Wednesday, 3Iay l, in
Page 2
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
nn'
76 Years of Editorial Freedom
Bill Amlong,. Editor
Don Walton, Business Manager
Election Of DTH Editor
Lacks Professionalism
Students Tuesday elected a new
editor of The Daily Tar Heel
and they shouldn't have done it.
Now this isn't saying that a new
editor shouldn't have been named
and preferably some time before
this.
It is saying, though, that he
shouldn't have been elected.
There are, admittedly, many
arguments for electing editors
not the least frequently used of
which is that it's just the way
it has always been done.
Also, there is a good point made
when one cites that the election
of editors keeps them out from
under the influence of the faculty
or administration.
Further, advocates of the elec
tion process say, this way allows
the campus at large some say
about how its daily newspaper
its only newspaper is run, and
that the campaign forces editor
hopefuls to meet with large
numbers of students, with whom
they would not otherwise come in
contact.
There are, however, equally
strong and equally numerous
arguments for selecting the
editor hi some other way.
Perhaps the strongest argument
fOr finding another method is that
most the voters aren't qualified
to decide on someone's capabilities
to be the editor of a daily
newspaper. From outside, their
view of what it takes to be a
newspaper editor is often distorted
by everything from Brenda Starr
comic strips to candidates' pro
mises. Their choice is made too often
not on the basis of a person's
qualifications to do the job, but
rather on how his posters have
impressed them or by whom he
has been endorsed.
Granted, most students meet
and question the editorial can
didates closely, attempting to
grasp why one is more qualified
than the other.
But it just really doesn't seem
that this is the best way to select
the editor of a newspaper which :
has a rather fine tradition of being
one of the best college dailies in
the nation: there's just too much
room for voter error.
Instead, it seems that the
paper's history of having generally
very fine editors is something
which has come about almost by
accident. Indeed, there certainly
have been years when the most
qualified person did not win.
But now is not the time to be
moan what has happened in the
past no matter how immediate
the past. It is instead a time to
consider how the situation can be
improved in the future.
It seems that the editor of The
Daily Tar Heel since he is doing
a professional job should be
hired with professionalism as more
of a criterion than it is now.
Although past experiences with
the Publications Board their en
dorsement of Dick Levy for editor
this year, for example have
made us somewhat leary of this
group's capacity for professional
judgement in this field, it seems
that perhaps the idea of the
journai-in to understand its
Publications Board could be
elaborated on and reformed.
The ideal would be a committee
which knew enough about
demands, but which was not so
wrapped up in the editing of wire
copy and the setting of type that
it could not see out of Howell Hall
and into the more subtle areas,
Pamela Hawkins, Associate Editor
Terry Gingras, Managing Editor
Rebel Good, News Editor
Kermit Buckner, Advertising Manager
such as an applicant's ability to
head a staff and command their
respect, and his concern with and
understanding of the University as
a whole.
This theory admittedly has
holes in it: built in failure
mechanisms, such as the possibili
ty that one pressure group or
another might get control of the
board.
It is time, however, that some
serious thought be given this mat
ter, and that a solution to the
present situation be worked out.
Otherwise, the editor of The
Daily Tar Heel is going to continue
to be subject to having first been
a politican before he can become
a newsman.
And the two normally don't
mesh that well.
Columbia
Made Error
Calling Cops
Perhaps Dean of Students C O. -Cathey,
who recently ordered 15
anti-war demonstrators arrested
as they sat-in against Dow
Chemical Co., should seek a job
in the administration of Columbia
University.
Apparently, his kind of thinking
on these matters is rather parallel
to Columbia administrators, except
that they are a bi more big time
about it.
Like the way they ordered a
pre-dawn police raid Tuesday to re
capture five buildings in which
students had been sitting-in for a
week to protest what they charge
are racist and pro-war activities
by Columbia.
More than 1,000 cops swooped
down on the student rebels, swing
ing rubber truncheons and hand
cuffs. Two hospitals and the campus
infirmary later reported treating
at least 145 students for cuts,
bruises, lacerations and kicks dealt
them by New York's finest.
The NYPD has been sharply
criticized recently for its handling
of such demonstrations, especially
of a hippie-initiated "Yip-In" at
Grand Central Station. Their tac
tics both then and at the Columbia
were unnecessarily brutal.
But New York cops are known
for being like that, and as
despicable as they may be, the
cops aren't near as bad as the
university administrators who
realized what would happen, and
still called the police in.
The vice president of Columbia'
admitted that officials were aware
that, were the police called, some
students would be "roughed up."
And indeed they were.
But Columbia still isn't running
smoothly, because the ad
ministration has so outraged even
the non-rebelling students and
faculty that a general strike is
being called for by the moderate
elements now.
Perhaps this will be an obiect
lesson to administrators at colleges
and universities throughout the na
tion including here in Chapel
Hill that calling the cops won't
solve the problems of student
dissent.
Indeed, it will only multiply
them.
limey
By THAN VAN DINH
Washington The U.S.
Administration, from Pres. L. B. Johnson
to Secy, of State Dean Rusk and down
to the lowest echelon of the Foggy
Bottom bureaucracy has said repeatedly
since 1965 that it would go anywhere,
at any time, to talk peace if only Hanoi
would give a signal that it is willing
to do so.
It is now three weeks since Hanoi
agreed to sit down with the VS.
representatives even when bombs are
falling on the territory of the Democratic
Republic of Viet Nam (North Viet Nam)
yet the U.S. is arguing about the
site for the talks. Did Pres. Johnson
once say that he would even hold talks
on a ship?
Hanoi has proposed Phnom Penh,
capital of Cambodia and Warsaw, capital
of Poland. The U.S. rejected both.
Foot
Mike Cozza
framielhi
Everyone has always thought that
Bruce Strauch was one of the most '
amaxing people in the realm of Tar
Heelia.
For almost two years Strauch's car
toons on the editorial page of the DTH
have reflected' a healthy cynicism that
has captured the imagination of the
student Body. In short, Bruce Strauch
'had become sort of a legend.
But for the people who worked with
Strauch on the Tar Heel, he wias more,
than a legend, he was the real thing.
For this reason, both candidates for
DTH Editor have pledged that Strauch
will return after the elections.
STRAUCH WAS always an amazing
person, especially when he was at his
best. I can remember Strauch the way
he used to come to work.
Dressed in one of those magnificent
baggy turtle-neck sweaters, he used to
stride into the DTH office every af
ternoon armed with sketch pad and ink
to do battle with the forces of
bureaucratic evil.
And the bureaucratic evils that
Strauch attacked the most and the best
were those connected with the politicos
and Student Government.
Ona of the cartoons which always
sticks in my mind was one of Jed
Dietz. Strauch always drew Dietz as
if he needed a haircut that he wouldn't
get because it would take an inch-or-so
off his height, which was already pretty
short. The particular cartoon I'm think
ing about showed Dietz in a typical
serfs of four sequences.
In the first two pictures Dietz is
ordering his cohorts in Student Govern
ment to do this and this and this.
But in the third "picture, one of the
cohorts asks Dietz how it is all to
be accomplished.
Dietz replies that he is too busy
to be bothered by insignificent details.
Great, All you can say is that Strauch
was great.
Another Strauch cartoon which sticks
in my mind shows all the Student
Government politicos sitting in a sand
box playing with their pet projects like
little boys and girls play with fire-engines
and dolls.
Amazing. Strauch was really amazing.
A
aid
In the case of Phnom Penh, the
reason given is that this country has
no embassy there and therefore no com
munications facilities. This is an insult
to the American electronic know-how.
RCA can set up any kind of com
munications networks in a matter of
a few days. Also, as Australia is now
representing the U.S. interests in Cam
bodia, the U.S. could use the com
munications facilities of the Australian
Embassy.
Another argument: Some U.S. allies:
Thailand, South Viet Nam. South Korea
do not have diplomatic representations
in Phnom Penh and therefore cannot
sent their representatives there to
observe. This is not a problem: the
Cambodian government which has of
fered the site for talks can and will
give "temporary entry visas" to
observers from Thailand, South Korea,
Race
From The Chapel Hill Weekly
In The Politic Sandbox
BUT THEN Strauch decided to
become an office-seeker. And for so
meone who was as politically naive as
Strauch used to claim he was, he did
a pretty good job of arousing votes
among the generally unconcerned and
apathetic.
; As with most of his cartoons, Strauch
made the campaign relatively successful
by using unexpected and imaginative
tactics.
Picture Strauch hollaring to the
residents of Morrison through a
megaphone. Or wearing an old fashioned
tuxedo coat while holding the reigns
of a riderless horse in the middle of
Polk Place.
Unpredictable. Strauch was absolutely
unpredictable.
During his campaign, Strauch used
to walk through the halls of GM and
stop at the doors of Student Government.
And looking in at all the Days and
Dietzes, he would wave his arm from
side-fo-side with a majestic swoop and
announce, "play in your sand-box now,
kiddies. After the election you're all go
ing to be out of jobs."
Perhaps Strauch even came to believe
that he might really win the presidency;
it's hard to say. But then it was always
hard to say what Strauch was really
thinking or what he actually might do.
In fact, after the ballots were counted
in the pre-E aster elections, Strauch had
done much better than the politicos had
The -Daily Tar Heel is pub
lished by fiie 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,
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iness, circulation, advertising
333-1163. Address: Box 1080,
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N. C.
Subscription rates: $9 per
year; $5 per semester.
Hoir
and South Viet Nam. Besudes. the com
ing talks are contacts between Hanoi
and Washington representatives to
discuss over a specific problem: the
cessation of the VS. bombing of the
territory of the Democratic Republic
of Viet Nam (North Viet Nam). The
other allies have no business in these
initial talks.
Of course, during these talks, the
U.S. can raise the question of the site
for the next conference on the war
in South Viet Nam where the action
and the problems are. To me, Warsaw
is the best choice. Poland is a member
of the International Control Commission
in Viet Nam. It is also in Warsaw
that the U.S. ambassador and the Chinese
(Communist) ambassador have been
talking for years.
All these wranglings about the ap
propriate site for talks are just delaying
tactics which show that the VS. is
not yet prepared to end, and is not
serious about ending the war in Viet
Nam. Remember that the White House
and the Sate Department expressed
surprise when Hanoi said yes to Pres.
Johnson's offer on March 31.
The U.S. offer itself was left purposely
ambiguous and vague. However it reveals
one thing the U.S. had always officially
denied: the bombing of the population
and rice growing areas in North Viet
Nam. In his speech. Pres. Johnson said:
"The area in which we are stopping
our attacks includes almost 90 per cent
of North Viet Nam's population and
most of its territory. Thus there will
be no attacks around the principal
areas of North Viet Nam."
The next day, April 1, 1968, the pro
vince of Thanh Hoa, which is a densely
populated and a rice producing area,
was heavily bombed.
Pres. Johnson's March 31 speech did
not mention . the role of the National
Liberation Front in a future settlement
of the war in Viet Nam. Nor did he
Editor, the Tar Heel:
Exactitude in small matters is the
very soul of discipline, you know. On
April 9 in Hill Hall the Carolina Choir
performed the little known St. Mark.
Passion by Bach in a disciplined manner
which is a tom:llTier and credit to our
University community. The sound they
produced was rich, mature, balanced,
and controlled.- Their articulation was
precise -and clear. The effect was majesty.-
The Carolina Choir has come a long
way from the inelegant, imabalanced,
Irom which 'it evolved. The Carolina
from which it evolved. The Charolina
Choir is now sounding like a professional
group.
thought possible. He walked away from
the voting with a better public image
than ever and almost 20 per cent of
the vote.
Fantastic. Everyone said that Strauch
was fantastic.
BUT THEN, LAST week some time,
in a room somewhere near the middle
of campus, Strauch somehow lost his
cool and entered the world of the
politicos.
Bruce Strauch the same Strauch who
once drew Dietz needing a haircut and
I feel certain that talks will begin this voek
this week . . . this week . . . this week
LL vty
touch the problem of a coalition govera
ment in South Viet Nam. These
fundamental realities and unles they are
accepted, there will be no end to
war. Basically, the U.S. is still insist
on the existence of an anti-comnuist
pro-U.S., independent South Met Xa
(independent here means separated.)
Saigon has refused any kind of coali
tion government. It has put in jail
restricted residence all South Vietnamese
leaders and intellectuals who work for
peace and neutrality. Thich Tri Quang.
the well known Buddhist leader is sta
in prison. Of course, the NLF is not
going to accept any coalition with Thiea
Ky regime and their government, which
General Ky himself admitted has
"nothing in common with the people,
a useless, corrupt regime" which has
been put up by an election which was
a "joke".
On' the advice of the U.S., Gea.
Thieu asked his parliament to approve
a total mobilization decree. It was re-;
jected by the House of Representatives,
on April 16. 1963. Said one Vietnamese;
legislator sarcastically: "Why not
mobilize everybody from 10 to 70?" The
U.S. is trying a military victory and
is mounting the biggest operation in
South Viet Nam, significantly nicknamed
Toan Thang (Total Victory). The April
16 Honolulu meeting between Pres.
Johnson and his military and Chilian
advisers was a war council, not a peace
conference.
There will be no significant move
toward peace in Viet Nam until
November, 1968. Only a peace president
can talk with authority about peace,
only a peace president can end the
war. The issue from now until then
is in the hands of the U.S. voters.
(Mr. Van Dinh, formerly acting am
bassador to the United States from Soutl
Vietnam, wrote this column for th
College Press Service.)
New Choir 'Prestigious9
The students in the Choir will sa;
that the credit should go to their diretor
the University's new Kenan Professo
o! Music, Dr. Lara Hoggard. He wil
modestly say "they did it themselves."
But wherever the credit goes, here';
thanks to the Carolina Choir for a jo!
well done. And, to close, I suggest t
all the students of the University tha
ihey take note of the Carolina Choir
and waich for and attend their concerts
Not only will they be doing themselve
a favor, but they will also b
participating in the work of a grou
ithat is going to be a new source o
prestige to the University in the future.
Stan Starnes
702 N. Greensboro St.,
Carrboro
land the politicos in the hand-boxes, disa
peared. Strauch actually endorsed
politico. And then he endorsed anoth
one.
It will be a long time, even aft
many cynical cartoons (which he w
no doubt draw no matter which Candida
wins the DTH editorship) be."ore Straw
will be able to overcome having play
in the sandbox with the politicos.
Bruce Strauch the former gre
amazing, um?redictaMe, fantasti
STRAUCH is sitting in the sandtx
he used to despise.
From The Michigan State Ne