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Friday, January 16, 2009 | The Red & Black
Carolyn Crist | Editor in Chief editor@randb.com
Chelsea Cook | Managing Editor me@randb.com
Shannon Otto | Opinions Editor opinions@randb.com
Our Take
Majority opinions of The Red & Black’s editorial board
Congrats, coach
Kudos to Andy Landers for reaching
his landmark 800th career victaip.
Thursday, Georgia women’s basketball coach
Andy Landers cemented his place amongst the
elite coaches in NCAA basketball history.
With the Lady Bulldogs’ victory over
Savannah State, Landers became only the fifth
Division I NCAA women’s basketball coach in
history to amass 800 career victories.
He joins Tennessee coach Pat Summit (995
wins), retired Texas coach Jody Conradt (900),
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer (812) and
North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, who
reached 800 wins earlier this week.
We applaud Landers’ achievement there is a
reason so few have reached the 800-win plateau.
To consistently win 20-plus games each year
in Division I athletics is difficult, especially in a
major conference such as the SEC.
Landers always has credited his players for
his sustained success, but although he doesn’t
physically play the sport, he recruits his ath
letes and gives them the tools they need for
success on and off of the court. He is a mentor
to nearly all of his players, and that is just one
more victory.
Michael Fitzpatrick for the editorial hoard
Honoring MLK Jr.
Instead of sleeping late on Monday's
holiday, students could volunteer.
As the MLK holiday draws near, many stu
dents are opting to party another night and
sleep late. But that is not what the holiday was
intended for the third Monday of January
was set aside to remember and honor Martin
Luther King Jr. and his efforts in the Civil
Rights movement.
The Red & Black encourages volunteering at
local schools, homeless shelters and other orga
nizations in honor of King’s services.
If you cannot find an organization that could
use your help, there are Web sites to assist you.
A good one is www.AthensMLKDay.org.
Early American writer David Thomas said it
best: “Unselfish and noble actions are the most
radiant pages in the biography of souls.” So, go
forth and give your time in remembrance.
Chris Rafor the editorial board
Mailbox
E-mail and letters from our readers
Adding majors irresponsible
The University’s budget
has been cut 8 percent for
the current fiscal year and
win be cut another 3 for
the coming fiscal year.
These cuts have meant
eliminating many faculty
positions and could entail
actual personnel layoffs
during the next fiscal year.
Even before these bud
get cuts, there were not
enough resources to ade
quately fluid existing pro
grams, let alone the new
initiatives in Public Health
and Medicine.
In this environment,
why are we now talking
about adding engineer
ing majors, which will
require major new financial
resources, when the state
of Georgia already has
one of the best engineer
ing schools in the United
States, Georgia Tech?
SIDNEY KUSHNER
Professor, Department of
Genetics
Prof, responds to
R&B coverage
Following the conclu
sion of my case, I’d like
to call attention to The
Red & Black’s coverage of
my arrest last year. Your
Aug. 19, 2008 article, which
included lengthy quotes
from the police report,
stated you were unable to
contact me.
Options expressed in The fled A Black are the opinion* ol the writers and rot necessarily those olThe Red and Black
Publishing Company Inc. Ml lights reserved. Reprints by permission ol the editors.
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Actually, I was available
much of the day before the
article appeared. I check
my e-mail frequently,
and The R&B left no
message either with the
Mathematics Department
office staff nor at my home.
So maybe you should
have said you were unwill
ing to contact me.
The police report pres
ents one side of the story.
The R&B seems to take
that version as established
fact.
I vigorously dispute
that account, and would
have been happy to tell
you the actual events.
It seems like The Red
& Black, rather than fol
lowing standards of profes
sional journalism, simply
wouldn’t risk my incon
venient facts spoiling its
good story.
JOSEPH FU
Department Head
Mathematics
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Opinions
Choosing NFL about more than money
Make millions and leave col
lege early? Seems like a no
brainer. Who would want to
sit through classes when they could
be buying cars and using hundred
dollar bills as coasters?
As Rachel Bowers pointed out in
her Wednesday column, Matthew
Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and
Asher Allen sure didn’t. All had eli
gibility remaining. All bid farewell
to Athens for the greener financial
pastures of the NFL.
Bowers points out that work
ing for a “floppy piece of paper” is
pointless when you can make mil
lions for doing something you love.
I agree.
But how about coming back for
the college coach who gave you a
chance to earn those millions?
Or the teammates who may not
be as talented, but put in just as
much sweat in the weight room and
on the practice field?
When the choice is presented the
way Bowers laid it out, it seems like
an easy decision.
Wake up for your 8 a.m. class,
or fill Sanford Stadium with Jell-O
while driving a Ferrari?
But what if an athlete were to
consider more than the bottom line?
I know a certain hated quar
terback in Florida who seems to
enjoy winning national titles and
Heisman trophies so much he
decided to leave money and come
back to college for a senior season.
And before you try to tell me that
Tim Tebow will never make it in the
NFL, just think about whether or
not you really believe an NFL team
isn’t going to pay him. His substan
tial college skills just might trans
late into the NFL after all.
Limiting enrollment will not solve crisis
Opening the newspaper bin
Wednesday afternoon, the
first thing I noticed was the
headline “State may limit access to
college,” on the front page of the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Eyebrows raised, I kept reading.
Tuesday, Erroll B. Davis, chan
cellor of the University System,
said in his State of the University
System address that public uni
versities in Georgia may have to
“restrict access before we know
ingly allow quality to degrade.”
Translation: Enrollment at
public colleges in Georgia may be
limited.
Now that’s a large pill for me to
swallow.
Luckily, as students already
enrolled at the University, we won’t
be affected, but my heart goes out
to our younger siblings, relatives and
friends who may suffer as a result.
Think back to senior year in high
school. You survived Advanced
Placement tests, the SAT, senioritis
and managed to get your applica
tions in on time. Imagine being
told by the University that despite
exceeding the requirements, your
admission was denied or deferred
because of state budget cuts.
Four years Of hard work, only
to have the door to your choice of
higher education shut in your face
—and by no fault of your own.
This could become a reality.
At the beginning of this semester,
202 first year students who were
deferred admission for fall 2008
began classes at the University.
According to a Monday Red &
Carey P. O'Neil, Fletcher Page, Mercedes Parham,
Nick Parker, Michael Prochaska, Wynn Sammons,
Ashley Sanders, Courtney Smith, Miranda Stancil,
Tiffany Stevens, Marie Uhler
Chief Photographer: Daniel Shirey
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Our Staff
Gj Adam
Rosenberg
If anything, Tebow should be
more likely to skip his senior season
than his Georgia counterparts. He
and his teammates have plenty of
collegiate hardware already. They
have nothing left to prove.
If that’s not enough, consider
this year’s Heisman winner and run
ner-up, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford
and Texas’ Colt McCoy. Both are
returning for their senior seasons.
Both McCoy and Bradford fig
ured to be extremely high picks.
Something tells me they aren’t com
ing back to hear their professors’
“somewhat incoherent babbling
about consumer economics.” They
might just think a collegiate cham
pionship is pretty dam important.
During Stafford, Moreno and
Allen’s tenure, Georgia has played
for the SEC Championship as many
times as Vanderbilt (that would
be zero). These players have never
won a national title, although they
came heartbreakingly close in 2007.
Although Georgia’s talented
trio has played some solid games
and made dozens of memorable
plays, they won’t be remembered
nearly as fondly as less-talented
players such as David Greene, D.J.
Shockley and Thomas Brown. None
of those three former Bulldogs fig
ure to be NFL stars, but all of them
are Georgia legends because their
teams won titles.
I understand the risk of injury is
always looming over talented col-
Gk Tamara
fUR Best
niß
Black article, Nancy McDuff, associ
ate vice president for admissions
and enrollment management, said
the move was in part to deal with
concerns about resources and maxi
mizing the University’s capacity.
Don’t get me wrong.
I understand the pressure on
the taxpayers of Georgia who make
our public education possible
my parents and some of yours are
those very people.
I understand Gov. Sonny Perdue
is under political pressure to make
changes and help the state reduce
spending. I also understand that in
times of economic hardship, sacri
fices must be made.
As students, we know this all
too well. We have had to open our
wallets a little further while the
University and state try to close
theirs.
Paying a SIOO special fee this
semester l’ll live.
More crowded classes l’ll live.
But telling qualified and hard
working students they may not be
able to go to college in Georgia
unacceptable.
And I am all for trying to pre
serve quality.
But I also understand this the
future of our state depends on the
education of our students. In his
address, Chancellor Davis said the
Eriltortal board members Indude Shannon Otto, Chelsea Cook, Marcus Crawford, Carolyn Crist. Michael Fitzpatrick, Megan Otto,
Chris Ra, Kelly Shaul and Drew Wheatley.
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lege athletes. One vicious hit and
their NFL dreams are dashed. I also
can’t imagine the temptation of
having a lifelong dream within my
grasp and putting it off for another
year. Most importantly, I have no
idea about the financial situations
of Stafford, Moreno and Allen. For
all I know, their families desper
ately need the money.
But I can’t help but admire
guys such as Tebow, McCoy and
Bradford, who all put their dreams
of living in mansions on hold so
they could spend one more year
with their college teammates.
Stafford, Moreno and Allen were
undoubtedly stars.
We probably won’t see anyone
more talented than Stafford or
Moreno play for the Bulldogs for
many years.
But they wouldn’t die to wear
the red and black. Perhaps that’s
one reason they will leave school
empty-handed.
I wish all three players well.
They always represented Georgia
with class, and I am proud to have
seen them play.
Moreno even took out a full
page advertisement in the Athens
Banner-Herald to thank Georgia
and its fans, which I thought was
an extremely classy gesture.
Luckily, there are plenty of
players who actually are returning
to Georgia next year for us to be
excited about.
I hope they can bring us the
championships Stafford, Moreno
and Allen never did.
Adam Rosenberg is a senior
from Acworth majoring in
newspapers.
University System is “an invest
ment in the future” and wanted
Georgians to realize it’s not a
“cost.”
Let’s think about that.
How is that future going to look
if young people in the state don’t
have access or are restricted access
to higher education? Also, the last
time I checked, investments of any
kind have a cost.
Human capital is the best invest
ment any society can make because
when we invest in people, we invest
in not only the economy, but the
future.
Yes, the state may save more
than a few pennies in salaries for
professors and resources —but is it
helping the state in the long run?
No.
Regardless of the economic
downturn, the possibility of denying
hard-working students enrollment
should never be a possible option.
Yes, there are no simple solu
tions because if there were, I
wouldn’t be chipping away at the
keyboard, and no, I don’t have all
the answers either.
However, I do know restrict
ing enrollment is not the answer.
The chancellor and the Board of
Regents may need to go back to
the drawing board to come up with
a logical solution.
I know sacrifices must be made,
but I can’t help but wonder, what’s
next?
Tamara Best is the
recruitment editor for
The Red & Black.
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