Newspaper Page Text
■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and Black • Tuesday. April 10, 1990
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University o/ Georgia
Charlene Smith/Editor-in-Chief
Amy Bellew/Managing Editor
Hogai Nassery/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
One more chance
If you care whether the University switches to the
semester system, if you want smoking banned in the
lounge of the main library, if you think you have
solutions to any of the gripes and groans students
mutter at the University, quit yer bitchin’ and do
something about it.
The University Council has graciously extended the
deadline for applying to run for student representative
since not enough candidates had applied to run from all
the schools and colleges. Several schools, including the
College of Journalism and the School of Forest
Resources, had no candidates at all.
Students now have until Wednesday to qualify to
run for a seat representing their school. The campus
wide elections are April 17 to coincide with Student
Association elections, which also have a dearth of
candidates. Unfortunately, the deadline was not
extended for that race.
But students have been granted a brief reprieve for
council elections that should be wasted. Hopefully, the
fact that some seats threaten to remain empty will spur
eligible students to run.
While students may be disillusioned with SA’s
ability to change things, they should not lose faith in all
student representation. The University Council is
where the real decisions are made and its student
representatives vote on important issues such as a
switch to semesters.
Council representatives identify more with student
voters because they come from the same school and
deal with the same problems.
It’s a shame that after all the complaining that has
accompanied virtually every campus issue this
academic year, no one is willing to commit to this well-
established and productive organization of faculty and
administrators.
Students have until Wednesday to decide whether
they want to work on making this a better university or
just sit around and whine about the scarcity of
computers, late-night buses and spring concerts.
Change attitudes
A Florida House of Representatives panel is setting
an example for handling rape cases by changing the
way people perceive the victims. Georgia should follow
suit.
Last week, a panel of the Florida House decided
that a sexual assault defendant couldn’t submit the
clothes the victim was wearing when the rape occurred
as evidence. This helps keep the defense from implying
that the woman was “asking for it” because she was
wearing provocative clothing.
By barring such evidence from introduction, the
panel sends the message that rape is not the victim’s
fault, as many would like to believe. Rape is the fault of
the deranged individual who gets perverse thrills from
violating women. The atrocious implication that the
victim had anything to do with the crime because of the
way she dresses should not be allowed in court where
decisions for the good of society are supposed to be
made.
Georgia should follow Florida’s example and enact
similar legislation. Sexual assault is a problem in
Georgia. The latest figures available (1988) indicate
that 3,029 rapes were reported in the state that year.
Thirty-five were reported in Athens. According to the
Athens Rape Crisis Line, more than half of the rapes
that actually occur go unreported.
Rape continues to happen because to some extent,
society tolerates it with excuses like blaming the
assault on the woman’s clothing. It’s up to the courts
and the state governments to dispel such
misconceptions. Florida has taken a step in the right
direction. Georgia should do the same.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
Hems EMtar Monitor Raropoy
Sports E«tor Trevor Padgett
Mertatamant Editor: Margaret Wetton
Aaaoctata Hems Editora: Chna Crimea. Jennifer
ftant Pag* Copy Edttar OavnJ Johnston
talda Copy Editora: Joel Groover, Kelly Keating.
Mary Ratciffle, Enk Schmrdt, Johanna van Oar Wai
UQA Today/Wire Editor Robert Alula
QrapMea Edttar Oavtr O'KeefTe
Chief Phata^aphar: Peter Frey
Mali Wittere: Walter Colt. Marla Erfwerda, Anna-
Marta Fanguy, lance Helme. Chnetopher Hightower.
Data McLeod. Mika McLeod. Stephanie Snath.
Sandra Staphena. J. 0. Squrttont# Robert Todd
Sparta Writer Chrta Lancetta
Spool* Socdoao/Ttoodo Ed*or: Cara May
Aaataiaat Special Sect lone/Trend* Editor'.
Qiorta Rowbothem
EdMartaf A onto teat: Pamela Warren
Certeentot M>ka Moreau
ADVERTISING: 543-1791
Student AdverflMag Manager*
KrtaS Burnham. Beverly Taylor
liialldM Assistants
Jennifer Devi a. Scott Donaideon.
Senior Advertising Roproaantatlvaa. Scan Fagan
Knchoiie Halualani. Julie Reynoide
Advert!Png Roproaawtattvoa: Beth Biumer. Suzanne
Dili*, Karon Hayne*. Rick Huggm*. Mark lacommi.
Chna Manama, Lae Nettle*. Leigh Riffe, Lon
Thurman, Pamela Walker
Aaatotant Editorial Mod. Manager: Cnatma Feindt
A inlet ant Advertteing Prod. Manager: Mariana
Martin
Production St a If. Andy Ard, Laura Friedrich. Andrea
Manaour, Lonn Marah, Elizabeth Mautv. Laura Miller,
Stacy Stenberg. Michelle Wegert
0 an oral Manager: Harry Montevideo
Adverb at ng Director: Robin Stoner
OMce Manager. Mary Straub
Production Manager: Judy Jordan
ClaaaMeda/Roceptloniat: Beverly Vaughn
Cred* Manager Suaan Davis
Clerical: Joanna Horton
The Red and Black is published Tuesday through
Friday dunng the regular school year and each
Thursday during summer quarter, with the exceptions
of holiday* and exam periods by The Red and Black
Publishing Company Inc. a non profit campus
newspaper not affiliated with the University of
Georgia. 123 N. Jackson St.. Athens. Ga 30*01
Third class postage peid at Athens. Ga. Subscription
rata: $24 par year.
0pinions expressed In The Red and Black other then
unsigned editorials are the opmtons of the waters of
signed column* and not necessanly those of The Rod
and Black Publishing Company Inc All rghts
reserved Repnnts by permission of the editors
"I don't go down to the University and park in Charlie Knapp's
spot."
— Sara Lacher, Cloverhurst resident, complaining about
Georgia Foundation employees parking In front of her house
AIDS victim changed public perception
With the death of 18-year-old Ryan White,
AIDS has taken a new course in the public’s
rception. White was the Kokomo, Indiana,
y who acquired AIDS from a blood transfu
sion to combat his hemophilia when he was 13.
He was the subject of a television movie in ’89
and became the nation’s leading spokesperson
on the subject of children with AIDS.
His death changes the public’s view of people
with AIDS. White was not the first famous
person to die. Both Rock Hudson and Liberace
died of AIDS. But the country felt their life
styles were the ultimate causes of their death,
so sympathy wasn’t as great.
White is the first famous person to die of
AIDS through no fault of his own. He wasn’t a
drug user and didn’t practice unsafe sexual
habits. White was afflicted with hemophilia, a
disorder in which blood doesn’t clot properly.
After contracting AIDS, he gained notoriety as
he fought in court to attend seventh grade at
Western Middle School in Kokomo. He was like
his classmates although slightly smaller be
cause of his hemophilia.
White was diagnosed in December of 1984 as
having AIDS. He won his court case but AIDS-
ignorant parents withheld their children from
school until White withdrew and was welcomed
to Cicero, Ind.
The experience educated White more than
any classroom could have. He told a 1988 Na
tional Education Association convention, "By
proper education, AIDS can be a disease, not a
dirty word."
Treatments with AZT, an experimental drug,
slowed the disease and allowed White to be
come what he termed a “normal, happy teen
ager again." He slipped back into his school
routine. Dances, sporting events and classes re
placed hospital stays and fighting picket lines.
Shortly before Christmas, staph infections in
his eyes and legs and a low platelet count forced
him to drop out of classes, white had turned 18
on Dec. 6.
Hi8 recent bout with the illness prompted
calls from well-wishers including the Reagans,
Michael Jackson and Elton John. President
Bush planted a tree in honor of White last
Tuesday.
The number of AIDS cases is staggering.
There will be 5.5 million cases of AIDS world
wide in the next decade, according to World
Health Organization projections. There are at
least 30 cases diagnosed in Athens right now.
AIDS is not going to go away overnight. As a
virus-based illness, it is extremely difficult to
treat. Viruses and infected cells are intimately
related. The problem is treating the virus
without harming the cell.
While White’s drug, AZT, is the only drug ap
proved by the Federal Drug Administration, its
toxicity is a serious problem .‘Tt would be a
meyor step forward to find a drug that equals
AZT in action with less toxicity," said Paul Vol-
berding, director of the AIDS program at San
Francisco General Hospital.
The government is usually seen as the cure-
all whenever money iB needed. The so-called
‘Peace Dividend’ of Eastern Europe is one
source of funding. A portion of the money that
previously had been allotted for troops and the
military is now available for AIDS reasearch
and testing. To use one of President Bush’s fa
vorite words, it would be prudent to direct
money toward fighting AIDS, cancer and other
diseases. The government can’t support the ill
in the next decade if the projections are accu
rate. The strain will bankrupt the economy.
The addage, an ounce of prevention being
worth a pound of cure, may hold true only if the
government acts in time. Elected officials will
hear a public outcry because people now realize
the tragedy of AIDS hits outside the traditional
stereotypes.
Unfortunately, many more Ryan Whites may
die before a cure is found, but his death could be
the turning point in the war on AIDS.
Jeff Wo hi is a senior journalism major.
Country bumpkin prefers the country
Now I’m not saying that this is entirely bad,
but we in the South are really missing out on
what life is all about.
For spring break this year, I decided to go to
San Diego, California and take in the sights,
sounds, and sins of west coast living. Here are a
few of the things I experienced in southern Cal
ifornia which were totally different from
growing up and living in small-town Georgia.
Smog.
"Excuse me," I said to a baggage handler
upon arriving at the airport in California
around noon, “what time does this dense fog
burn off?"
"It doesn’t,” he replied.
“Oh."
All those horror stories you’ve heard about
that stuff called smog is true. In Georgia, we
take blue sky, clear visibility, and even
breathing pure oxygen for granted. They have
several tall buildings in southern California,
but no one knows exactly how tall they are be
cause the pinnacles disappear into the smog.
We in the South are really missing out on a lot,
including wheezing, coughing, and dirty air.
The traffic.
On that all-time great TV show CHIPs —
which focused on the life and times of those two
California Highway Patrolmen, Ponch and
John — the troopers were always chasing
speeders and enforcing law and order on the
freeways. Well, I was in southern California for
a week and traveled on the freeways daily, and
the only CHIPs I saw was when my mother
opened a bag of Ruffles for my brother’s enjoy
ment.
We in Georgia do speed excessively, but it is
an art form and a way of life in California.
There is no 65 mph speed limit, instead 65 is
the minimum speed you must travel on the
runway, I mean freeway. And of course, we in
the South miss out on the fun of being shot at
while driving and having cinder blocks dropped
on unsuspecting cars as they pass underneath.
My father was driving our Oldsmobile when he
was passed on the left by a blur later identified
as a convertible, yes, convertible CRX and on
the right by a black Trans Am. They left us in a
cloud of dust and my father’s speedometer was
touching 75. We are missing out on arriving on
time with wind blown hair in the South. Heck,
I’d rather be a late Southerner.
The little boy.
Sometimes in the South, we become insu
lated from what actually is taking place in the
‘real world’ or in other parts of our society.
While I was at a restaurant right off the beach
in San Diego, I peered out the window and saw
a little boy, no more than three years old,
standing at a busy intersection waiting to cross
the street. The little boy wasn’t intimidated by
the rush of the speeding traffic and multitude
of adults who towered over him. Instead, he
stood silently with a smile on his face and a
small brown paper bag in his right hand.
When the light changed, the boy darted
across the street and ventured into a store with
the paper bag in hand. No more than two sec
onds later, the boy reappeared from the store,
smiling and clutching tne paper bag in his left
hand. The little boy dashed across the street
again and raced to the side of the resteraunt
and gave the bag to a man sitting in a long,
black idling car. The man opened the bag,
pulled out a wad of cash, and patted the boy on
the head as he climbed into the car.
What I had just witnessed was a drug deal.
Not one that you would see on Miami Vice or
Hill Street Blues, but a drug deal nonetheless.
The little boy wees a safe cover for a drug trans
action, for who would ever think of confronting
a three-year old and asking him about his bag?
And even if the police had stopped him, what ao
you do with a three-year lawbreaker who
doesn’t even know what he is doing?
I had never seen anything like that before in
my life. Sure, I’ve seen deals between ten year
olds and up, but never a mere tot who was
proud to receive that tap on the head and was
ignorant that he was ruining the life of another
person.
I guess some of us Southerners are really
missing out on life.
Gene Williams is a columnist for The Red and
Black.
Are you proud to be white?
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the edtof and prints them in the forum
column as space permits. All letters are subject to editing for length, style and li
belous material. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please Include student classifi
cation and major other appropriate identification Names can be omitted with a valid
reason upon request. Letters can be sent by U.S. mail or brought in person to The Red
and Black's offices at 123 N. Jackon St., Athens, Ga.
In response to the question
spray-painted Friday morning on
the Memorial Hall bus stop an
nouncement board, “ARE YOU
PROUD TO BE WHITE?,"my an
swer is no. I am proud of my accom-
lishments and potential as a
uman being, but why should I be
proud of simply being bom into a
Caucasian family? I would be just
as proud if I was of any other race.
Now, this vandal has a right to
express his views, but he has no
right to destroy other property in
the process. Why doesn’t he ex-
ress his views during the day so
e can be more visible in his cru
sade? If he doesn't want to be seen,
he might want to check the bushes
because you never know who may
be waiting to discuss the issue in
person.
John McCullough
Junior, accounting
Bracewell draconian
Bill Bracewell has said that “the
University has a right to rid itself
of organizations if what they’re
doing is an anathema to what this
institution represents.” This
struck me as sounding more like a
statement made by the director of
Ceausescu’s secret police than one
spoken by the director of judicial
programs.
Such comments indicate a will
ingness to convict - not to conduct
fair and impartial hearings. Typ
ically our rights are victimized
gradually, rather than by avulsive
activity. Therefore, we must closely
and continually scrutinize our of
fice of judicial programs. For if we
fail to challenge and observe the
guardians of our laws, quia cuato-
dial ipaoa cuatodea (who will watch
the watchmen)?
James M. Sherman ••
law school'