letters to the editor
Snow Ball War of Upper Quad Aggression Ay cock women ravaged
To the editor
The date: Jan. 22, 1977
The place: Lower Quad
The event: The Snow Ball War of Upper
Quad Agression
On the above-mentioned date an
infantry charge led by General Tunky
Ray of the Mercenary Division of
Graham Dorm repelled the
overwhelming odds of the Upper Quad.
Armed with light artillery this division
of twelve gallent men stood its ground in
hand-to-hand combat on the front line
as the Lewis, Stacey and Everett
Divisions retreated to the rear. There
were no casualities suffered. However,
our women in Aycock fell victim to the
spoils of war.
comment
English a 'fatal slaying'
In a profession filled with diletantes, NBC newsman Edwin Newman is a
crusader.
Newman's crusade is against the decline of spoken English, and his
primary weapon is an extremely witty pen. His two books, Strictly Speaking
and A Civil Tongue, are brilliant monuments built on the ruins of language.
In the books he attacks government for obscuring meaning with such
meaningless idioms as "viable alternatives," "deepening dialogue" and "at
this point in time." He attacks the press for talking of "fatal slayings," as
though there were any other kind, and for using three words where one
would suffice.
Many see Newman as a pedant and believe he is wasting his breath on
trivial matters. They avoid his company at meals, he claims, because they
don't want their grammar corrected. And the NBC weatherman resents the
fact that Newman grades his morning reports for grammar and usually gives
him a C.
But Newman is trying to correct a serious illness in our society that is
more significant than most people suspect. Language is the cornerstone of
civilization. As our language and our ability to communicate decline,
society cannot help but be affected.
Newman quotes a budget proposal from the city of Winston-Salem. The
proposal requests money for "effective confinement and extinguishment of
unwanted and destructive fires."
"Firemen unable to achieve distinguishment between unwanted and
destructive fires and the wanted and constructive kind," Newman comments
wryly, "probably are destined to suffer languishment in the lower grades."
The same budget proposal later asks for "schedule adherence with emphasis
on hitting checkpoints within the targeted time." That apparently means
making buses run on schedule.
With governmental language in such confusion, there is little wonder that
government itself is in disarray. Just as three words are used where one
would suffice, three bureaucrats are assigned to a position where one is
needed.
What is the solution to this languishment of language? Newman
undoubtedly dreams of a time, several centuries past, when the man whose
speech was concise and witty was viewed with the greatest respect. Today
quantity wins the laurels. The man who uses the most syllables per word and
the most words per sentence is the educated, respected man.
Some see television as responsible for the decay; others blame the lack of
grammar instruction in the schools. Both contribute to the problem, but
there are certainly other causes as well. Before any serious analysis of causes
begins, there must be a general recognition that a problem a serious
problem exists.
Unless we at least address the problem, Edwin Newman's statement may
prove true America will be the death of English.
(5h? BatUj ar 1IM
84th Year of Editorial Freedom
Alan Murray
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After the Upper Quad retreated to
replenish its supply of ammunition
General Ray led a surprise attack on the
wall which had been the ' enemy's
stronghold throughout the war. The
enemy was completely taken by surprise
as the charge was successful in taking
the wall. There were few scattered
incidents of hand-to-hand combat, but
for the most part the enemy was routed.
However, the Graham allies did not
bring up reinforcements which offered
the enemy retaliatory measures. Led by
Lieutenamt Beauregard Edwards a
small Graham force held off this attack
and the Upper Quad retreated to discuss
tactical measures. After long and bitter
negotiations the Upper Quad decided to
surrender the flag to General Ray. He
Page 6
January 26, 1977
Gregory Nye
Associate Editor
News: Keith Hollar, assistant editor; Jeff Cohen, Marshall
Evans, Chris Fuller, Mary Gardner, Russell Gardner, Toni
Gilbert, Jack Greenspan. Tony Gunn. Nancy Hartis, Charlene
News Desk: Ben Cornelius, assistant managing editor. Copy
editors: Richard Barron. Beth Blake. Vicki Daniels, Robert Feke.
Chip Highsmith, Jay Jennings, Frank Moore, Jeanne Newsom,
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Williamson.
Sports: Gene Upchurch, assistant editor; Kevin Barris. Dede
Biles, Skip Foreman. Tod Hughes, David Kirk, Pete Mitchell, Joe
Morgan, Lee Pace, Ken Roberts, David Squires, Will Wilson and
Isabel Worthy.
Arts and Entertainment: Betsy Brown, assistant editor; Bob
Brueckner, Chip Ensslin, Marianne Hansen, Jeff Hoffman, Kim
Jenkins, Bill Kruck, Libby Lewis, Larry Shore and Phred Vultee.
Graphic Arts: Cartoonists: Allen Edwards, Cliff Marley and Lee
Poole. Photographers: Bruce Clarke, Allen Jernigan and Rouse
Wilson.
Kaleidoscope: Melissa Swicegood
declined them the further use of their
weapons but decided to let them keep
the girls from Aycock.
RADIO FREE LOWER QUAD
War correspondent,
Greg Chocklett
A successful fast
To the editor:
It has been over two months since the
Fast For A World Harvest was
celebrated on campus. Only silence
subsequently emitted from its local
sponsors, the YMYMCA Hunger
Action Committee. People could
pessimistically, though reasonably,
conclude that the fast was a failure, that
Chapel Hill has been defrauded, or that,
finding it impossible to solve the world's
problems in a single shot, its idealist
sponsors have abandoned all hope as
well as their committee.
Fortunately, all such despairing
contemplations were premature. The
, fast was successful. The committee
expresses it gratitude to the scores of
people who joined in symbolic
abstention for 24 hours, as well as to the
hundreds who contributed over $780.
This may not seem to be a large amount,
but it is more than some African day
laborers earn in 5 years; $780 is about as
much as a person subsisting at the
Federal Poverty Level earns in 6
months.
Of course, these donations are not
directly relieving any such plight.
Through OXFAM, a non-profit group,
the money is being used for capital
developement of the simplest sorts: to
fund a well-digging in some small village
which borders on the Sahara; a loan (at
very modest interest) to purchase seeds
for the next planting in the Andes; an
investment in a newspaper-recycling
plant in Southern India. The fast was
not a charity drive: no rice shipments to
the needy are made by OXFAM; rather,
peoples' capability to produce rice for
themselves is being developed.
Nor has the Hunger Action
Committee disbanded. A billion and
more starving people are not a
"cause"but a reality: there is no cause to
be lost, Plans are already laid for Food
Day, a major educational and
awareness event to be held in April. A
small Hunger Library is maintained in
the campus Y building, open to all.
To express its continuing existence,
and to encourage involvement, the
Committee is sponsering a vegetarian
pot-luck dinner and discussion this
Thursday evening. The particulars are
in the Campus Calendar. All those
concerned about, interested in or even
hostile to the idea of alleviating world
hunger are welcome.
'Just more petty
Pluses,
By ED RANKIN
A UNC senior runs his finger down
the Classics 30 final grade list and
breathes a sigh of relief: "I can't believe I
squeaked a C out of that course," he says
gleefully. Though his numerical grade is
a 70, he will receive the same mark as the
student who recorded a 79 average in the
professor's gradebook a C.
At least, that's the way it used to be.
Beginning this spring, however, pluses
and minuses may be included on report
cards and transcripts, but without grade
point values attached to them. The
Faculty Council adopted the two-year
trial period late last spring after lengthy
and heated debate.
Though some students charged the
faculty with ignoring student opinions
on the new system, a Daily Tar Heel
survey at the time revealed that UNC
students approved the idea of pluses and
minuses by a 2 to 1 margin, even if they
were assigned grade point values.
So why the change? If there is no
difference in grade points, students
wonder, how can the new policy help or
hurt them? "This will just start more
petty competition," one student said last
year. "What's the difference between a
B-plus and a B-minus?"
Yet, most students and faculty agree
that there is a significant difference
within the range of one letter grade and
feel that if one can make the distinction
between an A and a B, one must make
the distinction between a plus and a
minus. Thus, the first rationale of the.
new grading system is that it is fairer and
more judicious.
If a student receives an 89 in a
particular course and another student
an 80, the University has decided that it
no longer considers the two grades
equal. This may be little consolation for
the student who missed the A by a
fraction, but the Faculty Council did
not adopt the measure to frustrate
students, as one professor charged last
year.
'It's only fair that those students who
The fast was a great display of
community; continuing action,
however, is necessary to guarantee even
the meanest hopes of humankind being
fulfilled.
David Culp
Hunger Action Committee
Perpetual malfeasance
To the editor:
Every candidate for student body
president traditionally calls for the pre
registration publication of final exam
schedules. This year's crop is no
exception. Every victorious candidate,
in turn, traditionally forgets the issue
completely. Although not as earth-
shaking an issue as tenure for geology
profs, the pungent aroma of perpetual
malfeasnace which surrounds this
question qualifies it for our concern.
Steve Perry
0-12 The Villages
Thanks for the memory
To the editor:
I wish to express my sincerest
gratitude to the student body on behalf
of the 1957 basketball team.
The reception and the ovation we
received from the students at
Carmichael Coliseum last weekend can
only be expressed as absolutely
unbelieveable. To be remembered by so
many people in such a kind way 20 years
later makes us realize the stupendous
continum insports at the University, and
we are grateful for it. Chapel Hill is truly
the "Southern Part of Heaven." Again,
thank you for such a rememberance.
Pat and Lennie Rosenbluth
Where's the story
To the editor:
The College Republicans are
wondering why you sent a reporter to
our meeting on January 19, but did not
run a story on it? State Senator Carolyn
Mathis gave a very interesting and
informative speech, which we felt
deserved to be covered in the DTH.
Also at this meeting, the UNC College
Republicans passed a resolution
supporting the Equal Rights
Amendment, and announced that the
Spring CR Convention, involving 19
schools, will be held in Chapel Hill on
March 25 and 26.
The College Republicans have many
activities going this semester, and we
competition '
minuses
barely slip by with a 70 are not
considered to have done the same level
work as the students who earn an
average of 79. A nine-point difference is
not "petty."
O.K., you say, so there is a slight
distinction made, but plus minus
grading still does not reward me for
earning my B-plus and "punish" those
for getting a B-minus. This is where the
second reason for the two-year trial
period enters. It's true that without
specific quality point values we will only
know what the faculty's habits are in
assigning plus and minus grades, not
what the effect is in grade point
averages. But a careful record will be
kept of the numbers of pluses and
minuses over the next two years. The
faculty will then sit down and determine
the efficacy of assigning grade points to
pluses and minuses.
If after two years the council
discovers that indeed there are more B
m in uses being given than pluses, it could
To the editor.
i.
i
feiPslfe Is
i VHlLf!fJMI
1 am told that bones are good for
it's good to feel something.
hope that we will get better coverage in
the future.
Martha S. Broadfoot
717 Granville East
Understanding, not annihilation
To the editor:
I want to respond to Tim Fulton's
letter in Monday's DTH concerning the
funding of the Bl bomber. He said that
the only published opposition to this
project is the environmental impact and
the high cost. This may be true only
because the over-riding objections are
so appallingly clear and obvious. I, too,
think that we should do our best to
become well-informed citizens, and
much of this information can come from
reasoned thought and common sense.
will it make a
begin attaching different grades to the
pluses and minuses.
One way to do this is to make an A
worth 4.0; A-minus, 3.7; B-plus, 3.3; B,
3.0; B-minus, 2.7 and so on down to D.
If grade points are eventually assigned,
the student with the higher average will
be tangibly rewarded for his efforts and
the person with the lower average
punished. And UNC will be doing its
share to curb the nationwide
phenomenon of grade inflation.
The success of the entire system, of
course, rests with the professors. It is
well-known that few teachers enjoy
anyone telling them how to grade, much
less asking them to include plus and
minus grades. The new system,
however, will not violate a professor's
independence in grading. The idea is for
teachers to make sharp distinctions
within their grading scale and stick to
them, not just give a student, for
whatever reason, a B-plus when his
grade is actually a B.
St 4
soup and that makes me feel hungry. I guess
Peter
I grew up during the Viet Nam period,
and have only in the last five years
realized that no one knew why we were
there, or what we were trying to achieve.
We were just there, and we had guns in
our hands, so we fought. But we didn't
understand the people we were fighting
or exactly what we were protecting. I
submit that this understanding escapes
us still.
It is the best "defense" policy to
develop a three-pronged nuclear strike
force capable of destroying the Earth
several dozen times? Does this threat of
atomization of the human race comfort
our collective "noble" paranoid-mind?
Armament of this degree points, out the
need of an equal degree of international
understanding, not blind threats of
annihilation.
Terry Leonarz
209 Stacy Hall
difference?
But the assigning of points to
plus minus grades may never
materialize and the Faculty Council
may even scrap the whole idea in two
years. And perhaps it's true that a
student getting a B-plus will only be
more frustrated by falling short of an A
and then having it rubbed in his face.
Yet, the minus will serve at the same
time to remind other students how close
he actually came to getting a letter grade
lower.
The whole notion is to give a student
and others concerned with his record,
i.e., parents, graduate schools and
employers, a better reflection of his
performance in college. And by the time
fall, 1979, rolls around UNC students
may be startled by a grading system
significantly different from the one we
have today.
Ed Rankin is a junior history major
from Concord, N.C.