Newspaper Page Text
The Red and Black
Wednesday, May II, 1983
Page 4
THE RED AND BLACK
Established 1893 — Incorporated 1980
Mushrooms or the shower curtain?
Charles H. Russell. General Manager
Chuck Reece, Editor-in-chief
Alex Johnson, Managing Editor
An Independent student newspaper not a//ifiated wrtfh the Vnivereity ofGeorgia
Bedrooms or purses
Hoping the U.S. Court of Appeals will overturn two federal
district-court rulings that struck down the so-called "squeal
rule," the Reagan administration has revealed itself as determin
ed to mandate social conservatism at all costs.
Remember 1980'’ Ronald Reagan's dominant campaign themes
were his supply-side economic programs and his pledge to get
government "off the backs" of Americans.
But apparently, with the president's persistent push for volun
tary school prayer and his current dogged fight to uphold the
squeal rule, that pledge to make government small again merely
disguised Reagan's real intent — to mandate social conservatism
in the name of freedom
How much freedom would the squeal rule really provide? For
those who don't know, the squeal rule would force family-planning
clinics that receive federal funds to tell the parents of anyone
under 18 when the child received contraceptives. Before the ap
peals court in Washington Monday, Justice Department attorney
Carolyn Kuhl tried to justify the rule like this:
“It’s entirely legitimate for a parent to be involved in family
planning decisions of an adolescent child," Kuhl argued until she
was interrupted by the wise Judge Harry T Edwards
“That," Judge Edwards replied, "is a moral question, an
ethical question, not a statutory one.”
Indeed it is a moral and ethical question. And it is important to
remember here that the framers of the Constitution intended to
leave to the individual all the moral and ethical questions that
didn't involve harm to others The Bill of Rights was added to the
Constitution largely to guarantee the freedom of the individual to
make his own moral, ethical and political decisions.
It is, as Kuhl argued for the Justice Department, "entirely
legitimate" for a parent to discuss sex with his children and be
aware of their sexual activity. Legitimacy is lost, however, when
frank, parent-child talk about sex is mandated by the govern
ment. Faced with a call from a bureaucrat saying their child had
received contraceptives from a federally funded clinic, some
parents would mutter, "Oh, well," and others would keel over in
shock. Only a few would take the news as a cue for frank talk with
the kids.
Government must, of course, legislate morality. Whether to
murder someone is a moral question. But the Reagan administra
tion oversteps its constitutional bounds by forcing clinics to tattle
on minors who depend on such health centers to get contracep
tives — and thereby avoid the far more devastating problem of
teen-age pregnancy
Reagan's push for the squeal rule leaves yet another pledge
empty and worthless. Perhaps getting government off the peo
ple’s backs only meant getting government farther out of
Americans' pocketbooks; Reagan's tax cuts have done that, at
least for the middle class.
But pocketbooks seem an infinitely more appropriate place for
government than American bedrooms. In the bedchamber — or in
in the back seat of a 17-year-old’s car — moral and ethical ques
tions are best left to the individuals.
I went to a party at my calculus teacher's condo
last weekend
Swell party, but really weird food
Everything that wasn't a cracker or a meatball
was either a weird raw vegetable, or probably had
been before it was run through a food processor and
reduced to a quivering bowl of dip
I suppose I should have expected something
slightly out of step with my tastes
After all, the man responsible for these culinary
concoctions is the same man who told me a line was a
straight curve
I don’t know what exactly was in the dips, because
my professor wouldn't tell us. but there were two
green ones and two brown ones
There was also a glump of spinach pate, which I
suppose is better than a cow pate, but I won't say by
how much
The worst, though, was the stuff he had for people
to run through the dip
Raw veggies Lots of them
Cauliflower Broccoli Radishes Carrots Zucchini
And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it
did
He brought out a bowl full of raw mushrooms
In movies, people always die from eating poisoned
mushrooms In real life, they don't have to be
poisoned
Mushrooms are fungi, yet some people crave them
and will pay good money for them
I will never pay good money for mushrooms
Should I ever develop a craving for fungus. I will
simply go lick the mildew off my shower curtain
1 will never pay good money for any of those other
raw things either If God meant for us to eat raw
vegetables he never would have created the boil-in-
bag
The biggest affront to me and those who share my
sentiments on the subject is the salad
Yes, the salad - strange visitor from a garden plot
that came to earth with tastes far worse than those of
mortal foods
I don't like salads for a number of reasons
First is lettuce Lettuce is undoubtedly the most
useless food in the world Mostly, it has no taste and
what taste it has tastes like lettuce, which is a lot like
fescue
I wouldn’t eat fescue either, unless it was that or
mushrooms
Lettuce makes up well over half of most salads, and
with a start like that, you can see where we re
headed
The second big gnpe I have about salads is salad
dressing A lot of salad aficionados say the dressing is
what makes the salad Translated, that means. "You
gotta find something to cover the taste of the let
tuce."
Great idea, but using that line of reasoning, a cow
pate would taste OK with a httle thousand island on it
Now only that, salad dressings are basically are
basically mayonnaise with food coloring or little
chunks added I don't like mayonnaise by itself, much
less with little chunks of heaven knows what floating
in it.
I do. however, like salad bars
That is because you can make a real man's salad
without any of that weird raw stuff or dressing
First take your bowl and fill it about two-thirds full
of croutons Croutons are little cubes of bread crust
that taste like neither fescue nor fungus They also
crunch just like raw vegetables, so it'll sound like
your eating a real salad if that sort of thing's im
portant to you.
Next, throw on a handful of the shredded cheese
but use the little tongs If you just grab a handful
your girlfriend is liable to break your ribs with a
quick elbow shot
Finally, top it all off with a liberal portion of bacon
bits Gives you sort of a ham and cheese sandw ich in
a bowl
Admittedly, it may not be the best thing you've
ever eaten, but it sure beats the heck out of licking
your shower curtain
David Nelson is front page copy editor for The Red
and Black
'The biggest enemy at the University is ignorance *
Follow the leader
First Pascual, now Mario, soon to be followed by the Athens City
Council Pascual Perez's adventures on 1-285 are legendary, and
Monday, his brother Mario got lost at the Atlanta airport.
So, here comes the City Council, which wants to crack down on
households of more than four unrelated people The council
members say the ordinance isn't directed at students
Indeed So what are all those 35-year-old businessmen who live
together going to do?
TO THE EDITOR:
After reading the April Z7 edition of
The Red and Black, 1 must tell you that
I was more than a little shocked to find
out that 1 had very little know ledge of
black culture in Amenca I mean, being
from a predominantly black family in a
predominantly black neighborhood.
I'm sure you can imagine my surprise
Maybe what Jonathan Freeman
meant to say is that I have very little
knowledge of Southern black culture
Well, in that case you're right So, I'll
avoid generalizations
After writing my last letter. I
received mixed responses about what it
might mean to the black "movement''
on campus One person, who was less
than thrilled with the letter, told me, "If
you can't follow, then lead; If you can't
lead, then follow ; and if you can’t do
that, then don't cut down our
movement "
At first I didn't think too much about
that comment, but after thinking about
it a while, 1 came to the conclusion that
it everybody took that approach, we
would all be as backward and narrow
minded as those who condone racism
and discrimination in the first place
My first letter didn't seem to get my
message across, so I'd like to clarify
what I wanted to say the first time, and
that is that the biggest enemy we face
here at the University is ignorance
That above all has been the greatest
contributor to this whole issue of what
does and should pertain to whites and
blacks
One major issue of controversy is the
recruitment of blacks by the Univer
sity Alter hearing and reading some of
the comments on this subject. I have
come to the assumption that those
people who are cutting down the
University's recruitment policies know
very little about them What these
people fail to realize is that it's too easy
to look around campus, with its few
black faces, and immediately label the
University’s recruitment policies
inadequate or discriminatory This
charge has upset the admissions office
and every dean who has ever worked
his butt off trying to get qualified black
faculty for the University
First of all. the University, like every
insutution. is looking for only the best
students in the state and surrounding
states to attend the University Any
suggestion of lowering the admissions
standards should not even be con
sidered Compromising admissions
would only result in lowering the
University's educational standards,
and that would reflect badly on us all
Besides, if the kids can't cut it in high
school, what chance do you think thev
would have in college?
Secondly, the University is active in
recruiting students through numerous
avenues These include scholarships
and grants and sending faculty and
students to high schools throughout
Georgia and some surrounding states
The Certificate of Merit Scholarships
are awarded to the top 5 percent of boys
and girls from Georgia high schools Of
the 3,800 recipients of these yearly
awards, about 300 to 400 are black
However, the University is not the only
school that is out to recruit good black
students Colleges from all over the
state and private colleges from all over
the country are after them
Also, through the Student Search
Service, 16.000 more students are
recruited based on Preliminary
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and
grades Of these 16,000 students who
make 800 or better and have a B
average in high school. 1.400 are black
The University sends all of these
students brochures and pamphlets
about the University and arranges
visitation and other programs to try to
stimulate interest in the University.
A great many of these students are
able to pick up scholarships from any
school in the state, and the University is
no exception Also, all freshmen
National Merit or Achievement
Scholars are eligible for the Univer
sity's Alumni Scholarships or Alumni
Minority Scholarships Both these
awards are based on Scholastic Ap
titude Test scores and grades and any
of these students who are black will
receive financial assistance from the
University if they don't receive any
other scholarship
Also, the University offers up to five
84.800 Wilkins Scholarships each year
to the best black freshmen who enroll at
the University
Furthermore. University students
and faculty are cuirmtly on the road
visiting ZOO Georgia high schools and
ISO from surrounding slates trying to
recruit the best students they can get
their hands on. black and white But the
job is no piece of cake John Albright
associate director of admissions.
verified that by saying that while try ing
to recruit students, he urges recruiters
to tell the truth about the University,
but to have a positive perspective
How many positive things can you
say about race relations at the
University’
But the University does manage to
get its hands on a tew good ones Over
the last two years, the University has
been able to get two of the state's black
Foundation Fellowship Award
recipients
Now, 1 could go down the list naming
scholarships and awards offered by the
University to get top students, but I
think you get the picture
The bottom line is that the University
is giving almost one-third of its private
scholarship money to blacks, and this
is very disproportionate considering
that blacks only make up 5 percent of
student enrollment
Further, the percentage of
scholarships awarded to blacks ex
ceeds those awarded to white students;
1.9 percent of the applicants received
somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 3
percent of the awards in the 1962 83
academic year
Moreover, the University has an
admissions person working full time
doing nothing but recruiting good black
students Anthony White, assistant
admissions director, has done a good
job over the years, and the University
has more black students now than it
every did
Granted, the University has only 5
percent black enrollment, and that
figure is dismal considering that the
state is 20 to 30 percent black However,
there are some factors involved in
recruiting that the University has
nothing to do with
First of all. one reason that many top
black students choose not to come to the
University has nothing to do with the
University The Athens area is just not
conducive to blacks needs. it never has
been Can you honestly blame that on
the University’
Why would a black student come to
Athens when he can have a full social
and academic life in Atlanta?
This fact about Athens hasn't helped
the recruitment of black faculty either
Scott Cutlip. dean of the journalism
school, tried for three years to get the
most sought-after young Ph D in the
country However, being black, she
could not cope with the Athens area so
she left after only one year
Another prospective black faculty
member even refused to come to
Athens because he feared racism
So w hat's the University to do’
The second misconception has to do
with black-studies program Now
really, if anyone seriously thinks that a
black-studies program is going to cause
a rush of black students to the
University, they're fooling themselves
To think that the problem is that simple
is preposterous
First of all. if someone were seriously
interested in studying black history and
culture, why would they come to the
University in the first place’ They
would go to a school with an already
established program at a black college
However, a black-studies program
should be initiated to broaden the
University 's curriculum
Also, what many people fail to realize
is that most recruitment is not done by
the admissions office at all That is not
its job Its job is to coordinate
recruitment, which it is doing with very
little praise
Another fact little known to students
is that the greatest amount of
recruitment is done by the students
themselves, through word of mouth
So the next time somebody tells you
to beware of racism and discrimination
within the University System, find out
how much they really know about
what's going on You'll be surprised to
find out how many people really don't
know w hat they are protesting against
Remember, a mind is a terrible thing
to waste Don't add yours to the list
KEVIN SHARPS
Junior. Journalism
‘Unenthralled’
TO THE EDITOR:
The reason that you "do not recall
once reading a story about how much
money has been raised or what groups
are being helped " is that unfortunately
the media does not choose to expound
on these aspects of Greek life Instead
they choose to provide enjoyable and
action packed reading material for
their readers at the expense of the
Greek community
CYNTHIA DAVIDSON
Sophomore. English