Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / Feb. 15, 1971, edition 1 / Page 5
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THE VOICE...FEBRUARY 15. 1971...PAGE 5 Editorial Policy Editorials which appear in The Voice are open to criticism since they are opin ionated write-ups. Authors of editorials are to sign all write-ups submitted to the school newspaper. Signatures will be withheld only when the authors give valid reasons for having their names withheld. EDITOR Registration hassle Registration for the Second Semester missed the mark of a ‘time-saving, smooth and orderly procedure by a great margin. It was partially due to faulty planning by administrators and disorderly conduct of tired, frustrated students who did not take ample time to read directions and who did not have full directions about the location of special purpose areas, such as, the place for signing of EOG, National Defense Stu dent Loans and work-study checks for the past semester. Students would stand in line at the cashier’s window for hours only to be informed that they were to report to another room or window to transact other business before receiving the PINK SHEET (fee assessment sheet). The student would then stand in the next line for several hours. This was a very confusing situation, stu dents were so mixed up mentally that they were on the verge of going berserk, (in fact, some of them seemed to do just that at the Business Office windows and the ta bles where class rosters were being sign ed). Of course, we had administrators who were ‘catching hell’ because other dig nitaries were remiss during the early per iod of registration or because students would not adhere to rules set by the Regis tration Committee. The packing of students at the Business Office windows resulted in a couple of fainting fits, and the overcrowding of stu dents at tables where class rosters were being signed on the first day of registra tion resulted in the abortion of registra tion procedures from 12:00 p.m. -6:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., reaching a total of two and one-half hours of registra tion for the first day. This delayed pro cedures so greatly that registration had to continue through the following Saturday and Monday. Students had to stand and trod around to complete registration in the wet, windy, and icy weather of January 8-9,1971. As trees and shrubbery about ^e campus bowed with heavy coatings of ice, students filtered about the University’s campus Sat urday, January 9, to try to complete regis tration in the three hours from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. which were allowed. All were not successful in their attempts. Registra tion was again extended into the following week. Now students and administrators can look back on all of the perplexity and find faults in each other. The blame for the complete disarray can not be stamped in one single area or on any single person, but it has been suggested that the Busi ness Office should start registration a week or more earlier. This they did, but their failure to pass out PINK SHEETS (verification for permit to register) at the time that students paid bills early was their main back up. Students put themselves in undesirable predicaments because several of them had not submitted medical blanks with physi cal check-ups, blood tests, and chest X- rays and several students who were on probation signed up for excessive hours. Their limit was fourteen hours and some had as much as twenty-one class hours. There were students who stood in line at the check-out stations without advisors’ signatures and without PINK SHEETS. They had to turn back and get these necessary transactions, simultaneously they were placed further back in line. Several stu dents came to the final step of registra tion without completion of the permanent schedules. It has been reiterated quite of ten that one must press hard when filling in these schedules in order for all copies to be eligible. Several students do not real ize that these type schedules and the pro cedure of registration which has been used for the past year has been done for the bene fit of the student. In order to have a “time- ... Petition ... (Continued from page I) The students were informed that Presi dent Lyons had considered talking to them a week later, but they were so upset, some of the students considered forcing the President to come speak to them at that meeting. They wanted him to face them at that time, and “bring facts, not evasive answers.” Some want ed to storm the President’s house, but were made to realize, by Mr. Nesby, that the final decision rested with the Board of Trustees. “We must be organized and pre sent an authentic student petition,” Nesby said, “or we will be labeled another ‘stu dent unrest’ and achieve nothing.” He con tinued, “We have to make sure what we do is the best thing to do. If we are going to make a move we have to be effective. The system listens to documentation, not noise. We need mass support of a petition, not a riot.” When confronted with more questions from the students wishing direction for their goals, he said, “We can only influence the Board of Trustees, not make decisions. To influence we must do it in the best possible way: petition, put our opinions in THE VOICE, continue student publications of stu dent problems, and have the results of our meetings publicized. Now is not the time for riots, because the administration is ready for that with counter federal force. Now is the time to have a legal repre sentative body under the Student Govern ment Association. We do not have to resort to the old physical tactics.” He was telling the students that they must work within the system to make changes in the system and to be heard. Carolyn Newton Stevens, the Vice Presi dent of the Student Government Associa tion, asked the students, “How are we going to talk to the President when we are arguing with each other. First we have to get together, as we are doing. Remember, we have the alumni and the faculty association behind us and they are ‘dead on his tail’ ”. She continued, speaking of working within the system, “Lyons does not believe the fa culty assembly exists simply because he has not included them in his reorganization; but since we come under the Student Govern ment Association, a recognized organiza tion, he cannot doubt our existence, and must deal with us.” More comments from the floor were en couraged. One students wanted to think about the idea of keeping Lyons and making him change his attitude and methods. Another student remembered Lyons’ visit to one of the dorms where he stated, “I am not going to have ANYONE telling ME what to dol’ From this remark of President Lyons’, it was obvious to the student body that he was in no frame of mind to consider any opin ions but his own. President Lyons should take a lesson from botony. If he wants to survive, he should be a willow and bend a little, instead, he insists upon being an oak, and getting blown down. The next item on the agenda was the final decisions and agreements. In the voting, only a handful of the students wanted to take a chance on the President reforming after he read the students’ grievances. An out standing majority voted for President Lyons’ resignation. It was agreed that the students would abide by the majority de cision and stay together. Petitions were started in the audience for signatures. A meeting was scheduled for later that even ing to make the final draft of the petition and list of grievances to be presented to the Board of Trustees and Board of Higher Education.lt was agreed that PRESIDENT LYONS WAS THE PROBLEM. If cancer, or a problem, cannot be treated, it must be cut For a free button that says, “try a little kindness,” send your name and address to Cor porate Services Dept., Clairol, 345 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022. saving, smooth and orderly procedure of registration,” do we have to go back inhis tory to verification cards, long lines of class schedules (to be filled in separate ly in place of the present permanent sche dule which makes carbon copies by filling in the top schedule), and the tiresome walking from building to building and from room to room to be signed in classes? Let us all find ourselves and strive for unity. EDITOR ; I ■ - . L . 1 . - 1 GOODWILL TOURS LYONS PEACE EFFORT By NORMA L. GENTRY Well, the President has finally been seen by the student body after being hidden for almost two years. I wonder why the sudden change. Perhaps he felt that a few “good will tours” would close the mystery gap. He might have just made his semi-public appearance to appease the college students, as well as the faculty. Did he succeed? Of course not. We are in a state of pure confusion, with no one to turn to because our “Good Ole’ President” is strictly a man of secret action. He brings about gigantic changes and the only way the student body hears of his action is through the “grape vine.” Why do we have this big communication gap between us? I am not in a position to answer this question at this time, but I promise you one thing; before the “good will” tours are over, we will have an an swer to a lot of our questions. President Lyons did not forsake Smith Hall in his tours. He did not believe in giv ing answers; his basic weapon was eva sion. He did not answer “the” question, but “a” question. The student-President dialogue, in part, went as follows: “Do you and the faculty and students have a good relationship?” “Relationship is a two way street, and I am tired of people talking to me about why this or that.’ “I thought we were living in a democ racy; what is this, a dictatorship?” “You say this is a dictatorship, and that I dictate how it is to be run. No, the rules are passed down to me from the state, and 1 have to abide by them.” “Do you think you are a problem here?” “No, I am not a problem to anyone.” During one of his tempermental out bursts, he said, “I am tired and weary of a small group of people that set themselves up as a spokesman of the faculty. When you have a grievance, come as one, not as a spokesman for everybody.” The man seems to be an ideal candidate for the United Nations because of his great ability to use the tactic of evasion, while seeming to be pleasant. In the U.N. the skill in evading an issue is a good quality, but on campus it is a lost cause. The absurdity of freedom as a political goal By ROBERT REHAK Freedom as a political goal is absurd. It is absurd simply because freedom as a concept makes no sense within the polit ical continuum. And this is what our radical youth are beginning to realize. At the very heart of political philosophy is the deter mination of the proper balance betweenfree- dom and law and order which will result in the optimum good for both the individual and society. I would submit, though, that freedom when considered from this viewpoint is a myth, an illusion propagated to diminish con sciousness of repression. There are dif ferent degrees of being ujjfree in the sense that additional restrictions may be placed upon my physical movement, the reading material to which I am allowed access, my choice of vocations, educational oppor tunities, etc. But to be free (or freed) is an abso lute. It means to be free of all fetters: political, social, economic, and psychic. Freedom is not the choice between social necessities, but rather the ability to deter mine the code by which one will live. Free dom for youth is the freedom to become themselves. It is thus intimately tied to the notion of individualism. The very nature of politics, however, is coercion. The polity imposes restraints on the marginal elements of society for the benefit of the vast middle. People are (Continued on page 6) t I . . . . a > J' ' ‘ t • ‘
Fayetteville State University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 15, 1971, edition 1
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