Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 6, 1971, edition 1 / Page 6
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j.- ft Howie Carr 0 .7 Ts 77 Opinions cf The ChUy Tar Heel ire expressed ca its editoml p;-,t. A3 5 i :3c& editorials are the opinions of the editor and the staff. Letters tad ? I U TV TTN 1 columns represenj only the opinions of the individual contributors. Tom Gooding, Editor Wednesday, January 6, 1371 1 Govo CI n r, iijiasi For the moment at least, Gov. Robert Scott's proposal to take politics out of the state's higher education system has had the opposite effect. University administrators at all levels of the state system are now jockeying to get on the good side of the governor and of the state press. No one wants to look bad, and everyone is doing his best to look like he is not playing the political role. The boards of trustees of the Consolidated University, of the nine regional universities and of the School of the Arts have gone on record as supporting a study of the state's system. A study, they say, may be a good thing if it can do something to improve the present situation. The only problem now is that everyone who wants a study is trying to make sure the study is going to do what is best for his favorite school. Consolidated University President William C. Friday doesn't alp? 0nr tct 7V Years of Editorial Freedoir y kelp Tom Gooding, Editor Rod Waldorf Managing Ed. Mike Pamell . . , News Editor Rick Gray Associate Ed. Harry Bryan Associate Ed. Chris Cobbs Sports Editor Frank Parrish Feature Editor Ken Ripley National News Ed. John Gellman ...... Photo Editor Terry Cheek Night Editor Doug Jewell ... Business Mgr. Janet Bernstein Adv. Mgr. 1 . GroverB. Proctor .ResoHvedl be coecer eed. I have often been told that the New Year season is a perfect time for reflection and anticipation, as well as the outmoded (because nobody ever pays any attention to them) so-called resolutions. With this in mind, and taking care not to get too very heavy or dull, I would like to share some of my personal reflections on what I see in the world today. I hope it will help clarify where I stand morally, politically, and socially to those who, without taking trouble to know me or my beliefs well, have written me off as the crabgrass in the lawn of life. Never having been one to be blessed with over-abundant energy, I have chosen to form this article by means of relating the aspects of our society-indeed world -which I have tired of and would greatly like to see changed. To begin with, I am tired of the apparently predominant assumption that the more educated a person may become the more politically liberal he must of necessity become. Indeed, a great many of the intellectuals of the nation today have joined the Leftward, Ho! generation. But such need not be the case.. As I have studied the writings of nineteenth-century political and philosophical proponents of which is today considered the property of the "Conservative Establishment" image, not to mention the truly excellent modern works on Conservative philosophy, I see that to me a true doctrine of this sort is much more easily defensible than the divergent Leftist views extant today. Though it is not chic to say so in public anymore, Edmund Burke's ideas on the role of the state and who should run it and make its decisions are still ! II want UNC to be hurt by any restructuring. Leo Jenkins feels the same way about the plan and East Carolina. Scott, who at first appeared to be proposing a definite plan, has opted for the committee-study idea, and he is doing his best to make sure that representatives of all the schools sit down and work out a plan that will take the politics out of higher education in the state without harming any of the universities. If Scott can keep the issue from making it to the floor of the General Assembly this session, or at least until the study committee can make a proposal acceptable to all parties, he will have done much to help higher education in this state. His problem, however, is one that university administrators in the state have been having for years, realizing a goal without making enemies of friends in the legislature who think they are helping the university system by doing such things as introducing a Speaker Ban. Higher Education has become a top political issue in recent years, and education has been hurt by that. Administrators have been forced to spend more time worrying how the legislature will react to the latest demonstration than they do planning changes n the academic world of the campus. This fall, however, has been quiet on nearly every major university campus in the nation. Last spring has been forgotten by the legislators, and administrators, for the first time, can now turn attention to doing things that should have been done long before. Scott's proposal for a committee to study the possibility of restructuring the higher education system is a.gopd one. It could be the best thing any Tar Heel governor has ever done for public education in the state. But it will be a good idea only if the administrators can meet as a committee and come up with a plan that wijl end the politics without hurting any of the schools involved. Jr. quite sound and amplified by the his reasonings situation we are find ourselves in today. Also, directly related to the above, I am tired of what has been falsely labeled the Conservative trend of middle America. Some of it is, of course. But I daresay most of those called Conservative today would not know a Conservative doctrine if it came up and kicked them in the shin. A person can believe in many of the tenets of Conservatism, and yet espouse them for reasons completely foreign to the foundations of the doctrine. And certainly I want nothing to do with the beliefs of those who are motivated by any sort of racial or ethnic prejudice, or who in their ignorance lash out in hate at people and forces they don't understand. One day the public will be aware that all this really amounts to is reactionism on the part of these people. These same people six years ago rallied under the Democratic Liberal banner because of reaction made to forces present then. And they would not hesitate to vascillate back to the Left if emotional and private factors dictated it. Third in this list, I am tired these same people making value judgments about other people based merely on length of hair, general appearance, or color of skin. They then turn around and try to justify themselves with the old line, "Of course, some of my best friends are. . . " or "But some of them are very nice when " In this gut reaction to things foreign to them, they have certain definite associations (usually bad) with hair a little bit long or eccentricity in dress. It seems these people are taking quite a bit 'tis a hot dog stand on the N-mh Side, ranks him with Mao Tse-Tur.g, Harry Truman and Mafia leader Mono Giar.cana as one of the greatest men ira the 20th century. He's the f reatest mayor Chicago ever had " says Kid. "Here's a man dedicated to civilizing the city. He takes his paycheck and sits home trying to think how to do something for the city." Yippie Jerry Rubin sees things somewhat differently. According to him, the mayor "eats black men's flesh for Kid Pharoah. who ow Kr& A TFfvlSr NftMflUr PROMT OP WIUSOM LI5KARV. WILL - - - i j Letters to the editor Bikes could help solve many problems To the Editor: Everyone fusses about traffic, parking and air pollution but no one . does anything about it. Nothing new here. If the city were really interested in acting, however, something could be done. It could make bicycle riding safe and thereby encourage it. There are 18,000 students at the University. Putting 1,000 of them on bicycles would free 1,000 parking spaces. That reasoning no doubt awakens on themselves as self-appointed guardians of pre-conceived values and mores. To me this is not a role any human or group of humans can play. . Far worse than this, though, is an equal but opposite type of reaction or value judgment made even here at UNC, a bastion of liberal thought, which assumes itself above such petty emotionalism. But I know that here, especially, anyone with a reasonably short haricut or strict moral values is looked upon with disdain bordering on pity. Such a person is just out of touch with twentieth-century reality, it is assumed. Finally, and more briefly, I am tired of mankind in general believing that it can systematically destroy the necessities and beauty of the world and still in the end save it from total obliteration. This vain dream that man is - innately a good-natured being and ever working toward the divine is a false liberal dream completely out of touch with the reality of our present situation. The sooner we realize it the better. Yes, I am tired of all of the above. I am told constantly that things are accomplished by the activists of the world, and that to rectify such as the above, I must become an activist. Unfortunately, in some circles the word activist has taken on bad connotations. The kind of activist I intend to become and urge everyone to become is the role of the concerned citizen, cognizant of the cultural, social, legal ties which hold society together, who will work in the framework of these ties to create a deepened understanding of and sympathy with other cultures and philosophies. ; and '"tears wir.gs Cit Back in 1963, the Saturday Evening Post called him "the last of the dinosaurs. The Saturday Evening Post ceased publication in 1969. The man they're aH talking about is Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, who Dec. 17 announced his intention to run for re-election in April. The press has been running stories on the imminent end of the political boss for 30 years, but Daley apparently doesn't mc v : sympathy among automobilists. But this is not the reasoning I give in urging the city to assist the bicyclist. Freeing parking spaces in order that others may rush in and fill them is no solution to traffic congestion or air pollution. For that the number of cars on the streets must be reduced. - As the traffic situation is now it is quite dangerous to pedal a bicycle in Chapel Hill. In order to encourage bicycling it first must be made safe. I suggest that the city paint a 24 inch bicycle lane along East Franklin Street as far as Eastgate and place bicycle signs along the street to caution motorists; that it draw up a map of Chapel Hill indicating safe routes for bicycles; that it provide lanes or paths along busy streets. To increase motorists awareness of bicycles, I recommend bicycle warning signs like those used by the cities of New York, Washington and the state of Wisconsin. For four years I have daily pumped a bike to the University. During that time I have seen traffic increase and with it the danger to bikers and walkers. It has always seemed inevitable to me that one day I would be struck by a car. Last week when it happened, I was scarcely surprised. I was lucky and escaped serious injury. But some will not. Some will be killed. Perhaps then the city will begin to act. The time is right to encourage people to ride bicycles. People are aware more than ever before of the cost and stress of driving, and the damage to the environment the auto causes. Unfortunately, those in a position to institute change to improve the environment often speak out of the corner of their mouths. The impulse for change, therefore, will have to come from public opinion. Will people write or phone their Alderman? Will they talk to Alderman Welsh, for instance, who is in charge of a study investigating means to aid bicyclists? If it is not possible to get some cars off the streets, at least safe bicycling can be provided through, a system of signs and lanes. Douglas C. Wixson, Jr. 1703 East Franklin St. UNC Honor Code clashes with Fifth To the Editor: The Fifth Amendment, which clearly gives you the right to remain silent, is in direct conflict with the Honor Code of this University. The Honor Code, in actuality, forces you to speak what you know. breakfast' butterflies." avid the new-sparer- Since he wis tint elected in 1955. he has increased his maxpa of victory in each racctssive nee. In 1 9S7 he got 74 per cent of the vote. Early in the century, every major city in the northeast and mid a est was controlled by the Irish political machines. In almost every case, the Irish gave way to the Italians, who axe now receding before the influx of black and Puerto Ricans. There is one exception: Chicago. Now Daley, 6S, was bom, raised and still lives in Bridgeport, an Irish middle class district on the South Side of Chicago. His father was a sheet-metal worker who was blacklisted by several plants for union activity. As Daley grew to manhood, he realized his future was bleak in a Chicago that despised the immigrants tho were transforming the city. "The main reason I went into politics was because it was the only way out of the cellar and up the ladder," said the hero of Edwin O'Connor's "The Last Hurrah," a man much like Daley. "A lot of the younger men wanted a nice new dark serge suit that didn't necessarily come equipped with a chauffeur's cap." Daley rose fast in the Kelly-Nash machine that dominated Illinois in the 1930's and 40's. He eventually became Cook County clerk, one of the three positions (along with state's attorney and secretary of state) necessary to keep the machine going, and in 1955 he was the logical choice to run against the ineffective incumbent reformer. "If I am elected," he said, "I will embrace mercy, love, charity and walk humbly with my God." Once in office Daley made the machien more powerful than ever. In 1960 John Kennedy carried Cook County by 465,000 votes and Illinois by a scant 8,000 vote margin. The Democrats swept the cemeteries, as many people who were thought to be dead returned for one last vote and six hundred Daley poll watchers were indicted for fraud. One was convicted. Johnson, "one of the truly great living Americans of our time," according to the mayor, didn't need any votes to win in 1964, and after the 1968 convention disaster, Daley didn't bother to get the vote out. When asked after the election why Humphrey didn't carry Illinois, Daley succinctly replied, "he didn't get enough votes." You supposedly have no choice in the matter. You must say what you know, yet the Fifth Amendment gives you the right to remain silent to keep what you know to yourself. Are we mistaken, or is the code definitely too wound up? Ken Easter Charles B. Ohle 129Teague Remodeling slows snack bar service To the Editor: Students passing through the Carolina Union Building have probably noticed by now the changes in the snack bar. Although it is admirable for Servomation to try to improve the snack bar, their intentions have backfired. Lines are longer than ever because now students must wait to be served before getting the simplest of orders, such as coffee and Cokes. The old snack bar was convenient for the student passing by who wanted a quick drink or doughnut. This is no longer so. Servomation should install some self service coke and coffee facilities and some of the congestion could be elirninated. Jack Horowitz 1141 Morrison Reader detests freaks and dope To the Editor: I just finished reading the Christmas story on the back page of the Tar Heel. It is a crock. You want to appeal to radicals, you've got one right here, but not the kind you were catering to. Criticisms of this story: so the poor long-haired boy and his pregnant wife were out on the road stranded. What is that dingaling doing dragging a pregnant woman around in a truck across the countryside, when during the eighth month a woman is likely to begin delivery at any time and most obstetricians forbid travel of over 60 miles from home during this period? What kind of a nerd is she that she is not taking better care of herself? One person is not going to get any love or peace and that is their unborn child. She hasn't an obstetrician? Not feeling well for the last month? I suppose they're too poor. You can bet they've got plenty of money for gasoline and dope. Mr. Daley's ruin contributicn to pcLtical folklore, ho ocr. is not Ihi eLct.o- It has irJluer.ee J. but his rur.n;rj Im: with- the English Ur.gui over the past 20 years. The maycr has enjoyed nd.rg or, "tantrum bicycles as long as he doesn't hit any "walking pedc-$tr;.ir.v A yrtjt supporter of "Alcoholics Unanimous," h also believe that science will make great strides by harrassing the atom." A strict pirlamentarian, Da'cy or.ee read the rules for "the enlightenment and edification and hallucination cf the alderman from the 50th ward." He sta-.Jj foresquare for better government anj for that purpose he once addressed the "ladies and gentlemen of the League of Women's Voters." Daley has conducted a long star.J;rg feud with the press, and he once told them that he resented thee insinuendos" against him. "We have had a lot of dishont newspapermen in this town," he tolJ a press conference. "We still do and I could spit on some of them from here." Although Daley will probably win re-election, there will undoubtedly be some defections among black voters (who now comprise one-third of the electorate) on the south and west sides. Congressman William Dawson, Daley's black octogenarian who kept the South Side in line, died in November, and there just aren't any "good boys" coming along to take his place. Daley has been accused of insensitivity to black problems, and indeed he is inclined to liken the blacks' problems to the discrimination he encountered 3s a youth. "We picked ourselves bootstraps," he says. tip by the The Daley machine, however, is afraid of the blacks, and his press secretary Earl Bush once remarked that the blacks "have to have more places to go than just the city or the city is doomed." The day the city is doomed, though, is a while in the future, and Mayor Daley and his regime in all probability have more years in which to "reach greater and greater platitudes of achievement." Middle Class shouldn't have offered them money for a motel room; they'd only have spent it for drugs. So they go off sadly into the night. The middle class wife expresses fear of a Manson-type incident. Sharon Tate should have been so careful. With any luck, the pregnant freak wife will go into labour and die, the child with her. This will reduce the population by two, also removing a welfare-type family from society and from the human gene pooL Thus endeth my diatribe for the day. On almost no provocation at all I will elaborate upon my solution for the drug problem in general. It involves government reservations for people who want drugs where they can get all of anything they want and will not get underfoot to the people who have such ridiculous qualities as ambition and industriousness. Mary Uhlmann Plavmakers have change in policy? To the Editor: Is it now the policy of the Carolina Play makers to prohibit a mother from carrying her child into one of their productions on the excuse that if ths child cries it will disturb the audience? If it is, perhaps they should inform potential season-ticket purchasers of the "understood" age limits they have established; or they should return the ticket price. I will settle for the latter, for my wife and myself. Gregory Lock 4 Sparrow Apts. ..".A..-. .-'.i.'.'V. AVr.T "''"'N"." The Daily Tar Heel accepts letters to the editor, provided they are typed on a 60-space line and limited to a maximum cf 3 CD words. All letters must be signed and the address and phone number of the writer must be included. The paper reserves the riht to edit all letters for libelous statements and good taste. Address letters to Associate Editor, The Daily Tsr Heel, in czre of the Student Union. m
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 6, 1971, edition 1
6
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