the Samford Crimson
80th year, 5th issue
inside...
to inform the mind, to voice the unheard
October 11, 1995
News
50 years ago:
What was the Crim¬
son publishing?
page 2
Sports
Soccer
Splits in week¬
end competition
page 4
Features
London:
Sudents facing
theft abroad
page 6
Editorials
The poor
Is our attitude
too aristocratic?
page 7
World & Nation
Arizona:
(AP) Officials said a
note found near
Monday's Amtrak
train derailment in
the Arizona desert
refers to the federal
sieges at Waco, Texas,
and Ruby Ridge,
Idaho — both rally¬
ing cries for right-
wing, anti-govern¬
ment extremists. One
person died and
about 100 were in¬
jured in the train
wreck.
Mexico:
(AP) The death toll
keeps rising after an
earthquake that dev¬
astated parts of
Mexico's central Pa¬
cific coast. The mag¬
nitude 7.6 tremor
killed at least 65
people and injured at
least 90 others.
Convos
Oct. 11:
Helen Lewis, Professor,
Appalachian Ministries
Center
Oct. 16:
Homecoming Testimo¬
nials, SU football team
Oct. 18:
Brad Creed, Associate
Dean, Truett Theologi¬
cal Seminary
Wu decries human rights violations
by Wes Fulton
Editorial Page Co-Editor
When Harry Wu was being
held captive in China this summer,
his captors called him a “trouble¬
maker."
“They told me, "We waited
for you. ..You are the only one
overseas who causes big trouble
for our government.'’’
Wu takes that as a compli¬
ment.
Wu spoke at length about'his
experiences as a captive this sum¬
mer in a speech Thursday night at
Reid Chapel.
He addressed the abusive ex¬
cesses of China's prison system
and showed two short documen¬
tary features that he helped make.
In Wu’s words, the features
“revealed some ugly truths about
the Chinese government, particu¬
larly how they have abused mil¬
lions of men and women in labor
camps."
Wu was bom in China and
spent nearly 20 years in Chinese
prisons after he was branded as a
rightist for denouncing the Soviet
Union's invasion of Hungary and
openly criticizing the Chinese
communists. He was released in
1979.
Since leaving China, Wu has
been an outspoken critic of China's
human rights abuses.
He has secretly traveled back
to China three times in order to
document the abuses he said are
commonplace within the Chinese
laogai (labor and reform).
This summer, Wu attempted
to return to China again and was
apprehended at the border. He was
held for 66 days by Chinese au¬
thorities, causing an international
outcry. Finally, he was expelled
after being sentenced to 1 5 years
in prison.
While being held captive, Wu
had guards at his side 24 hours a
day — even while using the bath¬
room, a part of his stay which Wu
found particularly uncomfortable.
“When somebody's standing
beside you, how can you get any
relief?” he told the audience, re¬
ceiving a roar of laughter in reply.
After Wu complained to the
supervisor, the guards drilled a
peephole in the bathroom door to
watch him instead.
Although Wu was not tor¬
tured, he said that he endured hard¬
ships during his 66 day captivity.
He was denied access to T.V.,
radio, newspapers and magazines,
and was not allowed to contact his
family. The Chinese allowed him
Rosekt Strickland
/
P»mi Eom *
Unique opportunity
Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, who spoke in Reid Chapel last
Thursday night, discusses some of his ideas with students at a reception
following the Samford Speakers' Series event.
Reed captures Top Ten Women honor
to have two books, which he often
read aloud to his captors.
According to Wu, China regu¬
larly uses prison labor in factories
manufacturing items of foreign
export — a practice which violates
international law.
In the documentaries which
Wu showed, he also charged China
with executing prisoners for the
purpose of acquiring organs for
transplant.
Wealthy westerners pay up to
the $30,000 for organs takeofrom
executed prisoners, making the
practice a lucrative source of in¬
come for the Chinese government.
Wu fears that China may be
stepping up the number of execu¬
tions in order to exploit this source
of income.
Wu lays the blame for China’s
human rights abuses squarely on
the shoulders of China’s Commu¬
nist Party.
“The communists are totally
out of control," Wu said. "They
just do whatever they want; today,
for the past 47 years, all the time.
The communists are liars; they lie
to the people; they lie to me; they
also lie to you. They lie all the
time.”
Wu said that he has been
called a traitor because of his role
in uncovering human rights abuses
in China. He agreed, saying. “I am
a traitor to the communists. I am
not a traitor to my motherland." He
also said that “communists are the
traitors of democracy; they are the
traitors of liberty."
Wu said he hoped people
would look past him and pay at¬
tention to the atrocities that are still
being committed by the Chinese
government.
“If you want to care about
these things," Wu said, “don’t care
about me; care about the millions
and millions of Chinese today in
forced labor camps. They arc ex¬
periencing what I have experi¬
enced. They need yourltelp, and
they need your prayers." ■
by Heather Strehlow
Managing Editor _ .
Professor Marlene Reed was
honored this year by colleagues
and community leaders as one of
Birmingham’s “Top Ten Women”
awarded by the Birmingham Busi¬
ness Journal.
Reed, who is the only woman
University Values Violations tor September
Last spring, the proposition to publish student value violations
was approved. Violations will be published monthly. The following
violations occured in September.
Violation
Plea Outcome
Sanction
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
insubordination
not guilty
pending
n/a
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
visitation
guilty
guilty
$50 fine, probation 95F
at Samford to have earned full ten¬
ured professorship, is a professor
of management in the School of
Business and is the dean of fresh¬
men.
The women selected for this
award are nominated and sup¬
ported by their peers and the pub¬
lic.
Members of the selection
committee represented the
Women’s Network, Network Bir¬
mingham, Women’s Business
Ownership Council, Sales and
Marketing Executives of Birming¬
ham, and community leaders.
Last year Reed was recog¬
nized as the Carnegie Foundation
Professor of the Year for the state
of Alabama and has also received
Samford’s John Buchanan Distin¬
guished Teaching Award.
Reed initiated the first entre¬
preneurship class at Samford, as
well as the Samford Student Busi¬
ness Incubator. She also served as
the director of the London Study
Centre during its first three years
of operation.
She has done a lot around the
Birmingham community to ad¬
vance entrepreneurship.
“Dr. Reed prepared herself to
help the many small businesses
essential to the economy of Ala¬
bama,” said the Provost William
Hull..
“She accepted the challenge
of training those who may return
to modest family enterprises rather
than to multi-national corpora¬
tions, and she combined serious
scholarship and research with pas¬
sionate devotion to undergraduate
teaching,” he said.
Reed, along with nine other
recipients, was honored at a lun¬
cheon where former White House
spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler
addressed them. ■
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