Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Dec. 8, 1964, edition 1 / Page 2
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A House Divided ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR There is more than meets the eye to the petition for separation of the College Union, presented to Dr. Cone by the College Union Governing Board. Before we discuss that, however, we would like to comment on a few things that do meet the eye in the body of this petition. The first four paragraphs are fine, giving a brief but fairly competent resume of the history of the College Union from the time of its inception to the sixth of No vember, at which time “the administrative body of the College Union, the Governing Board, held a meeting to discuss its function and responsibility.” (sic) It is in the fifth paragraph that questions begin to bother us: “In considering the consequences of a decision on a matter that might well have been un popular with the Student Legislature, it became evi dent that the Governing Board was in an untenable position." This statement bothers us not only because it is rather vague, to say the least, but also because we are well aware of the constant effort by the Stu dent Legislature to cooperate in every way whenever they are asked to act in the only matter of College Union business which concerns them—changes and revisions in the College Union Constitution. This last point, we feel, is the crucial one. Despite the implications in this petition, the Student Legislature has absolutely nothing to do with the Governing Board in respect to creation, direction, or destruction. The only contact the Student Legislature has with the College Union, other than liaison, is through the Constitution; and this is only at such times as the Governing Board seeks Legislative approval of changes in that document. In other words, the College Union already has complete autonomy, bounded in its actions only by its own Con stitution. Could it be that this reasonable boundary is proving to be too much? Even more important to us is the fact that separation of the College Union (which has the larg est membership of all the Charlotte College organi zations, the entire student body) from the chartering procedure of the Student Legislature (which uses this procedure to safeguard the democratic rights of student members of Charlotte College organiza tions) would violate the very basic principle, exem plified in the present delegation of authority by the Administration, of student self-government. We are not saying, however, that the present sys tem should be maintained. Dr. Slechta’s desire for a real istic, legal and proper definition of lines of authority and responsibility is well founded. What we are saying is that the divorce of the student membership of the Col lege Union from the Student Government is not neces sary to accomplish this definition—nor is it wise, proper, or democratic. Furthermore, it would behoove the Governing Board of the College Union to look within its own organization, if it can do so objectively, to see whether it possesses the organizational maturity and responsibility to be on its own. We think it is not. For one thing, the student membership of the College Union is powerless to bring about any structural changes in its organization. Also, there is no provision for the democratic safeguard of impeachment of the executive officers of the C. U. by the student members of that organization. Finally, we would ask Dr. Cone to once again dem onstrate her faith in and support of student self-govern ment by giving strong consideration to the wishes and desires of her students in this matter which so greatly concerns us. We ask her permission only to keep our own house until such time as we show ourselves to be incapable of doing so responsibly—a time which we feel will not come as long as we have the benefit of her guidance. Student Commends College's Enthusiastic, Pioneering Spirit CHARLOTTE COLLEGIAN Official Student Newspaper of Charlotte College. Pub lished Bi-weekly. gfijfor Howard Pearre Associate Editor Martin Richek Robby Snipes Tommy Estridge, Dick Raley Sports Editor Photographers News Editor Castles Feature Editor Bettye Trapps Columnists E. Clary, Dave Nanney _ Jean Burns, Jim Cunning, Morris Spearman Editors, The Collegian Charlotte College is the fourth college I have attended in the past three years. I have, therefore, en countered many different faculties and student bodies, none of which had the enthusiasm and quality of Charlotte College. For one thing, in none of these three other colleges, two of them of high national rank, was there such a preponderance of highly qualified and highly educated in structors. While there were some highly qualified teachers at these other institutions, a student may never have even seen one of them, since classes were usually taught by graduate students and assistant professors, none interested in the student, but only interested in their own self-esteem and self-advance- ment. Also, there seems to be a pioneer ing spirit here at C. C. Possibly I am mistaken, but I have the im pression that, besides the contrac tors working busily outside, the student body is busily building Charlotte College internally, striv ing, even if they do not realize it, to better themselves, and, in so doing, Charlotte College. I have mentioned some good points about C. C., but I would also like to regi.ster just one com plaint, a seemingly contradictory remark to what I have just said, but not really so, since there are always exceptions to even the best ^things. Last week I spoke to some- Hone who used to teach here and ^he mentioned that, when C. C. ^began, there was a great demand ^for teachers and practically the only ones availabVfc at the time were high school teachers. They were probably well qualified at the time, but in time the stature and quality of teaching at Char lotte College increased. These teachers have not been adequate and, understandably, have been dropped from the faculty. How ever, there are still some remain ing. I have been caught with one of these and find the experience most unrewarding. I feel I am in a freshman high school class. Possibly something could be done about this problem, since the class as a whole feels as I do and I hate to think of the classes of the future going through what we are experiencing. Except for this minor complaint, I have, as I said, never seen such an enthusiastic feeling as at C. C. Learning, and the whole educa tional process has never been so enjoyable, and rewarding, as it has been here. The students of Charlotte College should truly be _proud of a fine institution. 3 —Name withheld by request C. U. Chapter ^Editors, The Collegian § I have been informed by the 1 Chairman of the College Union that that organization’s subordi nation to the Student Government Association has been terminated by vote of the Board of Governors, pending approval by the President of the college. I take advantage of this letter to state my hearty approval of this move. The College Union should, by its very nature, be in the top echelons of organization in a college, since it, in direct contrast to the Student Government Association, provides valuable support services for the college’s main purpose, that of formal training in various fields. Up until the time of the reorgani zation, the College Union, as simply another chartered organi zation on campus, was in the posi tion of the priest who had to be told by the choir boy how to run the service—a singularly inappro priate position, to be sure. It is right and proper for both students and faculty members to serve in the organization of the Union, when and where their per sonal schedules permit. However, all parties concerned (in the final analysis, all persons of any rela tion to the college at all) should keep in mind the fact that the College Union is a permanent or ganization, with a mission of pro fessional import, and should be best run by the professionals. For this reason, if for no other, the S.G.A. is entirely out of its juris diction in attempting to “charter” an organization which will exist and function, “charter” or no “charter”. Taking this thesis a step fur ther will lead to the conclusion that the S.G.A. is out of its terri tory whenever the permanent physical plant of the college is involved. This is something that our senior institutions in Raleigh and Chapel Hill found out the hard way, and, as a result, any thing with any permanancy to it at all is a function, not of the student government, but of the administration through the Chan cellor’s office, from the campus cop directing traffic at a football game to the resident advisor In the dormitory. Proper respon sibility for a function or piece of equipment cannot be assum ed unless the organization or in dividual assuming such responsi bility can be expected to be around to do so. This is the secret of the success of fraternities with national charters — their continuity, regardless of who is in control at any given time. No student government can ex pect to have this kind of continu ity. Student Government, indeed, cannot be expected to conduct its affairs in the polished profession al manner that must be required of permanent support services. Strictly speaking, then, student government, by its very nature, is amateur—and the reader, in this particular case, is welcome to take that word in any manner he sees fit. Amateurs do not tell pro fessionals how to do their job. Samuel 0. Lindeman (EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Linde man is slightly mistaken in his letter. The College Union "sub ordination to the Student Gov ernment Association" has not been terminated. However, a pe tition has been submitted to Dr. Cone for such a measure. See Story on Page 1.- Dear Boss dear boss this is the story of peter and the wolfman each character in this tale is represented by a different instrument of political propaganda the bird by the truth the duck by low snow the pussycat by a martinet in very cash register grandmama by wisdom the wolfman by the horns of a dilemma and peter the hero is represented by strained inference and now dear boss the time is right and here is our story early one evening when the full moon was coming over the mountain and the long wool was coming over the eyes peter went out into the field to play in the crabgrass and grandmama came out to stand by the gate and watch over peter who could do no wrong everyone was blissful as the duck played with little Peter everyone felt safe in the knowledge that should conflict arise then truth could be found in the voice of the bird suddenly came the howl of the wolfman on horns of a dilemma the bird opened its mouth to sing its cantata of truth but peter had trouble hearing the song because the pussycat was meowing in very cash register while it crept stealthily through the crabgrass on its paws of velvet the duck saw the pussycat coming and tried to hide its head in its low snow and then but that is another chapter boss so tune in next issue for another installment of peter faces strife parably yours vw the beetle postscript beauty is only skin deep but ugliness goes all the way down vw
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Student Newspaper
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