Page 2
76 Years o Editorial Freedom
Bill Amlong,. Editor
Don Walton, Business Manager
CHOICE '68 Means
Chance To
Why bother to voe in the
CHOICE '68 presidential primary
today?
After all, it doesn't really count,
does it? It's not going to send
any delegates to either party con
vention, bound to vote for one can
didate or another.
But the truth is that CHOICE
'68 does count a great deal.
True, when students here and
on other campuses throughout the
nation vote in the preference poll
today, they won't be directly elec
ting delegates to the conventions.
They won't be voting in a general
election either.
But what they will be doing
is coming out in force to show
that certain candidates either
have, or lack the bloc support of
this nation's youth because of their
stands on certain issues.
Furthermore, it will be a
medium through which students
can directly express their opinions
on both Vietnam and the Urban
crisis.
It will indeed be the first na
tional referendum on either of
these questions.
By voting either in support or
in disagreement with the present
U.S. military and bombing policies
in the Vietnam war, students
throughout the nation and on
each campus individually, too
can either amplify or tone down
such criticisms of U.S. policy as
those made by the National Student
Associaion.
Also, instead of merely pro
viding a forum for student opinion
to be heard in this particular case,
CHOICE '68 is setting a precedent
for the polling of colleges and
universities throughout the U.S on
other matters in the future.
And certainly not the least im
portant facet of CHOICE '68 is
that it represents the first time
that students have been actively
courted on a nationwide level by
politicians and publicists.
It is the first time that students
have been recognized nationally as
a power base, instead of being
shrugged off as kids who are too
young to vote.
A Dismal
Chapel Hill
Yesterday a small paperback,
entitled "The Making of a
Governor," arrived hot off the
press. The book is a recapitulation
of Dan Moore's victory in. 1964
against underwhelming odds.
Without reading the book, and
we haven't, certain comparisons
with this year's making of a
Governor are invited.
Hie most striking thing about
Dan Moore's making in 1964 was
that here was a man virtually
unknown, politically opaque, and
an oratorical disaster who
somehow managed to be elected
Governor. Exactly how that was
accomplished is a long and in
volved story. The most important
single factor in his election was
that he happened to be in the right
place, politically, at the right time.
Dan Moore, as a personality, was,
to be candid about it, a minus
in the campaign. That was one
of the reasons why his braintrust,
a canny group, hid him diiring
the month of the run-off against
Richardson Preyer.
Judged on his 1964 campaign,
Dan Moore has been a far better
Governor than even the most op
timistic had a right to expect.
Pamela Hawkins, Associate Editor
Terry Gingras, Managing Editor r
Rebel Good, News Editor
Kermit Buckner, Advertising Manager
Be Heari
It represents, in short, a chance
to be heard, a chance to actively
influence the political climate of
the United States.
And all it takes is a couple
minutes voting time. .
Marching
The Extra
Mile
From The Charlotte
Observer
In the midst of all the
marches and demonstrations,
one march should not go un
noticed. There were about 300 of
them, students and faculty
members, and they marched
several miles from the Wake
Forest University campus to
the Winston-Salem City
Hall.
There they presented
Winston Mayor M. C. Benton
a petition asking for concerted
and responsible action to
solve many urban ills.
Had it ended there, it
would not have been
particularly worthy of note.
But there was a second
document, in addition to the
one setting forth the groups's
goals. That second document
is what made the news.
It contained the names of
a group of students willing
to donate eight hours a week
of their time to any con
structive purpose the city
thought might benefit from
their effort.
There have been a lot of
marches around these parts
lately, but few have gone the
second step and said: "And
when you get ready to go to
work, call us. We'll come
help."
Similarity
Weekly
Viewed objectively years hence,
his administration might even be
looked back upon as one of the
high-water marks in modern North
Carolina history.
The striking sirnilantty--and
perhaps the only one between 1964
and 1963 is that, on the basis of
this year's campaign, very little
can reasonably be expected of the
next Governor, regardless of who
wins. All of the major candidates
have ignored what ought to be the
. 0- -
great hopes and aspirations of the
State and chosen instead to play
upon the chords Of our discontent,
In Bobby Kennedy's speechwriters'
words, they have appealed to the
darker Impulses of the Tar Heel
spirit..
A pronouncement that this
year's gubernatorial winner is
bound to be a headlong disaster
obviously would be premature.
Many were convinced four years
ago that Dan Moore would be a
disaster as Governor, and he has
been anything but that. We can
only pray, not really hope but pray,
that the next adrriinistration, with
even drearier beginnings, will have
such a surprising upbeat ending.
THE DAILY
ft B-zmmmr-
i 'ft Jifg
Letters To The Editor
iideiit" Facility M.
Violates Academic
To the Editor:
At the beginning of this week a flyer
signed by the Concerned Faculty Group
has been delivered to the faculty
members, asking them to join the
Student-Faculty Moratorium on burning
issues: Vietnam, Selective Service
System racism, etc.
ucation
Ed
Used On Youth Today
To The Editor:
The youth of today are being prepared
for the world of the year 2000 , with
an educational system of the 1930's.
They will be expected to cope with
the future as their elders coped with
the past. This will not work.
America is on the move upward
into space, outward into the world ,and
inward to social adjustments. The pace
is fast and will no doubt become faster.
The world is quite a different place
than it was twenty years ago it
will be just as different twenty years
in the future. But one feature of our
culture has remained stagnant, a salid
rock in the middle of the stream of
progress our educational system.
It is ironic that Robert Redfield should
touch on this point in his book entitled
"The Primitive World." It makes one
wonder just how much progress we are
actually making. Redfield says that
education tends to mold ". . . the sort
of adult that is admired in the society
in which the teacher himself grew up
and make the child ready for a world
like that in which the teacher lives."
This quality was present in primitive
societies and for reasons of human
nature hangs on today.
This is not to say that there have
been no changes in the last 40 years.
There have been. The new math, ad
vanced placement courses, and
mechanical gadgets such as the film
projector have had their impact. The
crux of the problem however, is that
tne basic theory behind education has
not been changed. The student is still
treated as a "fallible computer" which
needs ?yJ -gurgitate previously fed
material. The very essence of what is
most important education is
stifled the ability to reason for one's
self, to gain new insights, or in a word
t0 be creative,
Arnold.. Toynbee, noted historian, put
LltM
tiwuun o uinixiaie
capital assets are the creative talents
of its people." Where else does progress
come trom it not from creative
in
novation? But creative talent is laid
to waste in standardized tests, multiple
choice quizes, and prefabricated essays
just as they have been for years. Good
graaes are awarded to those who can
memonze given cocnepts not to those
who can formulate new ones. In very
few areas of the educational experience
is
creative talent turned loose
com
pletely. If a creative person cannnr
reconcile himself to being a parrot for
five out of six of his courses he will
iuse me privilege ot remaining
school.
in
TAR HEEL
c3ffg7if FeZZ Start Digging.'
There is no question about it
these issues are extremely important
and every responsible citizen should
study them.
However, the way the Concerned
Faculty Group proposes to air these
problems is, in my opinion in clear
violation of code of ehtics violation of
the very freedom of expression for which
Of M 930's
The educational system of today is
turning out too many mindless machines
which can quote Shakespeare but hold
no appreciation for him, who can list
ten causes of. the Civil War but can't
figure out one for the war in Viet-Nam.
The problem will remain with us
until the educational system can bend
to the dictates of the student instead
of the other way around. Attempts are
being made such as the experimental
college and the new curriculum report
issued at Duke but these are only
crude beginnings of what is needed.
The "brave new world" must wait until
we can free our feet from the mud
of the old one.
Jay Lacklen
DTH Failed So Far To Develom
Thoughtful,
To The Editor:
I am in complete agreement with
the criticisms and constructive proposals
advanced by Mr. Scoggins in his article
on "Elvira Madigan" in the April 9
DTH. His plea "for a more competent
appraisal of the arts" (especially
movies) is valid and significant,
especially if one considers such as movie
"review" as that offered by Joe Sanders
of In Cold Blood in the April 10 DTH.
Mr. Sanders' review in no way alters
my opinion that the comments on 'The
Graduate" by Bill Matthews and those
of Mr. Scoggins on "Elvira Madigan,"
both in "Letters to the Editor" in
response to the deficient "reviews" of
fered by the DTH, have been the only
perceptive and imaginatively sound ones
to appear as yet.
There are two types of errors in
Mr. Sanders' review: errors of "fact"
and errors of judgment. In the first
area, the following mistakes are made.
First, the amount of money involved
in the Clutter affair was $10,000 not
$40,000 as stated in the review. Second,
Perry did not tell a "minister" that
"Mr. Clutter was a very nice man, -I
though so right up to the minute
I cut his throat," but rather the detective
Alvin Dewey. Third, Mr. Sanders states
that after Perry and Dick were "sen
tenced to death in November," "the
next April they hang," whereas in fact,
(as stated clearly in the movie) they
were executed five years later on April
I 1965. Fourth, in the movie) they
not in the book), it was not a detective,
as Mr. Sanders states, who says "More
Q
Jl '
TfTi1 rThTr"n 71 n irrm
Freedom
this University struggled for such a
long time.
It is a violation of code of ethics,
for no faculty member should use his
class time to influence students' opinion,
or to force them out of class to join
any activity how ever important the
issue may be.
It is a violation of the freedom of
expression, for by using his postiion,
the faculty member imposes his. own
opinion and views on the students not
allowing them to have their own.
Such an approach is not "in the
best tradition of academic inquiry", for
the students have no choice in the mat
ter. It may eventually lead to the
situation, as it still exists in the USSR:
you march on May 1, and on November
7 or else. (I spent many cursed
hours doing just that when I lived
there.)
I sincerely urge the Concerned
Faculty Group to use other approach
and not to close class room doors on
those, who wish to be in the class.
I propose that the Moratorium be held
on Saturday and .on Sunday afternoon:
then the true, uncoerced feeling and
concern on the part of the Chapel Hill
community students and faculty in
cluded, will be seen. Then, and only
then, gentlemen, will you achieve your
great goal.
L. H. McReed
Dept. Linguistics Slavic, and
Oriental Lang.
Intellectual Criticism
laws will be passed, mart letters will
be written, etc." but rather the character
who was playing Truman Capote himself
who, as a writer, was directly involved
in the Clutter case from the time im
mediately following the murder.
In the second area, matters of judg
ment, Mr. Sanders is simply wrong when
he states that the movie "follows the
book to almost the last syllable of its
detailed description." This is impossible,
considering the aesthetic criteria . in
volved; furthermore, the movie obviously
ignores a significant portion of Capote's
book, especially the crucial role of Willie
Jones, Perry's sister, Andy, the internal
states of mind of many of the characters,
the psychological-legal aspects of the
trial, etc. Mr. Sanders also states that
the movie "offers no sense of perspec
tive." This is clearly invalid as Capote's
book and Brooks' movie do present a
perspective within which the Clutter
murder may be evaluated namely, the
depth analysis of character behavior as
defined by the psychopathologists of the
Menninger Clinic, particularly Dr. Joseph
Satten.
Mr. Sanders has missed a major
point when he speaks of "the
senselessness of the murder" as there
is some sense in which Perry and Dick's
actions may be rationally explained. This
is not to say that there are no irrational
acts committed by human beings; only
that this particular case is explicable
in light of psycbopathological theory.
Two other errors are important. First,
despite the rigidity and clear weaknesses
of the M'Naghten Rule, Mr. Sanders
Wednesday, April 24, 1SS3
.Rally For
'Intelligence
Power'
To the Editor: ;
In reference to dismal chain of
events of several weeks ago and putting
aside for a very brief moment the com
plex horror of Dr. King's assassination;
I find myself most puzzled by the"
response of too large a segment oi
the American society. I am, for example;
puzzled by those most raiment leaders
of the Negro movement on this campus
who cannot bear to lead a memorial
march if it includes white people, who
cannot memorialize a great man except
by intimidating local merchants, who
cannot elicit support except by at
tempting to coerce members of their
own race.
One wonders if America's genuine
attempts at sane progress are to be
eclipsed, its past failures eternally
emphasized, and the soul of the country
served simply by reversing the flow
of racism. If white America must endure
penance while black America has its
day at the bear-pit, then perhaps the
reponses of some of this University's
student-body is understandable. But,
withall, an incipient nightmare seems
a curious manifestation of a dream.
Since we have only the present and
the future at our disposal, let's get
rid of the rhetoric and the abstractions.
Let's be told, in specifics, what this
University, its students, and its faculty
can do; let's be told, in specifics, what
all of these have failed to do. Or is
it only a pleasant illusion that Intelligent
Power might be the only power worth
exeing?
Sharon German
Graduate Student and
Part-time Instructor,
Department of English
The Daily Tar Heel accepts all
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longer than 300 words in length. :
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per
JL
has no legal or moral case for claiming
that (because they are psychopaths) then
Dick and Perry "are not accountable
for their actions." He is also incorrect
in stating that Perry "murders all four
Clutters, but he doesn't know he has
until it is all over and his head clears."
Perry's verbal statement to Alvin Dewey,
later expanded to a seventy-eight page
document, does not in any way indicate
that Perry was in a state of fantasy,
during the time of the murders, i.e.,
he was completely conscious of his ac
tions. Finally, there was certainly no
homosexual relationship between Dick
and Perry. Both were sexually in
adequate; Dick was a pedophEiac as
well.
In closing, In Cold Blood is an ex
cellent film and deserves a finer analysis
and critique than the summary and
glib set of statements made by Mr.
Sanders. The black and white "objective",
realism, the photography (especially of
Kansas landscapes), Quincy Jones' jazz,
and the murder scene itself are
beautifully executed. It is commendable
that the DTH allows such a large amount
of space to be used for movie reviews;
it is deplorable that a college newspaper
which aspires to present critiques of
films of the stature of Elvira Madigan,
The Graduate, and In Cold Blood has
so far failed to develop any thoughtful
or intellectual criticiun.
Herbert Evans Siskrcn. Jr.
207-C Branson Street
Chapel mil, N.C