8The Daily Tar Heel Friday, September 25, 1987
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Ular 1HM
95i ear o editorial freedom
Jill Gerber," &toor
Amy Hamilton, Managing Editor
Sally Pearsall, nux or
JEAN LUTES, University Editor
DONNA LEINWAND, State and National Editor
JEANNIE FARIS, City Editor
James Surowiecki, spom Editor
FEUSA NEURINGER, Business Editor
JULIE BRASWELL, features Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Arts Editor
Charlotte Cannon, Photography Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
board
Search for head of the class
"develop' the undergraduate program
or "expand" research facilities. It
involves detailed thought about spe
cific educational questions: Is the
University drifting away from a core
curriculum, and what are the effects
of students not sharing a common
body of knowledge? Why do eight
courses in one department constitute
a major, and does a student really leave
Chapel Hill with enough knowledge
of his field? If not, should the core
curriculum be sacrificed to allow more
specialization?
The next chancellor should be
concerned mostly with questions such
as these. Repeated thought and debate
over these issues develops a personal
vision of education, and the chancellor
must not only possess such a vision,
but also be articulate and aggressive
with his views. .
UNC needs a leader who is not too
far removed from the classroom,
someone who has the experience and
background in education to carry the
University forward in the advance
ment of higher learning. At the more
removed level of UNC-system presi
dent, CD. Spangler's administrative
and political skills are crucial. But for
a chancellor, an active and powerful
vision of education must take
precedence.
The search for a
new chancellor is
ornrln nllv crfnrint
up, and students ufill'un
must begin think-'
ing about what qualities Chancellor
Christopher Fordham's successor
should possess. Students make up the
majority of the University community,
but if they do not maintain constant
pressure on the search committee, their
voice could easily be ignored.
And this voice must protest the
trend toward a big business mentality.
Fordham, when citing his reasons for
retirement, said he would like to see
new leadership for the University's
upcoming major capital campaign.
This seems to point to a new chancellor
who would be primarily concerned
with administrative and fund-raising
functions.
Political connections and adminis
trative skills are important qualities for
the head of a university without
them the bureaucratic system and
channelling of money would break
down. However, the University is first
and foremost concerned with educa
tion, and the next chancellor must
have a solid academic agenda
established.
This agenda consists of more than
the candidate saying he will work to
Philosopher-kings keep court
Once the cloud of liberal slurs and
conservative misrepresentations has
been lifted, the nomination of Robert
Bork is ultimately about one thing: the
meaning of democracy and majority
rule within American society.
The American political system
depends upon the existence of a
written constitution, and just as
importantly, upon the existence of a
judicial body with the authority - to
invalidate bills if they contravene the
Constitution. The former makes the
the latter more than a piece of paper.
The Constitution does more than
grant certain powers to the federal
government. It also, through the Bill
of Rights, serves as a check upon the
majority. It restricts the power of the
majority by designating as fundamen
tal certain rights, upon which the
federal government (and, through the
14th Amendment, state governments,
as well) may not infringe. Though the
government speaks with the voice of
the many, it is rendered mute when
confronted with the rights of all.
Problems arise, though, when one
asks the question of which rights are
protected. The Bill of Rights is explicit
on certain of those, and additional
amendments have made the list of
protected rights longer.
It is true that the meaning and scope
of those rights is not clear. Because
of that vagueness, the Supreme Court
plays its role correctly when it sets
limits to, or for that matter renders
boundless, those freedoms. That is, it
does well when it interprets but does
not create. On other questions,
though, the court has seen fit to go
beyond interpreting.
When it has created, or legislated,
the court has fashioned restrictions
upon the majority which are not
explicitly (and perhaps not even
implicitly) in the Constitution. It has
held, for example, that if the majority
of people in a state do not wish women
to have abortions, or do not wish
couples to have access to birth control,
that majority is powerless. When it
comes to those questions, the people
of a state may not decide under what
laws they wish to live.
The court levies such restrictions
every term. But when the justices make
such decisions on rights which are not
explicit in the Constitution, they
increase the scope of their authority
to a stunning degree. When the
Supreme Court can create rights at
will, the power of the people to
legislate their lives depends entirely on
the whims of nine untouchable
philosopher-kings.
If one distrusts the people, and finds
the idea of an intellectual oligarchy
alluring, then an activist court is a
comforting prospect. But if one trusts
the people, and believes in majority
rule, then the existence of such a court
can be nothing but terrifying. James
Surowiecki
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Chris Chapman, Jim Grcenhill, Mike Mackay and Brian McCuskey.
Editorial Assistants: Julia Coon and Sharon Kebschull.
Assistant Managing Editors: Ruth Davis and Deirdre Fallon.
News: Jeanna Baxter, Matt Bivens, Meg Craddock, Ruth Davis, Laurie Duncan, Kimberly Edens,
Mark Folk, Kristen Gardner, Lindsay Hayes, Michael Jackson, Kelly Johnson, Michael Jordan, Helen
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McGuire, Smithson Mills, Lee Ann Necessary, Rebecca Nesbit, Susan Odenkirchen, Cheryl Pond, Charla
D. Price, Andrea Shaw, Clay Thorp, Nicki Weisensee and Judy Wilson. Brian Long, assistant business
editor. Rachel Orr, assistant university editor.
Sports: Mike Berardino and Patton McDowell, assistant sports editors. Steve Giles, Dave Hall, Clay
Hodges, Jim Muse, Andy Podolsky, Chris Spencer and Langston Wertz.
Features: Hannah Drum, Carole Ferguson, Jennifer Frost, Laura Jenkins, Corin Ortlam, Lynn Phillips
and Kathy Wilson.
Arts: James Burrus, Scott Cowen, David Hester, Beth Rhea, Kelly Rhodes, Alston Russell and Rob
Sherman.
Photography: Tony Deifell, David Minton, Matthew Plyler and Julie Stovall.
Copy Editors: Karen Bell, Julia Coon, Laurie Duncan, Lisa Lorentz, Toby Moore, Karen Smiley,
Rachel Stiffler and Kaarin Tisue.
Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Bill Cokas, Greg Humphreys and Trip Park. ,
Campus Calendar: Mindelle Rosenberg. . ' l
Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, general manager; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan
Worth, advertising coordinator; Peggy Smith, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager;
Michael Benfleld, Lisa Chorebanian, Ashley Hinton, Kellie , McElhaney, Chrissy Mennitt, Stacey
Montford, Lesley Renwrick, Julie Settle, Dave Slovensky, Dean Thompson, Amanda Tilley and Wendy
Wenger, advertising representatives; Stephanie Chesson, classified advertising representative: and Kris
Carlson, secretary.
Distribution Tucker Stevens, manager;
Delivery Leon Morton, manager; Billy Owens, assistant. .
Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wvnn. Rita Galloway and Leslie Humphrey, production assistants.
United States deserves honest president
To the editor:
We are writing in reference to the letter
'Biden is only human" of Sept. 22.
Considering that the president of the
United States has the greatest influence in
the free world, we feel that the office should
be held by an individual who possesses
enormous amounts of both honesty, and
integrity.
Maybe it would be best to first under
stand the meanings of the words "honesty"
and "integrity."
Honesty, as we perceive it, includes
authenticity, legitimacy, sincerity and
Integrity should include reputability,
respectability, good character and moral
strength.
With these definitions in mind, let us
review the recent events concerning Biden.
Last week it was first revealed that Biden
had plagiarized a paper in his first year
of law school. He admitted to the charge,
but claimed he had been acquitted. On .
"This Week with David Brinkley" Sept.
20, it was stated that Biden was not
acquitted, but merely allowed to return to
law school upon throwing himself at the
mercy of the court. His only defense to
this allegation was that it was an unin
tentional error. It is in our better judgment
to view an unintentional error as one line,
not five pages.
In addition to this incident, Biden
continued on his plagiarism spree, stealing
not only rhetoric but also gestures from
the British politician Neil Kinnock. This
was evident via split screen monitoring of
Kinnock's speech and Biden's nearly
identical rendition of it as seen on
"Nightline" Sept. 17.
Also, Biden's proud admittance of
graduation in the top half of his law class
is a flagrant lie. According to The
Washington Post, Biden graduated 76th
out of 85 in his law class. Maybe he slept
through math class the day fractions were
discussed because 76th of 85 can hardly
be considered the top half.
In light of these recent events, it should
be clear to everyone that the Sen. Joe Biden
possesses neither the honesty nor the
integrity necessary to adequately fulfill the
office of the president of the United States.
CHARLES PENDERGRAFT
Senior
Speech Communications
Political Science
JOEL RANSBOTTOM
Senior
Industrial Relations
Lifeguard's race
doesn't matter
To the editor:
The Sept 22 article ("Black
citizens urge town to hire
minority lifeguards") concern
ing the death of a five-year-old
child in a public swimming pool
struck me, as a lifeguard, in a
personal way.
However, as I read the arti
cle, I kept running across the
words "black" and "white."
They were used a total of 19
times in reference to the people
involved. This situation was
not a question black and white,
but of negligent lifeguards in
the responsible position of
guarding a pool.
Please don't misunderstand.
I am not saying that black
people should not be life
guards. However, does it mat
ter what color the person who
sits on the stand is? The ques
tion is, will that person do the
job well? Be they black white,
yellow or purple and from one
of the lesser moons of Jupiter,
the only things I'm interested
in are their ability and their
competence. Please pardon my
being naive, but I think those
are the only things anyone else
should be interested in.
ROY CRISP
Junior
Psychology
Ticket writers
waste no time
To the editor:
Four hundred parking cit
ations a week is enough, but
when a police officer is writing
them so fast that he must wait
for his brain to catch up to his
hand, it's utterly ridiculous.
The established time for
parking on Cameron Avenue in
the lane coming toward campus
from Carrboro is 9:45 a.m.
Before then, it is used as a bike
path. A few brave individuals
park 10 to 15 minutes early and
wind up with an outrageous $25
ticket. The bulk of cars,
though, arrive at 9:40, and most
people sit in their cars until the
bad man in blue gets in his
scooter mobile and goes home.
I arrived at 9:43 and saw the
policeman down the street, so
I waited in my car. I then saw
the officer drive his scooter and
stop in front of me at 9:44 and
start to write as many tickets
as he could tear off his pad,
not even paying attention to his
broken watch. The owners were
not in their cars at the time,
probably because they
assumed, like myself, that they
would not get a ticket with only
one minute left. Luckily, I did
not receive a ticket because I
waited until well after 9:45 to
leave my car. Yet, the police-
Tnr imr Ml'1gj ' . Swi" 1 ' ySy
man was still writing away.
After seeing this with my
own eyes, I would think that
he was trying to reach a quota,
even if it meant ticketing after
9:45.
MICHAEL KEANEY
Senior
Speech Communcations
Boston concert
sugar-free
To the editor:
James Burrus' review of the
Boston concert of Sept. 21
("Boston plays the hits in
Saturday's concert") was way
off base. Burrus began by
saying that it would have been
better if Boston had showed
originality instead of playing
the songs as they are heard on
the album. But by doing so, the
band encouraged audience
participation and brought a
definite familiarity to this
section of the concert.
As for "sappy love songs,"
some people happen to like
sappy songs like "Amanda." In
addition, how does one apply
the term sappy to songs like
"We're Ready" and "Cant'cha
Say," which are upbeat songs
with great rhythm.
Further, Burrus' comment
that "there is nothing special
about them at all" is totally
ridiculous. Certainly a group
that is able to sell out a 20,000
seat auditorium and is called
back for four encores does have
something special. He also said
that Boston should put more
meat in their next songs, while
at the beginning of his review
he admitted to Boston's unique
lyrical style. Burrus again
contradicted himself when he
stated that the crowd took
breaks during the "repetitive"
parts of the songs (presumably
the instrumental?) and then
later said, "The audience was
on its feet dancing, clapping
and singing the whole time."
Which does Burrus mean?
Everyone I have spoken to
thoroughly enjoyed this fabu
lous concert, and as Burrus
wrote, "the sold-out crowd was
happy." His seems to be the
only dissenting vote. As one of
the 20,000 Boston fans present
last Saturday night, I would
like to say that Boston is
tremendous just the way it is.
DIANA SCHAEDLE
Freshman
Journalism
Hear cries
of U2 fans
To the editor:
Thank you very much for
printing the editorial "Why
UNC won't see U2" in Tues
day's paper.
I don't suppose anyone
thought to inform the students
of this "unwritten policy,"
although it regards manage
ment of our time. If I still
wanted someone else to make
sure I ate right, got to bed on
time and got my homework
done, I would have brought my
parents to college with me.
Maybe all the people who have
been petitioning for U2 to come
here for the past year should
rent a few buses together and
make a road trip to Clemson
on Dec. 8. IVe seen some of
those lists, and they are rather
long. Maybe the University
would have so suspend testing
on the 8th, when it discovered
the multitudes who would be
missing. Or maybe those people
can all turn up their stereos on
that date and play "40." IVe
waited patiently for U2 to come
here, but the powers that be
certainly don't seem inclined to
hear my cry How long to sing
this song?
ELLEN WYATT
Junior
Computer Science
Those bows
make sense
To the editor:
I am writing in response to
Sean Rowe's column of Sept.
22, "Hair bows and born-again
virgins."
Mr. Rowe overlooked one
reason why many women, who
neither belong to sororities nor
pride themselves on "aesthetic
conformism," wear hair bows.
They, like myself, find them
a convenient way to pull their
hair back.
CHRIS KRIDLER
Junior
Journalism English
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Smith Center should rethink concert stop
To the editor:
OK. Now that the shock has worn off,
we can speak our minds. This is a response
to Jim Greenhill's editorial of Sept. 21,
"Why UNC wont see U2." Shock and
anger were our first reactions. The article
was the talk of the day, at breakfast, lunch,
class and dinner. Every student we came
into contact with had the same, reaction.
In fact, three days later they are still angry.
We should mention now that many non
students feel this way, too. U2, after
requesting to play at the Smith Center, will
not be coming in December because Steve
Camp, the director, decided that exam
week would not be a good time for them
to come.
How old are we? Are we children who
have been told by our parents that we
cannot go over to our best friend's house
to play because tomorrow is a school day?
That is what this feels like. So much for
trusting the students. If a professor can
leave a classroom during an exam because'
the Honor Code is based on trust, why
does the University not trust us enough
to think that we could actually manage
to go to a concert and study? This is a
one-time event. The band is not going to
hang around the whole week, distracting
students. But, as Greenhill pointed out,
television, bars and movie theaters will be
available. Perhaps the University should
shut down every possible distraction to
make sure the students study. Going to
college is all about having to make some
choices. In this case, the choice was made
for us. The University has taken away our
right and shown little respect for us as
human beings.
Think about the other side of the coin,
as well. The Smith Center does not serve
the students alone. It is a regional facility.
What about the community at large? It
does not make the University look very
good to the people of this area who support
the Smith Center and the school, finan
cially and otherwise. It is just, plain bad
business. No wonder the Smith Center is
having trouble raising revenues. There are
other people in this area who would love
to see U2 in concert. A disc jockey on a
local radio station sounded very upset and
said that there are other people, including
himself, wanting to see the band.
U2 was on tour in the states two years
ago, but no one in this area got the chance
to see them because there was no place
large enough. Now that there is, there
might as well not be, at least for U2 fans
and fans of other major acts if the Smith
Center continues in this fashion. As loyal
U2 fans, we know that they almost always
keep a few open dates on their tours. We
suggest that the Smith Center put its pride
aside and get on the phone, although there
is a good chance that it is too late.
LISA BOCCHINI
Sophomore
RTVMP History
ALLISON PIKE
, Junior
Economics
. ' ' t; v