University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Hippies, Dupes Parade

It pains my heart to see all these
hippies and dupes parading around
to try to bring the war to an end.
I'm a loyal American citizen and
have always been so. When my
country told me to fight, I fought!
I didn't ask why. I just went in
there and did my duty. What's the
matter with this war anyway?
Don't they understand those Communists
are killing off all the South
Vietnamese? Why, somebody's got
to put a stop to them! I love my
freedom and I gave up two years of
it to help those poor people in
South Vietnam get theirs. So Jet's
stop this foolishness and get behind
the war machine and keep plugging
away. Any loyal American would
not want to see his country suffer
the disgrace of not winning a war.

Judiciary
Committee

In reply to the letter of Mr.
Allen Barringer, first let me say that
the Judiciary Committee, being
new to the task of administering a
University-wide referendum, has
had to face many unanticipated
problems during the course of the
past week.

First, we were confronted with
the fact that there were simply not
enough wooden Student Government
ballot boxes with which to
effectively hold a referendum for
the entire University. We remedied
this problem as best we could by
using cardboard boxes, marked as
"Ballot Boxes" in addition to the
regular wooden ones, and placing
them in locations which we felt
were easily accessible to most of
the student body. We found that
time after time, signs publicizing
the referendum and signs designating
the ballot boxes were torn
down.

In addition, on several occasions,
we did find substantial
numbers of unmarked ballots in
obvious "packs" in the ballot
boxes. When we encountered this problem we discarded those
"packs" and all other unmarked
ballots in those boxes which were
not obviously intended to be
abstentions.

I honestly feel that the few
irregularities that did occur were
detected by the Committee.

Elections at the University have
been conducted without poll
watchers for many years. In this
referendum the Judiciary Committee
simply followed procedures
which are accepted for elections at
Virginia. However, Mr. Barringer's
intimation that this means of
conducting elections is not the best
possible one has some merit. The
obvious fact is that in a small
election, under the present system,
it would only take one person with
some cunning who conducts himself
outside the spirit of the Honor
System to swing the election one
way or the other.

As a result of what I learned
during this referendum I had
already decided that I would
suggest to the Student Council and
to the Honor Committee that they
make a joint study of the election
process at Virginia.

No Credit
For ROTC

On the eve of the Moratorium I
felt it appropriate to express my
feelings on the presence of ROTC
on campus. I have not yet resolved
with myself whether or not military
training has a justifiable place on
the college campus, but I have
come to believe that ROTC courses
should not be given for academic
credit. I was in Army ROTC for
three semesters before my changing
beliefs became strong enough to
warrant my dropping the program.
(ROTC appeared to be the most
practical alternative to the draft.)
During that time I cannot honestly
say I gained any knowledge which
would contribute to the general
education that a bachelor's degree
is supposed to represent.

I ask the leader to look at the
section in the college catalogue
entitled, "The Purpose of the
University." (Granted: The administration
presents many hypocritical
statements; but accept this as
the ideal.) Now observe the courses
offered by the three ROTC programs.
Even on paper these courses
fall far short of the ideal. In
practice, they are merely grounds for
military training and propaganda. I
can discover no educational value in
any of the ROTC courses that I
took.

Basic training in boot camp
would easily surpass this instruction
in a matter of days; yet ROTC
students receive at least fourteen
credit hours for their participation.
I cannot see any justification for
this measure. Let those students
who elect to join a ROTC program
as preparation for eventual military
service, do so voluntarily - without
academic credit. These programs
are militarily oriented - directed
toward service in the armed forces,
not intellectual enlightenment.
With such a limited scope (that of
militarism), ROTC instruction contributes
nothing toward a student's
actual education, and should not be
credited as doing so.

Crossword
Puzzle Lost

The fifth year class of Architecture
feels a certain measure of loss at the
absence of the heretofore ubiquitous
crossword puzzle. The diversions
afforded us by this puzzle in
the past years helped to carry us
through some of our more numbing
lectures in Planning and Plumbing.
This year our educational vectors
are directed toward perhaps more
worthy pursuits, but nevertheless
we feel cheated. Are we never again
to confront Guido's low note or the
appellation of Athena?