Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 13, 1968, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
V Page 2 THE DAILY TAR REEJ Wednesday, March 13, 1963 Letters To The Editor 76 Years of Editorial Freedom .Bill Amlong,Editor Don Walton, Business Manager Mock Assemblies Would What Real Bodies Won't Action by the State Student Legislature and the Middle South Model United Nations this past weekend reflect progress that the state and nation would do well to imitate. Granted that both assemblies were on mock levels, the problems with which they dealt were authen tically represented and con scientiously decided. SSL passed an open housing bill Friday similar to the one which was passed in the U.S. Senate Mon day. The main differences in the two bills were the less explicit ex emptions in the SSL's amendment which covered only private homeowners "when the structures for rent or lease constitute part of the private residence of such homeowner." The SSL bill was passed by t voice vote, -indicating strong sup port of the measure for North Carolina. The Senate bill passed by a vote of 71-20. The only other little difference was that not one of North Carolina's senators voted for the bill. Ia high school civics classes, students are faithfully taught that the senators of a state have the obligatio to voice and vote the at itudes of the State. And not four days after the students of this same state's colleges and universities passed an open housing bill, North Carolina's senators voted against the measure. But we suppose that it was only an example of adolescent naivite that we once believe that our thoughts would be mirrored in the higher eschelons of government. The powers that bethe powerful powers, anyway are the ones which count. Afterall, it was only the representatives from twenty-nine schools in North Carolina which passed the open housing bill. And they are only students in a state which is proud to claim them but hesitant to recognize their wishes. . Fortunately, however, the bill is out of the Senate, after two months of wrangling, and on its way to the House where easy . passage is forcast. The House passed a civil rights bill last August and a more limited housing measure in 1966. Charlie Mercer, president of SSL, said that he felt this year's The Big UNC 'To Bo' A bout Peeping Toms From The Gastonia Gazette They are having a to-do on the But the students do not appear to campus at Chapel Hill. It revolves be making the impression they need about one or more Peeping Toms, to make. Predictably, the several appear- That is the way it is. ances of a mysterious looker has set off all kinds of reaction, ranging from coed wit to outright anger. Likeiy most people there have mixed feelings, made up partly of realization how ridiculous such acts are and partly of wrath at anyone who could be so vicious. That is about all one can do about a Peeping Tom either laugh at him or curse him unless he is caught. Some of the students are demand ing that the campus be protected at night by a good and watchful patrol which would, preferably, keep away such persons or, failing that, apprehend them. 1m Pamela Hawkins, Associate Editor Wayne Hurder, Managing Editor Rebel Good, News Editor Kermit Buckner, Advertising Manager assembly "made its largest step in becoming a real influence in the state." We are in agreement with these measures passed by SSL and with fading optomism we hope that Mercer's comment is indeed true. It's about time for the state to bend down and hear what a great number of its students are saying. Passage of the MSMUN bill to establish birth control centers in requesting nations also dealt with & problem which college students would seek to approach but which international leaders are being loathe to fully pursue. We feel that both the SSL and the MSMUN approached their respective issues realistically and that their resultant actions deserve the attention and close scrutiny of the bodies which they mimicked. Both assemblies . were , only games to make-believe, but we hope that most of the measures which they sought willl)e taken out of that realm. atsDue ;ToTarHel B-Ball Team '-'ir-'-V-' The Daily Tar Heel would like to take a second and a few inches to say a big congratulations to the Carolina Basketball team for its performance in the ACC tourna ment. The television viewing public and the Charlotte coliseum au dience were treated to a pro fessional and exciting . round of "UNC-games." The outstanding play of the entire team has merited accolades from all sporting circles, and we would like to cast ours among them. We would also like to offer a special word of recognition and praise to Larry Miller whose performance in the tournament earned for him the best player award. With the Eastern Regionals coming up this Friday, we wish the team luck against St. Bonaven ture. Police everywhere receive a steadv stream of complaints about Peeping Toms, many of which are based more on imagination than on fact. So there is a tendency to take such complaints with less than the great est seriousness.- And it. really is quitea long leap from anger at a Peeping Tom to fear ' for a girl's life, All Peeping Toms clearly are not dangerous. But it is equally obvious that some of them are. How many manglers have there been who did not start with what seemed like a little harm less looking? The matter really does deserve attention. And Chapel Hill has much cause to realize that. Congr The Powderkeg Of SMdemi To The Editor: Sir, I do not think I am going too f ar in saying that there is a revolution brew ing on this campus. At present, ad ministration and campus leaders are sit ting on a real powderkeg of student apathy. I say "powderkeg" not because an explosion is imminent, but because, given the appropriate fuse, plenty of ex plosives are all around us. We now have a student body somewhat in excess of 15,000 persons; an additional 4,000 or so, coupled with the pitiful communications between administration-student government and the students, will put us in the position Berkely was in just several years ago. The apathy so apparent across this cam pus cannot be hidden, even by colorful and, I believe, sincere efforts on the parst of many to stir the interest and imagination of the students here; the tragedy comes, however, when one realizes how quickly disaffection could " turn into fervent outbursts of student J 1 1 1 . com 1 rva ,h3 1 v-i4 cl a rk Letters To The Editor Morehead: To the Editor: , I wish to take exception with Mr. Amlong's editorial on Saturday where he congratulated the Morehead - Foundation for their outstanding alturism in granting a Morehead to Harold Cushingberry the first "qualified Negro" they have been able to locate in North Carolina and in several prep schools. It is my intention to relay to the University communith that the Morehead Program substantially a lily-white program and will in all pro bability remain so. That Harold Cus ingberry is a" Morehead Scholar is due to what Harold has done and what the Taft School has done. A little clarification is necessary. First, the program in North Carolina is set up on a district basis with each ac credited school asked to nominate can didates for the award. These committees are made up of the "leading citizens" in the area. Through ,Nia system of geographically-based committees the s North Carolina candidate makes it up to the top and thus receive the award. From the prep school, the situation is different. Selected schools are invited to send their top two hoys to Chapel Hill to be in terviewed. These guys, along with the state finalists receive the award. Only a small percentage are "cut" in this final part of the process. Mr. Cushinberry came from Taft School. He did not come through the lower eschelons. He did not, therefore, have to be judged by the "Leading citizens", in a North Carolina town. The important point here is that Mr. Cushinberry is a Scholar because he was chosen by his school as one of the two most outstanding . seniors. The system of selection in North Carolina has not changed. The irapolication from the Foundation is that there are no Negroes ? North,Carolma who are qualified for the Morehead Scholarship. The facts also simply that this has always been true and is still true. There is no evidence that this is true. On the contrary, that many other prestige scholarships have gone to Negroes from North Carolina in increasing numbers is nmnf thnr thpr ic cnmUs discriminatory about the Morehead Foun- dation selection process. With more than 10,000 Negroes graduating from high school each year, nothing but a segrega tionist policy could explain the fact that Cushingberry is the first Negro to show up in the finals. The Foundation asserts "equal opportunity" policy. But in these these times, sincerity is subject to proof. There is no evidence that the alleged poll icy is in fact for real in as far as Negro . graduates of North Carolina high schools are concerned. A second point is that all accredited feeling, some of which might approach violence of some sort or another. I do not advocate a violent student uprising, but I do warn of such a possibility. Nor do I hope that the student body will remain as apathetically un concerned and disinterested about im proving their lot. What we should hope for, then, is a rise in the level of concern and discussion around here. Such has certainly not been stimulated by the ad ministrative officers of the University' hierarchy; not that there isn't anyone in terested, it's just that the administration can be much more effectively pressured andr influenced by the alumni than by the students, so, quite predictably, the administration's ear is attuned to the ..voices of the chief alumni agency for preserving the status quo the Board of Trustees. Nor has student government been of any real help to the students. Even when the administration appears to be hearing Ye it-, hchs l,7re. 03 014 be yrotMpt- A Lily - schools in the state are allowed to make nominations to the local committee. Talks with guidance counselors in Negro high schools, and from questionnaires received from schools all over the state led me to the conclusion that Negro high schools are excluded. Some schools say that they hiaveno information on the Program. If this evidence is indeed true, then the conclusion is that the discrimination that I allege is a sin of commission, rather than omission. This is a shameful fraud to just-minded people who have a high estimation of the Foun dation. Thirdly, the men who serve on the local committee are too often men who - have shown no interest in "equal op portunity" in education at the public school level. Final indictment came to me vividly when the founder presented the winners on statewide television. In presenting the scholars, he pointed out that the Morehead Scholarships were for good, Christian white boys. And that is the way it has been in North Carolina. That is the way it still is in North Carolina, the new black Scholar from Watertown, Con necticut, notwithstanding. But what is more important is the broader quetions that are raised by the Foundation and its policies. They have concerned me for some time. The praise heaped on the Foundation was un deserved and I thought that I should let the campus know what my findings and impressions have been. The first point is the gulf that exists between the Negro community and the University of North Carolina. Carolina Talent Search is trying to bridge .that gap. When a bigoted program exists, its impact infects the whole image of the University. It is true that the University and the Morehead Foundation are legally separate. They are not, however, percep ibly separate. They are not spatially separate. The way the Negro college community views the University was brought home in a recent report prepar ed for the Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare by a Harward Consul tant. The University has a responsibility to insure that any program with this it is associated it not unjust or discriminatory, and that it is not perceiv ed as such. While I am sure that the selection of Cushingberry will change the impression of the Foundation in the minds of many people those who know the whole truth shutter to think what the revelation of the whole truth to the Negro community will mean in a time when words are considered dirt cheap. The second broad question that I would like to raise is the responsibility of Whit student voices, it simply isn't listening. For student government leaders to look "successful" to their constitutency, it becomes necessary for those same "student" leaders to virtually parrot, with scant modification if any, administration policy when each major crisis or demand comes along; by doing this, it appears to those students too naive to believe otherwise that the SG leaders have driven their points home to the administration and then both parties have reached an agreement More and more, the "student'2 govern ment becomes the tool of the ad ministration a supreme irony. Witness the recent drug policy controversy. It was apparent that the student judicial system exists simply to do the ad ministration's diciplinary dirty work, to take trivial infractions and the like off the hands of South Building. But with the concept of student punishment or hearing of drug "offenses", it was as if the ad- s fi ou. J 3 JLC 3 ressmoi corn r e Program a private foundation to its client public. The day has passed in North Carolina when the "public" is limited to the white public. The private foundations receives special tax advantages and public recep tion because the public feel that the group is performing an essential com munity need. The Morehead Foundation has thus failed to live up to its public responsibility and therefore does not deserve the praise that has recently been heaped upon it. Race has no legitimate valued in the estimation of merit for a scholarship award. The Foundation will no doubt deny that they discriminate. This is to be expected. But the fact is that in the many years that the award has been given, not a single Negro in any school in North Carolina has been offered a scholarship. In many cases the information that the scholarship exists has been withheld. The founder of the Program said on statewide television that the awards are for white boys in North Carolina with good Chris tian backgrounds. We all know that the foundation enjoys a special status on this campus. To at tack the Morehead Foundation is almost Jike attacking God and all that is good. But the fact is that the Foundation is making its good to fall unequally on the basis of race. This is not right. I would suggest that someone make an impartial inevestigation of the Foun dation to get the full story what what is going on and to fully inform the campus; The facts require that the truth be fully known. The situation is immoral and in tolerable. Mr. Amlong's editorial on Saturday added insult to injury. Phillip Clay, Director Carolina Talent Search The Daily Tar Heel is pub lished by the University of North Carolina Student Publi cations Board, daily except Mondays, examinations periods -and vacations. Offices are on the second floor of Graham Memorial. Telephone numbers: editorial, sports, news 933-1011; bus iness. circrlation, advertising 933-1163. Address: Box 1CS0. Chapel Hill, N, C, 27514. Second class postage paid at U.S. Post Office in Chapel Hill N. C. . Subscription rates: $9 per year; $5 per semester. ApMhy ministration then said, "No, no, students this is important, and we just can't let the important things "fall into your hands!" Thus the great dilemma of the students: what do we do when the ad ministration turns a deaf ear too often and when the student government is aa administration lackey? Or how do we as interested students accomplish anything when the two agencies to which we d normally turn aren't worth turning to' Well, it figures that when students are really concerned about something they use independent means to accomplish what they want to do. Take, for instance the Committee for Free Inquiry (CFI)' where students faced up to the crises of the Aptheker-Wilkinson speaker baa denials and the Michael Paull "Coy Mistress" caper; there at least Robert Powell, then student body president, lent his prestige and support at leas', he opened his mouth about the situation. Or consider Dale Saville's independent peti tion to revamp the parking sticker system here; Bob Travis was hesitant to ven get involved with that. Indeed, Travis boasted in a "farewell address" of his hesitancy to take a stand on anything, it seemed ("I have prostituted neither my name nor title"). But why should he have risked anything for the student body? Such action might have angered the ad ministration, and the "student body" as a whole (whose lot he might have been able to improve) could never be called up for a recommendation, like administration officials may be. Do student government leaders ignore student opinion, or do students simply shun all contact with their "leaders"? More likely the latter. For students really don't have any real feeling of confidence in SG's hierarchy; only the residence col lege officers seem to offer any real hope for communication and dialogue around here, but nothing seems to be happening there or, rather, not enough. I hope that students will impress upon all cam pus leaders, students and adults, that this student body could be concerned about their educational plight. That concern, though, if not directed forcefully at the administration very soon, may develop into something quite a bit more frighten ing, an outbreak of student rebelliousness and, again, possible forms of violence. A show of force demonstrating that we, as partners in the educational processes, are interested and, moreover, intend to de mand what does fall in our sector might give the administration a clearer view of what the students are really thinking. . t But .here we are, again, playing the student' government election game. With anarchist' Michael Hollis out of the SG presidential race, we are left with establishmemtarians Dietz and Day being pitted against the radical independent candidacy of Bruce Strauch. I stated in a letter earlier this week my reasons for supporting Strauch, and I would like to add here just an afterword. That is, if this election is to mean anything in terms of actual student representation, then Bruce Strauch is the only possible hope for causing a victory not of a candidate, but for a student body. Should the average Carolina student get con - cerned enough about this whole madness called popular democracy and vote en masse, then it appears clearly that he will choose outspoken independence, as offered by Strauch, to the System. Let's hope, then, that with such in mind, he does indeed vote. Perhaps the whole problem of com munication breakdown and subsequent apathy could be dealt a blow from the start, that is, by using orientation as the beginning of a long period (four years, at least) of concern, interest, and awareness about what is going on around the in dividual student. Jay Schwartz, the able orientation administrator, should do everyting possible to make the entering students next fall realize that they are here not only to define their own roles in Carolina academia, but also they are, to a very large extent, responsible for charting the future course of the entire academic community at Chapel Hill. The administration has done little to encourage student realization of the lat ter responsibility; student government has done little more. For if such as that were actually realized by a large mass of this student body, the administration would be hard put to answer some of the embarrassing questions about true stu dent freedoms here, t and the student government would be in a bind jn trying to explain why it hadn't pressed these issues to begin with. UNC was once an academic utopia; much of the faculty probably recalls the time. The truth is that, with such a large growth rate over the past score of years, the student , body has outgrown student government and the administration has managed to get just about everywhere hi students' lives except out of the way. Nor have the students been blameless; they, more than either the administion or student government, can resolve the pro blem of apathy. We "did, in fact, come to this school to deal with intellectuals and academics, not politicans and bureacracies; that fact remains. Student strikes and rebellions won't help out any, but they could be just around the corner, sadly enough. What we need is strong, honest student asser tion at this point; The University was built for students, after all. Lest we all forget, vox populi est vox Dei. Students are people. Bland Simpson University Methodist Church .
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 13, 1968, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75