v .16The Tar, Heel.ThiiFsday,- Jgly 7,4988
Oponeon
No fairness in
For many apartment dwellers,
rent for July was due last week.
For most students living on
campus next fall, though, rent
has already been paid for an
entire semester up to $800
worth.
That lump sum students pay
is typical of univerisities around
the state, but that doesn't make
it right. Once students pay the
bill, that money is the Universi
ty's to put into an interest-bearing
savings account, from which
funds are taken for operating
expenses.
While UNC certainly needs
those funds, asking for all the
money up front is unreasonable
and puts a burden on all but the
richest parents. Not many people
keep that much money in an
account just waiting to be spent.
It would, of course, probably
be a bit much to ask that the
University charge rent monthly.
The bureaucracy here is such that
a system like that would be far
too complex to be managed
efficiently, and efficiency is never
a bureaucracy's strong suit.
But certainly a compromise is
in order, such as asking for half
the amount in summer and half
midway through the semester, or
even when students return in
Incidents show similarities
The Sunday shooting of an
Iranian civilian plane reflected
the existence of much more than
"trigger-happy Americans" or the
right of Americans to defend
themselves. In fact, the shooting
balances out much that has
happened in the past and leaves
lingering messages for the world
to heed.
Naturally, the act was instantly
compared to the shooting of a
Korean Air Lines plane by the
Soviet Union in 1983. That was
condemned by the United States
and came to be a point of
considerable friction between the
two countries it seemed to
prove President Reagan's asser
tions that the Soviet Union was
the evil empire.
But it is surprising how similar
these two incidents are. It serves
as a perfect example of how alike
the two countries really are and
how fallible they both are.
There is a further comparison
that can be made, though. Few
people have forgotten that it was
Iran who held our entire embassy
in Tehran hostage for 444 days
in 1979 and 1980. These were
innocent citizens who were kid
napped in the line of duty and
put through a living hell for more
than a year.
Now the Navy has put 290
totally innocent Iranians (and
some other nationalities) to
death. The reasons for the cir
full payment
August. A large enough deposit
in summer would be enough to
keep students from backing out
on their contracts, give the
University enough funds for
operating expenses partway
through the semester, and take
the burden off parents.
The account earns around 7
percent interest, totalling
$143,600 in interest for 1987-88.
While charging only half the
amount at a time would lose
some of that revenue, the real
question is one of fairness, not
a few lost dollars. Because dorms
are built to last for years and the
investments are long-term ones,
the amount of interest lost would
be minimal on a year-to-year
basis, which is when parents and
students notice it.
So for UNC to expect to keep
that whole sum from the summer
on is ridiculous, unfair to parents,
and bad business by a state
institution. This is an issue the
Board of Trustees should con
sider and push for changes in,
because while students may not
have complained about it much,
parents are forced to grumble
every summer about the sudden
and unreasonably large depletion
in their accounts.
cumstances surrounding and the
excuses profferred in each of the
situations are basically
meaningless.
These incidents are hot neces
sarily crucial incidents. In 1979,
America saw the hostages as a
slap in the face, but not as a
serious threat to national secur
ity. And it is doubtful that
Iranian officials care whether it
was 290 civilians or 2,900. It is
just another incident, something
to get upset about, something
with which to condemn the
United States.
But while Iran is now scream
ing that it will retaliate in every
way possible, it should realize
something that has been clearly
illustrated by this situation.
Retaliation is easy, but it rarely
stops the incident there. Retali
ation simply prolongs incidents
to give the countries more oppor
tunities to act foolishly. If Iran
ians retaliate, American forces
can just continue to knock Iran
ian planes out of the sky like a
sharpshooter shooting at helium
balloons.
The answer is not for everyone
to condemn America and for
America to do nothing but
defend herself. The answer is in
looking at the big picture and
hoping the situation brings ev
eryone to their senses and starts
working toward peace in the
Persian Gulf and everywhere.
Don't leave home without i
In case you didn t know or don't
remember, Monday was the
Fourth of July, arguably the most
important historical date our country
celebrates. It commemorates the
breaking away of the child from the
nest of its forebears, Great Britain.
A small, yet determined group of
people believed strongly enough in its
special ideas about how to live and
govern itself to risk the wrath of its
symbolic parent, England. These
brave souls overcame both this
parental retaliation for their child-like
ingratitude and the natural terror
(and mistakes) which accompany
independence and self-rule.
So I found it ironic that I had
chosen to fly home over the weekend
to spend Independence Day, of all
things, with my parents. I love my
family just as this country's founding
fathers loved England. However, we
all see things in our own unique way
and want to live according to that
vision.
I know I'm not alone in my struggle
for independence, but returning home
on such an auspicious and relatively
significant holiday (when I might
have symbolically left home) has
made some interesting connections
for me. Some people go into business
immediately after college, while
others attend graduate school. But
despite a child's age, maturity or
intellectual growth, parents still fmd
subtle ways to impose their desires
over the child's.
I dont mean to sound ungrateful
for all my parents do for me, and
they really are justified in deciding
how their money is to be spent. It's
just that I can empathize with those
in England who would have liked to
emigrate on the Mayflower, to assert
their political independence, but
logistically couldn't.
These days, there are different
kinds of independence (or depend-
Deaths, defense and
"We will not leave the crimes of
America unanswered. We will resist
the plots of the Great Satan and
avenge the blood of our martyrs from
criminal mercenaries. " A commen
tary from IRNA, the official Iranian
press agency, on the killing of 290
civilian jetliner passengers in a
Persian Gulf firefight Sunday. The
agency has not said what the retal
iation will be.
"This is a terrible human tragedy.
Our sympathy and condolences go
out to the passengers, crew and their
families . . . we deeply regret any loss
of life. " President Reagan after the
announcement of the Persian Gulf
deaths Sunday.
"The Justice Departments lacka
daisical, careless, hands-off manage
ment goes far to explain why the
government is losing the war against
defense fraud. If any major private
law firm handled its affairs the way
Justice handles the defense fraud
program, it would be out of business
within a year." Sen. Charles
Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. William
Proxmire, D-Wis., in a joint state
ment after a report they requested
from the General Accounting office
on the management style of the
Defense Procurement Fraud Unit
was released Saturday.
Bobby Ferris
Staff Columnist
ence, depending on your perspective).
One may rely on another for financial
support. This type of reliance, while
the most direct form, often presents
the most complications. Then there
is spiritual dependence, apart from
that spiritual bond maintained when
one is financially supported by
another. Neither type is healthy nor
productive for someone striving
toward adulthood and maturity.
I can't really understand why
parents want their children to be
home even when the parents them
selves are very busy. But I have a
feeling that will become more clear
when I do the same with my kids some
day (before I'm through with my
medical training and am collecting
Social Security, I hope).
A friend and I explain this desire
of our parents' in our hazy minds as
Week in Quotes
"Who knows what's going to
happen in the next batch of polls?
That's why I'm not sitting here
crowing. If you live by the polls, you
die by the polls. " Lee Atwater,
campaign manager for George Bush,
on the latest Gallup poll showing
Michael Dukakis leading the likely
GOP presidential nominee 46 percent
to 41 percent, down from a lead of
52 percent to 38 percent two weeks
earlier.
"We have adopted a number of
thoroughly considered and respons
ible decisions. But if we drag out their
fulfillment and this is one of our
chronic ailments, which we have not
yet overcome and which has mani
fested itself also in the first years of
perestroika mu :h can simply come
to nothing. " Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev in closing remarks as the
Communist Party conference ended
Friday.
" is to show our attachment to
the Rome of forever that we perform
this ceremony. We will be thanked
one day by the bishops of Rome for
having maintained the traditions of
a feeling of security in knowing that
their children are safe (bored, but
safe) at home. This may be derived
from perceptive fears they had as we
were growing up that as long as we
weren't in sight, we were up to no
good.
So it might come as a surprise that,
in spite of all this which occurred to
me over the weekend at home, I still
had a good time. I even overcame
the psychological implications of
being at the ocean with my family,
even though Freud might argue this
effected a reversion back to my
mother's womb.
And my parents weren't overly
restrictive; in fact, I'm finding much
of the struggle for independence is
really only in my mind, anyway. But,
after all, independence can only be
as one personally perceives it, as
Freud, my parents and the May
flower travelers would probably
agree.
Bobby Ferris is a junior chemistry
major from Winter Park, Fla.
dysentery
the church. " Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre after he consecrated four
bishops last week, forcing the first
major schism in the Roman Catholic
Church in more than a century. The
Vatican issued a statement minutes
after the consecration rite declaring
that Lefebvre and the four others had
been excommunicated.
"Massachusetts is famous for two
things lobsters and liberals. Duka
kis is not a lobster." Samuel
Wilson, GOP nominee for attorney
general, at a rally for Wake County
Republicans last week.
"We are not animals in the zoo.
We know they don't want us here.
We don't want them here neither."
Running Goose, a member of the
Rainbow Family, a group of self
described hippies that chose Zavalla,
Texas, this year as the place to
celebrate their Independence Day
commune with nature. Running
Goose spends the year traveling the
country by bus with his wife and
infant daughter. The Rainbow Fam
ily spent last year's meeting in North
Carolina, where they trampled the
land, and half of the 15,000 reportedly
contracted dysentery.