In Our Words... 
When will our needs aas a campus be taken seriously? 

“We’re running behind schedule. We need to cut this short.” 

That’s how much interest our legislators showed in our dilapidated university Tuesday. 

To fill you in, a group of 12 legislators toured two buildings in order to get a first hand look at our poor learning conditions. The group toured Edwin Duncan Hall and Rankin Science Building, which are two shining examples of the disrepair Appalachian State University has fallen into.  

Legislators are touring a number of the 16 institutions in the University of North Carolina system. Included are us, Western Carolina and UNC-Chapel Hill.  

Appalachian is one of the oldest and finest universities in the UNC system, and produces many educators for the North Carolina public schools. Despite this fact our elected officials decided not to get a first hand look at Belk Library, a building that ranks among the most outdated libraries in the UNC system. 

We realize that the legislators had a tight schedule of campus visits Tuesday, but we were not given the chance to even make our complete case. The library is a relic of times long passed, and is a top priority in the eyes of both students and administrators. Students should be given a chance to learn and to use available resources and if this is the case, then students at ASU have been shot in the foot. 

In the presentation given to the legislators by  Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski, a new library was clearly depicted as an urgent need for Appalachian. It was number two out of the seven top priorities for funding monies. If the legislators could hear students give their own presentations between grumbling about the quality of our library that should be testament enough. But as it was, our voice of the students, Student Body President Sam Searcy, was not even invited to attend the tour. 

Yet, when the legislators decided they would have to cut their visit short, what building was axed from the original campus tour? 
Belk Library. 

If our elected officials are going to use tax payer money to criss-cross the state touring campuses in a luxury charter bus, the least they could do would be to allow a university ample time to state their case. 

Be an individual; support free speech 
Gerald Whitt 

You are lucky. More than likely, you are not aware of the extent of this luck. 

All the reason you need is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” also known as The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

That’s all the U.S. History-speak I’ll throw at you.  I ask, however, how often do you exercise that right?  Better yet, do you know how you miss out on that right? 

Often, the higher-ups (i.e. government, administrations, peers, etc.) influence a decision or creation, keeping it from happening or occurring to its fullest extent. 

“Eyes Wide Shut,” whether you enjoy the movie or not, had a minute cut at the discretion of the Motion Picture Association of America’s citizen board.  We see here that censorship doesn’t simply come only from the government. 

But in the case of photographer Spencer Tunick, who has been arrested five times by New York City police, it is a matter of the government.  Tunick’s photographs include dozens of people lined up on NYC streets fully nude.  However, Tunick stands on the front lines of the battle for free speech, battling mayor Ruldolph Giuliani’s administration in its attempt to silence the public voice. 

This battle has had 18 First Amendment cases brought to it, including a cab driver protest during rush-hour that was squashed and a Million Youth March in Harlem that was limited from an original 12 hours to simply a few. 

We should strive not to succumb to what authorities, administrations, governments, and even our peers keep us from saying, seeing, supporting or practicing. 

You can help yourself by being an individual, whether it means joining a club, quitting one, or forming one.  Be a proponent of the controversial, or at least inform yourself about such. 

Nationally, you can find more about free speech from the Freedom Forum, NAACP, and the ACLU among others. On campus, you can exercise your rights by supporting any of the media outlets, The Appalachian, or WASU, joining the Black Student Association, B-GLAAD, the Women’s Center, or any organization or club that serves as the voice for a portion of the campus. 

Educate yourself on free speech and actions.  It’s fun to do.  Buy a 2LiveCrew CD or read a “banned book.”  I would not recommend giving the finger to the police arbitrarily, but do not buckle to the forces that work to silence you. 

Now more than any other time, in college, do we have the opportunity to mold, shift, and resist, to speak and support things that adult society chooses to, or unknowingly, ignores.  If we come as a campus with a voice, we can be powerful.  When will we ever have 12,000 people as easily accessible to assemble in our lives? 

Ever heard of Kent State University?  It’s in Ohio.  Four deaths occurred there, when students used their right to assemble.  Men died in 1776 so they could speak freely and have a document ensuring that for future generations. 

I’m not attempting to incite a riot.  I’m not bringing up a point of abject injustice, requiring immediate action.  But we have a First Amendment, our First Amendment, and we have forgotten about it. 
 

Wastebaskets, voting, and all that jazz 
Ian Hutchinson 

Friends, Greeks, faculty, lend me your eyes... 

As you already know, this week the SGA presidential election is taking place and the votes will be counted soon. Despite what you may think, your vote will actually count and you really have no excuse not to vote since you will be able to vote on the Internet. No lines, no excuses. 

An Internet vote is truly innovative, but if they wanted to take it a step further and set another trend, they would give us the option to vote “None of the Above.” 

That isn’t the say that our choices for SGA president, Ryan Bolick and Phil Cathcart, are bad ones. They have each served this campus in their own way.  I’ve seen them work late hours, orient new students and they both have good leadership skills. They genuinely want what is best for ASU. 

However, imagine the power of the “None of the Above” vote. That means if a majority of people thought both presidential choices sucked, the whole process would have to start over again. That is real voting power and that is real democracy in action! 

Russia actually has this option, and they’ve only been a democracy for a decade, so why are we so far behind? We’ve been doing this for over 200 years! 

This would be a great thing for me during the general election, because I don’t want to waste my vote on candidates who are covered in soft money. We need to scrap the whole thing and start over. 

There is another issue I need to address. Now, I don’t know what the ASU administration’s priority list looks like, but I would hope it would look like this: 

Item I. Fix all campus elevators. 

Item II. Finish the Convocation Center. 

Item III. Give the Convocation Center to the communication department. 

Item IV. Buy talking trash cans for the Food Court. 

Sadly, Items I through III were overlooked. Item II isn’t ready and Item IV is just a mere fantasy of mine that shares the same chance of happening as me marrying Angelina Jolie. Item I never happens, but we got Item IV in the Food Court! 

What a wonderful piece of advanced technology! That’ll put us ahead of Japan! 

Come on, did we need this? How much did this cost? $200? $300? $400? Couldn’t we have at least spent that on elevator maintenance or at least sound proofing for the elevators? 

If you couldn’t fix the elevators, sound proofing them would at least keep that happy-go-lucky, alarm-button-pushing claustrophobic freak from waking up everyone in the residence hall! 

Did I miss a meeting? Was there a vote on this over Spring Break? Did the student body feel that garbage cans had been silent and indifferent for too long? Were the last trash cans not grateful enough? 

I guess not ... these new ones say, “Thank you.” They are polite, “Please push the trash all the way in.” They ask for patience, “Please wait while I compact the trash.” 

If this is how the university is going to blow our money and our parents money, the garbage cans should also say, “Shave,” “Tuck your shirt in,” “Take off your hat inside the building” and “He’s no good for you, Angelina Jolie, why not go out with that nice guy, Ian?” 

Oh well, I guess that would occur in a perfect world. In that world, trash cans would offer useful insight, people could vote “None of the Above,”The Department of Communication would have their own building and I would be in wedded bliss with a woman who got an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. 

I think I’ll start looking into parallel dimensions ... 
 

Letters to the Editor 
Get to know the real KA 
It's not hard to endorse 
 

Get to know the real KA 

To The Editor: 

I am writing this letter as both a concerned citizen of the community and a member of Kappa Alpha Order here at ASU. As you well know, there has been an alleged rape of a young woman at the Kappa Alpha Order house on the night of Feb. 4, 2000. I will say no more about this supposed offense, which may or may not have occurred. What I intend to focus on is who these people called KAs actually are and how upset I am with the general lack of decisive power that the public has shown in regard to these allegations. This is a letter in love and peace; I will not lash out against anyone and will not use specific names of individuals or organizations that have spoken out against the brotherhood of Kappa Alpha Order. 

I am a 20-year-old junior, member of Kappa Alpha Order. I am double majoring in both Finance and Computer Information Systems. I have served on Club Council this year as well as being an officer for KA. In my three years here at ASU I have also been involved in such organizations as APPS and ASU Residence Life (RA). I have also had and maintained several jobs while in school. I am your average fraternity man. 

Fraternity men as a whole are extremely involved on the campus of ASU and in the community. It is the same with Kappa Alpha Order. 
“Castrate KAs” is the message that is being cried through the Student Union these days. Kappa Alpha holds women in the highest regard possible. Our motto, “Dieu et le Dames,” means God and woman. When news came to us that this had allegedly occurred in our house, we were devastated for the young woman, and were shocked that our name would even be tied to an event like this. Nonetheless, the community around us immediately labeled us, me and each member of KA, “rapists”. 

I will not boast the character of the people we choose to become a part of Kappa Alpha, because I feel that gentility and humbleness are expected of us from the Lord. I will however, defend our honor. If the women in the Greek community felt threatened by KAs or anyone else at our parties, do you honestly think they would even show up? My guess is no. There are plenty of sorority and independent women on this campus that would attest to the gentility and kindness of every man that is a part of this fraternity. The great thing is that we as a fraternity know what we believe and our reputation precedes us in situations like this. So, if the word “rapist” comes to mind when you hear KA, I urge you to think about what this fraternity really is, and think about the regard with which our peers in a competitive Greek society render us. 

I would like to dwell for a moment on the reaction of the community and the quick judgment that was passed on KA and other fraternities here. We have parties, and many independents throw parties too! Some of the largest parties that I have been to while at school have not been fraternity parties. If we do have larger parties than most on average, it is because we share a larger community of friends and acquaintances. By the nature of the Greek system and its communal implications, this is to be expected. 

The community outside of the Greek system here at ASU also refuses to see the countless hours we as individuals and as a group donate in community and campus service each year. When KA holds fundraisers, sometimes it is to help with the cost of trips that we get the opportunity to take, or social events that we have. But, let me also tell you that last year Delta Psi, ASU’s chapter of Kappa Alpha, was among the top ten donating chapters in the nation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, our national philanthropy. 

It is a shame that I have even had to write this letter. Good people of the community: I urge you to take a step back for a moment and find out more about this organization that is being so openly and disdainfully persecuted.  

Before you pass any judgment on us for an event that may or may not have occurred, please get the facts straight. Think for yourself! The Lord gave us each a wonderful mind! Make sure that you use yours to delve deeper into the situation at hand. Don’t let your thoughts be swayed by everyone else’s opinion or the media’s interpretation of what happened on the night in question. 

I would like to thank our Greek and independent peers who have opened their minds to see this situation from an objective point of view and for giving us defense and encouragement during this time of trial for our sacred Order. I have no doubt that with your aid and our transcendental nature, we will survive this and rise above this period of tribulation. To those who oppose us, the more you challenge us, the more diligent we will become in communicating to you the truth about what Kappa Alpha Order really is. We will do a better job of making sure you hear about the great things that we accomplish within our community, and we will continue to maintain a reputation of gentility, humbleness and excellence. 

Jay Nathan 
JN29098 
Junior 
 

It's not hard to endorse 

To the Editor: 

During the last week and a half of campaigning, The Appalachian has run many articles on the candidates and their platforms. All a while, making sure not to show support or bias toward either candidate.  

Then, the time came, the time for The Appalachian to take a stand and choose between Bolick-Powell and Cathcart-Goad. Who would have thought they would unwittingly endorse both? 

In the March 28 “In our words ...” editorial it states “The Appalachian has decided to endorse the Bolick-Powell campaign.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, to endorse means “to express support or approval of publicly and definitely.” In the article you will find two paragraphs about Bolick-Powell’s campaign, but no words of support or approval, simply already known facts. 

The article then goes on to lesson the strength of the endorsement even more amazingly uplifting the other campaign. It states phrases such as “staff members voiced their strong support for the Cathcart-Goad campaign”. Finally, some opinion in an editorial endorsement; too bad it’s for the wrong candidate. 

To The Appalachian: Next year, if you cannot make a decision and stick by it, then don’t. 

Sara M. Rowe 
SR33733 
Sophomore 
 
 
 

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