The Hill
Chapel Hill Political Review November 2010
http://studentorgs.unc.edu/thehill
Volume X, Issue II
America’s Economic Future: Adaptation to Austerity
Obama Shifts to Center Republicans Gain Clout
University System Fiscal Reform Cuts On Our Own Campus?
Change in Africa North Africa in Turmoil
The Hill Staff
From the Editor To our readers: The beginning of the new semester has seen a whirlwind of changes in both domestic and foreign affairs. The ongoing Arab Revolution, which began in Tunisia with the self-immolation of a young frustrated vendor (p. 6) has seen the established order set ablaze in Egypt (p.21), where a galvanized public toppled President Hosni Mubarak’s government through popular protests. The fate of both states and the future of the region have become more uncertain than ever. Just south of Egypt, a popular referendum affirmed the upcoming partition of Sudan and the birth of a new independent state this summer. On this domestic front, political affairs at all levels of government are plagued by disagreements over how to reduce the deficit as the inevitability of expanded austerity measures becomes
clearer. Just as President Obama contends with a Republican House over reduced spending (p.16), state governments contemplate where to implement cuts in order to stay afloat (p.12 & 13). And of course, UNC-Chapel Hill faces many harsh spending cuts of its own, leaving the future of many programs (and possibly the school itself ) uncertain (p.14). What these measures mean for the university and for its students is discussed within. Siddarth Nagaraj is a junior majoring in global studies and political science. Tatiana Brezina is a senior majoring in international studies and political science.
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The Hill
Chapel Hill Political Review
Our Mission: The Hill is a medium for analysis of state, national and international politics. This publication is meant to serve as the middle ground (and a battleground) for political thought on campus where people can present their beliefs and test their ideas. A high premium is placed on having a publication that is not affiliated with any party or organization, but rather is openly nonpartisan on the whole. Hence, the purpose of The Hill is to provide the university community with a presentation of both neutral and balanced analysis of political ideas, events and trends. This means that, on the one hand, the publication will feature articles that are politically moderate in-depth analyses of politics and political ideas. These articles might be analytical, descriptive claims that draw conclusions about the political landscape. On the other, The Hill will feature various articles that take political stances on issues.
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EDITORS Tatiana Brezina Siddarth Nagaraj MANAGING EDITORS Caroline Guerra Clayton Thomas Yash Shah WRITERS Tatiana Brezina Amanda Claire Grayson Caroline Guerra Sam Hobbs Alex Jones Krishna Kollu Radhika Kshatriya Aaron Lutkowitz Siddarth Nagaraj Ismaail Qaiyim Christian Rodriquez Wilson Sayre Stephanie Shenigo Clayton Thomas Kevin Uhrmacher Sarah Wentz WEB EDITOR Sarah Wentz DESIGN Nicole Fries HEAD OF ART Megan Shank ART JR Fruto Connor Sullivan CIRCULATION Amanda Claire Grayson Wilson Sayre TREASURER Kendall Law FACULTY ADVISER Ferrel Guillory
Contents February 2011
Volume X, Issue II
Features 7 18
Sudan’s Historical Context and Possible Future WikiLeaks
Cover
22
12
State Budget Cuts The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
14
University System Fiscal Reform Cuts On Our Own Campus?
The Last Word Tucson and Mental Health
In Every Issue v Notes from The Hill
v Best of the Blog
February 2011 3
Notes from The Hill
Notes from
The Hill Review
“Decision Points” by George W. Bush History will judge George Bush. The adage is commonly used among supporters of the 43rd president. Even as his second term drew to a close, and his approval ratings dwindled in the low-to-midtwenties, Bush retained a following of staunch supporters. They maintained that he had done what was necessary to keep the country safe after 9/11. Now, Bush has put his own spin on that argument. Yes, history will judge George Bush as it has every president before him. “Decision Points” is his attempt to influence the verdict. Getting Even While Bush says that the book is a presentation of the major decisions he made, at times it seems like a vehicle for his vendetta against those who he believes have wronged him. For example, Bush is quick to lay blame on Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco for his administration’s belated response to Hurricane Katrina. He claims that he wanted the federal government to intervene earlier, but that an antiquated law tied his hands when she stopped his efforts. Perhaps more telling than the people Bush mentions are those
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he chooses to omit. Nowhere does Bush mention Press Secretary Scott McClellan, who was with him for three years. Is it a coincidence that McClellan penned a memoir in 2008 railing against the administration? I think not. His Side of the Story Bush provides a counterpoint to the criticisms that have been leveled at him for years. He examines two of his presidency’s public relations low points in a new light. Bush dedicates an entire chapter to Hurricane Katrina, as well as several pages to the afternoon in 2003 when he gave a speech to troops on an aircraft carrier beneath a now-infamous banner bearing the words “Mission Accomplished.” Bush admits that he made a major gaffe in telling FEMA Director Michael Brown that he was doing ‘a heck of a job.’ He also says he did not know that members of the press pool would take photos of him as he peered out the window of Air Force One at a battered New Orleans. Those photos outraged critics of Bush like Kanye West, who labeled him a racist who “doesn’t care about black people” enough to fly into the city and speak to the victims, as he did after 9/11. Bush says that he
reluctantly chose not to visit New Orleans because that would have required taking a large number of first responders away from relief efforts to support his security detail. This was a cost he was not willing to pay. Bush says the claims of racism were the worst point in his presidency. Another public relations nightmare took place on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003, as Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner hanging behind him celebrated the Lincoln’s successful completion of its job in the Persian Gulf. But the combination of Bush’s announcement and the large banner was disastrous, as critics said Bush was claiming for political purposes that the war was won. Before readers judge George Bush, they should hear his side of the story. Perhaps they will find it ridiculous; perhaps they will find it refreshing to hear from the man himself rather than from his shouting critics. But only after hearing from him can they pass judgment about his time in office. Kevin Uhrmacher is a first-year majoring in journalism and political science.
Notes from The Hill Update
HATCH-ED:
Meet Your New Mayor. And Your Other New Mayor No one really knows who is in charge in Rochester, N.Y. these days. The beginning of 2011 brought major confusion because the city had three different mayors in a span of three weeks. At the center of the debate is the Hatch Act, the landmark civil service reform law passed in 1939. The law regulates the political activity of federal employees who work with public funds. The Hatch Act is only considered by federal courts if someone accuses their political opponent of violating the statute, in which case local elections can become immersed in a tangled web of politically charged accusations. Things get complicated very quickly.
May 26, 2010 – Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy is gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo’s pick for lieutenant governor.
Oct. 28, 2010 - City Corporation Counsel Tom Richards is appointed deputy mayor so that he can replace Duffy if he is elected lieutenant governor.
Nov. 2, 2010 - Cuomo and Duffy win the election. Jan. 1, 2011 - Duffy leaves Rochester and Richards assumes his duties as mayor. Rochester debates whether to hold a special election or general election to find a permanent replacement.
Jan. 5, 2011 – The city charter says that the deputy mayor “shall act as mayor,” which prompts confusion over whether Richards is the mayor or acting mayor. If he is the acting mayor, Richards is still considered a civil servant and cannot run in a special election under the Hatch Act.
Jan. 18, 2011 - Trying to avoid the coming legal storm, Richards steps down from
his position. Commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development Carlos Carballada is appointed “Emergency Interim Successor” (EIS).
Jan. 28, 2011 – Caraballada’s opponents file suit against the city, claiming he can-
not be EIS because there was no ‘attack or a public disaster’ that prompted his appointment, as the city charter would require.
March 29, 2011 – A special election is set to occur on this day. Declared can-
didates include Tom Richards and former mayor Bill Johnson, who threw his hat into the ring in late January. An end to the confusion? Doubtful. Kevin Uhrmacher is a first-year majoring in journalism and political science. February 2011 5
International
A Media Led Revolution? A republic in theory, but an autocratic regime in practice, Tunisia has tended to remain out of the scope of the global media. Yet Tunisia has been all over the news recently. This, of course, is a direct result of the political protests that have rocked the nation since mid-December. Tunisians have taken to the streets in protest over unemployment, food inflation, government corruption, censorship of media and speech and poor living conditions. This general dissatisfaction with the condition of the state erupted in mid-December, and led to cries for political change including specific demands for “real democracy” in Tunisia. The protests remained relatively contained and went unnoticed by the international media until early January. What is truly remarkable is the Tunisian effort to get international media coverage of their plight, goals, and protests. The Tunisian government’s Internet censorship is the strictest in the world, matching China’s, according to a statement made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January 2010. Despite that, Tunisians have been able to get an abundant amount of information to media beyond their borders via the Internet, particularly through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. YouTube was censored from Publinet, the Tunisian state-owned network, for years until the ouster of former President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s government in January. Heavy Internet use can be attributed to the driving force behind this revolution: the youth of Tunisia. Much of the information that has driven the “Jasmine Revolution” was information that the government had tried to restrict access to. However, educated youth, skilled
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in circumvention technology, were able to bypass the filters on the restricted information and retrieve material the government had sought to keep from the Tunisian public. This information was then disseminated amongst Tunisians, stirring the desires for reform and catalyzing more Tunisians to join the protests. And in an effort to draw attention and support for their efforts, Tunisian activists have been sharing information the government would choose to restrict online, translating information and contextualizing stories for the international media to pick up.
Given the evident censorship in the country, many have questioned why the government did not stop the flow of information. The simple answer is: they tried. Their efforts were unsuccessful, however, in large part because the biggest platform for revolution has been Facebook. The government attempted to censor profiles with information they wanted to remain classified, and also attempted to hack into activist Facebook, email and Twitter accounts to shut them down. These efforts, however, have had varying degrees of success and little effect on quelling a revolution that seems to have taken on a life of its own, bringing protests and shouts for re-
form beyond the nation’s borders. As Tunisian-American UNC-CH student Mariem Masmoudi explains it: “Home videos of demonstrations and clashes with police forces, blogs of dissident reporters, and status updates proliferating important news updates were uploaded to Facebook constantly.” It is clear that both social media and international media can be credited for launching and strengthening the campaign for reform in Tunisia, and one can certainly posit that the growing protests and cries for reform in other Arab nations have been inspired by Tunisia’s efforts. The question then, is what is next for Tunisia? The people have already ousted former President Ben Ali, causing him to flee with his family (and 1.5 tons of the nation’s gold), and the nation is in the process of transforming its government. Yet surely, the revolution shall not end with the mere change of political figures in office. As African Studies Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja said in an interview with The Hill, “There is no alternative to establishing democratic governance. This is what the people of Africa have been fighting for since independence. We did not want to get rid of tyranny by European colonialists only to have the colonial system replaced by the same type of repression and economic negligence by African rulers.” Indeed, it seems as the only way this media-led revolution can end is with some level of reform and an increase in transparency, for the people of Tunisia, and perhaps the people of other Arab countries as well. Sarah Wentz is a junior majoring in political science and global studies.
International
Southern Sudan’s Independence Struggle In 2004 t-shirts, bracelets, and publicity materials screamed “Save Darfur” at international actors, but Janjaweed militias continued ethnic cleansing of the non-Arab populations of western Sudan. Much of the slow international response could be attributed to timing, as the genocide occurred in the midst of the North-South peace negotiations. On January 9, 2005, five decades of civil conflict between North and South ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Fast-forward six years, and Southern Sudan voted with an impressive 99.57% majority for independence from the North. What lies ahead for Southern Sudan is uncertain, but the future may finally provide some resolution to the civil war that has ravaged Sudan since 1955. The conflict dates back to Britain’s colonial administration of two separate Sudanese regions until 1946, when they merged a culturally Arabic North and a culturally Sub-Saharan African South. As Sudan approached independence in the early 1950s, northern Arabic leaders backed away from commitments to southern autonomy, resulting in a strong southern separatist movement. The North has historically opposed southern autonomy that would deprive it of profits from the South’s oil and other natural resources. In 1955, southern military officials and students formed the Anyanya guerilla army, engulfing the country in factionalism until former army lieutenant Joseph Lagu united the rebels under the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement in 1971. The
strength and organization of this movement forced both sides to the bargaining table, and in March 1972 the Addis Ababa Agreement ended the conflict and granted the south significant administrative autonomy. However, peace only lasted eleven years, during which northern fundamentalists repeatedly violated the Addis Ababa Agreement’s terms, attempting to control on-the-border oil-rich areas and declaring Sudan an Islamic state in 1983. Southern secessionists formed the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and fought against the North, which became dominated by Colonel Omar alBashir’s military junta. Al-Bashir’s junta introduced a harsh penal code, purged the personnel of the civil and military administrations, and attacked southern regions. External attempts at peaceful resolution came in 1995, when Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Uganda committed military troops to assisting the SPLA. In 2000 Egypt and Libya called for power-sharing but ignored the larger issues of religion/state relations and southern independence. Peace talks in 2003 and 2004 finally culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, which created a six-year interim period of southern autonomy, equitable division of resources (jobs, oil, military, etc.), and a referendum to determine Sharia law’s continuance in the south. On January 9, 2011, the sixyear interim period ended with the scheduled southern referendum on independence, which clearly demonstrated desire for secession. Many
feared resumption of the civil war or mass rape and chaos, but President Omar al-Bashir surprisingly announced to his southern rival in Juba on January 4, “If the vote is for secession, we will support you and congratulate you.” The United States promised to normalize relations with Al-Bashir’s regime if he peacefully lets the south go, and the optimistic dictator is also hoping the ICC will drop his charges upon a conflict-free split. Predictions for the future of Southern Sudan range from hopeful to dire. The November 22, 2010 edition of The Economist forecast, “[South Sudan] is a place of tribes, jealous of their cultures and lands. The largest think they have a claim on the oil revenue that will come with independence. That is a recipe for disaster.” Southern Sudan’s new government must now transition from its former administrative autonomy to a fully sovereign state. Dr. Andrew Reynolds, Chair of the Global Studies curriculum, optimistically explained in a discussion with students, “This is a much more rosy picture than we expected.” Some forecast oil wars and ethnic conflict, while others, like Reynolds, predict democracy promotion and conflict resolution. What the future holds for South Sudan is unclear, but secession is a hopeful conclusion to its horrific past. Amanda Claire Grayson is a is a sophomore majoring in political science and peace, war, & defense.
February 2011 7
International
Africa & China
Support for Corruption? The year 2000 marked a definitive milestone for Sino-African relations and ushered in a new era of economic possibility for African states. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) marked the beginning of a new and dynamic relationship between the world’s largest developing country and the world’s largest developing continent. The Chinese government announced that the debts of 31 African countries had been cancelled, aid to African countries would be increased and development assistance would be forthcoming in addition to a myriad of other promises that have come to fruition. The FOCAC meets every three years to evaluate and reaffirm Chinese economic commitments to Africa. The nature of the economic and political alliance between China and many African countries embodies a delicate balance of potential and peril for both parties. The Sino-African relationship is one defined by complexity and even obscurity; however, it is a relationship that characterizes the 21st century geopolitical climate and the modern push toward economic expansion both for and within Africa. The nature of Chinese investment in Africa is fundamentally distinct from previous forms of investment because Chinese economic policy focuses on infrastructural development and extraction of resources without political preconditions. The one China policy is the only official
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exception to this rule. Many within Africa and around the world look to China as the legitimate partner Africa has always needed. This new outlook is partially fueled by a desire for growth and disenfranchisement with the U.S. and European countries. Margaret C. Lee, Associate Professor of African Studies with a focus on African political economy, maintained in an interview with The Hill that Africa is in need of long term economic development versus short term economic growth. Professor Lee describes the Sino-Chinese relationship as one marked by a large degree of economic and political exploitation of African resources. For instance, a recent contract with the DRC gives China a vast amount of access to mineral resources over the course of 25 years in return for $9 billion dollars of infrastructural development. Professor Lee also believes that Chinese investments hold some positive benefits for ordinary Africans but also increase tensions between local Chinese and African workers in various countries. Some of these concerns stem from the nature of Chinese investments. According to Professor Lee the exact amount of investment is unknown, but is disproportionately beneficial to Chinese firms. China is exporting vast amounts of labor to African countries in all sectors of society. Some experts believe this figure may get as high as 300 million people.
Also, many African exports to China are believed to be illegal, especially within the timber industry. The investment in the informal or shadow sectors such as prostitution is also largely unknown, but is very evident. In reference to policy, Lee maintains that “the notion that the Chinese don’t intervene is a misnomer.” A major problem in the Sino-African equation is that of support for corrupt leaders, something the U.S. and China are both guilty of giving. “In order for Africa to experience real development,” Professor Lee maintained, “the culture of African leadership must change drastically.” The creation of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), took place in 2007. One of the official objectives of AFRICOM is to protect the continent against terrorism; however, some believe that the timing of the creation of the new military command might be largely in response to the growing presence of the Chinese in Africa. The long term outcome of this definitive partnership between China and Africa is unknown, however it is a reality. Regardless of what occurs, African development will remain an integral part of the future outcome. Ismaail Qaiyim is a junior majoring in history and peace, war, & defense.
International
The Irritable Iberian Drowning in a sovereign debt crisis, the Iberian Peninsula escaped from financial news for a few short weeks last July with the World Cup. Spain won its first World Cup, largely on a strategy of extremely precise, calculated, and measured passing in the midfield. Unfortunately for the nation’s economic welfare, as well as its neighbor, Portugal, it did not follow a similar game plan in the financial sector. Instead, both Portugal and Spain relied on excesses – of spending and of budget deficits – and are facing the prospect of defeat. Spain and Portugal have been struggling to recover from seemingly insurmountable challenges. The European economy has been stagnating regionally, and both have faced a housing market crisis (with Spain under even more strain) that has left debt skyrocketing. As their respective national deficits have ballooned with reckless abandon (both more than 9 percent of overall GDP), Spain and Portugal have to cut spending to avoid the consequences of inflation and a sovereign debt crisis. As unemployment rises, however, people are demanding the opposite of austerity measures. If the governments of Spain and Portugal lack fiscal discipline, their economies could tumble out of control. UNC Political Science Professor Thomas Oatley said in an interview with The Hill that, “It all depends on whether or not the citizens of these states elect governments that are willing to
pay.” This instability has been present in other economically weak countries in Europe and has threatened the livelihood of the continent. Just months ago, many economists feared the permanent end of the Euro, and with it, European economic and social cohesion. Though an ocean has separated the United States from the brunt of the economic damage in Europe, America’s economic woes are highly correlated with the European Union’s economic status. While Oatley has described America’s economic resilience against these flailing states as “remarkable,” he asserts that a double-dip recession in America could easily cause a further deterioration in the economies of Spain and Portugal. Given how fragile the European recovery is, any major shocks from the United States could easily slow the progress of many European nations. There may be hope on the horizon. While the rest of Europe may envy the Iberian dominance on the fútbol pitch, these same nations might be willing to rescue the Spanish and Portuguese governments through bailouts. Regional leaders, especially Germany, will go to great lengths to preserve the Euro from collapsing and have spent billions on bailouts for other European nations and on auctions to purchase government bonds. Spain and Portugal cannot rely on these handouts indefinitely, however. German leaders have al-
ready said that money will flow from Berlin to Madrid and Lisbon as a last resort. The strain between the haves and have-nots of Europe is bulging. Even if short-term problems are patched over, Oatley has called the long-term implications of this crisis “huge. Either somebody needs to leave [the Eurozone] or they need to find some bailout mechanism.” Despite all of the assistance, Spain and Portugal are seen as extremely unstable and volatile economic states. Both countries have to reign in the exuberance that their economies have displayed for the past few years. Controlling their budgets and restructuring their economies are both crucial steps that they must take to survive. Spain may have won the 2010 World Cup, but the hosts of the 2014 speak Portuguese. The host nation is not Portugal, but Brazil, a developing power that recently has seen much healthier economic growth than either nation in the Peninsula. They have also won more World Cups than both combined. Aaron Lutkowitz is a first-year majoring in business and political science.
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International
Social Entrepreneurship In agricultural villages surrounding Ahmedabad, a booming metropolis in India, the explosion in property values has induced poor farmers to sell their land to commercial interests. Although these farmers have accumulated tremendous wealth, there are no schools or proper health facilities in these newly urban townships. The farmers, who no longer seek work, spend their days gambling in the village square, and children are still usually married before the age of 15. While this is the reality of economic transition in developing countries, cases such as this offer a fresh insight into the relationship between the free market system and poverty eradication. In particular, critics argue that income growth alone is insufficient for, and can even inhibit, economic development. Within this context, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a dynamic strategy to approach the underlying problem of poverty. Social entrepreneurship is being implemented in a diverse range of issues across the world by institutions, non-profit organizations and individuals. In general, social ventures apply innovative and sustainable solutions to public problems. One of the world’s premier social ventures is the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the prototype for microfinance institutions, founded by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus. Microfinance is the practice of providing small loans to the poor without requiring collateral. This is a pioneering strategy in poverty eradication because the poor previously had no low-price option for borrowing. Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee of the MIT Poverty Action Lab articulate that while
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most of the poor are entrepreneurs, they are unable to specialize because of lack of capital. Microfinance provides a viable credit market for these entrepreneurs, which is a basis for sustainable growth. Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize-winning expert on developmental economics, argues in Development as Freedom that poverty must be conceptualized as the failure of social capital. In particular, he is concerned not primarily by the lack of income and wealth, but by the inability of the poor to access real opportunities. Social entrepreneurship is unique in that it enables the poor to take agency over their own development. This signifies a paradigm shift from the welfare approach prominent in developed countries, in which the poor are merely recipients of aid. Yunus furthers that social businesses empower the poor through a bottom-up model for economic development. In Creating a World Without Poverty, Yunus explains that Grameen expanded to many other social ventures after the initial success of its microfinance initiative. For instance, he described the origin of Grameenphone, now the leading cellular service provider in Bangladesh, as a project to advance women’s rights to participate in the workforce. By linking a business model to a social agenda, the venture was able to create a sustained impact on gender barriers in Bangladesh. In effect, it is a strategy that can take advantage of public-private sector collaboration in the effort to rectify social problems. In 1999, the World Bank initiated one of the first comprehensive stud-
ies on this topic, focusing on the impact of the Grameen microcredit model on poverty in Bangladesh. Using a panel survey of borrowers, the study estimated that a microcredit loan increased household income by 20 percent annually. In addition, researchers concluded that such households were more likely to put their children through secondary education and access healthcare services. In a follow-up study in 2005, Shahidur Khandker confirmed that the returns from loans had sustained the 1999 levels. Furthermore, Khandker established a spillover effect of microfinance in which even non-participants in such programs benefited from their presence. In an interview with The Hill, Ajit Krishnan, Director of Panchayat, a network of microfinance groups in India, attested that “despite the economic growth India has experienced, it has been microcredit and other social initiatives that have driven development at the bottom of the pyramid. In fact, social ventures will be the growth industry looking ahead.” Social entrepreneurship has demonstrated the potential to use the free market in a way that benefits those who were once marginalized by it. The success of such ventures is even apparent at UNC through Campus Y projects such as the Community Empowerment Fund, one of the first microfinance organizations in the United States. While the future of this movement is promising, this is merely the starting point for the war against poverty. Yash Shah is a senior majoring in economics and political science.
International
Wake County Schools and the Debate on School Busing
On May 18th, 2010, the Wake County Board of Education cast a controversial vote to end the district’s diversity policy and revert to neighborhood schools. Under the diversity policy, the school district had balanced out school demographics by establishing magnet programs in schools in low-income areas to draw middle-class students. It also offered students school choice and undertook strategic busing. The policy ensured that no single school would have more than 40% of its population qualify for reduced-price or free lunches. Opponents of the vote to end the diversity policy believe it will lead to “resegregation,” while supporters praise it for preserving neighborhood unity. There has been ongoing debate, and perhaps confusion, about the cause of constant school reassignment for students. The Board of Education attributes it to the county’s high level of population growth in recent years, while many parents
blame the diversity policy. Anne Sherron, a member of the board’s Student Assignment Committee, explained in an interview with The Hill that “newcomers confused the frequent reassignments with the diversity policy, which brought low-income students from downtown Raleigh to their schools. The frequent reassignments happened in the high-growth portions of the county…all this together created an air of discontent that resonated with voters in the school districts most affected, and were up for election in the fall of 2009.” While most students have gained in standardized testing under the diversity policy, critics point out that the poor test scores and low graduation rates for low-income and minority students remained in place despite the diversity policy. On the other hand, there is a substantial body of research showing that as the level of poverty rises in a school, academic performance suf-
fers. Studies have also shown that economic integration, the main goal of the diversity policy, can be a powerful tool when it comes to closing the achievement gap. A study conducted by The Century Foundation in Montgomery County, Maryland, concluded that low-income elementary students who attended highincome schools outperformed those who were assigned to low-income schools, even though the county targeted the low-income schools with extra funding and resources. Some parents and community members voiced opposition to the plan to move towards neighborhood schools, saying that it will lead to a few high-poverty and racially isolated schools. There are also fears that the policy will hurt the county’s chances at millions of dollars in federal grant money for magnet schools. Shortly following the passage of the new policy, the NAACP filed a lawsuit that claimed that the 700 initial student transfers the board has approved will lead to increased racial segregation and violates laws that prohibit federal funding for discriminatory purposes. The county also stands to lose its accreditation from AdvancEd, which is conducting a review that was sparked by a complaint filed last year by the NAACP. AdvancEd has made it clear that it will be looking at how the board conducts itself, including how the board reviews and amends school policies. Radhika Kshatriya is an undeclared sophomore.
February 2011 11
Cover
America’s Economic Future: California. New Jersey. New York. Illinois. We know the states whose names have been splashed across front pages for months, accompanied by ever-worsening debt and deficit figures. They are America’s PIGS, the acronym coined to describe the weakest, most debt-ridden economies in Europe that threaten to bring down the entire EU (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain). But for as much as has been said about the catastrophic national debt, in addition to the state fiscal basket cases listed above, the situation may be even worse than many people realize. We will first examine some states whose financial woes are not as well-known as those of California or New Jersey, and then explore the states that have managed to remain fiscally stable. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), 44 states and the District of Columbia are currently forecasting budget shortfalls for the fiscal year 2012 (which begins July 1, 2011 in most states) totaling $125
billion, an amount approximately equal to the nominal GDP of New Zealand. States have indeed faced significant shortfalls since the onset
mates, the state in the worst position is not New Jersey, whose shortfall as a percent of the fiscal year 2011 budget is 37.4 percent, nor even California (29.3 percent), but Nevada, whose shortfall for 2012 is estimated at 45.2 percent of its 2011 budget. But if Nevada is any indication of how states will deal with their financial crises, the signs are not good. Governor Brian Sandoval (R) has refused to budge from his campaign promise not to raise taxes; thus, huge, possibly debilitating, cuts are in store for education and other state services. The Chancellor of Nevada’s higher education system said that state cuts would necessitate raising student
They are America’s PIGS, the acronym coined to describe the weakest, most debt-ridden economies in Europe that threaten to bring down the entire EU.
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of the recession. However, most of the federal money that helped states to close budget gaps and avoid major service cuts in the past few years is now gone. According to CBPP esti-
Cover
Adaptation to Austerity costs by 73 percent. The Las Vegas Some Texas legislators have pinned in place since the 1940s. In Webb’s Sun unfavorably reviewed Governor their hopes on an economic turn- words, “this prevents us from runSandoval’s proposed budget as “short around, with increased tax revenues ning budget deficits. When revenues on bold initiatives, long on are cut, kicking the proverbial can expenses down the road by dodging are cut. Citizens in other states will likely face cuts to permanent solutions.” In efTherefore, services and perhaps even higher taxes. That fect, Sandoval’s budget enwe tend to is, unless they take Representative Drovdal’s sured that other groups, such budget on a advice: “move to North Dakota.” as local school boards, would more conhave to make the cuts, inservative stead of state officials. for the state, but it remains to be basis continually, to prevent getting Texas is another state whose seen if the economy will improve into trouble during lean times.” budget situation has recently burst enough, and in time, to ward off onto the scene as one of the direst in these extremely deep cuts. The vice chairman of North the nation. While conservatives have But the picture is not all Dakota’s House Finance and Taxabeen quick to attribute the state’s bad. According to CBPP, there are tion committee, David Drovdal, acbudget troubles to overspending, six states that do not face significant knowledged his state is more than a liberals point to Texas as evidence budget shortfalls for the coming bit lucky: revenues from natural gas of an alternative trend. Texas, with fiscal year: Alaska, Alabama, Wyo- and other resources have done much its extremely business-friendly envi- ming, Delaware, North Dakota and to shore up North Dakota’s budget. ronment, was viewed as immune to Arkansas. The Hill contacted state Drovdal also points to North Dakobudget problems. Texas lawmakers legislators and budget officials from ta’s business-friendly policies: “The have refused to raise taxes and will the last two states to try and figure state has also helped its citizens and other business by returning some of the dollars in property tax relief and 44 states and the District of Columbia are income tax reduction thus giving us currently forecasting budget shortfalls for the a business-friendly environment for fiscal year 2012 (which begins July 1, 2011 in others thinking of relocating.”
most states) totaling $125 billion, an amount approximately equal to the nominal GDP of New Zealand.
thus have to close a budget gap estimated at $27 billion through cuts alone. Texas has a $9 billion ‘rainy day’ fund, but legislators have refused to tap into that. Proposed cuts will hit education (with over $10 billion in cuts over the next two years) and Medicaid programs the hardest.
out why they were in such good shape and what advice they had for their suffering neighbors. Arkansas Representative Kathy Webb, who serves as vice-chair of the Joint Budget Committee, attributed Arkansas’s financial success to the Revenue Stabilization Law, which has been
But the legislators and budget officials who responded to The Hill had little in terms of advice for other states. Citizens in other states will likely face cuts to services and perhaps even higher taxes. That is, unless they take Representative Drovdal’s advice: “move to North Dakota.” Clayton Thomas is a senior majoring in history.
February 2011 13
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University Budget Cuts The University system that we know today may be changing. Administrators, faculty and students at all sixteen UNC system campuses are feeling the squeeze from previous budget cuts and the next round promises to be the worst yet. While official financial information on the cuts will not be available for a few months, the system has to find a way to compensate for a $3.7 billion loss of funds, a cut of approximately 15 percent of the state’s total budget. Previous budget cuts attempted to cut administrative costs, but this new round of cuts promises to have a more direct effect on students and faculty. This round of budget cuts includes a permanent 5 percent cut equivalent to $26 million. The UNC system estimates that 5 to 10 percent of faculty jobs will be cut, which means that 900 to 2,000 people will lose their positions. Most institutions are implementing hiring freezes, which equates to fewer courses being offered to students. System universities are getting creative in trying to find other ways to close the gap without losing jobs. Across the board, they are attempting to raise tuition and fees by $500 to $800. Recently the UNC system office announced plans to eliminate duplicate majors among its campuses, possibly replacing them with online programs. NC State University, which faces a 15 percent budget cut, is looking at consolidating services and majors, as well as cutting under-enrolled classes and academic majors. Other university systems are
14 The Hill
feeling the pinch as well. Students in the University of California system have seen mid-year fee increases, and tuition is expected to rise 30 percent by next fall. Private universities are hurting too, with Duke and Yale’s endowments falling by approximately 25 percent between 2009 and 2010. UNC relies on state appropriations for approximately 25 percent of its fiscal budget. Chancellor Holden Thorp has remarked that it is going to be difficult to protect jobs, academics and research while still providing all necessary financial aid, which is expected to see an increase in demand. “Our objective is to protect the academic quality of the University, the academic experience of students and financial aid. The University will do whatever it takes to protect those priorities, including possible enrollment growth funding and tuition revenue.” In anticipation of earlier rounds of cuts, the university brought in Bain & Company, a consulting firm, to help find ways to cut costs without affecting academics or jobs. The firm found that the growth of administrative costs has outstripped that of academic costs. It recommended simplifying UNC’s organizational structure, consolidating services like Information Technology Services and consolidating departmental offices. To implement the changes, UNC created the program known as Carolina Counts. Mike McFarland, the Director of University Communications, described the program in an interview with The Hill. “Caro-
lina Counts is the University-wide initiative to improve the efficiency of campus operations and reduce administrative costs, based on the key recommendations by the 2009 Bain and Company study. The first year concentrated on campus-wide savings and efficiencies in three central areas: Information Technology Services, Finance and Human Resources. This year, the focus will turn to the academic units and seven central areas, to identify ways to reduce administrative costs at the unit level.” However, UNC probably will not be able to save all the money that Bain Consulting estimated it could due to state regulations on the university. The speculated plan of the state cutting UNC loose was not something that administrators were willing to discuss. So what does this mean for UNC students? Despite the best efforts of UNC’s administration, the system will likely see faculty cuts and fewer course offerings. That means more headaches come registration time, larger classes and less facultystudent interaction. Slashed ITS and department budgets will mean longer lines and slower service. Tuition and fees will increase. Organizations will receive less funding from the school and will be forced to get creative in order to balance their budgets. These cuts will be painful, but we can rest assured that the UNC administration is doing its best to maintain quality at Carolina. Stephanie Shenigo is a junior majoring in political science.
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The Future of Defense Spending in Austere Times In the next few months, the United States debt will reach its ceiling at $14.3 trillion. Accordingly, spending cuts are likely the number one item on the agenda for the 112th Congress. The largest government expense is defense spending, accounting for over 20 percent of the federal budget. The budget for the Department of Defense in 2010 was over $780 billion including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Typically, Republicans have defended military spending, but concern over the debt has produced a consensus from both sides of the aisle that even defense spending should not be spared. In a rare moment of concord, the two groups prepared to slash the most from the defense budget are liberals and Tea Party conservatives. The Obama administration has tried to direct the dialogue from the center using proposals made by the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. However, Congress has the power of the purse. Secretary Gates believes there are numerous opportunities in the Department of Defense for cuts. First, he wants to establish a leaner hierarchy. The military has added over 1,000 civilians to its bureaucracy since 9/11, including more than 100 generals and admirals. Gates views the civilian expansion as an inefficient bureaucracy and proposes cutting at least fifty generals and admirals. He also proposes eliminating the Joint Forces Command, which was founded after the Cold War to improve cooperation among
divisions of the U.S. armed forces. Gates is not convinced that it provides a service worthy of its price tag. Second, Gates argues that the billions of dollars spent developing high-technology weapons focuses too much on anticipating the requirements of the future as opposed to meeting the demands of the present. As a result, Gates cancelled construction of the new F-22 fighter and instead increased production of unmanned drones. He abandoned the DDG-1000 Destroyer and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, because their intent was for use in operations last seen in WWII. In all, Gates cut twenty expensive weapons from the military’s budget, totaling over $300 billion in future spending. Congress has fought many of Gates’ proposals. Congressman Buck McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that he would not support any measures that endangered American national security. McKeon and other Republicans are concerned that blind spending cuts could jeopardize the U.S.’s troops and weaken its global strength. They worry that wartime cuts in defense spending could undermine key foreign policy objectives. Gates is distinctly aware of those risks. He does not want to gut the military and has said that what the Department of Defense saves on overhead, it will spend on operations. Nonetheless deficit hawks protest that the proposed changes will do nothing to balance the budget, while security advocates object to the projects abandoned. Eventually, Gates is going
to have to accept some deep cuts to the defense budget. He rejects arguments that link budget cuts to increased vulnerability. In his own words from May 2010: “Is it a dire threat that by 2020 the United States will have only 20 times more advanced stealth fighters than China?” One of the underlying reasons for congressional opposition to the proposed cuts is the desire to protect local interests. Many of the cuts would eliminate thousands of jobs in production factories and military bases across the country. Regardless, the dissent is in the minority. According to author Continued on next page...
February 2011 15
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Obama’s Shift to the Center They have accused him of rolling over and alienating the left. They have called him a pushover and claimed he is too soft on conservatives. Yet President Barack Obama continues to move increasingly to the center of the political spectrum in the wake of a midterm election that struck a damaging blow to the Democrats’ hold on government. The greatest indication of Obama’s change in direction occurred in December, when he compromised on a temporary extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans in exchange for benefits for the unemployed. Other policy initiatives indicating a shift to the center have focused on the budget, including an announcement after the elections of a two-year freeze on federal civilian salaries. Some have accused the president of reacting improperly to the Republican and Tea Party victories in November. Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York said recently that Obama should not believe “that if he rolls on his back the new Congress is going to rub his belly.” Weiner is not alone. Many Democrats have expressed their concerns that Obama will abandon some of his progressive promises in an effort to compromise with the new Republican House. They worry that as Obama attempts to shift his policy initiatives towards the center, Republicans will remain united and firm, as they have for the past two years, and turn down Obama’s offers of cooperation. However, Obama’s appointments of William Daley as Chief of Staff and of former General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt as head of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness have given many the idea that the president may adopt
16 The Hill
a more corporate-friendly agenda. This has brought attention to the possibility that Obama’s steering to the center might be in anticipation of the looming re-election campaign in 2012. After a turbulent first term, some believe there is no question that the president needs to make some changes if he hopes to have a chance in 2012. In an interview with The Hill, UNC Associate Professor of Public Policy Daniel Gitterman was asked which of these theories he believed to be the cause behind Obama’s shift to the center. “All of the above,” he said simply. He also noted that there was “no doubt he was feeling some need to shift after the election” and that Obama’s policy reflects his desire for “survival in 2012.” However, when asked whether or not he was surprised by Obama’s move towards the center, Gitterman said “I don’t think anybody’s surprised.” He mentioned how much Obama’s actions reflect Clinton’s in 1994. After a Republican takeover of Congress, Clinton initiated what became known as ‘triangulation,’ promoting many traditionally Republican ideals and thereby boosting his popularity enough to be re-elected in 1996. If Obama’s actions were expected, then why have his recent policy initiatives and appointments so antagonized the left? Much of it may simply be the media’s everpresent inspiration to create political drama in Washington’s polarized political atmosphere. However, leftist Democrats worry that Obama’s approach over the next two years may be the result of a series of shockwaves in American politics in the last decade. After being forced to deal with George W. Bush for
eight years, Democrats found themselves in control of Congress and the White House in 2008. Liberals were greatly disappointed when Republican unity and Democratic disunity resulted in a largely lackluster two years. The president’s biggest triumph, the healthcare bill, was itself considered to be weak legislation in which neither side was truly satisfied. Now, after a hard-hitting midterm election, the Democrats find themselves in a position inferior to what they had two years ago and it is possible they fear Obama’s new initiatives are steering them in the wrong direction. From an outsider’s perspective, however, it is understandable that Obama has taken note of the present political situation in Washington and of a future reelection campaign. It is likely, as one CNBC columnist said, that Obama “has taken a page from fellow Democrat Bill Clinton’s ‘triangulation’ playbook.” And, though Obama’s shift has worried many liberals, the coming months will likely reveal a new drive by the president to appeal to a much broader spectrum of the American electorate. Christian Rodriguez is a first-year majoring in political science. Continued from previous page... and political analyst Douglas Shoen, “both parties have rallied behind the idea that the nation’s debt amounts to a national security risk.” In the face of bipartisan cooperation, the Department of Defense will endure profound cuts. Sam Hobbs is a sophomore majoring in history.
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NC Petitions Supreme Court Now we wait. On February 3, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper submitted a petition for writ of certiorari that would allow the state to bring its case against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to the Supreme Court. Many environmentalists and North Carolinians in general are hoping the Court will overturn the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision on NC v. TVA from July 2010. That decision reversed a lower court’s ruling against the TVA that was going to force the corporation to reduce its air emissions. The Supreme Court must now decide whether or not to review the case. There is no doubt that the TVA’s coal-fired power plants are polluting the air, nor is anyone disputing the link between this air pollution and the haze and serious health problems faced by North Carolinians living downwind from these plants. “The TVA no longer contests in this litigation that the emissions from its power plants cause public health harms,” explained UNC Law School Professor Donald Hornstein in an interview with The Hill. Besides the estimated 15,000 illnesses in North Carolina caused by out-of-state power plant emissions, there are many cases of death and near-death emergencies. “[It’s] as if they’re smothering,” a local doctor said of his patients in an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
In NC v. TVA, North Carolina is arguing that the emissions from TVA’s coal-fired power plants are a “nuisance” to the public and should be stopped. The nation’s courts have a long history of nuisance cases that have set precedents relevant to the facts of NC v. TVA. North Carolina is basing its current nuisance claim on these classic cases. This common law approach is not new to environ-
mental disputes, but the Fourth Circuit found it to be problematic in this case. According to Judge Wilkinson, who wrote the Fourth Circuit’s opinion, “vague public nuisance standards” developed and enforced by courts throughout the country will “scuttle the nation’s carefully created system for accommodating the need for energy production and the need for clean air.” In other words, corporations that obey federal guidelines administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might still find themselves in court. The Fourth Circuit believes federal guidelines should trump judge-imposed regulation stemming from old public nuisance cases. In response, North Carolina points to the “savings clause” in the Clean Air
Act that sought to ensure the rights of states to use their own laws, including their common law, to afford more public-health protection than the statutory minimum. What if the federal guidelines are not good enough? According to Attorney General Cooper, the EPA was not doing enough to keep North Carolina’s air clean. A public nuisance lawsuit was an opportunity to protect North Carolina’s citizens by forcing the TVA to be cleaner than federal regulation required. The Fourth Circuit cried foul, and its ruling will stand if the Supreme Court decides not to review the case. If the Court does decide to weigh in, it could affirm, modify, or reverse the Fourth Circuit’s ruling. Unfortunately, we cannot expect to know the Court’s decision about reviewing the case until after this semester is over. The final decision in NC v. TVA will make a significant difference in how environmental disputes can be resolved from now on. If denied the opportunity to make nuisance claims against polluters that harm their citizens, states will have no other recourse besides advocating for stronger federal regulations. In the words of Prof. Hornstein, NC v. TVA will determine “if any room is left for a state to protect itself.” Caroline Guerra is a senior majoring in political science and international studies.
February 2011 17
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WikiLeaks Lasting Effects Over two months since WikiLeaks posted the first of over 250,000 diplomatic cables that stirred the nation, it is important to assess the policy implications of these leaks, especially in light of continued postings. WikiLeaks has served as a virtual drop box for confidential information since 2006. In accordance with its mission to provide a whistle-blowing service, it posts most of what it receives after review. Despite the legal troubles that founder and editor in chief Julian Assange faces, the site has said that it will continue to release documents over the coming months. There have been concerns since November that WikiLeaks is a threat to American security. In January, the State Department issued warnings to individuals named in the leaks about their potentially compromised safety and has relocated a handful of them in order to preempt any danger. However, despite initial fears, there has been no serious fallout for those individuals. Similarly, negative repercussions on the diplomatic and international fronts have appeared minimal, though at times embarrassing. Though the recent leak of U.S. military classified documents may have been an isolated event, it has brought up questions about the way the military protects its information. Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archives, said in an interview with NPR that the way the U.S. protects its secrets is by surrounding a “vast prairie” of information with “low fences.” He suggests that “high fences” are needed around the most sensitive information.
18 The Hill
No significant change in classified policy has been made public as of yet. Bradley Manning is the soldier charged with violating his contract by using his confidential clearance to access the military’s cables and handing them over to WikiLeaks. His hearing is scheduled for May. Supporters of WikiLeaks have attempted to defer criticism of the site by shifting blame onto Manning, emphasizing that the leaks were not the product of hacking. Did WikiLeaks really do anything wrong? Undeterred by these arguments, U.S. federal prosecutors have been searching for evidence that would allow them to try Assange.. What has been so troubling to many is the question of what ethical parameters WikiLeaks should be bound by, or in other words, how it should censor its material. It is a self-described “non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public.” WikiLeaks is a new medium for information dissemination that the American legal system has little experience with. The New York Times is one example of a news source that has on numerous occasions elected to omit sensitive information. It has justified its decisions with article 19 of its Code of Ethics, which reads: “We gather information for the benefit of our audience.” Critics of WikiLeaks have also pointed to the Times’ article 27, “[NYT Journalists] may not purloin data, documents or other property, including such electronic property as databases and e-mail or voice-mail messages,” as a shining example of a code that WikiLeaks should adopt.
Critics of WikiLeaks say that many of the leaked cables simply reveal diplomatic conversation, not illegal activity, as is the mission of true whistle-blowing organizations This has been a thorn in the side for many who otherwise would generally support such a venture; even strong supporters of expansive First Amendment rights have been divided in their opinions of WikiLeaks. Despite the initial outcry over the leaks, little seems to have been done on a policy level to prevent further leaks from happening. Has this leak, then, really mattered? Initial concerns regarded the possibility that other governments would not trust the U.S. or become upset given that some of the cables revealed American frustrations with diplomacy and other nations. However, American relations with other countries have not visibly suffered. This in turn challenges the initial goals of WikiLeaks; continued interest is in the leaks themselves more so than in the content of the documents. As the leaks continue, it will be interesting to see if anything ever comes of them, but right now it seems that the State Department and the rest of the diplomatic community are simply grudgingly riding out the effects of the rest of the postings. Wilson Sayre is a sophomore majoring in philosophy.
Haitian Recovery
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Is Hope or Blame Being Passed Around? Shirley is an orphan. Her parents were killed on Jan. 12, 2010, when an earthquake hit Haiti. As if life could not get any worse, she was raped just one day after moving into a tent camp, Camp de Mars. She said to Newsbeat, “In the night it was raining. I was in my tent and one man came in, kicked me in the belly. He then raped me. I screamed but nobody could hear me because of the rain.” Far from being an isolated tragedy, rape has become a more common occurrence in post-earthquake Haiti. Not only are overpopulated camps less secure, criminals also have less reason to worry about being punished. The justice system has essentially collapsed. Moreover, the police force, already inadequate in size, has been accused of corruption. To make matters worse, two thirds of prisoners in Haiti have escaped. Post-earthquake Haiti is still full of problems. Here are some horrifying numbers: About one million people are still homeless. About 800,000 to one million people still live in cramped tent cities. Only 5 percent of 675 million cubic feet of rubble has been removed. Intensifying difficulties further, a cholera epidemic struck Haiti, taking between 2,500 and 3,000 lives. Health infrastructure is in dire straits. Much of the education infrastructure, including medical and
nursing schools, has been destroyed and not yet rebuilt. In addition, the health care delivery system is very poorly coordinated, with too many actors running amok. As a consequence, Haiti has had a difficult time dealing with cholera, maternal mortality and tuberculosis. Who is to blame for this slow, painful recovery? Some wag the finger at NGOs, accusing them of inefficient spending. On a methodological level, NGOs have been accused of not engaging with local Haitians. Even though Haitians know they need foreign help, they would much prefer to be active participants in rebuilding their country. For example, they might prefer to see Haitian engineers re-building the Haitian national palace. However, the majority of aid contracts have been given to foreign engineers. Moreover, the rebuilding plan has been criticized for bypassing local authorities and thus impairing state functional ability. Much to Haiti’s dismay, the international community did not seriously consult the Haitian people in devising a reconstruction plan in March 2010. It is not surprising, then, that Action Plan for National Reconstruction and Development (APNRD) was supported by only 17.5 of people. Others blame Haiti’s dysfunctional bureaucracy and tax systems, as well as its endemic corruption. Political instability has caused major infra-
structure renovations to be postponed. With the Haitian government in a state of limbo, donors have been reluctant to contribute to relief efforts. Indeed, only $1.2 billion of the $5.3 billion in donations already pledged for the first 18 months of infrastructure renovations has actually been delivered to specific projects. Everything considered, it would be very unfair to tag the Haiti recovery process as a failure. There is much to celebrate. Over 3.5 million people have received food. 1.2 million have daily access to safe water. Furthermore, there are about 700,000 people in cash-work programs. Homes are being rebuilt, lives are being restored and hope is being found, even amidst terrible circumstances. How Haitians can be resilient, physically and spiritually, is perhaps the biggest wonder of it all. As for the future, Derek Sciba, who works for the nonprofit World Concern, said to The Hill in a phone interview, “There has been progress made in the last year. It’s easy to look at the headlines right now and ask, you know, what hope is there? It’s important not to despair but continue on for the sake of those people who are suffering.” Krishna Kollu is a junior majoring in economics and computer science.
February 2011 19
Best of the Blog To better serve our readership, The Hill maintains a blog, bringing you new content in between print issues. The following articles are some favorite pieces this month from our bloggers.
Ah Yes, the Simple Pleasures of Gridlock By: Eric Eikenberry Maybe it’s because I’m sick, but I feel responsible for delivering this constipated bit of news to The Chapel Hill Political Review’s readers: nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, will get done until 2012. For those who are passionate about LGBT rights, global climate change, reformation of the tax code, and who still want to fight the good fight (no matter what your side), I advise you to take a break. Go on vacation, write a novel, get arrested (no capital crimes, please) because your aspirations are on hold. Why the negativity? Well, I would just like to point out that the major “bipartisan” achievement of the past two months was a mad-dash effort to uphold a tax policy that will continue to explode our much-dynamited national debt. But wait, I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff! Remember the year and a half battle over the Affordable Care Act (also known as the ACA, or “The Job-Killing Health Care Law”) the long debate that left liberals unsatisfied, Tea Partiers foaming at the mouth, and the public exhausted, all while marginally improving the status quo? Well, we’re in for some more rabid goodness. A bill of repeal passed in the Republican House, failed in the Democratic Senate (gee, who could’ve seen that coming?), and now the effort to restore “truth, justice, and the American way” will wind through the courts. So far, two District Court judges appointed by Democrats have upheld the law’s constitutionality, while two judges appointed by Republicans have declared parts of the bill unconstitutional. Once again, I know you didn’t see that coming. The Supreme Court will eventually decide this issue (centered on the constitutionality of the ACA’s individual mandate) sometime in the near or not-so-near future. Despite its hopeless nature, the debate is worth tuning into now and again, if only to see (though not totally fathom) the causes of our national slothfulness. As The New Republic blogger Jonathan Chait wrote
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Best of the Blog
about the conservative desire for repeal, “But the Affordable Care Act has become to the right a symbolic totem that has little to do with actual policies. Its very existence is an enduring emotional wound.” Chait is a liberal and a supporter of the ACA, so if you want to contest his singling out of “the right,” do what you’ve got to do. But undeniable, I think, is his assertion that the current political climate is one based on emotion. The disagreements are intractable, thought of by opponents as a struggle of good versus evil (as opposed to differing policies), and portrayed by twenty-four hour cable stations as a zerosum battle. This atmosphere is not conducive to shared solutions. The ongoing ACA repeal effort is the perfect example of why nothing will be accomplished anytime soon. For those worried about our economic stagnation, our decaying infrastructure, and our limping education system, items which need (and have needed) extensive attention, this is bad news. But guys, chin up! Seriously, I shouldn’t be such a downer. There’s so much to look forward to. Like, New York Rep. Peter King’s Homeland Security Committee hearing on “The Radicalization of Muslim Americans.” Because that won’t turn into a latent (or outright, depending on the witness) expression of Islamophobic bile (Rep. King is already on record stating that “eighty percent of American mosques are controlled by radical imams.”). And both sides have agreed that the war in Afghanistan should continue until 2014 and beyond. There’s some real, measurable progress. But I am afraid that my pessimism has worsened to a point which renders me ineffectual. Ignore my prior advice. If you are an activist seeking change, and you have a cause in which you believe, please, continue to fight. Just don’t expect a helping hand from the 112th Congress. As for me, I think I’ll just go back to bed.
Best of the Blog
Best of the Protests Rock Egypt and Defy Expectations Blog By: Kelsey Jost-Creegan At first glance, Egypt is a land of extremes. Fertile Nile bed meets barren desert. Hardee’s delivery motorcycles park near ancient monuments. The poor construct shelter in cemeteries while the rich build mansions on the city outskirts. As the media likes to note, Egypt has a long history of authoritative rule, be it under ancient pharaohs, colonial powers, or modern dictators. As of this past week, however, this authoritarianism has been sorely shaken. The people’s protests have achieved their goal, and thirtyyear President Hosni Mubarak has resigned. The last few weeks have demonstrated how the West has lived in fear of an extremist Islamic uprising in Egypt; Mubarak built his regime on the threat that if he left, the only alternative was an extremist and anti-western state. As these protests reveal, however, this is one supposed dichotomy that rings hollow. Over the last three weeks, millions of protesters stood up to the regime that held ironclad power for three decades. But instead of being the traditionalist, extremist, anti-American affair that many anticipated, these demonstrations were started on Facebook by a Google executive, driven by youth and fueled by the whole spectrum of Egyptian society, blending creed, age, gender and heritage. In January the nation stood rocked by sectarian violence in Alexandria, and images such as that of Coptic Christians holding mass in the middle of Tahrir Square protected by a ring of Muslims became powerful symbols of Egypt’s unity. Similarly, the protestors have been seen arresting plain clothes police involved in looting or posing as pro-Mubarak supports, tying them up, and turning them over to the army to deal with. These examples of protestors attempting to maintain order amidst the uprising contrast those of a desperate government creating chaos in a weak attempt to justify its own existence. The police were called from the street – more meaningful in Egypt than in the U.S., as there are normally police posted on every corner.
Some policemen were even reported to have released prisoners with instructions to empty into the city or go to Tahrir to join the ranks of plainclothes police posing as pro-Mubarak supporters and brutally attacking their opponents. For many Egyptians, even these extreme governmental actions were obtuse and predictable; surely the sign of a government so secure in its power that it had even stopped hiding its brutality. Over the course of almost three weeks, protestors stood strong in the face of this cruelty and deception. The reality of life under such a stifling regime was one of the most striking parts of my experience in Egypt. The government simply chose to cut off all forms of easy communication and applied a curfew for the majority of the day; there was nothing anyone could do but stay inside or risk detention, regardless their intentions. Realistically, I experienced only the fringe effects of government crack-down. Still, as an American who grew up assured of her civil liberties and rights, even these actions were shocking. We so often take so much for granted – the right to protest, to speak and move freely, to associate with whomever we wish; how powerful it is to see people standing up and demanding rights that we apathetically let slip through our fingers. The past three weeks have demonstrated an Egypt – and, indeed, a Middle East – that escapes Western prejudices. A modern movement fueled by social networking and driven by diversity eclipses many stereotypes of the Arab world, its people and its politics. No one can say what the next six months, year, or decade will hold for Egypt. There are legitimate reasons for concern in the face of the legacies of a thirty year dictatorship and an immense power vacuum. Should this inclusive energy that strove for coalition between opposition parties and dignified restraint as the basis of legitimacy continue to thrive, however, there is also much reason for hope.
At the time protests broke out in Egypt, Kelsey was studying abroad in Cairo. February 2011 21
The Last Word
“After the Ball and Chain” Tucson and Mental Health On Jan. 5, a cross-eyed schizophrenic burst through a crowd in Tucson, shot six people and swept his pistol across the rest of those congregated before a man pinned him to the sidewalk. In the days after the murder, a fearful nation whipped back with ferocity. The columnist David Brooks called for rational people to crack down on the “increasingly disruptive mentally ill.” The blogging mobs were even more adamant. An amateur philosopher in The New Republic’s comments section sneered at the notion of “rights” for “psychotics.” This anonymous sage undoubtedly thought he was making a clever joke, but he was more insightful than he knew. A hundred and fifty years after the Asylum Movement and half a century after JFK’s Community Mental
Health Program, the insane still hide in plain sight, fenced off from “the rest of us,” denied full citizenship by a society that views them as threats. Public hostility has sent the mentally ill to “social death,” in the words of Harvard’s Arthur Kelman.
do not understand science. And considering that 87 percent of Americans say they learn about mental illnesses from the movies, their ignorance of epidemiology is unremarkable. How could someone who had only seen a schizophrenic hacking up Hitchcock’s Marion feel safe around the mad? Unless she knew that most mentally ill people won’t murder her in the shower, she couldn’t. If she hadn’t seen the data, the Tucson massacre would only confirm her fear. But Jared Loughner’s targets were the victims of an unlikely rampage. According to the journal Schizophrenia, the chance of being killed by a mentally ill person is 14 million to 1. According to a study in Health Affairs, Americans who have personally known mentally ill people understand that their troubled friends are harmless. Even if they didn’t know the figure, the fact that only 3 to 5 percent of violent crimes can be attributed to mental illness wouldn’t strike them as outlandish. But unless the informed inform the uninformed, Hollywood will keep writing its lurid script and our consumer society will never recognize the mentally ill as fully human. I’m not being melodramatic. Neuroscience studies find that college students do not recognize the chronically homeless—of whom the chronically mentally ill make up a disproportionate share—as human beings. A class whose images light up the wrong places in citizens’ brains is unlikely to receive full rights. They don’t. In 2000, resi-
On Jan. 5, a cross-eyed schizophrenic burst through a crowd in Tucson, shot six people and swept his pistol across the rest of those congregated before a man pinned him to the sidewalk.
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Communities shun mentally ill people because they misperceive psychiatric disorders as contagious and, following evolutionary instinct, peg their carriers as threats. Mental illness cannot be transmitted by liquid or air, but this fact eludes people who
The Last Word
dents of Maine voted to keep in place uncared for by the state, and need- satisfied. But complacency is only an a constitutional statute by which the lessly left to die, the mentally ill live excuse to stall progress. The mentally legislature could, in principle, revoke in exile from our nominally demo- ill still face high barriers to happithe voting rights of individuals with cratic nation. The condition of the ness in life. 80 percent of people with mental illnesses. In a less extreme mentally ill has bettered since Doro- long-term mental illnesses lack a job, but far more common example, apa- thea Dix first exposed their plight and and they live in a society whose thetic communities provide minimal in 1841. Compared to the ball and vernacular dismisses illogical things care to people who suffer from as “insane” and playfully calls poor mental health. The Center Ridiculed by the culture, unintemperate people “lunatics.” for American Progress reports cared for by the state, and Until Americans accept mental that mental illnesses account needlessly left to die, the men- illness as a malady, not a charfor 33 percent of sick days, yet tally ill live in exile from our acter trait, the lonely suffering only 6 percent of health dollars nominally democratic nation. of the insane will go on and no go to psychiatric care. Years of mentally ill person will stand, insufficient treatment wither unashamed, as a full citizen. mentally ill people’s overall health, chain they used to wear, the reso 3 out of 5 die of preventable con- straints upon the mentally ill have ditions. Thus premature death ends tapered into mildness. Given how Alex Jones is a sophomore majoring in their life-long ostracism. their condition has improved, one business and political science. Ridiculed by the culture, might expect the mentally ill to be
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