Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 17, 1962, edition 1 / Page 2
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Ford Roivan Explains NSA atlp Sar Heel It il i l i i t i i ; i il 1 1 hi its sixty-ninth year of editorial freedom, 7inhampered by restrictions from either the administration or the student body. The Daily Tar Heel is the official student publication of the Publications Board of the University of North Carolina. All editorials appearing in The Daily Tar Heel are the personal expressions of the editor, unless otherwise credited; they are not necessarily representative of feeling on the staff. I: February 17, 1962 Tel. 942-2356 Vol. LXIX, No. 91 lioutina Fire? How much do newspaper readers have a right to know? The answer to this question in re lation to theater integration in Cha pel Hill has yet to be answered. The answer that the Citizen's Com mittee for Open movies has come up with seems to be "only what we think they should." At a meeting Thursday, the com mittee disclosed the fact that it plan ned to resume picketing operations at the Carolina Theater on March 1 if complete integration has not been affected by that time. A re quest was made that the informa tion not be used by news media. The request was not without a reasonable basis. Integration, like any sharp break from tradition, is often best carried out quietly, with a minimum of furor. The fanfare afforded by headlines and news broadcasts can create stresses out of proportion to the change. . At the same time, the problem of racial inequality is not one that can be confined to one group's pro tests against one theater. The right of the public to be informed, al though that right is not absolute, is nonetheless "an important one. The only goal of the committee, as it seems to interpret it, at this point is the integration of the Caro lina Theater. If it is necessary to operate privately, without regard to general opinion, without regard to broad issues, without regard to the right of the public to be informed, then, it seems, the committee is willing to do that. While there are possibly some good reason for it, it is an issue we wonder if that approach is entirely wise. Integration is an issue of vital concern, not only to the committee or the theater involved, but to every person who stands on either side of the controversy and that in cludes almost everyone. This does not mean that the right of the public to be informed is inviolate, nor does it mean that news which will create unnecessary violence should be released indis criminately. The analogy of "shouting 'Fire' in a crowded theater is appropriate. But it should not be so broadly in terpreted that the building is al lowed to burn down. Tempering Justice Junius Scales, the scion of a so cially and politically prominent Nor th Carolina family, became a Com munist when he was a student at the University of N. C. in 1940. He became an organizer in the Party's Southern wing. In 1957 he quit the Party in disgust over, the invasion of Hungary and the Khru shchev revelations about Stalin. But prior to this he had been in dicted and convicted under the Smith Act for "knowing member ship" in a conspiracy to advocate the overthrow of the Government and sentenced to six years in prison, the longest sentence ever given un der the Smith Act. The Supreme Court divided five to four in sustaining this convic tion last June, on the same day that it threw out the conviction of John Francis Noto, an admitted and con tinuing Party functionary, on the grounds that the Government had presented insufficient evidence of "illegal Party advocacy." Scales, the only person ever convicted under the membership clause of the Smith Act that is, merely for belonging to the Communist Party, with no illegal activity of any .sort charged against him started to serve his term on October 2 of last year. What a laugh this must give the Commies! The Government of the United States, leaving Communists comfortably at liberty, in effect joins hands with them t - punish an ex-member whom they hate for his apostasy. Moreover, the ab surdity of this paradox is heighten ed when one reflects that Scales is being punished for a political crime the holding of bad beliefs and bad associations which most Americans like to believe is punish able only in Communist countries. If President Kennedy were to par don Scales, he would be tempering justice not alone with mercy but with equity and common sense as well. Washington Post m i i i 1 U I 1 If m EDITORIAL STAFF Wayne King Editor Harry Lloyd, Harve Harris Managing Editors Lloyd Little Executive News Editor Jim Clotfelter, Bill Wuamett News Editors Jim Wallace Photography Editor Chuck Mooney. Feature Editor Ed Dupree ..Sports Editor CUPRY KlRKPATRICK Asst. Sports Editor Garry Blanchari Contributing Editor BUSINESS STAFF Tim BuRNETTJBttsiness Manager Mike Mathers Advertising Manager Jim EvANsSubscription Manager Jim Eskridce 4 , ' Circulation Manager ''4 Hoiv? ' Tbm D-tn.T Tab except Mcmda la published dally y. examination penooj and vacation. It Is entered am second class matter la th post offic in Chapel Hill, N. C, pursuant with the act -of March 8, 1870. Subscription rates i $40 per semester, $8 per year. - Tax Dailt Tab Km Is a subscriber to the United Press International and utilizes the services of the News Bu- M reau of the University of North Caro- M Jtaa. - : ' ' m Published by the Publications Board pf of the University xA Korea Carolina. Chapel mil. N. c. i if if k 1 I 1 i i i ii i 1 it 5 1 Periodically, the various campus "honoraries" that yearly stud the Yack with membership lists ritual istically act out secret rites collec tively referred to as "tappings." Each year, individuals are "tap ped into the Old Well: swooped up on by the Beanbirds, the Valkyries and the Harpies; man-handled by the Giants of the Golden Fleece; poured into the Grail; applauded by the Society of Janus ; drilled with the Scabbard and Blade, and chosen by the sundry Greek-letter honor aries that commend every kind of activity from scholarship to smiling. With due consideration for de mocracy and realizing the dire ef fect this concentration of revering, loving and honoring might have on those unfortunates who somehow God knows how managed to avoid being "duly recognized," we would like to extend our congratulations. We don't see how you did it. .Reflected) - - - , Sr J Of Ideas Explanatory Note: This is the sec ond of a series of articles explaining the U. S. National Student Associa tion. In following articles the Con gress of NSA, the subcommittees and committees of NSA, and the policy declarations of NSA will be described. NSA, constituted as a representa tive group of student governments, has certain major areas of activity. These are fields wherein one univer sity's student government could not effectively operate. Through the NSA it is hoped that the feeling of the students on particular issues can be announced and appropriate action can be taken. The first broad area in which NSA operates is in regard to the student and campus. NSA is interested in combining the knowledge of student leaders all over the country for the solution of basic problems. For this purpose numerous workshops are set up at every NSA regional assembly and at the National Student Congress to discuss such topics as student gov ernments, campus political organiza tions, student affairs, student wel fare, academic curriculum, extra curricular activities student-faculty relations, honor systems, and cam pus communications, and newspa pers. Through such studies and pub licity of the findings NSA provides valuable help to member colleges. The Congress itself spells out policy on such controversial problems as college desegregation, human rela tions, academic freedom, and student self-government in practice. Another broad area of NSA activi ty concerns the relation of the col lege campus to its community, state, And His Fatlier Lives Up There r iIf IW'l W m iSife. IF -g.- -...... . :rj !W8ewas and nation. Herein study and discus sion work is done on public and priv ate educational set ups, teacher shortage as a national problem, state and federal student aid program, governmental legislation affecting higher education, educational oppor tunity, and student awareness of national problems. These topics are often intricate problems, and NSA tries to represent student opinion on some of the more controversial as pects. In this way the NSA endeav ors to present the student opinion on regional and national issues that directly affect students. The final area of NSA activity is of an international scope. First, the NSA has negotiated numerous student ex changes with institutions in all parts of the world. Second, the NSA en courages American students to trav el abroad, and foreign students to visit here. Low cost plans are offer ed. Third, the NSA maintains rela tions with the International Student Congress and studies the programs of other international student groups. The NSA aids in distributing informa tion of International Student Relief organizations. Fourth, the U. S. NAS maintains liaison with individual student organizations in foreign coun tries. And fifth, the NSA works to increase American student awareness of international problems and situa tions. These then in general are the areas within which NSA operates. Always kept in mind is NSA's goal to offer ideas, programs, and (es pecially) a voice for the students. Carolina, as a member of NSA, re ceives objective information on cur rent problems within the scope of student activity, as well as the pol- I About Letters If The Dally Tar Heel Invites readers to use It for expres sions of opinion on current topics regardless of viewpoint. Letters must be signed, con tain a verifiable address, and be free of libelous material. Brevity and legibility In crease the chance of publica tion. Lengthy, letters may t edited or omitted. . Absolutely none will be returned. I m 11 I I P I I TO ete Ranees Me Misses Y-Coorf GOETTINGEN, GERMANY The American undergraduate spending an exchange year at a German Uni versity suddenly finds himself trans ferred from the regulated and pres sured methods of our college system to an academic world of self-reliance and unlimited freedom corres ponding more closely to an Ameri can post-graduate school. Gone are Saturday afternoon football games, as intercollegiate sports are prac tically non-existent; gone are the hours in "Y-Court" over Coca-Cola, as the university plant is spread throughout the town; gone are the multitudes of tests, papers, exams, and the all-night cramming which accompanies them, for each student is expected to learn it all without being driven by tests and assign ments. Despite the seriousness, however, of the German student regarding his studies, life is constantly brightened by many of those same things which spice our undergraduate days in the United States. Saturday night finds few students looking at books as most of them turn to the various jazz taverns for an evening of beer and dancing (of Goettingen's 9,000 students, almost 3,000 are girls). Over forty fraternities, leading a life surprisingly similar to that of our American fraternities, do their due part in providing distractions on weekends and in-between, too. Prac tically every organization and stu dent dorm (there are very few) of any size goes all-out with at least one full-scale ball each semester, es pecially at this time of year when Fasching (Shrovetide) is tradition ally celebrated in costume balls all over Germany. (We just had 300 guests in the Fridtjof-Nansen-Inter-national-Haus for our Winter iBall.) The German university offers basi cally two types of courses, lectures and seminars (besides science labs and pure language courses). In the lectures the professor simply reads his prepared lecture for forty-five 1 minutes while the students take notes or simply listen to the speech. Dis cussion is out of the question as each lecture is attended by from 100 to 800 students. A reading list is al ways prescribed, especially in the literature courses, but no one is ob liged to do any work or reading he does not want to. There are no tests or papers involved, the professor rarely has any contact with the stu dent and does not worry about whether he learns anything or not that is up to each individual stu dent. Attendance, of course, is also a private affair. Many students, in deed, listen to the lectures only be cause a particular professor is very good and interesting (the kind who draw 800), not because they want to learn a great deal from it. Seminars, on the other hand, cor respond more directly to an under graduate course in an American college. The seminars deal with more specialized areas within a field and try to dig deeply into the ideas, roots, and fundamentals of the subjects. The classes have gen erally no more than 50 students and each student is expected to write at least one specialized paper per semester. At least one conference with the professor is also usual. Further, the seminars are broken down into three levels. The upper two levels generally set forth stiff prerequisities for entrance into the seminar and are designed for stu dents with at least 4 semesters be hind them. 'A course on "French and German Middle Age Literature," for instance, calls for a reading knowledge of Middle French. While the lectures meet two to four times per week, an hour each time, the seminars meet only once a week for two hours. Most students attend four or five lectures and three seminars, carrying between twenty and thirty hours per week. There are no university requirements (ex cept in some sciences) regarding hours and courses per semester. Another interesting aspect of the lecture system and a basic part of the traditional high respect paid scholars by all Europeans is that the students always knock on their desks or stamp their feet as a token of approval when the professor en ters the room and when he finishes the lecture the better the lecture, the louder the knocking. Certainly the greatest difference I find between our two systems cen ters on the complete freedom and independence given the German student, as opposed to the well-defined program the American has to follow. Pressures, texts, assign ments, and tests hardly exisit here. Most students are faced with only one large exam, or possibly two at the end of their studies. He applies for the exam, which. will last any where from four to twelve weeks and cover everything he has studied in his major field, whenever he feels he is ready for it. German students who have spent a year in the States compare our tight system with their high schools, where the pupil stays generally un til he is nineteen. Indeed, most first-year students here in Goettin gen are better informed academical ly than the average college sopho more or junior in America. He has just passed the exteremely hard national exam which covered all his high school material and took three weeks long. He is expected to be fully capable of arranging his own study plan and discipling him self at the university. There is, hovever, no doubt about the fact that most Germans more or less waste away their first se mester trying to find their way around in a new, ivy-walled world and learning what it's all about. No one is expected to do great things that first semseter. The German student doesn't go blind over books all day, either, preferring instead to take part in some student ac tivities, get together in a Ratskeilar with friends sometimes, or even take a week off to go skiing once in a while. Until those last driving se mesters he hardly studies six hours a day. Especially where the opera, theatre, and symphony are good, a student lets himself enjoy the cul tural offerings during his youth. Completely lacking is that "rat race" feeling which beguiles many an in dustrious American student. While approximately 30 of each American generation now enters col lege, only 6-7 of the Germans at tend the universities, corresponding to the Americans in graduate school (German universities have no un der or post graduate schools just the university). Most students are between 19 and 25 years old, and generally stay at the university be tween 9 and 14 semesters (only two semesters per year, totaling seven months together). The American exchange student is truly aware of the different at mosphere he lives in at the German university. He feels he is associat ing with a group of very well pre pared, mature, and academically serious students, well aware of their task at the university, but still a group which knows how to enjoy its extra-curriculars, its hiking in the woods, its good parties, its culture, its skiing, and its youth. Reflections North Carolina Sen. Sam Ervin had quite a struggle with his doubts about the future usefulness of the United Nations, but concluded that he would vote for U.S. participation in the special $200 million bond is sue. I We can understand the Senator's doubts. We had much the same struggle in deciding our endorse ment of the bond issue as an alterna tive to bankruptcy of the U.N. Sen. Ervin will have much dis tinguished company before the issue is closed, though some restrictions may be built into U.S. participation by the Congress. icy declarations the Congress has adopted and desires to publicize. Through a confederation of American student bodies, the NSA attempts to serve the educational community, fulfill the international role of the American student, provide a voice for the American student community, and assist in developing student self government. In the next article we will show how the annual Congress tackles these tasks. Ode To The DTH "ODE TO THE DAILY TAR HEEL" Hail to thee, our DAILY TAU HEEL, The main organ of our enrichment, To us the students you e're reveal The broken twig, and tree thus bent. Misrepresentation is your very frame, You feed on biased views and such, To you a misquote means the same And hence creates a writer's crutch. Tis like a sudden freshing shower, That kuenches thirst of endless drought, How you possess the Godly power To see the inside from without. But worry not, thy future grows, Stupid words will be thy legs, For only chuckles from thy prose Can help digest our breakfast eggs! JOHN L. CURRIE Men's Honor Council Editor's Note: Hark the sound of TA RHEEL read er Airing his complaint: Saying what he reads each morning Isn't, wasn't, ain't! When you breakfast, please remem ber. Before you harp and chide That when somehow the news is scrambled The editor gets fried. Honor Council Trials Should Be Publicized I have been reading the articles in the DTH concerning the lack of information in regard to the trials being conducted by the Honor Coun cil. This fall during orientation I was introduced to the Honor Sys tem. On learning that the "public" at a trial consisted only of DTH re porters I had serious misgivings. However, after becoming acquaint ed with the DTH I found that my fear of any biased report was un founded. The Tar Heel presents a remarkably objective view of UNC's problems, if not through objective writing, through objective selection of articles. The Daily Tar Heel is well suited to the task of presenting the proceedings of the Honor Court to the student body. However, in practice the trials are mentioned only in general and vague terms. The campus has little know ledge of the offenses that are being committed; nor do they know what methods are being used to punish the offenders. Nothing has been re vealed that would allow the student to judge the quality of his Honor Council for himself. Any case in which a man may be judged to lack honor deserves the consideration of the public. There fore, I would suggest a more detail ed report on the trials. Possibly, a form such as this could be follow ed: Case No. 1 Student accused of (cheating on his final) by (an other student). A brief summary of the argu ment and evidence presented by the prosecution. A brief summary of the argument and evidence presented by the de fense. The verdict. tAny comment that may be en lightening. The whole campus is involved in the enforcement of the Honor sys tem. Students will read all informa tion concerning the trials with in terest. THOMAS C. HARNEY if
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 1962, edition 1
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