ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 26, 1996 TAG: 9612260025
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NIKKI GIOVANNI
I FIND it incredible that a newspaper, any newspaper, can find a contradiction in "big time" and trouble. Talk about pots and kettles! Tech has a commitment to our students while The Roanoke Times is supposed to have a commitment to truth, justice and fair play, yet the newspaper has found two young men guilty as accused.
If the newspaper feels these two young men have so tainted Tech, perhaps it should lead the way and refuse to have anything to do with the Orange Bowl. Your editorial (Dec. 19, ``Tech stumbles on a contradiction'') should have ended: ``Therefore we will not carry ads, reportage, letters or anything at all concerning Virginia Tech football and the Orange Bowl as a protest to the contradiction." But that will not happen.
Does it make someone happy to hurt young men? Does someone sit in some tower and ask, "How can I sling an arrow at young men? What can I do to make them feel alone, unloved, uncared for, unappreciated? If they are in athletics maybe their achievements can be denigrated. If their wins and losses can't change, well, hey, let's accuse them of all but unspeakable crimes, and if it doesn't work one year with one woman let's try another year with another."
All unfortunate sexual encounters are not rape. But more, the young men said they did not do it. Don't they have any credibility? And even if they don't, since it is obvious that you are all too willing to allow an accusation to be a judgment, don't they have any rights?
I think your reporting of Virginia Tech football is biased against the players and the coach. I think you have not kept pace with the changing status and the accompanying pressures that a successful program brings. I think you have failed to inform your reading public of the difference between an accusation and a finding of guilt. You have an obligation to be fair to all the students of Virginia Tech, and you have failed. You are not informing the public - you are fanning the flames.
As a member of the Virginia Tech faculty, I must stress that I am proud to be a Hokie. This season is not sorry for me. We have come through a lot of fires, some from our own Hokimania, and we are singed but not burned out. This team is a very fine team. The young men on it are giving their best.
I, for one, think we will go into the Orange Bowl and come out a winner no matter what the score. Frank Beamer has put together a winning team while remaining a compassionate man. I hope Beamer will always stand behind his players because they sure give their best for him. I hope narrow-minded, jealous-hearted, greedy people will not be allowed to destroy the best things there are: youth, exuberance, excitement and possibilities. It is fun to be young, and fun to play games, and fun to learn. And there are mistakes made, there are hurts meted, there are lies told and there is truth to be uncovered.
You are The Roanoke Times, not The Roanoke Star Chamber. If Tech stumbled on a contradiction, you have fallen into a self-righteous hole.
Nikki Giovanni is a professor of English at Virginia Tech.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB