6 The Daily Tar Heel Monday. November 20, 1978
letters to the editor
Lou Bilionis, Editor
Chuck Alston, Managing Editor
Don Wooiiakd, Associate Editor
David McKinnon, Associate Editor
Bern ie Rans bottom, University Editor
Mary Anne Rhyne, City Editor
Michael Wade, State and National Editor
Richard Barron, News Editor f- ,
Betsy Flagler, Features Editor
Mark Scandling, Arts Editor
I f.e Pace, Sports Editor
Billy Newman, Photography Editor
Daily
Star Hl
X6th year of editorial freedom
The tasks at hand
When a vacancy occurs among a university's deans, it is a cause tor
concern not only among the members of the affected school, but among
the university community as a whole." With their heavy influence in
matters as important as hiring and firing, course selection and
assignment and long-term planning policy, the deans are to their schools
what the chancellor is to the university. And when the University in
question is one with as consistent a reputation for quality as UNC, the
cause for concern is just that much greater.
This year the U niversity must fill not one, but six vacant deanships, in
the graduate school and the schools of law, education, medicine,
journalism and business administration. The task will be made even
more difficult and more important by the fact that the futures of
some of the University's finest schools will be on the line.
For the law school the process of selecting a replacement for retiring
. dean Robert G. Byrd will be especially significant; the school in fact now
stands at a crossroad. With a large contingent of new professors
appointed in the last year, and a new demand rising for expanded
opportunities for practical experience, the school's conditions are ripe
for a new dean to work many changes. The law school has until now
defied definition of its academic character in any precise way except
that it trains an extraordinary number of North Carolina lawyers but
it is not too much to say that it will very soon face the possibility of
becoming an institution of national pTOirrineTteeror it may choose to
remain regional in its focus."
The task for the new deans of the schools of medicine, business
administration and journalism, on the other hand, will be to insure that
their schools retain their places among the nation's finest. Above all, the
new deans will have to defend their schools against the menace of
creeping complacency; many have felt that the journalism and business
schools in particular have been guilty in recent years of resting on their
laurels. The School of Education will face the demands of improving the
.skills of its graduates a great deal in a short span of time, and like the
medical school will have to deal with the increasingly difficult problem
of striking the proper balance between specialization and general
education.
And if the amount of responsibility to be delegated seems inordinate
already, there is as well the deanship of the graduate school to be decided
upon; that position carries with it a great degree of responsibility in
academic areas as diverse as folklore and neurobiology.
Fully half the U niversity's academic administrators will be selected in
the next few months. Already the selection process is under way.
Committees are meeting, advertisements are being placed, interviews
are being arranged. We can only hope that a quality of leadership equal
to the tasks at hand will be exercised in the search.
Big.Foiir
ticket distribution hm farce
To the editor?
The ticket distribution for the Big Four
Basketball Tournament was a ridiculous
farce another example of how Carolina
students are being deprived of legitimate
opportunities to go to Carolina sporting
events! The ticket distribution was not
well publicized, since by I p.m. only 150
people were inCarmichael waiting for the
300 available tickets. In addition, the
price was increased, but that was not
publicized either. Most importantly, the
distribution system was changed and no
one was notified! Last year, students were
able to purchase actual tickets. This year,
for some unknown reason, students may
pay only for receipts to be redeemed for
tickets the night of the game. Only after
arguing with the people in charge were we
able to get the receipts numbered, with
names on them, so as to keep each
person's priority in line. Small
i consolation!!! After waiting for hours in
Carmichael, .we now have to go to
Greensboro, possibly miss dinner, and
wait in line again to get our paid-for
tickets.
. v
Supposedly, it is an Honor Code
violation to sell your ticlcet to someone"
other than a student. By employing this
new system, the ticket office is, by
implication, saying it does not believe in
or support the Honor Code. If the
University's administrative offices don't
support it, who should? Furthermore, it's
a crime and a disgrace that such
distribution procedures are allowed to
exist. In essence, student attendance at
sporting events is discouraged by the
time-consuming and inefficient system of
distribution. In fact, the distribution
policy encourages students to miss classes
just to get a ticket (or in this case a $28
receipt)!! It is a sad situation when a
University is more concerned with its
alumni than with the students it is here to
serve. What we are being told, in short, is
that to see a Carolina basketball game, we
must either devote a whole day, while
skipping classes, or wait 10 years until we
can afford to give money to the Alumni
Association to get tickets.
The events that took place in
Carmichael on Nov. 15 were an outrage,
and the situation should be rectified
immediately by those responsible for
fouling up in the first place.
Kendall Black welder
and 57 other students
Out of character
Encouraging news will certainly come from the Traffic and Parking
Committee meeting today. For regardless of which alternative the
committee recommends to Vice Chancellor for Business John Temple to
respond to the loss of the Carolina Union lot next year, North Campus
residents who park their cars in the N-4 lots around Cobb and Joyner
dorms still will be assured of parking spaces on campus.
But there probably will be discouraging news as well. If Temple acts as
all expect he will, most of those spaces for the students who live in
Connor, or Winston, or Ruffin, or Lewis, or almost anywhere on North
Campus, will be on South Campus figuratively if not literally miles
away. And with such a move, the convenience of a parking space within
a reasonable walk of one's residence will become a privilege enjoyed by a
fortunate few.
Temple could, of course, act differently. He could reserve all but a
few of the N-4 parking permits for dorm residents and place faculty,
staff and commuting students in South Campus lots and thereby
encourage use of the buses the University funds so well. He could
establish as policy the notion that commuters the people who
contribute to the incessant flow of traffic around the campus be forced
to make a small sacrifice in return.
Any decision by the vice chancellor to retain the spaces in the N-4
zone for students living on North Campus, though, would be distinctly
out of character with the University's traditional handling of such
affairs; as choice parking spaces bow to new construction, faculty and
staff are invariably moved to the next best spot while students are feft
with the remains. But it would be a refreshing, progressive change if
Temple were to acknowledge the pleas of those members of the UNC
community who consistently pay the price associated with University
growth. It would be a sound, fair and surprisingly logical move if
Temple were to save N-4 for the residents it now serves.
Difference of opinion
To the editor:
I. was, thoroughly disappointed with
Stephen Jackson's "review" (DTH. Nov.
16) of PRC's production of Threads.
Having worked at this performance for
more than half the run, 1 accurately can
say that his opinion is not one shared by
the majority of the audiences. The
response has been quite the opposite.
Threads is a touching and moving piece.
Never was I at a performance where there
was a tear shed over the tender talent of
Frank Raiter as the father or the
passionate portrayal of Lenka Peterson
as the mother.
I feel Mr. Jackson has misconceived
the entire work. Threads, as a
"metaphor" depicts the interweaving of
family relations. Jonathan Bolt
enunciates a small town as a minute
world within itself: how these colorful
characters have become trapped in its
simplicity; how one of them has become
celebrated by stepping out of its realms
into a world unknown to them; how
failure and acceptance are the essence of
life. It is a universal situation not just
regional.
1 must admit I anticipated the
stereotyped Southern scene, but was
pleasantly surprised. Bolt articulated the
South in a fresh, poetic way. His use of
"chess pie" was a delightful relief from the
traditional use of "grits." Time and again
1 heard a viewer say, "(ice. 1 felt just like 1
was in my grandmothers home." truly
I We.
irfMmMfi j I8886
the set and the characters caught intimate
and unique images of the South.
I also feel the actors and director Amy
Salt (none of whom are native North
Carolinians) should be commended for
their dialects. Rarely were they
exaggerated. The contrast of Allan
Carlsen's non-Southern dialect of Clyde's
proved only to strengthen his character of
"hometown boy gone actor."
As for the emotions "slipping in and
out," I think it was the reviewer who was
slipping more out than in. Emotion
prevails strongly from the moment the
play begins, conjuring up painful
memories that are rekindled into a
steadily growing flame which burns
brilliantly at the end of the second act
where Lenka Peterson engulfs the
audience during her glowing death scene.
From there the audience is swept fervidly
along with the sympathy and sensitivity
of the remaining act until they are left
breathless by Frank Raiters tear-jerking
performance of his confession of love.
In short. I feel Jonathan Bolt's Threads
is an inspiring and penetrating piece,
filled with memorable performances, and
well worth seeing.
Candy Clapp
ll-R Old Well
Reiteration
To the editor:
My letter to the editor. Monday. Nov.
14, was heavily edited. Several important
points were omitted. I would like to re
emphasize the obscured major thrust of
the letter, the lack of communication in
the large lecture class between the
professor and the student, and the
resulting apathy in the classroom.
In addition to ignoring further thought
and effort, often grading errors are
ignored. Yet when the additional correct
answers to a question or just an error in
grading is pointed out. it is "too late" (too
much trouble) for all the TAs to correct
all the tests. All these lost points and
disregarded effort may not change grades
drastically, but they do add up in
disincentives and apathy towards classes
and learning, in general.
Again I want to re-emphasize the need
for effort by both the faculty and the
students to reduce this lack of
communication. Students, you're hereto
get involved in learning GRIPE if you
have a legitimate complaint! Professors.
take an interest in your students. Don't let
apathy breed in your classes - be willing
to listen and respond to your students and
to change teaching faults and grading
errors!
Debbie Gray
A-8 Carolina Apartments
Disassociation
To the editor:
1 think that your staff writer Carol
Hanner should have known that the
Psychical Research Foundation is not
affiliated with Duke University. To say
that it is gives it an air of scientific
respectability which it does not deserve. I
do not believe that there is any reason to
suppose that what is done there is science.
Elliot M. Cramer
Psychology department
Rah, Rah, RA!
To the editor:
Starting Monday. Nov. 20th. Resident
Assistant (RA) Appreciation Week will
begin. This week was voted unanimously
by the residence life staff to be set aside to
thank the RAs for their support of
endless hours in making the residence hall
system a successful one. It is only a small
token of our appreciation, but we feel
that it is a well-deserved one.
So if you would, please take the time to
show your RA that you appreciate them.
Partake in some of the old traditions such
as, "Kiss Your RA" day, or "Do
Something Nice For Your RA" day, or
"Say Goodbye Before You Leave" day.
So just remember RAs need TLC
and a little kindness goes a long way.
- Ron Wilson
Henderson Residence College RD
Liberal?
To the editor:
I was amused by the article in
Tuesday's DTH comparing the roles of
dorm RAs at UNC and Shippensburg
State College Pennsylvania. UNC is
portrayed as a model of liberalism, where
concerns with "student growth" outweigh
an emphasis on discipline. In comparison
with many colleges, however. UNC seems
like a holdover from the dark ages.
1 attended Brown University for two
and one half years, where there Were
virtually NO RULES restricting personal
choices of lifestyle. There were coed
dorms with men's and women's rooms
mixed throughout, for those who so
chose. In single dormitories residents
chose their own visitation hours (I think I
heard of a dorm once that actually did
choose to have restricted hours). In
addition, there were no rules regulating
drinking or drugs, so long as they were
not unreasonably disruptive, a situation I
never saw. The University Regulations,
which begin with a list of basic students'
rights, include the statement, "It is
improper and unnecessary for the
University to duplicate" the law
enforcement functions of the civil state."
This all reflects a straightforward
recognition that the role of the university
should be to offer an education to the
students, while leaving them the
necessary freedom to sort out their own
moral values'. What is more important to
-the development of free thinking people
than freedom to flounder, to make one's
own choices and mistakes? There can be
guidance without enforcement!
At UNC the problems with
enforcement of visitation hours certainly
could be most easily solved by allowing
the dorm residents tp. choose . their ovyn
policies (Whom you're sleeping with
shouldn't concern the dean, unless
you're sleeping with the dean.)
Rules designed to protect students
from the consequences of their own
freedom deter self-examination and
encourage students to subscribe to the
myth being perpetrated on them that
they cannot be trusted to make their own
choices, to shape their own learning
actively, by trial and error.
Lee Thomas
The Best
To the editor:
Before beginning the long drive home,
I want to leave a letter with the Daily Tar
expressing my feelings that this past
weekend was the best Carolina
Homecoming I have seen since my
undergraduate days a score of years ago.
The numerous activities and high campus
spirit recalled the finest traditions of
Homecoming, exemplified, for instance,
by the large number of lovely candidates
participating in the Queen pageant. The
CAA and other groups are to be
congratulated for revitalizing this very
collegiate institution.
Charles McCoy
UNC '60
d sees Democrats in danger of losin
C7
77 77
acifos
n Quotes'
By MA R THA WA G GONER
Julian Bond appeared to be ready, willing
and able to talk about almost any subject at a
news conference held just hours before he
gave the Weil lecture last Monday night in
Memorial Hall.
Reading Time, drinking coffee and
smoking constantly, Bond was the picture of
a man at ease in the situation, yet somehow
intense and very involved in what he says.
He was asked, as expected, questions
about the role and position of blacks in the
nation today. Bond said the recent Bakke
decision will further decrease the number of
blacks who are admitted to medical schools.
Before the Bakke decision, the number of
black students at medical schools had begun
to decline, Bond said. In 1968, the number of
blacks began to rise and it peaked in 1973.
Since then, the number of blacks in medical
schools has been decreasing.
Bond said he fears "the spillover effect of
affirmative action programs all . over the
nation."
Bond said the most important areas for
blacks to make gains in are income and
employment. "We're 10 percent of the
population and 20 percent of the
unemployed," Bond said. Bond said if the
unemployment rate of blacks could be
lowered to that of white America, blacks
would be "10 times better off than we are."
The short run solution to the
unemployment of black teenagers would be
government programs, Bond said. These
programs should exclude the children of
middle-class families so that "it serves those
it's intended to serve." He said the long-run
solution would be an expansion of the private
economy. However, Bond said the
unemployed are not willing to wait long
enough for the latter plan to be implemented.
Bond said he is concerned with the effect of
a recent trend toward conservatism on social
programs. "For the immediate future, we will
see attempts to cut down on a whole range of
social programs," Bond said. "People in
fairly desperate straits will be in more
desperate straits."
As evidence of the conservative trend,
Bond talked about the successful re-election
campaigns of Strom Thurmond in South
Carolina and Jesse Helms in North Carolina.
Thurmond was re-elected. Bond charged,
.by doing personal favors for the black and the
poor when in South Carolina and then voting
against them in Washington, D.C.
"Thurmond has been opposed to every piece
of progressive legislation in the past 25 to 30
years," Bond said. .
Bond said Helms won his second term in
the U.S. Senate through the money he
received for his campaign, not necessarily
because of his conservatism.
Bond said the defeat of former Sen.
Edward Brooke, a Republican from
.Massachusetts, is more of a loss for the
Republican party than for blacks. He said
Brooke's replacement holds many of the
same positions as Brooke does, but the
Republican Party "increasingly appeals to a
smaller " and smaller percentage of the
electorate."
He said the Republican Party is trying to
attract more black voters, but that the party's
methods are wrong. Republicans tell black
Democrat's to prove how independent they
are by voting Republican. Yet, when asked
what the Repbulican Party will do that the
Democratic won't, the Republicans say,
NOTHING. "The Republican Party must
compete ideologically," Bond said.
However, the Democratic Party and
President Carter may be in danger of losing
their black support base, Bond said, and the
dismissal of United Nations ambassador
Andrew Young only would strengthen this
loss. "There's a real feeling of disappointment
among many blacks, especially those who
worked for him (Carter)." He said black
voters are not looking for a new candidate,
but instead will not vote at all in I9S0.
He did say Carter may have a chance to
regain the black vote if his new "Director of
SymbolismCGerald Rafshoon," is able to use
symbols as effectively in 1980 as he did in
1976.. He suggested Carter spending the night
in a tenement house 'or wearing a pair of
overalls instead of a cardigan sweater as two
possible symbols.
Bond was asked about competency tests
which North Carolina high school students
must pass before graduation in order to get
high school deploma. If a student does not
pass, he will receive a certificate of attendence
in lieu of the diploma.
"I'm not opposed to the competency test,
but l am opposed to a test with cultural bias
contained in it," Bond said. He said he thinks
a student's competency should be tested at
the end of his or her first year of school
instead of waiting until the last year.
He also suggested tests for teachers and
administrators. "Society needs some kind of
measure as to where our abilities are," Bond
said. He said a culturally no-biased
competency test could achieve this.
Bond said he has not taken a competency
test, but "I've taken IQ tests which I feel are
culturally biased."
Bond said he did not see why a course in
black studies could not be required in high
schools. "It would be more proper to have a
course of black history; although ideally, a
regular history and a black history course
should be taught together," Bond said.
..v.V'ysA'.
' , ' ' -,''"
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Julian Bond
Bond said he has no national ambitions
and is happy with his position in the state
government as a senator. "I like being a
legislator," Bond said. He said the only two
positions he could aspire to are the position
of lieutenant governor or governor. "I'm not
really, at the moment, interested in that," he
said.
Martha Waggoner, a sophomore
journalism major from Winston-Salem, is a
staff writer for the Daily Tar Heel.