10The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 9, 1989
OJb? lath ufetr
Finding a date for the innoculation bal
96 th vear of editorial freedom
Karen Bell, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K. RUST, Managing Editor
Will Lingo, city Editor
Kelly Rhodes, a m Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
SHELLEY ERBLAND, Design Editor
Jean Lutes, Editor
KAARIN TlSUE, News Editor
Laura Pearlman, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Edito
WILLIAM TAGGART, State and National Editor
Dave Glenn, sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
BRIAN FOLEY, Photography Editor
Kelly Thompson, Design Editor
Get injected or be ejected
This is one piece of mail you didn't
want to get the little white card from
Student Health Services engraved with
a mandatory invitation to appear at
Woollen Gym this week to get a
measles vaccination. And if you're
looking for a way to get out of your
date with the syringe, think again
because the University isn't fooling
around.
The vaccination policy is out of
University hands, under the jurisdic
tion of the North Carolina quarantine
laws. This means if you were too afraid
to get your shot, you shouldn't take
it personally if you are escorted out
of class today or out of your dormitory
tomorrow. Such drastic action is
necessary because under N.C. law, the
state can close the campus if health
officials don't think the University is
complying with the quarantine
procedure.
To make sure you aren't booted
from class, you should carry the card
with you today. The professor will
have a list of students whose immunity
status is unknown and the only way
to get off the black list and into class
is to show the card. The professors
have the right to ask you to leave class
and if you don't leave, technically, the
police could be called to escort you
home. The situation is quite serious,
and if you or your professor fail to
adhere to these rules, you can be
charged with a misdemeanor. Try
explaining that to the folks.
If you're one of the about 2,000
students who still haven't bothered to
get the required shot, you can be
vaccinated at Woollen Gym from 9
a.m until 5 p.m. today but that's
it. After tonight, you'll have to go to
a private physician, the Board of
Health or Student Health Services.
And SHS can only handle 125 vac
cinations a day at its facility on
campus.
If you're not getting the shot and
you need it, you're doing everyone a
disservice. You're wasting the time of
your professors and classmates and
jeopardizing the health of other
students by leaving yourself succept
ible to a highly contagious disease.
Also, you're hurting yourself. Missing
two weeks of class and having to move
out of your dorm room is probably
an inconvenience you can live without
in your life.
Save yourself, your classmates and
your professors a lot of hassle, and
go to Woollen Gym now to get the
shot if you need one. It doesn't hurt
too much and it beats measles with
a stick. Laura Pearlman
This PF proposal's on target
Months after the Faculty Council
voted down a proposal that would
have allowed students to select target
grades in courses declared pass fail,
the idea may be getting another
chance.
The revised version of the proposal,
developed by student government's
Special Interests Committee, is true to
the original purpose; it is designed to
encourage students to experiment
academically. Under the proposal,
which now will be considered by the
council, students who declare a course
pass fail would be required to select
a target grade. If the student earns the
target grade or higher, the achieved
grade would be averaged into the GPA
. and appear on the student's transcript
with a pass notation. If a student didn't
reach her target grade but still passed
the course, only a "pass" would appear
on his transcript.
The big change in the proposal is
a reduction in the number of credit
hours students would be able to take
pass fail. Under the revised system,
students could take a maximum of 16
hours, eight less than the present limit
of 24. Also, students would have to
have 12 hours of regular credit to take
a three- or four-hour target grade
course.
One of the Faculty Council's major
objections to last year's proposed
system was that it would be too easy,
that it would counteract the motiva
tion behind the grading system.
However, the severe restriction on
the number of pass fail courses would
not allow students to use this special
option indiscriminately. Rather, it
would give students an understandably
limited number of opportunities to
branch out academically while not
endangering those precious GPAs.
That seems fair; a University cur
riculum can't afford to make things
too easy for students. Popular but too
easy options may sound great to
students who consider only short-term
benefits, but such options could
ultimately result in lowered academic
standing, which in turn would hurt
students' chances of finding good jobs
or attending good graduate schools.
More importantly, allowing pass
fail hours to accumulate unrestricted
could affect the overall quality of
undergraduate education at UNC. If
students could select A's as target
grades for a significant number of their
classes, then spend the rest of the
semester deciding if it's worth trying
to get A's, would make a farce of an
atmosphere that often isn't academic
enough.
The council should consider sup
porting this pass fail compromise. It
strikes a good balance between
upholding standards of academic
excellence and encouraging students to
obtain a diverse education. Jean
Lutes
The Daily Tar Heel
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".ay 1 I'm informed I must get
i J my shot.
Jf I think mv first reactions are
pretty normal. My legs collapse and I fall
to the floor like a jellyfish. I'm salivating
like a dog we used to have, and can only
say the words "garb" and utuna fish"
without getting dizzy. After an hour, I
make it to the couch.
I start to get some feeling back in my
right side, and I try to look at this thing
rationally. Thousands of people are having
to do this. It's almost a social event, so
I invite this girl in my biology class IVe
had my eye on (the way she talks about
the spleen is completely erotic). I play it
really cool at first. Then I make my move.
"Well look,"' I say. "I was going to go
down to this little innoculation thing some
friends of mine are having. Could be kind
of crazy. What do ya say?"
She tells me she's already vaccinated, so
I say okay, maybe some other disease. She
hangs up. Fear sets in again, and I imagine
not a kindly, elderly nurse rubbing my arm
with alcohol, but a woman-wrestler type
with some sort of javelin, yelling "Heave!"
I crawl next door to ask my neighbor
where they give the shot.
"I think it's in the gym," the bonehead
says.
"No! I mean where do they give it?"
David Rowell
Pardon Me
"Where do you think?" he says.
I crawl back to my room and do not
know where I think. Though I guess I
should know, instead I conjure up the
image of getting it through the nose and
screaming, "Get it out! Get it out!"
So I think the hell with it. IH just take
the measles I'm open to new things.
I look "measles" up in the dictionary, and
it describes them as small red dots on the
face, which I figure I can just clear up with
a little Oxy 10. Then I pick up the card
and read that failure to be vaccinated will
result in withdrawal from the University.
My legs collapse and I fall to the floor
like a jellyfish.
Day 2 I get the shot.
I wake in a cold sweat. All night, I
dreamed that I was sleeping on a bed of
nails and playing with my pet porcupine,
after which I went for an acupuncture
session and climbed a cactus.
I try to get spme breakfast down and
settle my nerves. I run out to get a DTH
and read about the first day's shots. There
are no casualties reported; I take this as
a good sign.
The hours fly by and now it is 8:30 p.m.,
the time I swore I would go. I walk over
with as much poise as, say, the Scarecrow
in the "If I Only Had a Brain" number.
I look around and see that not all the
people administering shots are nurses.'
Some are students. I panic. I just know
111 get some psych major saying, "I think
it goes in this way." They move me down
to a student nurse, who was, I must admit,
quite lovely. She asks me a series of
questions.
"Do you have a fever?" she asks.
"No, but I could get one."
"Do you take steroids?" ,
"Hell yes. Why it doesn't show?" ,T
She tells me I won't be able to give blood
for four weeks. She looks at my name on
the card. "Or sperm, either, Mr. Rowell."
(It's my luck I get an avid fan). '
"Give it to me," I say, and she does.
I walk out, and try to remember her
. name so I might ask her for a follow-up
visit, just to see how it's healing, but my
mind's a blank. In fact, it still is, and besides
a sore arm and possible fever, I worry that
a post-reaction is that you get a blank
mind. '
David Rowell is a senior RTV MP major
from Fayetteville. . .
Readers9 Forum
Burning
questions
To the editor:
It always seemed strange to
me how intensely strong emo
tions could come and go so
easily. For that very reason I
am taking this time out to write
mine down not only for my
own thoughts' posterity, but in
hope that maybe someone else
may feel the same way.
I took a break from my usual
bitching about how far behind
I am in school to go see "Mis
sissippi Burning" recently. I
went with a few friends, and
the consensus was that the
movie was "intense." The
sphere of emotions encom
passed ran the gamut: shock,
anticipation, fear, hate, help
lessness and, for me, unre
solved uneasiness as I walked
out the door. How does it go?
Introduction,' rising action,
climax, denouement, resolu
tion. What happened to the
resolution? Ten years for
murder is somewhere between
a slap on the wrist and being
sent to your room without
dessert. Thank God Hollywood
didnt candy coat the story with
a happily ever after.
There is no resolution
because the disease persists.
The problem of racism remains
because of the hammering
closed of today's minds by the
hammered-closed of yester
day's. I hated the racists during
the movie, but I shouldn't have.
Given a different set of circum
stances I could have grown up
just like them.
So who is to blame for the
persistence of racism? The
bigot had no choice. The bigot's
narrowness and hate was cul
tivated. What about me? IVe
had more than my share of
educational opportunity, and
IVe been able to develop my
own beliefs from a wide variety
of sources and thoughts. With
these opportunities in mind,
then, is it enough to treat others
without prejudice, or is it my
obligation to actively combat
that which I know to be wrong?
Maybe I feel that my effort
toward such an enormous
problem would be insignifi
cant. I know that I shouldn't,
but maybe that's why I felt
Uneasy as I left the movie
theater.
Okay, now you're asking
yourself, "So what is this guy
trying to say? Is he trying to
blame me for racism just
because IVe had opportuni
ties?" No. I'm just blaming
myself; but if you haven't
already, go check out "Missis
sippi Burning" and see if you
feel satisfied with the ending.
JOHN ENDE
Medical student
Scientists not
the victims
To the editor:
Robert Slugg ("PETA
demands frightening, unrealis
tic," Feb. 1) takes great pains
to point out that he and his
fellow researchers are the vic
tims of a "slick public relations
department." I assume that he
is trying to say that their
concerns are bulldozed by an
organization with more visibil
ity or a greater ability to make
its position known. He tries to
come off as a victim of sorts.
I find it hard to have any
sympathy for him though,
because in his lab, the animals
are the victims and he is the
one with the powerful organ
ization and the "visibility."
PETA is simply trying to give
those animals a voice that can
be heard. They are protesting
the cruelty that the animals
aren't in a position to object to
themselves.
Slugg points out that this
pain and suffering is irrelevant
because animals aren't human
which, incidentally, does not
mean that they cannot and do
not suffer. There are those of
us who feel that a person who
has no compassion for other
living things is less than human,
but we have no desire to put
such a monster in a cage and
torture him for our benefit.
And while we are on the subject
of benefit, Slugg says that it
takes "considerable time and
effort to correctly explain the
beneficial nature" of his work.
He certainly doesn't bother to
try! He merely attacks an
organization with concern for
the other living beings that
share this world with us and
avoids pointing to any concrete
evidence as justification for
what he does. Does that mean
that he doesn't have any hard,
cold evidence that he believes
is strong enough to compete
with "a ' large ; dose of emo
tion" ? Or could it possibly be
that he has no justification for
his cruelty and is simply strik
ing out at PETA because they
may have hit a nerve?
PATRICIA MURPHY
Senior
Psychology philosophy
Letters policy
The Daily Tar Heel
welcomes reader comments
and criticisms. When writing
letters to the editor, please
follow these guidelines:
B All letters must be signed
by the author(s), with a limit
of two signatures per letter.
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University community should
include similar information.
Avoid global reasoning in individual decisions
1 applaud Marguerite Arnold's stance
in "Choose abortion before over
population" (Feb. 2). She states that
the world population will double in 40
years and adds, "Personally, I do not want
to live in a world of 10 billion people when
I'm 60 years old," and, "It has been
speculated that the number of people who
could live on this Earth at the current
American standard of living is only 12
billion." Today, we have 10 times that
many people. Arnold advocates abortion
to control population. In theory, liberal
use of abortion could effectively cut the
population growth. However, today in the
United States only one in four pregnancies
is terminated. We are allowing 3,600,000
babies to be born in America each year,
and aborting only 1,200,000. We need to
abort at least two or three times that many
babies in order to put a dent in the crowds
that will be hitting the ski slopes in a few
years.
Arnold argues eloquently for the role
of abortion in preventing hunger and
poverty, as well as child abuse. She
explores the constantly-debated question
of when human life as we define it really
begins. (For me, life as I define it began
when I was 18 and hit this campus flaunting
a tan and a pink miniskirt.) Most impor
tantly, Arnold reminds the reader that as
Americans, we place top priority on quality
of life. We enjoy talking about the terrible
conditions in Africa or downtown Carr
boro or wherever, but how many of us
are going to spend Spring Break working
in the soup kitchen or at the shelter for
battered women and children? That $600
that we will spend on quality of life at the
beach could feed a starving African baby
Elizabeth Gibbons
Guest Writer
for a year. Where's your money going? To
a heathen baby or a tropical island? I
thought so. Don't feel bad, that baby
should have been aborted and spared her
awful existence. I advocate infanticide if
things are looking especially bleak for a
child. Who honestly believes that those
troll-like creatures drooling and jabbering
incoherently and flinging Tonka trucks
about the house are humans in the richest
sense of the word?
Abortion is effective in eliminating a
small group of unwanted people. Contra
ception also has its merits as a growth
deterrent even though it can be messy,
expensive, fraught with side effects and
sometimes spoil the fun of sex. I have a
two-step plan that would effectively "halve
the world population in an easy, natural
and cost-effective way: 1) Stop vaccinating
people against deadly disease, and 2) Stop
' giving antibiotics that hamper venereal
diseases from naturally sterilizing women.-
For thousands of years, our ancestors
supplemented abortion with widespread
epidemics to control population growth.
Without vaccination, half of our babies
would die before their fifth birthdays. We
could, in effect, retroactively abort the
children that we missed the first time. In
! addition to hitting small children especially
hard, epidemics also wipe out the very old
whose quality of life and productivity are
at an alarming low, and pregnant women
(killing two birds with one stone).
If, in addition to encouraging'epidemic
disease, we also stopped treating venereal
disease, up to 40 percent of the women
on the UNC campus would be relieved of
ever having to worry about pregnancy
again. Just imagine the sexual freedom that
might ensue if we knew that not only are
we definitely not going to become preg-
nant, but we are passing on the seed of
absolute birth control to others.
Global epidemics and widespread steril
ity should effectively reduce the crowds at
our favorite dining and vacation spots.
Unfortunately, we will have to bury the
less hearty of our friends and families.
However, we will appreciate and support
our surviving loved ones much more than
we do today. The surviving children will
be welcomed, cared for and well fed. We
will be able to enjoy the many pleasures
of "this precious jewel, spaceship Earth"
without having to fight crowds, wait in line,
or share.
Abortion is an explosive topic and we
can imagine situations in which we might
choose it for ourselves or friends. Don't
mix world politics into an individuals
decision to carry one child to term. If one
chooses to terminate a pregnancy in the
name of world hunger and overpopulation,
the only logical step would be sterilization.
The world will be hungrier and more
crowded the next time one becomes
pregnant regardless of the change in the
individual's perception of the world and,
her role in it. Many Americans confuse
lifestyle opportunities with life
opportunities.
Elizabeth Gibbons is a second-year,
medical student from Raleigh. . ;