16The Tar Heel Thursday, June 2, 1988
Opinion
Question funds, not license
When the UNC Board of Gov
ernors filed suit against Franklin
Street's Johnny T-Shirt for silk
screening symbols licensed by
UNC on clothes without a license,
the owners fought back.
Co-owner Chuck Helpingstine
countersued, contending that the
University is restricting free trade
through its licensing program and
that the program is illegitimate
because UNC is a government
agency and has no right being in
business.
There can be no doubt that
Helpingstine is in the wrong here.
UNC is funded by the state, but
that does not mean citizens of
North Carolina "own" the Uni
versity (and therefore the right to
exploit its symbols for profit), any
more than they own the state's
highways.
Helpingstine also asserts that
UNC should steer clear of bus
iness. But the University is inher
ently a business it leases
housing, hosts concerts and sport
ing events, markets its research
ventures and competes to provide
education. These practices are
beneficial and necessary.
The University has a right to
use licensing profits as it likes
without having to answer to those
who pay the fees, and since profit
can only help the University-
Easiest solution no answer
After two weeks of debate and
confusion within the housing
department, Dean of Student
Affairs Donald Boulton
announced his decision Tuesday
to support housing's switch of
Teague Residence Hall to coed
ucational, rather than reverse the
decision and leave the dorm all
male. But the decision to go coed
still makes no sense, even after
prolonged discussion of the rea
sons behind the switch.
From the beginning, Residence
Hall Association President
Jimmy Randolph and Student
Body President Kevin Martin
could not work on the issue as
they ought because housing offi
cials kept them out of the process.
Randolph's and Martin's opin
ions on going coed were heard
only as they were on the defensive,
trying to convince Boulton to
reverse the decision.
The decision Boulton supports
is more confusing than ever.
Kicking 72 men out is a harsh
enough solution; the jump to
going coed doesn't follow. And
housing is also allowing five of
those 72 back into Teague not
exactly the clean break they were
trying to make with the tradition.
Officials say they moved five
back in to make the overall move
appear less punitive. Now they
concede that it may have been a
mistake. If so, then why not
reverse that decision?
This decision is also frustrating
because housing refuses to put
provide education, Helpingstine's
assertion that the funds are
misused is irrelevant to his case.
But while Helpingstine
shouldn't question the use of the
money, students should. The
benefactors of the licensing fees
seem somewhat hard to identify.
Much of the money goes to the
licensing agent and to the athletics
department for scholarships.
What about the remaining
money? UNC officials say it is in
a fund to be used as the chancellor
sees fit. Originally this was to be
used for scholarships, but no
scholarships have been awarded
yet.
On a campus with million
dollar maintenance bills hanging
over it, where the country's best
professors are leaving in droves
because they are underpaid, and
where students in need abound,
money that is misused, or unused,
is intolerable.
If justice prevails, Helpingstine
will be found guilty of infringing
on not only the rights of this
university, but of every student
and alumnus. The greater tri
umph, however, may occur if
UNC officials are forced to
account for licensing fee profits,
and students can see this money
put to good use.
any of the remaining 67 (except
the area governor) into Carmi
chael or Avery dorms, which are
on mid-campus next to Teague.
When students rightfully chal
lenge this decision, how will
housing respond? There seems to
be no satisfactory answer.
Teague is by no means a model
dorm, and no one involved in this
disputes that. The "pervasive
Teague tradition" has been noted
so often lately that it almost seems
like a cliche.
lyt that tradition would be
demolished by replacing all the
former residents. Past problems
can be eliminated by restricting
the negative alumni influence,
forcing Teague residents to follow
the rules or kicking them out, and
instilling in them a sense of pride
about the dorm and the "new"
traditions that housing officials,
dorm government and RHA can
establish.
It would have taken work, but
Randolph and RHA were willing
to make the effort that's their
job. If those efforts proved unsuc
cessful, the need for a change in
Teague could be reassessed in
January, before students enter the
housing lottery for fall.
Reversing a decision can be
difficult and embarrassing. But it
would have been the right answer
in this situation not necessarily
the easiest for housing officials,
but the only fair answer to a
complex pf oblem.
Text assessment
unfair
To the editor:
In the last issue of The Tar Heel,
an ad ran which mentioned our
sociology text, "Human Societies'
(incorrectly referring to it as "Intro
duction to Macrosociology"). The ad
compared our book unfavorably in!
terms of entertainment value to a
Ludlum thriller, a Wolfe best-seller
and a Fitzgerald classic, among
others. That textbooks are no match
in this respect should be obvious to
anyone. To compare the two kinds
of books is to compare apples and
oranges.
We were puzzled, however, why
this advertiser singled our book out
for such an inappropriate compari
sons. Why had he chosen it? Had he
once read our book and been bored
to tears? Worse yet, had he flunked
some course in which our book had
been assigned reading? ,
We decided to inquire.
No, he said, he had never read our
book, nor had the person who had
prepared the ad. In fact, no one in
his employ had read or even seen it.
How, then, had it been selected? He
said it was simply picked at random.
After apologizing profusely for the
ad, he said he would withdraw it
immediately and send The Tar Heel
his own letter of explanation.
For the record, we would simply
note that "Human Societies" has
received very positive ratings from the
majority of its student readers over
many semesters, not only here at
UNC but also at other colleges and
universities in this country and
abroad. We are quite prepared to
stake the book's reputaion on the
judgments of the roughly half-million
individuals who have read it in one
or another of its five editions since
1970.
GERHARD LENSKI
Professor
Sociology
JEAN LENSKI
Books, bombs, bankruptcy
" don 't look forward to it. I wrote
a book once and found it was quite
a chore. " President Reagan on his
plans to write a book countering the
kiss-and-tell books of some former
members of his administration.
Reagan's first book was a 1965
autobiography titled, "Where's the
Rest of Me."
"I'm still alive. That 's what counts
in a country like ours." Beirut
jeweler, speaking as he walked among
pools of blood outside his shop to
pick up pieces of gold bracelets,
necklaces and rings. His shop was
devastated by a car bomb that
exploded in Christian east Beirut
Monday.
Reader's Forunm
rant "
er P ?
r N
iut ( wmteA
ri- CIRPLETHE
he WAGONS. J
ed V JJ- 7
el " --
No offense
intended
To the editor:
In the copy of one of two Hardback
Cafe & Bookstore advertisements
which ran in the May 26 Tar Heel,
I mentioned by name a textbook
whose title, "Introduction to Macro
sociology," struck me at the time
I composed the ad as having a
sufficiently "academic ring" to it.
Although I had not read the first
word of the textbook in question
(indeed, it was selected for its title
alone and quite at random from a
stack of books spotted on a table in
Davis Library), I regrettably chose to
Week in Quotes
"I would set up offices near here,
which I will probably do. As every
piece of ministry comes up for sale,
I would buy it to restore it to the
people it was meant for . . . I want
to see the ministry restored 100
percent. " Former televangelist Jim
Bakker upon his return to the Her
itage USA theme park Tuesday. The
ministry will come up for sale if it
is liquidated in bankruptcy court.
"The president is keenly aware of
the vice president 's interests and the
preparation for the campaign this fall
... It's a difficult situation. It's an
i i i i
refer to it in a context which, by
implication, would seem to disparage
its style, if not substance.
Further regret (and a considerable
amount of embarrassment) was
brought to me when I discovered that
not only had I unfairly assessed the
book, but that one of its authors, Dr.
Gerhard Lenski, was a distinguished
member of UNC's faculty.
So, my sincere apologies to the
book's authors, to their colleagues,
and to the University community at
large, all of whom can be trusted to
do a much more responsible job of
research than yours truly.
GRANT KORNBERG
Co-owner
Hardback Cafe & Bookstore
and the KGB
unfortunate situation. It's one that
obviously troubles the vice president.
But in the final analysis, the only
person who can make a judgment on
this is the president of the United
States, and the president has
expressed his continuing confidence
in the attorney general. " Chief of
Staff Howard Baker, admitting that
Attorney General Edwin Meese's
legal troubles are hurting Vice Pres
ident George Bush.
"If there are cameras in your room,
they are probably in the shower as
well. I just figured if anybody wanted
to peek, let them. "Woman official
with the Reagan party in Moscow,
in response to other women in the
party concerned about KGB agents
filming them while they showered.