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4 | Monday, March 10, 2003 | The Red & Black
Dena Levitz | Editor in Chief
editor@randb.com
Lona Panter | Managing Editor
me@mndb.com
Leah Newman | Opinions Editor
opinions@ranclb.com
Majority opinions of The Red & Black's editorial board
Showing off on TV
Investigations into Athletic Association
won! hurt the value of University diplomas
As the saying goes, any news is good news.
While the Athletic Association struggles
through investigations — both internally and
from the NCAA — Georgia basketball games
continue to draw crowds and players are finding
their drives to the hoop showcased on every
channel from ESPN to CNN.
While head coach Jim Harrick leads the team
through one SEC victory after another, he must
also deal with the recent firing of son and assis
tant coach Jim Harrick Jr. as well as a media
whirlwind encircling his players.
While the words being tossed around about
the University may not be favorable at the
moment — “scandal,” “violations” and “lack of
integrity” — the team is making the most of its
time in the spotlight by doing what it does best:
winning.
And that’s what the nation is seeing. When
Georgia players are shown, they are performing
their best. When a student is interviewed, he or
she is more often than not telling others what a
great school the University really is. When
Harrick is shown, he’s composed.
Right now, the worst this still-unfolding case is
doing to the University is making its basketball
program look bad.
While the allegations that Harrick Jr. let Tony
Cole off the hook academically don’t show favor
ably on the University, all in all the general pub
lic knows this in no way affects the average
student.
In the end, many people already assumed ath
letes at most universities received preferential
treatment, so the shock in Tony Cole’s ESPN
interview alleging NCAA violations was the
interview itself.
The issue for people outside of the University,
NCAA or Athletic Association is more about
what will happen to their Georgia Bulldogs and
how possible sanctions will harm a champi
onship run next season.
Nothing about this situation should affect the
education students receive at the University,
and it certainly won’t decrease the value of their
diplomas.
Cut throat island
Despite attempts to avoid them, budget
cuts could lead to some faculty layoffs
For several months now, budget concerns
have been at the heart of many debates in the
University System of Georgia, from differential
tuition to a lack of photocopies.
Late last week, the state approved a $9 million
budget reduction from the University System,
with a large percentage of this most likely com
ing from the University.
The University — under leadership from
President Michael Adams — has already scaled
back hiring, bringing in professors to fill only the
most vital positions.
Faculty layoffs, however, still could be a possi
bility if significant reductions in the budget are
pushed upon the University.
Adams said he does not want to do this, but it
could be a possibility. This simply cannot be
allowed to happen without other major changes.
Students are already fighting for courses they
need to graduate, and many professors are over
loaded with classes as it is.
Our Staff
NEWS: 433-3002
News Editor: Matthew Hunt
Associate News Editor: Kimberly Bowers
Sports Editor: Dan Tomayko
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Photography Editor: Colin Owens
Chief Photographer: Dan McLaughlin
Online Editor: John Nelson
Director of Online Operations: Jesse Newland
Editorial Adviser: Chris Starrs
Editorial Cartoonist: Mack Williams
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New Writer’s Editor: Renee Brock
Chief Copy Editor: Deepika Rao
Copy Editors: Melanie Horton, Katie Davis, Nicole Ciomek,
Diane Latham, Erin Hughes
News Writers: Amy Leigh Womack, Jessica Lee Reece,
Katie Reetz, Brad Harrison, Abigail Smith, Laura Newsome,
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Sports Writers: Bradley Handwerger, Steve Sanders, Ari Weitz
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Photographers: Elissa Eubanks, Megan Nadolski
Stringers: Hilary Hilliard, Matt Barnwell, Valerie Elston,
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Ian Thompson
ADVERTISING: 433-3001
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and spring semesters and each Thursday summer semester, except
holidays and exam periods, by The Red & Black Publishing Company
Inc., a non-profit campus newspaper not affiliated with the University
of Georgia. Postal address: 540 Baxter St. Athens GA, 30605. Fax
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Opinions expressed in The Red & Black other than unsigned editorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not nec
essarily those of The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the editors.
Editorial board members include Dena Levitz, Lona Panter, Leah Newman and Mack Williams.
Phone (706) 433-3002 | Fax (706) 433-3033
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540 Baxter St., Athens, Ga., 30605
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subject to editing for length, style and libelous material.
Bush needs support of Iraqi war
L eave George W. Bush
alone.
Believe it or not Bush, his
CIA, Cabinet and other
sources know a great deal
more about Saddam
Hussein’s capabilities than
Rosie Perez, Janeane
Garofalo, Martin Sheen and
ah of the other liberal
spokespeople.
An attack on Iraq is very
necessary.
Right now there is tangi
ble evidence — including
photographs — that this
lying murderer is still build
ing and storing weapons.
Why should a man who
has attempted to wipe out
groups of his own nation be
aUowed to rule that same
nation which is scared to
death of him?
The only way this mess
could have been avoided is if
Hussein had complied with
the rules set forth for him
the last 13 years.
Maybe it is not entirely
his fault — if Bill Clinton
had not been so preoccu
pied with the Monica
Lewinski scandal he could
have kept a closer eye on
Hussein and not have left
him to do as he pleases.
Anyway, those dark eight
years are over, and Bush is
now able to clean up
Clinton’s mess.
No longer will Saddam
threaten the world; either he
will comply or a war will
take him out.
It is that simple. If a war
does result, it will be his
fault, not Bush’s.
Casen Gregg
As for the economy, let’s
get something straight.
The booming market dur
ing the Clinton administra
tion is a direct result of
Reaganomics and George
Bush Sr.’s plan.
You see, Republicans like
to give well deserved tax
breaks to middle and upper
class citizens who can then
use that money for investing
and providing services to
others.
Doing this creates more
business as the money trick
les down through social
classes allowing all who
work to benefit from a bet
ter economy.
This plan takes longer to
work but the benefits are
strong and long lasting.
Today the economy is
struggling for two reasons.
First of all, when Clinton
came into office he took the
money that was being given
back to the upper and mid
dle classes and put it into
the hands of poor people
who already benefit from
welfare.
This money sat at the
bottom of the social ladder.
This plan looked good at
first, but now we get to live
in a dried up economy due
to no spending.
The second reason for a
poor economy is because we
are being threatened by
Hussein and al-Qaeda.
Until we stop these
groups, a soaring economy
will be hard to find.
Finally, I ask you anti-
American liberals to put
down your signs of protest,
go back to saving the whales
and leave the politics to
people who truly love their
nation and know what they
are talking about.
You see, you are all hyp
ocrites; you are not protest
ing the war, you are protest
ing America and George W.
Bush.
When Clinton was in
office and sending troops to
Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti
for smaller causes there was
no protest.
Why now?
President George W.
Bush, a man of great
character, virtue and faith,
needs our support now more
than ever.
He has the weight of the
free world upon his shoul
ders and is under a lot of
pressure.
Instead of hoping for it to
all crash around him, give
Bush support. At least stop
the negativity.
Do this not for him but
for your country.
— Casen Gregg is a fresh
man in sports management.
[a dox
E-mail, letters and faxes from our readers
Anti-war protestors still support U.S. troops
Thank you to the editors
for making the important
point that “nothing could be
better for our nation” than
“American citizens ... taking a
stand” (“Speak out on war,”
March 6).
Those who attended the
Feb. 15 rally in Athens
remember the empowering
feeling of chanting “this is
what democracy looks like” in
a chorus with hundreds of
voices, while citizens held
signs, students danced, chil
dren chalked the sidewalk
and the drums of peace kept
our rhythm.
I applaud the editors of
The Red & Black for encour
aging this sort of democratic
participation.
I take issue, though, with
your characterization of the
peace movement in that
same article.
You contrasted the “thou
sands of students (who) took
a stand against a U.S. inva
sion of Iraq” with the
students who “are rallying for
U.S. troops,” saying that they
are “showing the other side of
the coin.”
Such a contrast suggests
that the peace movement
somehow does not support
our troops.
Nothing could be further
from the truth.
Indeed, for many members
of the peace movement, our
activism is driven by our
respect and affection for our
sisters, brothers, partners,
parents and friends who out
of love of country or econom
ic need have enlisted in the
armed forces.
It is because we do not
want to see our loved ones
die in pursuit of an ill-defined
objective in the Middle East.
If others believe that the
best way to “support our
troops” is to send them to
war, maybe that’s where our
E-MAILING US
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opinions diverge.
Some of us will continue to
maintain that supporting
peace necessarily supports
our troops.
KRISTY MADDUX
Graduate student, Seattle
Speech Communication
R&B should support
torture of prisoners
All torture is wrong (“All
torture is wrong,” March 5)?
Wow! I had no idea that liber
alism’s evil venom had seeped
into our own University’s
(independent) newspaper.
We finally catch one of the
masterminds behind the
Sept. 11 attacks and the
majority at The Red & Black
want to give him foot mas
sages and leave mints on his
pillow.
This man allegedly sent
3,000 people to their burning
deaths and you are worried
about torturing the sick
S.O.B. for information that
could lead to the arrests of
more of his murdering
buddies?
This is outrageous.
Nothing we or another
country could put this creep
through could be anywhere
close to the pain and suffer
ing the Sept. 11 victims and
their families experienced as
a result of this cowardly
monster.
By obtaining information
from this man, (through
whatever the method) our
government could crack more
terrorist cells and perhaps
prevent the attack the CIA
and other intelligence has
been warning us about for
months.
Have the images of Sept.
11 left all of you this quickly?
I hope not.
We’ve all heard the catchy
little phrase “two wrongs
don’t make a right.” This
may be true, but perhaps two
wrongs may prevent a third.
RYAN WILLIAMS
Freshman, Macon
Undecided
Protesters are
mostly Democrats
It has been said in recent
weeks that the war support
ers and protesters have acted
on their constitutional right
to speak out when they sup
port or oppose a political
issue.
Their efforts have been
praised as embracing their
privilege as American citizens
to ask questions and become
involved in political debates,
especially in times of war.
I completely agree with
that! However, this raises an
interesting question.
Where were all of these
protesters when former
President Bill Clinton was
bombing Kosovo and Bosnia?
What’s the difference
between the situations,
beside the fact that the war
against Iraq is far more
justified?
Could it be because
President George W. Bush is
a Republican?
DAVID SIMMS
Senior, Athens
Speech Communications
Melvin Hines
▲
Present
repeats past
war threats
M aybe it begins with a
slight increase in
heart rate, followed by a
trickle of sweat.
Your eyes begin to dart
left and right, sensing
something wrong — some
thing unseen. Your hair
stands on end as you
stare at it, as it stares at
you; a color so bold, it
seems to demand your
fear and respect.
Your heart races faster
as someone around you
screams, “How could this
be?!”
Faster. Faster.
Everything is a blue. Then
... calm.
The terror alert has
been reduced back to
yellow.
“This over dramatiza
tion has been brought to
you by your friendly,
neighborhood counter
terrorism agency, remind
ing you that if you drive
an SUV you could be sup
porting terrorism.”
Don’t get me wrong.
I love gray duct tape,
long airport lines and a
genuine heartbeat elevat
ing scare just as much as
the next guy.
It just seems lately, all
of these government
action and domestic
scares have led me won
dering, “Who is winning
this war on terror?”
Shortly after Sept. 11,
President George W. Bush
proclaimed to the global
community the United
States would not fall vic
tim to more terrorist
attacks, but would rise
once more — in more
unity and resilience than
before.
Boy, did we fool them!
It seems that — a year
and a half later — the only
sense of normalcy in our
lives is the media’s contin
uous coverage of the
Democrat-Republican
dogfights, and the
renewed scarcity of
American flags.
However, I must admit
that all of our daily
aspects of life have not
changed for the worse.
We can be proud that
today’s schoolchildren are
learning new words such
as “Iraq” and “weapons of
mass destruction,” while
partaking in such new age
games as “Pin the Nuclear
Bomb on the Donkey.”
Yet, are these posi
tives worth what we seem
to be losing in our home
front battle against fear?
Better yet, who is lead
ing the attack?
Is it the government,
who ensures us that duct
tape and plastic wrap will
somehow make us safe?
Or is it the media,
which warned us not long
ago of the evils of buying
a Jeep Cherokee?
Whoever it is, they
need better ammunition
— ammunition that can
only come from us.
We have to be willing to
get onto an American
Airlines flight without
doing a double take at
every brown-skinned per
son on the plane.
We have to fight the
fear of Islamic and
Middle-Eastern stereo
types that forces us to
move to the far end of the
sidewalk when a person of
Arabic origin passes us.
By no means am I say
ing to forget Sept. 11.
But how much shall
we, the public, continue
to fear a daily attack?
One year? Two years?
Or maybe our children
will learn the procedure
for a potential air raid just
as our grandparents
before us.
“In the case of an
emergency, run to the
bomb shelter... ”
In the end it is up to
us. We must decide.
Will we live a future
that has learned from the
past, or one that is haunt
ed by our past?
— Melvin Hines is a
freshman in business.