WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1952
Ah Imoorlani
Letters To The Editor
o
TOE ITAIO? TAR" HEEL
I Siing
Friday is the deadline for entriesMn the intramural debat
ing contest, being sponsored by the Debate Council. Winning
debaters will be awarded individual cups, and a rotating eup
will go to the organization sponsoring the best team.
Lewis dormitory took the cup last year . . . but wait, more
important than the cups are the other possibilities. Extra
points on courses are possible for debaters in such related
courses as political science. Intramural house points ' can be
gained by fraternity men. And top debaters will have a bet
ter chance to operate on the varsity teams.
Debating is not exactly a lost art, but competitive debat
ing exists here Ion a very small scale. The Di and the Phi
encourage competition among their members, and the de
bats squad meets teams from all over the country. Howevery
intramurals have been sorely neglected by the students.
The opportunities in the fine old art of oratory still abound,
for those willing to take advantage of them. The skill is one
much needed by (literally) most college graduates. We would
like to see a-hearty revival of interest on the occasion of the
rcond annual intramural debates deadline Friday, April. 4.
In College
A new book on the stalls . . . tliis one of more than usual
interest to Joe and Josephine College. It is called ."They Went
to College,' and represents the statistical (and humanized)
Joes arid Josephines who clutched degrees in their hot little
fists from 1884 to 1947.
The story of the bookis almost as interesting as the book
itself, and the book .'is a fascinating study of American higher -education.
"In 1947 Time Magazine asked college presidents
what they wanted most to know about their graduates. They
sent in more than 800 suggestions like: 1) does a course de
signed specifically for job preparation help more in later life
than a liberal arts education? and 2) to what extent are gradu
ates participating in community affairs?"
To quote further from the advance publicity: "After a x
committee of experts had framed questions to bring out the
answers to these and other points, we prepared a 13-page
questionnaire and mailed it to graduates from the octogen
arians class of 1884 to the fledgling class of 1947."
Dr. Robert Merton of Columbia University handled the
statistical job of correlating earnings with age, religion, and
a dozen other factors, and the construction of the book be
came the doctoral thesis for Mrs. Patricia Salter West, both of
the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia.
What these two individuals turned out was an exceedingly
readable book with such entertaining chapter headings as "A
Lot of Buildings Have Ivy," "Mortarboards Come in All Sizes."
Under Part Two Portrait of the Old Grad (Masculine Di
vision), come such matters as money and marriage, and un
der Part Three Portrait of the Ex-Coed, come "The Ubiqui
tous Spinster," and problems of career and marriage. -
It is easy to relate this university to the composite, to see
where it stands nationally. Of particular interest to a univer
sity partially supported by the state, for instance, is the fact
that almost of the graduates who go away to school are
lost to the home state, and again almost of the graduates
who stayed in the state for education remain after graduation.
However, graduates an science (particularly in engineering),
are-much more likely to move to a different area after gradu
ation. j : ' , : " ;--'' -..
, , " . - -. . . ,
College graduates rate their educations according to sal
aries they receive; .when asked whether they regretted their
choice of major, those who specialized in college were more
pleased with their selection than those who did not specialize.
But almost all men were glad they went to college, felt it had.
helped them in later life. Only of 'women graduates felt
.college had been of use to theni. " 1 .
The majority pi graduates vote as their fathers did, and
where they vote differently, the shift has usually been from -Democratic
to Republican! This may surprise those who live
in tne dosed, community of the South, where proselytizing
is apt to go the other way.
The best students in college prove to be the best source
of political Independents; those who took a broad general
course tend to be less prejudiced, more interested in social
and. political questions, and more often listed as independent
voters. ' " .; '
'. College graduates have more children as they; have more
money directly oposite of the figures for the general popu
lation where the poorest groups have the largest families.
" Success after graduation bears some relation to grades,
but little or none to the degree of participation in extra
curricular activities . . . success again beng measured in
terms of salary.
The wealthiest graduates finished at the wealthiest col
leges, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton producing the most af
fluent graduates. Jewish graduates find and hold better jobs
than any other religious group, Catholics falling behind both
Jews and Protestants. Negroes earn less than all others, but
the Negro graduate does not blame this on his education.
"Self-help" students those who had to earn all or part
of; their college expenses have lower incomes than students
who were supported through college, although average earn
ings of graduates who worked during college are considerably
above the national average.
jj (Most graduates would attend
it;to-do ovenjagainmnmn -
the same college if 'they had
mm?-'-- ' ;: ;
Madam Editor:
In the beginning the IFC was
formed so that the fraternal or
ganizations on the campus could
be treated as separate entities
and prosecuted for actions det
rimental to the University. Prior
to this time there was no 'legal
way to prosecute the orgasS
zations as a unit- The only way
in which this legal power could
come into being was by? the dele
gation of authority to a central
court by the organizations con
cerned. In accordance with this
program laws concerning the
treatment of pledges were pass-
ed whereby fraternities could be
prosecuted as entities for viola
tion of said laws. Incorporated
into these laws were three main
definitions of hazing: (1) public
display, (2) physical abuse, and
(3) scholastic interference. In
the recent case concerning the
Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, the
IFC found that the ; charges
brought against the fraternity
were not a violation of the IFC
statute as it reads at the present.
Henry Bowers in a recent state
ment has insinuated that the IFC
was negligent in not convicting .
the fraternity in question. He
has asked that the IFC convict
the fraternity on the basis of a
law which does not' exist. Is it
the practice under a democratic
form of government to convict
on the basis of unexisting laws?
He avers that the court should
have tried the case on the basis
of a North Carolina statute con
cerning hazing. The IFC is not
in a position to try-any cases on
these grounds inasmuch as its
powers are only those delegated
tov it by the fraternities and it
is not "the faculty or governing
board" of the University. How
ever, there is no doubt that a
resolution will be Brought up to
cover moral abuse and cases of
this type.
We contend that the Honor
Council has no mpre right in
trying an organization for an in
fraction by one of its members
than a court would have in try
ing a corporation for a crime
committed by individuals in its
employ. He has stated that the -power
of trial should be trans
ferred to the honor council. Due
to the fact that the perogative
of prosecuting the individuals
concerned is already open to the
honor council, we feel that Hen
ry Bowers is again ' using the
DTH through his office to be
little the IFC for his own poli
tical usage. The IFC, an organi
zation born, out of the initiative
of the fraternity system, has tak
en tremendous strides in ad van e-v
ing charitable, scholastic, and
social standards on the campus.
We fail tQ. see where his admin
istration has done as much.
Names withheld by request.
in ii i -'lii.MiM
lilMill
- , ,
'III
I.
Madam Editor:
This campus has seen; some
slimy campaigns before but
nothing to compare with the
smear technique that has grip
ped the election this spring.
The smear has become in
creasingly useful as a stepping
stone to the office on the na
tional scene. One has only to re
view the tactics used in the 1950
Congressional races to witness
the effectiveness of negativism
and smear in achieving office.
. The lesson to be learned from
these elections has not been lost
on some students who aspire to
office on this campus. The
smear and negativism have been
the dominant themes of the
publicity put out recently by
certain candidates who have
never offered constructive ideas
about student government and
have no better reason for runn
ing than the mere fact they
want to be elected. - The best
qualification for office seems to
be to have no qualifications at
all!
There is an old rule in poli
tics that says it is better to be
against .smiething than for it.
Furthermore, in the absence of
achievement on your own part,
damn the achievements of
others, or create a whipping
horse and beat it to death.
This is exactly the principle
that is being applied in this
campaign. The UP has lost three
consecutive presidential elec
tions because they never answer
student's questions as to what
they had ever done once they
were in power. In order to
avoid this f atefull pitfall this
time, they decided to smear
certain students who have been
recognized locally and nation
ally ' for outstanding leadership
in student affairs, trying to
identify them as a sinister
"clique" plotting ill for the Stu
dent body. By using this tactic
they hoped never to be forced
to state what they themselves
had accomplished in the past or
what they planned for the fu
ture. That the "clique" was a simple
device to be used, to create a
-false issue is clearly evident
from the fact that the UP lead
ers can't even decide who com
pose it. The first charge, by can
didate HortOn, included Mur
phy, Warren, Kerley, Wallace,
and Milledge. The second, by
UP Chairman Roberts, dropped
Warren and Milledge and added
Bowers and Sanders. Evidently
the "clique" isn't so cliquish,
and has a rather flexible mem
bership. Anyway, what about their
domination of student govern
ment? They must have super
human political power, for in
the past four years political
control in student government
has been about as evenly divi
ded as it could be. In fact, this
has been its major deficiency.
Besides dominating the class
offices and other lower echelons
of student, government, the UP
has consistently controlled the
legislature and frequently the
Student Council as well. How
does one dominate student gov
ernment when 1 the opposition
controls two cf tho three tran
ches? Blsc!x msgis cf ccurrst
Then there is the charge that
student participation in student
government has been diminished
by the "clique.? The utter ab
surdity Of this charge is quickly
seen when one makes a com
parison of the number of stu
dents participating in student
government today with the
number four years , ago. Des
pite a decrease in total Uni
versity enrollment, the number
of students taking part in stu
dent government has increased
by nearly a hundred. Candidate
Horton should check his facts
before he begins his smear.
. ' - -
Finally, there is the old stand
by which has won year after
'.year. Certain office seekers
claim they should be elected
because they ' are against pro
fessional politicians. Note that,
in the case of UP candidate Hor
ton, this comes from a politi
cian who has devoted his en
tire campus life to serving as a
party wheelhorse. Every elec
tive position he has held in stu
dent government has been gain
ed as a candidate of the UP, and
this year he was the handpicked
candidate of the party regulars.
In the case of the "indepen
dent" candidate for the Vice
presidency, Frankel has be
longed alternately to both the
UP and the SP, and now sits on
the Student Council by virtue
of election on the SP ticket. He
participated in selecting SP
nominees throughout the cur
rent campaign. ;
Such are the people who now
declaim . against professional
politicians! If they aren't, who
are? The real test of the pro
fessional politicians is the use of
professional political tactics,
such as those described above.
It is really insulting to the
intelligence of the student body
to think that such tactics could
be successful. Intelligent voters
should not be deceived by the
use of the term "clique" as a
cloak for a record of negati
vism and smear.
This is particularly insulting
in view of the records f the
students whom candidate Hor
ton has tried to smear. f A' more
uistinguished body could hardly
be found on any campus in tht
country. Golden Fleece has re
cognized four of them for dis
tinguished service; all have high
scholastic ) standing , and three
are members of Phi Beta Kappa.
At least three have been hono
red by student government na
tionally , for : -distinguished
leadership. One is the' only stu
dent representative to the
United Nations, and is Chair
man of the National Interim
Committte of the National Stu
dents Association of America
Another Was the Chairman of
the founding group of that or
ganization. , One is the second
person ever to serve both as
President of the Di and' Speaker
of tht Phi. Two have served as
President of the Student Body,
one as Chairman of the; Honor
Council, and another as Attorney
General.
.What a disreputable group!
iED's Note-Miss Wheeler is
an Jndepen&tnt serving on ihe
Student Counci'Ly 1 ' 1 ' '
H,3 -Hi
7inx Whecle
i
i
'iliitHU
i I