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A Branch
Life at Carolina has probably never been so masterfully portrayed as it
has for the past year in the cartoons of John Branch. He has used his own
blend of insight and wit to provide comment on campus phenomena ranging
from the smoking ban to Mike O'Neal, and has also digressed occasionally
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Growth in diversity
The University served as host for the Southeastern Gay Conference this
weekend. Three hundred gays from eleven Southeastern states and New
York gathered for a program that included workshops, consciousness
raising sessions and social events.
The conference gave rise to a question that has been frequently raised
since the Carolina Gay Association (CGA) was founded two years ago:
Should the University support an active gay organization?
That such a question even be considered contradicts the most basic
premise of this institution. The University's purpose is to foster individual
growth, and growth can occur only where there is diversity. Students must
be allowed to choose freely from alternative ideas and life styles, and to
synthesize these into new ideas. Neither the University administration,
faculty, student government or students themselves should attempt to
dictate what is and is not "right." Instead they should fight to insure that all
students be able to embrace any philosophies or practices they choose, so
long as they do not infringe on the rights of other members of the
community.
Certainly the CGA has not infringed on the rights of other students at
UNC. Many students, however, have continued to protest the existence of
the CGA. Gays my do what they please in the privacy of their rooms,
students argue, but they should not be recognized by the University as an
official organization or subsidized by student fees.
To deny the CGA recognition or deprive them of funding is to take from
gays the right to be gay. If the CGA is not allowed to fight for the rights of
gays, no one else will.
There has been much discussion on this campus about the rights of
women and the rights of blacks, and much has been done by the University
and student government to insure these rights. Similar action should be
taken to preserve the rights of homosexuals. Like women and blacks, they
nvst be supported in their attempts to fight discrimination and maintain
their identity.
The CGA has accomplished a great deal on a budget, appropriated by
student government, of only $600. They have performed a vital service for
gays on campus, helped to educate non-gays about homosexuality and
established enough respect in the area to enable them to serve as hosts for
this year's Southeastern Gay Conference. They have undoubtedly been
effective, and they deserve support.
One of UNC's greatest attributes is its commitment to diversity and the
free exchange of ideas. This .commitment must be preserved.
ilht Batty
84 th Year of Editorial Freedom
Alan Murray
Editor
Robin Clark
Managing Editor
Greg Nye
Editorial Page Editor
Tim Pittman
News Editor
Dan Fesperman
Features and Freelance!
Lawrence Toppman
Arts and Entertainment
Jirn Thomas
Sports. Editor
Bob King
Wire Editor
Charles Hardy
Photography Editor
Campus Calendar Sari Harrar. Kaleidoscope: Malia Stinson
Composition Editor: Ben Cornelius. Distribution Manager: Ken Smith.
Business: Verna Taylor, business manager, Elizabeth Bailey, advertising manager. Advertising,
Steve Crowell, Mark Dubowski, Mark Lazenby and Lena Orlin. Business: Elisabeth Lewis Corley
Norman Stein and Larry Kulbeck. Circulation: Henry Birdsong and Jay Curlee.
1 - -
Student Graphics, Inc.:. Dean Gerdes, shop foreman, Typesetters: Stan Beaty, Chiquetta
Shakelford, and Jo Bush. Ad composition: Janet Peterson, supervisor; Judy Dunn. Steve
Quakenbush and John Speagle. News composition: Brenda Marlow and Joni Peters.
Printed by Hinton Enterprises in Mebane, N.C., the Dally Tar Heel publishes weekdays during
the regular academic year.
Tuesday, April 6, 197i
mm
- eye view
to shed light on the real world.
We are fortunate and proud to
have been able to present his work in
the Tar Heel. We certainly agree
with Jeff MacNelly of the Richmond
News Leader that Branch is "the best
of the college perpetrators of
political cartooning."
A collection of Branch's work will
go on sale at the Little Professor
Book Store this Friday, and will be
sold on campus and at the Intimate
Book Shop next week. John will
undoubtedly graduate in May and
his commentary will be missed next
year. This book will provide a
momento of his contribution to the
University.
(Far i
News: Susan Orcutt, assistant editor. Colette Chabbott, Art,
Eisenstadt, Chris Fuller, Sam Fulwood III, Russell Gardner,
Teddy Goldman, Jan Hodges, Julie Knight, Vernon Loeb,
Nancy Mattox, Jane Mosher, Joni Peters, Mel Rath, Mary Anne
Rhyne. Linda Rosenfield, Laura Seism, Laura Toler and Merton
Vance.
News Desk: Betsy Stuart, editorial assistant, Jack Greenspan,
and Jill Snider.
Arts and Entertainment: Merrill Rose, assistant editor. George
Bacso, Hank Baker, Mark Dearmon, Brent Kulman, Michael
McFee, Melanie Modlin. Warren Rochelle, Malia Stinson and
Richard Williams.
Sports: ; Grant Vosburgh, assistant editor; Gene Upchurch,
desk assistant. Kevin Barn's, Brad Bauler, Dede Biles, Doug
Clark, Chip Ensslin, Tod Hughes, Dave Kirk, Pete Mitchell, Lee
Pace, Ed Rankin and Ford Worthy.
Graphic Arts: Staff photographers: Dave Dalton, BudFawcett,
Howard Shepherd and Martha Stevens. Cartoonists: John
Branch, Stan Coss, Alan Edwards, Nan Parati and John
Tomlinson.
By LOR I WAG OR
Have you ever received a grade that was
lower if just a bit lower than you thought
you actually earned? Maybe you thought
you deserved a B for your 3.33 average
rather than just a plain old B. Would the plus
attached to your grade be the reward you
sought and worked for?
Concerns and questions of this sort have
sparked an inspection of the grading system
at UNC to find out if indeed there is a more
accurate means of measuring a student's
performance. One suggestion that has
emerged from all the ruckus is to include
pluses and minuses on the final grades.
Initiated by Prof. James Leutze of the
History Department in spring 1975, this
plus minus option would effectively
decrease the point spread between letter
grades. Under this system, a student with an
81 and one with an 89 would no longer be
lumped under the same "B" grade. Rather,
an 8 1 would be reflected as a B-, and 89 a B.
Attaching pluses and minuses to grades is
by no means a novel idea. Five of the eight
Ivy League schools already use this system of
grading. But it is new to UNC and Prof.
Leutze is its spokesman.
Compounding the issue of accurate
grades, is grade inflation. Statistics show
that grades have steadily increased over the
last decade and a half, with grades improving
by one half of a letter grade between 1960
and 1973. Inaccurate grades, coupled with
inflation, inevitably spell trouble for the
student, not to mention institutions of higher
education.
Grades need to fairly reflect a student's
abilities; they need to offer rewards for hard
work.. And necessarily, they in turn figure
decidedly in the student's future aspirations.
No one is in full agreement about the
proper way to measure grade inflation or
how to decrease it. Leutze believes that grade
inflation is partially a result of large classes.
"In a large class where you have less of a
chance to get to know the student and
thereby make personal evaluations of his
work, you have to rely solely on tests and
other measuring devises in order to arrive at
his grade," he believes. -
In other words, an instructor becomes
more mechanical and bureaucratized.
Differentiations between an 81 and 89 are
not made and when 75 per cent of the grades
in a large class are B, that B doesn't mean
very much.
A teacher's responsibility to his student is
twofold: (1) to present material that is as
academically pure and intelligible as possible
and (2) to evaluate the ability of the student
to absorb that material. Instructors are
failing in the latter responsibility if
evaluations are not as fair and accurate as
possible.
Presented to the Faculty Council In
September 1975, Leutze's proposal would
assign numerical values to letter grades with
Advertising: answer
To the editor:
May 1 throw in my two cents? I think it's a
good idea to keep the U bus running for the
extra two hours, since I am one of those very
south campus students who stay on campus
after 1 1:30 at night. But next year 1 plan to
move off campus (rising room rent on
campus, you know), and suddenly I find the
'ransportation that I was depending on will
no longer exist at night at all Safety or
otherwise, it will be a pain in the neck to
either walk, hitch, or bicycle (which I'd have
to buy) back to my apartment in the dark in
the event that for some reason I'd have to
stay on campus.
May I propose something to those in
charge? This bus system in Chapel Hill ranks
around second or third in the country, so I've
heard. And since the DTH can raise revenue
through advertising, why can't our bus
system? I believe there is a market for this
form of advertising, and it could support the
town routes at night to some extent, as well
as decorate those ugly old buses.
Victoria Smith
248 Ehringhaus
Shootout in Chapel Hill
To the editor.
I really don't consider it my prerogative to
advise Dean Smith on the running of his
basketball program, but 1 think I've
stumbled across something that could
greatly aid Carolina's efforts. To impart a
"Tough Guy" image of next year's
roundballers. Coach Smith should take
immediate action.
In the preseason Sports Illustrated issue,
we could convince the editors to feature
Tommy LaGarde on the cover. Under the
heading "Shootout in Chapel Hill,"
LaGarde could pose with a basketball in one
hand and a .45 in the other. His head should
be shaved in a Mohawk, and the cover could
be captioned "Suck on this!' snorts UNC's
Tommy LaGarde."
The majorettes could also toughen up
their acts. The flaming batons are a nice
touch and should be used more extensively.
However, those flimsy batons normally used
have to go; The girls should twirl crowbars in
their standard routines.
The half-time film clips featuring pristine
shots of the campus (the Old Well, the Bell
Tower, etc.) must be revamped. 1 suggest we
feature shots of the Town. Hall Halloween
party and a rumble in front of the Carrboro
Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.
It is plausible that Mr. Smith might reject
these proposals (the Board of Governors
could become alienated or something). Yet I
believe these reforms could aid in shaking
the "guys in baby blue jump suits" image that
plus and minus variants. For example, a B
would equal 3.33, a B 3 and a B- 2.67. There
would be no A- grade. In his resolution
Leutze observed that he excluded the A- in
order to emphasize the uniqueness of the
grade A.
Most will agree that in any grading system
there are inherent problems, but as Leutze
suggests, "there is much wisdom in reducing
the cost of inaccuracy." Sensitive to
injustices and flaws within the system, he has
found that the good students who are
thinking more deeply about the problem felt
that they were being hurt by the lack of
pluses and minuses.
The absence of this option together with
grade inflation work against the student in
two ways: First, students tend to work
harder for grades and yet no differentiation
is made between the high and low range of a
grade. And secondly, grades in general are
being devalued a legitimate B is now
termed "average."
To achieve equality in grading, Leutze's
system would have 1 1 possible grades rather
than the traditional five. This new option
would provide a more accurate and fairer
evaluation of a student's performance and at
the same time, would counteract inflation.
Since unanimity among faculty is almost
impossible on such an issue, Leutze suggests
that the best system would be to include the
traditional letter grades with a plus minus
option. According to Leutze, "This would
mL.YT?RkiEa.4-,i
many basketball . opponents have of
Carolina.
Mole Johnson
1 14 S. Columbia
Republicans no help
To the editor.
Unregistered but eligible voters that
believe in electing pro-ERA legislators this
year should not be deceived by Marshall
Hurley's letter of April I. Indeed, one should
take it as other April 1 suggestions. As folly.
Mr. Hurley implied that by registering,
voting and electing more Republicans to the
state legislature that ERA would pass. He
SCAU explains activities
Consumer union aids students
By BRAD LAMB
The current furor over student fees
necessitates some comment from the
Student Consumer Action Union. SCAU,
formed in the Spring of 1973, is a student
organization which receives all of its funding
from Student Government. Because we are
funded this way, and more importantly
because we are a consumer organization, this
SCAU column will be devoted to describing
some of the more recent projects and services
which we provide for the student body.
The purpose of SCAU is to educate
consumers and to serve as the advocacy
agency for all UNC consumers. All members
of the UNC student body are eligible to use
any SCAU service.
SCAU's initial project was "The Southern
Part of Heaven?", a guide to apartments in
the Chapel Hill area, and is now in its 5th
edition. The present housing program is
concerned with improving Tenant-manager
relationships. An advisory board ol
students, townspeople and realtors is being
set up to hear serious complaints.
Another one of SCAU's more popular
booklets is the restaurant guide. Franklin
Street Gourmet, first published in the
summer of 1973. The new 3rd edition gives
reviews and comments on 64 local
restaurants.
In addition to these activities, this
semester SCAU helped a group of angry
consumers present their case against a local
veterinarian to a state regulatory board. This
project was a direct result of the Consumer
allow tnose individual professors who felt
able to make the distinction required to
include pluses and minuses with a student's
grade, while at the same time allowing those
individuals who were not so inclined to
continue giving only Jetter grades.
"It would be impractical and unfair if any
system were forced upon the faculty." The
important factor in any systemls the need for
general agreement among the faculty. With
the option attached, a relatively systematic
approach to grading can be accomplished.
Though some faculty members simply
won't for mechanical or other reasons
figure grades with pluses and minuses, this
will not adversely affect the student's grades.
The grading system is only as good as the
graders, with or without the plus minus
option.
When this plus minus option first was
scrutinized by the Committee on
Instructional Personnel earlier this year, it
met with defeat. Rather, the committee
composed of the Provost and all Deans,
denied pluses and minuses and set out to
redefine grades: Aoutstanding; Bsuperion
Cgood; Dfair; Ffailed.
This redefinition is merely a "semantic
change" or simply put,; no change at all.
One of the arguments against Leutze's
proposal is that if pluses and minuses are
accepted as part of the grading system it is
possible that more pluses than minuses
would be given, and this in turn would lead
I THINK THE . ?$P'&.9L f
GOVERNOR WGHT BE ' Ati V?
GETTING A UTILE ' - -. IKT U V
cro away.... I SvVlif (
to night bus service?
criticized Bruce Tindall for encouraging
people to register Democratic to elect pro
ERA legislators.
If past legislative records are any
indication of how prospective Republican
legislators might vote on ERA, one can
disregard Mr. Hurley's hypothesis. A
legislative analysis of how House members
voted shows that two-thirds of the
Republican legislators voted against ERA.
Furthermore, 78 per cent of the House
Republicans supported a bill to put ERA to
a statewide referendum. Voting North
Carolinians would probably have defeated
the referendum in a campaign marked by
distortions and demagoguery. Luckily, that
-referendum bill failed thanks to the
overwhelming number of Democrats that
did not want irrationality to decide ER A's
Complaint Line (933-8313). Following the
receipt of numerous complaints regarding a
local veterinarian, SCAU researched the
procedures for appealing to the State
Veterinary Board and notified the
complaintants of the required actions. A
majority of these persons wrote detailed
accounts of their grievances, and traveled to
Raleigh to testify before the State Veterinary,
Board. This board's decision is expected
soon.
The Consumer Complaint Line is
operable 24 hours a day for persons who
want to complain or volunteer.
At this time SCAU has two projects in
final preparation stages. A Guide to
Automotive Repairs, first published in 1973,
will be available in May. This new edition
will publish results of surveys concerning the
quality of automotive repairs in addition to
the regular listing of area garages. Also, a
similar guide on bicycle dealers will be
released later this semester.
Even though SCAU is constantly working
on regular publications, special booklets are
printed in response to student demand.
CASH, the guide to banks, was produced
especially to help freshmen and junior
transfers select the right bank for their needs
without depending solely on bank's
advertisements. Another edition of this book
will be reprinted this summer. A survey ol
health services in this area will also be
released for the first time near April 1 5th.
This guide identifies the available health
services (including Student Health Service)
andx more importantly, tells where these
services are located and how they can be
utilized.
to more grade inflation.
The psychological impact that this sort of
change would have in terms of serv ing as a
reminder a positive reinforcer to the
instructor that the grading system had
indeed changed and in the face of that
change, he would think harder about giving
a grade.
Prof. Samuel Williamson of the
Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense adds
a further dimension to the whys and
wherefors of this change. He points out that
"some faculty claim current pressure from
grades leads to a detrimental emphasis by the
student in seeking safe courses, in
withdrawing from courses at the first sign of
trouble, in taking an incomplete or in subtle
or not so subtle guerilla warfare with the
instructor."
In other words, with the plus minus
option there would be in effect three possible
grades within each letter grade and thus
borderline cases between A and B or B and C
will be more accurately recorded with far less
tension. And, as Williamson notes it would
reintroduce the element of civility and
relaxation into the student-teacher
relationship.
Lori Wagor is a recent graduate of L'N C with
a major in political science, and now works
in the department of Peace. War and
Defense.
fate.
While the defeat of ERA by both
Democrats and Republicans was very
disheartening for me, the support for the
referendum incensed me.
Clearly, the record shows that more
Republicans in the last legislature would not
have enabled the passage of ERA. Since
Democrats stand a good chance of victory in
November, ERA supporters should work
hard to see that the right Democrats are
elected.
To insure that ERA is passed next session,
register Democratic and campaign and vote
for Democrats on August 17 that will
faithfully represent you.
Peter Gilmore
2016 Lakeshore Dr.
Chapel Hill
During the upcoming fall semester,
several new projects will be initiated as a
result of student complaints or suggestions.
New guides to record stereo stores, clothing
merchants, and sporting goods camping
stores will be printed. Special studies of
Servomation and University Housing are
also being considered as possible projects.
SCAU also lobbies for student consumer
interests on local, state, and national levels,
and represents UNC at such occasions as the
White House Regional Conference on
Consumer Representation Plans recently
held in Atlanta. Comparison Shopper, a bi
weekly grocery survey, is yet another service
offered by SCAU.
Students interested in learning what
makes business work in the Chapel
Hill Carrboro area, where students provide
a sizable part of the income, are finding
SCAU is a good place to start.
Brad Lamb is a sophomore Spanish" and
Biology major and is the new Chairman of
the Student Consumer Action Union.
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes letters to
the editor. Letters must be typed, double
spaced, on a 60-space line.
Unsigned or initialed columns on this
page represent the opinion of the Daily
Tar Heel. Signed columns represent the
opinion of the individual contributor
only.
Letters should not run over 50 lines
(about 300 words) and should be mailed
to the Daily Tar Heel. Carolina Union.