Newspaper Page Text
4 • The Red and Black • Wednesday, October 3, 1990
OPINIONS
■ QUOTABLE
"I shouldn't have to plan my life around the availability of a bath
room."
— Michelle Stevens, a disabled graduate student, on the ac-
cessability of the University for the disabled.
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Ti eRsUBlfck
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Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Get the facts II
All this week, state officials and campaigners for
various offices are in Athens to kick off the Vote ’90
registration drive. They’re all smiling, shaking hands,
giving speeches and talking about how to be a good
citizen. They extol the virtues of voting, the importance
of participating in a democracy, then turn students
away from the registration tables with false
information.
The Secretary of State’s office and the Internal
Revenue Service seem to have different opinions on
how voter registration affects taxes. The Secretary of
State’s office says that if students register to vote in
Clarke County, it could cause tax problems for their
parents if their parents claim them as dependents.
The IRS says that is not the case. Changing legal
residence doesn’t disallow student’s parents from
claiming them on their tax forms.
Perhaps this is an honest misunderstanding
between the two offices, but it must be cleared up
before more students decide to just play it safe and vote
at their parent’s addresses — not at their own home in
Athens.
Students contribute a lot of money and resources to
Athens/Clarke County, and deserve to be treated fairly.
The IRS public affairs office in Atlanta says that
there are five tests for dependency. They are:
• RELATIONSHIP/MEMBER OF HOUSEHOLD
Those who have an immediate family relationship
to the taxpayer, whether by birth or marriage, don’t
have to live with the taxpayer during any part of the
tax year to be his/her dependent.
Those whom the taxpayer claims as dependents
that are not part of his/her family must live with
him/her during the year.
• U.S. CITIZENSHIP OR RESIDENCY
Persons claimed as dependents must be U.S.
citizens or residents.
• JOINT RETURN
When they are joint-filers, the taxpayers must be
members of the same household.
• MARRIED DEPENDENTS
A married couple; one or both must meet the
relationship/member of household requirements and
the taxpayer must provide at least half of his/her
income for him/her to be a dependent.
• TOTAL SUPPORT
Those under 18 for whom the taxpayer provides one
half or more of income. Those 19 to 24 who are full-time
students (as defined by their school), and who make
less than $2,000 for whom taxpayer provides at least
half of income.
Voter registration is not an issue of dependency. In
the middle of this widely publicized registration drive,
it is a shame that local and state officials won’t provide
accurate registration information.
At worst, they are making people afraid to register
in Clarke County for fear their financial aid would be
affected by their dependency status; or that their
parents will be audited. At best, they are giving people
a good excuse not to vote.
If a student wishes to become a legal resident of
Clarke County, and accept all of the responsibilities
this entails, he/she should not be discouraged with
misinformation.
Editor’s note: The Red and Black ran this editorial
in our May 17th issue. These same issues were raised by
the Secretary of State’s office then — during the first
round of Vote '90.
The fact that the same people are once again
spreading this misinformation proves to us that this
isn’t "an honest misunderstanding." This is a deliberate
attempt by state officials to keep students from
registering to vote in college communities. These are the
facts.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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US must face the changing world order
The lessons from the Gulf crisis may be
painful ones for the U.S., whatever the devop-
ments there are in coming weeks.
With unsurprising swiftness and technical
ability the U.S. flexed its military muscle only
days after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. It
now has about 20,000 troops stationed in the
deserts of Saudi Arabia, their numbers in
creasing everyday. Yet behind the impressive
show of force lies a sobering reality: the country
just can’t pay for it.
While the U.S. once again can play its fa
vorite part of ‘policeman of the world’, it is at
the same time compelled to let the Saudis and
the Kuwaitis, and in a lesser way the Germans
and the Japanese, pay the bill.
This might simply be the logical outcome of
an all too global crisis. After all, U.S. forces are
bearing the brunt of the international deploy
ment, and the U.S. is acting with the United
Nations’ blessing. But it foreshadows a chan
ging world order in which U.S. economic and
military aims will have to be radically reconsid
ered.
The U.S.S.R. is on the brink of economic and
structural collapse. While putting so much of
its G.N.P. (24%) into the military bag during
the Cold War, it let its economy slide into chaos,
and now has to cope with half a dozen republics
agitating for independence.
On the other side, the U.S. is no longer the
undisputed superpower of the West. Its
economy is not number one anymore — far from
it. ‘Made in U.S.A.’ is ever harder to find and no
longer stands for guarantied quality. Ameri
cans’ savings rate is one of the lowest among in
dustrialized nations. The U.S. national debt is
the highest in the world, spiralling higher every
yenr.
The U.S. military, even in light of upcoming
Berta
budget cuts, is still out of proportion with the
economic reality of the country. In other words,
U.S. military aims are well over its economic
potentialities.
Meanwhile, stripped of the burden of their
army since World War II, Japan and West Ger
many have become the new economic giants in
a world where economic strength is the basis of
power. Only they’re now operating in a highly
interdependent economic order, as the dangers
of economic disorders resulting from the crisis
in the Gulf ominously demonstrate.
For the U.S. to find its place in this new
world order then, it needs to seriously address
its economic situation and adjust its military
aims. But it also needs to radically alter the
way it sees and projects itself in the world.
American perception of the outside world is
sketchy at best. Statistics on American high
school students’ knowledge of geography are
sadly indicative of an arrogant lack of openness
to the world. Their ignorance of foreign lan
guages tells the same story.
As a teacher of French at the University, I
had the occasion to witness this dangerous kind
of amorphia. When asked about other countries
students were ignorant at best, arrogant at
worst. Some persisted in viewing the U.S. as
the number one country in the world and the
only democracy, still on its rightful crusade of
chasing the ‘Communists’ off of the planet (I
suspect few had ever read the Communist Man
ifesto). There would be much to say here about
what I wouldn’t hesitate to call the pervasive
propaganda being operated on Americans
through the mass media.
And yet, successfully competing in a multi
polar economy will demand at least a minimal
world awareness.
In France students are required to take two
foreign languages in high school, starting at the
age of eleven. English is the most common lan
guage studied: you can’t afford not to know it in
a world where most business is conducted in
English, and where American cultural imperi
alism spreads its wings generously.
Practical considerations aside, what is im
portant is the simple fact of being confronted
with a foreign culture, one of the main features
of the study of a foreign language. It hopefully
fosters a more open perspective on the world, a
worthy advantage at a time when sophisticated
communication systems bring people together
like never before.
As a result of this early exposure to foreign
cultures, people in France, as certainly in other
European countries as well, have a basic
awareness of the outside world. Conversely
they often view Americans as being totally self-
centered and arrogant.
So Americans will have to learn to be more
sensitive to other cultures and ways of
thinking, for fitting in this new world reality
will be as much a matter of economics and mili
tary adjustments as one of national conscious-
ness.
Valerie Berta was a teaching assistant in the de
partment of Romance languages.
Campus accessability must be priority
University students who champion access for
the disabled began sending a message Monday
that they won’t tolerate a slip to the ’60s as we
step into the ’SOs. Let’s hope the message takes.
In the wake of harsn university system
budget cuts, the University’s budget for disabi
lity access renovations has been slashed. Last
year, it was knocked down to $100,00, half of
the previous year. Now, it’s a mere $50,000.
Several students are considering legal action
and at least one has filed a complaint with the
Federal Department of Education’s Office of
Civil Rights.
In the ’70s, Congress passed laws to force
federally funded institutions to be accessable to
the disabled. The impact of the law filtered to
the private sector and by the end of the ’80s, ac-
cessability was advocated if not expected.
Also, last spring, the disabled were added to
the civil rights amendment.
The protesting students cite a lack of dis
abled parking spaces, inaccessability to student
activities and a lack of transportation off
campus. In addition, there are still several
campus buildings and classrooms that lack
complete access for the disabled.
It’s ironic that just last year many of the Uni
versity’s 400 disabled were praising the Uni
versity for its strides in increasing access and
Craig
Hester
services for the disabled.
Among other things, the staff for Hand
icapped Student Services had seen an increase
from one to nine, the hours of operation for the
disabled van were extended and ramps were
added to New College, Biological Sciences Com
plex and the chemistry building.
But, these improvements had a price that
has yet to be paid in full.
On April 25,1988, as part of a demonstration
to force change, then-freshman David Bliss
climbed from his wheelchair and using only his
arms, began pulling himself up the steps of the
academic building. HSS was housed on the
second floor. The building had no elevators.
The Knapp administration appointed a task
force. They moved the HSS office to the Tate
Student Center, began campus-wide renova
tions and became more sensitive to disabled
students.
Then, the microscope was lifted and the pres
sure slacked off. But this was not an invitation
to leave the task undone.
Two years of effort is simply not enough.
Will Bliss, or a member of the new contin
gency, have to crawl out of their wheelchairs
again to get the attention of the state and the
University?
Put simply, access for the disabled must be a
priority, regardless of budget cuts. And, if the
University is found to be in violation by the of
fice of civil rights and does not comply, all fed
eral funding could be stripped away.
Disabled students can’t wait for the economic
clouds to clear, they must face obstacles ev
eryday.
As Michelle Stevens, the graduate student
filing the complaint with the office of civil
rights, said in an article in The Red and Black
last year, “When a building is not accessible to
me, it is as offensive as a ‘whites only* sign to a
black person.”
It’s time for the university to start removing
any ‘signs’ of inaccessability from the campus.
Craig Hester is the front page copy editor of The
Red and Black.
R & B editorial irks student
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them in the Forum
column as space permits. All letters are subject to editing for length, style and li
belous matenal. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the wnter. Please include student classifi
cation, major, and other appropnate 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.
The editorial entitled “Lose the
List” irked me. If any religious
based or conservative organization
decides to use their right of free
speech to lobby against anything,
in this case a textbook for public
school use, they are called book
censors and “screaming banshees."
How very interesting, though,
that when a group of non-religious
people (usually labelled liberal)
lobby against books mentioning
God or religion they are touted as
heroes, free thinkers, and pro
moters of te rights of the masses.
I have heard many liberals claim
that conservatives do not assert
their beliefs, but in cases where
conservatives take a stand or fight
for their beliefs (right or wrong),
they are labeled close-minded and
narrow. Enough double standards.
I don’t agree with the position of
that particular Christian group
mentioned in the editorial; how-
ever, I think that the editors are
just as much “screaming banshees"
for putting those people down.
Stephanie Robinson
Junior, finance
Commends UGA
We would like to commend the
University for placing red and
black trash cas along East Campus
road near the stadium. Students
and other game spectators are en
couraged to use these convenient
receptacles as well as those all over
campus.
There are no excuses for lit
tering and we ask others to do their
part by not contributing to the-
problem. For more information on
ers to do their part by not contrib
uting to theproblem. For more in
formation on how you can become
more involved, call 369-5708.
The UGA Clean and Beautiful
Committee
Editors note: Because of a copy
editing error, a statement in Larry
Hunt’s signed column in Friday's
edition of The Red and Black read:
“There is no absolute truth." It
should have read: “There is abso
lute truth." The Red and Black re
grets the error.