Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 27, 1987, edition 1 / Page 19
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O I C Xi- Thursday, August 27, 1987 mpeff Teesday may The states below the Mason Dixon line may have found a way to avenge a 142-year loss by throwing their hats in the ring again and vying for some political clout. But this time the South is going for the gusto without seceding from the Union. Fourteen Southern states are banding together to stage Super Tuesday, a regional presidential primary that promises to wield some power come 1988. On March 8, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee will open the polls fast on the heels of the Iowa and New Hampshire prim aries. And presidential hopefuls will Lunching with the president By SEAN ROWE Editorial Writer What does CD. mean to you? If you're new on campus and all it means is compact disc, then you'd better keep reading. Around here and around the state CD. now stands for Clemmie Dixon, as in Clemmie Dixon "Dick" Spangler Jr., freshman president of the 16 campus UNC-system. Last year's choice of CD. Spangler to succeed retiring system-President Bill Friday came as a surprise to many people. Though he served on the Charlotte Mecklenberg County School Board in the early 1970s and was chairman of the state Board of Education from 1982 to 1986, Spangler's qualifications are mainly those of. a successful businessman. . In 1973 he took over the found ering Bank of North Carolina, turned it profitable and later merged it with NCNB, making himself that corporation's largest shareholder. He has been president since the 1950s of his father's construction company, and in recent years director of the Ham mermill Paper Co. and head of Golden Eagle Industries Inc., a Charlotte real estate investment firm. He is not an academic, nor does he have any experience as a university administrator. This week Spangler, 55, begins his first full year as chief executive officer of what has been called the fourth branch of North Carolina's state government, a geographically far-flung institution that spends a billion dollars annually, employs 28,000 people and teaches 150,000 students. Spangler returned to Chapel Hill on Sunday with chapped lips and sunburned hands following a week long backpacking trip in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. He goes there every year with three former prep-school classmates to hike with a 50-pound pack, eat cutthroat trout out of tinfoil and explore the high-altitude glacial snowfields. On the day of his return Spangler found time to chat with the DTH over lunch in Lenoir Hall. SR: You have the best front porch in town. Do you ever have time to sit on it? CD: Yep. In the evenings some times I go out there and rock. Watch the traffic on Franklin Street. It's most pleasant when the students are in town. SR: There's lots of people who AMiees Aerophobia the fear of flying is a common enough pho bia. But the ranks of aero phobics may swell amidst increasing attention to the airlines, an industry plagued with problems. The problems are not simple, as most travelers discover when they phone in reservations and encounter flight schedules that sound too efficient to be true and are simply unrealistic; fares that seem to change constantly; and the confusion caused by mergers. When travelers arrive at the airport, they are frequently met with flight delays, and sometimes displaced reservations or lost bag gage. These complications hint at the disorder among commercial airlines. Unfortunately the industry's real problems are of greater and more hazardous proportions. For instance, the number of near Donna Leinwand News Analysis need to grease the ears of the South ern voters, 30 percent of the electoral vote, like never before. "Both parties recognize the impor tance of the South," said Tim Minton of the N.C. Republican Party. "Both parties are holding their national conventions in the South. That says something about how important the South will be in '88." Proponents of Super Tuesday believe the often-overlooked South might garner some extra attention with its early primary and regional focus. But because the primary ::-:-v--':-:-;-:-:v:-:-:-:v:-:;:i & I v V... II K 1 nrmnwiin nrrfirT-i i - - w.--... V nTf-mi Mfc-nY,iri lr i UNC-system President CD. Spangler having lunch in Lenoir Hall like Chapel Hill when the students are gone. CD: Oh, I think that's just kidding really. Chapel Hill really is the students. SR: Where did you get a weird name like Clemmie Dixon? CD: I think Clemmie is a tra ditional mountain Southern name. Dixon came from an author, an author named Thomas Dixon. SR: In a 1982 interview with The (Raleigh) News and Observer you said you had made a mistake by studying business instead of liberal arts when you were an undergrad uate at Chapel Hill from 1950 to 1954. Every student wrangles with the question of whether to devote his undergraduate years to some form of professional preparation journalism, business, engineer ing or whether to follow a course of liberal arts studies. Could you comment on this dilemma for the 3,000-plus incoming freshmen? CD: First, I would say one should not consider college as a series of courses which have to be taken to graduate, but rather opportunities to learn something, to be inquisitive about, to follow one's interests. That particular comment you referred to was about myself; it would not be applicable to every freshman coming on campus. I knew I wanted to be a Mdestyy Laurie Duncan News Analysis collisions, when aircraft come within 500 feet of each other in the air rose from 311 in 1982 to 839 in 1986; and near misses have been 50 percent higher in 1987 than during the first half of 1986, reports indicate. Anslher major airlines problem is the lack of air traffic controllers to monitor increasingly busy airports. A government official said these con trollers are working 900,000 hours overtime each year, and it is ques tionable whether they can keep up with the growing numbers of flights. Also, the condition of airplanes is being questioned by pilots and mechanics who complain about poor gnveS follows the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries, momentum gained by the winners there might carry through to the South. "In the past the candidates have concentrated more on Iowa and New Hampshire," Minton said. "Maybe they'll concentrate more on the South or they'll use their momentum from Iowa and New Hampshire to carry them in the South. If they win (Iowa and New Hampshire), theyll get their picture in Time and Newsweek, a lot of publicity." With 30 percent of the vote up for grabs, Southern proponents had hoped the candidates wouldn't place their faith solely in the two early primaries. The Super Tuesday prim aries will allow a Southern block of voters to throw its weight around and DTH Charlotte Cannon business person at that time, and I needed business courses. After my junior year I applied to graduate business school I graduated in three years and they turned me down. I had the pleasure then of coming back for a fourth year at Chapel Hill and taking courses that I had missed in my rush to be able to graduate. I took courses like archaeology, music appreciation, art, religion. SR: What was it like going up to Harvard Business School, not ever having been out of the South? CD: I was scared to death. The place had a fearful reputation, and I was frightened, yes. But it passed. SR: Some people say that stu dents today are too materialistic, too set on getting ready to make money, to go into a profession, and that they are not using their time in college to dwell on things that theyll never again have a chance to study. Do you think that's the case? CD: There's never been a time when the adults felt the students were doing what they ought to do. SR: What is the power relation ship between the University pres ident and the Board of Governors? CD: The relationship is that the Board of Governors employs and See SPANGLER page 6B flies ieto maintenance. They say that airlines are concerned with reducing service costs yet still expert maximum use out of their aircraft, which threatens safe air travel. These problems exist as Federal Aviation Administration and other government officials contend that flying is safer than it has ever been. The Raleigh-Durham Airport, one of the nation's fastest growing airports, opened a new air traffic control tower in June 1987, and also has a new runway and a new computer system, the director of traffic control said. The Charlotte-Douglas Interna tional airport last Saturday was assigned restricted status by the Department of Transportation, which means all planes flying near the airport must contact the ground flight controllers. Some government 1 3 OMth mew eoMcal voice perhaps force the presidential hope fuls to deal with regional concerns unfair competition in textiles, the ailing oil industry and the plight of the farmers. But others maintain that the problems of the South are the problems of the nation and candi dates dont need to revamp their programs to woo the South. "What's important in the South is important across the country," said Margaret Lawton, press secretary for the N.C. Democratic Party. "They (the candidates) have spent more time here, especially earlier in the summer. They obviously need to be aware of the diversity of the South. Anyone who wants to win needs the South." Despite the possible power of the primary, Super Tuesday has not lured some always eveirytMini By JILL GERBER Editor On March 9, 1963, The Daily Tar Heel printed a letter from UNC's young freshman tennis coach criti cizing the athletic department for emphasizing winning too much. Three days later, coach Tom Crais found himself unemployed. And more than 20 years later, he's angry that an opinion relatively tame by today's standards cost him his job. "I was supporting some ideas which are now in the forefront of discussion," he said. "The pressure (on. athletes), is much, much greater than it ever was. I was ahead of my time." His criticism was twofold: that coaches often believed the false premise that winning builds charac ter, and athletes in revenue sports had privileged status on campus especially in the student honor council because they brought money and prestige to the University. "The subtle intimation is, that if this boy doesn't win, then he hasn't given it his all," Crais wrote, prop osing that the philosophy of coaching be changed to ease the pressure on athletes. But the late Chuck Erickson, former athletic director, had little tolerance for these ideas. Crais, who was also a part-time physical educa tion instructor, was fired abruptly. Crais tried to discuss his views with former Chancellor William Aycock, whom he said was polite. But Aycock was unconvinced because the charges lacked evidence. The chancellor then sided with Erickson. "I suspect he was trying to keep me from pursuing what I had my finger on, that athletics had a special position," said Crais, now a court reporter in Alexandria, Va. "I didn't pursue it any more." Aycock, law professor emeritus, said he remembered Crais vaguely. He said his belief in the soundness of the University's athletic program remains strong. "We are not just a factory to develop athletes," he said. "I dont think we ever have been, and I don't think we ever will be." The local media discussed the incident for about a month, with the majority of letters to the DTH defending the decision to fire Crais. The controversy died out as quickly as it began. a, storm off safety problems officials expressed concern that there may not be enough air traffic con trollers to monitor the influx of traffic. But since deregulation of the airlines industry in 1978, the govern ment has piled a larger workload on air traffic controllers. And the airlines haven't made it easier for anybody traffic controllers, pilots or travel ers by implementing scores of flights, many with unrealistic times that put pilots under stress to stick to flight schedules, overwhelm traffic controllers with the sheer number of flights and frustrate travelers with delays and complicated fares. The FAA's critics, mainly aviation professionals, charge that the FAA needs to modernize because there aren't enough traffic controllers or airports to keep up with the pace of a large Southern presidential conting ent eager to coast on the Southern bandwagon. Only Sen. Albert Gore, D-Tenn., and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a democrat from South Carolina, have come out for the presidential challenge. It seems that there is little hope of getting a Southerner into the Oval Office. Though it is possible that Southern voters will rally around the obscure Gore, it is unlikely that conservative Southerners will embrace Jackson's brand of liberalism. The closeness of the three early primaries will force the candidates to saddle up for a long haul of constant campaigning, perhaps shortening the campaign process and decreasing costs. But the rapid-fire primaries '.'.i.U.Ui.U(...L;VA mm o A y sv flillii 5T Athletes sometimes feel the Today, problems with UNC's football team have brought the entire athletic program under scrutiny: Tailback Derrick Fenner faces a murder charge in his Maryland hometown, and freshman David Boon was charged with assault this spring in North Canton, Ohio. Recent revelations about an admis sions exception for Fenner and the alleged system-bucking antics of former player Lawrence Taylor have put more pressure than ever on the team to succeed. UNC officials past and present recently recognized that athletes are under greater scrutiny now than 20 years ago, but they said the emphasis on winning is the same. "You don't teach people to lose," said Bill Dooley, former UNC head aviation growth. Critics are irate that the national budget contains an Aviation Trust Fund, with an excess of $6 billion that isnt being used to improve air safety. Federal officials point out that the fund is part of the whole budget and cannot be extracted for the FAA's exclusive use. They add that the FAA could not survive solely on the fund, because the budget annually provides it with more money than is in the fund. Whether the fund is the issue, it is clear that more money needs to be spent to improve air safety. Officials say that Congress may consider making the fund a separate entity from the budget, so the FAA could draw from it as well as from the budget. This would provide funds to upgrade airports, buy air traffic control equipment, and train more air traffic controllers. "WjM.. 'S 'M'H- .'HWS .,11. ' ill III I II might also leave the less well-known or the financially strapped in the dust. ' A shorter campaign season gives little-known candidates like Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., less time to increase name recognition and gather funds. The drawing card for the regional primary, if all else fails, is Southern contact with the candidates. Presi dential hopefuls have been digging their heels in Southern soil all summer long and most candidates will be spending two days in North Carolina come September. As a team, the political South may rise again. Donna Leinwand is a junior jour nalism and history major from Boca Raton, Fla. 9 3 v ...s-S-' DTH Charlotte Cannon pressure of life in the spotlight football coach. "With anyone who competes, you tell them to do their best. You try to win within the rules or framework which you have." Dooley, head coach at Wake Forest University, discounted the idea of public pressure on athletes. He said they compete because they enjoy it, and aren't pushed any more than doctors or lawyers. "There's that old saying, 'If win ning's not important, why do you keep score? " he said. "I think we make too big a deal about this pressure (on athletes). We put pres sure on ourselves." When players come to Dooley with stress-related problems, he said he likens their situation to life in general. See WINNING page 3B These are verifiable needs that should be recognized not only by aviation and government officials, but by ticket purchasers who risk their lives every time they step on an airplane. Since the airlines don't seem to be slowing down, and deregulation will not encourage them to, it is up to the government to spend the money and conform to the changes in the aviation industry since deregulation. The growing number of flights resulting from airlines' competitive practices is alarming, and the industry needs a more sophisticated air safety program to cope with this growth or we might all become aerophobics. Laurie Duncan is a senior journal ism and political science major from Fort Worth. Texas. t ? ' ' v (7
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Aug. 27, 1987, edition 1
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