North Carolina Newspapers

"-,"""'' Uh i t 1 ? ? 1 i I i 1 X i- I 3 17 u sxx" 1 1 j D 79 Years of Editorial Freedom Chapei Hill, North Carolina, Monday, April 25, 1971 Vol. 79, No. 46 Founded February 23. 1S33 n ll n TTTm (UfHrll I i i) vs. 170 (Q) by Ken Ripley and Jessica Hanchar More than 170 professional and student journalists heard speakers and panelists ranging from N.C. Democratic Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr. to Charles Kuralt ;o White House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler at the Southeastern Regional Conference of Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) national journalism society here Saturday and Sunday. "If the Constitution of the United States can be said to have a soul," Ervin said Saturday night, "that soul is the First Amendment.- "This amendment "means complete freedom to talk. The government does not have the power to punish people for thinking," said the acknowledged constitutional expert. Ervin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, attacked the "kind of monitoring, surveillance and data collection" undergone by the Army and described this month before his subcommittee. Disregarding his prepared text, Ervin spoke for more than 30 minutes without notes, outlining in detail his case against Army surveillance. "It's a terrible thing," he said, "when the government goes about trying to suppress the right of dissent. Ervin. termed the Army's defense that it needed the information, "absurd and insupportable under the Constitution. "Nothing in any law gives the President the right to use the Army as a national police force or detective agency," Ervin said. The Senator cited several examples of groups on both the right and left who were placed under surveillance, he said, including "virtually every activist political group in the country. "We need to keep the Army in its appropriate field and keep it from spying on individuals," Ervin said. s "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," the Senator said. "And that is the price we are going to have to pay if, America is to continue as a free society." At a press conference after the speech, Ervin told reporters he was dissatisfied with the Army's reaction to his hearing. Expressing doubt that the government had scrapped its voluminous information, Ervin said the statement prepared for his hearings by the Army was "designed to conceal rather than reveal what was going on." In response to other questions, Ervin also said the Supreme Court decision in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg desegregation case was "insupportable under the Constitution," refused to comment on whether J. Edgar Hoover was fit to remain FBI director, supported the President's intervention the Calley trial while saying "I would have convicted him of a lesser offense," labeled the recent N.C. shoplifting law as "a bad law" and charged the Supreme Court with "verbicide" of the Constitution. Asked about whether he would support Senator Edmund Muskie for President, Ervin revealed that he would prefer Democratic Senator Henry Jackson of Washington. Ervin joined CBS newsman Charles Kuralt and SDX national President Robert Chandler as the main speakers for the spring conference, held for the first time in Chapel HilL Saturday Kuralt, former editor of The Daily Tar Heel, challenged Vice President Spiro Agnew to learn something about America by travelling for a while with the CBS "On;The Road" production crew. ' "The problems America is rightly worried about are the problems the Vice President is silent on," he said. "Agnew would learn something if he had traveled with us." , Kuralt and his four-man team drive across the country looking for the unusual, out-of-the-way feature story to film for the CBS Evening News. By traveling with the crew, Kuralt said, Agnew would learn "there isn't kny Silent Majority in America. They're all talking and questioning. He would learn there is no need to fear the reporting of dissenting voices but (rather) the repression of them." Agnew, the newsman said, "would look in vain for the alienated, disaffected people poisoned by universities and newspapers. "It may seem to the Vice President," Kuralt concluded, "that we are being destroyed, but are being revitalized." Delivering the final address Sunday, Chandler spoke against a proposal to license newsmen and urged the assembled publishers, editors and reporters to "continue to perform to the best of our abilities and to improve those abilities the best we can." , Chandler, publisher of the Daily Bulletin in Benton, Ore. admitted "we have some blemishes. "So let us admit that our business is not perfect, just as any human institution is not perfect," hhe said. Three panel discussions enlivened the conference. White House correspondents traded sharp, but friendly barbs with Presidential Press Secretary Ronal Ziegler. An underground press representative and a black press editor condemned the establishment media. Student editors discussed censorship and newspaper funding. CBS correspondent Dan Rather, Helen Thomas of United Press International, and Hugh Sidey of Time-Life publications traded conflicting and pointed views of White House news coverage with Ziegler in the Sunday panel on "Covering Presidential News." Covering the President, Rather said during the session "is not unlike covering city hall, state legislature, or the courthouse." The President is a politician, Rather said. "A politician will lie to you. The President will lie to you." , Tom Forcade, a former projects coordinator for the Underground Press Syndicate, emotionally, condemned journalists who "jive hypocrisies about freedom of the press" at a Saturday panel on "Advocacy Journalism." Calling society "an excuse to cover up facism," he condemned the medial as its propaganda organ." "Unless the daily press changes its policy and adopts a commitment to solutions," said Raymond Boone, editor of the Richmond (Va.) Afro-American, "it will contribute to the destruction of society." UNC journalism professor Michael Bishope charged in a panel on Student Press in the 70's "that the student newspaper is "patronized, victimized and scrutinized." Dave Bourdon, editor of the contriversial Argus Magazine at the University of Maryland which aroused attention when it sponsored the First Annual Creative Pornography Contest, said, "Why do we stir up trouble? It's because we want to get something done. "We can't talk about freedom of speech at v Maryland," he said, "when the University president talks about the First Amendment as a constitutional loophole." The Chapel Hill conference was one of several SDX regional conferences meeting around the country. The UNC Sigma Delta Chi chapter, headed by journalism major Andy Schorr, hosted the delegates from Region II, which includes North Carolina, District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. . -. LLrfr- lx , . ? -J- . -m; X ' '- . t,r '.- - 4 . - :-4'tv. , i nsoe - r? en press ededl by Benny Harrington takes a break from his bartending duties to enjoy a drink at a Phi Gamma Delta party Saturday afternoon. (Staff photo by Johnny Lindahl) As outstanding dorm woman .Feima IB oou getts . award. Fenna Johanna Boon was named the Most Outstanding Dormitory Woman of 1970-71 Sunday at a reception given by the Association of Women Students (AWS). A native of Huntersville, Miss Boon was president of Spencer Residence Hall her junior year. She has served as secretary of the Specncer House Council. This year Miss Boon has co-chaired the Women's Forum with Dean of Women Catherine Kennedy Carmichael. A member of the AWS Executive Cabinet for three years, Miss Boon was a delegate to the national AWS convention two years ago. Miss Boon is a member of Valkyries, Delta Phi Alpha and the Society of Janus. Seven other coeds were presented Foreiui by Mary Ellis Gibson Staff Writer Dorothy Pitman and Gloria Steinem, two female liberation activists, will speak in Gerrard Hall at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The two women, who will discuss the female liberation movement, are third in a series of speakers sponsored by the Carolina Forum. Dorothy Pitman, a native of New York, is particularly interested in women's freedom to work. She has done extensive work to establish day care centers in New York to enable mothers with young children to hold jobs. Mrs. Pitman, a member of New York City Mayor John Lindsay's Day Care Task Force, was asked by the N.Y. State Legislature to help write new laws on day care. 5 Gloria Steinem, who only recently became active in the female liberation movement, graduated Phi Beta Kappa awards Sunday by Mrs. J. Carlyle Sitterson as Outstanding Dormitory Women. Annis Lillian Arthur, secretary of Granville Residence College Senate, was recognized for her work and enthusiasm in the dormitory program. Sandra Annette Greene received the award for her service as president and vice president of Mclver. Donys Kaye Holtzclaw was honored for outstanding contributions as a resident advisor in Morrison. Sharon Lynn McDonald, president of Parker Residence Hall, has been active in the Chancellor's Consultative Forum, AWS, Student Legislature and House Council. Catherine Ann Myers was honored for her work as Joyner president and vice president and for service as residence college senator and as a member of Committee on University Residence Life (CURL). Myra Joy Wilson has been an outstanding . resident of Whitehead where she was vice president this year, and chairman of the visitation committee. Simmons Holladay Worth, president of East Cobb, has been active in AWS, Morehead Residence College Senate, and on the Yack staff. Miss Boon was nominated for Most Outstanding Dormitory Woman by her residence hall. She received the nomination from Spencer residents for her "unselfish services to Spencer and to the entire campus during her four years at Carolina." by Ken Ripley Feature Editor "Relentless, healthy tension has 5 always existed between the secretary and the press, and should," Presidential Press 'Secretary Ronald Ziegler said at the beginning of the Sigma Delta Chi panel discussion on White House news coverage Sunday morning. 'In'tfieir prepared statements and in the following quesiton-and-answer period, three noted White House correspondents demonstrated to the assembled editors, publishers, and reporters attending the SDX regional convention just how much tension does exist, between the White House and the press. In a friendly discussion surprisingly free of animosity, CBS newsman Dan Rather, Helen Thomas of United Press International, and 'Hugh Sidey of Time life, joined Ziegler in a give-and-take debate on topics ranging from CBS's controversial program, "Selling of the Pentagon" to Vice President Spiro Agnew's "intimidation" of the media. Ziegler, who was later complimented by Rather for his "courage" in appearing on the panel, found himself on the defensive from the beginning. "Your main stocks of the trade are the accuracy of your information and the integrity of your word," Ziegler said, followed by Miss Thomas who accused the Administration of not being open with the press. She said the administration "packages the palatable news and hopes you won't find out the rest." Calling for more news conferences, she charged, separates press interest from interest." beyond view than other presidents," Sidey noted. He said Nixon is "isolated." "There is a tendency," Ziegler replied, "to confuse isolation with the personality of the Presidency. Nixon is a private man." Ziegler insisted the President spends much of his time interacting with prominent leaders and his Cabinet. ."Isolation is a. state of mind, retorted. "It doesn't haver anything to do with who you see. I think Nixon is the most isolated man in government we have." . . Rather increased the growing gulf between the correspondents and the secretary when he said in his opening remarks, "Covering the President is not unlike covering city hall, state legislature, or the courthouse The President is a politician. A politician will lie to you and a president will lie to you." Tension further increased between Rather and Ziegler when Ziegler criticized the CBS special, "Selling of the Pentagon," as "a bad job." Reaching immediately for the microphone, Rather replied that while policy 7 -nChdif I there were some flaws, the documentary probably "didn't hit hard enough." . tWrhenevcr you hit close to home with the truth," he added, "you hear a lot of screaming. And that's what you're hearing now." Vice President Agnew was the target of sharp questioning. Rather accused the Vice President of "Giving us Wallacism without Wallace" to gain votes for Nixon u".. ; ion . Sidey, however, "called Agnew an "unguided missile," awed by his own rise to power and even "contemptuous" of Nixon policies. Sidey speculated Nixon would drop Agnew as his 1972 running-mate. Ziegler saidThe President continues to have confidence in his vice president." Despite the sharp differences between Ziegler and the correspondents, Ziegler was kidded more often that attacked, but the kidding was sometimes touched by underlying sentiment. "The press secretary goes through life in a constant state of preparation," Ziegler explained. "You'd never know it, Ron," Rather said. e presiioera 11 'Yal to give -lector n "Nixon public - - , . . - - TODAY: sunny and mild; temperatures in mid-to-upper 70's; 20 per cent chance of rain. TUESDAY: rainy; temperatures in upper 70's. n naite ffemma from Smith College with a degree in government. She worked with Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy in their presidential campaigns. Presently a contributing editor for "New York Magazine," Miss Steinem writes a weekly column, "The City Politic." Her articles have appeared in several magazines, "Harpers' "McCalls", "Life" and "Look." Miss Steinem's latest article, "Is Lindsay Deserting Us?", appeared in the most recent issue of "New York Magazine". Her article discusses the possibility of Mayor John Lindsay abandoning the city to run for the presidency because it is an easier job. Carolina Forum Chairman Peter Brown said of Miss Steinem, "As much as any of the women's liberation people, she is reasonable about expanding women's rights. She is not associated with the witch faction of the movement, and she's not anti-male." He line in r - ------ o 0 acovn 5 v w to' ft til -NT Gloria Steinem Dorothy Pitman e . Yale University President Kingman Brewster will deliver the 1971 Weil Lecture in American Citizenship Wednesday in Memorial Hall. Brewster will deliver the traditional Weil Lecture, sponsored by the Weil family of Goldsboro, N.C, at 8 p.m. Brewter will also be in Chapel Hill for the two days prior to his lecture, attending the convention of the American Association of Universities on the Chapel Hill campus. In his tenure as the president of the prestigious Ivy League University, Brewster has been criticized widely, including by Vice President Spiro Agnew, but has also compiled a remarkable record of support among the alumni, faculty and students of the University. In the tumultuous years of his presidency, Brewster has been able to cope with the potentials for disorder and campus unrest by remaining highly visible to the students, the alumni and faculty. He has been open to personal attack, according to one member of the Yale faculty, because he does become involved in the crises and takes responsibility for their solution. Brewster said he was skeptical that the Black Panthers, who were then being brought to trial in New Haven, Conn., could receive a fair trial anywhere in the United State.s. The widely publicized statement brought the ire of Vice President Agnew. Brewster made his statement during the demonstrations in New Haven and a strike by the Yale student body over the trial of eight Black Panthers for kidnapping and murder. Alumni antagonism has been another of the problems which have faced Brewster due to his out-spoken stands on various issues. At one point during the height of alumni discontent, Brewster challenged his critics to participate in an open forum on the problems he had faced. After fielding questions for more than two hours, the alumni gave the 1 7th Yale president a standing ovation. Following some of the violent outbreaks on the college campuses in 1 968 and 1 969, Brewster embarked on a speech-making tour across the country to convince the alumni of Yale and other universities that "not all students are crazies and not all faculty members are enemies of public disorder." ' i. Brewster made these speeches and other public relations efforts on the basis of his realization that if "society really becomes hostile to universities, the universities are just not going to survive." Innovations in several areas of the life of the university, including the process of selection of the holder of his own position, have been part of Brewster's trademark as Yale president. - Brewster, a 1941 graduate of Yale and former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Yale Daily News, suggested to the Yale Board of Trustees that the president not be given indefinite tenure and proposed that regular review boards examine the achievements of the president. The Weil lecture by President Brewster is being handled by the Faculty Council Committee on Established Lectures, headed by Dr. S. Shepard Jones, of the Political Science Department.