10 .The Daily Tar Heal Wednesday. March
Greg Porter
Editor
.
Joni Peters, Managing Editor
Ed Rankin, Associate Editor
Lou Bilionis, Associate Editor
Laura Seism, University Editor
Elliott Potter, City & State Editor
Chuck Alston, National Editor
Jack Greenspan, Features. Editor
Jeanne Newsom, Arts Editor
Gene Upchurch, Sports Editor
Rouse Wilson, Photography Editor
Short drop period a failure
When the Faculty Council decided last spring semester to shorten the
course drop period to four weeks, the rationale was that such a move would
decrease the., number of drops,., particularly what administrators call
"frivolous " drops. '
In the fall semester, the Administration got what they wanted. Total
drops for the fall "16 semester Were only 50 per cent as great as those for the
fall -75 semester, falling from 14,951 to 7,686.
At the time, administrators felt the figures had proven their point that
students had been dropping too many courses.
"We've had a lot of frivolousness in the past," Peter McNamara, assistant
dean of Arts and Sciences, told the Daily Tar Heel. "This is not to say that
students are the only frivolous people on campus, but I think some change in
the drop policy was in order."
j But the latest statistics released by the Records Office indicate that the
I ...
new drop policy may not be as effective as it might have seemed. Drops for
the present spring semester have returned to the levels that were normal
before the new policy was instituted.
There were 18,580 drops this semester compared to 19,002 drops in the
1976 spring semester.
It seems most likely, in view of the return to the old drop levels, that the
decrease in drops in the fall of 1976 was a temporary change caused by
students' lack of familiarity with the new system. Now that students are
accustomed to the new policy, they are dropping the same number of
courses that they were before.
This trend back to a constant drop level seems to indicate that students,
are not so frivolous as they were once thought. At the very least, the figures
prove that the four week drop period is not doing what it was instituted to
do hold down the number of unnecessary drops.
And not only is the shorter drop period failing to accomplish its mission,
but it is also causing needless negative side effects.
First, students are forced to make important academic decisions based
upon incomplete, insufficient information. Second, a decision to drop a
course becomes a conspicuous and indelible black mark of
"withdrawal" on the transcript. And third, after the four week period is up,
the student must forfeit all academic freedom, leaving the fate of his drop
proposal in the hands of a committee before which he cannot appear to state
his case.
Such a policy is hardly in keeping with the traditions of an enlightened,
progressive University. Now that the latest drop figures have blown away
the smokescreen of the short drop period as a "deterrent," these injustices
should be corrected and some real progress made.
Team picks up for a victim
Last June, Don Bolles, an investigative reporter for the Arizona
Republic, was blown up by a bomb when he turned his car's ignition. He
had spent most of his career investigating the invasion of Arizona by
organized crime, concentrating on the state's politicians and public officials.
Apparently, he had come too close to breaking a story and had to be
eliminated. -
The hoodlums and swindlers thought they had rid themselves of anyone
who could finger them when they killed Bolles. But that isn't the case. A
team of 36 reporters representing 23 American papers, television and radio
stations responded to Bolles murder by coming to Arizona to carry on his
work.
The team, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE), released its
first in a series of articles Monday dealing with crime in Arizona. The
findings are shocking. According to IRE, "Arizona is a land of
promise.. .but some of that promise is being siphoned away by organized
crime, corrupt political structures and a justice system often crippled by
evils ranging from cronyism to flat-out dishonesty."
The conclusion is stark Arizona is in trouble.
Though one reporter was silenced, the press could not be. The response to
Bolles' murder is commendable, and the work of the IRE speaks highly of
the principles which the American press can, if it wishes, uphold.
The Daily
publishes Monday through Friday during the academic year. Offices are at the Student
Union Building, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514. Telephone
numbers: 933-0245, 0246, 0252.
News: Keith Hollar, assistant editor; Jeff Cohen, Jeff Collins, Chris. Fuller, Mary Gardner,
Russell Gardner, Toni Gilbert, Tony Gunn, Nancy Hartis, Charlene Havnaer, J aci Hughes, Will'
Jones, Mark Lazenby, Peter Masterman, Vernon Mays, Karen Millers, Linda Morris, Beth
Parsons, Chip Pearsall, Mary Anne Rhyne, Leslie Seism, David Stacks, Elizabeth Swaringen,
Patti Tush, Merton Vance, Mike Wade and Tom Watkins.
News Desk: Ben Cornelius, assistant managing editor. Copy editors: Richard Barron, Beth
Blake, Vicki Daniels, Robert Fcke, Chip Highsmith, Newell Highsmith, Jay Jennings, Frank
Moore, Katherine Oakley, Karen Oates, Evelyn Sahr, Karen Southern, Melinda Stovall, Merri
Beth Ticc, Larry Tupler and Ken Williamson. Campus Calendar: Tenley Ayers. Editorial
assistant: Steve Perry.
Sports: Lee Pace, assistant editor; Kevin Barris, Dede Biles, Skip Foreman, Tod Hughes, David
Kirk, Pete Mitchell, Joe Morgan, Ken Roberts, David Squires.Grant Vosburgh, Will Wilson and
Isabel Worthy.
Arts and Entertainment: Bob Brucckner, Chip Ensslin, Marianne Hansen, Jeff Hoffman, Kim
Jenkins, Bill Kruck, Libby Lewis, Larry Shore and Phred Vultee. Kaleidoscope: Melissa
Swicegood. '
Graphic Arts: Cartoonists: Allen Edwards and Lee Poole. Photographers: Bruce Clarke, Allen
Jernigan and Bill Russ.
Business: Verna Taylor, business manager. Lisa Bradley, Steve Crowell, Debbie Rogers and
Nancy Sylvia. Subscription managers: Dan Smigrod and David Rights.
Advertising: Philip Atkins, manager; Dan Collins, sales manager; Carol Bedsole, Ann Clarke,
Julie Coston, Cynthia Lesley, Anne Sherrill and Melanie Stokes.
Composition Editor: Reid Tuvim. Circulation Managers: Tim Bryan, Kevin Campbell; Pat
Dixon and Bert Felt.
DTH Composing Room Managed by UNC Printing Mary Ellen Seate, supervisor. Jeffrey
Loomia and Robert Streeter, typesetters. Ad layout: Evelyn Sahr. Composition: Mike Austin,
Ada Boone, Wendell Clapp, Marcia Decker, Judy Dunn, M ilton Fields, Carolyn K uhn and Steve
Quakenbusb.
The Dally Tar Heel is printed by HInton Enterprises in Mebane, N.C.
16, 1977
latin
Jar Mnl
84th Year of Editorial Freedom
Tar Heel
Thank you
To the editor:
This week marks the beginning of the
biennial FINE ARTS FESTIVAL. This year
the responsibility for financing,
programming and presentation was assumed
by students in the arts. They have invited the
community and the campus to partake in a
continuous and joyous celebration of music,
drama, art, poetry and dance.
There are many who deserve thanks:
Robin Hanes and Bruce Curran; Michele
Patterson, Dawn Aberg and John Stover
will have to represent everyone involved.
You have done a remarkable job. This year it
is truly a Festival of the Arts.
Marvin Saltzman, Chairman
Division of Fine Arts
Professor of Art
Save our grass
To the editor:
1 heartily endorse Maury York's plea that
we all use. the walks and give the. newly
planted grass an opportunity to get
established. The campus then will look more
like a university campus inhabited be
appreciative and responsible adults than like
the elementary school playground that much
of it has come to resemble recently.
Each, individual must assume
responsibilty for his or her own action in this
matter, of course, but if faculty and staff set
an example it might help. It is disheartening
to witness, as 1 have from my office window .
or, on the way to class or the library during
the past few days, an assistant dean of the
graduate school, assorted professors of
varying ranks, a librarian, a campus
policeman, a U.S. postman, half a dozen
electricians and countless janitors crossing
the freshly plowed and planted area between
Lenoir and Hamilton halls.
'
j my rHE HFELS hKB
With prices climbing
Caffeine fiends arise
By ZESELEY B. HAISLIP, JR.
Men are sitting on the most effective
weapon in the world, and women keep
the same device in their pocketbooks.
Money.
It is time consumers developed a little
more, care and efficiency in their
spending habits, and the coffee
producing nations, particularly Brazil,
are offering all of us the chance to see
just how powerful those dollar bills can
be. Stop buying coffee.
The enormous increases in the price
of coffee during the last year are
partially due to a legitimate shortage of
coffee beans. A severe frost in July 1975
destroyed almost 75 per cent of the
Brazilian coffee trees and. it tates four
years for newly planted trees to begin
producing marketable quantities. It will
be 1980 before the effects of this freeze
are eliminated provided Brazil is not
battered again by cold weather. Bad
weather is also responsible for reduced
harvests in Colombia and East Africa,
and Angolan production of coffee beans
has fallen off sharply since the 1975 civil
war.
Brazil, on the other hand, raised its
export tax on coffee 55 cents per pound
in January. Although exports increased
only 7 per cent in 1976, export revenues
more than doubled. According to an
article in the Wall Street Journal,
Brazilian officials are trying "to bolster
their scant stocks by deterring demand
through higher prices. Their aim, they
say, is to make their stocks last."
Recently, however, Brazil has bought,
up coffee supplies in Angola and El
Salvador.
It seems more likely that the export
tax has been raised to improve a balance
of payments deficit estimated at 6.3
billion dollars in 1976.
Obviously, the shortage and the
for a real 'Festival of the Arts'
On Monday morning after the heavy rain
of the day before this place was quite soggy,
and when 1 saw a person mire up almost to
shoe tops in the mud, I was struck with how
appropriate a sign with the letters SOG
might have been: Save Our Grass.
William S. Powell
Professor of H istory
Masterpiece of conceptual art
To the editor:
Scenario: First artist creates large,
uninteresting wood sculpture in public place.
A few days later, accomplice artist destroys
wood sculpture. Result: What starts as
utterly lackluster sculpture ends as a
masterpiece of conceptual art. People get
interested, people get excited,they write
letters to the editor. Hundreds of peopleare.
caught up in the aftershocks of the process..
A brilliant piece. Bravo.
Vann McGee
Logic Laboratory
Junkpile art
To the editor:
Art is in the eye of the beholder. So are
junkpiles.
Paul MacDougal
220 Teague
higher export taxes have begun to affect
the coffee processing industry in the
United States. Folger Coffee Company
raised its wholesale price for ground
coffee Monday to $4.18 a pound, a
move which will raise retail prices in
April. Industry analysts have predicted
that a pound of coffee will cost the
consumer at least $5 a pound by the end
of 1977.
"People are grumbling and even
threatening consumer boycotts,"
according to the United Nations Food
and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
"Yet to date there is no clear indication
that they are drinking less coffee."
The time for a clear indication is now.
Boycott efforts have been advocated by
Elinor Guggenheimer, consumer affairs
commissioner for New York City, the
Consumer Federation of America and
other consumer groups across the
"If the Brazilians refuse to drink Coke, we
can consume the surplus and satisfy our
country. These groups suggest that
individuals reduce their coffee
consumption by 30 per cent, and in
North Carolina, at least one
convenience store chain has decided not
to restock coffee supplies until prices go
down.
Zip Mart Food Stores, Inc.,
headquartered in New Bern, marked its
coffee stocks down to J uly 1 976 prices in
February. Company president Robert
Beck said that sales were halted
"because coffee exporters and
processors have given confusing and
illogical explanations for the price
hikes." After consulting with grocery
associations and wholesalers, and
examining articles in the New York
Times and various magazines, the
company concluded, "Everything we
could find indicated ample stocks of
Face the Facts
To the editor:
An Open Letter to all Faculty Members:
This letter is written to respectfully
demand that a practice engaged in by some
of you be terminated. The practice to which I
refer is the giving of examinations without
any or with inadequate proctoring.
Face facts. With the present emphasis on
academic records in employment, graduate
and professional schools, it is inevitable that
cheating will occur. By not doing everything
in your power to prevent this, you are doing
a great disservice to honest students and
ultimately to the stature of the University.
Since the present Honor Code is less than
totally effective in preventing cheating, I
strongly urge that all faculty members be
present when they give examinations or
make certain that adequate proctoring is
provided.
Thomas W. Graham
A No Vote and a Cadillac
To the editor:
I read Dr. Rodman's letter with dismay. If
North Carolina does give tax breaks for big
expensive cars, we should approach our state
legislators about repealing this gross
indiscretion. Of course, as Dr. Rodman
implied, this would meet with the same fate
as the Equal Rights Amendment. You know.
The Rubbish Bin
deny the daily cup urge
coffee no real shortage."
In response to threats of a consumer
boycott, the president of Colombia said,
"If this boycott is somehow successful, it
would represent a serious blow for the
policy of accord sponsored by your
government and mine," and one
Brazilian official threatened a Coca
Cola boycott if U.S. consumers refuse to
buy coffee. A less antagonistic point of
view was stated by the president of the
Brazilian Coffee Institute in a Wall
Street Journal interview. He suggested
that a boycott would be "good for
Brazil" because at the present export
rate, his nation's coffee stocks would be
quickly exhausted.
We believe the American consumer
should come to the aid of Brazil. If they
are concerned about depleting their
stocks, we should altruistically deny
ourselves our daily cups of java and
drink tea instead. If they believe U.S.
caffeine fiends will turn to burglary and
purse-snatching to support their habit
and help the Brazilian government erase
its trade deficit in the bargain, we should
all learn to enjoy hot chocolate and
marshmallow creme. If the Brazilians
refuse to drink Coke, we can consume
the surplus and satisfy our caffeine
desire that way. Admittedly, cola is not
as good hot as coffee, but there
definitely was no shortage of ice this
winter.
And if you feel your determination is
weakening, sit down.
Zesely B. Haislip is a senior English
and economics major from Winston
Salem, N.C.
the chances are good that the senators who
voted "no" drive Cadillac Sevilles and
Mercedes-Benz 450 SE's.
What's very disgusting is the fact that I
read'the name of my home district's senator
in the list of those who voted "no." He does
live in one of the ritziest sections of town and
has two or three cars. So, I guess my idea of
approaching him is pretty useless.
Robert Allen
Grad Student in Slavic Languages
Housing strikes again
To the editor:
Strike up another for Housing. Over
Spring Break all personal property was
taken off the dorm doors and thrown away.
And this was with no warning. The articles
on my door were not worth much
monetarily, but they did have value to me
and they did belong to me. Well, Housing,
this one's almost as good as lottery!
Fran Furchgott
201 Winston Dorm
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes columns
and letters to the editor. Lettersmust be
typed, double spaced on a 60-space line
and are subject to editing for libelous
content, bad taste and wordiness.
Letters are subject to condensation for
length purposes and should be mailed to
the editor. Daily Tar Heel, Carolina
Union.
Unsigned columns on this page
represent the opinion of the Daily- Tar
Heel. Signed columns or' cartoons
represent the opinion of the individual
contributor only.
By ROBIN Mc WILLIAM
The Japanese are challenging Scotland's traditional role
as the main supplier of good scotch, according to The New
York Times (Feb. 20, 1977), but Scotland still provides the
peat, which gives the whisky its special flavor, and the malt
whiskies, which are blended to make scotch. At present the
Japanese use Scottish-sounding names for their products,
such as Robert Brown and Dunbar. 1 can foresee the day,
however, when we'll be buying Chivas Imperial, Tokyo
Sark, and Johnnie Hiraki, and reading "Fujii's Profiles.'"
"More men than women are convicted of shoplifting, and
the majority of women shoplifters are aged between 25 and
35. But one old lady collapsed in a supermarket, and when an
ambulance was called, was found to be suffering from
hyperthermia caused by a frozen chicken under her hat"
(The Scotsman).
My old prep school, which in the British meaning is a
private school for boys aged 8 to 13, lies in the heart of
Midlothian country, 8 miles southwest of Edinburgh.
During the season, Scotland's oldest county hunt rides
through the grounds, disrupting classes with the sound of the
horn, the yapping of the hounds and the pounding of the
culture horses' hooves. This is the Linlithgow and
Stirlingshire Hunt, founded a little over two centuries ago.
Unfortunately, the survival of this historical gathering is
threatened by motorways, Turnhouse airport, Livingston
new town and the growing conurbation of East Edinburgh.
To all the avid readers of the Daily Tar Heel in Scotland's
oldest county hunt, therefore: I wish you the best of British
luck in your request for an extended boundary.
Robin McVVilliam is an interdisciplinary major from
Edinburgh, Scotland.
IT
ptrsSSiy
A6J'S!i 4ley f
yyyyyy
y y
y y
wziwjOMMywfr,,';
Staff photo by Rouse Wilsom
Coffee prices are soaring to new hights.
I Ji t .J V TV ' '4 It
t( - ( Jfo'Vm's $
' '-X , . A & " ' " : ? -
I " w 'tv vW f
W ! if it i v.J vs-.y,.,, .,;,,,,.,..
y y,'-' . ''yyyyyy, '"yyyy.yy, .
v ' ,.fei:.i:,ii::';wiilywWiWiiii((
j '.'t mvy yyy " y s
I .yyyyy .. '-"yy .:Yyy.y.,, , .y.yvi'y,,
yyyyy"AJyyyS'y ' "
I xV4 r
if'-' t 'rY'' n
It ,yyyy. U 'ly '
' , 'f'''? yy ' " y ?
Ass' ''y,s -ssyS's? s. f?
' ' ' '"""'' '
; ,jryr,s M
yr r-"V'
. i-j- yys . J