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Servms the students and the University Community since J 893
Vol. 83, No. 18
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Tuesday, September 23, 1975
Weather: rainy
: Would-be assassin fires
;:;r gun at President Ford
Is
I 5
President Ford ducks for cover behind his limousine after a woman fired a shot at him
in San Francisco. Ford was unhurt in the second assassination attempt on him in 17
days.
SG officials harrassed
by threats, calls, pranks
by Vernon Loeb
Staff Writer
Student Body President Bill . .Bates,.
Student Body Treasurer Mike O'Neal' and
other Student Government officials have
been victims of verbal abuse and automobile
tampering since the beginning of the school
year, the Daily Tar Heel learned last week.
Bates, O'Neal "and Billy Richardson,
former executive assistant to Bates, have had
their car lights turned on killing the car
batteries. Campus Governing Council Rep.
Dick Pope was threatened and called "a
white racist mother-fucker" after a summer
CGC meeting.
Around the same time Richardson's
locked car was somehow opened and his
lights turned on. Bates' Secretary of Internal
Affairs David Smith had the steering'
mechanism of his car loosened, which could
have rendered the car uncontrollable.
Bates said Monday that about two weeks
ago his lights were turned on during the day
when his car was parked in the Union
parking lot. He said he thinks he left his car
unlocked, but added he is not sure.
Because of the recent frequency of such
actions, Bates said the incident was more
than a coincidence. He said he assumes the
incident is related to his political moves but
declined to say who he thinks was
responsible for the incident.
O'Neal said he found that his car lights
had been turned on about three weeks ago,
while his car was in the parking lot across
from the Zoom Zoom restaurant on
Franklin Street.
"1 thought at first that I might have left the
lights on," O'Neal said. "But when the same
thing happened to Bates and Richardson
that's just too coincidental.
"The point is that people are afraid. And
some of those people are the ones supporting
the BSM (Black Student Movement). They
A News Analysis
by Greg Nye
Staff Writer
First of a two-part series
The American Bar Association (ABA), in
a report released last week, said the law
school at predominantly black North
Carolina Central University is dangerously
close to losing its accreditation.
The ABA said it would not withdraw
accreditation provided that the law school
carries out an improvement plan that is
expected to require a doubling of the law
school's budget. The ABA will review the
law school's progress in the spring of 1976.
The report was based on the findings of an
ABA Hearing Council's visit to NCCU July
28. The council cited as problems:
Overcrowding of students into an
inadequate Law facility;
The quality of the law school's
administration and management;
An inadequate law library collection;
The relatively high numbers of graduates
who fail the N.C. bar exam each year;
The law undergraduate qualifications of
students admitted to the school;
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are letting us know that they know where we
are." He declined to comment who he
referred to as "they."
- Smith said Monday that after he noticed a
steering problem in his car about two weeks
ago, he took it to a garage in Fayetteville to
have the wheel alignment checked.
But the mechanic said, the problem was
caused by loose screws in the steering
mechanism, which connects the steering
column to the front axle.
Smith said the mechanic told him that the
screws in the steering mechanism must have
been loosened intentionally. The screws in
the steering mechanism, Smith said he was
told, were designed not to loosen by
themselves.
The mechanic also told Smith he could
have completely lost control of the steering
in his car at any time.
Smith said he does not know who
tampered with his car and added that by
telling the DTH of the incident, he is not
accusing any individual or organization in
particular.
Pope said Monday he received
threatening and obscene phone calls on July
30 and 3 1 after a summer CGC meeting held
on the 29th. He said the caller told him to
"watch where you walk you'll never know
who's behind you."
At that summer CGC meeting, the BSM's
funds were initially frozen. Pope said that at
the meeting he was one of the major
proponent" of the fund freeze.
"The tone of the telephone conversation
was that I was a racist, that 1 didn't give a
damn about blacks and that 1 was out to get
them," Pope said.
Richardson said Monday that his locked
car was also opened and his lights turned on
while his car was parked at James
Dormitory. He said he suspects "students
who were mad about the problems centering
around the Daily Tar Heel at that time."
The high proportion of out-of-state
students enrolled at the school.
Most problems the ABA council found at
the law school stem from increasing
enrollment over the past five years. During
this time, the ABA found there was no
proportionate expansion in teaching
facilities and numbers of instructors.
The result has been an increasingly poor
education for the hundreds of students
enrolled at the law school since the late
1960s.
In 1970 . the percentage of NCCU
graduates who passed the state bar exam was
40.9 per cent. This figure has steadily
declined since then to 17.5 per cent of the
graduating class passing the exam in 1974.
By comparison, 97.7 per cent of the law
school graduates at Chapel Hill passed the
state bar exam in 1974, and 100 per cent of
Duke's graduates passed the exam.
Until 1970 there were no qualifications for
admission to the NCCU law school.
Although some standards for admission
have been initiated since 1970, the ABA
wants an admissions policy which will ensure
that entering students have an ability to cope
with the law school demands.
The ABA also wants an admissions policy
law
by Helen Thomas
UPI White House Reporter
SAN FRANCISCO A woman fired a
pistol shot at President Ford from between
two policemen in a crowd outside the St.
Francis Hotel Monday, but an officer
knocked the gun away, and the President
was unharmed.
It was the second attempt on the
President's life by a woman in California in
17 days.
Officers immediately grabbed a woman
suspect dressed in men's clothing and carried
her away. She was identified as Sarah Jane
Moore, 44, of San Francisco. Police said she
also went by Sarah Jane Albert.
Police said she had been arrested Sunday
and cited for carrying an illegal handgun,
which was confiscated. She also was
questioned by the Secret Service Sunday
night as a potential threat to the President
but was released, police said.
When she was picked up Sunday night,
she was carrying 13 live rounds in her purse,
and police found about 100 bullets in her car.
Moore reportedly had been active in the
"People in Need" program which passed out
the free food ransom shortly after the
kidnaping of newspaper heiress Patricia
Hearst, who later joined her captors and was
arrested last Thursday after a 19-month
search.
Ford was hustled into his presidential
limousine which immediately sped to San
Francisco International Airport where he
departed for Washington.
Lt. Frank Jordan of the San Francisco
Police Department said Moore was within
35 to 40 feet from the President. "She
produced a .38 caliber revolver and fired one
shot in the direction of the President,
fortunately striking no one."
Ronald J. Rieser, a photographer for the
" OaUtUnd Tribune ' said.'THe waved," turned .
around, and looked down Post Street. Then
I heard the shot. The President's head
twisted and his body twisted down."
Policeman John Gleeson said Officer Joe
Curry grabbed the suspect's arm moments
before the trigger was pulled and the bullet
was fired into the pavement.
Ken lacavoni, agent in charge of the San
Francisco Secret Service office, said
authorities recovered a .38 caliber hand gun
from which only one shot had been fired.
The suspect was grabbed as soon as the
shot was fired and dragged across the street
by police and Secret Service agents. The
crowd surged toward her, but was kept away
by officers.
Despite request
by Art Eisenstadt
Staff Writer
Student Body Treasurer Mike O'Neal
remained in office Monday evening, despite
passing a deadline for his resignation
imposed by Student Body President Bill
Bates.
Bates said O'Neal was still treasurer as of
late Monday and would pot confirm reports
that he has chosen a replacement for O'Neal.
O'Neal would not comment on his
apparent decision to challenge Bates
authority to replace him and said, "You'll
have to talk to Bill."
that will cut down on the numbers of out-of-state
students being enrolled at the law
school.
Currently, 29 per cent of the NCCU law
school students are out-of-state residents.
The ABA fears that "the school may become
a refuge for students from other states who
cannot be admitted elsewhere. We believe
the faculty and administrators should
severely limit," or even prohibit, the
admission of non-residents," the ABA
Council report stated.
But overenrollment of both out-of-state
and in-state students without an appropriate
expansion of facilities is the basic concern of
the bar association.
In 1939 the N.C. General Assembly,
following a Supreme Court decision,
established a School of Law at the North
Carolina College for Negroes, as NCCU was
then known.
That law school folded within three weeks
of its opening after apparently enrolling only
one student. The school reopened in 1940
with five students and has operated
continuously since then.
The N.C. Central law school was
accredited by the American Bar Association
in 1950 and has been reevaluated for
im
The gunshot incident took place just 17
days after a woman pointed a gun at point
blank range at the President as 'he walked
across the state capitol park in Sacramento,
85 miles northeast of San Francisco. And
earlier Monday, police had arrested a man
outside the St. Francis Hotel for allegedly
showing a hand-written note threatening the
President's life to hotel employes.
Ford was reported to have been wearing a
bullet-proof vest since the Sacramento
incident.
The shot was fired as Ford stepped from
the hotel where he had just delivered a
speech, to his limousine. Suddenly, just as he
was about to step into his limousine, the shot
rang out.
Secret Service agents shoved Ford into his
limousine and agents waved the crowd away
as the motorcade sped off toward the
airport, 15 miles away.
Within 30 minutes of the time the shot was
fired, Ford was airborne for Washington.
Release of funds recommended
If CGC okays bill, BSM funds are free
by Chris Fuller
Staff Writer
The Campus Governing Council Finance
Committee voted Sunday night to
recommend the release of the Black Student
Movement funds with the exception of the
Gospel Choir allocation.
The recommendation, introduced by
CGC Speaker Dan Besse, supports an
agreement made Wednesday by Student
Body President Bill Bates with the BSM. If
passed by CGC, the bill will release all BSM
funds except the Gospel Choir, allocation
until a Finance Committee investigation is
completed.
The bill, passed 3-2, sets a deadline for the
end of the investigation at Oct. 7.
In addition to releasing BSM funos and
withholding choir funds, Bates' agreement
further provides for the release of checking
account records to a special investigation
committee composed of Sheri Parks, the
only black member of the Finance
Committee, and Harold G. Wallace,
associate dean of student affairs.
A major issue raised by committee
members is that the bill does not allow
individual members to see the records at
their request.
for his resignation
Bates was quoted in another publication
Monday as saying O'Neal has overstepped
his authority in several instances, including
the current Black Student Movement (BSM)
funding controversy.
Meanwhile, six Campus Governing
Council members and the Graduate and
Professional Student Federation (GPSF)
chairperson issued a joint statement in
support of O'Neal Monday. (The text of the
statement is reprinted on today's Perspective
page.)
"Bill is wrong and Mike is right," GPSF
chairperson Gwen Waddell said, when asked
why she signed the statement.
accreditation every seven years.
As a result of increased nationwide
interest in law schools during the 1960s,
enrollment at the NCCU law school began to
surge. Enrollment never exceeded 30
students until 1965, but between 1967 and
1972, enrollment tripled from 83 students to
267.
This increase put enormous strains on the
law school. In 1972 there were only five full
time faculty members, and the student
teacher ratio was 50 to I.
In 1972, North Carolina Central
University became a part of the North
Carolina consolidated system. " Budget
requests have since been made to the
president ofthe university system and sent to
the Board of Governors, which then presents
a final budget to the General Assembly.
The ABA found that budget requests
made by NCCU Chancellor Albert N.
Whiting for the law school have not allowed
for a proportionate expansion of facilities to
meet rising enrollment.
Last year, Whiting made a substantial
increase in his budget request for the law
school, but last year also marked the
expiration of the seven year ABA
accreditation term.
iji
At the sound of a shot, Secret Service agents shove President Ford behind a
limousine at a hotel in San Francisco Monday.
Another weakness of Bates' agreement
brought up by the committee is the question
of expertise on the investigation committee.
A suggestion of adding another person to the
committee or replacing Wallace with
someone having more knowledge of business
and finances was discussed, but no action
was taken.
Finance Committee member John Sawyer
said Bates' agreement was at least a starting
point to resolving the conflict. He said to
refuse the agreement would be a setback in
progress.
" In other action the Finance- Committee
voted on an amendment to student treasury
laws limiting the power of the student body
treasurer and the CGC Finance Committee
chairperson. Before the amendment goes
into effect it must be passed by the CGC.
The amendment, also introduced by
Besse, provides that any funds frozen by the
treasurer or chairperson for treasury law
violations are automatically unfrozen at the
next CGC meeting after a Finance
Committee's formal hearing on the
violations, if the CGC takes no action.
The amendment also says, "The
chairperson of the Finance Committee
and or treasurer of the student body may
under no circumstances renew the freeze for
"Mike is only doing his job. One thing that
interests me about the whole matter is that
Bates said his staff has different views. Now
he only wants one view."
CGC Rep. Dick Pope, who wrote the
staement, said he decided to collect the
signatures after talking with Waddell. "It
wasn't a large scale effort," Pope said.
All three CGC committee chairpersons
Bill Strickland (finance), Ben Steelman
(rules and judiciary) and Dave Rittenhouse
(administration) signed the statement, in
addition to CGC Reps. Zapp Jennings and
Doug Smith.
"If Bill is hoping to end Student
Overenrollment is not the only problem
the ABA found at the law school. The
council report questioned the qualifications
of NCCU Dean of Law DeMarquis
DeJarmon, who determines the faculty
hiring policy and admission standards at the
law school.
The ABA wants to see more faculty
participation in the hiring of additional
instructors and a new set of admissions
standards. The ABA also would like to see a
new dean of law at N.C. Central.
According to the ABA report, DeJarmon,
appointed by Whiting in 1969, is involved
with a private law firm. The ABA forbids
any law dean to profit from private practice.
Although it is not clear whether
DeJarmon is actually on the law firm's
payroll, the ABA wants the controversy
ended with his resignation. DeJarmon will
resign at the end of this academic year.
Tomorrow: The plan for improvement at
,MC Central's School of Law. The politics
qnd policy of both the General Assembly and
'he consolidated University of North
Carolina. Can the law school improve and
remain predominantly black?
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"3" Ctrcrt
1
the same alleged violation or violations."
The proposal amends Article VII Section
6 of the treasury laws which gives the student
body treasurer and Finance Committee
chairperson the power to freeze funds of any
organization they think violates treasury
laws.
The original article also sets no limit on
the number of times the funds can be frozen
and states that the Finance Committee must
hold a formal hearing on treasury law
violations within a week before the CGC
takes the final action.
w Under this provision of. the treasury laws.
Student Body Treasurer Mike O'Neal and
Finance Committee Chairperson Bill
Strickland overrode Bates' decision to
release the BSM funds last week.
Strickland opposed the amendment,
because under it an organization that had
violated the law would automatically have
its funds released if no action was taken by
CGC. O'Neal supported Strickland.
Besse argued that the automatic release of
funds would force the CGC to act. He
stressed that the CGC could refreeze the
funds if the council believes the evidence
warrants it.
The Campus Governing Council will vote
on the proposed amendment at its 7:30 p.m.
meeting today in Craige dormitory.
Government's various crises and reduce
dissent by this measure (firing O'Neal), I
think he is doing the wrong thing," Steelman
said.
The seven who signed the letter would not
resign if O'Neal is forced to leave office,
Steelman said.
Jennings said, "I think he (O'Neal) has
been doing his job. I can't support his being
asked to resign because he disagrees with the
president."
- Other Student Government officials
spoke out against O'Neal.
"If somebody would give me a petition
urging his resignation, I would sign it." CGC
.Speaker Dan Besse said.
Speaker Pro Tern Laura Dickerson said,
"Bill has a perfect right to ask Mike to resign
if he thinks it's a good idea, and I think Bill is
acting within his rights to fire him. I also
think Bill's right, but that's not as important
as the first two reasons."
Lisa Bradley, chairperson of the
Academic Affairs Committee, said, "He
should be removed from office, whether by
resignation, impeachment or whatever. It's
not because he's done anything illegal, but
he's a cause of controversy that's hurting
Student Government."
Bates said he will try to fire O'Neal if the
treasurer will not leave office voluntarily and
said he does not forsee any trouble in doing
so.
O'Neal has said the president does not
have the right to remove a constitutionally
authorized official such as himself. Only
CGC can remove him by impeachment,
O'Neal said.
Student Attorney General Andromeda
Monroe agreed that no constitutional
provision gives Bates the right to fire O'Neal,
but added, "It is my personal opinion that
where there's a power to appoint, there's a
power to fire."
Monroe said she has not yet heard of any
suit being filed in Student Supreme Court
over the matter, but said, "One way out of it
would be for Bill to appoint another
treasurer, have CGC confirm him and let
Mike challenge it if he wants to "