THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
THURSDAY JULY 26,1973
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE, KANSAS
College Refused to Die; It Just Went Broke
By BRYCE NELSON The Los Angeles Times
FAIRFIELD, Iowa — "Parsons College-
the Little School that Refused to die," the
students wrote.
But the 60 modern buildings on the campus are empty. The padlocks, the newly constructed fence and federal bankruptcy signs all give depressing evidence that the college, humming with student activity only a few weeks ago, has collapsed.
"that sticker wasn't very prophetic but it was a good rallying cry," said College Administrator Richard Wessler, on his way to file for unemployment benefits. He noted, a little saddly, that it was highly unusual for a high school student with 925 students to go bankrupt.
MILLARD ROBERTS, president of Parsons until 1967, had said he would make the 98-year-old institution "The Harvard of the Midwest" and had sought to do so by paying professors the third highest salaries of any college in the country and building a lavish $25 million campus which now stands deserted.
"If theaps of Parsons College were not attested fact, it would be necessary to inquire directly.
SEVEN YEARS AGO, Parsons had more than 5,000 students. In the span of a few years, it had become one of the largest institutions in Iowa and had borrowed many dollars to build air-conditioned buildings across fields that had grown corn.
University professor, wrote in his introduction to "The Parsons College Suburb."
The apostle of this dramatic change was a hard-promoting, smooth-talking Presbyterian minister, Millard George Roberts of New York, Parsons' president to 1887. Dr. Bob 'was what they called Roberts but he was still popular in Fairfield.
Roberts preached the philosophy that a college could be operated at a profit from student income alone, that students deserved more than one chance to succeed in college and that professors should be oriented toward teaching and paid hand-steel for the job. He paid some professors annual salaries of $35,000 and himself $75,000.
AT FIRST ROBERTS was praised in this farming and manufacturing town in the past decade.
"The school went down the drain and Roberts got away free," said one trustee sharply.
WHEN ROBERTS LEFT Parsons in 1967, the college had a $14 million debt from his granddisease building schemes and salaries on a deficit of almost $100,000 a month.
THE COLLEGE TRUSTEES asked for the protection of the federal court under the Tort Law.
The college ran out of cash in May. Parsons had mortgaged everything of any possible value—buildings, equipment and library books (four Iowa banks took possession of the books because of the interest or principle on a $65,000 loan).
ROBERTS TOLD TRUSTEES and businessmen what they wanted to hear—that a college could be run like a business at a profit and that they would not have to contribute money to keep his kind of college going.
But if Roberts helped drive Parsons into financial ruin, it should be added that Parsons wasn't too much when he got there in 1955. It had no noticeable endowment, only 357 students and spotty financial history.
"Of course it looks crazy today having a college that big in a small town in Iowa." Roberts said in a telephone interview from his New York City home.
Robertens has no remorse over the closing of his old school. "A small art college finds it difficult to survive..." he said, "and if I should just like the others, why should I survive?"
students and built lots of buildings you,
believe me, in America people believe that
In the minds of many persons connected with Parsons, Roberts still is a major figure.
Last Kansan Till Enrollment This Fall
Today's Kansan is the last issue of the summer session. The next Kansan—a six-season, back-to-school special edition—will be published August 23, the second day of fall semester enrollment. The KU summer session will end on October 5 p.m. at Saturday. The first day of classes for fall semester will be August 27.
Rebels Light into Phnom Penh With Rockets, Mortar, Artillery
Ruckelshaus Gets Aide's Post
Connally Resigns, Plans Trip
Soviet Probe Zooms to Mars
WASHINGTON—William Kuckelshul, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and acting head of the FBI, will be depicted attorney general today, congressional sources report. Mr. Kuckelshul is Richardson's first choice for the post will succeed Joseph Sheeil.
PHNOM PENH-Communist-led insurgents hit this Cambodian capital Wednesday with about 30 rockets, mortar and artillery shells, striking into the belemagned city for the first time in more than a month. The scores and scores were wounded by the hour-long shelling in outskirts of the capital, accompanied by continued U.S. bombing of insurgent positions, and explosions of bombs were heard constantly in the besieged capital.
MOSCOW—The Soviet Union has launched a new space probe toward the planet Mars, the news agency Tass announced. It was the second Soviets Mars shot in four days. The new vehicle, called Mars 5, was sent into outer space from a satellite orbiting the earth. Mars 5 will study the distant planet and its vicinity, Tass said. The craft will take about six months to reach its destination.
Goodies to Indian Kids Stopped
WASHINGTON—President Nixon has announced that John Connally is resigning from his part-time, uppaid position as special presidential adviser. The announcement said that the former Democratic governor of Texas, who became a Republican last spring, will take a round-the-world trip with his wife "which the governor postponed in order to take the White House position."
WHITE OAK, Okla.-American Indian Movement (AIM) leaders threatened legal action Wednesday when informed the federal government had ordered a halt to the distribution of free commodities to Indian children at the AIM national convention here. "We will do whatever we can to see that the Agriculture Department honors their commitments," said Bellecourt, top AIM leader. Cancellation of the commodities distribution came after two Oklahoma congressmen objected to providing the food, which was designated for use only by Indian children.
TOPEKA-Norbert Dreiling, state Democratic party chairman says he wishes U.S. Sen. Bob Dole would quit advising President Nixon whether the President should release the Watergate tapes "and come elect" the President on the $1,000 (Dole) got from the Committee to Re-Elect the President. We think Kansas would rather Dole clean himself before he starts urging the President to come clean," Dreiling said.
Come Clean, Dreiling Tells Dole
No Rain Expected Today
Departments Eye Space In Watkins
Recommendations concerning the future space allocation of old Watkins Memorial Hospital were submitted Wednesday to Chancellor Archie Dykes by the Space Department according to Donald Matzel, committee chairman and professor of civil engineering.
By KATHY HODAK
Kansan Staff Writer
Unofficial sources say the committee recommended assignment of the upper two departments to the entire Mental Health Clinic facility to the School of Social Welfare; the northwest section of the first floor to the department of occupational therapy; and the department of occupational therapy.
They're off and swimming (twell, all except one of them) in the 50-yard backstroke event of the first Lawrence-Ootawa swim meet at the Lawrence Municipal Pool. At poolside, scorecard he is on is Kelly (right). The meet was for youths up to 17 years old.
Kansan Staff Photo by PRIS BRANDSTED
METZLER WOULD not verify these recommendations because it was the responsibility of the chancellor, he said, to make such recommendations public. These are the first recommendations submitted by the committee to Dekes. Metzler said.
Dykes told Wednesday night that he had not seen the recommendations yet because he had been in meetings most of the afternoon and all of the evening.
It would be premature, he said, to indicate what course the administration should recommend to the other U.S. administrators. Usually the administration accepts such recommendations unless there is some compelling reason for doing so.
Richard Von Ende, executive secretary of the University, said it seemed likely that he would accept the recommendations since he was not a board member and were recommended and since the Space Reassignment Committee was set up specifically to make recommendations of
REMODELING OF Watkins Hospital will
Turn to SPACE, Page 3
Ehrlichman: I Wasn't Fired
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Ehrlichman insisted Wednesday he quit and was not fired from his top White House job, and that he had been fired because of absence during the Watergate unrown.
Ehrlichman, the former chief domestic advisor to the President, in a second day of stout denials and finely worded charges against Watergate committee, also testified;
—He found nothing improper in broaching the directorship of the FBI to the Pentagon
"IT HAPPENED TOMORROW," a comedy directed by Rene Cialt and starring Dick Powell, will be presented at 7 o'clock tonight in Wooldorf Auditorium in the center of town. A satire of an ambitious reporter, is film by many to be Clair's best Hollywood film.
WATSON LIBRARY will be open July 28
through August 6 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday. The Law Library
will follow the same hours.
"FIVE GRAVES to Carro" will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday in Woolrduff.
The movie was directed by Billy Wilder and features Erich von Stroheim, Franchi Tone and Anne Baxter. It replaces the film which was originally scheduled to be shown.
Papers' judge, Mathew Byrne, during the trial of Daniel Ellsberg.
He never relayed any presidential offer of executive clemency to the Watergate conspirators in July 1972 when the staffers discuss clemency with anyone.
—He never told former White House counsel John Dean III to "dive six" materials taken from the safe of convicted Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt.
—The administration 'would have been far better off' if J. Edgar Hover had been retired as FBI director early in Nixon's first term.
—He has not considered whether to raise the President's refusal to provide tapes of White House conversations as a bar to his power, so he is indicted by a Watergate grand jury.
SUMMING UP HIS own view of all his activities during the Ellsberg and Watergate period, Ehrlichman gave an "insty" when Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, asked: "You have maintained you did no wrong?"
Then, asked Inouye, who did former Atty. Gen. John Mitchell tell the committee that the departures of Ehrlichman and H. R. Clinton were evidence of Nixon's "lowering his bump."
Mitchell wasn't aware of Nixon's motives, relied Ehrichman.
The self-assured, rapidly taking former Seattle zoning lawyer said Nickon had in fact asked him merely to take a leave of absence and continue with as many White House duties as possible while defending himself in the various Watergate investigations.
Ehrlichman said he and chief of staff Haldenmant "talked, and we felt from our respective standpoints that was not viable. We proposed to make a clean break."
ERHLCHMAN'N's reference to Hoover came during one of the many explorations of the West Coast.
The morning of Ehrlichman's second day before the Senate panel was largely taken up with an involved and often theoretical discussion of whether the break-in of the office of Elaberg's psychiatrist could have been caused by some interpretation of presidential power.
cited foot-dragging by Hover as the reason the White House plumbers unit was put on
Ehrlichman testified Tuesday that although neither he nor Nixon had authorized that September 1971 entry, he said Mr. Bush had he said the President shared this view
Ehrlichman said Wednesday that Nixon's orders "to take such steps as were
necessary" to crack the case of the Pentagon Papers' leak could have led Egil Krogh Jr., head of the White House, believe the break-in would be all right.
THE CHAIRMAN of the Senate Watergate committee, Sen. Sam Ervin Jr., D-N.C., said he had heard nothing about Nixon's plans for responding to subpoena which demand that he produce White House documents related to the Watergate investigation.
The legal deadline for Nixon to respond to the subpoenaes, which were served on him Tuesday evening, was 9 a.m. (Lawrence time today)
Turn to SHOWDOWN, Back Page
His Tongue Slipped...or Did It?
WASHINGTON (AP)—After questioning John Ehrhrichman Wednesday, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) muttered softly to himself, "What a liar."
His words were picked up by microphones in the Senate Watergate hearings and by his colleagues.
Asked about his comment later, Inouye said, "I can't recall saying that. If I did, it wasn't relative to what I had just gotten through."
Actually, Inouye's final question to Erhlichman had been whether the former presidential adviser was ignorant of the Waterate cover-up.
He said he had just asked about tape recordings of White House conversations, and said it would make no sense to say "what a liar" about the tapes.
Erichleman had replied, "I had no part in any cover-up" and said he believed he
EHRLICHMAN INOUYE
would be cleared when all the evidence was in.
Invoice then said he hoped President Inouye would release White House tapes on the case. "Yes," she added.
After a 20-second pause, a tape recording of the testimony showed, inume muttered,