10The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, September 28, 1988
oftft fatly .ar lttI
96th year of editorial freedom
KAREN BELL, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K. RUST, Managing Editor
Will Lingo, city Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Am Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
Jean Lutes, Editor .
KA ARIN TlSVE, News Editor
LAURA PEARLMAN, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
KlM DONEHOWER, Design Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
A tuition hike is premature
Should the Uni- .
versity raise its board
tuition? . .
Sure, it's very Opinion
low. At $252 each
semester for in
state students and $2,229 for out-of-state
students, UNC is one of the best
buys around. And there's no denying
the University needs money for faculty
salaries, building projects, department
budgets and a slew of other worthy
causes.
But and this is key raising
tuition does not guarantee more
money for Chapel Hill.
Tuition goes to the state
All tuition money goes to the state;
it is not channeled straight to the
University. So, under the current
system, raising tuition would just bring
more money into the coffers of the
N.C. General Assembly. Then, the
legislators would decide whether to
give it back to the University or to
allocate it to something else.
Chancellor Paul Hardin has said he
would like to see tuition raised.
Although the General Assembly sets
the University's tuition rates, Hardin's
recommendations should have a
serious impact on any legislative
decision-making.
When speaking of tuition hikes,
Hardin is quick to add that the General
Assembly should change its appropri
ations system first. It makes sense that
money raised from a tuition hike
should come back to the University,
not go to build a road somewhere.
Hardin is right on this count.
Unfortunately, while the folks at the
General Assembly may listen to his
recommendations, they aren't likely to
jump up and restructure their budget
process on Hardin's say-so.
But they are likely to raise tuition,
reforms or no, if they get . a good
excuse. Any accountability or worries
the legislators might have over whether
a tuition increase is justified will be
alleviated because Hardin the man
at the scene says it is.
Hardin says he would like 20 percent
of the extra tuition money set aside
for student financial aid and much of
the rest for faculty salaries. But again,
while he can make recommendations,
these are hot his decisions to make;
they're the General Assembly's.
It could backfire
Even if the General Assembly does
just what Hardin asks that is, raises
tuition and changes the appropriations
system so that the money flows directly
to the University the students could
still be shafted. The folks in Raleigh
must approve the University's budget
each year, and it's highly possible that
they could cut it to pieces, under the
argument that the University can make
up the difference with the new-found
tuition money. And who among the
assembly do you think would stand
up and defend the University's right
to a lion's share of taxes?
This scenario would leave the
University right back where it started,
with no money for faculty salaries or
building projects. The only difference
would be that student tuition would
indirectly be paving 1-40 instead of new
campus parking lots.
There's no denying the University
needs money. But Hardin needs to
make sure he's not playing the shell
game with the General Assembly
before talking about raising tuition.
The appropriations system should be
reformed so Chapel Hill gets a return
on its students' tuition, and legislators
should be informed on the University's
need for money so they don't castrate
the school's budget. These two projects
ought to ,take precedence over raising
tuition.
The life of a freshman in an X-wing fighter
Launch more space research
Barring any further delay, the space
shuttle Discovery will redebut tom
morow at 9:59 a.m. The new shuttle,
replete with more than 100 technolog
ical innovations, will launch after a
two-year layoff. The moratorium was
implemented after the Jan. 28, 1986
Challenger disaster in which all seven
crew members were killed. Scientists
whose research in outer space was all
but eliminated as a result of the
accident are thrilled about the poten
tial for future research.
Unfortunately, the launch has not
generated much excitement among
government officials or the American
public a statement which speaks
volumes about the future of space
exploration.
In spite of the great cost and
importance of restarting the launch
program, NASA only received $900
million of a requested $967 million
from Congress. After adjusting for
inflation, this is less money than the
agency received last year, when the
organization didn't need funds to
launch a shuttle. This does not bode
well for a nation wishing to reclaim
its position of importance in the space
race.
A major problem thus far has been
the lack of a firm vision for the U.S.
effort. As space historian Walter
McDougall said, "the U.S. has not had
a real debate over what its goals ought
to be in space ever since the moon
program."
The country's efforts now are
focused on the $25 billion manned
space center, which, at present funding
levels, will be operational by the year
2005. Leonard Fisk, associate admin
istrator for NASA, feels that the new
station will have an enormous impact
upon our view of the universe. "The
revolution that (the space station) will
cause . . . will rival the one that
occurred when Copernicus showed
that the Earth was not the center of
the universe."
Also being planned is a manned
flight to Mars and the construction of
solid-fuel rocket boosters, to decrease
the reliance on the shuttle to launch
key satellites.
However, the main obstacle, as
always, is apathy and money. While
other nations such as Japan, France,
Israel and the Soviet Union are
expanding their role in space explo
ration, the United States is standing
still at best.
In addition, a recent poll indicated
that three-fourths of those surveyed
feel that NASA funding should either
remain at the same level or be further
decreased. Neither government offi
cials nor the general public view space
funding as a crucial issue; those
surveyed ranked it behind issues such
as crime and education in importance.
, Further complicating matters is the
presidential campaign. Neither candi
date has introduced a compelling
program for outer space, and Congress
has tied all funding to the wishes of
the new president, whomever he may
be. For the record, the Republican
platform calls for the space station, an
expanded shuttle program and a new
rocket fleet. Typically, Dukakis is
vague about his intentions. After
opposing the space station for months,
he recently reversed his position and
now calls the station "one of our top
priorities."
Exploring space is important for
reasons besides the national pride that
comes from successful interplanetary
voyages. Space research provides
scientists with many clues as to how
our planet works. This information
will be increasingly vital as we seek
answers to the environmental prob
lems, of the 21st century and beyond.
The next president must have the
vision and foresight to expand rather
than limit our role in the exploration
of the truly last frontier. Dave Hall
Dear Mom,
Well here I am in my fourth
week at Carolina and I finally have
the wherewithal to write home, but don't
think it's been easy, because I feel like IVe
been mentally treading water in a vat of
Mrs. Butterworth for the-last month. I
arrived here clueless as the wind, and it's
takenme so long to figure out what stuff
like "cross-listed prerequisite" and "pro
rated refund" means that I haven't been
able to figure out how to get my dorm
mailbox open.
When Dad and I pulled up in front of
my dorm on the day I moved in, my mouth
dropped open. It's called Hinton James,
and it sort of looks like the building where
they stored all the bodies in the movie
"Coma." Architecturally speaking, it can
best be compared to an X-wing fighter with
ten floors, built during the late '60s a
testament to how ugly student housing can .
be and still have running water. Apparently
it's named after the first student ever here,
a dude that walked here from Wilmington,
so I guess you have to credit Student
Housing for providing a realistic almost-like-you-were-there
recreation of his light
year walk to class.
Inside, it's not bad if you had an
unlimited meal card and the ability to
subsist on Ding-Dongs, you could prob
ably live there for the rest of your life
without ever leaving. There's a snack bar
on the ground floor that specializes in
student impulse, so they have every candy
bar, food . coloring, and polysorbate
chemical known to man. There's a law here
I cant figure out that says that by living
in the dorm, we have to have a meal card
with a bunch of money paid on it whether
we like the food service or not you also
need a little card to Xerox anything, so
I guess pretty soon thereH be a mandatory
Xerox meal plan too.
The bathrooms in my suite are okay,
as long as you're not an intervenous toilet
paper user. When there is toilet paper, it's
locked onto this thing called the Sav-Haf
holder, a dispenser invented by a dyslexic
engineer who woke up in the middle of
the night with the vision that if you couldnt
get any toilet paper off the roll, you would .
certainly be saving a lot of it. The toilets
Ian Williams
Wednesday's Child
are, of course, from our friends at Quiet
Flush II a toilet so loud that I'm sure
it sets off the seismograph oyer in Raleigh
personally, I'd love to hear what the
Quiet-Flush I sounded like.
Thomas Andrew Smith is my room
mate, and he is about as fascinating as his
charming moniker. He's a sophomore, and
he didn't even show up until the first actual
school night; around eleven o'clock he
bashed through the door, plopped down
an industrial-size fan and threw a Reming
ton 12-gauge shotgun on the bed. He took
a look at my poster of Beethoven and said,
"Mmmph."
That began one.of the most special and
rewarding relationships IVe ever enjoyed:
Here are a few choice examples of our male
bonding:
"So, you're from Edenton. . ."
"Mmmph."
"You like hunting, huh?"
"Ungh."
"You use Crest! Wow, so do I!"
"Glurb" ;
From four weeks of close psychological
inspection, the only brain waves that I can
pick up from Thomas is that his sole
hobbies in life are reading back issues of
Guns and Ammo, and seeing how long
he can go on one pair of socks. Perhaps
I needn't mention that the room doesn't
exactly smell like a stroll through a spring
garden, but as long as the Lysol doesnt
run out I don't think we're breaking too
many health codes.
Actually, Thomas is a breath of fresh
air compared to my suitemates, who I think
go out of their way to make sure I have
the Southern Experience. The guys next
door chew amazing amounts of tobacco,
which in itself doesn't bother me, but Mom
I swear to God, one of them has saved
every bit of spittle he's created since mid
August. His oral refuse now fills three two
liter bottles, which stand proudly on his
shelf illuminated by the fluorescent light
so that the whole room is bathed in abrowrr
aura. He also gets drunk every weekend
on Or Grandad and sings the "Go
Bananas" cheer at the top of his Voice until
the RA can't stand it anymore. To be fair,
they're really nice guys, but they make
California seem like it's on another planet.
j Classes here are great; we talk about .
Gregorian chants in Music ' class, and
orgasm in Psychology I try to slice open
a sorority chick in Fencing, and then paint
her gentle visage in Art class it beats
the hell out of the trigonometry bile I had
to swim through in high school.
Academically I think I'm fine, but
sometimes it's hard to tell when I'm sitting
in an auditorium where I can barely see
my professor. There are more people in
my astronomy class than were in my entire
high school graduating class, and some
times I feel like my social security number
is going to be the only thing that sets me
apart from all these other kids. Which is
basically the only real problem I have here;
I'm an out-of-stater who came here not
knowing a single soul, and now I .watch
my classmates giggle and scream about the
things they did on the weekend with all
their friends. Although IVe met so many
people, I haven't found my niche yet, so
I wander the Pit alone and sit by myself
in the back of the dining hall. Carolina
is an amazing school with flowing fields
of grass and flowers, huge stately trees set
against 18th century towers, and gorgeous
sunsets that set the campus awash in a rich
orange glow, but if I don't find some friends
soon the medics will find me glossy-eyed
on the Quiet-Flush II. . ' -.
But dont worry, Mom I'm still happy
and doing the best I can out here away
from the nest. I wont tell you what time
I went to bed last night, but rest assured
that I'm not doing anything that you guys
probably didn't do when you had my
hormone level. -I love you (please send
money!), Ian.
Ian Williams is a senior music and
psychology major from Los Angeles who
is feeling much better, thank you. '
'Readers9 Foram
Light way
to improvement
To the editor:
Exiting the parking area of
the Smith Center after concerts
is rapid because of the well
organized system of monitors
and police officers that orches
trate a smooth flow of traffic
up to and on Manning Drive.
From there, motorists head
ing north are at the mercy of
traffic lights that answer only
to the great god of transpor
tation planning. Lights with
three cycle delays stop traffic
at Columbia Street where it
crosses Raleigh Road and
Cameron Ave. Then come the
grand masters of delay, Frank
lin and Rosemary Streets.
The lights at these intersec
tions are set so that traffic
finally crossing Franklin after
four delays will have to stop
at Rosemary Street. This
means that only a certain
number of cars can cross,
determined more by space
available than by traffic flow.
If you have ever driven down
Columbia Street, you will agree
that each of these lights have
extremely long cycles, even if
no cars are crossing.
On activity nights, why can't
these intersections be manned
by officers for the hour neces
sary to direct traffic smoothly
from our city? If your objection
is cost, weigh officer cost
against the energy cost of cars
or buses bogged down in
unmoving traffic.
Lastly, these intersections
are a continual hardship for
every motorist commuting to
work as well as those attending
football games and Smith Cen
ter events. Why can't lights be
cycled differently at different
OLYMPICS COME V Afv)(T
TO CM A PEL HILL HlpT
MARATHON .
TORCM K
g ig i e if lv-41 rio
times of the day? At hours
where northbound or south
bound traffic is heavy, the
cycles should be timed to
permit the maximum number
of cars to flow smoothy.
These are solutions that can
be implemented now, at no or
little cost to the city.
ED TOSTANOSKI
Health Sciences Library
Just one
bad apple
To the editor:
Daniel Conover, in his article
"Saving the world or making
a glorified beer run" says that
we should listen to his views
because "about seven years
ago, (he) too was a campus
liberal." I, however, find his
conclusions that "radicals don't
go to Disneyworld. They go to
a barjw and that these groups
are ultimately led by "scream
ing blue wierdos," to be any
thing but insightful, and down
right ridiculous. These absurd
generalities derail any point
which the author intended to
make. ,
I have just transfered here,
and I am not completely famil
iar with the actions of Dale
McKinley. Yet, when I do judge
McKinley,it will be based upon
his own actions, not on those
of some group that I have come
into contact with in the past.
Does Conover honestly believe
that we should condemn all
student radical groups because
some guy at Appalachian States
almost refused to pick up his
beer tab in 1982? I absolutely
agree that the actions of the
Students for Nuclear Arms
Awareness group at Appalach
ian, as Conover has stated
them, are a disgrace. I found
the story of the unconcerned,
self-interest motivated
marchers, especially their use of
collected funds as beer money,
to be very tragic. Yet equally
tragic is the fact that the author
has over-generalized the
actions of this particular group
to be those of all "radical"
groups.
Please try to judge people by
their own actions, not on the
actions of those that you asso
ciate them with.
JON LOHMAN
Junior
Psychology
Honor Court trial threatens student rights
On Thursday, Sept. 29, the UNC
Honor Court will charge several
undergraduate members of the
CIA Action Committee with ". . . disrup
tion of legitimate university activities."
Because this is a serious charge that can
result in expulsion, the University must not
be permitted to hide these proceedings
from public scrutiny.
The issue here is not whether you agree
or disagree with the Action Committee's
method, or, for that matter, whether you
see the CIA as a terrorist organization.
What is at issue here is whether the
University can be permitted to use an
ambiguous, open-ended regulation to
sanction students who participate in an act
of conscience. Based upon moral convic
tion, these students work to prevent what
they perceive as massive crimes against
humanity. By employing this obscure and
open-ended regulation, the University can
expel any student it dislikes or disagrees
with. This is precisely what could happen
this Thursday. The University has found
a means to silence these students by
threatening to cut short their tenure here
at UNC. The evil of this policy is self
evident. '
The University's intention, however, is
Daniel Foster
Guest Writer
much more insidious. By bringing charges
that can result in expulsion, the University
is not only attempting to silence the
CIAAC's voice of moral indignation, but
it is also seeking to intimidate any student
who may entertain the idea of having a
conscience. Thus any and all who find it
necessary to step outside of the tight
constraints of social structures to reveal
the abuses that grow like a cancer within
the system could find themselves deviously
forced into doing only those things
approved by the University if they wish
to graduate.
Thus, we have revealed UNC's brand
of democracy: "You are. free to do
anything; if that anything is on the
University's approved list." Having a
conscience is clearly not approved. There
fore, students are not permitted to act
against the cancer of CIA atrocities that
is blighting the face of the Third World.
The University is not sanctioning these
students because it finds their actions
disruptive. Rather, it is bringing these
students before Honor Court to make them
, examples to the rest of us so that we will
be coerced into non-involvement. The
administration desires complacent stu
dents who are deaf to the human suffering
our government is causing in the world.
It is time the University understood that
intimidation will not silence men and
women with consciences, nor will coercion
prevent the student body from resisting
' illegitimate action against its members, i
The student body should take a clear
stand against the administration on this
.issue and attend the Honor Court hearing
Thursday. This would force the University
to hold public hearings and let them know
that we will be neither intimidated nor
coerced. It is time that the student body
recognized its identity of interests with their
fellow students against the administration
and supported Dale and the Action
Committee Five against this illegitimate
political trial. This court proceeding can
only injure the entire student body, and
thus, can only be stopped by the unified
action of the student body this Thursday.
Daniel Foster is a graduate student in
political science from Jamestown, N.Y. .