Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 25, 1971, edition 1 / Page 6
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Letters to the editor K ! M ?! Opinions of The Daily Tar Heel are expressed on its editorial page. All unsjned editorials are the opinions of the editor and the stiff. Letters and columns represent only the opinions of the individual contributors. Thursday, February 25. 1971 Tom Gooding. Editor $Mo8 On 9 a hi UNC Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson appeared before the General Assembly Tuesday requesting an additional $14.8 million for the $174 million University budget suggested by the Advisory Budget Commission for the next two years. In his address before the Joint Appropriations Committee, Sitterson said, "I am confident that the people of North Carolina and their legislators will insist that the University, of V rth Carolina at Chapel Hill continue to maintain its excellence in instruction, research and service to the state." The Chancellor must have been in a very optimistic mood Tuesday. In recent years, the campus has strained under inadequate planning and poor foresight by state government. The University community has watched helplessly as thousands of additional students poured into Chapel Hill over the last decade. UNC has improvised to accommodate those students while struggling to maintain high educational standards. The basis of the problem lies in a state legislature unable to look beyond stop-gap measures and short-range patchwork educational growth. The University proposal is an attempt to correct this situation. Here is a breakdown of some of the additional funds and motivating factors behind their request: -$1,155,000 for the Dramatic Art Department. This addition is complemented by a $2.5 million theatre building proposal. A lot of money for play-acting? Certainly, but UNC drama has played a pioneer role in Southern drama. Over the past few years, however, the department has suffered a mysterious decline in prestige. Could it have anything to do with the fact that its only physical facility the Play makers' Theater-seats only 300 and has served notably at other times in University history as a shower house and stable? -$2,720,000 for an Art Department studio-classroom. A relative newcomer to the campus, the art department was boosted greatly in 1958 by the construction of the Ackland Building. This endowment by a concerned private citizen sparked interest reflected by a 300 per cent enrollment increase over the past ten years. Art department classes are held in every s:a:a:ax.a:-k:.:.xx.x-: Alt Its curtains for the DTH... with thanks to Howard Henry V4 i f 7. B : y .1 f ( I i J i ... i milMoe bargain available space around town. This cultural asset to the state is asking for its first aid from the taxpayers. Has it not already proved that the need exists? -$8,000,000 for library improvement. UNC research library faculties rank third in the South. The requested funds are for additional book purchases vital to . the retention of this standing. Small appropriations over the past several years have endangered the program. The library provides a research laboratory in the humanities, social sciences and professions. Can continued growth of the University be expected without an outstanding library program? -$2,701 ,021 for salary increases. Explication for this request can be summed up in one word inflation. Can the University expect to attract and maintain the finest academic talent if it is not prepared to meet the salary levels of other leading universities around the country? -$6,910,758 in the field of health affairs, including salaries and facility renovation and expansion. UNC is approaching the final stage of a tremendous development in this area. The last three legislative sesions have lent support to the program. Such important educational questions deserve careful consideration. Unfortunately whether they receive the attention they merit is actually a question unto itself. General assemblies of the past have established a record of ignoring the real educational issues during appropriation sessions and digressing into petty politics. With $14.8 million as political bait, there will undoubtedly be efforts to strike down the additional funds to boost political reputations. We hope the General Assembly will soon come to the realization that political hay-making at the expense of its parent university is a costly maneuver. Taxpayers soothed by the refusal of a $14.8 million fund addition will have to shell out more money later when the need is even more acute, the situation more desperate. An additional appropriation now is a sound investment in North Carolina higher education for the future. At $14.8 million, it's a bargain. !?:: r t t , X t I ' lr r I - '-- S I k - J i t - -: v - t: j -.: ' ' . & : - f ii; i J A' ' I , ' : - -5' X Go To the editor: This is in response to that south campus coed who was wondering it there were any Carolina gentlemen left. First, let us say that boys are human beings, and like all human beings, they want and need affection. However, there are stiH plenty of guys around who think of gixls as more than just sexual objects- We think it's interesting to note that oftentimes, these are the guys who sit home weekend after weekend because they can't get a date. This is because the number of boys on this campus is far greater than the number of girls. Consequently, the shy and more reserved segments of the male population lose out to the more extroverted. If you're disillusioned with what you're getting now, why don't you try going out of your way to be friendly with the boy who sits in the back of the classroom and never says anything, or with the guy who usually sits alone in the cafeteria or snack bar? He's more than "HEY BEFORE YOU TAKE THAT SHOWED, listen TO THIS: IT -SAYS ALL. lUe H WATER IK WIL- g -TURNED OFF JVIW... CZTrnninlZi Gerry Cohen ppose Tuesday's hour long power failure in the Chapel Hill area points up again the problems of utility administration in this area. Although the power failure is clearly no one's "fault," it would be good to look at the entire power and utility situation in Chapel Hill. The electric, water and telephone companies are owned by the University, and administered out of South Building. Because, they are utilities owned by the "state," the law provides that the electric and water compaies are free from regulation by the state, as other public and private utilities in this country are. And who shall watch the watchers? Luckily, interstate phone rates are set by the Federal Communications Commission, which is somewhat responsive to consumers (relative to the University, that is). Water and electric rates are set directly by the Board of Trustees, without procedure for appeal, hearing, or other normal utility rate procedures. When the University needs more money, it simply asks the trustees. Normal utility regulation can protect the interests of the consumer. The present system can not. Last summer, water rates were raised over 100 per cent by the Trustees. That is right, they more than doubled. This is, in essence, a regressive tax hike on the residents of Chapel Hill and especially Carrboro, since the rises are steepest at the bottom of the rate structure. The town of Carrboro, under the leadership of Town Manager Bill Britt, is fighting the increases. Recently, the Trustees hiked electric rates by 12 and one half percent. A rate increase by any other utility in the state would have required approval by the State Utility Commission. But not the University Service plants, they do not have to show any justification whatsoever for a rate hike. Conceivably, the Trustees could have voted a 1,000 per cent hike if other University revenues were low. The University does not even have to produce its books to the public, to show where past utility profits have been spent. That is really the crux of the problem. The University must have been making profits from its utility holdings over the last 50 years. A normal company would pay the dividends to its stockholders, 6r have lower rates, and plow earnings back into new capital development. When the University announced its plan to expand University Lake over the next ten years, and pay for it entirely out of the new water rate hike, one wonders where the profits from the past twenty u likely wondering if there's any such thing as a Carolina lady, and that's no joke. Any girl who thinks the Carolina gentleman is extinct would do well to "explore" the not so extroverted segment of the male population. When she does, she will find that there are still plenty of Carolina gentlemen around. Bob Paxton 2408 Granville South Byron Sykes 1529 Granville West Brant Hart 952 Hint on James Change in company could fix problem To the editor: This letter is to the South Campus Coed concerning her letter in the Feb. 20 DTH. It seems that you are attempting to utxtvty years have gone. Into General University accounts? Telephone service in this community is so poor that I hardly need dwell on it. Any person using the phone system understands. The University has even pulled a trick here. The general information page (page two) of the phone book says that long distance calls are billed from the 1 5th of a month through the 15 th of the following month. A look at your next tlelphone bill shows they actually bill from the 20th through the 20th. What this means is that by an unannounced change in policy, the Chapel Hill phone company collects for long distance calls made between the 15th and 21st of each month a month in advance. If $2,000,000 in long distance calls are made each year, the policy change saves the University about $3,000 a year in borrowing charges, from a little mathematical calculation. Tiny? But each Lana Starnes ID), 'airfty polMcs dead JL Think hard, what would you say has been Tom Bello's greatest contribution to the Carolina student body? Some say it was his election. Bello's election as president of the student body last spring contributed more to the demise of campus political parties than any other factor. But Bello cannot be credited solely as the doer of this good deed. Parties have been dying for some time now. In the early 1960's, parties were strong, highly competitive organizations. Spring elections revolved around SP-UP rivalries and all positions were heatedly contested. Party politics reached a peak in '65 as the two parties split the major offices. That year also marked the beginning of their decline. The SP took complete control in '66 and '67. Student dissent against the SP developed. The UP reversed things in '68 and came out on top. The election of 69 foreshadowed the fate of the parties. A strong show by an independent candidate threw the presidental race into a runoff. The UP again won control. Students were given a wide range of candidates to chose from in '69. The SP regained political office but the important factor was that four independent candidates in the presidential race threw the contest into a runoff. n o1 innigijDiy stereotype all "Carolina gentlemen as basically sex-minded. I aree that sex is an important part in any relationship, its extent to be determined by the couple. It seems that you are not in agreement with the gentlemen you date. Possibly a change in company might solve your problem. There are just as many real Carolina Gentlemen around as the other types you described. Answer this letter and you may just meet one. HX.W. A South Campus Carolina Gentleman Coed should clean her own backyard To the editor: This letter is in response to the one from a "South Campus Coed" which was printed Saturday. Dear South Campus Coed: In response to your letter about the "Carolina Gentlemen" may I ask you to clean out your own back yard. Before you attack the male population of UNC, ask yourself if you are worth dating. Very few young ladies (and I use the term loosely) are insinuated about unless they give some indication of wanting to give the one thing you say the boys are after. You mentioned that a man should be a gentleman in every sense of the word. I think that a woman should strive to become a lady. The phrase "Carolina Coed" commands very little respect in the coeducational or girls' schools of our state. This reputation speaks for itself. As far as earthshaking sayings are concerned, a friend of mine once said, "If you act like a lady of the street, youll be treated like one." I rest my case. Mike Collins 302 Lewis Towns merchants too bad for reform To the editor: The following is such a nice example of the futility of trying to work within "the system" to reform it that I think it is worth relating-particularly for the benefit of liberals such as myself who still cannot quite bring themselves to approach the urgent task of changing the system through radical means. Responding to a large advertisement hikes not of us pays for that rate change, in our monthly bill. When I asked the phone company when the billing change was put into effect, they answered "several years ago, but we haven't gotten around to changing the data in the phone book." I wonder if they have gotten around to notifying the FCC? As an individual consumer, I am withholding my 1 2 per cent electric rate increase, and paying illegally billed phone calls (see above) a month late. On each day I have difficulty with my local service, I deduct 22 cents, a days service charge for local service. I hope other utility consumers will do the same. But this does not solve the problem. The current utility system is socialism at its worst. The University should immediately give its utilities to the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Since rates have been abnormally, high for so long, In the spring of '70 the party system again received a critical blow, this time its last. Bello, an independent candidate, won a majority of votes on the first ballot over UP, SP, CP and two other independent candidates. It was the first time since 1955 that an independent had been elected to the office of student body president. Student Legislature seats were divided among SP (23), UP (5), CP (4) and independent (8) candidates. The formation of the Conservative Party, which may be viewed as a last-minute attempt to revive the party system, proved to be inconsequential. A new trend was set. The tag of independence was glorified and was quickly snatched up by campus politicos. Party association in many arenas, was disavowed and the concept of the independent candidate gained popularity. Then came the fall '70 elections. The results speak for themselves. All the junior class officers were independents. The SP nominated a slate of candidates for sophomore class officers which ran unopposed. Freshmen class offices, as well, went to independent candidates. Fall class officer elections in the past were utilized to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the parties. They were used as an indication of the way in which spring elections would develop. featured in most local newspapers last week, I hurried to The Hub's half-price sale-soldy because their advertisement stated unequivocatly "NO SPECIAL GROUPS. NOTHING HELD BACK." I was attracted by this (for Chapd Hill) extraordinary promise, because I hid previously purchased a pair of shoes from this emporium and this seemed like an auspicious time to gst an additional pair. What, then, was my chagrin to be told that only a few types of shoes were included in the sales! Indeed, a sign in the shoe section of the store specifkaily 2 d vised the gullible customer "This Group of Shoes 12 Price." When I asked the salesman if this set of circumstances did not perhaps constitute false advertising, he responded forthrightly enough and smiled broadly. This incident sufficed to push my frustration at being exploited by Chapel Hill merchants above my threshold of tolerance. I proceeded directly to the office of the magistrate to swear out a warrant charging The Hub's management with fraudulent and deceptive advertising as described in GS 14-117 of North Carolina Criminal Laws, Chapter 14, as amended 1969 (p. 52). The magistrate, however, convinced me that my efforts would be extremely time-consummg and ultimately in vain, since the law contains a clause requiring that intent to mislead be proven-something, he assured me, any decent lawyer could prevent from occuring. Moreover, he said, the solicitor, who prosecutes such cases, would realize this and probably throw the case out before it came to trial. And even if all this were not to happen, the maximum penalty prescribed for this offense is a fifty dollar fine. So why bother? One wonders, though, why intent is so impossible to prove in situations such as these, when it is so easily established in matters of "disruption," "conspiracy," or "possession of narcotics for sale." One wonders, too, why police action to halt a practice which is a criminal offense requires such time-consuming efforts, when any ambulatory law enforcement officer can decide instantaneously whether a long-haired youth reclining on the grass is peacefully relaxing or unlawfully loitering. One wonders, in short, how a system designed by capitalists for capitalists can ever be reformed and turned into a system of the people, by the people, and for the people. Richard Lee Clinton Department of Political Science paying there is no need for compensation. The utility consumers of Chapel Hill have already payed for the companies. Under the new system the utilities will be municapally controlled, by elected officials. This gives consumers a chance to express their opinions in a democratic fashion, to officials directly responsible to them. I have heard that the service plants have been adding past due phone accounts to the electric bills of some Carrboro residents. Thus those unable to pay the long distance toll lose their electric service as well. Surely there is a better answer. These people are those, least able to understand their rights, and are thus the first taken advantage of. When the utilities come under state utilities commission regulation, or when they are owned by the town of Chapel Hill, I shall pay my rate increases. But not before then. Iheire The parties seemed to recognize their own demise. The UP and CP did not nominate candidates and the SP slate was one of opposition to class elections. - The question of the future of campus parties shifted in emphasis from what function or purpose the party system provided to-Are campus political parites dead? This year's spring elections are now close at hand. Where do the so-called parties stand? The SP has nominated a slate of candidates for senior class officers and has endorsed candidates for 29 of the 55 Student Legislature seats. As far as it can be discerned the UP lias not even met. the CP for all intents and purposes is non-existent. - Meanwhile the campaigns are taking shape. Candidates have adopted the independent slogan and proclaim to be running on their own merits. Where does the campus political system go from here? Will this be a decade of tndepenr Burkean-codel candidates? Will this decade establish the same type of pattern the last one did, with parties ree merging in the late 70's? These are, of course, questions that can be answered only through time. But one thing is certain, at present campus political parties are dead.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 25, 1971, edition 1
6
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