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The Bed and Black. Monday October \ 1977
Editorials
The Red and Black
A twinge of guilt
“The people of this University
are the vilest, filthiest and
unfriendliest I have ever had the
displeasure to meet.”
That quote, taken from a letter
to the editor written by an
annonymous freshman, has cre
ated more stir among the
students of this campus than any
other event so far this year.
Students are apparently un
concerned that the dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences was
forced to resign over the
summer, that an administration
committee was forced to investi
gate problems in the library,
that we now have only two weeks
to withdraw from a class, that
several members of the student
judiciary are apparently serving
without senate confirmation and
that the football team has
already lost more games this
season than it did all of last
year.
These issues, all covered and
commented upon in The Red and
Black, have provoked few, if
any, letters to the editor from
students. But that one letter
from some unknown freshman
has caused letters to come
flooding into the office all week.
Students have been eager to
tell the freshman they are not
vile, filthy or unfriendly, either
out of a genuine concern for the
unhappy, lonely freshman or out
of a need to assuage their own
guilt.
There was probably not a
person on this campus who was
not able to identify with the
freshman. A University of 22,000
people can seem to be a lonely,
unfriendly and uncaring place.
Students come here expecting to
make new friends at every bus
stop or classroom and too often
don’t even meet the person who
lives next door. Apparently that
is what this freshman has found.
Of course, we all know he is
not right, that with a little time
and effort he will find his niche
at the University, as we almost
all do.
But as most of us could
probably identify with the
unknown freshman, so could we
all probably feel just the
slightest twinge of guilt that a
student new to the University
should feel this way. Sure,
perhaps if he were more friendly
or outgoing he might find it
easier to meet people. But how
many of us go out of our way to
welcome those who are new to the
University to make an extra
effort to be friendly to someone
who seems to be depressed or too
shy to make the first move
toward friendship? How many
of us may be one of the students
that the freshman found to be
unfriendly?
Perhaps if we all made that
extra effort the University would
be a friendlier place for all of us.
JOHN HARRISON
Not metric
measurements?
$
While eating lunch in Snelling Hall, a
tray-bearing fellow came up to my table
and asked the eternal question, "Is
anyone sitting here?" pointing to an
empty chair I invited him to sit down
and we began a light
conversation strictly
observing the Cafe
teria Conversation
Code (i.e., food,
weather, football
game, schedules and
the foxy chick at the
adjacent table) The k
chatter stopped "* *
when he plopped his
mammoth biology book on the table s
comer, tilting the table and liberating my
jello from its bowl The book, as it
adjusted the angle at which we were
eating, advertised the name “Joe" on the
cover
It was obvious that Joe needed to study
for one of those friendly, little quizzes to
which all BIO lot enrollees have to pay
weekly homage I thought it admirable
that while most of Snelling's other
midday patrons were examining last
week's news in The Red and Black, Joe.
here, was using both hands to file
through photographs of chick embryos
sleeping in saline and chromosomes
marching to opposite ends of a petrified
John Harrison Is a sophomore in the
College of Arts and Sciences
cell (I’ve always maintained that those
who lug a biology book arounn campus
should be able to exempt PED
151—weight training I.
“Got to learn the metric system for th«
quiz next hour," Joe announced n a
complaining voice
"It's simple;" 1 declared, “you'll find
. It quite easy "
"Humph," humphed Joe, "ft doesn't
make as much sense as feet and inches ”
"No, you can't be serious," I
contradicted "Do you know how many
feet are in a furlong, or furlongs in a
mile, or yards in 76 miles?"
"Not off the top of my head, but who
knows what hectograms, kilometers, and
centiliters are?"
"Well, a kilometer is probably about
the length of the line waiting outside the
door to get in. a hectogram i;' about the
amount of germ each person deposits on
the Identimat machine for the benefit of
his successor in queue, and a centiliter is
approximately the amount of 01 ange pulp
in that orange juice you’re drinking," I
explained
"What are you, some kind of
Communist?" Joe got serious "Thai
BRYANT STEELE
If:
Solving two problems at once
funny how two problems of
seemingly monumental proportions often
are problems only when viewed alone
Together they are actually solutions to
each other
History is dotted
with examples of
how. just when ca
tastrophe was about
to strike, a second
problem would ar
rive on the scene
and then the two
problems* would take
care of each other
It's too bad our government can't
recognize the problems of today that
naturally pair off All we hear is how
severe this or that situation is and how-
much work it's going to ’ake to find a
solution If someone would just think, the
solutions are apparent.
Take unemployment and the Panama
Canal, for instance A lot of people think
we should have a canal Egypt has one
Bryant Steele is
Bed and Black
campus editor of The
And if we surrender ours. Panama has
one What kind of world leader can we be
without a canal? What will the other
superpowers think?
But there are some people who think
we should give up the canal They are
called Panamanians. How do we solve
the problem ?
Simple Let them have the old canal.
It’s too far away, anyhow Then we build
a new one. right here in the United
States, all the way from the Pacific to the
Atlantic. That’ll make other canals look
like pipsqueaks
Best of all. it solves unemployment.
The American Canal should keep
generations of Americans gainfully
employed
Hd Vou KNOW the/ ALL
Look alike/-
Solving that, we turn to the problems ol
pornography and industrial pollution a
lot of people object to the increasing
proliferation of pornography and, if we
may measure coughing as a form of
protest, even more people object to
industrial pollution.
But industries can't quit polluting
obviously. The changeover would cost too
much money. The industries need to be
enticed into something more profitable
The easiest answer is for the polluters
to go into the pronography business,
which grosses $2 billion annually and is
growing It would grow even more when
people quit objecting to it, which is what
would happen once it gets industry
sanction Remember the pledge ol
allegiance: "What's good for General
Motors is good for the country."
Two other problems which lend
themselves to this method of solution are
the legalization of laetrile and women s
equality. The first step is to pass
legislation allowing women to take
laetrile while forbidding it to men
It should not take long for Congress to
be bombarded with protests over this
unfair treatment. Why should women
have rights not allowed men? Laetrile
would be quicktly banned in follow up
legislation and the issue would never be
brought up again
Of course, this time the method falls
short by not gaining equal rights (or
women, but it seems we ll never have
that. At least they won't have to take that
awful laetrile.
Bringing the method to bear locally, we
look at an annual spring quarter issue,
the allocation of student activity fees
Two problems are usually voiced: There
is not enough money to meet the
demands and there is not enough studem
representation in the allocations process
The solution is to divide all the budget
requests into two groups We’ll call them
Group I and Group II In even-numbered
years representatives for each budge!
request in Group I form an allocations
committee to disburse money
A rule is made that any organization
with a representative on the committee
cannot have any money Hence, each
year only half the requests can be
funded Next year Group II sits on the
committee and gives money to Group 1
Both problems are solved There is a
surplus of student involvement in the
allocations process and with requests cut
in half there should be enough money to
go around with enough left over for an'
annual spring quarter campus-wide beer
blast.
One last example of the method in
action. Say you're a writer and you have
a few small ideas running around in your
head but none of them are worth
developing Then an editor asks you to
write a column and you can't come up
with an idea. What to do?
Get rid of all those little ideas you can t
do anything with by formulating an
absurd but unifying proposition for your
column You've solved both problems
(eltersi^llelters
metric stuff's for foreigners."
"Actually, the English system, based
on the proportions of King Henry's body
parts, isn't exactly All American," 1
retorted as I chiseled cream and dyed
grape (cleverly disguised as a cherryi
from my pudding
Joe collected himself, decided to battle
this out intellectually, and said, "Tell me
what makes the metric system so
superior?"
"Several things really," I began, "its
conversions involve only moving a
decimal, its standards are based on
natural phenomena and there is a
relation between the units of mass,
dimension and volume. Besides, we re
the only nation left that doesn’t use it.”
"It's devoid of human experience,"
stated Joe, proud of his defense “This
country was fought and gained by the
square inch, dram and grain "
1 was quick to point out that the metric
system had an equally interesting
history, and that Thomas Jefferson tried
to get the Congress to adopt the metric
system early in the country's history
"That Jefferson was a Communist,
too," Joe stated firmly, finishing the few
milliliters of milk still surviving in the
bottom of his glass.
"Listen, Joe, we need no longer boggle
the minds of school children with how
many ounces are in a cup. or quart, or
slug Measurement can be based on 10
just as money is Speaking of money." 1
added, "currency should be in different
colors and wilh Braille markings for the
blind "
“Man, you really are a Communist."
proclaimed Joe "Pinko " he stood up.
pointed and shouted
The shoveling and wasting of food
stopped momentarily to heed Joe's
remark and then resumed Even the foxy
chick at the next table turned from her
collage cheese with olive, pickle, boiled
egg. parsley, and cantaloupe to give Joe
a glace
He snatched up his iray, 10 empty
dishes clattered and strode off to feed it
to the conveyor clanking in the corner
He returned past the other conveyor
feeding pilgrims, and reclaimed his
biology book and in so doing returned the
table to its original and upright position
"Metric makes sense because you
have 10 fingers,” I told him. hoping on
the last word
“Yes, but I’ve got these too." Joe
announced as he flashed his bare feel and
wiggled his toes He was proud of his Iasi
word entry, and he departed through Hie
snake-like line which by now was onlv a
few meters out the door
‘Not vile, filthy or unfriendly’
TO TIIE EDITOR:
I usually do not answer letters in
newspapers bul in this case I feel 1 must
make an exception. This letter to the
editor published Oct. 4 in The Red and
Black absolutely astonished me I have
never read such an untrue and
narrow minded expression in my life It
runs parallel with a viewpoint of an
elderly lady that I know who constantly
refers to the University as "Sin City"
although she admits that she has nol
even seen this University in more than 40
years.
First, let me say that I resent the
sweeping generalization that the person
used such as, "The people of this
University are the vilest, filthiest and
unfriendliest They all have the same
thing on their minds " I am a student at
this University and I do not consider
myself vile, filthy or unfriendly. And I
know many students who are the same
way I came to this University from a
small town with many preconceptions ol
Georgia
Many ol these I found to be totally
false As a matter of fact, I was
pleasantly surprised to find so many good
and decern people in the midst of "Sin
City" that I have completely changed my
own outlook that I had about people And
so far as to say that the people here are
not friendly I have found nothing lo be
further from the truth The people here
are the friendliest of any place lhai I
have ever been They want to be your
friends if you will only let them and meet
them halfway.
I read that this person was from a citv.
Letters policy
Letters to the editor should:
Be typed, double spaced, on
a 60-space line.
Include name, address and
phone number of contributor
Be original, rather than
duplicates of letters to other
persons or publications.
Letters are subject to editing
for style anu libel laws as well
as for space limitations
There are few of us who don't know about
the vile, filthy, unfriendly people who live
in our cities Rul we also know that these
people are the minority and that most
city dwellers are good decent people just
like ourselves This same fact lies here at
the University. There are some bad
apples in every barrel but that does not
mean that everyone is bad
I was shocked to see that such blind
narrow mindedness still existed. I hope
that the person who wrote that letter will
wake up and see the great things that
this University has to offer such as
opportunities lo do good work for others
and warm friendship If he or she does
nol, then he or she will miss out on many
warm experiences that can be had here
and that will probably no! be matched in
one's future.
1-el me finish by saying that I consider
myself extremely fortunate to be able to
allend such an outstanding University
with such great students and faculty.
('. II. KIMRKOl'GII
‘Sorry piece
of journalism’
TO TIIE EDITOR:
A recent Red and Black carried a
concert review of Tall Dogs at Legion
Field that was so bad it has prompted me
to write Being such a sorry piece of
journalism doesn't even make me pity
the guy ll makes me mad lhat he lakes
a performance by a progressive jazz
band and degrades it because of a
restless audience
"At the end of two hours, the crowd
called for an encore, doubtlessly more
from a sense of audience duty than from
a showing of emotion After all. these
same people had talked incessantly all
night." Could the people who stood and
clapped been a tiny few who hadn't
talked all night and really enjoyed the
music’
Nol according lo ihe author's narrow
mind, for (he band had failed to hold the
audience's attention I suppose a
prerequisite lor good music He finally
mentions in the Iasi paragraph. "Tall
Dogs is a talented hand, of that there is
little question "
Well. I think Bobby Rvrd needs lo
reorganize a little Granted, a concert is
people and a band, but this concert
review is a little to much to take,
especially when the concert was free
Maybe there is a need to separate a
music review from a critique on the basic
University social scene, which hopefully
would make for a little better reading
JILL SMALL
‘Cartoons don’t
bother me’
TO THE EDITOR
I saw your cartoon depicting foreign
teaching assistants on Sept 27 issue of
The Red and Black followed by a letter
from a kind sympathizer on Sept 30
I do not know about other T.A.’s, but
cartoons don’t bother me, and I don’t
particularly care for sympathies
In my opinion, it is the right of the
students to be able to follow their
teachers' lectures adequately. If a
foreign graduate student has not picked
up enough English to conduct a class
adequately, he should not be granted a
teaching assistantship in the first place
But if he can adequately communicate in
English, and such cartoons are the
results of bigotry, regional prejudices
and dislike for foreigners, then, of
course, it is an unfortunate situation the
solution to which may be intensive
traveling and other exposure to other
cultures and peoples of the earth
MOHAMMAD K. HRAJi KHODADOOST
tff THE RED AND BLACK
Patricia Templeton, Editor
Steve Bills, Ed Stamper,
Executive editor Business manager
Jerry Mason and Matt Prichard, copy editorx; Bryant Steele, campus editor
Tom Barton, city editor. Gregg Steinle. state editor; William Haines’'
entertainment editor; Swann Seiler, feature editor; Pete Foley sports editor ’
George Sicay, photo editor; Hope Dlugozima, assistant campua editor Yvonne
Williams, assistant slate editor; Ed Grisamore, assistant Hiv editor DJ
Pascale. assistant feature editor; David Westm, aaaistant sports editor Debbie
Osteen, graphics directors; Julie Ruhr, production manager
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