Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 13, 1969, 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
Sunday, April 13, 1969 : Pae 2 THE DAILY TAR HEEL 77 Years of Editorial Kermit The Nature Of Top-level student leaders here issued strong attacks Saturday on the Chancellor's statement concerning the double jeopardy amendment. At the same time, calls were made for campus-wide student involvement in this issue. Among the students voicing concern were Student Body President Alan Albright, Men's Honor Court Chairman Bob Manekin, author of the double jeopardy amendment Dale Simms, and organizer of the Southern Student organizing Committee Scott Bradley. It is encouraging to see representatives of such varying constituencies of this campus united, especially on an issue of such consequence. In effect what Chancellor Sitterson and Mr. Penegar have done by the statement in their . letter to President Albright is to nullify the double jeopardy amendment. That amendment was passed in a student referendum last March. It is a mandate of the student body of this University. In saying that the Chancellor and the Faculty Committee on Student Discipline "reserve the right" to adjudicate cases not tried in student courst because of the ilouble jeopardy amendment, Mr. Sitterson and Mr. Penegar have called into question the whole standing of student rights. As we have stated in these Columns, this University exists primarily for its studentry. If the University is to retain its credibility as an institution of higher learning, some effort must be made to Right To Vote A petition for federal legislation to lower the voting age to 1 8 is being circulated here by the local chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A rally supported by the National Democratic and Republican parties, the National Student Association, the National Education Association, and various other groups has also been planned for April 21 and 22 in Washington, D.C. Many of the disruptions on college campuses this year are local ' symptoms of a larger frustration with the United States political system. Having found the legitimate means of expression ineffective, some students feel they have no means other than protest or disruptive tactics to express their disapproval of the activities of the government, activities such as the Viet Nam War and the draft. Lowering the voting age to 18 would alleviate some of this frustration by providing a constructive means of expression. Aside from this, we concur with the traditional reasons for lowering the voting age. -If one is old enought to fight and die for his country, he should have a voice in its government. -If he is old enough to pay taxes, he should have some say in how his money will be spent. -Students are now more mature and better informed than in the past, and, by all practical standards, they are qualified to vote. We believe federal legislation to lower the voting age to 18 should be passed. Students must unite to show their desire for the right to vote at 18. We urge every student to voice Freedom Todd Cohen Chairman J. D. Wilkinson Bobby NoweU Rick Gray Harvey Elliot Steve Enfield Art Chansky Dennis Benfield Arlene Jacobson Mike Cozza John Kelly Steve Adams Tom Schnabel Executive Editor Managing Editor News Editor Arts Editor Associate Editor Sports Editor Ass't Sports Editor Copy Editor Editorialists Head Photographers Bill Staton Buckner, Jr. Business Manager Advertising Manager Pete Hatch Night Editor this issue The University allocate to the students a number of rights, which by virtue of their role here, we deem to be inalienable. As the power structure in the University is now set-up, the rights of students)as far as self-regulation and self-discipline are concerned)are tacit and can by withdrawn by the administration or trustees at any time. This has been the case with the decision of Chancellor Sitterson. The Chairman of the University Board of Trustees and Governor Robert Scott stated in a news release Friday that "the time has come to decide who is going to operate the University and for whom it will be operated." We are glad to see Mr. Scott voice concern on such an issue. It is1 . a well-suited coincidence that the statement, which was made on March 14, was issued Friday, at a time when Mr. Sitterson chose to assert his power and usurp the traditional rights of students here. We urge every student in this University to follow closely the events which will affect the nature of student rights and to express their feelings on the issue. We support the efforts of student leaders who have voiced ! their concern thus far. And finally, we appeal to those in the administration who have made what appears to be a fatal blow to student rights, to reconsider their reasons, their motives, and the necessity of operating a University which exists for its students. his desire by signing the petition' now being circulated. , Tax Attack April 15 the day the federal government sets as the deadline for filing income tax statements is only two days away. While we may not be exactly ecstatic about all the uses the money is put to, we urge students not to forget to file. After all, how else could the government conduct all its wonderful programs? The war in Vietnam, the ABM system, the draft, and the whole military establishment is waiting for your tax money. Or at least for about 65 per cent of it. Someday we may have a government which doesn't have to invest such large sums for the business of death and destruction. And someday it may not be quite so necessary to get that tax form in along with the surtax. But until that someday comes, we'll just have to pay or go to jail. We heartily recommend the former alternative. And we again remind students that Tuesday is the final deadline. Support Uglies The initial round of the Ugly Man on Campus contest will climax tonight in the residence colleges All contributions to Ugly Man candidates will go into the Campus Chest, which benefits a variety of worthy causes on campus and in nearby communites. We urge students to contribute generously when the local residence college ugly men knock at their doors. . The Great Disrupter: Thoughts About The Man In The Mansion By J.D. WILKINSON It has become alarmingly apparent during the past few months that fighting the establishment in North Carolina is an unusually difficult proposition. However, it has also been made clear that it can be done and, correspondingly, that it must be done. I am not at this time advocating fighting the establishment for the sake of fighting the establishment, although a case can be made for that. What I am advocating at this time is fighting the establishment because or: what the establishment stands for: entrenched in justice and blind stupidity. The newest champion of injustice and stupidity and the biggest hero of the North Carolina establishment is Governor Bob Scott. Scott has, during the last few weeks, burdened the people of this state and the students of this university with unjustifiably ridiculous actions and unbelievably inane statements. The governor has received widespread support from the people of this state for his words and deeds, but these are people who have no idea what is really going on on this campus and who are either incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand events here. The governor of North Carolina has an obligation to the people of this state to The White Liberal: Yesterday's Hero, Today's Forgotten Crusader (Editor's note: Bryan dimming, a sophomore from Atlanta, is a former DTH staff writer and candidate for DTH editor. His column will appear twice a week on this page.) By BRYAN CUMMING During the 1960's, as backlash on the right has provoked militancy on the left, the hand-clapping civil rights movement has hardened into the fist-raising black movement. This process has polarized opinions, inflamed emotions, and forced many to. take sides. The man left in the middle is the white liberal. He is rejected by both sides now, being neither a tight-lipped bigot nor an angry revolutionary. 1 On a contemporary college campus, , the white ' liberal rates on the political : scale somewhere where between bland : Soul Food: Is Christ Relevant? (Editor's note: Ken Ripley, a freshman, from Alexandria, Virginia, will write weekly column to appear on this page each Sunday.) "j, , About six monthsago.I had to write a) feature story about the Chapel Hill' followers of Meher Baba. When I went to one of their meetings, one very nice girl , told me something I will never forget. Explaining the difference between Christianity and Baba, she told me, "Baba is not like Christianity. He is for love." Other people I have since spoken with echo this general impression of Christianity. They feel that the God they see in church is cold, impersonal, or simply not there. They see ritual in the service and hypocrisy in the people. Looking for love and a relevant foundation of existence, they are bombarded with empty theology and spiritual platitudes. To many people of this generation, God is definitely over thirty. Faced with this bleak picture of Christianity, finding in their churches either shallow emotionalism or suffocating staidness finding stagnancy and shallowness, people turn away from Christianity in search of something better. "Christianity isn't relevant today," some say, "Christ has no bearing on who I am or what I want to be." Others, not so tactful, exclaim, "Christianity is a bunch of bull." Insofar as what they see around them, they are right. The type of watered-down religion they find in church, the legalistic piety "Y'us' made history, kid-the 2? ff l,ip jjepwi' UlL. present the facts related to his actions in an open and honest manner. Whether through personal stupidity or stubborn deceit, Governor Scott has failed to fulfill that obligation to the people who elected him.. Instead, the governor is blindly leading the state of North Carolina down the path to further infamy and retardation. UNC has long enjoyed an exagerrated reputation as a "liberal" school, but the only thing that ran rampant here prior to this year was apathy. To the mild surprise of the people of the state and the students at this school, this year saw some encouraging changes. A significant segment of the student body has begun to take an active interest in important issues concerning the university and has threatened to take steps necessary to make badly-needed changes. Instead of listening attentively to what these people are saying and considering their grievances intelligently, Governor Scott has responded by calling them names, distorting their words and actions, and perverting the true meaning of their purposes and intentions. In addition, Scott has irresponsibly provoked actions which brought this campus to the brink of violent disorder. If any single individual is to be held most responsible for any disruption, past or future, on this campus it must be Bob Scott. moderate opinion and solid right-wing extremism. He is definitely out of style. At BSM rallies, he feels uncomfortable. It's just not his world, as he is reminded by the way the radicals look at him. The white liberal is a forgotten man. To those on the right, he is no longer the real danger, and to those on the left, he is no longer the real hope. But the white liberal is an important figure. In the past, his contributions to the civil rights movement were instrumental; and in the present, his position may be the only chance for achieving vital changes in American society. Radicals are greatly frustrated by the mere existence of white liberals, who represent to the radicals partly what they seek and partly what they reject. The white liberal sympathizes with the complaints of the Left about social and front they see is wrong, hypocritical, and un-Christian. I believe that what people see m church, what people have seen oTT Christianity, .Is not really Christianity at li;but "Churchianity." I also believe that true, biblical Christianity the real "item" contains the most relevant, the most necessary truths a person can ever encounter. In this column I want to try to present not what people have made Christianity, but what Christianity is as seen in the Bible. I want to examine the question, "Is Christianity relevant?" and I hope to show that it is. Too many people, I think, are presented with dumb alternatives in place of Christianity. I hope to present a God who offers nor a dumb alternative, but a practical, viable, intellectually respectable way of life. I will be using the Bible as my reference source for future columns. Many people do not believe that the Bible is the "Word of God," and they do not accept its teachings as being divinely inspired. Nonetheless, the Bible is the most reliable, in fact the only, authoritative source for describing Christianity. In future columns, I hope to examine questions dealing not only with theology, but with the relationship of Christianity to the world, to individuals, to social problems, to how we feel and react among each other in inter-personal relationships. Questions, comments, or related problems are welcomed. Send them to Ken Ripley, care of the Daily Tar Heel. The man in the middle is, of course, Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson. Sitterson, who once distinguished himself by the unusual courage he displayed in the face of enormous pressures from both sides, has of late been reduced, largely through the efforts of the governor, to a steel-string marionette. The most recent, and one of the more provoking, incidents in the continuing battle between the state establishment and the students of this university concerns the double jeopardy proposal recently approved in a campus-wide referendum. Chancellor Sitterson revealed Thursday that university officials have no intention of honoring the rights or wishes of the student body concerning this matter. The governor took the opportunity to make it plain that if the university officials do not disregard the rights of UNC students, he personally will with the help of those in his state administration. Student government leaders are pledged to uphold the rights of the student body in this matter. The least which they, and every other student, can do is every ting which is necessary to protect student rights and interests. The referendum issue is one on which all students should stand together as a unified whole, since the outcome of the inequality and injustice. At the same time, however, the liberal alienates the left by committing several unspeakable sins. The first sin of the liberal is being within the system. This associates him with the status quo. The second sin is what ne did to get there: haircut, wearing coat ant tie, the whole route, all for his vested material interest in the Establishment. In short, he is guilty of selling out. This is not to be confused with the third sin, which is a conceptual version of the sell-out, a modern opposite of ancient hubris, and the word viewed by most radicals with nervous suspicion, compromise. In action, the compromise would look like this: liberal congressman agrees to vote for military expenditures in exchange for support of open-housing bill. For the Left, such tactics are repulsive; achieving results is not nearly so important as maintaining one's intellectual purity. So compromise is out of the question. Those of the Left view the white liberal in much the same way as they do several other issues with a minimal sense of history. Before civil rights became a central issue, the white liberal was leading the fight to make it one. In the beginning the white liberal believed in a just cause, and he was alone in his struggle. He was the radical of his day, motivated by conscience, fighting wihtout compromise, but with the necessary patience. Others joined his struggle and became frustrated at the lack of progress. They decided more militant tactics would be necessary. From this point on, the liberal watched helplessly as the sides crystallized and the cause became twisted from a plea for love and humanity to a cry for power and vengeance. The white liberal had begun the fight, and now his struggle and issue were irrelevant. He was chided by his former allies, who now believed, with Blake, "It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a friend." The victim of extremism is the white liberal. He was the first to tread the path, but the liberal was pushed . aside by louder marchers. He was the first with a vision of racial equality, but those who came to see it with him are now the ones who mistrust him. The country as a whole is not anxious to take the huge steps necessary to solve the racial crisis, as was indicated by the election of Richard Nixon and the campaign theme of "Law 'n' order." Problems do not solve themselves, and the potential for solution must be developed to the fullest. That potential is hard way" conflict will determine iwhere students have and will have the right to make any decisions whatsoever on their own. The proposal which was passed in the double jeopardy referendum received an affirmative vote from over two-thirds of the students participating in the' referendum. The other proposal, which ' was formulated by members of student legislature, received an affirmative vote from over half of those students who voted. The victorious proposal guaranteed students the right to be free from unjust prosecution. The other proposal guaranteed student courts. hot administrators, the right to decide who should be prosecuted. Both proposals affirmed the right of members of the student body to discipline themselves and to control their own activities. The proposal which passed, however, was the one which more adequately secures the student rights in question. Student government leaders have a sworn duty to uphold the decision of the student body regarding the referendum; but the student body, in light of the actions of Scott and Sitterson, has a personal obligation which goes beyond even the duty of student government officials. , the white liberal. Instead of condemning liberals for taking part in the system, radicals would do more for the cause of social justice by using the liberals' position of relative political power to produce some actual changes. After all, changes happen in the system, and liberals are often responsible. Most radicals would claim to hve a sensitive social conscience. But ore can question their sincerity as they indulge in politcal intolerance while thousands of ghetto children wonder where their next meal is to come from. Unfortunately the price the Left pays for intolerance is political effectiveness. By definition and practice, the liberal is willing to change. He responds to the needs of the black and the poor as willingly as radicals do. He is in the system, so his tactics are considered too cautious by some, but he still represents change. The Left refuses to see this. The white liberals deserve a chance. It's unfair that they are the victims of the polarization they didn't provoke. More importantly, they need to be given a chance, if those Americans with a social conscience can unite to produce changes. Radicals, who are not a part of the status quo, want to change it, but they forget that the status quo has a built-in element of progress called the liberal. More On War Editor of the Tar Heel: Forgive me for beating a dead horse, but this animal is so foul and malodorous that he cannot be ignored. I was just thinking about the beginning of this war, and how a bunch of generals were sitting around thinking how they could wipe out those punky little orientals in two or three months, and how some prestige never hurt anybody, and how they could train up some of the boys just like the good ole days. And I was thinking about how those corporation heads were sitting around thinking how much nice green they coirid get for themselves off a few defense contracts, how a slightly war-inclined economy and a new foreign market would provide a wholesome atmosphere for some blooming little investments. And so I thought about how they put a little squeeze on here and there, and about how they kind of ignored the tmy slices of evidence that looked like a big war and a lot of guys about aged nineteen getting killed before they had hardly got out of high schooL Then I remembered that these old generals and corporation heads are still really liking this war, and still getting seasoned, blood-trained troops, and still making juicy profits off the low price on death in that area. And then it hit me. They want me to go ah the way over there and get killed for them. They can go to Hell and take their dead horse with them. Joseph Coleman 114 Bagley Drive The Dairy Tar Heel is published by the University of North Carolina Student Publication's Board, dairy except Monday, examination periods and vacations and during summer periods. Offices are at the Student Union Bldg., Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hifl, N.C. 27514. Telephone numbers: editorial, sports, news 933-1011; business, circulation, advertising 933-1163, Address: Box 1080, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514 Subscription rates: $9 per year; $5 per semester. We regre t that we can accept only prepaid subscriptions. Classified ads are $1.00 per day prepaid. Display rate is $1.25 per column inch. Second class postage p.iid at UJS. Post Office in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 13, 1969, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75