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The Red and Black. Wednesday. May 17, 1972
THE OPINIONS OF THE RFO AND BLACK
Don't vote
Tomorrow's senior class
elections are a waste ot time —
student government's and the
voters'.
Consider what the president, or
secretary, of the senior class does.
Blank? You're almost correct. The
officers of the senior class have
little to do. They're supposed to
help with plans for graduation and
to organize their class after
graduation for reunions and such.
Both of these functions, though,
could be handled by other persons.
Why can't graduation be handled
by a committee of seniors
appointed by the student body
Good
We don’t agree with the
Allocations Committee on all their
recommendations to the Student
Senate, but we do agree with one
action they have taken. Its early
release of recommendations
deserves praise.
We said earlier that the
committee should publish their
proposals before the senate meeting
so that senators and students would
have an opportunity to discuss the
issues before the meeting.
president? Why can't reunions and
other alumni matters that senior
class officers are concerned with (if
there are any) be handled by the
alumni office?
One of the biggest |obs of the
senior class head used to be leading
the senior parade at the
homecoming football game. That
parade, though, has gone the way
of the motorized campus.
Student government leaders
need to reevaluate the need for
senior class officers. As for the
voters, we think you're wasting
your time to stop at the polls
tomorrow.
move
This lessens the chances of a
railroaded allocations plan, thus
increasing the chances for a more
equitable decision on the student
activities money.
The early release may mean
longer senate meetings because
there may be more discussion, but
isn't thg,t fairer?
Congratulations to David Burch
and his group for a democratic
move.
THE RED AND BLACK
Ken Willis, editor
Joe Belew
3usin»ss manager
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ROBERT FRIEDMAN
Our absurd assassinations
Other countries specialize in
well-devised political assassination at the
hands of opposing power. God knows
even this form of cold-blooded brutality
makes more sense than our own style of
absurd assassination
at the hands of a
crazy man.
I cannot hnng
myself to believe that
ours fs a nation of
madmen. Yet the
facts appea r to stare
us in the face - no
other country has
suffered a compara
ble plague of totally senseless killings and
attempted killings.
What, then. if we are not
overendowed with madmen? For one
thing, our madmen have guns. The
American's risk of being shot is about 80
times that of the European. Most
countries have long since realized that
handguns serve only one useful purpose
lulling people. The gun lobbyists may
shoot me for saying so, but strong gun
control legislation is far overdue.
Yet, Americans have always owned
guns, and this penchant for assassination
is quite recent. There must he another
factor.
I believe the trends of our electoral
process contribute as much as the
availability of guns to this ugly
phenomenon. Campaign spending goes
up, the race lengthens in time and scope,
communications and travel improve.
Today's serious presidential candidate
mingles with millions of people
throughout the country. Madmen are
cheaper than one in a million, and if a
madman wants to kill you, it's almost
impossible to stop him - unless you’re as
tough as George Wallace and can take
more bullets than he can dish out.
Until the communications revolution,
our national political candidates were
living myths. Now we’ve humanized them
- Muskie cries on coast-to-coast TV,
Nixon’s nose runs during a Vietnam
address. Our old heroes are more human,
more exposed, more fragile.
Notice, also, another ingredient of the
political assassination — a victim who
puts his cause before political and
physical expediency. It’s never the
Nixons or Humphreys or Muskies who are
shot down; these men take great pains to
refrain from any comment controversial
enough to die for.
No, it is always the Kennedys, the
Roosevelts, King, Malcolm X. Wallace
man who, right or wrong, share an
overriding commitment to their beliefs.
Yet, out of the tragedy of
assassination, or attempted assassination,
invariably comes a rejuvenation of the
fallen cause, and with it comes the
perception of a bond between all sane
human beings.
It’s too bad that the media cannot
also find time to portray the senseless
violence in Vietnam with the same vivid
horror shown in the coverage of the
shooting of George Wallace. Vietnam is
horror one thousand-fold. Perhaps the
realization of the immensity of that
horror could create a proportionately
larger bond of humanity.
This country, let’s face it, has a lot of
problems. Hopefully, they aren’t as
overwhelming as they appear at the
moment. Maybe lightning will strike and
Mr. Middle American and Mrs. Silent
Majority will get wise and work to move
this thing back on course.
They might well learn a lesson in
Jack the Ripper
civilization from the black community,
whose expressions of sympathy for
Wallace and his family seemed genuine
and virtually unanimous.
Compare this to the widespread
cackling by many insenstitive whites,
most of them Wallacites, upon the death
of Martin Luther King, a fragile human
being who exposed himself to greater
odds than even Wallace will ever know
Maybe we’ve made some kind of p.ogress
in four years. Maybe not.
Protesters appreciate community support
TO THF. EDITOR
When we went to President Davison’s
office on the morning of May 3 to
present a list of grievances and demands
concerning housing policy and related
issues, we had no idea that administration
officials would react in such an
unreasonable and unrestrained manner
We did not senously consider the
possibility of arrests, and no provisions
had been made for bail Most of us would
still be in jail had it not been for the
immediate response of a number of
generous and concerned faculty members
and community leaders.
Within minutes after we were arrested,
students, faculty members, and local
citizens began coordinating efforts to
raise bail money ($14,000 in property
bonds alone), and by the end of the day.
every single student had been released
from jail on bond. The longest any of us
remained behind bars was just over five
hours.
We are grateful for this response, and
we are grateful for the support shown to
us through student contributions
collected the same day. This money, and
subsequtnt funds which have been
donated by residence halls and
individuals, will be used to defray legal
costs in upcoming judicial proceedings.
We also appreciate the letters of
support which many people have offered
to send to the administration, the board
of Regents, and members of the
legislature in our behalf.
It is always encouraging to see
student, faculty, and community work
together In light of the administration's
unfortunate actions in this particular
case, we are especially grateful to all
those who came to our assistance on that
day. and we appreciate the pledges of
continued support from university
students and faculty and citizens of the
local community
Dress doesn't
justify review
Editor’s Note: I do not believe the ‘law
review’ if it really exists is typical of
the law student. At least I hope not.
TO THE EDITOR
I have been following the “law
review” flap and I find the reactions to
Manlyn Kempfs and Carolyn Stewart's
letters most amusing. A friend pointed
out that the only real defense of the
CAROL MOATE
LINDA C1IAFIN
WILL LEON
PAUL TAYLOR
DAVID BELLE ISLE
DICK BRANDES
JOELLE LEWKOWIC7.
RON KILGORE
DAVID ALONSO
STEPHEN LETZSCH
KEITH MELTON
STEVE PATRICK
DANNY HUGHES
STEVE. ARCHER
NANCY HARGRUTT
DONNA MULLINS
LAURIE DORMAN
KAREN PHILLIPS
MIKF. WALKER
PETE MCCOMMONS
ROBERT SMIDF.RSKI
BILL GREENE
SCOTT MCLARITY
NANCY DAVIS
SHIELA RAMSEY
TONY ALONSO
CHARLES SEARCY
CAROL WALTER
DAVID RIGBY
RICHARD WELLS
KAREN KEEFE
PATRICIA SMITH
JEAN WYCOFF
WILLIAM HARRIS
Sims states housing policy
Editor’s Note There has been some
confusion concerning the stand of Dean
Suthern Sims on housing policy. HV
asked him to state his policy for the
record.
The alleged Univcruty of Georgia
residence hall crackdown has generated a
great deal of
comment and
misinformation In
my opinion, the
three major issues
involved in this
controversy are
(1) What are the
primary purposes of
University Housing?
( 21 What are the
pninary responsibilities of paid staff in
University residence halls’’
(3) Will the primar> purposes of
housing and the job expectations of the
paid staff drastically change fall quarter.
IfTJT
In answer to issue one. this office
wishes to reaffirm that the fundamental
purposes of providing dormitory
accommodations are two-fold (I) to
provide a comfortable and economic-
place of dwelling for students and (2l to
maintain a safe environment conducive to
study While other programs operated by
and through the Housing Department are
desirable they must be complementary
to the basic purposes of the department.
Further, unless students residing in our
halls can be assured of comfort,
economy, safety, and an environment
conducive to study, all other programs
would be unrelated to the student’s basic
objective for attending the University
The purposes cited above may have been
obscured in the recent furor over other
programs which have been undertaken by
the Department of Housing. Fundamental
objectives of housing are consistently
stated in all of its publications and
materials provided to residents and staff.
The responsibilities of the staff (issue
two) in relationship to the two basic
purposes are also quite clear. Pnor to
signing contracts to work in the
Department of Housing, applicants arc
asked to become familiar with documents
such as job descriptions and the
Department of Housing’s handbooks.
These publications cite (I) Staff are a
part of the Division of Student Affiars.
(2) Staff are administratively associated
with the Director of Housing and are
directly responsible to the Director of
Housing or his designated staff member,
and (3) Staff have the responsibility to
support policies. procedures. and
regulations of the University of Georgia,
the Division of Student Affairs, and the
Department of Housing. In addition,
among the stated duties of staff are
requirements to “interpret, support, and
help to enforce the University’s policies,
procedures, and regulations in the area of
student conduct.” These policies,
procedures, and regulations are. and have
been for some time, published in the
Student Handbook Therefore, the
alleged "residence hall crackdown” is a
misnomer Residence hall housing staff.
it., resident assistants, graduate residents,
coordinators for residence education, and
directors are merely being asked to fulfill
the clearly defined job responsibilities
which they accepted when they signed
contracts to work in the Department of
Housing.
Further, a great deal of paranoia exists
regarding an alleged change particularly in
the role of the resident assistant In my
opinion, the RA should assume the role
of adviser to the students in their halls.
However, dealing with conduct of
individual residents which infringes upon
the rights of others is an important aspect
of this advisory role. By ignonng an
individual’s conduct, the RA does not
positively contribute to a person’s grow th
and development, in fact, to ignore
conduct infringing on the rights of others
is to negatively affect an individual’s
growth and development. An aspect of an
KA’s lesponsibility must be that of
helping the individual to learn the
meaning and consequence to himself and
others of his conduct. This is what
discipline means not policing, not
“searching” for conduct problems but
taking positive action to rectify a
situation from which a complaint has
stemmed. An RA’s involvement in
“discipline” does not mean that he or she
must react in some prescribed automatic
way. rather the RA must be aware of
problems on his floor and take positive
action to resolve these problems. Also, in
order to maintain the type of environment
to which student residents are entitled, it
is necessary to establish community rules
and regulations and designate paid staff
members to see that these regulatic is are
reasonably and equitably enforced. In
addition, the University residence halls
will not be permitted to become a
sanctuary for law violators.
I believe that it is easily assumed from
the answers to the first two issues that
the answer to the third is negative. In
other words, there are no great changes (
planned regarding stated housing
objectives or staff expectations.
juveniles in question came from the wife
of a law student. She is known around
the Law School and the danger in hassling
her is obvious. Also the women’s
digression into moral value judgements
based on appearance is way off base. Dear
friends, a person’s appearance is her, or
his, own business. A coed’s revealing dress
does not justify infantile behavior. If
these cats act like this at the Law School,
what are they like at a beach or pool?
Just what IS a “lady?” A Jet Set relic
with teased hair, hose and heels? Some of
these reactions make me wonder. One
female wrote in and said she actually was
flattered by the law review’s remarks. It
would seem that only the masochistic
groove on debasing “compliments.”
A colleague of mine made an
interesting point today that it wasn't too
long ago when it was the highest
compliment on campus to be asked if you
were a law student. My, how times do
change! It's depressing that the latter has
come to this today, when people go
saying the clocks run backward at the
Law School.
The vicious ant: gay reference in one
defender’s letter was saddening too. Just
a reminder where we are, I guess. Where
are the Women’s Liberation people’’ If
they were true to their tenets they would
jump on this situation with alacrity and
go to the Law School to give those dudes
a taste of their own medicine. I’m curious
as to how our future societal leaders
would act if THEY wen; hassled by a
gang of cackling libcrationists. I would
write a longer letter but I'm going over to
North Campus to look at some leg
ROBIN BESTON
Phil Kent
did it again
TO THE EDITOR
Congratulations. Phil K«*nt. You did it
again With your unsuual insight and
undisputable knowledge you engaged in
an issue, this time fluoridation, and like
the knowledgable person you are you
even protested when some
"questionable” authorities here at the
University dared propose that you were
wrong and that your sources were
unknown to them.
As to fluoridation, I am in no way an
authority, like you seem to be. But 1 am
Swedish and I know perhaps a little
more than you about Sweden. First, I am
fairly sure that fluor is now added to the
water in most communities in Sweden
and not banned as you say. Secondly, I
must protest to your statement that
“even a socialist country like Sweden . .
.” Sweden is in no way a socialist
country, but wholly based on the
capitalist notion of free enterprise. It is
true that we have perhaps the highest
standard of living in the world - for
everybody, that our welfare system is the
most extensive in the world and that we
pay very high taxes. But as to the
industry, it is to 90 per cent owned by
private interests. And there is less
government control in the form of
anti-trust laws and economical
restrictions on depreciation allowances
than in the United States. (If you are
interested, read for instance the articles
on Sweden in Forbes of Apr. 1, 1972).
What about Britain, as a comparison.
How much of British industry is
government-owned? As far as I know, it
compares well to Sweden in this respect,
and still no one talks about Britain as
being “socialistic”.
I must admit that your editorials are
among those that I read with most
interest in The Red and Black. You
engage in everything with true ignorance
and narrow mindedness that is amazing. I
hope that you are not representative of
the majority of the students at the
University. If such is the case it would be
frightening. Your isolationist views in a
world where all the nations are utterly
dependent on each other for survival
scare me. If you are a true representative
of the young generation of the most
powerful nation in the so-called “free
world.” I can but look to the future with
dread. Fortunately I have met people that
are not as conservative as you are and
thanks to them I believe in the United
States, 1 think it is a great country.
INGRID BERG