Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 21, 1965, edition 1 / Page 5
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Page 5 TMe (Eanffler IPnWicity' For Tine Rally Sunday, March 21, 1965 ' THE DAILY TAR HEEL By TIMOTHY RAY Last in a Series In Part "VI of this series, I described the incident of the in sult given to Wilmot Hage, or Monrovia, Liberia, and Gard ner's reactions to the incident. Today I plan to present the ac tions of some members of the press to Gardner and the Free Speech Movement r or For um, and to explain how those actions have misled and confus ed many members of the Uni versity community. First, I want to point out that Jim Clotfelter's article in the Durham Morning Herald for Feb. 18, is an excellent article and an exception to what fol lows. Demonstrations After the incident occurred, Hage expressed his objections to the treatment given him in a letter addressed to whom it might concern. Now Gardner has been accused, by the Greensboro Daily News of Feb. 20 (after they received the Un iversity News Bureau's press release) of trying "to blow the matter up as a cause celebre," and by the DTH of thinking that the news media of this area, in cluding the DTH are "his per sonal news bureaus" Feb. 13). What Gardner actually did in ' the way of publicity amounts to this: he gave a copy of Hage's letter to Fred Seely in the DTH office (which he entered only once), and one to the Chapel Hill Weekly. In reality, there was no great publicity by Gard ner. Publicity did occur, however, when front page article appear ed Feb. 13 that had in large let ters above it, "Demonstrations threatened," and began, "De monstrations like the ones at the University of California at Berkeley have been threatened in Chapel Hill by a UNC gra duate student and local rights groups." This is simply untrue. Per haps the author, Ernie McCra ry, did not realize that there is a difference between trying to organize public demonstrations, which Gardner did not do, and trying to. organize a public ral ly which Gardner did do. . Or the explanation of McCra ry's mistake might lie in his misunderstanding of Gardner in his intereview. One of the ques tions McCrary asked Gardner was what he would do If Univer sity officials refused to allow him to hold the public rally which had been planned. - Gardner replied that he did not think there was any reason to worry about that, since ral- " lies had been permitted to be . held . before by campus organi zations. But McCrary still wanted to know what Gardner would do if the rally were not permitted. Gardner's reply to this ques tion was apparently what Mc Crary misunderstood, because ; what Gardner said he said was, "In that case, we would do what ; was done "at - Berkeley we would hold the rally somewhere i else." In actual fact, Berkeley students did hold off - campus rallies; so this was a sensible answer. Gardner had no intention of sponsoring open rebellions, riots or demonstrations. Nor has he ever said that he had any such intention. I suppose that the word, "Ber keley" connoted that idea for McCrary, making him believe that Gardner planned to follow all of the Berkeley tactics. The only part of them that he had remotely considered following was holding the rally elsewhere. Rallies of UNC students have been held off - campus before with no ill effect, such as on the Post Office lawn. There is no reason to think that it could not have been done again. " The 'Town and Gown" col umn in the Chapel Hill Weekly for Feb. 21 was written, as us ual, by Pete Ivey. In this ar ticle he asked several very the torical questions and then pro ceeded to offer a contrast be tween Hage's reaction to be ing insulted, with those of -Marines who were in training on the campus. Students had told these Ma rines, "You don't look so tough to me." Now there is really no just comparison between the two ca ses. Negroes today are seeking to convince the rest of mankind "that they should be treated like everyone else, whereas no one doubts that Marines are tough, as they've been widely respect as superior fighting men for de cades. One of the rhetorical ques tions in "Town and Gown" was "Why was the Liberian student in the Fraternity Court area at the time the UN Model Assem bly was in session on another part of the campus." One won ders if Gardner is really sup posed to answer that. Hage had asked Gardner for a ride, "and they were walking to Gardner's car. That's simple enough. It's also the answer to "WTiy was he escorting the Liberian around at that time of day away from the UN. Mock . As sembly?" Gardner wasn't in terested in . keeping tabs on Hage's movements around the campus, or whether he attend ed every Model UN session. " There's no reason to - expect him to account for Hage's ac tivities unless one is trying ar tificially to build some kind of theory that the incident might have been "a put-up job," as "Town and Gown", speculates. Hage's movements could have telephoned him in South Caro lina. Mr. Gardner made that suggestion to a number of in- mmm TP- t 4 V ' wmm St' Hf- 1 ::X'X:;::-:::-::x-:W:::-x-:x-55 V ' i i .4 f mmmmm 4;r;f:i::;l 4 In 0 1 f' 4 " 'VSNM -' ,, If ' - - WT . quines. "Grudge Against Society" The DTH ran an editorial on Tuesday, Feb. 16, which, in my opinion, is actually libelous: "James Gardner: Man With A Grudge Against Society," in which Gardner is again falsely accused of planning demonstra tions and a "wild nebulous mass of social protests," in an ."un ; mitigated defiance of reason," which would subject the Univer sity to "underserved public vil ification." He is said to be to tally careless of the well - being of the University and seeking to promote chaos in order to cre ate a heroic Savio image of him self, and to assuage some kind of inferiority complex or psy chopathy. It is surely unethical and dis reputable to publish such unmi tigated censure and condem nation without ascertaining the truth of it. This editorial could damage a man's reputation for life, especially if widely circu lated. As a matter of fact, the University News Bureau relay ed the content of this editorial to newspapers and radio and te levision stations across North Carolina. Gardner wrote a long and very polite letter to Pete Ivey, who is also the director of the News Bureau, stating that he had been shown a copy of the official release, which consist ed almost entirely of the edi torial published in the DTH. Gardner continues, "I would defend with all the energy at my command the right of the editorial board of the Daily Tar Heel to express its collective or single opinion on the news of this last or any other week . . . I wish, however; to question your sense of fair play in cir culating this editorial under the official aegis of the University News Bureau as a news release without offering the main sub ject of the news release Ja mes Gardner an opportunity to state his interpretation of the events which were only peri pherally referred to in what the subscribers to the News Bur eau's services are bound to re gard as the University's 'of ficial' statement on the matter. Instead of a "routine proce dure," Young considered the sending of the editorial by the News Bureau to be the "un heard of step of sending a co py of that particular DTH edi torial to every newspaper, TV and radio station in the State." But supposing that it was a routine procedure, sending out such an unroutine editorial with out verifying its truth, or giv ing the subject a chance to com ment is to put routine proce dure above- human compassion or the respect for truth th2t one has a right to xpect in a University. Other papers, including the Greensboro Daily News and the News of Orange County, published bits and pieces of the DTH -oint of view, with more restraint,' under the mistaken impression that this point cf view represented the turth. In the final analysis, the DTH - interpretation, when spread throughout the State, did more to bring ''undeserved public vi same fact applies to you. In deed I know it does, for I have had occasion to be acquainted with the devoted energy and skill you have brought to your work for the University. In his brief reply, Ivey said that the sending of the DTH edi torial was a q"routine proce dure" and that "there was no good reason to provide you with advance notice of that action." An opinion opposed to that cf Ivey was expressed by a man on the receiving end of the re lease, Peter B. Young of WRAL, a .very conservative broadcast ing station in Raleigh: "The DTH lit the. fuse for that little explosion at the first rally," and in doing so, "betrayed a great tradtion of which I am a small In commenting on his own motives and behavior, Gradner told Ivey, "I feel now and have felt since my first residence here in 1951 a sense of respect for and responsibility to this Un iversity. I have never acted in a private or public way without devoting the most careful and thoughtful attention to the ques tion of how my behavior might reflect on the quality and cha racter of this institution. "'"I readily assume that the lification" upon the University ; than Gardner could possibly done even if he had tried. In concluding this series, I wish to explain that the occa sional vagueness has been moti vated by a desire to avoid, where possible, mentioning the names of individuals or groups who might suffer thereby. While there have been a few com plaints, many people have said that the articles have shown fairness and restraint. I only hope that I have clari fied some of the confusion in popular opinion. Finally, I am grateful to . live In a country and to attend a University where such slightly unusual opinions as mine can be freely expressed. An earlier article, containing a misprint, said that the YMCA "is not", where it should have said "is now" sponsoring the open forum. Speaker Ban A Catch-All, Combats Almost Anything Editors, The Tar Heel: I would like to take this op portunity to register my feel ing about the so-called Speaker Ban. I think it is one of the most effective ways yet devised to protect our young people from the evils of Communism. ! However, Gommunism is not our only enemy. As we all know, the moral fiber of America is weakening. We also now know that we suffer from extensive poverty and, paradoxically, from a wealth of abundance. Cancer (largely lung cancer, from that instrument of the de vil, the cigarette), heart disease and other dread diseases take their toll of deaths daily. I would suggest that the Speaker Ban has provided us with the long-needed weapon with which to combat not only Communism but these other en emies as well. I urge your rea ders to write their representa tives in the State legislature concerning the need for new or over1 $15,000 who has ever even broken a law, who has ev er had an income under $3000 or over " $15,000, eho has ever been sick, who has ever smok ed, or who has ever refused to make public statements concer ning any of these matters, from campuses. Some critics, of course, will maintain that such laws make as much sense as trying to catch water in a sieve. But in the words of that immortal pa triot, Roger Price, ?these peo ple should be silenced without hesitation." . . John B. Stephenson Miller Hall
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 21, 1965, edition 1
5
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