4BThe Daily Tar Heel Thursday, August 21, 1986
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94th year of editorial freedom
JIM ZOOK, Editor
RANDY FARMER, Managing Editor
ED BRACKETT, Associate Editor
DEWEY MESSER, Associate Editor
Grant Parsons, university Editor
LINDA MONTANARI, City Editor
JILL GERBER, State and National Editor
Scott Fowler, sports Editor
DENISE SMITHERMAN, Features Editor
ROBERT KEEFE, Business Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Arts Editor
DAN CHARLSON, Photography Editor
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Prepare for the ride of your life
; Feel it churning up the hill, plugging
itway, now resting at the summit. After
n arduous climb through a steamy
Summer, the roller coaster train oth
erwise known as the 1986-87 school
ear is ready to come screaming
hrough, throw in a couple of loops
and race by seemingly faster than last
year's ride.
Most riders will simply enjoy the
ush with an ease that accompanies
experience. As the train whizzes
hrough classes, relationships and beer
)ashes, those riders will retrace the
bracks of previous rides. The trip ever
$o slowly loses its luster for the vaunted
veterans, who grow weary of the
frenzied pace and seek new exhilaration
tn other pursuits.
But this message is geared specifi
cally to the rookies, the wide-eyed
novices, the first-time riders who are
now white-knuckling for all its worth.
Those terrifying plummets just over the
next hill known as midterms and finals
render a spine-tingling chill. There will
be sudden twists and turns unex
pected problems such as difficulty in
dealing with a roommate, struggling to
make new friends, or just adapting to
daily living without Mom's help. This
first day of classes casts you unsuspect
ing neophytes amid throngs of unfa
miliar faces and intimidating profes
sors. It will be nerve-wracking.
Relax. As diffficult as it may be to
this realize today, these relentless
tensions will quickly pass replaced
by the opportunities that you will seize.
Freshmen, take a look around you.
You are preceded by nearly 200 years
worth of eager-beaver freshmen over
150,000 students who were just as
timid, mesmerized and bowled over on
their first day as you are today. Such
legendary Tar Heels as Hinton James,
UNC's first student, President James
Polk and Thomas Wolfe have greased
the tracks and smoothed out the
bumps, charting the course for your
ride.
Those predecessors left for the
students of today and tomorrow a
legacy of history, honor and tradition.
It is a legacy that emanates from the
campus and makes the hearts of
appreciative students skip a beat. It is
a legacy that the Class -of 1990 starts
upholding, and nurturing, and feeling
today. '
Pretty intense? Maybe. A lot of fun?
Definitely. Best four (or four and a half
or five or. . .) years of your life?
Absolutely if you make the most
of it. Shoot for. that 4.0, but don't be
disappointed if you fall short. And for
heavens sake, don't sacrifice your entire
social life for grades. Your train will
never get out of the station and youll
find yourself derailed by anxiety
attacks.
The train is at the crest, slowly
picking up speed. Pause, take a deep
breath and cut loose.
A tradition of excellence
As the Daily Tar Heel launches yet
another year of "editorial freedom,"
perhaps this is the' time to rededicate
the paper, to reestablish its aesthetic
goals. After all, this is more than just
a steady supply of cabinet liner you're
holding here; this is your newspaper.
The DTH is the voice and advocate
of the University community, ready
and determined to report the news that
affects the campus. The student needs
and expects this news; no other
medium delivers so much, so often.
Through a lively and enlightening array
of University happenings, news across
the state and nation, entertaining arts,
features and sports sections, plus
sports, commentary, cartoons and a
fwhole lot more, the DTH packs an
informative punch.
Alongside this steady flow of infor
mation, the DTH provides the student
with analysis and commentary on the
issues of the day. Here again, the staff
strives to keep a firm hold on fairness,
accuracy and clear thinking, as well as
the student's attention.
An extremely important part of the
paper, one that plays a great part of
the student advocate's role, is the
"Letters to the Editor" section. This is
where any member of the University
community can express his outrage, his
concern or his delight about anything.
Besides that, it makes quite entertain
ing reading.
These are not simple goals, but the
student deserves no less. As the.
University becomes more complex, it
becomes easier to feel lost on campus,
regardless of how long you've been
here. It's our job to prevent that, and
if we fail, let us know. We serve best
by listening to you.
And remember, this is your
newspaper.
The Bottom Line
As if we humans didn't have enough
problems, what with the drought,
Middle East turmoil and the new Chinese
motif at McDonald's.
Now from Raleigh comes the realization
that 100 of the state's deer-crossing signs,
which show a deer in silhouette, have their
facts wrong. The signs show the deer's antlers
pointing forward not backward as they
dp on the genuine article.
Early last year, the office of the assistant
state traffic engineer, the agency that
designed the sign more than eight years ago,
received a tip that the antlers were facing
the wrong way.
The claim made a lot of sense, as Andy
Ward, assistant traffic engineer, told the
Associated Press. He said that if real deer
had backward-facing antlers, then "when
they were running, they would get hung up
on a lot of tree limbs."
Indeed. How could such a mistake have
been made in the first place, given the above
observation?
It's the Fed's fault, say state officials. The
deer designs were taken directly from the
Federal Highway Administration specs, say
state officials. But they're sticking by their
antlers, backward or otherwise: the signs
won't be recalled.
What's next? Will we discover that the
little driver in the "Slippery When Wet" sign
is on the wrong side?
Officials at Hamilton, Ohio, wanted to
add a little emphasis to the city's name
recently. So they asked federal authorities
for permission to include an exclamation
point after the municipality's moniker, so
that citizens and tourists everywhere could
behold the wonder of Hamilton!
Fortunately, they were denied the name
change.
Now, at first glance, adding exclamation
points to a city's name appears a good idea.
It's a nice way to identify America's more
exciting places, and when placed on a map,
such nomenclature could become an even
more valuable tool.
But what if every city did it? We'd be
royally misled as to where the nation's true
hot spots are, and some us might waste
precious time and money in a trek to Maple
Plain!, Minn., (or Pumpkintown!, S.C., or
Walla Walla!, Wash.) in a futile quest for
excitement. We suspect Hamilton is another
of those places and that city officials were
-seeking to embellish the city's reputation.
At least Hamiltonites were on the right
track. Maybe someday RanjdJvlacNally.will
recognize. New York!, Los-'Angeles!, Chi
cago! and Atlanta!, in addition to . of
course Chapel Hill! ';
:. : - I '
Daily Tar Heel cartoonists
Editorial cartoons by Bill .
Cokas, a junior from Rockville,
Md., will appear on Wednes
days. Bill also draws "The Man
from UNCle," a campus-related
comic strip that will appear on
Mondays, Wednesdays anbd
Thursdays.
UNIVERSITY HOUSING
GETS ONE fclGUT...
Work by Trip Park, a sopho
more from Ithaca, N.Y., will
appear on Thursdays.
The work of Adam Cohen,
a sophomore from Charlotte,
will appear on Mondays.
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Get involved
The author is UNC student
body president.
To the editor:
Isn't the beginning of school
fun? On a good day, you'll get
to wait in line for at least four
hours. And if you're lucky,
you'll get transferred from
department to department so
many times that youll get to talk
to every administrator on cam
pus! All the rules, regulations
and procedures are specially
designed to confuse and enrage
us, the students. But at least the
weather is pleasant.
All the bureaucracy is enough
to make you throw up your
hands and quit right on the spot.
But the thing to remember is
that no matter how frustrating
the whole mess seems to be, the
intent of it all is to serve
students. As a matter of fact,
that's one of the main objectives
of the university as a whole: to
make our educational process as
smooth and productive as
possible.
The problem comes in the
implementation of that goal.
With 20,000 plus students,
things don't always go as
planned, to say the least. The
scientific systems somehow
always end up making us mad
instead of happy. So what do
we do about it? Well, we all
complain, and that's" fun. But
what it's going to take is for us
tb'get involved. We know best
what it will take to make a drop
add or an orientation or any
thing else run smoothly
because we're the ones who
experience these things year
after year. And experience has
proven that when students get
involved in designing their own
services, the services get better.
... -:
There are a million examples.
Last semester, students were
upset with the food service.
Student involvement was a
major factor in giving ARA
Food Services the boot. A few
years ago, students wanted the
chance to be creative in the area
of TV production. What hap
pened? They got involved, and
now STV serves that very pur
pose. The record shows that
when students want something
and are willing to put in the time
to make it a reality, things
happen.
The crucial building block in
all this activity is you, the
student. From Student Govern
ment to the Black Student
Movement to the Carolina
Union, the degree to which
campus organizations serve
students is dependent on the
involvement by students them
selves. If we have needs, we're
the ones who have to go out and
work to address them.
No matter what your interests
are, there is a place on campus
for you to get involved and start
addressing some of these needs.
If you're interested in the pol
itical side of things on campus,
student government might be
the place to go. If off-campus
politics are more your thing,
UNC has a wide variety of
groups that deal with issues
from South Africa to Central
America Ao hunger here at
home. If you don't like politics
much, students also need pro
grams to entertain and enlighten
them, and the Carolina Union
Activities Board exists to pro
vide for those needs.
And so on. Students are a
community. We share hundreds
of needs and concerns. What we
need to do is pull together and
start addressing our problems as
a group. It has worked in the
past, and it can work now. So
when you get through sweating
through the next few days, join
a campus organization. It beats
standing in line.
Bryan Hassel
Junior
History
Welcome back
The author is chancellor of
UNC.
To the editor:
It is a great pleasure to
welcome UNC students back to
campus for the academic year
1986-'87. It is my firm convic
tion that all of us students,
faculty, staff and officers are
extremely fortunate to have an
association with this great
institution.
The institution has awesome
academic resources including
one of the outstanding faculties
in the nation, clearly the best
in the Southeast, one of the
outstanding libraries in the
nation, again clearly the best in
the Southeast, many outstand
ing departments and schools, 36
interdisciplinary centers and
institutes and a tradition of
academic excellence and high
aspirations. So your opportun
ities to advance your knowledge
and understanding of the
human experience and the
world about us abound. , ,
The tradition of student free
dom and responsibility is
strong, and it is expected that
students will have an opportun
ity to get involved in student
organizations and leadership
opportunities which make it
possible for them to express
their talents, interests and ener
gies in desirable and growing
ways.
The University has a tradition
of progressive values; you have
already begun to discover for
yourself the things in life and
in the world which will be of
the highest value to you, and
that process can continue in a
remarkably growing way during
your college experience here.
The great minds of the past and
some of the world's present
great scholars are here, through
the library and the faculty, to
help. In the final analysis, you
will have to make choices for
yourself, and the freedom and
opportunity to make those
choices is indeed precious.
There are many ways in which
you can grow in relationship to
your interest in, and capacity to
help, others. From Campus Y
drives to address the problems
of hunger in distant lands to
student concerns over local and
campus matters, you will have
many opportunities to show
that you care about others and
to grow in your sense of
altruism.
It is my hope that the joy of
being associated with Carolina
will infuse your life and your
college experience to an extent
that you will find much satis
faction in life and a multitude
of opportunities to make the
world a little better. I hope to
meet each one of you. Good
luck!
Christopher Fordham