Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 6, 1972, edition 1 / Page 4
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editorial report Assault on all fronts In the wake of rising campus tension at UNCC — over the Jordan trav«ty, the proclaimed-but-circumvented rights of non-tenured faculty members, and genera' decision-making input by students and faculty - it may be helpful to note the oast. During the turbulent years of campus unrest, a great many issues and problems came to light, many not dissimilar from what UNCC is recognizing novi^ Though we may be late in discovering our own lost rights and never-granted freedoms it could prove useful for us to realize our common ground with other campuses, to know how they dealt with such errors, and to hear something of the recommendations produced by the debates. ..... o ■ i The American Council on Education, in June, 1969, established a Specif Committee on Campus Tensions. Their study was published as a report in 1970 and a survey of the report, as it may relate to UNCC's situation at present, is detailed below: . "In the particularly turbulent year 1968-69, an estimated 145, or 6.2 percent, of the nation's 2,300 colleges and universities experienced incidents of violent protest; an additional estimated 379, or 16.2 percent, experienced nonviolent but disruptive protest." . .j » i Here is the data that some 524 institutions experienced at least one incident ot violent or disruptive protest during 1968-1969. What were the origins of these protests? ^ "In 1968-69, student power was an issue in roughly three-quarters of the institutions experiencing violence or disruption. The most prevalent of the specific issues on campuses that had violent protest involved; (1) instituting special educational programs for disadvantaged or minority groups, (2) allowing greater student participation on conimittees, (3) changing institutional disciplinary practices, (4) challenging apparent administrative indifference or inaction to grievances, and (5) -an off-campus issue- challenging alleged administrative indifference to local community problems." At UNCC now, we could be said to be seeking student power; more likely, however, numbers (3) and (4) above are of major concern, for indeed the unexplained, unjustified dismissal of non-tenured faculty falls within the question of this Administration's disciplinary practices. ^ "Although unrest and change are positively associated, colleges and universities also have been instituting changes without confrontation and crisis. Most institutions reporting, including those where no major protKt incidents occurred, made major changes in institutional policy and practices during 1968-^ Institutional changes were made as a direct result of protest activities at 72 percent of the campuses where protest was violent and at 54 percent of those where it was nonviolent but disruptive. . , j u "Campus tensions, with or without disruption, obviously have stimulated the processed of change. Changes not directly credited to protest incidents but possibly spurred by them were made at 80 percent of those institutions with violent protest, at 89 percent with nonviolent disruptive protests, and at 62 percent that experienced no major incidents. Changes were usually in the direction of increasing participation of students in institutional decision-making, forming new committees or study groups, and making changes in curriculum." The implication of these statements is not immediately clear. Even though violent or disruptive student action was a factor in the changes being made, it is a decidedly unreasonable and irrational approach to problem-solving. Today, the tools for change in the hands of the students are: (1) massive, collective' but nonviolent dissent, nondisruptive, in rational and reasonable manner; (2) full disclosure of facts and wide-spread publicity of the matters questioned; (3) seeking the attention and support of legislators. Trustee members, business community leaders who are involved in the monetary affairs of the University (they are a potent force since the fiscal foundation of this or any University is quasi-public, quasi-business/private; slashes in the pocketbook can work to re-align Administrative actions); and (4) legal solutions (injunctions, decisions) in the courts. Federal and state. Our actions must concentrated in all of these areas simultaneously. No single pressure or action will increase the Administration's willingness to negotiate their rigid, 1940ish doctrines of University policy. But, they can be chan^d, by collective assaults on many fronts. They are not as they believe, invincible to reason and responsible action. .... michael mcculley m I peerpoint I Towards "BEGGIN' YER PARDON, MA'AM, BUT AT LEAST NOW HE BE GROWIN' UP ALL WARPED AND STUNTED BY THE F0H‘'^ OF HATRED AND OPPRESSION." editorial SUB publicity poor Admittedly, when handling large sums of money, orie someti^s tends to overlook small matters, but these small oversights can be just as irritating as the A*^ cas? in point involves the Student Union Board and their handling of publicity for on-campus movies and even the presentation of the movi thernsel ves Several ’ people were somewhat upset, and rightly so, over the advance publicity, or rather lack of it, that accompanied the campus showing of Ben Hur during last semester. -v.rt Neither the Journal nor any other campus media was informed ot the exac date of the showing and all publicity depended on our most extensive ana unreliable form of announcement - the poster. Even these posters were thrown up at the last minute, and between those students who never heard of the showing and those who heard at too late a date to make plans, the crowd was understandably sparse. ■ . „ Again last week the SUB made another brilliant display of mismanagement, un the afternoon of Friday Feb. 25, more posters uninspiringly announced the showing of a "Keystone Kops" and "Mr. Magoo" double-feature for that evening. If this can even be called advance notice, it was still very limited. Again, none or the campus media were notified in advance. The movies were slated for 7:30 p.m. in 0220. This writer arrived on campus legalizing marijuana (Reprinted from The Appalachian, Feb. 15, 1972.) The legalization of marijuana is one question that politicians must seriously consider, whether they like it or not, in the near future, primarily because the people that these same politicians have asked to study the drug are novv urging legalization. And with the pressure of the new youth vote, marijuana may become an issue this election year. , . „ Only a few days ago John Finlator, former deputy director of the Bureau ot Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, placed marijuana in the same bracket as cigar^tes and alcohol, said that it is wrong to jail youths for smoking mariiuana, and said he was joining the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. A branch of the American Bar Association in New Orleans has taken a similar stand, and the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse will take its pro-marijuana report to Congress and President Nixon March 22. The Commission's findings are by far the most comprehensive and significant yet, and few Congreeemen will be able to deny the validity of the report. The 13-member commission reported among other things that marijuana use does not eventually lead to harder drugs, cause crime or create physical or psychological addiction. The Commission will unanimously recominend that criminal penalties for possession of marijuana be removed, rationalizing that marijuana users are not criminals and should be disassociated from that classification. , . .i. It has already been proven that cigarettes and alcohol are more harmtui than marijuana, and it is far less dangerous than many over-the-counter prescription drugs which are used indiscriminately. . . -u i >> • The phrase "the only thing wrong with marijuana is that it is illegal, is becoming virtual truth, and this illegality is practically the only connection that marijuana shares with other illegal drugs. .... i. There are simply too few arguments against legalization these days to make a difference, and it appears that the time has come for the federal government to act decisively on this issue. And it seems that Congress has little choice but to follow the recommendations of its Commission. There are over five million Americans who use marijuana, and the number increases daily. Even the enforcement of the present marijuana laws has grown lax, and the calendars of the nation's courts are full of cases waiting trial for marijuana charges. Clearly the time has come to abolish any criminal penalties for the private use and posession of marijuana. journal graphic/CP* shortly after 7:30 p.m. that evening. The "C" building was locked. No movie was The^Journal acknowledges that it is a little too late in the year for Chet Snort and company (meaning the present members of the SUB) to reform tn Publicity Committee and rectify the situation. They have already prove themselves incapable of handling such small details. _ However, we would like to be able to expect the new chairman of the Randy Russell, and the new SUB members to make amends. We hope Mr. Russell will look into the matter, realize that UNCC studen don't need these petty annoyances, and see to it that his nevv Pub ic Committee does their job adequately. This is not to pre-judge Mr. Russell, have no reason to believe that he will not do the best job he can. We merely wi to employ a bit of preventative medicine. „ j One more suggestion for the new SUB. Although the Keysotone Kops a "Ben-Hur" are enjoyable light movie fare, it seems like a worthy purpose wou be solved if the SUB could bring more films of an artistic nature. Up until now. most of the films of any significant social nature have been brought to the camp by Individual departments. ♦ to We hope that the new administration of the SUB will indeed be receptiw student needs and ideas and will not forget whose purposes they were elected serve. . Charlie pe^ pages of opinion UNCC Opinions of the Journal are expressed on its editorial pages and all unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the Editorial Board. Letter and columns represent only the opinions of the individual writers. Opposing views may be printed by contacting the Editor. page 4/the Journal/march 6, 1972
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March 6, 1972, edition 1
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