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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle 1 i Tuesday, January THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW EQT AaT THE rr T?F.hTilQQQ 111 "Tn last year's Legislative Spe-- 1 returned to each institution at cial Session, the Utah Legis-Jlature approved a $12 million budget cut for higher education. Then, in what legislators were e move, the calling a to decided restore a Legislature portion of the money to the institutions that had suffsred .budget cuts and give the remain-;- " ing am: Int to the State Doard cf they were taken. Some argue that in difficult economic times, smaller colleges are not as cspabll of generating much needed money as larger institutions and therefore deserve a larger slice of the pie. But, small colleges are just as capable of raising money for themselves cs the U is, and giving too much money to small colleges risks wrecking the quality cf education at the state's flagship school. The U, the largest higher edu- -' cation institution in the stats, has the highest student enrollment and contributes more to Utah's economy than the smaller L one-tim- Re: This is the first time the Regents haye: been given such a;; financial lesponsibility, anthey":::: had options. They could mimic the Legislature's actions and restore the funds to the institutions from which they were cut, .or distribute the money as they saw fit. On Friday, they chose the latter. The Regents chose to allocate more funds than were initially cut to smaller schools like Snow College, UVSC and SUU, leaving larger schools like the U out additional money. The U suffered a 6 percent less in fundi, while Snow College, for example, gained 26 percent No the Regents look like they're playing favorites. If the regent had actsd more fairly, t-- :::thel''fdiW fihWA The quality of higher tion in Utah, in the end, rests with funding. Colleges all over are struggling to make ends, meet and doing their best to The truth is that happy. ..The Board of Regents needs to maintain its focus ci the state's flagship uni- versity, and give all those in need their fair share. Mti 2002 Grammy Awards were for one reason and one reason only: With protestors lining the red and duo slated with none other rumored a carpet than Elton John, the white rapper whose real name is Marshall Mathers was the center of attention. Everyone who watched the awards on television wondered whether he could possibly win. A great sigh of relief went out through all of suburban America, though, when Steely Dan, not Eminem, walked home with the Grammy for album of the year. Eminem ended up going home with a few awards, but it seemed that good had overcome evil in the music industry, and Eminem was, fortunately, on his way out. Well..."Guess who's back? Back again." This year at the American Music Awards Eminem walked home with a total of four awards, including album of the year and artist of the year in the poprock genre. It looks like he may be poised to repeat the performance at this year's The Grammys. So why is any of this important? It's because the social reaction to Eminem and his music is quite telling of the racial disparities that still exist in America. The fact is, Eminem is white, and he has brought "gangsta rap," with all its lyrical bag THAT DIVERSIFY.. is WmA TO advertisements are misI leading and inappropriate. am not a smoker, but several times I have considered taking up smoking as a protest campaign. against the has turned to anger. Today's Lately my annoyance filled are with bad science and blatant campaigns lies. These advertisements contain very misleading statements based on aseemingly scientific foundation. For example, these commercials tell us that there is urine and rat poison in cigarettes. While it might be technically true that urea and trace amounts of Arsenic can be found in tobacco, this is a long way from urine and rat poison. How can we take them seriously if they are going to be so ridiculous? There is Arsenic in many things we eat and most certainly in our drinking water. Urea can also be found in baked goods, gravies, and meat products. Nearly every commercial I have seen lately contains similarly anti-smoki- anti-smoki- ng anti-smoki- ng adrvntorirs JEvfivn&ffi IBvifigs iff. TO Editor: educa- defamatory to an Individual or group because of race, ethnic background, gender, appearance or sexual entation will be edited or will not be published. t NEEDS CRITICISM TO NOT LIKE "W THE EDITOR The Real "Truth" About Smoking was due. Chronicle Opinion Columnist RESPONDS LETTER institutions. But that doesn't mean that the U should have received more money than it MICHAEL YOUNG 1, 2003 Fill . Unsigned editorials rtfltct tht majority opinion of The Dally Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columns and letters to tht tditor an strictly the opinions of tht author. Thi forum created on the Opinion Pago Is ont based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material w GOP 2 ori- anti-smoki- ng misleading information. Since I cannot stop them, I have decided to join them. Here are some misleading and irresponsible statements of my own. Rather than testing for the presence of feces and fecal born bacteria (like e coli), the beef industry tests for tolerable levels. What is a tolerable level of feces in your food? What about radioactive isotopes of Potassium? There is a lot of Potassium in bananas which means there are radioactive isotopes in the bananas you eat. You might as well be eating nuclear waste. I am sure that the consumption of bananas and beef is also somehow linked to support of terrorism, but I will save that topic for another day. If they want to get our attention, the "truth about tobacco" people should try mixing a little unbiased truth into their campaign. RYAN WIXOM Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering Goifigstu Map to th e Suburbs . gage, to the front door of suburban America. And this is unacceptable for suburbanites who want to see gangsta rap stay in the inner cities. Eminem has garnered much more criticism for against Eminem and his lyrics. Many were shocked by the content of Eminem's rap lyrics, and felt he should not be legitimized through award nominations. The rap star was called his explicit lyrics than many rappers who came before him. However, Eminem didn't invent everything from a misogynist to a homophobe. Political figures joined the chorus criticizing Eminem. Vice President Cheney's wife, Lynne Cheney, told Wolf Blitzer in a CNN interview, "This certainly isn't the first time, but Eminem is certainly, I think, the most extreme example of rock lyrics used to demean women, advocate violence against women and violence against gay people." gangsta rap as a genre. Gangsta rap first made its move into the spotlight in 1987 with the album "Straight Outta Compton" by Niggaz With Attitude. The new rap style focused on life in the ghetto, and was known for its abrasive lyrics. NWA's album provoked a letter to the New York Times from the FBI with a warning of sorts. The FBI was angered by the specific track "Expletive the Police". FBI Assistant Director Milt Ahlerich wrote, "Advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." This new brand of music brought language to the music industry that had previously been unthinkable. The album not only caught the attention of the law enforcement community, but it also became a huge hit across the inner cities of America, selling over 3 million copies. Gangsta rap as a music style quickly became the anthem of inner city youth. The anger, hostility and discontent of many in the inner city was expressed with exactness in this new form of music, precisely because it was raw and unbridled. Gangsta rap was something these youth could identify with, and it became a mainstay of their entertainment. Flash forward 10 years or so to when the Eminem controversy dominated the Grammys. Hundreds of protestors showed up to speak out CHRONICLE OPINION EDITOR JOHN MORLEY The problem is that as long as the music was made by black people, white suburbanites didn't care. Most extreme example? Apparently Lynne Cheney has yet to listen to or read the lyrics of any other rap album. It would be difficult, if not impossible to find a difference between the lyrical "extremity" of Eminem and many other gangsta rappers. The lyrical content of Eminem's music seems to be fairly tame in comparison to several other artists in the industry. Many of Eminem's concerts have been protested. But where were the protestors when NWA came in concert? Where were the political speeches when Easy E (a former member of NWA) was nominated for three awards in 1989? Ironically, they were all missing. Could it be that LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU politicians and protesters are concerned with the lyrical content of music only when their kids are listening, or when it threatens them directly? If Eminem's lyrics should be a cause for such widespread alarm, why was there no concern with other similar musicians? Abrasive, violence-incitin- g music has been the norm for years within the gangsta rap genre. But no one had a problem with ghetto music so long as it stayed in the ghetto. True, there was that letter from the FBI in the New York Times in 1989, but even that was written to quash a sort of inner city rebellion, not to protect America's youth from corruption. The righteous indignation about Eminem's music only truly arose when suburban teenagers traded their N'Sync CDs for the Marshall Mathers LP. The racist implications of the public outcry against Eminem are glaring. The problem isn't that suburban America didn't know that music with such provocative lyrics existed before Eminem; the problem is that as long as the music was made by black people, white suburbanites didn't care. This all seems to point towards a bigger problem facing society. White middle-clas- s America remains relatively unconcerned with the problems and challenges of the inner cities. If equality is to be the staple of this democracy, we must look with unbiased eyes at all the challenges facing our society, whether they be in South Central or Salt Lake City. Michael welcomes feedback at myoungchron-icle.utah.edSend letters to the editor to u. 581-639- 7 |
