Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 4, 1976, edition 1 / Page 1
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by Lynn Usstfcrd --...end Czrh Futosd ill SIff Yrfero r- Third of a three-part series Although blatant racism is no longer visible on the UNC campus, the student population . is distinctly split along racial lines to the point of still being segregated. Instead of intermixing, most blacks and whites simply mutually coexist, says Associate Dean of Special Programs Harold Wallace, who handles campus racial problems.1 ' Mutual coexistence is especially obvious on the social level, despite the social integration attempts of the 1960s. Blacks and whites site in clusters in the Student Union snack bar; dorm parties attract predominantly whites or blacks; and sororities and fraternities are, in practice, totally segregated. - While many students and administrators contend that some subtle racism exists, they say the major barriers separating UNCs blacks and whites are cultural differences and a lack "of meaningful communication between the races. Vol. 83, No. 91 Bill Bates supports increase in student fees g n d sale by Merton Vance Staff Writer ' March 23, North Carolina voters will decide a $43.2 million bond referendum for capital improvements on campuses of the consolidated University of North Carolina system. If approved, the bonds would finance construction of new libraries, classrooms and similar facilities at 13 of the 16 schools in the University system, including a new women's gym and intramural sports complex on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The bond referendum was organized because general economic conditions prevented the 1975 General Assembly from appropriating enough money to pay for the construction of the new buildings. However, money was appropriated for three of the campuses and these three are not included in the bond package. The, General Assembly allocated money for the new medical school at East Carolina University, the law school at N.C. Central University, and a new classroom building at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Whf Studeof BillRidhardson starts campaign for president Billy Richardson, a junior political science and speech major from Fayetteville, has become the third person to announce his candidacy for student body president. Richardson based his platform on six specialized areas: Academics: He proposed the formation of undergraduate and graduate societies within the individual departments to review curriculum and suggest new courses, advise prospective majors concerning courses and make the University smaller by serving as a focal point for students with similar interests; New services: A student lounge is among his proposals for new student services. The lounge would offer students a social atmosphere for such things as dancing, watching TV and partying; Communications: Richardson proposed a forum of students, faculty and administrators to meet monthly or bi monthly to discuss issues concerning the University community; Leadership: A series of workshops at the start of the year centering on issues and Many blacks, tired of years of seeking white acceptance, seem to desire their own culture and want only the benefits of white society, such as equal career opportunities and educational resources. Stemming from this desire to maintain the black culture, many say, is white fear and resentment of blacks, black aloofness and suspicion of whites. The cultural barrier is a natural one, said 1973 Student Body President Richard Epps, the first black to hold the post. "With any kind of minority or ethnic group, people feel more comfortable around people who are like them," he said. Black separatism? Although in recent years whites have attributed much of the distance between races to black ' separatism, blacks say this perceived separatism is only an attempt to avoid cultural assimilation. "The majority of black folks are trying to preserve the black image," black junior Mike Dixon said. "I think it's good that barriers are being broken down between the races, but I question the removal of our history." To Epps, black separatism is a reversal of T ) d Li tr? O.V..--' Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, WednesdayFebruary 4, 1976 1 CM CGC approves by Chris Fuller Staff Writer The Campus Governing Council Tuesday night approved the scheduling of a referendum calling for a $2.50 per semester increase in student fees. The referendum will be held Feb. 25 during the spring elections. - In-order - for- the -increase to-fce effected, the referendum must be approved by a two thirds vote with 20 per cent of the eligible student voters participating in the election. The increase must then be approved by the Board of Trustees. Student Body President Bill Bates, who introduced the bill through the Finance Committee, indicated there was a definite need for the increase which to g o bef o By votes of 38-1 in the Senate and 80-0 in the House, the General Assembly chose to submit the bond issue to a public referendum. When representatives from the UNC General Administration and Board of Governors recommended the project to the General Assembly, they said that the new buildings were needed to relieve overcrowding at present facilities. Enrollment in the UNC system is expected to remain stable through 1980 but enrollment has more than doubled in the last ten years, from 50, 884 students in 1964 to 104,786 in the fall of 1975. Administrators have said that present facilities cannot meet present demands. UNC President William Friday said the bond referendum is necessary for "meeting needs that are here now." Included in the proposed construction projects is a $5.3 million physical education and intramural sports facility for the UNC Chapel Hill campus. The 152,000 square feet facility would be connected with Woollen gym and would contain a gymnasium, classrooms, locker and shower facilities and solutions to leadership problems and providing direction for Student Government is another Richardson proposal; Administrative decisions: Richardson said Student Government should aid the University counseling services by making students aware of guidance, testing and other counseling services; Structural reforms: Richardson said a committee of impartial professors and students should research and recommend improvements for Student Government, budgeting procedures and the honor system. Richardson has served as the executive assistant to Student Body President Bill Bates, and on the Food Services Commission. He attended the November student-faculty-administration conference held at Camp New Hope, and is currently lobbying for administration approval of the Student Bill of Rights. "1 cannot promise students that I can achieve all these goals," Richardson said. "However, I do promise an issue oriented government, one that will challenge problems on campus, stimulate leadership former trends. "The irony of the times is that at one point when blacks were really trying to be accepted by white society, the whites didn't want them," he said. "Now that whites are ready (to accept them), blacks are saying, 1 don't want to assimilate. ". Black unity is a cultural trait, one black sophomore said. "Black people have a closeness even if they don't know each ether," she explained. "I can walk into the cafeteria and sit down and rap with a group of blacks I don't know, but a white can't do that with other whites." Embodying this black unity on campus are two black fraternities, two black sororities and the Black Student Movement, which blacks say are necessary for support. "Without BS M (and other black groups), life would : be completely miserable," Dean Wallace said. Whits resentment But some whites say the black organizations are divisive. "If there's a place that's notorious for being predominantly white, it would anger black students," a white senior said. referendum would add between $46,000 and $47,000 to the budget. Bates said Tuesday that last year's CGC had $210,000 in the budget, but budget requests from organizations totaled $325,000. Bates added that most of the requests were legitimate considering inflation, maintenance of office supplies and expanded services of the organizations from the previous Next year there will be an increase in expenses, Bates said. He said Student Government plans to expand services to off campus students. A student government attorney would also have to be paid from Student Government's operating budget, Bates added. In addition, WCAR would need increased funds when converting to an re vote rs handball and squash courts. The 1974 General Assembly approved funds for planning the Chapel Hill facility. If the referendum passes construction could begin in 1977. The proposed Chapel Hill physical education facility is like many of the other projects in this regard. Many have been in the planning stages for several years, and the bond issue would provide the money necessary to proceed with construction. Friday said the new facility would be important for UNC-CH. The present women's gym at Carolina was built in the 1930's and is too small for current enrollment. The most expensive project in the bond package is a $6 million classroom and office building for UNC-Charlotte. The other 1 1 projects included in the bond package are for construction or renovation of classrooms, libraries, offices, laboratories and other facilities. $ 1 .5 million of the funds are earmarked to remove architectural barriers to aid handicapped students, and for land acquisition for some of the projects. Sta'f pfioto by Steve Causey Billy Richardson and involve as many people for all over campus as possible." Chris Fuller may increase blacks "1 J " "Yet there are things set up that're known to be predominantly black " she added. "It's like blacks are saying, We want a part of what you have, but there's things just for us.1 " The distinctive elements of black dress and jargon are also viewed by many whites as indicative of black prejudice. "We're trying to open all the elements of our culture that they (blacks) would want to participate in," said a white senior from Asheville. "Yet they set up distinctive, obvious dress codes, modes of greetings things not acceptable for whites. "Our culture is not allowed to be exclusive but theirs is," she added. "Maybe it has to do with black pride, but it's still a means of excluding whites " Some white students believe that they experience discrimination as well as blacks. "Blacks have greater political power proportionate - to whites," the Asheville senior said. "Five black students have as much power as 20 whites." A senior from New York said she also believes blacks are afforded special treatment. "1 resent having to have a token amount of black persons on a staff or ! 1 Weather: clear and warmer FM station, and the Residence Unit Grant and Loan Fund would also be in need of an increased appropriation, Bates said. Bates said the Union, by law, gets one third of all fees He said an increase in fees would also enable the Union to improve its speakers program. Several persons who opposed a fee increase last year pointed to using the General Surplus as an alternative to the increase, Bates said. He said that although there is approximately $181,000 in the General Surplus, $75,000-$90,000 is currently being used or will be encumbered by the end of this fiscal year. . The additional money in the surplus is needed for operating purposes until student fees have been processed from the University Cashier to the Student Activities Fund Office, Bates said. He. estimated that $50,000-$70,000 should be kept in the surplus for use during the processing period. The surplus is designed to provide Student Government with cash on hand and enable the Greek system and dormitories to operate until they receive their appropriation. Bates said that this year CGC started with $10,000-$ 12,000 after all groups had received their appropriations. He said financial experts estimated that approximately $40,000 should be held back to cover additional requests for money during the year. He said the Finance Committee as a whole believes the fee increase is justified because they went through the budget hearings last spring and realize the need for the increase. t' IT Extension of bus system costly Board may set referendum by Russell Gardner Staff Writer The Carrboro Transportation Committee will ask the town's Board of Aldermen tonight to arrange an April 20 bond referendum to finance an extension of the Chapel Hill bus system into Carrboro. Alderman Bob Drakeford, a member of the transportation committee, said Tuesday that the committee will request a referendum of $200,000 in bonds to cover capital costs for the extension. Drakeford said the town will need initial capital of $60,000 to purchase additional buses. The remainder of the bonds, if approved, would be used for future capital investments. In addition, the committee will ask the aldermen to approve plans for an ad valorem (property) tax of ten cents per $ 1 00. This tax would be used to cover operating costs such as bus driver salaries and bus maintenance, Drakeford said. A strictly hypothetical revenue figure, based on a possible increase in the price of UNC bus passes from $24 to $40 annually was given to Carrboro transportation officials last week. If such an increase takes effect, it will reduce the annual non-capital cost of the extension to approximately $77,000 from an original figure of up to $158,000. Drakeford said the figure was "a starting point for negotiations." Although the price hike plan submitted to Carrboro was hypothetical, increased operating costs make some sort of price hike m a committee," she said. "And I can't understand that if you're black and female, you have the best chance of getting in medical school and other schools. They should just go by merit" Another source of white resentment is perceived black prejudice, manifested in black activism, several whites noted. "UNC has bent over backwards to diminish the split (between the races)," a white graduate student from Pennsylvania said, "and when I see black groups marching through campus, it bothers me. 1 feel they're hurting their cause by being noisy." While some whites criticize what they call black separatism, others are still sympathetic to blacks. Kim Duncan, a white sophomore, said blacks are often misinterpreted since they get publicity only when they protest. For example, the Black Student Movement "does a lot more than lots of organizations on campus like carry hot meals to old people," Duncan said. "But before I discovered this, all I could see was a lot of protest over funds." Covert prejudice Both blacks and whites say covert white la wnn Blacks feel the pressure of being in the minority perhaps most heavily in the classrooms, where frequently only one black sits among tens of whites. BSM activities both c u It u rll , cBlifWeti a I Perhaps the most visible manifestation of black campus life is the 500-member Black Student Movement. Containing approximately half of UNCs 1,100 black students as active members, the BSM was established in 1967 and has grown large enough to receive the third highest student fees appropriation of any organization behind the Carolina Union and the Daily Tar Heel. The BSM performs a mixture of cultural, social and service functions. Among its larger projects are the Gospel Choir, Ebony Readers, Opeyo Dancers, Black Arts Festival, Miss BSM pageant and various dances and fund raising drives. It also helps sponsor University recruitment programs for disadvantaged and minority students, publishes a bi-monthly newspaper and operates the Upendo Lounge in Chase Hall. The organization's solidarity has also inevitable, Chapel Hill Transportation Director John Pappas said Sunday. The bus system is costing the town approximately $800,000 a year to operate, which is almost double the original cost estimates, Pappas said. . The University's two-year contract with the Town of Chapel Hill for the purchase of approximately $330,000 annually in bus passes expires June 30, and new contract negotiations must begin soon, John Temple, UNC asst. vice-chancellor of business, said Monday. One factor to be considered in the new contract negotiations will be the possible increase in the price of bus passes. If the price of bus passes increases, the University may have to purchase fewer passes, Temple said. "We've said all along that there's a limit to our available resources," he added. Temple said the University contract for bus passes was part of a total parking and transportation program initiated in 1974. "From our viewpoint, it (the bus system) has been successful. We have put a lot of people in buses rather than parking lots," Temple said. However, the University has actually lost money on the bus system, William Locke, administrative director of traffic and parking, said. "The University gets back less than $100,000 in cash for the $330,000 we pay for bus passes," Locke said. Funds collected from the sale of bus passes and parking stickers, as well as those collected from campus parking meters, prejudice still exists at UNC and surfaces periodically. A University survey conducted in the winter of 1973-74 showed that 51 per cent of the blacks said they had experienced discrimination, while only 31 per cent of the whites did. James Residence Adviser Allen Johnson, a black, said white resentment and prejudice toward blacks derives from a "definite feeling among white people that blacks have ever thing they need, so they (whites) are on the defensive." An example of white prejudice, according to black medical student Alan Mask, was the flying of a Confederate flag at University Mall when heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali spoke here. The Carolina Union discriminates in the activities it presents, a black James resident said. "The Union is a very biased organization," she said. "It will have one or two black performers that you've never heard of and wouldn't want to go to anyway." Many blacks say the white outcry following the David Duke incident was another example of white racism. Duke,then Please turn to page 6 i to i . is Jo I c i a. made it a source of controversy on several occasions. A BSM-organized demonstration prevented Ku Klux Clan National Information Director David Duke from delivering a scheduled address at UNC in January 1975. Then-BSM-Chairperson Algenon Marbley was later acquitted in Undergraduate Court of disruption charges stemming from the incident. Marbley's successor, Lester Diggs, organized a protest and rally on campus last September in response to a Student Government-imposed freeze of BSM funds. The funds had been frozen in response to alleged improprieties in the Gospel Choir's funding. The subsequent relaxation of the freeze, traditionally high BSM funding requests and the occasionally belligerent actions of BSM members at Campus Governing Council budget sessions have led to criticism of the group by some white students. parking tickets and the south campus parking deck go into a traffic office trust fund, Locke said. t This fund is used in the purchase of new bus passes, improvements to parking facilities and in assisting the campus police department, The police operate off appropriated funds, with assistance from the trust fund," Locke explained. In addition, payments on the floating interest bond used to finance the $1.7 million dollar parking deck are also supplied by the fund. Included in the 1974 parking and transportation program was an increase in the price of individual parking stickers from . $10 to $54 for an academic year. Anyone buying a parking sticker is automatically issued a bus pass. "The bus pass is actually gratis," Locke said. "There is nothing in regulations which says you buy the bus pass with the parking sticker." Temple said that even if the University decides not to renew its contract with Chapel Hill, the price of parking stickers will "in all probability" remain the same. Locke said a committee consisting of representatives from the Chancellor's office and the departments of finance, traffic, student affairs and student government negotiated the original bus contract with Chapel Hill. Their decision was reviewed by the Board of Trustees and state government before the contract was signed. Locke said the same procedure would be used to re-negotiate the contract.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 4, 1976, edition 1
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