• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1990-11-15_Vol56_No13_04

Volume 56 Number 13 Voices The Western Carolinian Page 4 Thursday, November 15, 1990 Letters to the Editor r Professor snubs his profession John Marshall Dennis Editor-in-Chief (Itk he Western Carolinian welcomes editorial input from students, faculty, and staff on matters of public interest. Please address correspondence to: Voices P.O. Box 66 Cullowhee, NC 2S723 All submissions will be considered, but The Western Carolinian reserves the right to refuse publication of offensive or otherwise unsuitanble material. TheCaroIinian is not responsible for opinions expressed on the iiEditorial Page. A few days ago in class, a professor labeled teaching a "semi- profession". As I looked around me, I felt the thickness of silence, the weight of disbelief. Perhaps some were trying to shake off what they had just heard. How could a faculty member of an institution that strives for excellence in education disparage our efforts and our hopes for making a difference. After that uncomfortable silence, someone challenged, why? What I expected to hear was that the professor was simply reiterating what has always been said, in order to prepare us for that same challenge coming out of the mouths of parents, legislators, friends - taxpayers. Instead, the professor com plained that some teachers are unqualified - teaching without degrees or training. He explained that lawyers have to pass the Board, not teachers. Have YOU heard about the NTE lately? I must have been mistaken to think that stood for National Teacher's Exam. The professor stated that teachers have no governing organization. I can only assume that he speaks of an ethics committee such as the ones that govern doctors and lawyers. I believe he even spoke of unions. Ethics? Unions? Can anyone be so blind? Finally, the issue of licensing was raised. Perhaps that stamped, sealed document marked "Certified", has "lunatic" somewhere in small print. I've been told many times that I'm crazy to go into teaching - that I'll only end up broke and disheartened. Regardless, I have committed myself to excellence in education. I truly believe that it is up to the parents, the community, the teachers, and yes - the universities to take the prejudices out of education and make it the key to perhaps our only legacy. There is no room for what I call "professional snobbery" in this institution - not if we are to reach our goals. But - if you're still unsure, look up "teacher" in Webster's. DaRel Christiansen J Attending lecture was no honor I am a member of the Honors program here at Western, but I personally take very little interest in the activities of that program because of my schedule. However, I dropped some of my apathy when I received my last newsletter. This newsletter said that the author of the book Breaking the Godspell was coming to speak to the Honors students. An author coming to speak was not surprising to me, but the subject of the book did. The book is about genetic engineering that had been to humans by extraterrestrials. Since I am an anthropology major, I was very interested in the claims that the author, Neil Freer, had made. I was surprised to find that over sixteen people were there to hear this program. Mr. Freer began his lecture by talking about all the "\ other great scientists who through history had been persecuted for their beliefs (Galileo, Copernicus, Pasteur). He then began to relate to us the beliefs that he states in his new book. In short, he believes that there is a planet that is five times the size of Earth that rotates around the sun once every three thousand six hundred years. When this planet moves through the solar system it moves between Earth and Mars. This planet is now conveniently at its furthest point from the Earth so we can't see it. On this planet is supposedly a race of human-like beings that evolved long before we did. It just so happens that these beings have a similar genetic makeup to our ancestors, the Homo Erectus. According to Mr. Freer these beings had to infuse their genes with ours to make us intelli gent enough to use us as slaves to mine the gold out of Africa. He also went on to state that they caused the Great Flood because we had gotten out of control, and that they even taught us how to build all the ancient buildings (pyramids?). I had a field day with this. As an example, I made him restate what I had heard him say earlier about Homo Erectus not accomplishing anything in his first one hundred and forty million years on this planet. This was ludicrous. Dinosaurs still walked the earth that long ago. Homo Erectus didn't even appear until the early Pleistocene, only a little less than a million and a half years ago. After I debunked about three of his claims, ten of the people in the room just got up and left. The data given at this lecture made me feel that this man may have been a philosopher, but he was no scientist in any true sense of the word. He did not give any proof to his statements other than referring to other books of dubious merit. Such books as The Twelfth Planet... look it up and you will see why I call it dubious; it's in the occult section of most book stores! He also referred to an archaeological site in Iraq that housed cuneiform tablets that told the story of the aliens. Unfortunately, he received this information from the author of The Twelfth Planet and could find no reference to it in archaeological journals. This is probably because the site doesn't exist. I'm sure if these tablets about the "gods" had been found, someone in the anthropology department would have heard about it. This The Western Carotinian Western Carolina University The Old Student Union P.O. Box 66 Cullowhee, NC 28723 John Marshall Dennis Editor-in-Chief Laura Lee Adams Assistant to the Editor Associate Editors Jeff Oakes- Copy Editor Lisa Majors - News Tony Bolick- Sports Douglas R Pease - Design & Layout Design & Layout Stephanie Messer Photographers Jonathan Fondow Troy Conner Typesetter Kim Miller Business Manager Kendra A. Blackwell Writers Michelle Mathis Cassandra Barnett Suzanne Kenndell Robbie Robertson Chris A. Smith Troy Conner Advertising Sales & Design & Layout Christa Humphrey Advisor Mr. John Moore Vi J lecture was the biggest bunch of bull I had ever heard. In the future, I hope the honors program will be able to find better speakers. This is not to say that I would censor this man for what he says. He has a right to say anything he wants in this country. I only feel that a topic as pseudo-scientific as this has no place in a program like honors ... send him to the philosophy department. Listen to my advice if you ever decide to go into the "Gods were Aliens" business. Please try to get your scientific facts straight. -Jonathan Baird -Jonathai Gavel comes down on unconstitutional noise ordinance; spirits raised i, ai Department had the nower to end forthedeoutvresDondinetothecall. Mv suceestion to all those neiehborhood. Have several neoDle Douglas R Pease Columnist Have you ever been at a party that was going really well, with music thumpin', bodies jumpin', and thekega-pumpin'? And then along comes Deputy Sheriff Anal-Re Tentive and pulls the plug on the whole scene by issuing a noise ordinance citation. The crowd turns ugly. Tempers are flaring. Guests start heading toward their cars and DD's are ready to quit. Amid all this confusion you see Deputy Dawg pop intohis baby-blue cruiser and whistle a happy tune as he drives away. Why did he look so happy? Because he just busted your party with an unconstitutional ordinance. That's right, up until last Monday the Jackson County S hcri ff s Department had the power to end any gathering that they thought was too loud. All it took was a complaint to the Police and a deputy would be sent to your party. No warning. No record of who complained, or why. The only evidence was your name on the ticket. Fraternities seemed to have been singled out by this sting operation. The Sheriff even held meetings on campus with fraternities to try to work out solutions. Ha. Basically he blew smoke up our backside and told us it was sunshine. Nothing changed. The ordinance did not allow for organizations to receive citations, only individuals. That meant that the person responsible for the party was also responsible for the ticket. And if one person was unlucky enough to receive more than one, a night in the pokey was reality. All for playing AC/DC a notch too loud. Or at least too loud for the deputy responding to the call. And that was the downfall of the law. It was too subjective. According to Judge Danny E. Davis "unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise" was "too subjective and unnecessarily vague." Davis ruled Oct. 29 that portions of the ordinance were unconstitutional, and last Monday that the whole thing was rubbish. I could have told him that months ago. So why wasn't it tossed out months ago? No one fought it in court. A friend of mine spent a night in jail because of it. He faced thirty days more if he got cited again. Chances are he will be having a party real soon to celebrate the downfall of this legislation. But, chances are that the county commissioners will be trying to pass a new, similar law. Only this time it won't be so subjective. And this time, we can try to stop it. My suggestion to all those that have been victimized by the old ordinance is to protest the new one. Attend meetings, voice your objections, and take an active role in your county. If you don't, you will be getting regular weekend visits from the noise police. Until a new ordinance is passed, the Sheriff will issue disorderly conduct violations in place of the regular noise violations. Fortunately, it's tougher to issue a disorderly conduct violation which means fewer will be given. In case the Jackson County Commissioners decide to pass a new cacophony code, there are several things we can do to inhibit/enjoy it: • During your party, call the Sheriff's department and tell them that the party is not disturbing you and that it is a welcome break from the monotony that prevails in your neighborhood. Have several people do this during the night. If someone happens to complain, their complaint will be lost among the compliments. • Have the Chancellor or Alumni Relations Director ticketed for the Alumni Tower noise. It can be heard all over campus at all hours of the day and night. It'sunwelcome to most except those that built it. If a snooze button were installed in all dorm rooms that would allow a person to turn it off then perhaps the Tower could stay. Until then, could someone please turn the speaker off? Interesting Fact: (hum the theme from Mission: Impossible) The Bell Tower is actually programmed in the Music/English building to play those banal rhapsodies we hear every hour. If someone had the ingenuity to re- program the tower, this monstrosity might be more interesting. Give it a shot. After all, it's your Tower too! • Complain about all of your neighbors' noises before you start your party. That way, your neighborhood will appear to be noisy anyway and your party will be in the norm. Right now, we have a temporary reprise from the ordinance. It will not be too long before another rises and takes its place. This is our golden opportunity to craft it to our approval. The now defunct ordinance was enacted in early 1988, but strangely was not enforced until this summer. IFC should take a keen interest in the upcoming commissioner's meetings since fraternities have paid the most to the noise fund. Jackson County Noise Ordinance- Bom: 4-19-88 Deceased: 10-29-90. Bury it deep, remember it with revulsion, but please, let's not give it a moment of silence... Unstable thoughts about M-E Einsteinian physics best describes the relationship that matter and energy have when the matter (sub-atomic photon) is traveling at the speed of light. Little m (sub-atomic) Big E (light speed velocities) m-E Newtonian physics best describes the relationship that matter and energy have when the matter is macro-atomic and traveling at sub-light velocities (energy). M-e Quantum theory best or at its essence describes the relationship of matter and energy at the sub-atomic scale where the velocities are not approaching the speed of light. Protons, Neutrons, electrons in stable relationship. m-e I believe the physical world expresses a stable harmony but as established theories go only 3 of the 4 possible combinations are represented. WHERE is the conceptual structure that describes the relationship of macro-atomic matter traveling at light speed. M-E If I have misrepresented the existing theories remove the matter energy relationship I've attributed to them and see if they are still workable. If they are not; the respective Matter- Energy relationships are valid. WHERE IS BIG M - BIG E?! Imagination is more important than knowledge - A. Einstein. -Name withheld by request Retraction In last week's issue (Nov. 8, 1990), the Western Carolinian had an article entitled "Berlin Wall Exhibit Features Fragments, Maps From Germany." I am credited with writing the labels and descriptions for the various pictures used in the exhibit. This statement is incorrect. Dr. David Dorondo wrote the text for theexhibit. My responsibility was to take the text and technically alter and arrange it for the exhibit format. I felt it was important (for myself and Dr. Dorondo) to set the record straight. Thank you. Suzanne McDowell THE frULWMiDICMTGETUfT

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: 1990-11-15
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-30
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 10 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_1990-11-15_Vol56_No13
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library