Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 29, 1970, edition 1 / Page 7
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i i September 29, 1970 Page Eight THE DAILY TAR HEEL Tom Bello ' i 1 ii t i n f I f i f Wep latlg afar m Opinions of The Daily Tar Heel unsigned editorials are the opinions columns represent only the opinions Tom Cattheys An lesnilit Dean of Student Affairs CO. Cathey has curtly dispelled the myth of student self-government on this campus. Cathey sent a letter to Student Body President Tom Bello last Friday in which he attacked both the right of self-government and secondly the right of self-adjudication. In his attack on the right of self-government, Cathey said: "I must advise you that the action of the Student Legislature in this isntance cannot be accepted as binding in any way. Neither the legislature nor any other branch of Studnet Government may speak for the entire University community, determine policy unilaterally, or modify policies made at other levels of University adminstration." The instance that irked Dean Cathey was the refusal of Student Legislature to accept the administration's visitation policy. The Chancellor's Committee on University Residential Life (CURL), comprised of representatives or all segments of the University community, agreed upon a visitation policy of self-determination last spring. Unfortunately, the Chancellor, working through administrative channels void of student representation, saw fit to mutilate the policy. 78 Yean of Editorial Freedom Tom Gooding, Editor Rod Waldorf . MikeParnell ..... Rick Gray Harry Bryan . . Managing Ed. . .News Editor . Associate Ed. . Associate Ed. Chris Cobbs Sports Editor Glenn Brank Feature Editor Ken Ripley Nat. News Editor Doug Jewell Business Mgr. Frank Stewart . Adv. Mgr. Tony Lentz Without While the Pobble was in the water some unidentified creatures came and ate his toes off, and when he got home his aunt remarked: It's a fact the whole world knowns. That Pobbles are happier without their toes, which is funny because it has a meaning, and one might even say a political significance. For the whole theory of authoritarian government is summed up in the statement that Pobbles are happier without their toes. George Orwell The University of North Carolina student has long been a friend and protector of orderly, democratic government and personal freedom. In the 1800's every student belonged to either the Dialectic Senate or the are expressed on its editorial page. All of the editor and the staff- Letters and of the individual contributors. Gooding, Editor Letter; To Thus the chancellor "spoke for the entire University community, determined policy unilaterally and modified policies made at other' levels of University administration." Cathey found it necessary to impress adminsitration power even further when he said that any violations occurring in houses that fail to adopt the administration's policy will be adjudicated by a faculty-adminstration board. If the administration can try students for violations for one regulation then it follows they have the power to try students for violations of all regulations. Thus, the studnets counts exist merely to do the administration's dirty work. We also find the method in which Dean Cathey expressed his statements to be in bad taste. The Student Legislature decided on the visitation policy and is the only branch of Student Government with the power to alter the policy. Why then should Dean Cathey send his letter to the head of the executive branch of student government unless he wished to snub the legislature. We find the administration's actions disgusting and hope all students are prepared to take whatever actions necessary to assure student self-government. Is It UP Or All last week a big fight had been building. Jim Flynt charged that he had been unjustly denied the University Party chairmanship. The UP hierarchy said, "No, it was all a misunderstanding." Then Wednesday everything was settled when everyone involved , admitted they didn't want to be chairman of the University Party. In fact, Flynt said he "would like to see. a sophomore elected chairman." Sunday night Flynt got what he didn't want. He was elected chairman of the University party by the 15 students, mostly members of the Conservative Party, who decided it was worth the time to attend the meeting. And three doubly-endorsed Self-Government There May Be No Government Philanthropic Assembly, the two oldest student organizations on the campus. Both were structured according to the highest principles of participatory democracy, each student acting as his own representative in weekly debates on important issues of the day. Young men thus trained in the principles of free government guarded their liberties jealously. They conducted their own court system (the forebear of the honor system), wrote their own newspaper (the forebear of The Daily Tar Heel), and quite literally governed themselves through an orderly, democratic system. The Di-Phi Societies established the University's first library, helped the poverty-stricken administration build two badly-needed dormitories (New East and New West) and issued the school's only VI mm oniab There are few things that can be more frustrating than to see an academic institution spending so much of its valuable time and that of its students in an extra-academic matter. And it is this point that outrages me more than anything else in this whole visitation squabble. Every since I came here, visitation has been a constant struggle: students spenign so much time arguing with administrators; administrators giving an hour here, and hour there; and everyone feeling frustrated and dissatisfied. A concerned and perceptive history professor offered the following remarks concerning his attendance at a Project Hinton meeting discussing visitation: "Never have I seen a more exceptional groups of students organize together in one place in my entire life; and never have I seen so much valuable time and energy wasted on a non-academic, non-productive matter. It's simply discouraging." I agree. It is discouraging. So many similar meetings have been held all over campjs. So much time and enthusiasm has already been lsot on a truly 'non-academic and non-productive" matter. When is this University going to be trite to itself as an academic institution? When is it going to give the Telephone company, the water system, and the public utilities back to the civil courts, Letters The Daily Tar Heel accepts letters to the editor, provided they are typed on a 60-space line and limited to a maximum of 300 words. All letters must be signed and the address and phone number of the writer must be included. The paper reserves the right to edit all letters for libelous statements and good taste. Address letters to Associate Editor, The Daily Tar Heel, in care of the Student Union. ::wk::wkw?kwkv.v. ?s:x: CP? CP-UP legislators, one independent, one UP-CP legislator and Joe Beard. Beard, for those who may have forgotten, was campaign manager for the. CP candidate for president ast spring. Beard's political career on campus began when he was elected to the. legislature as a UP member. Last spring he ran on the CP ticket, with an endorsement from the UP. He lost last spring, but Monday he said of Sunday's meeting, "It was a rather successful meeting." And from his point of view, it was. Usually we are strongly opposed to much that Mr. Beard does, but in this case it is a bit hard not to laugh and admire his handiwork. diplomas until the early part of this century. And these men staunchly opposed attempts by the Administration to take self-government from them. In the early part of the 1 9th century one-third of the student body walked off the campus in protest of a procter system proposed by the administrators. Many of them never returned. After the turn of the century UNC grew too large for every student to meet once a week in a truly parti cipatpry democracy. Football games and a new invention known as the coed stole the limelight from the Di-Phi debates on Saturday afternoons. The two societies then established Student Government, a republican form of self-government with executive, legislative and judicial branches. Once .Destroy and give sin and morality back to the Church? I am yet to hear one cogent argument, build solely on academic reasons, why this University needs visitation restrictions. The justifications usually fall on moral or political grounds. Moral: "We feel that it is morally beneficial for students to have visitation restrictions." I agree, but let us be able to say that for ourselves. Let us legislate our own morality. Political: "Of course the Trustees will never buy self-determination and what about Jesse Helms and what about the political ramifications of self-determination?' To those administrators using this argument, I wish they would make up their minds. Is this University political of is it not? They do not want students to involve their "non-political institution" in the political campaigns and yet are afraid of the "political implications" of a self-determined policy. I wish these WB ARE. THE GRASS -TREADER5. WHEREVER POSSIBLE, EVEN AT OUR OWN IN CON VEN (GNCE. , W6- -rRlV TO AVOIp THE. RICK WALKS. EACH YEAR Trt ADM(Nl5TRAToN TRIE5 TO OUTVW'T US BY RBPLACIHGt THE DEAP vvITH NEW eR.(CK WALK. PRESENTLY Al LOGICAL. PATH 5 ARE. COVERED IH BRlcK. i . nJe . I inn 11 lff5f.Xb: Asa NS l fx v-v';fV f ft IJJLLU-V (L L V7Ern? I i ll' zvtfvv vitT,-.n i m u it ii ii ii in '.yvj jv wn I V X AiX. . 7.1. .. jT - 1 mi 9 1 - S 4TM ST . II fcn. ' I umminQ 1 1 fMsleS r 4 I J-V Til Ii Ii TTT 'V . . I Ii III I 5UT THAT DOESN'T STOP us. again students were to govern, lead and adjudicate themselves. But there was one important difference. The young men of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies governed themselves when the administration could or would not. Their institutions were held up by strong pillars forged in heated debate. Many of them went on to become leaders in state and national government. Somewhere in the years of transition, however, the basis of student government was transformed from "consent of the governed" in the Di-Phi Chambers to "consent of the administration and apathy of the governed" on the floor of Student Legislature. The present controversy between the Administration and the Legislature may develop in several directions: Ed people would begin to deal honestly with students. We are tired of hearing "non-political" on one issue and Apolitical" on another, depending on which argument is more expedient at the given moment. Even further, if one sets up a Defense Department then he should not be surprised if this Department is constantly trying to defend, whether necessary i not, against this person or that country. It is as simple as that: If there were nothing for the Defense Department to defend against, it would have no purpose for its existence. Thus in its eyes there must always be something to defend against. The same goes with University administrators. They are supposed to administer. Thus certain rules and regulations must be kept, however inappropriate in an academic milieu, for them to legitimately claim that they have something to do. One should not expect an administrator to self-limit his ------ -"- " Student Government may back down, returning to the milque-toast obscurity of the past. Students will continue to be disillusioned and cynical about "freedom," and "democracy," and other such words...trite phrases which echo woodenly through the dingy dormitories of their personal experience. The Administration may overcome its fear of Trustee reprisals long enough to gamble on its students, strengthening Student Government as well as student belief in the principles of democracy. The Administration may set up a glorified oligarchy supported by proctor-informers, star-chamber trials and campus police-power. The outlook at this point is not encouraging. One student who has adminsitrative responsibilities any sooner than he should expect the Defense Department to announce that it no longer has anything to defend against. I am not naive to expect undue compromise from an administrator already playing too many roles: parent surrogate, landlord agent, moral sentry, and hierarchic underling. Yet if I were an University administrator I would accept the inevitable and let the students try to self-restrict their own living communities. If they fail, then it is a pretty sad commentary on student irresponsibility. But give them the chance. Self-determination has been dangled before student's eyes for the last three years. Each year they get closer to the goal. Right or wrong, I would go ahead and allow total self-determination. Perhpas then student, administrative, and faculty energy can be re-focused in pursuit of academic excellence. Isn't that what a University should be ail about anyway? Letter Pettiees; Abounds In To the Editor: I suppose I should have known better. But I really thought that when I got away from the pettiness of high school, I would find rational, reasonable people operating at the greater University. No real reason for the belief, just sort of an optimism about how the higher up the educational ladder you went, the greater the percentage of people who knew what they were doing. Then the visitation policy hassle. I was in a high school that would have closed down if the administration tried to reverse a piece of legislation that was passed by the students and which concerned only the students. No one seems greatly concerned, though. Most believe that no policy will really be enforced, so they don't care about what is on the books. I thought I was finally free of student-body presidents who wanted to be President. Then Bello comes on with his super ego-trip. You have to see his side, though. Anyone who's the head of an organization that can be casttrated by the stroke of an administrator's pen has to find consolation in what he can. Let him ride his bike as long as he doesn't hurt anybody. And, I don't know, I thought I ha'd gotten away from administrators who could be arrogant toward students. Registration got rid of that fast. Dr. Frank, where are you? Mr. Cumming, in an excellent cartoon on Sunday, said Phil Freshman was experiencing many things for the first time. It seems more accurate to say that we're experiencing many things for an unfortunate second time. F. Graham Queen 47 Cedar Ct. Carrboro violated the Administration's visitation decree may soon be tried by a faculty court, not by his peers. Every student gathering is now alive with heated discussion of the current dispute. And the words "massive civil disobedience" have been used on the floor of the Student Legislature. Whatever course the Administration takes from here, whatever the outcome of the current dispute, one thing should be remembered. A weakened Student Government and a student body wary of Administration intentions will carry ominous implications to the next major campus emergency. For students who are not permitted to govern themselves may not permit themselves to be governed. SG A 4 X
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 29, 1970, edition 1
7
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