Opinion -

A long road ahead

By Staff Editor | October 20

To say Lindsay Strunk has several major projects ahead of her as the Carolina Athletic Association's new president would be a serious understatement. Former President Will Keith's recent resignation has come at an intense time for CAA members, but they shouldn't let the incidents overwhelm them in their work for students. It's not like this bunch isn't used to dealing with pressure. Breakdowns in communication marked Keith's short tenure as CAA president.

Good but not great

By Staff Editor | October 19

After months of discussion and negotiations, Congress has passed the tobacco buyout package and sent it to President Bush for approval. Though the buyout is a great boon for tobacco farmers in North Carolina and across the South, some important elements were left out in the conference bill that emerged. The new Congress should address these omissions when it convenes in January.

Asking for trouble

By Staff Editor | October 19

You've got to wonder if Florida head football coach Ron Zook has ever seen National Lampoon's "Animal House." If he has, Zook's threat to "take this house down" in front of fraternity members and a university administrator isn't just inappropriate - it's asinine.

American culture teaches a lesson of polarization, excess

By Staff Editor | October 19

I own a 64-ounce cup. 64 ounces. 1.893 liters. One half gallon. And it scares me. I saw it standing on the gas station counter next to the soft drink machine while I was paying for gas. It struck me as a little unnecessary and utterly American. "What's the point of a cup?" I thought. "To hold a portion of liquid that you intend to drink in one sitting. Otherwise, you would buy a bottle. Who is drinking 64 ounces of soda in one sitting? Is this really necessary?"

Facilitating waste

By Staff Editor | October 19

As you read this, the town of Chapel Hill slowly plods along with its debate over whether to change the name of Airport Road to honor Martin Luther King Jr. The 17-person committee has two full-day meetings coming up in two short weeks, but the recently released meeting schedule already has left some committee members reconsidering their participation.

Free expression should be respected for everyone in the University community

By Staff Editor | October 19

TO THE EDITOR: Our founding fathers had a vision when founding this nation. It included rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the University, we often say the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives us the right to free expression, but we refuse to guarantee this right equally to all our community's members. During my first semester here, fall 2002, my family visited from Charlotte.

Vote early and vote Democratic for this year's local and national election races

By Staff Editor | October 19

TO THE EDITOR: Any voter registered in Orange County can cast an early vote from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at the Morehead Building during the next two weeks. I encourage all students to take advantage of this option - it's much easier than getting to the correct polling place on Nov. 2. There are a few intricacies of the ballot that people should be aware of before voting. First, voting a straight ticket does not cast a ballot for that party's presidential candidate. Voters must select a candidate for president separately.

Protecting privacy

By Staff Editor | October 18

The release of a UNC athlete's name in conjunction with information about his drug test results is an invasion of the student's privacy and should be an embarrassment to officials. Athletics officials should work with the Office of University Counsel to devise a system to ensure that lapses of this sort do not happen again in the future.

Improper business

By Staff Editor | October 18

Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, spent 10 years in the N.C. Senate, and for two of them, he was on the payroll of Image Products Inc. of Wilmington and charged with finding new customers. For that two years of work, he was paid about $11,000. During that time, Ballantine peddled his wares to a number of trade associations and lobby groups with business before the Senate. Representatives from these groups said that Ballantine was responsible for securing at least three contracts for his employer.

Equitable funding

By Staff Editor | October 18

It's an unfortunate but widely known fact in the scientific community that researchers also have to be businessmen in order to secure funds. But getting a grant from the National Science Foundation became a little easier last week, allowing researchers to focus more of their efforts on science. The foundation's governing board voted last Thursday to end the requirement for projects on which the NSF requests applications. Unsolicited proposals will still have to pay for 1 percent of the research-grant money that they are allotted.

A necessary pause

By Staff Editor | October 13

There's a serious problem with North Carolina's legal system when we find that the star witness in a death-penalty case "had to make up a story," to satisfy the police. As outrageous as it might sound, prosecutors had these words on tape in the case of Alan Gell, who was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1998 for a murder he didn't commit.

More than money

By Staff Editor | October 13

For the most part, students who decide to attend UNC trust that they've chosen a university that will serve their needs, value their contributions and give equal treatment to each of them. But, as is evident from a recently released report, most of UNC's faculty members aren't nearly as confident - and the administration needs to do a better job of mitigating the confusion.

Providing the rationale for a complex newsroom decision

By Staff Editor | October 12

My words shouldn't be filling this space. Those of you who are regular readers of Robin Sinhababu's Tuesday column likely have noted that already. But I recently made the decision to terminate Sinhababu's tenure as a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel, and I owe our readers an explanation. The paper's Conflict of Interest Policy has been a guiding document for all DTH staff members, from the newest hire to the most seasoned member of the paper's management team, since time immemorial.

Revelry dampened

By Staff Editor | October 12

The UNC football team has taken the field against N.C. State many times since the teams first played in 1894, but the last-minute 30-24 win for the Tar Heels last Saturday was one that fans of both teams will remember for years to come.

Security officials should have allowed students to storm Kenan after State win

By Staff Editor | October 12

TO THE EDITOR: I'm writing to express my disapproval of how the post-game celebrations were handled by the security personnel at Saturday's game. The person in charge of security at the game must have recognized that we were going to storm the field regardless of their efforts. Why then, did they not cut their losses and open the gates, allowing students to storm the field safely? As far as I could tell, the only damage to the field came from the wasted efforts to keep us off of it.

Columnist failed to respect choices by Iraqi women, disregards traditions

By Staff Editor | October 12

TO THE EDITOR: Upon reading Emily Batchelder's last two commentaries I have to admit, as a guy, that she did a great job expressing the plight of women and dutifully acknowledging what needs to done. I don't want to appear to be misogynistic fella', but I refuse to accept "contraception is a basic standard of health care and should be viewed as such by the President." There is nothing wrong with pursuing your own agendas. The country has more problems to deal with than your perception of what the president ought to do.

A missed discourse

By Staff Editor | October 12

As Americans, as North Carolinians and as college students, we all must agree that terrorism is an important issue. Iraq is an important issue. Jobs and the economy are important issues - and all of these topics deserve the weight given them. But presidential and gubernatorial candidates shouldn't lose university education in the mix. Governor Easley and state Sen. Ballantine should devote more of their campaign time to talking about how Americans can pay for college - as should President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry.

Taking it too far

By Staff Editor | October 11

An individual has the right to burn his own U.S. flag - but freedom becomes a felony when he destroys someone else's personal property. P olitics on campus got out of hand Wednesday. The flag-burning episode in the Pit pitted two different ideologies against each other - and protester Kevin Sellers crossed the line between being civil and being disrespectful. Trying to destroy another person's property is not a productive way to demonstrate a point of view, not to mention that it's illegal.

11th-hour success

By Staff Editor | October 11

Carolina Athletic Association ocials should be commended for their success in booking singer John Legend for the Homecoming concert. W ith the clock ticking away, though the Carolina Athletic Association is still smarting from bungled negotiations with Sister Hazel, the organization has turned UNC's Homecoming concert from a ho-hum show into an event to anticipate. Goodbye, one-hit wonder rock band Sister Hazel. Hello, in-demand session player and up-and-coming neo-soul crooner John Legend.

Richer or poorer

By Staff Editor | October 11

State governments should work hard to narrow a gap in the amount of money that high-poverty and low-poverty school districts receive. A lthough the years of the economic bubble showed promise for equality, the disparity between high-poverty and low-poverty school districts has started to grow again in recent years.