8The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, November 11, 1987
0
afar
95th year of editorial freedom
Jill Gerber, Editor
DEIRDRE FALLON, Managing Editor
SALLY PEARSALL, News Editor
JEAN LUTES, University Editor
DONNA LEINWAND, State and National Editor
JEANNIE FARIS, City Editor
JAMES SUROWIECKI, Sports Editor
FEUSA NEURINGER, Business Editor
JUUE BRASWELL, Features Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Arts Editor
Charlotte Cannon, Photography Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
How to buy college admission
board
opinion
Ostensibly, the -Scholastic
Apti
tude Test is one
way of distinguish
ing the academic
potential between college applicants,
but the proliferation of SAT study
courses has diminished whatever value
the test once had.
The only true indicator of an
applicant's scholastic potential is his
high school record. An outstanding
SAT score is either an indicator of
innate intelligence, or of parents who
willingly paid for Junior to attend a
study course.
Academicians routinely criticize the
test. Numerous studies indicate that
the SAT may have a racial and
socioeconomic bias. While this asser
tion is debatable, students who attend
a review course will outperform
students of equal ability who do not
take the course. But only one prereq
uisite exists for taking a course the
money to pay for it.
Before study courses became pop
ular, a student's test score was indic
ative of his general knowledge. But a
student who uses the information that
a Kaplan-like course crams into him
is merely regurgitating soon-to-be-forgotten
trivia.
While most of the courses are for
the SAT, graduate and professional
school hopefuls study for the GRE,
LS AT, GM AT, MCAT and every "T"
imaginable. High school students
prepare for advanced placement tests.
As more and more students cram for
them, they become mere trivial pur
suits, no longer tests of academic
achievement and potential.
Officials from the College Board,
which produces the SAT, claim the
study courses only marginally improve
a student's score. The company claims
no one can study for the test. But the
Educational Testing Service, which
administers the SAT, is entering the
lucrative test-prepping market.
In the great American tradition, the
Stanley Kaplan Educational Centers,
the Princeton Review and similar
companies are answering the demand
for a product. High school students
are among the most paranoid and
anxious of teen-agers until the college
of their choice accepts them. As more
students apply to elite institutions,
more students will look to Kaplan-like
courses to improve their SAT scores.
As a measure of academic potential,
the test is severely flawed. When the
only students who can prepare for the
SAT are those who can afford to take
a review course, colleges such as UNC
should be wary of placing too much
importance on it.
There's no place like it
Something was wrong at the Clem
son game on Saturday.
Instead of drifting in at halftime,
most people were in their seats by the
opening kickoff. Instead of wandering
around the stadium, looking for
friends and adjusting their sunglasses,
most people stayed in their seats and
actually watched the game. Instead of
talking to their dates and sipping
fortified Sprite, most people stood on
their seats and spilled their precious
beverage in excitement.
No wonder UNC lost. The team
gave up the homefield advantage by
playing in a stadium they didn't
recognize. Insiders heard Mark Maye
mutter, "I don't think we're in Kenan
anymore, Toto."
UNC fans have been criticized for
being apathetic and unspirited. Com
pared to the insanity in Duke's
Cameron Indoor Stadium or Clem
son's Death Valley, the Smith Center
and Kenan Stadium usually resemble
tombs more than athletic arenas. On
Saturday, UNC fans arrived at the
game with something to prove.
Maybe it was the live television
coverage. Maybe it was the excitement
of the national spirit contest. Maybe
it was the realization that yes, orange
is ugly. For whatever reason, the
frenzied noisemaking in the student
section was reminiscent of basketball
games back in Carmichael
Auditorium.
The noise was so loud that the
referees actually had to warn the crowd
to cease fire, so the Clemson players
could hear their signals. Referees
warning a Carolina football crowd to
make less noise? It had all the makings
of a really good "Twilight Zone"
episode. One flushed fan screamed the
sentiments of many, "Oooooh, does
the noisy-woisy hurt your little eary
wearies?" Not all the spirit was constructive.
There were some evil-doers lurking in
the card section. Flying boomerangs
of colored cardboard swooped down
on the crowd, spilling drinks and
nearly decapitating innocent fans. This
was not a good thing.
Nor was some people's inability to
wrestle with Jim Beam, Jack Daniels
and their relations. In the hands of
a person who has overdosed on spirit
juice, a pompon can be a deadly
weapon, whipping back into the faces
of irritated spectators. The lesson:
Don't drink and cheer.
Aside from these indiscretions, the
enthusiasm of the crowd was terrific.
Fans watching the game on television
at home could hear every nuance of
"Peel your banana and, unh, take a
bite." UNC fans should prove their
spirit was not just a fluke by bringing
the same level of bacchanalic revelry
to the Duke game on Nov. 21. Then,
Mark Maye and company will know
where they're playing at home.
Brian McCuskey
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Eric Fullagar, Jim Greenhill, Brian McCuskey and Jon Rust.
Editorial Assistants: Julia Coon and Sharon Kebschull.
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wire editors. Laurie Duncan, assistant state and national editor. Brian Long, assistant business editor. Leigh Ann
McDonald, assistant city editor. Kimberly Edens and Kristen Gardner, assistant university editors.
Sports: Mike Berardino, Patton McDowell and Chris Spencer, assistant sports editors. Robert D'Arruda, Steve Giles,
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Features: Hannah Drum, Carole Ferguson, Laura Jenkins, Corin Ortlam, Lynn Phillips, Leigh Pressley, Karen Stegman,
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Campus Calendar: Mindelle Rosenberg.
Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, general manager; Patricia Glance, adverts ing director; Joan Worth, advertising
coordinator; Peggy Smith, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager; Michael Benfield, Lisa Chorebanian,
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production assistants.
Printing: The Chapel Hill Newspaper
Readers' Foram
UNC needs more than a caretaker
Editor's note: This is the fourth part in
a weekly series. Paul Brandes is a professor
of speech communication.
Daily Tar Heel: What do you think the
chancellor's role should be?
Paul Brandes: He's got to be a leader.
We haven't had a chancellor for a leader
since Frank Porter Graham. The students
want to study leadership and they want
to become leaders. A leader looks over the
hill. Our chancellors have looked behind
it. We haven't had a new program, a new
school, an exciting new curriculum; we
haven't had an exciting new challenge to
our students since I came here in 1966.
What the chancellor's got to provide for
the school is a role model of leadership
and for the faculty a role model of
leadership in scholarship.
We haven't had scholars as chancellors
. . . (recently because UNC-system Pres
ident William) Friday appointed caretak
ers. They were fine men. They've all been
very nice to me, personally, but they were
caretakers. Are we going to get another
caretaker?
DTH: What qualities do you think the
chancellor should have?
Brandes: In the first place, he's got to
like students and be outgoing with them.
He's got to be seen. He's not supposed
to be a fund-raiser. We can hire vice
chancellors to be fund-raisers. He's
supposed to be at student functions; he's
supposed to be where he can associate with
the student body. He's got to make them
(the students) feel as if he's a part of this
university. He's also got to let the faculty
feel that he is a leader in scholarship. The
Association of Retired Professors said the
chancellor has got to be a scholar. You
can be a scholar and be an outgoing person
Who's Next?
The Chancellor Interviews
we have plenty of them. But what we're
likely to get is another guy who plays the
game and everybody on the inside wants
to keep his job. So they've always had
chancellors who were appointed from the
inside so everybody gets to stay in his little
corner and nobody upsets the apple cart.
He ought to be an outgoing model of
visible leadership.
DTH: How much impact can the
chancellor have on shaping the direction
the University takes?
Brandes: How much impact can Nancy
Reagan have on the United States? A great
deal. How much does she have? Almost
none. This drug program's just a front. He
(the chancellor) has all the potential that
he could possibly have. But . . . (the past
four chancellors) have not taken the role.
Friday knew they wouldn't. He didn't want
them to.
DTH: What direction should the Uni
versity take?
Brandes: We don't have our own people
as faculty members, but whom do we hire
for our administrators? They're all inside
boys. They can all continue to slap each
other on the back. That's very unhealthy.
They don't have any new ideas because
they haven't been anywhere else. We
certainly ought to start creating some'
course work which deals with the peace
problem in the United States. We let a
school like the University of California at
Santa Barbara have a special course at
which Vietnam veterans are invited to
lecture the students. We have an oppor
tunity to do that sort of creative teaching.
They put this new curriculum in, but
it wasn't a new curriculum at all. All they
did was take away from the students what
had been won in the revolution. English
got its required courses back, history got
its required courses back. They put it under
a disguise that it's going to be something
different. All it was was that the old powers
moved back in because the students let
them do it and the faculty let them do
it.
WeVe done little in developing inter
disciplinary curriculums. When I first came
in that was all the thing. Now we don't
want an inter-disciplinary curriculum.
What we want is to keep the traditional
departments. But the world is no longer
traditional. We need a new broom. People
whoVe been in the administration ought
to get out of the administration.
The world is changing, and we're not.
I think the faculty and the students are.
Maybe I'm biased, but in our own
department we're just hiring a new person
... we wouldn't think of hiring one of
our own! graduates.
DTH: What do you see as the new
chancellor's immediate priorities?
Brandes: The first thing he ought to do
is get to know the faculty and the students,
be visible, open up some channels to new
ideas. He's got to turn the whole fruit
basket upside down. If a football coach
is hired by a school, what does he do? They
all don't have to come from the outside,
but he certainly ought to pick some people
with some new ideas.
Paul Brandes was interviewed by edi
torial writer Jim Greenhill.
Non-smokers
want it all
To the editor:
I am writing in response to
Mark Powell's Nov. 9 letter,
"Reduce the number of smok
ing lounges." Powell suggests
that it is illogical to have a full
50 percent of the general
lounges in Davis Library set
aside for smokers when only
29.8 percent of the population
smokes. He also seems to have
a paranoid vision that the
University is unjustifiably cat
ering to smokers since, as he
says, "The most scenic view on
campus (is) monopolized by
smokers."
What Powell either neglected
or forgot to recognize in his
argument is that Davis Library
has over 422,000 square feet of
floor space. Of this, there are
six smoking lounges of approx
imately 500 square feet each.
So, in effect, there are only
about 3,000 square feet of
designated smoking areas as
opposed to 419,000 square feet
of the library reserved for non
smokers. Thus, it is easy to see
that the smoking lounges con
stitute less than 0.8 percent of
the total library floor space.
I am not trying to claim that
since 29.8 percent of the Amer
ican population smokes, smok
ers should be permitted to
smoke in a directly propor
tional amount of Davis
Library. On the contrary, I am
quite content with my share of
the presently designated 0.8
percent. All that I ask of Powell
is that he recognize that there
is room enough for smokers
and non-smokers alike in
Davis, and that there is no
justifiable or logical reason to
reduce the present number of
smoking lounges.
And as to the assertion that
smokers have a more scenic
view of the campus, there is an
obvious option that Powell
might want to pursue. I am sure
that no one would object if the
lounges on alternate floors
were switched so that there is
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an equal proportion of smok
ing and non-smoking lounges
on either side of the building.
JOHN NAGEL
Freshman
Philosophy
Marijuana
is for dopes
To the editor:
In the past week, a Supreme
Court nominee and two presi
dential candidates have
revealed that they used mari
juana in their more youthful
years. Jill Gerber's editorial of
Nov. 9, "The choice of a
generation," correctly sug
gested that this flaw should not
by itself disqualify anyone,from
holding public office. However,
it should be noted that though
many consider "recreational
use" of the drug to be "no worse
on a moral scale than going 65
mph in a 55 zone," use of the
drug should not be condoned
by any standards.
Perhaps no moral judgments
should be passed concerning
the use of marijuana, but
whether or not its use is sinful,
there is (contrary to popular
belief) some danger in smoking
pot. I'm sure that there are few
people on this campus who
have not heard of the extreme
consequences of blindness and
paralysis that can result from
extended use of marijuana, but
of course, the occasional user
is not likely to suffer such
terrible consequences.
However, even the occa
sional user can never be quite
sure of what is in the pot he
smokes, unless he grows it
himself. Therefore, I would
venture to suggest that the risk
an occasional user takes is
slightly greater than the risk
taken by "the businessman who
fixes a scotch and soda after
work every day."
As far as presidential candi
dates Albert Gore Jr. and Bruce
Babbitt are concerned, I agree
completely that they should not
be disqualified from the 1988
race based solely on their past
indiscretions. Marijuana was
used extensively in Vietnam,
where Gore confessed to having
used it, and its use over there
may well have helped some
soldiers maintain their .sanity.
And whether or not one con
dones marijuana use, Gerber is
absolutely correct that no
candidate should apologize for
use of the drug; after all,
' mistakes are the best vehicle for
learning.
Now, Judge Douglas Gins
burg was sort of a special case.
He was a victim of many
circumstances, foremost of
which was the Reagan admin
istration's firm stance against
drug use. The administration
could not very well support a
nominee who had used drugs,
especially in his professional
years, without reversing all the
efforts it has made to eliminate
drugs from the schools. Thus,
even though he should not be
judged in this issue alone, there
is little else on which he can
be judged.
It is certainly true that as
more members of the baby
boom generation come into
power, the use of marijuana
will come to be much more
easily overlooked, and more
pertinent issues will determine
an official's fate. Its use will
ultimately decline in the future
because the dangers that go
with it will be realized, not
because certain people consider
it morally objectionable.
DAVID McCOLLUM
Sophomore
Chemistry
CGLA is not only a social organization
To the editor:
I am writing in response to Tanya
Person's Nov. 4 letter, "BSM is not another
CGLA." I am appalled by her insensitivity.
Particularly unnerving is that Person
misrepresented the Carolina Gay and
Lesbian Association, and I feel it necessary
to clear up a few of the letter's errors.
She referred to the CGLA as "a social
group trying to make a point." I will
concede that some of our activities are
social. However, the vast majority of them
are not, and therefore we do not consider
ourselves a social organization. We hold
monthly board meetings, as well as general
membership meetings, both of which deal
with business. We maintain an office in
the Student Union where we coordinate
our activities; keep a small resource library;
serve as a liaison referral service for
members of the University community,
lesbian and gay students and organiza
tions; and collect and distribute AIDS
informational materials.
Person posed two questions: "What kind
of services does the CGLA provide that
it needs as much money as the BSM?" and
"Do CGLA services (if there are any)
benefit the general student body?"
First, we do not need as much money
to operate as the Black Student Movement
nor have we ever asked for such an
amount. All that information is public. I
invite Person, and anyone else, to research
it at leisure, but please don't spread
misinformation.
A small amount of research would have
answered her second question. The CGLA
publicizes all of its important events in the
DTH personals and or Campus Calendar,
we also use posters and fliers to advertise
our functions. To mention some of our
services: We send speakers (upon request)
to classrooms to discuss lesbian gay issues
with students, and we talk with about 2,000
students each year in this way; we publish
a newsletter, Lambda; we sponsor Lesbian
and Gay Awareness Week in the spring,
when we host speakers, panel discussions
and show educational films; and we
participate in Human Rights Week and
AIDS Awareness Week. We also try to
. serve as a support group for gay and lesbian
students.
These services are geared to provide
educational opportunities about lesbians
and gays, and issues particular to our
community. We recognize that gays and
lesbians make up a persecuted minority
group on the campus and in this society.
This is exemplified by anti-homosexual
violence and attitudes. We use education
to combat the oppression and hatred that
is leveled against us. Is education not what
benefits a university community?
Person also said that those students
circulating the petititon in an attempt to
defund the CGLA have a right to their
opinions, and CGLA supporters should
not criticize them. I would like to point
out that these homophobic individuals, of
their own volition, initiated activities
hostile to CGLA and to lesbians and gays.
We have never in any way caused harm
or posed any threat unless one considers
the stimulation of one's mind or the
freedom of others a danger.
DON SUGGS
Junior
English Psychology