6Th3 C2i!y Tar HeelWednesday, February 19, 1986
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94th year of editorial freedom
JRej Sections on
No terrorism perpetrated by armed
forces, no cases of widespread ballot
box stuffing were reported and Ted
Koppel won't be interviewing David
Brady and Bryan Hassel anytime soon,
but this year's campus elections were
stained by a series of ethically question
able campaign practices that threaten the
credibility and respect student leaders
require. .
A student who seeks the honor and
the responsibility of a campus leadership
position must demonstrate his adherence
to two codes of conduct. One is
entrenched in the Student Constitution
and in other organizations' constitutions
as a set of negative rules, such as:
Candidates can't spend more than so
much on a campaign, resident assistants
can't work for candidates and students
are prohibited from defacing campaign
posters.
The second code is simpler, shorter
and far more important. It's an unwrit
ten code, one that can be neglected
without any fear of legal reprisals.
Essentially, it calls on candidates and
their supporters to act only on the side
of clear, demonstrable conscientousness.
Infringement of this code made the
recent campaign so distasteful.
The violations of this code are not
the work of one person. Unlike past
elections, the ubiquitous Frank Win
stead apparently did not make trouble
for campus politicos. Instead, it was the
candidates who abused a democratic
system designed to put the most qualified
students in positions of power. The most
significant abuses of the trust voters
place in candidates were legally accep
table but ethically indefensible.
Student body president candidate
David Brady was himself a victim of an
ugly tyle of campaigning in November,
before the election had even begun. Pink
fliers were posted across campus alleging
that Brady was a homosexual. Brady
should have learned then the importance
of honesty, fairness and decency in
Ll(oloufa(o3Ps
Caveat to colleges
A cancer that has spread through our
educational system appears to be enter
ing remission. Its malignant existence
began when academic standards were
sacrificed in the name of athletic victory.
The latest and now one of its most
publicized victims, the University of
Georgia, has been told by an Atlanta
federal jury that such skewed priorities
must be eradicated.
The $2.57 million award the Univer
sity must pay to Jan Kemp, a former
Georgia professor of remedial studies,
is the strongest example to date of the
growing public intolerance for diploma
factories in higher education. Kemp's
outspoken criticism of preferential
treatment for Georgia athletes brought
about her dismissal, a move that made
her so despondent it drove her to two
suicide attempts.
While on the witness stand, attempts
by University officials to downplay
Kemp's contentions were absurd. These
statements helped solidify Kemp s case,
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Ed Brackett, Tom Camp and Dewey Messer
Layout: Siobhan O'Brien and Laura Zeligman
News: Jenny Albright, Lisa Allen, Andrea Beam, Rick Beasley, Lisa Brantley, Helene Cooper, Vicki
Daughtry, Michelle Efird, Jennifer Essen, Jeannie Fans, Jo Fleischer, Todd Gossett, Mike Gunzenhauser,
Nancy Harrington, Kenneth Harris, Suzanne Jeffries, Denise Johnson, Teresa Kriegsman, Laura Lance,
Scott Larsen, Alicia Lassiter, Mitra Lotfi, Guy Lucas, Jean Lutes, Karen McManis, Anjetta McQueen,
Laurie Martin, Smithson Mills, Yvette Denise Moultrie, Linda Montanari, Mary Mulvihill, Kathy
Nanney, Felisa Neuringer, Beth Ownley, Rachel Orr, Gordon Rankin, Liz Saylor, Rob Sherman, Kelli
Slaughter, Rachel Stiffler, Joy Thompson, Elisa Turner, Rhesa Versola, Laurie Willis, Bruce Wood
and Katherine Wood. Matthew Fury, wire editor.
Sports: Tim Crothers, James Surowiecki and Bob Young, assistant sports editors. Mike Berardino,
Greg Cook, Phyllis Fair, Phil Gitelman, Paris Goodnight, Louise Hines, Lorna Khalil, Mike MacKay,
Tom Morris, Kathy Mulvey, Lee Roberts, Wendy Stringfellow and Buffie Velliquette.
Features: Mike Altieri, James Cameron, Eleni Chamis, Kelly Clark, Kara V. Donaldson, Marymelda
Hall, Shirley Hunter, Randall Patterson, Jeanie Mamo, Tracy Hill, Sharon Sheridan and Martha Wallace.
Arts: James Burrus, Mark Davis, Mary Hamilton, Aniket Majumdar, Alexandra Mann, Alan Mason,
Mark Mattox, Sally Pont, Garret Weyr and Ian Williams.
Photography: Charlotte Cannon, Larry Childress, Jamie Cobb and Janet Jarman.
Copy Editors: Jennifer Cox, Carmen Graham, Roy Greene, Tracy Hill, Toni Shipman, Kelli Slaughter
and Joy Thompson.
Artists: Adam Cohen, Bill Cokas and Trip Park.
Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, managing director; Paula Brewer, advertising director; Mary
Pearse, advertising coordinator, Angela Booze, student business manager; Angela Ostwalt, accounts
receivable clerk; Doug Robinson, student advertising manager; Alicia Brady, Keith Childers, Eve Davis,
Staci Ferguson, Kellie McElhaney, Melanie Parlier and Scott Whitaker, advertising representatives;
Staci Ferguson,' Kelly Johnson and Rob Patton, classified advertising clerks; David Leff, office manager
and Cathy Davis, secretary.
Distributioncirculation: William Austin, manager; Tucker Stevens, circulation assistant.
Production: Brenda Moore and Stacy Wynn. Rita Galloway and Rose Lee, production assistants.
Printing: Hinton Press Inc. of Mebane
JlM ZCX)K, Editor
STUART TONKINSON, Associate Editor
GRANT PARSONS, University Editor
Bryan Gates, News Editor
KERSTIN COYLE, City Editor
JILL GERBER, State and National Editor
Scott Fowler, sports Editor
DENISE SMITHERMAN, Features Editor
ROBERT KEEFE, Business Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Am Editor
DAN CHARLSON, Photography Editor
Randy Farmer, Production Editor
infractions
conducting a campaign, but he has since
placed himself in the company of
whoever posted the fliers.
Brady knew that the elections laws
were designed to keep all expenses for
a candidate under a specified limit. He
knew that the cost of " the T-shirts,
produced by his fraternity brothers
without his consent, would have thrown
his campaign over that limit. Legally,
he appears not to have had any respon
sibility to keep his supporters from
wearing the shiits.
But he had a very great moral
responsibility to do what he thought, and
when he told a campaign worker
carrying some of the shirts, "I don't see
those; that's your department," he failed
to do what was right. Yes, he checked
with Elections Board Chairman Bruce
Lillie to make sure his actions were legal,
but he should have checked within
himself for an ethical judge as well.
Similarly, when Residence Hall Asso
ciation President Tim Cobb allowed
H.F. Watts to vote for himself in an
endorsement for the RHA race, Watts
should have declined. He may be
considered canny for doing what he did,
but any candidate for such a position
needs to prove himself worthy of the
students' faith.
Questions of morality must be left to
each individual to determine. The
candidates must decide if they are
comfortable with their moral positions,
and it is then left to the voters to
determine whether they are comfortable
with that decision. Official bodies,
whether Student Supreme Courts or The
Daily Tar Heel endorsement panels,
cannot presume to make that determi
nation for voters.
To win the trust of citizens, a demo
cratic leader must be ever-conscious of
the light in which his actions appear.
He must also always listen to the inner
light within him that provides the surest
guidance.
one already backed up by hard evidence
proving Georgia to be well below an
already deplorable national rate for
student-athelete graduations. From the
fall of 1978 to the fall of 1981, the
graduation rate for Division I athletes
was 23 percent. Only 17 percent of all
football players at the University of
Georgia have earned a degree in the past
10 years; an abysmal 4 percent of
Bulldog basketball players earned a
degree in the same period.
The role of college academics in such
an athletic setting needs a complete
overhaul, even if (horror!) it means a
team loses a game now and then. The
present definition has a false vision, a
vision that often emphasizes winning
over morals and integrity. Very few ever
make the big bucks of professional
sports, and many such "student-athletes"
are left unequipped to deal with society
after their sports careers have fizzled.
The status of athletics needs to be
returned to an extra-curricular activity.
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They're clowning around with
Some things in life were just meant to be
eternal, like the ocean, the stars, true love and
Dean Smith. And I thought Ronald McDonald
was one of those things. Since my youngest days,
he'd been there, on TV, my milkshake lids and
the walls of McDonald's restaurants. But no
more. Ronald's gone Hollywood.
Well, not Ronald really, but McDonald's.
TheyVe hired a new actor to portray Ronald
in their commercials. I have no idea why the
old Ronald left. Maybe he was fired, maybe he
wanted more money, maybe he just retired. Or
maybe he refused to go to Hollywood, so he
was canned.
Enter New Ronald. This guy was not born
to be a clown. His voice is wrong. His build
is wrong. His delivery is sooo wrong. He makes
me sick.
' When the old Ronald spoke, you knew he
was a clown. It was what God meant him to
play. He had that intangible quality of sounding
funny without even saying a joke. When the new
.Ronald talks, you expect the cast of Days of
Our Lives to come out. He just doesn't sound
funny. His voice is too trained, you can feel it.
This guy has been trying to break into acting
for years. The old Ronald sounded like Joe
Average, found on the street at the last minute
and told, "Here, you're a clown."
Do you know what I saw the new Ronald
do on TV the other day? He was playing the
Memories, tadlMoinis Jhaumnitt
To the editor:
When I awake tomorrow
morning I will go to my window
and from there I will look out
onto South Building, Gerrard
Hall, Old West, Person Hall, the
Davie Poplar (which saw the
birth of our school and the birth
of our nation) and the Old Well!
The most unfeeling of all the
hearts in all the people who have
ever loved this place must stir at
the sound of these words; at the
feelings inspired by thoughts of
these places.
Mine is the window from
which my father and his father
viewed the same beloved places
that I can view today. Mine is
the window from which anyone
here in 1793 could look down
upon the dear, dear ground
which nurtured these places.
Mine is a window in the oldest
part of the oldest building of the
oldest public university in our
country. OLD EAST!
The name itself is synonymous
with Continuity, Tradition and
Constancy in our inconsistent
world. Tt has seen our nation
grow together, and has seen our
nation divided. It stood through
the War to End All Wars and
then stood through a second.
Clean out the
To the editor:
We are sick and tired of
reading trash on the editorial
page of the DTH. If we see one
more letter about what a crappy
job ARA is doing, we will
scream. If there is anyone out
there who hasnt gotten the point
by now, at least let him enjoy
his blissful ignorance. After a
year of this nonsense, we fail to
see why these people continue to
pursue this redundant topic. The
idea of letting students manage
Lenoir Hall is preposterous.
Professors barely have enough
time to conduct lectures and
remain accesible to students.
They don't have time to oversee
a food service as well. Sure, ARA
is a mismanaged organization
with more than its share of
problems, but constant whining
in the Z)77f doesnl help matters
any. When ARA's contract
comes up for renewal, we shall
see how our fate will be decided.
As far as Old East is con
cerned, it is time we gave it to
the dogs. Old East has served its
purpose as a dorm for centuries
and is not worth the cost of
renovations. If certain members
of the alumni are so concerned
Supreme Count
The decision in the David Brady T-shirt case
was a missed oppourtunity to strike a blow for
freedom of expression on this campus. By
dismissing the charges against Brady because of ;
what amounted to a technicality, the Student
Supreme Court failed to set an important
precedent.
As the elections laws stand now they are an
infringement on students' rights to self
expression. The wearing of T-shirts is a legitimate
form of expression and therefore is protected
by the First Amendment. A law requiring
candidates to ask their supporters not to express
their opinions, whether the supporters express
themselves through T-shirts or skywriting, is
wrong. .
In Cohen v. California, an obscure case, the
U.S. Supreme Court upheld a man's right to
wear a patch on his jacket that read "Fuck the
draft" because to force him to remove the patch
would interfere with the man's freedom of
expression.
The same principle is at stake on this campus;
if a student chooses to show his support for any
candidate through his choice of clothing, he
should be free to do so, and the law should not
require the candidate to ask him to do otherwise.
True, no one would be able to force him to change
Cur hzzzz
Staff Writer
piano, wearing a shiny clown suit (a kind of
metallic version of the old suit) and singing some
poppy, glitzy tune. The old Ronald never would
have been caught dead doing this.
And the new Ronald can't laugh. You know
those laughs that the old Ronald did at the end
of every commercial, that high-pitched half-giggle-half-cackle,
a real clown's laugh. The new
guy doesn't laugh. Or if he does, he doesn't do
it right, since I can't remember ever hearing it.
You know what this new Ronald sounds like?
The kind of person who goes to different schools
with safety tips for the kids, and he talks to them
all like they're brain-dead. I always hated those
people when I was a kid. They'd say stuff like,
"Do you know what this is?" Duh nah.
The new Ronald doesn't walk like a clown
either. He saunters. Clowns don't saunter, they,
I don't know, clown-walk. You know. How's
a clown supposed to be funny when he's
sauntering?
This new guy doesn't even have the right color
of hair. It's a darker red than the old Ronald's.
How are kids supposed to relate to Ronald
Above that, it has seen our
school grow to greatness. Carol
ina, Carolina! It has been home
to Tar Heels born, bred and dead
for nearly 200 years.
Now, who will be so bold as
to knot-up the end of this 193
year timeline? Who dares to put
his name beside those of William
Richardson Davie, Alexander
Jackson Davis, James Knox
Polk, Thomas Wolfe and the
many other great men who have
shaped the history of this great
building? Let them dare to be so
bold as to break with Tradition,
for if they do, their names shall
be infamous. Instead, let them
dare to stay the course and to
break their base reasoning for
alteration.
Do not deprive my children
and the children of their children
the opportunity to wake in the
morning to the sights their
ancestors so loved. Hark the
sound of Tarheel voices past
present and future. The conver
sion of Old East to an "office
building" would cut not only to
the quick, but to the soul of our
university.'
Charles M. Brown III
Junior
English
To the editor:
I have recently been pondering
a matter of great importance.
This matter shall be referred to
as "the elevator gap." President
Reagan speaks of a "military
gap" between the U.S.A. and the
U.S.S.R. (which is in their favor,
of course) and David Letterman
often demonstrates the "gap
between the front teeth," but
these are not the gaps of which
I speak. No, the gap I refer to
is much closer to all of us and
it is evident most clearly to all
students who use Greenlaw and
Hamilton halls for classes.
The elevators in Hamilton
should not be called elevators;
rather they should be referred to
as time machines. I say this
because one can grow noticeably
older while waiting for one.
Another funny thing is that said
elevators seem to be based on the
fourth or fifth floor, which
happens to be the two floors
which contain most of the history
professors' offices. My, what a
funny coincidence.
trash
New
about tradition, perhaps we
should consider having them pay
the $2 million necessary for the
renovations. It doesn't seem fair
to burden residents of other
dorms with yet another rent
increase. Also, Charlie Madison
(DTH Feb. 13) should not use
the poor reputation of Student
Affairs as a means to support the
interests of only a few. When was
the last time a class was held in
Old East to make it an "academic
tradition" anyway? You may rest
assured that even if Old East is
turned into office space, its
reputation as the oldest state
university building will remain.
It is high time for some fresh,
somewhat intelligent, ideas on
the DTH editorial page instead
of the repetitious garbage that
now covers it. It is time to stop
breeding negative attitudes on
this campus. UNC really isn't
such a bad place.
Marshal Rohde
Sophomore
Computer Science
Ahmad Ali
Junior
Biology
For anyone itching to publicly
espouse your views in our "Letters
to the Editor" box, we ask that you
take note of the DTHs require
ments in our new policy that goes
into effect today:
A limit of two signatures per
letter. Each person whose name
appears should also include a phone
number, year in school and major.
We have chosen to run those last
two facts with the letters because
v 7 A . f A
decision restricts freedom of speech
News Editor
his mode of dress, but why should the law require
even this limited sanction on his behavior?
Some will say that changing this law will bring
political action committees to the campus. I agree
with the placement of spending limits on
candidates for campus offices but spending on
a candidate's behalf is part of the political
process. Students can't simply legislate away the
unsavory facets of politics. If Brady did not pay
for the T-shirts or actively encourage them, then
he should be in the clear. He should not be
required to take action to prevent people from
wearing them.
PACs could be limited legitimately, but there
is no way to keep them out of campus elections.
How can the law keep an individual from
spending his own money on a candidate if that
is what he chooses to do? The law can keep
the candidate from authorizing this, but if a
student wants to spend his own money independ
ently of any candidate to get someone elected,
Ronald
McDonald now? It's painfully eta that this
Ronald has not been a kid in a long time. He
wouldn't know how to be one if you gave him
a manual with instructions. It would come out
looking like a grown-up acting like a kid, all
very Hollywood and not at all believable. The
old Ronald was a kid. You could feel it. The
guy just never grew up on the inside, no matter
how tall his outside got. This was a person you
would enjoy being with because he could have
a good time; he hadnt forgotten how. He could
talk to children without making them sense that
he thought somehow they weren't as good as
he was.
I don't know if 111 go to McDonald's anymore.
TheyVe always been my favorite, partly because
their commercials marched on, oblivious to the
attacks from their competitors. They didn't make
cheap alterations in the scripts, at least as far
as Ronald is concerned (I admit I'm pretty tired
of all this slapping and "hot hand warming"
garbage). But they've gone and done it. They
fixed what weren't broke, and I'm not pleased.
- Why did they change him? And if they had
to change him, why get this really sorry clown
of a clown? Why not Clara Peller? She may not
be eternal, but at least if she sang, it would be
darned funny.
Guy Lucas is a junior journalism major
from Greensboro.
domitoiries
Elevators need a lift
The one thing in favor of the
Hamilton Time Machines is that
they do allow "mere" students to
use them. The elevators of Green
law are reserved for use by the
elite faculty. What's going on?
After all, we are paying them to
educate us, not the other way
around. I wonder how handi
capped students are able to use
the Greenlaw "elite elevator," do
they have to call in advance and
book times so as not to incon
venience the faculty members,
who really can't quite climb
stairs?
Well, here is the neat part of
my letter. Not only do I com
plain, but I solve as well. First,
base the Hamilton elevators on
the first floor like all the other
elevators in the universe. Second,
fix the Greenlaw elevators so all
can use them, especially those
students who cannot use the
stairs.
Edward Mark Gilgor
Junior
Political Science
policy for letters
it is more relevant than the writer's
Chapel Hill address.
No more than 250 words. This
is a common policy among profes
sional newspapers that will help us
deal with space constraints. This
limit does not hold true for columns.
The distinction between letters and
columns: letters are usually a
reaction to a piece that previously
ran in the DTH while columns
address an issue in general.
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there is no way to legitimately prevent him from
doing so.
This controversy is part of a dangerous trend
on this campus. It is in the same vein as the
desire to remove negative campaign tactics from
the campus, which cropped up during last year's
elections. Freedom of expression comes with a
price frequently we have to hear things we
dont like. I despise negative campaigning and
the possibility of campus PACs as much as
anybody, but if we are to live in a society that
permits free speech then we have to put up with
those who will use that right irresponsibly.
Are the democratic ideals and the concept of
free speech and the free marketplace of ideas
something we just learn about in political science
classes or is it something we are willing to put
into practice? And if we are not willing to practice
them on this campus, will we be ready to use
them when we enter the real world?
Laws must take into account the difference
between the outside world and the campus and
provide some adjustments, but what kind of
education are we getting if we try to insulate
ourselves from the reality of politics?
Bryan Gates is a junior journalism major from
Wendell.
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