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Vol. 83, No. 17
by Art Eisenstadt
Staff Writer
A proposal to change the definitions of
letter grades was tabled Friday by the UNC
Faculty Council. The proposal will be
brought up again at the council's next
meeting Oct. 17.
The council also postponed action on an
alternative grading proposal which would
add pluses and minuses to final grades.
Time limitations led to postponement of
the grading debate, which was listed as the
next-to-last item of debate on the agenda.
Although the council has a mandatory
adjournment time an hour and 45 minutes
after the meeting is called to order, Friday's
session was extended an extra half-hour at
the urging of Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor.
Provost J. Charles Morrow presented the
recommendations of the Committee on
Instructional Personnel, a standing faculty
committee. Morrow is chairperson qf the
committee.
The Morrow Committee proposal was to
revise the grading scale by redefining each
letter grade. Under the plan, the "A" would
be redefined as indicating "outstanding"
President demands
O'Neal's resignation;
treasurer may refuse
by Art Eisenstadt
Staff Writer
Despite Student Body President Bill
Bates's demand that student treasurer Mike
O'Neal resign, O'Neal has decided against
resignation, a source close to Student
Government said Sunday.
Bates said Sunday he may fire O'Neal if
the treasurer refuses to leave office.
Bates formally demanded O'Neal's
resignation Friday but gave O'Neal until
today to respond. Bates apparently made his
decision to remove O'Neal at approximately
3:30 a.m. Friday following a two-hour
meeting with his top advisers.
The source, who requested that his name
not be revealed, said he had talked with
O'Neal over the weekend, and "he said at
that time he had no interest in resigning, and
that as far as he was concerned, he could not
be fired."
O'Neal would neither confirm nor deny
the source's account Sunday, saying he
would not speak publicly on the matter until
after he talks with Bates this morning.
"I've been discussing it with people all
weekend," O'Neal said, but would not say
whether he has decided one way or the other.
O'Neal told the DTH Friday, "1 haven't
seen anywhere in the (student) constitution
where the president has the power to fire an
official such as the attorney general or the
treasurer."
Bates originally sent O'Neal a letter
suggesting he resign last Thursday, but
rescinded it later in the day.
Bates said Sunday he wants to receive
O'Neal's decision formally before
commenting. But he added, "I think the
power to appoint entails the power to fire."
Asked if he would take the issue before the
Supreme Court if O'Neal refuses to leave,
Bates replied, "That would be a possibility."
The two letters requesting O'Neal's
resignation have not been made available to
by Dan Fesperman
Staff Writer
The dissolution of the old Media Board
has been temporarily stopped by a Student
Supreme Court restraining order granted to
nine members of that board.
The nine members sought the order to
oppose new Media Board bylaws written last
Tuesday by board chairperson Dick Pope
and approved that day by the Campus
Governing Council.
The new bylaws had dissolved the old
Media Board and authorized Pope and
George Bacso, treasurer of the old Media
Board, to act as an interim board until a new
board is established.
CGC approved the new bylaws because,
according to Pope, no complete and verified
copies of the old bylaws could be found. But
Bill Moss, a member of the old Media Board,
said he and several other people have
complete copies of the old bylaws.
Pope said yesterday he did finally find a
complete copy but not a verified one.
He said Sunday he proposed new bylaws
because the Media Board and all
work instead of "excellent."
Subsequent grades would also be
upvalued, with "B" changed from "good" to
"superior," "C" from "fair" to "good," and
"D" from "passed" to "fair."
According to the committee's report, the
scheme would help combat grade inflation
a trend in which the percentage of high
grades issued has increased over recent
years.
History Professor James R. Leutze
introduced a counter proposal, which would
have allowed plus and minus grades to be
given on final grade transcripts.
The Leutze plan was originally proposed
to the Morrow committee as a possible
solution to grade inflation. But Morrow
sought to discuss the idea separate from the
grade inflation debate.
"The committee did not meet to discuss
the recommendation of changing the
grading scale by adding plus and minus
grades, and the committee recommended
against that," Morrow said.
He said the committee believed the plus
and minus grades would aggravate grade
inflation by tempting professors to give a
minus when they previously would have
the press, but Bates and members of his staff
have said the resignation would be in the best
interests bf-the student body. '
Since being sworn in as treasurer last
April, O'Neal has frozen the funds of eight
organizations for alleged treasury law
violations.
O'Neal's critics have said the treasurer's
actions were too severe for the alleged
violations, some of which occurred over a
year ago. Complaints have also been heard
that O'Neal did not warn either the groups
involved or Student Government officials
before he froze the funds.
O'Neal said last Thursday, "I won't help
any man break the law, whether he's my
president or whatever. If they want me to
resign because I'm upholding the law, that
speaks for that."
Billy Richardson, former executive
assistant to Bates, resigned last week, saying
O'Neal's actions overshadowed all other
activities of Bates's administration.
Bates tried to overrule O'Neal last week by
ordering most of the Black Student
Movement funds released. O'Neal had
frozen the BSM money last July after
discovering alleged treasury law violations
by the Gospel Choir, an affiliate of BSM.
The Campus Governing Council then
upheld the fund freeze.
Following Bates's announcement
Wednesday directing the funds' release, the
CGC Finance Committee endorsed his
action. However, O'Neal refused to approve
the release. Thursday, O'Neal and Finance
Committee Chairperson Bill Strickland
refroze the funds.
Treasury laws provide that the president
can direct the actions of the treasurer,
subject to the approval of CGC.
Only CGC can order him to release the
funds, and only CGC can remove him from
office by impeachment, O'Neal said last
week.
The DTH source said O'Neal "didn't feel
CGC has the votes to remove him."
publications under its financial control have
technically been operating on illegal funds
since May 16, the beginning of the fiscal
year. These operations were illegal, he said,
because the old bylaws were unverified.
Pope said he did not realize the bylaws
were unverified until Friday, Sept. 12, four
days before he wrote the new bylaws.
Several of the board members who sought
the restraining order said they believe Pope
has overstepped his authority by writing the
bylaws without consulting any members of
the old board during the four-day interval.
"It's unbelievable the things he's been
doing," Moss said. "He's apparently trying
to run a one man show."
Rob Price, another of those who sought
the court order, said, "Dick Pope has tried to
run the Media Board on his own, and we will
not stand for it.".
But Pope said he had contacted one
member of the old board, Student Body
Treasurer Mike O'Neal. He said he also
attempted unsuccessfully to contact Bacso.
Pope said he failed to contact everyone on
the old board because it was a weekend and
he was too busy with his duties as a CGC
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Chapel Hill , North Carolina, Mcndsy, Ccptcmbsr 22, 1975
given the next grade lower.
Leutze introduced a motion to have his
plan reconsidered, saying,"! believe that this
is a more accurate and more fair system to
the students."
He said by allowing more accurate
grading, the plan would help solve grade
inflation, although he added that the plan's
effects cannot be determined unless the plan
is implemented.
About 150 students attended the meeting,
but many of them had left by the time
Student Body President Bill Bates addressed
the council.
Bates criticized the Morrow committee
plan, saying it would place UNC students at
a competitive disadvantage with students
from other universities when they apply for
graduate and professional schools and jobs.
He also urged postponement of the
discussion, saying a new Committee on
Educational Policy (which had been created
that day by the faculty) should discuss the
proposal.
"The Committee on Educational Policy
would be a perfect place to deal with this,"
Bates said. "We'd hate to see a complex
problem like grade inflation solved in five
minutes."
Faculty Chairperson George V. Taylor
endorsed the Leutze proposal, but also urged
postponement of the discussion so that
"everybody can put their heads together and
come up with the best solution possible."
Both Bates and Lisa Bradley, chairperson
of the student Academic Affairs Committee,
have recommended a third proposal. The
plan, now used in the law school, would
allow plus grades, but not minus grades.
In other action, the council approved a set
of recommendations from an ad hoc
committee establishing a women's studies
program.
"Something should be done to encourage
further development of women's studies, and
something shall be done soon," said Richard
L. Simpson, chairperson of the sociology
department and the ad hoc committees
The committee did not propose any
specific curriculum, but limited its
recommendation . to general guidelines.
Simpson said details of the program could
best be worked out after the Chancellor
appoints a program director.
Simpson also urged the program be
reviewed after five years to determine
whether women's studies have developed
into a legitimate discipline or a passing fad.
Two ways of keeping cool during
Stories on pages 4 and 5.
member during the Black Student
Movement controversy.
Several members of the old board said
they also opposed the voting provisions in
the new bylaws. The provisions make the
board too political, they said.
The new bylaws designate as non-voting
members: the board's secretary, the Student
Activities Fund Office director, a faculty
member from the business school, a faculty
member from the journalism school and
representatives from the Daily Tar Heel, the
Yackety Yack, the Carolina Quarterly, the
Cellar Door and WCAR radio. By the old
bylaws they were all voting members.
"He (Pope) just decimated the old
bylaws," Moss said. "Under the new bylaws
the Media Board is almost totally political."
Pope said he changed the voting
provisions because the CGC Administration
Committee had told him that such a revision
would be necessary before the bylaws would
be passed.
Pope said, legally, the funds of the Media
Board should be frozen, since they are
technically illegal.
This would also freeze the funds of the
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Students look on as Student Body President Bill Bates (right)
confers with Henry C. Boren, secretary of the faculty (left),
Solicitation policy, dorm sign-up
among issues that confront RHA
by Bob King
Staff Writer
Revising residence hall solicitation policy
and improving dorm sign-up procedures are
two of a number of issues that face the the
Residence Hall Association (RHA) this
year, according to RHA co-president Jay
Levin.
Levin said RHA will reassess its dorm
solicitation policy in response to the
difficulty recently encountered by the Daily
Tar Heel in1 distributing -a section of its
Orientation issue door-to-door in some
dorms.
Housing now requires a permit for any
door-to-door solicitation, but Levin said he
thinks students should not be strictly denied
the opportunity to distribute information to
other students.
RHA will also work with Housing to
devise a better dorm sign-up procedure,
Levin said. Last spring, dorm residents had
c S f '-.Of
SUfl photo by ChartM Hardy
the UNC-Maryland game Saturday.
Daily Tar Heel, the Yackety Yack, the
Carolina Quarterly, the Cellar Door and
WCAR because their funds are controlled by
the Media Board. "Under the laws of the
CGC and to protect the power of the COC,
they should freeze the funds," he said.
He said a member of the tuts
Administration Committee told him the
funds would not be frozen, and Pope said he
feels that this is because of the recent
controversy involving the funds of the Daily
Tar Heel. . . . .
He said he could not give his opinion on
freezing Media Board funds because of a
conflict of personal interests.
Student Supreme Court Chief Justice,
Darrell Hancock, said that the restraining
order prevents the old Media Board from
being dissolved. However, the order does not
return the old board to power.
He said that if the Media Board had to rule
on something today, there must be an
agreement between the old and new boards
on how they would operate.
The court will hear the board members
rase at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to determine the
"gal composition of the Media Board.
I
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and Chancellor
to pay a non-refundable $50 room deposit
fee and often had to wait in line overnight to
reserve their spaces.
Levin, who presides over RHA with Lars
Nance, cited five other areas of concern for
this year's RHA: solicitation policy, the
sign-up process, dorm improvements,
dormitory social fees, orientation funding,
overcrowding and residence hall treasury
laws.
Because of HEW's Title IX, the housing
department may be forced to convert some
. high-quality women's halls into, men's halls
and some lower-quality men's halls into
women's. RHA will study which dormitories
could most easily be converted.
A campus-wide referendum to decide
whether residents should raise their
dormitory social fee by $1 will be held on
Oct. 8, and RHA will conduct a publicity
drive urging students to voice opinions on
this issue.
Also, RHA will attempt to promote a
P
I
by Jim Roberts
News Editor
Rezoning orders which would prohibit the
construction of new fraternity and sorority
houses in the area surrounding Rosemary
and Hillsborough streets will be brought for
a public hearing before the Chapel Hill
Board of Aldermen Monday night.
If approved, the zoning amendments
would also prohibit the expansion of the two
existing sororities and one fraternity in the
area.
The two areas are now zoned for family
homes, fraternities and sororities. The
rezoning order would allow family dwellings
only.
One zoning amendment covers the area
north and south of East Rosemary Street
and east of Hillsborough Street. Included in
this area is the Delta Upsilon fraternity
house, the subject of a recent controversy
concerning a proposed addition to the
house, and the Alpha Delta Pi sorority
house.
The second rezoning order concerns the
area north of East Rosemary Street between
Spring Lane and Hillsborough Street. The
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house is located
there.
Because petitions protesting the rezoning
were signed by residents of the concerned
area, three-fourths of the aldermen must
approve the rezoning orders. Zoning
Administrator Art Berger said Thursday.
State law requires a three-fourths vote if
20 per cent of the residents in the affected
area sign the protest petition.
Berger said 94 per cent of the residents of
the tract east of Hillsborough Street signed a
protest petition, while 84 per cent of the
residents living in the area between
Hillsborough Street and Spring Lane signed
a similar petition.
The zoning amendments were originally
recommended by the Planning Board on
June 3 of this year. The Planning Board's
reasoning was, "Unless the area is rezoned, it
will open the door to other fraternities,"
Berger said.
Alderman Alice Welsh said the Board of
Aldermen should consider the historical
significance of the Rosemary Street area.
Veathcr. cloudy
SUff photos by ChaHe Hardy
Taylor.
campus referendum on whether the cost of
freshman orientation should be borne by all
students or just by incoming freshmen.
Currently, a portion of each student's fees
goes to the Orientation Commission for its
work.
Levin expressed interest in solving the
overcrowding problem. At the beginning of
this semester, 70 rooms were overcrowded as
compared with 60 last year and 583 in the fall
of 1973.
Levin also said some outdated laws
affecting treasury procedures for dorms may
have to be rewritten under the auspices of the
student body treasurer.
In its first meeting last Thursday, RHA
representatives were assigned to look into
each of these problems. In addition, RHA
members will investigate difficulty recently
encountered in obtaining dorm
enhancement funds from the housing
department and a new policy which restricts
students from selling their room contracts.
She suggested the town rezone the areas
surrounding the existing fraternities and
sororities but not the property where the
fraternities and sororities are located.
"1 don't think that (the proposed changes)
would be in the best interests of the sororities
and fraternities" she said. The existing
houses should be protected; she added.
Alderman Gerry Cohen would take no
position on the rezoning prior to Monday's
public hearing. "1 haven't yet seen a need for
the change," he said. "But that area has a lot
of fraternities and sororities already. When
you talk about zoning you have to look in
terms of the whole town."
In addition to prohibiting expansion of
the existing houses, the rezoning would
prohibit rebuilding a fraternity or sorority
house, if the house is damaged in excess of 60
per cent of its assessed value.
Delta Upsilon representative Alan Pugh
said it is unfair to prohibit the reconstruction
of damaged houses, because some of the
organizations have made large investments
in house renovations.
Delta Upsilon was granted a special use
permit last Monday to build an $180,000
addition to its Rosemary Street house.
Berger said the proposed zoning changes
would not affect the DU addition.
Fraternities and sororities in the area of
Franklin, Rosemary and Hillsborough
streets are important to students because the
houses give students an alternative to living
in dormitories and apartments, Pugh said.
Neighbors of the Delta Upsilon fraternity
opposed the fraternity's special use permit,
because they said the originally planned
addition would increase the noise coming
from the house. However, Welsh said noise
is not the major issue in the rezoning
question.
The neighbors are concerned with the
proliferation of fraternities and sororities
there, she said. "The town just needs to
determine how the neighborhood will go in
the future."
Following the public hearing scheduled
for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the basement of the
Municipal Building, the ordinances will be
sent to the Planning Board and then to the
Board of Aldermen to approval.
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