20Tbe Tar Heel Thursday, May 26, 1988
OpDimioim
Let positive traditions live
The Teague Tradition. Nearly
every UNC student knows about
it. Each year, the residents of
Teague are encouraged to be the
loudest, most obnoxious group of
students on campus, and at least
some of them do their best to
uphold it.
Lately it has gotten out of hand.
The Teague homecoming float
proudly stated, "Deacons Have
Aids." The residents sit outside on
benches and grade females, and
there are reports of coercion of
residents to participate in dorm
activities.
Most recently, an incident with
racial overtones occurred at the
dormitory's final party April 21.
The events of that day culminated
in the racial and sexual harrass
ment of Scott Residence College
Area Director Iris Hunt, who is
black, by unidentified students
thought to be Teague residents.
After housing officials exam
ined the situation, Director
Wayne Kuncl sent letters to the
72 returning residents Tuesday
informing them that their home
is no longer Teague. Although five
men, chosen at random, will be
allowed to return, the rest will be
spread out among 1 3 other dorms.
Teague, one of the last remaining
all-male dorms, will go coed.
If this sounds a little extreme,
that's because it is supposed to.
Kuncl is coming down hard and
fast in an effort to crush the
tradition and prevent the racial
conflicts from exploding. But the
"solution," and the process
through which it was reached, are
far from acceptable.
.
Residence Hall Association
President Jimmy Randolph was
not informed of the proposed
changes until May 16, although
Teague representatives were
working with the housing office
before exams even began. With
this short notice, Randolph was
virtually paralyzed, unable to
research the problem or be an
active voice in the decision
making process.
This constitutes a serious
breach of the trust between
administration and students. By
not informing the students'
elected representative of such a
large problem, the administration
exhibited an appalling disregard
toward student concerns and
government.
And the decision itself is
unclear and unfair. The racial
incidents, which should never
have been allowed to escalate and
become a factor in the fate of the
dorm, have been emphasized as
the catalyst in the decision to
immediately expell the men.
Racial tensions on campus can
run high, and the problem
between Hunt and Teague is a
hotbed. But the racial slurs, while
unforgiveable, have been perpe
trated by an overwhelming
minority.
What if those few had been
caught? They would have been
severely punished, and the issue
would have died. Housing's
inability to catch the delinquents
at fault does not give them the
right to punish the whole dorm.
The action smacks of another of
Kuncl's ill-advised policies: if
something in a dorm gets broken,
make the whole dorm pay.
Except this is worse. It's a
random blow against 72 students
of whom most, if not all, are at
best indirectly involved, simply to
appease housing officials. Rather
than ease tension, this will
increase it.
Kuncl says moving the students
isn't punishment, merely a dra
matic and necessary change. But
all this change does is create
confusion as students are unsure
of the true reasons behind it and
why they all seem to be punished.
And the indecisiveness in allowing
five students chosen at random to
return to the dorm only adds to
that confusion.
The focus returns, inevitably, to
the Teague tradition. Many cur
rent and past residents say the
emphasis on it has decreased. The
overall esprit de corps seems to
be increasingly relaxed, with the
negative showmanship carried on
by a few overzealous students, not
all of whom even reside in Teague.
But the positive fraternal spirit
which remains is threatened.
At this point, kicking the 72
men out may be the only solution
left. But smaller steps should have
been taken long ago to deal with
problem residents, rather than
punishing the entire dorm in one
sudden move.
Regardless, the decision to go
coed should not be a part of the
solution. While the problem
should not be allowed to drag on,
housing officials should wait for
a year and then reassess the need
for a switch to coed.
Teague needs to clean up its
image, but not lose its identity.
The dorm should stay all-male.
With so few male dorms left, every
effort should be attempted to
maintain them; they are an inte
gral part of the tradition that
embodies UNC.
Of course, it is a little late for
much change to occur. Kuncl
effectively delayed action until
most students were far away, and
he has made every effort to keep
student leaders and the media in
the dark as long as possible. And
some of Kuncl's superiors, who
may not approve of a coed
Teague, are out of town, giving
him almost full control of the
dorm's future.
So the decisions are Kuncl's
alone, and with them he has set
a highly visible precedent of
sloppy decision-making and dis
regard for student opinion. This
should not be tolerated or
forgotten.
Astrology's
Lately IVe wondered what actu
ally happens behind the scenes
at the White House; now that
the kiss-and-tell truth about the
decision making process is out, I can
share with you my conclusions. It's
everywhere: the CBS Evening News
with Dan Rather, Star, The National
Enquirer (because inquiring minds
want to know), and on the streets
the use of astrology to make decisions
for the Reagan Administration over
the last eight years.
Should we condemn a man who
has followed his hunches about a
person's prediction? Let he who has
never followed the advice of an
astrology page cast the first stone.
That counts me out, along with a lot
of Tar Heel readers. Can't we all
remember some time when we read
our horoscope and the day turned out
as predicted?
My mom used to read the horo
scope to me because we share the
same birthday. "You want to hear
your future?" she'd ask?
Not really, I'd think, but would
reply, "Sure, go ahead."
Now let's suppose this is what
Dormitories,
"The bottom line of what we're
doing is we're reassigning the 72
students in Teague. The way that
we're doing that is without trying to
place responsibility for a person or
persons as the cause of the situation.
It's my feeling that we need to . . .
act with regard to problems we've had
with Teague over a long period of
time. " Wayne Kuncl, director of
housing, on changing Teague Resi
dence Hall to a coed dorm.
"In the immortal words of James
Brown, 7 feel good!' This is truly a
major victory in the war on drugs . . .
shows our American justice system
is not intimidated by bribes, threats,
physical violence or anything else."
U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle,
who prosecuted the drug-smuggling
convictibn against Carlos Lehder
a: .
allure can't
Randy Basinger
Staff Columnist
happened from here: Mom tells me
that the time is prime to make up
with a friend I havent spoken with
for some time. The next day I run
into James, who beat the heck out
of me for stealing his girlfriend and
hasnt talked to me since.
I tell him how sorry I am that Betty
Lou wanted to date me and he says
he was planning to break up with her
anyway and that he was sorry for
putting me in the hospital for a week.
We skip class for a burger run.
Now I think there must be some
thing to this astrology thing and I
read it religiously for the next week,
planning my every move by those few
lines of paper. Then the big break
unfolds.
The column displays those famous
last words ROMANTIC INTER
LUDES JUST AROUND THE
BEND. The weekend is just around
the bend, so I put two and two
drugs, danger
Week in Quotes
Rivas after stalking Lehder for six
years. a a
"The coming months are extremely
dangerous. They (North Korea's
leaders) are constrained, but the
danger will continue. Pyongyang
(North Korea's capital) fears the
cultural and political center of the
Korean peninsula will shift to Seoul
if the Seoul Olympics is successful
They fear they 11 lose the contest
without a single shot being fired. "
Kim Chang Soon, director of the
Institute of North Korea Studies in
Seoul, on fears of terrorist attacks
from North Korea in August.
"Before God, we have a duty to
be deniei
together and decide to ask out Laura
the cheerleader. I see her the next day,
ask her for a date, and she slaps me
and laughs in my face. For the next
week I burn the astrology page, and
my dating career is scarred for life.
As you can see, it's an easy trap
to fall into. The president is just
coming around to the truth, though
it's a much harder fall when you are
in the public spotlight. Many of us
have been or still are addicted to
astrological charts and dial-astrologers
(Mickey Dane predicts
your future for just fifty cents a call),
but we dont feel the ridicule of a
nation when we wallow in the misery
of astrology.
So cut the head honcho some slack
and tell those "I am having Bigfoot's
baby" papers to lay off; he has enough
problems running the country. In the
meantime, I think 111 go check out
my horoscope to check how people
will react to this columntomorrow.
Randy Basinger is a sopho
more journalism major from
Statesville.
and dresses
give an education to all groups,
irrespective of their color. We are
going to fight this to the end "
Michael Brayshaw, headmaster of a
mixed-race school in Vereeniging,
South Africa, fighting a Supreme
Court case to keep from expelling its
black students or being evicted by the
town council.
"They are wild people. The guys
we've arrested say that 99 percent
smoke rock cocaine. So they are
supporting a drug habit as well as
a belief that they need to wear
women 's attire. " Fort Pierce, Fla.,
police Detective Greg Kirk, on a ring
of 30 to 40 transvestite "smash-and-grab"
burglars who have looted
women's clothing boutiques at night,
stealing more than $100,000 in denim
miniskirts, linen skirts and silk pants
with coordinating jackets.