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s of v0 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Volume 99, Issue 36 Tuesday, April 16, 1991 Chapel Hill, North Carolina NcwsS ports Arts 962-0245 Business Advertising 962-1163 o dm ci cJiae il lJ ,!fl f i M :IU! M II II t 1 ri i i ii ii J J Homosexual minority UNC's largest, quietest By Christina Nifong Features Editor All the children of the world: red and yellow, black and white ... and gay. UNC's children are 8.6 percent African American, 0.8 percent Hispanic, 2.6 percent Asian and estimated to be more than 10 percent homosexual. But looking at the campus population, these numbers don't seem possible. The Black Student Movement, with more than 400 members, conducts organized elections, well-attended programs and much-publicized boycotts. In comparison, the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association seems strangely si lent. The difference is that this campus is not a safe environment for homosexuals, said Ruth Belovicz, a bisexual graduate student at UNC. "Two men could not walk past the Pit holding hands without getting negative reactions," she said. Laura Anderson, minister of information for the BSM, explained the difference between the two minorities in.terms of time. She said the 1990s for homosexual students were the equivalent of the 1950s for black students. In 40 years, she said, the gay community could be as well accepted if not more so than African Americans today. "It's not a crime to be black. In the '50s, you could have a sign that said, xNoblacks allowed. '"Today that isn't true, she said. Patrick Rothwell, co-chairman of CGLA, said, "There is an outer veneer in society that it's not acceptable to be racist or sexist. It looks bad on your record to tell a racist or sexist joke," he said. "That's really not the case for homosexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in many states, including this one." He said many people believed that being homosexual was against God's law as well as common law, and they believed that harassing gays and lesbians was doing the work of God or administering justice. Rothwell said the main difference, though, was that homo sexuals had no distinguishing feature setting them apart from the majority. 'The main difference is the invisibility of the gay commu nity versus the visibility of the black community," he said. "People have a hard time believing the 10 percent figures because they say, 'I don't know anyone that's gay.' But chances are, they do." Anderson agreed. She pointed out that a person could live next door to a homosexual his entire life without knowing his neighbor was homosexual. Without being readily identifiable, homosexuals have not been forced to be open with their sexual orientation. "African Americans don't have a choice. You can't hide from being black," she said. Rothwell said being closeted, choosing not to make one's sexual orientation known, was a vicious cycle because it perpetuated low visibility and misunderstanding of the gay community. But, he said, "I would rather someone be in the closet and be happy than out of the closet and their life be ruined." Homosexuals are quiet partly because they can be, but mostly because being homosexual is not yet accepted on this See MINORITY, page 9 isC ' ; f''""' -JMSS slDs V& i ' ;Wif fnr , i W J ' ' ''k.,'-4TT'. .... , : m$ ' . ,'. m -ftananitl .'5:C'fei:..v..- w DTHKathy Michel James Spurting, manager of Talbert's Eastgate Gulf, surveys damage to the police car involved in the wreck reck includes police car en route to hostage scene By Peter F.Wallsten City Editor A police car en route to a hostage scene Mon day evening may have been the cause of a six-car accident near Eastgate Shopping Center that in jured three people. The hostage situation ended with the surrender of the gunman. Police are still investigating the accident on East Franklin Street. Mark Andrews, whose car was damaged heavily in the accident, said most of the people involved in the accident agreed the police car ran a red light. "I believe it was trying to swerve around a car that was coming through (the intersection)," he said. "The consensus is that it was a red light. That's what we agreed." Police were called to the hostage scene when a woman telephoned a police dispatcher about 5 p.m. and said a man was holding her captive in her apartment in the eastern part of town, said Capt. Gregg Jarvies of the Chapel Hill Police Department. She said the man was trespassing in her apartment, which is located at the Walden at Greenfields apartments on Melville Loop. The man had a handgun, Jarvies said. Seven officers responded to the hostage situa tion, he said. One additional officer was involved in the automobile accident, which took place directly in front of WCHL radio station at 1721 East Franklin St. "As we were on our way to the scene, there was an indication that any officer who would come near (the hostage scene) would be injured," Jarvies said. The man apparently knew the woman, but police were unsure of their relationship, he said. Police would, not release the names of the indi viduals. Police officers cleared the area around the apartment, and tried to convince the man and the woman to come out. "We asked her to come out," Jarvies said. "She never did, which led us to believe she was being held against her will." Jarvies said he convinced the man to release the gun to the woman, who left the apartment about an hour and 15 minutes after police first arrived. Five minutes later, police took custody of the man outside the apartment. He was undergoing psychiatric evaluation Monday night, Jarvies said. The woman stayed at home after the incident and was in stable condition, he said. The automobile accident, which involved one of the police department's new Chevrolet Ca prices and five private vehicles, occurred shortly after 5 p.m., said Chapel Hill police Sgt. Shauna Porterfield. See HOSTAGE, page 5 enator takes UNC roots to Congress Wellstone says days at University pointed him to active role in national politics By Pete Simpkinson Staff Writer Throwing his background as an aca demician behind him, U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, Minn., spoke Monday night about the success of activism and grass roots politics. A UNC graduate, Wellstone was UNC's 1991 Weil lec turer in American Citizenship and drew a crowd of more than 350. Wellstone filled the lecture, titled "From Student Activism to Senate Ac tivism: the Journey from Chapel Hill to Washington, D.C.," with anecdotes from his development as a self-described grass-roots politician. His path to the U.S. Senate took root in Chapel Hill when Wellstone entered the University as an undergraduate in 1 962. Concerned with providing for his wife and child at the age of 20 while working, studying and wrestling, Wellstone said he felt he did not have time for political issues such as the emerging civil rights movement. "(The civil rights issue) was explod ing all around me," Wellstone said. "I had no time for it. I thought that I could ignore it, that I didn't have the time. But the problem is that you couldn't ignore it ... and that made me a very big be liever in direct action." From Chapel Hill, Wellstone moved to Minnesota, where he took a teaching position at Carleton College. With the goal of showing students how to think out and act out what they believed in, Wellstone set out to build home-grown leadership in rural agricultural Minne sota. Wellstone and his students met firsthand with the state's people, many of them farmers and senior citizens. This notion of empowerment remains fresh to Wellstone today. Organizing the lower- to middle-income people of southern Minnesota into self-represen-tation, he said he worked with "people who were never viewed as leaders, people who were viewed as'poor white trash' ... people who were viewed as individuals with no ability came to view themselves in a different light. I think that's the work I enjoyed more than any other work I've ever done. ... there was a whole group of people nobody had ever heard from before." With this political base to stand upon, Wellstone ventured into politics believ ing, "if we want a progressive change in our country, it's a mistake to wait for it." He used his experience as a member of the Democratic National Committee and his time with the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1988 primary campaign and Gov. Michael Dukakis presidential campaign to work toward a campaign of his own. Beating the odds, popular opinion polls and a prediction that he would "bring the Democratic Party down to ruin," Wellstone won the 1990 Minne sota Senate election. An old, repainted school bus carried Wellstone across the state and became his symbol and trademark. - I i IftmrniWitTTTiiiwitfiiiBfriyi- i rs si Summer DTH needs staff members Interested in spending your sum mer at The Daily Tar Heel? The Sum mer DTH publishes weekly during both summer school sessions. The DTH needs writers photographers, layout folks and copy editors. No ex perience is necessary If you can only write during one summer school ses sion, no problem. For more information, attend an information session Thursday, April 18, at 4 p.m. in Room 208 of the Student Union or call Jennifer Wing at 962-0245. Critics said the bus "would break down and become a metaphor for our campaign, ... but (Wellstone said) if it breaks down it would be good because people can relate to that." The bus helped Wellstone keep in tune with the pulse of grass-roots de mocracy. As a senator, he has empha sized human resources, especially pre natal and health care. The success of any other program developed by the government rests upon giving each child the same fighting chance and educa tion, he said. Wellstone did not directly address the issue of abortion rights. Wellstone also called for an energy policy favoring renewable energy ciniectlTuii ed. bm JUe oner may By Jennifer Dunlap Assistant University Editor Students may be registering for po litical science classes that will not be offered next year. Because of the budget cuts, the po litical science department does not have enough money to teach about one-third of the classes department officials hoped to offer, said David Lowery, depart ment chairman. But students still can register for some of these classes because department administrators expect to receive money to pay for them from a budget reserve set aside by Gillian Cell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Lowery said. Administrators are waiting to find out what budget the N.C. General As sembly will pass, Lowery said, adding that he does not know when he will find out about receiving money from the reserve. "Who knows when we're go ing to know." ' About 15 classes in the political sci ence department were open for registra tion even though the department cannot pay for them yet, he said. Other political science classes with out funding have been canceled or have been listed in the Caroline registration system with an enrollment limit of zero so that they can be reinstated easily if funding becomes available, he said. Cell said she instructed departments to submit smaller budgets this year to prepare for upcoming cuts. The remain ing portion of the total Arts and Sci ences budget is being reserved for re distribution to departments if the Gen eral Assembly does not cut the University's budget too severely, she . DTHSarah King Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone speaks in Hamilton Hall Monday night sources and a public campaign-financing tax amounting to about $10 dollars per taxpayer. The latter would support "politics controlled by people, not spe cial interests," he said. Striving to protect the people of America as well as Kuwait and Iraq, Wellstone said he voted against the use of military force in the Persian Gulf. War should be the last option as a solu tion to a problem, as life is the country's most valuable resource, he said. A few months in office have given Wellstone faith in his ability to make a difference and to help improve people's lives. "I don't think I'll be spitting in the wind in the U.S. Senate." said. Some departments already have can- celed classes, but if they get moneyt; back to reinstate the classes, students may not know the classes are available she said. v Other departments are leaving a few unfunded courses on the books in hopes that some of Cell's reserve can be re verted to them, she said. University Registrar David Lanier said his staff members notified students ; about class cancellations by program- -ming Caroline not to allow them to register for the class and by sending' letters to students already enrolled in the class. If a department does not inform any-! one in the registrar's office about can cellations, then students may not know the class will not be offered, Lanier said. "As soon as my office finds out about it, we notify students," he said. Lowery said that if the political sci ence department did not receive enough money from reserves to offer the 15 classes now without funds, the classes would be canceled. If these classes need to be canceled,' they will be cut on the basis of how' important the class is to the political science program and how far along a graduate student who teaches the class is in his or her progress toward a Ph.D.v Lowery said. Funding is cut first for graduate stu dents who have been in the department the longest, Lowery said. Political Science professor Joel Schwartz said departments that can celed classes and then received money from Cell's reserves would have a harder See CUTS, page 4 Stude nt g overnment akes budget worries eneral Assembly to G By Warren Hynes Staff Writer They're Ruffin it up and makin' their voices matter. As part of a three-pronged plan to spear the UNC-system budget cuts, stu dent government officers have been at tending meetings and working the floor of the N.C. General Assembly, Student Body President Matt Heyd said Mon day. Heyd, budget crisis coordinators Ruffin Hall and David Henderson, and chief student government lobbyist Jim Copland have led a group of other stu dent government officers who have trav eled to Raleigh regularly since the an ticipated $59.2 million cut from the" UNC-system' s budget was announced in March, Heyd said. "(General Assembly members) keep pushing for more and more money," Heyd said. "They're pushing us to the bone. They need to raise more revenue. They need to know that raising revenue is more acceptable than cutting the bud get." Hall said the students had attended both separate and joint meetings of the House and Senate Subcommittees for Appropriations on Education. Heyd said, "We're trying to target Appropriations Committee members because that's where the budget lies right now." When the appropriations committees both have budgets ready, they present the proposals to the full bodies of the House and Senate. The three-part student government plan consists of: R Lobbying legislators; B "Mass direct action," such as letter-writing campaigns and last Wednesday's march in Raleigh by UNC-system students; An "ambassador program," which consists of talking to alumni and stu dents' parents about the cuts. Hall said that in Raleigh student gov ernment members have done more than just listen in on meetings. "We not only went to the subcommittee meetings but went on the floor of the House and talked to individual legislators," he said. "We've been splitting up and hitting the legislators that we have connections with, if possible." Today, the chairmen of each sub committee will present reports to the full appropriations committees in their respective houses. Hall said. At 8:30 a.m. Hall and Copland will attend the House Appropriations Committee meet ing. At 1:30 p.m. Heyd and Henderson will attend the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, Heyd said. Hall said catching the ears of legisla tors has not been easy. "It's really hard for students to have credibility over there," he said. But some legislators have listened. Both Heyd and Hall said House Appro priations Committee Co-chairman Harry Payne has been quite coopera tive. "Payne has been willing to talk and See BUDGET, page 5 S 11 FEATURES Robersonville man eats his way into world records book 2 CAMPUS AND CITY Voluntary bicycle registration favored over mandatory plan 3 Sports 7 Classified 8. Comics 9 Opinion 10 WEATHER TODAY: Clearing; high in lower 80s WEDNESDAY: Sunny; high in 80s ON CAMPUS LesbianGay Awareness Week Dance at The Club begins around 9 p.m. There is a $5 cover charge. 1991 DTH Publishing Corp. All fights reserved. It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't. Mignon McLaughlin
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 16, 1991, edition 1
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