• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1991-10-10_Vol57_No09_04

Volume 57 Number 9 Voices ThP Western Carolinian Page 4 Thursday. October 10, 1991 Letters to the Editor John Marshall Dennis Editor-in-Chief Should Thomas be appointed? Dear Editor: In the past few days, the allegations against Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas has riveted me enough to write this article. The allegations take on a more hidden meaning when one looks at the big picture. The charges are not only applied to just that of a woman accusing a man of sexual harassment, but exposes that ever so vile, uncaring, and corrupt government which we now have today which is caused through our own apathy. The government, this includes the Congress and the President, have in recent years not cared for what the vast majority of the American populace thinks or believes is going on in this country. The Congress shows their lack of regard for the rules and about what we think by bouncing checks, not paying parking fines, charging an arm and a leg for being a college guest speaker, and for simply not doing a sufficient enough job in questioning Clarence Thomas on his interpretation of the constitution. The President shows his disregard for the American public by supporting the protesters in Wichita Kansas, for passing his joke of an education bill, and for allowing idiots such as Dan Quayle and John Sununu to be apart of his administration. However, Tuesday the Senate held off on the vote for the conformation of Clarence Thomas in order to clear his name. This came after intense pressure from their wives, congressional women. women's lobbying groups, and of course a slew of media attention. Is the Congress or particularly the Senate changing their ways? Could it be the governments now getting responsible? I think not. What this staying action against Mr. Thomas has done is to have shown that women and womens rights will not be ignored or brushed off by out current legislators. The allegation against Clarence Thomas shows that the majority of women across America are solidified in most of the equal and feminine rights view points and are willing to make the government listen when it come to their strong beliefs. Western Carolina University students and the American public, on the other hand, seem to be wallowing in their own apathetic states not interested in the world around them. Examples of this apathy here at Western can be seen in the lack of protests to such things as our radio station's pop garbage format, the weighing of our salads in the cafeteria and being charged extra if one is on the board meal plan, and in general, anything that affects our student body and nation as whole. If I were to go to any other higher insti tution of learning, I would easily see these kinds of protests going on at such a large scale revealing the student bodies involvement and interest with campus affairs. Unfortunately, here at Western it appears that nobody cares enough to want to make a difference. I say this following the success of women across America who in just a couple of days rose up protested and lobbied our Congressional Senators. Their efforts helped make the Senate decide to delay the vote for conformation of Clarence Thomas until these allegations had been investigated and resolved. I hope that these recent successes will make the Western Carolina student body want to protest and attempt to bring about change to some of my gripes or perhaps other unmentioned issues which are a major concern with our campus whole. I make this statement because apathy onl y breeds indifference. As John F. Kennedy stated: "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man" [and for the good of our country and our local communties]. Edward Roush Carolinian seen as no creamy delight Editor's note: Due to the nature of the following letter, it is printed verbatim, in its entirety as it was received by the Carolinian. It is quite impossible for me to adequately relate to you the complete delight with which I opened the paper and, at long last, found your name at the bottom of an editorial. Even so, my delight was doubled when I discovered you had chosen no less than my favorite topic to discuss. In fact, your, no doubt you think solid, rebuttal of Mr. Martin, to whom I will forever be indebted for drawing you out of your cave, is a full box of ice cream that I cannot make my mind up easily which corner to begin spooning up first. Oh well, at length I suppose I shall begin with a topic which you seem to be considerably fond of. That being your financial salvation of the Western Carolinian. No doubt you brought this newspaper out of debt. However, before we decide to "canonize" you I think it would be in the best interest of the readers to understand that this feat actually required no miracle at all. The fact is all you did was trim the fat, produce a budget, and stick to it. A butcher isn't given a medal for trimming the meat correctly, and the fact that you followed a siring of incompetent business managers docsn'i make you Donald Trump. Ncvcr-thc-lcss, you were a good business manager; but, you then took on a new title, Editor- in-Chief, and, at risk of greatly surprising you sir, they are not the same job. Having opened my ice cream I should now like to begin spooning, and deal with some things which are somewhat closer to the "editing" part of the business. In your last graph you seem to be having some small trouble with the definition of a newspaper. You said something to the effect that your paper's job (or opportunity) was "not to 'print all the news that's fit.'" This, unfortunately Mr. Dennis, is precisely the exact job of the newspaper and is, in truth, its very reason for existing, a fact commonly known after Jour. 301. You however, in your article, maintain it to be a learning exercise and training ground. This, of course, renders refusal to relocate the newspaper to the Music/ English Building, on the grounds of prcscrvingjournalistic integrity, useless since journalistic integrity is a tool only needed by newspapers. Really Mr. Dennis, you need to decide whether on not you intend to be a newspaper pretty soon. Even though this issue still seems in question, in the interest of continuing we shall assume that the Western Carolinian is basically serving as a newspaper. This being so I am drawn to discuss another particularly alarming passage dealing with t ^fie Western Carolinian Western Carolina University The Old Student Union P.O. Box 66 Cullowhee, NC 28723 John Marshall Dennis Editor-in-Chief Assistant to the Editor Laura Adams Associate Editors Charles Baldwin - Business Jennifer Mann - News Stephanie L. Messer - Copy and Layout Robert M. Robertson - Sports Photographers Stephanie Messer "\ L Hunter Pape Typesetters James Miller Laura Whitmire Office Manager Mike Greene Distribution Elizabeth Phlegar Karen Vollar Advisor John Moore Writers Misha Baker Dawn Cook Jeff DeMoe Suzanne Kendall Dave McCaskill Barrett Nichols Melissa Richardson Kim Shively Derek Smolik Karen Sovick Jimmy White Julie Wingruber Ad Salesperson Christa Humphrey J your view of what your job is as Editor-in-Chief. You said of dealing with your employees, "I do request that my employees keep their grades up first." This would be very sweet if you were their father, however sir, you are not. Instead you are the editor, and this job is to make sure the paper performs its function (that of printing all the news that's fit), not coddle panty waist writers who can't find the time to study amid all this hard work gathering news. I suppose after you decide if your going to be a paper or not, that you need to come to a conclusion about whether or not your going to be the Editor and run the paper. Speaking of running the paper I couldn't help reading your phrase, "We are a local paper, not a tabloid. I don't think you will ever see a story dealing with flying pigs from Mars or any thing similar to that." This, you may be certain, would have read more accurately, "We are a local paper. I don' t think you will ever see a story." You claim to focus on WCU and Cullowhee as if this were the extent of existence. While its true you shouldn't be worryingaboulnational or international affairs still, your focus is by far too narrow and short sighted. It would not stretch the bounds of reality to extend your coverage area wide in both news and sports. It's time you realize that your one time readers often come from a nearby town with which they have remaining ties and would like to hear about whenever possible. Also this bull shit of hiding behind a lack of writers and of funding to hire more won't flush either with Journalism 302 classes not five minutes away with no other purpose for the semester except to write news for a grade. Certainly they will not lower the quality of writing which you currently enjoy. This requires no money and no loss of journalistic integrity cither. All it docs require is an Editor who can manage a staff and run a paper. In short Mr. Dennis, it's time for you to become an Editor. Stop leaning on on your past glories of business managing. You got the paper out of debt last year. Way to go John! But your readership has fell away, to quote a friend, "Because you don't serve the students' need to be informed." It is time for you to stop worrying about the business end of the paper and start worrying about being a managing editor. As for your silly conclusion that "more current national/world news may be obtained by cither watching CNN or a local newscast, or perhaps reading a daily newspaper that covers both areas of news," I can only shake my head, look at your grinning picture, and assure you that is exactly what they arc doing. Remorsefully watching a paper die, Larry S. Taylor New age of enlightenment Dear Editor, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas' praise for the implicit use of natural law injudicial decisions gives legal standing to Catholic theological complaints about "unnatural" sex. Using the pretext of natural law, the Catholic hierarchy opposes birth control, sex hygiene items such as condoms, sex education in schools, abortion, masturbation, and homosexuality. Their real motive is to make people suffer for having sex. They still believe virginity is best and that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is somehow impure and regrettable. Yetcelibacy practiced by the Catholic hierarchy is just as unnatural as birth control. In Asia 2,400 years ago the Chinese philosopher Lao-tse objected to roads, carriages, and boats as unnatural. Clothes are contrary to nature, yet make man healthier than the naked savage who goes without clothing. Today we support the idea of inherent human rights but these are quite different from natural law. Since Judeo-Christianity 's basic cos- mological model is essentially mo- narchial, only acquired, and more specifically, bestowed rights—which are revocable—can be found in the Bible and many rights therein are ethnic group or gender based. Let's not return to the Dark Ages under the rubric of natural law. Jim Senyszym The Western Carolinian welcomes editorial input FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF ON MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST. ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO: Voices P.O. Box 66 Cullowhee, NC 28723 All submissions will be considered, but The Western Carolinian reserves the right to refuse publication of offensive or otherwise unsuitable MATERIAL. THE CAROLINIAN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THE EDITORIAL PAGE. Student On The Street "In your opinion, how can the WCU Auxiliary Food Services be improved?" Name: Michelle Miller Major: Elem. Ed. Class: Sophomore Hometown: Waynesville Name: Vikki Biancarosa Major: Math Ed. Class: Sophomore Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, FL They just need a bigger variety of Faster service, shorter lines and food. less greasy food. nite »i Name: Bobby Carmon Major: EMC Class: Sophomore Hometown: McLainsville Name: Susie Bryson Major: Comm. Disorders Class: Junior Hometown: Murphy Make the food less greasy and more If you have declining balance, you nutritious. get overcharged. I think the food should be fresher also. Name: Kenneth Martin Major: Psychology Class: Sophomore Hometown: Raleigh Other universities offer vegetarian entrees at each meal. I feel Western should offer the same. Name: Holly Moon Major: German Class: Sophomore Hometown: Charlotte Offer more healthy selections including vegetarian options. Name: KatiRodgers Major: RTV Class: Junior Hometown: Cary Better selection of food and a greater variety of food. Longer hours for the cafeteria. Not everybody can work their schedules around when lunch is served. Name: Travis Bower Major: Undecided Class: Sophomore Hometown: Frankfurt, Germany We should be able to use our declining balance cards at other places than P. G. Katz and the cafeterias. Carolinian photos by Hunter Pape

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1991-10-10
  • Date digitized: 2019-10-02
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 8 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1991-10-10_Vol57_No09
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library