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at' OYL Pige 2 Wednesday, March 17, 1965 .Fraternities Aceeiot Deferred' 'MmsIi tminy Tjr g,, nfrrr-r,..nr,r.rM,, .. m P m Editorial Page V v Opinions of the Daily Tar Heel are expressed in its editorials. Letters and columns, covering a wide range of views, reflect the personal opinions of their authors. i i- K 5:4 LB J Shows The Way President Johnson spoke- wisely and eloquently in his message on ' voting rights Monday night, and his suggestions should be taken under immediate consid eration by Congress. . The history of the past century, espe cially as reflected in the unrest of re cent weeks, makes clear the need for an equitable and immediate solution to the problem of discriminatory registration and voting practices in the Deep South. For where men cannot vote, they are cer tainly not free, and some Mississippi counties have never had a Negro register to vote. One of the important aspects of the proposed legislation is that it offers states with a record of discrimination in regis tration and voting an opportunity to put their own houses in order. It does not Our Apologies Endorsement letters are one of the necessary evils of a campaign, and there are times when the Daily Tar Heel manages to foul up someone's let ter. Yesterday we did just that. The letter of endorsement for Rick Kramer, candidate for president of the Carolina Athletic Association, was lack ing four names Jim Light, Sonny Pepper, Gayle Raulerson and Larry Miller. Our apologies to him for the oversight, and to his opponents, Joe Churchill and Bob Newlin, for having an error in this. -v. We also noted that all three CAA candidates were endorsed by the same person. Kramer left the name off his letter, but this must set some sort of a record for futility.. Of course, the endorsee in question IS a star athlete, which may entitle him to three votes ... even call for an end to literacy require ments for voters, except where such re quirements are abused and used as a weapon against Negro citizens. The states are required to do nothing, except extend to every citizen his basic right as an American to choose his elect ed officials. Those who would argue -against such a fair and reasonable re quest simply do not know the meaning of "freedom." No federal action may be taken except in those counties in which less than 50 per cent of voting age citizens actually cast a ballot in the 1964 elections. In such counties, 20 or more people may protest to a federal district attorney if they have been unfairly denied the right to register. If their complaint is valid, the Federal Civil Service Commission Will be allowed to appoint a federal reg istrar empowered to sign up voters with out administering literacy tests. We hope that waiving such tests, how ever, will not mean a total lack of lit eracy requirements. It seems only rea sonable for a person to be required to write his name and perhaps a simple sentence in order to register. , Some aspects of the proposed bill may be difficult to administer, and Congress should be especially cognizant of the problems involved when it considers this legislation. But we are confident that the difficul ties can and will be ironed out, as in deed they must be. The states have been given ample warning that the color of a manfs skin should not reduce his citi zenship, and those who fail to heed that warning should have their procedures corrected. , It is time, then, for Congress to follow the President's lead, so that such correc tion, if needed, will be available. The Candidates Face The Campus With the spring campaign progressing at a somewhat hurried clip, we were hesitant to undertake sponsorship of a debate between the candidates for Presi dent of the Student Body, Paul Dickson and Don Carson. The two candidates have done an ex cellent job of getting around to see the students. They have pounded on doors, they have spoken at residence hall meet ings and they have made themselves available for questions and discussion at all times. However, we have noticed that the resi dence hall meetings have left something to be desired the questions to the two candidates have not always been perti nent, and too often were merely sniping from the lips of party hacks who follow the entourage from hall to hall. With this in mind, we set about plan ning a debate which would be fair to both men, yet would provide the best opportunity possible for digging out the issues. Thus the DTH Debate was born, and we hope it will prove to be an an nual affair. It is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Gerrard Hall, and should not last more than an hour or so. Each candidate will be giv en seven minutes for an opening state ment and five minutes for rebuttal. After that, three DTH staffers will quiz the pair for a half - hour, and then questions from the floor will be allowed. We hope that this vehicle will bring out the issues, as each candidate will be subject to questions by three people who know the inner workings of Student Gov ernment and have the ability to phrase their questions in such a manner that there will be no doubt what they want. In short, the candidates are not going to be able to hedge on anything, as their questioners know enough about the situa tion not to be fooled. We hope the campus will take advan tage of this opportunity to hear Dickson and Carson engage in debate, and will also take the opportunity to toss a few questions their way. The office of Presi dent of the Student Body is the most powerful on campus, and the person who will succeed Bob Spearman must know what he is doing and the best method of doing it. You are voting for a student who will represent your views and best interests. Your vote should be cast for the person who is best for the post, and you just might find out Friday night at. the debate. Action Needed From Southern Press By STUART BALL The once highly-emotional de ferred rush rule, felt. by mam responsible fraternity men to be a serious threat . to their exis tence, has been subjected to sober re-evaluation in the past four weeks. Fear and apprehen sions expressed by many ifc leaders and greek - letter men seem to have been replaced by a cautious optimism. It was just a month ago that second semester rush was held on the Chapel Hill campus for the first time. Apprehension about what to expect from this new method of introducing freshmen to the concept of fra ternity life was apparent in all of the 23 social fraternities as they prepared for the coming rounds of handshaking and punch drinking. Ned Martin, past IFC presi dent and one of those instru mental in overseeing the first deferred rush, reflected on the new procedures and said he felt that generally they work ed out "pretty well." "Many of our misgivings were unfounded," he said. "One as pect in particular I guess you could say was our fault, but it didn't prove to be too much of a burden. "We tried to prepare the hous es for the fact that they would not have pledges for the first semester -r and wouldn't be getting the revenue they nor mally provide. We emphasized this over and over but it didn't seem to have much effect." Martin said that a deferred rush fund was set up last fall to help any fraternity that was in financial straits. "The bull pledge rule was also extended so many boys who would not normally live in the houses and pay full bills became eligible to do so.' A false rumor which swept the campus during the fall con cerning allegedly subnormal freshman grades caused visions of empty houses and left-over hors d'oeuvres in the minds of many fraternity leaders. "We were genuinely wor ried about the grade problem," Martin said. "The rumor was that only about 45 per cent of the fresh men were going to make their 2.0 averages and be eligible-to rush. If you knock off about ten per cent of those who are not in terested in pledging a fraterni ty, you're down to 35 per cent then you've got to consider that your particular house would , be interested in only a small per cent of those that are left. "We were not worried once we started computing the freshman grades, but that was only a week or so before rush strated. As it turned out about 60 per cent of the freshmen made their gra des and that's way up over the past." Martin said that although no exact figures are kept on the number of people going through rush about 600 to 700 came through this year. "About 1,000 boys were sent invitations this year and we had some 350 that were not pick ed up. As far as we can tell this is only slightly smaller that the number that has gone through in the past." Dean of Men William G. Long echoed Martin's figures concer ning freshmen grades. "Last year I believe 56 per cent of the freshmen made their grades during the fall .semester. I won't say that the increase is attributable to deferred rush alone, however. Admission stan dards have gone up and this is the smartest freshman class we have ever had according to col- (Continued from Page 1) working and God - fearing peo ple, send back stories which distort the facts, or worse, dis regard the facts completely." "After last year's turmoil and strife," he wrote, "the people in Selma had come to the con clusion that they must obey the law as best they could." Moderate Note On the day of the last Mont gomery march attempt, the con servative Sehna Times-Journal struck a note of moderation and placed some of the blame on local government officials wnd on itself. 0 The March 9 lead editorial reads in part: "Despite the nor mal expectation of vocal ex pressions -to the contrary, the Times - Journal steadfastly re affirms our opinion that racial disturbances here have not been met by foresight and practical planning by our public of ficials, whOj we are convinced, could have worked out a prac tical course to follow many months ago. . . We too must assume a portion of the neg lect." But the moderate tone is somewhat disrupted by the as sertion: "... it is obvious that M.-L. King, recipient of the No bel Peace Award, has declared war on the people of Ala bama." Perhaps it would be finan cially unwise for a newspaper, knowing that hard - core segre gationists would probably drop advertising, to take a firm stand against resistance. Nevertheless, it would be a sad thing for the Southern press to have to bear any more blame for the deaths of some and the injustices to many. So Alabamans are perhaps confused. Their actions have, for years, been condoned by their government and overlooked by their press. Now, on the heels of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal legislation on voting seems assured. No Leadership They do not have the moder ate leadership which has en abled other Southern states such as North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia to, for the large part, avoid severe racial con frontations. And while the rest of the South, and the nation, has some way to go toward achieving equality for all Americans, Al abama has barely begun. The future of the Deep South in the 20th century will ulti mately rest with its citizens. But courageous, forward-looking leadership must arise now, and with a strong voice. If governmental agencies will not provide this, it becomes the duty and responsibility of the press to do so. The question is: How many James Reebs will it take until the initiative is taken? && : V" - yv S - ' . '. - ' - -' y ' islfe A x-x:x-xXvX-x-x-x-xx -XXyX-- x-x--x x-x-i-x-x-rx-x-x-x-x-: xx-:-x-x-x-x-x:'X-x-x-x-x-XvX-:x :-x x-x-:-x-xXyXwX;.; - -; -x-x-x-x-x x-::-:-x-x-x"x-XwX:-x-x-x-xx-: lege board scores. You can't pin this 'down to one single as pect." Both Martin and Dean Long agree that deferred rush has as pects that may serve to stren gthen the fraternity system in the long run. "About 500 rushess have nor mally pledged up after fall rush in the past," Martin said. "This year around 400 pledged, but we will probably initiate a larger number than in thepast because the grade problem no longers exists." Dean Long was also quick to point out this aspect of second semester rush. "As far as I've heard, there has been no grum bling from the fraternities since rush week. They're happy with their classes because they know they can initiate very one of the boys they got." A check with various, frater nity presidents and rush chair men reveals that there is little if any grumbling on the defer red rush question that last year would have been controversial to say the least. Doug Benson, President of Lambda Chi Alpha said his major fear was that there would not be enough boys to go around. "At first I didn't like the idea of deferred rush, but now I'm all for it. Judging from what we heard about freshmen grades we figured there would be only 14 or so rushees to each house. "As it turned out there were enough, and the type of boys coming through were better. It was one of our better rushes." Dick Jonas of Phi Delta The ta said he would have prefer red to rush in the fall but that second semester rush didn't have an adverse effect on his house. "I prefer having a pledge class all year rather than just half," he said. "It's also hard to conduct summer, rush and then have a whole semester go by before formal rush." "I think the new system work ed out pretty well in the long run," commented John Wainio of Pi Kappa Phi. "It seemed like the number of rushees was smaller though," Almost to a man fraternity leaders felt the major weakness in the present system of de ferred rush is the strict silence rule. Some thought it should be made more strict, others felt a complete change was needed. Frank Martin, IFC rush chair man, said he believes the IFC will recommend modifications of strict silence this spring. "There have been three major sugges tions for changes in strict si lence that will probably be dis cussed before next fail," ho said. "One is the U. Va. rule that permits rush weekends at the individual houses but strict si lence all other times. Another is a rule we tried last fall but didn't seem to work from 12 midnight Sunday to 12 noon Friday there is strict silence, but from noon Friday to mid night Sundy . there can be con versation with freshmen. "The third is a rule permit ting conversation with fresh men, but not in dormitories and not about fraternity mat ters." Ned Martin feels that the IFC was overly protective regarding freshmen and fraternity mem bers this first year of defer red rush. "My biggest regret about the whole concept is that we know little more about how to regulate deferred rush now than we did when we started," he said. "We should have left it wide open for one year, then made changes. We do have about 400 perople who went through this as rushees, and we're going to use any informa tion we can get from them to improve things for next year." Silent Sam' Should Leave Editors, The Tar Heel: Although it may be argued that the Confederate statue known generally as "Silent Sam" has become a part of the UNC tradition; it certainly can not be argued that traditions should be maintained for tradi tion's sake. We must not forget that Si lent Sam is a Confederate sold ier. The primary purpose of, the "memorial" was to associate a fictitious "honor" with the dark est blot on American history .the fight of southern racists to keep the Negro peoples in a position of debased subser vience. For this they were will ing to destroy the Union. We have all been made pain fully aware of the deprivation of inalienable rights effected by Alabama's white bigots on Ne- gores and those who have gone to Alabama for the general wel fare. In view of this situation which so lately prevailed in other ar eas of the country, the exis tence on the UNC campus of a monument to men who were militant white supremists and extremists of the worst kind is no less an affront to the Ne gro peoples and the intelligent sia than is the gaudy Confeder ate "flag flying from the lily white dome of Alabama's capi tol. I urge the Daily Tar Heel and the Carolina student body to take up the cause of removing from the campus that shameful commemoration of a disgrace ful episode. Al Ribak 407-D E. Franklin St. The Cane et The Lifoeri&n Incident By TIMOTHY RAY Sixth in a Series Thus far during this series, I have tended to concentrate on the more positive aspects of the Free Speech Movement, both here and elsewhere, in terms of the fruitful and timely topics "for discussion which this movement has suggested., and have avoid-! ed entering the labyrinth of complexity, involved in the ev ents surroundings the incident the insults given Wilmot Hage of Monrovia, Liberia, a dele gate to the UNC Model United Nations from Benedict College, in Columbia, South Carolina. It is necessary, however, to attempt to deal with certain as pects of that incident, in order to make it evident that the im pressions received by many peo ple during that time that t h e charges involved were, trump ed up in order to create an ex cuse for an attack on certain persons and organizations of the University are mistaken. I do not desire to stir up again whatever hurt feelings were involved for the sake of venting personal animosity. My purpose is simply to clarify the record in some respects if I am able. The background of the inci dent is that James Gardner was asked if he would receive delegates to the Model U. N. as house guests. He replied that he would. The two students who arrived were Negro, and one of the two was Hage. Gardner had not pre viously known either of the two persons. Upon leaving Mr. Gardner's home for the campus Feb. .12 Hage asked if Gardner was planning to drive back in the afternoon, so that he could ob tain a ride. Gardner said yes. During the afternoon, Gard ner entered Abernethy Hall, and while, there, spoke with Dwight Rhine; assistant director of the Extension Division (Gardner presently teaches in the Evening College, through that division) Upon leaving Abernethy Hall by the front steps, Gardner saw Hage, and the two men proceed by this student officer, howev ed to cross Columbia St. diagon ally, towards the Carolina Inn, as Gardner's car was parked there. When the men were part way across the street, they were in sulted, and the two men con tinued across the street to Gard ner's car. Leaving Hage in the car, Gardner entered the Inn in or der to call the Chapel Hill Po lice, and then walked to the plaza of the Scuttlebutt where he sat watching the situation at the fraternity houses across the street. Gardner then called the Dean of Men, who said that he would call Gardner back at some later time during that day. I pres ently believe that an assistant of the Dean did, after the call to the Dean took place (which "was, by then, some time after the incident took place) arrive on the scene. As Gardner had not received the expected call by 11 p.m., he telephoned the Dean again, apo logizing for the lateness of the hour. The reason that the Dean had not called back was, it seems, that he did not consid er it important to do so at that time. I want to make clear two cru cial points. The first is that there is independent corroborating ev idence of the claim that Mr. Hage was insulted. Persons questioned by students and by the Dean's assistant heard in sults given, though they did not report hearing all of the insults that they were asked about nor did they report on the origin of the insults. The second point is that, en tirely contrary to the popular Confused impression, it was Gardner's strong intention to re frain from exploiting the racial aspects of the incident. It was for this reason that, in his first conversation with the Dean of Men, he said only that he and a guest of his had been insulted, rather than making an issue of the fact that Hage is African. The blackness and foreignness of Hage were, however, con sidered very significant by the Dean, making it more import ant that steps be carried out at once to remedy the situation. Gardner's view was that per sons had been insulted by an or ganization connected with the University, and that this was the important matter of principle, rather than discriminations and distinctions regarding the race and nationality of the guest. After it was made explicit that Hage is African, steps were tak en by the Administration to is sue apologies to him. Mean while Gardner sought to calm Hage, which was not altogeth er easy to do, as the incident had frightened him quite a bit, rendering "him, at the time, afraid for his personal physi cal safety. I believe that Hage's fears were inappropriate to the situa tion and that he was in no bodi ly danger, but, as a person used to perhaps somewhat dif ferent customs, he might rea sonably have considered the in sulting language to be a pre lude to physical violence. A former fraternity officer, when interviewed, said that the situation had been investigated by the fraternity involved, by the Interfraternity Council, by the Student Body Attorney General, and by the Assistant to the Dean of Men. As this person had, himself, carried out the fraternity's investigation, I asked who had investigated for the Interfraternity Council. His reply was that the Dean had asked that he investigate, as an officer of the Interfraternity Council. I have tried to obtain infor mation about the content and method of the investigations. Each investigator, I have been assured by both this officer and the Dean, questioned a great many persons, and some investi gations included interviews with persons in other fraternities as well as the one originally men tioned. The investigation carried out er, I have been informed, was an especially thorough one, which included privately ques tioning each member of the fraternity, and assuring h i m that he could answer simply in terms of whether he had heard insults, without being required to indicate their origin (which I am inclined to regard an in teresting assurance, under the circumstances). My impression is that the in vestigative procedures involved have been somewhat unortho dox: the most thorough of all of the investigations, it seems, was the one carried out by a member of the accused frater nity," and this was also the of ficial Interfraternity Council in vestigation. Not wanting to cast aspers ions on the zeal or thoroughness of this student official, I must, however, remark that this style of procedure is unlike what the term "investigation" has come to suggest in recent times. I wish no comparison between this fraternity and less desir able organizations, but one hes itates to think, for example, that Hoover, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would commis sion Gus Hall of the Commun ist Party, or the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan to investi gate those respective organi zations. In spite of this, I do not wish to quibble. The procedure of a federal agency may be entirely inappropriate to our situation. I merely wish to point out that it is certainly conceivable that errors may have inadvertently resulted from the procedures that were used, and that one cannot infer that the lack of more fruitful results of these investigations indicates that' the original charges were excess ive. The thought occurred to me that, if the. fraternity party in process at the time of the oc currence of the incident resem bles fraternity parties that I once attended with foolish regu larity on another campus, or a "beer bust" at Carolina which I visited during my undergra duate days, the celebrants might have been in altogether an inadequate state of mind to re member, during the investiga tions, the precise pattern of their behavior at the party. The report was subsequently made to me that a member of the fraternity had made a state ment precisely to this effect In the presence of the Dean of Men. I have asked both that fra ternity member and the Dean if this statement were made, and neither remembered the statement. The fraternity member, how ever, recalled that he had told ' the Dean that persons at the party were drinking. He did cot, however, believe that any of them were drunk, nor even se verely "intoxicated" (I suppose that this is a meaningful dis tinction). The Dean, on the other hand, said, "Some of them may have been that drunk, though, for all I know. I have been com plaining to the Interfraternity Council about the public drunk enness of fraternity parties for years." , I asked, "May I quote you on that" To which he replied "Yes, you certainly may." The record which the Dean indicates of repeated public drunkenness on the part of fra ternities raises additional doubts about the efficacy of any inves tigative procedures whatever. Despite the almost frightening thoroughness of the F. B. I., (to which persons who have attemp ted to secure government iobs will readily testify; I believe that even Hoover's agents might te baffled at the invincible po wer that the malt has always possessed to secure forever ev ents in human history from public scrutiny. In a subsequent article of this series, I plan to describe the un satisfactory and misleading re actions of the press to Gardner's actions. I will attempt to make clear the effects of those reac tions in creating widespread confusion in the University community regarding Gardner and his Free Speech Movement activities. pi n "v'': "7 rr -' ' ; "t"
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 17, 1965, edition 1
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