THE TAR HEEL
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1944
PAGE TWO
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE PUBLICATIONS UNION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
Published Tuesday and Saturday except
daring vacations, examinations and holi
days. Entered as second class matter at the
post office at Chapel Hill. N. C, under act
of March 8. 1879. - -
All sighed articles, editorials,
columns and letters are opinions of
the writers and do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the Tab Heku
M. E. RICHTER
JOHN KERR, AS, V-12
-Editor
SIDBOST
-Managing; Editors
FRAN DEFANDORF
WAYNE KERNODLE
VITA RICHTER
.Business Manager
CARROLL POPLIN
-Circulation Manager
-Advertising Manager
: Sports Editor
Trimester Adopted
December 7, 1941 this nation was required to
defend its honor after the sneak attack by the
Japanese on Pearl Harbor. Peace-time mobiliza
tion for defense had been in progress under the
selective service act, and it was accelerated to
meet the needs of a nation at war.
On December 12, 1942, an official statement of
the War Department described the new program
for educating prospective officers in the colleges
throughout the country, and eventually about
200 colleges were honored with military units of
army and navy men.
The University of North Carolina was one of
those institutions so honored, and one year ago,
about 1300 sailors walked across the Carolina
campus to initiate the program of Navy V-12's
at the "University.
Although the University, in bidding for the
navy program in Washington had either directly
or indirectly inferred that the University sched
ule would be adjusted to the navy program, the
matter when put to a faculty vote had been over
whelmingly defeated. To meet the deficit in
staffs, new teachers were brought to assume
part of the responsibility and for one year now
Carolina'has borne the strain of a double sched
ule, double programs, double commencements
and double registrations.
Some departments taught no V-12's ; some de
partments taught some civilians and some V-12's,
and some departments set up secondary staffs to
teach V-12,s only.
There were many points of friction as a result
of the duplication, in both the faculty and the
student bodies. Some felt they were being over
loaded while others shirked full-time responsi
bility, and others felt that age, position and
prestige were a good substitute for full-time
loads.
This week, with the arrival of the navy note
outlining a new form of payment for the V-12's
students, the matter reached a head, and the ad
ministration reconsidered the advantages of
synchronization. A faculty meeting was called,
and the matter was not voted upon although the
problems involved were discussed and outlined
by the administrative heads.
Simultaneously, a student group sponsored a
campus poll which voted against tri-mester. Un
fortunately all of the facts were not before those
who voted, since they had not been released by
the administration. ...
On Thursday, an administrative committee
composed of Deans House, Hobbs, Carroli, John
son, Bradshaw, and Pierson met at Dean House's
office and committed the University to syn
chronization thus eliminating the possibility of
further argument on the subject.
All the reasons have not been stated, but
superficially there are many things which point
toward the logic of its adoption . . . and they
grow out of the conditions of the war.
Many other universities . have been incon
venienced, shall we say, in order to make the
navy contingent on its campus feel a part of
instead of outside of, its university, and although
we tried very hard to do this here, we did not suc
ceed as well as we hoped.
I do not believe that the student body would
prefer convenience of special vacations at a time
like this in preference to a unified effort on the
part of both student and faculty to meet war
time economies and the stream-lining that ac
companies it, if they knew all the facts. .
In the course of the war we have willingly ad
justed ourselves to gasoline and food rationing,
to vacations at home and the dispensing with of
unnecessary travel, and accelerated courses, and
no rayon stockings. We have even learned to
joke about these things and some of us no longer
carer whether we have butter and sugar with
every meal.
This good-natured acceptance by the Ameri
can public of deprivations, small in themselves,
but for so long an integral part of our way of
living, is based on our general adaptability. . . .
Children of rebels and pioneers, we have learned
through the generations of America to learn
"to take it" and we do not shy at it today.
Classmates, friends, and relatives are out on
the battlefields and on the sea lanes, all around
the world . . . many of them in trenches and
risking their lives. . . . and it would hardly be
necessary to repeat what you read in the papers
every day of what "inconvenience" they are hav
ing. No one can hear their complaints about
This may appear a bit out of the ordinary, but
for the welfare of a unified Student Body, may
I request that this letter be printed in Satur
day's Tar Heel in place of any news article re
garding the same question : the adoption of the
tri-mester system.
Wednesday morning the Carolina Political
Union sponsored, in front of the YMCA, a poll
in regard to student opinion concerning the Uni
versity's proposed trimester plan for synchroni
zation of the civilian and military classes on this
campus. That poll was conducted with the sin
cere intention of determining just how the stu
dents felt about this problem. The results of that
poll showed that 304 students were for the re
tention of the present system, and that 44 were !
in favor of adopting the new plan.
From spontaneous interpretation, one would
assume from such a tabulation that the student
body was overwhelmingly in opposition to a plan
which, though they did not know it, had already
been decreed by Dr. Graham. Careful observa
tion and inquiry, however, would prove such an
interpretation wrong.
The fact is that the majority of the students
who voted in that poll were not cognizant of all
the circumstances involved. This is not heresay
because I, myself, asked no less than two dozen
students whether or not they were completely
aware of all the facts. In not a single case did I
receive an affirmative reply. In reality, the whole
picture of tri-mester unification was not revealed
to the student body until Thursday night when
Dr. Graham spokeJn Gerrard Hall. It was then,
and not until then, that student opinion regard
ing this situation had any firm foundation, and
that opinion was shown conspicuously to be in,
favor of, rather than against, the synchroniza
tion program.
This letter is not intended to nullify the re
sults of the CPU poll, nor is it meant to admonish
any student who still holds a negative opinion
concerning this issue. I seek merely to point
out that spontaneous opinion on this matter was
not authenticated by a complete knowledge of
the facts. I myself was in favor of retaining the
quarter system until I was completely enlight
ened. - - .
The University of North Carolina has, dur
ing the past two years, made great contributions
to the war effort through its war-time program.'
The tri-mester plan, aside from its economical
aspect, will add another contribution to the list.
And I feel that it should be known that student
opinion on this campus, once enlightened to the
pressing circumstances, stands firmly behind any
movement which will work for compatibility be
tween civilians and Navy men, and that they
consider any sacrifice just when weighed on
the scale of war-time need.
Sincerely,
Bill Crisp
vacations ... or work-days of longer than eight
hours.
Now we face the coming transition over to
the tri-mester and its our problem. If you'll
think about it carefully you will realize that a
shorter or misplaced vacation, a slightly altered
plan of pursuing a course toward a degree, is
little enough for a civilian fo donate toward the
improvement of the position of the university
which is honored by the presence of a military
detachment.
All navy boys, even though they are now osten
sibly no more encumbered than the civilian on
campus, face a greater demand on their time,
and future by this, nation, and Carolina should
be proud to adjust its program so as to coincide
with theirs, as have most of the other universi
ties. Carolina is doing a good job for the navy, for
the civilian and the state, and if the administra
tion, with all of the facts before it (including
some which must forever remain confidential)
believes this plan to be the best, we ought to
back them to the hilt.
The clear presentation of these facts by Dr.
Graham and Dean House at the student meeting
Thursday night removed any doubt from the
minds of the student body. 1
From now on there can be but one course.
We back the University administration, the
faculty, the Deans and President Graham 100.
Cu ' JLJ fi? tfl '
By Ronald W. Slay, AS, V-12
Billy Koch, Proff Koch's youngest,
is now in this unit, having been
transferred to Chapel Hill from St.
Albans hospital on Long Island
where he was a hospital apprentice
first-class ... two of our own corps
men are also in V-12 here this term:
Warren F. White, PhM3c, whom you
may have met pushing pills at sick
call, and Brooks, Harwood, hospital
apprentice lc
Rumor says Aaron Jaffe had a
spat while on leave in Philly and is
disengaged. Also out of love since
returning is Sandy Minnix. Per
haps now they'll give the local gals
a tumble. I
Bill CrutchfielcTs theme song these
days: Give Me My Boots And Sad-
die. He isn't the first. . . . Tommy
Privette arrived with various parts
of his anatomy carrying buckshot.
He won't say, but my guess is he
just couldn't get it over that fence
in time. . . . Johnnie Hawver, violin
ist extraordinary, carried his fiddle
all the way to New York and back
without opening, the case. Perhaps
it's because Fran Johnston, UNC
graduate of journalism last term
was in the neighborhood.
Mrs. Edgar, of the Bull's Head
Book Shop, says sailors at UNC are
reading more historical novels than
anything else, except, of course, for
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn."
Karl Pond, RM3c, USN, radio in
structor for the Free French, and a
former Frenchman himself, is look
ing for a good movie camera so he
can keep a record of his 3 month old
baby. Anyone know of one that's for
sale? . . . He left France after its
invasion, and when he came here had
to brush up on his French. His Eng
lish is flawless.
German prisoners of war have
been substituted for the Italians
serving chow at Pre-Flight. They're
arrogant, but do their work well.
One was asked how conditions were
in Germany, but his mouth was too
full of good American hamburger
steak to answer.
Seen in last week's Chapel Hill
Weekly: "At the Rotary Club Ladies
Night meeting at White Cross this
week, the club presented W. T. Hunt
ley, Jr., retiring president, with a
war bond. It was for $1,000 or $25,
or something in between." . . . We
like their uninhibited attitude. . . .
Danziger's has a new radio and
record player. ... Watch for a
writer's club formed from the men
of the unit who do or would.
When the commanding officer of
the Miami University V-12 unit made
commander recently the men had
scrambled eggs every morning for
two weeks.
Bill Poteat, new YMCA program
secretary, has some good ideas for
bringing the sailors out of their shell
and into campus life. One is to drop
in on barrack bull-sessions as one of
the boys ... to learn, he says, and
perhaps to teach. Should prove in
teresting Bob Walker, AS, V-12,
Y president, is working with Bill to
make the organization more of a re
ligious influence.
Any group needing poster work
done should consult Gil Carter,
Whitehead Hall. He does work for
the War Coordination Board. . . .
Not many know that Marshall Kuhn
does excellent sketches. He's had
two years of art school in Tennessee.
Neatest trick of the week: Chief
Kaplan telling everyone with a sad
smile that he was expecting trans-1
fer to Camp Perry to train the boots,
when all the time he knew his j.g.
was on the way. Congrats! It took
him one year, five months and twelve
days after enlistment as apprentice
seaman. . . Mrs. John L. Gerding,
wife of the Ylc at V-12 headquarters,
is expecting the stork in September.
According to rumor it'll also deliver
an image to the H. D. Taylor home
next February. He's a SKlc on the
V-12 staff. . . . Chapel Hill had anoth
er ripple. She's pretty . Y3c Rose
Kashigian,, attached to V-12 staff.
She's from Detroit and this is her
first place after Yeoman school in
Oklahoma. . . . She sold $1,031 worth
of war bonds in pay line Thursday.
... No one seems to know why 150
fewer new V-12 trainees showed up
than were expected. We're that
much short of our quota of 1330
men.
The Fleet Club will sponsor a
dance in the near future, according
to George Tebbel, First Lieutenant
and program chairman of the club.
. . . It's to be a coronation dance . . .
each sorority and girl's dorm will
have a candidate.
Patronize Tar Heel Advertisers
INCRE
DIB
E WORLD
By Wayne Kernodle
From now on before I accept a ride with anybody they will have to tea
me their hobby in life. And if they even so much as mention a thing that is
any way related to collecting old advertisement posters on farmers' barns,
then they will just have to roll on their merry way without me. Not that I
disagree so much with the type of poster this man who picked me up was in
terested in, but how would you like to spend six and one-half hours on the
hottest day in July traveling the insignificant distance of four miles. And
that's not the worst of it either.
Every time this man would spot a farmer's barn he would lose complete
control of himself and swerve from one side of the road to the other in a
state of ecstatic joy- one time he actually jumped out of the seat and sat
astride the steering wheel and drove with his toes for sixty yards before
I could get my foot on the brake.
Of course to a billboard picture collector a thing like an original Galinax
Snuff sign might be a real treasure, but when compared to wrapping your
body around a telephone pole it loses a small portion of its high value. It
wouldn't have been so bad if the man had let it go with collecting these ad
vertisements, but once he had filled the back end of the car with the things
he suddenly took the notion that he may as well have the billboards to go
with the posters.
It was somewhere about the time he was getting the axe from the back
of the car to start chopping on the first board that I left him at a fairly rapid
clip doing the first hundred yards in 9.8 seconds, and the following mile in
something under four and a half minutes, which might be, if recognized,
something close to a world record for open highway running in street clothes
and three year old dress shoes without strings.
Frankly I don't know what ever possessed me to ride with the man in
the first place, since when he stopped to pick me up. he was sitting back
wards in the seat and driving with one hand, while in the other he held a
mirror to guide him.
It just occurred to me that he also had some sort of a number written on
his back, which may, or may not, have identified him with an institution
of some sort. For all I know the man may have been crazy. He certainly
did not act exactly in an orthodox manner about the billboard collecting and
driving with your toes in these days is not usually recognized as the most
efficient way to steer a car, although I could cite incidences where much more
hazardous methods have been used.
Not that I have the slightest desire to meddle into your private affairs
you can ride with anybody you please, but just as a bit of friendly guidance
I might say that it would be a good idea to ask people their hobbies before
you hitch a ride. If any more things like this happen to me I am going to
give up hitch hiking and buy a kitty car or a scooter. At least you can coast
down hill.
LISTEN STUDENTS
By Jimmy Wallace
A strange bill was introduced into the student legislature on Thursday
night. It sounded remotely similar to the marching of goose-stepping-soldiers
strutting down the Wilhelmstrasse.
The legislature, since the beginning of the war, has taken on great powers
due primarily to the decentralization of the student body. As a result of this
acute decentralization, it has become difficult to arrange student elections,,
both general and local. Now, more than ever before, the turnover of Uni
versity students, both civilian and V-12, is being felt the hardest. In other
words, legislature members do not experience the tenure of office which was.
the rule in the past.
In order to combat having several elections each scholastic year, the
legislature ways and means committee drew up a bill providing that, in the
event that a member of the legislature from either of the four town dis
- tricts or the V-12 is dropped from the legislature rolls, the LEGISLATURE,
will ultimately appoint that person's successor. Here is the way the plan
would work.
A ballot box for nominations would be set up near the residences of the
students who had lost their representative. Nominations would be made by
those students. THEN, the legislature would consider each nominee through.
the use of a special committee. This committee would present its recom
mendation to the legislature, and the legislature would vote.
Undoubtedly this procedure would simplify an otherwise harassing task
Undoubtedly the members would be chosen quickly. But, the people whom.
the appointed member would represent, by this method, would have no actual
voice in the election. For example, the legislature would be appointing al
man to represent the people of district one in town.
Since the beginning of the war, the students have lost a lot of power which
they formerly utilized. This was partially due to their negligence and par
tially due to their rooming situation. This move was necessary. Theref ore,,
the student legislature has become the most powerful body on the campus
However, there is no reason that such a powerful body should also take on
the function of electing itself. That would make it a self-perpetuatingr
group. Such a group is never representative. Such a group is dictatorial
in nature.
If the legislature had an elections committee which really had the interests
of all the students at heart; and if the legislature had an elections committee
which was dynamic in nature; the difficulties of electing replacements would,
be dispensed with.
Having nominations made at a ballot box is perfectly all right. However,.,
the elections committee could get the names and addresses of all the per
sons living in a certain district, send those people a list of the nominations
by mail, and have those people vote on their choice. That would be demo
cratic. - But no matter how carefully the legislature considers the nomineesr.
under the proposed plan; no matter how long the committee deliberates -the
person who is chosen will not by any means necessarily be the choice of"
" the people whom he supposedly represents.
Certainly the V-12 would not mind electing legislature representatives,
every four months. A ballot box could be provided at Swain hall, into which
nominations could be placed. Then the V-12 men could vote on the nomina
tions. The legislature needs about nine V-12 men. The legislature there
fore, could chose the top nine men for membership immediately, and re
serve, say, the next two men in line for possible replacements. In this man
ner, the V-12 would get the chance to elect its representatives TO the legis
lature and not have their representatives elected BY the legislature.
Democracy is the will of the majority of the people. When 35 people out
of 1800 begin to choose the representatives of the 1800, then we no longer
have democracy. In fact, we no longer have anything.
By Mail . . .
Tab Heel Editor,
Graham Memorial.
Dear Editor,
The following letter was sent by
the undersigned to the Editor of
PM, and was published in the Mon
day, July 5th, issue of that paper.
It is our endeavor to stimulate inter
est in the subject of that letter. The
letter was the product of a great
deal of serious thought about our.
present status as a nation and as a
people united for final victory over
the aggressive forces of Germany
and Japan, but a people still unpre
pared for the problems of the future.
It is our hope that the American
people will be aroused to that all
important task of uniting to form
an American Party, a Democratic
Party, but spelled with a little d.
We would appreciate anything you
can do to stimulate the interest of
those here on this campus and all
through the state. People are con
scious of the need for such a step
but they are at odds as to how it
can be made.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph C Travis