Page 2
University Daily Kansan Monday, Dec. 18, 1961
The World Crisis Day
The World Crisis Day held last Thursday at KU should rank as one of the most worthwhile events of the year. The success of the crisis day program reflects credit on all who devoted part of their time and effort to the consideration of our troubled world.
THE SEMINAR GROUPS were the most valuable part of the day's events. The many discussions that were held throughout the day gave opportunity for expression on a great variety of topics. The summary held Thursday evening helped place the discussions of the day in proper perspective.
The convocation was the only disappointment of the day. It is unfortunate that a man who could have offered valuable information and interpretation on several subjects of international concern was used or thought it necessary to refute the propaganda claims of a representative of Soviet Russia. The fact that it was considered necessary for the claims of the Russian to be answered indicates a mistrust of the reasoning abilities of the KU student.
THE KANSAN DOES NOT believe there is reason to present the American side as a rebuttal to an obvious propaganda message. University students have sufficient knowledge of the American way to supply their own answers.
Since the convocation was the first event of a World Crisis Day it could be reasonably assumed that the convocation speeches would discuss the topic of the day. The crisis day committee announced, prior to the convocation, that the two speakers would not debate but each would present his interpretation of the world in crisis.
FOR SOME REASON the promises of the committee were violated. The representative of
a foreign government who was invited to KU, was embarrassed in a one-sided debate which he was not allowed to enter. It should have been remembered that Mr. Fomin was a guest of the University; therefore he should have been accorded the courtesies normally reserved for visitors of this nature.
If Americans and Russians cannot restrain themselves from the type of behavior exhibited last Thursday it is easy to understand why the world is in a constant state of crisis. If the representatives of both countries cannot meet peacefully at the level of last week's convocation how can we expect positive results from high-level negotiations on such issues as disarmament and Berlin?
PERHAPS THE CONVOCATION became a one-sided debate because this is what people outside of the University wanted. A certain conservative American Legion Post did criticize the University for allowing a Russian to speak to students. However, it is hoped that Mr. Schlesinger was not used to appease the demands of such an irresponsible group.
The order in which the two gentlemen spoke would indicate, despite prior announcements or statements, that Mr. Schlesinger was selected to speak second so he could answer and neutralize Fomin's propaganda message. Someone evidently thought it necessary to protect KU students from the visiting Russian's indoctrination.
ALTHOUGH THE CRISIS DAY convocation did not measure up to what was expected the other activities of the day were of high value. It is the opinion of this editor that KU should continue to recognize the problems of the world through future World Crisis Days.
—Ron Gallagher
YAF Criticizes Kansan
(Editor's note: The majority of this letter is a statement of opinion. However, the writers do challenge the Kansan's accuracy in saying there is a leadership struggle within the YAF group at KU. This conclusion was arrived at after a week of investigation and was concurred in by several YAF members who have talked to Kansan personnel. It should also be noted that the letter was written by a few members of KU's YAF chapter and has not been approved by the chapter as a whole. When contacted, Bob Gaskins, Wichita freshman and president of the committee for an effective KU-YAF, said that the Kansan's coverage on the leadership struggle within YAF was accurate and the statement contained in this letter is inaccurate and misleading. His stand has been supported by other YAF members.)
(Gaskins also said that the Gold-water demonstration was definitely scheduled and was canceled only when it became impossible for Gov. Rockefeller to return from New Guinea. Demonstrations were to take place in Topeka and Lawrence.)
Editor:
The "Garbage Pail of the Month" is hereby presented to the UDK for its editorial entitled "Conservatism at KU" in the December 5 issue. Said bucket is offered in the hope that it—instead of the UDK editorial columns—will be used in the future for such unsubstantiated slop.
THE PURPOSE of this letter is to set the record straight, and to correct some of the misinformation which this editorial has spread. In the first place, reporters are not, as the editorial states, barred from YAF meetings. On the contrary, they have been welcomed in the past and will be continued to be welcomed in the future — unless (and, judging from past performance, this is extremely likely) they
grossly distort the facts. "A Kansan Reporter" the editorial continues, "has been allowed to enter only two meetings." Now, what the writer of this editorial conveniently forgot to mention is that there have only been two meetings of YAF at KU. It seems to us that it would have been rather difficult to admit a reporter to a nonexistent meeting.
In regard to news coverage, the YAF has been accorded similar treatment. In the same (Dec. 5) issue, a hugh fuss is made over what the UDK calls "a seismism within the group." The headline of a sensationalistic page one news article reads "PLANNED GOLDWATER DEMONSTRATION CAUSES YAF LEADERSHIP DIVISION," and this article is supported by news summaries and a cartoon on page two. Now, the facts are that this so-called "schism" was occasioned by a minor difference of opinion which was quickly resolved. A few students wanted to stage a demonstration for Senator Goldwater at the Missouri game, but subsequently, after discussion with other YAF members, decided not to do so. That was all. No "leadership division." No "schism." Incidentally, this was practically the only time that news concerning YAF made page one. YAF news of real importance, including notices of meetings, has repeatedly been printed on back pages or left out altogether.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Extension 376, business office. Mail reception. Association Collage Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 18 East E50 St., New York 22, N.Y. Office. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan. every afternoon during Sunday and University, University holidays and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904,
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Viking 3-2700
Extension 711, news room
Village Hall 225-6000
THE AFOREMENTIONED EDITORIAL continues: "occasionally there is an element of truth in what they (YAF members) say." Thanks a lot. This is an old trick: damning with faint praise. But it won't work. The fact is that there is a very great deal of truth in the theses of YAF. Who is this editorial writer, anyhow, to set himself up as the supreme arbiter of what constitutes truth? Does he hold a Ph.D., or some other degree attesting to the lucidity of his reason and the unsurpassed profundity of his judgment? I think not. The facts in this case are that the UDK editors cannot even seem to observe consistently the most elementary rules of grammar. In witness whereof, please note the following goof in the large headline on page 5 of the same issue: "KANSAS ERRORS; ST. LOUIS TAKES ADVANTAGE FOR 79-65 WIN." Now, when since has the word "errors" become a verb? Could the writer possibly have meant "errs"? Then why didn't he say so?
The editors who are responsible for this and other remarkable mistakes (there have been others just as bad) are the same ones to whom we have entrusted the only student newspaper we have at KU. And precisely because it is the only existing paper, it has the solemn duty to be impartial in its news coverage and fair in its editorial criticism. Regarding YAF, the UDK has been neither.
YOUNG AMERICANS FOR Freedom, on the KU campus as elsewhere throughout the nation, is an organization with a vital mission. That mission is to disseminate the principles of enlightened conservatism and sane policies of government wherever intelligent men will listen. The members of YAF at KU form an earnest and dedicated group, and we have a right to demand responsible and impartial treatment from our student newspaper. What is more, we shall continue to demand this until we get it.
Young Americans for Freedom KU Chapter
Death on the Road
I'd just as soon be eaten by cannibals as to die in an automobile accident. Like anyone else who never will elect to become a suicide, I shall not be able to choose the time, the place nor the means of my death.
BUT, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, I have my preference. And I can think of no more repugnantly undignified way for my life to end than to become one of the thousands who die annually on our streets and highways.
What impresses itself indelibly upon my mind as I see the aftermath of serious injury and death in traffic crashes, is the fact that an accident victim is denied the personal privacy and public sympathy most of us aspire to when we consider our own deaths.
With the exception of mishaps which take place in remote or inaccessible spots, any crash immediately draws a crowd of spectators, some of them officially concerned, but the most of them simply morbidly curious.
Bleeding—broken—clothing pulled indelicately away, limbs grotesquely sprawled, senses befuddled or faces mirroring the shocking finality of sudden death, the accident victim has lost, in the moment of impact, that intangible but precious commodity known as human dignity.
VICTIMS, WHETHER THEY BE innocent babies, vibrant teenagers, well-behaved adults, or sedate elderly persons, are subject to the avid scrutiny of those who will regale listeners for days with the lurid details of what they saw.
It is my profound conviction that every individual is entitled to look forward to inevitable death with serenity, with the assurance that when his time comes to die, he can "wrap the draperies of his couch about him and lie down to pleasant dreams" without an audience of gaping strangers surrounding him.
ALMOST EVERYONE, whatever his station in life, whatever his education, his religion or his personal philosophy, will concede a certain attitude of respect toward the newly dead—except on the highway.
After a wreck, all canons of good taste, good conduct, and good sense are relaxed and the mob instinct prevails. Death on a public thoroughfare provides much the same sort of spectacle as a lynching. I want none of it, for either myself or for anyone I love. I'd like to die with dignity.
From a U.S. Navy Publication
The non-conformist sees what is right and has the courage to speak up. Then he must realize he has to take the consequences. Edwin Wilson.
Somebody has to take a stand for what he believes in.—Edward Wilson
It is simply not possible for small oases of prosperity in the world to continue to exist amidst vast deserts of poverty without engendering storms that might engulf those oases.—B. K. Nehru
Drink is worse than war, for drink is continuous, war but periodic.—Graccio Houlder
The toughest day in our lives comes when we leave the womb of family, friends and school and venture forth to live alone. The brave ones never turn back.—Thomas Fox
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick Bibler
"FIRST PERIOD CLASSES AINT GO BAD - BUT GET HERE ON TIME - THIS GUY LOCKS TH DOOR AFTER THE DELL RINGS."