Letters to the editor
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Opinions of The Daily Tar Heel are exprevsed on its editorial page. All
unsigned editorials are the opinions of the editor and the stiff. Letters and
columns represent only the opinions of the individual contributors.
Friday, February 19, 1971
Tom Gooding. Editor
eeeci to cooperate
The Graduate Student
Federation has established itself as
a representative organization for
graduate students on this campus.
Graduate Student government
has had a slow and tedious
development. Starting with the
Graduate Student Association
(GSA), which rapidly folded from a
lack of participation, the movement
developed into the Graduate
Student Coordinating Committee
(GSCC).
The GSCC obtained preliminary
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78 years of Editorial Freedom
Tom Gooding, Editor
Rod Waldorf Managing Ed.
MikeParnell News Editor
Rick Gray Associate Ed.'
Chris Cobbs Sports Editor
Frank Parrish Feature Editor
Ken Ripley National News Ed.
John Gellman ...... Photo Editor
Terry Cheek ....... .Night Editor
Robert Wilson Business Mgr.
Janet Bernstein .Adv. Mgr.
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Bob Chapman
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The Chancellor's Student Stores
Advisory Committee is to be commended
for its formulation of a new policy
dealing with bad checks at the Student
Stores on the UNC campus.
Although members of the committee
bent over backward to be fair in letting a
student know of a bad check written by
him, at the same time it formulated an
effective policy which should alleviate
losses to the Stores and punish those who
would maliciously write bad checks.
Credit should be given to two student
members of the committee, Steve LaTour
and Gerry Cohen, who were instrumental
in calling for a revision and in the actual
writing of the new policy.
Two weeks ago warrants were issued to
10 UNC students for passing bad checks,
the first time in anyone's memory the
University has taken such action.
Although each was supposed to have been
sent three notices by the Student Stores,
an investigation of six cases by LaTour
showed that half had received no notice
while the other half received but one.
Alarmed by the tragedy of six
ihr. no rn was clearly at
funds and recognition from last
year's Student Legislature. This
year GSCC has drafted a
constitution and conducted a
referendum that showed
overwhelming support among
graduate students for a separate
government.
Then the federation was formed.
Tuesday night they held an
organizational, meeting with
representatives of more than 80 per
cent of the graduate students
attending. ,
Graduate students have long
been a mammoth apathetic mass on
the UNC campus. However, that
apathy was not caused by any lack
of concern among graduate
students.
The undergraduate domination
of both Student Government and
Student Legislature forced those
bodies' into a preoccupation with
issues and policies that were
irrelevant to graduate students.
Graduate students now have an
organization to work on the
problems and issues that confront
them primarily in their academic
departments.
Walter Badgett, newly elected
president of the GSF, has already
extended an offer of cooperation to
undergraduate student
organizations.
We hope these groups Will work
together in furthering the interests
of their respective constituents.
Mt -.w r . -ji m i -a w . a a a. m a -a
WAR IN INDOCHINA!
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71
fault (or everone was at fault), LaTour
and Cohen met with Chancellor Sitterson
to ask for the revision of the bad check
policy.
In the special meeting called by the
Chancellor, Cohen, submitted a
seven-point proposal which, after several
revisions and corrections, was passed
unanimously by the Advisory Committee.
According to the new policy; when a
check is returned for the second time
from a bank, a notice is sent by U.S. mail
to the offender.
After one week, another letter is sent,
this time by certified mail, return receipt
and address verification requested.
After three more business days, the
student either makes the check good or
the general manager of the Student Stores
is instructed to turn the matter over to
the University attorney for possible
prosecution.
A four dollar charge will be levied on
checks held longer than a week and an
two dollar charge will be placed on
checks held less than seven days. Three
violations may result in the revocation of
check cashing privileges at the stores.
1 J
To The Editor:
Lately there has been a rash of car
thefts on the UNC campus. There are
indications (rather, it is perfectly obvious)
that the thieves are the campus police,
aided by their accomplices, the various
towing services around town. Foreign cars
are preferred (they are sometimes easier
to break into and being small are easier to
drag sideways out of a parking slot if
need be.) Student cars are particularly
vulnerable, since the cops know that
students generally lack the funds, time
and knowledge to fight the towing policy
in court the University knows it is
treading on thin legal ice anyway in
authorizing mass towing. Someday the
cops are goind to drag away the car of a
bright, aggressive, wealthy young lawyer
who will break the ice, and the cops will
be thereby embarrassed and may lose
their collective shirt.
The parking situation in Chapel Hill is
monumentally bad. Yet what is done
about it? They waste thousands of dollars
on a survey by some consultants from
South Carolina who tell them nothing
they didn't already know. Then they
round up a bunch of indigent
ne'er-do-well cretins, give them guns,
ticket pads, and overpowered
air-conditioned white cars, and turn them
loose on us all. What are the results?
Improved parking? No appreciable
"improvement." Bicycles replacing cars
for local commuting? Not when cyclists
must take their lives in their hands on
narrow, crowded, pot-holed streets. Do
the cops themselves set a good example
by driving and parking legally? HA!
I mention this as one of the more
blatant examples of the deterioration in
the administration of public affairs on
campus and in town. Other examples are
1. The stranglehold on the community
maintained by local merchants and banks,
whose only concern for students is to
relieve them of their money. 2. The loss
of campus eating facilities where one
could get a decent, low-cost meal. 3. The
shady dealings of Tom Shetley's Student
Store. 4. Drugs. The Tar Heel reported
recently that the only University drug
policy is that administered by the Chapel
Hill Police Department, and we've seen
what happens when Lindy and his merry
men descend on Hinton James
Dormitory. 5. The student affairs
funding rip-off by the Administration.
6. Etc, etc, etc.
The maiiTTault as I see it lies in the
quality of authority the University
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policy
An extra measure was written into the
policy to assure the student is aware he
has written a bad check. Upon notice of
the first warning, a Student Government
bad check commission (should one be
re-established by the Student Legislature)
is notified. After the second notice is sent
the Office of Student Affairs will warn
the student of the consequences of
non-payment.
"It is the declared policy of the
Student Stores to enxure fairness to all
students while protecting the community
from those who willfully violate
University policy or State law," the
policy reads.
The policy, which got the approval of
the Chancellor Thursday, will go into
effect upon the establishment of the bad
check commission by Student
Government.
Hopefully, problems formerly
encountered by Student Stores will be
allevaited. When the store lose money
the students lose too, since the stores
contribute some S155,000 toward
student scholarships.
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Administration, local governments, and
the police. Too much emphasis is placed
on maintenance of status quo, too much
time and money is wasted in the wrong
places, and practically all planning is done
on a short-term, stop-gap basis. Local
officials, probably becauss of the national
policy shift towards what in thH country
passes for conservatism, are becoming
more and more stubborn, secretive,
self-serving, suspicious and stupid. The
one notable exception is Mayor Howard
Lee. He seems to be genuinely concerned
with the betterment of the communitv
but he is only one man, alone, and with,
limited authority to act. And I suspect he
has to contend with a lot of foot-dragging
among those who are supposed to assist
him.
One problem is that the deterioration
takes place gradually, just a small step at
a time, and most of us need something
dramatic to spur us into action. Another
is complacency. Having gotten rid of
Fiber Industries we breathe a sigh of
relief and say, "That can never happen
again." How can we be sure? Still another
problem is "that the large transient
population sit back and say, "I can stand
anything for the few years IH be here."
And then there's the fact that you can
find places one hell of a lot worse off
than Chapel Hill. Still, these are flimsy
excuses for not trying to make things
better. There should, be some way of
rendering a resounding vote of NO
CONFIDENCE in such detrimental
authorities as Joe Eagles, Tom Shetley,
Lindy Pendergrass, and a whole host of
planners, managers, cops, flunkies, and
do-nothings who would turn the southern
part of heaven into the southern part of
hell, dragging us down to their miserable
level.
What can be done to improve things?
No system can work efficiently without
feedback and the local administrative
systems are badly in need of feedback
loops. The feedback must come from the
objects of the administration, namely us.
We need an ombudsman, or several of
them people who can channel our
feelings, desires, complaints, etc. back to
the officials concerned. Mayor Lee
created such a position for the town, but
the chap who held it had very little
authority and only worked part-time for
low pay. Very few people knew of him
and I wonder if the position even exists
any more.
It seems to me that establishing at least
two ombudsmen's offices, one in the
University and one in the community,
would be a step in the right direction. No
change is likely to occur spontaneously.
It's up to us.
W.S. Berry hill Jr.
Rt. 4, Chapel Hill
UNC Boat Club
in need of money
To The Editor:
As you no doubt know, club sports at
UNC must prove themselves intrinsicly
capable of high athletic merit before they
can achieve major university recognition,
whether financial or merely popular.
Despite the modicum of coverage the
DTH has given to the most fledging of
club 'sports (i.e. the rowing or Boat Club),
few students and faculty are aware, for
example, that it is the U.N.C. Boat Club
that is depicted on the cover of the
Student Directory and that this club has
accomplishments and obstacles that are
prodigeous. Rather than bore the
disinterested student body with details, I
enclose instead a letter from a member of
the club who is a student at the Duke
Med-School. This particular oarsman
(Curt N. Rausch) has devised a plan
whereby the Boat Club can earn
badly-needed finances to cover the spring
racing campaign. In this campaign, this
club of shunned athletes will be
representing UNC in contests with U. Va.,
Notre Dame and Villanova, for example. I
think the letter is indicative of the
commitment that these students have
made and that administrators, faculty and
students should take note: "Dear
Oarsman:
"As you know, the UNC Boat Club is
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in rather desperate financial straits, la tn
effort to raise money everything from
begging (Homer Rice was not at all
impressed) to selling our sisters (my
mother was not in favor of this) has been
suggested. AD this has necessitated some
rather strange measures on our port. The
latest of these is a proposed blood drive
that has all the indications of getting off
the ground if we can get up enough
energy to drag our bodies over to Mr.
Duke's House of Healing. At the moment,
Duke Hospital is paying twenty dollars
for a unit of red stuff regardless of blood
type...
"At the moment it looks as if we will
be able to go over to Duke en masse on
Sundays in order to provide them with
blood for surgery on the following
Mondays...JIopefuIly this whole flurry of
movement will produce some action. A
dozen or so donors will make the venture
worthwhile, and I already have a few irate
alumni lined-up who indicate they will
write ol' Homer to ascertain why Carolina
athletes have to sell their blood in order
to participate in a sport...
"See you at the phlebotomist.
(signed)
"Curt N. Rausch"
The above letter sounds more
unfortunate than amusing. Why should
Carolina athletes have to sell their blood
in order to participate in a sport?
I. Beverly Lane
Tar Heel left out
an award of week
To The Editor:
You forgot the "WHAT'S MINE IS
MINE; WHAT'S YOURS IS
NEGOTIABLE AWARD" to Student
Legislature for being upset that its
consent is not necessary in order for the
graduate students to gain control over
their own funds; and to The Daily Tar
Heel for feeling the same way.
Paul Gilchrist
Durham
Trade unions offer
way to end war
To The Editor:
"One, two, three...many Vietnams," as
one speaker reminded us at the anti-war
rally last Thursday, used to be the vision
of Che and Lin Piao. Now America's
warlords are fulfilling that vision in the
name of getting out of the first Vietnam.
Last week, while the rest of the world
heard about a new escalation of the war
in Indochina, America's so-called "free
press" withheld
the story of what our
"democratically-elected
leaders were up
to in Laos. While American munitions,
voted for by dove and hawk alike, were
being used by our puppets in Saigon and
Pnompenh to slaughter Asian peasants,
the Americanpeople, who have fought
this war and paid for it, were suffering
increasing unemployment, declining
health services, a more dangerous
environment, as well as death and
disfigurement in their places of work.
The wealth created by the American
worker which used to alleviate her or his
situation' is being used to further the
international interests of the American
bosses. They get the means to conduct
these imperialist wars by robbing us not
only of our wealth, but of our lives and
health on the battlefield, in the
workplace, and in our polluted cities.
And they befuddle our minds so that
we cannot see these hard facts. The
deluge us with "news" and spectacles.
They divide us-students from
workers, young from old, black from .
white, female from male. We are filled
with doubt, confusion, and pessimism
while they fill the Indochinese with lead.
What is to be done? Do we once agn
March to Washington? To chant, to
parade, to protest? Do we fill the papers
with ads full of moral outrage and heroic
signatures? Do we work to elect more
"peace-candidates" who will seek to limit
the war? And do we do these things over
and over again when the Administration
and the military cynically walk over,
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around, and through limits like the
Cooper-Church amendment? Do we lock
to electoral politics for the solution? h
our most important task the defeat of
Nixon in Tit But didn't we work to
defeat Johnson in 6S? And Goldwater in
64? Do we eris & sniddil spectacles
like the one being proposed by Rensie
Davis for Washington in May? Or sha2 we
say to hell with everything and turn on to
drugs?
American students and intellectuals
might begin to move again against a war
which offends their sensibilities.
American workers are fighting rear-guard
actions to preserve their jobs, their
health, their homes, the air they breathe,
the water they drink, and the schools
they teach in and send their children to.
If they are black or female, they often
have to fight to get some of these things
before they can fight to keep them.
Appeals to workers moral conscience
from privileged students and university
professors will strike them as quite
hollow. Students and teachers must begin
to educate themselves to the fact that
they are intellectual workers who have a
key role in the capitalist system, that
they contribute to the slaughter not only
of Indochinese peasants but of their
fellow American workers as well. They
must see that their struggle is with these
Americans against the enemy of all
people -monopoly capital.
Concretely, and immediately, these
thoughts imply that students and
professors must begin to understand the
necessity that they organize as workers,
that is into trade unions. Before we can
support and take part in the struggles of
others we must engage our own
oppressors. In North Carolina organizing
trade unions is still a very radical act. It
certainly will require a greater change of
consciousness than the "trashing"
psychotherapy espoused by some
radicals. In our trade unions, and in their
impact on other unions, we can pose the
greatest threat to the source of power of
America's war-makers and most
effectively make it too costly for them to
pursue imperial wars abroad and
repression at home.
This sounds like a very roundabout
way to end the war, but we can't just
stop the war in Vietnam, or in Cambodia,
or in Laos, or in the ghettos of
Wilminton, or in the coalmines of
Appalachia. If we haven't learnt that
lesson from the past two years, what have
we learnt?
Peadar MacTire
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on traffic signs?
To The Editor:
While teaching his introductory poetry
class in Greenlaw the other day, an
English instructor ceased his discussion of
prosidy for a moment to quote what he
has termed, "one of the finest, most
elegant lines of poetry in the English
language." The line is very short, he said.
He has written it on all of his notebooks
(to remind himself of its beauty).
" 'Walk with light!' " he quoted, and
then repeated softly, blissfully to himself,
" "Walk with light' . . . Now isn't that a
wonderful thing to say to someone?"
The class, of course, agreed that it was,
and wished to know the author of this
high, though simple, poesy. "I suppose
it's anonymous," said the instructor. "It's
written on a sign at an intersection of
Franklin Street."
Brad Stuart
Prof. Dixon right
about Vietnam war
To The Editor:
John Dixon is absolutely right about
Southeast Asia. We've got to do
something. I'm not a member of the
university, but IH help in any way I can.
Inaction is complicity.
Philip D. Harvey
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