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4 • The Red and Black ♦ Friday, October 19, 1990
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Baldwin bunk
The fight over vendors on Baldwin Street is just
another silly chapter in the book, "Baldwin Street is an
Accident Just About to Happen, Lord We've Got to do
Something,” that’s been on the University’s best seller
list for close to half a decade now. For the average
college student the vendors offer many valuable
services all at a convenient location. They’ve been there
for years. Yet the University, through Business
Services Director Joe Broadhurst, now says these
vendors are a safety hazard.
How dangerous are these vendors to pedestrians?
First you have to assess the danger of Baldwin Street
in general. Statistics have shown Milledge Avenue to
be twice the threat Baldwin is for accidents. Baldwin,
with all it’s congestion, has a perceived danger, not a
real one. That perception slows motorists down and
makes everyone more safety conscious.
But Broadhurst says he has “a pocket full of
pictures documenting people being pushed out in the
street by the vendors.” And the University has it’s
pockets empty of what it needs most — students willing
to tell the Athens City Council that the vendors offer
them valuable services and don’t threaten their safety.
Now vendors have to face administrative red tape
and hassles to secure the space they’ve had on Baldwin
for years.
The Athens City Council will finally decide on the
matter on Nov. 13. They will probably add needless
pages to a book that should’ve ended long ago with the
University controlling Baldwin. But its a never-ending
serial, without a “happily ever after,” just a mess of red
tape that has Prince Charming filling out a form to kiss
the Princess in designated areas.
Babysitter needed
While everyone’s attention was rivetted to the
federal budget meetings, an even greater piece of
legislation slipped by without receiving the attention it
deserved.
The Children’s Television Act of 1990 soon will
become an official law complete with all the trimmings.
Under the CTA, commercial time during children’s
programming will be limited, and television license
holders must provide programming designed
specifically for children.
Putting aside the idea that CTA seriously
encroaches on the First Amendment, it also raises the
question as to who will pay for these wonderful
programs if no one can have the commercial
sponsorships.
Public television stations and programs like
“Sesame Street,” “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” and ‘The
Electric Company” are annually starved for funding.
Limiting commercial time on other programs will only
create a bigger demand for the already small corporate
donation pie.
Though we agree with the basic intent of law, its
method and reasoning fall short. If parents are so
concerned over what their children are watching on
television, then they should spend more time with their
children and monitor the viewing themselves.
Maybe if parents would read to and with their
children instead of letting the idiot box do the work, the
national average of SAT verbal scores wouldn’t be in
the toilet. If parents would spend some quality time
with their kids instead of hooking up Nintendo,
Charter Winds might not have more residents than a
small European country.
Though it’s heracy to actually expect parents to
take the responsibility for raising their own children,
it’s even worse to expect the government and television
to bear that burden at the expense of the First
Amendment.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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■ QUOTABLE
"I was just walking up to the bottle; it was just sitting there and
all of a sudden it Just exploded."
— Scott Wagner, a senior chemistry major injured in yester-
day’s explosion
? Lh-e free.world/ J
Slipped
of a
Tv\y popularity
d another 3 A
percentage point.
University needs to end
block seating
The University announced Tuesday that, in
the wake of the 20-person brawl in Sanford Sta
dium Saturday, the policy allowing student or
ganizations to occupy a block of seats together
will remain the same.
Effectively, the University announced it will
do nothing to alleviate the problem of group
fighting in the stands.
University President Charles Knapp said he
considered the fight an isolated incident.
Rare in the number of participants, but far
from isolated.
Possibly Knapp cannot see the students for
the alumni and donors from his shaded VIP
booth. One cannot sit near the student section
at any game, no matter the opponent, no matter
the consequnces of the game, without witnes
sing an altercation or two. Or three.
Often the brief displays of machismo just end
in raised adrenalin for the participants. Some
times people are hurt, and it’s not always the
combatants. It is easy, in the crowded confines
of a stadium, for the elbow of an out-of-control,
self-appointed pugilist to swing back into an in
nocent bystander or, just as dangerous but
more appropriate, his date.
But group fights are different. They are
much harder to control. If Saturday's brawl had
erupted to involve more people, innocent people
would’ve been hurt, as happens in England
when soccer hooligans go on a rampage. In
those situations, police can do little but stand
by and wait to help the injured.
Although the three people arrested were not
affiliated with any fraternities, two Greek orga
nizations confirmed their participation in the
Chris
Clonts
fight.
Everyone knows, or has been told, that fra
ternities, who along with sororities make up
the majority of block seating participants, are
upstanding organizations which have better
GPAs than others, are reverent to God, and
perform countable hours of service to charities
and the community every year.
Except that, when acting as one unit in the
charged, violent and often inebriated atmo
sphere of University football games, the collec
tive ego of any group of males is apt to feel
threatened and agressive. If one of their group
is threatened, they perceive no danger in
coming to his rescue. After all, in the same
seating area, as block seating goes, usually
there are 30-50 more where he comes from. To
the adrenalin-powered mind, there is no good
reason not to fight.
When a group of children get unruly in sec
ondary school, the group is broken up in an ef
fort to reduce disruptive activity. If a group
consistently gets out of hand, an effort usually
is made to keep them separated, so the possi
bility of misbehavior is reduced.
Knapp said he viewed the fight as an isolated
incident, and block seating will remain in place
for the 1991 season.
Just because an incident is isolated, is rare,
does not deem it unpreventable. Pedestrian ac
cidents are rare and isolated on Baldwin Street,
but officials are taking steps to prevent further
accidents.
Also, there is more than just the the inconve
nience of University, local and state police
having to break up and sort out such outbreaks
of violence. There is more than the possibility of
injury.
Imagine if the national TV cameras at the
game had turned to the crowd, which probably
was tempting considering the lack of on-field
action.
The University does not need any more neg
ative publicity, let alone any more negative
publicity relating to its atheletics program.
Athletic Director Vince Dooley immediately
suspended block-seating privileges of the fra
ternities involved for the rest of the season.
Controlling the crowds at an athletic event is
his domain. Protecting the reputation of the
University is the domain of Knapp.
If nothing else is done about this incident, or
to prevent future incidents, Knapp will be dis
regarding his duty, and may be negligently set
ting a precedent that men will be boys at the
University of Georgia and such actions, how
ever uncivil, will be tolerated.
Chris Clonts is an inside copy editor for The Red
and Black.
May be time to re-examine U.S. system
Perhaps it is time that we begin to examine
the legitamacy of the American political
system. Political legitamacy can be defined as
the ability of the political system to be in
agreement with the norms and values of the
people, as well as its ability to perform effecti
vely and satisfy the people’s demands. Due to
the changing attitudes of the American people,
it is questionable whether our system is satis
fying these goals at the present time.
The America public seems to have little faith
in the leadership of this nation to do the right
thing. In recent surveys, when asked whether
they expect their leaders to make the proper de
cisions and carry out the correct policies, a mi
nority of the people have responded in the
affirmative. The current budget fiasco has done
little in the way of renewing the faith of the
people or in convincing the people that they can
expect effective leadership.
The American public’s trust in their lead
ership is tenuous, at best Beginning with our
involvement in Vietnam and carrying through
Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the
Savings and Loan Crisis, an increasing number
of Americans are questioning the honesty and
integrity of their leadership. In simple terms,
many people do not expect the leaders to tell
the truth. The attitude that we cannot believe
what our leaders say, and that a majority of
ourleaders are corrupt is far too prevalent for a
legitimate system. This lack of trust does not
bode well for any system, especially for a partic
ipatory democracy.
Another problem that must be addressed is
the American public’s poor level of partici
pation in the system. We all know too well
Don
Rodgers
about our poor voter turnout. But voting is only
one part of participation. An equally important
part of participation is the dissemination of in
formation and the comprehension of the system
and its role. The average citizen’s ignorance of
the basic ideals of the system as well as lack of
comprehension of the pressing issues that face
our nation today is very disturbing. In a system
that is based on the input and support of the
people, a lack of understanding and involve
ment is very dangerous.
When questioned about their feeling toward
the performance of our system, the majority of
people will claim that they believe the system is
strong but that any problems we have can be
blamed on corrupt and inefficient leadership.
Therefore, when we have problems, rather than
looking at potential reforms of the system, we
base our solution to the problems in ridding
ourselves of the current leadership and hope
fully bringing in new, honest and effective
leaders. This attitude and this recourse serve to
protect us from m^jor reform or upheaval.
While we do seem to be protected from m^jor
upheaval by our ability to elect new leadership,
it is questionable how long that solution can
serve to support the system. We often hear
about how there is really no difference between
the candidates or the parties, and perhaps this
claim is justified. If this is the case, and if, in
fact the people believe that they have no choice
in voting, how long will the public tolerate cor
ruption and ineffectiveness before they begin to
call for mfyor reforms?
While the relative economic prosperity of the
nation helps to keep people somewhat satisfied
with the system, we must be concerned with
what will occur if the economic prosperity be
gins to collapse. The combination of tne lack of
faith in the leadership and severe economic
troubles could spell trouble for the continuing
stability of the system. We must never be too
smug in our belief that our system is eternally
secure.
While these problems may paint a rather
dismal picture lor the future or the American
system, the negative trend is not irreversible. It
will be up to the America people to become
more informed about our system and the prob
lems confronting it. And it will take an effort on
the part of the American people to become more
active in working toward solutions and de
manding sound leadership. We must partici
pate in the system and work to solve our
problems on our own.
Don Rodgers is a graduate student in political
science. This is the second in a series of articles
by faculty and graduate students of the political
science department.
Miller will bring prosperity
The election of Zell Miller as gov
ernor of Georgia will have an im
portant positive economic effect as
well as educational impact on
northeast Georgia.
Education is the most important
“industry" in our region of Georgia.
The University of Georgia is by far
the largest employer and pur
chaser in Clarke and nearby coun
ties. Our public school systems are
also m^jor contributors to the
economy of this area.
The revenue appropriated by the
State of Georgia to education at all
levels affects more than just the
salaries of the faculty and staff of
our educational institutions. Fac
ulty and staff incomes determine
the amounts they can afford to pay
for housing, automobiles, food, and
may other commodities and serv
ices, and therefore the prosperity
of our financial institutions, shop
keepers, building contractors, real
estate investors, grocery stores,
medical personnel, sales people,
and all those who work for them.
Even the numbers of people our
governmental agencies, such as the
post offices ana police forces, can
employ are dependent in signifi
cant measures on the budgets of
the University and our public
schools.
Throughout his public career,
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to Ihe editor and pnnts them In the Forom
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 et 123 N. Jackon St., Athens, Ga,
Zell Miller (a former faculty
member himself) has fought for
more support for education in
Georgia. University faculty, public
school teachers, and staff have
every right to be disappointed with
the salary increases and other edu
cational funding of recent years,
but it is important to note that
without the stubborn insistence
and legislative skill of Zell Miller,
those increases and funding levels
would have been smaller still. His
opponent, on the other hand, has
not placed a high priority on educa
tional funding.
Homer C. Cooper