6 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/22/10 4:22am)
Correction (April 26 12: 16 a.m.): Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the charges were dropped against senior Haley Koch following last year’s protest at Tom Tancredo’s speech. The charges were dismissed. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the errors.
(04/07/10 1:34am)
Students with an interest in international law will have a chance to hear a lecture Wednesday night by Fatou Bensouda, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.The court is the first permanent criminal court that hears cases of international crimes.Bensouda is speaking at 7 p.m. in Gerrard Hall, delivering the Hillard Gold ‘39 Lecture. The Daily Tar Heel had a chance to sit down with Bensouda and ask her questions about her life and her work Tuesday afternoon.DTH: Out of all the work that you’ve done, what cases have kind of stuck with you the most? Which ones are the most memorable to you?Bensouda: That’s one thing about criminal justice, it’s that you kind of get sucked in by it, and no one case is more important than the others. But I remember one of the first cases I handled which was a case of the ... we call it a case of “the baby in the well.” A baby, a young child, was killed and thrown in a well by the friend of the father. I think he said he was instructed to do this so that he would become rich. It was some supernatural beliefs that led him to do it. So definitely this is one of the cases that stuck to me up to today, and another one is the case of a rape of a 14-month-old baby. That can never go away; it stays with me.But at the international level, you’re now talking about massive crimes. However much you prepared at the national level, you can never be that prepared. To be into these international crimes, these massive crimes, massive rapes, massive killings, pillaging — where you have thousands of perpetrators, thousands of victims — for those ones you cannot just individually say that I will stick with this one and not the other because it’s just all over the place.DTH: When people talk about crimes like genocide, they often use the phrase “never again.” Do you think that there will ever be a day when “never again” really happens?Bensouda: I am praying. I am praying that this will one day happen because definitely so far it hasn’t. We have made this promise to ourselves and to the international community over and over and over again, and I think it is about time that we really mean what we say and we resolve to do that. Even recently, after Rwanda, we said, “Never again will it happen. This genocide cannot happen again.”But as we speak today, it is happening. You can take the example of Darfur and Sudan. Thirteen target groups ... 13 ethnic groups are being targeted and are being systematically eliminated, and the international community is not doing much to stop this. At the (International Criminal Court) we have issued arrest warrants against those we think have the greatest responsibility for these crimes.DTH: How do you think this sort of work affects you? I imagine you’ve seen some pretty painful and difficult stuff in your line of work; do you feel like that affects you at all?Bensouda: Obviously it affects me in the sense that, first of all, you wish they were not happening at all. Because there are so many innocent victims of this conflict — unimaginable atrocities being committed to innocent people — it shouldn’t happen. And for that, sometimes there’s a lot of frustration when you feel that you want to do something, and you want to do more. You want to get on with your cases.You sometimes have obstructions and obstacles and politics and what have you from going ahead with it. In a way, maybe that is what affects me. The fact that some of us are in a position to do something, to get on with the work that we have been mandated to do, but we are not able to do because of outside reasons beyond our control. For me, this is frustrating.DTH: Do you have any kind of advice for someone who wants to get into international law?Bensouda: I think that’s a very good aspiration. This is an area which I think is growing very fast. But it also needs a lot of committed people, more committed people each day, to ensure that what we are called to do, under the Rome Statute, we have the capacity to do. But as a young lawyer coming up, I think that the first thing that needs to be done is to do some form of an internship with the ICC. Because sometimes, some people think that after the initial experience they may not want to go ahead with it. This field needs total commitment.But also, you don’t necessarily have to work in the ICC alone to get involved in international criminal justice. You can be involved in the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) works. NGOs support a lot of what we do at the ICC, so this is another area that one can look at. You see recently the example of “Invisible Children” trying to push this bill. That’s also something that is very interesting. DTH: You mentioned “Invisible Children,” and I know you said you’ve been working in Darfur. Do you think that the ICC has made positive strides toward ending that phenomenon?Bensouda: I think so. I think that the various efforts that have been made to achieve peace in Darfur and bring more stability is largely as a result of the warrants that have been issued against the head of state. I feel there is an impact. I would say that.
(03/31/10 4:02am)
About 20 students came together to celebrate Passover seder at a table that stretched the width of the Campus Y Faculty Lounge Tuesday night.
The ritual Jewish dinner was organized by a group of students that seeks to promote dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While the event celebrated the Jewish holiday, it attracted students of varied religious and political backgrounds.
“It’s putting aside the debate for a night and celebrating one side’s traditions,” said freshman Grayson Bland.
The event represented a collaboration between the N.C. Hillel and the Arab Student Organization in an effort to start a dialogue about the conflict.
“This is kind of our kick-off,” said Yasmeen Zamamiri, an event organizer and one of several first-time seder participants at the dinner.
“I’m here to celebrate, and learning about my friends’ religion is great,” Zamamiri said. “Trying to educate the public about the conflict without being educated myself is impossible.”
Participants said the unique focus of the seder was what attracted them.
“It’s a part of my heritage, and I don’t know a lot about it,” freshman Jacob Lerner said.
Passover celebrates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt with an eight-day festival held during the Jewish month of Nissan. The central events of Passover are the seders held on the first two nights of the holiday.
The seder was part of N.C. Hillel’s “Passover Your Way” program that helps students to plan and create their own seders, providing them with subsidized food and training on how to conduct a seder.
Ben Elkind, the main organizer of the event, said he wanted to promote dialogue on the conflict because he felt it was important.
“This conflict hits particularly close to home both as a Jewish person and someone who cares about peace and freedom,” he said.
Elkind said he thought everyone could learn from the celebration and discussion.
“This seder is about questions of justice and freedom. The most important thing about this holiday is that it’s about questions.”
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(03/30/10 3:11am)
Student government kicked off its Myth-Busters Series Monday night with a discussion on the misconceptions of Greek life.About 20 women, all members of UNC sororities, attended the event in the Campus Y to discuss the Greek community’s evolving relationship with the University along with the stereotypes they encounter as members of fraternities and sororities.One attendant said sorority girls are stereotyped as “daffy,” upper-class and superficial. She said these stereotypes are defied by sorority members every day.Sophomore Blair Stevens, a member of the UNC chapter of Kappa Delta, said some of these stereotypes result from a lack of positive publicity. “I don’t think we get publicity for all that we do,” Stevens said. “Kappa Delta raised over $50,000 at the Shamrock n’ Run event.”Led by Sumaiya Sarwar, co-chairwoman of the Myth-Busters Series Committee, the discussion also addressed the factors that attracted UNC students to the Greek community.Because UNC is so large, joining a chapter is a way for students to get involved at UNC, said one student. Some participants said Greeks are not part of a “cult,” but rather are closely involved with the community. Stevens said the scrutiny applied to issues related to alcohol and drug use has created a misrepresentation of Greek life. “The social aspects are a very small part,” she said.The Myth-Busters Series, part of Student Body President Jasmin Jones’ diversity platform, wraps up Thursday with the program “He, She and Ze?,” which will look at the role of the gender binary in participants’ lives. The event will be held in the Campus Y at 6 p.m. The discussion will be facilitated by Terri Phoenix and Danny Depuy from the LGBTQ Center.There will also be an event in the Pit from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. that will introduce the idea of the gender binary. The Pit event will include a display about the gender binary and various activities.“The purpose of the Myth-Busters Series is to start discussion about different issues,” Sarwar said “The idea is to create an environment where people feel safe to have those discussions.”The Myth-Busters Series was originally intended as a month-long event, but was compressed to a week following planning problems.“I think it’s a great way to dispel those myths that do exist. It’s an exciting way to educate the university about these issues,” said Terri Houston, director for Recruitment and Multicultural Programs in the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. The co-chairmen of the committee consulted with Houston during the planning stages of the series.The events are free and open to the public.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(03/23/10 2:57am)
UNC students interested in diplomacy and international relations will get a chance to hear from two former ambassadors tonight.Sir Christopher Meyer and Ambassador Richard Armitage will speak at a panel called “Can Diplomats Justify Their Existence?” at 8 p.m. tonight in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center.Meyer was the British ambassador to the United States from 1997-2003. He has also recently published a book titled, “Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: The Inside Story of British Diplomacy.”He is currently teaching Honors 353, “Empire and Diplomacy: The British Empire and British Diplomacy,” in conjunction with UNC professor and moderator of the panel, Theodore Leinbaugh.“I think this is an unusual opportunity for students to meet people who do work at the highest echelons,” Leinbaugh said.Armitage was the Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell from 2001-05. He played an instrumental role in negotiations preventing a nuclear crisis between India and Pakistan during his tenure.Meyer and Armitage have worked together on diplomatic ventures before. “We worked closely on many issues,” Meyer wrote in an e-mail.The two will talk about the importance of diplomacy in the modern world.“I believe we should be able to convince our audience that diplomats can, do and must justify their existence,” Meyer wrote.“It is an interdependent world in which many problems cannot be solved by one nation alone.”The event is free and open to the public.Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/24/10 5:30am)
Former President Bill Clinton hasn’t been in office in a nearly a decade, but Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch still had plenty to say about him Tuesday night.Branch, a UNC alumnus and Morehead-Cain Scholar in the class of 1968, won a Pulitzer for his trilogy about the civil rights movement. Branch has given UNC many of his personal notes, pictures and audio and video recordings from his work related to Clinton and the civil rights movement.The author came to Wilson Library to speak about his experience writing his latest book, “The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President.”Speaking to a nearly packed room, Branch joyfully recounted anecdote after anecdote about his time spent with the former president.Tim West, the curator of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, introduced Branch, highlighting the importance of his donation to the collection. “Taylor has been called ‘Confessor to a president,’” West said. Branch spent a significant amount of his speech extolling the virtues of oral history.“The reason my papers are here upstairs on Martin Luther King Jr. is not because I went to Carolina, but because Carolina pioneered oral history,” he said.Branch, a journalist and historian, interviewed Clinton 79 times in the White House. His book was published in 2009.Branch and Clinton became close while participating in activism against the Vietnam War and worked together in Texas to try to unite the Democratic party.Through these experiences, Branch and Clinton became friends, despite eventually working in separate professional fields and being out of contact for nearly 20 years.“I wrote this as a memoir of this experience and as an advertisement for this kind of history,” Branch said during his speech.Branch said he remembered when Clinton asked him whether he believed the records of the presidency would be useful to future historians.“Records were more voluminous and less useful for a historian who wants to know what really happened,” Branch said.When asked about Clinton’s response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Branch said that Clinton seemed unfazed by it at the time and once remarked that the scandal created enormous audience attention to his presidency.The event in Wilson Library ran out of chairs for the audience members, who numbered at least 50.“Bill Clinton was the first president I was able to vote for, and much like Barack Obama, is a real icon for the younger generation,” attendee Shane Hudson said. “Bill Clinton was that icon when I was in college.”Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.