Fail the option

The scene; a dormitory room: the time; Monday
night: the character; UConn student O41-54-2309, a
history major: the plot; pre-guessing mid term
results.

“Let’s see. I haven't started studying for Agricul-
ture 110, but I have been to all the lectures. I've done
more reading for the marketing course, but I skipped
some of the classes. I can't do anything with the
history courses; they are in my major.”

The same Monday night thoughts probably ran
through the minds of all the students who stood in the
pass-fail line Tuesday afternoon.

And the University Senate may have furthered
abuse of the pass-fail system instead of limiting it by
the new four-week rule.

Why? Last year, when the pass-fail option had a
nine week deadline, students waited until their
midterm grades were computed before making a
pass-fail course decision. They studied for all midterm
examinations.

This year, the four week cut-off date barely gives
students a taste of course work. They have yet to write
a paper or take a test in most classes. By second
guessing their own ability, and possibly underesti-
mating it, they decide on a pass-fail course, well
before midterm exams.

What is the incentive now to study for more than a
passing grade in that course? Negligible, even with
the .option to revert to letter grades up to the tenth
week of the semester.

Faculty members of the Senate may be a little
surprised if they see their midterm class averages
drop in a few weeks.

Speak up

Student-Trustee Robert Wiggins and University
minority students are still waiting. along with the rest
of the campus, for the Board of Governors

Wiggins is waiting for a reply to his letter CrllILlL|u5
the BOG for an undersized minority programming
budget.

Wiggins and other UConn minority students
continue to wait for an addition to that budget since
they paid a I00 per cent BOG fee increase this year
but saw only a 15 percent raise in the minority
category.

The rest of the campus also waits for an explanation
from BOG for their budget oversight.

And the longer that explanation is in coming, the
more questionable a position BOG finds itself in. Nine
days ago the Board called an illegal executive session
to draft a reply to Wiggin’s letter. Presumably the
executive session was called to avoid any embarassing
publicity.

However, BOG is creating that embarassing
publicity by their prolonged silence in response to
Wiggin's inquiry. Meanwhile, as he warned BOG,
Wiggins may decide to stop waiting and present the
matter to the trustees.

lllnntwrtimt lflaily (ilampua

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Rhodesia

Solution leaves questions

BY LARRY W. BOWMAN

Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger has not yet repeated his
“peace is at hand" statement
with respect to Rhodesia, but the
general mood of satisfaction that
has surrounded this latest diplo-

matic shuttle cannot be missed.‘

Press coverage has ranged from
merely favorable to high praise
for bringing off a major diplomat-
ic miracle.
As the nation waits for the
second Carter/Ford debate on
Oct. 6--this one to focus entirely
on foreign policy and defense
matters--we can expect that
Rhodesia will be a topic of some
concern. President Ford has al-
ready praised all those who
helped with the Rhodesian nego-

creature of outside intervention--
the product of Cecil Rhodes’
dream to bring Anglo-Saxon
domination to the heart of Africa.
Later Britain assumed nominal
responsibility for Rhodesia’s con-
stitutional evolution which led to
white minority domination by
overwhelmingly British stock.
After Prime Minister Ian Smith
declared Rhodesia independent in
1965, new outside actors began to
make their influence felt. _ The
United Nations imposed sanc-
tions, and nations of the non-
aleigned and Communist world
began to arm and train Rhodes-
ia’s liberation movements. As is
well known, it was the Russian
and Cuban intervention in Ango-
la--and the potential threat of its
repetition in Rhodesia--that
sparked Kissinger’s own inter-

tiations and has claimed that vention. in the Rhodesian prob-
“The road is now open for an lem. -

African solution to an African;

problem--free of outside inter-
vention. violence and bitterness.
lt would be nice if it works as
neatly as that. But the facts are
that actors ouside Africa are likely
to play a major role in any
solution. that ouside intervention
in Southern Africa has been
central to the escalation of conflict
and the movement toward peace.
that violence lies at the very heart
of life in the region, and that
there is enough bitterness in
Rhodesia to haunt all chances for
a permanent and workable polit-
ical solution. it would seem that
these realities should be briefly
raised. if only to bring more
clarity to what has (and has not
occurred) and to perhaps lay the
groundwork for more realistic
debate. come Oct.6.
There is no doubt that Africans
helped establish the diplomatic
environment that led to Rhodes-

ian negotiations. ln paricular-

Presidents Kaunda of Zambia.
Nyerere of Tanzania. Machel of
Mozambique, and Khama of Bot-
swana (joinedrecentlyby Neto of
Angola)--as leaders of the front-
line states--have assisted the
Rhodesian African nationalists by
supporting their aspirations mil-
itarily and diplomatically. The
frontline presidents will surely
monitor events closely until a
transfer of power to the Rhodes-
ian African majority is com-
pleted. And of course Prime
Minister John Verster of South
Africa (another ‘African’ leader)
played a crucial role in bringing
pressure to bear on Rhodesian
whites.

On the other hand, every aspect
of the Rhodesian situation is
touched (if not fully shaped) by
outside intervention. and one
would have to be a dreamer to
think that these outside actors
will quietly fade away. In the first

instance. Rhodesia itself is a

Stung by the debacle of
American policy in Angola, Kis-
-singer reversed America’s policy

‘toward Southern Africa, which

since 1969 had “tilted" toward
support for the white regimes. He
picked up the March 1976 pro-
-posal of James Callaghan (then
foreign secretary, now prime
minister of Britain) on how to
resolve the Rhodesian crisis. This
proposal, calling for a two~year
transition to African majority
rule. formed the basis of all
recent negotiations. But Carter
and the naton should not forget
that Kissinger’s sudden interest
in Southern Africa is based
almost wholly on the successes of
those who fought Kissinger’s
African policies from 1969-1976.
Violence has been central to the
overturning of America's‘ ill-con-
sidered policies. The Portuguese
coup in 1974 was in large measure
caused by the successes of Afric-
an liberation movements in
fighting Portugal, our NATO ally.
America stood alone with pre-
coup Portugal and South Africa
in openly flaunting United Na-
tions sanctions against Rhodesia.
Kissinger did nothing to prevent
this. Faced with these kinds of
obstacles. it is not surprising that
Rhodesian African nationalists
found other allies, became com-
mitted to guerrilla warfare, and
remain skeptical of America's
sudden championing of their
interests. This is not to say that
our policy change is not wel-
comed, but we should be modest
in claiming kudos and mindful of
our long history of supporting the ,
white side.
Moreover, it is obviously the‘
goal of Kissinger and Vorster to
orchestrate the coming to power
of Joshua Nkomo--the American
leader they consider the most
moderate and pro-Western. The
haste of the current negotiations
is closely related to the remark-

-able escalation of the armed
struggle within Rhodesia this
year. While American reasons for
supporting Nkomo are obvious,
they have little to do with
non-intervention or letting Afric-

ans decide their own affairs.
There are several other promin-

ent Rhodesian African leaders
and it would be useful to have
Carter and Ford address the
question of how they think Rhod-
esia’s leaders should be selec-
ted.'

The legacy of 86 years of white
domination is bitterness. We see
this in the response of many
African leaders to the plan to
raise 81.5 to $2 billion to guaran-

see the land and property of
Rhodesia’s guerrillas--is the
compensation for Africans for
their decades of exploitation?

This is hardly a moot point. If.
as rumors have it, the American
share of the financial package will
come to about $500 million,
Congress will have to face this
question directly. It would be of
interest to know how both Carter
and Ford feel about what may
well be a very contentious issue.
Since the aid package is at the
heart of the Callaghan proposal, it
cannot be sidestepped.

These considerations (among
many others) suggest that the
road ahead in Rhodesia is likely to
be marked by difficulties. A
realistic debate in the subject
must embrace a recognition of
these potential pitfalls, our own
national role in the background to
the current crisis, and the real-
ization that other actors have
substantial stakes in the outcome
that may well not accord with our
own. For this, sadly, we are only
ourselves to blame.

Larry Bowman is an associate
professor in the Department of
Political Science and an expert on

Africa.

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