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it fl 4 TW 1 VJ 1 1 j WL1 MN Chapel HilYs Morning Newspaper Vol. 83, Ho. 64 Chgpel HHU North Carolina. Tuesday, November 19, 1974 Founded February 23, 133 eaicttnoMs varied. lam) Enow -.-.-:'w. . liCD o e by Sandra flllers Staff Writer University professors and administrators offered varying but mostly negative reactions Monday to a controversial new federal law which will make official and formerly confidential student records available to students and their parents. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as the. Buckley Amendment for its sponsor, Sen. James L. Buckley, D-N.Y., goes into effect today as part of the Elementary and Secondary School Act. Signed into law by President Ford last August, the bill passed through both the House and the Senate without ' debate or formal hearings. Under the Buckley Amendment, federal funds may be withheld from any educational institution that "has a policy of denying, or which effectively prevents, the parents of students . , .the right to inspect and review any and all official records, files and data directly related to their children." The law also requires hearings for students or parents wishing to challenge information included in their files and prohibits unauthorized release of records to third parties. Opponents of the new law, spearheaded by Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., object primarily to disclosure of letters of recommendation originally solicited with a pledge of confidentiality. Vice Chancellor Douglass Hunt issued a . memorandum Monday stating UNC's position regarding the Buckley Amendment will be that "the Act does not apply to records of applicants or former students but that it applies only to students attending the University." The memo also states "that the Act does not apply retroactively to any confidential communications or evaluations given before 19 November 1974." Colleges and universities across the nation are varying in their reactions to the new law. While most are asking for hearings and delays of . implementation, , officials at Harvard have begun pulling all confidential letters from files except those approvedTor release by their authors. Kingman Brewster Jr., president of Yale, ip Cohen may run for town mayor Alderman Gerry Cohen, a UNC law student, is considering running for mayor of Chapel Hill in 1975. During an interview Monday, Cohen would not commit himself definitely but indicated he is giving his possible candidacy serious thought. Since the election is not until November 1975, Cohen said it is really too early to announce anything yet. He said he knew of at least three other people , . who are also, considering running. He declined to name any of the three since none have formally announced. Cohen said his candidacy is predicated on the assumption that Mayor Howard Lee will not seek election to a fourth term in office. "If Mayor Lee runs again, I won't," Cohen said. All candidates will probably announce by April 1975, Cohen said. by Mary Hendrick Staff Writer Although state law requires all treated cases of venereal disease to be reported to county health departments, figures suggest that in Chapel Hill probably only one in every three cases is actually reported. Spokesmen for three Chapel Hill clinics that treat venereal disease say they are treating about 50 to" 65 cases a month. UNCs student infirmary treats from 1 0 to 15 cases a month. A spokesman for the Student Health Action Committee (SH AC) says SH AC treats about 10 people a month, and the Orange County Health Clinic treats from 30 to 40 patients a month. act has announced that Yale's policy will be to assume until legally notified that the amendment does not apply to previous confidential records. When contacted by the Daily Tar Heel Monday, six UNC faculty members expressed concern over the release of confidential recommendations and , indicated the new ruling would strongly affect the character and content of future recommendations. "I've always kept my records confidential," Collier Nash, professor of chemistry, said. "If I'm not going to be able to write a confidential letter, I'm not going to write a letter at all." "I do feel a little troubled by it" anthropology professor Julia Crane said. "It's very hard to feel you can put in all that you think would be helpful to faculty working with students in the future." Journalism professor Walter Spearman said he does not object to opening records to students, but he feels confidential recommendations should remain confidential. "I think a letter of recommendation should be confidential to the person to whom it was written," he said. "I would not feel as free to be frank if I knew the letter could be disclosed." 1 William Melson, chairman of the Department of Radio, Television and Motion Picture Arts, agreed. "I have no objection to this sort of thing at all," he said, "provided the individual providing the information for the files is fully aware it is disclosable." Melson said there is "no doubt that an individual would write a different recommendation" without the pledge of confidentiality. ' George Taylor, history professor and faculty chairman, raised the question of legal difficulties which might stem from the new law. "On the one hand, the individual should have some protection against arbitrary evaluation in letters," he said. "But a different opinion between aNcandidate (for (admission) and a writer (of . a recommendation) can become a matter of litigation. It hasn't been tested yet. "If the Buckley Amendment becomes law, I doubt if we can continue writing letters," he added. "The whole process would become a little hazardous for any of us to handle." Fred B. Wright, chairman of UNCs math department, said he feared the Buckley Amendment would result in "serious disrupting of our ability to pick graduate students. "We'd have no information," he said, "and there'd be a lot more people here who shouldn't be here." Wright added that confidential recommendations tended to be' explicit and questioned whether or not "it's in the student's best interest to know everything in there." Stephen Darwall, philosophy professor, expressed mixed reactions to the new law. "On the one hand, it's a very good thing," he said. "Students have the right to see what's in their files. By the same token, however, there are some problems in that many recommendations were collected with the promise of secrecy." Darwall also reflected the concern of many of the bill's opponents, that the elimination of confidential recommendations may force admissions officers to rely on standardized criteria such - as I.Q. scores and other test results. "Whether or not students should have the right to see their files really depends on the existence of another, fair system for appraising students," he said. Although students may begin filing requests to see their records today, the new law does allow a grace period of 45 days for school officials to comply. In the meantime, Pell and other opponents of the Buckley Amendment may act to postpone enactment of the law. Pell has announced his readiness to do so. Until the law is clarified, however, confusion over long-standing university practices will remain. Under the law's restriction on release of information to third, parties, even such routine procedures as sending grades home to parents and publishing the weight and height of athletes in football programs may fall open to discussion. pOTI Manny VD cases MMFceportedl These estimates indicate that at least 600 cases of venereal disease will be treated in Chapel Hill this year and do not include cases treated atN.C. Memorial Hospital and by private physicians. Either the incidence of venereal disease in Chapel Hill has increased by more than 300 per cent over last year's 187 reported cases, or only one third of the cases treated are being reported. . There has definitely been some increase. From 1969 to 1973, cases reported to the Orange County Health Department increased approximately 7 per cent. In the state, there were 31,863 cases reported in 1973, an increase of about 44 per cent from 1969. 4 v. s V Too many cars Three-tiered railroad cars laden with new automobiles line the tracks of the rail yard east of Union Station in St. Louts. The nation's major auto manufacturers all have reported sharp slumps in sales of 1975 models and a corresponding buISd-up of inventories, leading to plant shutdowns and layoffsChrysler Corp: was persuaded" Monday not to entirely cease domestic auto production. Instead, the company will make 50,000 fewer cars this year than last. See story, page 3. Mack. &(ctM4 p avis to speak om irigMs by Mike Home Staff Writer Angela Davis, speaking at noon today in Memorial Hall, is more than qualified to participate . in the Student Government's Colloquium on Individual Rights and Liberties . . .her activist career proves her dedication to individual rights. Davis was invited to participate in the Colloquium during a brief visit to Chapel Hill July Calling North Carolina the most repressive state in the country, she left Chapel Hill to lead the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression in a Raleigh protest march. "She's a very independent person, so we don't have anything too structured for her . . .1 would imagine she will elaborate on repression in the penal institutions," 'mm Angela Davis But an increase so dramatic that it accounts for the large number of venereal disease cases which doctors say they are reporting is unlikely. That most cases are not reported is more likely. "A doctor won't report cases because he feels he is violating confidence between himself and his patients," a state health department educator said. And yet, patients' names are not disclosed in county health department reports. Even though it is apparent that a large number of cases are not reported, no one can remember the last time a doctor or clinic was penalized for not reporting cases. "In the 30 years that I've been here Dr. lis V T .4 1 UPltetftpholo Student Body President Marcus Williams said. Ironically, Davis, an adamant crusader for black civil rights, was born and raised in Birmingham, Ala .the heart of George Wallace's stomping grounds. Her vehicle from the Deep South to a New York City high school was a Quaker scholarship. Later she attended Brandeis University from which she graduated magna cum laude the Sorbonne in Paris, Goethe University in West Germany and finally the University of California at San Diego. Adapting the Marxist philosophy to explain black oppression, Davis joined the Communist Party in Los Angeles. Her participation in the Party was attacked by flie University of California Board of Regents after she was appointed a UCLA philosophy professor in 1969. Defying warnings from the Board, Davis continued to. -speak against political "repressions and was expelled from the JCLA faculty in 1970. She made the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1971 and was imprisoned while fighting extradition to California for charges pf kidnap for ransom, murder and conspiracy. Released from prison, Davis has renewed a crusade against political, repression and injustice. 7 Originally scheduled to speak here Nov. 13, Davis cancelled the engagement to appear with Random House, Inc. publicizing her new book, Angela Davis, An Autobiography. A reception for Davis will be held in Room 207 of the Union at 1 1 a.m. Garven of the Orange County Health Department, said, "we haven't gotten anyone for it." Garven said if he does ever hear of a doctor failing to report venereal disease cases, he will call the doctor and request the reports. Should there ever be an Orange County doctor found guilty of failing to report cases, . the penalty levied will be left to the discretion of the judge. The responsibility for reporting cases lies almost completely with the doctors treating them. The doctors themselves say they are more concerned with keeping venereal .disease under control than with numbers. They stress patient cooperation. Many patients, especially males, will not V 11 "Y"T o 11 axoEH "HlTuimi A 1U) .r 11 by Cheryl Anridson United Press International WASHINGTON Former President Richard M. Nixon not only knew in the spring of 1973 that the Watergate burglars were being paid to keep quiet but suggested that E. Howard Hunt Jr. would "shut up" for sure if promised a pardon, according to White House, tapes played Monday. The tapes, never made public before even in transcript form, indicated Nixon's deep involvement in the cover-up plot at a time when he was claiming to know nothing about it "God damn it," Nixon exploded at a March 22, 1973, meeting with H.R. Haldeman. "The people are in jail, it's only right for people to raise the money for them. ! got to let them do that and that's all there is to it. I think we ought to. There's got to be funds. "I'm not being, I don't mean to be blackmailed by Hunt; that goes too far, but we're taking care of these people that are in jail. My God, they did this for we're sorry for them. We do it out of compassion. . ." Earlier, Nixon listened thoughtfully while Haldeman explained how money was slipped to the burglars whenever it seemed "one was gonna blow." "Why is that obstruction of justice anyway?" Haldeman asked. "Well, particularly when it's not to sip champagne ..." Nixon replied. Earlier in the day, the jury heard the tape of a Jan. 8, 1973, meeting between Nixon and his special counsel, Charles W. Colson, in which Nixon said it would be a simple matter to arrange clemency for Hunt. Hunt had pleaded guilty to the Watergate bugging and was to be sentenced March 23. According to the tape of a White House meeting on March 21 played to, the jury earliarin the cover-up triaJ--Nixorf agreed that meeting Hunt's demands for more than $120,000 was something "you damn well better get done." When they met the next day, Nixon and Haldeman obviously were worried that if Hunt were not taken care of, he might reveal his earlier role in the White House sponsored burglary at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. "That's what you really come down to," Nixon said. "Or you, you give him $120,000 or at least give him another contact, you know what I mean? That's, that's a lot of dough. Let's face it, in terms, uh, in terms, uh, of pardon, uh, or so forth, it, if Colson is talking, uh, of a pardon by Christmas, you know . . . he's out of his mind. He knows we can't do that." "But if Hunt thinks that's what he's been promised ..." Haldeman said. "He'll shut up now," Nixon said firmly. Noting that the timing of a Hunt pardon could be a problem, Nixon told Haldeman, "It seems to me you'd better find out from Colson what he did promise." Hunt never has been pardoned, but was freed on bond last January, after serving a year in prison, while he seeks to withdraw his guilty plea in the bugging case. Haldeman, once the White House chief of staff, is one of five former Nixon aides now on trial for the cover-up plot. Nixon himself has been pardoned from any prosecution but has been named an unindicted co conspirator. In a March 20, 1973, tape, Haldeman told Nixon that former attorney general and Nixon campaign manager John N. Mitchell now one of the defendants was clearly and fully aware of the intelligence Fog A considerably foggy morning will be followed by a mostly cloudy end perhaps rainy afternoon. Highs today will be in tne 60s and lows tonight in the 40s. Chance of rain is 20 per cent today and 50 per cent tonight. Winds are light and variable. tare identify their sexual contacts, the state health department educator said. This is especially unfortunate because symptoms of venereal disease in women are not as obvious as in men, and cases in women are therefore more often neglected. ( The problem of unreported cases is not limited to Chapel Hill. Big cities have small reportage, making national figures a poor representation of the facts, Student Health Clinic educator Dr. Donald Harris said. The records indicate problem areas and rapid increases in gonorrhea. Reporting of gonorrhea cases is still poor, but virtually all cases of syphillis are reported due to extensive lab reports which must be done. wa siirdloinKSCL. operation that led to the Watergate break-in. "That's pretty goddamned bad," Nixon replied. "That's damn near as bad as it is out here." But by March 22, he and Haldeman were considering a suggestion by former White House Counsel John W. Dean III to force Mitchell to take the entire blame to steer investigators away from the White House. "Mitchell will find a way out," Haldeman said. "You have to let them get to him, I think. But, Dean's thought, I think what convinced him to put the wagons around the White House is that it forces Mitchell to take the responsibility rather than allowing Mitchell to hide under the blanket of the White House, which he's been doing..." Nixon's reply was unintelligible. Survey: food bills Up again by Laura Toler Staff Writer Grocery bills are steadily rising. The same 14 food items that cost $13.60 in September and $ 1 3.68 last month now total $ 1 3.88. The overall 20-cent increase was calculated from price surveys, conducted at Chapel Hill's Winn Dixie on Monday and during the previous two months, of 14 items. This month's grocery bill totaled more . . despite a special on Oscar Meyer hot dogs at 99 cents per pound, 20 cents off the regular price. Although there are no serious food shortages now, grocery shelves may run short of some products from this year's harvest by early next summer particularly canned fruits and vegetables, John C. Koon, Winn Dixie's division manager in Raleigh, said. Items which have increased in price during the past month are 12'S-ounce cans of Chicken of the Sea Tuna, from $1.15 to $ 1 .23; tomatoes, from 39 to 59 to 69 cents per pound; and 4'$-ouncc packages of Pringle's potato chips at 49 cents, up from 43 cents in September and 45 cents in October. The cost of 15-ounce boxes of Post Raisin Bran cereal remained steady at 8 1 cents, but that price is an increase over September's 73-cent listing. One pound of Roman Meal bread has sold for 59 cents in the last two months, .as opposed to 57 cents in September. Although Koon said his chain is suffering no shortage of sugar because of consumer hoarding, Winn Dixie's sugar shelves were empty Monday except for some two-pound bags priced at $1.49 each. Skyrocketing sugar prices have affected the costs of all items containing sugar. "Most cereal prices went up two weeks ago," one Winn Dixie shelf-stocker said, "but the ones with sugar in them went up more." Not all food prices have followed the upward trend. Items that cost less are Superbrand Eggs (one dozen large, Grade A) from 81 cents last month to 79 cents at present, and a pound of Oscar Meyer bacon from $ 1 .85 in September to $ 1 .79 in the last two months. Prices holding steady through all three surveys were those of W-D Brand hamburger at 99 cents jer pound; W-D brand salami at 69 cents for eight ounces; six-packs of Old Milwaukee at $1.59 for 12 ounce cans and $1.57 for 12-ounce bottles; one gallon of Superbrand milk at $1.65; 16 slices of Kraft American cheese at $ 1.09; and lettuce at 49 cents a head. Meat prices have remained about the same during the last two months, Joe Godfrey, Winn Dixie market manager, said. Despite these reassurances, consumers are making adjustments because of high food prices. "We just don't eat as much," said one housewife while shopping for groceries Monday. "The whole family has cut down." She foresaw no great danger in food shortage, saying that American society eats too much anyway. Other consumers seemed less willing to accept higher grocery bills. "The price of food is too high," declared one student shopper Monday. "Grocers are marking up stocks they bought before the prices went up." . But these mark-ups are necessary to avoid the confusion of different shelf prices for the .same item, Koon said, responding to the ;charge. "This policy is only part of a whole operation. If there is any profit gain, it is returned in another manner, such as marked down specials." "It irritates me that consumer groups continue to expand upon this theory," Koon added. "The issue is played up far out of proportion, in my opinion."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 19, 1974, edition 1
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