Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 4, 1984, edition 1 / Page 10
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
10The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, October 4, 1984 4 JLFF HlDAY, FJitnr JOII. BROADWAY, MaHuvhif: HJilnr MlCHAI-L T(X)LFm Associate VJitnr MARK STINNEFORO, Associate liditor KLI.LY SIMMONS, University Editor WAYNE THOMPSON, State and National Editor Melanie Wells, aty Editor VANCE TREFETHEN, Business Editor STUART TONKINSON, News Editor Frank Kennedy, sports Editor Jeff Grove, Arts Editor CINDY DUNLEVY, Features Editor JEFF NEUVILLE, Photography Editor A meaningless gesture The danger in making symbolic gestures is that symbols often don't stand for what they're supposed to. Such was the case when the Campus Governing Council voted last week to withdraw more than $12,000 of student fees it had invested in the UNC Trust Funds Office. The action was designed to protest the Board of Trustees investing money from the Endowment Fund in corporations that operate in South Africa, a country controlled by a largely white, apartheid government. What it actually produced, however, was a meaningless statement and an unwise investment decision. The main problem with the CGC's action was that the student fees were not in the Endowment Fund, as the original CGC bill said. Rather, the money was in the Trust Funds Office, which had invested it in U.S. Treasury Bills not in companies that indirectly support racially discriminatory policies. So why did the council vote on a bill that would in effect have absolutely no impact on the BOT and its investment policy? The official reason, as espoused by Student Body President Paul Parker, is that, even though the BOT ultimately can do what it wants with student fees, the action still had significance: Students showed the BOT that they wanted to control where their money goes. That's strange logic considering that the BOT consistently has shown its dedication to student self government. The real reason for passing such a meaningless bill seems to be simply a matter of saving face. The bill, co sponsored by the Executive Branch and the Black Student Movement, sailed out of committee and reached the full council, still containing the erroneous Don't drop dead just drop Many students accustomed to blow ing off Friday classes will stick around tomorrow in a frantic effort to find their professors. No, it's not the intellectual revival long hoped for by instructors weary of competing for their students' attention against UNC athletics, keg parties and DTH crosswords. Tomor row is Drop Day. For the unitiated freshmen and students chronically on the Dean's List it's the last day you can drop a course without penalty. Academic departments are likely to resemble the shopping mall on Christmas Eve. Veteran professors will head for the coast or disconnect their phones, leaving harassed secretaries to deal with the frenzied students. Those detestable students who are secure in their classes will head for safer confines, such as Clemson's Death Valley. Now, there are ways to get around the drop deadline. The requirements are said to include: having a terminal illness, sacrificing a live animal in front of Steele Building, seeking intercession from the Pope, and naming the date, time and place that Jesse Helms had a new idea. The last requirement is a little unfair, so you should get those drop requests in tomorrow. You can usually tell a person's class by how he or she approaches the drop process. Freshmen scatter ashes on their forehead, put on their most doleful look, tiptoe up to their professors and plead: "I'm taking 28 hours, working three jobs and trying to get the crops in. If I don't drop this course, IH die." Sophomores are less dramatic, asking innocently about drop procedures as if they'd never done it before. Upperclassmen The Bottom Line Is the UNC admissions policy sexist? Are women just plain smarter and better prepared for college? Has UNC gotten a bad rep somehow with the male college-going public? Or is this increasing percentage of females at UNC a thoughtful, but philoso phically reprehensible, attempt by the Administration to bestow a favor upon the males of UNC, tired of nights out with the guys. A story in the DTH yesterday reported that the percentage of females at UNC has increased to 55.9 percent this year and it looks like a trend that might continue. Chancellor Christopher C. Fordham III explained that the figures are not a result of any quotas. He said that students are Sailg ar irlM 92nd year of editorial freedom assumption that fees were in the Endow ment Fund. When the council was informed of the error, Parker changed the bill's language and the council voted to take its money out of the Trust Funds Office and put the divested funds in the Self Help Credit Union of Durham. The only statement being made by this second-best effort is not that the CGC wants to control its own money, but that it doesn't know how to. Besides saying nothing against South Africa, the action means the students will be earning less money than they could be. The credit union, while nobly financing market cooperatives in an effort to save or create jobs for low income workers, offers only a 9.58 percent interest rate. In contrast, the rate of return on the T-bills last year was 10 percent, according to Student Body Treasurer Allen Robertson, and the rate this year was expected to be 15 percent. We are sympathetic to the view that taking a stand for social responsibility and against racism is more important than making the highest profit, but as it stands now the CGC members only showed they know neither where the students' money is nor how to manage it. And they want to tell the BOT how to invest? Of course, ultimately the students lose, having neither the benefit of a statement for racial justice nor badly needed money to fund organizations. Students opposed to apartheid rallied outside a BOT meeting a couple of years ago, and last year the student body passed a referendum urging the BOT to divest funds that were in companies in South Africa. Apparently, most CGC members thought those measures inef fective. But at least they were relevant. don't say anything at all; they just stick out their hand and wait for the orange card. Drop Day is the cutting edge; it's where ivory tower idealism runs into academic reality. It's when soon-to-be former pre-med students jettison Chem 11, deciding that becoming a doctor is not all that it's cracked up to be. Students who picked an exotic course for fun throw in the towel after discovering that ancient Mesopotamian archeology is not as thrilling as it looked in the catalog. Those who entered the semester vowing to reform their study habits find them selves extending a trembling hand toward the drop form like a junkie grabbing a fix. The system does offer an alternative for those students not sensible enough to desert a sinking ship. It's called pass fail, and it's open to all students, except those in pre-lucrative career curricula. Pass-fail is a wimpish way out, but we do recommend it for klutzy seniors taking Social Dance in an uphill battle to finish off their last physical education requirement. All in all, dropping a course is not as dire as newer students may think. Generally, professors ask you if youll still have. 12 credit hours in the same apathetic tone that gun dealers assume when asking customers about their past criminal records. It's easy too easy. Many of our counterparts have dropped themselves into a fifth year of college. So it pays to know how to count credits. For those well meet in the last-minute crunch in Hanes Hall tomorrow, we extend our sympathies and join you in the futile promise to study harder next time. waa v4. Mtuiiivtlion boaio and more qualified women are applying." Well, even if the reasons are innocent, some of the thoughts popping into the minds of some males might not be. The key word here is odds. With a 2-3 male-female ratio, the odds are simply better (if you happen to be a male who swings that way) that that special someone you want to ask out is unattached. But, you know what they say about assumptions. Chances are that special someone has not exactly been inspired into a frenzy of date anxiety just because the males here are a little bit more scarce. Besides women's lib and all that, there's always N.C. State, Duke, "more mature men," and the entire outside world for the outnumbered souls to compete with. Sorry, guys, but that's the bottom line. o we really By ADRIAN BID DELL Editor's note: This column is the first of a two-part series on the senior class gift. Tomor row's column will address alternative proposals for a class gift. As was reported in the DTH ("Senior class gift to cost $150,000," Sept. 27), the senior class marshals voted in favor of a senior class gift proposal to place 142 commemorative plaques on university buildings at a cost of $1200 per plaque. This gift was chosen over 3 other . proposals: restoring the bells to the bell tower, creating a university archives center, and commissioning and installing a piece of outside sculpture on campus. To many seniors this decision on "their gift" came as a complete surprise. The DTH's report about the marshals' choice was the first inkling seniors had of the fact that a decision was being made. Since the Senior Class Gift Committee will soon be propositioning seniors for money, greater consideration of the entire senior class ought to have been taken prior to last Tuesday's decision. Traditionally, the senior class gift has been chosen by a committee established for the dual purposes of selecting and coordinating the fund raising for the gift. This year, however, it was decided that the senior class marshals, repres enting a greater number of students, should have the authority to select the gift in view of the large sum of money in question (an estimated $150,000). Immediately questions need to be asked about this gift, the most fundamental one being: why were the plaques chosen? Three primary reasons suggest the favorability of this project. The plaques will be positioned in time for the bicentennial of the university in 1939. The plaques have been on the drawing board since 1954. The plaques will be highly visible as "The Gift of the Class of 5,n since it is proposed that 142 of these tablets will be placed on university buildings, with wording on them to include recognition of this year's graduating class. However, these arguments are certainly not conclusive. Indeed, even their persuasiveness is debatable. First of all, the imminence of the bicentennial D LETTER S TO THE EDITOR Tonkinson out to lunch on divestment TSSU6 To the editor: In his column ("A measure div ested of good sense," DTH, Oct. 1), Stuart Tonkinson presented a very naive analysis of the Black Student Movement's bill, which called for removal of student fees from the Trust Funds Office. That is, he missed the point. The Black Student Movement protests the Board of Trustees' . investment of University money in corporations which operate in South Africa and support apar theid. We concern ourselves with the BOT's policies, not the many names of its special funds. The funds' names are insignificant because the BOT has the ultimate control of all funds. Therefore, the BOT could remove the Campus Governing Council's $13,000 invest ment from U.S. Treasury Bills and put it in corporations which help to perpetuate apartheid. By passing this bill, the CGC reduced signif icantly the chances of this happening. The student body wasn't con cerned about the special funds' names when it passed the divest ment referendum. Through the referendum, the student body com Don't just To the editor: The basic concepts we Americans so often take for granted are exactly those which so many oppressed peoples of the world value above all. This is no more evident than in the percentage of those Amer icans who neglect to register to vote. A recent poll taken of some 300 UNC students shows that 27 percent are not yet registered, and of those not yet registered, 43 percent said they had no intention of registering before the October 6 deadline. Of the unregistered voters surveyed, the most common response was that they "simply hadn't gotten around to registering." At the time that I took the poll, a majority of these students were sitting around the Pit just chatting with friends, or relax Doonesbury 1 RANQ? POONSBURY? 7? IlJESm TtfT want a bunch of plaques? SEV? 'mg sf T s ' I All the Toms, ft a n (A TtarwEMVEN'T I THE DMiG- WALL, ijj ' MX TA& MEEL- If does not increase the need for plaques on buildings. Secondly, the very fact that the plaques have been discussed since 1954 with little result suggests that there is considerable opposition to putting such epitaphs on buildings only in the last three years have five such plaques been installed. And finally, the idea behind recognizing the Class of 85 on so many buildings verges on a misappropriation of these funds. Such high gift visibility is uncalled for. Furthermore, can the Senior Class Gift Committee justify $1200 being spent on each individual plaque for 142 buildings? Both the $500 installation fee, and the $700 to manufacture each placque seem to be inordinately out of proportion. More importantly, there are not 142 buildings on this campus that warrant such an investment. Or, more poignantly, if the buildings do warrant $1200 being spent on them, it is not in the installation of a plaque but more likely in the restoration of the building itself. Furthermore, just as it would be inappropriate to place a -commemorative plaque on an unexceptional edifice, it would be equally out of context to add a historic label to a fine architectural form. In this instance a commem orative plaque would simply be a patronizing gesture. A fine building stands by itself through municated its opposition of the BOT's investment policies because those policies condone apartheid. Therefore, the CGC demonstrated its responsibility to the student body by withdrawing its $13,000 from the Trust Funds Office. Yet, Tonkinson charged that this action was "... robbed of actual merit . . . ." But he argued that we should "... continue to vocally protest investment policy." How naive! Tonkinson should consider two points. First, when the student body voiced their opinion through the divesment referendum, the message apparently was too weak. Second, because the BOT controls Univer sity funds and the CGC administers student fees, their lingua franca is money. Therefore, the CGC com municated more clearly with the board by passing our bill. Understand? Since last year, this issue has been forgotten. The BSM and the Exec utive Branch co-sponsored this bill in order to get it out of the files and to put it back on the public agenda where progress can be made.. By assuming that his elected leaders will leave the issue dormant after this action, Tonkinson made two erroneous assumptions. First, he assumed that the CGC is the kind of organization which could serve as the nucleus of a divestment campaign. It is not, the BSM is. The CGC is a legislative body which acts on specific proposals that are presented before the council that's all. Second, the BSM never talk politics get involved ing between classes. The real irony of this situation was the fact that only a few steps away a registration drive was in progress in the Student Union. To add insult to injury, 32 percent of those registered to vote fail to exercise the right. The voting process itself can not be blamed for keeping people from the polls. This was proven by the 88 percent who Balcony To the editor: It pains me very much indeed to hear that Bob Young is spending his time reading and drinking instead of watching the excellent baseball that is being played at the beginning of this October ("Yawn ing through the 'October Classic,' " DTH, Oct. 2). Quite frankly, he doesnt know what he is missing. The thud of the fast ball into the catcher's mit, the nimble feline fielding of the short stop, the crack of the bat against ball, the smooth action of the pitcher and the foxy cunning of a To the editor: I agree with your editorial urging that graduation ceremonies be kept in Kenan Stadium rather than moved to the new Student Activities Center ("Keep graduation in Kenan," DTH, Sept. 16). The spectacle of blue robes flowing down the aisles of the north stands and across the field to the ovation of parents and loved ones is one of the most beautiful and stirring that I have witnessed anywhere. Such pageantry would probably be dif ficult to emulate indoors. However, it is necessary to plan for inclement weather, which is OH. SO WHO ARB you1? TMTH5 MAID. its own identity, not through the subsequent placing of a label upon it. Thus, the nature of our donation to the university with all its implications must be more carefully considered. Reason must not be sacrificed in the pursuit of the Class of 'SS's posterity. Our gift is supposed to be the graduation present of the senior class to the University. By our very size the senior class can not only generate an immense amount of money (a projection of $150,000), but also, through our presence in numbers and senior status, it can command considerable credibility. The vote of the senior class marshals is of considerable import finan cially to a quarter of the undergraduate body and of lasting significance to all those connected with this university. This being the case, we question the validity of the vote taken on September 25th, and encourage all seniors to make their opinions known to the senior class marshals and the University at large. Opinions can be voiced through petition to the Senior Class Gift Committee in Suite A of the Union. Adrian Biddell is an art history major from Manchester, England. intended to drop this issue after its passage through the CGC. The leadership which Tonkinson spoke of is not the CGC, it is the Central Committee of the BSM. As pres ident, I assure Tonkinson and others that this message is the first step, not the last. Sherrod Banks BSM President oK-mNOW HAVE COMRADE CHERN0VKO WMBuWP, GOOD,,, NOW SUWW TURN HIM THIS WAV,, , felt the voting process itself was not too complicated. The problem obviously lies in the fact that students would rather sit around and complain about the problems of the world rather than becoming part of the solution. Students should get out of the Pit and get into the System. Kim Oberg Ehringhaus baseball no bore runner stealing a base all of these elements make watching Tar Heel baseball from the lofty heights of an Ehringhaus balcony a pleasure that goes beyond reading a book and drinking a six-pack. Runs and action are as plentiful as no-hitters are rare and your ears will not be assaulted by weak organ playing but by the cacophony of enthusiasm and passion for Tar Heel Baseball that exists in my beloved dormitory. Scott Martin Ehringhaus Stay outside always an eventuality in May. Currently, our backup facility for rain is Carmichael Auditorium, which we have not been obliged to use since 1979. But attendance has outgrown Carmichael's seating capacity, and it would be uncom fortable and perhaps dangerous to crowd everyone inside its confines. A suggestion that I have recently heard seems sensible: schedule commencement for Kenan Stadium and reserve the SAC for backup. Stirling Haig Professor of French Faculty Marshal, 1978-84
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 4, 1984, edition 1
10
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75