Chapel Hill has its own version of Colin Kaepernick in UNC Chancellor Carol Folt. Though instead of taking a knee, Folt took a stand — on whether Silent Sam should be allowed back on the pedestal in the university’s front yard. Up to this point, I’d been disappointed that Folt had been so tentative in […]
All posts in category Ethics
Taking a stand on Silent Sam
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 10, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/09/10/taking-a-stand-on-silent-sam/
The Bail Trap
Some 40% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense, according to a federal survey conducted earlier this year. If they don’t have access to credit, they’d have to borrow from family or friends. If they have tapped out those resources, then bills go unpaid, utilities get shut off. Sometimes that $400 bill starts a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 6, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/06/the-bail-trap/
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Is all affordable housing good? Is it morally defensible to put affordable housing somewhere that you wouldn’t put other housing? These questions came to mind last Wednesday during a Chapel Hill Town Council meeting at which representatives of the town’s Office for Housing and Community proposed putting affordable housing on three parcels of town-owned land […]
Posted by Don Evans on June 25, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/06/25/wont-you-be-my-neighbor/
Honor Council
Not long ago, a few members of Duke University’s Honor Council spoke with students at McDougle Middle School about the roles of morals and ethics in making good decisions. Honor Council members set up a scenario for the moral dilemma all of us have faced more than once in our lives — You see someone […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 21, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/21/honor-council/
Indy loses its independence
Was a time when Chapel Hill and Orange County had a good selection of news providers to advise voters in the candidate selection process. With the elimination of The Chapel Hill News and Chapel Hill Herald and the weakening of The Daily Tar Heel, the town has lost great resources. Now it appears that The […]
Posted by Don Evans on May 14, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/14/indy-loses-its-independence/
Master Fleecing
When I read the editorial by Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce head Aaron Nelson proposing what he called “master leasing” as a solution for high housing prices, I had to double-check the byline. Was this the same Aaron Nelson who stood before Town Council in 2014 swearing that Berkshire Apartments (then called Alexan) would be […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 2, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/04/02/master-fleecing/
Honor MLK Jr. — Speak Out
Never have I felt so alone and afraid as when the border patrol in El Salvador pulled me off the bus as I headed to American-friendly Guatemala because I had not stayed the three consecutive nights the Salvadoran regime required of tourists to that country torn by civil war in the early 1980s. I watched […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 15, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/15/honor-mlk-jr-speak-out/
In Defense of Silent Sam
After Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child molestation, the statue of his boss, revered head coach Joe Paterno was removed. The statue had been erected to honor the popular “winningest” coach in football. Once it became apparent that Paterno knew about the child abuse for years but […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 21, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/08/21/in-defense-of-silent-sam/
I know a guy …
With the new travel ban in effect, the U.S. has moved a step closer to the elitist mentality that Donald Trump admires. As of last Thursday night, if you come from one of six Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — your ability to visit the Land of the Free depends […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 3, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/07/03/i-know-a-guy/
Playing the game: basketball and politics
Town Council members caught some flack last year when we approved the 2016-17 meeting schedule and moved our first regular Monday night meeting in April to the first Wednesday. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Final would be held that Monday, and if UNC were to play in it, many of us would want to watch. “You […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 3, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/04/03/playing-the-game-basketball-and-politics/