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4 • The Red and Black • Friday, October 5, 1990
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
Eslablithed 1893—Incorporated 1980
An inilependent etudent newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
About time
Athens is beginning to feel a little less like a
Puritan stronghold, thanks to a vote by the Athens City
Council to extend bar and restaurant business hours to
2 a m. Monday through Friday. It’s about time.
Council members may have been responding to the
assertion by some bar and restaurant owners that
longer hours mean more time to make money. It’s a
logical argument.
It’s an argument that could quite easily extend
beyond that seemingly sacred limit — Friday.
If these businesses can bring in more money by
having more hours Monday through Friday, it stands
to reason that more hours on Saturday — and even
Sunday — mean even more money for Athens
businesses.
Yet alcohol serving hours will still end at 11:45 p.m.
every Saturday to avoid running into Sunday. Sunday
is sacred to some people, and that’s understandable.
But it isn’t sacred to everyone. Non-Christians, for
instance, might appreciate the freedom not to observe
the Holy Day of a religion to which they don’t subscribe.
And those to whom Sunday is sacred might like to
celebrate the day without the aid of city officials.
Anyone who doesn’t want to go to a bar on Sunday
can stay home. But anyone who wants to go out should
have that right.
Get registered
Congratulations are in order for the many
volunteers and sponsoring organizations who worked
on the Vote ’90 registration drive this week.
Through their efforts, more than 500 students
registered for the upcoming election. Still the task is
far from over.
If the University community is going to take
advantage of this opportunity to bring significant
change to the area’s government, then more students
must register.
Students who missed Vote ’90 can register to vote in
Room 325 of the Tate Student Center from 2 to 4:30
p.m., or at the Board of Elections office in the Clarke
County Courthouse downtown. They have until Oct. 9
to register in order to vote in the November 6 general
election.
For too many years the good ole boys of the Athens
and Clarke County political structure have banked on
University apathy, and for too many years we’ve
proven them right.
It’s time for a change — for the benefit of Athens,
for the benefit of Clarke County and for the benefit of
ourselves.
In the past, apathy has festered like gangrene
within the University community and eaten away
almost every opportunity for positive, progressive
change. We cannot let that happen this time. If this
chance is lost, it will be a long time before we get
another.
Through unification and the coming elections, the
University community can affectively address issues
and grievances with current laws of the city and
county. Then Athens, Clarke County and the
University can become a truly unified community.
Only through full and active participation in the
elections, can the University community help elect
officials who are not deaf to our needs and concerns —
not officials who gladly accept students’ money in their
stores and then treat them as second-class citizens in
the council chambers.
The solution is simple. Register to vote, keep
informed of the issues and then vote in the Nov. 6
election.
The good ole boys snickered at the student liaison to
the City Council Tuesday night. Let’s laugh last on
Nov. 7.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
N«M E4ttor JannifOr Wilkin
Sport* Editor: Randy Walkoi
Entertainment Editor: Coloon Brooko
Aaooclato Now* Editor*: Qaia McLeod. Eliuboth
Qraddy
rtont Pag# Copy Editor: Craig Mottor
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UQA Today/ WIra Editor: Lisa Kendall
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A a *1 slant Between Th* Hodga* Editor: Eric Oarbor
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Opt* Iona ox pro Mod In The Bod and Blaeit other than
un»igned editorial* are the opinion* oi th* wntar* o1
•ignod column* and not noce***nly tho** of The Rod
and Black Publishing Company me All rights
rtaorvod. Ropnnt* by porrmnon of th* editor*
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Th* Red and Black it published Tuesday through
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during summer quarter, with th* exceptions of
holidays end exam periods, by The Red and Black
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■ QUOTABLE
"To take federal money and not obey federal law Is hypocritical
at best — and fraudulent at worst."
Disabled graduate student Michelle Stevens on the Univer
sity’s efforts to make the campus accessible to the disabled.
iTVie'KediBlat''
Sa^am
Huss fi in ?
Knapp defends stance on UGA policy
The Red and Black, in its attempt to simplify
the highly complicated issues surrounding the
University’s non-discrimination policy as it re
lates to sexual orientation, has made errors
both in substance and in perception.
Let there be no misunderstanding of my posi
tion on this issue: I call for all at this University
to work to build a system based only on merit,
with full and equal regard for the worth and in
tegrity of every individual.
The Red and Black reported, "... the Georgia
Institute of Technology and Emory University
have amended their non-discrimination codes
to include sexual orientation.” This is false. Of
ficials at Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia
Southern and Georgia State have verified none
of these schools have included sexual orienta
tion in their institutional statements of non
discrimination. Like the University of Georgia,
all these schools name race, sex, religion, na
tional origin, age, handicap and veteran status
— those classes of individuals that are pro
tected under federal law.
The confusion lies in the fact that some
schools, including the University of Georgia,
have adopted auxiliary internal policy
statements including sexual orientation lan
guage. We have such n statement in our stu
dent conduct code. Section III, 4 reads in part:
"Harassment may represent but is not limited
to acts based on sex, race, religion, national
origin, handicap or sexual orientation.”
Georgia State University recently adopted a
similar clause for its student conduct code. In
July of this year, Emory amended its policy on
discriminatory harassment to include sexual
orientation. Georgia Tech adopted a “Human
Relations Position Statement” including sexual
orientation, encouraging students and em
ployees to accept the diversity that exists on the
campus.
None of these statements are the institu
tions’ official anti-discrimination statement as
called for by federal law.
This University does not exist in a vacuum.
Charles
Knapp
We relate to the federal and state governments
and to the private sector, none of which are
barred by current law from discriminating
against persons on the basis of sexual orienta
tion.
Legally, can the U.S. Department of Defense,
and by extension the ROTC program on this
campus, discriminate on the basis of sexual
orientation? Yes. Legally, can private business
recruit and hire our graduates while discrimi
nating on the same basis? Yes.
The real question is whether it is appropriate
for this institution through internal policy to
attempt to cut off these entities from access to
our campus programs and graduates. I do not
support such an action.
On this campus, with regard to matters we
may legally control, I will support an unequi
vocal policy of non-discrimination regarding
sexual orientation. Adverse decisions which are
alleged to be grounded in considerations other
than merit and performance are already appea
lable through internal channels.
But the University’s official non-discrimina
tion policy is mandated to implement federal
laws and regulations.
Aside from our views as individuals and our
institutional position, to pretend the University
can dictate to state and federal governments on
this issue would raise serious legal questions.
And, as indicated above, we would in effect be
cutting the University off from many important
outside institutions.
The internal campus stance toward non-dis
crimination is, of course, an appropriate matter
for the University Council to consider. If the
Council should see fit to send forward a policy
statement similar to Georgia Tech’s “Human
Relations Position Statement,” I would cer
tainly sign it. I support human rights, and will
support that concept to every extent possible
within the confines of this institution.
Charles Knapp is the president of the University
of Georgia.
Editor’s note: The Red and Black contacted
officials at Emory University and the Georgia
Institute of Technology several times between
Monday and Thursday about their non-dis
crimination codes. On every occasion except the
last, officials at each school said they had
amended their codes to include sexual orienta
tion.
The last time that these same officials were
contacted, they acknowledged that there are two
coties at each school — one, an institutional
code, which doesn’t include sexual orientation,
and another, an auxiliary code, which does.
Nevertheless, the University doesn't have an
anti-harassment policy as comprehensive as
Tech's human relations statement or Emory’s
discriminatory harassment policy.
The University has an anti-harassment
pt)licy in its student handbook which mentions
sexual orientation, but it only applies to stu
dents. Emory’s and Tech’s statements apply to
faculty, staff and students.
Although federal regulations only require a
statement by the University disavowing dis
crimination on the basis of race, sex, religion,
national origin, age, handicap and veteran
status, the University is not prohibited from
adding a sexual orientation clause to its own
c(xle.
The Red and Black stands by its opinion as
expressed in Thursday’s editorial column.
Women are not the problem
■ 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 material. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please include student classifi
cation, major, and 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.
Once again the danger of violent
attacks on women has come to the
front pages of the newspapers. And
once again women are being told to
hide, to avoid walking alone at
night: in other words, to forfeit
their right to travel freely. The
bars of the cage draw close to
gether.
The problem is not the women
who walk the campus nt night. The
problem is the men who attack
them. But the problem is larger
than this, also.
It is a culture that still coddles
women, "protects” them, treats
them forever as vulnerable chil
dren, and does not consider vio
lence directed towards them as
serious as violence towards the
‘Veal people” in society.
When a black man is attacked
because he walked into a white
neighborhood the people are out
raged. They are adamant that men
of all races should be able to go
where they please in peace. Black
men are not told by police and poli
ticians to stay out of white neigh
borhoods after dark for their own
protection.
Yet, when a women is attacked
while walking across a college
campus, we say she shouldn’t have
been there in the first place.
Dearie, it’s not safe to go out at
night. Find some man to go out
with you to protect you. Women are
kept under control “for their own
good,” the wav we control our pets.
Women are forced to live with a
fear that we men may never be
able to fully comprehend. Yet,
somehow we consider this fear to
be good, proper, and healthy. This
is the real crime.
Bill Pulliam
Doctoral student, ecology
False rumors
Dana White’s article on voter
registration (9/27/90) included
three false rumors concerning
voter registration.
Student’s who register to vote
are in no danger of losing their de
pendency status on their parents’
income tax returns; students who
register do not affect their insur
ance coverage; and, students who
register where their parents live
are subject to jury duty just the
same as students who register in
Clarke County.
I’m not pointing fingers, but let’s
just say there a few powerful fig
ures in Clarke County who do not
want students to register or vote. It
is from these people and their cro
nies (i.e. Dot Barrett) that the false
rumors originate.
What are they afraid of? Well for
starters, a student is running for
Corrnvssioner. Second, a woman,
yes a woman, is running for Chief
Elected Official (eewwie).
And then there are those little
things like the open contaner law,
ordinances preventing groups of
students from living together, and
the Blue Laws which order that the
sidewalks be rolled up at 12 A.M.
each night.
P.S., you never know when the
Ole Boys might got a hankering to
demolish some more historic build
ings.
Don’t believe the Hype.
Scott A. Starling
Get a clue
Hey you expert on driver eti
quette — get a clue. Didn’t your
mom teach you to look both ways
before you crossed the street? Can’t
you take two minutes to do this?
Can you imagine if every time
MARTA stopped, all 8-10 lanes in
Atlanta came to a stop to look out
for pedestrians? Let’s see now, how
long would take you to drive
through Atlanta?
For your information, if you
check with campus police, it is not
illegal to pass a campus bus as long
as you are not in a no passing zone.
If you keep up this attitude of
"Go ahead and hit me, I could
really use the money," you’re going
to end up under a bus instead of on
one.
Wendi Burner
sophomore, English
Joy Denton
senior, English
No porno
In glancing nt the fall movie cal
endar for the Tate Center Theater,
I noticed that the midnight movie
for September 28 and 29 was re-
vealingly entitled “Cafe Flesh.”
To paraphrase the description in
The Red and Black’s Afier Hours
(Friday, September 28, 1990), this
is a “well-made" porno movie.
It is appalling to me that porno
graphic films would be shown with
the knowledge and support of the
University. It seems that with the
serious problems of sexual assault
across the country and here nt the
University, we would wish to dis
courage the type of behavior that
has traditionally been induced by
pornographic films.
There are many appropriate
choices of campus movies without
encouraging this deviant behavior;
especially among those who are al
ready so inclined.
John Larson
Freshman, English major
Not a minority
Let’s say 19 out of every 20 of a
minority group did not actively
participate in the implementation
of their own rights as individuals
at the University. In fact, let’s say
these 19 out of 20 individuals did
nothing even to identify with their
own group...in fact, they did most
whatever they could to be publicly
un-associable with this group. One
would surmise then that other
groups (with equivalent numbers)
who did not petition for "non-dis
crimination” rights or such might
stand a better chance for getting
their freedoms established.
Such is the fate of the homosex
uals on campus. How can a group
such as this even think about clam
oring for “equal rights" when most
don’t even identify themselves
with the cause in the first place?
Until the group stands together.
President Knapp can be absolved
of the discrimirator "hypocrite”
guilt The Red and Black has
dropped on his doorstep.
Andrew H. Scott
Senior, Physical Geography*
/German