Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 2, 1971, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
the ridgerunnerj tues., march 2, 1971! page 2 Editorial Comment: Students Must Take Share Of Blame One of the obstacles and embarra^ments that we rUn up against time and time again is the fact that the students, while continually screaming and condemning the powers that be on this campus, are still unwilling to become involved in the decision-making process at UNC-A. It happens time and time^gain. On February 9, there was to be a joint-meeting of the Student and Faculty Senates to consider the matter of the upcoming academic calendar. The meeting could have been, in rhetorical value at least, an example of cooperation on the UNC-A campus and a move toward a more representative campus government. What happened? Not one student appeared • When President Coonan was questioned about the fact that no information reached the Student Senate or the Student Body at large, he replied that Vice President Jim Cochran had been informed on the meeting and asked to get the word out to the other members of the Senate. Cochran later explained to us that Coonan was at fault since he was the one who hadn.t spread the information. Whose fault it was is not important at this point. What is important, however, is that this is just another example of the mis-communication and garbled mismanagement that has characterized the pcesnet Student Government. What is tragic about the state of affairs is that when students fail to show any interest in a meeting like the previously mentioned calendar affair, it becomes a tool for those faculty who would rather see students as far away from the decision-making processes as possible. The number of faculty of that persuasion is small but they hold key posts in the Faculty Senate and some of the other Faculty committees that determine policy for the rest of the campus. There is another point in the problem, however, that is easily overlooked and that is the situation of student participation in governmental affairs on the whole. This year was one of the first here at UNC-A where students were asked to take a share both in the Self-Study venture and the institutional committees. The brutal truth is that student participation in these committees has been slipshod, careless, and haphazard if there was participation at all. Students have yelled, screamed and protested the raw deals they feel they have gotten at the hands of the administration and yet when asked to lend a mature and responsible hand in the workings of the organism itself, they have shrugged their part. Granted, many of the committees that students were asked to participate in were busy-work committees and time-wasters as in any bureaucratic organization, but then some weren’t; some were vital. Its time the students of UNC-A began to realize that the only way they can become effective instruments of change on this particular campus is to become involved and motivated members of the workings of the government. If it isn’t too late to hope. YOU'RE BIASED! YOU'RE BIASED/, OWtcnWlTYJ ObJECTlVtTf /vsaJI/' Dear Sirs: The rash of advertisements for abortion “counseling, information and assistance” published in the RIDGE- RUNNER is to me both incredible and frightening. An abortion is a medical service and as such should be supervised and performed by competent physicians in accordance with medicial ethics. Even those “abortion counsellors” who state that theirs is a free service should be held suspect. If they are going to the trouble and expense to advertise, there -must be something in it for them. May I suggest a “kick-back” system, in which they refer all their cases to two or three doctors, who in turn send a healthy percentage of the “profits” back to the referring agency? Thus, everyone gets a slice of the abortion fee at the patient’s expense. North Carolina has an adequate abortion law under which no woman need go without an abortion except in cases in which the medical risks of abortion to the individual are too great (i.e. when pregnancy is too advanced or where certain gynecological problems are Letters present.) In most cases, the entire procedure costs three to four hundred dollars and the patient can be back at school or work in a very few days. Compare this to the time and expense of travelling to New York, paying for meals and accomodations all on top of the regular medical expenses. In a North Carolina hospital, one has the security of having the operation performed by a local, reputable physician who will be around for any follow-up examinations or treatment. If you wouldn’t respond to an ad for “appendectomies performed quickly, conveniently and confidentially”, it would seem illogical to do one for an operation which is far more delicate emotionally and physically. If you suspect pregnancy, go directly to a local physician perhaps your own ob.-gyn., who can recommend a physician or psychiatrist. In North Carolina, if it is the opinion of an M.D. that your health will be impaired by a pregnancy’s being continued, then you may have a legal abortion. Usually, a gynecologist or a psychiatrist wUl be asked by your physician, or by you to decide whether this might be the case. Employ the services of proper M. D.’s. Don’t place your life in the hands of a professional abortionist. (signed) Connie B. Nickerson Mrs. Nickerson: To clear up some confusion: we have run abortion referral agency ads of two kinds. (1) agencies which charge for their services and are thus commercial enterprises. These ads are to us regular business ads and the respective companies are charged. (2) the second type, however, is the abortion agencies which offer their services free and are legitimate corporations. There are no kick-backs. These ads are offered free as a campus information service. We have run Red Cross, religious, and other non-profit advertizing free as well. As for an appendectom service, if it were non-profit and they approached us, we would be only too happy to run their ad free. We regard abortions as the moral responsibilty of each ull'lll Vol. 6, no. 10 March 2, 1971 staff: fred myers, dee grier, butch oshsenrelter, ed Hannan, ron cappella, gracelyn roach, bill wiley, sheila rosser, sharon conley, iris bartlett, barbara blake, Charles janies, John davies, lara petersen, ken o'connor, celia anderson, patsy dark, rod brown, carole cole, sukey durham, photos by curtis white, advisor: richard reed.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 2, 1971, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75