Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 21, 1970, edition 1 / Page 2
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Paae Two THE DAILY TAR HEEL t Kobhi Brewer Rumn 111 A f - Years of Edit filZll Student H umanism, Not Pretension We have 3 president-elect of the student body who is not a member of a student party, the first such creature since the party system began on this campus. That he does not have the stigma of the party system attached to him is to his credit. The parties perennially clutter our campus and our heads with slogans, promises, and sickly-sweet smiling candidates who, when elected, usually contribute nothing but more of the same shallowness. That we have survived the past two presidencies of Ken Day and Alan Albright is no credit to the student parties. It is merely a testimony to the fact that student body presidents tend to be utterly worthless. It is difficult to recall what either Day or Albright did to merit such recollection. Both occupied an office which has proven to be rather impotent. It is impotent for two reasons. First, student leaders have no power because they .are students. The University gives away only that power which it can afford to lose without an accompanying loss of influence. No power will be relinquished which is valuable. Second, the quality of student body presidents tends to be such that we need not expect them to do ... more than reek of an, ambivalence characteristic of a politics that is utterly ineffective in advocating .jnvthhg but the wretched status rgest amount of energy . .;m be expected from a iial candidate is the energy 4oes into his campaign. After lte !' - lected, we can expect him to put m long hours in the pursuit of noiiiina very concrete. He may ke policy statements and port various causes when such erversion The good intention of the Heart ; und Drive being sponsored by ' elta Kappa Epsilon fraternity has a fortunately been clouded by a umber of solicitors who have gone about their business in a rather mcharitable, obnoxious manner. While trying to collect funds for a v. orthy cause, some of these individuals have pleaded rather pretentious cases with those who lid not wish to give. Student Voice Is Heard Student voices are sometimes .eard. A number of protests by students this week resulted in the overturning oi policy se.t Wednesday by Assistant Dean of 'i-a Fred Schroedoer ordering the eating of men's dorm rooms Hiring spring break. A number of students felt it was Revolution Of The campus dogs have been restless of late. They roam the lawns in howling, muttering packs, and from them emanates an air of darkness. We wonder at their society, which can not be so depressing as ours. They are relatively free of the sickness which humanity with all its intellect can breed. They are free to be free. But, as we note, they are restless. From an ecological point of view, we might guess that the dogs are feeling the effect of an environment which has been, and continues to be, perverted by man. Freedom Todd Cohen Editor Bobby NoweB Harry Bryan Bill M tiler Bob Chapman Mary Burch Art Chansky Associate Editor Managing Editor News Editor Assoc. ?3nagsng Editor Arts Editor Sports Editor Bob Wilson Frank Stewart Business Manager Advertising Manager Peter Hatch Night Editor This Issue Politics Requires positions are expected from him in the line of protocol. But that is all. At least that has been all we have seen in recent history. Coincidentally, the presidents we have had in recent history have been the products of the student parties, although there is, of course, no direct correlation. Now we have an independent president who inherits this not very grand heritage. Tommy Bello leads us to optimistically, and blindly, conclude that the students still have some spunk left in them, that you don't have to promise the world to people to make them think you are the one for the office. Maybe we give Bello too much credit, but it is just possible that he has what we need in a student president not a amateurish professional politician, but simply an amatuer who neither has nor needs the pretensions of being a politician. Bello give: us some hope that by just being -a good old human, a student president might actually do something good for the students. Bello won an uphill election, and he won it with a degree of impressiveness. We don't want to martyr him before he begins, but we are warmed that he won, and that he is optimistic about being president. He'll need that optimism. ' He will also need a sense of pessimism about the chances of getting things done. For as has been said of Bertrand Russell, "the truly heroic can arise only on the ground of the relentlessly real." Bello follows in the footsteps of an utter and depressing mediocrity. He has nowhere to go but up. And his humanism is a good place from which to start. We wish him good luck. eart Fund The idea of charity is to give if you want to. If you don't want to, you shouldn't have to. That's your right. But some of these characters seem to have the idea that it's their duty to bother you until you do contribute to the cause. Such behavior tends to give the original cause a rather bad aftertaste. quite unfair that they be forced to move to Hinton James for the break simply for reasons of "security." So they spoke up, expressing their grievance. On Friday, Schroeder rescinded his order. A new time and a new day. The Canines The dogs sense that something is wrong, and they are disturbed about it. The canine revolution is having its first stirrings. The organization is spreading. If you look closely, you'll probably be able to tell which ones are the ringleaders. They look wierd, like most revolutionaries. They mutter cynically under their breath. They're sneaky, breeding upheaval. Unless, of course, the dogs are merely in heat, which is very possible. Of H iviy ivergree Is Wilting A number of requests have come in over the DTH Hotline Phone, asking "What can we do with our old Christmas tree?" Actually not an awful lot. If you are asking this question, you have more to worry about than a tree in your living room. The initial reaction here ss, seek the advice of a specialist. But since our motto is "Service With An Asterisk" we have attended a course at State University entitled, "All About Your Tree", and come up with the following list of ideas: 1. Go to your local supermarket parking lot. Open Community Chest bin and deposit tree. Leave quickly. 2. Cane the trunk into toothpicks, guitar picks, bookmarks, etc. 3. Invert tree, staple the tip to the floor, and use as a punching bag. 4. Cedar sap prevents baldness. 5. Practice suicide by self-inflicting pine needles. - s 6. Attempt to break the 13-minute de-tinseling barrier, just missed by a University of Leningrad student last year. 7. Use as a dress mannekin for a fat girl with short legs. 8. Prune off the branches. Reinforce the trunk with steel. This is your jousting lance, very useful nowadays. 9. Marry it and stop idle gossip. 10. Show it to your landlord. Say, "Monthly checks make strange bedfellows." 11. Do unto trees as you would have trees do unto you. Copyright 1970. No Soap Radio. Patent Re-pining. I The Daily Tar Heel is published by the University of North Carolina. Student Publication's Board, daily & except Monday, examination . periods and vacations . and during H summer periods. yx Offices are at the Student Union $ Bldg., Univ. of North Carolina, 5 Chape! Hill, N.C. 27514. Telephone numbers: editorial, sports. 1 news-933-1011; business, circulation, advertising-933-1163: 'y Address: Carolina Union, Chapel g Hiili N.C. 27514. - . . . . . - ... Second class postage, paid tiU . Post Office in Chapel HilUN,C,; K,K!WAViVVAVAVAViV.VAW:M ---V Steve Plaisance Parents, Kicls Need Communication Dear Ann Landers, Recently, my husband Herman commented on the peculiar study habits of our only son Johnny. Johnny has taken to locking himself in his room for hours at a time and not coming out until the following morning. Johnny is 17 years old and has never taken such an interest in his studies before. My husband and I have often debated over whether to forcibly enter his room and find out what he is up to, but modern psychology dictates that we should leave him alone. I feel that we should find out what he is doing, but Herman says that it's not our place to pry into Johnny's private matters. We would appreciate your opinion on this matter as we read your column every day. Worried Dear Worried, Schmuck your kid's doing dope! Bust him! This isn't a real situation or is it? Are parents really this gullible? For all of their honorable intentions, are parents really guilty of gross negligence in listening to the problems of their children? You can bet your lunchmoney they are. So countless parents across the nation find out that "little Johnny" (who may be in high school or college or even junior high) is doing up a little grass. "But he's a nice boy and we did our best to bring him up right with the church and scouts and all," they lament. "What did we do that was wrong?" If kids came out of the uterus with a little sign on their bottoms stating: "I cm a bomb. I will explode on or before my eighteenth birthday!" There wouldn't Le a single parent alive today. They would all have been blown to hell a long tim ago. What I'm talking about right now is communication between parents and. ReadaraFanim Letters to the editor rnuji be typed and double-spiced, not exceedinf 300 , words. Tha iMst writer must indicate his willingness for his opinion to bs exprssed in print. All printed letters must carry the name and address of ths writer(s).' Letters should be cidrersd to the Associate Editor, crs cf TL2 Daily Tar HeeL Studfnt UrJop. Letter to the Editor ''Dear Sirs: As a student who has attended several Faculty Council meetings I feel it necessary to decry the behavior of many of the Council members. The last two 'meetings were particularly blatant examples of irrational, intolerant ' behavior by a large number of faculty. The general subject under discussion was the Taylor Committee-administration-' amended report on ROTC. The majority of the faculty representatives have espoused extremely militaristic and or naive views on the purpose of ROTC and the value of having it on our campus. f .The predominate belief as expressed " frequently at the meetings is that the four required courses in the yet-to-be-formed Dept. of Peace, and War, and Defense will make our ROTC officers more humane and ethical than non-university ROTC officers. This viewpoint seems to deny an understanding of the military system and the purpose it presently serves. And : further, if the courses (such as the required Moral and Political Philosophy) - truly were effective, and as Dr. Taylor states there will be great emphasis placed l on the implications, of the Nuremberg decisions, the only logical conclusion, .given the present nature of "our" kids. A line that is left open at all hours ""of the day and in all situations a "hotline" that's devoid of social or moral value, judgments and centers on the adjustment of the child to his own i particular situation and personality. Right away, somebody reading this over his morning coffee at Lenoir says "this guy's really out of touch, he wants parents to drop their emotional attachments to children and become professional shrinks!" Good point, but that's not really the case. Parents, by nature, make the wrorld's worst shrinks for their own kids for that very reason they are emotionally involved and can't be objective enough, put, they can still listen to the kid and accept his opinions and views in a semi -objective frame of mind. They can : at least listen to him and then lock themselves in the bathroom to rant and - rave at the toilet. So what does this have to do with : Johnny getting caught smoking grass by ; mom and dad? Well, let's consider how 'mom and dad are going to react to this discovery. First, they . will stare in ; disbelief, closely followed by a period of i anger and despair. The obvious period of "what did we do wrong" will be followed by a lengthy period of intense ; moralization to Johnny about God, the law, his mind, and what the neighbors Letter to the Editor 'It S Time For- Total Dm ft ReiDeal' To the Editor: "Over Half Viet Deaths Are Draftees" was the heading for a UPI dispatch (Greensboro Daily News, Feb. 13, 1970) reporting this fact about UJS. combat deaths in Vietnam from the UJS. Army's own statistics. ; On March 15, 1970, the Daily News carried the heading "Pentagon Opposes Rushing Toward All Volunteer Army" ; because "if selective service is dropped while American casualty rates remain high in Vietnam, they (top Pentagon officials) doubt whether sufficient numbers of men will volunteer, regardless of pay." On March 8th the Daily News carried an article by James P. Sterba which gave examples of the way in which the Army persuades soldiers to re-enlist for 3 years in exchange for letting, them get away from battle areas back to the relative ...a military, would be that vast numbers of university-trained ROTC officers would refuse orders. And given the political orientations of such men as Drs. G. Taylor and M. Adams, this would hardly seem to be what they had in mind. The point of this letter, however, is not to reconstruct the extremely frustrating arguments propounded by the Taylor-Adams-Dawson trio, but to describe the behavior of many of our so-called educators. Even the fascimile of professional courtesy has been lacking. Those faculty members who have attempted to raise critical, legitimate questions, who have dared to refute the basis of the report, are treated in what can best be called a snide manner. Chancellor Sitterson does not act like a man who is interested in hearing these crucial issues debated fully. He has continually cut off discussion on each point at the urgings of a small, vociferous, intolerant bunch of men and only when challenged about this policy by Dr. Polgar did he desist, explaining in his typical air of naivete that he certainly hadn't meant to end debate, that he didn't realize anyone else had anything to say, etc. (Did he really not-see all those hands in the air? Or did he merely see whose those hands were?) would say. The final stage in this process involves a long period of suspicion and distrust of the activities and associations of the wayward son. "But this is only natural," the critics would say. That makes about as much sense as saying "if God had intended for man to fly he would have given him wings." To begin with, why did Johnny have to sneak his dope? For the same reason that I had to sneak around to drink a beer when I was sixteen parents and society (the combined efforts of parents) decided that I wasn't old enough to face the moral perils of drinking. Did it stop me? Hell no, it made it ten times more attractive to the adolescent mind! So this could very well be one of Johnny's reasons for doing dope "it's against the rules so it's gotta be fun!" What if Johnny had told his parents that he had started experimenting with marijuana? "Are you outta your mind, they'd blow their stacks and turn me in to the cops and I'd never get to use the car again!" To exhume a tired cliche, "what we have here is a failure to communicate." Maybe the kid's wrong, maybe they would listen to him intelligently and advise (that's the catchword) him on the consequences. But I doubt that very seriously. Usually, a kid can predict parental reaction very accurately and security of the big bases in the rear. Re-enlistment sergeants, Mr. Sterba reported, can be particularly successful if they are taken by helicopter to offer re-enlistment to the survivors in companies just returning from the hell of battle. In my childhood, young men raised for "cannon fodder" was something which happened in other countries, not the U.S. The World War II draft for my generation, was, we were told, a wartime measure to regulate the rate of induction because enlistments were swamping the training centers. But now we are told that the Pentagon doubts whether sufficient numbers will volunteer if the draft is repealed by July 1, 1971, the date recommended by the presidential commission headed by former Defense Secretary Thomas S. Gates. "Sufficient numbers"- sufficient for '.vhat? Sufficient to be cannon fodder vt Jin "-vf k;.-v w i r-, m -v - x i w a i a .. a "V i tt - - . ft n1 ) 1 I It is notable that not once were Adams, Taylor, or Dawson denied the right to speak, while this happened numerous times to those faculty members sharply critical of the ROTC policy. Not only were the critics treated flippantly by those pro-ROTC men dominating the conversation, but typical sotto voce comments of those men sitting near me were, "Something should be done about those radicals" and "Here we go again. Why don't they shut up?" Continual remarks were made about the personal appearance of several of the people in the room, even including a remark expressing the desire to choke one of the faculty members with the chain he was wearing. And although the amendment stating "No student shall be treated with disrespect because of his clothing or appearance" passed, a large number of men actually voted against it. Is this the caliber of "teacher" we should have making decisions or participating in a university education system? If this is the humane product of a liberal education, the Faculty Council had best re-think its assumptions about the value of a university -based ROTC. Kathy Kraft - : No Address 'Hotline makes his decisions according to these -predictions. So if Johnny feels that his parents will explode, then the char.es are that they will, and he will be forced to go underground with his experimentations. "So why should he experiment at all? : Everybody knows that drugs are evili; mean, and nasty." That may be true, but Johnny has to find out for himself. This is the real source of today's generation gap the kids of today have been so over saturated with warnings and advise from all sides (parents, schools, churches, TV, advertising) that they have developed a very high threshold of danger or fear. Just because Rod Serling announces in his Twilirht Zone voice that grass will ruin your iind, doesn't mean that it's really so. Nixon got up in front of the entire nation on the tube and said he would end the war, but most of us know that ain't quite right. So why does Johnny do dope? Well, that's an entirely different story and I just ain't got the space or time. The thing that's important here is to recognize the necessity for open lines of communication between parents and kids, and the need for a great deal more objectivity in parents. Listen to the kid and if you 'can't say anything rational (and I don't mean socially acceptable under existing mores) and objective, then bite your tongue and look interested. for an unpopular, undecided war? What kind of a country has this become when those in the safety of the Pentagon and the White House can make secret commitments for the whole country which are then to be "honored" with the lives largely of unwilling draftees? No more draftees should be sent to Vietnam. Let those who really believe we are "fighting for democracy" in Vietnam be the ones to do the fighting over there , while withdrawal of Uj3. forces takes place. I feel sure U.S. withdrawal would , ' be speeded up. is time for total draft ' repeal. We must cut off both the supply . .' of money and the supply of men. We ' : must stop spending vast sums of men and ; money for war, while spending only tiny' sums for peace. Mrs. John Gulick 1029 Highland Woods Chspel Hill
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 21, 1970, edition 1
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