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Analyzing the quality of U.. education D.. rmniA ninin I By CEDRIC RICKS Staff Writer Participants in a panel discussion expressed different views Wednesday about the quality of higher education in America. The. panelists debated Alan Blooms book, Vie Closing of the American Mind, which contends that the quality of higher education in America has suffered because universities and colleges have shifted emphasis from study of the liberal arts. The discussion was part of the Carolina Symposium. Panelists included David Dill, associate professor of education; Bryan Hassel, former student body president; George Kennedy, chair man of the Faculty Council; Earl Richards, assistant professor of comparative literature; Mary Scholl, former president of the Campus Y; and James Thompson, associate professor of English. Warren Nord, director of the Humanities Program, moderated the discussion. The panel debated Bloom's state ment that liberal arts programs at universities are suffering because they no longer focus on great works of Western literature. Bloom writes that the shift in emphasis from teaching classical novels of thought to teaching concepts of tolerance results in closing the minds of American students, Scholl said. "My first impression of Bloom's book was, 'Why did he write this book?' "Scholl said. "It seemed like Magazine By ERIC GRIBBIN By ERIC GRIBBIN Staff Writer The Hardison Amendments, three $tate laws prohibiting environmental Regulations from exceeding federal fules, should be repealed, according to a recent study by the N.C. Center or Public Policy Research. I The amendments, named for their Sponsor, lieutenant governor candi date Harold Hardison, prevent the State from enacting adequate water, air and toxic waste regulations, said Jack Betts, editor of Insight maga zine, in which the study was ft & Kenneth Perry (right) fields questions For warm weather flair, the look is seersucker. 100 cotton Made for Us in the USA! ; Single Breasted Sportcoats : $89.90 .Double Breasted Sportcoats- j. $99.90 t Suits with Pleated Slacks f $149.90 You can get any size coat with any size i slacks while they last! I. K. -'."X-X-"" v X 0 163 E. Franklin St., Downtown Chapel Hill Hours: Uon.-Sat. 10-6:30; Sun. 1-5 968-4408 Closed Easter Sunday Open Easter Monday I James Thompson (left) and David Symposium 1988 a writer's fearful reaction to change in society," she said. Teaching concepts of tolerance in universities has resulted in diverse opinions about right and wrong, and Bloom concludes that society can no longer agree on the world's universal truths, Dill said. "We are an incredibly pluralistic society," Dill said. "I think that is criticizes state waste published "For example, there is a federal standard in effect regarding ozone. The Hardison Amendments prevent the state from having a tougher law. A study conducted at N.C. State University has shown that ozone is damaging corn and tobacco, but the state can do nothing about it. All we can have is the federal standards," Betts said. The Legislature adopted the amendments to keep businesses from working with both federal and state rules. DTHDavid Minton for BOT Chair Robert Eubanks Cup! :j:j:j::: X 1 Wim , - ' It : M m V Wo Dill participate in discussion about what Bloom is afraid of." Hassel said it is hard to distin guish between good books and truly great books. Western litera ture, like Plato's works, are limited because they only show the pers pective of white males, he said. Works of literature cannot defin itively be categorized as great books, because the classification is a recent invention, Richards said. "We cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that all great books are somewhere immediately and This seemed wise at the time, since federal regulations were stringent. But these regulations have relaxed under the Reagan administration, and two years ago we decided to do a study of the N.C. environment," Betts said. "We went into the study asking ourselves if the Hardison Amendments had kept the state from properly regulating the environment." In some cases, the amendments have led to lower state standards, resulting in environmental damage, Betts said. M6GtinQ f'm Page 1 are necessary and should be set up to help as many people as possible. Wallace said he hopes the schol arships would go to "outstanding overachievers" who contribute their time and effort to extracurricular activities and academics. A shortage of black faculty is a common problem shared by other universities, Eubanks said. UNC is competing with other universities for the same faculty, and the University does not offer competitive salaries and benefits. "You're up against the Michigans, the Harvards and Dukes" in attract ing black faculty, Eubanks said. UNC also has to compete with industry to attract blacks to faculty positions, Eubanks said. Blacks are making the biggest gains in industry, and this success is steering them away from academics, he said. BSM members said hiring black professors and instructors from other universities as visiting faculty could improve the University's image and help solve the problem of the black faculty shortage at UNC. Black faculty could serve as role models for all students on campus, regardless of race, students said. The BSM should band together with other campus organizations to make a bid for constitutional funding, Wallace said. . . . castles and choirs. Learn documentary development, video production, scripting, directing, and editing for television in Ireland and Wales. Work with professionals from the BBC, Irish and Welsh TV. On Trinity College campus. College Credit. Anglo-American Workshops 12 East 86 St. 408 New York, NY 10028 212-737-1559 212-971-9682 Sonne (MiQx. '''$0? f if i fW -. J f jiMimtn..1: jst. - DTHDavid Minton the quality of higher education universally recognizable as such," he said. Only people familiar with classic literature can define what books are truly great, Nord said. "Until you have read good books, you are not qualified to judge what are the great books," he said. A liberal arts education, deve loped at Harvard, was originally intended to train ministers to lead society, and the common source of truth was the Bible, Dill said. regulations, calls for The EPA (Environmental Protec tion Agency) has been working on a new set of regulations on toxic air pollutants. North Carolina also wants to adopt toxic pollutant standards. The state cannot adopt its own standards until the EPA releases theirs, because we must make sure that our standards meet federal levels," he said. "All EPA standards are minimum national standards. If North Carolina needs to adopt higher standards, it is handcuffed because it must get its standards from an agency 300 miles away. This is a disconcert ing catch-22. We are so dependent upon federal regulations that we can't effectively regulate our own environment." Legislative proposals to repeal the amendments have failed in the past, BINE TlWff I IWTflfff Pf !Ld ii m ) o to include Saturday & Sunday from noon to 6:30 pm! And every other day of the week too! Now More Than Ever... The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, March 31, 19883 Cigarette iimdustiry unaffected by bans, tobacco lobbyists say By TAMMY BLACKARD Staff Writer Despite recent government and airline bans on smoking, Washington lobbyists for the tobacco industry insist the market is not turning downward. But a tobacco export promoter says that farmers have gotten a bad deal. "There has been no decrease in profits in the tobacco industry," said Walker Merryman, vice president of the Tobacco Institute, a lobbying organization for the tobacco indus try. "It's one of the most profitable industries in the world. I don't see a major trend toward banning smok ing in the workplace or on airlines." The federal government banned smoking on all domestic flights under two hours long, effective April 23. Northwest Airlines also announced recently a ban on smoking on all flights. Those decisions should not affect the tobacco industry, Merry man said. In fact, he said, the industry has had an increasing market potential. "Tobacco companies announced about six to eight months ago that they will not be purchasing as much tobacco from foreign markets, and that should help our industry," Merryman said. "American tobacco exports are up by 60 percent in the last 12 months the industry is expanding." But the president of an export Betts said. "One of the biesest problems is that two very powerful groups, the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry and the N.C. Farm Bureau, support the laws," Betts said. At least one of Hardison's oppo nents has called for a repeal of the amendments. "Sen. (Tony) Rand has prepared a position paper on the environment that calls for the repeal of the Hardison Amendments. He fully supports the repeal," said Barlow Hurgot, an aide to the Tony Rand for Lieutenant Governor campaign. "I do not think that the amend ments have had an appreciable impact on our ability to protect the air and water so far," said Paul Wilms, director of the N.C. Division of Environmental Management; has extended ANYTIIM Granville Towers ninninr Granville Towers is The Place to be at UNC. promotion company financed nationally by farmers said that while the market may be expanding for the tobacco industry, the same is not true for farmers. "Cigarette and leaf tobacco exports are going up, yes, but farmers have been getting the squeeze," said Kirk Wayne, president of Tobacco Asso ciates, Inc., in Washington, D.C. "The industry has been doing well, but there is a tremendous amount of competition worldwide. Countries like Zimbabwe and Brazil use cheap peasant labor and can produce their product at half the price it costs American farmers." The American tobacco companies' decision to import less tobacco may help the American farmer, but the decision will decrease the amount of imported tobacco and increase the competition in foreign markets, he said. Sixty-five percent of American tobacco is exported. "If the general trends continue, any future growth opportunity will come from overseas markets," Wayne said. "I don't see any potential growth in America at all. "Hundreds and hundreds of farmers have gone out of business in the last two or three years; there just isn't any profit here anymore. It's going to be tough to make profits again. It will take some very different techniques to compete with foreign markets, he said. changes "Some of the newer state regulations are problematic, however, particu larly our statute regarding under ground storage tank (UST) stand ards. It says that the state cannot enact any legislation on USTs until the federal government adopts theirs. The federal government has been delaying the release of its standards and, as a result, we have no way of enacting UST standards, which we badly need." "The Insight article is the most thorough analysis that anyone has done on the Hardison Amendments," said Bill Holman, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club. "Conservation organiza tions like the Sierra Club have supported the repeal of the amendments." . IE
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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