Page 2 The Carolina Journal February 19, 1969
A Guest Editorial by Sherry Drake
If I Had Only Known...
Duke University is known everywhere as one of the foremost schools
in the South, yet if the excessive demands of Black students are
accepted it can hardly be expected to maintain its superior status. We
acknowledge the validity of many of their arguments and requests and
readily admit that many are long past due, but the ill-will which some
of the demands are bound to create and the lowering of the academic
standards at Duke and at other institutions will not benefit either the
blacks or their fellow students in the final analysis.
We, too, want to see the black man stand with dignity and
pride-alone, without the necessity of a white prop in the background.
But we also want to be able to see any man empowered to do this.
But to be a man in the universal sense of the word, which is what
Eldridge Cleaver says that the blacks desire, is something that one
achieves on his own. Dignity and pride are not products of either
heredity or of invironment. Neither can they be legislated or given. A
man must first convince himself that he is a worthwhile individual. And
after he has convinced himself, he no longer needs to worry how he is
perceived by others.
The blacks at Duke are asking for preferential treatment by virtue of
their race. But over compensation now for the deprivations suffered by
their fathers and grandfathers ill not make them any happier.
The black students who flunked out last year and last semester will
not be any better off if they are reinstated. The lack of preparation and
the inadequate background will still be in evidence; the basic problem
will still remain. Whites and members of other minorities flunk out too.
They either go to a smaller school or decide that the college scene just
is not for them. Who wants to stay in a situation in which he feels
inadequate?
What will ungraded classes for Negroes accomplish? In our
estimation, the diploma will not mean a thing. Employers will take one
look at the graduate and wonder just what his diploma represents, since
there would be no method of gauaging the effort of the past four years.
Separatism
If I had only known...
The weatherman had reported
that those "in the know" were
expecting precipitation in the
form of wet white stuff, but I
knew differently (and 1 was “in
the know”). He said that North
Carolina might get as many as
three inches of snow - 1
interpreted this to mean .23
inches of cold rain. I was "in the
know.” 1 left the house
confidently, despite warnings
from the parental lobby at my
house. 1 was “ in the know."
The first flakes brushed against
my windshield before my rear
tires rolled out of the driveway,
but 1 (being “in the know”)
pushed on fearlessly. By the time
I reached Interstate 85, my
confidence had been shaken
considerably. It looked like snow.
It felt like snow. It tasted like
snow. And it was beginning to
sound like snow. Five miles and
two inches of illusion later, I
conceded that it was snowing. But
it IS February, and this IS North
Carolina -the snow couldn’t go on
for long (anybody “in the know”
knows that it is too late in the
year and too far south for a
sizeable accumulation).
Thirty minutes and six miles
later I conceded that the snow
might be enough to impede the
progress of most automobiles, but
I knew (as anyone “in the know”
does) that my rusty trusty
Volkeswagen could not be
stopped by a little New England
What’s
The separatism for which they are asking is another request which we
question. Won’t this separatism, even though this time it is done
voluntarily, be just a maintenance of the separate facilities which they
have fou^t against so long? Futhermore, they will be missing a vital
part of what college is really all about-the phase in which
communication and association facilitate better understanding between
people with different ideals and beliefs.
Several of their demands v/ere commendable, not just for the blacks,
but for the University as a whole. “Police harrasment’ of any student U •
should not recur. Negro professors, as long as they meet the standards 1 T1 O’
thus far maintained by the University and are not merely added in
tokenism, could add a valuable insight to the faculty. A Negro advisor
would be of great benefit to the black students. Similar backgrounds
are necessary for empathy, and empathy between an advisor and the
student is imperative.
A summer program for incoming Negro students seems to be a
possible key to the question of race relations at Duke. By using a well
organized program, black students could be helped to adjust to the
difficulties all freshmen face as well as to the additional problem of
being black in a white world such as that of the University. Then if the
student discovers that Duke is not exactly what he had thought it
would be, he will not be so far advanced in his academic year that he
cannot make arrangements to transfer.
Other schools, our own University included, might benefit from
studying the demands of the Duke students. And without trying to
seem smug and self-assurred, we might again mention that without the
necessitity of “liberating” the administration building, the
administrative officials are already at work on many of these demands:
a “black studies” program, Negro professors, more Negro students, and
the removal of any vestiges of a racist policy.
Coming events for today and
the rest of the week include: A
senior class meeting in the Parquet
Room at 11:30 A.M. on
Wednesday. Alpha Kappa Psi will
also meet at 11:30, they will be in
209-210 of the Union. Rotaract
will meet in 233 of the (Jnion at
the same time. In the cafeteria at
11:30, the candidates for the
Union Executive Committee will
give their speeches.
Friday, the 28th, the AAUP
Banquet will be held in the
Parquet Room at 6:30.
Union Disunity
We had intended to initiate a new policy on the part of THE
JOURNAL this week by endorsing candiates in the Union Executive
Offices election. Since only two candidates filed (there are four
positions to be filled), any endorsement or non-endorsement might
seem a bit out of place. A few comments, however, aryin order. To
begin with, these offices are not insignificent, as the student body
seems to think. The entire spectrum of next year’s entertainment at
UNC-C is in the balance. There have been so many people to complain
about the Union’s programs this year; where are these people now? If
(continued on page 4)
” ‘' STAFF BOX " ’ ”''" " ’ ’
•j THE CAROLINA JOURNAL S
vEDITOR R X. SMITH S
xAssociate Editor F. N. Stewart
if'Copy Editor Sherry Drake S
loPhoto Editor Chuck Howard S
^Business Manager Wayne Eason i:-
:-:;STAFF Donna Raley, Phil Wilson, Walt Sherrill,
:;:Barbara Brenizer, John Lafferty, Barbara Jean Smith, Rodney L. S
;:;White, Marlene Whitley, Kay Watson, Mike Combs, Wayne Pearson, S
jlCindy Trexler, Gayle Watts, Jimmy Lockman, Louise Napolitano,
jEileen Auerbach, Ron Caldwell, and W.l.T. (?) v
;.:ADVISOR Dr. H. Leon Gatlin
:;THE CAROLINA JOURNAL is a student publication of the v
jlUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte, published weekly at
ijMullen Publications, Inc. in Charlotte and under the sponsership of S
jthe UNC-C Student Publications Board. THE JOURNAL welcomes S
:;:contributions from students, faculty, administrators, and members V:
>iof the Charlotte community.
The annual Miss UNC-C Dance
will be in the Parquet Room at 8
P.M. Saturday. The dance is open
to all students and will be formal.
Admission will be $2.50 per
couple.
Placement interview schedules
for the rest of the week include
Lybrand, Ross Bros. &
Montgomery, and Westinghouse
on Wednesday. Haskins & Sells
and Riegel Paper Corporation will
be here on Thursday along with
the Marine Corps Air Station
Grade Schools. Friday the Board
of Public Instruction from Duval
County in Jacksonville, Florida
will be interviewing. Connecticut
Mutual Life Insurance Company
and Sealtest Foods will also be
interviewing on Friday.
weather, despite the fact that my
U.S. Royals were as slick as the
ice itself. Yes. it had become ice
by now.
1 knew that 1 was a good
enough driver to keep out of ditch
trouble. Anyone “in the know” is
clever enough to keep out of
ditches. Two ditches and a push
from a friendly jeep later and I
was ready to concede anything.
On the open and deserted
highway at last, I realized that my
windshifeld wipers were not
functioning properly, but 1 knew
that I could make it without
them.
My car is in a ditch somewhere
under that white stuff -
somewhere. If I had only
known....
Next Monday, March 3, the
University Forum will be
presenting various speakers
throughout the day in the Parquet
Room. On Wednesday, James
Farmer the Assistant Secretary of
H.E.W. will speak on the Negro in
America. Thursday the State
Department Foreign Policy
Conference will be held in the
Parquet Room.
Let’s Pick Up
The Pieces-
Together
By Tim Britton
I couldn’t believe it.
1 didn’t understand. 1 wondered
why buildings were burned down,
why people were shot and beaten.
After all, just ask anybody, they’ll
tell you: “President Johnson gave
the country to the negroes.” More
civil rights legislation has been
passed in the past four years than
in the entire history of our
country. Look what we’ve done.
Do just that. Look what we’ve
done for 200 years, not the past
four. The crumbs from the white
tablecloth that were allowed to
drop to the floor were given with
smiling reassurances. Everything is
going to be alright “Boy”, just
you mind your place, under the
table. Finally, the crumbs were
not enough. The table was
overturned.
The time for action had come.
Reassurances and sugar pills
would no longer suffice. The
issues had to be faced. The
resultant civil rights legislation
was the outcome, but is legislation
enough? Prejudice still exists in
many forms, and it seems to be
becoming less specific. Any
deviation from the accepted norm
is the target of prejudice. It isn’t
just the negro anymore, the ranks
have swelled to include hippies,
yippies, or just plain
revolutionaries. All are scorned
with equal disdain.
Prejudice breeds violence. The
boiling cauldron of hate is bitter.
Those with red skin, black skin,
beards, long hair, or a distinctive
manner of dress are burned by
this bitterness. It is difficult not
to fight back. Hope for a change
keeps an uneasy truce. How long
this truce lasts depends on the
willingness of society to undergo
change. Crumbs and sugar pills
don’t work anymore. Man must
be judged for what he is, not what
he looks like. If judgements must
be made, they must be withheld
until sufficient premises are
available. Categorizations and
generalizations must become
antiquated concepts.
The tablecloth has been soiled,
the table overturned. The pieces
of society are scattered over the
floor. It is time for a clean
tablecloth, time for us to pick up
the pieces - together.
Shakespeare
By WILL
“Taffeta phrases, silken terms
precise, three-pil’d hyperboles
spruce affection, figures
pedantical.”
Love’s Labor Lost
“If 1 had a thousand sons, the
first human principle I would
teach them should be, to forswear
thin potations.”
Henry IV, pt. II
(A potation is an alcoholic
beverage)
the devil
“Now I perceive
understands Welsh,”
King Henry IV, pt. 1
Trying something new. Instead
of further perverting the meaning
of Shakespeare’s quotes by
commenting on them, let’s look at
a few and see what each individual
can draw out of them without any
help.
“The first thing we do, let’s kill
all the lawyers.”
Henry VI, pt. II
“Away with him! away with
him! he speaks Latin.”
King Henry VI, pt. II
“For mine own part, it was
Greek to me.”
Julius Caesar
“Bui I will wear my heart upon
my sleeve for days to peck at: I
am not what 1 am.”
Othello
“My boat sails freely both with
wind and with stream.”
Othello
“Passion, 1 see, is catching.”
Julius Caesar
And here’s one (1 couldn’t
resist the temptation) for Tim
(the beard) Britton -
“Get thee glass eyes; and, like a
scurvy politician, seem to see the
things thou does not.”
King Lear
“I must to the barber’s,
monsieur, for methinks 1 am
marvelous hairy about the face.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
P'
al
h;
w
w
tl
w
B
B
w
T
bi
o
g
m
si
n