8The Daily Tar HeelFriday, March 27, 1987
latly
95 1 h vear of editorial freedom
Court responds
There are tew current issues as
divisive, as certain to provoke controv
ersy, as affirmative action. The prac
tice of placing minorities in a favored
position, in terms of hiring and
promotion, often strikes very close to
home. It is, thus, an idea that has
w rought a deep split in the nation. The
issue has also firmly divided the
Supreme Court.
That division became more obvious
Wednesday, when the court ruled 6
3 that, when hiring and promoting,
businesses can favor women and
minorities over more qualified whites
and men. The decision arose from a
case involving a Santa Clara, Calif.,
city plan and the promotion of a
woman over a man who had received
a higher score in a competitive
interview.
Justice William Brennan, the court's
most distinguished liberal spokesman,
affirmed the city's plan in resounding
fashion. He deemed valuable and
constitutional the goal of achieving "a
working force that mirrored in its
major job classifications the percen
tage of women in the area labor
market." He also said the court's
standards in racial affirmative action
plans could be used to judge sex-based
plans, and vice versa.
The obvious problem with the
Editorials
MMillll'l,lT''
Hang up on call waiting
Listen . . .
Bill: "Hello, Bonnie, this is Bill."
Bonnie: "Hev, Bill! How are you?"
Bill: "Well, I -"
Bonnie: "Just a sec. Bill, call
waiting."
Bill: "OK . . . hello . . . hello?"
"onnie: "fm back, oh drat, just a
sec.
Bill: "Bonnie . . . Bonnie?"
Bonnie: "Sorry. Youll never guess
who called! Okay, what's up?"
Bill: "Hold on, other line . . ."
Bonnie:
Bill: "All right, I'm here. What do
vou want?"
Bonnie: "What? You called me!"
Bill: "Oh, yeah, sorry."
Bonnie: "Hold on, someone's
calling."
Bill: "Screw this." (click)
Another potentially pleasant con
versation ruined by the AT&T plague
so innocently termed "call waiting."
Granted, the above dialogue may not
happen every time Bill or Bonnie picks
up the phone. But, more often than
not these days, call waiting breaks into
phone calls with the trademark beep
or "click-click."
Call waiting is like that fly buzzing
around the bedroom late at night, or
The Daily
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f Editorial Assistants: Julia Coon and Sharon Kebschuil.
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Jo Fleischer, assistant university editor. Ruth Davis and Michael Jordan, wire editors.
Sports: Bob Young and Patlon McDowell, assistant sports editors. Scott Fowler, Scott Greig, Laura
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Features: Jessica Brooks. Fric Chilton, Hannah Drum, Carole Ferguson, Jennifer Frost, Melissa Furr.
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Printing: The Chapel Hill Newspaper
: ;
Jll.l.CiLRBLR, Mr
Amy Hamilton, Managing ujimr
Sally Plarsall, . :Ar
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KATHY PUTLRS, (hnnihus lUitor
affirmatively
decision is the same problem affirma
tive action has as a theory. That is,
by favoring minorities or women over
other workers who are better qualified,
one discriminates against those others
on the basis of their sex or race.
Affirmative action seeks to reverse the
effects of discrimination by discrim
inating against those whose only crime
is that they are white men.
Brennan attempted to soften his
stance by denying that the city in the
case wished to create a work force
controlled by "rigid numerical stand
ards." Put simply, though, the better
person for the job was still denied it
because he was a man.
Advocates of affirmative action
must not deny the element of reverse
discrimination in the program. Such
discrimination is a necessary, if
unpleasant, part of counteracting what
have been literally generations of
oppression against minorities and
women.
To be sure, affirmative action is
often unfair to the individual worker.
But if the effects of past prejudice are
still waters, that is only because they
run deep. Discrimination against
blacks and women has been perpet
uated on a group level, and as such
attempts to correct it must function
on a similar level. J.S.
the proverbial pebble in the Reebok,
or sand down the back of the bathing
suit. Not really a big deal, but it is
annoying. Conversations repeatedly
interrupted by the insidious clicking,
like viper's jaws, of call waiting become
exercises in frustration, especially for
the person who must spend a quarter
of the conversation on hold. Or, worse,
the person who is told, "I gotta go,
that was Bobbie-Sue, I really gotta talk
to her." Blown off, in a big way.
Call waiting can cause financial
headaches as well as mental ones.
Bonnie calls from Hawaii to Bill in
Chapel Hill. Bobbie-Sue calls Bill, and
Bill switches over to answer her call.
Bonnie is now paying long-distance
rates while Bill and Bobbie-Sue greet
each other on the other line.
Call waiting isn't even necessary. If
someone calls and gets a busy signal,
they'll try back a little later. They know
someone's there; they'll get through
eventually.
The solution: Boycott. The next
time someone tries putting you on
hold, ask them to call you back and
hang up. The message will become
clear.
And furthermore, (click-click)
Sorry, gotta go. B.McC.
Tar Heel
Li
SMes mo cure for academic apathy.
To the editor:
. While J agree with many of the ideas Dr.
Paul Brandes has tor curing UNC of its
mediocrity ("UNC: the old mediocrity
shopped March 25), I was taken aback by
some of the more drastic measures he
proposed. Brandes suggests that professors
should be permitted to drop from the roll
any student who misses more than eight
periods a semester, barring physical illness.
Whoa. 1 thought I left high school behind.
There, students are practically forced to get
an education, with all kinds of punitive
measures built in to insure it. Those
measures include detention hall for misbe
havior, hall passes on exciting treks to the
bathroom and mandatory attendance.
Supposedly, we are adults when we choose
to enter a university. Not only that, but we
are paying for the opportunity. If a student
decides not to attend class regularly, that
is his or her option, albeit unwise. 1 seriously
doubt that a student would be able to make
a shining showing if he or she opted to skip
a significant percent of classroom activities.
If he or she could pull an A or a B given
those circumstances, the fault probably
resides with the professor. Maybe the
professor is exceedingly boring without
saying anything worthwhile. Maybe she
Practice what
you preach
To the editor:
Certainly it is an appropriate
time to examine a part of our
culture which , is mysteriously
disturbing and aggravating to
people like myself. I'm talking,
of course, about TV evange
lism. Jim Bakker, glorified
evangelist and leader of Her
itage U.S.A. in South Carolina,
has resigned from being head
honcho of God's empire as a
result of supposedly accepting
a bribe for a past sexual
encounter with his secretary.
Or, as he so changed his story
one week later, he resigned to
avoid a "hostile" takeover of
Heritage in the very near future
by another evangelical zealot.
Elsewhere across the nation.
Oral Roberts threatened to
starve himself if he did not raise
$8" million from fellow wor
shippers. Lucky for Oral, some
Florida dog racer put him over
the top with a million dollar
check. These overwrought con
men have made their fortunes
and built their empires by
exploiting the hopes and fears
of their followers, promising
good health, peace of mind and
salvation, leaving some poor
people broke in the meantime.
It is very pleasing for me to
watch Jim Bakker in this fix,
although I am sorry to see the
elderly Floridian duped by such
a super salesman as Oral
Roberts, who swindles believ
ers by putting on grandiose
displays of devil infection while
speaking in tongues on televi
sion. Granted, these are not
your average travelling carnival
evangelists who pass top hats
around sparse crowds of wee
kend sinners in any rural town.
Instead, these are top-of-the-linc
con men, mighty good at
conjuring a feeling of good
service out of their followers
(Bakker, has thousands right
here in North Carolina).
In my opinion, these men
represent the decay of our
culture in every realm. Through
the practice of hoodwink and
energetic theatrics, guys like
Bakker, Roberts, and Jimmy
Swaggert represent a paradox,
for they lack the very Christian
1
I
Pit preaching: style behinid the art
They don't have the stunning looks or the
cable-access (not to mention the dalliances)
of Jim and Tammy, but hey, they're all
UNC's got. Returning to UNC like the first
robin of spring. Pit preachers are back to
fill the spiritual void populated, they say,
by godless fornicators, drunkards and
homosexuals.
Freshly graduated from Pit Preacher
School with a master of Pit Preach (P2)
degree, they come to UNC ready to bleat
relentlessly at all of us. Of course, some do
it better than others, and we at the
Scrambled Eggs desk have endeavoured to
find out why:
a It's all in the style, not necessarily the
message If it weren't a sunny day, UNC
students would be home watching other
heathens simulating deviant lifestyles on the
soaps, not in the Pit scoping the opposite
sex decked out in lust-inspiring springwear.
Quality P2's keep that in mind and make
their pitch so loud it can't be ignored, or
they make it as provocative as the soap
operas that the Pit-sitters are foregoing. For
example: . "
"Jeceea-zus did not die so you can run
around here all night fueled by cheap beer,l
drugs and lust," he yells whilst bounding
up and down the growing line of sun
worshippers. Hmmmm, just what is this guy
about? This sounds interesting.
"He did not die so you (he points to an
individual) can parade around in those
shorts exhibiting your buttocks." This is
get ing good.
Readers' Forainni
follows the book or class notes exactly,
without any creative interpretation. Maybe
he leaves no opportunities for questions or
discussion with his students. All of these
could be reasons that a student believes his
or her time sleeping, reading, or exercising
is better spent than an hour and 15 minutes
of "old. windbag." Ultimately, the decision
about attendance should be solely the
student's, although professors should have
(and do) the right to figure class participa-
tion, including just being there, as part of
the grade.
Also, I take offense at the next suggestion
for upgrading the caliber of learning at
UNC. Brandes suggests that a student's
records be reviewed at the end of the
sophomore year, with all those who "lack
promise" getting the big heave-ho. I would
like to know exactly what in a student's
record constitutes "promise" and who will
decide this. I inferred from his article that
Brandes was referring to academic excel-
lence. OK. so what does that mean? Making
Dean's List every semester? Having a
minimum of D's? Taking the hardest courses
offered by the Physics Department and
"doing all right?" Or what about students
who may be holding their own academically,
THESE PEOPLE
yfc 418P HIS fund RAi5rNG goal : "7 v h yJk
llllll TODAY, WELL BEFORE HK fji& Tl
IJ&PF SELF IMPOSED DEADLINE. xj -
. Roberts hap skid that Ymwi rsl" 1
virtues which they preach to
crowded congregations every
Sunday, .Bakker resides in a
plush Spanish-style mansion
with many watchmen and a
high-tech security system.
Swaggert, too. is known for his
extravagance.
Surely, the words of Woody
Allen's Frederick in "Hannah
and Her Sisters" best sum up
the situation: "If Jesus were to
return and see what was being
done in his name, he'd never
stop throwing up."
BILL SPRUILL
Sophomore
English German
ketball team has failed to
achieve its potential.. With the
talent that our team so often
exhibits, it is not unreasonable
to expect them to beat evert a
"good" Syracuse team. To,
paraphrase what Fowler so
eloquently expressed, in his
column, "Damn, we shoulda
won!" Fowler owes no one an
apology.
STEVEN H. LEVIN
Sophomore
International Studies
Smith does
it best
To the editor:
I have a few questions for
Everette Mills ("On second
thought. Dean Smith not so
bad," March 24). What do you
know about coaching? About
motivation? Don't you think
that it takes just a little bit of
ability in those areas to achieve
a 30-win season? Is Dean Smith
lacking or deficient because he
has more than 600 wins, more
consecutive NCAA Tourna
ment berths that any other
coach in history, and so many
25-win seasons that it would
take a computer to add them
all up? Is Dean Smith less of
a coach because he doesn't
Fowler right
to criticize
To the editor:
In response to the unfair
criticism Scott Fowler has
received for his accurate por
trayal of a beaten team ("Heels
left longing again," March 23),
we feel a responsibility to come
to his defense. To attack
Fowler for his use of facts and
figures in decrying the play of
our team on Saturday is absurd
at the very least. One cannot
argue against statistics. For the
past five years, the UNC bas
Scrambled JuT
"There's not a virgin in this whole sordid
Sodom of scholastic sleaziness. AIDS is the
answer to your indiscriminate bedhopping
never caring with who, what or when
you satisfy yourselves," he waves his hand
to incorporate the whole crowd in this
assessment. What? Forget the cute one over
there in the red, this guy is crazy.
a Body and facial movements are key. It's
important for those who aren't listening to
at least notice the, P:'s act. If that means
they have to jump and contort as if they're
dancing on a stove, so be it.
. B Also, it helps to be blind.
B The Prs, if effective, don't get very far
before some barefoot heathen, usually
wearing a bandana, jumps up to argue some
fine point of theology, usually prefaced with,
"You're a Nazi!" Obscenities aren't known
to deter quality P2's; snappy comebacks are
the norm.
"I'd expect that from a godless homo like
yourself," they'll say, before the whole thing
degenerates into an anarchistic cacophony
of expletives and Hying spit. ,
Saturday, RDU Airport The North
Carolina Tar Heels returned Saturday. They
or perhaps even floundering a bit, but have
proven themselves in campus politics,
protests or publications? Do these students
"lack promise?"
College is all about having fun and
learning about relating to people as well as
training your mind in scholarly endeavors.
Sometimes we students have a difficult time
balancing all the different aspects that make
a full education, and yes, sometimes our
grades suffer. 1 do not think that this justifies
putting our records on subjective trial and
perhaps being told that we just didn't cut
it (whereby thousands of dollars and two
years of our life are proverbially down the
drain). The University does have standards
for its students to maintain. The rest is up
to us. We can choose to have a mediocre
four years, or we can shape a college career
of excellence.
I appreciate the concern and intensity of
Brandes' column. 1 hope he channels it into
vigorous teaching and encouragement.
j.nstead iry'in& to mandate regulations that
rce students to want it.
DAWN WILLIAMS
Sophomore
' American Studies
scream, rant and rave at his
players like some demented
Valvano or Knight? Should
Coach Smith go ahead and
throw in the towel after having
led his team to 10 ACC Cham
pionships, an NIT, and an
NCAA Championship?
1 won't make the claim that
you know nothing about bas
ketball. I won't call you and
shout obscenities. I will make
the claim that you know
nothing about coaching, and
even less about people. If you
dont think Smith motivates his
players, why don't you ask
them? On second thought, if
you think you can do better,
why don't you go apply for the
job yourself? I'm sure that Tar
Heel fans everywhere will be
delighted to see you take over
for a "has-been" like Dean
Smith. Ah yes, I can just see
it now . .! . a statue of Dean
next to John Wooden, and
there you'd be, a little dog
barking at Dean's feet, and the
inscription on your collar: Here
howls Coach Everette 'Motiva
tion' Mills, who single
handedly inspired UNC to can
its top-notch basketball pro
gram in favor of a varsity dog
racing team.
MARK EMERY
Senior
RTVMP
had reached the Eastern regionals in the
NCAA Tournament one of eight teams
in the country to reach the regional semi
finals. Undefeated in conference play they
played in the ACC championship after
winning 27-2 during the regular season.. They
also spent most of the season ranked as the
first or second team in the nation. '
Six fans met them at the airport. Don't
you feel like a slug?
Campus Wildlife Watch continues Alarm
ingly little rodent action this past week
the best we could find . . . three chipmunks
were spatted playing joyously on the
Morehead Planetarium sundial Thursday
night ... . two were near the "3," and one
was close to the "6" . . . chipmunk time was
3:30 ... Campus Wildlife Watch continues
. . . watch this space ...
a Congratulations are in order for the
campus' white-flowered trees. They were the
first to come out with the spring's new line
of blooms,. Take them out for a beer.
Graffiti o the week award goes to:
Murphey first floor, men's room. "Grown
ups are people who've become redundant
Sid Vicious."
Grant Parsons and Jo Fleischer dedicate
this week's eggs to the six people who
greeted the Tar Heels at the airport.
EXIST Sgfc,