Letters to the editor
Opinions of The Daily Tar Heel are expressed on its editorial page. All
unsigned editorials are the opinions of the editor. Letters and columns
represent only the opinions of the individual contributors.
Harry Bryan. Editor
Saturday, February 19, 1972
The Dail
y
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awar
o
The There Goes The
Neighborhood Award: to Red
China, which will be hosting Nixon
and all the other "dignataries" next
week. At least maybe it'll get
Clifford Irving off the front page.
The "It Pays To Advertise"
Award: to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, which (with the help
of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police) finally caught up with
Karleton Armstrong, a member of
the Ten Most Wanted list since the
bombing of a University of
Wisconsin laboratory in August of
1970. The arrest was made in
Ottawa four days after Inspector
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. devoted the
last minutes of his Sunday night
television program to describing
Armstrong, his younger brother and
the other people wanted in
connection with the case.
The Royal Goose Award: to
Labor M.P. William Hamilton, who
called Prince Charles, the Prince of
Wales, "that young twerp" after
discovering that Charles receives a
tax-free annual income of
$273,000.
The First the Beatles, then C, S,
N & Y Award: to that multifaceted
Canadian rock group, Steppenwolf,
which just announced its breakup.
During their four-year career with
Dun hill Records, Steppenwolf
recorded 1 1 gold records and made
$7,000,000 in personal appearance
ahc Daihj aar tSjrrl
78 Years of Editorial Freedom
Harry Bryan, Editor
Norman Black Managing Ed.
Mike Parnell News Editor
Lou Bonds Associate Ed.
Lana Starnes Associate Ed.
Mark Whicker Sports Ed.
Ken Ripley Feature Editor
Jim Taylor Night Editor
Murray Pool Business Mgr.
Beverly Lakeson Adv. Mgr.
Joe Hill
In terms of efficiency the proposed
reorganization of Student Government no
doubt is more desirable than the present
parliamentary parcheesi. Yet before this
proposal can be railroaded through, it
might be advisable to look at its causes
and its possible consequences. Efficiency
aside (and even this may be doubted), is
the reorganization plan desirable, or does
it come at the expense of democracy and :
political relevance?
According to Gerry Cohen and others, ,
the proposal was drafted in the belief that
the student body at present is
overgoverned. There are 55 legislators
chosen from districts so small that little
effort is needed to get elected. Ideology
takes a back seat to personality in' these
campaigns and representatives rise
invisible to their constituents. Thus there
are elected a number of political iacRs
such as Charles Gilliam (he reportedly"
said once that he would oppose any bill,
regardless of content, introduced"!' by
Cohen) who make it nearly impossible for
the legislature to pass constructive bills.
Moreover the legislature constantly works
ds
Tar
week
fees. America, however, still has
those other great Canadian artists
like Andy Kim and Guess Who.
The Jesus Christ, We Hadn't
Thought Of It That Way Before
Award: to pornographic publisher
Ralph Ginzburg, who began a
three-year federal prison sentence
Thursday with the words: "I'm
dying for everybody else's sins."
I he Horny Problem Award: to
Kaziranga, India, whose game
protection plan has allowed the
near-extinct one-horned rhinoceri
enough time to get down to
business and propogate themselves
to the self-sufficient number of
500.
The Vanity Fair Award: to Pat
Nixon, who is taking her own
hairdresser Mrs. Rita Desantis -with
her to Red China. In these
days of unbalanced budgets, Pat,
wouldn't it have been simpler just
to buy a wig?
The Great Rip-Off Award: to
Morrison Residence College, which
has passed a resolution restricting
student candidates to one poster
per floor. Now there's only one too
many on every floor of Morrison.
The Perserverance Award: to
anyone who has read this far into
this terrible mess. Warning: It's not
going to get any better.
Ken Ripley
Heel
the
i r-'
oiil food: corruption limits human
It gets harder to believe in "the basic
goodness of man" with every morning
newspaper.
But we manage to cling to the illusion
with some kind of hope. We talk about
"human dignity" and point with pride to
our many undeniable achievements.
Someone is always available and willing,
even in the worst of times, to proclaim
the greatness of man, his promise and
nobility.
Illusions are cheap. But not so cheap,
for instance, are the lives of N.C. mental
patients who suffer from patient abuses
and "the lack of treatment within the
state mental hospitals" according to the
N.C. Mental Health Association.
Not so cheap are the lives of 23
children in North Carolina who have died
because of parental violence in the past
seven months, or the 306 children who
have been "confirmed as physically
abused with their very lives threatened by
their parents and relatives."
Not so cheap are the lives of children
who must be bused from one school to
Democratic
in opposition to the president making it
difficult for him to carry out his
campaign promises. This is the argument
of the reformers.
In place of the present system, the
reformers are suggesting a 16-member
council, guaranteeing proportional
representation for graduates, two seats
each for women and blacks and one seat
for the president. The council is to be
elected from 15 large districts (the
president at-large), at first drawn
geographically but subject to be changed
to', for instance, academic divisions. With
larger districts, competition of
responsible candidates will result, and
representatives will be visible to electors.
My argument opposing this plan will
have three parts: an analogy which I
think basically is applicable, a questioning
of how democratic the new system might
be and . finally a questioning of the
relevance, of student government as a
whole.
At the turn of the century during the
Progressive Era of American history,
reform movements arose in most cities
AFKOTC ad insult to
To the editor:
In the February 16 issue of the DTH,
an ad for AFROTC appeared which we,
the undersigned, feel is an insult to the
intelligence of UNC students. This ad
appears to be a disgusting attempt to
attract a certain stereotyped portion of
the student body by capitalizing the
words "high" and "dope." The creators
of this ad seem. to think that there exist
stereotyped students, perhaps labeled
drug-oriented radicals or liberals, whose
interest in the Air Force can be developed
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THE Roal or 7 THe
another because a racist society can't
naturally integrate itself.
And not so cheap as our illusions of .
goodness are the lives of those who die
every day in Vietnam, Belfast and on the
streets of our major cities because of one
crime or another.
The illusions of man's greatness sound
hollow when we read how he poisons his
own environment, succumbs to violence
at whim, and lives in fear, hatred and
mutual suspicion.
"Human dignity" seems farcial when
we can look around on campus and see
how lightly we respect the dignity of each
other, how we so often use and
depersonalize people as "things." There
was no dignity in the nymphomaniac who
recently captivated several dorm floors,
nor was there any dignity in those who
took advantage of her. There is no dignity
in vandalism, perversion and obscenity.
But our vices are sadly more than human.
Human corruption, man's wickedness
and cussedness, severely limits man's
claims to greatness and nobility. Man may
be basically good, but he is also basically
iinioiii to solve
opposing the ward form of municipal
government, which allowed a corrupt
alliance between political machines and
special interests. The machine politicians
rose to power through the many localized
wards usually behind the immigrant
working class vote. The reformers, who
mostly included businessmen and high
professionals, considered the corruption
the fault of corrupt individuals and
favored at-large elections that would
make candidates more accountable and
more responsible to the city. City
government was to be streamlined and
centralized.
But as pointed out by historian
Samuel P. Hays, corruption was not the
result of evil individuals but rather of a
separation of political and economic
power within the city. Politics was the
only door of upward mobility for
immigrant groups. Because of universal
suffrage immigrants were quick to take
advantage: Special business interests,
which exercised the real power in the
city, had to make deals with the
politicians to insure favorable politics.
and captured by using the words "high"
and "dope" in the same sentence as "Air
Force."
Do the creators of this ad really
believe that students, like Pavlov's dogs,
have been so conditioned to respond
favorably to the words "high" and
"dope" that they will respond similarly
to the Air Force, if these words are
associated in some way with the Air
Force?
We urge the AFROTC to abandon
such a low-level advertising display. If
0KCE IU 0fTlCg7
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STUPBN1 PXfSWMT CANMATg
bad. All reform movements and
revolutions, most religious thought, and
man's intangible conscience are
concerned with abolishing the constraints
of human corruption. But here, too, we
cherish our illusions.
We blame society, political systems,
lack of education, even God, for evil in
the world. And we try to abolish evil by
tinkering with the structure of our lives.
But more often than not, I suspect, the
problem with people is people. And if
any major change for good is to happen
in men, that change must come from
within.
Those who believed that education
would change man, especially late 19th
century humanists, found their dreams
shattered by two world wars. Education
merely made bad men smart; not smart
men good.
Those who blame society for human
evil and who want to legislate morality
have found throughout history that no
society has been free from human flaws
and that morality, despite all best
intentions, cannot be accomplished by
But this became too costly and too
uncertain, so the reformers, pretending
the cry for reform came from the masses,
pushed to establish government in a
business-like fashion centralized and
efficient. The consequence was that
"political power would no longer be
broadly distributed, but would in fact be
more centralized in the hands of a
relatively small segment of the
population."
The analogy is relevant in two ways to
the situation here. In the first place, the
troubles of present student government
may partly stem from undergovernment,
not overgovernment. If few are
represented in a 55-member body, how is
it more will be represented by only 15?
The guarnateed minorities are along
superficial race and sex lines, indifferent
to the possibility that all blacks and all
women might not be the same. Moreover,
ideological minorities will have little
voice. If elections become quitet
competitive, is there not a danger of their
being dominated by students who usually
have different political views from those
a ra
such ameboid promotions, in which the
Air Force attempts to assume the shape
of the stereotyped cult it endeavors to
reach, continues, we wonder how it wul
capture the interest of radical fourth
grade students at Max Meadows
Elementary School.
Joy Ware
Holly Fanris
ZM Jovner
Robert's Rules
an aid to SL
To the editor.
I Much has been offered recently in
! support of the report of the Presidential
'.Commission on the Goals and Structures
!of Student Government, particularly by
it he Commission and by President
'Stallings. Until now I have stomached
most of the arguments for reorganization
'in the report in hopes they would be
'quietly dismissed. The continuing support
of the proposals of the Commission by
Gerry Cohen in Monday's DTH has
forced me to break my silence. Although
there are many faults in the proposed
reorganization, space will permit me to
point out only one.
Those who support the phn for
'reorganization have charged that the
procedure used by the Student
Legislature, which is by and large
.parliamentary procedure based on
Robert's Rules of Order, impedes and
;leaves some people out of the
decision-making process. President
Stallings expressed his and the
Commission's proposal w hen he said he
: would like to see the new council be able
. to '"discuss rather than debate issues." To
adopt such a plan would lose two
! important advantages which the present
procedure used by Student Legislature
has: (1 )protecting the rights of the
minority and, (2)providing a structure for
an thereby encouraging debate.
In regards to the first advantage, it
: should be noted that parliamentary
procedure was aesignea wnn me
protection of the rights of the individual
jin mind. Rachel Vixman, President of the
: New York Metropolitan Chapter of the
; American Institute of Parliamentarians,
testifies that this is the case:
Through the ages, parliamentary law
j has been introduced as organization
j principles rules on conduct. It is based
on freedom of speech,
respect for the dignity of man.
equality and justice for all, the principle
of majority rule, the right of the minority
to be heard, and
mere fiat. A people can be forced to act
morally, but they cannot be made moral.
We blame the political system for
human inhumanity and turn to reform or
revolution for help. But changing the
structure of politics, history has shown,
does not change the politicans.
Communism has not abolished human
evil any more than capitalism. Political
systems may foster evil, but men
perpetuate it.
A recent newspaper headline read.
"Modern Science can cure social ills." But
man's technological skills depend on the
social conscience of those who wield
them. Science is only a tool to increase
man's knowledge; it is only as useful as
the very human scientists who wield it.
Even religion alone cannot relieve man
of the corruption and imperfection that
binds him. He can expand his mind
through meditation, but he is limited by
his own nature. He can go through all the
outward trappings of religiosity, but they
need not ever touch the center of his life.
If we are ever to be relieved of all the
hate, greed, cruelty, selfishness, stupidity
G problems
without money. Even if this is not true, is
it not likely the elected council members
will be of the wishy-washy sort who in
trying to represent everyone represent no
one?
But these arguments aside, if the goal
of student leaders is to create more
interest and participation by other
students, it seems strange they should
suggest cutting back the number of
legislators (unless of course they see the
streamlined council as tools and stepping
stones for their own political aspirations
- remember Tommy Bello?). It does not
take a political wizard to realize that the
fewer hands controlling power means the
less interested the rest of the people are
in participating. If elected representatives
are raised to such prominence and
visibility as suggested, the ordinary
students will appear as not important.
Why should they participate?
Perhaps the only thing that can be said
about the present government is that
while not very democratic it is more
democratic than the proposed plan.
The second reason the above analogy
student
the duty to abide by the w-.!5 of the
majority.
It is difficult to see how Stude-t
Legislature operating under a system of
rales designed to protect the rights or the
minority and the individual's right to
speak could leave some of its members
out of the decision-making process.
The second important advantage e:
the present system of decision-making
Student Government is that it allow s tor
debate. President Stallings and the
Commission would have us believe that it
would be better for a small group ;.-
discuss issues than it is for the 55-at
Legislature to debate issues The
decision-making process, however, car.
only be hindered by a lack of debate,
both in terms of its ability to protect
individual rights and m terms of its ahU t
to provide reasoned discourse. W alter
Lippman points out why:
For the the absence of debate
unrestricted utterance lead to
degradation of opinion. By a kmd of
Gresham's Law the more rational
is overcome by the less rational, and
the opinions that will prevail will be those
which are held most ardently by those
with the most
passionate will. For that reason the
freedom to speak can never be
maintained by objecting to interference
with the liberty of the press.
of printing, of broadcasting, of the
screen. It can be maintained only In
promoting debate.
It escapes me as to why some would
throw away the tools of debate and Mi!!
hope to reach the best decisions. But.
then again, none of those supporting the
reorganization have said anything about
trying to reach the best decisions, have
they?
Richard Robertson
Student Legislator. MD VI
301 Maniv
.V.-.N'A-.'.S'.-.
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of the Student Union.
greatness
and prejudice that inflicts so much misery
on mankind, we have to concede we need
help. Human nature - not society,
politics or religion - must be changed,
and we cannot by ourselves change
human nature. We are what we are.
Such a change is a revolutionary
process, and humbling. But one of the
biggest claims of Christianity is that such
a change is possible through Jesus Christ.
If man cannot change himself, then Christ
has made it possible for God to work in
men to change them. When a Christian
talks about being "reborn," he means
that his entire nature is slowly being
purged of human corruption and
"transformed into the image of Christ."
"Therefore, if any one is in Christ he is
a new creation," Paul writes. "The old
has passed, away; behold, the new has
come." Christianity doesn't offer plastic
surgery for corrupted men; it promises an
eventually complete cure.
Such a cure may be slow and painful,
but at least Christ promises complete
recovery well worth looking into.
may be relevant is in analyzing why
student government is so ineffective. It
may be, I suggest, that student
government is divorced from the real
power at the University. What is student
government in the face of the
administration? Parliamentry games?
It seems that reformers of student
government should worry less about
efficiency and more about the aims of
students. Students in the main are
consumers (and some also work). They
are interested in getting a good education
(andor protecting their jobs) and perhaps
also in promoting a better way of living.
The only effective method I know to win
significant concessions from the
administration is not to have a small body
of representatives but to organize. A
democratic union would not only insure
participation by all interested but would
also immediately confront the issues.
Teachers' assistants at the University
of Wisconsin won demands by unionizing.
This union has also become a wheel for
reform at the university. Is this not a
better proposal for us?