It's especially difficult to judge when anyone who dares to defend the police is immediately open to charges of being racist. Too often, whites today think that every thing is just peachy for blacks that they have equal rights, good jobs through affirmative action and thus no reason to complain anymore. Of course, expressing such sentiments is a good way to earn the label of bigot. At the same time, blacks may feel they're underattack all over again. After all, only one generation so far has really grown up with (supposedly) continues to VlOlent iaCC, it SeemS equal rights, and the i i. l violent -face around little has changed. the nation, it seems that deep down, little has passage of the Civil Rights Act didn't magically erase all of the nation's racist atti- changed. Virginia Beach showed again just how complex the situation is. About 700 people were arrested last weekend, two men were shot, and a few dozen others were seriously injured as the police tried to combat the 100,000 people who went on a rampage, damaging and looting about 100 businesses. Many have said that the city should have been better prepared for the students, but if anything it seemed almost over prepared perhaps expecting violence similar to last year's, the city had the National Guard on alert. In an age where police are frustrated by increasing crime and out-of-control drug vio lence, it may not be surprising although it's certainly not right that they took out some of their frustrations on the rioters. Certainly the crowd must have been incredibly frustrating and frightening for the city and state police to tudes. Many people have called for renewed dis cussions between the black and white commu nities, and certainly such interaction is desper ately needed. But by adulthood, racial beliefs often are too deeply ingrained for a few chats to change. Why not take these discussions a step further? Schools have gone far too long without programs to stop racism before it begins students must be reached in their early years and taught mutual respect for each other's race and culture. If schools, parents and community leaders work together, maybe today's college students will see a radically different attitude among their children. If we can at least soften our attitudes, perhaps we can free the next genera tion of some of our racial biases. Then maybe the fiasco in Virginia Beach can truly become a distant memory. Sharon Kebschull The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Writers: James Burroughs and Jennifer Wing. Assistant Editors: Jessica Yates, arts; Jessica Lanning, city; Myma Miller.eaKrei; Staci Cox, managing; Anne Isenhower and Steve Wilson, news; Lisa Reichle and Richard Smith, Omnibus; Andrew Podolsky, Jay Reed and Jamie Rosenberg, sports; Karen Dunn, state and national; Will Spears and Amy Wajda, university; Writers: Craig Allen, Kari Bartow, Crystal Bernstein, Sarah Cagle, Brenda Campbell, Terri Canaday, James Coblin, Blake Dickinson, Mark Folk, Julie Gammill, Jada Harris, Joey Hill, Susan Holdsclaw, Jason Kelly, Lloyd Lagos, Tracy Lawson, Rheta Logan, Jeff Lutrell, Alan Martin, Kimberly Maxwell, Helle Nielsen, Glenn O'Neal, Simone Pam, Gus Papas.Tom Parks, Jannette Pippin, Karl Pfister, Mike Sutton, Laura Taylor, Emilie Van Poucke, Stephanie von Isenburg, Sandy Wall, Sherry Waters, Chuck Williams, Nancy Wykle and Faith Wynn. Sports: Neil Amato, Mark Anderson, Jason Bates, John Bland, Christina Frohock, Scott Gold, Doug Hoogervorst, David Kupstas, Bethany Litton, Bobby McCroskey, Natalie Sekicky and Eric Wagnon. Arts and Features: Cheryl Allen, Lisa Antonucci, Randy Basinger, Clark Benbow, Ashley Campbell, Diana Florence, Carrie McLaren, Elizabeth Murray, Leigh Pressley, Hasanthika Sirisena and Kim Stallings. Photography: Evan Eile, Steven Exum, Regina Holder, Tracey Langhome and Kathy Michel. Copy Editors: B Buckberry, Joy Golden, Angela Hill, Susan Holdsclaw and Clare Weickert. Editorial Assistant: Mark Chilton. Design Assistants: Kim Avetta and Melanie Black. Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Pete Corson, David Estoye and Mike Sutton. Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Leslie Humphrey, classified ad manager; Kirsten Burkart, assistant classified ad manager; Amanda Tilley, advertising manager; Sabrina Goodson, business manager; Allison Ashworth, assistant business manager; Lora Gay, Kristi Greeson, Beth Harding, Lavonne Leinster, Tracy Proctor, Kevin Reperowitz, Alicia Satterwhite, Pam Thompson and Jill Whitley, display advertising representatives; Kim Blass, creative director; Pam Strickland, marketing director; Sherrie Davis, Ingrid Jones, Shannon Kelly and Tammy Newton, sales assistants; Jeff Carlson, office manager. Subscriptions: Ken Murphy, manager. Distribution: RDS Carriers. Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn, managers; Anita Bentley, assistant manager; Stephanie Locklear, assistant. Printing: The Village Companies. Condemn Frank for criminal acts To the editor: I honestly cannot believe Sharon Kebschull thinks we need more men in Congress like Bar ney Frank ("Drawing the line: Sex story forces voters to think twice," Sept. 5). In her view, the world would be a better place to live if there were just more men like kind, caring Barney Frank. Give me a break. I'm sorry, but the last thing Congress needs is more homosexual hypocrites who hire prostitutes to satisfy their per verted sexual desires. Barney Frank has shown through his ac tions that he does not possess any of the qualities most people look for in a leader. Leaders are sup posed to possess exemplary quali ties to which followers should aspire. I think most people have entirely different aspirations than does Barney Frank. Other parts of Kebschull's edi torial also concern me. In her editorial, Kebschull failed to mention that the prostitute ran the prostitution service out of Frank's apartment for two years before Frank supposedly found out. Yeah, right. A pimp runs a prosti tution service out of your apart ment for two years before you find out. Who does he think he's kidding? One also has to wonder what the "odd jobs" were which Frank paid the prostitute $20,000 a year to perform. Another con venient omission of Kebschull's was that recently Frank was a vocal critic of several Republicans he called "sleazy." People in glass houses ... The point is, the editor of the DTH should have more sense than to write things such as "Except for the fact that he broke the law..." he's a great guy who should be re elected, and there should be more criminals like him in Congress. The voters in his district will de termine Frank's future in Con- TlieAmainGorboanihis Trained Dinosaur. gress, and hopefully they will remove the criminal from office. JIM HOCK Senior Journalism Tolerance is key to freedom, diversity To the editor: I am sick of people defending psycho-conservative Jesse Helms. Sharon SenteUe's letter ("Helms Amendment protects taxpayers," Sept. 1) is a prime example. She supports the Helms Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill restricting funds for the National Endowment for the Arts. In an attempt to prey on the average reader's ignorance of the issue, Sentelle described the work that spurred this amendment. She spoke of the $15,000 given to Andres Serrano for his photo graph, "Piss Christ." And she bemoaned the $30,000 given to Robert Mapplethorpe to sponsor a retrospective of his work, a small portion of which contains objec tionable material. She erroneously concluded that the bill is "not an attempt at censorship, but an ef fort to protect the individual rights ... of our American society." A censor is defined as a person who examines books, plays, etc. for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political or other grounds. No matter how many times Sen telle uses the words "rights" and "protection," the Helms Amend ment is still censorship. Sentelle added that "any pur chaser has the right to determine what he will or will not pay for." She complained that tax money pays for this questionable art. She failed to mention that the total funding for the NEA amounts to about 69 cents per person; how ever, we spend $ 1 ,200 per capita on defense. I don't have the option of not paying for the B-2 or the Con tras. Which is more obscene? What's next do we prohibit demonstrations by questionable groups such as the Klan or the Neo Nazis? What about all those objec tionable books in Davis Library? And those "nasty" rock records? How about people we simply don't like (or understand)? Hitler also manipulated nationalistic opinion to his advantage. Helmsians fail to acknowledge this blatant exploitation of public fears. We, as a nation, must learn to be more tolerant of others' views in order to retain our freedom, diver sity and flexibility. Not everybody agrees with Jesse Helms and Pat Buchanan. JOHN M. MARTZ Graduate Social Psychology Give support to students in government To the editor: The article 'Town council candidates en courage student input" (Sept. 5) is so blatantly off-target and misguided that it demands a response. The main point of the article is that no students are running for council this fall, yet the article does nothing to explain why no students are running. Instead it takes a pessi mistic and derogatory view of student activ ism in Chapel Hill. In light of the lousy recent coverage that the Daily Tar Heel has had in this area, I am compelled to protest. I am the designate student liaison to the Chapel Hill Town Council the sole student representative to the council. I have served in this position for five months. In this time the DTH has quoted me not once. It seems rather logical that the student most familiar with the council would be asked why he thought no students were running, but I wasn't even called. In fact, the article didn't even mention the position of the student liaison. When Charles Balan and Rob Friedman ran for the town council in 1987, there was no such position. The creation of this position has been a huge stepping stone in credibility and influence, and has made it possible for students to be involved on the council without actually run ning. If a student were to run for council now, it could substantially affect the liaison position. Efforts right now must be directed at making this position respected and permanent. Few students could serve the full four-year term even if elected, and further, at this point an elected student might bring an end to the liaison position, which could leave students out in the cold in the next election. More importantly, student activism in Chapel Hill is growing, not declining. In the summer of 1 988, 1 was appointed to the Chapel Hill Board of Transportation. At the time, I was the only student with a vote in all of Chapel Hill government. This was a landmark event, and an important stepping stone. Yet not only did the DTH ignore the event en tirely, but over the course of the entire 1988 89 school year, no note of this accomplish ment was made. When I was appointed to the liaison posi tion last spring, the DTH buried it in an article of other appointments, and no one even asked me if I was excited. Since then, I have helped three more stu dents get appointed to town boards. This has given students a firm foothold in town govern ment, one arguably further reaching than having a student on the council. Once again, thisevent was summarily ignored. I've opened channels with Carrboro in order to get stu dents involved there. The one article that the DTH published on this subject (I wasn't inter viewed, although the project was solely mine) was so factually inaccurate that it set back negotiations three months. Another example of the way the student newspaper has hurt students in town govern ment was the recent series on the town council printed this summer. The only time that the student liaison post was even mentioned was when council members were asked if they thought it was worthwhile, or if maybe it should be canned. With friends like this, who needs enemies? I have no vote on the town council. My influ ence comes from two sources: my own ability to argue and the support I receive from the student community. Council members have told me that I argue well, but it is quite obvious to everyone that I lack any kind of real student support. However, no students know what I do because the reporters aren't reporting. This all may sound like sour grapes, but without stu dent support, the council can easily ignore me, and then all students lose. The DTH wants to be a "real" paper so badly that it misses the whole point of its ex istence. It is supposed to be a student newspaper, and it is supposed to support students. Yet I know well from the days when I was a writer on the city desk that student activists are regarded with a strange mixture of jealousy and disdain. The DTH staff is so hung up on trying to be journal ists that they are totally oblivious to the very qualities that make their existence vital. The article in question was horrible. The only student interviewed was Gene Davis, who has no official connection with town government. It also criticized students for not having a candi dates forum. However, as director of external affairs, I am planning on having a candidates forum. No one asked. I was a freshman when Balan and Friedman ran for the town council. They peaked my curi osity, and I started attending council meetings. It became a dream of mine to run for the council this fall and become the first student to serve on the town council. When I was appointed to the Board of Transportation, and then to the student liaison position, it seemed as if the dream might just become a reality. Yet this summer when I weighed the pros and cons, I decided against it. I looked at all the progress we have made, and decided that running for office might confuse students' motives in some people's minds. Two more years and the liaison will be a very strong position, and several students should be on town boards. Perhaps then we'll be ready for a student to run. However, the overwhelming reason that I decided against running was that I knew that I did not have the requisite support from the stu dent community. Part of that is surely my fault, . part of it is simply apathy. And part of it results from articles like the ones I mentioned, and also from the articles I mentioned that never got written. BILL HILDEBOLT Junior Economics l 4 , '.J
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 7, 1989, edition 1
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