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8The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, October 7, 1987
latlg
(Ear Bl
95th year of editorial freedom
JlLL GERJBER, Editor
DEIRDRE FALLON, Managing Editor
SALLY PEARSAIl, Newt Editor
JEAN LUTES, University Editor
DONNA LEINWAND, State and National Editor
JEANNIE PARIS, City Editor
JAMES SUROWIECKI, Sports Editor
FELISA NEURINGER, Business Editor
JUUE BRASWELL, features Editor
Elizabeth Ellen, Arts Editor
Charlotte Cannon, Photography Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
Breaching the inner circle
board
The Old East
Old West Task
Force has made its
final recommenda- Opinion
tions, and tne
future of the historic buildings is now
in the hands of Dean Donald Boulton,
Chancellor Christopher Fordham and
the Board of Trustees. The committee
recommended that the buildings be
renovated as dormitories, with com
mon areas for students and office space
for faculty members.
This proposal, while very general,
is right on track. Old East and Old
West should stay residence halls, so
that the connection between present
students and the University's past will
remain unbroken. Mixing student
living space with faculty office space
will be difficult to coordinate, but the
concept is a good one.
However, one important part of the
proposal is something left unsaid. The
committee did not recommend that the
two dorms be used as honors dorms
for outstanding students and campus
leaders. The administrative committee
should listen to the task force's silence
on this subject, for setting up Old East
and Old West as honors dorms causes
several problems.
These dorms would be inherently
elitist, a kind of inner circle where the
Big Men and Women on Campus mix
and mingle, isolated from the common
folk in Joyner or Stacy. The dorms,
rather than being monuments to
University history, would only serve
to remind 99 percent of students that
they just aren't good enough to live
there. x
The students who would be eligible
to live in such dorms already enjoy
the perks, power and responsibility
that come with their positions. They
do not need one more pat on the back.
The honors dorm concept violates
the main philosophy behind residence
hall life that students with all
interests, backgrounds and ambitions
should live together to learn from one
another. By segregating excellent
students and campus leaders, other
students, especially new ones, would
miss out on the chance to meet and
become friends with students who have
established their success already.
And there is the problem of the
selection process who would choose
the residents? And, what ranking
system is to be used? Is a student with
a 3.9 QPA more or less deserving than
the president of the Campus Y, who
may only have a 3.3?
Old East and Old West should
remain part of the University's com
mon history, giving all students the
same chance to live in the national
monument and its counterpart. In the
final decision, the twin dorms should
not become twin ivory towers.
Thorns in Reagan's rose garden
The scene was Monday, the White
House Rose Garden, a presidential
ceremony honoring outstanding
schools. President Reagan had just left
the stage when reporters who had been
watching from the sideline started
shouting questions at him about the
Bork nomination. Reagan quipped
back that the battle would be lost "over
my dead body," drawing laughter and
applause from the crowd of educators.
The show was typical. But then two
principals in the audience began
angrily rebuking the journalists as they
continued to fling questions at Reagan
on his way out. A minute later, it was
a two-way shouting match, reporters
telling educators to brush up on First
Amendment rights and educators
telling reporters to learn courtesy.
The shame is that in the passion of
the ensuing argument, the man most
responsible for the clash got away.
In his two terms as president,
Reagan has had fewer press confer
ences than any of the television-age
presidents besides Dwight Eisen
hower. This year, it has been several
months since his last one. The lack
of contact has relegated reporters to
querying Reagan in whatever way they
can, whether just before he hops onto
his helicopter or at the conclusion of
a Rose Garden ceremony.
It is ridiculous that reporters have
to resort to these tactics. They should
be able to question the president
without becoming props for his
appearances, which allow him to
neatly package whatever he wants to
say while conveniently leaving before
any real news can be covered. After
dealing with this carefully orchestrated
barrier for nigh on seven years, it is
no wonder that the reporters' frustra
tion came out when educators began
to castigate their actions.
Even if the journalists deserve no
blame for causing the clash, they are
still guilty of elitism. Instead of
explaining their actions to the educa
tors, the reporters told them to go
home and watch television. As the
discussion regressed further, one
reporter told a woman who voluntarily
trains parents of handicapped children
that he was disappointed in her. This
discourtesy was unnecessary.
The reporters had shown enough
courtesy by waiting until Reagan was
on his way out betore asking questions.
Although inexcusable, their rudeness
came only when the educators critic
ized their methods. But when a
president treats each appearance like
a motion picture, that's about the best
that can be expected. Jon Rust
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Jim Greenhill, Mike Mackay, Brian McCuskcy and Jon Rust.
Editorial Assistants: Julia Coon and Sharon Kebschull.
Assistant Managing Editors: Cara Bonnett, Melissa Daniels, Peter Lineberry and Mandy Spence.
News: Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, Lydian Bernhardt, Matt Bivens, Brenda Campbell, Staci Cox, Meg
Craddock, Sandy Dimsdale, Carrie Dove, Laurie Duncan, Kimberly Edens, Mark Folk, Gerda Gallop,
Kristen Gardner, Alissa Grice, Lindsay Hayes, Kyle Hudson, Michael Jackson, Kelly Johnson, Michael
Jordan, Helen Jones, Susan Kauffman, Sharon Kebschull, Hunter Lambeth, Will Lingo, Barbara Linn,
Brian Long, Mitra Lotfi, Lynne McClintock, Brian McCollum, Leigh Ann McDonald, Justin McGuire,
Stephanie Marshall, Myrna Miller, Smithson Mills, Lee Ann Necessary, Rebecca Nesbit, Susan
Odenkirchen, Cheryl Pond, Amy Powell, Charla Price, Andrea Shaw, Mandy Spence, Bill Taggart,
Clay Thorp, Nicki Weisensee, Judy Wilson and Amy Winslow. Brian Long, assistant business editor.
Rachel Orr, assistant university editor.
Sports: Mike Berardino, Patton McDowell and Chris Spencerassistant sports editors. Robert D'Arruda,
' Steve Giles, Dave Glenn, Dave Hall, Clay Hodges, Jim Muse, Andy Podolsky, and Langston Wertz.
Features: Hannah Drum, Carole Ferguson, Jennifer Frost, Laura Jenkins, Corin Ortlarn, Lynn Phillips,
Leigh Pressley, Karen Stegman, Kathy Wilson and Julie Woods.
Aits: James Burrus, Scott Co wen, Kim Donehower, David Hester, Beth Rhea, Kelly Rhodes, Alston
Russell, Rob Sherman and Richard Smith.
Photography: Tony Deifell, David Minton, Matthew Plyler and Julie Stovall.
Copy Editors: Karen Bell, Cara Bonnett, Carrie Burgin, Julia Coon, Whitney Cork, Laurie Duncan,
Bert Hackney, Lisa Lorentz, Toby Moore, Karen Smiley, Rachel Stiffler and Kaarin Tisue.
Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Bill Cokas, Greg Humphreys and Trip Park.
Campus Calendar: Mindelle Rosenberg.
Business and Advertising: Anne Fulcher, general manager; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan
Worth, advertising coordinator; Peggy Smith, advertising manager: Sheila Baker, business manager;
Michael Benficld, Lisa Chorebanian, Ashley Hinton, Kellie McElhaney, Chrissy Mennitt, Stacey
Montford, Lesley Renwrick, Julie Settle, Dave Slovensky, Dean Thompson, Amanda Tilley and Wendy
Wenger, advertising representatives; Stephanie Chesson, classified advertising representative; and Kris
Carlson, secretary. . ,
Distribution Tucker Stevens, manager;
Delivery Leon Morton, manager; Billy Owens, assistant.
Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn. Rita Galloway, Leslie Humphrey, Stephanie Locklear and
T OL-IJ- I . .
i aiiuny aneiuon proauciion assistants.
Headers' Foramm
today-.il! -the park with George
George Sand was never particularly
attractive. And when I met her last
Sunday for a promenade through
Duke Gardens, 111 years of courting the
dead hadn't improved her looks. She wore
a white Polo shirt and black Levis and
spoke a French occasionally derived from
the peasant-inspired dialogues of her
bucolic novels. She still sucked on a fat
cigar. And she still radiated her legendary
optimism, managing at times to convince
me to stop and smell the rhododendrons
(the roses had all been picked) which,
incidentally, smelled of something vaguely
disappointing.
wIVe never done an interview before,
was her first remark. At least I don't
remember doing one. Who would ever be
interested in me today?"
"Beats me."
"You dont know the sadness I feel every
time I'm told that my works are skimmed
only by aging tomboys and doctoral
candidates hunting for French-looking
footnotes."
"Say, why did your works fall into the
hands of librarians and oblivion the second
you died?" Sand was happy to hear me
ask her.
"Either because some people have
always questioned my sexuality or because
I made the mistake of being an optimist,"
she replied, radiant with the impression of
her own words, a taste of the soirees where
she used to be the center of attention.
"An optimist!" I said, mockingly. "You
might as well have been an Anabaptist
during the Inquisition."
Sand was hurt. "I still have faith . . .,"
she finally said, taking out from under her
sleeve a prettily-laced, handkerchief
embroidered with initials I could not
recognize.
"Faith in what? In whom?" I asked.
Pierre Tristam
Post Impressions
"I don't know. Death dulls the wits,
especially when you hang around deceased
aristocrats. But certainly not in mankind.
You roll cigars and shoot guns well enough,
but you're short on common sense."
"In feminists, then?"
"Feminists? Have they survived to this
day?"
"Valiantly, George, valiantly."
"Are those feminists, over there by the
pond?" asked Sand, pointing to three
joggers (a . blonde and two brunettes)
ignoring the world in their cluster of milky
legs and pumping fists. And Walkmans.
"No, they're more likely to be victims
of a more tragic obsession."
"Over there, too! Women and men
running together."
"There's a lot of running in this age,
George. You and Frederic might have
taken to running around Montmartre and
the Sacre-Coeur instead of sailing to
Majorca had you lived today."
"I don't think so. Giving in to boredom
was very dangerous when I was around.
Gustave (Flaubert) wrote a pretty good
book about it."
"Ah! Ma chere Georgette, boredom is
an art. Boredom keeps us from getting
distracted from our materialistic aims and
ends."
"How odd."
"Of course, there are some I mean
those on the fringes of society who don't
quite like to be bored or to bore others;
they take to funny sorts of activities
like yours, as a matter of fact. You know,
free-wheeling lovers, eternal artists, stu
dents without a cause. And of course
writers and intellectuals (a breed seldom
respected in America) though too few of
them are worth mentioning."
"I was nothing of the sort," replied Sand
almost indignant, if not disgusted. "I
wonder how far ahead of my time I was."
"Probably too far to bother to calculate,
George. Rousseauist idealism was the
greatest philosophical joke since Plato's.
Republic.'"
"Perhaps I should have listened to
Balzac and spelled out humanity's doom
to win posterity's favors. My books might
have sold better after my death." Sand
looked in the distance, probably wondering
at the significance of stoplights. "And I
thought America was optimism reborn
idealism realized!"
"But America's fate that's something
else. I fear itH much resemble that of your
books. Like anything too positive."
"A bright footnote in the history of
nations?"
"Something like that. Written in neutral
gender."
"Better than nothing, no?"
"I don't know about 'nothing' yet,
George. You've been there. And I'm pretty
sure it beats the 'plenty' of this world."
"Men!" Sand said. "My grandmother,
bless her, was so right about your kind.
You're bora silly and you die even sillier."
I would have replied, but here appeared
Chopin to take her away in a rented
limousine, its stereo blasting with the
sounds of a familiar scherzo that was
impressing Sand's former lover too much
to bear disruption.
Pierre Tristam is a graduate student in
history from Carrboro.
Parking abuse
runs rampant
To the editor:
I realize that the only time
students ever write to the DTH
is to complain about somer
thing. However, in the light of
recent developments, I do think
I am justified in giving the
traffic office a little constructive
criticism.
I live in Ehringhaus Resi
dence Hall, and I am not a
pampered varsity athlete. The
training table for University
athletes is at Ehringhaus, and
a controversial issue last year
was the constant K lot abuse
by athletes without parking
permits. These athletes would,
and still do, grace the K lot at
lunch without patronizing the
traffic office for a $103.50
parking permit. To my horror,
this issue faded into insignifi
cance and nothing has been
done about it.
I never see parking tickets
being issued during the midday
hours when those athletes park
illegally. Ticketing is always
done early in the morning so
as not to inconvenience the
athletes who drive to K lot
around noon.
On Saturday morning of the
largest football game of the
season (Auburn), I was denied
entrance into the lot for which
I paid so dearly. Needless to
say, Manning Drive was a
parking lot 45 minutes before
kickoff, and I was not in the
mood to argue with the man
who stubbornly stood in my
way. I calmly explained to him
that I owned a share of the
parking lot, and I presented my
parking permit. To him it made
no difference.
Now tell me, is it logical that
I am not allowed to enter a
parking lot that I paid for while
Auburn fans are allowed to
park there?
I suggest that the ticketing
times be more random and
include problem hours such as
noon. For the times when
ticketing cannot be imple
mented, I suggest that the
traffic office enable a permit
THIS QKT BE
All THAT DIFFICULT.
CAN IT?
f THIS QKT BE
owner to have an illegally
parked car towed at the vio
lator's expense.
I hope that the traffic office
of this great university will see
the light and realize that it has
an obligation to enforce the
rights of its permit holders 24
hours a day.
BRIAN LOWRY
Sophomore
Psychology
Dont tie up
study rooms
To the editor:
Last night, when a group of
classmates and I went to Davis
to try and get in some worth
while study time, we were
frustrated when we couldn't
find a single empty study
typing room in the building.
We started at the eighth floor
and worked our way down to
the third without running
across an empty room. Frus
trating as this was, it was no
surprise. Finding an empty
room is always a hard task
during peak study hours. But
what really annoyed us was that
one out of every three rooms
was not inhabited by hard
working students, but by hard
working students' books.
I don't like to walk in and
take over a room when nobody
is in it, but I really have a hard
time believing that 33 percent
of the people using the study
rooms in the library went to get
a drink of water at the same
time. If they did, a lot of them
went to the water fountain in
Hinton James, and decided to
eat supper and take a nap while
they were there, because some
of the books that were spread
out on the tables in these
otherwise empty rooms when
we entered at 7:30 p.m. had
been untouched by human
hands when we left at 1 1 p.m.
It is hard to find an empty
study room at peak hours in
Davis Library, and it is very
tempting to do whatever you
can to hang on to it once you've
got it. But it's also very incon
siderate to leave your books in
the room while you go some
where else on campus, denying
use of the room to other stu
dents. So please, next time
think about other students who
would like to use these rooms,
and make them available.
ANDY WHITE
Freshman
Political Science
Search needs
your input
Editor's note: The author is
student body president. ;
To the editor:
Today, the University begins
one of the most important tasks
it has undertaken in the last
decade the search for a new
chancellor.
For the student body to be
a vital component of the
decision-making process of the
University during the upcom
ing years, this choice must be
student-oriented.
The search committee wants
to know what qualities students
think it needs to be looking for
in the new chancellor. Come to
the public hearing in the faculty
lounge of the Morehead Build
ing today to share your ideas.
The hearing lasts from 1 p.m.
to 5 p.m.; students without
appointments may address the
committee from 3 p.m. to 4
p.m.
If student opinion is to be
important on campus for years
to come, concerns need to be
voiced today.
BRIAN BAILEY
- Senior
Economics Mathematics
University and town should work as team
To the editor j
A few years ago when I was hunting
around for prospective colleges, I was
attracted, as were many people, not only
by .the University itself, but also by the
town of Chapel Hill. I had visited Johns
Hopkins in Baltimore, Haverford in
Pennsylvania and Duke. What all of these
schools have in common is that all are
campuses operating independently of, and
perhaps in spite of, the cities that they are
located in. It seems now that the town of
Chapel Hill would likewise ignore the
University that has brought it national
prominance. '
Len ' Van Ness of the Chapel Hill
Carrboro Chamber of Commerce voices
Ids greatest nightmares by saying, "It's a
s'iding downtown economy and it's
becoming totally student-dominated." I am
being generous when I say that I find this
statement extremely inflammatory. The
. quote could be put aside as merely a poor
choice of words if it weren't for the fact
that it seemed to coalesce the opinions of
the majority of those present at the
Rosemary Square public hearing last week.
The idea that the town of Chapel Hill
should try and separate itself from trie
students is ridiculous.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated
incident. The Johnny T-Shirt controversy
also bodes poorly of the interaction
between the University and the town. Every
Saturday that we have a home football
game, the merchants on Franklin Street,
particularly those who hawk spirit wear,
stand to make a killing off of visitors to
the University. And yet Johnny T-Shirt is
unwilling to give its due in the form of
a 6.5 percent licensing fee. True, Student
Stores does not pay this fee, but it paid
over $220,000 in wages to students in 1986
and gave out over $500,000 in non-athletic
scholarships. Where does this leave Johnny
T-Shirt?
I would think that everyone would hope
for an ideal symbiotic relationship between
the University and the town. But increas
ingly the town proceeds like a leech, and
it is the students that they are bleeding.
Noise ordinances, the road extension; the
list goes on. The issue is not really one
of individual projects like Rosemary
Square and the Orange County Women's
Center; it is an issue of whether or not
the town will continue to pull away from
the students, and whether the students will
let it do so.
v Though the situation may seem to be
out of our hands, students have a variety
of feasible methods for bringing about
change. First and foremost, vote in the
town council elections. Second, Board of
Trustees Chairman Bob Eubanks wants
more student input. Hold him to it. The
search is on for a new chancellor. Let's
get someone who will make relations with
the town a top priority.
DAVID HESTER
Sophomore
Applied Science German
if
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