6The Daily Tar HeelHuesday, March 27, 1984
Jeff Hiday, Editor
Joel Broadway, Managing Editor
Michael Toole, Editorial Page Editor
FRANK BRUNl, Associate Editor
KELLY SIMMONS, University Editor
KYLE MARSHALL, State and National Editor
MELANIE WELLS, City Editor
VANCE TREFETHEN, Business Editor
STUART TONKINSON. News Editor
Frank Kennedy, Sports Editor
Jeff Grove, a m Editor
ClNDY DUNLEVY, Features Editor
CHARLES LEDFORD, Photography Editor
JEFF NEUVILLE, Photography Editor
A matter of convenience
Now, run that by us one more time.
Does the Campus Governing Council
have only $5,728 available for use, as
CGC Finance Committee Chairperson
Sherri Watson and CGC Speaker Reggie
Holley said last week. Or do they have
some $20,000 available, as Student Body
Treasurer Burke Mewborne insisted? Can
the CGC exempt itself from it's own
rules, which forbid the combined funds
of Student Government in Cash at SAFO
and in the Investment to drop below
$40,000, and go on to allocate remaining
funds, whether they be in the disparate
vicinities of $5,000 or $20,000? Is there
truth to what CGC Rules and Judiciary
Committee Chairperson Patricia Wallace
said that the actions of the CGC are
legal unless they are appealed, at which
point they might be determined illegal?
One could easily poke fun at the con
fusing goings-on of the CGC last week,
but to do so would be to ignore that those
working within the organization were
among the first to acknowledge, and
regret, the confusion. As Wallace herself
said, 44 We are exposing ourselves, which I
think is an admirable action.' To her
credit, and to the credit of those working
with her, the Rules and Judiciary Com
mittee has voted that the CGC establish a
task force to review not only Treasury
Laws, but also Election Laws, CGC By
Laws and the Student Government Con
stitution. And Wallace is correct in dubb
ing the CGC's recognition of its own
mistakes admirable, but only if such a
recognition and the establishment of the
task force lead to the necessary altera
tions of those procedures now inhibiting
or muddling the running of campus
government.
Those mistakes, made public last week
Saying a prayer
People may have thought the issue of
school prayer died last Wednesday in the
Senate when it fell 11 votes short of the
two-thirds majority necessary for amend
ment. But Sen. Jesse Helms plans to
resurrect the issue through a proposal for
legislation restricting federal judges'
jurisdiction so that they will be unable to
rule on school prayer questions. Helms
won't give up, and he will undoubtedly
establish both loyal followers and deter
mined foes. Yet according to a recent
Harris poll showing a 67 percent majority
who favored school prayer, Helms ap
pears to have more friends than enemies
on the issue friends not unwelcome in
an election year. However, Helms
sacrifices the nation's fundamental prin
ciple of freedom of religion as he at
tempts to follow public opinion.
Helms' newest ploy will inevitably meet
opposition in the Senate. His opponents
refer to his plan as "court stripping" and
claim that they will filibuster the plan to
death. O course, this will take time and
will prevent other types of legislation
from receiving needed attention. The
sheer intensity of emotion which sur
rounds a political debate concerning
religion suggests why the school prayer
issue is a prime example of the founding
fathers' wisdom in their decision to
separate church and state.
The United States was founded largely
in an attempt to foster religious tolerance.
The Bottom Line
Do you enjoy coining names? Then con
sider trying your hand or your tongue
at naming the celebrations for the 500th an
niversary of Columbus' voyage to the New
World. Coming up with genuinely new ideas
may be difficult, however, One group of
scholars has already devoted an unsucessful
two-day planning session is Gainesville, Fla.
to the search for an inoffensive label with a
punch. Some fairly creative brainstorming,
however, apparently took place.
The American 500 spun out of the running
because it sounded too much like an auto
race. The Columbian Exchange was flying
high as a reference to the two-way traffic in
ideas across the ocean blue, but it ended in a
downer because of its suggestions of a co
caine syndicate. The Great Mistake was a
failure from the beginning.
And then there were the ubiquitous special
interest groups. A Chicago planetarium of
fered up The 500th Anniversary of the
iatlg
92nd year of editorial freedom
in the course of CGC funding pro
cedures, were not negligible, even if they
were understandable. They included
Mewborne's failure to keep records of
some of the late requisitions allowed cer
tain campus organizations, a failure in
direct violation of the Treasury Laws.
Mewborne also failed to keep tabs on the
monthly reports required of campus
organizations by that same body of laws
and neglected to freeze funds of those
groups that didn't turn in required
reports.
Such negligence is by no means irrever
sible, but it is regrettable; it breeds the
kind of confusion that plagued the CGC
last week. Whether dropping below the
constitutionally required $40,000 mini
mum funds is a bad thing or not is best
left for council members to determine.
But the slipshod accounting procedures
and deliberate violations of the Constitu
tion are worrisome. As Larry Sink,
member of the Rules and Judiciary Com
mittee (District 7), posed, "Since the
CGC illegally went below the $40,000
limit, could someone challenge the legali
ty of all actions of the Council since
then?"
Wallace's response that unless the
actions are appealed they remain legal
is, unfortunately, plain bassackwards.
Something is illegal because it represents
a violation of the law applicable to it, not
because the infraction is detected. The
CGC may indeed be contending with
some unnecessarily cumbersome regula
tions, and it may have done the best thing
for campus groups by voting to free itself
from some of these regulations, but it
should first have taken the proper steps to
change problem laws. The proposed task
force is precisely such a step. Its forma
tion is commendable, its task valuable.
for votes
Part of the luxury of living in this country
is that a person can pray as he chooses. If
the debate over school prayer has ac
complished anything, it is the heightening
of people's awareness of the diversity of
religious beliefs in this country. Such a
diversity can in no way be respected or
untainted by a "nondenominational"
classroom prayer. Neither can the in
dividual child, faced with potential peer
disapproval, feel comfortable in choosing
to refrain from prayer. Inherent in the
principle of religious tolerance is the
tolerance of those who do not comply to
any traditional religious creed, or to any
creed at all.
Some people argue against the amend
ment on the grounds that Reagan doesn't
go to church regularly and that it is
hypocritical for him to push such legisla
tion in order to gain votes: Such an argu
ment exemplifies the pettiness which has
begun to envelope the issue. Helms also
has been caught in this sticky political
issue in an effort to broaden his voter
support. In doing so, there is the potential
to neglect issues which are more rightly
touched by legislation. Reciting a prayer
every day in schools will not solve the
moral and discipline problems in youth
today, and, even if favoring school prayer
will garner popular support, politicians
should not jeopardize the religious
tolerance crucial to the creation of the
United States.
Discovery of the Planet Earth, on the theory
that Columbus cruised to prove the world
was not flat. A priest came up with The
Semimillenial, presumably in the optimistic
expectation that we will still be around in 500
years.
Actually, Columbus' name will probably
appear in whatever title is chosen, said John
Williams of the National Endowmenr for the
Arts, which is sponsoring the planning ses
sions. The word "discovery" will not ap
pear, he said. "The native American point
of view doesn't place much value on the
word 'discovery'. They knew where they
were all the time."
Moreover, cases can now be made for
visits predating Columbus' by the Irish,
Scandinavians, Chinese and Polynesians.
iuu won i uecu 10 iiuiry it you try to
come up with something catchy. Columbus
supposedly promised his crew a new world in
three days. But as Columbus sailed in late
1492, you have seven years to come up with a
single one-liner.
And that's the bottom line.
t
The fact is even a mouse can feel pain
By C.F. KONRAD
In a DTH advertisement of March 20, the In
stitute of Women's Health Care in Jacksonville,
N.C., was not mincing words: "WE SAY BULL
SH TO 26 DOCTORS Who recently wrote
President Reagan claiming that a fetus can feel
pain." Headed by "THE FACTS ARE," there
followed six statements contradicting the view than
an unborn child is capable of feeling pain. The six
points warrant close attention.
1. "Waves from the cortex part of the brain
can't be recorded until the 16th week," less than
half-way into the second trimester. A good many
abortions occur after week 16 pregnancies often
go undetected for a. long time, and not every
woman makes a quick decision. A lack of recorded
brain waves before the 16th week does not prove
absence of fetal pain after that age.
2. "This brain wave activity is much like that
which might come from a mouse." The ad is con
cerned with pain. While no one, I trust, will credit
mice with being cerebral creatures, there ought to
be general agreement that they can feel pain, when
cut to pieces, thrown into a salt solution eating
away their eyes, or sucked into and shredded by the
garbage disposal. If a 17-week-old fetus undergo
ing such treatment shows a brain wave activity
similar to that of a mouse, and if a mouse feels
pain, it does not follow that the fetus feels nothing.
3. "The embryonic brain can hardly be viewed
as human in terms of function." There is a dif
ference between "hardly" and "not". But No. 3 is
not just evasive. It leads away from the real ques
tion ("Does a fetus feel pain?") and makes the
reader wonder whether the fetus is human at all. If
his or her brain is not human in terms of function,
it would seem to be animal in function (plants hav
ing no brain). Indeed, the mouse has already been
offered in comparison. But is the nature of a brain,
even in terms of function, determined by its stage
of development? The embryo in a woman's womb
is programmed genetically to develop into an adult
human being, not a mouse; the embryonic brain
can only develop the functions of a human brain,
never those of a mouse's brain. If, at a certain
stage, the embryonic brain cannot be viewed as
human in terms of function, it follows that it can
not be viewed as animal either.
What then? Perhaps "subhuman" the word
was much in vogue some 50 years ago in my coun
try, and it served our rulers well in giving a sem
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Radicals understand it bett er
To the editor:
I would like to say a few words
about Jennifer Keller's article entitled
"Fanaticism unhealthy and offen
sive" DTH, March 23. The
"ladylike" offense she has taken at
the International Women's Day
demonstration in the Pit raises some
important, and all too common,
misconceptions.
Her claims that there were
"screams" in the Pit are quite inac
curate. I listened to the entire pro
gram, and what I heard were firm,
determined, and, yes raised voices.
Could it be that her offense comes
from the fact that these "fair young
damsels" had the audacity to raise
their voices in public?
Keller seems quite satisfied to label
these women "radicals," imply that
Hunt's beliefs
To the editor:
Why is everyone missing the point
in the recent commercial run by Sen.
Jesse Helms regarding the source of
Gov. Jim Hunt's campaign funding
("A Question of Cookware," DTH,
March 22)? Can it be that because
everyone is so quick to look for fault
in the senator they have blinded
themselves to any other interpretation
of his actions?
The point of the ad. is not to
criticize the governor for soliciting
out-of-state contributions. Rather,
what is being illustrated is the
hypocrisy inherent in Hunt's own
beliefs regarding this practice. Helms
at no time has stated that he believes
accepting out-of-state funds to be
either morally or ethically wrong.
Hunt, to the contrary, has repeatedly
condemned it, and yet he continues
to benefit from it.
It is this hypocrisy that is the focus
Cubed
To the editor:
There seems to be confusion about
the policy governing the use of the
"Cube" in front of the Carolina
Union. The two sides of the Cube
that face the Pit are permanently
reserved for the Carolina Union to
promote upcoming Union programs.
We invite student organizations to
use the rest of the Cube to promote
their programs. These sides are
available on a "first come, first serv
ed" basis. We ask that you respect
other organizations and not paint
over any side of the Cube until the
day after the program that is current
ly being advertised. Also, we ask that
you not use the two sides that are
marked "Reserved for the Carolina
Union" as we have a constant need
for both of these.
Letters?
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes
letters to the editor and contribu
tions of columns for the editorial
page.
Such contributions should be
typed, triple-spaced, on a 60-space
blance of justification to their far-flung program of
terminating life "not worth living": Jewish and
Slavic people, Gypsies, homosexuals, communists,
pacifists and the mentally retarded. The notion,
however vague, that a fetus is somehow not quite
human can lead to frightening consequences, if
thought to its logical end.
4. "Studies at the Albert Einstein Medical
School at Yeshiva University indicate that the brain
is not ready to function in a human way until the
28th week at the earliest." Except for providing a
specific date, this just repeats No. 3. The reader is
not told what precisely constitutes "function in a
human way"; it stands to reason that such function
includes the ability to feel pain. Pain, however, is
not limited to beings that "function in a human
way."
5. "The scientist, Maggie Scarf, found that in
the opinion of every medical expert she consulted
there was virtually no chance a fetus could suffer
pain before the age of 28 weeks." Here we return
to the main question, but again, there is no
reference to pain sensibility after the age given. The
reader would be helped if presented with some idea
' as to how many medical experts Scarf consulted,
and whom. "Every" can mean quite few.
6. "Abortions are not done after 26 weeks."
After the suggestion of fetal insensibility to pain
before week 28, this supposedly clinches the argu
ment. The 1973 ruling of the Supreme Court es
tablished a woman's right to have an abortion
through week 26 without restrictions, and to the
last day of her pregnancy (39 weeks) if her doctor
agrees. By the ad's own presentation of the 'facts',
pain seems all too obvious in a third trimester abor
tion. I wrote 'facts', for as a rebuttal of a straight
forward claim ("a fetus can feel pain"), the six
points contain surprisingly few statements of fact.
What we get is "hardly", "viewed", "indicate",
"opinion", "virtually no chance". Not a single
time are we given assurance, equally straightfor
ward, that a fetus does not feel pain before week
28, not to mention the last three months.
The ad goes on to accuse the 26 doctors of
"deception, innuendo, and half-truths." Strong
words. Innuendo is the art of suggesting something
without actually saying so. Plenty of that is found
in 'facts" No. 2-4, especially the other-than-human
brain. Deception aims at making someone believe,
without lying outright, that something is true which
really is not. The purpose of an advertisement is to
make the reader believe that we know for a fact
that a fetus under 28 weeks does not feel pain (we
they are, therefore, "undesirables,"
and quickly dismisses them as inap
propriate. But let's consider her label
a little more closely. If we label some
one a "radical," we're simply saying
that she or he exhibits non
mainstream tendencies. Is it not en
tirely possible that the current
mainstream behavior, which she
characterizes as "apathetic," is a
igood deal short of fair, just, or
desirable? Yes, the women who spoke
in the Pit were "radical." But
perhaps a more comprehensive
understanding than her label affords
is possible.
Beyond being radical enough to
speak out, these women were angry.
They were, and are, angry that they
are forced to compete in a job market
in which the average female worker
earns 59 cents for every dollar that
the average male worker earns. They
are angry that a woman who is a vic
, tim of rape, the ultimate perversity of
male dominance, cannot charge her
attacker without being portrayed as a
prostitute by defense attorneys.
These are two examples. The mere list
of injustices could fill a volume.
But most of all, I suspect that
they're angry at the "silent majority"
for whom Keller appointed herself
unofficial spokesperson. The trouble
with speaking for a silent majority is
that no one can be sure what they're
thinking. The women who spoke in
the Pit represent a "silent-no-longer
minority." Only when this minority
has grown to a majority, only when
they can speak out with firm, deter
mined voices without being censured
as having "gone too far" will their
of the senator's ad. Hunt is trying to
reap any political benefits available
by condemning the practice, while at
the same time, reap the financial
benefits of using it. It is this pious,
"holier-than-thou" attitude of
Hunt's that the senator objects to,
not where the governor chooses to
raise his money. If this is truly a case
of the pot calling the kettle black,
then surely the guilty party is Go
Hunt and not Sen. Helms.
The object of Helms ad is only to
point out this two-faced ploy by
Hunt. Both of these men receive con
tributions from outside North
Carolina. Whether this practice
should be acceptable or not is a ques
tion for the voters to decide, in which
case both men should face the same
consequences equally.
A
To the editor:
Now that Jeff Hiday's first week as
editor of the DTH is over, I feel com
pelled to offer him and his staff con
gratulations. Emerging from what
was surely the most trying campus
race this . year, against the most
qualified opponents, Hiday has in
one short week established a visual,
editorial and general attitudinal im
print on the paper, and thus on the
entire university community.
But from now until next February,
there will surely be those looking to
criticize that new imprint. Editors, it
seems, are especially human. Theirs
is not so much a job of eliminating
mistakes and problems as it is one of
simply minimizing them. And so I
urge patience to those who will spend
evenings consuming alcohol and
criticizing the paper. Chances are that
while such criticisms are going on,
Wayne S. Boyette
Carolina Apts.
Iheie have recently txxn acvciai
violations of these courtesies. The
Cube is offered as a service to
students. We hope that these
guidelines clarify the purpose of the
Cube and that adherence to them will
help ensure a more cooperative use of
this service.
On a related issue: The Union ban
ner advertising the Chuck Mangione
concert was apparently blown away
by the storm Tuesday night. The ban
ner itself is expensive and many hours
of student time went into painting it.
If anyone has information about the
present whereabouts of the banner,
please contact us at 962-1157. Thank
you!
Lucia Halpern, President
Terry Bowman, "President-elect
The Carolina Union
To the editor:
When Paul Parker ran for Student
Body President, he promised to give
on- and off-campus students a simple
way to know what Student Govern
ment was doing. Starting Monday,
students can check every day on the
Union bulletin board to see what
their government is doing. In a
reserved space SG will post an
nouncements of upcoming events,
copies of bills which are being pro
posed andor passed, reports on the
line, and are subject to editing.
Column writers should include
, their majors and hometowns; each
letter should include the writer's
name, address and telephone
number.
WE SAY BULL SH
TO 26 DOCTORS
Who recently wrote Prealdant Raagan
claiming that a fttua can fad pain.
Or. Corftna and Or. Buffta at making ie mm pi t km mm) i
d Na ajwonjwca m 9m UW HeH wtmm a
THE FACTS ARE
cartas fart of Ina train
can hrdry ba iliwd
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m twmart m mnmt a imicwon.
orntn not raw
function in a human
ewnw M lei so
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Tiw Institute of Woman's Health Car
P. O. Bam tut
Ad appeared in March 20 issue of 'DTH'
do not), and that no abortions are ever performed
at a stage when the fetus quite clearly feels pain.
Deceptive indeed. As for half-truths, No. 6 is not
even that.
Whether the $50,000 offered by the Institute to
prove that a fetus can feel pain indicates the rate at
which they value a human life, I do not know (mark
the innuendo). The Institute does not advertise free
abortion: it makes you pay for it. Beside a
woman's freedom of choice, there is money at
stake. Evasive and deceptive argument is frequently
the result of one's having become used to a perver
sion of thinking. Obscene language, as used in this
ad, often betrays obscene thought; In terms of the
multi-million-dollar business generated by profes
sional abortioners, $50,000 looks cheap.
The 26 doctors are termed "anti-abortionists at
best." The phrase suggests that being an anti
abortionist is evil, if nothing worse. Anti
abortionists are concerned with the protection of
what they believe, rightly or wrongly, to be a
human life. The protection of human life is a con
' cern they share with those who oppose capital
punishment, with those who are worried about the"
termination of all human life through nuclear war.
Whether this concern is evil at best, the reader may
judge.
C.F. Konrad is a graduate student in Classics
from Freiburg, Germany.
anger have run its course. By attemp
ting to suppress their sincere, deter
mined resistence to injustice, Keller is
contributing to the source of their
anger.
I suppose that with enough of
Keller's line of censure we could "put
these women back in their place."
After all, this has been done for cen
turies; repression has many tried and
true methods. But she and I, and
every member of this educated com
munity, know that when angry is
repressed, it only grows stronger. For
the sake of females, males and our
succeeding generations, let's work to
end psychological and physical
repression.
George W. Loveland
Department of English
pat on the back
editors will be spending those same
evenings taking in caffeine and being
even harsher critics of themselves.
Hiday's job will never be easy. I
know, as one representing 8,000
students, that the first week on the
job is the hardest. I know, too, that
as soon as you think it's getting
easier, the problems really start roll
ing in. Hiday represents 21,000
students.
The DTH cannot please everyone.
But if it comes anywhere close, I will
be proud to have read the paper. I
hope things continue to - run
smoothly.
It was a good week for UNC news.
That is, if you don't count the ball
game.
Mark Stafford
President
Residence Hall Association
SG bulletins
budget process, and DTH articles
covering SG. Whether you're in the
Union going to a meeting or just kill
ing time, take a minute to find out
what your representatives are doing.
As always, we ask people to come by
room 217 with suggestions and ques
tions. We hope the bulletin board will
help make SG more accessible to the
student body.
Garret Weyr
Executive Vice President