• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1983-10-06_Vol48_No10_02

T/iewpoint Monica Henson It's tunc for another break in classes, and just in time. I hope that everyone has a good one and remember, be careful on the roads. Speaking of roads, last week's issue concerning the new Safe RoaJs Act has drawn a lot ol comments. It's great to know that so many people arc reading the Carolinian, and I want to invite more comments. Just drop me a line in campus mail. I want to wish the football Cats good luck on their trip to Tennessee Tech, and I hope they come back with a win. I've just recovered from the ETSU heart-stopper, and I'm ready for some more exciting loot ball action. We have a lot to be proud of when the Cats take the field in Whitmire Stadium, so everyone let these guys know you care. On the subject ol sports. I was one ofthe lucky members ofthe WCU canoe race team, and I want to congratulate my teammates on the second-place finish at the Intercollegiate Canoe Championships last weekend. Wc had a great time, and even though I am just a novice paddler, there was great team spirit and all the experienced team members gave me lots of help and good advice. (I came in next to last in my race.) Homecoming weekend is just around the corner, and there arc lots of lovely ladies who would love to be the 198.3 Homecoming Queen, so all of you organizations be sure to turn in your nominations. The Carolinian will feature the lucky candidates in a future issue photo spread by roving photographers Mark Haskett and Danny Batten, and I'm sure this year's group will be one of the prettiest ever. I like lo mention staff members from time to time in my column, and two of the most important staff members are I ammy Greene and Donna Mosely. They don't leave the office to do their work, and they don't write long articles, but without them there would be no Carolinian. Of course, they are the typeset operators. Ihev put in long hours without complaining, and they do a great job. even when Russ Randolph bombards them with what seems like hundreds of sports articles. Ihev really area good team, and I'm sure the readers appreciate their hard work and effort. We won't be publishing next week, as Fall Break doesn't end until Tuesday, but wc will be back in lull force October 20. So. drive carefully, party all weekend, and have a great Fall Break! tflfc \tJtSTtBH Ultralights Make The Oldest Dream Come True NAG'S HEAD, N.C. Like Moslems making their pilgrimage to the Black Rock of Mecca, thousands ol Americans converge every year on nearby Kitty Hawk and a monument built to the Mohammeds of manned flight, the Wright brothers. Eighty years after the first self-propelled flight, only the most jaded take Hying for granted. lirUl Vrw\*/»a/irr S'liJicale Maxwell len G hearer But the spirit of Wilbur and Orville is alive and well several miles south, oh the towering dunes overlooking this windswept Outer Banks village. There, strapped to artificial wings in the fashion of primitive air pioneers, hang glider enthusiasts run against the ocean breezes every day. trying to get off the ground. Modern man and woman may know no better, or less restrictive,stimulant. In a lew weeks, however, the supreme machine ol unlettered manned flight, the self-propelled ultralight, is expected to return to these parts after a brief run-in with local airport authorities. With the most minimal of restrictions (licenses aren't required), thousands of Americans have realized their fantasies in the last few years piloting these contraptions of aluminum, cloth and lawnmower parts. As more people do it. one wonders how long a good thing can. or should, last. Since 1980. when the popular Quicksilver model was introduced, more than 10,000 ultralights of various makes and models have been sold annually. More than four dozen firms, many just mom-and-pop operations, sell the aircraft in kit and ready-made form for anywhere from S3.000 to S6.500. The ultralight has attracted a global following, with the British military and Palestine Liberation organization among its better-known enthusiasts. Yet America's civilian market remains the ultralight's most awe-inspiring. Judging from a reader survey published by Glider Rider, a magazine for ultralight enthusiasts, the average flier is in his or her early 30s. attended bul did not complete college, and earns between S20.000 and $40,000 a year. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's David Higdon. only two-thirds ol all ultralight fliers own a pilot's license Reckless as it seems. America's flock ol bird people is only doing that which the rest of us would could we cast caution to the wind. Alter all. the movie "To Fly." seen by more than 7 million at the National Air and Space Museum since 1976. is Washington's longest running hit. Even before people began sealing the Matterhorn. skiing down Everest and leaping from airplanes, they dreamed of defying gravity alone and unencumbered. Ultralights have altered the physics. Their motors help to reassure those who. in a hang glider, fear that first step off a cliff or a windshift at 3,000 feet. Their airplanelike design can make one feel more like a pilot than a piece of falcon bait: though more sophisticated than the machine that made Kitty Hawk famous, they generally require no more than a tug on the throttle to achieve liftoff. Their simplicity has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to regulate with a light hand. A single- page of rules, published only a year ago. stated that ultralights, among other things, not fly faster than 55 miles perhourornear"congested"areas.carry more than five gallons of fuel or weigh more than 254 pounds. Recently, FAA Commissioner J. Lynn Helms said he had no intention of adding rules, contending that the sport should be self-regulating. But even birds have accidents. About 100 fliers die in ultralight accidents every year, and many more have come close. Exact figures are unavailable even to government authorities since, alas, there's no central system for reporting accidents. With time and increased popularity, more winged men and women will probably be flying themselves into trouble that Wilbur and Orville avoided, such as buildings, power lines and mid-air collisions. As much as its boosters might wave the banner of prudence, the ultralight will invite its share of chaos in the skies. Indeed, airport authorities near here temporarily suspended ultralight flights late last summer after seeing the \kci.\ for additional safeguards. That suggests that the days of wholly underregulated llight, however brief, may be numbered. Nothing so simple as an ultralight ever stayed that way. No dream ever went uninterrupted. Western Carolinian The Western Carolinian is published weekly in Franklin, N.C. by the Franklin Press. Yearly subscriptions to the Western Carolinian are $16. Fetters may be mailed to the Western Carolinian at P.O. Box 66, Cullowhee, N.C. 28723. Editor-in-Chief Monica Henson Business Manager Kenn Port Design Editor Tony Cole- Photography Editor Mark Haskett Sports Editor Russ Randolph News/ Feature Editor Greg Ryder Layout Dan Mangold. Kelly Castcel Photography Mark Haskett, Danny Batten Ad Design Debbie McElroy Cartoonist Tony Cole Production Tammy Greene. Donna Mosely. Sherry Bumgarner Ad Sales Mark Clark. Robert Hosack Circulation Manager Larry Woods Sportswriters Mark Newsome, Doug Irwin Staff Writers Rebecca Lines, Alex Lesueur, Larry Hamrick, Steve Crawford, James Utt, Foe Fournier Heather Frey. Cathy Stewart. Kevin Whiteside 6OLiy,G££,£0NNi£.' 00 you THiMK. W?fc£ 6£lN6#4 0/Tj Tough on Tte lime FZVLA?... I WILL NOT SHOOT DOWN CIVILIAN PLANSS. FWILINOT SHOOT DOWN CWILIAN PLAM&. I WILL ySJ" SHOOT DOWN CIVILMN f£ i. I WILL WW 5HO0T DOVJN CMLIAH P^ I WUM#SI, ^ Declaring Academic Bankruptcy I here has been a lot ol bankruptcy in the news lately. In the old days. bankruptcy was the end of the road, a shameful final desperate move for an individual or corporation that had exhausted all of its options. This has changed. Declaring bankruptcy is becoming a respectable gambit that allows a business to try again, even though it may have made commitments that it can not honor. When we take a close- look, we see that the dog- cat-dog world of corporate capitalism may have become more forgiving and humane than the academic system on our college and university campuses. Perhaps academic administrators and faculty senates could learn a lesson in forgiveness from the business world. Perhaps students could benefit from some of the- understanding that is now extended to corporations. In this column, we'll take a look at some ol the more famous ol the recent bankruptcies in the business world, and then we'll come back to campus and c o n s i d c r t h e c o m m o n treatment administered to students who make mistakes. John IXTorcan sweet talked the British government out of millions ol dollars when he offered to establish a car factory in Northern Ireland. Fie lived high off the hog. enriching himself while the company failed. He could have gotten out of it just line, still a wealthy man. except that his sense of honor apparently led him to try to rescue the company by a venture into the cocaine market. He got busted and then declared bankruptcy, instead of just This Learning World Richard Meisler declaring bankruptcy. He's still a rich num. but he's in big trouble because he wasn't just willing to accept bankruptcy. Not long ago. the Wilson food company, a major processor of pork, declared bankruptcy in order to free itself of obligations it had assumed while negotiating a contract with its unionized workers. Continental Airlines, which had $50 million in the bank, has just done the same thing. The Manville Corpora- lion, a flourishing chemical company, declared bankruptcy for another reason. Manville used to make asbestos, which did horrible- things to the workers in its factories. [Tic company didn't take appropriate precautions, and there are 16.000 lawsuits for damages against Manville. brought by former workers whose lives have been wrecked by as best os-rela led d iseases and disabilities Going into bankruptcy allows Manville to conduct business with con'sidera ble protect ion from the impact of these lawsuits. Bankruptcy proceedings allow companies to try to get back on their feet. Their creditors must wait for payment of the debts that company has incurred. T he- workers will be unhappy because they will correctly believe that the company has backed out ofa deal that was fairly negotiated. But neither the creditors nor the workers would gain much if the companies go out of business, so there is some sense in these arrangements. Now let's go back tothe typical college campus. where students pay large- sums of money to get educated. Students, like the e x e c u t i v e s of 1 a rge corporations, can make unwise judgments or behave badly. They can be immature or lazy, just like- other human beings. They can be distracted by personal problems of love or video games. Ihev can, when they register for courses, become too ambitious, biting off more thatn they can chew. What happens to students who exhibit these common failings? At the end of the semester, many of these students find themselves hopelessly behind in their work. They simply can't do it all. They go to their professors and ask for extensions. The typical professor sees this a matter of high moral significance: "I am sorry. There is nothing I can do. You will be penalized one lull grade for every day that your paper is late." The student sees his or her ambitions to go to graduate school or to get a good job jeopardized. The- pro lessor, the gentle humane educator, has turned the screws. Students go the dean's office to find out how one- gets an "incomplete" in a course. They find that you must present notarized copies of a chest x-ray showing clear evidence of lung cancer. The death ofa grandparent is only sometimes sufficient. If an incomplete is granted, it must be made up within a certain time period, with no further extensions possible. A timing device is activated in the registrar's office, and it will enter an "F" on the student's transcript thirty seconds alter the deadline- expires. In the business world. when a person or corporation gets into big trouble, the bankruptcy laws allow for a period in which pressure is reduced. The company or person is given some time to reorganize and get its act together again. When a student gets into trouble, no such decent treatment is forthcoming. The usual response is for the pressure- to be increased rather than decreased. The world is lull of people who dropped out and never came back to school because the academic world is so unforgiving. Many ol them would have eventually bee n I i ne students and made- productive use of the education that was not. unfortunately, available to them. The academic world needs bankruptcy provisions which students could invoke when they get into trouble. They should not be punitive. Students should he- allowed to wipe the slate clean and start again. Both the student and the larger society would benefit. The important thing is that a particular student has learned something, not that he or she. at one time, for one reason or another, was unable to learn it. In this respect, we will have a better educational system when we learn a lesson about bankruptcy from business. Letters Dear Abby, I have tow brothers. One, the elder brother, attended Appalachian Stae University and the other was sent to the electric chair in West Virginia. Mother died, after some 18 vea rs of GOODNITE PEACHES commitment, in an insane asylum. Since I was three years old my lather has been a narcotics pusher in the area grade schools. One of my sisters is a very successful and highly paid call girl and my other sister is the commonlaw wife '983 NEW FEATURES SVNOCArE rx of a local executive of the Mafia. Recently. I met a wonderful girl (a few weeks alter she was released from prison for smothering her illegitimate baby). We arc- very much in love and expect to be married as soon as the doctors can clear up her venereal disease. My problem. Dear Abby. is should I tell this wonderful girl about my brother who attended Appalachian State University? Yours sincerely, Jerry Fahwell by Paul Falzone

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1983-10-06
  • Date digitized: 2019-01-31
• Extent
  • Dimension: 15" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 8 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1983-10-06_Vol48_No10
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library