University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Teacher Questions Finances

I am writing this letter to bring
to the attention of the University
a suggestion for improvement that
so far has met with as little objection
as practical action. This is
the matter of offering adequate
remuneration to the graduate assistant
instructors who bear a large
part of the burden of educating
students in the very important
basic courses. Obviously it is essential
that the best possible people
be secured for these posts and that
those engaged be under no unnecessary
financial pressure in
order to function effectively. Faculty,
administration and especially
the students who will be taught
should join in an effort to place
the University in a better position
to attract able graduates who generally
receive better, more viable
financial offers from other schools.
This situation is aggravated by the
recent decrease of available fellowships.

As a first step may I suggest
the cancellation of tuition (which
is the normal procedure right now
in the higher ranking schools) for
those who serve as assistants. This
move would have the advantage
over a comparable salary raise
in that tax deductions would not
also increase. Since it is also in
line with the policy of other institutions
it would be easier to
sell to the powers that be.

From another vantage point
those who are training to be college
teachers ought not be asked
to endure several years of penury
as a precondition; we even have
the authority of Aristotle on this
matter: "Virtue is not of itself
sufficient to ensure happiness...
for the wise man would be miserable
if he lived in the midst
of pain, poverty and similar circumstances."

May I ask all, not just graduate
assistants, who are interested to
contact the undersigned through
Cabell Hall, Room 247, so that
we may plan the necessary actions.

America Depressed

America is depressed today. The
final human tributes have been
shown to Dr. Martin Luther King,
but we who are still fighting this
oppressed world realize that Dr.
King's dream of a just and equal
America must not die as the author
is put to his final resting place.

As the coffin closes upon the
life of a civil rights leader, we glance
at our U.S. Constitution which has
declared that "all men are created
equally" and each individual has
the right of petition, of assembly
and of peaceful protest. This our
America, we call the land of the
free and the home of the brave
lost much of it's freedom and
crushed its dynamic portrait as
the assassin in Memphis squeezed
the cold and senseless trigger which
initiated unrest in the nation.

The man who stood and faced
the nation and strived to correct
the social and moral injustices is
dead, but his dream shall live on.
The reality of this dream shall
live in the hearts of all civil rights
workers. The dream is deeply
rooted in my heart and with the
help of god, I shall work in the
true fulfillment of Dr. King's
dream.

Actually, nothing we say pertaining
to Rev. King's life is appropriate,
for he was known as
the greatest living American of
our times. King's non-violent stand
shall live on and it shall work.
We have lost our Dream Initiator,
but the Reality shall be our
challenge as we stand with our
Creator as "We shall overcome."

Class Disruption

When the University chose to
make classes optional on Tuesday,
it created a very awkward and
ambiguous situation for both the
students and the professors. The
University should either have cancelled
classes completely or not
done anything at all.

Leaving attendance up to the
students and professors accomplishes
very little. Whether
attendance is optional or not, if
the class is held, those who sincerely
wished to miss class in honor
of Dr. King are penalized anyway
in that they missed the
material covered. It appears that
all the University accomplished in
making classes optional was to
create a token gesture rather than
a definite act and to give students
an excused absence.

Some Thought

In his letter to the Editor
appearing in Wednesday's Cavalier
Daily, a Mr. Robert F. Fagin
argues that "there are Negroes,
and there are niggers; there are
Jews, and there are kikes; there
are Italians, and there are wops;
and there are Poles, and there are
polaks."

I agree that every ethnic group
contains individuals who are
worthy of being labelled with derogatory
epithets, but I see no reason
why the epithet should refer
to the ethnic origin of the person
against whom it is directed.
It would be possible to say, for
example, that there are Irishmen,
and there are micks, and that Mr.
Fagin is a mick; or that there are
lace-curtain Irish and shanty Irish,
and that Mr. Fagin belongs to
the latter category.

Consequently, if I were asked
to comment on Mr. Fagin's use
of ethnic insults, I would simply
characterize it as ill-bred, undiscerning,
uncultivated, and boorish;
and if I were given good reason
to believe that such behavior is
typical of Mr. Fagin, I might
employ the same adjectives in describing
him. But just as one need
not be a Negro to be a moronic
slob, or a Jew to be a tightfisted
chiseler, one need not be
Irish to have the manners of a
peasant, even though persons
of Mr. Fagin's stripe might lead
us to believe that it helps.