North Carolina Newspapers

Page 2 Friday, May 20, 1966 1 he SatUf (!ar iHrl Ijil: Opinions of Tin- Daily I ;ir Ih i l ait- pnNd in its g IS editorials. All uiisini-cl t-ditoriuU air written by the g: vi editor. Letters and columns nllttl only the personal :S views of their contributors. S: :S FRED THOM AS. EDIT OK Until Next Year Today ends the publication year for The Daily Tar Heel. With the day of final examinations moving ever closer, DTH staffers, instead of slaving away on sec ond floor GM, will be spending the next few afternoons at the Grill, Harry's, the Tempo, the Shack and other centers of intellectual interest. It's been an eventful year at UNC, and thus an eventful year for the DTH. But most of the events were recorded by the former editor and his staff. Our stand this spring has been a short one slightly more than one month. Our real work will be waiting for us next Septem ber. We're excited about what we think the DTH can toe next year. We hope our readers are too. The re building of a staff since we came in this spring has been a continuous process of shifting pegs from slot to slot. Of course, the greatest problem has been in re placing graduating staff members. We hate to see them go, but we think we have some equally qualified replacements. But we will need more help. We hope we'll have enough anxious laborers next year to in crease our depth in news writing, proof reading, copy editing, proof reading, feature writing and proof reading. We'd like to give you a capsule idea of how the six pages will be used next year: Pages one and six will continue to be devoted to major campus news items. Page two will be for edi torial opinion. Page five, sports. Pages three and four will have a varied scope to fill the need for TV sched ule; state, national and inter-national roundup; fra ternity, sorority and residence college news; increas ed sports coverage; women's news; departmental news briefs; and general features. Also, we're looking forward to sponsoring several contests which we think will be a lot of fun for every one. We'll start with a "Pick the Winner" contest weekly during football season. Later in the year we want to stage another "Spot the Spot" contest, a "Miss Daily Tar Heel" contest, a "Kite Flying" contest and possibly a "Beard Growing" contest. We're going to do our best to stay on top of all the issues, and we hope we'll hear from our readers often. In parting we want to extend a hearty note of gratitude to those in Student Government, the admin istration, faculty and student body who have helped us and taken our jabs this year. And a special thanks goes to our Chapel Hill merchants who made this year's DTH a financial possibility by supplying a rec ord $30,000 worth of local advertising. Best of luck on exams for everyone. Have a good summer. See you next fall. A Layman Prays The following thoughts came to the DTH office as a letter to the editor yesterday afternoon too late to make the letters deadline. But we felt it was too good to miss, and it expresses our very thoughts. So here it, is, straight from the pen of Andrew J. Upshaw, 306" Church St. FINAL PRAYER My Grader, Who art in grad school Hallowed by Thy course. Semester done, I studied none, In class as it was at home. Give me this day my final grade, And forgive me my cuts, As 1 forgive Your lectures; And lead me not into the Army, But deliver me from failing. For Thine are the quizzes, And the final, And the QP's; For Hanes Hall, to record. John Greenbacker "Yeah, somethin's burnin' my eyes too." ..."- ". . . .V.V.V.V,V.V,ViV,,,vXl : Fred Thomas, editor; Scott Goodfellow, managing editor; ; John Greenbacker, associate editor; Ron Shinn, news ed itor; Barry Jacobs, sports editor; Ernest Robl, assistant news editor; Bill Hass, assistant sports editor; John Jenn rich. wire editor; Mike Wiggin, night editor; Jock Lauter er. Jerry Lambert, photographers; Chip Barnard, art ed itor; Andy Myers. Steve Bennett, Steve Lackey. Peytie Fearrington. Carol Gallant. Lytt Stamps, Alan Banov, Bill Amlong. staff writers; Bill Rollins, Sandy TreadweU. Ornmmond Bell. Jim Fields, sports writers; Jeff Mac Nelly, Bruce Strauch, cartoonists. Quick Solution Needed For Viet Nam The panel discussion on Viet Nam held Tuesday night in Memorial Hall was pos sibly the most significant program the Car olina Forum has presented this year. What actually made the discussion so informa tive was not the endless argumentation over the 1954 Geneva Conference or the feasibility of the 1956 elections, but the comments made near the program's end about America's future in Viet Nam. Allard Lowenstein pointed out an interest ing truth about this in volvement which many persons have a tenden cy to forget: There is no such thing as a com plete military victory in Viet Nam. No matter if the United States were to saturate the country - between Peping and Moscow in favor of the former. In the final showing of near-unanimity, Tuesday's panel cast light on the essential difference between the government's ad visors and the government's critics. As Henry Kissinger put it, the government is currently groping for a change in its for eign policy and this change will take time. He pleaded for understanding in this mat ter, but it is doubtful that he will find too much of it. Clearly, if we do not act quick ly, the consequences of the unfortunate Viet Nam involvement will multiply at lightning speed. A de-escalation is the first step towards easing the situation and buying time to bar gain. If bargaining produces a government that is not extremely favorable towards the United States or even the rights of its own people, we still would have avoided a con flict that could only destroy Viet Nam and "Greetings I" WMI$$m a -me vy ta nut m m with troops, communism would live on in one form or another and its internal power would still be felt. Our government must fully realize that a political solution, even one unfavorable to the United States, can offer the best solution for the Viet Nam difficulties. This conclusion is based on several en eluctable facts. Demonstrations against Marshall Ky's government are mounting to the point that he may be toppled in the near future. In the course of these events, the United States and her forces have played the role as a major factor in this internal situation. Justly or not, we have been portrayed by some Buddhist leaders as a force of re action protecting the government from the demands of the people. Witness how this situation is exacer bated by such incidents as the recent at tack on a US helicopter carrying a Viet namese general who supports the Ky government. A group of soldiers, who were Buddhist loyalists, fired several pis tol shots at the helicopter, and they were immediately cut down by an American manned machine gun mounted inside the craft. During the last confrontation between the Buddhists and the Ky government, the American marine command at Da Nang was placed in the dubious position of hav ing to order a Vietnamese general loyal to the Buddhists to remove mortar em placements he had ordered set up surround ing the Da Nang air base. In the course of negotiation, a marine colonel had to tell the general that if the threatening emplace ments were not removed, the marines would be forced to "destroy" the South Vietnam ese troops. The mortars were removed. Such incidents as this clearly illustrate that the US has become a principal fac tion in the fractionalized and irreconcilable political scene of South Viet Nam. It is ironic that we should in the course of these actions threaten to kill and actually kill the very people who are supposed to be our allies. As American presence in this land con tinues, we may expect to see more and more signs of anti-Americanism and anti Westernism in general. We are, after all, a foreign power that has taken over the soil of an alien people. Their resentment is bound to grow larger with time. Another thing we must realize is that the establishment of a stable democracy in South Viet Nam is a nearly impossible in this decade. Viet Nam and Southeast Asia in general are traditionally used to authori tarian rule, and it would require a large, intensified effort at the grass-roots level be fore the minimal degree of political sophis tication necessary to. support a democracy could be attained. When the weight of these factors are put together, it is easy to see that the US mu.t exercise its full power diplomatically to sevk a negotiated settlement, and this is something we really haven't been doing ; Concessions to the National Liberation Front and the North Vietnamese will have to be made before any kind of a coalition government can be set up, the United States must be regard this as some sort of a defeat. It is merely the best solution and the quickest means of extricating our selves from these internal political difficul ties of a distant nation. Arthur Larson warned his audience Tuesday night that time is running out for the United Suites in Viet Nam. Faced uith internal hostilities and disorders in the South, we have reacted by escalading the war and increasing our frequently ineffec tual bombings in the North. There are in creasing indications that the Red Chinese leadership is preparing its people and the world for direct Chinese involvement in the war. US air action in North Viet Nam is providing the grist for the Chinese mill. If this Chinese involvement becomes a re ality, the results would be unfortunate for, the United States and for both Viet Nams. . Under such a situation Ho Chi Minh would be compelled to drop his non-alaignment ' boil over into the rest of Southeast Asia. Stablization even at the risk of losing some of the people's rights in Veit Nam, would be preferable in this situation. Larson ex pressed this opinion quite openly at the re: ception after the discussion. It would be well for our government to take his views under advisement. . Above and beyond this situation, how ever, is the question of the entire US con cept of involvement in general. Larson has pointed out that we can no longer involve ourselves in these ugly little holy wars for the cause of democracy, particularly if they are waged in areas not strategically, important to US security and if they re quire US involvement in a nation's inter nal affairs. Implicit in this is the realization that communism ranges from the black to the grey, that it often offers no real threat to American security and that totalitarianism of varying degrees can provide the only stable form of government for some na tions of the world. Letters To The Editor Parting Shots Leveled For DTH9 Yack Rothnuin Smeared YAF Editor, The Daily Tar Heel: How does one answer a column like David Rothman's attack on YAF? Young Americans for Freedom, Inc., welcomes intelligent discussion and in the past has invited SDS members to public debate. But no one can effectively answer a smear. David Rothman was developed a new type of smear which I shall term 'Roth manism.' All one does to make a Roth manism is try to link some person or or ganization with the SPU, already an object of scorn by most Carolina students. And to add to this he can smear the Carolina Conservative Club, and then try to spread this smear over on YAF. In the mind of the politicaly naive, all groups right or left of center appear as one big threat to the '"consensus" center, and the fact that the right and the left are dia metrically opposed is forgotten. YAF is not a radical minority group, as the SPU is. In the mock presidential election on the Caro lina campus in 1964, Barry Goldwater got around 40 per cent of the vote. A vote for Goldwater was a vote for YAF because of both are synonymous and Goldwater has strongly endorsed YAF. Young Americans for Freedom is strongly supported by lead ers of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Rothman's attack is not just an attack on YAF, but on thousands of Caro lina students and nation-wide leaders. Rothman's attack is also an insult to the vast majority of the professors of this University. Anyone who has denounced the scare and smear tactics of 'McCarthy ism' must also denounce Rothmanism, for they are the same thing. Rothman's article was an attack on everyone's intelligence and sense of fair play. To make the record straight, no mem ber of YAF can advocate the violent over throw of the government, as Rothman im plied they do. Any person who advocates this position is barred from membership in YAF by its by-laws. If Rothman were press ed on this point, he would probably claim that he meant a peaceful overthrow of the government. Of course, this is what the Re publican and Democratic Parties attempt at every election. Rothman states also that YAF "should not be permitted to obtain national power." Does he propose a power-ban law? Will he let us speak but prohibit us from any position of power? This undemocratic thought is repugnant to everyone. Any time that David Rothman or any one else wishes to engage himself in a scholarly debate over YAF's principles, I or any member of YAF will be glad to respond. But YAF will never engage in smears or scares or hatred or lies like Rothman has done. Douglas Stanton Joyner Hall Spearman's Views Good Editor, Daily Tar Heel: As printed, Robert Spearman's article on Oxford gave a good, if brief, picture of that complex institution and its conser vative ways. However, I should like to re dress one impression, the implication that the social sciences degree course, politics, philosophy and economics, is not consider ed respectable at Oxford, and that the level of economic study is shallow. While perhaps being less comprehensive in his course work than he might be at U.N.C., the student 'majoring in economics might typically meet his tutor 40 times over three years to read and discuss set essay topics in formal one-hour tutorials. (In addition he would have around 30 es says and tutorials each in politics and phi losophy.) He would rarely have more than two topics per week (say, one economics, one politics) and he would be unlikely to have more than five hours of lectures per week for the 21 weeks of active academic year, so that he could devote time to read ing deeply on each topic. The Oxford course is no soft option. Naturally, it is gratifying to read more praise for the classics degree. But Spear man might raise a cheer also for the Chemistry School, probably the best in the country, and one to which Merton College has contributed much. Richard Hill Brown Connor Hall Stith Irresponsible Editor, The Daily Tar Heel: In response to Pat Stith's letter of April 18 condemning those who, in this words. have "claimed they graced the Tar Heel's pages at one time or another," I should like to comment on this obviously-irresponsible charge. I should like to call to Stith's atten tion the fact that there are more depart ments in a newspaper operation than the news and editorial staff. Furthermore, there are those who, even though Stith doesn't "remember" them, who have ser ved the Daily Tar Heel in other capacities during their four year stay at this institu tion. Just to set the record straight, then, let me assure Stith that I did, as a sopho more, work in the circulation department of this paper. It takes a lot of people you "just don't remember," people who have worked long, hard hours to get the Tar Heel to the people of this state. There are the "pretenders" who claim ed to have worked for the Tar Heel, Mr. Stith, the ones you don't seem to remem ber. I doubt very much if we'll remember you, either. Richard L. Hoyt. (Editor's note Stith, if you read his let ter closely, referred only to those person who claimed they worked on the DTH their senior vear.) Computers Should Be Used In Selection Of Roommate By DAVID ROTHMAN Computer dates via Operation Match are fine, but what happens after the evening's over? If you're like many UNC students, you return to your dorm to find a roommate with whom you're totally incompatible. And, though you may eventually marry your date, you are at least for the mo ment spending a lot more time with the roommie. He likes rock 'n' roll, you say; you like Broadway. He's a hell-raiser; you're not. Etc. The answer to your problems, then might be a computerized roommate selec tion process like the one that may soon be started at the University of Mississippi. There, the Men's Housing Office hopes to devise a compatibility test that could en able future freshmen to select roommates by computer If the Mississippi experiment is success ful. UNC should give a great deal of thought to beginning a similar system. According to scientific studies, personal adjustment problems rival, if they dont surpass, academic troubles as a reason be hind college dropouts. And, even should conflicts between room mates not be bad enough to cause one leave school, they undoubtedly pull down grade? All too often, one roommate has to fee to the library because the other insists or throwing a party or getting drunk (seems that people get drunk around here a lot more than you'd think if you just looked a! the student judiciary records). Computers quite likely are the answer to these and other problems, for as a' originator of the Mississippi project says "We do not claim that the computer can match every or- with a perfect roommate, but it can select people who are mutally bearable, and eliminate situations where greatly incompatable personalities are thrown together." That statement makes sense; a comput erized roommate selection service wouldn't be infallible (and people should be allowed to select roommates on their own if thew prefer), but it's certainlv seems better thar the present random matching.