Page 6 The Carolina Journal, October 9, 1968
EDITORIAL
Reaction
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I
Instead of employing the standard first person plural (we) voice of most editorials, this
editor will use first person singular in the following editorial. The reasoning behind this is
the fact that I am writing this editorial from the point of view of my role as an individual
student who feels that he has been slighted and discriminated against. It is not, however,
my belief that the slighting of this editor is of any great importance to the reader, except
for the fact that all members of this student body are cheated when the cause of justice is
not served.
Last Wednesday morning I walked into A-109 and took a seat with full intentions of
becoming a member of a student organization known as ACTION. My reason for wanting
to join ACTION was to act in accordance with the stated purpose of that organization,
that is, to combat apathy on the UNC-C campus. It is my belief that this is a just cause,
but I tell that many factions of the student body were not represented in last year’s
♦
Where the
S.U.C.T.I.O.N.
Is
Bv Walt She rill
I
♦
edition of AC IKJN, and that, as a result of this homogeneity of membership, the stated
cause of the organization had suffered greatly in the interpretation.
greatly in the interpretation. The meeting was
called to order by .Mr. Benjamin Cihavis. He opened the meeting by stating that the
purposes of this gathering were to enlist new members and to elect officers to serve
during the coming academic year. The room continued to fill as Mr. chavis explicated to
the group the past accomplishments of AC TION, including last year’s Peace Symposium
and several speakers who were sponsored by ACTION.
^^You Can’t Vote...”
As the room continued to fill, the look on Mr. Chavis’ face changed from one of
pleasure (possibly from delight in the large turnout for the meeting) to alarm. As the time
to elect the new officers came near. Mr. C'havis, in response to a mysterious beckoning
from outside the room ijxcused himself and made a hasty, if temporary, exit. After
several minutes ol hushed conversation in the hall, Mr. Chavis returned, still wearing a
look of worry (or, at least, concern).
When (he time to vote arrived, Mr. Chavis anxiously pronounced the following edict:
" I hose ol you who were on campus last year and were not members can not vote. Only
the old members and the Ireshmen can vote.” He then made some remark about visitors
being welcome hut not allowed to vote. He reinforced his invitation for the freshmen to
vi)lc by saying that they (meaning the old mem hers) wanted the freshmen as members. It
became immidiately evident (hat there were n.iany people in attendence that the chairman
(.lirl iu>( want to vote. Perhaps he was afraid that, if the members of the basketball team
anil ol fill: JOURNAL staff were allowed to vote, he would not be elected.
I interrogated (he chair with the tollowing remark: "Am I to understand that we are
being ilenieil our right to vole? ”, to which Mr. C havis replied, “What we are denying you
is to dictate the direelion to be iaken by the steering committee (to be made up of a
presiilenl, secretary, and treasurer- editor’s note).” CTne member interjected from the
lloor. “ I hose who join will be allowed to vote on later issues. You just can’t vote in this
eicclion.” I he Ireshmen were allowed- no, encouraged- to vote. The tloor was opened
lor nominations, and Miss Alice folger nominated Mr. C’havis for the office of president
of ACTION, file nomination was seconded. Asa matter of routine. Mr. Chavis inquired,
“Is there any more nominations?” No more names were suggested and Mr. C’havis called
lor a show ol hamls. He was elected by almost a dozen old AC’LION members and about
lilteen Ireshmen, while twenty-one prosirective members watched helplessly.
(The following account,
through fictitious, is based loosely
upon reality; names and numbers
have been changed to protect the
innocuous. For a full and factual
account see the Sept. 27, 1967
CAROLINA JOURNAL.)
While sauntering down a
back-hall in the Student Union,
not to be confused with the
Soviet Union where the food is
better, 1 chanced to pass the open
doorway of room 211. Noticing
several attractive young ladies
therein, I essayed a quick turn and
trundled back to the opening.
“What’s happening here?” 1
blithely asked of the dignified
young intellectual at the front of
the room. (I knew he was an
intellectual because he smoked a
pipe just like our professors.)
“S.U.C.T.l.O.N.!,” came the
clipped reply. The fervor with
which those few seemingly
harmless syllables were spoken
struck a note of terror in my
heart-if there’s anything 1 fear,
it’s a fanatic, and I religiously
avoid them whenever possible. 1
started to beat a hasty retreat but
something drew me back.
After disengaging my
suspenders from the doorknob, I
started off again, but a fellow
Political Science (fiction) major in
the back of the room caught my
eye. This young man, I knew, was
every bit my equal in courage-and
if he were already inside, it
couldn’t be too dangerous. So,
screwing up my small stock of'
fortitude, I slank to the back of
the room and began to look
inconspicuous.
1 don’t know what 1 expected
to find in the room, but 1 saw that
the people there weren’t the
ordinary run-of-the-mill UNC-C
types at all. No sir. These kids had
a mission: “for in their hearts
there burned a flame, oh Lord, in
their hearts there burned a
flame...” As 1 sat there musing
about the plush comfort of the
ubiquitous fibreglass chairs
furnished for this and similar
occasions, the dignified young
intellectual spoke out: “I call this
meeting to order!”
Unified Committee for t
Individualism, and Opport^^"
r Pi 1 *—_ .
Now baby. . .) Der Furor
the podium over to Angry 1^”
Having won the right to«
Der Furor’s left. No. 1 took
minutes to make a lengthy si
about the manifest dacaden^Cern
the Southern world in general ’it w:
As
the 'Southern Religioul wori^twen
particular. A
man of jjrrant
religious conviction, No. I sycity
that there was a great disJwasi
He began to read from the
S.U.C.T.l.O.N. constitution. I was
very impressed: long, wordy
statements always bring tears to
my eyes. Preambling on through
the constitution, he began a
lengthy discourse on
S,U,C,T.I.O,N,’s planned topics of
discussion: international relations,
peace in Vietnam, race relations,
bigots, birth control, student
power, and the political beliefs of
dignified young intellectuals,
Der Furor ( a name I had
between his beliefs and ^ Gt
prevalent in the South- jehoc
obviously meant that one ofjiittle
two were wrong-pick o«, time
started to suggest that theyJ Be
both be wrong, but 'graeiJentir
held my tongue. Not only wasubags
1 intelligent and formidable'; start
debate, he was also big as hell : on tl
Angry No. 1 was followedl Wi
Angry No. 2, a young activisttjoicki
had spent some time in the S«who
being spit upon by red-n^everj
Yahoo’s while helping -jWel
disenfranchised Americans ofijther
region. He felt that itwasabai
of courage to be spit upo„!
red-necked Yahoo’s, regardless] Th
their inferiority, but hunde
experience seemed to ys^isi
marked him in an indeiwind
fashion. A lesser man givenjvario
same provocation migbiLthei
reacted more non-violently, or] Th
least been incited to riot, buiiddesci
No. 2. He promised us thatweijflowi
could be spit upon if we woiidawes
diligently. I was looking fonnHanr
to the honor, and even thouglit(nevei
suggesting practice sessions, Ijjs an
the seriousness of the occay^pj
precluded such frivolity.
Angry No. 3 was an artic* j
fellow with political aspiraticijpnsi
he startled a few of us whenk
began to speak of Student Po«o jjtbe
“when you got power,
Student Power, and when you^becai
Student Power, you gotpowtbei
and when you got...” No. Sspi^snow
of matters dear to us all,
Soul-brothers, of riots, and oflkboHa
student’s roll in a changiitwol
society. 1 was, of course, thrS
by all of this, and patieiq
awaited my complimentary cm ^
of Chairman Mao’s little t
book. To my disappointiw^
none were forthcomini
S.U.C.T.l.O.N., it seemed, i] S
operating on a tight budget. ; ^ ^
Rounding out the show, |
attractive young lady from S.0.t;
a group of professioid ipI^
ex-students, told us of
experiences in the field of di)
rights, and of how she lovedij^jj
people regardless of race or ere*
She also showed her pretli „
dimpled knees. Needless to say.i
was more impressed by her kiw
Oh, By the way...”
„ . than by her egalitarian beliefs;li!^?!
affectionately given our young then the finer things in lifeHS
seeker-of-truth) was soon joined always eluded me. I*,
by three trusty lieutenants. Angry some prospective membd^,/
Young Man No. 1, No. 2, and No about finances and facl„ ‘
^ 'I the speech which support, and Der Furor and No.] j
included an explanation of the made it clear that a hroe lerral"?,
S.U.C.T.l.O.N. title (Student’s clear that a large segMl^,
(Continued on page SI' IT
I he eleetions proceeileil ;is President C litivis etilled tor tiny noininutions or volunteers
lor (he offiee of seereliiry, pointing out tluit it wus ;i luird job. Miss Beeky Seldon was
eleeted unaniniotisly. In the only eontested eleetion. Mr. Larry Miller defeated Mr.
Ronnie ( alilwell by a vote ot 15 to 9 to eoni|-ilete the steering eoniniittee. During this
phase ot the eleetion, a question of parliamentary proeediire was debated. This was about
the tilth lime that a question eoneerning the appropriatene.ss of the proeedure had arisen.
Mr. ( havis remarked Irom the ehair. “It s pretty bad when .ACTION gets bogged down in
parliamentary proeedure. Yes, Mr. Chavis. H is pretty bad. During the remainder of the
eleetions, the following members were eleeted to head the eoniniittee listed directly
lollowing their names: .Alice Folger-Proyam, DeVera Pearson-Soeial, Ron
Caldwell-.Speeitd Activities, and Sam Sloop-Publieity. During the iioniinations for
ehairnian ol the Publicity Committee, Mr. C’havis interrupted the nominations to
interjeet. “(fli, by the way. that (reterriiig to Mr. Caldwell’s eleetion) was another clear
majority. It seems that Mr. Chavis had neglected to declare a winner in the previous
eleetion.
T S-pans
!•!•:• TUC /- A r>/~vt IX! A
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)
THE CAROLINA JOURNAL | May
editor R.T. Smith ftowa
Feature Editor F.N.Stewart | Tf
Copy Editors Sherry Drake |!“o
Photography Editor Churck Howard I'”."®
BUSINESS MANAGER
Wayne Eason
Jminu
Staff: Mike Combs, Walt Sherill, John Lafferty, Bill Billups,
Rod Wliite. Kay Watson, Donna Raley, Mike Purser, Jenny
Wood. Linda Craven, Louise Napolitano. B. J. Smith, Larry
McAfee. Phil Wilson, and W.I.T.(?)
I T
I
I droj
(continued on next page)
^ $:|i ADVISOR Dr. H. Leon Gatlin
S! app
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