Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 3, 1975, edition 1 / Page 6
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Thomas Clifford El n JFK JO (hi Friday, October 3, 1975 Rfehnenir Getting 'straight' on Besse's recal If the fall semester is any indication, this academic year may well be the year of the recall for Carolina political officials. Student Body President Bill Bates faced the first recall drive when students in disagreement with Student Government's handling of the Daily Tar Heel's allocation called for Bates's departure from office. That drive, well on its way to obtaining the needed 3,000 signatures, ended when Bates and treasurer Mike O'Neal jointly announced the release of the remaining DTH student fees for the fall semester. Even though this first recall petition was begun in support of the Tar Heel, this newspaper editorially opposed the move because of its extreme nature and the damage it would inflict on progress in student affairs. We are equally adamant in opposition to the newest recall effort, directed at Campus Governing Council Speaker Dan Besse. Dissidents in Besse's district, Morehead Residence College, have expressed dissatisfaction in the handling of various matters by Besse. Chief among their concerns, however, is that Besse voted for an appropriation to the Carolina Gay Association in the spring budget sessions of the CGC. The degree of antipathy toward the Carolina Gay Association that exists on this campus is amazing and disheartening. The University, the last bastion of free individuals, free thinkers, and free lifestyles, ought to foster and protect individual liberty and choice. Members of the University community ought to tolerate individuals of different lifestyles just as they are tolerated in their lifestyles. Homosexuality is a reality that Cole C. Campbell Editor' Satly Star 83rd Year of Editorial Freedom Carolina Gay Association Homophobes persecute Besse Last Monday night, CGC Speaker Dan Besse met with some of his constituents (DTH, 10175) and the funding of the Carolina Gay Association was a major topic of discussion. The CGA wishes to respond to those who have criticized Rep. Besse's decision to vote for CGA funding. To draw an analogy to another, campus organization, the BSM, it is quite apparent that some (but by no means all) of the hostility towards the BSM is motivated by pure, unadulterated racism. Similarly, and unfortunately, student opinion regarding CGA is all too often jaunticed; by that dreaded mental illness,j homophobia. Like racism, homophobia stems from fear and ignorance rather; than truth and rationality. Neither malady should be tolerated by anyone, who purports to be here for anj education. It would be interesting to know how many of Dan Besse's constituents have ever been to a CGA meeting or social event, read any of our literature, or heard any of our speakers. How many have even bothered to formulate your opinions about lesbians and gay men from fact and reason rather than -myth and prejudice? CGA publicity has cannot be ignored, suppressed, or reduced by the dominant straight society. Nor should it be. Fears that homosexuality can lead to destruction of society are groundless. How can love, whether for man or woman by man or woman, undermine civilization? The threat of hate, expressed in war, riots, and interpersonal violence, is clearly the potent destroyer of society. The species will continue despite the increasing visibility of homosexual society. There are plenty of machos to rooster for the human race and ensure a surplus of replacements, in addition to plenty of straight couples who choose to have children as part of their particular lifestyles. And distaste for a particular lifestyle is not justification for suppressing it. Carolina has such a variety of lifestyles practiced by its people that disagreement over desirable alternatives is inevitable. Hating a group because of distaste for that group is the real threat to the human condition. The Carolina Gay Association has performed and is performing useful services for both the gay and the straight communities of Chapel Hill. Counseling, informational and educational services and supportive efforts are provided by the CGA. One of its major goals is to eliminate prejudice between members of the distinct subcultures. The issue of funding the CGA ought to be a central one in the recall election of Dan Besse. It is clearly the one which has raised the most dissent among his constituents. And to do anything other than to reaffirm Besse's stance in support of CGA funding is to deal a severe blow to individual liberty and choice in Chapel H ill. Jim Grimsley Managing Editor )' Greg Porter ! Associate Editor - Ralph J. Irace , Executive Editor Jim Roberts News Editor Robin Clark Features Editor Susan ; Shackelford Sports Editor Barnie Day Projects Editor Joyce Fitzpatrick Graphic Arts always emphasised that all students are welcome at our events. The opportunities to discover the realities about gay people have never been lacking. Have you ever taken any of these opportunities? Should CGA receive student funds? Those who answer negatively seem to forget that gay students pay fees just like everyone else and are therefore entitled to a piece of the pie. Incidentally, this year's CGA allocation of $675 is a whopping 0.21 of the total CGC budget of $320,000. If anything, this is a great injustice considering the number of gays on campus. Is there a need for CGA? Ironically, the answer to this is so resoundingly, provided by those who would deny our very existence. As long as homophobic bigots spew forth their diatribe, it is necessary for a countering voice of truth and sanity to prevail. CGA provides the necessary positive reinforcement for gay students while affording straights the means to discover the truths concerning ' a subject that they've always been lied to , about. Things would be very different if more of you homophobes realized that you already know a great many gay people. Your best friend, the jock down Recently, while speaking in Dallas, President Ford said that he considers the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy a "closed book." Contrary to Mr. Ford's assertions though, there has been a massive amount of previously unexplained evidence pertaining to the assassination which needs to be examined and publicly explained. Granted, the President may feel that he needs to ease the growing paranoia concerning the country's economic situation and seemingly everpresent rising crime rate by assuring the public that these problems take national priority, but he should not close the door to an efficient investigation of the C " M-'-fmJ'- I Sacra I '"W-,, V" fS00'.. O-915' ';'f y ) ', '"" I .fuel" . 1e k . V 1 S the tB 0': Vbet l ? ..v U . SPRING v .a CTr " - IT3 23 GPSF deserves financial independence To the editor: Your editorial on the GPSF treasury laws was interesiing, but it missed several essential points. Before one can consider whether or not certain expenditures are reasonable, one must consider the total situation. First, one must realize that graduate departments did not start sponsoring picnics when Student Government money became available. Historically, such organizations have always had a dual roie: social and educational. Receipt of money from CGC (or SL) is of recent origin. The claim that graduate student social life is fundamentally different cannot be so cavalierly dismissed. Very few graduate students live on campus; even Craige cannot be filled with graduate students. And, since none live in fraternities, and few take any courses outside their own departments, one can readily see that a typical graduate student has almost no contact with the rest of the University. In the larger departments, where most students don't even have desks of their own, one would be hard put to view the University as anything other than a collection of classes and libraries. Contrast this with a typical undergraduate's life. Most live in dorms or fraternities; all take many courses in fields the hall, (horror of horrors!) your roommate. One out of every ten of you is one of us. There are 2000 gays on campus and we're all around you. Some of us are married. You think you're able to "spot" us but you're very much mistaken. It would be wrong to characterize all of Dan Besse's constituents by the utterances of a few vociferous bigots. Furthermore, many who profess to be against the CGA do so only under the intimidation of being labeled a "queer." It's heartening to know that some of those apparent homophobes really aren't sickies after all. j The CGA has much to offer for all students. Our events are open to everyone. We maintain a research library for the benefit of those wishing reliable, positive information on homosexuality. We'll gladly send a speaker to your class, club, dorm group, etc., to discuss general or specific aspects of the gay lifestyle. Weli staunchly defend our right to receive CGC funding. Just write to us at! Student Union Box 39 we welcome your inquiries and criticisms. But don't criticize us until you've first taken time to learn the facts. one event that so drastically changed the course of modern American history. One of many persons who have worked at painstaking expense over the past 12 years finding out all the facts about what happened on November 22, 1963 is Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty. This former liaison officer between the Pentagon and the CIA has documented an enormous amount of evidence in the form of actual photographs from the scene of the murder which was not presented before the delegation set up to investigate the assassination, the Warren Commission. These photographs clearly show that the commission was wrong in its outside their major. The majority of extra curricular activities are aimed at undergraduates. All this creates a sense of commonality; a sense that the University is a community, a whole greater than the sum of its constituent parts. You further claim that any organization could justify "social interactions." A glance at the CGC budget shows that most groups, with the possible exceptions of the Black Student Movement and the Carolina Gay Association, would have little reason to sponsor a social event. WCAR, to pick a random example, is supposed to be running a radio station, not giving parties. Graduate departments, as noted previously, have always intended their organizations to be partially social in nature. The need for such interactions is also fundamentally different. A graduate student working on a dissertation must work closely with faculty members. Indeed, there is often little substantive difference between the work of a graduate student and that of a faculty member; theirs is more a colleague relationship. The same does not obtain for most undergraduates. It might be highly desirable, but, by the nature of our educational system, it is not necessary. Last, you call for new legislation to curb "irresponsible" spending, to halt the "devouring" of the common treasury. The way the laws are worded now, we are restricted in how we can spend even our own money money collected in dues from graduate students. In fact, if the departmental organization should try to organize a picnic, it could not collect contributions; doing so would be raising revenue, and all revenue, from any source, falls under the treasury laws. Besides, CGC does not subsidize GPSF; rather, it is the other way around. A third of the students here are graduate students; all of them pay fees into the common treasury. Other than the GPSF allocation $3 per student this year, a 30 per cent cutback most graduate students receive nothing for their money but the DTH. And as for why the speech division was able to hold two social events without GPSF money, perhaps one ought take note, of the fact that until the treasury laws were ratified by CGC, no such money was available. The Computer Science Department was forced to cancel its traditional fall picnic, because we could not get any money to supplement the contributions people customarily make. I would suggest that a more equitable solution would be to let GPSF directly 'allocate all graduate student fees,. entirely independent of CGC. Such a course might entail removing graduate representation on CGCs financial considerations; this would probably be a small cost to pay for autonomy. Steven M. Bellovin President, UNC Student Chapter Association for Computing Machinery Department of. Computer Science Recognition for fencing champions To the editor Does Susan Shackelford realize that' assertion that the murder was ; committed by a lone assassin. Prouty's evidence shows that there was not one assassin involved, but rather three each working in conjunction with the other to assure maximum efficiency in their mission. Can this be interpreted, even by Mr. Ford, who interestingly enough was a member of the Warren Commission, as insufficient cause for re-opening the case? Mr. Ford may figure that too much time has passed since the assassination or that too many witnesses have died or disappeared to sufficiently explain certain rather obvious discrepancies in Carolina has a nationally ranked fencing team? Evidently not, if the sports page of the Tar Heel is any indication. Well, we do indeed exist and have been holding formal practices for over three weeks. In fact, our first tournament is next week. I can almost understand why other teams whose seasons begin before ours have already been mentioned. I also accept the fact that some have had two or three articles printed while we have remained in obscurity. I draw the line, however, at the printing of a feature which seems to be about the lack of excitement in a professional sport, namely baseball. I thought that the Tar Heel was supposed to focus on campus affairs. It seems to me that a team that has remained the ACC fencing champion for as long as the award has been offered (5 years) deserves at least a little recognition and encouragement. Kathi Kronenfeld (member fencing team) 1012 James Fascist pressure on Besse To the editor: The charge that Dan Besse does not represent his district is simply not true. Besse has done one of the better jobs of representing his district in the CGC. Besse has taken much of his time to let students know what is happening in the CGC and where students can reach him for further information. So, what is really going on? Behind the scenes a fascist group of students want Besse replaced badly enough to begin a recall petition which has been associated with verbal falsities about Besse. Needless to say, the apathetic student signs the petition readily. In essence, Besse is being pressured because this group of people cannot manipulate and control him. Hang in there Dan! D. Michael Fox 307 Stacy !M!TTTN AGAIN1 MS0,THERES SOME PRETTY WILD STUFF HERE 1H0U SHALT HM: NOT FREEDOM , mk-v sxteiWK i f the commission's conclusions. He may feel that the American people could get bogged down in the past and not be able to deal with today's problems wholeheartedly. Still another possible reason why he is reluctant to open his eyes to the bare facts is that he may feel a new investigation an affront to his personal integrity, having been a respected member of the commission. The fact is though, that all the evidence accumulated by men like Prouty was either withheld from, or misconstrued by, the commission. How and why, are questions which have a better chance of being answered w hen a new, more thorough investigation is a reality. How, for example, could the commission have concluded that the first bullet fired passed through JFK's body, paused two seconds, made an upward right turn, passed through Governor John Connally, cracked his rib bone, slammed into his wrist and cracked two more bones and then pierced his thigh where it became embedded? All with minimal damage to the bullet itself. , And why wasn't the commission presented with evidence which clearly showed that an oak tree blocked Lee Harvey Oswald's view of JFK when he allegedly fired the first shot? The Warren Commission should have taken it upon itself to investigate why there was no added protection in Dallas when not more than two months earlier police in Miami uncovered a plot to assassinate Kennedy. Why didn't it? A thorough investigation of the evidence documented since 1963 is needed to find out the truth about what JFK fell victim to. We cannot ignorantly close our eyes to the new, enlightening evidence which is our best chance to show us this truth. Thomas Clifford is a senior journalism major from Larchmont, N.Y. The nature of comedy To the editor. I did not find Richard Whittle's piece, "Women's lib, seriousness aside" (Sept. 29), particularly intelligent or humorous, and in having such an opinion 1 probably can be numbered with the majority of your readers. However, I must disagree with the letter writer (Oct. 1) who tells Mr. Whittle that, "Contemporary social injustices . . . are not comic topics." Such a statement, if you will excuse my saying so, smacks of barnyard excrement. It is the very nature of comedy to deal with goofs, errors in judgment, injustice, inequality and incongruities, for the subject of comedy is the common man, and as the common man is imperfect, imperfection is comedy's central topic. Witness the works of Aristophanes, Plautus, Rabelais, Cervantes, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Moliere, Swift, Fielding, Sterne, Clemens, Lenny Bruce, Firesign Theatre, Monty Python, etc., ad nauseam. All dealt, in a comic way, with shortcomings and injustice. The Feminist movement is not, in itself, funny, as long as no human beings are involved in it, but the minute you introduce the human element, you make comedy possible, especially if the combination is incongruous. A Toyota, Niagara Falls and Bella Abzug, taken by themselves, are not particularly funny, but put them together and it may make someone laugh. Of course, the writer has qualified his statement by limiting it to "contemporary social injustices." I would think that humor would be a dear commodity in any age. Mr. Whittle's crime is his inability to be funny, not his subject matter. We may find the piece devoid of humor; we may, with a lack of what some have called generosity, criticize the piece. But, let us not make moronic generalizations about literature. My apologies for this fustian: "If 'tis wrote against any thing, 'tis wrote, an' please your worships, against the spleen!" Harvey Gugghenheim Graduate English - N, if ONE, OFnOAL SICREK ATT PART TrnvN TVJn OF THE PRKSlt!' SECTION Tw
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 3, 1975, edition 1
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