Lou Bilionis, Editor
Chuck Alston, Managing Editor
Don Woodard, Associate Editor
David McKinnon, Associate Editor
Bernie Ransbottom, University Editor
Mary Anne Rhyne, City Editor
Michael Wade, State and National Editor
Richard Barron, News Editor
Betsy Flagler, Features Editor
Mark Scandling, Arts Editor
Lee Pace, Sports Editor
Billy Newman, Photography Editor
ersuasive evidence
Roundabout the time people begin to converge on Franklin Street to take in
the Homecoming Parade this Friday, a smaller and more subdued group of,.,
individuals will begin meeting in 100 Hamilton Hall. The immediate attention1
of the student body will be drawn to the floats, the bands, the madcap antics the
parade will certainly feature; barely a student soul will find its way. to the
Faculty Council meeting taking place at the same time. But while the charm of a
good celebration wears off quickly, the actions taken at the November session
of the council may see their effects felt for years to come.
Once again, a Student Government proposal to extend the drop period is on
the agenda of the Faculty Council. Once again, the walls of Hamilton Hall will
hear student voices call on the council's good will, asking for just two more
weeks to make basic, important decisions. Once again, the talk will turn to
exhortations decrying "grade inflation" and . to charges that students are
looking for easy ways out.'! - 'I
Some may say deja vu. Things, though, should be different. This time,
Student Government has done its homework, and will come to the council
armed with more than abstract arguments for academic freedom and surveys of
student and faculty opinion! "v.. '
In its statement to the members of the Faculty Council, Student Government
divides its case "for a two-week extension of the drop period into three distinct
parts. First, Jim Phillips and his assistants outline what they call "'Old' but
pertinent arguments." To quote from the statement: "We readily acknowledge .
that the twelve week drop period was too long. We agree with the Educational
Policy Committee that the choice of a particular time limit for the drop period
is somewhat arbitrary. We strongly contend, however, that the four week drop
period is too short for a number of sound educational reasons." Those reasons?
During the first four weeks, most courses do not provide the information
students need to judge their educational value and the quality of the teaching.
In most intermediate and advanced courses in the natural and social sciences,
for example, the firsf weeks are devoted to review of principles learned in
introductory classes hardly a good, solid sample of the rest of the semester's
work. In the humanities, subject matter can shift dramatically forweekrtoweek
and the professor's ability to inspire the student, as well as his demands, are
difficult to gauge quickly.
The second part of Student Government's case offers a new argument that
strikes at the heart of the Faculty Council's thinking. When the council first cut
the drop period back to four weeks in the spring of 1976 (and then when it
reaffirmed its decision in October of last year), one popular argument in '
support of a shorter drop period was the purported effect such a move would
have on rising grades at UNC. Thinking that students exercised their drop '
options to save -their QPAs, the council called for a hard line and got it.
But a study conducted by Dana Cagle for her Principles of Policy Analysis
course, and which is included in the SG statement, found absolutely no
statistical correlation between the length of the drop period and grades earned
at Carolina since 1974. In fact, grades last fall were higher than statistical
analysis would predict irrespective of the drop period.
The last line of defense for a six-week drop period centers on a survey of drop
policies at other colleges and universities which shows that Carolina's four
week period is one of the shortest. Students at Stanford, for example, can drop
a course after the final exam has been administered; at Maryland, Texas and
Clemson, the drop periods are 10 weeks long. Rutgers undergraduates enjoy a
12-week drop period just as do those at Columbia. Yale students have an 1 1
week drop period; Georgetown students have eight weeks. At Harvard with a
four-course load and a "shopping" period in lieu of formal registration the
formal drop period is shorter. But then again, professors there are forced to
outline fully their courses early in the semester if they wish to fill the seats in
their classrooms.
The information which Student Government has gathered for the Faculty
Council is as persuasive as it is thorough and thought provoking. It points to a
conclusion that students have found inescapable, but which has somehow
eluded the members of the council: Carolina's drop period is too short. Few
other schools use a four-week drop period presumably because it serves no
useful purpose. The four-week period fails to attack grade inflation, and even if
it were successful as a grade-reducing drug, other measures, with no harmful
side-effects, could be used. In fact, about all the four-week drop period does is
support the fancies of the Faculty Council while it forces students to -make
hasty, ill-founded decisions.
The Faculty Council can continue to worship the myths which are the basis
of the current drop policy, but it cannot deny the evidence Student Government
brings to its court. The council can endorse its four-week drop period and
hinder the academic pursuits of the student body, or it can extend the period by
two weeks in recognition of the fact that more time1 just a little more time is
needed to assess the educational value of a course at Carolina.
The Bottom Line
Rem ad a monk
You're probably aware by now
that monks at a monastery in Egypt
claim to have found the skeletal
remains of John the Baptist. Some of
the skepticism might be wearing off
of you by now when you consider
that the religious order has ancient
documentation that John's body may
indeed have been hidden at their altar
some 1,100 years after his deth( It
seems the holy man's" body was
carried around for hundreds of yars r
to prevent religious oppressors from
stealing it.)
But something bothers us about all
this hubbub. The monks' claim they
unearthed the body three years ago,
but kept the news a secret lest
thousands ' of pilgrims flock to a
monastery unable to accommodate
the crowds.
Well, it just so happens that the
monks have coincidently announced
the opening of a new 100-room hotel.
Smart men, these monks.
How's he put his pants on?
Sure, y'all know that Jimmy
Carter jis from Plains, Ga., and that
he attended the U.S. Naval Academy
as a young man. But what's his hat
size, huh? What's his favorite biblical
quotation, smart guy?
Cocktail partyers, now you can be
the life of the next get-together.
Thanks to a 13-page government
pamphlet, you too can learn the little-i
known facts surrounding our 39th
president.' Compiled by a White
House staff member during a period
of several weeks, this handy booklet
tells you everything you wanted to
know about James Earl Carter Jr.,
Smlu
Star lAtti
86th year of editorial freedom
whether you asked or vnot.
Imagine the larfs you'll get as you
tell some anecdotes of Jimmy's
childhood. "When he was five, he got
a whippin' for stealing a penny out of
the church collection plate."
"That's nothing. One day he shot
his sister, and 1 quote, in the rear'
with a BB gun."
The pamphlet even relates the
story of the president's first date. It
seems that Jimmy was only 13 at the
time, and it was the first time he was
allowed to drive the family pickup
alone. (Does this sound like
something out of The Waltons to you
too?)
What's that? You say you're not
much of a storyteller? Despair not,
social climbers. Just bone up on the
list of Jimmy's favorites.
You can. 'start" off with an easy
one: Jimmy's favorite sport isstock
car racing, as if we didn't know. But
let's move on to some of the more
particulars.
- Favorite color: blue.
Favorite scripture
verse: Revelations 3:20.
Favorite poet: Dylan Thomas.
Favorite books: Tolstoy's War
and Peace and Agee's Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men.
Of course we're still left wondering
about other favorites we're sure the
president has. The pamphlet doesn't .
mention Jimmy's favorite Beatles
tune. It says nothing about his choice
of aftershaves, or whether he sports
boxers or jockey shorts. (Although
we speculate that, being a navy; man,
his scivvies are of the former variety.)
Obviously there'll have to be a sequel
to this pamphlet.
And we cartt wait for the movie.
And that's the bottom line.
Anti-nuke future down; lead looks
By JEFF PORT ERF I ELD
Living as we do in this placid era,
it's a wonder that a matter as trivial as
species survival could generate any
excitement at all. A defeat on the
football field can result in a night of
drowned sorrows; a botched
midterm can bring us down for a
week. But concern over life-or-death ,
issues? That went out with the peace
sign.
Most of us have by this time
trimmed our shaggy locks and traded
in our denim wardrobe for more
conventional attire. Our goal is to
make money, preferably lots of it,
and if bur success involves sacrificing
our own values for the ideals of those
who happen to be in charge of things,
then by golly, we're just the
generation to do it.
What a shame it is that a handful of
protestors of the '60s variety has
chosen to. stand in the way of
progress by speaking out against
nuclear power. The fools are
obviously unaware that the
- unleashing " of atomic energy
constitutes a boon" to mankind
rivaling the discovery of fire, the''
invention of the wheel and the
development of biological warfare.
Nuclear reactors would eliminate the
need for barbaric and inefficient
solar power plants, and would
By GERRY COHEN
The result of last Tuesday's election in
Orange County may have surprised a few
folks. Orange always has had a
reputation as a liberal and Democratic
area it was one of only two of the 100
N.C. counties tot vote for "George
McGovern for president, and it has voted
for only two Republican candidates in the
last 60 years.
This year, Republicans ran energetic
campaigns, for two local offices for the
first time in memory, and after the
election. Republican chairperson Ray
Montgomery said that the GOP was
making "inroads" in Orange, and another
local Republican said 1978 was a "great
, step forward" for the local GOP.
It might interest the public to look at
the election returns, however, which
show that the Republican local
candidates todk their worst .local
shellacking since 1970 last week. In other
words, they didn't gain they lost.
I'll compare the 1978 and 1974 state
Senate races, and the 1972 through 1978
county commission contests. Remember,
i
m
Richard Batts
letters to the editor
To the editor:
The following is an open letter to
Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor:
It has been quite some time since Dean
Hayden B. Renwick charged the
University with inconsistent admission
policies. ,
We, the UNC Black Campus Cabinet,
are still wondering iand when you will
respond directly to each of his
accusations.
We listened to your blanket statement
at a recerit Faculty Council meeting and
we are still left wondering what the
University has to say about Dean
Renwick's allegations.
We question the admissions-office's
claim of using black students in the spring
follow-up program for minorities when
no black students were used.
We question your definition of a
qualified student. You say no qualified
blacks were denied admission, but
exactly what do you mean by "qualified"?
We also wonder why you took so long
to respond to such serious charges. Or do
you consider these charges "serious"?
We wonder if the University is more
committed to recruiting athletes than
blacks, since there were athletes admitted
with lower qualifications than blacks who -were
rejected. .
We wonder if the University is more
committed to admitting and keeping
athletes than blacks, since this University
spends much more time and money
tutoring and advising its athletes than its
black population, or for that matter
tutoring and advising "plain ol' students"
period.
We hope that you as a mature
individual would extend to us group of
mature individuals, the cbiirtesy of a
meeting (time and place of your choice),
during which these 'questions could be
answered. We wish only to clarify some
dangerously clouded issues.
Do you?
UNC Black Campus Cabinet
Black
provide us with employment, hard
work and enough financial security
to supply ourselves and our families
with the most prestigious lead-lined
fashions money can buy. So what if
our tonsils glow in the dark? We'll
have enough guaranteed energy to
keep the wheels of technology
turning for a lifetime (or 90 days,
whichever comes first).
And that's just part of the story. In
a gesture of goodwill tqward our
overseas allies almost on par with the
1970 invasion of Cambodia, the
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
graciously has volunteered to sell a
$1.1 billion reactor to our friends in
-the Philippines. Maybe they should
have stuck with refrigerators. The
Marcos dictatorship of that country
now wants to make sure the local
inhabitants receive all the benefits of
nuclear power whether they like it
or not. No doubt assuming that the
plant's location in an earthquake
zone and the 200 odd safety flaws in
its design only will add suspense and
excitement to the otherwise boring
existence of the populace, the
Marcos regime has taken to
arresting, torturing and otherwise,
making life difficult for those who
publicly Voice the opinion that no
nukes are good nukes. Fortunately,
all of us over here live in a democratic
society .which espouses freedom of
iiblican electioii gains
also, that the top of the ticket was not as
' strong in Orange this year as usual. Nick
Galifianakis got 69 percent of the vote in
.1972 for U.S. senator, Robert Morgan
got 68 percent in 1974, and John Ingram
got 60 percent in 1978. Yet local
Democratic candidates have continued to,
increase their local margins.
In both 1974 and 1978, Democrat
Charles Vickery had Republican
opposition from Chapel Hill. In 1974,
VickeryK got 66.5 percent of the vote in
Orange against Ed Tenney, but in 1978,
he got 69.7 percent against Richard
"Smyth. The liberal Vickery also showed
strength in both conservative rural
Orange and , liberal Chapel Hill
Carrboro, getting 69.7 percent in both
areas.
- In the county commissioners race with
four-year terms, two liberal Democrats
faced two conservative Republicans in
1972, and got 68.9 percent. In 1974,
liberals took over county government
with a slate of two conservatives and one
liberal candidate; who got 72.0 percent of ,
the vote. In 1976, the GOP ran no
candidates, and in 1 978, Democrats
nominated two .liberals ,.(Norm
Gustaveson and Anne Barnes), and one
conservative (Norman Walker), and got
73.2 percent in the county wide race,
leaving a four-member liberal majority
on the county commission. Anti-public
spending speakers vigorously attacked
the county commissioners throughout
the summer bugdet process, saying that
angry county residents would vote out the
liberal commissioners. The only thing
they forgot was that the public health and
education programs which the
commissioners have increased were
popular with the voters, and the
electorate gave an even bigger yes to a
board even more liberal than the one that
conservatives attacked' this summer.
The Democratic trend in Orange came"
despite a factor that was supposed to help
the GOP the presence of Richard Batts
uumisswns stunu needs clarification
From the hapless few...
To the editor:
For the past few weeks, the Carolina
Union has shown Bat ties tar Galactic a on
the wide-screen television upstairs.
Well and good. There's no accounting
'' for taste. But Sunday night that television
was used for the far more worthy task of
" showing a film on world malnutrition. So
the barbarian horde descended upon the
hapless few watching 60 Minutes
downstairs, and arbitrarily turned the
channel.
1 wouldn't have hurt anyone to miss the
wtL i w,--.
AW'' 'l
8 The Daily
f
1
.1 t
i i
- 4 '
iff!
Y
r
i 'it -
speech, freedom of thought and
equal consideration of all points of
view. Over here, we just run the lousy
troublemakers off the road.
So if you're one of those backward
freaks supporting alternative energy
research, you might as well give up
the struggle right now. The cause is
lost. As any nuker can tell you, oil is
rapidly running out, coal is too dirty
and the sun is useful only for giving
us a good,' deep tan when we're
on the ticket. Batts, a black Republican,
got just 33. 1 percent of the vote, less than
some local Republicans got four years
ago. ' ,
The local trends seem to indicate
several things. Nationally, columnists are
bewailing what they see as the demise of
political parties, and the rise of single
issue special interest groups. Yet in
Orange County, the two local parties
seem to be strengthening. Liberal
Democrats and conservative Democrats
held together and elected a liberal
dominated ticket with several
conservative candidates on it, which is
nearly unheard of in these days of ticket
splitting; the Republicans ran their first
real local campaign that I can remember
in 10 years of contributing articles to the
Daily Tar Heel.
One of the strongest indicators was
party registration. Democratic
registration outpaced Republican this fall
among new voters by a 79 percent to 11
percent margin, but more importantly,
independent registration was only 10
percent, lowest in memory, indicating
that the two active local parties have
interested voters.
Orange is a highly Democratic county,
and the Republicans have a hard job.
They have elected a few Republicans to '
non-partisan office, such as Phyllis
Sockwell, Chapel Hill-Carrboro School
Board chairperson, but have had little
success in partisan races.
The value of endorsements, was mixed
this fall, as usual. The Daily Tar Heel
endorsed Batts and he carried Mason
Farm, a mostly student precinct. Other
student areas voted heavily against Batts,
however. The Black Caucus endorsed
Batts, but he still lost in the black
precincts. The Tar Heel was selective in
its endorsements, a difference from some
past elections. When I ran for mayor in
1975 (and lost by a 62 to 38 margin), the
Young Republicans sent out a letter to all
first 1 5 minutes of such swill as B. G. The
Union owes us an apology, and a promise
that similar cretinisms won't happen
again.
R.K Kloko
' 4427 Erwin Road
Vote of confidence
To the editor:
As a loyal Tar Heel fan, 1 suggest Dick
Crum be nominated for coach of the
year he has shown amazing ability in
renovating the defending ACC
champions and bowl team into a pitiful
tragedy. Crum has exhibited ohenomenal
1
I , .
IS,.. rMir'' . ' "i : v-"
Tar Heel Thursday i November 16. 1978
Mron
i U
4
St
f
ht-i
fTJ i
: i
'.SON HARF
- j
vacationing in Acapulco. We're a
business-minded nation, and we're
not about to let muscular
deterioration, chromosome-damage
and increased risk of cancer stand in
the way of our good-paying jobs.
Yessir, it looks like nuclear power is,
here to stay.
Too bad we're not.
Jeff Porterfield is akphomore
journalism major from Burlington.
illiiisopy
s it's
4 JwJ"? v
mmm
s,
, Sen. Charles Vickery
student Republicans saying that
Republicans should vote against me
because I was more liberal than my
opponent. No matter that I was calling
for increased bus service (something we
are finally getting this fall), and my
opponent was advocating cutbacks in bus
service. The YRs apparently were more
concerned at the time 'with'ftarroW
ideology than with how the candidates
helped the general interests of their
group. This is not solely the fault of the
YRs because the Young Democrats and
just about every special interest grouphas
been guilty of the same thing.
Students concerned about the rise ot
special interest groups trying to stop the
ERA and end abortions should get active
in political organizations that try to hold
candidates responsible to their platforms.
The political parties in Orange County
should watch the performance of local
officials this year and keep their feet to
the fire. ' r
' Gerry Cohen is a Chapel Hill
alderman.
wisdom in such decisions as removing
Amos Lawrence when the team reached
scoring position against Richmond, after
, it was Lawrence who had rushed to that
point. Maybe such moves were made out
of compassion for the "poor Richmond
Spiders," winners of only one game until
Dick's contribution. Mr. ' C rum's
program could be the answer to any
trQublesome future expansion of Kenan
Stadium.
Charles Eddy
- 761 Airoort Rnait
I