,gegrets resignation Deaf car

by Robert Render

The resignation of Daniel
Moynihan, the United States
delegate to the United Nations, has
created a vacuum in leadership,
far surpassing any that might
result if President Ford decided to
take a permanent skiing trip to

olorado. In Mr. Moynihan’s short

t explosive and controversial
career he has renewed respect
extended towards the 11.3. in world
" 1irs and in the UN. He has
vuciferously defended U.S. policy
and values against the onslaught of
Soviet propaganda and stood firm
against the pressure of the Third

grid countries who have teamed
up to pass unfavorable resolutions
in the UN. He created a real exs
citement in one sense. In London, I
looked forward to the next day's
paper, so I could see who Mr.
Moynihan had directed his wrath
towards the day before.

What I respect most about Mr.
Moynihan was the senseotspirit he
displayed while conducting his
tssiness. He was not intimidated
by the President or Mr. Kissinger
to say what he felt appropriate. in
fact, the Ford Administration
F”:'Ied on the whole, from the hard
Le Mr. Moynihan was taking.
Moynihan was the initiator, and as
long as he seemed to be sharing
some popularity, President Ford

‘ilted some of it. This is an imr

ortant distinction; Moynihan was
not the mouthpiece of the Ford

Letters to the editor tor publication
p m., typewritten. oovblespaced, and
name Will be Withheld in publication.

Administration. The style was his
and he was one of the few persons
in a long time, in any level of
government, who “called a spade a
spade.”

After the General Assembly
passed the resolution equating
Zionism Wwith racism, Mr.
Moynihan unleashed his wrath at
the nations voting in tavor. He
labeled the Assembly a “theatre of
the absurd,” among other things,
tor acting in an irresponsible and
unethical manner. He has Called
Uganda’s Idi Amin a “racist
murderer” and criticized the
Soviet involvement in Angola. All
these orchestrations have served
one general purpose They have
indicated that the U.S, would not
stand idle to unfair criticism in the
u.N, or any world forum; it
displayed a willingness to stand up
for our allies all over the globe;
and that our country would not be
thrown around by a band oi power»
hungry nations seeking the
discredit of our policies and Values,

Whatever his reasons for
resigning, whether to resume his
duties at Harvard, to run tor the
us. Senate in New York, or
because he felt he was not
adequately supported by President
Ford or Mr. Kissinger, i hope the
President appoints someone to this
past who will defend our interests
in the fashion Daniel Moynihan
did,

should be received by Tuesday at s
signed. Upon request the author's

report

The Scarlet and Black, Fclil‘uarytfi, 1976'}; 5,

Diversity shines forth

by John Buckwalter

Queen‘s album entitled A Night
at the Opera opens with dramatic
operatic notes on a grand piano,
followed by the noises of a foghorn
on a misty English night. Sound
interesting?

Queen is a relatively young
English quartet who seem at first
glance to be just another rock
band. Fortunately, this is not true.
This group is spirited, talented and
inventive—just the type of
adrenaline that middle-age
modern music needs.

The main concept of Queen's
success lies in the individualism of
each member of the group. Each
person contributes a distinct
personality; hence, Queen’s
variety ot songs are pleasantly
diversified. Their latest release, A
Night at the Opera is a shining
example ot this idea.

Brian May, a graduate student in
the tield of astronomy, is Queen’s
guitarist. He is one of the most
multi-talented musicians in the
business of rock, May’s countless
guitar overdubs give the listener
the illusion of as many as five

guitars playing simultaneously;
this provides a strong musical
foundation for Queen. Besides
unusual aptness at simple guitar
playing, May can, with even more
overdubs, transform his in
strument into a jazz band, a racing
car or an orchestra.

As a songwriter, May's diverr
sification is illustrated equally
well. On a Night at the Opera, he
sings a melodic ballad, ” ‘39,’ ”
which describes immigrants on
their way to America, and follows
this song with “Sweet Lady," a
straightrahead rock tune in the
height of English tradition.

A blond Roger Taylor is the
drummer in Queen, He portrays
the “boy racer" image; this is
shown when he sings the ultimate
“motorcycle rock” parody, en»
titled "I'm in love with my Car.”
Machine wins over girl in this
song:

Told my girl I just had to forget
her,

Rather buy me a new car-
buretor....

Freddie Mercury, the band’s
leading songwriter, sings lead

Tenure: pros and cons

such a system?

Every year

vocals on the majority of tracks.
He uses voice oyerdubs in a way
very similar to May’s guitar At
times the listener hears a six-Voice
ha rmony; every sound comes from
the mouth of Mercury. At times,
unfortunately, these Voices
become sweetly sickening, like
gobs of icing on a cake. However,
Mercury‘s voice does Cover an
exceptionally wide range of notes,
as heard in a jazzy 1920’s number,
“Seaside Rendezvous."

John Deacon, an adequate bass
player, shines as a writer on his
sole composition, a very delicate
song entitled “You’re My Best
Friend."

Unlike other elderly rock groups
Such as the Who and the Rolling
stones, Queen is a group of the
’70’s, currently entering into the
prime of their productivity. Like
the Beatles in the ’60’s, Queen is
composed of tour unique in-
dividuals who together form a well-
balanced. diversified band. They
provide a much needed spark of
life to the faint ashes of a crum~
bling, static musical world.

open SPACE

Rick DlBello
Tenureia much discussed
subject with interesting
arguments, pro and con. During
this era of few teaching positions
and an abundance of qualified
candidates for most positions, it

has become apparent that the

tenure system is forcing many
colleges to make some exceedingly
difficult choices.

Though I’m no expert on the
subject, I believe the system was
originally designed to allow the
academic community freedom or
expression, however unpopular,
without fear of reprisals that take
the form of premature unema
ployment. in addition to preser-
ving academic integrity, it was
also to provide job security. it has
served those functions well, but
times have changed and, perhaps,
now is the time for faculty mem-
bers everywhere to take a long
hardlook at their plight, because it
is only through their cttorts that
any change will be ciicctcd.

The system operates in ~thet-
otltl Wily It forces colleges into the
position ot either granting tenure
or firing the concerned candidate
after six years, it doesn‘t take
nun-h to see just ow unrealistic
this is. There's nomiddle ground at
all it’s all or nothing,

What are the ramifications of

colleges are contronted with firing
a perrectly capable prolessor who,
because he or she happens to be a
member of a department with a
high proportion of already tenured
taculty, becomes a prime cane
didate for unemployment coma
pensation, Either the college must
pay the price of decreased
flexibility in that department by
tenuring the person or it must tire
a good professoria very tough
choice either way. On the other
hand, colleges sometimes make
mistakes (heaven forbid) and
grant tenure to professors that
should have been dismissed. The
tenure system doesn't allow tor
reconsideration atter tenure is
granted. It's assumed that the six
years preceding tenure allow tor
close enough evaluation to
preclude that kind of error. That
being the case, it seems to me that
it also assumes people don’t
change and colleges don’t make
mistakes. with the poss' le exe
ception of the Federal Civil Serr
vice, i can think of no other em-
ployment system so inﬂexible. it
needlessly ties the hands of the
college to the detriment of the
students and many faculty
members (or prospective faculty
members).

We all know this. The subject has
been beaten to death by hundreds
before me in numerous con»
versations across the country. Yet
no magic solution to the problem
has revealed its spectre on the
horizon. As i mentioned earlier, i
don’t pretend to be an expert oil the
subject nor am i any more
enlightened than many of the
people with whom I’ve discussed

if college

professors in this country were to
somehow organize their efforts.
the system could be dramatically
improved. Most prolessors who
have been teaching for an extended
period of time ordinarily have a
network of colleagues, many of
whom are personal friends,
throughout our system of higher
education. It seems to me that this
network could be easily utilized by
interested professors in effort to
get the ball ot change rolling.
Assuming an effort to organize
could Work, the obvious question is
- what viable alternative(s) could
be offered to augment or replace
the outmoded system we have
now? Numerous good suggestions
have come from many quarters. I
find some of them particularly
intriguing. One method oi in-
Lroducing more ﬂexibility into the
employment picture might be to
allow college administrations to
extend limited contracts past the
present cutoff of six years (a
seemingly arbitrary figure
anyway). Critics of this idea say
that a move of this sort would only
serve to hurt the professor who is
the recipient of such a contract
because it would mean that the
professor could conceivably be
released after numerous short
term extensions and would then
have to resenterthe job market at a
disadvantage due to increased age
and, perhaps, a lack of familiarity
with the latest developments in his
or her field. The critics also feel
that this hypothetical professor
would be at the additional disad-
vantage of commanding a higher
salary than his or her younger and
less experienced colleagues.
Some very good arguments, to be

» sure, but they do tend to point up

the insecurities of those critics. We
can dismiss one of the arguments
very easily. To contend that a
professor is not familiar with the
latest developments in his or her
field only gives further good reason
for his or her dismissal, I feel that
most academicians do their best to
stay in touch with the latest
developments and would therefore
have little to worry about in that
respect.

Age and salary demands seem to
be much more ofa problem except
that, given the hypothetical
situation, it would seem that
middleraged professors on the job
market would be a more common
occurrence and would, hopefully,
be relieved of the stigma now
associated with that predicament.
This professor would also have the
advantage of his record as
evidence ot his proven efr
iectiveness because he was con-
tinually rehired and would
therefore be more attractive to
other colleges and worth the higher
salary. Like the old adage saysi
“you get what you pay for,”
Another possible improvement
would be the implementation of a
fixed retirement age to allow for
increased turnover, thus giving a
chance to some of the taxi drivers
and waitresses with PhD’s.

These aren’t the only
possibilities and they may not be
the best ones, it’s true that they
introduce problems that aren't
presently a part of the system, but
it's also true that they increase the
Colleges possible options, while
givtng a better chance to Junior
taculty members everywhere.
They aren’t meant to be the final
answer, just what I see as a step in
the right direction.

 

