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Vol. 83, Mo. 111
Chapel Hill's Morning Newspaper
Chcpcl Hill, North CcroIIna, Thursday, Fefcrusry 27, 1975
Founded February 23, 1233
n
ffll.y II
Baer-Sugar
charged with
overs
vending
by Jim Roberts
Staff Writer
A leaflet delivered late Tuesday night
to certain dormitories implicitly
charged DTH editorship co-candidates,
Don Baer and Harriet Sugar with
campaign overspending.
The leaflet correctly states that the
spending limit for an editor candidate is
$200. This, according to an elections law
amendment, is to include not only
campaign expenditures by the
candidate, his staff and his associates,
but gifts as well.
At question is a four-page flier
, distributed by Baer and Sugar.
The leaflet attacking their finances,
distributed Tuesday, said the "fair
market value for such a publication
ranges from $250-$300."
Baer and Sugar said they paid $64.48
to Dickson Press in Fayetteville for
,5,000 copies. Student Graphics was paid
$29.12 for. the page lay-outs.
A Daily Tar Heel reporter checked
with the printer, Skip Dickson, Monday
and confirmed that the price given Baer
and Sugar was his "straight business
price.'
A section of the amendment to the
elections law states "If goods or services
are given gratuitously or excessively
below normal costs, the Elections Board
Chairman shall go to at least three firms
that make like prodmets and services and
get estimates. The average cost shall be
deemed the actual cost"
The leaflet, written by Ed Furr,
president of the Dialectic and.
Philanthropic Societies, concludes:
"The DTH editorship should not be for
sale. ' . '
Baer and Sugar said, "We certainly
have not tried to buy the editorship, and
we are well within the spending limit.
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t- 7
I IT
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Two students cast their ballots at the Y-Court during heavy voting in yesterday's campus-wide elections
" - -
Grades rise no past decade
A's, B's easier to come by here
by Bruce Henderson
Staff Writer
Following a nationwide trend, grades of
"A" and B" are easier to come by at UNC
than they were several years ago.
, At UNC, the number of A's given each
year has doubled in the decade fcams42 tb
1972TfeeTween the fall semesterr6fl967nd
1974, the average undergraduate cumulative
QPA rose from 2.388 to 2.693. ; f
A 3.0 QPA is no longer good enough to
make the dean's list at UNC. Beginning last
fall, at least a 3.2 average is needed, based on
a full 15-hour course load.
A national survey of 197 colleges has
shown that grade point averages have risen
an average of .404 percentage points, or
about half a letter grade, from 1960 to 1973.
Depending on whose analysis you
consider, rising grades are a product of
better quality students, rising student
competition, relaxation of grading
standards or changing student attitudes.
"Any conclusions till now have been raw
guesses, with perhaps a kernel of
agreement," Dr. James R. Gaskin, dean of:
the College of Arts and Sciences, said - r;
Gaskin "said honest 'and .realistic
marking" is sorely needed at UNC, but
added that, previous studies and
recommendations have done little to change
grading practices. Young teachers may be
most guilty of lax grading, he said.
"We're bringing teachers from schools
where this is already happening, so instead of
being a settling influence, they're making it
worse," he said. .
The College of Arts and Sciences drew up
a proposal early last fall, he said, to give
Si
jread
U.S
wealth Harris
by Joel Brinkley
Staff Writer
America's intensely concentrated
economic wealth has overwhelmed its
foundering political system. Democratic
presidential hopeful Fred Harris told the'
Chapel Hill chapter of the N.C. Civil
Liberties Union (NCCLU) Wednesday
night. ,
The former Oklahoma Senator told an
enthusiastic audience of over 200 that
economic inequities are responsible for most
of the political and social ills facing the
nation today.
Harris, the first 1976 presidential
candidate to visit Chapel Hill, was the main
speaker at NCCLU's annual meeting held at
the Community Church on Purefoy Road. :
"Jefferson's idea of a democracy was not
just political participation by all the
citizens," Harris said, "but economic
participation as well." Much of the nation's
money is concentrated in huge corporate
holdings, he said.
"Who put up all' the money that Nixon's
men were carrying around in gorcery bags?"
Harris asked. "They had so much cash that
they had to put some hundred-dollar bills
through the shredder to keep anyone from
seeing the serial numbers. "Some of
America's finest corporations put up that
money. Corporations like American
Airlines, Gulf Oil .and Phillips Petroleum.
They gave the money so they could continue
to receive privileges from the government in
the form of beneficial tax laws and anti-trust
laws that aren't enforced.
"Lawrence Rockefeller, who gave a large
sum of money to Nixon's campaign, said he
called up the President right after the '72
election, got him on the phone and asked
him' not to enforce the anti-trust laws against
his company, Eastern Airlines. And the laws
weren't enforced. Yet Rockefeller said there
was no connection between that and his
contribution to the campaign. Most of us
couldn't even have gotten Nixon on the
phone."
Harris, 44, was an Oklahoma state
Senator for eight years, chairman of the
Democratic National Committee for two
years and U.S. Senator from 1964 to 1972.
He served as vice-chairman of the Kerner
Commission, which studied (the causes of
riots in U.S. cities.
He said he and former New York Mayor
John Lindsay toured the cities studied by the
Commission three years after the
Commission issued its report and found the;
Former Sen. Fred Harris.
cities to be "three years worse." He cited a
column by New York Times columnist Tom
Wicker that described the plight of some
Washington D.C. inner-city residents.
"Fifty per cent of the residents of a 14
square-block area of Washington are using
heroin," Harris said. "Children living there
have absolutely no chance to receive a decent
education. These people are trapped almost
as surely as if they were in jail."
Harris thinks increased citizen
participation in social processes can help
break up the nation's financial inequities.
"Tenants . should control housing," he
said, "and patients should control health
care." Further, Harris said, "having a job
should be a personal enforceable civil right.
This is more in line with what Jefferson
meant by citizens' participatory rights."
' Harris believes citizens should have a
larger voice in the formulation of American
foreign policy which is now controlled by
"an elite political grdup," headed by
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
"it was tremendously irresponsible of
Kissinger to suggest that we might go to war
with the Middle East over oil," he said. "It
would make more sense to go to war with
Canada. They cut off our oil too, and if we
went to war with them our supply lines
would be closer.
"Besides, if we land the Marines in the
Middle East, they are going to run into a lot
of our own sophisticated military hardware
that we sold to the Arabs."
exceptional students a written "mark of
distinction" on their transcript. This would
indicate work above the "A" average.
Faculty members rejected the idea,
however, and the debate has tentatively
ended.
One faculty member who disagreed with
Gaskin'sJdea was. PrWilliam. W. Smith,
director of undergraduate studies for the
math department.
"I think the idea of a higher grade is an
absurd idea," he said. "It would j ust continue
the higher grading scale. We don't like the
idea of a mark of distinction, either. It is just
half a new grade, in a way."
. Smith agreed with Gaskin that the
U niversity needs to "restore the true value of
the grades." Grade inflation has been
officially discussed in the math department,
he said, but no conclusions have been
reached.
"Some of my colleagues have rejected the
grading scale completely," he said, "giving
nothing but A's, and I guess that is their
perogative. It's unfortunate we just can't
stick with (the original) grades."
" Richard G. Cashwell, director of
undergraduate admissions, attributed the
grading surge to the influx of women
students and to upgraded admissions
standards.
"There are a lot more women now," he
said, "and they are generally more
conscientious than men that's certainly a
factor. The competition for admission has
changed quite a lot, too; students here are
probably better than in past years."
Dr. Lillian Lehman, University registrar,
agreed that the quality of Carolina students
now is higher, and said student attitudes are
. playing a part in the higher averages.
"I would say we are picking the top of the
high school class about the upper 15 per
cent," she said.
"Attitude is important," Lehman said.
"Students seem to have settled down some
since the '60s," with its student activism.
Art Professor John M. Schnorrenberg,
who has taught here since 1959, disagreed
that grades are being handed out too freely.
"Students are better than they used to be,"
he said, "that's why grades are higher. They
are better trained in writing; on the whole,
they work harder."
Ellis, Campbell likely
candidates in runoffs
by Art Eisenstadt
and Jim Roberts
Staff Writers
Voters came to the polls Wednesday in
Nurprisingly high numbers for campus-wide
student elections.
With about half the precincts reported.
Bill Bates led the presidential race with
Jamie Ellis and Tim Dugan running a close
battle for second position for a runoff
expected for early next week.
Co-candidates Don Baer and Harriet
Sugar were pulling into a firm lead in the
race for the Daily Tar Heel editorship.
Neither of the front runners were close to
winning the 50 per cent majority necessary to
be elected on the first ballot, however.
At press time, ballots in the other campus
races, including the . Residence Hall
Association, Carolina Athletic Association,
Association of Women Students, Graduate
and Professional Students Association,
Campus Governing Council and
Undergraduate Court were just beginning to
be counted in some precincts.
About half of the 19 ballot boxes had not
been unlocked.
With 10 of the 19 polls reported, Bates led
with 1156 votes. Ellis followed with 826
votes. Bates' votes came largely from
Granville and Scott Residence College.
Following were Tim Dugan with 787
votes, Joe Knight with 684, Jerry Askew
with 383, Lance Woodring with 193, Keith
Edwards with 134 and Ray Stanford with 38.
Bates also controlled the votes in
Morrison while Ellis took the Union and the
Y-Court. Knight
James Dorm.
campaign spending violations by certain
candidates.
In the only completed Campus Governing
Council race, the co-candidates George
Bacso and Brad Lamb led Mike Dixon with
vote totals of 318 to 204.
In the race for chairman of the
Association of Women Students, Deborah
"Cricket" Ussery collected 333 votes from
three districts. She ran uncontested.
The two proposed referenda concerning
dorm social fees were invalidated by the
Elections Board when it was discovered
ballots were given to voters in off-campus
districts. Only on-campus residents should
have voted on the referenda as they pertain
only to dorm residents.
In the race for Carolina Athletic
Association chairman, Rob Friedman led
Marshall Reid, 271-94, with only 2 of 19
precincts reporting.
Lars Nance and Jay Levin, running
unopposed for RHA co-chairpersons,
accumulated 147 votes in two precincts.
Early indications show a heavy write-in vote
for the position, for a number of candidates,
but the total was no serious threat to Nance
and Levin.
Election Board members and poll tenders
reported turnouts exceeding 50 per cent in
many on-campus and off-campus precincts.
Some districts, such as the James dormitory,
reportedly had better than a 60 per cent
turnout.
In the Union precinct, where off-campus
and graduate students could vote, there were
frequent lines in front of the poll during the
day.
. Election Board members forecasted a
wonhe-jno&Cvotesrin itotal turnout ranging between 25 and 50 per
cent for the entire campus.
Faculty award
ballots available
Applications are still available at the
Union and other campus locations for
students and faculty to nominate full
time faculty members for eight awards
recognizing excellence in undergraduate
teaching.
Voting for the Tanner. AMOCO aand
Salgo has been slow. Prof. Joel Schwartz,
a member of the Student-Faculty
Committee on Distinguished Teaching
Awards, said only about 1 50 applications
are coming in per week, as compared to,
250 last year.
The last applications can be submitted
is March 3.
With nine of 19 precincts reporting, Baer
and Sugar were leading the editors race with
1,293 votes.
Following Baer and Sugar, in order of
vote totals, were Cole C. Campbell with 939,
Elliott Warnock with 785, Tom Wright with
449 and Barnie Day with 172.
Baer and Sugar won all but one of the nine
precincts reporting.
fn the Granville Towers district, the co
candidates received 374 votes, compared to
1 3 1 for Warnock and 1 29 for Campbell, their
next leading challengers.
Only in the Y-Court precinct, which
includes voters from Old East, Old West and
Carr dormitories and off-campus voters, did
Baer and Sugar trail, with 1 7 1 votes behind
Campbell's 176.
At press time the status of the entire
editorial race was in doubt due to alleged
Housing department silent
on controversial issues
As of Wednesday, administrative decisions regarding controversial housing policies still
had not been made public, although there is evidence the Housing Department and
University Planning Department have completed deliberation on the matters.
The decisions concern consolidation of single rooms in James and Morrison and the
housing of international and handicapped students in Ruffin Dormitory next year.
Dr. James D. Condie, director of University Housing, spoke briefly about the Ruffin
proposal at a housing gripe session Feb. 18, indicating then that no final decision had been
reached.
However, Linda Yates, a member of the Carolina Association of Handicapped Students,
said last week that she had been contacted by a representative of the University Planning
Department who told her renovations were scheduled to begin this summer in the first floors
of Ruffin and Grimes to provide easier access for handicapped students.
. Charlie Miller, director of North Campus men's residences, said Wednesday afternoon the
Housing Department "hopes to wrap things up by next Monday, March 3."
Both Condie and Dean of Student Affairs Donald Boulton are out of town until Monday.
Since Monday, Boulton's secretary, Elizabeth M. Eagles, has told the Daily Tar Heel there
was no comment from the Student Affairs office on the housing controversies.
State
5RA--forces still pwisM
ratifficatioe
by Sandra Millers
Staff Writer
They're at it again.
North Carolina supporters of the Equal Rights
Amendment are gearing up for a second try at
ratification of the controversial, one-sentence
proposed addition to the Constitution.
It reads simply, "Equality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
by any state on account of sex."
Commonly referred to as the ERA, that one
sentence,' which has been a focal point of national
legislative debate for over half a century, is now stalled
in committee in the General Assembly awaiting public
hearings scheduled to begin next week.
Bandied about in each session of Congress for 49
years before finally passing both houses, the proposed
27th amendment is now tangled up in the required
process of ratification by two-thirds of the 50 state
legislatures. The latest official tally shows 34 states
down and four more to go before the March 1979 cut
off date.
The Equal Rights Coalition, a recently-formed
statewide association of 13 pro-ERA groups, hopes
North Carolina will be one of the decisive four.
National ERA observers as well are viewing the North
Carolina debate as crucial to final ratification of the
amendment, since it is considered one of only four
where the ERA is expected to pass. Without
ratification from those four states this year, the loss in
momentum could become the coup d'grace for the
ERA. . .
News analysis
So far, however, despite the pro-ERA push from the.
more urban sectors of the state, legislative response in
Raleigh has retained a distinctly provincial flavor.
And undecided representatives, frustrated with
propaganda blitzes from both camps, need look no
further down the road than Morganton to justify an
anti-ERA stance. Retired political titan Sam Ervin
has long expressed the opinion that women's rights are
already constitutionally guaranteed under the "equal
protection" clause of the 14th Amendment.
Grassroots opposition to feminist demands for the
ERA has likewise been unusually keen in North
Carolina, the state which delayed ratification of the
1920 women's suffrage amendment until 1971. Little
wonder that only two years later the North Carolina
General Assembly defeated the ERA by a narrow
margin of 27-23. That tally followed a heated debate
which ended with seven pressured legislators changing
their votes during the final seconds before roll call.
Now under scrutiny in the House Constitutional
Amendments Committee, chaired by ERA opponent
Rep. A. HartwelL Campbell, D-Wilson, the bill is
moving into its seventh shaky week of consideration in
Raleigh and promises to continue its slow pace. The
next events on the agenda are pro and con public
hearings scheduled for March 4 and 1 1, respectively.
Among the information Campbell's committee
must weigh is a catalog prepared by the Legislative
Services Office which lists over 200 state laws that
could be affected by ERA approval. .
Many of these modifications would be simply a
matter of semantics: words such as "female." "wife"
and "woman," for example, would have to go. More
substantial changes would be necessary in the state's
rape statutes, however. .
Meanwhile, state ERA proponents are utilizing the
final weeks before formal floor debate to polish their
strategy of low-key campaigning, a deliberate
departure from what Campbell has termed the "circus
like" atmosphere of the 1973 ERA debate.
Streamlined organization and extensive lobbying
efforts alone may be enough to tilt this session's vote
count in favor of ratification, but results of last fall's
elections will add more fuel to the ERA fire.
November balloting sent three more women to the
General Assembly, bringing the combined total in
both houses to 15. In addition, a number of anti-ERA
legislators didn't return to Raleigh after Christmas
all of which tends to cast a more liberal hue over the
1975 General Assembly.
Without a doubt, the fight for ratification in North
Carolina will be a vigorous one and crucial, not only to
the state, but to the nation. And the final outcome is
still anybody's guess.
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