6The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, October 11, 1983
pSeparation of sport and state
$ Satig alar 11
When athletes become nothing more than political puppets
91st year of editorial freedom
By MICHAEL DeSISTI
aw
Kerry DeRochi, Editor
Alison Davis, Managing Editor
LISA PULLEN, University Editor
Christine Manuel, state and National Editor
MICHAEL DeSISTI, Sports Editor
BILL RIEDY, Nm Editor
JEFF HID AY, Associate Editor
John Conway, cuy Editor
KAREN FISHER, Features Editor
Jeff Grove, Am Editor
CHARLES W. LEDFORD, Photography Editor
One more time
It is indeed rare on this campus to have an issue continue for a year, re
main unresolved, yet never disappear in a haze of student boredom. This
week, however, Student Government officials revive an issue torn by
, apathy and heavy-handed politicking an increase in the Student Ac
tivities Fee. By deciding to postpone any vote on an increase until the
February general elections, they recognized the importance of such an
issue and provided adequate time for information to be distributed on it.
The battles waged over raising the $15.25 per semester fee began at this
time last year when members of the Campus Governing Council began
haggling over whether to hold a referendum. In February, they asked
students to vote for a $1.25 per semester increase, only to be told by the
Student Supreme Court that the election would never be counted because
of election irregularities. The CGC tried to hold another vote a few weeks
later, only to have this one killed by student apathy. According to the stu
dent Constitution, 4,100 votes were needed to certify the election; only
1,800 voted.
With this dismal record behind them, CGC this year began tampering
with the issue, hopeful to arrange a fall election. After realizing that only
a handful of students would vote in such an election they changedtheir
minds. As Student Body President Kevin Monroe argued, the delay
would allow adequate time for students to learn both sides of the issue. In
a February election, the issue would receive media attention as well as the
attention of the candidates for student body president, DTH editor, and
the CGC. By that time all students would have had the experience needed
to decide whether they saw a need for more money to be given to the stu
dent organizations.
But more importantly, the delay would ensure that enough students ac
tually voted and that this time the results would be counted. About 7,000
students usually vote in the February: elections, more than enough to
satisfy constitutional requirements and more than enough to represent a
consensus of student opinion. '
Because the Student Activities Fee is an investment, any decision affec
ting it must be weighed carefully. The action by Student Government in
delaying the vote represents a pragmatic decision. Officials recognized the
futility in trying to rush an election this fall, thus allowing an important
issue to be considered in an important election.
What's Watt
. "I, never use the words Democrats and Republicans. It's liberals and
Americans." - -
James Watt didn't use many words correctly. .
"I have a black. I have a woman, two Jews and a cripple."
What he didn't have was a silver tongue.
He was the man with a foot perpetually lodged in his mouth. The man
whose affinity for the verbal faux pas provoked Congressional attempts
to pass a resolution urging his resignation. The man who Sunday night
issued his resignation from his post as Secretary of the Interior.
Yet the insensitivity of Watt's public comments is most significant
because it parallels the insensitivity with which he treated environmental
issues. As Secretary of the Interior, the custodian of the nation's environ
mental resources, Watt drastically departed from the notions of those
who created that department. He believed that the tide of environmental
conservation had grown too strong and that it was time to exploit the na
tion's resources for the purposes of economic growth and national securi
ty. He transferred many public resources to private industry.
Watt seldom listened to the outcries of the opposition. He alienated
members of Congress and environmental groups to the extent that he
became a serious political liability to the Reagan administration. The ten
sion between Watt and the Congress swiftly crescended to the point where
Watt's effectiveness was undermined. In September, the Senate
countered many key Interior Department initiatives by placing a mora
torium on the leasing of government-owned coal to private developers by
1985. And just last week the Senate supported a House bill that would
curb offshore oil and gas development. ,
In light of Watt's controversial policies, perhaps we all should be grate
ful for his big mouth which is what ultimately precipitated his resigna
tion. The widespread opposition Watt's policies met should demonstrate
to President Reagan that it's time for his administration to clean up its act
where environmental issues are concerned. As Watt declared in his resig
nation speech, his usefulness "has come to an end.'
He couldn't have said it better.
The Bottom Line
For a long time, it seemed that
students living in mobile homes were
the inventive, frugal ones. Then Jen-'
nifer Beals and Flashdance came
along and showed all of us that, yes,
with a few tacky lamps and some
tapestries and a homemade aerobics
floor, a warehouse can become a cozy
abode.
Well, what a welderdancer can do
in Pittsburgh, two enterprising college
students at the College of William and
Mary can top.
In a flash of brilliance nurtured by
a hatred of dormitory life, sophomore
Vikki Enrich and junior Amanda
Clements transformed an old brick
lighting tower into a low-rent apart
ment. A free apartment.
All went well at first, The handy
homemakers beat the austerity of the
ivy tower with carpetings and fur
nishings. They wired the place and in
stalled a makeshift kitchen. They
didn't even mind the short walk to the
nearest bathroom facility.
With all their planning, however,
Enrich and Clements overlooked
or perhaps merely ignored a few
small details. Like who might own the
tower and whether they would mine
its inhabitation. Perhaps Vikki and
Amanda had read Swiss Family
Robinson too many times.
After seven months of domestic
bliss, the two were betrayed by their
own stereo. A police officer heard
rock music coming out of the tower.
Alas, the two Rapunzels had let down
their hair. And the blue knight
climbed the tower.
What he found didn't please him,
and it wasn't long before' William and
Mary's two most celebrated interior
decorators found themselves in a
more, well, typical apartment. One
that even required rent.
Vikki Ehrich and Amanda
Clements may be a little low on cash
at present, but they have become the
lucky recipients of The Daily Tar
Heers 1983 "Homemaker of the
Year" award.
And that's the bottom line. ' ,
A week ago Monday, two University students
stood in the Pit, each holding a sigri expressive of his
disdain and wearing a face expressive of his grief at
the Sept. 1 downing of a South Korean commercial
airliner by a Soviet interceptor jet. A third distributed
copies of a handout which denounced the Soviet
Union's action in the event.
These individuals had something to say, and so
they made a statement. They made it in a respectable
way.
Seven American universities had been scheduled to
play an exhibition game with the Soviet national bas
ketball team this winter, but all canceled in recent
weeks. They did this in reaction to the same 269
deaths which had the above-mentioned students
demonstrating.
Vanderbilt, and the universities of Maryland,
Alabama, Kentucky, Kansas, Oklahoma and
Houston all had something to say, and so they made
a statement. Again, what was said was worthy. How
it was said was a lot less.
These seven universities are by no means political
institutions of the United States. But their reaction to
an unfortunate event was by all means political in
nature. This mixing of politics and athletics is getting
more than a bit bothersome.
We need a separation of sport and state.
It goes without saying that no player on the Soviet
national team has been in a cockpit to open fire on
any commerical airliners. Nor did the coach give that
ill-fated order for destruction from some remote con
trol tower. So why should the athletes both Soviet
and American be punished?
Do you think Maryland's Adrian Branch wouldn't
get a kick out of hitting 20-footers against the Soviet
nationals, then going around College Park the next
day vaingloriously spouting about how he bombed
the Russians and congratulated them afterward?
Do you think the Russians wouldn't like a chance
to go back to Moscow and talk about how they fan
circles around Kentucky's most talked-about player,
center Sam Bowie, neglecting to explain that he's a
conversation item not only because he's a ticket to
the Final Four, but also, because he's on crutches
most of the time?
Think again.
- One might well argue that the Soviet national team
represents the Soviet nation; and so giving it the
brushoff is one way of chastising the Soviets for a
misdoing. That makes sense until you consider the
makeup of a nation.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a body
-.c
s
of people the John and Jane Doe-mitlokovs, so to
speak didn't shoot that plane down. The Polit
buro did. How many Americans would want every
one of Ronald Reagan's actions and words to be con
sidered their own?
The people whom the Soviet National team really
represents are innocent. They don't need to be
chastised.
One might also argue that every game the Soviet
national team' wins is, for the Russians, a case in
point for the superiority of the Soviet system. For
this person, a win on the basketball court would be
sufficient to show the world the advantages of com
munism. Why give the bigwigs in Moscow an oppor
tunity for pretentiousness?
But this argument fails as well. The refusal to play
the Soviets, in an effort to prevent the game from
becoming an instrument of Russian propaganda,
perpetuates the same manipulation of -amateur
athletics that is supposedly being prevented.
If there are any international hostilities to vent, let
them be vented in athletic competition, be it pro
fessional or amateur. Any injuries will be imperma
nent. The satisfaction will last. It has before:
1982 World Cup: In an early-round game of the
soccer championship of the world, the Polish side
plays the Soviet Union to a scoreless tie, knocking the
Russians out of the tournament by doing so. With
Poland still under martial law, you think there will be
some celebrating. There is.
Though the game never materializes, Argentinians
wait feverishly, just months after the Falkland
Islands' debacle, for a chance to challenge England
in something that really counts. No kidding.
1980 winter Olympics, 1972 summer games: An
upstart and unknown American ice hockey team
shakes both the world and the shoo-in Soviets with a
gold medal at Lake Placid; the Russians put an end
to the United States' decades-long domination of
Olympic basketball with a controversial win in the
last two seconds of the championship game in
Munich.
1936 summer Olympics: With world stability in
balance, the games in Berlin and Hitler in the
stadium, black American Jesse Owens wins four gold
medals. So much for the Aryan race.
The United States, upon the urging of a well
meaning but misguided Jimmy Carter, boycotted the
1980 summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the
Russian invasion of Afghanistan. It didn't change
anything except the attitudes of hundreds of
American athletes regarding the ends to which they
were devoting their lives.
And now the Soviet Union is hedging on participa
tion in this summer's games in Los Angeles, saying it
fears for the safety of its athletes.
Let's just play ball. And shake hands afterwards.
Michael DeSisti, a junior English and journalism
major from Greece, N. Y., is sports editor of The
Daily Tar Heel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hurrah for responsive administrators
To the editor:
In recent weeks, it has been difficult to
pick up a copy of The Daily Tar Heel or a
local newspaper without finding some
sharp criticism of UNC President William
C. Friday or other University adminis
trators. It is rare, if not non-existent, to
find complimentary words for these ad
ministrators, but I would like to provide
some.
I graduated from a college one-tenth the
size of UNC, where if I wanted to speak to
the president or a dean, I was invariably
stopped by the ever-protective secretaries.
These secretaries . insisted that I could
neither speak to nor see the administrator
"unless I had already spoken to everyone of
a lower rank in the bureaucratic ladder.
This served to discourage most individuals
from voicing their opinions about any
thing. A few weeks, ago I wanted to speak to
Friday. I picked up the phone and called his
office, where, as expected, his secretary
answered the phone. However, when I
asked to speak to him, she asked me my
name and said, "Hold on, please." Sec
onds later, I was talking to the president of
the whole UNC system piece of cake.
Amazingly, I encountered a similar situa
tion at Dean Donald Boulton's office.
What was even more amazing was the fact
that both Boulton and Friday listened to
what I had to say, and then they actually
did something about it. In short, I ex-
pected nothing more than the' proverbial
"runaround" and I encountered nothing
less than responsive, sympathetic adminis
trators. Thank you for dispelling my feelings
that all bureaucracies are designed to im
pede individuals rather than help them.
Jonathan Green
Stratford Hills
A racial issue?
To the editor:
This is not a letter of disgust, but
rather a letter of response. Ava D.
Greene made some comments concern
ing the mikeman issue in. the Oct. 7 '
DTH ("Disgusted with the mikeman
issue") that really bothered me.
Her ideas were spawned by anger
and misunderstanding. She's divided
the world into two camps black and
white, right and wrong.
The original issue dealt with the per
formance of the mikeman. Admittedly,
Kenny Ward did make some mistakes,
but the results were not due to the color
of his skin. Ward tried to do a good
job, but he became understandably
frustrated.
Frustration similar to Ward's could
be felt in Greene's letter. I wish things
weren't the way they often are.
Sometimes, though, change must begin
with the individual.
We can go ahead with choosing sides
and feeling hatred that will make us
a people more divided than ever before.
Instead of tightening our grasps into
fists or pointed fingers of accusation,
let's open them to accept new ideas and
to grasp the hands of our brothers and
sisters.
I hope Greene will think about what
I've said. And maybe Ward and I can
take in a game together sometime.
Tim Thomas
Carr
To the editor:
I have never written a letter to the
editor before, but Ava D. Greene's let
ter ("Disgusted . with the mikeman
issue," DTH, Oct. 7) prompted an im
mediate response. It is not the mike
man situation I find disgusting, it is
Greene's obvious attitudes that I detest.
Greene's insinuations that whites are
afraid of blacks because of the roles
that they play in campus life are simply
ludicrous. I think it's great that blark
and whites interact socially together. It
is not Greene's skin color that I resent;
it's her blatant prejudice against whites
I find disgusting.
I am sorry Ward was called upon to
resign. But let's judge him solely on his
qualifications and not on his skin color,
v If Greene could be white, I know she .
wouldn't last a day. The shock alone of
the discovery that all whites are not
racists would be more than 'enough to
do you in.
Mark D. Matthews
Hinton James
To the editor:
In response to -Ava D. Greene's
"reaction" to the mikeman issue, let's
clear up a few points. As to her pro
nouns of "you people" and "we black
folks," I would like to know which
"you people" she is referring to and
which "we black folks" does she mean.
No. 2, to her reference to Kelly D. Bar
rett as to wishing she was black is not
only biologically impossible but also
mentally incompetent on Greene's
part. No. 3, 1 thought the issue was the
mikeman. Why does she have to resort
to implicating the football and basket
ball teams? If anyone should grow up it
should be Greene, because we as a
black race have to stop crying when
things don't go our way and resorting
to using our color as an excuse.
. Tonnitte Golden
Morrison
'I am appalled'
To the editor:
Once again, I am appalled at the inade
quacy of the UNC advisory system. I am a
senior, and I am still surprised at the dif
ficulty of minor adjustments to one's
schedule.
The most disturbing element is the lack
of faith of the administration in the ability
of the students to make decisions. The ad
visory system of UNC is the most restrain
ing of any of the 16 member schools. This ,
is contradictory to the fact that it is also
the school that has students more capable
of making their own decisions than others,
if indeed acceptance standards can be the
basis of such a judgment.
On Friday, poor planning was truly visi
ble. Until 1 p.m., there was only one ad
viser available for drop-add procedure.
Any aware administrator would have
known that the last day of drop-add would
warrant better staffing.
I was painfully and abruptly told by a
defensive pencil pusher in Steele that if
students would not procrastinate, there
would be no such problem.
The fact is, students are the purpose of
this University, and it is not the job of ser
vice employees to question the motives of
students' in their scheduling. The staff is
here to help students, not to dictate, and it
should be made clear to all UNC
employees that any method which makes
education more smooth and effective for
students and faculty is their only function.
Bryan E. Hall
Durham
Socialism no solution
To the editor:
I would like to comment on Michael
Harrington's visit to the campus last
Thursday afternoon. He is a concerned
humanitarian who stimulates us to think
of and treat the economic situation in
America and the world today as a crisis.
I find it unfortunate, though, that his
solution advocates socialism, because for
me, that makes his visit here, and his ef
forts in general, a waste of time. There are
a lot of economic problems, but socializing
our economy will never solve them.
Socialists seek to limit the freedoms of
businessmen and corporations by political
legislation, when in reality any abuse of
freedoms in the corporate world can only
De iinauy soiveu oy euucaung business
leaders in ethics. -
People like Harrington would do better
advocating the need to create educational
institutions which can foster a new view of
man toward man. The final solution to
hunger and poverty in America and world
wide is not socialism. What is necessary is
a spiritual awakening. Until businesses can
function like families, based on love, the
ideals of even socialism will never be
realized. What that calls for is spiritual
growth, the maturing of the heart, through
the advocation and application- of
spiritual, not political principles.
Peter Reiner
Chapel Hill
'A pretty good crossword
To the editor:
I read with interest your editorial on
College Bowl ("X'iV7oC$&$!!,'.'
DTH, Oct. 10). While the DTH has never
been known for its exemplary coverage of
the game at UNC (when Carolina won
the national championship in 1981, it
took the DTH four days to report this
event), the editors have never before re
sorted to such snide abuse.
The author of this editorial obviously
has never played College Bowl and could
never realize that the game is: (1) fun; (2)
not that hard; (3) not helped by random
efforts at memorization, and; (4) played
by persons other than those straight off
"Are you a Nerd?" posters. The name of
the game is to see how much you retain of
all that you learn, and if you can come up
with it quickly. Some of the information
may seem a little extraneous, but isn't a
bit of everything we learn like that? I, for
one, learned nothing at all from your re
cent editorial. .
By the way, I have never played High
Q, have never carried around a calcula
tor, and have never had the square root
of three dance in my head, but I have
derived considerable enjoyment from
College Bowl at UNC. I do occasionally
pass on little-known facts that people
never wanted to know, but more often
people ask me for them. As a source of
public information, the DTH has a pretty
good crossword. I would be happy to
take on four DTH staffers in a match
singlehandedly.
Ron Black
Law School