6 The Daily Tar Heel Tuesday, October 24, 1978
Lou Bilionis, Editor
Chuck Alston, Managing Editor
Don Woodard; Associate Editor
David McKinnou, Associate Editor
B ernie Ransbottom, University Editor
Mary Anne Rhyne, City Editor
Da vi d Stacks, State and National Editor
Richard Barron. New Editor
Betsy Flagler, Features Editor
Mark Scandling, Arts Editor .
Lee Pace, Sports Editor
Allen Jernigan. Photography Editor
oime martyrs .don't deserve recognition
fir CA M JOHNSON
Satly
86th year of editorial freedom
Solutions around bend
- t
Not much has been said about Chapel Hill's perennial transportation
problems since the bus system controversy subsided. But quietly, people are
doing some things about it. Without great fanfare, steps are being taken that
might provide the supply of parking spaces needed to meet a burgeoning
demand. And a move is on that could bring stability to the balance sheets
behind the brown buses.
Parking studies in Chapel Hill come practically a dime a dozen; four have
been conducted in the last 10 years. But the latest study is the most promising; if
the Board of Aldermen follow up the report, the downtown parking crunch
could become a thing of the past.
The $25,200 study, made by the traffic engineering firm of Wilbur Smith and
Associates, proposes three alternatives to the current parking system. Two of
the proposals suggest the construction of multilevel parking garages: one large
deck on East Rosemary Street and three smaller ones near "peak parking
activity" areas.
Whether the proposals ever make it into policy depends on the aldermen. But
before the board can act, it must give the go-ahead to study of the financial
feasability of the construction plans. The aldermen, however, are somewhat
hesitant to commit immediately more town funds for a study, and thereby
threaten to waste the money they already have spent to investigate parking
alternatives.
Federal aid may be on the way to answer the needs of the Chapel Hill bus
system. Under the recently passed National Highway and Transit bill, Chapel
Hill Transit could be eligible for as much as $700,000 in government funds.
But since the aid is-based upon a matching-fund system, that eligibility is in
question. The actual amount received from Washington depends on how much .
the state, including the University, contributes to the bus system in coming
years. Currently, the University provides most of its aid by purchasing bus
passes from CHT.and then reselling them to students (last year, UNC bought
$465,000 in passes and resold $130,000 worth to its students). This purchasing,
however, does not qualify as a straight subsidy eligible for matching funds.
In both the parking and bus situations, help appears readily available.
Solutions to the problems surrounding issues are now in local hands. In one
area, the Board of Aldermen can expedite matters by following the parking
study through to a quick and beneficial end. For the bus system to receive
additional aid, the University must act to provide direct subsidy.
Important steps already have been taken. But Chapel H ill could use just a few
more strides.
Mideast peace
The efforts to achieve a lasting peace between Egypt and Israel progressed
considerably this weekend with the surprise announcement that a draft of a
treaty had been agreed upon by negotiators for both sides in Washington. And
despite some reports that Egypt in particular was having second thoughts about
the document, it seems that both sides will eventually and probably soon
sign a treaty very similar to the one taken to Cairo and Tel Aviv on Sunday. The
negotiations which resume in Washington this week, though, will still prove
vital to the future of the treaty and the peace.
In typical diplomatic fashion, representatives of both sides at the talks in
Washington Monday were cautious about the chances for immediate
acceptance of the draft in their respective governments. But their caution belies
the relative ease with which the two sides came to agreement on the issues
directly relating to peace; in almost every instance, those issues were in fact
matters which had been settled in general form long ago, and which awaited
merely a modicum of pressure for their effective resolution. For both nations
the state of hostilities simply had become intolerable, given the questionable
benefits to be expected by either side from yet another war. And when those
. pressures seemed for a time as at Camp David, or last week in Washington
to be insufficient, President Carter was ready with his own very considerable
pressures.
What kept the two sides apart for so long, however, and what imperils the
current treaty, of course, is the fact that Egypt finds itself under strong
counterpressure from some of its most important allies in the Mideast to resist a
separate peace with Israel. Hence her attempts to "link" her concessions to
Israel with an Israeli guarantee fTeskitiofl-of-the-issues-of 4 he-West-Bank
and the Gaza Strip, territories once belonging to Jordan and Syria and now
considered by Israel as integral to her security. And hence the problems
confronting the present treaty.
For too long, the keen desire of the United States and the acute need of Egypt
have been to reach a general peace in the Mideast through the mechanism of an
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. It can only be hoped that, when the negotiations
resume in Washington later this week, the Israelis realize the future of peace in
the M ideast depends on their willingness to compromise now on the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip, - -
The Bottom Line
Woolly-bully
Within the universities and
corporations that make up Research
Triangle Park, there must be a heck
of a lot of advanced studying going
on. But we seem to have neglected
one field of endeavor: nowhere
within the Park's 20-mile radius is
there a Center for Woolly Worm
Studies. In fact, you'd have to go all
the way to Boone to find one.
Announcing the university that
. offers everything and we mean
everything in its curriculum:
Appalachian State. Sandra Glover is
the director for the Center for Woolly
Worm Studies, which, oddly enough,
. studies Woolly worms. She currently
is collecting 400 of the fuzzy buggers.
Why? (Glad you asked.) Woolly
worms are thought to be nature's
meteorologists denoting the
severity of the coming winter by the
color of the rings in their fur. Glover
and her associates feed their collected
data (rather, feed observations
regarding their collected date) into a
computer, examine trends in the
worms' colors with that of winter's
climate, and draw conclusions as to
whether the woolly worm's story is
but an old wives' tale.
Weather predictions should be
filtering out of Glover's office in the
next few weeks. In the meantime,
weathermen are calling for partly
furry woolly worms throughout the
next few weeks, with scattered woolly
worms continuing through
November.
I co that puck!
From the same T and A attitude
that brought you the Dallas
David Duke, Grand Wizard for the Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan, has surfaced again in North
Carolina. He was in High Point two weeks ago
announcing plans to open a state KKK center. He
said then he may enter the North Carolina
Democratic presidential primary in 1980.
Old-time Chapel H illians may remember the last
time Duke was in town. While speaking here in
1975, Duke was shouted off stage in Memorial
Hall by several hundred students. About '200
blacks, joined by members of the predominantly
white Coalition to End Racism comprised the
protestors. v The incident sparked freedom of
speech debates at U NC and led to the honor court
trial of BSM President .Algernon Marbely.
Marbely, charged with disrupting the speech, later
was acquitted.
Duke still is saying the things that so inflamed
UNC four years ago. From his home in Metaire,
La., he said there is a double standard between
white and minority interest groups. "There are
thousands of organizations working for minority
groups, but if a white does the same thing, he's
called a racist and a hater."
Duke said government actions forcing racial
integration will lead to the destruction of the
United States. "If the government keeps pushing
integration, this nation will crumble," Duke said.
"Integration is a failure. It has caused violence,
encouraged hatred and lowered educational
quality. It has been shown time and time again that
more integration leads to more violence."
Voluntary separation of whites and minorities
will solve racial conflict, Duke said. "The answer is
letters to the editor
to allow the races to tailor their own community to
their own needs."
Each community will differ, he said, because
each race has its own genetically determined needs.
Genetics is the base factor of life. If you give
people the opportunity to develop their own
culture, blacks will develop a different culture '
trom whites. White culture emphasizes English
literature, chemistry, physics and mathematics.
Blacks are inferior as far as our culture goes. There
are significant psychological differences between
the races."
Duke said white politicians are not responsive to
white voters, who are becoming aware of being
dispossessed by minority groups. "White,
politicians know what's happening to white
people. They know about the crime, the attacks on
our culture and the Jewish financing of political
campaigns. But they're afraid. No politician would
stand up and work for the white majority."
Duke denied being a racist, "unless you call a
racist someone who loves his own people and
wants to advance their interests and desires.
Racists are the ones who've only read the pro
integration side," he said.
American politicians are hypocritical about race
relations, Duke said. "Andrew Young goes to
Rhodesia and South Africa and says Negroes are
in the majority, so education and social programs
should be tailored to meet blacks needs. If
someone suggested we do that in this nation.
Young wouldblanch."
Charming. If Young and every other black
person would blanch, our problems would be
over; at least, according to Duke's line of
reasoning. But since this is possible only in the
realm ot racist numor. Duke's answer is to set up
separate societies for each minority group.
Presumably, blacks would lounge about eating
soul food and making love. Whites, on the other
hand, would be condemned to working but
calculus problems and reciting Lord Byron.
Heaven only knows what. Latinos would do.
I don't want to comment on the substance of
Duke's arguments, but 1 would like to comment on
his proposed presidential candidacy. There are
those who would submit that public airing of
Duke's philosophy should be prohibited or even
stopped by force. They fear listeners will be swayed
by Duke's appeals.
I disagree. Violent confrontation tends to
discredit the perpetrators and divert attention
from where it properly should be focused. In the
case of Duke's 1975 Carolina visit, the protestors
gave Duke far more publicity than he would have
gained had the protestors ignored him.
If Duke comes campaigning in North Carolina
in 1979 as he says he will, his outrageous, pseudo
scientific appeals should heartily and generally be
ignored. Nothing will be gained by making a
martyr of a self-serving demagogue like David
Duke.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "The martyr
cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a
tongue of fame; every prison a more illustrious
abode; every burned book or house enlightens the
world; every suppressed or expunged word
reverberates through the earth from side to side."
Cam Johnson, a senior journalism major from
Aberdeen, is a staff writer for the Daily Tar Heel.
Data devoured; no course review this fall
Cowboys Cheerleaders quickly
followed up by almost every other
team in the National Football
League one more variation on a
theme. Owners of the National
Hockey League's St. Louis Blues
have announced the formation of the
Blue Angels: 16 women hired to lead
the crowd into a roaring frenzy.
The team's owners seem to have
solved the most pending problem
facing the cheering squad. A wooden
stage has been constructed at one end
of the sports arena, ruling out the
necessity for the women to jump
about on the ice or within the penalty
box.
We're not sure, however, that all of
the problems facing the Angels have
been solved. For instance, how does
one cheer for a hockey team? What
kind of cheers are possible? Given the
violence of the game, one presumes
that the majority of the slogans will
deal with physical contact: "Check
'em back, cheek 'em back...wayyyyy
back," would do for starters. "Rah,
rah ree, slice 'em in the knee. Rah, rah
jib, crack a floating rib!" could prove
effective as well.
And then there's the problem of
clothing the Angels. Like any other
promotional gimmick, cheering
squads always seem to give
you.. .um... more in the name of
sexism. But will the Angels be the
exceptions? The cold facts indicate
that a cheerleader's skimpy attire in
an ice arena could make the "Blues" a
more appropriate nickname than the
St. Louis owners originally intended.
To the editor:
In response to Elizabeth Stuart's
questions concerning the Carolina
Course Review ("Reviews cancelled?
D TH, Oct. 23), it is true that there will not
be a printed edition of the review this fall.
Because of mechanical errors in the
scanning of computer forms, some results
from the spring evaluations were highly
questionable. Consequently, we could
not print these results.
This does not mean that we have
discontinued the review. We will again
evaluate courses in December and print a
review in the spring. Moreover, we are
using this semester to re-assess the course
review. We have sent out questionnaires
and have created a board of faculty
members and students who will study the
present, review and make changes in its
form and content.
We are sorry if certain individuals feel
that these decisions have been "covered
up." This was not our intention. We have
informed departments of these problems
and are willing to answer any questions
concerning the future of the review:
Manley Roberts
Kathy Harris
Carolina Course Review
co-chairpersons
ERA rally
To the editor:
I was glad to seeTrish Hunt's remarks
on ERA ("Male ERA N.C. lobbyist
sought," DTH, Oct. 23). 1979 wiU be a
crucial year for ERA in North Carolina.
Even though, the extension has passed.
North Carolina can't afford to wait a few
years before it ratifies ERA. Hopefully,
North Carolina will be the first state in
the South to ratify.
UNC students can help in the
ratification effort. Students should get an
absentee ballot, or return home to vote
for pro-ERA candidates in their home
districts. They, should write their
representatives after the election and tell
them, how they feel about ERA. And
there will be an ERA rally from noon-2
p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30 in the Pit (or
202 Union if it rains). The rally will
include speakers, entertainment and
ERA information.
Susan Rowe
AWS chairperson
A plea to all
To the editor:
- Just another letter in favor of the ERA?
Not quite. I want to issue a plea to every
UNC student:
If you are against the passage of the
f UovstaW 1978 .
f Ti 6 3 lZ iT
H 20 a. 33 t& iy
"
ERA, then 1 urge you to attend the rally
on Monday, Oct. 30 in the Pit. I cannot
help but feel that you don't fully
understand what the ERA would
accomplish. It's time to learn.
If you are in favor of the passage of the
amendment, it should go without saying
that I hope you attend the rally, not only
to show your support, but also to help
educate the misguided.
Most importantly, if you are
undecided, then the rally is the place for
you. Remember, the ERA is for
everybody.
Barbara Olasov
948 Morrison
Appalled by response
To the editor:
As a member of Chapel Hill's
heterosexual population. 1 am appalled,
embarrassed and saddened by the
response of some individuals on this
campus to Gay Awareness Week.
Members of the CGA have had to paint
the Cube three times to cover up
obscenities scrawled over their
announcements. Small posters in dorms
have been similarly defaced. I fail to
understand how members of a
community such as this, which purports
to be educated, sophisticated and
"liberal" (whatever that word means
today) could show such horrendous
intolerance of a minority.
Being gay is not limited to sexual
preference. Gay people are above all
people, not just gay people. A person's
sexuality is not necessarily the
determining factor in that person's life
(though some straight members of our
wonderful species seem to place an
inordinate amount of stress on their
sexual prowess). I find it shocking that
some people have such a limited
understanding of humanity that they see:
gayness only as an expression of sexuality
( besides, oral sex is not limited to gays, as
the messages on the Cube implied; don't
we all know that?).
This immature scrawling of obscenities
and the blind intolerance such actions
show prove how unnecessarily cruel
people on this campus can be. The gay
community here is not and never has been
attacking the straight community; its
members are merely trying to gain the
recognition, the understanding and the
acceptance they deserve. I can only hope
those who feel the compulsion to
condemn gayness will at some point in
their lives stop to think and try to
understand that there is really no
significant difference between a gay
person and a straight person, that a
person's sexuality does not determine his
or her personality, and that we are all
merely human.
Debbie Bedford
203 Aycock
Don't tell Student Aid
To the editor:
Thanks for running another ludicrous
anti-Helms cartoon on Oct. 18. The
cartoon informed me that as a financial
contributor to the Helms re-election
campaign I'm a "rich conservative." 1 just
hope the Student Aid Office doesn't
discover my secret million-dollar Swiss
bank accounts.
Bryan Wirwicz
S-8 Old Well Apartments
Helpful hints for oiif war on grade inflation
By JEFF PORTER FIELD
It had to happen sometime. Apparently there
were just too many confident souls wandering
around campus, and so, word has drifted down
from the shadowy stratosphere of the Hierarchy
that a crackdown will be implemented to combat
the creeping menace of good grades.
It seems we are now capable of acing tests that
would have left past generations spinning their
wheels. And the authorities painfully have been
aware of our progress. So, faced with a shortage of
below-average students on which to vent their
frustration, they have opted to pick on above
average students instead.
i
They have allotted us a generous four weeks at
the beginning of each term to decide whether we
want to drop courses in which we may not yet have
received any grades. They have begun considering
pluses and minuses in the computation of our
QPAs, and now we discover that they are hard at
work to push the average grade down to the same
level as the minimum required for graduation. To
be more lax would be to provide an inferior
education.
And granted, these measures are all well and
good, but anyone aware of the true significance of
the problem will realize that the current steps being
taken toward its solution are simply far too lenient.
Therefore, 1 have taken the liberty of compiling a
number of suggestions which hopefully will assist
in driving the menace of academic excellence from
our fair campus forever:
1) Allow a maximum SAT score of 450
combined for admission to the University, but
keep curriculum standards the same. The average
QPA should begin to drop somewhat within six
months.
2) Require a minimum of 21 credit hours per
semester. Employ a secret intelligence force (which
could be recruited easily from the ranks of the
parking monitors) to harrass students suspected of
keeping up in their work.
3) Remove all books from Student Stores. This
will make studying more difficult and encourage
students to goof off.
4) Eliminate all irrelevant information such as
times, days, buildings and room numbers from the
class schedules distributed during registration.
This way, a lot of people won't be able to find their
classes until after midterms. v
5) Open the libraries only on Friday and
Saturday nights. And when finals are finally over.
6) Fail everybody. This also will ease the housing
shortage, eliminate crowded classrooms, shorten
lines significantly, and make it easier to find a
parking place.
If the procedures outlined above seem a bit
extreme, bear in mind that they, like the ones
already being put into effect by the University, are
simply for our own good. Graduate schools won't
take our transcripts seriously until our grades go
down. Of course they probably won't admit us
with the lower grades, either, but that's beside the
point. It's our duty as students to let everyone
know just how average we really are, and if those in
power are kind enough to nudge us toward our
goal, so be it. A promising future of mediocrity is
looming upon our academic horizon, and we
won't have to put up with the nuisance of As and
Bs much longer. j
Jeff Porter jield, a sophomore journalism major
from Burlington, is a staff writer for the Daily Tar
Heel.