focus

Pipe dream

Imagine the situation; a Board of Trustees meeting in some future year at the Bishop Center where all 19 members attend. including, incredibly, ex-officio member Gov. Ella T. Grasso.

There she sits. Connecticut's first woman governor,

the foster child of the late John Bailey, listening to UConn President Glenn Ferguson and Vice President of Finance and Administration Harry Hartley report

on some University matter.

Let us say. also

incredibly. they talk of new programs and a larger UConn budget than has been seen here in the last few

years.

One student thinks back a few years to 1975; a year of tuition and fee increases and a tense Trustee meeting where television cameras caught angry students demanding the reasons for fee increases. Where was ex-officio Trustee Grasso then?, he thinks.

Ferguson glances at Grasso. This may be the only Board of Trustees meeting she goes to, but at least they. whoever “they" are, can say she went to one.

UConn isn't that bad after all, Grasso realizes.

Nobody is booing her.

Maybe she should come to

campus more often than once a summer to speak at

Girls‘ State.

Maybe she would even speak at

Jorgensen auditorium and risk some exposure to

students.

Pipe dreams. pipe dreams.....

Activism is Dead

By RUSS SMITH

'‘I don't think it's dignified to give the finger to the Vice-Presi- dent of the United States." snapped Nelson Rockefeller after he flipped the bird to 25 hecklers in Binghamton. N.Y.. last week. “ljust responded in kind--it's the American way."

While this incident could have triggered a barb-filled series of encounters between students and candidates in past elections. this year it looks like there won't be any fights for Rocky. Grits and Fritz or Jerry Ford--students just don't care.

Campus activism hasn't exactly flourished in I976. Most of the politicking is left to student hacks. the future ward leaders and state senators. who are laying roots for their own careers. The camaraderie and idealism of 1968 and I972 is gone; there's not the unity that brought 40.000 youths together to work for George McGovern in the '72 New York primary. Jimmy Carter enlisted just 400 youths for the same effort in '76.

The few youths that are in- volved in the national election this year keep lonely hours at student union campaign booths. occasion- ally hawking a bumpersticker or talking to some patient passerby.

According to pollster Peter Hart. its an election year that will find less than half the country's registered voters traipsing to the polls. with an even lower percen- tage pegged for those under thirty.

“Students are campaigning for pragmatic reasons." explained Doug Miller. a senior at the University of 'Chicago. "They realize it's the only presidential election in their four college years, and they want to get the experience. On the whole. the University of Chicago is apoliti- cal. anyone who gets involved in extra-curricular activities is in the minority here." he continued.

Despite the gloomy prospects of making inroads on the student vote. both Carter and Ford youth directors are at least making an effort to woo the reluctant voters.

"Across the board. people are for Carter--our enemy is apathy. not Gerald Ford." asserted Janet Oliver. of the Carter National

Headquarters in Atlanta. “Young people want integrity and leader- ship. and they haven't seen it in their lifetime. They don't remem- ber FDR and JFK."

Oliver. who is directing a campus voter registration blitz and canvassing operation. feels that young people are fed up with politics and will be hard to reach. despite the fact that “Governor Carter has had a terrific response at colleges and everywhere else."

But if there's support for either Ford or Carter at the college campuses. it's certainly not out in the open. When students do speak about the election. it's more likely to be a diatribe slashed with cynicism rather than

admiration. The “Michigan Daily" editor-

ialized that Ford kicking off his campaign at a college campus

(University of Michigan at Ann

Arbor) “is something akin to Hitler making the first donation to the United Jewish Appeal." The editorial marked Ford as “an enemy of education" because of his anti-education record in Con- gress. and urged students to demonstrate at the President's

arrival.

“There's some political organi- zation. but it's not like four years ago." remarked a graduate stu- dent at the University of Mary- land. reiterating a common theme on campuses today. “Some are participating on a local level, the hard-core political addicts. but I haven't seen much movement around this place."

Even the workhorse Young Americans for Freedom are by-

'passing the presidential election

this year.

What does it all add up to? A handful of hecklers, a score of placards and an occasional cherry bomb scare. And although some students turn out for campaign appearances. the most prevailing attitude towards the election is pretty well summed up by a University of Oklahoma student who said, ‘‘Yeah. I saw Carter. He says what everyone wants to hear--just like any politician would."

' Russ Smith is a writer

for the College Press Service.

./,

1 .

.~ a

4 v » 9 / 1

GREAT IS OF I976

The Waltons-part two

If you watched CBS last Thurs- day it seemed perfectly natural that the Ford-Carter debate came on right after the Waltons. After all, they are the same kind of show.

Both dealt with a fantasy world where God doesn't let things get too out of hand and even the most serious problems can be solved the night before the show goes off the air. While "John-Boy" went about dealing with the dilemmas of putting out a newspaper Thurs- day night, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter pondered the di- lemmas of the world. John-Boy solved his problem--Ford and Carter did not.

The debate might as well have been fiction. like the Waltons. because so little of it was based on fact. Of all the things that were missing from the debate the most glaring was the truth.Throughout the debate Ford and Carter contradicted each other often on what were supposed to be facts.

Carter said Ford has vetoed more bills than any president in decades. Ford said he has not. Ford used figures indicating that Carter's proposals would leave the federal government with a huge deficit. Carter used figures indicating his programs could be implemented and the budget balanced withing a few years. The

truth in both instances was pro-'

bably somewhere inbetween. The conflicting statements

were partly the result of the

debate's format. Since only one

rebuttal was allowed. the candi-.

date who spoke last ended up

sounding the most knowledgable. _

If one more rebuttal were allowed the viewing audience would have had a much better idea which candidate was closer to the truth.

Even a different format could not have made up for the lack of substance that the debates con- tained. Ford and Carter were more concerned with appearances than issues and the result was a lot of visionary rhetoric that left even Woodrow Wilson fans sha- king their heads.

Ford tried as hard as he could to look and sound presidential and Carter concentrated on not looking and sounding foolish.

The emphasis on images in- stead of issues during the debate

served as a good example of how '

the media. especially TV. has Op-edits

The Daily Campus invites all faculty. staff and students to submit op-edits for possible pub- lication on the editorial page. An op-edit is an opinionated article on any subject which may interest the readers of the Daily Campus. Articles should be typed, double spaeed and no more than four pages.

A Second Glance Steve Hull

perverted the art of campaigning for the" presidency. A successful television performance is contin- gent on how a candidate looks and the image he projects.

As a result. Ford's and Carter's staff spent days haggling over what seem like trivial things. Carter's staff did not want the lecterns to be too large so Ford would look heavy. Ford's staff wanted the candidates to stand during the debate so the presi- dent's three inch height advan- tage would be more evident.

Carter staffers warned Jimmy that he has a tendency to smile at the wrong times and Ford staffers coached the president on some words he had difficulty pronoun- cing.

The result was a highly pol- ished performance that was a triumph of form over substance. Carter smiled just enough and Ford only stuttered a few times. After a few nervous minutes both men settled down and answered

the questions calmly and delib- erately.

When it was over. the network analysts did their best to make the debate sound more exciting than it was. Walter Cronkite called it “surprisingly hardhit- ting" and almost all the other so-called experts agreed. Only Roger Mudd had the courage to call the debate what it really was. ‘‘It was dull," he said. .

It would have been interesting to see what the debate would have been like if the television cameras were not there. Not having to worry about looking and sounding presidential. the candi- dates could have concentrated on sounding practical and truthful.

As it was. Carter and Ford were impressive as actors but disappointing as candidates for one of the most powerful posi- tions in the world.

Steve Hull is a Daily Campus Senior Editor: his column appears every Wednesday.

(ilmmertirut iflailg (ilampua

Serving Storrs Since 1896

Susan A. Okula Editor-In-Chief

Mark -‘L Dllpllis Robert S. Kravchuk

Managing Editor Tony Cronin Business Manager Steven D. Hull Senior Editors

John Hill 111 ........................................................ ..News Editor John J . Kwolek .................................................... ..News Editor Mark Gould ...................................................... . . Sports Editor Marla Romash .................................................... . .Sports Editor Kathe Rogers ................................................. ..Features Editor James Schembari ............................................ .. Features Editor Buz Sherman ................................................ . .Magazine Editor

Buzz Kanter .......................................... .. Photography Editor Jo Ann Niland ....................................... ..Assistant News Editor Ellen Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , ,_ Assistant News Editor Richard DePreta ................................... .. Assistant Sports Editor Darryl Campagna ............................... . . Assistant Features Editor

Staff

Donna Liss ............................................ .. Advertising Manager Connie Packard ........................................... . . Editorial Assistant David Thorgalsen ...................................... ..Circulation Manager B3’P3"3 3°C“? ............................................. .. .Office Manager Chm 5W°1'd5 .............................. ..Assistant Advertising Manager Pat Sweeney ........................................... .. Production Manager Geoffrey Golson .................................................. .. Copy Editor

5“°°°"P"°" ""383 ‘*0 Def year. second-class postage paid at Storrs Ct 06268. Published Monday through Friday during the regular school year, OXOGDI during Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring breaks. and two weeks before the end of each semester. Accepted for national advertising by the National Advertising service. subscriber: United Press International Return notification of unclaimed deliveries to: Connecticut Daily Campus. 151 North Elolovlllo Road. Box U-8. University of Connecticut. Storrs. Ct. oozes.

--a—-- x-« v‘**-v—-w-v-v-wuwv-¢.lIiDdVWii-'§ -4:; as.» L .--o—-—-.—-—.—--.—..—-...~——.-....--