April 2014 by Campus BluePrint

S U P M A C 14 APRIL 20

s e l b u ges o r T y al Challen e g e L n C o N M on • Update

C Crisis in N y a P r e h eac sing • T u o H c li b ns on Pu Restrictio

CONTENTS

FROM THE EDITOR

RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLIC HOUSING IN CHAPEL HILL

TEACHER PAY CRISIS IN NORTH CAROLINA

LEGAL CHALLENGES THAT COULD CHANGE THE STATE

Dear Readers, Low-income housing in Chapel Hill is a hot topic of discussion among UNC students, thanks to the recent enforcement of a town ordinance that limits four non-related people to a residence. UNC students are interested in (or angry about, or supportive of) the ordinance because they are especially affected by it, but it is not the only town housing policy that is unique. Executive editor Kyle Sebastian and managing editor Gayatri Surendranathan explore another factor in Chapel Hill’s housing crunch: serious limitations on who can live in public housing. Of course, salaries also affect affordable housing. Caroline Woronoff’s story about teacher pay in North Carolina explains why teachers can hardly afford to live anywhere (16), and managing editor Lindsey Kellogg explores whether or not social mobility is at a standstill in the South (20). Worry not, big changes might be on the way -- either because of upcoming court cases challenging redistricting (14), or because Clay Aiken will save us all. Hey, it’s been a crazy year. You never know. Happy reading! Grace Tatter Editor-in-Chief

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From the Blog Nexus 2014 Conference UNC Prof Christopher Browning retires Public Housing in Chapel Hill Clay Aiken: A New American Idol? The Duke-UNC Connection

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North Carolina’s Legal Challenges 14 Are NC Teachers Undervalued? 16 All Together Now? 18 Social Mobility in the South 20 Sporting Different Sexualities 22

STAFF grace tatter editor-in-chief troy homesley executive editor ina kosova, lindsey kellogg managing editors kyle ann marie sebastian executive editor, campusblueprint.com

gayatri surendranathan managing editor, campusblueprint.com

norman archer assistant editor, campusbluepring.com

sophie bergmann creative director matt keenan public relations and social media director

hannah nemer photo editor cole wilhelmi, norman archer, matt keenan, anita simha, lindsey kellogg, claire peterman, layla quran, tony hongliu, wilson sink, thomas gooding, hannah stein-eichner, caroline woronoff, jennifer waldkirch staff writers

sophie bergmann, christopher phompraseut, grace tatter, claire peterman, delaney mcguire, nan copeland designers

tony liu, anisha padma, natalie curnes, ariana lutterman photographers blake burgess treasurer

On the Cover: “Untitled” by Alex Clayton

FROM

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BLOG

Campus BluePrint publishes blog posts daily. Here are some of the best from the blog since our last print issue. To read the whole posts, visit us at campusblueprint.com.

appease a deeply Conservative party base, which hurt his chances of appealing to Independent voters. Many labeled Mitt Romney as a “Moderate Republican,” but I argue that “Moderate Republicans” do not exist when speaking of Presidential elections. By conforming to their party’s expectations, Moderate Republicans lose moderation. What “Mitt” proves is that Mitt Romney is just another human being. It proves that one run at becoming President of the United States leaves a person looking disheveled and exhausted. And that demands our respect.

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The 2012 Republican Primary should have been a cakewalk for Mitt Romney, and yet, it wasn’t. Romney wasn’t labeled as the party’s frontrunner until just weeks before the convention. The man who was the party’s runner-up four years earlier was at one point, less favored than Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann. That is a triumvirate of political terror, and that is the nature of the Republican Party. Disheveled. Living within a house divided. Enter: Mitt Romney, whose only political problems seem to be that he flip-flops on issues, and something about 47 percent.. Ironically, Romney was the candidate many Republicans didn’t want to begin with, yet he fared considerably better in the 2012 election against President Obama than beloved John McCain did in 2008. The documentary never mentions it, but the Republican Party itself hampered Mitt Romney’s campaign for President. Romney had to change many of his views in order to

Public Relations and Social Media Director Matthew Keenan writes on renewed interest in 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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second-class citizen, that literally makes no sense. To be perfectly honest, I felt more degraded in a minimum wage, blue-collar, low paying, service job than I ever did doing porn.’ While the article may have attempted to tell Lauren’s side of the story, it also described her as ‘distressingly naïve’ and ‘the type of girl who cannot help but flicker a smile when she hears scandalous news—especially if it involves her.’ Since the article’s publication, ‘Lauren’ has accused the Chronicle of misquoting her and portraying her as an ‘attention seeking little girl.’... ‘Where is the huge campus backlash and witch-hunt when someone gets reported for rape? Although not unexpected, it is repugnant that our campus is in uproar over one freshman’s consensual sex, yet no one bats an eye about the many known rapists who live on this campus alongside their victims every day.’ Finally, “Lauren” herself decided to write a defense in her own words. In it, she identifies herself as a champion for women, challenging the notion that porn and sex work are inherently anti-feminist and identifyng the toxic expectations society puts on women...

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Yet another scandal at Duke University is going viral on the Internet, and as a result many people are critiquing the attitudes towards women at Duke. Cosmopolitan recently published an article labeling Duke the ‘worst college for women,’ with “a heinous reputation for slut-shaming, double standards, and overall sexual hostility towards their female students.” The controversy began recently, when first year student ‘Lauren,’ [who has since this post was originally written revealed her true name] who has asked media outlets repeatedly not to reveal her true identity, was outed by a fellow student as a porn industry worker. As gossip exploded on campus, the Internet, which you can always count on for ignorant misogyny, began trying to expose and harass her. As the tension surrounding the issue mounted, ‘Lauren’ finally gave an interview with Duke’s campus newspaper, the Chronicle, almost a week ago. She explained her entrance into porn as a financial decision, since she ‘faced a tuition bill of more than $20,000 a semester.’ Yet, she also made it clear that her decision was an exercise of her own agency. ‘I worked as a waitress as a job for a year in high school and not only did it interfere with my school where I was barely sleeping and wasn’t doing my work, but also I was making $400 a month after taxes. I felt like I was being degraded and treated like s–t. My boss was horrible to me… For people to tell me that doing porn and having sex, which I love, is more degrading than being a waitress and being somebody’s servant and picking up after somebody and being treated like a lesser,

Staff writer Jennifer Waldkirch summarizes and responds to the recent Duke scandal in “Duke Porn Star Sheds Light on Society’s Double Standards.”

Nexus 2014 Conference on Water, Food, Climate and Energy From March 5 to March 8, there were three centers for the United Nations, a leading United Nations staff member told Felix Dodds — Geneva, New York and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The staff member might have been joking, says Felix Dodds, a senior fellow at UNC’s Global Research Institute. But the Friday Center was indeed be full of dignitaries from all over the world. What brought them to campus? The Nexus 2014 Conference on Water, Food, Climate and Energy. Campus BluePrint provided the main press coverage of the conference. Here’s some highlight from our coverage. For more, check us out online at www.campusblueprint. com:

“Ninety to 100 percent of what I need as an environmental NGO to protect my universe that I care about, is exactly what business needs to mitigate business risks. They need institutions, they need coherent government, they need regulations…they need government to step up and allocate and properly permit and regulate water as if it matters. We need the same damn thing.” -- Stuart Orr, Head of Water Stewardship at WWF International

“No water, no beer.” -- Kim Marotta, Director of Sustainability at MillerCoors

U.S. farmers are the slowest group to believe in climate change…in sessions, if you mention the phrase ‘climate change,’ they tune out. -- Jesse Hirsch, staff writer, Modern Farmer

“Many urban settlements in developing countries are located in environmentally fragile areas and lack access to basic services such as housing or water, which makes them extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. If not addressed, this problem will only worsen as the number of people living in urban areas increases from 50 percent to 70 percent globally by 2050.” -- Executive editor Kyle Ann Sebastian, “Nexus CONFERENCE, DAY 4: URBAN CHALLENGES OF THE NEXUS”

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CHRISTOPHER BROWNING After four decades of Holocaust scholarship, an academic luminary prepares to leave UNC JENNIFER WALDKIRCH he Frank Porter Graham Professorship, one of the many distinguished professorships at Carolina, was created in 1991 to encourage academic prestige at the university. In 1999, Professor Christopher Robert Browning accepted the position. As one of the foremost scholars on the Holocaust, Browning holds an important key to the way historians understand one of humanity’s most horrific events. One of the many classes he’s taught, History of the Holocaust, focuses on the “origins and implementation of the Nazi genocide during World War II, as well as reactions of and realities for European Jews.” Every semester it’s offered, history majors and non-history majors alike scramble to get a seat in his class. After this semester, however, Browning is retiring from his professorship at Chapel Hill. We’ve taken a look back at his entry into the field of Holocaust history and his accomplishments thus far.

An Unexpected Path Graduating with a Master’s Degree in French diplomatic history in 1968, Christopher Browning had not originally planned to devote himself to the study of the Holocaust. At that time, research on the Holocaust was at a very early stage, as few historians had attempted to make sense of the tragedies that happened just two decades earlier. It wasn’t until he read Raul Hilberg’s book, The De-

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struction of the European Jew, published in 1961, that Browning began to turn his attention to the study of the Holocaust. “It covered a topic that had been totally ignored in the European history courses that I had taken as an undergrad in the mid1960s,” Browning recalls. “I was fascinated by the book, and decided to switch the research area for my PhD to some aspect of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.” Hilberg’s book was the first widely read publication to acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust as a departure beyond the regular atrocities of war. It propelled scholars to engage in a broader discussion of racial genocide under the Third Reich. Since his entrance into the historiography of the Holocaust, Browning has contributed immensely to one of the primary debates within Holocaust research concerning the Final Solution as an early intentional policy of Nazi leaders or simply a function of German war and conquest. Browning believes these two school of thoughts, called intentionalism and functionalism, to be a “false dichotomy,” and has labored to recognize both the ideological and situational factors of Nazi policy. In interpreting the motivations of Holocaust perpetrators, from Adolf Hitler to the everyday man, he has shed a bright light on the nature of human depravity. During his professorship at Pacific Lutheran University, in 1992, Brown-

ing published his most famous work, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101. The book explores the story of one Nazi police force, tasked with the mission to exterminate and deport Polish Jews to death camps in 1942. In choosing his subjects, Browning attempted to diverge from the typical view of Nazi perpetrators: radical party members and top-ranking leadership. Instead, the focus of Ordinary Men, is a unit of “average, middle-aged Germans” of mostly working-class backgrounds. Yet as the book progresses, these “ordinary men” become cold-blooded killers, committing the murders of tens of thousands of Jews. Through his work, Browning forces his readership to confront the humanity of Holocaust perpetrators and the banal nature of their atrocious crimes. In a 2006 interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Browning explained that “once you start treating the perpetrators as human beings, then you are faced with that uncomfortable awareness that: Are they fundamentally different than I am? And, in that situation, what would I have done?”

Scholar in the Spotlight Since its publication, Ordinary Men has become a landmark in Holocaust historiography, placing Browning at the top of his field and garnering him world recognition. In 2000, David Irving, a notorious Holocaust denialist,

PHOTO BY HANNAH NEMER Professor Christopher Browning is retiring after 15 years teaching at UNC. Browning is world-renowned for his scholarship on the Holocaust.

sued Deborah Lipstadt for her words on him in her book, Denying the Holocaust. As the case amassed publicity, Christopher Browning was called as an expert witness and cross-examined by Irving. In one stunning moment of the case, Irving attempted to legitimize his denialist revisionism by asking if “the last chapter on the Holocaust” had yet to be written. “We are still discovering things about the Roman Empire. There is no last chapter in history,” Browning responded. While Irving may have been searching for validation, it is the assertion that understandings of history must be continuously revisited that threatens the thin groundwork on which Holocaust denial stands.

Finding a home at UNC In his professorship, Christopher Browning has cherished the opportunity to share this outlook with his students. Throughout his four decades of teaching, Browning has

invested his time in ensuring that future generations of Holocaust scholars may follow in his path. He hopes to prepare future history teachers “to teach a course on the History of the Holocaust, or at least to incorporate Holocaust materials into the other courses on European history that they will teach someday.” Though the history of the Holocaust may be emotionally heavy, many students find themselves enthusiastic to learn. Junior history major, Scott Nelson feels that Browning’s lectures are engaging because they lack the pedantic tone of a lecture. “Rather, he is telling a 70 year old story that, due to his clarity and knowledge of the subject, seems like it could have taken place yesterday,” Nelson says. “He knows precisely what happened on what day to whom and where.” Students taking his class find themselves inspired and deeply affected by the material. For senior global studies major, Stephanie

Sistare, taking History 262 with Professor Browning was a perspective changing experience. Before taking the class, she had a one dimensional understanding of the Holocaust, she says Yet by studying the varying actors, actions, and interests of Nazi Germany, she has gained insight into an event that many high school history classes can only skim the surface of. How does genocide on the scale of the Holocaust happen in the modern era? It is this question that Browning has devoted his life to understanding and teaching to undergraduate college students. In his words, he hopes each of his students will walk away from his class with the knowledge that “the Holocaust was not an isolated aberration or freakish event but had its origins deep in European/ Western history and reflects basic vulnerabilities of the nation state, modern bureaucratic society, and human nature.”

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Public Housing in ChapeHill: The town has the strictest restrictions in the state, leaving some with no where to turn.

KYLE ANN SEBASTIAN & GAYATRI SURENDRANATHAN

n the past 15 years have you or any tivity or crimes involving physical viofamily member listed on the applica- lence within the last 10-15 years. The practical effect of this policy is tion, engaged in the use, sale, manufacture, distribution of a controlled sub- that an individual who was charged stances (examples; heroin, marijuana, with drug possession, or got in a fight codeine, and other illegal drugs) or il- at school and was arrested at the age of 16, remains ineligible for public legal drug activity?” The application for Chapel Hill Pub- housing until they are 31 years old. lic Housing asks applicants a series of This policy can have serious impacts questions about their family, income, on families in public housing, as ineliand criminal history. This includes ask- gible individuals are unable to live in ing applicants if they have been ar- the family home. While applicants may rested, charged, or convicted of a vio- appeal decisions by the Public Housing lent crime, which may include property Authority this rarely happens, according damage or verbal threats, in the last ten to the NC Justice Center. Chapel Hill curyears, or used rently has the illegal drugs Chapel Hill Public most extreme within the last Housing criminal criminal exclufifteen. Answer sion policy in yes to either exclusion policy North Carolina, of these quesrequires that applicants with nearby cittions, and you have absolutely no ies such as Ramay find yourhistory of drug activity leigh, Durham, self and your and Greensboro family ineligible or crimes involving requiring a maxfor public housphysical violence within imum exclusion ing. the last 10-15 years. period of five The applicayears. Charlotte tion asks not requires the seconly for convictions, but charges and arrests as well. ond longest disclosure period at seven Chapel Hill Public Housing criminal ex- years. Chapel Hill Public Housing Director clusion policy requires that applicants have absolutely no history of drug ac- Tina Vaughn believes in the strength

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of Chapel Hill’s exclusion policy, which she said the town implemented almost two decades ago. This was during President Clinton’s presidency - in the years between 1988 and 1998, harsh laws were passed to exclude applicants with criminal and drug records from public housing. According to Congress, Public Housing Authorities should deny applicants public housing if within a “reasonable time” preceding their application, they engaged in drug-related or violent criminal activity. The “reasonable time” was left up to individual public housing departments. “We have the time frame we do because our main priority is to our current residents,” Vaughn said. “We need to make sure that their environments are safe.” Vaughn said the public housing department looks into other factors besides crime, such as past renting history, when considering applicants. She added that 10-15 years was an adequate amount of time for someone to be “truly rehabilitated” after criminal activity, and in that time period they would have likely cut ties with friends and family who are involved in similar activities. She said the Public Housing Department works to cut down the risk that even reformed criminals bring

criminal activity with them to Chapel said that though “innocent until proven guilty” is a constitutional standard of Hill’s public housing. But in 2011, Secretary of Housing and criminal procedure and does not apply Urban Development Shaun Donovan to civil actions related to housing, she wrote a letter to public housing direc- is nevertheless concerned from a moral tors nationwide urging them to allow standpoint about Chapel Hill’s public former offenders to reunite with their housing eligibility procedures. Though an arrest record doesn’t exfamilies in public housing. “Research shows that ex-offenders plicitly exclude an individual from acwho do not find stable housing in the cess to public housing, it is up to the community are more likely to recidivate discretion of public housing authorities than those who do,” Donovan said in whether or not a person with a record can be deemed a “negative influence” his letter. However, according to Vaughn, the De- not fit for public housing. Leaving the partment of Housing and Urban Devel- lines around an issue that’s both socioopment does not have any provisions economically and racially charged so saying that Chapel Hill cannot have a blurry no doubt results in discriminacriminal exclusion period as long as tion, whether intentional or not. “When language is vague and broad, 10-15 years and they are therefore “not it is potentially subject to abuse,” Sabbreaking any laws.” Durham, which has a criminal exclu- beth said. And Mark Dorosin, UNC Law sion period of only 3-5 years, does have professor and managing attorney of the center for a much higher Civil Right, said crime rate than What we know is that he is worried Chapel Hill -people of color are arthat Chapel and Vaughn Hill’s public said many aprested in overwhelmhousing departplicants on the ingly disproportionate ment looks into two-year-long numbers. If we use criminal charges waiting list for arrests as a measuring and arrests and Chapel Hill pubstick, we are replicattherefore potenlic housing are tially reinforces actually from ing the institutional our criminal Durham. biases in law enforcesystem’s bias “What works ment. against people for Durham of color. might not work - Mark Dorosin, “What we for us,” Vaughn know is that said. UNC Law professor people of color And more conare arrested in cerning is that the public housing application asks for overwhelmingly disproportionate numpast criminal charges, not just convic- bers,” Dorosin said. “If we use arrests as tions. When asked about this provision, a measuring stick, we are replicating inVaughn said, “just because someone stitutional biases in law enforcement.” He said that Chapel Hill’s criminal exwasn’t convicted of a crime they were arrested for doesn’t mean they didn’t clusion period is lengthy, especially in comparison to neighboring towns. “If do it.” UNC Law professor Kathryn Sabbeth we are hoping to help people who are

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coming out of prison to rehabilitate, then putting up artificial barriers seems counterproductive,” he added. Chapel Hill’s Justice in Action Committee has expressed similar concerns of the policy’s implications for racial and economic equity, and is preparing to submit recommendations for changes to the public housing policy. Will Hendrick, Chair, said the committee has met with Vaughn, as well as members of the NC Justice Center, to discuss the policy, and two concerns emerged. The first is the inclusion of charges and arrests not resulting in conviction. “That seemed to fly in the face of the presumption of innocence and opened up negative consequences for individuals the justice system has not found guilty,” Hendrick said. The second was the length of the exclusion period. Hendrick noted that Chapel Hill’s policy is an outlier and “there did not seem to be a justification for such an extreme policy.” Chapel Hill Town Councilwoman Sally Greene agreed with Dorosin, saying she and the Town Council are concerned about Chapel Hill’s criminal exclusion period. She personally believes that the public housing authorities in Chapel Hill are too strict, and is currently working with Mayor Klenschmidt to address the issue. Hendrick expressed hope that changes in the policy could be achieved quickly, as it does not require deliberation and voting. Rather, change “only takes revision by the Town Manager,” said Hendrick. The Manager’s agenda is set by the Mayor and Town Council. “We need to pay careful attention to the policies in Chapel Hill and see if they’re the right policies,” Greene said.

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A NEW AMERICAN IDOL?: FORMER TV STAR RUNS FOR CONGRESS MATT KEENAN f you told me a year ago that Clay Aiken would run for Congress in North Carolina in 2014, I would have thought you to be audacious maybe even ludicrous. And I would be wrong. Clay Aiken is officially running to represent North Carolina’s 2nd District, which includes some of the suburbs surrounding Raleigh, as well as Smithfield, Sanford, and Dunn. Aiken is not the first celebrity to run for Congress, but his candidacy could have major implications for North Carolina. Aiken’s campaign has the potential to bring positive national attention to a state that as of late has produced nothing but bad political news. Aiken will face a challenging slog, though, as North Carolina’s 2nd District has voted in favor of Republican candidates in recent Presidential and Congressional elections. Renee Ellmers, a Republican, has represented the Second Congressional District of North Carolina since 2011. Ellmers defeated former Congressman Bob Etheridge, a Democrat, by less than 1,500 votes in the 2010 Congressional Election, The election was so close, it had to be verified by a recount of the votes. In the four previous Congressional elections, (2002-2008) Etheridge never received less than 62 percent of the vote. Conveniently for Ellmers, the district lines were redrawn to favor a Republican candidate, which allowed

Ellmers to garner 55.9 percent of the vote 2012, defeating Democratic challenger Steve Wilkins. When the federal government shut its doors for just over two weeks in October of 2013, Ellmers initially insisted on taking her paycheck, while thousands of government employees were sent home with no pay. Ellmers’ actions caused a firestorm among her constituents, causing her to quickly change her stance, and deny her pay. One resident, as quoted in the News and Observer, went as far as to say: “Next election, I’m going to send money to her Democratic opponent.” Be careful what you wish for. Congressional incumbents usually have an advantage against their challengers when it comes to name recognition and fundraising. Congresswoman Renee Ellmers may face a recognition competition, as one of her Democratic challengers has roughly 40,000

more followers on Twitter. Ellmers also has to compete for the support of her own party. Frank Roche, a radio talk show host and professor of economics at Elon University, has decided to challenge Ellmers in the Republican Primary, which will take place on May 6, 2014. With donations, as well as voters potentially split between two Republican candidates, Clay Aiken has a chance to seriously contend for the Congressional seat.

Clay Aiken was a pop singer for more than a decade before his run for Congress.

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PHOTO PROVIDED BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Precedent

Idol). Clay Aiken is no pushover, and it ers’ transformation into a Washington Clay Aiken is not the first celebrity to may benefit Congresswoman Ellmers politician, and not a North Carolina politician. Voters want solutions to the run for public office. Sonny Bono, no- to remember that. says problems they table for his part in the singing duo Nothing face at home, Sonny and Cher, represented Califor- “‘MERICA!” like a Voters want solutions and unlike nia’s 44th District from 1995, until his Congresswomto the problems that the Congresshusband death in 1998. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an’s they face at home, men representfamous for appearing in countless ac- reporting a miling them, are tion movies for almost 40 years, served itary-grade asand unlike the Connot tied to the two terms as California’s governor, from sault rifle missgressmen representneeds of a politi2003 until 2011. Also, as millions of ing from their ing them, are not tied cal party. Voters Americans know, Ronald Reagan, the home. It’s alto the needs of a pohave the power 40th President of the United States, most too good. litical party. to change what was an actor before he became a politi- It forces me to party or which cian. These men proved that a celebrity ask why Ellmers candidate the could be elected to public office, if his or is not receiving her political views align with the district donations from gun-related PACs? Ellm- vote for, and if the voters become alieners clearly values security, attention to ated from a candidate, that candidate or state he or she wishes to represent. So far, the only people making a big detail, and large magazines, what else will not be reelected. Clay Aiken represents change. His deal about Aiken’s past appearance could gun-friendly donors want? views on jobs, education, and veterans on American Idol and recording career are progressive, and reflects the simple are those not involved with Aiken’s Aiken’s Chances Contrary to fact that Clay Aiken cares about the campaign. On what many ex- people of North Carolina’s Second DisFeb. 3, Politico As we all know, he perts say, this trict. I say, forget about his past, for it reported that doesn’t always fare seat is more of has little bearing on his political career. Congresswoma toss-up than Renee Ellmers is not scrutinized for an Ellmers said: all that well. He was it seems. The working as a nurse before becoming “As we all know runner-up. i n c u m b e n t ’ s a Congresswoman, so why should Clay he doesn’t alown party is not Aiken be scrutinized for being a singer. ways fare all Renee Elmers, inunited behind Clay Aiken is running for Congress, and that well. He cumbent US Congress one candidate, he seems to have applicable solutions was runner-up.” and a very well for the state of North Carolina. Clay AiEllmers was women and Aiken’s known chal- ken has a good chance to win North referring to Airival for District 2 lenger is gaining Carolina’s Second District, because the ken’s appearmomentum in thing about North Carolina is, it is never ance on Amerithe district. Clay quite as conservative as it may seem. can Idol, and Aiken is develperhaps overoping stances stepped her on key issues boundaries with like education, her comments. Even if Ellmers is not a fan of Aiken’s the economy, and veterans issues that singing, there is no argument to be show that he is committed to progresmade against Aiken’s success. A multi- sive reform, and to finding a solution platinum album, a New York Times best- to partisan politicking in Washington. selling book, and an appointment to Aiken’s views seem to reflect a solution the Presidential Committee for People the voters of North Carolina’s Second with Disabilities (Aiken was a special District are looking for. Many voters in education teacher before American the Second District disapprove of Ellm-

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DUKE-UNC

A rivaled history and the connections that bridge the two worlds TONY LIU ’m a Tar Heel born, I’m a Tar Heel bred. And when I die, I’m a Tar Heel dead. So it’s rah-rah, Car’lina-’lina! Rahrah, Car’lina-’lina! Rah-rah, Car’lina-’lina! Go to hell Duke!” Lyrics from the UNC alma mater and the ending of the fight song are ritualistic traditions used to reaffirm the identity and collective effervescence of the Carolina community. Played at every sporting event, the anthem holds dear in the heart of Carolina students, alumni, professors, and all who associate with the university. However, most notable in this chant is the ending condemnation of Carolina’s most bitter rival. And even though nei-

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CONNECTION

ther the alma matter nor fight song officially refer to Duke, the fact that the tradition and ritual that define the essence of the Carolina community mentions Duke illuminates the connection between the two communities — a connection that manifests through athletics, academia, and the lived experience of the students and people who attend, work at and live around both universities. What first comes to mind with the Duke-UNC connection is the intense rivalry between each institution’s athletic program. While students of both universities can attest to the reality of

the rivalry, it also holds national significance. In an ESPN poll conducted at the turn of the century, the Duke-Carolina basketball rivalry was named the the third greatest North American sports rivalry, noting that the rivalry “is what college hoops is all about.” While Carolina and Duke played their first basketball game on Jan. 24, 1920, the zeal grew in the late 20th century. In an article from the Daily Tar Heel, Tom Lambeth, a 1957 Carolina alumni, stated that “there’s no question that back in the ‘50s and early ‘60s, the (NC) State rivalry was the great rivalry.” It was during the 1960s that the Carolina-Duke rivalry truly came into its

matter is Duke and UNC students are all universities.” Of late, the Kenan-Biddle living within thirty minutes of each oth- Partnership has funded projects ranger, and we’re all working to better our ing from the Inter-Institutional Contemcommunities…if you’re a Duke or UNC porary Music Ensemble to a Religion student trying to make the world a bet- and Science symposium between the ter place and you haven’t met a student two universities. Through these enfrom the other school, you’re not trying deavors, not only does the connection between Duke and UNC sustain, hard enough,” said Rosenberg. “When students say, ‘I’m so happy I but both institutions are strengthened chose UNC’ or, ‘I’m so happy I went through the respective programs. Thus, to this day, the Duke-UNC conto Duke,’ it is reflective of how those places have respectively molded those nection is stronger than ever. While individuals. College is a time where we ideas of a deep-seated hatred towards are not only accepted into a place, but each school exists, the UNC and Duke communities a time when that continue to place molds us If you’re a Duke or espouse colas well,” Rosenlaboration and berg said. UNC student trying mutual growth Even more, to make the world a between the the Duke-UNC better place and you two instituconnection has haven’t met a student tions. This manifested from the other school, manifests not through academonly through ic initiatives such you’re not trying hard each univeras the Duke-UNC enough. sity’s respective China Leadership athletic proSummit and the Jacob Rosenberg, grams, but also Kenan-Biddle Robertson Scholar through the the Par tner ship. various conFounded in 2010, nections that the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit is a confer- bridge these two communities as well. ence bringing in businesspeople, pro- Thus, in a sense, the rivalry and compefessors, politicians, and other experts tition has transformed the relationship to discuss both the present relation- into collaboration, spurring each one ship between the United States and to work with the other towards greater China as well as the future relationship growth. “Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!”, one of of these two countries. The Kenan-Biddle Partnership funds Duke’s main fight songs and also a rituproject proposals “that enhance the al that reinforces the collective identity intellectual life at both universities by of their community, mentions Carolina strengthening established collabora- as well. “Fight! Fight, Blue Devils. Fight tions or encouraging new collabora- for Duke and the Blue and White…Go tions between Duke and the University Devils! We’re gonna win tonight, Caroof North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” As stat- lina, go to hell!” (the modified version ed in the program’s selection criteria, sung at sporting events). In the end, the “proposals should be designed to stim- rivalry runs deep in both institutions ulate collaborative arts, sciences and and the connections and collaboration humanities projects between the two are only starting to grow.

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own, as Duke’s star player Art Heyman got into an altercation with Carolina’s Larry Brown. This event, combined with the rise of cable television channels such as ESPN and the historic rivalry between Dean Smith and Mike Kryzewski during the ‘80s catalyzed the Duke-UNC rivalry into what it is today. The notion that the Duke-UNC athletic rivalry represents significant components of an identity is described by Will Blythe — a UNC alumni — in his book To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever. Blythe states that “to legions of otherwise reasonable adults, it is a conflict that surpasses sports; it is locals against outsiders, elitists against populists, even good against evil… The rivalry may be a way of aligning oneself with larger philosophic ideals — of choosing teams in life — a tradition of partisanship that reveals the pleasures and even the necessity of hatred.” While Blythe notes his biases, his expression of the Duke-UNC rivalry reveals the larger internal associations between the two universities. However, while notable differences exist between the universities, both also share a variety of similarities and connections. One of the most notable is the Robertson Scholars Program. Started in the year 2000 by Tiger Management Corporation founder and hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, the program provides fully funded educational opportunities to students at both Carolina and Duke. During the spring semester of the program participant’s sophomore year, Duke students attend Carolina while Carolina students attend Duke. Jacob Rosenberg, a sophomore UNC Robertson Scholar who is currently spending his spring semester at Duke, expressed his thoughts on the program, the connections between the two universities and the lived experience associated with each. “The truth of the

APRIL 2014

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WILL NORTH CAROLINA’S NEW CONSERVATIVE LAWS BE REPEALED? An update on legal challenges to controversial NC policy Redistricting

Voter Surpression

These cases are about the legality of voting districts that gave Republicans an electoral advantage.

Cases about some parts of NC's sweeping new voter law were filed by the Obama administration, NAACP, and other groups.

Abortion

There has been a ruling that the state cannot offer only “Choose Life” license plates, among other cases.

Same-Sex Marriage

A case challenging Amendment One, NC's constitutional ban on same-sex relationships, is before a federal judge.

HANNAH STEIN-EICHNER

n the past few years, North Carolina has seen the passage of a stunning number of conservative laws. However, our government is set up with a system of checks and balances, and these laws are subject to one final check: the judicial system. Lawsuits have been filed to stop many of the laws. Here’s an update on some of the key legal challenges.

Redistricting Every ten years, the General Assembly re-draws the state’s legislative districts to account for population growth. In 2011, the Republican-dominated General Assembly drew complicated maps (splitting neighborhoods, voting precincts, and even houses) that were designed to give Republicans a huge electoral advantage. These new districts made a big difference — in 2012 Republicans won 9 of NC’s 13 US House seats, even though 51 percent of voters actually voted for Democratic candidates. While it’s arguably unfair, redistricting for partisan gain isn’t actually illegal. However, what might violate the law is the way the new maps concentrate African-American voters into just a few dis14 • APRIL 2014

tricts. As the argument goes, the maps “pack” black voters into districts that will inevitably be won by Democrats, so that other districts will be more competitive for Republicans. This dilutes African-Americans’ overall political power. Republicans counter that these districts were actually legal under the Voting Rights Act, which allowed packed majority-black districts to be formed to help African-Americans if a black candidate wouldn’t be able to be elected in a mixed-race district. Opponents of the new maps argue that African-American candidates had been getting elected even in mixed-race districts, so that part of the VRA didn’t apply. “One can’t honestly look at this and say it’s an effort to benefit African-Americans. Every African-American in the General Assembly voted against it, and there have been no African-Americans of any stature in the state speaking up in favor of what was done,” said Adam Stein, a lawyer representing the NAACP. Two legal challenges were filed against the maps: one by state Democrats, and one by a coalition of community groups, including the NAACP. Those challenges were eventually con-

solidated into a single case. Last year, an initial three-judge panel found that the maps were legal. Stein called the verdict “shocking,” saying that he believes their case is “extremely strong.” They appealed, and the case is now before the NC Supreme Court, which leans conservative. It is unclear whether the verdict will come before the 2014 elections. Regardless of who wins, the case is expected to be appealed to the US Supreme Court. The Court gets to decide whether they hear the case, but “if they take it… I would say we’d win nine to nothing,” says Stein. “Usually in these cases they’ve got an argument and we’ve got an argument. But here, I don’t think they have an argument.”

Voter Suppression Last year the General Assembly passed new voting rules, which included dozens of measures that will make it more difficult for North Carolinians to vote. These restrictions are purportedly to combat voter fraud, although many Democrats argue that the goal is to make it more difficult for key Democratic constituencies, like African Americans and young people, to vote.

will hear arguments about whether the plaintiffs show a “strong likelihood of success,” in which case the judge will issue an injunction so that the law does not go into effect for the next election. Whichever way the judge finds, the case will probably go before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then potentially the Supreme Court.

PHOTO BY HANNAH NEMER

Last summer, the US Supreme Court struck down a section of the Voting Rights Act that would have required NC to pre-clear voting changes with the Justice Department to make sure that they did not have a disproportionate effect on African-Americans. This ruling will make it much more difficult to stop the law. However, several lawsuits have been filed under a different section of the Voting Rights Act, which requires that plaintiffs prove that the General Assembly was intentionally discriminating against black voters. This is a much tougher bar to clear. The suits also depend on the 14th and 15th amendments. Three suits have been filed about the law. Notably, one suit was filed by the Obama administration. The two other suits were filed by affected voters and organizations, including the NAACP. The lawsuits fight similar provisions, like requiring voter ID and shortening the early voting period, and mostly make similar arguments. Some measures, like ending the ability to vote straightticket, have not been contested. On the state’s side, in an atypical step the General Assembly appointed a private law firm to argue the case alongside Attorney General Roy Cooper, because Cooper has publicly come out against the law. The cases will be all be heard at the same time in federal court, under a judge that Stein says is “very able and bright,” but a “conservative judge from a conservative law firm.” The plaintiffs just won a ruling that will force legislators to turn over their emails related to the law, which could be a big help in proving intentional discrimination. The sides also battled about the pace of the proceedings: the plaintiffs tried to get the case decided by the next election, but the state balked at a fast-paced trial schedule, so the full case will be argued next year. However, in July the court

Abortion In January, federal judge Catherine Earles struck down parts of a 2011 antichoice law (the ‘Women’s Right to Know Act’) that was passed by the Republican legislature over previous governor Bev Purdue’s veto. Earles halted a provision that would have required doctors to show an ultrasound to women seeking an abortion, and verbally describe the fetus in detail. The law made no exception for victims of rape and incest, or those who were seeking an abortion for medical reasons. Earles ruled that it violated doctors’ First Amendment freespeech rights, saying that the state did not have the power to “compel a health care provider to speak, in his or her own voice, the state’s ideological message in favor of carrying a pregnancy to term.” The lawsuit was filed by a host of organizations, including the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, on behalf of several physicians. However, several other provisions, like a 24-hour waiting period, remain in effect. Attorney General Roy Cooper, despite being personally opposed to the law, is appealing the ruling on behalf of the state. In February, a federal appeals court also unanimously ruled unconstitutional a law that would have offered an anti-abortion license plate without providing an equivalent pro-choice option. The General Assembly passed a law that approved license plates saying ‘Choose Life,’ while rejecting proposals to offer plates saying ‘Trust Women,’ or ‘Respect Choice.’ The court wrote that

this was “blatant viewpoint discrimination squarely at odds with the First Amendment.” Cooper has not yet released whether he plans to appeal the ruling.

Gay Marriage In 2012, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court in Greensboro on behalf of six same-sex couples, challenging NC’s ban on second-parent adoptions. These adoptions allow one person in an unmarried same- or opposite-sex couple to adopt another’s child. Last year, in the landmark case United States vs. Windsor, the US Supreme Court found that the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned same-sex marriage on a federal level, was unconstitutional. Two weeks later, the ACLU amended the North Carolina lawsuit to also challenge Amendment One, the NC constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. They are hoping that the US vs. Windsor verdict will bolster their case. It’s uncertain when the verdict will be released. Of course, same-sex marriage may be legalized nation-wide by the US Supreme Court before it is legalized on the state level. APRIL 2014

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UNDERVALUED, UNDERPAID, AND MANY ON THE WAY OUT North Carolina’s teachers struggle with limited means

CAROLINE WORONOFF

eachers are one of North Carolina’s er college graduates are choosing to most undervalued assets. The state go into the education field. The poor ranks 46th in the nation for teacher compensation of teachers has much pay—with teachers making approxi- to do with it. North Carolina has seen mately ten thousand dollars less than the most severe drop in teacher salary the national average—and Governor rankings than any other state in the past ten years, Pat McCrory according to the has stated that The state ranks 46th National Center raising teacher in the nation for for Education compensation Statistics. Most is one his top teacher pay —with North Carolina goals for 2014. teachers making apteachers have The state has proximately $10,000 seen stagnant already made less than the national or decreasing some large average. Gov. Pat Mcsalaries. Salachanges to the ries are not just education budCrory has stated that failing to rise get, but not all raising teacher comwith inflation; of the changes pensation is one his they are failing have been met top goals for 2014. to rise at all. with wideFifth year teachspread approval. ers make less While teachers than they did in North Carolina are receiving some of the lowest of five years ago, even on a nominal scale. Teacher pay has had a few negasalaries in the education sector, those across the nation are faced with com- tive unintended consequences that pensation problems. Teachers make decrease the quality of education for considerably less than people in other North Carolina students. First, class professions with the same level of edu- sizes are growing. North Carolina has cation. According to the National As- 4,000 fewer teachers than it did prior to sociation of Colleges and Employers, the 2008 recession due to cuts in the teachers make an average of $14,000 education budget and decreased teachless than people entering other careers er wages. On the other hand, the stuwith the same amount of training. This dent population in the state has grown by 16,000 students in the same time wage gap has grown larger over time. North Carolina is starting to lose period. Growing class sizes make both teachers in two ways—current teach- teaching and learning more difficult. ers are switching professions and few- The second unintended consequence

16 • APRIL 2014

of decreased teacher pay is a decrease in student achievement. Student achievement is directly correlated to teacher experience, and higher teacher retention rates are linked to better compensation, according to the Journal of Public Economics. With poor compensation and empty promises from both former Governor Bev Perdue and current Governor Pat McCrory, fewer teachers are choosing to continue teaching. Since fewer teachers are staying in the education field and gaining experience, students in North Carolina may be less likely to achieve as much or get as high grades as they once did. The General Assembly has changed more than teacher pay in the past year. They voted to end teacher tenure, remove salary bonuses for teachers holding masters degrees, and eliminated the cap on class sizes. Additionally, they altered the education budget, taking $50 million out of the public school system and putting it towards private school vouchers. Removing this money took away seats in pre-K classrooms, and led to fewer teaching positions and fewer classroom materials. However, the voucher system is currently in court, and a North Carolina Superior Court judge ruled that it is unconstitutional to spend taxpayer money on private or religious schools. There has been an overwhelming amount of public outcry about the education budget. Teacher pay has been put on the Moral Monday agenda, and teacher morale is incredibly low. Public

the education budget over the next two years to increase the starting salary from $30,800 to $35,000. This will improve the state’s teacher pay rankings significantly, especially compared to other Southern states. However, the pay increase only affects teachers who have been in the profession for less than ten years, or about 25,000 of the state’s 95,000 teachers. NCSU’s Institute for Emerging Issues hosted a twoday forum in February discussing teacher pay, and many at the forum were unhappy with the pay bump going to the teachers in the profession with the least amount of experience. Policy makers have said they hope to raise salaries for teachers with more experience later on in the process. While many people feel the pay raise is unfair, it does make some policy sense since the goal was to increase teacher retention, and the likelihood that teachers will leave their field decreases every year that they stay in education. Statistics differ significantly by subject, but on average

17 percent of North Carolina secondary school teachers leave after one year, and nine percent leave after two years. Many North Carolinians blame McCrory for North Carolina’s low teacher pay. The issue has become yet another polarized party debate. While McCrory and the current state legislature are responsible for big budget cuts and a far below average teacher compensation rate, they entered office with this problem. Granted, the recent removal of the masters degree pay bump as well as cutting teacher tenure exacerbated the compensation problem. Former Governor Bev Perdue proposed pay raises that the state legislature could not put in the budget, and she cut the education budget in the aftermath of the recession. Teacher pay in North Carolina has become a polarized issue with blame to be thrown around between the two parties, but with few plans to solve the compensation problem ever coming to fruition.

PHOTOS BY ALEX CLAYTON

Policy Polling, a liberal leaning firm, reported that 79 percent of North Carolinians want to raise teacher pay to meet the national average over the next four years. As a result, state Senate and House leaders have admitted that removing the bonus for teachers holding masters degrees was a mistake, and they hope to re-implement it in the future. In an attempt to retain more math and science teachers, McCrory has announced the possibility of paying math and science teachers higher salaries to make up for their higher opportunity costs for choosing teaching over high-salaried science and tech jobs. While this rationale makes sense, many dislike it because sends a message that liberal arts teachers are less valuable. Between the clear constituent opinion and low teacher morale, the state decided to make some lofty financial changes far outside budget-writing season. On Feb. 10, top state lawmakers promised to add $200 million to

APRIL 2014

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ALL TOGETHER NOW?

Are campus organizations capable of changing the world, or anything at all? Wilson Sink continues Campus BluePrint’s exploration of student activism efficacy.

BY WILSON SINK t was an organized chaos. The police had closed the street at both ends. People crushed together, barely able to move. Others shouted, the cacophony mingling to form nonsense. Groups banded together, lobbying for power and support. And into this madness dove roughly 3,946 first year students. This is what the University of North Carolina calls “Fall Fest.” This is how the vast majority of UNC student groups begin to recruit new students for membership and activism. In general, though, with 700 registered organizations and the consequent competition for members, funding, attention and impact, the state of student activism may be equally as chaotic. “It was overwhelming at first,” first year Brooke Davies says, “Every organization feasible was crammed onto South Road, accosting you with signs, sign up sheets, performances, and food.” Fellow first year Townes BouchardDean echoed the overwhelming nature of fall fest. “It was pretty hectic,” he mentions, with a “myriad of clubs and groups.” Bouchard-Dean, though, saw the benefit of exposure to different ideas and organizations. Both he and Davies would commit themselves to these different groups in an attempt to make an impact on campus. But, can all student groups be effective in achieving their goals? According

18 • APRIL 2014

to Davies, yes and no. “Productivity is largely due to the type of people in charge. When the core leadership loses that drive to innovate and sustain its dynamism, it only breeds inefficiency and conflict.” Bouchard-Dean attributed that same inefficiency to the large quantity of clubs. In his mind, with so many groups, it’s difficult to determine which to join. “What are good uses of your time? What’s pertinent to you?” Alec Guettel echoed the same concerns. “As a state/regional/national voice, [student organizations] are rarely effective,” Guettel says. Now the Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Campus Y, Guettel is no stranger to activism. As an undergrad at UNC, Guettel and his friends founded the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC). Despite the admitted “haphazard” of forming a campus group, Guettel and his team soon established SEAC as the largest student-run organization at UNC. Not too long after, SEAC had a national presence. Just a year after the organization was founded, “more than 1700 students from 43 states and over 225 schools came to Chapel Hill” for an environmental conference, according to the group’s history. The next year, more than 7000 students came to Champaign, IL for the same conference. Guettel looked back at his impact as un-

dergrad with mixed emotions. At SEAC, he says, “We were effective in training and deepening the commitment of many thousands of students…[and] we helped some great local programs across hundreds of campuses and deliver some positive change.” However, in Guettel’s mind, “we were never able to coordinate our efforts in a way that I think legitimately affected larger policymaking.” The effectiveness of student organizations was often limited to the local community. Today, these issues are exacerbated by two things, in Guettel’s opinion. “First, students are so turned off by the political process that they seem reluctant to even try to influence policy,” limiting the scope of activism’s impact. “Second, there’s such an emphasis on resume building and being a ‘founder’ that students seem to want to start their own organization rather than being part of something bigger.” With the muffling voices of 700 individual groups, one clear student voice has been “eliminated...in the political process.” However, Guettel believes these challenges are “solvable,” but “it will require exceptional leadership by some individual or group of students to rally diverse organizations to join together.” Now, sophomore Alex Wilhelm is one of the co-presidents of SEAC. “SEAC used to be the largest student-run

PHOTO BY HANNAH NEMER Students protest tution increases at a UNC Board of Governors meeting in 2012.

organization on campus and it slowly died off, but we hope to bring it back,” according to Wilhelm. Starting with monthly newsletters and a speaker series, SEAC is trying to educate students on environmental issues. After that, Wilhelm says, “We hope to… create one common movement for change.” SEAC has a proud tradition of activism. However, there are no mass conferences today. “Apathy is a significant issue on campus… students are busy with school work and simply do not have the time to devote to clubs,” Wilhelm notes. The sheer number of clubs also hinders progress. With many individuals working on individual projects, collective action and its power for change are lost. In the environmental field alone, UNC has groups and acronyms galore. RESPC, the Renewable Energy Special Projects

Committee, funds and supports efforts in renewable energy and sustainability on campus. The SSC, the Sierra Student Coalition, has devoted its efforts toward coal divestment in the past. The EAC, the Environmental Affairs Committee of student government, aids a number of special projects, from Tar Heel Bikes, a bike sharing program, to the organization of Earth Week. SEAC, meanwhile is attempting to unite these disparate groups, and that is just a sampling. These are groups with different goals and agendas, working on similar yet separate ends. Students can only devote their time to so many projects. Perhaps though, activism has taken a different form. Mass conferences and protests are out of style, yet people are still informed and involved. At a place as diverse as UNC, there will always be diverse interests, with diverse student groups to match. In some ways, that’s a

positive. Davies noticed activism in her JStreet events. “We have witnessed record turnouts to our speakers this year,” she says. At UNC, “we love to grow,” she notes happily. Students can now express their passions in more and more specialized ways, growing and affecting the community. As Guettel mentioned, “Student energy is the basis of a TON of great local progress and programs.” Groups now face the challenge of connecting these varied groups to affect national problems. Wilhelm believes SEAC is on the right track. “We are beginning to unite these students…who really want to make a difference.” Just like the chaos of Fall Fest, student activism is messy. Fortunately, students still care, and UNC’s 700 organizations, both individually and collectively, are making an impact, just at different scales.

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SOCIAL MOBILITY IN THE SOUTH: FIVE REASONS WE’RE STILL BEHIND LINDSEY KELLOGG

o you know how much income the top fifth of North Carolinians make? Think not in terms of a yearly salary, but in a fraction of all the dollars earned through work in North Carolina in any given amount of time. Well, the top 2 0percent couldn’t be earning only 20 percent of the income; some jobs earn vastly more money than others. So, what is it? 30 percent of the income? 40 percent? Actually, it is 51 percent, according to the North Carolina Justice Center (NCJC), a non-partisan research organization. Does that surprise you? It may not, given all of the recent coverage on wealth disparity and the lack of social mobility in our country, never mind the fights on how to tax people of different income levels. President Obama even touched on them in a speech last December, calling them “the defining challenge of our time.” So you may not be shocked by these high levels of income earned by the top fifth of North Carolinians. But, of course, that leaves only 49 percent of the income for the remaining 80 percent of our state. What do you think the number is for the bottom fifth? These five points attempt to shed light on inequality and social mobility in North Carolina, and, more broadly, the entire country.

1. The bottom fifth of North Carolinians earn 3 percent of all income earned in the state. The GINI coefficient of the state, which measures inequality of income (and therefore is higher to signify more inequality) is 0.464. This number is tied 20 • APRIL 2014

for 15th in the country with New Mexico and New Jersey, and so marks North Carolina as a more unequal place than over half of our fifty states. Southern states in general tend to be more unequal, partly due to historical processes, and the Midwest is the most egalitarian. The United States as a whole has a GINI coefficient of 0.469, as states with lower GINI coefficients like Utah (coming in last with 0.419) have lower populations than states like New York (ranked number one at 0.499), which tend to bring the whole country’s ranking up.

2. North Carolina’s cities don’t rank that high when compared country-wide for income inequality… In a study released this February by the Brookings Institute, U.S. Census data was used to compare the 50 largest American cities by income inequality. To do this, researchers used the “95/20” ratio, comparing yearly income earned by the households that earn more than 95 percent of others in the city with those that earn more than only 20 percent. This puts people in the highest rung of income earners, those that have reached the top 5 percent, in comparison with those in the bottom fifth of all earners. Some American cities were deemed very unequal, like San Francisco (ranked third), due to the richest earning very high amounts in relation to low earners at a ratio of $354,000/$21,000. Other cities, like Miami (ranked second), come in high onto the list due not to astronomical

NORTH CAROLINA’S INCOME INEQUALITY The top

owns

20%

51%

of N.C.’s

of the

population...

wealth

North Carolina’s GINI is .464 making it 15th in the country for inequality This means N.C. is more unequal than

HALF

of the country

Percentage wealth of the top 20 percent of the U.S.: What is really is:

84% What Americans think it is:

59% What Americans think it should be:

31%

wages for the rich but to rock-bottom earnings at the 20 percent level. Its ratio is $164,000/$10,000. Of the two major North Carolina cities on this list, Charlotte comes in the top half, though near the middle, at number 21 and with a ratio of $22,000/$219,000—its citizens earn above average at the lowest level but much above average at the highest level. Raleigh is low on the inequality list at number 42. Its 95 percent-level earning households make $200,000 per year, and households at the 20 percent level make a healthy $24,000.

3. But, that could be because poverty in the state is concentrated in suburbs and rural areas.

4. While social mobility and wealth or income inequality can be correlated, they are not the same thing. Social mobility is the ability to move up or down through different levels of income relative to the level where you were born. Wealth or income inequality refers to the stratification of wealth or income across a population, and is quantified by how concentrated the money is at the top level of earners. While they may be correlated, not every city or state with high income inequality has low social mobility. Returning to our poorer counties in eastern North

Carolina, it is interesting to note that they have fairly average levels of social mobility, according to the NCJC. The part of the state with the lowest levels of social mobility is the central part of southern North Carolina, especially counties lying on the North Carolina/ South Carolina border.

5. American wealth and income is much less evenly distributed than we think it is. In work done by Harvard University professor Michael Norton, 5,000 people were asked how they thought America’s wealth was distributed. They guessed the top 20 percent of the population had about two-thirds of all the wealth in the country. In reality, the number is above four-fifths. (This number is higher than the proportion of income earned because rich high-income earners tend to accumulate additional wealth through stocks and property.) They guessed the bottom fifth had about one-tenth of the wealth. They really have less than 5 percent. This shows that Americans generally are ignorant of how skewed wealth distribution is across all states. In fact, when asked, people generally wanted a more equal distribution of such wealth, citing the top 20 percent being in control of 30 percent of wealth in the country as ideal.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

People in the urban centers of Charlotte and Raleigh do pretty well for themselves, but North Carolina still has persistent centers of poverty. However, unlike urban poverty that many imagine to be the US’s main problem, poverty in our state is more likely to take the less visible form of rural poverty. Many rural parts of the state, especially east-

ern parts, have persistent generational poverty and low social mobility, and are also far removed from growing economic sectors that might bring more employment and money. (To illustrate, four out of five of the poorest counties in North Carolina are in the eastern part of the state and have less than 100,000 people—Pitt, Robeson, Wilson and Wayne.) Studies, like an additional report done by the Brookings Institute in February, also show that low-wage workers are increasingly seeping out of expensive cities to live in the suburbs. Suburbs are now home to over 70 percent of sales employees, the largest low-wage sector in the country.

Charlotte, NC had one of the worst rates of social mobility according to a study by the Brookings Institute.

APRIL 2014

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SPORTING DIFFERENT SEXUALITIES Why orientation and gender matter in athletics

NORMAN ARCHER

“T

his is an area where no one in sports should be too proud. Sport has led society in so many critical areas…this is one where we fell behind.” So said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver while discussing the signing of Jason Collins with the Brooklyn Nets. Recently, Collins became the first publicly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American professionnal sports leagues. Despite being proud of and excited for the seven-foot, 35-year-old center, Commissioner Silver had mixed feelings about the historic moment. “This is so long overdue that I don’t think this should necessarily be on the list of the greatest accomplishments of the NBA,” he said. Silver does however recognize that the Collins signing is definitely a move in the right direction. “It is a big deal for this league, and hopefully, in the way that sports can uniquely impact society, that this is an area where, for the next Michael Sam, they feel that much more comfortable coming out,” he said. “ And, more importantly, the next high school player feels comfortable being public about his or her sexuality with his or her teammates.” While Collins is an off-the-bench role player in the NBA and sufficiently in the terminal part of his career, Michael Sam, an All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year from the University of Missouri, enters NFL Draft this May. If he is signed by a NFL team -- and by analysts indication he will be -- he would become the first active NFL player to

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have publicly declared his homosexual- erance of homosexuality. A recent study ity. by sociologists Osborne and Wagner Sami Jorgensen, a junior at UNC from examined this homophobic attitude in Pawling, NY, is a varsity athlete in both adolescents and showed that males cross country and track and field. When who participated in core sports (footasked about Collins and Sam, she ex- ball, baseball, basketball, and/or soccer) plained how their actions were brave were nearly three times more likely to considering the stigmas that tend to hold homophobic attitudes than other surround professional sports. peers their age. “I think they made it pretty clear when The use of masculinity and machismo they came out that, for a long time they when describing sports culture further feared that their status in their sports, perpetuates the idea that sports are as well as their reputation in general, part of a man’s world. While Collins would be tainted if they had revealed was the first active publicly gay male to themselves sooner,” she says. come out in major American sports, he Jorgensen conwas more than tinues, “ I hon30 years behind estly think it’s pro tennis player The use of masculinity kind of sad that Billie Jean King. and machismo when people have to King, who won describing sports be afraid and 39 Gran Slam ticulture further perhide their true tles over her capetuates the idea that identities when reer, paved the they’re in the way for WNBA sports are part of a limelight beplayers such as man’s world. cause they’re Sheryl Swoopes afraid of how and Seimone their reputation will be affected. Every- Augustus, and soccer players such as one should have the opportunity to be Megan Rapinoe. A month before Collins true to themselves.” came out, Brittney Griner, the top pick in the WNBA draft, came out informally, Heteronomativity, Homopho- and the sports world hardly blinked an eye. bia, and Gender in Sports The dichotomy of the reactions to Between the macho environment of locker rooms and the promotion Griner and Collins/Sam is telling of the of hypermasculinity of sportscasters, way that the media and society perit can be both uncomfortable and dif- ceive sports, masculinity, and sexuality. ficult for a player to come out. As the A physically strong, heterosexual man dominant paradigm in sports culture, who excels at sports and has relationheteronormativity promotes the intol- ships with women is socially aligned

with traditional views of sexuality and masculinity. Change his relationships with women to relationships with men and the notion that masculinity and heterosexuality are inexplicably linked is challenged. As it turns out, being gay does not make a man passive or athletically feeble. If, in society’s eyes, it is not feminine to excel at sports, then the equation for normality is flipped. A woman who participates in sports defies gender norms, and a woman’s success in a male-dominated field makes her subject to assumptions about her sexuality based on her body and skill. While Collins and Sam challenge the strict adherence to masculine gender norms, Griner’s orientation only confirms the idea that successful athletic women deviate from the physical and sexual assumptions associated with being feminine. In the media, a male athlete’s sexual orientation is often more likely to be a bigger story than what he does on the court or field; for female athletes, the understatement of coming out and its resulting acceptance is sign of greater tolerance, but it is not without lingering and unfair stereotypes. The different issues that men and women’s sports have with homosexuality are both rooted in heteronormativity. The idea that being gay makes it impossible to be an athlete and that being an athlete, whether gay or not, makes it impossible to be a woman are equally false.

LGTBQ Athletes at the Collegiate Level For a perspective on how sports and culture are integrated, look now further than the Dean Dome, Franklin Street, or the Carolina blue t-shirt that a student passing by is inevitably wearing. In addition to being hailed as a basketball “Mecca,” Chapel Hill is know as a welcoming place of great tolerance for

the LGBTQ community. As an institution, UNC includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in it Non-Discrimination Policy. So why are there so few college athletes out? “I think it’s just a carryover from the stigmas of professional sports that influences collegiate athletes… I hope that with the general shift in acceptance within society that athletes are feeling more comfortable with coming out if that’s what they would like,” Jorgenson explains. Some would point to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) as the real problem. Former NBA player John Amaechi, who came out after his pro career ended, has been outspoken about this issue. “[The NCAA] maintain separate behaviors for sports that we would never deem acceptable anywhere else,” Ameachi said, “Colleges are complicit. College sports are a space where homophobic slurs, physical and psychological abuse are not only acceptable but considered normal.” Take Rutgers University, where head basketball Mike Rice was fired after video surfaced of him physically and verbally abusing his college players, including using homophobic slurs. In light of such events, the NCAA has recently started to focus on LGTBQ inclusion, however the organization still has no power to enforce sanctions over homophobic behavior. If a student-athlete feels he or she has been discriminated against then they can either take legal action of go through their universities administrative process. NCAA guidelines for inclusion of LGTBQ student-athletes are solely voluntary and administrators, coaches, and players are not mandated to follow or even read the guidelines. But UNC is taking strides towards acceptance and equality. At the end of last semester, UNC joined the You Can Play Project (YCPP), a movement dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and

safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation. The YCPP focuses on judging athlete on what they contribute to the sport and their team’s success, promoting that “if you have a skill, if you have work ethic, if you can skate, pass, shoot, run, hump, hit, row, or play – then you can play” The video features a diverse group of varsity athletes, including J.P. Tokoto and Nate Britt from men’s basketball and football players Shakeel Rashad, Allen Champagne, Jon Heck and Jarrod James. “It is important for all LGBT students athletes to be accepted by the people they spend most of their time with,” Britt says in the video.

If You Can Play You Should Play Slowly but surely, a new generation of open-mindedness is granting civil rights to persons identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). In fact, a majority of Americans see gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable; this is a substantial shift from what was a minority view at the turn of century. With this newfound tolerance comes some adversity. While same-sex marriage in now legal in 17 states in the US, it is officially banned in 33. Despite this imbalance, a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, indicating the direction of its impending legality nation-wide. Culture, like sports, is an individual and collective process, and it continually being remade. Inseparable from politics, religions, and even biology, sport culture is an excellent indicator for a social mindset, and it clear that with regard to homosexuality, the tide is beginning to turn.

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Published with support from: Generation Progress, a division of the Center for American Progress. Generation Progress works to help young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at GenerationProgress.org Also paid for in part by student fees.

Campus BluePrint is a non-partisan student publication that aims to provide a forum for open

dialogue on progressive ideals at UNC-Chapel Hill and in the greater community. 24 • APRIL 2014