r
volume iXf number 25
april 11,1974
BBaIL
Legislature Shocks Media
Charlotte Porter
In a surprise move Monday 1
April , the members of the Student
Legislature voted to have a student
referendum on the literary
magazine, Sanskrit, and the
yearbook, Rogues 'n Rascals.
The motion, introduced by Eric
Stenstrom, commuter
representative, would have asked
the students to vote on April 22-23
to take student fees away from the
two campus publications and put
them on a subscription basis..
Another part of the motion
asked that the media be chartered
by the legislature's judicial
committee, thus placing the media
under the control of the legislature.
Stenstrom, in speaking for his
motion, asserted that many students
were concerned that they had no
voice in the spending of their
student fees.
Asked by Attorney General Bill
Frye, in attendance with several
members of the media who had been
informed In advance of the
legislature's intentions, just what
sort of poll had been conducted.
Chicken Little (Cary Miller),
proxying for Kat Braswell, replied
that it had been a straw poll.
Debate was cut off rather
quickly and motion passed 6-4.
After the motion was passed,
debate continued and Ed Hendricks,
SBG president, gave notice that
since no study had been made as to
whether students wanted the
Legislature
After the reception of the
resignation of Mr. Bill Frye from the
position of Attorney General, the
legislature aproved David Sturgis as
the new Attorney General and Jim
Olmstead as Student Legal Counsel
at the student legislature meeting of
1 April 1974. The legislators
requested that Vice-chancellor
Mulcher be present at the next
meeting to answer questions
concerning the raise in the parking
fees.
Subpoenas were issued by the
Judicial Committee to William Mike
Morris.of the UNCC College
Republican Club, the president of
Moore Hall, and presidents of
Dorms '72 and '73.
A motion was made by
Commuter Representative Eric
Stenstrom and seconded by Chicken
Little (Cary Miller) to include a
referendum in a special election
prospective amendments to the
Student Constitution. To be voted
upon in a "for or against" form,
were amendments which would
eliminate all monies coming from
the Fees Commission to the literary
magazine Sanskrit, and the UNCC
yearbook. Rogues 'n Rascals, and
funding them primarily through
subscription only. The third
amendment was to ultimately place
the media, technically, under the
jurisdiction of the Student Body
Government (SBG) by requiring
them to be chartered by the Judicial
Committee of the student
legislature. The referendum was
approved by a vote of 8-6 by the
legislature and would have been sent
to the Elections Board had not the
president, Ed Hendricks, applied his
vetoing power to the motion by
explaining that the consequences of
these amendments were not fully
considered, such as the question of
whether the Fees Commission
would, as a result, cut back on
finances or simply reallocate the
sum originally given to Sanskrit and
s,Rogues 'n Rascals. Also brought to
the attention of the legislators by
Bill Frye was the amount and degree
to which each media were
investigated before a referendum of
this type was prepared, which
appeared to have not been done at
all. Mr. Hendricks ended the
meeting by suggesting that a
thorough investigation be made as
to the student opinion and each of
the media's opinions on the nature
of the amendments before any
drastic measures are taken.
Court
and Justice
To: Chancellor D.W. Colvard
Fm: E.D. Hendricks, President of the Student Body
cc: Members of the University Court
Dean Rash .
It has become increasingly apparent that the
University Court has been involved in a gross miscarriage of
justice. The enclosed letters from the Student Attorney
General and from the Media Board Representative, both of
which are substantiated by tape recordings of the Court's
proceedings, will serve to confirm this claim.
Furthermore, it is the contention of this office
that the University Court has no right to assume jurisdiction
over cases involving solely student matters. I have, therefore,
informed the Attorney General that students will no longer
appear before the University Court in cases involving
disputes between students, and we will not be bound by the
Court's decisions, until such time as the Constitutional
Review Committee revises the structure and authority of this
court.
We will, of course, abide by your decisions in
this matter, but until such time as we are officially informed
of your decision, my directive of non-compliance remains in
effect.
yearbook and literary magazine or
not, asking that fees be taken away
constituted a drastic step.
Hendricks gave notice to the
legislature that the motion would be
vetoed.
After the meeting, an
emergency session of the Student
Media Board was held in the Journal
office. Members of the media
contributed the following
information:
-if student fees were taken away
from the yearbook, the annual that
students are now paying $2.50 in
student fees for would cost each
student a minimum of $8.50.
-on a subscription basis, the cost
of the Sanskrit, according to Jeffery
Beame, would be at least $10.00.
Students are now receiving the
literary magazine at no cost except
for what is being taken from their
student fees.
Media Board members were
informed that there would be
another legislature meeting on the
subject on Wednesday 3 April 1974.
In later interviews. President
Hendricks said that he had been
consulted about the legislature
move a week in advance.
The motion, the brainchild of
Chicken Little, had originally
included similar provisions for
WVFN and the Journal, but
Hendricks informed the proponents
of the motion that he would veto it
Immediately if the two medlas were
included. His reasons, he later said,
were that the campus newspaper
and radio station were viable and
necessary organizations. He did feel,
however, that students should be
asked if they wished a yearbook and
literary magazine.
He vetoed the motion Monday
at the request of Eric Stenstrom,
who realized after the vote that the
motion was hasty and ill-researched.
Stenstrom told the Journal that
he had been aproached by several
people to make the motion to the
legislature.
"The idea was to give the
students a choice," he said. "It
turned out to be half-baked. We
wanted to give the students a choice,
but we didn't know howto go about
it. Turned out that we didn't take
the proper procedure. Maybe we
were taking too much privilege. I
wish I'd never introduced the
thing."
The legislators who had a stake
in the motion met after the meeting
on Monday and decided to ask that a
straw poll asking student opinion on
the yearbook and literary magazine
would be included in the second
series of the spring elections.
NCNB Awards
Every year the North Carolina
National Bank sponsors a gala
banquet to honor the entire UNCC
faculty. At this banquet are
presented the NCNB Awards For
Faculty Excellence. This award is
one way in which the members of
the campus community, faculty,
students and alumni get a chance
to express their views concerning
their feelings towards the abilities
of the many faculty members here
at UNCC.
Faculty members are
nominated for this award through
letters of nomination submitted
by the various members of the
campus community, but the most
accurate responses concerning
teacher ability come from the
presently enrolled students and
alumni. Faculty members are
urged to recommend their
counterparts. According to Dr.
Jamgotch of the NCNB Awards
Committee, 2200 letters have
been mailed to alumni, asking
them to recommend someone for
this award.
A lot of people agree that the
teacher evaluation forms which
are passed out every semester are
not important and don't really
mean anything but here is a real
chance for the student body to
indicate their teacher preferences,
it gives us the chance, as Dr.
Jamgotch said, to "focus attention
on an area so important to
students...faculty excellence."
DeadI ine for letters of
nomination is next Monday, April
15 so hurry and get those letters In
to the NCNB Award Committee,
c/o Office of Academic Affairs.
Elections
Due to a contest in elections
procedures, there will be a weeks
delay in voting. The delay comes
after a report filed by Kenneth
Foster and Chicken Little to the
Elections Board concerning the
adequacy of notifications of
nominations and the unfiled report
on reapointment of the legislature.
The elections scheduled to
occur on this Tuesday and
Wednesday will not be allowed to go
on as planned. Next Tuesday and
Wednesday (9 and 10 April) will see
the actual voting.
All nominations must be
re-submitted between Wednesday 3