Newspapers / The Carolina journal. / Jan. 31, 1968, edition 1 / Page 7
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m : I 5-Year Man on Campus With Ellison Clary Scourge Of Students Exams Bring Out Worst Exams are the scourge of students. They’re like laxatives; they bring out the worst in people. Campus life patterns undergo abrupt transfromations around exam time. Often old friends are rendered unrecognizable. For instance, during the last few days of classes several of your buddies are apt to disappear completely. Sometimes you can catch a glimpse of something which vaguely resembles them in a faraway, musty, cobwebby comer of the unchartered, vast wilderness, the library. They’re (sometimes literally) pouring over a text which still looks new after four months. Later you find out the text is new; they just bought it yesterday. Alttiough the vision appears quite life-like, you figure it’s got to be an apparition since the only other time you can remember them being in the Ubrary they were asked to leave because they were making too much noise—snoring. You sit around a table in the union with several friends. Nor mally you’d all be laughi^ and joking. But now it’s exam time. So nobody speaks. You just stare at each other. Now qnd then someone will grimmace painfully, someone else wiU shuffle his feet, another will look up and open his mouth as if to speak, only to drop his head after realizing the futility of it. Finally one of you will scowl at a clock and all will silently rise and trudge together toward the impendmg slaughter. If you arrive early for the exam, you have the dubious pleasure of observing the other lambs flock in, all ready in unique vrays for the kill. Sat Up With Little Girl Usually one of them is the older woman type, you know, grand motherly looking. This is the only course she’s taken during the semester and she’s dead set on showing those youngsters who’ve struggled through four other subjects that she’s got more intellect in her little toe than all of them can collectively muster. And she probably does; her problem is in transferring it to her brain. She bustles in and exclaims to no one in particular, “Oh, I didn’t get a single chance to study for this exam. I’ve had to sit up with my little girl for the last three nights. She’s been running a fever of 103 and the doctor says it’s just a virus but I just know it’s scarlet fever because it runs in the family on my husband’s side. I’ll die if this keeps me from making an “A”in this course.’’ You’re beginning to hope she doesn’t make the “A”. “But at least I did finish all the outside reading the professor said would be on the exam,’’ she proclaims triumphantly. You wonder, “What outside reading?’’ After the lady comes the carefree fellow you noticed in class the first couple of times and then didn’t see again. He’s the son of the richest man in Matthews or some such place and you thought he’d dropped out to take over the old man’s wooden clothespin business. “No, I didn’t drop,” he explains. “Pve just been living it up in Harrisburg with some waitress and running a gambling house on the side. My dad would disinherit me if he found out, so last week I read up on all the texts in this class and figured I’d come on back and ace the exam.” You hate to, but you inform him the exam is coming entirely from the professor’s noted. “Ooooooooh hayel!” Is his only reply. Then there’s the guy who drags in looking like something that was thrown away and refused pick up by the garbage man. He sports a three-days growth ofbeard which took him a week to cultivate, the no bath smell, grimy jeans with holes in the seat and both knees, a ra^edy sweatshirt with “Eat at Joe’s when Joe’s not home” inscribed on it in pink magic marker, and a turban. Had No Time To Shave “Pve been so busy studying I haven’t had time to shave or get cleaned up,” he says. The truth is, he’s spent so much time getting dirty, he hasn’t had time to study. T _ Following this guy is the shapely party girl who’s never studied in her life. She can’t concentrate long enough on anything except marriage. She’s her usual sexy self as she nonchantly coos, don’t care if I do flunk out. Maybe PH get drafted.” tt she did. Bob Hope wouldn’t have to entertain the troops. Finally, some poor soul who’s been on No-Doz for the last 72 hours straight somehow staggers in. His eyes are like glass and you could ice skate on his pupils. He doesn’t say anything, he just stares straight ahead, never blinking. By the time the exams are passed out, so is he. stare at your exam and hope the entire first question . s mistake because you don’t even know what language It s m. This is when you identify with a drowning man. Your whole semester flashes through your mind in a minute’s time. Now you know your’re finished. How do you know? Well, if the Russian History and you think Bogdon Khmelnitsky and me t^rainian Cossacks are a new psychedelic rock group, that’s a pretty good indication. THE CAROLINA JOURNAL, Wednesday, January 31, 1968 PAGE 7 McNeely Goes To Hill- -Leaves Behind Suggested Improvements By PATRICK McNEELY “Last lectures” are becoming a trend on this campus so I feel that this is a good time for this writer to give what might be called his “last column.” Below I will briefly point out the five improve ments I would like to see on the UNC-C campus, revealing as little about myself as I possibly can. (1) EXPERIMENTAL COURSES: This is not a new idea but one practiced in many other institu tions of higher learning. The pro cess would be that if a certain number of students (say 30) were to request a course to be taught at the University which is not taught at the present, the Univer sity would hire an instructor to teach said course to the reques- tees. The course could be in yoga, Indian music, Eskimo customs or any other subject which would draw enoi^h interest tofilla classroom. Obviously the student would not receive quality point nor semester hour credit tor these experimental courses unless they were added to the catalogue of credit courses after the trial class. The object would be to set up a system of suKJly and demand for education beyond the courses offered. This vyould be a great step toward en livening academic interest as well as providing a basis for adding new courses to the standing repertoire. (2) UNIVERSITY PRIDE; The problem of lack of pride is an abstract and perplexing one here. It is primarily the students’ problem. We already have academic pride but those stan dards are set by the faculty; what are you, the students going to do which you can be proud of. The field of athletics is a good place to start. Support and be proud of your teams regardless of their records. Winning is not as important nor as rewarding as the feeling of togetherness of effort, and appreciation of and pride in the endeavor. Pride begins with little things such as display of the Univer sity name on car windows, sweat- Great Urban University? Sincerely, Dr. Edward Perzel Assistant Professor of History shirts and drinking mugs. Its sub stance is the desire to enter into the pulse of campus activity and its result is a spiritual experi ence. I may be “the fool on the hill” but I wouldn’t have It any other way. There is plenty of room on this hill for all. (3) THE “CHILD COMPLES”; We are waivering between two forces which, when they meet pro duce uncommon behavior for a student. One force is the parental- home influence not present at resi dential colleges. The other is the natural need of college-aged per sons for independence and individ uality. Some are content to remain children and proceed to act the part. Others struggle so violently to rid themselves of this complex that they become candidates for the old folks’ home. I think you wUl agree that neither extreme is good. The sad part is that the social structure which results from this unbalanced majority either alien ates or contaminates the few in dependent students. I would like to see students of this campus exert some intro spection and become collegians in the true sense of the word. As the situation is now the fol lowing is probable: The Lord made man and He said, “This is good”; and the Lord made woman and He said, “This is good”; then the Lord made the UNC-C student and He said, “This is odd.” (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8) Letters To The Editor Barnstormer Crities Put Foot In Mouth With Vigor Dear Editor, ” Students, faculty and staff: Congratulations; we have taken another giant step forward to be coming a great urban university. In the absence of most character istics of what an urban university is, we have managed to develop the necessity to charge a park ing fee on our great urban campus. Now everyone who is anyone knows that all urban campl have parking problems. After all, they are sit uated in the middle of the fast developing, easily accessible areas of the cities in which they are located. This means that land is at a premium and it becomes very costly to provide parking spaces. There fore, to cut down on the number of cars on campus a fee is charged. Now this is a reasonable policy because in most cases a person has the choice of driving or using public trans portation. Unfortunately we are not an urban campus, we do not have to ration land out here in the middle of the boon docks, we are not in an easily accessible area of the city, and we have no public transportation to speak of. I think that a parking fee is ridi culous for a campus which starts with the assumption that you have to have a car to go to school here. I think it is even more ridiculous that the faculty, with all their tremendous “fringe be nefits?”, have to pay to come to work here. I think that the uni versity might at least see itself clear to giving the faculty one fringe benefit — a free parking place. It is with some reservations that I write this reply to Mr. Lafferty and Mr. Logan’s letter to the editor in the January 10 issue of THE CAROLINA JOUR NAL. As a member of the Barn stormers I was pleased to note that some reaction, regardless of the small value of that reaction, has been made to the magazine’s latest issue. As far as I know, the magazine and the club have always welcomed any criticisms and/or comments on the quality of the publication, including this “criticism”, if it can be labeled as such. However, upon examination of Mr. Lafferty and Mr. Logan’s lam somewhat puzzled by their charges. They refer to the maga zine as “Hancocklian,” which it is, as much as it is “Stonestreet- ian”, “F. N. Stewart-ian”, “John Hostetter-ian,” or any other pro per adjective one cares to apply in reference to authorship of art icles. I would hazard to guess that any publication reflects, to some degree the tastes and abilities of its editor, just as THE CAROLINA JOURNAL reflects Miss Watts’ guiding hand. Jerry Hancock would I am sure, appreciate any assis tance or comments in editing. If the Barnstormer is “Namby- pamby” and “Third-rate” it is because, we the students of UNC- C, have only submitted “third- rate” material to be selected from for publication. If Mr. Lafferty or Mr. Logan have any better poetry to submit, the Barnstormer would appreciate it, as we have a n opening tor a page of “second rate” poetry toradvanced readers. Their work, if tliey submit any, will be reviewed by the club mem bers at the next meeting. I know of no objections, within the Barnstormer staff to publish ing the magazine once a semester. In fact, this would be quite a bit easier on both the staff and the editor, in view of the many pro- terial, and advertising. I believe a motion was made in favor of semester publication at a recent meeting, but was rejected because of previous agreements made bet ween the Barnstormer and the Publications Board. It is pleasing to note that the magazine had at least one “Shin ing star,” according to our two “distinguished students.” This bright spot is, of course, the art work inthelastissue. These works are a fine example of the large talent potentials on our campus which only need a little recog nition and encouragement before the faculty and student body. For myself, I do not know what grudge (if any) I.afferty and Lo gan may bear toward the Barn stormer or its staff. Some mem bers have suggested that Mr. La- fterty just likes to see his name in print, if this is so, he should be well pleased with this letter which has already mentioned him five times. If, as some may doubt, Lafferty writes his “reviews” for the enlightenment and/or amuse ment of the students, we shall all be looking forward to his next critical summary of next month’s issue of “proliferate garbage” we fondly call the Barnstormer. Sincerely, 0. C. Stonestreet,III ‘Namby-Pamby’ Barnstormer Reflects Quality Of Writing TO THE EDITOR: All too frequently there is a tendency, on the part of others, to excoriate someone else’s “stuff’ without producing any of their own. In a rather paltry and childish manner however, they go about it in a way that reveals how “warped” their minds can be. A two year old can say,“I don’t like it” and put his thumb in his mouth. When he grows older and does the same thing he puts his foot in his mouth. With reference to the article published in the last issue of THE CAROLINA JOURNAL the “stuff” that was published in the BARNSTORMER is an attempt by students to explain their sensi tivity to life and broaden their perspective of things no matter how unpoetic it may appear to others. The poing; don’t knock until you’ve felt the blow first. To Mr. Logan and Mr. Laff erty I can never reproduce what the masters did with verse Scribble so I must, what then is your woth? You see my friends, and I say this because I like you, but your groove is something I can’t dig. You are the critic and not cri ticized. You can afford to wipe the wrong end with your hand kerchief. Let me cite a quote from R. M. Macivers, THE PER- SUIT OF HAPPINESS: “The fault lies not in the seeking but in the spirit of the search, not in the engrossment but in the per spective. Our values should dwell in our hearts, not our nerves; our innovations should excite our minds, not our tempers.” If you’ve written “stuff’ for the BARNSTORMER do not be robbed of the intrinsic quality of the pursuit; do not fret and fume or vex yourself in vain. Scribble on, and perhaps in one line out of a hundred you’ll step put of doors and enter the field of life, look up at the sky and know you’ve not been troubled. T. J. Reddy
Jan. 31, 1968, edition 1
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