Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 18, 1982, edition 1 / Page 8
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6YThe Daily Tar Heeirrhursday, March 18 1 982 H AYDEN B . RENWIO 90th year of editorial freedom John Drescher, Editor Ann Peters. Managing Editor KERRY DE ROCHI. Associate Editor RACHEL PERRY. University Editor ALAN CHAPPLE, City Editor JIM WRINN, State and National Editor Linda Robertson, Sports Editor AL STEELE, Photography Editor KEN MlNGIS, Associate Editor ELAINE MCCLATCHEY, Projects Editor LYNN PEITHMAN, News Editor SUSAN HUDSON, Features Editor NlSSEN RlTTER, ,4 m EW Teresa Curry, Spotlight Editor TV trials For millions each week, public television provides entertaining and educational programming as an alternative to the often mundane plots shown on the national networks. Recently-announced budget cuts, however, have put this programming in jeopardy. Station managers na tionwide have had to enter the battle for moneythe very struggle public television has striven to remain autonomous from. Though associated with high-brow intellectuals, public television in cludes shows useful to different people at different ages. In North Carolina, an estimated 2 million per week turn to the public television stations that operate out of the UNC Center for Public Television in Chapel Hill. The programming is as diverse as the types of viewers that turn to it. For example, each week businessmen can turn to "Wall Street Week" for the stock market reports. Drama enthusiasts can watch various plays including British comedies and modern American plays. Science, arts, public affairs and "how-to programs also are included in the schedules. This variety in programming is in danger. Though the UNC Center receives about $4 million from state funds for maintenance and ad ministrative costs, it depends on about $700,000 per year from the federal government for programming costs. The proposed budget cuts would slash this allotment in half by 1985. Programmers are worried and for good reason. Many have begun searching for other sources of revenue. In fact, 10 stations nationwide have received approval from Congress to use advertisements on a trial basis. . i The use of advertising on public television, however, cannot be the final solution. Even limited advertising may result in the dangerous precedent of competitive bidding and pressure to affect the stations programming. Instead, the public television must rely on its viewers for support: This year, the UNC Center has staged a two-week fund raiser called "Festival ending March 21. Their goal is set at $1 million, and the sta tion workers have asked the viewers for donations of any size. Public television has long been separated from the money-grabbing network programming, remaining free of advertising pressure. No one can estimate the exact effect of future budget cuts. It lies with the public to accept responsibility and support its television to ensure that quality and variety of programming are maintained. Drunks in disgrace It's a fact: One out of two of us is likely to be involved in an alcohol related car accident sometime during our lives. Here are some other numbers to think about: In the United States in the past 10 years, 250,000 people died in crashes in which a driver was intoxicated. In North Carolina in 1981, drunken drivers were responsible for 27 percent of all traffic deaths. So it came as welcome news that law enforcement officers in one North Carolina county cracked down on drunk drivers this weekend. Staying in groups and concentrating on specific roads a tactic called "wolfpacking the officers in Robeson County charged more than ' 60 motorists in the small town of Red Springs with driving under the in fluence. North Carolina typically makes more arrests per capita than most states. Latest available statistics show only two states arrest more people for DUI than North Carolina. Arresting drunk drivers, however, is only part of the law enforcement process. It is in the conviction of drunk drivers where neither North Carolina nor the rest of the nation is doing enough to put drunk drivers off the road. In this state, drivers charged with DUI are convicted only about half the time. About half the cases end in acquittals or a reduced charge through plea bargaining. District attorneys and judges say without plea bargaining the court system would be so overloaded it would break down. Still, there are a number of steps states can take to discourage drunk driving. One is to make the penalty for drunk driving equivalent to the seriousness of the crime by imposing mandatory jail sentences for those convicted. Another idea is to clearly mark the cars of those convicted of DUI. A judge in Seattle requires convicted drivers to put a bumper sticker on their cars reading: "This car is owned by a convicted drunk driver. Colman McCarthy of The Washington Post has a similar idea. McCarthy's solution is that convicted drunk drivers should be forced to have their cars painted with Day-Glo orange. McCarthy's idea sounds humorous at first until one considers the seriousness of drunk driving and the disgrace of current enforcement practices. Perhaps public disgrace is the best and most fitting way to stop those who abuse public space. The Bottom Line Bedroom TV As many of the fraternities on campus may have already found out, cable television has a new channel that focuses on that ever popular to pic: sex. Playboy magazine is bring ing its slick and sophisticated version of sex to the airwaves in the form of a television magazine. But the fraternities and all male dormitories should not be the only ones tuning in for a peek. According to vice president of Playboy Produc tions David Levine, Playboy editor Hugh Hefner has been insistent that the cable version expand its appeal to women. Perhaps the women of Cobb and the Delta Delta Delta sorority house will enjoy such entertaining events as comedian Andy Kaufman wrestling with a playmate or, better yet, a "Pleasureware Party" where women buy lingerie. Playboy Pro ductions president Russ Barry esti mates that the boys and girls of Carolina will not be the only ones watching the new station. By 1985, the channel will be reaching three to five million homes, Barry said. Perhaps some of those three mil lion viewers will be watching from the comfort of the biggest bed in the world. Franklin, N.C. residents re cently decided to invest their energies in building a bed for the World's Fair that is coming to nearby Knoxville, Tenn. The bed, made out of Appala chian oak, is 16 feet by 20 feet with posters 12 feet high. To make the bed cushiony soft, the residents have made a mammoth quilt to go along with it. About 850 feet of wood went into the making of the bed, said wood worker Russel Brahamer, who helped build the bed. That is enough wood to build a four bedroom house, Brahamer said. It takes eight regular size mattresses to cover the master piece. Area residents got their first look at the bed Tuesday at a World's Fair promotional program. Many of the hundreds of Macon County resi dents who showed up for the unveil ing arrived in their pajamas. Imagine, 100 pajama-clad people bouncing around on a giant feather bed. Hugh Hefner eat your heart out. And that's the bottom line. Preconceived ideas limit UNC's integration By STEPHEN STOCK 5 The following interview was conducted on Feb. 24, 1982, with Hayden B. Renwick, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who has spoken in the past on the issue of campus integration at UNC. The interview was held in his office at the University. Q. Are you satisfied with the recent agreement be tween HEW and the 16-campus university system? A. History (indicates) that any type of agreement that involves blacks and comes through as vague as that one's come through, inevitably blacks will get the short end of the stick. I have no reason to believe that this is going to be any different. Q. If you had an opportunity to change the agree ment, how would you? A. I believe that it's virtually impossible to feed a lot of money into one particular institution (UNC), give very little of the same resources to another (black) institution and then turn around and ask why isn't (the black) institution as good as (UNC). To me that's a very stupid question. I work on the theory that when anybody wants to make sure (some thing) does not happen, the first thing that they have to do is research a way to make that particular event successful and then do just the opposite. Q. Last year a survey on campus showed that most white students were satisfied with the progress in in tegration but most black students were not. Why? A. Well, white students are not black. I guess that's the most obvious contention that I would make. I don't think whites are really concerned about the welfare of blacks on a campus like this. I read an in teresting English paper that a white female.wrote and I think it kind of typifies the average white mind set on a campus such as this. ' She was not interested in whether there were better race relations or not, but in the fact that these black students took the place of white students in her class that could have gone to school here. The whole paper contended that the black students that were here were the ones that had the low SAT scores, that had the low academic profile in high school and this I found is the kind of thinking throughout the state. Q. Is this not an accurate picture? A. Little do people realize that a third of this freshman class this year of about 3,400 students had less than 1,000 on their SAT. And we only had 465 black students. And a lot of those black students had more than 1 ,000 (on their SAT). But I think a lot of people, because they have no interest in blacks, do not take time to really find out just what makes the black mind set tick. They hear their grandparents and their parents cite different assumptions or they read what is said in the paper or magazine and they take that as gospel. Q. Describe what you mean by the black mind set. A. I think there are a lot of blacks that think that the whites feel that they're superior to blacks. (This) doesn't affect me. It is one of the reasons why it's very difficult for them (black and white mind sets) to get together and appreciate one another. I - - r" o I :. v t-'iV- ' l . ' ' i " J I jt r - - DTHSuzanoe Conversano Hayden B. Renwick speaks in his office in South Building ..Associate Dean discusses black-white relations, integration Q. How can this campus become more integrated? Or do you want it to be ... or should it be? A. I've been here almost 13 years now. The one thing that I truly believed is that integration was the only way that this nation would survive. And I thought you had to start on a small scale like a uni versity campus. I still believe that's the only way the nation will survive. But I no longer believe that it will ever happen. I don't think the white mind set really wants it to happen. As I said, the best way to sabotage any pro gram is first to familiarize yourself at how to make it successful and then do the opposite and to a certain extent I think that is what has happened on a lot of college campuses, including this one. It's pathetic that the students have to damn near riot in order to get you to change your mind. That's the only way that students were admitted in the num ber that they have been admitted to Carolina. Black students and Indians damn near had to riot in the late '60s. I've said this a lot of times, I don't know any thing that blacks have been given on this campus that they haven't either had to threaten the administration or actually riot or demonstrate or something. I think that is pathetic. Q. How have the recent conflicts between blacks and whites on this campus affected the overall rela tionship between black and white students? A. I think the gap (between races) has widened. I think on the other hand it has narrowed somewhat in that there had been some concern expressed both by blacks and by whites. I might add, that it was com mendable the way the black students handled getting this out into the open. I happen to know first hand that there were some (blacks) who wanted to go over and beat some heads. I was glad that they chose the media instead. It's just a shame that something like this had to happen before we start addressing these type of problems. That's what I meant by having to threaten a riot or demonstration to get things to hap pen. It shouldn't go that far before the administra tion acts. Q. What is the biggest problem that a black stu dent faces at this University today? A. I think that first of all they have to adjust psychologically and sociologically without losing the black mind set. I think a lot of us are guilty of that and they feel that the only way to make it in this world is that you've got to act white. I think that blacks should respect the white mind set and I think it should be a reciprocal type situation. But they (black freshmen) have to come here realizing that academics is the number one priority and I don't think a lot of them realize this. They are going to have to overcome the discipline problem. Blacks generally are strict disciplinarians in the home and then they come here and they're free to make their own choices. We're going to have to find ways of saying you've got to make the right choices, and possibly this office has been a little remiss in that area. We may have to move to look at that as a more important issue in the future. Stephen Stock, a junior radio, television, and motion ' pictures major from Swannanoa, is a staff writer for The Daily Tar Heel. Letters to the editor 'DTH' should live up to promises To the editor: I would like to protest the way my re cent column ("Groups' funding ques tioned," DTH March 16) was printed. I talked with DTH editor John Drescher back on Feb. 26 about writing it and was , told to go ahead, and that the DTH would try to print it the next Tuesday, March 2, after its own editorial the day before. I wrote the article and submitted it and waited. And waited. When the col umn had not been printed by spring break while other articles on the same subject had been printed, I figured that the DTH had simply chosen, for whatever reason, not to print it. Then to my surprise, my column sud denly appeared the Tuesday after break. I would not have even known about it had a friend not pointed it out. Having some experience on a newspaper I can unders tand why some things take a long time to get printed. This column, however, was different. I had given the DTH advanced notice and been told it would be printed a certain day, or at least by the next day. Yet it was not printed until after spring break. I suppose I could have accepted that much had my column not been printed the same day that the DTH reported on its front page "CGC passes bill that prevents groups' funding." My article protesting the removal of the ban on Stu dent Government funding of religious and political groups on campus looked strangely out of place since the ban had been restored. One does not protest that problem which no longer exists. I con sider the DTH's timing rather ques tionable. I could even forget the entire thing were it not the fourth time in the last six occasions that an article either written by myself or partially about myself has been, printed in an unsatisfactory manner. Twice the DTH has managed to do its job correctly. Four other times its conduct ranged from sloppy to unprofessional to biased. I have repeatedly been told that such occasions were not intentional and I feel sure that at least one or two were ac cidental. That does not change the fact that the matters were still handled very badly, as these mistakes were some pretty glaring ones. As for the others, the excuse is wearing quite thin. Intentional or not, it is repeated in cidents such as the ones I have suffered that have earned the DTH any reputation it may have for being unprofessional or biased. The students of this university pay for the DTH through their student fees, and we do not have to submit to this kind of treatment. The DTH's editorial policy is its own business, but students have a right to expect accurate reporting and fair treament of student columns. It was ex actly this promise that editor John Drescher made during his campaign, and it is time that the DTH lived up to it. Mark Langston 217 Teague Rejoice in the sun To the editor: It is amazing that people take such dif ferent approaches to ignorance. Last year, a die-hard rock fan was very upset about the failure of Chapel Thrill, as were most people on campus. This student called Action Line, questioned Campus Governing Council members and members of Student Government, and discovered, to his surprise, that the con cert failed because of poor planning. Despite his disappointment over the lost weekend, he could not advocate poor use of student funds. He decided to remedy the situation so he, and other concerned students formed the Chapel Thrill Com mittee. On the other hand, many students, this year and last preferred to gripe about the concert in ignorance (via letters to the editor), rather than getting the facts. So, since few have asked for the facts before commenting, some members of the committee decided to provide them, unsolicited. tbiKS ml K&ojt rr,.i ipu A ID El SAWMX& TO TtGMT IN EtWOPIA M) CUBA S7 c MKT IN tlSALWOe HlGHir Si OF CUBWJ ANClSCMET WMOWENOir.RlGHT? Si Si PQUKTIONS., INTO SWHG iSTRyCHF m ROUS is... ft First, there is an obvious demand for a spring concert on our campus. The com mittee members put eight months of work into the concert for one reason alone to make the process run like clockwork, thereby achieving the greatest benefit to students from their surplus funds. This work did not stop with the announcement of bands. There is no way to please everyone given the diversities of musical tastes on this campus. Three bands cannot embody punk, R & B, rock, soul, funk. and jazz. Every student was free to express his opi nion to his CGC representative or to the committee directly. The band selection committee consisted of representatives from CGC, Student Government, Chapel Thrill Committee and the Union's Con cert . Advisory Committee, whose preferences are as musically diverse as the campus. The following were their choices, given the date of the concert, the Feb. 15 deadline and the funds available: Loverboy, $75,000; Rick James $60,000; J.Geils, $35,000; Rick Springfield, $.30,000; B-52's, $25,000; Ronnie Milsap, $30,000; Marshall Tucker, $17,500; Juice Newton, $15,000; Pointer Sisters, $15,000; Sammy Hagar, $5,000; Henry Paul, $5,000. J. Geils and the B-52's were offered $10,000 more than their regular fee, but they refused! What can be done besides offering money? From the remaining acts, the selection's group picked, after hours of discussion, the bands who would draw concert-goers from the Triangle area. In this way they hoped to please the student body and avoid financial loss. The eight months of planning secured CGC budget approval three months ahead of last year's schedule so that band negotiations could begin in December, when good acts schedule spring tours. No amount of planning, however, can create funds where noncexist or entice bands to reschedule for Chapel Hill. Jubilee '71 acts are hot items today, but they were not so big 11 years ago. Hard-earned fame demands hard-earned cash that Chapel Thrill does, not have. As for scheduling, only a few name acts will be in our area in April. Chapel Hill is not Bangladesh. No one is going to reschedule for an outdoor show or accept less cash because rock-loving students deserve charity. So, if some people would rather "wash their dog," or "replace the oil" in their ever-ready criticism pen, then they can stay home, but the Chapel Thrill Com mittee owes no apologies to them. We are proud of our organization and hard work, and on April 24, 20,000 people will rejoice in the sun with us. Stephanie Cox Chapel Thrill Committee
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 18, 1982, edition 1
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