Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / July 16, 1987, edition 1 / Page 9
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
veer .or viui .vsbsi jiiTxkeH &t$ The Tar Heel Thursday, July 16. 19879 Edntoirnai North's mo American Sieiro OIKe North for President! If Oliver North would only run for president, we would be done with vacillating, weak-kneed presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. If North were elected president we would have a strong and tough government. In fact, if Ollie North or one of his ilk were elected president, we would be done with presidents and our representative government altogether. We would have a military dictatorship. Lt. Col. Oliver North has testified that he lied to Congress when he was a witness before several committees. He has also testified that members of the Reagan administration planned to establish an extra-governmental intelligence agency. His contempt for the law is dangerous enough, but his professed desire to establish a covert operation devoid of governmental control or oversight proves that he has no faith in either the American people or then elected representatives. In order to preserve national security North is willing to destroy the Constitution that he swore to uphold and protect. He places greater importance on the preserva tion of governmental power than on the preservation of liberty. While North lacks faith in democracy and despite his position and diligence he never represented a strong threat to America's constitutional government. The crucial thing to remember is that North is only a r-Off the Record lieutenant colonel. Lieutenant colonels pass out coffee and doughnuts in Washington; they do not set foreign policy and they do not create hidden governments. North has spoken repeatedly of his loyalty to Reagan. Sadly, North confused loyalty to Reagan with loyalty to the American people. This may explain why Reagan regards North as a national hero. North's loyalty to Reagan may also explain the American people's loyalty to North. To many people, he's a hero for taking the stand and taking the flack. He's been receiving thousands of letters and telegrams supporting him, and several polls show that most Americans believe him when he says he was only doing his job. North is no hero. He is a dangerous man. He may love his country, but he has no respect for the democratic process. He has more faith in a small coterie of officials who lie and deceive than he does in the American people. Throughout his testimony North stated that he was only following orders. Who was JNorth responsible to? Ronald Reagan or the American people? Furthermore, officers are supposed to DISOBEY orders that demand an illegal action. Yet, North continues to hide behind the sham that he was only following orders. A man of honor and a true patriot would have exposed the shenanigans and crooks in the Reagan White House. A freshman guide to college life College. Despite all you have been told and read college exists for one reason to delay maturity for at least four more years. The principal means to this end is having FUN. So freshmen, please pay attention. You need all of the help you can get. Dump your boyfriend girl friend (from now on referred to as the Significant Other) back at home. The moment you depart for college your S.O. becomes a modern-day pen paL In other words, if you maintain the relationship, all you will be doing your freshman year is working at Hardee's. How else will you pay for those $200 dollar phone bills? For that amount of money you can make monthly car payments. And a new car might help you find a new S.O., or even a few not-so-significant others, within touching distance (and I'm not talking about AT&T's "reach out and touch someone" distance). Before you leave home ask the parental units for an ans wering machine. This little item is a must. Mothers have a bad habit of calling on Saturday mornings at 8 o'clock. You need this machine to tell Mommy that you got up early and are canoeing down the Haw River with Muffy or Biff. While you are looking about for Mr. or Ms. Right (or even Mr. or Ms. Right-for-a-Night) you must establish some guide lines. The first one: if it is 2 a.m. and you are still looking for a friend for the evening, go home. No one out there is attractive to you and you obviously aren't attracting anyone. The next guideline has been established for you. It's about drinking. You cant! Too bad. No warm fall nights spent pounding a few cold beverages at He's Not Here. Finally, we will talk about classes. Ostensibly, the reason you chose this great university was for its outstanding profes sors. Make no mistake, if you want an excellent liberal arts education you have come to the right place. So, go to class. Participate. Do your reading. But, while you are in class make sure you talk to everyone. Strike up conversations. Make friends. Avoid dweebs. A few other guidelines to having fun are impossible for you to control. After all, you are freshmen and the system is stacked against you. No one wants an 8 o'clock class or a night lab, but we upperclassmen get first choice (we got here first) and you get the leftovers. The University does not allow fresh men to have cars on campus, but no one says you cant bring one and park it on one of Chapel Hill's deserted streets. Of course, it may get hit, towed, stolen, or broken into, but that is your problem. We ignored books, libraries, laundry, Lenoir Hall, and a host of other things. Space is pre cious, and your orientation counselors and RAs will help you with these routine concerns anyway. Remember, you have only four years (at least that is what your parents hope). It's up to you. And remember when deciding what to do, try taking some advice from Ferris Bueller, who said, "How can I be expected to handle school on a day like this?" Make sure you have fun dump that S.O. back home. It's only fair; you won't be faithful. Wqt ar Mtti Sally Pearsall Editor Lisa Lorentz News Editor Ron Crawford University Editor Mike Berardino Sports Editor Joanne Gordon Arts and Features Editor Steve Matteson Photography Editor Staff Tom Ballus, Chip Beverung, James Burrus, S us ana Dancy, Eric Fullagar, Stephen Giles, Sarah Glowacki, Michael Jackson, Kasey Jones, Ava Long, Tamera Majors, Alex Marshall, Krista Matthews, Nancy Nichols, Kim Orr, Laura Patterson, Colin Soloway, Marie Thompson, Wendy Widener, Judy Wilson. Letters The apartheid panel: wffl it ever get anywhere? To the editor: In "It's time to find a comprom ise" (7287) the Tar Heel acclaimed the formation of UNC's Joint Apartheid Committee, formed ostensibly in response to students' concern regarding Uni versity investment in South Africa, while offering little hope for its success. The writer noted that while the subject of divestment has been bandied about the campus for over two years, it does not lend itself to compromise, and that the establishment of the committee could be viewed as a delaying tactic on the part of the Board of Trustees. This commentary is one of many on the subject that the Tar Heel has felt compelled to write, and more will surely come this fall. The editorial was not, however, a call to action. It simply coincided with the first meeting of the committee, and it took no sides on the issue. This position appears to be a practical one, particularly since the student audience is negligible, and the alternatives to further delay at present are few. As indicated in the feature story on the front page of the same issue, the committee's charge is purely political in nature; the chairman goes on record as condemning the lack of student involvement, and admits also that the goals of the committee are unclear. Yet one goal has been accomp lished by the committee to legitimize itself by meeting. Another goal has been feebly attempted to put the largely absent student body on the def ensive by insinuating apathy on their part. . The chairman also - reveals that the committee has not set a date or time for the next meeting. Why should they? The ball is not in their court. .The . student body president strikes a note of ironic understate ment when he suggests that the Board of Directors may be "kind of tired of the issue." He does plan -to investigate his mandate from the students on the issue of divestment by taking an opinion poll sometime in the fall. We have, therefore, an editorial call to inaction, addressed to a nearly absent student body. We have a public relations committee with such vague goals that sche duling its next meeting was not on the initial agenda. We have a Board of Trustees who appear to have no genuine interest in the issue, but who now have an official committee to guard their flank. We have a student body president who is sympathetic to the needs of the board and presently igno rant of the desires of the students. Observing these arduous efforts to resist financial divestment from South Africa is akin to witnessing the workings of an institutional treadmill. Would it not be more efficient to get on a real bike and go somewhere? What are the viable alternatives to investing funds in corporations that do business with South africa? What is the faculty consensus on the matter? Do the vast majority of students, in the long run, really give a damn? Does the student body president really need a poll to answer that last question? And will the Tar Heel ever address this issue with an editorial entitled -It's Time We Got Out!?" Probably not If the record of this student body over the last two years is any indication, that title would only address graduation and the freedom from academic demands. And with so little support, it will probably never address the liber ation of an oppressed people. Leonard Nagel Graduate Education
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 16, 1987, edition 1
9
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75