Debate begins over book assignment (UNC again)

News and Observer ^ | February 24, 2004 | JANE STANCILL

[mykdsmom]

Debate begins over book assignment

Here we go again

For the third straight year, UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman reading assignment is igniting hot debate. But this time, it is happening even before the book is picked.

	related
		How should UNC make its decision on a freshman reading selection?

	the search for balance
	This year the reading committee started with 500 suggestions, from the Bible to Nabokov's "Lolita." to "Dude, Where's My Country," by Michael Moore. PREVIOUS PICKS Freshman summer reading list selections at UNC-CH for the past five years: 1999: "There Are No Children Here" by Alex Kotlowitz 2000: "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War" by Tony Horwitz 2001: "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman 2002: "Approaching the Qur'án: The Early Revelations" introduced and translated by Michael Sells 2003: "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich THIS YEAR'S NOMINEES The finalists: * "ABSOLUTELY AMERICAN: FOUR YEARS AT WEST POINT," BY DAVID LIPSKY -- Lipsky, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, was given unprecedented access at the U.S. Military Academy and spent four years chronicling a group of cadets. The New York Times Book Review called it "a superb description of modern military culture." * "ENOUGH: STAYING HUMAN IN AN ENGINEERED AGE" BY BILL McKIBBEN -- McKibben, a contributor to publications such as The New York Times and The New Republic, warns that technological advances such as cloning pose a danger to humanity. The Los Angeles Times Book Review called it "an ambitious and important book." McKibben previously wrote "The End of Nature," about the effects of global warming. Books that were also in the running this year: * "HOPE IN THE UNSEEN" BY RON SUSKIND -- The true story of Cedric Jennings, a talented black student from one of the worst public high schools in Washington, D.C., who eventually succeeds at Brown University. * "LIFE OF PI" BY YANN MARTEL -- Fictional tale of the son of a zookeeper who finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger. * "THE MIDDLE OF EVERYWHERE: HELPING REFUGEES ENTER THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY" BY MARY PIPHER -- Stories about resiliency of refugees from Laos, Bosnia, northern Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and the former Soviet Union.

After a three-hour session Sunday night that was supposed to be its last, UNC-CH's reading selection committee deadlocked four to four between "Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point," by David Lipsky and "Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age" by Bill McKibben.

Each book offers the potential for the kind of political dynamite that has dogged UNC-CH's freshman reading program. And the latest debate arrives as the campus is caught up in an ideological skirmish between conservatives and liberals.

Last week, an English lecturer apologized for an e-mail message in which she singled out a student for "hate speech" after he said he opposed homosexuality.

"Absolutely American" follows the lives of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy -- case studies that will undoubtedly lead to debates about patriotism and the war in Iraq. "Enough" explores the dark side of scientific advances in genetic engineering at a time when cloning poses perhaps the human race's most difficult ethical dilemmas.

A final decision is expected Wednesday, because one member was not available to vote Sunday.

The reading committee members -- three professors, three students and three staff members -- say they've become friends after months of reviewing hundreds of books. They crack jokes about political backlash and let out steam by playing ping pong or eating brownies and ice cream.

But they also argue passionately about the pros and cons of the book choice that 3,500 incoming students will read in one of higher education's most talked about freshman reading programs.

Committee member Cookie Newsom, director of diversity education and research at the university, can't see going with "Absolutely American." She bristles at its title.

"To me, you're implying that some people are more American than others," she said.

Her fellow committee member, Jenny Peddycord, a sophomore from Ramseur who is a member of College Republicans, likes "Absolutely American." It's an easier read, she says, and UNC-CH students will identify with the stories of young people at West Point -- even though their college experiences are radically different.

"'Absolutely American' does not, per se, have an agenda," Peddycord said. She thinks the author of "Enough" presents one-sided opinions, using "scare tactics to try to reach the reader."

That, she said, could lead to the kind of criticism lobbed at the university last year for its choice of "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. The book was labeled "a Marxist rant" by some conservative students.

The book committee is under more pressure than ever to come up with a book that stimulates good discussion without lighting a match to gasoline. As one member said this week, UNC-CH doesn't need "Qur'án II" on its hands -- referring to the furor in 2002 when "Approaching the Qur'án," translated by Michael Sells, stirred up a federal lawsuit and charges of religious indoctrination.

"We don't want to create controversy for controversy's sake," said Jan Bardsley, an associate professor of Asian studies who leads the committee. "That's absolutely something we don't want to do."

At the same time, the whole exercise requires a book that elicits differing opinions from students.

"That's the balancing act -- to have something that's going to be thought-provoking but not overly provocative," Newsom said. "We don't want it to turn into a media circus. We don't want something that's going to make people go ballistic."

The book "Hope in the Unseen" by Ron Suskind got good reviews from the group for its story of an inner-city African-American who enrolls in prestigious Brown University. But in the end, members thought the issues of race and socioeconomics were too complex for one 90-minute discussion among students on the first day of class.

Another rejected selection, "Lucky: A Memoir" by Alice Sebold, recounts the rape of a college freshman. Committee members were touched by the book, Bardsley said, but thought it might scare students.

The group started with 500 suggested books, from the Bible to Nabokov's "Lolita" to "Dude, Where's My Country," by Michael Moore. Some were quite easy to toss into the reject pile, Bardsley said: "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss and "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler.

The committee's work has been under intense scrutiny. The university's lawyer determined that the group's meetings were not subject to the state's Open Meetings Law, but Chancellor James Moeser said it was important to conduct the sessions in the open. Observers at the meetings have included reporters from the campus newspaper and a staff member from the conservative Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

Committee member Freiler Thompson, a senior from Yorktown, Va., said comparing "Absolutely American" and "Enough" would be like comparing apples to bowling balls. He'll state his preference when the group decides Wednesday.

"We say all the time, 'There's no perfect book,' " he said.

[Constitution Day]

Ironically, I had just changed my tagline before you posted this thread.

[mykdsmom]

NC ping!

Please FR-mail me if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[mykdsmom]

LOL.....great tag line!

MKM

[Constitution Day]

They do, you know.

BTTT.

[Carolinamom]

What's wrong w/requiring colleg-bound students to read MORE THAN ONE book? Why not have students read both, and then have them debate the merits of each book?

[Xenalyte]

Why should they waste time reading something that has little scholarly merit? They'll be forced to read enough of that rot in their textbooks.

[FoxInSocks]

Committee member Cookie Newsom, director of diversity education and research at the university, can't see going with "Absolutely American." She bristles at its title.

"To me, you're implying that some people are more American than others," she said.

So what? Some people are more American than others.

Case in point, see the post about Theresa Heinz Kerry being an "African American": http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1084513/posts

And besides, if your first name is "Cookie," it's hard to take you seriously. The only other person I can think of with that first name is the Cookie Monster.

[mykdsmom]

What's wrong w/requiring colleg-bound students to read MORE THAN ONE book? Why not have students read both, and then have them debate the merits of each book?

Possibly some of them don't read too well? I dare say that some haven't read an entire book in their young lives.

But in the end, members thought the issues of race and socioeconomics were too complex for one 90-minute discussion among students on the first day of class.

Then of course we couldn't have a book that is too deep, after all they only have 90 min. to discuss it. Why anyone would send their child to this socialist indoctrination camp is beyond me.

MKM

[Carolinamom]

Three of my children WERE/ARE readers who survived their years in Chapel Hill.....mainly because they wanted to learn and then leave CH behind while they pursued productive lives. I like to think that their father and I provided the kind of home life that set the example for values and common sense that they all have now.

[genghis]

Depates such as this is exactly why we need a separation of satate and education. Let free people choose what books to either assign or read. Free markets work, socialism doesn't.

[mykdsmom]

...their father and I provided the kind of home life that set the example for values and common sense that they all have now.

That is the key. Not everyone can withstand this.

I know we have a lot of conservative students at UNC. I've met a lot of them at various conservative functions. It must be exhausting to withstand this on a daily basis though.

MKM

[JohnnyZ]

"Absolutely American" follows the lives of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy -- case studies that will undoubtedly lead to debates about patriotism and the war in Iraq. "Enough" explores the dark side of scientific advances in genetic engineering at a time when cloning poses perhaps the human race's most difficult ethical dilemmas.

Amazingly, both of these sound pretty good. "USMA is good" or "genetic engineering can be very bad" -- both true.

[Tax-chick]

"LIFE OF PI" BY YANN MARTEL -- Fictional tale of the son of a zookeeper who finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

This one looks like it would inspire discussion!

[MikeD]

According to the 1996 Campus Canvas, roughly 1/3 of UNC students identified as "Conservative" or "Republican."

MD