Newspaper Page Text
Page 4
The Red and Black
Friday, gept. 23, IDO
THE RED AND BLACK
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
Charles H. Russell, General Manager
Mike Tidwell, Editor-in-chief
Susan Laccetti, Managing Editor
An independent student newspaper not a/filiated with the University o/Georgia
The promised land
Hallelujah The gates to the new Dean William Tate Student
Center have at long last opened.
After two and a half years of waiting, speculating and nearly
giving up hope, students were finally permitted inside the 100,000-
square-foot structure Thursday, no doubt pinching themselves in
disbelief as they passed through the doors
Despite delays which have plagued construction almost since
ground breaking ceremonies were held in January 1981, the finish
ed center promises to provide a new hub for a University which
has conspicuously lacked a campus nucleus for many years. The
center, although still not completely finished on the interior, will
serve as a neatly organized facility for student recreation and
organizations, thus ending Memorial Hall’s flimsy claim as a stu
dent center The days ol crowded displays and gatherings at
Memorial Hall Plaza and the Memorial Hall's labyrinthine in
terior can be mercifully put to rest now. We’re glad.
Also, according to University officials, the soon-to-be vacant
Memorial Hall will be used for class registration procedures
beginning as early as June This will end the hassle and awkward
system of taking buses out to Chicopee
The Tate center comes replete with a number of new amenities,
including a spacious lobby, study areas, TV lounges, an art
gallery, game room, information center, printing and copying ser
vice, and several lounges
But don’t get too excited A 500 seat cinema, post office, student
cafeteria and Student Activities offices remain unfinished
University Campus Planning officials say they are uncertain
when these facilities will be completed and, based on the past
track record of repeated delays, we don’t plan to hold our breath
But there can be no questioning the fact that the new student
center provides a badly needed facelift for the University campus
William Tate, who was Dean of Men, campus sage and devoted
friend to University students for several decades until his death in
1980, lobbied vigorously for a proper student center for most of his
life Tate's dream of a cultural and student activities center can
now be realized if students, faculty and administration take care
to make it such
The Tate center’s 800 seat auditorium should be particularly
useful The auditorium, which seats some 300 more people than
the Memorial Hall facility, can now serve justice to visiting
speakers, officials and entertainers who, in the past, have been
forced to use a number of inadequate facilities around campus.
Moreover, still not satisfied with what they are now calling one
of the best facilities in the country, University officials are now
finalizing plans for a proposed second phase of the center. The ex
pansion may include incoporating Stegeman Hall and buildings
along Lumpkin Street
Need a job?
The Red and Black is currently scouring the campus for
students interested in the flimsy business of journalism It’s no
easy task putting together these pages every day and, frankly, we
could use some help
If you’re a future Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein
masquerading as a University student and you have a slight
penchant for masochism, then The Red and Black extends an
invitation
The editors will conduct a series of newswnting workshops
beginning Tuesday at 8 p m. in room 512 of the Journalism
building No experience is required, but a healthy dose of en
thusiasm and willingness to work hard area must.
So be there Aloha
Opinion
Communism alive at the University
Joe McCarthy is alive and well and masquerading
as the University System of Georgia
• Are you now or have you within the last ten (10)
years been a member of the Communist Party’
• Are you now or have you ever been a member of
any organization which, to your knowledge at the
time of your membership therein, was an orgamza
tional arm of the Communist Party?
Sound like something out of the '50s’ Guess again,
you pinko schmuck It's straight out of the handy-
dandy, up-to-the-minute University System
SECURITY QUESTIONNAIRE
Not only do all faculty members have to fill one out.
but secretaries iamtors. resident assistants and the
nice ladies who fill your plate at Bolton do as well
The last one I suppose is understandable, as I am
sure we would all most certainly be repulsed by even
the fleeting thought that the food we were eating had
been served by a communist
The regulation also applies to graduate assistants
Like me
When I filled out my security questionnaire last
spring. I figured maybe it was just something they
printed too many of back in 1948 and were still trying
to get rid of
Not so Folks in Georgia still take their Commies
seriously
I don't and refused to answer their questions
To be honest. I was a bit surprised that no one
called me in and accused me of being a troublemaker
and told me I had to answer the questions But no one
did
1 got three or four pieces of mail over the summer
giving me info on my assistantship — one to tell me
I'd be getting more money than I had been originally
informed
There was never any mention made of my security
questionnaire. Until Tuesday
We often hear stories of the
way a communist country
manipulates its citizens
through economic pressure.
It’s nice to know we live in a
country where that could
never happen.
Two days before classes started I got the word that
I would either answer the questions or not get the
$3.0001 had been promised
I went over to the records department of the
University personnel office where I was told to talk to
a man named Henry Hill about my problem
Mr Hill was very understanding
"There's no problem,” he assured me, "If you
don't answer the questions, you can't get paid "
I am not mad at Mr Hill That I must answer my
questions, sign my loyalty oath and eat my
vegetables like a good little boy is a state law
That it is a state law, however, does not make it
right
I was not asked if I were a member of the
Democratic or Republican party
I wasn't asked if I were a member of the Nazi
party
I wasn't asked if I were a member of the Ku Klux
Klan, which, at least in this enlightened state, is a far
bigger threat to the freedoms of all citizens than are
the communists
I wos asked - and answered — a question asking if
I had ever been a part of an organization that ad
vocated the overthrow of the government of the state
of Georgia or the United States by force or violence
I have not But that information is not enough for
the state
The state must know specifically about Commies
It strikes me as rather silly to even ask such
questions After all. if I were a communist, I would
deny it because all communists are compulsive liars
Everybody knows that
But, the questions have been asked, and I have — to
this point — refused to answer them
I have, however, been backed neatly into a corner
and with the financial leverage now being exerted on
me. I will, I suppose, truthfully answer "no" to both
of the state's questions
• • •
We often hear stories of the way a communist
country manipulates its citizens through economic
pressure
You know the ones
Of how people who don't do exactly what the
government wants lose out on better jobs or better
apartments or other financial niceties
It s nice to know we live in a country where that
could never happen
David Nelson is a graduate student in the College of
Business Administration
OFFICIAL SOVIET ENEMY AIRCRAFT
SILHOUETTE CHART
U-2 SPYPLANE,
B1
B0MBEE
CRUISE
MISSILE
82 np
AlRPORNE.
^ li
stealth
bowser
F-* PHANTOM.
The editors are having fits trying to
fill this space on this page We usually-
run letters to the editor here, but since
this is only our second issue of the fall,
we can only assume our readers
haven't gotten around to pontificating
on campus issues yet To put it bluntly.
our mail box is dry
We considered running exerpts from
Hitler's diary here, but we figured that
might get a little boring Besides, it's
already been done
In all seriousness, we need your help
As an independent student new spaper
serving the University and Athens
community, we are committed to
providing a forum for the discussion of
campus and local issues We welcome
the comments from any of our readers -
students, faculty, administration or
local citizens
This space is for you If you've got an
idea bouncing around in your head and
feel it's worth disseminating to our
20,000 or so other readers, then grab a
typewriter and have at it It is only-
through such letters that we can really
stay on top of what our readers are
thinking and what we’re doing nght or
wrong
To be considered for publication,
letters must be typed, double spaced on
a 60 space line Letters must not exceed
two and one half ty ped pages and are
subject to standard editing procedures
They must include the name, address
and telephone number of the writer
Please include student classification
and major or appropriate iden
tification
Few desire complete desegregation
The Board of Regents are happy The governor is
happy The U S Department of Education's regional
Civil Rights office is happy But will the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund or. in other words, the black
community be happy with the state's desegregation
plan submitted last week for final approval’
To come up with a realistic answer, one must not
only examine our somewhat segregated University
system but our society as a whole University ad
ministrators and the regents have vowed since the
original 1979 desegregation plan was implemented
that they have tried their damdest to get more blacks
in predominantly white universities But blacks just
aren't that interested in attending school here or at
any other predominantly white school
And, the regents said, they have tried to get more
whites to attend predominantly black colleges to
balance or create a racial mix there Again one por
tion of society dismisses attending school with
another portion of society And. to some extent, that
is their choice and their freedom
But die federal government, under pressure from
groups like the National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People, saw to it that the minority at
each type of school be in a larger proportion, perhaps
to represent the racial proportion of that state
Georgia is no different from any other of the 49
states in this country in that it has difficulty making
the university student body appear to have a signifi
cant racial mix The state gave it's best shot in 1979
and sweated more bullets this year to come up with a
revised desegregation plan for the feds to approve
But whether that plan is approved or not. segregation
will remain throughout the system
Blacks and whites share this free society we live in.
No matter how many desegregation, busing, or
Susan Laccetti
One portion of
dismisses attending
with another portion
society. It’s their choice.
society
school
of
minority to majority plans are implemented in public
education, blacks will want to attend school with their
peers just as whites do And w hen they grow up and
go off to college, blacks also want a fine education
But they d rather have it someplace where they are
comfortable Just as many white freshmen apply to
the same college as their friends, black freshmen
also want to be somew here that they feel secure
But a sense of belonging for blacks has not been
found in white institutions of higher learning
College life involves not only academics but a time
of self-awareness and mental growth And in order
for those years to be as successful as possible, college
students should experience more in four years than
during the rest of their lives So why should a black
come here when the opportunities for good times and
happiness are not as abundant as they would be at a
black college?
Maybe the OCR has realized this too William
Thomas, the OCR s regional director in Atlanta has
tentatively accepted the state s revised desegrega
tion plan Last minute changes sought to provide bet
ter minority recruitment at all 33 institutions and
also earmarked $21 4 million for some of Georgia's
most predominantly black schools Fort Valley
State. Savannah State. Albany State College, and, to
a lesser extent. Georgia State University in
downtown Atlanta
The regents hope to attract more whites to these
colleges by enhancing facilities there but the real
resuitof the expend'ture will be greater satisfaction
for the black students attending those schools Not
only will blacks be able to go to school with their
peers, but they will have a reputable and more at
tractive place to attend
Just like the ocean, the waves may slowly bring
more blacks to predominantly white institutions with
the new plan^but eventually the tide will drag more
blacks to traditi^ally black colleges The plan may
pacify the NAACP. but m the long run it will only add
to the system s segregation
So considering the overall attitude of society in con
junction with the new desegregation plan. tbesysZ
IS going to remain segregated Until society is entire-
ly desegregated, we can't expect our system of
higher education to become entirely desegregated
°* dese « re 8 a Un« someth the
regents shoulders is unfair and unrealistic
Susan Laccetti is the managing editor for the Red and
Black