(EflUpgtatf
A NEWSPAPER OF IDEAS
Alcoholism on Campus
The following is excerpted from the National On
Campus Report, a monthly news service published by
journalism students at the University of Wiconsin at
Madison.
“In two unrelated incidents last month students died
after participating in heavy drinking bouts as initiation
rites for campus social organizations. At the University
of Nevada at Ceno one student died and another was
hospitalized with blood poisoning after consuming
nearly two fifths of liquor during an initiation for a
service club called CAL. At the University of Wisconsin
at Green Bay, a prolonged drinking session known as
the "death march” resulted in the death of a student. An
autopsy revealed a blood alcohol level of .43 of one per
cent, almost three times the level of legal intoxication.
But drinking to excess is a campus tradition which is
hard to break. Chugging contests and all-you-can-drink
events continue to be incorporated into campus ac
tivities, even though they are not usually officially
sanctioned. The “Senior Death March” was revived this
year at Notre Dame. Like the ill-fated event at
Wisconsin of the same name, it too is a bar-hopping
marathon.
There are of course, many signs of awareness of the
campus alcohol problem. The student body president at
the University of Missouri wrote a letter of complaint to
the ABC network after a football sidelight show featured
what many considered to be excessive footage of
student drinking. At the University of Massachusetts, a
student-faculty volunteer service group is petitioning
for an alcohol free weekend. The group is asking that the
campus center sell no alcoholic beverages on weekends,
and are in the process of planning events which do not
include drinking.”
Is there an alcoholism problem here on the campus
of Atlantic Christian? We believe that there is, to some
extent. It is impossible at this time however, to gauge
the magnitude. That is why we’re appealing to you —
our readers. Please fill out the short questionnaire you
find next to the newspaper. It will only take a few
minutes of your time. When you have completed the
questionnaire, drop it in the box marked Collegiate. If
we get enough returns, we will compute the numbers we
get, ananlyse them, and publish our results next week.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Prejudice in America
During the Christmas break
many of us watched a program
based on the famous Scottsboro
Boys trail of the 1930’s. Although
Hollywood is known for its’
melodramatizing of such
historical events (witness the
recent Hollywoodization of Alex
Haley's excellent book Roots) to
an extent that is unappealing to
many of us, the facts concerning
this trail were not obscured. The
trail was a classic example of
ignorance and prejudice.
Anyone who objectively
examines the facts of that case
can see that a grave injustice
was done. But the real horror
behind the story is that this type
of prejudice is still around today.
If you don’t believe this, imagine
yourself as a black man, a
Puerto Rican, a Mexican, or if
you really want to know how
bigotry feels, an American
Indian.
Many people do not want to
believe that this type of
prejudice still exists. Most of
these people are white, anglo-
saxon Protestants with middle
class backgrounds. They feel
that the judicial system of this
country has taken away their
rights and given them to
minority groups. In other words,
they cry “reverse
discrimination!” Their claim is
true to an extent; anytime a
judicial system attempts to
reverse deep-rooted traditions
such as discrimination and in
justice against certain groups of
people, this will happen. It’s part
of the process. Eventually the
injustices to both sides can be
resolved and equal justice for all
can become a reality. This is the
ideal which we as Americans
should strive for. Unfortunately
too many of us want to close our
eyes to the reality around us. We
let our prejudices get the best of
our reason. How many times
have we heard ourselves or
others say “Nowadays if you’re
black you’ve got it made. You
can get a job anytime?” This is
not true. If you don’t believe it,
lake a walk across the tracks
here in Wilson and ask some of
the people how easy it is to get a
job. About job opportunities.
They can relate some basic
realities that would knock our
lilly-white minds out of the
dreamworld of white, middle-
class America.
Isn’t it time we as Americans
began living up to the ideals of
equality set forth in our Con
stitution? We have made great
strides toward abolishing
preojudice since the 1930’s;
nevertheless, it still exists here.
The strides we have made serve
only to prove that we can
demolish the ugly demon which
is prejudice. Just because we
have come this far, however we
should not stop now. If we open
our eyes, we will see that there is
still a long way to go. We cannot
truly call ourselves intelligent
and rational beings until we can
demolish the barriers of racial
prejudice and learn to exist in a
state of harmony, not only in the
United States, but in the world as
well.
Don't
rainy
you hate it when your alarm clock goes off at 7 a.m. on a cold and
Monday morning?
Other Voices..,
Under normal conditions w
their natural habitats,
animals do not mu%,
themselves, masterbate,
their offspring, develop stomach
ulcers, become fetishists, sul%
from obesity, form
pair bonds, or commit mutit,
Among human city dwtlipf,
needless to say, all q1
things occur. Does this,
reveal a basic difference
ween the human species mj
other animals? At first glaacti
seems to do so. But this
deceptive. Other animals
behave in these ways mdf,
certain circumstances, namd,
when they are confined in n',
unnatural conditions ol cap.
tivity. The zoo animal in a cajt
exhibits all these abnormaliiif,
that we know so well Irom «
human companions. Clearlv,
then, the city is not a conctsK
jungle, it is a human loo.
The comparison we nws
make is not between the ciiv
dweller and the captive ammji.
The modern human anima! ism
longer living in condiiioK
natural tor his species.
Desmond Morris
Viewpoint
DNA Experimentation: A Calculated Risk?
By Clifford A. Welch
(CPS) — The movie
“Andromeda Strain”
dramatized a situation in which
a foreign bacteria strain is
discovered and toyed with by a
group of scientists. It turns out
that the gas emitted by the
bacteria is very potent; if
released to the environment it
would quickly reproduce and
destroy humanity. It is handled
very carefully in what is
desribed as the safest, most
protected, most well-equipped,
ultra-secret research laboratory
in the world. And yet, the story
makes clear, this genocidal
andromeda bacteria is almost
injected into the air waves by the
lab’s fail-safe system, due to an
understandable combination of
human error and inappropriate
knowledge.
At this time, in nearly 100
university, college, and in
dustrial laboratories across the
nation, scientists and resear
chers less well-equipped than
those in the Andromeda fiction
are conducting experiments
which, it is widely agreed, run
the risk of science fiction-type
screwpups.
Genetic experimentation, in
particular recombination DNA
studies, run the “risk” —a set of
possibilities as yet neither
proven nor disproven — of
disrupting our natural ecological
systems, as Larry Gordon, a
researcher for Ae People’s
Business Commission (PBC)
which opposes recombinant
DNA research, said.
Recombinant DNA ex
perimentation, which was not
technically feasible until 1973, is
the monitored combining of
DNA or gene chains (the
biological blueprint that
determines the hereditary
characteristics of all living
things) from one organism with
the DNA of another, dissimilar
organism to form foreign genes.
Recombination has been done
with the DNA of a cancer vinis
and that of a bacteria, for in
stance. The created strains of
foreign or mutant DNA make
bacteria with a variety of new
properties — from curing
diatetes to causing cancer.
It is the wide variety of mutant
possibilities that has upset
people and ignited a national
controversy questioning the
necessity of recombinant DNA
research. There is, most ob
servers admit, the potential of
an “Andromeda Strain” in DNA
research — what differentiates
proponents from opponents is
the degree of seriousness with
which they take the risk
potential.
So far there have been no
problems with the DNA ex
periments, but opponei.ts, like
Gordon, speculate on the
potential.
Gordon points to the “shotgun
methods” used in recombinant
DNA studies as one place where
irreparable mistakes might
occur. To create new DNA
forms, some scientists blast
together various species of
bacteria, according to Gordon,
like a shotgun shell fired into a
small container. Inadvertently,
something very harmful, not
unlike the andromeda strain,
could be created, Gordon said.
It is to this possibility that Dr.
Liebe Cavalieri, of the Sloane-
Kettering Institute for Cancer
Research said, “Only one ac
cident is needed to harm all of
society.
But what opponents are more
concerned with, Gordon ex
plained, is the purposeful in
jection of these mutant colonies
in our environment. There is talk
of creating, eventually, new
animals and plants which will
circumvent our natural
ecological system, he said.
Gordon added that the scientists
hope to develop a hearty plant
which would produce nitrogen —
a necessary ingredient which
most plants must get from the
ground. The mutant plant could
be grown in areas where known
vegetation could not survive.
“But,” Gordon warns, “what if
the p’iant had the proliferation
characteristics of weeds — it
might wipe out other plants,
causing egological disaster to
the food chain.”
A top official at the National
Instiute of Health, a government
agency which gives out a great
deal of genetic research grants,
did not deny the hypothesis that
risks are involved but he
believes, with proper
safeguards, the benefits of
recombinant DNA ex
perimentation outweight the
potential problems.
The official, who asked not to
be named, explained that there
were two main classes of ad
vantages. The most easily taken
is the reason which guides much
of science: “To find out more
about ourselves, DNA research
perhaps the most revealing
method we have discovered.”
There is little doubt on either
side of the debate: the closer we
get to understanding and being
able to manipulate gene chains,
the closer we are to in-
derstanding life. It isarichlije
of inquiry.
Secondly, are the scientifi;
products like the nitroger
producing plants. Within DNi
recombination lay a limitles
potential of biological offspriii
For instance, insulin, tka:
magical but scarce componft:
of every diabetics life, could lie
created in the laboratory. Thisii
good news for diabetics as wtf
as for pharmaceutical in
dustries, which, according d
Gordon, have tried to placf
patents on the informatii:
collected in recombinant D.\.!
research.
The PBC, flanked by siid
groups as the Friends of li»
Earth and scientists like NoMi
laureate Dr. George Wald
Harvard, would like to seei
“full-scale moratorium” oi
recombinant DNA research ant
experimentation until i
national, public debate is iieldIt'
decide, in (jordon’s wort
“whether we have the right ai;
the wisdom to fool with Motlie:
Nature.
Get Well Soon
The Collegiate joins with t^
rest of the campus communii!
in wishing Dr. Wenger i
speedy recovery.
(Fi|f (Enllnjialf
FREDERICK CLARIDGE
Editor
+ + +
MICHAEL WALKER
Associate Editor
ROBERT WILSON
Business Manager
DARRELL ENGLISH
Cartoonish
DOUGLAS HACKNEY,
PETER CHAMNESS
Photographers
GUY HYATT,
RUSSELL RAWLINGS
Sports Writers
NICKGLENNON,
SPENCER SMITH
BRIAN HUNT
Feature Writers
dale ADAMS,
terry BOSLEY
Proofreaders
MILTON ROGERSON
Advisor ^
The Collegiate .spublisM^^;;,#
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