Sunday, March 7, 1965
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
Page 5
Compares
aupis,
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By DOMINIQUE BONTE
Editor's Note: The author is
the first University of Paris ex
change scholar to attend UNC.
lie is doing graduate work in
Physics and will return to
France next year.
After six months in Chapel
Hill, I would like to make a
comparison between the life of
a student in an American uni
versity and the one which I at
tended last year in Paris. I will
tell you what the French stu
dent is doing, the' problems he
is dealing with, and what or
ganizations he belongs to.
It was not very long before I'
noticed the most important dif
ference between the .universi
ties in the two countries. A
week after my arrival in Chapel
Hill, 45,000 people rushed to
Kenan Stadium to see the first
home football game of the sea
son. I had heard about the pos
sible attendance at the stad
ium, but I really wondered who
could fill it.
When the teams of two "
French schools meet, the aver
age attendance is lower than
five. It's easy to understand why
this is true. The French student
goes to the university only to
attend classes and to take
exams. He leaves the university
immediately after the course is
completed and really doesn't
care about anything else. To be
sure, he doesn't give a damn
what his team is doing and is
concerned even less when he
becomes an alumnus, unless he
is dealing with the team di
rectly. So the French student spends
the main part of his time out
side of the university and has
to manage by himself much
more than we do here. One of
his first problems is to find a
room not too far from the uni
versity. This is really hard,
especially in Paris where 100,
000 students are looking for ac
commodations, and many have
to satisfy themselves with a
dark room or are required to
use a subway two hours a day.
Only a few student dormitor
ies are available and the "Cite
Universitaire" has only 6,000
rooms. But, besides this room
problem, the student's condi
tion is pretty good in France.
Nearly everybody unfortu
nately there are still a few ex
ceptions who wants to study
and has the ability to do so can
be a student. If he can't com
mute every day, his main ex
penses will be his room ($30 a
month in Paris, $20 in Prov-r
. ince).
Meals in student restaurants,
better than the "Special" at
Lenoir Hall, are available for
25 cents. (A part of the meals
is paid by the French Govern
ment). Tuition and fees are
token expenses ($20 a year).
Thus the budget of a French
student living away f rpm home
is around $700 a year. A few
scholarships are available for
students, who need them.
Moreover, many . students
have a part-time job (tutor,
babysitting, translations) or
work during the summer to
earn the money their families
can't give them. We often heard
last year about an "allocation
d'etude" wage that the French
Government would give to
graduate students. This is not
a fact yet. I doubt if it will
happen.
Another problem of a stu
dent in France is a kind of un
certainty. It would be too long
to deal here with the education
in France, but the French sys
tem is characterized by the tre
mendous importance of the
final exam. Quite often . the
June exam determines whether
the student fails or passes. So
even the best student may fear
passing his courses until he
completes his final exams. I
was surprised to hear the Caro
lina student - giving his aver
age with some accuracy even
before taking the final exam.
You will seldom hear it in
France.
Such are -the problems
French students have to deal
r with. These are sometimes
helped by the student organiza
tions, which are very impor
tant in France. Every school
has its own "Bureau des
A Branch Grows Id Charlotte
Eleves" (student government)
with only student members,
which deals mainly with stu
dent problems such as rooms,
restaurants, sports, student in
ternational relations and part
time jobs.
One of its activities is the
"Commission aux etudes," a
group of students meeting regu
larly with the dean of the
school and trying to improve
the curricula of the school.
The student government in
the United States has another
goal, probably because the ad
ministration here takes care of
accommodation problems more
than in France. Some of the ac
tivities of student government
here surprise me;
I will mention only one of
them, the "Honor System,"
which every foreign student is
astonished to find. Too many
articles have been written re
cently in the Daily Tar Heel for
me to need to emphasize this
subject.
National student organizations
. in France have a greater im
portance than the NSA does
here. Two student unions may
be found in France to which
the majority of the students
belong.
The first one is UNEF (Union
Nationale des Etudeants de
France), created just after
World War Two.
The second one is the FNEF
(Federation Nationale des Etu
diantes de France). This union
was created during the Algerian
War in 1961 to protest the po
sition of UNEF, which was in
favor of independence.
Since the end of the Algerian
War, these two unions have
reconciled their important dif
ferences, and I think they will
eventually reunite.
A third union, much less im
portant, is UEC (Union des etu
diants Communistes) or com
munist student union. These
unions discuss with the French
government the students' prob
lems: room, restaurants, schol
arships and the building of new
universities. Since France lacks
many classrooms, this last prob
lem is very importaint.
They sometimes take a posi
tion on the workers' problems
as much as in the political
questions. For example, during
the Algerian" War, many stu
dents lost their deferment, and
UNEF asked for the end of the
war and the independence of
Algeria. These unions have now
a large attendance among the
students. This can be noticed
every time thev organize a
meeting or strike.
The American students are
surprised when they hear that
the students organize a strike
in France, and I want to ex
plain the average French stu
dent's feelings. He thinks that
he needs , to have universities,
rooms, restaurants, scholarships
. . . and that it's the job of the
government to give them to
him.
He also thinks that the best
method to attract the attention
of the governmen and the peo
ple is to organize a strike. .
I must say that when a leader
decides to organize a strike for
the students, this idea has a
good chance of being followed.
In March 1964 such a strike
lasted one week. The Italian
President ' Segni, who at this
Parker's Delight:
McDevitt & Long
Editors, TheTar Heel:.
Since I entered UNC-CH as
a freshman in 1960, I have been
aware of the acute parking
problem that existed on cam
pus. This year I have been forr
tunate enough to own and oper
ate an automobile . in Chapel
Hill, and the problem of find
ing parking space has really
been brought to my attention.
Last semester, an article ap
peared in The Daily Tar Heel
in which the Dean of Men's Of
fice reported that approximate
ly twice as many cars ;were
registered with them as there
were on-campus parking places.
I will readily admit that there
is no time when everyone who
has a car registered is on cam
pus. However, at any time that
more than half of them are on
campus, the fraction over half
is forced to park illegally. This
is a ridiculous situation. '
. Even worse than the present
situation is the fact that the
enrollment is growing, and only
""one solution has been aired in
recent years. That solution was
"the building of a multi-story
parking lot at the site of the
present' Bell Tower lot", and
charging a $50 registration fee. .
The solution that seems to be
sought is more space while the
obvious solution is to limit the
number of people allowed to
register cars.
The University does not owe
every student (or every senior, -junior,
and sophomore with bet
ter than a 2.0) a parking place.
It is not necessary to operate
an automobile in Chapel Hill to
receive a degree. I do feel that
- when the University grants the
student a permit to park on
campus there should be a . legal
place for him to park.
I was not aware of the conse
quences of illegal parking until
this year. Did you know that
-- if you receive five on-campus
parking tickets, the Office of
the Dean of Men can deny you
the right to operate an auto
mobile on the public streets and
"highways in and around Chapel
Hill?
time was visiting France,: could,
see the "Sorbonne" void of stu
dents. They were outside ask
ing for classrooms and profes
sors. -
Even if they are led by stu
dents who are often "against"
instead of being for some real
istic ideas, these student unions
have helped the students in
France.
I would be pleased to speak
about the problems with stu
dents who are interested in
them.
To end the article, I would
like to thank the people who
helped me before I arrived and
since I have been in Chapel
Hill.
I particularly thank Dr.
Howell, foreign student advisor, ,
students advisor, James Clark,
chairman of the International
Student Board, the Student
Government and the S AE fra
ternity where I enjoy dining
this year. ;
Let me also wish a very good
stay in France for the students
who will be over there next
summer and especially to
James Creech who will be next
year's UNC exchange student in
Paris. s
TO THE
EDOTOKS'
a ditto form letter I received,
supposedly from the office cf
Larry McDevitt; however, it
was not signed. The letter made
no notice of the fact that I am
the sole owner of my car nor
that Chapel Hill is my legal
residence (I vote in local elec
tions and pay local taxes).
If the Dean of Men or the
Assistant -to , the Dean of Men
has obtained such power, he
should have no trouble handing
down a few edicts and solving
campus.
I only wonder when the Dean
of Men or his assistant will
have the power to ban me from
the roads of North Carolina,
the South, the United States? -
R. nilhort Mrritt Jr.
Teaching Assistant
Chemistry Dept. :
North Viet Nam
Raids Strategic
Editors, The Tar Heel:
To say that I was misquoted
in Friday's Tar Heel is to re
sort to gross understatement..
1 1) I believe that our policy is
designed to enable .us to nego
tiate from a position of strength.
. 2) I never said that "Johnson
got us into this, war without
the knowledge of the people or
of Congress." "My position is
that three successive adminis
trations allowed a hopeless si
tuation to develop while Con
gress and the people remained
unaware of the situation, large
ly, as a result of news manage
ment. It should be noted that the
first of these three Presidents
was Eisenhower.
Kenneth Sherrill
Dept. of Political Science
P.S.: This is doubly annoying,
since two paragraphs were
omitted from my recent letter
to the editor. I would certainly
appreciate your acting to pre
vent any misunderstanding cf
my views.
Editor's Note: The article t
which Sherrill refers is "Stu
dents Support New Raids oa
Reds," in which his opinion oi
the Viet Nam raids was quoted
by the author, Mavis Hill.
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