Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Dec. 16, 1970, edition 1 / Page 4
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4ft ff a. a i l Tommy Bello it J; IAI p H I f 1 fi O Mil Opinions of The Dairy Tar Ike! are expressed on its editorial pse, A3 uss-ned editorials are the opinions of the editor and the staff. Letters tsd columns represent only the opinions of the individual contributors. Tom Gooding. Editor Wednesday, December 16, 1970 Govo cons coeM make UNC a political football Higher education in the state of Nor til Carolina has become potentially the biggest issue in future political races throughout the state. The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday that Gov. Robert Scott, in an attempt to end political jockeying among the various institutions in the state, announced to a secret meeting of 50 Trustees of the Consolidated University and several officials of the state's regional universities that he plans major changes in the state's higher education system. The .Observer's story threw officials in South Building and in Consolidated University offices into a panic, just as Scott's Sunday meeting had done. Administrators of the Consolidated University and of the Chapel Hill branch seem to interpret Scott's plan as a threat to the CU, and they have constantly been in meetings since Sunday afternoon. Both CU President William Friday and Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson have been unreachable since Monday morning. The only comment their secretaries will make is, "He's in a meeting and I don't expect him back this afternoon." Whether Scott's plan to take politics out of the state's higher education system will work is doubtful. Education and college campuses have become the focal points of uncountable political plans in recent years. And Scott's plan calls for such drastic changes in the educational system, that it will probably become as political as the campuses have been. Higher education has been a political issue in North Carolina since Gov. Terry Sanford's administration. It was Sanford who laid the political framework which allowed East Carolina College to gain university status and which put EC president Leo Jenkins in the forefront of state politics. Sanford, at that time, was considering running for the Senate in a few years, and he has set up the groundwork for ECC's big jump in an effort to gain political support in Eastern North Carolina. The big fight, however, did not come until Gov. Dan K. Moore's administration. While Moore tried to stay out of the fight publicly he 7V cars t f t'Jir trial FrccJt mi Tom Gooding, Editor " Rod Waldorf ........ Managing Ed. Mike Parnell ........ News Editor Rick Gray . . Associate Ed. Harry Bryan Associate Ed. Chris Cobbs Sports Editor Frank Parrish Feature Editor Ken Ripley .... National News Ed. John Cell man Photo Editor Terry Cheek Night Editor Doug Jewell ....... Business Mgr. Frank Stew2rt Adv. Mgr. 7M JL an worked hard to stop the regional University concept with East Carolina and Western Carolina. But Moore's efforts failed, and North Carolina now has no state-supported four-year colleges. All four year institutions supported by the state are "universities." Now Scott has injected further political entanglements into North Carolina higher education. Some of the Board of Higher Education officials want to see a "more equal" system in the state. One official, for example, wants to equalize all budget appropriations for institutions of higher education. That would mean Pembroke State University with its approximately 2,000 students would be given the same amount of money as UNC-CH. Both Scott and opponents of his proposed changes plan to base their political maneuvers on constitutional amendments passed Nov. 3. The reorganization will be based on the amendment which called for a re-structuring of the state's executive branch. Those officials who will be opposing changes in the Consolidated University set-up will turn to the amendment which allows editorial revisions in the constitution to protect the CU. Opponents of the changes plan to introduce editorial revisions in the state constitution whfch would provide for a Consolidated University. Such a bill is now being drawn up and will probably be one of the first measures acted upon by the General Assembly when it convenes next month. Scott put forth his plan after the Attorney General's office ruled the re-organization amendment would cover higher education as well as the executive departments. Members of the reorganization committee appointed by Scott a year ago were not expecting the amendment to cover higher education and were there fore caught with no plan to reorganize either the Board of Higher Education or the Consolidated University. Therefore, the plan proposed Sunday is lacking in details, but by the time the General Assembly opens Sdott will have more concrete proposals to offer. What the exact proposals will be depends on how Scott reads the strengths of the two factions in the General Assembly. If the supporters of the present CU set-up appear to be stronger, the Consolidated University may well come out of the controversy virtually unchanged. However, if the anti-CU faction can gather more strength the University may well be faced with the most important legislative and political battle it has faced since the Speaker Ban. The biggest danger presented by Scott's plan is that it could turn higher education in North Carolina into a political football for gubernatorial candidates in 1972. Just as state politicians lined up for and against the Speaker Ban in 1964. such people as Attorney General Robert Morgan, Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor, Republican chieftain James Holshouser. State Rep. Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles and Jenkins may use the issue to gain votes rather than to provide for top quality higher education. I have jusi returned from the National Student Symposium on the Presidency held this past weekend outride of Washington. D.C. At the Symposium were students from this nation" 125 top institutions of higher learning. These students spent most of their time focusing on politics: 1 1 ) on how Nixon was so had. (2) on how the political party system has stagnated, and (3) on how to provoke massive student input into the political processes on all levels to get what "wc" want. What I have to say may sound strange coming from me, but in response to this Symposium I would like to share with you the following thoughts. To those of you sharing the view that this country is in desperate shape and want to work and I said work for change, the political system is not the best channel in which we, as students, can focus out interests and talents to bring change. As students in an academic community we should not be working for societal change through political reform for the following reasons. First students do not have the time to put themselves fully into politics. Concentrating all the time, energy, and expertise necessary on the political process to produce desired changes is simply impossible for any significant number of people who, at the same time, have to go to college, attend classes, write papers, and pass exams. Second students do not have sufficient financial resources to independently and successfully manage a major political campaign. To win at the ballot box in 1970 required good men, good programs, and plenty of money. The student community may be able to internally generate good programs and ideas but good men and plenty of money have to be obtained externally. Third many liberal students labor under the misconception that if all students became politically active then every political organization would be liberal. It simply is not so. More than 5000 college students were active in. James Buckley's Senate campaign-more MR BS&o 7AKG5 TIHB cut 7t PAY TRIBUTE WAN aWo SET MUSic FREE- 1il.UEAJ!& VAN orm exAc-TLy Grover B. Proctor Jr. 6A moims mo It has been found by researchers throughout the nation that a major portion of the time of the 'younger set" is spent listening to a radio. The percentage points differ in the amount of time devoted to this pasttime, but everyone seems to agree that the radio has quite an attractive power. I have been thinking about this in connection with the effect such extended listening may or may not have on those who are so addicted. Therefore, I decided to conduct a serious and forthright examination of a cross-section of radio listening in this area by seeing what was coming from all sorts of stations across the AM band. I found something quite different, however, from what I was looking for. What came across as I listened was quite a commentary on America today in a wide variety of phases and moods. Here, then, is what I found, moving from one side of the band to the other, one night early this week. . . That I am not going to be the one to share what seems to be the life that you can cherish ." .and Michaels is on the line with students than any other candidate attracted who ran for any office is I0 Like any ether group, a'l student;, do tm share the same ideas or ideologic. Ar.d do not forget that while there are may be seven million students in American colleges ar.d universities, there are ten million people of the same age who are not going to college, are paying taxes to send you to college, and are generally not going to accept the ideas so many of your liberal peers take for granted. Instead of political reform. I am suggesting that students wanting to work as students for societal change should concentrate on educational reform. My reasons are the following. First the time is ripe. Book after book is being written, published and read that depicts how bad American education is. All over the country educational bond issues are being voted down. Less than ten days ago the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education reported that colleges and universities nationwide are suffering from financial shortages. In short, the American public is disgruntled. with its Letters To the Editor: Your editorial of Thursday, December 10, entitled "You're In Pain?. . asks if anyone has been to the infirmary lately. The answer is yes. As a student who has just spent eleven days in the infirmary, I feel qualified to comment on your editorial. I am somewhat amazed that you chose to criticize the food. The meals, most of which I found to be as good as some I've had in Chapel Hill restaurants, come directly from the dietetic department of Memorial Hospital. So to criticize the infirmary for its food is completely off base. fi You also imply that if a person came to the infirmarv "eushine blood" he TO zoo years two. This crowd is really tense, wanting these two points bad. ..." " born in a manger. Lord, born in a manger, oh yes, born in a manger, Master. ..." "... playing the hits at 9:45. This is Neil Diamond, with his latest, and I really digit " , ". . . gimme, gimme, gimme that thing. Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme. ..." ". . . be sure and write in your prayer requests today. Don't get too busy for the work of God. And don't forget how expensive it is to be on the air. Please remember me with your love offering. ..." "... 1 think I love you. I'm afraid of that I'm not sure of .(. ". . . hurry on down to "- ". . . we won't have time to go into a miracle service today, but don't forget to write in for your holy miracle blessed oil, made from a recipe found in the book of Exodus. ..." I've got the hungries for your love, and I'm waiting in your welfare Reader n system, docs not ar.d is hvkirg for alternatives. Second students have greater legitimacy in posing educational alternatives than political ones. Where we do not have a first-hand knowledge cf America's political system, we do have a first-hand, experiential knowledge of its educational system. After spending most of our lives in this nation's schools, we should know by now what is right and what is wrong, what works and what does not work. Third educational reform is non-partisan. Regardless of different political philosophies, the student community can recognize a good teacher; it does share more views on getting a good education than on electing the right president. For example, one of the most dramatic "educational reforms" this campus has ever witnessed -namely not taking final exams-occurred last spring not because so many students thought the Cambodian invasion was onerous but because so few wanted to stay and to take those final exams. present educational want to support it. defends infirmary would be lucky if he were attended to within twenty minutes. Admittedly I have yet to go to the infirmary when it wasn't packed. I have had to spend up to two hours (sometimes in pain) in order to see a doctor for five minutes, but I have yet to learn of a case when someone really hurt wasn't cared for immediately. Sure it may be uncomfortable to sit with a sprained ankle for two hours, but, supposedly every one waiting there is in some discomfort. And who is to blame? The doctors? The nurses? Hardly. Part of the explanation may be the students who take up time and space in the infirmary just to get an excuse to cut a quiz. Your real complaint though is the way ago active line. ..." . . actually I think wrestling on TV is a fake, to tell the truth. They try to pass themselves off as real " ". . . late word from Saigon reports that Viet Cong terrorists bombed a Buddhist temple full of worshippers this afternoon " ". . . the legislation which will now go to the Senate floor, will limit manpower available to future operations in Cambodia " "...I've got him back in my arms again, so satisfied "... located in Bethesda, your one-stop fuel-up, grocery, and car wash. ..." "... to look into the need for placing armed guards into the Baltimore city schools when Christmas vacation is over. ..." ". . . and Carolina day don't rise in the morning, don't set in the evening -" " probability of precipitation 50 tonight and tomorrow. 7 (XT tomorrow night...." ". . .and it says the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. brethren! Halleluiah!. No, where to turn-! think the insight page on ecu-cat or: a? reform in Monday's Tar Heel is a step in the right d; I think the University community need to generate more dtwussion on educate reform and the effect such reform could have on the society. Such d;cuion could He facilitated through the Tar Heel, by forming groups in your residential unit or your acadesnc department, and h bringing up questions of educational reform in each and every cla mi have. During the Christmas vacation, you can go home and talk to your folks about the quality of your education experience, for obviously they do have, through ou. a vested interest in the qualify of hher education. You can also talk to your local state legislator about your University education, for 1 believe one of the mam focuses of the General Assembly in January will be the reorganization of the state's higher education. Your voice state-supported heard. as a student in University should a be the student infirmary "treats" students. I would like to know what you mean by treat? If it is the medical service you're complaining about you should realize that many infirmaries, even those connected with major medical facilities, are open only nine to five weekdays. Any other time one would have to go to the emergency- room and pay for services rendered. If it is the fact that they kept you overnight to observe you, what would you have them do when they cannot diagnose you immediately? Or maybe you don't like the way the nurses treated you. I found the nurses and the entire staff most willing to do everything within their power to make sure I was comfortable and well cared-for as possible. Sometimes this "treatment" was well beyond what was expected. Sure there is room for improvement at the infirmary, but the criticism leveled by your December 10 editorial ixems entirely misdirected. Leslie Farfour, Jr. Durham c Smokers offensive jjj in large crowds "0 To The Editor: About chain-smoking (particularly in groups of 4 and 5 in unventilated places) in the sort of crowd that turned out to hear William Buckley: It's a fact that the people around you probably aren't able to breathe too well under the circumstances; well, O.K., smokers evidently really suffer when they can't have a smoke; I mean, the smoke's bearable as long as the rest of us don't actually pass out. Also bearable are the possible small burns and burn stains on clothes, skin, etc. from the still-burning cigarette butts flicked in all directions without a parting glance from the flick-ers. But please, people, in an overflowing old building like that, when you casually drop still-lit butts all over the wood floors, IT CREATES A GENUINE FIRE HAZARD. (And it isn't very considerate just generally, anyway!) Charlotte C. Wyche 2 Cobb Terrace o list 0 0 0 ". . . and this is David Whitney, inviting you to join me at this time for sounds of the Yuletide season on Bon-Air radio " . . . the most active list was Sperry Rand, among other issues traded. . . ." After listening to all of icse and seriously trying to fit the port and significance of each of them ..th all the others, I found quite a revealing collage of our society and what it believes. I challenge you to read the above, try the experiment yourself, and I think you will come away with a somewhat deeper understanding of the necessity of bringing our society together. Goethe believed and often wrote that it was impossible to criticize wh3t you understood. Maybe those who would, for a convenient example, impeach national leaders don't really try to understand the complexities of their jobs and the sincerity of their beliefs. Such understanding couti furnish the cement that would mold us together, and. in doing so. shed true light on the variety of interests and tangents as we found on the radio.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Dec. 16, 1970, edition 1
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