North Carolina Newspapers

8The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, November 13, 1990 oH? iaily ar BM 98th year of editorial freedom Jessica Lanning and Kelly Thompson, Editors JENNIFER WING, University Editor LyNETTE BLAIR, Forum Editor Peter F. Wallsten, City Editor VlCKI HYMAN, Features Editor Jamie Rosenberg, Sports Editor JOE MUHL, Photography Editor Lisa Lindsay, News Editor MELANIE BLACK, Layout Editor NANCY WyKLE, University Editor Crystal Bernstein, Opinion Editor Cullen D. Ferguson, City Editor STACI Cox, State and National Editor CHERYL ALLEN, Features Editor ALISA DeMao, Omnibus Editor JoANN RODAK, News Editor Alex De GRAND, Cartoon Editor Johanna Henderson, Ombudsman Grievous policy Excluding lawyers would hurt UNC staff (haoxO LtJI If the proposed revi sions to the University's grievance policy follow trends accepted by the State Personnel Com mission, UNC employ ees will have a lot to grieve about. Since last November, an eight-person committee has written, discussed, reviewed and rewritten a grievance policy tor em- sity Professors, put it well: "There is no reason to get rid of lawyers just because you want to move toward more concilia tory procedures. We need to keep listening to each other and trying to find some ways in which we're giving each other what we all want and need." Drake Maynard, employee relations specialist at the Office of State Personnel, told The Chapel Hill Newspaper that the ployees covered by the State Personnel Act exclusion of lawyers in grievance proce- (SPA) The new policy would exclude law- dures was a trend among universities and vers from participating in all but the last other state agencies. The state's largest step of the procedure, which is handled agency, the Department of Human Re- butside the University. This proposal, if sources, with 18,000 employees, has been passed next month by the commission, lawyer-free in grievance hearings for three could leave employees without the means years. Thus, the State Personnel Commis- to resolve their grievances successfully. sion may accept me university icv.u Employees need legal counsel to help policy, despite employees' repeated re them understand regulations, fill out diffi- quests that legal representation be allowed cult forms and offer advice. They need throughout the entire procedure, guidance beyond the University's Human If the trend is toward exclusion of law Resources Counseling Service, which could yers, then what the trend is and what the end up counseling both an employee and trend ought to be are two different things, his or her supervisor, thus putting the coun- The drafting committee could encourage selors in an adversarial position. internal communication and a less formal The proposed policy would leave SPA procedure without excluding lawyers; they employees without the right of representa- can encourage employees to resolve their tion enjoyed by UNC faculty and staff grievances creatively, but should not restnct members who are exempt from the State their access to legal representation. Personnel Act. "Generally, the Republican Staff members have voiced their con administration takes everything out on the cems in meetings throughout the drafting back of the civil servant," said Daniel Pollitt, process -phis dialogue should continue until Kenan law professor. "Hopefully, it will committee members and UNC employees change, but we have a class system." are starKjing on middle ground. Barring an Administrators say lawyers make minor informed outsider, a lawyer, who can offer internal problems into adversarial conflicts insight into me grievance process is regres which take longer to solve, cost money and siye It wouid oniy give employees the increase friction between employees and peQple for whom the policy is supposed to supervisors. But approving a process in be designe(j a second-class status. v.;k cfoff mpmW fppl inadeauatelv miibii oiuu - 1 j ... . . r s . i The editorial board consists oj frysiui Annoying monotone voice pays off in a big way Q protected will hardly increase morale and cooperation. Burnele Powell, law school professor and president of the UNC Chap ter of the American Association ot univer- Bernstein, Lynette Blair, Jessica Lanning, Elizabeth Murray, H. Brock Page and Kelly Thompson. A slap on the wrist NCAA fails to enforce integrity barring it completely trom competition but chose not to. Last week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association "punished" the Illi nois basketball program for recruiting vio lations by banning the team from postseason play in 199 1 , placing them on three years' probation and allowing only two scholar ships each in 1991 and 1992. Sending the players cookies could be considered harsher treatment. After investigating Illinois, the NCAA dropped charges that the program offered money to two players, but there were plenty of violations left: improper use of compli mentary tickets, preferential treatment for loans to players by a car dealership and illegal loans to two players by a coach. Another factor in the investigation was the history of the Illinois athletic program; the football team has been found guilty of wrongdoing twice since 1984. With these past violations, the NCAA could have given the basketball team the death penalty uestion of the week: "If Secret is pH balanced for women, are women more acidic or basic than men?" Confused Ehringhaus freshman I'm firmly convinced that the American press is overlooking a great American success story. Forget the Middle East and Russia. I know who we should really be interviewing. I want to talk to the woman who does computerized voices. Think a moment. Most of you have called Caroline by now. Doesn't she sound familiar? Isn't that electronic monotone the exact same one you heard when your parents lost their minds a few years ago and bought a talking car? And if you bank at Wachovia and call that 1 800 number to find out your balance, isn't that also the same voice? I think I'm on to something here. One of my hallmates agrees with me. He has a theory that there is a woman in Topeka, Kansas, who has made millions by being the electronic voice of the United States. She won't admit it, however, because she knows that the general population has had it up to their mi crochips with her voice and would love to strangle her with a phone cord and run her over with a talking car. But I think we should interview her first. I'll bet she's got a great story to tell. She probably grew up on a small farm in Kansas, tending to the animals in the mornings and going to school during the day. Her classmates wanted to grow up to be farmers like their parents, but this girl had a dream. She wanted to be famous. She was an only child. No one enjoyed talking to her once it became evident that she had a bizarre speech problem. She...talked...like...this.Whenherteacherwould ask her what one plus two equalled, the child would respond, zero...zero...three." When the teacher moved on to another problem, the little girl would say, "Thank...you...for...calling...on...me. Good bye." No one really knew what to make of her. Her . . . i. parents tried in vain to coacn ner 10 spea. Jenn Layton With this punishment, the issue will be normally. Day after day, she dreamed of over- forgotten as soon as probation ends. As tor 1991, head basketball coach Lou Henson said the team would probably be more inspired than ever before. And this is not the first time the NCAA has wimped out. For 13 years, it fought in court with Jerry Tarkanian, head basketball coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The NCAA tried without success to oust Tarkanian from his position for com mitting recruiting violations. Instead, the coming the social stigma and becoming rich and famous. Then her mother found out about the upcoming pageant. It was the Kansas Annual Miss Annoying Pageant. The monotone-voiced girl won. There was really no contest; halfway through the competition, the other hopefuls couldn't stand her voice anymore and ran screaming out of the barn. It was a dream come true for the young girl, who took the money and went to New York City, where she'd heard that someone had in vented computerized voices and needed a speech model. She got the job. Now the woman from a poor family in a small Kansas town is filthy rich. Only in America. This Caroline gig came along at just the right time for this woman. Previous electronic voice products were really going downhill. I men tioned talking cars. How many of them do you see now? People couldn't stand listening to their car constantly telling them, "Fuel is low. Door is ajar. Lights are on. Oil is low. Your fly is open. Shoelaces are untied." After several miles of listening to this built-in nag, most people pulled over and took a sledgehammer to their cars. This was a boon to the American car repair shops, but no one wanted the electronic voices repaired. In a way, I'm kind of disappointed that those cars are no longer around. Wouldn't they be fun to tamper with? Imagine someone you don't like driving his talking car down the road after you've rearranged the circuits in the electronic voice box. He's driving along, gloating about the fact that he's made your life miserable for another whole day. Suddenly, his car pipes up: "Fasten your seat belt. Ten seconds to impact. Obstacle approaching. Five seconds to impact. Stand by." "AIEEEEEEEE!" Screams the person you don't like. Naturally, nothing would happen. But the shock alone would make him take a few days off, and you'd be free of him for a while. Anyway, the children's toy jobs have also fallen through for this Kansas woman. She used to be the voice for those little talking toys where you'd point a little person's finger to a picture of a cow, pull the string and hear the voice say. "This is a cow. The cow goes, 'moooooo.'" Now, in the age of Nintendo and three zillion dollar stereo systems, those toys aren't selling very well. If they want to make a comeback, maybe they should jazz the toys up a bit. Have a picture of a rock'n'roll band for the little person to point to and say, "This is Led Zeppl in. Led Zepplin goes, 'Been a long time since I rock' n' rolled, yeah!' You get the idea. I've been thinking about what's going to happen to the electronic voice woman if Carol ine also falls through. What if the student body starts to yearn for the old days of Wollen Gym and boycotts the phone system? Not that the woman would have to work. She's already very wealthy. But she would probably get bored without working. No problem. Put her to work on making alarm clocks. It's easy to sleep through an ordinary buzzer and miss an exam. But what if your clock had an electronic voice and no snooze button? Imagine your alarm going off at 6:30 a.m.: "It . . . is , . . six . . . thirty. You . . .have ...a.. .class. Your. ..exam ...begins ... in ... zero ... zero ... two ... hours. Get ... out ... of ... bed ... please." I guarantee most students would jump right out of bed and get dressed. Anything to make the clock shut up. She'll always find ways to make herself useful. And someday she'll emerge and an nounce that she's been the voice woman all along, and reporters all over the world will be killing themselves trying to get the scoop. But remember, you read it here, first. In no column. Jenn Layton is a senior E ... N ... G ... L major from Ontario, Canada. Her Pulitzer Prize may be sent to her in care of the Ehringhaus Desk. MISS' Different generations collide constructively To the editors: Last month, at a local nursing home, a collision occurred a collision of three generations. l!itollMlM?lTtdl -ot""- mwmmm- I ' ' . ' . . . . j' . n.u n... Airortnr-1 ociio Hnmnhrpv classified ad manaoer. and a vemsmo:wv.n BUSineSS nan. Allison hsiiwuiui, inaiiayci, rvmiuGiiy mui&u., ' ,,.. f nSTfnrTairhJTris and Anaela SDivev. assistants: Brandon Poe, production. uynm. oyiu. o. ph-h nimohJii fireo Miller and Lome Pate, production assistants. Advertising production: Dill Leslie, iiittimyci, mnia ueimcj, j mighty NCAA flexed its muscles and However nothing was shattered but no more than you d hear m a banned UNLV trom postseason piay in 1991, one year after the Runnin' Rebels had captured the national championship. The NCAA must make its punishments harsh enough to keep violations from happening. Until then, crime in college (East Franklin) sang, ate, played athletics really does pay. ti.rocKrage games, taiKea, enjoyea emcruuu- ment ana, in general, naa run: How could such an were the horror stories I had heard minority neighborhoods across the about nursing homes. I expected everyone to be moaning and for the place to smell bad. After being there, I was amazed at how dedi cated the staff was and how spir ited many of the residents were. Sure, there was some moaning. and no one was hurt. The collision took the form of a Halloween Party where children from the Montessori Day School, students from the Campus Y and residents at Hilhaven Convalescent Center 0--A..0;nnar ,nnrnr- ipnnifor nirkfins. citv: Doua Zemel. layout; Amy Mcwrter, waiane rooi ana mmi i . . SLrS Manhalf and Billv Stockard. Omnibus; Michel. pftoManc CneVe, news, dames dciuuh anu joiuijr uiuiiiuyvi, J" ,K -H lonnifer Pilla univprsitV Anderson and Scott Gold, sports; Glenn O'Neal, state and national; Stephanie Johnson and Jennifer Pilla. university. ya.MlApb lraiin Orannon onrl Amu liouf Editorial writers: Crystal Bernstein. Lynette Blair. Elizabeth Murray and Brocl i Page University: iiicy ryy re, .aia ' r. L- ii Zk-'i - o,Kif MiAhollo Smith Mielke. Catny UDene, bnannon u braay, oieve ruim, miuicnc nau, Christine Thomas. Sharyn I ill. Aaam uwa ST h S Frin Lusk. Kvle York Soencer and Grant .StateandNaHonal:wenaybounas.uaviaticnison,ieviiiuicciio,maiiv. ........ . . . TSSe. Barbuk. Kitt Bockley. Ange.a Buffum. Mondy Lamb: Kirk 1 Wedlin, fX &S2SLl features: Eric Bolash, Jenny Bray. Christy uonroy.M.i.uagennaii,iyiii a t-cc.miau.. , - - - Mary Moore Parham. unnsnna wrong, pnanie oy. .u Rrnwn Stewart Cnisam. Laurie Dhue. Jav Exum, Brandon . wen Amaio. jason Ddies. juui d oi.iv lY". n " R,rW Pin- and Rrvan S rickland. ! nnnn Hnnnennrsi UaiVQ KUDSiaS. DODDV WlCUIUSAev, uuuy n Jennifer Kurfees. Wendy Lee. Gillie Murpny. tmny Nicnoii. neainer raneisuu, ouwu r ww.-,, r Clare Weickert and Steve Wilson. Cartoonists: Alex De Grand, unns uerree. uavia tsioye ana wiims ouuwi. Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn. manager; Kristen Jones and Greg Thacker, assistants. Distribution: RDS Carriers. Printing: Village Printing. Sports: Kenny Abner nK...m.-. inh, HpnnWnn Phnne- SR2-0245: Office hours: Mon.: 1-5 p.m., Tue.andThur.:11 a.m.-4p.m.. Wed.: 3:30-5 p.m.. v,""uu""" Fri.:1-3p.m. The Dairy Tar Heel is published by the DTH Publishing Corp.. a non-profit North Carolina corporation. Monday-Friday, according to the cS at 962-0252. Editorial questions should be directed to 962-02450246 ; Campus mall address: CBI 5210 box 49. Carolina Union Office: Suite 104 Carolina Union U.S. Mail address: r.u. box jm, uiapei nm, n,tim-w intergenerational party occur? The answer is simple all involved dismissed their stereotypes of each other, choosing instead to share similarities and to learn from dif ferences, realizing that ultimately, we are all young. We are all grown. We are all old. We are all aging creatures. In fact, the characteristics we associate with a specific age, es pecially the elderly, are often un fair and usually trivial. A local social worker says, "Sure there are some old people who can no longer walk, but that doesn't mean they can't laugh just as hard as you or me at a good joke." Another resi dent social worker reminds us that, "These people are not finished. They still have a lot to give. They want to give. Every day that I work with the elderly I learn something about myself. They have something special to offer and they need to know there are people who will listen." Listening. Being able to listen to the elderly not only requires conquering stereotypes, but also, fear. Fear of wrinkles. Fear of physical impairments; and fear of nursing homes. One member of the Campus Y's Youth for Elderly Service committee says, "When I first went to Hilhaven, I was really nervous. AH I could think about dorm before exams. It is time we all visit a nursing home because it could help change our attitudes about the aged in America. It is time we forget our fears and remember that we are human. Last month a collision occurred, a collision that broke only stereotypes and proved that a change is possible, that we can share, that we can listen. CINDY CHEATHAM Senior History that was instrumental in getting state warning them of the penalties the University to divest much (not of lying about residency and age. necessarily all) of its money from However, this is not my biggest companies with South African disagreement with Spangler. It in- associations. The anti-apartheid furiates me that he bashes liberals group was the impetus for edu- incessantly and talks about the fact eating this campus about the in- that liberals whine when he does justices that were daily perpetrated not even use his real name when in South Africa. This is a group writing a letter. Let me tell you, that has done many things to help Spangler, I know who you are and the struggle for freedom in South will not hesistate to tell others if Africa. It seems logical that it is vou do not reveal your true identity, this group that Mrs. Mandela would Liberals are not afraid to put their name behind their beliefs, and if you really believed in what you write, you would not be using a pen name. Of course, if I was an ultra conservative like you who makes Jesse Helms seem like Ted Kennedy, I would be reluctant to put my name on my letters as well. One more thing I think you most like to meet, those who have joined the struggle of her people. I do not know who the Human Rights Week Committee did invite to the reception for Mrs. Mandela, but I do know that they mistakenly overlooked a group that would have made a most worthy addition to the reception. If anyone reading this gets to meet Mrs. Mandela, please tell her chrmlri V now Snanpler. liberals do r"whinp"Wernerelvdon'teive that the group Action Against up on our beliefs just because an Apartheid wishes all the best to her pWtion doesn't eo our wav. It is and herpeople. Tell her, Amandla. AnthropologyRTVMP not whining to stand up for your Power to the people! course, Marshall L. Spangler would not know that since he doesn't exist. DANIEL PEDDLE Junior LAURIE CULP Junior Psychology Liberals not afraid to stand up for beliefs Editors' note: It is normal edi torial policy to confirm letters before printing them. H owever, the letter 'Liberals continue to whine after election' printed on Nov. 9 mistakenly ran without being confirmed. To the editors: After reading Marshall L. Spangler's last liberal bashing letter to the editor, 'Liberals con tinue to whine after election' on Nov. 9, 1 was shocked that anyone could be so ignorant as to the tac- BRIAN T. BEASLEY Administration of criminal justice Freshman Anti-apartheid group slighted by committee To the editors: I want to commend the Human Rights Week Committee for gett ing Winnie Mandela as the keynote sneaker of the week. However, I also want to express my disap- CHERYL BROOKS Senior International Studies Letters policy The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticisms. We attempt to print as many letters to the editors as space permits. When writing letters, please follow these guidelines: B If you want your letter pub lished, please sign and date it. No more than two signatures please. a All letters must be typed and double-spaced. B Please include such vital sta- pointment with the committee for tistics as your year in school, ma their failure to invite the Action jor, phone number and hometown. Against Apartheid group to the recention following Winnie tics employed by Helms to win Mandela's speech. I realize that this election ana otner elections in me anu-apai mem wup ni the past. Helms refused to debate, large or as vocal as it once was, but aired misleading commercials ac- it is still an active organization. I cusing Gantt of supporting racial fail to see the committee's rea- quotas, and sent out postcards to soning for excluding this group The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgarity. Remember, brevity is the soul of wit. B Place letters in the box marked "Letters to the Editor" outside the DTH office in the Student Union annex.