10The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, January 27, 1988
Satlg
alar ifteel
95th year of editorial freedom
Athletics needs
When the Dick -Crum
affair broke
last semester,
faculty pressure
for an investiga-
board
opinion
tion into the circumstances surround
ing his resignation began full force. So
far complete information about the
episode has yet to come forth. And
now the Faculty Council is on the
verge of establishing a committee to
investigate all aspects of UNC
athletics.
As the resolution before the council
now stands, a look into CrunTs
departure will not be a defined
responsibility of the committee. But,
undoubtedly, it is the event that has
focused attention on the athletic
department and is serving as the main
impetus for an investigation.
Many faculty have vociferously
claimed that the unprofessional hand
ling of the Crum episode not only
tarnished the school's reputation for
athletic integrity, but also revealed a
skewed set of priorities in which too
much weight is placed on athletics.
Sadly, their claims are on the mark.
When the Rams Club, or Educa
tional Foundation, spends $800,000 to
buy out the contract of a coach who
appears to be doing his job, something
Getting stuck in
Maybe George Bush finally has shed
his image as the Republican wall
flower. Disproving the belief that he
has no personality, the vice president
displayed the most passion during his
campaign so far in a live television
interview Monday night.
Unfortunately, his theatrics didn't
come while promoting his positions on
pressing campaign issues. Instead, he
was lashing out at CBS News anchor
Dan Rather for questioning his role
in the Iran-contra affair.
After Rather began the interview,
Bush responded acidly that he wanted
to talk about his campaign, not the
Iran controversy. When Rather per
sisted, Bush mentioned the newsman's
walkout last September over a tennis
match that pre-empted his show.
Bush supporters have been clamor
ing that Rather treated the candidate
with appalling disrespect. As a jour
nalist, Rather should keep his broad
casts as objective and unemotional as
possible. His purpose is to report the
news, not make it. But the vice
president's position does not give him
license to attack reporters personally.
Bush insisted that CBS had prom
ised him that the news spot would be
a campaign profile, not an investiga
tion into the Iran-contra affair. If this
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Matt Bivens, Sharon Kebschull and Brian McCuskey.
Editorial Assistants: Gary Greene, David Lagos and Laura Pearlman.
Layout: Cara Bonnett, Peter Lineberry, Joe McCall and Mandy Spence.
News: Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, Laura Bennett, Lydian Bernhardt, Brenda Campbell, Jenny
Cloninger, Staci Cox, Laura DiGiano, Carrie Dove, Laura Francis, Lindsay Hayes, Kyle Hudson,
Helen Jones, Susan Kauffman, Will Lingo, Barbara Linn, Lynne McClintock, Brian McCollum, Myrna
Miller, Rebecca Nesbit, Helle Nielsen, Susan Odenkirchen, Cheryl Pond, Amy Powell, Beth Rhea,
Becky Riddick, Mandy Spence, Christopher Sontchi, Laura Summer, William Taggart, Clay Thorp,
Jackie Williams and Amy Winslow. Mark Folk and Justin McGuire, senior writers. Juliellen Sarver,
wire editor. Brian Long, assistant business editor.
Sports: Chris Spencer and Jim Muse, assistant sports editors. James Surowiecki, senior writer. Robert
D'Arruda, Steve Giles, Dave Glenn, Dave Hall, Clay Hodges, Brendan Mathews, Patton McDowell,
Keith Parsons, Andy Podolsky and Langston Wertz.
Features: Laura Jenkins, Jim Mock, Corin Ortlam, Leigh Pressley, Kathy Wilson and Julie Woods.
Arts: James Burrus, senior writer. Scott Cowen, Stephanie Dean, Kim Donehower, David Hester, Julie
Olson, Kelly Rhodes, Alston Russell and Richard Smith.
Photography: Christie Blom, Tony Deifell, Janet Jarman, David Minton, Elizabeth Morrah and Julie
Stovall.
Copy Editors: Karen Bell and Kaarin Tisue, assistant news editors. Cara Bonnett, Carrie Burgin, Julia
Coon, Whitney Cork, Bert Hackney, Lisa Lorentz and Sherry Miller.
Cartoonists: Jeff Christian and Greg Humphreys.
Campus Calendar: Mindelle Rosenberg and David Starnes.
Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, general manager; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan
Worth, advertising coordinator: Peggy Smith, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager;
Michael Benfield, Lisa Chorebanian, Ashley Hinton, Kellie McElhaney, Chrissy Mennitt, Stacey
Montford, Lesley Renwrick, Julie Settle, Dave Slovensky, Dean Thompson, Amanda Tilley and Wendy
Wegner, advertising representatives; Stephanie Chesson, classified advertising representative; and Kris
Carlson, secretary.
Distribution: Tucker Stevens, manager.
Delivery: David Econopouly, manager; Billy Owens, assistant. , '
Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn. Rita Galloway, Leslie Humphrey, Stephanie Locklear and
Tammy Sheldon, production assistants.
Printing: The Chapel Hill Newspaper.
JlLLGERBER,or
Amy Hamilton, Managing Editor
SALLY PEARSALL, News Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
LAURIE DUNCAN, State and National Editor
Leigh ann Mcdonald, aty Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
FELISA NEURINGER, Business Editor
HANNAH DRUM, Features Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Am Editor
Charlotte Cannon, Photography Editor
Cathy McHugh, Omnibus Editor
defined role
is wrong.
The faculty resolution defines the
purposes of UNC, among other things,
as: to foster mastery of knowledge
through excellence in teaching; to
maintain national eminence in
research; and to create a climate that
fosters the education, personal growth
and moral character of its students.
The concerns that the athletic
department may be compromising the
University's purposes and standards of
conduct have merit. According to the
resolution, the proposed committee
would examine all relevant aspects of
the athletic program its scope,
procedures, financing and other
resources. Its fund-raising arm, the
Rams Club, would also be evaluated.
Faculty members hope that it can be
determined whether the role of athlet
ics is compromising UNC's purposes
as an academic institution.
The athletic department has wel
comed the investigation, showing its
desire to cooperate with the concerned
faculty. But until the investigation
takes place and the role of the athletic
department is better defined, athletics
will continue to gain precedence over
academics. Until then, there can be no
defense against a debacle such as the
Crum affair.
the sandbox
were the case, then it was unethical
of Rather to spring the Iran question
on him. But had Bush merely answered
calmly, the whole episode could have
been avoided.
Whether Rather acted inapprop
riately, the most important issue to
come out of the broadcast is Bush's
reluctance to answer questions about
the Iran-contra scandal. If Congress
found him innocent of any wrongdo
ing, then he should tell the voters this
as often as they want to hear it. He
must know by now that public accoun
tability is a prerequisite for any elected
office, especially the presidency.
Yet Bush has managed to sway
popular sentiment in this case. CBS
reportedly received several thousand
calls in his defense after the broadcast.
Political analysts are already speculat
ing that the incident will help him in
the Iowa caucuses Feb. 8.
It shouldn't. Both men are guilty of
trading professional conduct for
sandbox antics. Regardless of which
participant was more responsible, a
one-upmanship battle replaced what
could have been an informative,
innocuous piece. While spouting
insults at each another, Rather and
Bush failed to see whom they cheated
the most the viewers. Jill Gerber
A post-adolescent look
ome years ago, in the regular course
k of spending whole days in the library
' and living without a television, sports
ceased to hold their formerly all
encompassing grip on my imagination.
Once a raison d'etre during the John
Drew Eddie Johnson glory days of the
Atlanta Hawks, sports had become a mere
amusement. Once I was no longer living
from game to game, I found my days open
to new activities, including my share of
the would-be intellectual's disdain for
fanaticism. Chapel Hill provided ample
opportunities.
Once an avid devotee of Ford, Davis,
O'Koren, Worthy, Jordan and Holly
Farms, I now developed a distaste for
Carolina blue and all the raging semi
professional Fans, whether disguised as
students or alums. Surely, I thought,
fanness occupies only a stage in the
adolescent's development. This was the
famous period of affiliation that had
brought us the Bolshevik Revolution, the
Nazi Youth League and John Wayne-style
patriotism. But such movements, like all
things, have a limited appeal and must fall
away or change in time.
None other than John Naisbitt has
assured us that we are living in a world
economy where we need not protectionism,
but a new way of seeing ourselves.
Nationalism was a swell idea, democratic
and moral for its day, but as we become
adults, do we not see through less parochial
eyes? Rambo affronts our sensibilities by
embodying and exaggerating the idiocy of
our personal and national youth when we
were spurred on by fear, testosterone and
aspirations for glory.
With luck, nations, like men, mature.
From the drug-induced Summer of Love
through the ignorance of ideology that was
Vietnam to the corruption of Watergate,
America saw the end to very opposite
illusions. These sobering events revealed
Fever gets
red carpet
To the editor:
I went to the UNC vs. Duke
basketball game on Jan. 21. To
get a ticket, I, along with
countless others, stood in the
cold and rain outside the Smith
Center on the previous Sunday.
One group of students did not
have to stand in line to gain
admission and were guaranteed
good seats. This group was
Carolina Fever.
I think it is fantastic that
students want to get together
to show their school spirit. But
doing it at the expense of others
is absurd. By standing in line,
I received my tickets randomly
and sat in the corner of the
upper deck. This group, by
showing its spirit (and I feel I
have as much as they do), sat
in Section 116. I have sat in
those seats at past games and
have found that they are some
of the best seats in the arena,
but because Carolina Fever has
those seats at every game, I no
longer have a chance to sit
there!
I know I can join a block,
and if it is successful, I will have
a randomly distributed ticket
with the group. All I ask is that
the Carolina Fever block be
given the same restrictions as
any other. This means that its
members would be seated ran
domly in the arena along with
the other individual students
and blocks. Just because I have
chosen not to be a member of
Carolina Fever does not mean
that I do not support UNC
athletics. What makes this
group so special that it auto
matically receives some of the
best seats in the house?
i
DARA LEONARD
Junior
Education
bering
three CIA protesters to receive a prayer
for judgment on Jan. 14 after an appear
ance district court.
To the editor:
I am greatly disappointed with the Jan.
21 editorial "See protest through to the
end," which said, "The protesters did an
admirable job of making people think."
This statement obviously did not include
the editorial board. Its members falsely
stated that CIA supporters believe the CIA
is trying "to prevent nations from inflicting
greater crimes on their people." If any of
these board members had bothered to read
any books supporting the CIA, such as
"Secrets, Spies, and Scholars," by Ray S.
Cline, they would have found that its
purpose is to stop communism or leftist
ideals.
Furthermore, the DTH said that,
"Whether the CIA commits unjustified
crimes is a political issue open to debate.
It shouldn't have been given the weight
of fact in the courtroom." Where else do
you convince people of crimes other than
in a courtroom? The CIA's actions are not
Education benng the past, thus losing lor survival are tne main iaeoi- y..
CIA puts its ideals before preserving lives
Editor's note: The author was one of only a political issue, but also a legal and Questionable? McGee's past expe
Headers' IForamn)
Louis Corrigan
Staff Columnist
limitations both in our claim to and ability
to export salvation, and in our capacity
to endure the Utopia of brotherly love
when it means clusters of naked, narcotized
bodies.
America found a new pragmatism of
personal responsibility in Yuppiedom. If
it was conservative, it was also honest and
focused in its goal: the most painless and
prosperous security as fast as possible. If
it was a retreat from social causes, well,
isolationism was long ago sanctioned by
George Washington himself. And what can
be more American than self-reliance?
Reagan's foreign policy be damned. Just
keep the economy booming.
Then came the outcry against drug
taking athletes who had violated their
public trust in failing to serve as role
models for America's youth. To that I
scoffed. America's youth does not need
heroes, I thought. In a post-illusive era
when the baggage of religion and New Deal
ethics were being discarded, America did
not need heroes forever wielding influence
on a passive populace. As with all of us,
America was trying to grow up. And
athletes, surely, were no different from the
splashy rock stars we made rich for keeping
us entertained. If they were exciting
players, all the more reason they should
be excused from being honest people.
Of course, I had attained a little hillock
of independence from all those who had
served as my heroes, from my father to
John Lennon, from Ernest Hemingway to
Morrissey, from many valuable teachers
to my girlfriend. And on that hillock I
wanted to sit for a while, leary of
bandwagons, deaf to church bells and
J Hi
CI
PfiA THE BIG Vm) f jfe - "
1 AfTER"t7
Keep problem
in perspective
To the editor:
I would like to point out to
Bob Sheldon ("United States
should push PLO recognition,"
Jan. 22) that the situation
between Israel and the Pales
tine Liberation Organization is
not as cut-and-dried as he and
so many other Americans
think.
First, the PLO and the Pales
tinians are not the same thing.
The PLO constantly claims to
lead the Palestinians when in
fact it has had little to do with
the rioting in Gaza and the
West Bank. Becoming dissat
isfied with the PLO in the last
decade, many Palestinians,
especially the younger genera
tions, have sought fundamen
talist Islam as the answer to
their problems. Yassir Arafat
and the PLO have simply tried
to jump in front of the cameras.
Second, people often have
the crippling tendency to look
at the present without remem
perspective of the situation.
Israel took over Gaza and the
West Bank in 1967 after being
provoked. The PLO, with the
support of the Arab world, was
using both of these areas as
bases for their unending quest
to destroy the state of Israel.
After invasion by the Arabs,
Israel struck back and took
Gaza and the West Bank so
that the PLO could not regain
a foothold. How would you like
it if you were an Israeli, and
the strongest threat to your
existence lay 20 miles from
your back yard?
I also sympathize with the
Palestinians and think the
Israelis have handled the situa
tion badly with their show of
excessive force and stubborn
ness. Of course, the Palestini
ans have rights. What many
people fail to see is that if Israel
gives back the territories, the
PLO will move in again. Many
Israelis will have died for
naught.
The Palestinians seem to be
victims of a world in which
power politics and the struggle
the past, thus losing
for survival are the
human rights issue. Any organization
associated with assassination, terrorism,
torture, mass slaughter and coups of
democratically elected governments should
not be accepted by the American people
as a legitimate intelligence organization but
should be brought to court. The CIA has
broken many laws including the executive
order prohibiting U.S. intelligence from
participating in assassination and the
Boland Amendment.
So we, the CIA Action Committee,
decided that we could not stand by and
watch while millions of people suffered.
We brought this issue to the courtroom
by bringing a former CIA agent, Ralph
McGee, to testify. If one had looked into
McGee's past, one would find 25 years of
CIA service, as a CIA adviser to the secret
police in Vietnam, assistant director to
covert operations in Thailand and the
Philippines and winner of a Lifetime
Distinguished Service Award one of the
highest honors given.' The judge accepted
McGee as an expert witness. Yet the
editorial board claimed that, "The protest
was weakened by a questionable defense."
at heroes
battle chants. The view was at first pristine.
We see a landscape best alone. But I was
deluded, blind to the gallery of gods I had
assembled on my walls and bookshelves,
denying the deifying instinct at my core.
After all, I some days needed an'R.E.M.
or a Sinead O'Connor to keep my spirits
up.
In the past 10 years pro basketball teams
have turned into franchises of millionaire
superstars, mere stables of point totals to
be traded about the league. By contrast,
college basketball has remained the pre
eminent spectator sport because the
superstars are still dependent on the
everyman, and the team concept still wins
out. Strange, then, that I would rediscover
my latent fanaticism in a pro team the
Boston Celtics.
For two weeks last May, I lived the
Celtics' epic struggle against the Detroit
Pistons. Overmatched and injured, the
Celtics endured. Larry Bird had been
wrestled down and responded like a child.
But then he returned to Game Five with
The Steal that made all wonder if he were
not the greatest player ever. I began
daydreaming about Larry Bird.
In her recent appearance on campus,
Maya Angelou spoke of our need for
heroes and sheroes like Martin Luther
King. She stressed the importance of
keeping such figures life-sized so that they
might continue to inspire us rather than
overwhelm us. I would say Maya Angelou
is a sage, if it were not necessary to keep
her life-sized.
But some heroes we can only idolize.
They allow us vicarious thrills which we
are incapable of achieving. They entertain
us and make life rich and enjoyable.
I admit to having both.
Louis Corrigan is an Evening College
student from Atlanta, Ga.
n
ogies. The Israelis may not be
right in their handling of the
situation, but we shouldn't
support terrorists or take things
out of perspective before mak
ing judgments on others. Shel
don, peace is nice, but until
people at least try to see the
whole picture, it will be unat
tainable forever. Let's all read
our history books before we
watch the seven o'clock news.
MICHAEL SCHMIER
Freshman
International Studies
Letters policy
The Daily Tar Heel
welcomes reader comments,
ideas and criticisms.
When submitting letters
or columns, students should
include the following: name,
year in school, major, phone
number and the date
submitted. Other members of
the University community
should give similar
main ideol
information.
Questionable? McGee's past experience
and knowledge is a fact, and any amount
of research can prove it.
A little more research also would have
proven to the board that many convictions
do belong in the courtroom, contrary to
the editorial saying, "Many people have
firm opinions. But just because convictions
are strong doesn't make them correct. Or
incorrect. Right or wrong, they don't
belong in the courthouse." If the board
truly believes this, then Brown vs. the
Board of Education was an extremely
ridiculous case.
Finally, whoever wrote the editorial was
obviously not at the trial. The editorial
said, "Whatever they pleaded, the judge
should have found them guilty." The judge
did find us guilty. If the writers didnt
attend the trial, why were they writing
about the validity of the defense used? I
am beginning to believe that accurate
reporting is about "as rare as a yuppie
without a cellular phone."
JOEY TEMPLETON
Sophomore
Political Science Drama