8The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, November 14, 1990
OJlip lailij afar BM
98th year of editorial freedom
Jessica Lanning and Kelly Thompson, Editors
JENNIFER WING, University Editor
LYNETTE BLAJR, 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
Johanna
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
HENDERSON, Ombudsman
Face the nation
NAACP takes Edwards' case to higher level
' - For every person there comes a time
when enough is enough.
And for University police officer Keith
Edwards that time has come. She has been
fighting the University since June 1987,
when she first filed a racial and gender
discrimination grievance against the police
department. Edwards has filed three other
grievances and a lawsuit over the last 41
; months, but virtually nothing has changed.
Yet the tables may be about to turn. This
; week the NAACP announced that it will
; file a discrimination complaint with the
' federal government on Edwards' behalf.
The NAACP has the energy and the
'. funds needed to bring this long nightmare
;to what should be a victorious end for
Edwards. The fact that she has been fighting
for nearly four years is evidence that
something is amiss. The grievance finally
. reached the last stage of the procedure this
January, and a judge declared Edwards the
winner this June. The University decided
to prolong the unpleasantness and appealed
the decision.
, Meanwhile, the police department ap
pears to be crumbling fast. In June, officers
invited Chancellor Hardin to discuss their
concerns about the management. Fifteen
officers walked out of the meeting, however,
when they discovered that Hardin had also
invited high-ranking officers. They said
they feared retribution from the administrators.
Limit the 'five-year plan'
Delayed graduations hurt UNC financially
Although an analysis released Friday by
the UNC system Board of Governors
showed graduation rates at system schools
compared favorably with other institutions,
the statistics also revealed a disturbing
trend: students are taking longer to graduate.
As Provost Dennis O'Connor put it, the
five-year plan seems to have become "the
norm" both at UNC and nationally.
While it is encouraging to think that
many undergraduates have decided to stay
an extra year to further enrich their edu
cational backgrounds, some of the conse
quences of allowing a five-year system to
evolve would be disturbing. If every student
chose to stay at the University five years,
they would place an unbearable strain upon
an already financially burdened institution.
If UNC's state funding stays constant or,
continues its downward trend, the Uni
versity would have a difficult choice: either
admit fewer freshman each year or allow
the total number of enrolled students to
swell to include a fifth class. The second
option would force administrators to either
stretch the same amount of resources among
more students or raise tuition. Neither is in
students' best interest.
Some students have legitimate reasons
for delaying graduation. They may take
fewer hours because they are working,
cannot adjust to a rigorous academic course
load or have personal problems. Some un
Business and advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director. Bob Bates, advertising director. Leslie Humphrey, classified ad manager.
Business staff: Allison Ashworth, manager; Kimberly Moretz, assistant manager; Gina Berardino, office assistant; Michelle Gray, Annice
Hood and Becky Marquette, receptionists; Ken Murphy, subscriptions; Chrissy Davis, promotions manager.
. Classified advertising: Kirsten Burkart, assistant manager; Laura Richards and Angela Spivey, assistants; Brandon Poe, production.
Display advertising: Lavonne Leinster, advertising manager; Heather Bannister, Chris Berry, Chad Boswell, Lora Gay, Ginger Wagoner,
Carole Hedgepeth, Carrie Grady, Tracy King and Kim Solomon, account representatives; Kim Blass, creative director;Key Bohart, Maribeth
Layton, Brooks Spradling and Stacy Turkel. sales assistants; Deborah Bumgamer, proofreader.
Advertising production: Bill Leslie, manager; Anita Bentley, Chad Campbell, Greg Miller and Lorrie Pate, production assistants.
Assistant editors: Randy Basinger, arts coordinator; Jennifer Dickens, city; Doug Zemel, layout; Amy McCarter, Natalie Pool and Kristin
Scheve. news; James Benton and Jenny Cloninger, ombudsman;Chates Marshall and Billy Stockard, Omnibus; Kathy Michel, p?ofo; Mark
Anderson and Scott Gold, sports; Glenn O'Neal, state and national; Stephanie Johnson, university.
Newsclerks: Kevin Brennan and Amy Dew
Editorial writers: Crystal Bernstein, Lynette Blair, Elizabeth Murray, Brock Page and Jennifer Pilla.
University: Marcie Bailey, Jenny Burns. Elizabeth Byrd, Matt Campbell, April Draughn, Jennifer Dunlap, Matthew Eisley, Soyia Ellison,
Ashley Fogle, Natalie Godwin, Brian Golson, Thomas Healy, Stacey Kaplan, Susie Katz, Burke Koonce, Dionne Loy, Beth Major, Matthew
Mielke. Cathy Oberle, Shannon O'Grady, Steve Politi, Michelle Rabil, Michelle Smith, Susan Ward. Aimee Watson, Lee Weeks, Carrie Wells.
Laura Williams, and Yu-Yee Wu.
City:Tim Burrows, Janice Daughtry, Kris Donahue, Nancy Johnson.Tim Little, Julie Malveaux, Nicole Peradotto, Nicole Perez, Erik Rogers.
Christine Thomas, Sharyn Till, Adam C. Walser, Mariel Wilson, Alan Woodlief and Laura Young.
State and National: Wendy Bounds, David Etchison, Kevin Greene, Mark Griffin, Andre Hauser, Eric Lusk, Kyle York Spencer and Grant
Thompson.
Arts: Isabel Barbuk, Kitt Bockley. Angela Buffum, Mondy Lamb, Kirk Medlin, Greg Miller. Jonathan Poole and Jeff Trussed.
Features: Eric Bolash. Jenny Bray, Christy Conroy, M.C. Dagenhart, Mara Lee, Kristin Leight. Mandy Matule, Scott Maxwell, Ginger Meek.
Mary Moore Parham, Christina Nifong, Stephanie Spiegal and Beth Tatum.
Sports: Kenny Abner, Neil Amato, Jason Bates, John Bland, A.J. Brown, Robert Brown, Stewart Chisam, Laurie Dhue, Jay Exum, Brandon
Hunter, Warren Hynes, Doug Hoogervorst, Daivd Kupstas, Bobby McCroskey, Doug McCurry, Brock Page and Bryan Strickland.
Photography: Grant Halverson, senior photographer; Milton Artis, Kevin Burgess. Deena Deese, Evan Eile, Steven Exum. Jonathan
Grubbs. Stephanie Harper, Jim Holm. Brian Jones. Cheryl Kane. Caroline Kincaid. Sarah King. Edward Moorhouse. Keith Nelson, Sam
Rollins. Stefanie Shepard, Debbie Stengel and Greg Thacker.
- Layout: Christy Conroy, Christy Hall. Emily Nicholl. Lara Spence and Jeff Workman.
Copy Editors: Maureen Ahmad, B Buckberry, Hardy Floyd, Lorrin Freeman, Melissa Grant, Stephanie Harper, Angela Hill, Sarah Kirkman,
Jennifer Kurfees. Wendy Lee. Gillie Murphy, Emily Nicholl, Heather Patterson, Susan Pearsall, Amy Seeley, Natalie Sekicky, Angela Spivey,
Clare Weickert and Steve Wilson.
Cartoonists: Alex De Grand. Chris DePree, David Estoye and Mike Sutton.
' Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn, manager; Kristen Jones and Greg Thacker, assistants.
Distribution: RDS Carriers.
Printing: Village Printing.
Ombudsman: Johanna Henderson. Phone: 962-0245; Office hours: Mon.: 1-5 p.m., Tue. and Thur.: 1 1 a.m.-4 p.m., Wed.: 3:30-5 p.m.,
Fri.: 1-3 p.m.
The Daily Tar Heel is published by the DTH Publishing Corp., a non-profit North Carolina corporation, Monday-Friday, according to the
University calendar.
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Office: Suite
Campus mail address: CBf 5210 box 49, Carolina Union
Last month, several officers complained
that the department was setting quotas, was
understaffed to the point of jeopardizing
campus safety and was failing to provide
sufficient equipment to protect officers.
Police administrators denied these claims.
In November, news came that 1 3 members
of the department had left in the past year;
one former officer cited low morale as a
reason for retiring.
The NAACP will no doubt take all of this
information and more to a national level,
which is another reason why the presence
of the organization in the case is valuable.
News of Edwards' battle has already
reached many parts of the state. NAACP
involvement will only cause the number of
eyes watching Chapel Hill to grow. Perhaps
it would have been wiser if the University
had tried to work with Edwards to resolve
the department's problems instead of
fighting her every step of the way. Now it
is too late.
If the University is as innocent as it tries
to appear, then there is nothing to hide. But
it will be a sad day if and when Edwards
wins her now federal case. At that time, the
fact that this campus was the home to
defaced posters and a racially offensive
note left on an African-American's car will
no longer surprise the nation. An institution
that is guilty of racism and discrimination
only breeds such atrocities. Lynette
Blair
dergraduate programs are designed to re
quire more than four years of schooling,
and class cancellations because of budget
cuts have made it even more difficult to
fulfill graduation requirements. But poor
planning or a complete lack of planning is
too often the reason undergraduates stay
five or more years.
As the BOG analysis suggests, the Uni
versity should improve advising, mentoring
and orientation programs that encourage
students to graduate in four years. However,
if four-year graduation rates do not increase
significantly in the next few years, more
radical action may be necessary. Legisla
tors could require North Carolina students
to pay out-of-state tuition for their ninth
semester and beyond. Students could pe
tition the University for an exemption if
they had legitimate reasons for continuing
more than four years. Thus, they could
graduate at a relatively low cost, but would
not unduly burden the state or UNC.
The taxpayers of North Carolina should
only be obliged to help fund the college
education of students who have made sin
cere efforts to obtain undergraduate degrees
in a reasonable number of semesters. Stu
dents in North Carolina are fortunate to
have low-cost, quality education provided
for them. They should not abuse this privi
lege by staying longer than is truly neces
sary. Jennifer Pilla
104 Carolina Union
U.S. Mail address: P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3257
Are you lonely,
have come back from registration hell to tell
all people trying to call into CAROLINE
that you need to stop. She's overloaded.
She's overworked. She's underpaid, and she's
got a nasty case of gastro-computeral indiges
tion. But then again, don't we all.
So, I had a personal conversation with her
about a week ago. It was right after she had
hung up on me twice and had been on-line with
her boyfriend at State for two and a half hours.
Once I got through, this is the general gist of the
night's events:
9:34 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 28, 1990. In less
than three hours, I finish reading the manual on
how to get a date with CAROLINE, probably a
personal record. I had my personal identifica
tion number and enough adrenaline to get over
the fact that this was my first computer dating
service. I knew that I was hard up for a date and
that this was a last gasp effort.
I start the calling, hang up three times on my
own after the phone starts ringing and get busy
signals for the next 45 minutes.
9:46 p.m. The same night. Get through once,
but she hangs up on me when she realizes who
it is. Bummer.
10:05 p.m. Same night. She answers the
phone again, finally, and I make it to the point
of putting in my social security number before
she realizes it is me. I have disguised the tones
of my touch tone by switching it to pulse. She
is not amused and hangs up.
10:28 p.m. Same night. This conversation
follows:
"Welcome to Caroline, UNC's newest tra
dition. Please enter the access code for the
semester you wish to register," she says in that
sexy voice of hers.
"Yeah, anything you want, honey." I type in
the code.
"Please enter your personal identification
Farrakhan's message
was filled with hatred
To the editors:
Louis Farrakhan's message, as
described in the Nov. 12 article,
"Muslim leader urges students to
work together to end racism," does
not offer reasonable arguments and,
as a result, fails to offer realistic
solutions. Farrakhan maintains that
blacks are the victim of a U.S.
government "master plan" of racial
suppression. Furthermore, his
message of racial unity can only be
recognized at the expense of in
teraction of ethnic groups.
Louis Farrakhan's attitude is
strangely similar to David Duke's,
former KKK Klansman and nar
rowly defeated 1990 candidate for
Louisiana's U.S. Senate seat. Both
men are intolerant of other races
and place the blame of society's
problems on those other people.
While promoting unity of their own
race, they condemn others who
differ on issues of abortion and
homosexuality. Their paranoid
visions of conspiracy and use of
pseudosciences to back up their
own claims of ethnic superiority
only weaken intelligent efforts to
open people's minds to social and
economic problems affecting mil
lions of Americans.
When faced with problems of
society, WE are all guilty of
wearing blinders like a carriage
horse that only allow us to see in a
limited scope. Farrakhan also wears
blinders by seeing problems af
fecting minorities as being the di
rect result of conspiracy among
evil white leaders.
By giving irrational reason for
problems, Farrakhan does not of
fer realistic solutions. He empha
sizes education, and of course, the
importance of education for im
proving society is undeniable.
However, the education Farrakhan
promotes only exacerbates tensions
between racial groups instead of
promoting interaction and under
need a date? Call
Randy Basinger
number."
This is getting kinda intense. She wants
personal info, and we have never met, but I type
that in as well.
"Please enter your social security number
now."
"Okay. Okay. But we better to get to the real
point of this thing soon." In goes the social
security number.
"Your last name is spelled B-A-S-I-N-G-E-R.
Please register for your classes."
"Wait one second. I wanted to get a date, not
register for classes," I say indignantly.
"Please enter your class digits and figures at
this time."
I wanted a candlelight dinner for two at an
intimate McDonalds, not classes. I smash my
hand down on the phone's touchpad and a loud
BLEEP echoes out of the receiver.
"You have registered for Ancient Egyptian
Child Development at 8 a.m. Monday through
Friday. A three hour recitation is required for
this course, with the only section being at 10
p.m. on Friday," CAROLINE informs me.
"NO! NO! NO! I wanted a date, not a class."
I start punching buttons trying to cancel the
class when the computer starts talking to me
again.
"You have registered for Polynesian Social
and Cannibalistic Dance at 3 p.m. Monday
Wednesday Friday. This class has a field trip to
Samoa scheduled for Spring Break which will
cost $1,299 and class participation is required
to pass."
I've got to stop her, I say to myself. If this
standing.
ANDY CARTER
Junior
Political Science
East Asian Studies
Letter suggests five
alternate statue sites
Editors' note: The following
letter was written on behalf of
student leaders and the Community
Against Offensive Statues (CAOS)
to John L. Sanders, chairman of
the Chancellor's Advisory Com
mittee on Buildings and Grounds.
Copies of this letter were sent to
Chancellor Paul Hardin and Vice
Chancellor Donald Boulton.
Dear Mr. Sanders:
We are writing to you on behalf
of the student leaders involved in
the effort to move the sculpture,
"The Student Body," located in
front of the Davis Graduate Li
brary. It is our understanding that
the chancellor has made a charge
to the committee to suggest alter
nate sites so that he can ultimately
decide whether the statues should
be moved and where they should
be located in that circumstance.
The group of student leaders wants
to offer some suggestions of sites
and respectfully requests an
emergency meeting of the Build
ing and Grounds Committee at the
earliest possible convenience to
discuss alternate sites for the
chancellor's final decision.
We propose five alternate sites:
in front of the Paul Green Theatre;
in the rock garden between Hanes
Art Center and the Ackland Art
Museum (we understand that the
art department would prefer that
they not be placed there, we also
understand that the space is not
under their control); in the area
between Fetzer Gymnasium and
Carmichael Auditorium; between
Sitterson and Phillips halls; or in
front of the Law School. We think
that these sites give the Building
and Grounds Committee a good
starting point for alternate site se
lection. We understand that the
procedure suggested by the chan
cellor is a departure from the
committee's normal process of
approval, rather than selection, of
sites.
Obviously we feel that moving
the statues is extremely important
and of some urgency. We would
request that the committee meet on
this subject sometime before the
regularly scheduled meeting of
Dec. 4.
We appreciate your consider
ation of this issue. We hope that the
chancellor will make a final deci
sion on the statues new location
before we leave for Winter Break.
If you have any questions or con
cerns, please contact us either at
the student government office (2
5201) or at my home.
MATTHEW F. HEYD
Junior
History
DANA CLINTON LUMSDEN
Junior
Political ScienceRussian Studies
W. MICHAEL CALDWELL
Sophomore
Political Science
Gantt's supporters
voted for real values
To the editors:
D. Stephen Norton states that
six more years of Jesse Helms prove
to him that "there is still hope for
North Carolina." Hope for what?
Maintaining a commitment to
racism, sexism, homophobia and a
lack of concern for any issue other
than flagburning and NEA fund
ing? Norton may be quivering over
the prospect of a "country of 17
million people" poised to overrun
ours of 230 million, as well as the
"spread of liberalism that threat
ens to engulf our state," but I'm a
lot more concerned about the fact
976-CAROLINE
keeps up, I will find myself in classes I "didn't
even know existed.
Why is this happening to me? All I wanted
was a lousy date, and this computer is ruining
my life. I would have settled for a few hours of
intelligent communication over the phone. I
don't even like girls named CAROLINE.
"Please do something or I will be forced to
register you for BioMed 342, Graduate Dis
course in Cadaver Toe Dissection,"
CAROLINE says.
It hits me just what course of action I need to
take. REVELATION!
"Hold the phone," I tell my roommate,
handing him the receiver and leaving him
standing with a blank look on his face.
I race for my car.
10:59 p.m. Night time. From all Police re
ports. "A car of unknown origin crashed into
the bui Iding which houses the new CAROLI NH
computer system, causing about $55,000 dol
lars in damage to the building and computer.
No description of the subject can be given
because nobody saw him or her, but the per
petrator was heard laughing hysterically as he
or she fled the scene of the crime."
When they got her back on-line she re
membered none of the conversation, and both I
and my roommate were registered for all out
classes with no 8 o'clocks. Life is grand.
3:13 p.m. Wednesday, October 31, 1990. I
receive a letter in the mail from a girl inTopeka,
Kansas, who would really like to discuss
Polynesian social dance and Egyptian mum
mification over dinner. Go Figure.
Anyone going to Kansas over Thanksgiving?
I'll help pay for gas.
Randy Basinger is a senior journalism and
English major from Statesville who calls
CAROLINE whenever lie's lonely.
thatthereare stil! children living in
poverty here and that our SAT
scores are 49th in the nation (thank
God for South Carolina). It would
seem to be time to reevaluate the
"N.C. values" Norton claims the
"people of North Carolina" (ex
cluding almost half of the voting
population in that assessment: the
47 percent (not 46 percent) he
mentions in the next breath, indi
cating to me at least that math
courses are not what they used to
be) affirmed by re-electing the man
who loves to hate.
There was, however, an alter
native to Helms. It was an honor to
vote for Harvey Gantt, and because
47 percent of the voters clearly
believe, as I do, that "N.C. values"
include unity, compassion and a
commitment to education, I know
I'll have the chance to do it again.
VANESSA VAN ORNAM
Graduate
German
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