serving the students of the University of Nofth Carolina at Asheville
Volume 1, Number 5
Thursday, October 7, 1982
Biden blasts Reagan’s reign
By Karen Klumb
Delaware Senator and potential
vice-presidential candidate Joseph
Biden, Jr., speaking on the UNCA
campus, said he feels, “The nuclear
arms freeze movement is the best
thing that’s happened to this coun
try in ten years,” although he op
poses a nuclear arms freeze resolu
tion. Biden took the opportunity in
his on-campus speech and an ex
clusive interview with the
Kaleidoscope to blast the current
administration, Reaganomics, and
North Carolina Senator Jesse
Helms.
Biden spoke at an event held Mon
day, Sept. 27 in Lipinsky
Auditorium. The speech, which
drew an audience of about 75, was
co-sponsored by the UNCA Young
Democrats and Students for Clarke.
James McClure Clarke is the
Democratic candidate for the 11th
Congressional District, opposing in
cumbent Republican Bill Hendon.
“I’m so tired of Jesse Helms
and others tying up the
Senate, while we are going to
hell in a hand basket/’
— Sen. Biden
“If I were the President, would I
put a freeze proposal on the
table?...The answer is ’no,’ I’d put a
SALT proposal on the table,” said
Biden, who led the fight for the
SALT II treaty in committee and on
the Senate floor. Biden explained
his opposition to a nuclear arms
freeze by stating, “As a negotiating
tool, it’s too hard to get in place. It
takes too long to get into the ques
tion of who has what now; and the
bottom line is that it would take
several years to negotiate a freeze.
We don’t have that much time.”
Although opposing a freeze, Biden
contended that the freeze movement
was “the best thing that’s happened
to this country in the last ten years,
because what it said to the President
was: ‘We [the voters] think you’re
crazy, building more ^weapons and
talking about winning nuclear wars.
We want arms control.’” Biden con
tinued by saying that when people
vote for a freeze, they’re often not
sure of what they’re voting for,
other than that they’re voting
against the arms race. He said, “I
think that’s a very, very importarit
message for the Ronald Reagans
and Jesse Helmses of this world to
get, and get it straight. I think
that’s the only reason why Ronald
Reagan has decided to start arms
negotiation discussions - because of
the pressure of people in the freeze
"TtO /fcixlBnt.
Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., pictured, spoke on the UNCA cam
pus Sept 27. A potential vice-presidential candidate, Biden spoke against
the current administration, Reaganomics and nuclear freeze.
Photo courtesy of Asheville Citizen-Times
In the interview as well as in his
speech, Biden attacked the Reagan
administration’s cuts in Social
Security benefits for dependents
and survivors, alleging that “by cut
ting aid to students and education,
this administration is mortgaging
the future of our country.”
Referring to survivor’s benefits in
particular, Biden stated that if a stu
dent’s mother or father passed
away, after paying money into the
social security system, the govern
ment has the responsibility of
returning that money which was
paid, in the form of survivor’s
benefits. He stated, “The govern
ment’s not doing these students a
favor. It’s paying back what’s
owed.”
While on the subject of education,
Biden referred to N. C. Senator
Jesse Helms’ attempt to legalize
prayer in public schools. He stated
that he does not feel that the Helms
amendment has much chance of suc
ceeding in the Senate. Biden con
tends i.hat we should be clarifying,
through a constitutional amend
ment, the right to voluntarily pray
in school. He disagrees with the no
tion of a school board deciding what
prayer would be prayed by all the
children in a given school district.
Biden stated, “If you were able to
come up with an ecumenical prayer.
I’d like to see it. What worries me is
that we will have...some school
board dominated by some right-
wing faction or a Falwell, telling us
we have to pray in the strictest in
terpretation of the Bible. I respect
people who believe that. But I hap
pen not to be a strict creationist, and
I don’t want to have to say Jesse
Helms’ prayer.”
Referring to Senator Helms’ at
tempt to pass an anti-abortion
amendment, Senator Biden stated
that he supported Helms’ attempt
to break the filibuster, although he
opposed the amendment. He stated,
“I supported the attempt to break
the filibuster so we’d have a vote,”
saying that he thought the Senate
continued on page 8
An unidentified student marks his
ballot for SGA candidates during
elections last week.
Staff photo by David Pickett
Turn-out low
Students
elect SGA
Senators
Student Government elections
were held last Thursday and Friday
for nine senate seats.
The three new freshmen senators
for student government are Stephen
Magoon, Mike Norris, and V^erie
Reed.
The two new junior senators are
Michael Dombrowski and Thomas
Reynolds.
Newly elected dorm senators are
Deborah Wilson and Bryan Joyce.
New commuter senators are Terry
Lynn Smith and Ken Cagle.
Voter turn-out this fall was lower
than that of last spring. Last
spring, 296 students voted as com
pared to 226 students who voted
this fall.
This figure represents less than 10
percent of the students who are eligi
ble to vote.
“I didn’t vote because I didn’t feel
like it was worth my time,” said one
junior.
The duty of the senators is to
represent the people who elected
them,” according to BiffGuilmartin,
Student Government Association
president.
“The senators’ job is to find out
what problems students may have.
SGA then tries to go to the various
people or organizations on campus
and solve the problem with policies
or other options,” said Guilmartin.
Guilmartin plans a “meet your
senator party” after fall break, so
the students can meet their
representatives.