Art Eisenstadt
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Stewart not at fault
As giggles and jokes about the
great Wilmington earthquake
recede, earthquake phenomena
returns to the news as a small
tremor, measuring from 3.7 to 4.0 on
the 10 point Richter scale, struck
eastern Kentucky early Monday
morning.
The small quake had its epicenter
near Harlan, Ky., a small coal town
which has been rocked more in its
history by savage coal wars and
extended miners strikes than by
geophysical actions.
We can only hope that the larger
lessons of UNC Geologist David
Stewart will not be lost in relieved "!
told you soV or wonderings about
how an earthquake could miss
Wilmington and end up two days .
later in Kentucky at half its expected 2
strength. , -
What Dr. Stewart has attempted ,
to do, at some peril to his own
professional standing, is to
demonstrate the risks of seismic
movement in the Wilmington area.
The risks manifest themselves in
ground swelling, tidal gauge and
water pressure data gathered by
governmental agencies and analyzed
by Dr. Stewart and two other
geologists. This data convinced the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
require installation of seismic
monitoring equipment at a nuclear
plant near Wilmington. The psychic
prediction of Clarisa Bernhardt that
an earthquake would strike that area
Saturday was close enough to
generalized information about area
geology that it concerned Dr.
Stewart and the U.S. Geological
Survey. Stewart released the
information to the public. The U. S.
Geological Survey contacted him to
prepare a description of possible
effects and to record certain
information for them should the
quake occur.
The quake did not occur. But rash
generalizations about the stability of
that coastal region or about the lack
of any seismic risk should not be
CM
t Cbe C. Campbell
K Editor
latin
83rd, Year of Editorial Freedom
Sallie Shuping
In pursuit
The nucleus of any university or
educational institution is the pursuit of
knowledge true knowledge; , this
applies to all fields of study, whether
they be the humanities, social sciences,
or natural sciences. Acceptance of this
premise, along with the statement that
the University of North Carolina is
indeed a university, necessitates the
conclusion that the goal of all those
constituting this university is the
attainment and application of real
knowledge. However, a question
remains as to the circumference of our
studies in this pursuit. Are they to stop
at the stone wall on Franklin Street? Or
at the boundaries of the campus bus
routes? Are we to alienate our endeavors
from the issues surrounding us?
Many pedantic scholars may answer
affirmatively to these questions but I
dare say that, given today's integrated
and intricate social structure, we cannot
afford to nullify the actions surrounding
us. But we, as students, do. We, as
pedants, often fail to coordinate our
learned knowledge with the conditions
and situations around us. And these
conditions and situations will
encompass and engulf our talents after
we leave the university unless they are
included in our quest for true
consciousness.
An example of this languor among
the students can be observed with regard
to what many refer to as the women's
justified by the failure of the
predicted earthquake to occur. The
geological data, upon which Dr.
Stewart based his prognosis of a
major earthquake near Wilmington
in the next decade, has not been
refuted or rejected by the inaccuracy
of a psychic's prediction.
Bernhardt has part of the
protection enjoyed by the oracle of
Delphi. That ancient seer always
answered in riddles or ambiguities
so that, no matter what actually
transpired in future days, the oracle
would appear in retrospect to have
been right. Bernhardt has the
ambiguity of a 365 day prediction to
protect her, for her first prediction
was that an earthquake would occur
sometime in 1976, after which she
picked January 17 as a likely date.
Even that date was predicted with a
three day before-or-after cushion.
The third day after is today.
But Bernhardt is gone, and she
will not bear the brunt of critical
comment. However, Dr. Stewart
remains in the Tar Heel state, in an
academic department in which
seventeen associates repudiated the
psychic's claim in such a way as to
distance themselves from their
colleague. We must remember that
at no point did Dr. Stewart endorse
the Bernhardt prediction as accurate
or probable; he only labelled it as
significant in that it coincided with
more generalized scientific data and
that Bernhardt had some kind of
success (still disputed) in previous
predictions. Dr. Stewart felt that
under these circumstances, the
people of Wilmington should be
given the available information and
decide for themselves what they
should do, if anything. Because the
prediction was discussed at length
among scientists and in the media,
individuals assessed the risks, made
orderly decisions and no one was
hurt.
For his democratic sensitivities,
Dr. Stewart is to be commended.
Jim Grimsley
Managing Editor
Greg Porter
Associate Editor
Art Eisenstadt
News Editor
George Bacso
Features Editor
Susan Shackelford
Sports Editor
Jim Roberts
Public Affairs Editor
Joyce Fitzpatrick
Graphic Arts Editor
of truth, knowledge
movement. Presently, in Chapel Hill, an
effort is underway to establish a
commission on the status of women in
Orange County; although the
University's Association for Women
Students is fulfilling a vital part in this
study (along with other local women's
organizations) the number of students
actually participating in learning
exactly what the needs and roles of
women are in the area is very small. But
although the percentage of students
participating is low, the most
devastating aspect of this negligence are
the potential resources left inert due to
their unwillingness to place themselves
outside of immediate academia.
This lack of involvement in area
affairs is in itself antithetical to the
principles of each conscientious student;
they are alienating themselves from
perceptions and awarenesses which will
undoubtedly play a formidable role in
their futures both educationally and
personally. It is not only through the
women's issue that this societal
disregard can be observed; it can also be
noted in areas such as politics, social
services, ecological concerns and senior
citizen's programs. However, the
example given is one of the most evident
and potent issues surrounding the
university and society today. Therefore
it was chosen to exemplify the question
of whether we students . are indeed
students, or rather merely persons
Those local experts who predicted
that the new Chapel Hill Board of
Aldermen would be among the most
intelligent, hard-working and
controversial in the town's history are
turning out to be correct.
The board's decision last week to
replace Chapel Hill's three appointees
on the Orange Water and Sewer
Authority with themselves raises
some questions as to how much the
aldermen are concerned with the town's
welfare in relation to their own power.
Mayor Jimmy Wallace, who, along
with Carrboro Mayor Ruth West and
Orange County Commissioners
Chairperson Flo Garrett, first suggested
the move Jan. 5, has said that having
elected officials on the authority rather
than appointed ones would make it
more responsive to the public.
Perhaps using the literal sense of the
word "responsive." But for practical
purposes, the shuffle will not make the
authority any more responsive than it
was before the move.
The previous members of the
authority James Lamb, Sid Rancer
and John McKey were appointed by
and responsible to the Board of
Aldermen. They served on a public
body, one that is required to conduct its
business in public under North Carolina
law. According to the authority's
charter, three members apiece could be
removed at any time, for any reason, by
the governing boards of Chapel Hill,
Carrboro or Orange County.
Thus, the aldermen's action ' was
certainly not illegal and technically not
improper.
But the move raises two disturbing
questions.
Fresh water and wastewater
treatment and planning is a major issue
today in growing communities such as
Chapel Hill. A variety of factors
supply and source, chemical treatment,
To the editor.
Drop-add aggravates everyone. So at the
risk of absurdity I will nonetheless venture
the following proposal. Who knows?
Student government might even leave off
lawsuits and cannibalistic dirt-dealing
among its officers for a day or two and
mount a monster petition campaign to get
things fixed up at Hanes Hall. (You can see I
am a Utopian all through.)
(1) Class cards will not be given out at
registration. They will be distributed not
earlier than the third or even the fourth
actual class meeting, by the instructor, in the
class itself. Pre-registered students will have
first priority if demands for places exceeds
the supply; students on the waiting list (see
below) next, in order of their priority; and
thereafter cards will be distributed on any
basis the instructor finds appropriate or
justifiable for example, to graduating
seniors, non-majors, students with certain
other courses currently or behind them,
majors, persons taller than six feet,,
flirtatious young women, whatever. Drop
addwould cease to exist.
(2) Pre-registration will exist solely to
produce complete lists of all students who
would like to enroll in a given course or
section, not (as now) to make up fictitious
class lists and then merely close out all but
the first X students who list it. As everyone
knows, classes which are supposedly full,
and for which supposedly no cards any
longer exist, nevertheless are often not full at
all.
tentatively involved in the structured
strata of education.
With such a situation, one must re
examine the goals and procedures
involved in obtaining an education;
indeed, one must question the definition
of education itself. Is it solely for the
attainment of future rewards? Future
knowledge? Future quests? Or is the
learning process exactly that a
process where one gathers all
available information and thought to
integrate it with himself and his
individual talents, thus producing a new
understanding of the macrocosm?
If this latter assertion is accepted then
it is for each student to seek his own
enlightenment at the University
through his professors, his classmates
and the community which he inhabits,
for the procurement of true knowledge
is impossible unless one seeks to
discover truth in the elements of society
as well as within the realm of
institutional education. However, when
one chooses instead to alienate or
condone ignorance, the student at the
University of North Carolina ceases to
be a scholar; rather, he merely becomes
a stagnant element perpetuating an inert
society.
Sallie Shuping is a junior political
scienceEnglish major from
Greensboro.
environmental standards, energy
efficiency, population growth and
changing technology make it essential
that the authority members have both a
certain amount of professional expertise .
and a responsive attitude.
This expertise was partially provided
by Lamb, an environmental sciences
professor and chairperson of the "
authority before being fired. Rancer,
treasurer of the group, also
demonstrated a knowledge of waterand
sewage treatment, plus had the
advantage of serving two years on the
Board of Aldermen.
Can the new members Aldermen
Shirley Marshall, Robert Epting and
Jonathan Howes show us the same level
of expertise? Probably not.
Perhaps more seriously, the board
WISTOMAN SMILING?...
(3) Departments and students alike will be
told, as soon after pre-registration as
possible, which courses and sections still
have room that is, which had fewer
students pre-register than it was foreseen
could be accommodated and also which
have waiting lists and how long or short
these actually are. This information can be
brought up to date as departments make
adjustments.
Thus each student would receive a notice
listing all the courses for which he pre
registered and then, opposite each, an
indication whether he is pre-registered or on
the waiting list, and if on the latter whether
he stands first, fourteenth, or fiftieth among
them. From this he would know whether to
seek an unfilled section or try the original
one anyway. By being told exactly how many
students expressed a desire to take each
course or section, each department could
rationally decide whether to expand, or add
sections or do nothing at all. Each
instructor would receive a complete list of all
students who indicated at pre-registration a
desire to take the course in the order of their
registration priority not, as now, lists
which in many instances include lots of
students who have changed their minds and
never appear.
(4) During the first week or more of classes
shopping would rampant, chaos everywhere.
Any why not? Students could attend any
class on a trial basis which interested them
being neither registered or not registered for
it, rather than spend much of their time in
drop-add lines. Those who were still around
after three or four actual meetings, starting
with those wise enough to have pre
registered, would receive the class cards, for
of course they are the only ones who actually
need or want them. Three weeks into the
semester students would take their final
cards to Hanes Hall and that would be it.
This scheme appears to me less ludicrous
than it seems when I recall that it was the one
used at the University of California when I
was an undergraduate there and that even
then Berkeley had more students to manage
than UNC has now. I never had to stand in a
drop-add line and I don't see why my
students should have to either. Or rather I do
see. Hanes Hall is simply wedded to a very
lousy computer program for the whole affair
of registration and has not so far had applied
to it either the pressure or the funds
necessary to get rid of it. Enrolling in classes
was trivially easy at Berkeley. Why isn't it
equally so here? Perhaps making it that way
will appear to student government a project
worth taking up between lawsuits this
semester. 1 think everyone hopes so.
Roger G. Swearingen
English Dept.
Preserving Carr
To the editor
An alien biologist studying life here on the
planet Earth would probably classify Tom
Carr ("They're lurking everywhere,' Jan. 15)
as a member of the human species, a highly
developed, bipedal primate with binocular
stereoscopic vision, an omnivorous diet
(albeit with a predeliction for
carnivorousness), a vertebrate with a single
modification of the ganglionic net (or brain)
and capable of rational or at least semi
rational thought. Our hypothetical
extraterrestrial biologist would assume that,
like most planets and almost all animals,
especially humans, Mr. Carr would be a
i G Si
opened itself up for criticism on the
charge of playing politics with a public
utility.
Marshall, Epting and Howes deserve
great respect. But it is not understood
why they, with their other aldermanic
duties and regularjobs, would bring any
more public awareness to the authority
than already existed.
One alderman, Gerry Cohen, has said
that he did not see any advantages in
having aldermen on the authority rather
than private citizens, but said he voted
for the move since it apparently would
make the authority more palatable to
the other aldermen.
The board's feeling could have been
made known through its appointive and
dismissal powers, short of appointing
three of its own members. It could have
f v.-- La S
WHY IS HIS WIFE mmi:M
sexually-reproducing organism. Indeed, he
would assume that Mr. Carr would share,
along with the immeasurable majority of
humans throughout their species' history on.
this planet, complex socio-sexual behaviors
that would deeply undermine his culture, his
society and his thought with the obvious goal
of being able to fulfill his natural biological
role in the perpetuation of his kind. Carrying
this bit of science-fiction a little further,
however, and granting our alien scientist
knowledge of human languages and access
to the DTH, he would then be surprised. Mr.
Carr is not a typical human being. In fact,
Mr. Carr's beliefs might even lead our
extraterrestrial to wonder if Mr. Carr is
indeed a member of the human species, for
Mr. Carr's socio-sexual behaviors are
completely opposite from what they should
be.
Now, being a rational creature, our alien
biologist would seek to determine why Mr.
Carr believes and behaves the way he does.
But, being rational, the very irrational
explanation that Mr. Carr would be likely to
present probably would not even occur to
the extraterrestrial. That Mr. Carr would
actually prefer what might be called "sexual"
relations with members of his own sex would
appear so wholly irrational to our
hypothetical alien that he might even
consider the notion absurd. ( Webster's New
World Dictionary defines "sex" as "anything
connected with sexual gratification or
reproduction; especially the attraction of
one sex for the other") They key work here
for Mr. Carr would no doubt be
"gratification''; however, one wonders how
such "gratification" could help but be linked
with reproduction, especially in light of the
fact that our complex socio-sexual
behaviors, in particular the concept of sexual
gratification, evolved for the purposes of
insuring pair-bonding between the two sexes
and thus reproduction. Gratification
without reproduction, or vice versa, would
be hard to conceive, and this is why I shy at
labelling Mr. Carr's activities as strictly
"sexual". Yet this would be Mr. Carr's
answer to the alien biologist.
Undaunted, our ardent extraterrestrial
would still seek for a more logical
explanation for Mr. Carr's behavior, and,
with careful study of the history of the
human species and its present state of
overpopulation and its overindulgence in the '
planet's natural resources, he might draw
several conclusions. He might hypothesize
that Mr. Carr is a noble, but doomed,
member of his species. Obviously, Mr. Carr
has, of his own choice, denied himself of the
ability to reproduce his species and is, in
effect, contributing his own solution to the
population problem on Earth. Indeed, the
entire "gay movement" might thus appear to
be a massive self-sacrifice on the part of
certain deviant humans for the betterment of
their species, giving up their natural
inheritence so that the rest of mankind
.would not overpopulate itself to extinction.
And, too, it would seem likely to our alien
that an individual such as Mr. Carr (or any
of his fellow "gays"), who would consciously
violate the laws of evolution and of his
species, would not have much adaptive
survival potential and both he and his society
would benefit from his eventual extinction,
as he would no longer be compelled to
engage in maladaptive deviant behavior and
would leave no descendants to further -plague
his society. An insectal intelligence
might, perhaps, even classify Mr. Carr as a
"drone", or the equivalent in its society,
except' that such "drones" would not be
If
required monthly reports from
authority members, as the Carrboro
Board of Aldermen does. The board is
apparently wary of trusting any
organization in which it is not directly
involved.
The board has replaced known
expertise with unknown entities. No one
has shown how the authority's work will
be any more in the public interest than it
was before.
Maybe the aldermen did trade
something for something else of equal
value, but the chances are that it gave up
more than it gained.
Why make deals like that?
Art Eisenstadt, a junior journalism major
from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., is news editor
of the Daily Tar Heel.
IS THE SHAH OF IRAN SIULW6Z.
capable of any sexual desire, lacking, as they
would, the biological equipment necessary
to elicit such emotion. In all likelihood,
though, any alien intelligence would classify
Mr. Carr as one of a minority of aberrant
human beings whose sexual preferences have
somehow been altered to the opposite of the
norm, and whether out of noble self-sacrifice
or general stupidity, it could not rationally
determine. At any rate, Earthly human
"gays" are probably pretty rare in the
universe, a sort of peculiar deviance in what
is no doubt a fairly common life-form
throughout the cosmos. Perhaps we should
preserve Mr. Carr in formaldehyde for
future biological study. Certainly, we should
examine this curious and deviant
phenomenon more carefully and objectively
in the future than we have in the past few
years.
Hank Parnell
622 Ehringhaus
More on smoking
To the editor.
In response to Jennings' letter appearing
in the DTH on January 19 entitled "In
Defense of Smoking," I would argue that
smoking in the classroom cannot be
defended because it is a hazard to the non
smoker as well as the smoker. The smoking
ban is not an unjustified restriction on the
rights of the smoker; rather, it provides a .
safer and more comfortable . classroom
situation for the non-smoker.
Fortunately, the majority of students at
Carolina do not smoke in classrooms. As
stated in the Faculty Council Resolution,
nearly 80 of the 3,535 students voted for
the smoking ban. 3,535 students is a good
turnout relative to other referendum votes.
With such an overwhelming majority in
favor of the smoking ban, it is reasonable to
assume that in a vote of all students, the
majority would still favor the smoking ban.
The vote in the Faculty Council meeting was
59 for and 5 against, which indicates
enthusiastic support by the faculty as well.
Although many smokers will admit that
cigarette smoke is irritating to their eyes,
they are not willing to give up the privilege to
smoke in a confined classroom situation.Tf
classrooms had better ventilation, the
problem might not be as severe; however,
overcrowded classes and small rooms are
typical at Carolina. In these confined
classroom situations, non-smokers as well as
smokers suffer from eye irritation, which is
caused by ammonia gas in cigarette smoke.
The 1975 Report of the Surgeon General
documents the claim that smoke irritates the
eyes. Research studies in the report show
that cigarette smoke also irritates the
bronchial passages. Other complications
which non-smokers encounter are dizziness,
headaches and nausea.
To clarify an erroneous fact purported by.
Jennings that the harmful ingredient in
cigarettes is insecticide, I would cite a
medically-proven fact that tar, not
insecticide, is the hazardous element.
Further, Jennings claim that the smoking
ban has the "underlying goal of legislating
morality" is not valid. Medical reasons
initiated the campaign for a smoking ban.
The smoking ban protects the health of the .
non-smoker in the confined classroom
situation and provides for a more
compatible environment for learning.
Barbara Tuttle
736 Morrison
ITG 3 Gj