The Daily Tar HeelMonday, April 3, 19891 1
Opinion
Celebrate DTH's 1
You think The Daily Tar Heel
is free, don't you? Most of you
grab one every morning and
read the comics, sports, news stories
and editorials in blissful ignorance,
never bothering to consider who pays
to produce your friendly student
newspaper.
You may be surprised to learn that
you do at least in small part. The
Daily Tar Heel is constitutionally
funded, so the paper automatically
receives 16 percent of all student fees.
But if you consider your student fees
a subscription fee for the DTH, you're
not getting what you pay for. You're
getting 10 times what you pay for.
Confused? Let's back up a bit. In
fiscal year 1989, the DTH's percen
tage of student fees amounted to
about $70,000. That sounds like a lot,
but this year, the DTH's operating
expenses will reach almost 10 times
that amount about $650,000.
Has the DTH plunged hopelessly
into debt? Is your student newspaper
teetering on the brink of bankruptcy?
The ' answer is a definite no. The
financial wizards among you have
probably figured it out1 already:
Student fees comprise a very small
portion of the newspaper's budget.
This' year, local advertising sales have
brought in about 66 percent of our
budget, national advertising about 1 1
percent, classified advertising about
6 percent and display classified
advertising about 2 percent. Adver
tising sales, not student fees, are the
financial foundation of our student
journalistic enterprise.
Such was not always the case; ever
since the DTH was created by the
University Athletic Association in
1893, it has been dependent on
outside sources of income. When the
paper ended its affiliation with the
athletic association in the 1920s, a
student publications board took over
the -financial reins. Since then, the
Studeofs campaign doesn't
comiviinice of need to involve...
A curious logic connects recent
discussion of a hiring decision
in the history department to
a broader appeal for student partic
ipation in all faculty hirings.
In the case of the North Carolina
history position, the department, by
overwhelming majority, chose . the
brilliant young historian and teacher
Jim Leloudis over a competitive field.
Not only did we have the benefit of
our normal deliberative process but,
in this case, extended acquaintance
with the three finalist as UNC
doctoral students. In the circumstan
ces, the department could take pride
in three strong "home-grown" pro
ducts, but we took special satisfaction
in offering the appointment of Lelou
dis, -who adds a national reputation
Instead, it
teachers against eac
am concerned about the recent
assortment , of articles and letters
Jxthat have appeared in the DTH
over the past couple of weeks regard
ing the decision of the history
department to hire Jim Leloudis for
the position of assistant professor of
N.C. history. What began as an
unfortunate necessity on the part of
the history department to select only
one of several qualified candidates for
a single open position has become,
through numerous instances of mis
understanding, a debate which threat
ens to damage the reputations of two
outstanding instructors.
I am one of the fortunate few who
have had the opportunity to be in
classes taught by both Jim Leloudis
and, Gary Freeze, and being the
history addict that I am, I have come
to Know both of the instructors on
a personal basis.
It. is obvious from attending these
instructors'classes that both men love
to teach. Jim Leloudis' oratorical
style of lecture took me back to the
times, places and events of American
history. Notes, so often a crutch for
reraebering a dull lecture, were
secondary when it came to studying
for. his exams. History became so
understandable, and dates and events
so unthreatening, that attending class
wasr for the first time in my college
career, something to look forward to.
Outside of class, Jim was always
available to discuss difficult points or
subjects of special interest. He clearly
had a genuine concern for the welfare
of each of his students. Class attend
ance was never poor, or even medi
ocre, which seems to say something
about Jim's success as a teacher.
Gary Freeze is a completely differ
ent, yet equally outstanding, instruc
tor. His active style of teaching
guarantees that no one goes to sleep
in this class for fear of missing
something good. Again, notes were
secondary as Gary incorporated
slides, examples and field trips (how
many history classes can claim that
Jean Lutes
1988-89 Editor
DTH has received varying amounts
of student fees each year. We needed
those fees for our financial survival
because we weren't a profitable
operation.
But this decade has been a pro
gressive one for the Tar Heel. The
purchase of a computer system in
1984 brought the paper into the
computer age and revolutionized its
production. The hiring of an aggres
sive, full-time advertising director in
1986 resulted in an increase in local
advertising sales. The number of
pages has grown by almost a page
a year for the last four years. The
budget has more than doubled since
1981; so has the size of the staff.
The DTH's six full-time profes
sional staff members, who supervise
business management, advertising
sales, production and distribution of
the DTH, deserve most of the credit
for our financial stability. Students
control the editorial side of the paper,
as they should, but professional
management has provided the con
tinuity and expertise necessary to
make the DTH a financially stable
operation.
That financial stability has spurred
the DTH's Board of Directors,' a
group made up primarily of students
charged with handling the paper's
finances, to support the DTH's move
to return its student fees.
The board's most important reason
for this move should be obvious by
now the DTH doesn't really need
student fees.
During the annual Student Con
gress budget process, student groups
must fight for every dollar of the very
limited amount of student fees the
Leon Fink
Guest Writer
as a scholar to superb teaching
credentials.
Then, long after the conclusion of
the department's decision-making
process, comes a petition-happy
undergraduate to take up the cudgels
for one of the disappointed candi
dates. In the name of "student input,"
the chief petitioner admits that many
of the signees have never taken a
course with their protagonist, let
alone sat in comparative judgment on
the departmental choice. Amidst
innuendo and ignorance, not only is
pits two
The reputations of two of the finest
instructors Carolina has ever known
are at stake.
Mike Isenhour
Guest Writer
distinction?) to make sure that
students understood the point he was
making. Gary, too, was always
available when students needed help,
and from his class size we had to
move to a bigger room the first day
in order to seat everybody it is
obvious that he is an equally popular
instructor.
I appreciate Gene Davis' campaign
on behalf of Gary Freeze, and I feel
that he has every right to point out
what he sees as hiring discrepancies
on the part of the history department.
I do not, however, agree with the way
the two instructors are being pitted
against each other, and I don't agree
with the attempt being made to go
outside the University to such bodies
as the General Assembly in an effort
to bring about change. Both actions
threaten to set a dangerous
precendent.
In regard to the latter, if changes
eed to be made in the hiring process,
it seems that the history department
and the University are quite capable
of making those changes from within.
While it is said that students had no
input into the decision, we must ask
ourselves how often students care
enough to express their convictions
in regard to quality instructors. A
professor is often seen as the guy in
the front of the room who talks for
an hour while we'd rather be sleeping.
He was hired through a routine
process that usually goes unchal
lenged because the process usually
works. The fact that students are
Wth birthday retair mi ttu
congress has to allocate. Congress
members are forced to slash their way
through the budgets of even the most
responsible of student groups,
because there simply is not enough
money to fulfill all their requests.
Student fees allowed the DTH to
become financially successful; other
groups deserve that chance.
The paper's rapidly increasing
budget has added another problem
to the DTH's acceptance of student
fees. Those funds come with certain
strings attached. All the money we
take in must be channeled into the
Student Activities Fund Office
(SAFO), and there it must stay, unless
we use it to buy supplies or equip
ment. The balance in our account is
invested in the University's invest
ment pool, and SAFO keeps any
profits on such investments. You
could consider such profits a reaso
nable recompense for SAFO's finan
cial services, except that the DTH
also pays SAFO $6,000 in audit fees
each year. This means we pay for
accounting services twice, through
audit fees and through returns on
investments made with our funds.
Student Congress recently denied
the DTH's Board of Directors request
for permission to withdraw a certain
amount of money from SAFO for
responsible investment purposes. The
congress members reluctance is
understandable; as long as the DTH
receives any percentage of student
fees, the congress must retain control
over those fees. But it's also under
standable that the DTH's general
manager is frustrated by a policy that,
in essence, encourages fiscal irrespon
sibility. As long as we have enough
money in bur account, we are allowed
to buy whatever we want com
puters, notebooks, pencils, curtains,
recliners, wall-to-wall carpet, any
thing but under no circumstances
may we invest the money that we
a most promising colleague defamed,
but further outside pressure threa
tened to undermine the faculty's long
valued autonomy.
From tms charade in. popular
decision-making, the DTH concludes
that students deserve a permanent
place in faculty hiring decisions.
Surely there is a better case to be for
a student voice that this one. Using
a one-sided, uninformed campaign as
evidence of the need for greater
student involvement is about as
convincing as using the latest frat
blow-out to make the case for
lowering the drinking age.
Leon Fink is an associate professor
in the history department.
qualifiec
h other
suddenly upset over a single decision
doesn't seem grounds to go over
administrators' heads. As the history
department chairman said, students
have ample time for input before any
decision is made. It is up to student
to make such an effort.
As for the result of factionalizing
which is pitting one instructor against
another, Freeze is in danger of being
seen as the "loser" in a "battle" that
was never intended as such, and
Leloudis . is having to answer to
charges being made against his
qualifications as an instructor.
The reputations of two of the finest
instructors Carolina has ever known
are at stake because of this contro
versy. It is unfortunate that such a
decision had to be made, but it is good
to know that the history department
had to make a tough decision between
two top-notch instructors. There was
one position to be filled. Jim Leloudis
was chosen, and he will more than
fulfill the role that he has been given.
Meanwhile, Gary Freeze will move
on to his new professorship at Erskine
College. Should UNC have another
open position for N.C. history in the
near future, I hope they will call on
Gary. By that time, however, Gary's
new students will probably have
discovered just what kind of an
instructor they have and refuse to let
him go. It is unfortunate that UNC
could not keep both of these fine
professors, but it is unnecessary that
they be forced to carry on their work
in the shadows of undeserved
controversy.
Mike Isenhour is a senior RTVMP
and history major from Hickory.
make. The only way the DTH will
earn the right to control its own
finances is to return its student fees.
And with our newfound financial
stability comes the luxury of address
ing a conflict we've been forced to
ignore or shrug off for years: A
financially dependent student press
cannot be a truly free student press.
Although student fees make up a
small part of the DTH's budget,
Student Congress must vote to
approve our entire budget. The
congress members, in their role as
watchdog over student fees, have the
right to question our financial oper
ations and to deny approval of our
budget if they see something they
don't like.
Conflict inevitably arises when a
group that a newspaper covers
editorially has control over its finan
ces. Would that power make an editor
wary of printing a negative editorial
about Student Congress? Yes, espe
cially during the month prior to
congress' consideration of our
budget, and I speak from personal
experience. I was not strongly intim
idated by the congress' power over
our purse strings, but I was certainly
less likely to pick a fight. In the
interest of a free and independent
student voice, the DTH's budget
should not be controlled by Student
Congress.
In most cases, UNC's student
government has been supportive of
the DTH. However, the horror stories
do exist. In fall 1975, the student body
treasurer, Mike O'Neal, refused to
release the paper's semester allotment
of student fees because of a dispute
with' the DTH's general manager
about the payment of bills. O'Neal
wanted the DTH to pay its printing
bills on a daily basis, a procedure that
was impossible for the paper because
it collected its advertising revenues on
a monthly basis.
f&!
Students miss Dypree's talks
TTTrofessor Dupree was not one
-to mince words.
11 "Damnation, folks! I had no
idea I was so popular! You guys just
worked yourselves out of a term
paper." This after he realized an extra
two dozen students were crammed
into his Anthropology 137 class.
From behind the podium, the small
man smiled almost imperceptibly at
his students' visible relief. He was not
quiet for long.
"Would someone please tell me,
what is the topic of this course?"
"The Middle East," came the
hesitant reply.
"Ahh-hahh!" growled Dupree, his
eyes wide and index finger raised
stiffly beside him. He panned the
slightly maniacal look across the
class, clearly amused though careful
not to smile or single anyone out.
"Nothing bugs the hell out of me
more than calling North Africa and
East Asia the Middle East ... East
of what for God's sake!?. . ." There
followed his first narrative on the evils
of ethnocentrism. The first of many.
Narrative is the proper term. The
usual words (lecture, speech, etc.), are
insufficient and inappropriate, imply
ing a planned order whch was not
there. Professor Dupree taught by
Students, skirts, slicks
"There was nothing my husband
believed in more sincerely than the
worth and meaning in student
government." Gladys Coates,
speaking Wednesday at a memorial
for her husband, Albert, a former
UNC law professor and founder of
the Institute of Government.
ODD
"He was infamous for playing
pranks. One thing Chad will always
be remembered for is a trip to 'The
Rocky Horror Picture Show.' He
showed up dressed in drag. It was
pretty embarrassing having my little
brother sit behind me wearing a
O'Neal's drastic action forced the
editor to cancel two issues of the
paper. On Sept. 9, 1975, The Tech
nician, N.C. State's student news
paper, printed an extra 20,000 copies
and distributed them in DTH drop
boxes across UNC's campus. In an
unprecedented show of support for
a free student press, the Technician's
front page featured an interview with
the editor of the DTH and an editorial
criticizing the student body treasurer.
Telephones in the DTH office rang
constantly, as newspaper reporters
across the state and nation called to
ask questions about the action. In the
face of increasing student dissatisfac
tion and a great deal of negative,
publicity, the student body treasurer
finally released the necessary funds. .
Such nightmares are the exception
rather than the rule in the DTH's long
history. But the lesson remains valid.
A free press is one not bound to any
governmental body, especially a
group which appears regularly on its
front page and on its editorial pages.
The return of student fees does not
mean the DTH will move out of its
offices in the Student Union or that
its focus will shift from campus issues.
Our financial success relies on con
tinued administrative support of our
rent-free office space in the Union,
and our mission will always be to
provide a student voice and to offer
all students free access to that voice.
Does the DTH plan to begin charging
for its paper, like some other student
newspapers have done, or to relin
quish editorial control to professional
staff members, or to give up its status
as a University-recognized student
organization? No, no, no.
Our commitment to student inter
ests does not stem from a dependence
on student fees; it comes from a long
tradition of advocating student self
governance and of holding adminis
trators accountable to the student
Stephen Wells
Guest Writer
delivering narratives emotional,
digressive, occasionally risque,
always wonderful narratives. He
spoke from experience, everything
was first hand. He related memories.
"I suppose I was too old, but I was
such a tough old bird, they let me
go along ... even gave me a rifle
. . Guess they didn't know I couldn't
tell the butt of a gun from my own.
Never shot a Russian, though, despite
all the peer pressure . . ." Such were
Dupree's recollections of his stay with
a group of Afghan "freedom fight
ers." He said it in a low voice, staring
at the ceiling, at the end of class.
People in the back probably missed
it altogether. His intonation varied
widely. When be began, it was loud
and deliberate but invariably it would
shrink back from embracing the class
into what seemed a sort of oral self
reflection. One could sit and watch
his attention shift as, after a strident,
purposeful first five minutes, there
began the movement into himself and
his experience. By the end of the class,
Week in Quotes
skirt. " Alpha Phi Omega President
Roni Harbert, who was APO pledge
Chad Overcash's big sister in the
fraternity. Overcash was killed in a
car accident on his way to the
fraternity's beach retreat last
weekend.
.BSD
"I'm a slick-licker. I'm going to
make as much money as I can
cleaning up this mess for Exxon. And
then Tm going to leave Alaska for
demit fees
voice. The Daily Tar Heel's ties to
the University are much deeper than
a trail of dollar bills. The paper's
reason for existence arises from its
ties to the history and development
of the University, and to separate the
DTH from the campus would be to
separate it from students. A student
newspaper without students is not
just a conflict in terms it's an
impossibility.
When Student Congress approved
the DTH's budget last week, the bill
included a reference to the paper's
commitment to returning its fees,
beginning in fiscal year 1991 and
ending in fiscal year 1993. The action
will require a referendum to the
student constitution, and we hope
students will vote on that referendum
in spring campus elections next year.
The gradual return of fees, around
a third of the allotment each year,
is necessary to allow the business
operations of our paper to adjust to
the loss of what is now 10 percent
of our budget.
If you support a free student press
with the power to expand both
editorially and financially, youH
support the DTH's plan to return its
student fees. If things work out as
we hope, The Daily Tar Heel will
become self-sufficient in 1993, the
year of its 100th birthday. I cant
think of a better way to celebrate the
centennial of the University's student
newspaper than by announcing its
achievement of true freedom.
When freshmen pick up the DTH
on their way to classes in 1993, they'll
think it's free, just like you did. The
only difference is, they'll be right.
Jean Lutes is a senior journalism
and English major from Pittsburgh,
Pa.
it had become a sort of one-man
dialogue. One bright-eyed old man
speaking fondly to himself.
The effect was powerful. Every
other day, Professor Dupree stood
before us and poured out the stuff
of his life the people, places, and
ideas which were his history. They
were not held forth for approval or
memorization, but rather as a sort
of explanation This is what I am
about. This is what excites and
fascinates me. Here it is. Take what
you want. There was a lot worth
taking.
Dupree made the announcement
over a month ago. He spoke matter-of-factly.
"After a great deal of probing and
poking, they seem to think I have lung
cancer . . ." Surveying the roomful
of startled faces, ". . . but just stifle
that sigh of relief. As I said, if Afghan
booze can't kill me, this stuff hasn't
got a chance! I'm a tough old bird
and the final stands."
Here's to tough old birds. You are
missed.
Stephen Wells is a sophomore
history major from Richmond, Va.
and span
good and go someplace where there
ain't so much snow and the waters
cleaner." Russell Roetman, who
is helping to clean up the 1 1 million
gallons of oil spilled by the Exxon
Valdez last week. '
ODD
"There are many spandex factories
around the world, but the market is
very tight. " Bruno Skerianz, who
was arrested in Geneva under charges
that he tried to extort $10 million
from the world's leading manufac
turer of spandex.
Compiled by editor Sharon
Kebschull.
dex