About The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1996)
I I l • • The Red and Black Weekend • Friday. April 12. 1996 OPINIONS ■ QUOTABLE "We decided we didn't want celebrities, but ratherpcppte had been in the trenches." — William McFeely, history professor and organizer of the Civil Rights in Small Places conference, on the speakers The Red & Black Established in IHVS - Incorporated IVHO An independent student newspaper not affiliated *ith the University of Georgia Brandon Haddock/Editor in Chief Wendy Wolfenbarger/Managing Editor Chad George/Opinions Editor ■ EDITORIALS Where should the line be drawn on suicide? This week the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled a life-saving blood transfusion was a violation of constitu tional rights. Nelly E. Vega, a Jehovah’s Witness, would have died from complications following childbirth if Stamford Hospital had not received an emergency order from a su perior court judge to go ahead with a transfusion. Vega’s religion prohibits blood transfusions. Vega’s lawyer, Donald T. Ridley, said “The ruling will prevent hospitals from steamrolling patients’ values, whether religious or secular.” Two weeks ago, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York struck down parts of two state laws which had banned physician-assisted suicides. This prompted Cardinal John O’Connor, Archbishop of New York, to include a condemnation of suicide in his Easter Sunday sermon, calling the ruling “unspeakable.” Rulings raise serious questions We support the right of individuals to live their lives how they see fit. But the line needs to be drawn between religious convictions leading to death and suicide. The line between “death with dignity” and self-in flicted death is becoming increasingly blurry. While Vega did not want the transfusion on religious grounds, her lawyer was quick to point out the ruling gave extra rights to die to anyone, whether their reasoning was reli gious or secular in nature. We are concerned these rulings may move any form of suicide closer to legalization. If a person in extreme physical pain can kill themselves, what about those suf fering from mental ailments? Many mental patients are beyond any hope of recovery, the same as some physical ly ill people. Will it in the future be argued it is discrimi natory to not allow mental patients “the choice?”. We also fear the increasingly cavalier attitude to wards killing other human beings. Is it so far fetched to imagine a time when those who are viewed as no use to society are also killed? The right to self-determination is a precious right. But equally precious is life. New complex a must- see for all students Everybody else has taken a turn gushing about the Performing and Visual Arts Complex. Now, it’s our turn. We love the new arts complex. Arguably, the University now has the finest center for the arts in the state. The complex provides exceptional educational fa cilities for students. The state-of-the-art facility will at tract even more top-notch faculty to the University’s mu sic and arts programs, and will bring world-renowned artists to perform here. The arts complex alone will improve the University’s academic value and reputation. And we get to see world- class performers at student ticket prices, too. How could we get a better deal? Go have a look at the complex this weekend, and see what we — and everyone else — are gushing about. STAFF NEWS: 543-1809 ADVERTISING: 543-1791 News Editor. Thomas Stnedmger Sport* Editor Marc Lancaster Entertainment Editor Stephen Robinson Aeeoclete Nows Editor William Smith Now Writers Editor Todd Bauer Front Face Copy Editor Robert Donnelly ChM Copy EdKer: 4nn Mane Quill Inside Copy Editors: Amy Frazier Lea Levine. Beth MacFadyen Photography CdNor: Tate Mac Queen Chief Photographer: Mart. Adams Oraphlcs: Justin Pritchard. Tiffany Ryerse. Chad Reporters: Dan Brschof Ben,amm Carr. Jon GMucki. Came Grbeon Asne Graver Heather Harvey Andrew Heal an Mary Sue Kopecho. Charu Kumahna. Mat Matich Crystal Paul*. Sports Writers. C.J Johnson. Rob Kitchel. Norm Student Manager: Brian P Kavanagh Advertising Assistants: Andrea Moody. Danielle Wesmiller Advertising Director. Amy Seligman Special Prefects Coordinator: Jana Mobley Advertising Representatives: Ashley Collins, Ken Crowell. Paula Cru/e. Cooper Cumn. Shawn Kelly. Michael Himsey. Tyler Leach. Mark Lewis. Mart. Mortz. Mary Lynn Pugh. James Robinson Advertising Interns: Towana Ahrenluel. Sara Campbell Production Manager Amy Dahlstrand Assistant Production Manager. Trankhn Hogarth Production Staff: Jessie Drennun. Jenny Riches Jay Tuten Publisher Harry Montevideo OfRcs Manager: Mary Straub Assistant OfRce Manager Natalie Salim arm Editorial Adviser Rick Kenney Receptionist: Sandy Cooper RannuntHlx Kimhertw Rurnett Entertainment Wrttare: Joeh Massey. Kimberly Ogletree. C Trent Rosecrans EdKertal Assistant Jeff Gnat ■pressed m The Red end Mack other then drtoneis an the opinions of the wnters of mot and not necesaanly those of The Red Publishing Company Inc. All rights ra prints by permission of the editors The Red and Black it published Monday through Friday fall though spnng quarters and sach Thursday during summer quarter, with the exceptions of holi days and exam periods, by The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc . a non profit campus news paper not affiliated with the University of Georgia Postal address 123 N Jackson St . Athens. Ge 30B01 Fax *148 7251 Third dess postage paid at Athens. Ge Subscription rate »30 per year New complex adds to richness of University Next weekend, the university community will celebrate a landmark event — the official opening of the Performing and Visual Arts Complex. Located near the Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities on our new East Campus, this complex of three buildings significantly impacts the range of cultural op portunities available to campus and local au diences. We now have two state-of-the-art concert halls in a magnificent Performing Arts Center. The Georgia Museum of Art is now housed in a building intended to be a muse um, rather than the facility on North Campus that was originally a library. Finally the mu seum can show works from its extensive per manent collection — “buried treasures” that had been relegated to storage for lack of ade quate gallery space. Of course, the students, faculty and staff who started classes in the new School of Music building last fall already know what a difference that facility makes in their ability to teach, learn and perform choral, band and orchestral music. The Performing and Visual Arts Complex was built with $19 million in state money al located in 1992 under Governor Zell Miller’s “Georgia Rebound” program and $15 million Charles B. Knapp in generous gifts from alumni and friends of the university. Without this combination of public and private support, these buildings would not have been built. The opening festivities for the complex in clude many special events open to the univer sity community and the general public. These begin Saturday with a free lecture by Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes and an evening recital by renowned soprano Jessie Norman. An Augusta native, Norman has performed in major concert halls worldwide. On Sunday, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Director Yoel Levi will lead some 300 UGA students in a dedication concert that will in clude the premiere of a work especially com missioned for the occasion. The students par ticipating include members of the UniversitJ Symphony Orchestra, the men’s and women’fl glee clubs and the Concert Choir. These stu-j dents, along with a number of music faculty members, have put in many long hours! preparing for this performance. Other students and faculty from the school of Music, the Lamar Doff School of Art and the dance and drama departments also will showcase their talents that Sunday afternoon at a Performing and Visual Arts Exposition on the grounds of the complex. There will be opportunities to tour the buildings as well. Space does not allow me to list all the oth* er events of the inaugural celebration, but these have been and will be well-publicized. I’m looking forward to it all. What strikes me as most significant about the opening of both the Ramsey Student Center and the Performing and Visual Arts Complex is that we now have wonderful places to come together as a community. Ana that’s a key facet of a great university. I hopd you will join me in taking full advantage of this latest addition to campus life. — Charles B. Knapp is president of tht University of Georgia. Career plans of a soon-to-graduate malcontent I’ve been thinking a great deal about my future lately, which is why it’s not uncommon to find me sitting in a corner, nursing a flask of whiskey and weeping. I remember at one point in my life having a dream, a goal that sustained me during the tough times, but then I had sex and now I feel all aimless. Maybe like chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, I achieved too much too soon. Whatever the case, I’m suffering from a malaise that would floor even Jimmy Carter. The more I ponder my future, the more I real ize I don’t have one. My daily planner for the next 50 years is empty except for my death, which I’ve yet to get a definite date on, but I’m thinking next Wednesday. Worse yet, I was talking to my best friend Heather Aulds last week, and she dropped another devastating bombshell on me. “You know, Stephen, in a few years, you’re going to be expected to grow up,” she said. “Are you kidding?” I replied, thoroughly shocked. “I tried that once and didn’t like it. Besides, I thought I could just skip it like I did puberty.” “No, it’s not optional,” she said. “You’re go ing to have to start thinking about other peo ple before yourself, settle down, be responsi ble—” “You mean stop being me?" “Pretty much,” she said. “Have you begun planning your retirement?” Stephen Robinson “Well, sort of, I bought a gun.” I’m less than two months from graduation, which might explain my total lack of interest in my classes. In fact, just last week in my Home Economics course, I dropped my pants and danced the Oak Tree until my professor claimed I was making her souffle fall. In high school, my senioritis made sense because I had CQllege and my whole sex mis sion ahead of me (neither of which proved the least bit fulfilling), but now all graduation means is asking strangers if they’d like fries with their extra value meal and living some place smaller than my single room in Myers. Even if I don’t find gainful employment im mediately, I’ve managed to build up a savings account that will enable me to live comfort ably as long as I subsist on one Slurpee a day. However, a friend suggested that I under take an business enterprise, which I’ve been considering more and more as June approach-* es. Essentially, I’m going to open a group home. Although 1 am not a people person, I think there’s quite a market in the Stephen Robinson Home for Wayward Women (The More Wayward the Better). I was watching women’s mud wrestling the other day when I realized the unfortunate conditions in which so many young, vivacious females are forced to live, and while I plan on keeping the living conditions just as bleak, I feel I can add a cer j tain joy to their lives. I can enforce the Puritan, Judeo-Christian< Pagan, New Jersey work ethic by getting all the women jobs at a nuclear power plant. I’d also build up their immune systems by taking them to McDonalds for lunch each day] Nothing brightens someone’s life more than a Happy Meal with the fat content of Don! DeLuise. If this doesn’t pan out, I could always gd with my second idea: writing TV sitcoms, bu| that just seems so immoral and wrong. Sure, I could try dealing with life responsi] bly and actually growing up, but if Peter Pan could get away with it, so can I. Although f don’t plan on wearing the tights. I — Stephen Robinson is the entertainment editor for the Red and Black. Student aid process has changed for better, not worse ■ 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 libelous material. Letters should be typed and double-spaced, and they must include the name, address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please also include student classification, major and other appropriate identification. Names may be omitted with a valid reason upon request. Send letters by U.S. mail or bring them in person to The Red and Black’s offices at 123 North Jackson Street. Athens. Georgia 30601. ■ E-MAIL ADDRESS: Comments, letters to the editor and columns for consider ation may also be addressed to The Red and Black via e-mail or the internet at RANDBtd'UGA.CC.UGA.EDU. The Red and Black is pleased to offer this service and hopes it will encourage a greater degree of communication between this newspaper and its readers. Because he did not cite a specif ic example of a UGA student who was affected by delays in process ing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, Mr. Schweers’ concern (“Poor planning caused student aid shut downs," April 8) about this pro gram seems a bit suspect to me. Formerly, federal student aid was administered by banks, which in turn collected a nice little sur charge on a loan which was 100 percent federally guaranteed and risk-free for them. Basically, re forms made by the Clinton admin istration take the profit away from the banks and save students mon ey by making the loans without charging directly (through the schools). Needless to say, bankers (and their friends in the Republican party) were upset to lose their chance to make a profit on a risk free investment; so it is expected that they will use any opportunity to deride the new program. It does take time to implement a new program on this large a scale, and delays should become less and less frequent with time. I’m glad Mr. Schweers is so con cerned about student financial aid, but I'd be interested to hear what profession he is in and/or if he or his friends would profit from turn ing the program back over to banks for administration. Kathy Vinson Scientific Administrative Specialist Cellular Biology Tuition increase unfair The increase of 17 percent for out-of-state students is more than three times that of in-state stu dents and quite horrendous. I am an international student who is very happy that I only have one quarter left until I graduate. I feel very sorry for my friends who have to stay here and suffer through the continual tuition increases. My friends and I feel that the University really does not care about how the increase affects us. I am not sure whether I would be able to stay here any longer with the increases that I have to bear. My first impression of this schoo was good, but that has changed rapidly. I do not think that I woulc encourage students from my home country to come here as the University is getting much too ex pensive and exclusive. I wish that the board would look at the whole picture involved before making such harsh increases again. i Jodi Munn Senior, crop science
