Point Blank by Larry Keith
Honesty,
The Best
Policy
That fellow looking for an honest man need search no longer,
for I am about to cut a dripping slice of humble pie and reveal
my Ignorant self to the world.
I picked Garner, 54% to 46%.
Sir, It pains deeply to admit, but pray, let me explain how my
rise and tall as a voting analyst came to be.
On Wednesday morning — even before I heard the speeches --
I was thinking differently. I pictured Gaither In the landslide I
foretold last week. My logic appeared at the time to be reasonable
and sound. In short, brilliant.
Two tacts shaped my thinking. Very few people vote In any campus
election, 500 or so at the most. Of those who regularly vote, es
pecially the “campus leaders,” the trend was decidedly In Gaither’s
favor. You heard about the petition and you read the letter of rec-
commendatlon In last week’s Journal. Gaither In a landslide, then
(60 to 40 I reckoned) because, as usual, apathy will prevail and
Garner’s strength, the “ordinary” student, won’t respond.
Garner himself knew this. He must have shook my hand and that
of everyone else a half dozen times. Vote, he said, and for me. That,
friends, is the way campaigning was meant to be done. Even
Gaither was wary. “I could be hurt,” he confided, “if there is
a real large turnout.”
After listening to the student reaction to the candidates’ speeches
I was even more sure of a Gaither victory.
Thursday, my mind began to change. I still saw Gaither, but by
a considerably smaller margin, 54 to 46.
CAROLINA JOURNAL April 12, 1967 Page 7
-Reliance On Science
It happened because I became too scientific. I started to observe
people, talk to people and hypothesize in the process.
I heard this from poll workers:
“Good gosh. I’ve never seen such a turnout. They’re coming in
droves and a great many of them are wearing Garner tags.”
Everywhere I turned I saw a green badge, on the backs of students,
on the fronts of students, on walls, on vending machines, on and in
everything and anything.
But as I said, I was still with Gaither. He didn’t look worried
so why should I?
Friday he looked worried.
“li really looks bad,” said a Gaitherite, “it really looks bad.
I’m scared to death that Garner is going to win.”
And where was Garner? Shaking hands, corralling people to the
polling place.
And where was Gaither? I didn’t see him until after I had twice
been approached by Garner. What I saw was not very inspiring.
It’s not that he looked beaten, but he looked concerned. I took concern
to mean worry, as I look back now. Worried candidates don’t die,
they follow the trail blazed by old sailors.
But I still wasn’t positive. I stuck my head into the cafeteria and
saw the Garner green. I went into the game room and heard a Gaither
supporter muttering his prayers. Then, once last check with the poll
workers. Over 700 had voted I learned and It looked like the number
might reach eight.
That did it. Lots of votes had been accepted by nearly everyone
as an indication of a Garner win. To me. Garner looked confident.
His unknown followers were flocking around him with knowing smiles.
-Sadder But Wiser
Summation Of New York:
'Beats Anything I Ever Saw’
BY FRANK CATON
New York City may be a nice
place to visit, but why do eight
million people want to live there?
I have been pondering this query
since my return two weeks ago
from “Fun City”. I must be
honest; I did have several pre
conceived notions about New York.
Anyone who watches Johnny Car-
son can rattle off a myriad of
quips concerning the city and its
inhabitants.
What surprised me most was
that Johnny wasn’t kidding; he
tells the truth about New York,
and it’s so incredulous that we,
the uninitiated, laugh.
The weather wasn’t the best
either. I believe it is safe to
say that I visited New York City
during the Blizzard of 1967. Sur
prisingly the heart of the city,
downtown Manhattan, was virtually
unscathed by the heavy snow. The
snow, like any other intruder,
could not find a place to park.
I wasn’t worried about the snow
finding a place to park as much
as I was worried about my find
ing a place to stay.
The occasion of my visit was
a simple matter of survival. I
was looking for a job. Each
year, the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers holds
its national convention in New
York City, and all the tun loving
engineering firms and companies
use the convention as an excuse
to steal employees from each other
and also to harvest the crop of
graduating engineers.
Our graduating class of elec
trical engineers and two faculty
members, who may prefer to re
main anonymous, fitted into one
car and made the leisurely twelve
hour drive from Charlotte to New
York. Needless to say we were
careful to pay the yankees tor the
use of their roads as we went.
Our reservations had been made
and confirmed well in advance of
our arrival. Perhaps they were
made too much in advance, for
when we arrived, our genial host
had rented our rooms.
Beware of the Pickwick Arms
Hotel. You really wouldn’t want
to stay there anyway. I talked
to a student who stayed there
last year, and he didn’t exactly
say the rooms in the Pickwick
are small; he just said that when
he put the key in the lock he
broke a window.
He did have one compliment tor
the hotel, however. He wasn’t
bothered with the rattling of gar
bage cans at three AM, because
there wasn’t enough room between
the hotel and the brick wall of the
next building to put them.
But I digress. Undaunted by
being stranded in the Naked City
with no place to rest our weary
bones, we stoned our genial host
with slush balls and made the most
logical move our engineering
minds could conceive. We re
grouped our forces and retreated
across the Hudson to a motel in
New Jersey.
From our fortress safely across
the river, we viewed the ominous
metropolis cautiously, planning
our next move. As dawn broke
and the skyline became visible
through the sulphurous smog that
had crept in and sat on little cat
feet (and also on everything else),
we mounted a bus, transferred
to the subway, and in an ama
zingly short time found ourselves
deep in the heart of Manhattan.
There we set to the task of
seeing the sights, milling with
the masses, dodging the taxi-cabs,
and aboveall, seeking employment.
I won’t bore you with the grue
some details of seeking employ
ment; I almost went out of my
skull during that ordeal. But,
all things being considered it was
an interesting and quite infor
mative trip. And I would like
to say to any former New Yorker
who is within eyeshot, aren’t you
glad you’re living with us now?
Seriously though, I was at a
loss when it came to summing
up New York City in a few words.
I think it was best expressed by
a fellow student who said he mar
veled at the milling throngs and
magnificent edifices that is New
York, “Beats anything I ever saw!”
He Knows Why
It’s '^Human Race’
BY PATRICK McNEELY
Now I know why they call this
the human “race”. We race
to class, we race from class,
we race through lunch, we race
through books, we race home so
we can race through sleep (and
that is tough to do, but not im
possible) so we can wake up to
enjoy another day of racing.
Well, good God, where is the
finish line . . . graduation? No
baby, that’s just a pit stop, for
you’re off again in the business
and earning-a-living race.
Once I decided I would leap
off the track, dodge a few blind
drivers and leap into the stands.
I did so, but promptly found that
the stands had bucket-seats and
the people weren’t watching the
race but running a race of their
own. They were racing for the
hot-dog stand, racing for the toilet,
or just racing their damn engines
to make noises.
This is when I decided that if
I was going to have to race (and
it seems there is no choice in
the matter) that I was at least
going to race with a car and a
definite track. So I promptly
slid into my Stutts Coolcat and
zipped back onto the track where
I’m too busy driving to notice
the stench of society.
Commuter School Study Shows
Progressive Alienation
That afternoon I sat with several others as Gaither ate a late lunch.
I saw it as the last supper.
That is how it happened. Filled \yith facts and figures, having ob
served the candidates and listened to their supporters, and drawing
on random observations of the coming and going students, I thought it
better to switch than fight:
I picked Garner, 54% to 46%.
It hurts to write that again because I am a political science major
with a sincere interest in voting behavior. I have just failed my first
exam.
Now, I am sadder but wiser.
I can agree with the psychologistswho say the first choice is usually
the best choice.
Perhaps we are all wiser.
Once the remnants resembling a Soviet May Day celebration have
been swept away, something else remains. Students acted lor once.
They said something. One of these days when there are enough
candidates competing against one another to make the printing of a
ballot really worthwhile,such a student response won’t be so unique.
This year it was.
John Gaither will make a very good president. He certainly con
vinced the student body of that. I know that Larry Garner was gra
cious in defeat. His dedication to this school makes him deserving of
all the university otters. If he continues to take an active interest
in this school — as he said he would -- so much the better.
... Now honor me, ancient wanderer. I surrender myself to you.
Blow out your flame and rest yourself at last. You’ve found your
honest man.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CPS) —
A recent study of students at a
large commuter school declared
that students become “progressi
vely more alienated from the
University” as they move through
their academic careers.
Four chancellors from the Uni
versity of California, however, re
ferred to student alienation
recently as “the great cliche”.
Prof. Arthur Blumberg, educa
tional psychologist at Temple Uni
versity in Philadelphia, surveyed
400 students there on their feelings
about “belonging to a large organ
ization. ” The results indicated
that feelings of “anomie” (which
the study defined as "lacking a
sense of direction”) increased
from freshman to senior years.
The Temple study attributed stu
dent alienation to several condi
tions: difficulty in communicating
with other students; and the fail
ure of the university to live up
to its purposes as stated in the
catalogue.
Another reason is the emphasis
on career planning, which causes
students to see college as only
another hurdle before they can do
what they feel is really meaninf-
ful, the report said.
On the West Coast, however,
the chancellors of the University
of California at Berkeley, Los
Angeles, Irvine, and Davis dis
missed the claim of students alie
nation during a television program
last month.
Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy
from UCLA said “there is more
nonsense mixed up in this than
anything else.”
Most students, Murphy said,
come to college “with one foot
in adolescence and the other in
maturity. When making a step
up, you’re bound to be standing
on one foot.”
He recounted that when he was
in college he found it valuable to be
on his own. “Loneliness and tra
vail” were part of the college
experience.
“You should not fool students,”
Murphy said, “that there is an
easy route to an education.”
Talking about the overwhelming
numbers of students now in college.
Chancellor Daniel Aldrich, Jr., of
Irvine said, “I’m not satisfied
that a student in a large class
with a competent professor is
any worse off than a student sitt
ing in a small class with an in
competent teacher.”
Another California educator de
clared that the idealism students
had is beginning to curdle. Joel
P. Smith, Associate Dean of Stu
dents at Stanford University, said
that students are increasingly
frustrated in their attemps at so
cial reform .at the national level
and are particularly incensed when
colleges refuse to accept their
suggestions.
Speaking before Stanford stu
dents, Smith urged administrators
to “pay attention and make changes
that are sensible.”
He cited lour reasons for the
loss of idealism in today’s college
students:
— Students resent President
Johnson. “You simply can’t exag
gerate the impace ot Presiden
Kennedy’s assassination on tht
young idealists now in college.’
— The Viet Nam war is “ul
timately obnoxious to most acti
vists.”
— Students feel they are being
elbowed out of the civil rights
movement, both by massive inter
vention ot new federal programs
and by the rise of black power.
-- Students resent the notion that
the reason to go to college is to
make money. “Activists see
American society as dispropor
tionately preoccupied with econo
mic success.”