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May. 1S73
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Nancy Pate
Staff Writer
The Carolina Union is more than just a
building. More than just a snack bar.
It's a unique organization on campus,
for every student is a member.
But what is the Union? To whom is it
responsible, and what is it doing now?
And, most important, what will it do in
the future?
All of these questions and more were
asked by the Union Study Colloquium in
an effort to evaluate the Carolina Union
as a whole.
The Colloquium, a 12:mernber board
co-chaired by Toby Cozart and Robert
Donnan, met seven times from January
through March to discuss and evaluate the
Union and decide a new direction for the
future of its activities.
"The purpose of the study," said
Cozart, "was to dwell not so much on the
details of Union functioning, but rather
on the orientations of the Union."
The results of three months of
meetings and mind bending is a report to
be presented to Howard Henry, chairman
of the Union Board of Directors.
The report summarizes seven
recommendations . on Union activites.
Two of the most important suggestions
included a new method for the selection
of the Union President and the addition
of a Pop Concert Programming
committee to the present Activities
Board.
"The committee felt," Donnan,
co-chairman, said, "that the proposed
changes would help eliminate possible
bias in the selection process for
president."
Currently, candidates for president of
the Union go before a screening
committee made up of the president of
"the Student Body, the former president
of the Union and one faculty member on
the Union Board.
The Colloquium recommended the
Board discontinue . the use of the
screening committee and provide an
interview before the total Board for each
candidate. The study committee voiced
concern over the possibility of the bias of
the incumbent president toward choosing
his own succesor.
"Any person," Cozart said, "interested
enough to apply for the position of
Union president deserves an interview
before the full board."
The proposal for Quality Pop
Programming was made in an effort to
decrease the programming burdens of the
Activities Group. The Pop Programming
Committee would be primarily concerned
with research and would deal with all
concerts in the category of popular
music. The Committee would take over
the planning and executing of publicity,
printing tickets and posters, ushering
concerts and announcing performers.
The chairman of the Pop Programming
Committee would be a member of the
Activities Group which would still
maintain the power to select and finalize
bookings.
The Colloquium believes that the
addition of the committee will enhance a
concert's chance of success because the
number of contributing opinions would
be doubled.
Cozart and Donnan, both active in
Union affairs, formed the Colloquium
because they felt the advice of an
independent group would be valuable to
the Union Board of Directors.
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Carol Wilson
Sports Writer
, Sports for expression ... sports for self-confidence .. . sports for community
growth ... Sports for People (SFP).
A new movement, born in the minds of individuals concerned with the present state
of athletics and given through them to many others a community a growing
circle of life." A feeling that physical activity could be a means toward knowing
yourself and others around you and a translation of this feeling into a realistic
program designed to give individuals a chance to develop their interests whatever
these may be.
In Chapel Hill, Sports for People consists of Daybreak Sports, Sports for Women,
and the April Fools Sports Festival. Nationwide, it is a movement to re-evaluate the
current athletic structure its values, its priorities, its effects and to try and work
through Congressional legislation to correct some of the more flagrant shortcomings of
the present system.
One of the most visible flaws in organized athletics on all levels, from Little League
to professional, is the lack of concern for and precautions against athletic injury. Ed
Humberger, director of the Chapel Hill SFP, explained that the national movement
"grew out of concern for the negative relationship between competitiveness and
athletic safety." From there it has gone on to explore new approaches to athletics.
In doing so, Humberger said, "we have come to the realization that injuries are
merely symptomatic of a much larger concern, an index of the extent to which we
have allowed primarily major sports to become more concerned with winning rather
than the health, welfare and needs of the individual player." :
This was one of the major findings, Humberger continued, of a survey conducted
earlier this year of a variety of people involved in some way with athletics, either as
coaches, players, fans,; sports writers, doctors or sports researchers. The survey was
mailed out to approximately 400 such people all over the country and received a
27.5 response representing 29 states. .
The survey focused its concern on what the respondents considered to be the major
issues facing organized athletics today. The strong feeling that the "winning ethic,"
and the high pressure system which grows out of it, is the root of what is wrong with
competitive sports. It is the win-at-all-costs credo which many feel leads to the intense
pressure on coaches to produce a championship team or ship out. The coach, in turn,
conveys this attitude to his players, who virtually internalize the "all or nothing"
winning ethic. Two college football players responding to the survey, said they felt
that pressure increases the number of injuries, as players drive themselves past their
physical capacities.
A strong desire to win was also blamed by survey respondents for such things as
drug abuse, professionalization of college athletics, and the overall failure of coaches
to treat athletes as humans and individuals.
Sports for People, in trying to correct these problems works on two levels: first, on
the national level through specific Congressional legislation and secondly, on the local
level where community sports programs are set up to provide opportunities for
individual, non-competitive physical activity.
Currently, three bills have been introduced in the U.S. Senate all concerned with
different aspects of athletics. Kansas Senator James Pearson introduced a measure on
April 16 which would establish a National Federation of Amateur Athletics, aimed at
overseeing A AU-NCA A squabbles as well as International Olympic Committee
procedures.
A bill which would set up a National Sports Foundation has been re-introduced by
Alaska Senator Mike Gravel and South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. The
proposal was originally made by Dr. Arthur Little in 1965, and would entail a million
dollar budget for educational and other research.
The third measure is the Amateur Safety Act, sponsored by Berkeley Congressman
Ron Dellums. The bill, re-introduced this session and currently before the House
Select Labor Subcommittee, is an amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety
Act (OHSA) of 1971, and would bring high school and college athletics under OHSA
provisions. . ,
On the local level, Sports for People is a relatively new program, having begun in
January, but is already beginning to make its mark. on the Chapel Hill community.
Currently its on-going program is Daybreak Sports, a kaleidoscope series of Saturday
morning sessions at the Presbyterian Student Center. Variety is the key and the
individual is the focus, as each week a new form of physical activity is demonstrated
and attempted. The program js open to all members of the community, as are all
Sports for People activities. It is a joining together of people of all ages and
backgrounds, each with a common interest in self-development through athletics.
There is no competition and no pressure achievement is self-measured. Activities
range from square-dancing to yoga to gymnastics, and everyone is invited to try
everything, regardless of competence or experience.
"It is a growing process individually and together," says Humberger. "We have
gotten about 30-50 people each morning since we started in March and each time, it
has been a really good experience for everyone."
Daybreak Sports is a small step and is just one of the many possible alternatives
springing up, but it is a first step and one in the right direction.