nt ri eP lu B

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FRoM tHe editoR

CoNteNtS

WHAT IVE LEARNED FROM

LIBBY RODENBOUGH I suspect that the words folk music conjure one of a number of images in your mind. Perhaps its a handful of grungy hippies crooning Kumbaya around a campfire, some decrepit hillbillies clogging on a crumbling porch in the Appalachian backwoods or even (for those of you really worldly college students who have been beyond our national borders) a band of vagabonds with strange, foreign-looking instruments making strange, foreign-sounding noises. Well, pat yourself on the back, you ethnomusicological scholar, because thats exactly what folk music is. That and a lot more. Its people singin and dancin and playin together in the spirit of a common tradition. Its an animated, acoustic homage to the lives and rituals of our predecessors. That might sound a bit too schmaltzy or fuddy-duddy for your taste, but having dedicated the last year or so of my life to both learning how to pick and shuffle at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and to Irish fiddling in pubs across the Emerald Isle, I feel compelled to make a case for the stuff. Here are but a few life lessons Ive learned from my adventures in folk:

NegleCted CoMMUNity: RogeRS RoAd

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iN deFeNSe oF wHoSe MARRiAge?

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wAke CoUNty PUBliC SCHoolS

Dont Ask Dont Tell, the U.S. policy on homosexuals in the military, was officially repealed on Sept. 20. The North Carolina General Assembly approved a state constitutional amendment on Sept. 13 that will ban gay marriage if NC voters choose to accept it. And on UNCs own campus, there has been recent controversy over a Psalm 100 member and his ousting from the group on the basis of his views on homosexuality. The news at the local, state and national level has been full of issues about gender and sexuality. Despite active participation by such a large portion of the community in discussion about these complex identity topics, the fact is that most of us are largely ignorant about them. Because of this, we hope that this issue will help spark informed and mature conversation about gender and sexual identities. Happy reading, Chelsea Phipps Editor-in-Chief
on the cover: Untitled by Darnell Watts

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Folk Music Identity Politics Student Protests in Chile Race and the Death Penalty Aid Dependency Gender Neutral Dorms StAFF
chelsea phipps editor-in-chief sarah bufkin assistant editor carey hanlin managing editor sally fry creative director cari jeffries photo editor hayley fahey, troy homesley, molly hrudka, alice martin, dinesh mccoy, rachel myrick, jenn nowicki, libby rodenbough, kyle sebastian, luda shtessel, kyle villemain, peter vogel, kelly yahner staff writers carey hanlin, jasmine lamb, cassie mcmillan, tessa rodes
production and design

03 04 05 07 12 18

Candidate Lee Storrow The Biology of Gender GOProud Islamophobia Voter Photo ID Laws Unions and the Middle Class

A fiddler embraces his cultural history as he strums out some folk music on a sidewalk.

anne brenneman, molly hrudka, cari jeffries, alice martin, kyle sebastian, saurav sethia, kelly yahner copy editors gihani dissanayake, stefanie schwemlein, cary simpson, renee sullender photographers rachel allen, hayley fahey, charlotte lindemanis, aaron lutkowitz, sarah rutherford bloggers

been performing for seven decades, and yet his fundamental objective today is exactly as it was in the 1940s: to get his audience singing along. This is the gist of folk music: finding something we can all agree on. And in the complex microcosms of political, racial and cultural diversity that are American communities, we would do well to better appreciate areas of common ground.

with a wealth of figures to emulate and, of course, plenty of grisly cautionary tales. Speaking in broad generalization, the western world tends to view history from a distinctly socio-political vantage point, and folk music reminds us that our cultural history can be equally, if not more, instructive.

its Always Better when were together

(or says folk demigod Jack Johnson). Folk music is an inherently communal activity. Even solo folk artists, or the good ones, at least, are happiest when joined by other voices. I saw American folk revival hero Pete Seeger, now a sprightly 92, this summer at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. The man has

Respect your Roots

Though no musical tradition can survive without innovation, folk music emphasizes paying tribute to those who came before, and not only in the sphere of musical performance. Folk songs immortalize all manner of heroes, from naval captains to labor organizers to dear ol Granny. Cultural history is one of our most invaluable resources, providing us

less Spine - Crushing Solos More Complementary Fills

Folk music recognizes musical virtuosity, but it reveres a good ear and a sense of empathy. Egos dont last long, especially in a field that has never been exactly lucrative. To earn genuine respect, a folk musician must know when to back off and how to make somebody else look good (this is particularly welcome news for the non-virtuosos among us). An earth-shaking lead guitar does not a OCTOBER2011

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IDENTITY PolitiCS
Folk MUSiC, CONTD. good jam make. In the university world and in American society at large, we often use hierarchies of personal achievement to evaluate the quality of our lives, where perhaps instead the happiness and success of our communities should be the yardstick of our success. kELLY YAHNER The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 seemed to signal the end of identity politics, relying upon the slogan of Yes We Can, to emphasize the inclusive nature of America rather than the exclusive nature of identity-focused politics. Obamas campaign met with success in part due to its focus on the we of the electorate rather than celebrating or ostracizing a group of mes. The shift in focus to the we electorate was all-encompassing, not specifically blacks or whites, males or females, liberals or conservatives, grandparents or teenagers, but the all-inclusive term of American. Since the 2008 presidential election, politics has reverted back to its old ways, using identities of voters to be celebrated or to become targets. Voters who agree with a candidates identity and vision for the future of America are celebrated, while voters who do not express the same views or desired identity are made out to be the enemy. There is a consistent paradox between uniting, despite our differences, into a group of wes and stressing our differences in a group of mes. As Americans, we like to think that our own identities are what constitute the melting-pot character of America, that despite our differences we all are human. In the realm of politics, politicians from both parties use our identities to their advantage and even use those identities as targets. Conservative identity politics is back in full force with GOP candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-R). Bachmann presents herself as a conservative mother, whose self-described unwavering decision-making is deeply rooted in the Bible and its teachings, focusing her definition of what it means to be an American on people who agree with her philosophies rather than including people of different backgrounds. It is the voice of constitutional conservatives who want our government to do its job and not ours and who want our government to live within its means and not our childrens and grandchildrens, Rep. Bachmann said. Its the peace through strength Republicans, and Im one of them, its fiscal conservatives, and Im one of them, and its social conservatives, and Im one of them. Its the Tea Party movement and Im one of them...Were people who simply want America back on the right track again. Were practical people who want the country to work again. In announcing her campaign for presidency, Bachmann very clearly identified her target electorate. Bachmann, like many other politicians, relies not only on identifying with voters, underscoring the we in the political equation, but also setting herself apart from the competition. This kind of political rhetoric focuses on self-identification being used to single out people who do not fit into the candidateprescribed mold and labeling them as the enemy. In Bachmanns case, social liberals, the media and opponents of fiscal conservatism become the enemy, and in becoming the enemy, they are even labeled as un-American, people who are putting America on the wrong track for the future. Among liberals, identity politics became obvious during the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayi.d. PolitiCS, CONTD. or, whose wise Latina remarks resurrected the identity debate. By selecting Sotomayor, Obama put himself squarely in the middle of such a debate only four months after successfully winning election on a campaign platform that preached the end of identity politics. Did he specifically choose Sotomayor because she happens to be female and a minority? Or did he nominate her for meritorious reasons? Regardless, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were split. Voting in favor of confirmation signaled approval of an affirmative action-esque process, while voting against confirmation denoted some sort of racial bias despite the merits of Justice Sotomayor or her record in terms of judicial activism. This is the type of rhetoric that continues to polarize our nation. It turns the employed, single mother on food stamps and Medicaid into the greedy, government-dependant woman who is bankrupting America. It turns the black employee who rightfully earned a promotion into a beneficiary of affirmative action. More importantly, it will eventually turn you against me. We are all equally to blame: blacks, whites, males, females, liberals, conservatives, grandparents and teenagers alike. Because technically, we are all still American.

CHileS StUdeNt PRoteStS

FIGHTING EDUCATION INEqUALITY BY UNORTHODOx METHODs
LIBBY RODENBOUGH Outraged over university budget cuts? Why not articulate your concerns by way of a mass kiss-in in front of the Chancellors house? To do so would replicate the unconventional tactics of thousands of student protestors in Chile, whose demonstrations against high-cost, low-quality education over the last several months have ranged from pillow fights to choreographed dances to the kissing marathon before a government palace in Santiago. But the Chilean protestsand the underlying discontent which fuels them are no light matter. As their indignation escalated, protestors have turned to stone throwing and even homemade firebombs, while riot police have countered with water cannons and outright bans on demonstrations. In a single day, Aug. 4, 900 protestors were arrested. Chilean authorities have proposed some educational reforms, but students, incensed by the increasing privatization of schools and the poor quality of the remaining public ones, are seeking a more drastic restructuring. Chiles education woes can be traced back to 1980 when President Augusto Pinochets regime instated a voucher program in the education system as part of a wider privatization scheme. Today, that program offers vouchers, which can be applied toward education at private secondary schools, to all Chilean students. The catch is that such private institutions, which comprise 45 percent of the nations secondary schools, may also charge fees that preclude poorer children from attending. Furthermore, elite private schools in the country--which constitute five percent of Chiles schools--reject vouchers altogether and require parents to cover the full cost of attendance. This system neglects the remaining state schools, which comprise half of all secondary schools. The privatization also extends to teachers, whose union has been eliminated and replaced by private contracts. Many universities are private, as well; no public universities have been built since the end of Pinochets rule in 1990. The current president, right-wing businessman Sebastian Piera, has become a central target for the anger, and his countrywide approval rating has subsequently fallen to 26-30 percent. August polls also show that 72 percent to 81 percent of Chileans support the students. Part of their appeal derives from the inventive strategies and cohesive organization demonstrated by such a youthful movement. The leaders of the university-level division of protestors are all under 25; high school students as young as 14 have sought legal consultation to inform their efforts. Although a system in which 50 percent of the schools are private might seem far removed from American education at first glance, some of the Chilean students objections should resonate with their American counterparts. On a broad scale, the Chilean protests are a reaction to the underlying inequality fostered by this opportunity gapa complaint that should be familiar to Americans, given that one percent take nearly a quarter of the nations income. More specifically, Chilean students OCTOBER2011

dont lose the groove

The great thing about collective musicmaking is that you can and should depend on the group to absorb your blunders. So dont cry over that errant F note; hop right back in as soon as you feel the pulse again. As long as youve got the community playing along around you, theres no need to sweat the minutia of individual notes. A lot of us seem to have the mantra DONT F#%K UP running incessantly through our brains, but I will make the bold claim that every last one of the worlds best and brightest have dropped the ball on occasion. The ones who pick it right back up againor maybe even allow someone else to pick it up for themare the ones who start getting at the core of living. Before I descend entirely into Mr. Rogers-esque philosophical rambling, Ill give it a rest. Suffice it to say, I have grown to have great respect for both folk music and the theoretical principles derivedhowever looselytherefrom. Im not claiming that folk music isnt cheesy; only that most of us could use a little less self-importance, a little less stress, a little less seriousness and a lot more cheese in our lives.

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RACe ANd tHe deAtH PeNAlty

COMBATTING BIAs IN THE CRIMINAL jUsTICE sYsTEM
StUdeNt PRoteStS, CONTD. sARAH BUFkIN A smattering of people graced the wooden benches, sporting the usual gamut of business casual attire. Here a tweed skirt, there an over-sized suit jacket. Toward the front of the courtroom, the three white men at the prosecutors table faced off against the defense representatives and their client, who stood out not for the darkness of his skin but for his relative youth and the stiff posture of the two security officers standing nearby. A lone television reporter assembled a camera. From the look of it, no outsider would have guessed that this third-floor courtroom in Fayetteville, NC, represented the next battleground in the fight to achieve racial justice. But while it drew little media attention, the Sept. 6 hearingthe first held under the auspices of North Carolinas landmark Racial Justice Actbrought the underlying tensions surrounding the controversial statute to the surface. The act, which the state legislature passed after a harrowing fight in 2009, allows death row inmates to commute their capital sentences to life without parole if they can show convincing evidence that race played a factor in their sentencing. Cal Colyer, the prosecutor representing Cumberland County in this first case to be heard under the RJA, warned Judge Greg Weeks that the statute could set off a witch hunt of sorts for racial animus in the criminal justice system. Its going to get down to some brass tacks when we get down to the nonstatistical evidence, Colyer said on Sept. 6. What theyre looking for is a smoking gun [something to show] a DA is a racist that will then wipe away the whole pool of RJA [appeals]. But neither Judge Weeks nor the defense counsel proved to be too sympathetic to Colyers argument. Weeks countered that his reading of the law rendered the intent of the prosecutor irrelevant to the appeal, and counsel Henderson Hill, who is representing the defendant Marcus Robinson in his RJA appeal along with attorneys from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, pointed out that the statute offers itself to a different interpretation of how to address the issue of structural racism. If you look at the language of the act, if you look at the Racial Justice Act itself, youve almost been convinced that the state legislators dont want to get into whether or not there was racial animus in the prosecutors office in 2009, Hill said. [What the act acknowledges] is that were operating in a context, in a culture, that has allowed those legacy [racial] issues to continue. In his response, Hill approached the aspect of the RJA that makes it so ground-breaking. Not only does the act attempt to mitigate the undeniable role that race plays in the pursuit of a capital sentence, but it does so in a way that looks at the structural racism lingering in our society and its collective conscious after decades of institutionalized discrimination. Ken Rose, an attorney from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, worked on both drafting the bill and then lobbying for its passage. He

One key distinction between the complaints of American and Chilean students cannot be ignored: the Chileans are doing something about it.

students of the Faculty of Physical sciences and Mathematics of the University of Chile march in protest of the state of the current education system in Chile.

balk at the price tag of a university education and object to inequitable admissions processes, both prominent points of contention in the United States as well. After all, the UNC system has seen a 6.8 percent hike in tuition and fees for in-state undergrads this year, and universities across the country have begun to consider alternative admissions procedures in response to criticism of the one-size-fits-all formula. School vouchers, which are at the heart of the Chilean protests at the high-school level, have also stirred up controversy in the U.S. educationreform debate in recent years, and perhaps the situation in Chile should serve as a cautionary warning to voucher advocates. One key distinction between the complaints of American and Chilean students, however, cannot be ignored: the Chileans are doing something about it. 6

When the most recent tuition hikes were adopted in February of 2011, only 20 UNC students showed up to protest the move. And we have reason to gripe; North Carolina ranked 44th in state and local education spending per capita for 2010 and is projected to hold the same place in 2011. And allthough the nearly $400 increase tuition and fees in 2011 may not have a significant effect on many of the relatively well-off UNC students (the author included), it represents a further escalation of costs that were already unthinkable for many North Carolinian families. How many tuition hikes will it take for the affluent to take notice of how much their peers must sacrifice for the same chance at an education? Perhaps the kiss-ins and pillow fights merit a bit more of our attention. They are a vast improvement over silence.

...Were operating in a context, in a culture, that has allowed those legacy [racial] issues to continue.

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For the last 200 years, we have figured out a wide range of ways to exclude African-American jurors.

is now preparing Robinsons appeal in what he terms the first test of the statute. For Rose, this piece of legislation represents the logical next step in the struggle to achieve racial justice in a state whose criminal justice system has been plagued by discrimination and racial bias for decades. For the last 200 years, weve figured out a wide range of ways to exclude African-American jurors [from serving on jury pools], Rose said. Weve said, No, you cant serve directly by law. Weve said, You cant serve because you dont have the upstanding moral character to serve on juries. Weve used tests. Weve used voting rules where African Americans have been excluded from voting, that in turn excludes them from serving on juries. Weve used property requirements. And the upshot of that is from one device or another weve been able to exclude African-American jurors from service. With the coming of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, however, it appeared that much of the institutionalized racism within the jury selection process would be eliminated from the law books and challenged in the courts. But the deeper socio-cultural bias against blacks would continue to run beneath the surface of Southern society, diverted from its previous channels into a prosecutors right to eliminate an otherwise qualified juror from service without explanation. Known as a peremptory strike, the move is available to both the prosecution and the defense in the jury selection process and cannot legally be made on the grounds of race or gender. Challenging a prosecutors use of a peremptory strike as racially motivated, however, proves to be quite difficult as it requires definitive evidence that the

counsel intended to discriminate when he struck a potential juror. North Carolina in particular has not been receptive to such motions historically; according to Rose, no appellate court in the state has found in favor of a challenge to a peremptory strike. So what was left to the prosecutors [after the 1960s] was the peremptory strike, Rose said. They were going to exclude African American jurors that way. And what weve seen in the studies is that they have made thorough use of it. They used it systematically. They used it almost everywhere. At the time of Marcus Robinsons sentencing, North Carolina prosecutors were striking qualified black and minority individuals from serving on capitalpunishment juries more than twice as frequently as they struck whites, according to a recently conducted study out of Michigan State University. Citing the studys findings, Robinsons petition under the RJA reads like a statistical knock-out: Statewide from 1990 through 1994, the State struck eligible black [jury] members at an average rate of 57.3 percent but struck all other members at an average rate of only 26.0 percent. The probability of observing a statewide racial disparity of this magnitude in a race neutral peremptory strike system is less than 0.001. The numbers only worsen when the racial identities of the defendant and the victim enter into the analysis. In the cases between 1990 and 1994 involving at least one white victim, defendants facing the death penalty were 3.1 times more likely to land on death row than in all other cases. Another study conducted by The Charlotte Observer found that while only seven percent of the 10,000 homi-

cide cases looked at from both North and South Carolina involved a black defendant and a white victim, those cases resulted in 26 percent of death penalty sentences. In contrast, cases involving a white defendant and victim accounted for 32 percent of the total homicides and 40 percent of death sentences. Marcus Robinson is black. He stands convicted of killing a white male. A majority-white jury sentenced him to death in Cumberland County in 1994. Starting this November, he will be the first to get the chance under the Racial Justice Act to present both anecdotal evidence of racial bias in his sentencing and statistical evidence of the systemic racism in the jury selection process. That is, if the prosecution does not succeed at securing the postponement of the evidentiary hearing while it conducts its own study of the use of peremptory strikes. Joseph Katz, the countys statistical expert, estimates that he will need six months to go to the various prosecutors cited in the study in order to better grasp why they struck the jurors they did, at the rate they did. Gerda Stein, who serves as the Public Information Coordinator at the CDPL with Rose, sees such a move merely as a delaying tactic by the District Attorneys office. The real thing theyre trying to do is put everything off because they want the legislature to repeal the bill, Stein said. Thats what all these prosecutors are hoping. That itll get repealed and they wont have to deal with it and wont have to deal with what theyre doing and be called out publicly for it. Just this past summer, conservatives within the NC state legislature attempted to repeal the statute before any of the appeals could be heard. Rep. Paul Stam (R) decried the measure for using

race as a reason not to execute coldblooded murderers. After the House passed the repeal bill on June 16, the Senate could not come up with the last vote it needed to follow suit. Senate leaders have indicated that they may revisit the legislation in May of 2012. Alongside conservative lawmakers, various members of the states criminal justice system have vocally criticized the act. Rose attributes the district attorneys obstruction and opposition to the law to the fear that Colyer alluded to at the start of the Sept __ hearing that the RJA will expose the ugly underside of the North Carolina criminal justice system, of which the prosecutors have played an inseparable part over the years. I think they are fearful, personally, that their actions are going to be scrutinized, Rose said. And I think they will be. Its not an irrational fear. I think its a justified fear, but I also think its past time Wed like [prosecutors] to say its a law, and our job is to uphold the law. Thats the way the constitution works. Thats the way our roles work. Our job is to do justice, and this will help us do that. For the moment, the CDPL attorneys are moving forward with Robinsons appeal. If they are successful, they will do more than win back their clients life. They will also prove that a society can choose to take collective responsibility for its structural inequalitiesthat it can see beyond the intentional acts of racism by select individuals to the unconscious racism propagated through a community through its norms. Quite a hefty charge for one piece of deathpenalty legislation.

The real thing theyre trying to do is put everything off because they want the legislature to repeal the bill.

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RogeRS RoAd
A COMMUNITY sUFFERs DECADEs OF NEGLECT
RACHEL MYRICk Less than five miles away from the UNC campus, residents of the Rogers RoadEubanks community are battling fatigue after decades of empty promises. David Caldwell Jr., a resident and community leader, has watched countless injustices unfold in his neighborhood. Ive been here since the third grade, Caldwell said. His home was one of eight homes selected to be hooked up to public water or sewer lines as a result of a $75,000 block grant the community received last fall. Caldwell, who was looking out on a muddy driveway as he spoke, reported that the construction process has been slowed by recent heavy rains. While his house qualified for this grant last October, it has taken close to a year for the project to be completed. Still, he is not complaining. Seventy or so homes in this area still need to be hooked up to water and/or sewer lines, Caldwell said. The slow progress is part of the complex and controversial history of the Rogers Road-Eubanks community. In 1972, Orange County constructed a landfill in Rogers Road, a historic community in Chapel Hill. Howard Lee, the mayor at the time, promised that the landfill would close in ten years and that the community would get water and sewage lines, sidewalks, street lamps and a recreation facility. Lee signed that 1972 agreement in my mothers backyard, Caldwell said. But the Rogers Road community never got the sidewalks, street lamps, water and sewer connections it was promised. Over three decades later, only two-thirds of the community is hooked up to water and sewage lines. Orange County has delayed and waited to do anything about the matter until recently, said Allison Norman, a UNC student and Campus Y co-president who has worked extensively with the Rogers Road community. They have agreed that in order to extend the life of the landfill to 2017, they must have a plan for mitigation for the Rogers Road community. What this mitigation strategy entails, however, has yet to be proposed by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Norman first heard about the Rogers Road community through a Campus Y committee called Students Working in the Environment for Active Transformation, or SWEAT. Shortly afterwards, she attended a clean-up day at Rogers Road and had the opportunity to meet community members. They were kind and welcoming, and I fell in love with the community, Norman said. The more I got into it, the more the story unfolded, and I saw the injustice occurring in the community. Norman saw firsthand the multiplicity of issues present in the Rogers RoadEubanks development. She can reel off burdens the community faceslandfill and waste treatment, educational gaps, threats with predatory development, and water and sewage issues, among others. Cancer afflicts the Rogers Road community at higher rates than it does the surrounding areas. One resident has suffered the same bacterial infection nine different times; lab tests revealed pesticide in both her water and her blood.
PHOTO BY jENNIFER TRAN

The Rogers Road community still has not received the benefits promised to them in an agreement in 1972 in exchange for placing a landfill in their community.

Students provide the manpower that we dont have, and it makes a huge difference. David Caldwell

Every time I talk to someone [at UNC] about all of this, 95 percent of the time, they have never heard about Rogers Road, have no idea where their trash went, Norman said. When I tell them about this, theyre pretty outraged and shocked; they definitely think its unfair. UNC needs to show support for the community. It was partly UNCs landfill. They are responsible for trash that goes there. The landfill belonged to UNC until 1972, when Chapel Hill, UNC, Carborro and Orange County began to jointly use it. While the landfill is now under Orange County ownership, UNC didnt stop sending trash to Rogers Road until 2008. Norman asserts that the campus in large part has neglected the Rogers Road-Eubanks community. UNC needs to put pressure on county commissioners and town councils to actually act and provide compensation for the community, Norman said. [Residents] are not asking for a lot of money and a lot of things. They just want basic helpa slower speed limit, a recreation facility, etc.

But in recent years, student and faculty initiatives have spurred local interest in the Rogers Road-Eubanks neighborhood. Sarah Hatcher, a student in the School of Public Health and a member of the UNC Chapter of Engineer without Borders, has been involved in the community for four years. EWB recently completed a survey of illegal trash dumps in the historic neighborhood; the research revealed 48 illegal sites. Hatcher presented these findings to the Board of County Commissioners. The university community has access to many resources that can and should be used to the advantage of communities across North Carolina, the United States and abroad, Hatcher said. The type of resources to be contributed depends on the needs of the community. Leading the student-run charge is the Campus Y, UNCs social-justice hub, whose members pitch in on various programs via the Rogers Road Community Center, including after-school tutoring, clean-ups, a community garden, soccer programs and computer and financial literacy classes.

Sometimes all thats needed is person-power and getting hundreds of volunteers to participate in a one-day event, Hatcher said. Sometimes communities can benefit from the research equipment, lab facilities or technical expertise that UNC students and faculty can offer. Caldwell is grateful for the student support. Students provide the manpower that we dont have, and it makes a huge difference, Caldwell said. This is a very old, historic neighborhood with a lot of retired and elderly residents A lot of people cant do the things they want to do with their grandkids. Caldwell and other community members welcome any and all volunteers at the Rogers Roger Community Center, open from Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. Students have always been there in every phase that weve been through, Caldwell said. We want them to help out or just to come and hang out and see what happens here.

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Aid dePeNdeNCy
IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
CHELsEA PHIPPs In an effort to combat poverty and poor nutrition in an agrarian and developing economy, independent development consultant Dr. Emmanuel Santoyo Rio conducted agricultural research in Svay Rieng, Cambodia. A coalition of NGOs who commissioned the research explore why some rural Cambodian farmers choose to grow vegetables versus why others grow only rice. At the close of a focus-group discussion about their current farming practices, Santoyo Rio opened up the floor for comments or questions. Chea Sorm, a community elder and local farmer, spoke up in an effort to represent the interests of the group. Will we be receiving support for our participation in your study? Sorm said. The support he referred to involved seed donations for their farms. Sorm made the request even though he knew all of the farmers had agreed to participate on a strictly voluntary basis and that none of them would receive any form of payment since the results of the study would be used to help NGOs know how to better help their community. Sorms question struck at the heart of one of the biggest issues facing development todaydependence on foreign aid. For those nonprofits aiming to reverse the endemic poverty of many areas worldwide, aid dependency is a disheartening and difficult concept. Well-intentioned development models, especially those that involve short-term volunteerism, often do more harm than good by creating an environment of expectation amongst developing world communities who see their relative poverty in the world as a barrier to success unless they receive outside help. We can come in and impose multiple solutions in the form of grandiose projects, but when we leave, will they use them? Nicaragua Peace Corps volunteer Stephanie Phipps said. We come with the best of intentions, but our intentions need to take us farther than band-aid solutions. The persistence of poverty and the continuing lack of access to basic human rights in much of the world have led many to rethink the philosophy of aid. Traditional aid practices, despite their many successes, have still not lifted the 1.7 billion people living in absolute poverty out of their situation. This lack of progress has led aid workers to question which of the strategies being employed are actually sustainable. International Development Enterprises, a nonprofit organization with programs in eleven countries around the world, utilizes a different development model, one that is receiving increasing amounts of attention in the aid debate. IDE promotes sustainable development through business models aimed at creating market environments that serve the poor, according to IDE Cambodias Agricultural Manager, Dr. Philip Charlesworth.
PHOTO BY CHELsEA PHIPPs

We can come in and impose multiple solutions in the form of grandiose projects but when we leave will they use them?

Chea sorm, a grandfather and community leader, looks out onto his rice field that sustains his household.

International Development Enterprises is an NGO that looks for constraints in value chains and tries to turn those constraints into business opportunities for small business owners, Charlesworth said. In 2010, IDE won the inaugural Nestle Creating Shared Value Prize for its Farm Business Advisor Program. The prize rewards those organizations that foster environments for the poor to succeed rather than perpetuating aid dependency. We observed that agricultural practices in most of Cambodia are at a very basic level, so a little bit of know-how and a few good quality inputs can lead to big gains in productivity and profitability for small farmers, said Michael Roberts, the IDE Cambodia Country Director. The Farm Business Advisors deliver that know-how, and they deliver those inputs to the small farmers. They are able to capture some of the value that is created on the small plots of land that the farmers are growing on, and that sustains the system.

IDE was a part of the group of NGOs that sought to learn more about the vegetable markets Cambodian farmers work within in order to better cater to those markets and encourage success for the farmers. Farmers interviewed in the focusgroup discussions revealed that many aid organizations come to their village in Svay Rieng province and give them farm input materials for free. Sometimes the intent of the donations is to create a demonstration plot whereby other farmers can see the effects of quality inputs in order to encourage them to buy some as well, whereas in other situations aid organizations give a donation as an end-in-itself. On the surface, this might not seem like a bad thing. Until recently, the common conception among humanitarians was that if the world could only give enough money, it could eradicate poverty. In practice, the issue becomes much more complicated. When beneficiaries develop a dependency on the

...a little bit of knowhow and a few good quality inputs can lead to big gains in productivity and profitability for small farmers

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Aid dePeNdeNCy, CONTD.

Development organizations cannot do everything. Some work has to be done by farmers themselves and also by the Cambodian government.

aid hand-outs, the nonprofits are only further entrenching poverty as a systemic pitfall. It became clear that the community in Svay Rieng was at risk of falling into aid dependence when the discussion turned toward what farmers thought would be the most useful improvement to their farms. We are all in need of a water source during the dry season, Sorm said. I want a machine to pump water into my vegetable patch from my rice fields. Later, Sorm and many other farmers, including one who had invested in a water pump, assured the researchers that having a water pump would bring certain returns and would definitely be worth the investment. Santoyo Rio suggested obtaining a loan to invest in the pump. The farmers cringed at this suggestion because they felt they lacked the capital to invest and they seemed to be very risk averse. They resurrected their enthusiasm for the water pump, however, once the topic of loans dissipated, but this time it was sprinkled with stronger hints about the need for water pumps to be donated to their community. Although the farmers had the capacity and knowledge to improve their situation themselves, they preferred instead to wait in hopes that an NGO would provide them with the water pumps for free. The farmers also asserted that they believed that farming skills trainings should be offered to them for free, a policy that is contrary to the model being implemented by IDE with the Farm Business Advisor Program. IDE representatives explained to them that the trend in development is going the other way, that organizations do not have the funds for free supplies anymore, that studies have shown that people value

services and products that they pay for more than those they get for free, that higher quality resources can be offered if farmers pay even a small amount as an investment into their futures. Development organizations cannot do everything. Some work has to be done by farmers themselves and also by the Cambodian government, such as large-scale investments in rural infrastructure, Rio said. Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture-capital fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty, has introduced a new aid strategy called patient capital that utilizes both aid and the markets. Acumen Fund has already invested over $50 million of patient capital in micro and small enterprises. Its money that is invested in entrepreneurs who know their communities and are building solutions to healthcare, water, housing, alternative energy. [Its] thinking of low-income people not as passive recipients of charity, but as individual customers, consumers, clients, people who want to make decisions in their own lives, Novogratz said in a TED Talk titled A Third Way to Think about Aid. Novogratz cited IDE India as a perfect example of patient capital already in practice. The social and economic inequality that exists in the world today must be addressed, and aid is absolutely necessary to achieve positive gains towards alleviating poverty. But the organizations that work towards this goal cannot exist without fundingfunding that could dry up at any moment. Thus, it is of the utmost importance that the strategies being used with aid work do not create a culture of dependency.

geNdeR & SeXUAlity

e are all consistently guilty of heterosexism; its influence pervades our language, our actions and our assumptions. Our notions of gender are most often grounded in a binary, masculine and feminine, that determines a single acceptable gender and assumes a single acceptable sexuality. Such perceptions exclude the many individuals who identify elsewhere on the gender

and sexuality spectrums. Awareness is the first step to openness. Just because we are unaccustomed to an identity does not mean we should ignore its existence. The goal of the stories in this issue is to promote understanding of sexuality and gender as complex issues that should never be painted black and white. We explore the definition of marriage, look at alternative campus housing arrangements that are welcoming

to all gender identities, profile a local candidate who is so much more than his sexuality, delve into the science behind gender and profile a unique kind of LGBTQ organization. We hope that readers deeply consider these issues, because after all, identity goes much deeper than the categories we use to group ourselves--male and female and transgender, heterosexual and homosexual and bisexual. OCTOBER2011

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IN DEFENsE OF wHoSe MARRIAGE?

THE OUTCRY AGAINsT NORTH CAROLINAs PROPOsED AMENDMENT
CAREY HANLIN

Im really proud that the Chapel Hill town council voted unanimously to oppose the amendment.

When New York fully legalized samesex marriage earlier this year, North Carolina and many states like it hit a crossroads. Now more than ever, the American people are voicing their opinions on same-sex marriage, and for all involved, the situation has become increasingly polarized; either give samesex couples the same rights as others or stop them in their tracks. So far, North Carolina legislators have chosen the latter. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage passed the House of Representatives earlier this month with 75 votes only three more than the minimum needed to passand then passed the Senate 30-16. Now North Carolina citizens get to vote next May on whether or not to add the amendment to the state constitution. The amendment, known as the North Carolina Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is not the only example of this type of constitutional ban. In fact, North Carolina is the only southeastern state without such an amendment already in place. While North Carolina does already have a statute prohibiting same-sex marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act will nonetheless have a dramatic effect on the states LGBT community. Aside from making it much harder for citizens to ever legalize gay marriage in the state, DOMA will limit benefits that same-sex partners can receive from their employers, eliminate any claim a homosexual person can have to the biological child of his or her partner and end all recognition of same-sex marriages, partnerships or civil unions formed in other states. But the proposed amendment is not without opposition. Equality NC, an LGBT rights group specific to North Carolina, has been at the forefront lob-

bying against the amendment, calling it an anti-gay measure intended not as a defense of marriage, but as an attack on the LGBT community. According to Equality NC field director Sam Parker, the only thing left to do at this point is to educate the population on the harms of the amendment, register them to vote if theyre not already and then turn them out [to vote] in May. In Chapel Hill, opposition to the bill is as strong as ever. The Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously earlier this month to pass a resolution against the amendment, once it had passed the House of Representatives. Lee Storrow, an openly gay UNC-Chapel Hill graduate currently running for the town council, intends to continue the fight. Im really proud that the Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously to oppose the amendment, Storrow said. And that we live in a community that respects diversity and inclusiveness. Storrow plans to go door to door this spring to make sure citizens vote in May. That is not to say that Chapel Hill is completely unanimous on the issue. Even UNC has seen controversies over the same-sex marriage battle. Psalm 100, a UNC Christian a cappella group came under fire earlier this fall when they decided to dismiss their only openly gay member. The group claimed that they asked that member to leave because his views on homosexuality did not match theirs, which they take from the Christian Bible and that their approved constitution allows them to oust members for this reason. A large portion of the opposition towards same-sex marriage does seem to have religious roots. The American evangelical Christian organization, Focus on the Family, is unabashed in

its use of religion to delegitimize homosexuality and same-sex marriage. According to its website, any type of pro-gay theology violates Gods intentional design for gender and sexuality, and is plainly contradictory to Scripture, historic and traditional Christian doctrine and the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. But Matthew Bailey, co-president of UNCs Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance thinks the religious opposition transcends the issue of homosexuality. The religious arguments that are currently being thrown around resemble almost to a t the arguments that were used to fight against allowing interracial marriage, he said. Its sad that we are having this same debate all over again, just with the rights of another group. Even more sad for some is the fact that not all religious people are in any way opposed to same-sex marriage; it is only the controversial ones who often make themselves heard. Professor Barbara Fedders, an openly gay professor of law at UNC-Chapel Hill and former clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute, has been fighting anti-homosexual rhetoric for a while now. I have a child and I dont want her to have to live through the run-up to the vote and all the rhetoric that is going to get thrown around, Fedders said. She thinks that her family situation is as good as anyone elses. I dont want her to be told by these religious and kind of bigoted folks that this isnt true. When asked what she thought about the role religion plays in the debate over homosexuality, Fedders was steadfast in her response. To me there is a difference between civil marriage and religiously sanctioned

marriage, and [religiously sanctioned marriage] shouldnt be allowed to deny those benefits to people because of sexual orientation. Were supposed to have separation of church and state. Earlier this month, Fedders cohosted a panel discussion along with several other professors from the UNC School of Law on the impact that the Defense of Marriage Act would have on North Carolina. During the discussion, Associate Professor Holning Lau predicted that in addition to affecting same-sex couples, the amendment would negatively impact business as well by making it more difficult to attract skilled workersto the state, and more difficult for businesses to retain homosexual employees. Laus ultimate prediction was that the amendment would irreparably damage North Carolinas character. For now, residents will have to wait until May to see what the fate of samesex marriage amendment will be. Currently, only New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia have fully legalized same-sex marriage, while twenty-eight other states have constitutional bans against it. Will North Carolina become number twentynine, or could it eventually become the first state in the southeast to fully legalize gay marriage for good? Even in the face of a daunting political fight leading up to the May vote, Fedders at least remains hopeful. I think that the sponsors of this amendment are quite confident that this will pass by large majorities, she said. And I have more faith in the people of North Carolina than to say that.

Were supposed to have separation of church and state.

PHOTO BY kEVEN DIAO

The Defense of Marriage Act, up for the vote in May, will determine how marriage is defined.

Laus ultimate prediction was that the amendment would irreparably damage North Carolinas character.

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LIVING geNdeR NEUTRAL

THE PUsH FOR GENDER NON-sPECIFIC HOUsING
kYLE VILLEMAIN In hopes of pursuing a more progressive housing policy, UNC students are proposing the creation of gender nonspecific housing options on campus. Under the leadership of sophomore Kevin Claybren, a coalition of different clubs and organizations is pushing the initiativewhich has already been implemented successfully at several North Carolina schools--as a program that would allow UNC students to choose a roommate of any gender. Gender non-specific housing garnered greater attention nationwide after Rutgers University implemented it in response to the 2010 suicide of freshman Tyler Clementi so as to provide living arrangements more conducive to gay, lesbian and transgender individuals. According to Claybren, close to 100 other colleges and universities provide a gender non-specific housing option, including six UNC peer institutions. UNCs policy would share the same aim, according to Winston Crisp, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Our baseline philosophy is every student who comes to Carolina, regardless of what adjective goes in front of their name, ought to have the opportunity to succeed, Crisp said. And in order for that to happen, our students have to be safe and have to be included. While heterosexual students of all genders have opted into similar programs at other schools and could at UNC as well, the option is geared towards supporting the LGBTQ community. For LGBTQ self-identified students, [gender non-specific housing causes] matriculation rates to increase and both dropout rates and suicide rates to decrease, Claybren said. Gender non-specific housing, however, would be completely voluntary, a key point stressed by everyone involved in the process. No individual will be forced into gender non-specific housing against [his or her] own will, Claybren said. Student and faculty concern over the plan has been minor with some opting not to support it but few, if any, denouncing it. I would be very surprised if on a student level there is considerable opposition to this, said Ben Elkind, the director for campus external relations at the Campus Y. The most significant opposition to this would be from off campus. So far, Elkind has been proven correct. A petition for the housing option has garnered over 1,000 signatures and more than 275 people have expressed interest in participating in the program so far. But obstacles to such an initiative have arisen in the past and could play a role today. In years past, an 1801 North Carolina law mandating that individuals who were not married, of opposite genders, could not live together has stood in the way of gender non-specific housing, according to Rick Bradley, the assistant director of the UNC Housing Department. Its still technically on the books, and there was a sense that because we are a state university, we cant violate state laws, Bradley said. The law, however, was deemed unPHOTO BY GIHANI DIssANAYAkE

...Close to 100 other colleges and universities provide a gender nonspecific housing option...

A view of a UNC-Chapel Hill dorm. Many are pushing for dorms that offer gender-netural rooms.

constitutional in 2006, and the Department of Housings legal staff has decided that gender non-specific housing would not violate state law. Another concern over gender nonspecific housing is that isolating certain students in a single dorm could lead to the development of a stigma. But Jagir Patel, the co-chair for student governments Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Outreach Committee, pointed to the precedent set by livinglearning communities as an example of specific communities that have thrived stigma-free. The way people perceive this is going to be really important, Patel said. We have different living learning communities for religion or substance-free communities. These dont have to be linked to a marginalized characteristic. It is unclear whether the decision to implement a gender non-specific hous-

ing option would be made by Chancellor Thorp or if it would need to go to the Board of Trustees, but the first step is to submit a student-written plan to Crisp. Claybren hopes to have a proposal submitted by the first week of October. Regardless of who makes the final decision, Crisp is fully supportive of Claybrens proposal. Right now, we have problems when it comes to making sure that [all] students are in a safe environment, Crisp said. The only alternative that we have at the moment is isolation, and its not my personal belief that isolation is the best we ought to be able to do for students. [In regards to] voluntary gender non-specific housing where you can give students some choices, [it] seems to make sense to explore that possibility and we owe it to the students to do that.

We have different livinglearning communities for religious or substancefree communities. These dont have to be linked to a marginalized characteristic.

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CANdidAte LEE sTORROW

connecting campus & community
DINEsH MCCOY

Town Council Candidate Lee storrow.

If elected, Chapel Hill Town Council candidate Lee Storrow, a 2011 UNC graduate, hopes to provide a voice for youth in Chapel Hill politicsa perspective he sees to be lacking from the communitys leadership. Hes already knocked on over 1,500 doors in order to share his vision for the towns growth with residents. If elected, Storrow plans to expand the transportation system, advocate for affordable housing for low-income residents and to provide additional support for local businesses by streamlining the start-up process. Low-income housing is a particular need he feels the town could better address. When I was an RA on lower quad, none of our housekeepers were able to live in Chapel Hill, Storrow said. We need to provide for the housing needs of a diverse community. As both a former student who was heavily involved on UNCs campus as recently as last year and a candidate working with current students on his campaign, Storrow says that, if elected, he would promote a stronger relationship between students and the larger Chapel Hill community. Storrow served as the president of UNCs Young Democrats in 2010, an experience that included rallying the groups members during the 2010 election season as well as planning and developing new events and projects to further engage students in both political progress and in the wider community. Michael Foote, also a 2011 UNC graduate, served on the YD Directors board as the organizations vice president, working closely with Storrow. During the 2010 election, Lee organized our campaign brilliantly, Foote said. Young Democrats won recognition from all of our congressmen at the state level and the national level.

In conjunction with the UNC Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance, the Campus Y and YD, Storrow lead a trip to Washington D.C. to lobby for the repeal of the militarys Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy. As an openly gay candidate, Storrow said he was proud to have built a coalition where the three groups with different objectives worked together on the issue of gay rights. With a fight over a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage looming in North Carolina, Storrow wishes that other areas of the state would adopt the same supportive and collaborative attitude on gay-rights issues as Chapel Hill has. In a time when we are talking about a constitutional amendment that would write hatred into our constitution students living here are growing up in a world where they understand that your sexual orientation shouldnt define the rights you have, he said. In his current position as the managing director for the North Carolina Alliance for Health, Storrow is using his political science background and experience in activism to fight against teenage tobacco use and obesity. He hopes he will have the opportunity to put all of his past experience to use as a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. Someone commented once that civic engagement is in my blood, he said. Its a really nice quote that epitomizes what my passions have always been for setting policies that impact people in very positive ways. As Storrow prepares for the final months of the campaign running up to the Nov. 8 election, he plans to begin participating in more forum events to increase his exposure to the various constituents in the community.

tHe Biology
oF

GENDER
LUDA sHTEssEL

As the Indian sprinter Santhi Soundarajan finished the 800 meter race at the Asian Games in Qatar in 2006, she did not foresee the battle that would later ensue over her gender and would ultimately rob her of her silver metal. Although gender testing was not required to participate in the Games, Santhis masculine features caught the attention of the officials. After undergoing intensive examinations by multiple specialists, including a gynecologist, a geneticist and a psychologist, Santhi failed the gender test. Several scientific factors can explain why Santhi and other female athletes have unfairly been determined to be unqualified to participate on the basis of their gender. Normally women have two X chromosomes, and men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. The Y chromosome contains the SRY gene that is crucial for making testosterone, a hormone that drives male development. Scientists have recorded instances, however, where the SRY is transferred from the Y to the X chromosome, giving rise to genetically-male (XY) females or genetically-female (XX) males, muddying the ways in which gender is defined.

Occasionally, the mere presence of the SRY gene in a female will not cause her to develop as a male; the cells must also be able to respond to circulating testosterone for the proper development of male characteristics. One in 20,000 babies is born with the genetic mutation that prevents their cells from recognizing male hormones, causing them to develop externally as female even though they are genetically male. Individuals with this complete androgen insensitivity syndrome are now recognized by doctors as females. Using physical features to assign gender also becomes problematic as one in 4,500 children is born with ambiguous genitalia. Only a number of small genes are involved in gonad development, Dr. Andrew Sinclair said in an article published last year in New Scientist magazine. Dr. Sinclair, who is credited with the discovery of the SRY gene, recently identified the MAP3K1 gene as a crucial participant in testis development. Basic sex-chromosome ratio abnormalities also contribute to abnormal physical development that can obscure gender assignment. Turner Syndrome patients have only one X chromosome instead of two. These girls are often shorter than average, reflect other subtle physical changes and do not complete puberty. In contrast, Klinefelter patients have three sex chromosomestwo Xs and one Y. Along with various abnormal physical characteristics, these boys develop both female and male sex traits. Apart from genetic and chromosomal causes, the timing and level of sexhormone exposure can impact brain development and gender identity. The brains sexual identity occurs after the development of the sex organs, so a dysfunctional link between the two processes can result in a gender identity that does not coincide with the

PHOTO BY RENEE sULLENDER

physical characteristics of the person. Known as transsexuality, it cannot be changed with hormone therapy after birth as ones gender identity is set. Differences in sex hormone exposure in the womb can also account for some of the more basic behavioral sex differences. For example, girls reliably choose dolls over trucks, but that choice is reversed in girls with too much testosterone. Dr. Scott Huettel, a self-proclaimed neuroeconomist at Duke University, aims to understand how different regions [of the brain] contribute to an individual decision. Recently, research from his lab revealed that the people with the highest and lowest testosterone levels took the biggest risks in trials that tested financial-risk aversion. The differences in the levels of various neurotransmitters (hormones that relay information between brain cells) between men and women imply that biological changes in brain chemistry can shape our gender personalities. Nevertheless, biology is not destiny, Laura Spinney writes in NewScientist. What all of this research demonstrates instead is that questions of gender and sexuality cannot easily be answered. As a society, we should not hold up a strict checklist for what it means to be female or male. Each individual defines his or her identity through the confluence of all of these various biological and social factors. To rigidly impose definitions of male-ness or female-ness is only to deny people like Santhi the dignity of their human essence.

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goPROUD
kYLE ANNE MARIE sEBAsTIAN

Not all straight conservatives are antigay homophobes. Jimmy LaSalvia

The majority of GOProuds hate mail comes from liberal gays who believe him to be a traitor.

Gay. Republican. These two identities, which seem to many to be ideologically inconsistent with one another, find themselves united in the conservative gay organization, GOProud. Founders Jimmy LaSalvia and Christopher Barron, who established the group to advocate for limited government with a focus on LGBT issues, dont see the tension between being gay and conservative. By and large conservative principles advocate for limited government, [and] most gay people in this country just want to be left alone, LaSalvia said. They want to live their life and pursue their version of the American dream just like everybody else. LaSalvia and Barron started GOProud in April of 2009 in response to the 2008 presidential elections. After the elections, LaSalvia saw a need for a group that championed the interests of gay conservatives after data showed that 28 percent of gay votersor between 1.4 and 1.8 million peoplevoted for Sen. John McCain. LaSalvia and Barron were both working for another gay conservative group, the Log Cabin Republicans, at the time and felt that the interests of gay conservatives were not being represented in Washington. GOProud has a unique approach to the gay agenda, in opposition to a message that LaSalvia feels has largely been defined by the left. Like other gay organizations, GOProud has expressed strong opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act and to any movement toward a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Their support for gay marriage is rooted in family values. Committed monogamous relation-

ships are good for people and our communities, and we should encourage that, LaSalvia said. He sees marriage as a source of stability within the gay community which he feels indulges in promiscuity [and] a lot of drug use and alcohol use. Unlike other gay organizations, however, GOProud has no interest in seeing the issue of gay marriage resolved by the federal government. They view marriage as an issue best left for individual states and have recently refocused on other federal issues affecting gay Americans, ranging from health care to taxes to the second amendment. For instance, GOProud maintains that gay couples are best served by privately-purchased health care through which they can name their own beneficiary. LaSalvia believes that allowing individuals to purchase insurance from companies in other states would allow gays to find a plan that provides benefits for domestic partners, thereby removing the burden from employers and potentially causing more insurance companies to expand their coverage through competition. GOProud also advocates for major tax reform that involves replacing the current tax code with the Fair Tax as stated on their website, GOProud.org. This major overhaul of the tax code involves the abolition of many federal taxes: income (personal and corporate), gift, Social Security, estate, Medicare, alternative minimum, self-employment and capital gains. These taxes would be replaced instead with a federal sales tax. GOProud supports the Fair Tax Act because its members claim the

bill would alleviate the financial harm placed on gay couples by the estate tax and would promote job creation. (In order to replace the revenue currently brought in by federal taxes, however, the new sales tax would need to fall somewhere between 23 percent and 34 percent of the retail price, according to Fairtax.org and Factcheck. org, respectively.) In a publicly controversial move, GOProud supports the Republican proposal to privatize Social Security because it could benefit its homosexual members. Establishing private accounts would allow gay couples to inherit each others accounts, eliminating the current discriminatory practices of Social Security. LaSalvia and his colleagues also believe the second amendment is the ultimate tool in the prevention of hate crimes. They advocate for the extension of concealed carry laws to allow licensed individuals to carry a firearm in other states permitting concealed carry. For GOProud, the best hate-crime law is the one that prevents crimes from occurring by allowing citizens to protect themselves. While GOProud is a champion for conservative values, the feeling is not always mutual. Although LaSalvia insists not all straight conservatives are anti-gay homophobes (nearly half of GOProuds membership is heterosexual), he admits that it would be disingenuous to say that there arent some. Anti-gay groups seem to be gaining more and more of a voice within the Republican Party and are having an impact on GOProuds level of involvement. This past July, after two years of co-

PHOTO COURTEsY OF jIMMY LAsALVIA

Christopher Barron and jimmy Lasalva, the founders of GOProud, stand with Ann Coulter, a surprising ally of the organization.

sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference, LaSalvia and Barron were told by the American Conservative Union that this year their organization would not be allowed to participate. LaSalvia blames the shift in opinion on the efforts of groups in Washington D.C. who make a living demonizing gay people. The surge of anti-gay conservative groups to the forefront of the media casts GOProud in a negative light as it alienates them from their fellow conservatives and produces a lot of backlash from the LGBT community. According to LaSalvia, the majority of GOProuds hate mail comes from liberal gays who believe him to be a traitor. He was surprised by the level of animosity exhibited, calling it unbelievable and an eye-opener to see a community that preaches tolerance and diversity being so against tolerance and diversity in its own ranks. But that doesnt mean the GOProud

is without allies. The group recently welcomed Ann Coulter to its advisory board as an Honorary Chair and a Gay Icon. It is by no means a perfect partnership; at a GOProud fundraiser in September 2010, Coulter told attendees that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment does not apply to gays. Marriage is not a civil right, Coulter said. Youre not black, Regardless, LaSalvia maintains that we can have disagreements and be on the same team. With Nov. 4, 2012 approaching, conservatives are already working on mobilizing their base. GOProuds chief focus will be helping the Republican Party defeat President Barack Obama. So far, the group has not endorsed just which candidate it would like to see take the White House in his place. Our efforts are geared toward making sure we have a nominee that can bring everyone together, LaSalvia said. OCTOBER2011

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IsLAMOPHoBiA
Discrimination Against Muslims in America
HAYLEY FAHEY Much of the rhetoric commemorating the ten-year anniversary of Sept. 11th focused on how much that one traumatic day shifted the American consciousness of both itself as a nation and its standing in relation to the rest of the world. The U.S. perception of Muslims at home and abroad has proved to be one of the most traceable and the most polarizing of those cultural adjustments. News outlets only began to poll Americans on their views of Islam in 2002. Since then, the proportion of the population that holds the religion of Islam in an unfavorable light has increased by ten percent to nearly half of the country, according to a 2010 Washington Post-ABC News poll. Members of several religious groups in the United States were asked in an August 2011 Gallup poll how often, if ever, one could justify a civilian attack. Contrary to public perception, the poll found that compared with the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon and nonreligious individuals polled, the highest percentage (78 percent) of those who said civilian attacks are never justified were Muslim. And yet widespread prejudice against Muslims has continued to surface in the political arena, such as with the recent congressional hearings on American Muslim radicalization and the public censure engendered by New Jersey Governor Chris Christies decision to appoint a Muslim judge. Recent campus speakers and a new report from the progressive policy center, the Center for American Progress, both attribute this trend to Americans continued ignorance of Islam in place of an educated public discourse about what it means to be a Muslim in America. The keynote speaker for the UNC lecture series, 9-11 Ten Years Later: The Impact on Muslims at Home and Abroad, Arif Alikhan attributes the antiIslam sentiment to the formation of a new paradigmAmerican Muslim Exceptionalismwhich assumes that every religious group possesses a diversity of beliefs and perspectives except for Muslims. Alikhan, who previously served as the Assistant Secretary of Policy Development for the Department of Homeland Security, now teaches counterterrorism and homeland security. A mythology has emerged, Alikhan said. [There are] assumptions that have gone on innocently and unwittingly, but which continue to exist. The differences in Muslim interpretations of Islam, he said, are comparable to the different conclusions Americans draw from the U.S. Constitution. But still, there is a pervasive idea within the American consciousness that all Muslims are in a united front against Western values or that their religious identity is at odds with their American one. Alikhan noted that this suspicion does not mark other groups as much as it does with American Muslims today. We never say that if youre Irish American, your allegiance is to Ireland before America, Alikhan said. Imran Aukhil, the spokesperson of the Islamic Association of Raleigh, points to Americans ignorance of Islam as one of the primary forces behind the perpetuation of such a viewpoint. The level of knowledge about Islam is lacking, Aukhil said. Muslims are

Muslims are plastered [in the] media as cover stories, but many Americans know nothing about Muslim prayer.

plastered [in the] media as cover stories, but many Americans know nothing about Muslim prayer. In its report, Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, the Center for American Progress puts forth the argument that the mainstream media and its targeted coverage of Islam has reinforced anti-Muslim attitudes and ignorance. The report finds that much of Americas Islamophobic discourse originates from a network of conservative foundations, grassroots organizations, political leaders and media. Much of the misinformation that this network peddles to Americans relates to the myths about Muslims that Alikhan described, including the idea that most mosques are breeding grounds for radicals. The CAP reports that several members within the Islamophobia network have published or broadcasted unsupported statistics to uphold that claim. In March 2011 for instance, Fox News commentator Bill OReilly said in an interview that violent extremism and Sharia law is being condoned in 75 percent of the American Muslim mosques. As his source, OReilly cited Frank Gaffney, the same scholar from the Center for Security Policy whom Anders Breivik, the Norwegian killer charged in the deaths of 78 people, also cited in his Islamophobic manifesto. The CAP report demonstrates a further connection between scholars such as Gaffney, media figures like OReilly and a cash flow stemming from conservative foundations like the Richard Mellon Scaife Foundations, which contributed nearly $3 million to Gaffneys think-tank between 2001 and 2009. Altogether, the seven largest anti-Muslim foundations have donated more than $42 million to conservative groups and individuals like Gaffneys Center for Se-

curity Policy, thereby funding the spread of Islamophobic misinformation. In its research analysis, CAP emphasizes that this is just a corner of the web of financial, informational and political transactions that occur amongst entities within the Islamophobia network. Whatever its source, however, Duke sociology professor Jennan Read sees the overcoming of anti-Islamic prejudice as unequivocally necessary. We have to get to that place where Muslims can be Muslims, and thats not a problem, Read said. For Sarah Mohamed, a UNC senior and the outreach chair of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), Islamophobia is not a new phenomenon, but the time is ripe to change such attitudes. I feel that right now, for both Muslims and non-Muslims...its the best time for us to start building bridges and start understanding each other, Mohamed said. Because we have a lot in common. An important first step? Conversation. Any little conversation can help promote the correct view of Islam, Mohamed said. I feel its important that people develop relationships with others, with people who might not agree with them. And talk to them. Through the planning of events, Mohameds outreach committee hopes to catalyze those conversations she considers necessary for the creation of deeper understandings between Americans of all faiths. Despite all of the anti-Islamic rhetoric, Alikhan remains hopeful for the future of Muslims in the United States. America is about people, Alikhan said. 9/11 doesnt define our generationour people define our nation. I want to be defined by the people in our community who are caring, good and compassionate.

I feel that right now, for both Muslims and nonMuslims, I feel its the best time for us to start building bridges and start understanding each other

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VoteR diSeNFRANCHiSeMeNt
THE sTORY BEHIND PHOTO ID LAWs
TROY HOMEsLEY Defending the voting rights of nearly one million North Carolina residents, Governor Bev Perdue (D) vetoed a bill that would have required a photo identification in order to vote, thereby blocking the General Assembly from passing the controversial measure. Out of those that would have been disenfranchised under the proposed law, the North Carolina Board of Elections clarified 508,000 would have been registered Democrats, 277,000 would have been registered Republicans and 219,000 would have been unaffiliated. The board also reported that one-third of those disenfranchised would have been black, a figure that is disproportionately high in a state that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, whose population is only 21.5 percent black. But North Carolinas political battle over its photo ID law is only the latest chapter in a national movement. Embodying an alarming trend of voter disenfranchisement ahead of the 2012 elections, a number of states either have enacted or are pursuing regressive voter-identification laws in an attempt to disenfranchise minorities, college-aged voters, the elderly and the economically disadvantaged. Across the country, thirty states require identification in order to vote. In fourteen of these states, voters are required to show a current photo identification and proof of address. In seven of these states, the photo identification process is strict, which means that those without a valid photo ID and current address will not have their votes counted if they cannot provide these within seven days of submitting their vote. At the beginning of 2011, however, only two states held strict voter identification laws, giving rise to questions over why these laws have so quickly become a priority for so many lawmakers around the country. Many argue that these new laws are part of a larger process in which Republicans are gearing up for the upcoming elections. By institutionalizing these laws, the GOP is attempting to disenfranchise a large part of President Barack Obamas voter base. Minorities, college-aged students, the elderly and those with lower incomes are statistically known to be less likely to possess a divers license with a valid address, thereby making them more likely to be disenfranchised in states that have enacted these laws. If they wish to vote, they must invest the time and money involved with visiting a DMV office; some liken this process to a modern-day poll tax. As a further complication, the DMV offices unlicensed voters will need to visit are the same offices that have been overwhelmed by Republican budget cuts and often times have had to close up shop. In Wisconsin, ThinkProgress reports that Gov. Scott Walker (R) closed ten DMV offices statewide, most of which appeared to target Democractic areas, after supporting the passage of stricter photo-ID requirements. On July 25th, 2011, over 100 members of Congress voiced their concerns over these regressive laws in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Approximately eleven percent of voting-age citizens in the country or more than 20 million individuals lack government-issued photo identifica-

Voter id Requirements by State

strict Photo ID Requirement Photo ID Requirement Non-Photo ID Requirement No Voter ID Laws

Data from: www.ncsl.org

By institutionalizing these laws, republicans are hoping to disenfranchise a large part of President Obamas voter base.

tion, the letter stated. We urge you to protect the voting rights of Americans by using the full power of the Department of Justice to review these voter identification bills and scrutinize their implementation. The Republicans in support of voter photo identification laws, however, claim that they are only trying to protect the sanctity of U.S. elections against voter fraud. In Kansas, the illegal registration of alien voters has become pervasive, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said. According to public records, however, only one case of voter fraud has been prosecuted in Kansas in the past five years. The recent Republican rhetoric about voter fraud goes uncorroborated. According to the Justice Department, between 2002 and 2007 there were over 300 million votes cast. Out of these, only eightysix people were convicted of voter fraud, most of whom were found to have mistakenly voted when they thought they were eligible. The New York University School of Law adds that a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit voter fraud.

But photo-ID bills cannot be traced back to GOP lawmakers alone. The American Legislative Exchange Council has played an instrumental role in the advancement of voter-fraud bills through state legislatures from coast to coast. ALEC, which represents the interests of large corporations like Koch Industries, Walmart and ExxonMobil, serves a crucial link between state lawmakers and the corporations themselves, according to the ALECExposed project out of the Center for Media and Democracy. The group highlights certain policy approaches (such as weaker environmental regulations and tort reforms that protect companies from lawsuits) at the annual conferences it hosts for lawmakers, most of whom are conservative. But most importantly, ALEC has drafted over 800 pieces of model legislation for over-burdened lawmakers to then customize to their specific state and introduce as bills during the legislative session. The voter photo-ID bills introduced in states all across the nation bear striking resemblances to ALECs bill introducing photo ID requirements for voters.

GOP presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has raked in more ALEC campaign money than any other politician at over $2 million and won the organizations preeminent award last year, forced the state legislature to consider a voter-photo ID bill largely similar to ALECs legislation in structure, intent and language last year. The Texas state government - one made up of many ALEC representatives - passed the measure with ease. One author of this bill, Senator Tony Fraser, is the recipient of $314,000 from corporate sponsors of ALEC. ALECs website claims one of its missions is ...to enlist state legislators from all practices and members of the private sector who share ALECs mission. They have been largely successful in this endeavor with a large number of conservative representatives involved with this powerful lobby. Without the votes of those minorities disenfranchised by voter photo-ID laws, that lobby only continues to gain strength and political sway.

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a step backwards for

BY???????????

wAke CoUNty SCHoolS

proficiency rate as opposed to the just under 24 percent of students living 15 to 16 miles away from school. Instead of financing the busing program, the school board members vocalized their support of funding programs that would specifically target at-risk schools, like Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Teach for America. Opponents of the Neighborhood Policy touted their own research. According to data published by the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the average bus ride in Wake County during the busing system was 17 minutes, which was shorter than the average North Carolina students bus time. Even when experiencing bus times that were longer than average, Wake County students supported the diversification policy. I was a magnet student, traveling over 20 minutes to and from school, said Kyle Swartz, a UNC junior and a former student at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School. I personally didnt mind the ride. Southeast offered a better academic curriculum, better sports and a more diverse environment than my base high school. All my teachers at Southeast Raleigh seemed to love its magnet distinction. They were able to teach many bright, motivated students while serving the low-income, vulnerable population that resided near Southeast Raleigh. Since the Neighborhood Schools Policy was implemented in 2010, however, school board member John Tedesco has seen positive changes systemwide. Graduation rates have increased, the number of suspensions has decreased, the number of parent volunteers has increased, and transfer requests are at an all-time low, Tedesco said. Weve returned the focus to student achievement and to opportunity for all children rather than to the interest of the system. Clashing opinions on how to achieve opportunity for all students will be at the forefront this October when Wake County voters go to the polls to elect five new board members. Its the nature of democracy to exchange values and beliefs, Tedesco said. When there is a contrast in views and values, you sometimes have to debate it out. UNC sophomore George Ramsay, who served as Enloe High Schools student body president during the 2009-2010 school year, would like to see more of this debate in the school boards decision-making. My hope is that it would be a slow change and a culture change, Ramsay said. I hope it would shift the culture of how the school board not only conducts itself but how it makes policy. There has been a lot of pushing policy through without regard for public opinion. The board splits votes; these 5-4 votes are not a product of collaboration, and I hope it will create a more collaborative board that looks at research and data during decisions instead of political motivations or self interest. Although no student can run for one of the Boards seats, Ramsay believes that students should be determining the outcome of these debates, not adults. Our biggest goal is to get student voices in these issues, Ramsay said, to get students to say, This is our education were talking about.

PHOTO BY sTEFANIE sCHWEMLEIN

MOLLY HRUDkA The Colbert Report aired a piece lampooning it, the US. Secretary of Education responded to a Washington Post feature about it and 19 people found themselves behind bars last summer for protesting itthe Wake County School Board drew a firestorm of controversy after voting 5-4 in March 2010 to switch the Raleigh-area schools from the systems decade-long, socioeconomic diversification policy to one based on neighborhood assignments. Those 19 arrested protesters, and many others, claim that the new Neighborhood Schools Policy reverses diversity policies that have been in effect since the 1970s and effectively resegregates Wake County schools by concentrating socioeconomically-disadvantaged (and typically underachieving) students in a few schools rather than distributing them to schools around the city and surrounding county. They believe that this switch will negatively, rather than positively, impact the vulnerable community targeted by the policy. Supporting this claim are decades of research that elucidate the negative effects--ranging from the difficulty 28

of attracting high-quality teachers and principals to the concentration of poverty in certain schools to the benefits derived from supporting racially diverse schools. Studies have indicated that the level of academic achievement is higher among students if they are surrounded by classmates who plan on attending college. Despite this research and a Raleigh News & Observer poll conducted in February 2010 revealing that 94.5 percent of the 40,000 Wake County parents polled were either satisfied or very satisfied with their childrens school assignments, the school board decided in a close vote to implement the new neighborhood-assignment policy. The Wake County School Boards decision is likely to have a lasting national impact because of both the districts sizeits over 143,000 students make it the 18th largest in the nationand the previous policys reputation as a model of integration that schools around the country looked up to. The former socioeconomic-diversification policy stated that no more than 40 percent of a schools students could

be eligible for free or reduced-price lunch so as to distribute socioeconomically-disadvantaged students evenly among district schools. In 2000, the school board implemented an elaborate busing plan and a system of highachieving magnet schools to ensure that Wake County schools would be fully integrated. The boards March 2010 reversal of that policy appears to be largely predicated on the busing plan. School board members who support the neighborhood proposal cite the cost and time burden placed on families whose children are required to bus long distances to school every day. According to the school board, many families believed that the busing system posed a major hindrance to their childrens education. Data released by the Wake County Board of Education revealed that socioeconomically-disadvantaged students faced comparatively longer bus rides that adversely impacted their academic achievement. Over 32 percent of kids who travelled between 10-11 miles to school each day scored at the academic

To address the question of how a school system could integrate students and acheive really good scores, everyone looked to Raleigh. It was the jewel of what public education cound do.

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UNioNS ANd tHe MIDDLE CLAss

PETER VOGEL Public sector workers faced down attacks this year in states ranging from Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey and beyond. Wisconsin conservatives set off the largest firestorm of protests and opposition with their law to gut collective bargaining rights from the states public employees, claiming the measure was necessary to close the states budget shortfall. In the private sector, the Communications Workers of America went on strike to protest a restructuring of their contracts. The workers returned to work two weeks later, still with no contract, and with no obvious concessions from Verizon. According to Samuel R. Lewis, assistant general counsel at Verizon, they failed to gain a single significant concession; in fact, they succeeded only in losing thousands of dollars in wages that will not be recovered. Unions are dying, and they are not doing it alone. In the last 40 years median income stagnated, inequality soared, and the great American middle class withered. The relationship between the strength of unions and the economic successes of the middle class is not hard to discern. When the interests of middle class workers diverge from that of their employers, unions support workers, and by extension, the middle class in two fundamental ways. First, they allow workers to collectively bargain for wages, strengthening their hand in negotiations and allowing all represented employees to improve their wages and benefits without depending on the largesse of an individual boss or supervisor to offer raises. Thus, unionized members collectively receive higher wages than they would individually. According to David Madland of the Center for American Progress, unionized workers earn $2.50 more per hour than their non-unionized peers with equal credentials. But in fact, all members of unionized industries benefit from collective bargaining. Bruce Western and Jake Rosenfeld of Harvard University found that companies will raise wages and benefits in non-unionized shops to persuade their workers not to organize. When companies race to the top, rather than to the bottom, the middle class wins. Of course, it isnt merely that simple. According to Professor Boone Turchi, an economics professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, such optimal pay conditions (from the workers perspective) can only exist in a semi-competitive market where organized companies can pass along additional costs to consumers. As big steel, auto, and other industries became more competitive, unionized companies lost their comparative advantage and started to decline. Unions, however, offer more benefits to the middle-class worker than mere wage stability; they also provide critical job training that helps workers ascend the increasingly steep path to middle class prosperity. In a globalized age, people skills, a high school diploma and well-toned back muscles are insufficient tickets for passage into the middle class. Rather the jobs of today

As Union Membership decreases, Middle Class income Shrinks

30 54 52 50 48 46 44 42
1982 1 9 92 2002 2007 1 9 67 1 9 97 1 9 87 1 97 7 1 972

Union Membership Rate

20 15 10 5 0

Middle Class Share

25

Union Membership Rate

Middle Class Share of National Income

From the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

In fact all members of unionized industry benefit from collective bargaining...

and tomorrow demand advanced education and job training. Traditionally, businesses thrived when they helped increase worker training and productivity. By supplying cheap outsourced labor, and the international demand that goes with it, globalization severed this connection. Businesses can now profit by slashing costs at home, all while operating and selling abroad. This makes structurally unemployable those formerly middle-class workers whose employers will not, or cannot, finance their transition up the value chain. That is, unless unions advocate for them. As Madland goes on to note, 57 percent of unionized workers have access to work-related education, compared to only 48 percent of non-union workers. But the changing face of American politics has also had a hand in the decline of unions. The well-worn dichotomy of the Democratic Partys support for labor as opposed to the Republican Partys support for business started to crumble

back in the 1970s. Once, unions fiercely advocated for the interest of middleclass families who lacked the resources to lobby for themselves. Yet when expanded global trading and the transition to a service-based economy began to reduce union strength, the Democratic Party abandoned its labor roots. Democrats saw no political advantage in protecting labor, and thus, virtually no one spoke for Americans who lacked the wealth to speak for themselves. Without protection from the Democratic Party, in the face of hostile economic conditions and diminished market share, labors influence and value to the middle class have declined further still. According to Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, by the time both sides realized what had happened, it was too late union density had slumped below the point of no return. In place of the old system, an elite bipartisan consensus has formed that ignores the problems and virtually the existence of the middle and lower classes. In their sage book, The Winner

Take all Economy, Paul Pierson and Jacob Hacker explain how Congress institutes a range of regulatory, fiscal and monetary policies designed to redistribute wealth upward. And the scheme works. According to University of California Santa Cruz sociologist G. William Domhoff, the top one percent of households in the United States now controls 34.6 percent of privately held wealth, while the bottom 40 percent scrambles over an astonishingly small 0.3 percent. In this new land of haves and have-nots, bridges are not built, schools are not improved and the long term investments required to sustain a middle class disappears. No one expects the political class of Ghana or Turkmenistan to speak for the poor, yet those states have virtually the same income distribution as the United States. The real surprise is that American politicians even pay lip service to its shrinking middle and suffering lower classes.

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Published with support from: Campus Progress, a division of the Center for American Progress. Campus Progress works to help young people advocates, activists, journalists, artists make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org
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