Smoke Signals. Friday, February 13, 1970—Page 2 EDITORIALS BOOT HI UL ??? Suggestions for better publications IMuch has been said recently about the lack of student participation in the student newspaper and annual. Editorial comments seems to have placed the blame on the students. I feel the basic problem does not lie in the students, the staff of either publi cation, or in the graphic arts depart ment. The organization of both publica tions is the cause of much discourage ment and wasted effort. This still is not the root of the problem only the resulting cause of deeper disor ganizing . Some say the student body doesn’t care. Not many people care to join a loosing battle. Still others say the Graphic Arts Department uses the publication to “blow it’s own horn” so to speak. 'From the outside this can appear true. The policy of having the advisers come from the Graphic Arts Depart ment appears sound when first sug gested. Of the entire faculty it would be logical to assume that these men would be best suited for the thank less task. With the printing of both newspa per and annual centering around the graphic arts building, graphic arts faculty serving as advisers, and the graphic arts students doing the print ing it would appear that this is a monopoly. This very appearance fosters the alienation of the rest of the school. Faculty and students tend to shy away from participation because what’s in sidelMcSweeny Hall seems to be a big dark secret. Additional faculty advisers need to be added outside the Graphic Arts Department to both publications, (and not just the English Department) This would help in exposing more students to the opportunities of working on the staff. This letter was written not in an attempt to cause a great debate, but only to air some of my own ideas as well as some of those expressed to me in the past few weeks. I am proud of Chowan College and the school of graphic arts and am for one happy to be here. Through better communications we can have a bet ter campus. The responsibility of a better organization of the publications is held by the administration and facul ty. This is the way it should be. —FRANK GRANGER TUB CIlMPUf VIIH/OOM ScWel Snokc wng I Letters to the Editor What will happen next? Open Forum It seems everytime there is a hair of a noise a call down is given, some times there doesn’t even have to be noise for a person to receive one. This looks to me foolish, childish, and in no way for college students to be treated. (Maybe we are still in the third grade, since a note goes home after three calldowns saying, “Billy has been a bad boy IMrs. Hayes and if it keeps up I will be forced to send him to the office.” Some things deserve some form of punishment, but giving a calldown everytime a slight noise is heard cer tainly isn’t the answer. When per sons receive calldowns because the head Resident or Assistant is feeling bad, it makes them mad, and so they try to create a disturbance. Some residents think giving a calldown is a funny game. Fairness should be exercised to each individual and the same rules, even though they aren’t fair, apply to everyone. So far this hasn’t been shown and until it does there will remain a disliking for this system. This system needs questioning. I can’t see my friends being treated unfair because they are on the wrong side of the fence. — DAVID “SNAKE” [MAYO jToq rnqny rups^or the feminine look (Men, how many times have you walked behind a girl and began ad miring her only to notice that she had runs in the back of h'er hose?: Don’t blame the girl. She has to go to Chapel and the cafeteria. Something definitely should be done about the chairs in the cafeteria and the seats in Columns auditorium. I think it’s time the school did some thing about it. I know I can’t afford a new pair of hose every time I eat in in the cafeteria or sit in Columns auditiorium. [Maybe if enough girls complain about this, the chairs could be refin- ished. It’s something that needs to be done. So, men, if you want to see lovely legs unmarred by hose with runs, support the girls and help see that something is done about this. -JULIE HOSKINS Talk-ins prove to be successful You the administration are to be commended for the time spent on the talk-ins on Tuesday night, not only for the time spent in the talk-in itself, but for the time spent outside in preparation. The student body needs to get in volved and the talk-ins help them do exactly that. Each person gets a chance to voice his opinions as well No Smoking In a variety of ways, social pressure to quit smoking cigarettes is building up. Item: Word is out that TWA will hence forth have a smokers-only section and it follows, a no-smoking section — on its giant Boeing 747s. Item: The Executive Board of the World Health Organization adopted a resolution calling on those who attend its meeting not to smoke. Said the WHO, “no organization devoted to the promotion of health can be neutral” on the cigarette question. If things keep on, a fellow’ll soon have to sneak out behind the barn. — Texarkana (Tex.) Gazette as hear the thoughts of fellow stu dents and professors. A special thanks should go to Dean Lewis for his time planning the talk- in. This shows his concern for the improvement of Chowan College. Being involved is what it’s all about. So once again, “Thanks.” —DAVID “SNAKE” [MAYO Editor’s note: On Jim Dewar’s exam last fall he asked his students to write a letter to “Smoke Signals” editor giving reasons for the need of conservation of our natural resources in the Dismal Swamp area. The following was one of his best letters. Dear Editor: Our natural resources are an invaluable asset to this counrty. However if we do not take care of them and use them with a little restraint, instead of treating them with no respect at all, we may wake up one day completely devoid of them. When America was first settled the new comers were amazed at the amount of its natural resources. For centuries Am erica has been thought of as a rich country-rich in natural resources-but after ages of men carelessly plundering and destroying them are we beginning to run out? This is a (^stion we all have to face and we are(|aced with it directly when we consider "jhe drainage of the Dismal Swamp, located here in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. The Dismal Swamp is a very important area. It is the home of many kinds of wildlife as well as the producer of a great amount to timber. Cypress, black gum, juniper, and water ash are among the many kinds of trees found there. Rare birds, poisonous snakes, deer, fish, bear, racoon, opossum, and many other species of wildlife co-inhabit the area. It seems that we have to seriously con sider the worth of these resources before we can consider robbing them of a home. Of course we are students today, and we think we have more important things to worry about, but in a very few years we will not be students any more. We have got to keep this in mind and pre pare for the future. Someone of this col lege community may some day be in the position fo deciding whether or not we should drain the Dismal Swamp and, due to our democratic ststem of govern ment, we will all probably have a hand in the decision. It is something we must all contemplate and I hope we will be prepared to make the right decision when the time comes. Thank you, ■■ Bobby Hodges sruofNF NewsPA^n of Chowan coiltct Editor Pauline Robinson Associate Editor . Julie Hoskins Business Manager Larry N. Matthews Advisors s 0 t Dear Editor, In the last issue of “Smoke Signals”, I saw several articles relating to your lack of staff members and student parti cipation. As editor of the school yearbook, THE CHOWANOKA, I too face the same problems. The staff began with twenty students, now which has dwindled to about ten. Many excuses were offered to me such as lack of time or academic problems. However, I feel that if I can maintain a rather high academic average, plus participation in other events both academic and non-academic, so should they. Some how it has left me with the impression that many people are just not interested when it comes to a little effort. Not only have I had problems with my staff, but in many other areas. It appears that quite a few people on campus, stu dents as well as faculty and administra tion, feel that they are doing a favor by submitting to such things as having their picture taken or writing one short para graph. They do not seem to realize that the yearbook is about themselves and their activities. In the past two weeks I have tried to have club pictures taken. Instead of noti fying me that the club will not be able to keep the appointment, they fail to show up.This puts a terrific strain on me as well as other staff members. We have had to reschedule the whole system at least twice. After I have been confronted with all these problems, when the annual is re leased I will have twice as many. For two weeks, I will hear nothing but com plaints from many people. Most likely the same who would not co-operate in the first place. I realize that I will make some mistakes, but a majority of them are out of my control. It is my suggestion that many of you take the time to ask yourself what you did for the yearbook before you ask me what I did or did not do for you. Carol Gunter Editor, THE CHOWANOKA Our vocal neurosis Dr. Morton Cooper, a speech therapist at UCLA, says, “Most people speak too low. It’s the vocal neurosis of our culture.” Non- scientific people probably assume they talk softly because of frequent parental repri mands about loud talking. Few people read aloud today. Fewer sing around a piano in the parlor. Not many quote poems or significant passages of prose. Impressions of the Non-Politicization of The American Historical Association By PROF. BARRY M. COHEN The golden AmericE^n eagle emblazon^ on blue had seen happier events in its time-luncheons, teas, dances, and gay parties. Yet it had also witnessed more somber occassions, for the grand ballroom of the Sheraton-Park Hotel in Washington had been one of the many scenes of the sit-in conference of April, 1960; and it had l)een the scene of the April, 1965 nationwide teach-in on Viet-nam. Once again debate on the war in Viet-nam was to fill the ballroom, this time at the annual meeting of the American Historical Asso ciation on the night of December 28, 1969. Dr. C. Vann Woodward, 1969 president of the AHA, historian of the New South, foreseeing a large crowd moved the meet ing into the ballroom and provided himself with a personal parlimentarian in the face of the upcoming uproar. The radical historians led by Dr Staugh- ton Lynd had nominated Dr. Lynd by peti tion of two hundred members. Dr. Lynd recalling his 1966 trip to North Viet nam told the meeting, “We not only talk radi cal, we act radical.” The establishment candidate for president. Dr. R. R. Palmer, French Revolutionary scholar, simply established himself. Dr. Howard Zinn, author of BLACK POWER, attempted to gain immediate attention for the radical-caucus Viet nam resolution. The assembly voted this down, in a test vote of nearly two to one. The next day, a conservative historian, after obtaining the floor, begged Dr. Woodward for, “just five minutes.” By the time that his request was resolved his allotted time was up, and he had not spoken to the issue. Both radical and conservative enjoyed sharing the feeling of persecution. Nobody would listen to them, but that was the way they wanted it. Dr. Lynd, however, did get the oppor tunity to read the anti-war resolution in his speech on his own behalf for the presi dency of the AHA. Linking the Viet-nam war with murder of the Black Panthers, the resolution condemned both. The debate over the presidential candi dates was as concerned with this resolu tion as with the professors themselves. Dr. Eugene Genovese, who in 1965 made himself a campaign issue in the New Jersey governors’ race by saying that he would welcome a Viet-cong victory, now joined in opposition to Lynd and the radi cal resolution. “I am not about to let Professor Lynd lecture me on the war.... Put them down, and put them down hard!” After Genovese’s speech the convention voted 1,040 to 396 for Dr. R. R. Palmer. The convention next turned to a discus sion of constitutional amendments pro-^^ posed to discourage insurgents such as^^ Lynd. This time the radical floor leader was Dr. Arthur I. “the beard” Waskow, so named because of his beard-black and waist length. He noted that the amend ments would be a step away from demo cracy by requiring that any future resolu tions of Viet-nam would be submitted by mail ballot to the entire membership. The convention accepted this position. Al though it was clearly an effort of the establishment to protect itself, by inadver tence, it succeeded in making the resolu- tionary procedure more fully democratic. Beard Waskow by skillful parlimentary manuever obtained an adjournment until the next day for consideration of the Viet nam resolution, but not before the Walk- Out-On-Rostow. Dr. W. W. Rostow, advisor to President Johnson, spoke on Monday, December 29, 1969. In protest to Dr. Rostow’s pro-Viet nam war opinion some 300 persons walked out of his speech. The WASHINGTON POST devoted three pictures and a head line to the walk-out, but only barely men tioned the defeat of the Viet-nam resolu tions. It was enough to make Vice-Presi dent Agnew write a speech. The defeat of the Viet-nam resolution came that night amid cries of “kill the Beard.” (The radicals had great fun yell ing this, for no establishmentarian with have known enough to refer to Dr. Waskow as “the Beard.”) Hot-tempered conserva tives attempted to grab the microphone, but apologized later. The vote on a simple anti-war motion failed 647 to 611. The vote on the radical resolution failed 822 to 493. What had happened? Despite a great deal of name calling and debate, the his torians had not endorsed the war, as both the radicals and pro-war historians wished to believe. They had simply refused to be poUticized, and had decid^ to remain a professional organization. Pollution is a problem even in Murrreesboro By JAMES B. DEWAR, Jr. In the pa« few years it has become fashionable for students across the na tion to demonstrate with protest marches, shout-ins, sit-ins and various and sundry other forms. The reasons for the demon strations have ranged from international to local campus policy. Recently the students’ attention, along with that of many concerned citizens in cluding President Nixon, has focused on environmental problems. To those who would protest the present trend in the destruction of our environment I would have one comment - inform yourselves and then put up a good fight to end the dastardly things which are being done to the only place we have to live. The pur pose of tfiis article is to offer an opinion of the impact man is having on his en vironment. there is a time-space relationship which must be consider^ when the survival of organisms i« at stake. The survival of organisms, specifically man, is the fore most concern when approaching environ mental problems. Since man is a biological organism, he is subject to the same stresses as other organisms. As the time changes there is a change in space. That is, a given area today is not the same as it was a million years ago. This change in space occurs very slowly over long periods of time. If an organism is to survive, certain genetic changes must occur which enable the population to cope with these changes in the environment. This is known as adap tation and the failure of a population to adapt results in its extinction. The dino- Aside from public speaking courses, few saurs are a classic example. ... a. . ^ Z«IS hi ouJ 15 (-ood 0T" Herman Gatewtxxl Malcolm Jones ScYtoo I ? bother to develop their voices. This is not ably true with lawyers. Conversely, the old-time lawyer, who spoke outdoors against the wind and without amplifiers, usually had a deep, musical voice. But this is also the day of the incomplete sentence, the slurred phrase. Words per se are not precious to many of us. Fingers not only walk through the “yellow pages.” We talk incessantly “with our hands,” even on the telephone. Most of us never bother to put our thoughts into coherent units. And a listener may have to decode even when the sound of a voice is not indistinct. Millions of conversations are raped with “like,” in its new, bizarre juxtaposition to everything, and “you know what I mean” is almost as maddeningly repetitious. This phrase is a vacuous crutch. The listener doesn’t know what the speaker means, and just as obviously, the speaker doesn’t know either. The irrepressible, “the thing about it is,” has become as impertin ent as “23 Skiddoo” and “Tippicanoe and Tyler, too.” — Raleigh (N. C.) News and Observer As long as the environment changes slowly there is ample chance for the pop ulation to adapt to these changes; however, if the environment changes rapidly, there is no chance for populations to adapt. At present man is releasing into his environment materials foreign to it and at a rate which changes the environment so rapidly that organisms cannot possibly adapt. These materials include pesticides such as DDT, which does not readily de grade and continues to build up in the soil to be washed into streams by each rain. Thus the level of DDT builds up in the soil as well as in bodies of water, the oceans being no exception. Certain organisms tend to concentrate DDT in fat tissue so that when man consumes these as food, he is taking in that poison which which was originally designed to benefit him Pesticides are not the only pollutants in the environment. A group of compounds called photochemicals react in the pre sence of sunlight to form a brown haze. This haze which consists of nitrogen and sulfur compounds, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and other components is being emitted from cars, buses, trucks, industry and power generation plants. Motor vehi cles are the major donors contributing approximately 60 per cent of the hydro carbons. Industry contributes not only to atmos pheric pollution, but also to the pollution of water by releasing wastes at such a rate and volume that the stream environ ment is much altered to the detriment of the biota. Industry and power genera tion plants are causing the problem of thermal pollution by introducing hot water into streams which may raise the tempera ture of the water several degrees. Since most organisms are living near their max- ium temperature tolerance, this can have disasterous effects on the ecology of the stream. Raw sewage from numicipal areas dumped into streams raises the bacterial count dangerously high. There are approximately five pounds of solid waste produced in the United States per person per day! Disposing of this is one of the major problems facing cities. Coupled with the problems of pollution is the increase in the population which serves to multiply the problem. As the population demands more highways, supermarkets, shopping centers, housing and industrial complexes, the stress on the environment increases and the available space dwindles. Thus more people must live on less land. Do not form the opinion that the problems of the environment are restricted to the large cities. One need only to be reminded of the smell in the air or the belching of smoke from local factories to well real ize that, although Murfreesboro is a rual area, it is not immune to pollution. Even though swimming occurs in the Meherrin River and even though the bacterial count is above that designated as safe for swim ming by the state stream classification board, the Meherrin River is classified S(|^^ that the present level of pollution, as deter^^ mined by bacterial counts, is acceptable. I challenge the idea that any level of pollution is acceptable. The environmental problems are ex tremely complex and interrelated. The solutions to these problems are not simple and science and technology cannot supply all the answers. The social scientist and the environmentalist must co-operate to approach solutions to these problems. First we must stop compounding the problems, that is - stop polluting our en vironment. Then we must be willing to spend the money necessary to clean up that which has been done already. are going to be called upon to make deci sions concerning the above problems by voting or by taking up placards ana protesting. Therefore, prepare yourself for making wise decisions by becomuig in formed.