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University Daily Kansan Thursday, November 9, 1961
New Housing Policy
The announcement of the new University policy on off-campus housing is the most significant advancement in human rights the administration has made since W. Clarke Wescoe assumed the Chancellorship.
The revised University policy concerning the housing list is a barometer of the desire of the University and student body for progress in the field of civil rights. However, the new housing list policy is but a small step in a long march toward complete racial equality.
THE DECISIONS THAT can trigger the greatest advancement in civil rights lie within the individual. These advancements cannot be legislated, nor will they be achieved through the policy decisions of a university or any other institution. They represent the attitude of each individual toward other humans who might be of a different faith or color. When each individual resolves to allow others their rights, regardless of minority group affiliation, then this march will be well on its way.
THE UNIVERSITY HOUSING LIST first appeared after World War II as an aid for students who were having trouble finding housing during the period of the record post war enrollment boom. As the housing situation improved with the erection of University housing facilities the housing list was becoming more of a convenience for renters. This same advice was the source of many embarrassing moments for Negroes and dark skinned foreigners who found they did not meet the color requirement of some landlords.
Thanks to the efforts of the University and interested students the racial situation in Lawrence has improved considerably in the last few years. The new housing list policy is another milestone in this road to better race relations.
The administration chose the best solution to this problem in revising the housing list policy. There are other ways the University could have acted in regard to this situation. Some students and faculty members have contended that separate lists for members of minority group would solve the problem without the possible loss of off-campus housing facilities. But this would put the University in the delicate position of condoning the separation of the races.
The new housing list policy allows the University to assume a role of leadership in civil rights. It establishes a uniform set of racial beliefs that each landlord must adhere to. The adoption of the new housing policy will possibly pressure discriminating landlords into adopting more liberal attitudes toward civil rights.
—The Editors
The Watkins Investigation
A landslide gathers volume as it rolls downhill. Incidents, like landslides, gather volume and grow into investigations.
One unforseen and unfortunate incident (the death of John Pippin) at the Watkins Memorial Hospital has, in the opinion of several ASC members, led to an investigation of the adequacy of the institution.
THE INTENT BEHIND the investigation is not meant as a condemnation of the hospital. Council members said the check would be made and a report published on the findings to "inform the student." Each student entering KU for the first time receives information on Watkins and its services and facilities.
True, most students do not read the information carefully. If they did there would not be as many misconceptions about the staff members and the hospital policies.
THE WORD INVESTIGATION carries with it an aura of condemnation, not by definition, but by common usage.
Webster defines investigation as "an examination in detail." Citizens have come to understand investigation as a search of policies to weed out
people or things causing discontent or attempting to undermine an organization.
Certainly Webster's definition applies to the ASC's action.
The ASC appointed the Student Health Committee to make the investigation.
EXPERTS IN THE MEDICAL, pharmaceutical, administrative and operative fields are necessary to make a complete check on Watkins. Students who do not study or do research in these fields cannot make decisions with any validity, without the aid of experts.
The investigation must be made without expert advice; the ASC budget does not include an allotment to pay for counsel.
WHEN THE REPORT IS PUBLISHED, it will be a report of student opinion, perhaps backed by facts and probably with personal prejudices.
If an examination in detail is to be made, it should be made by those qualified, not by those who have little knowledge of what they are examining.
—Carrie Merryfield
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"WE DECIDED TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION—YOU FLEDGE US AN
IT'LL BE OK FOR YOUR VALET TO TAKE YOUR FLEEDGE TRAINING!"
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1898, became biweekly 1904,
trieweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16. 1912.
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 711, news rooms
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 18 East Soprano Street, New York, United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturday and Sunday. Mail to Lawrence, Kansas, emailed periodic. Second class postage, paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Ron Gallagher ... Editorial Editor
Bill Mullins and Carrie Merryfield,
Assistant Editorial Editors.
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Tom Brown ... Business Manager
Don Gergick, Advertising Manager;
Bonnie McCulough, Circulation Manager;
David Wiers, Nationals Office;
Martin Harbottle, Martina
Classified Advertising Manager; Hal
Smith, Promotion Manager
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Tom Turner
Managing Editor
Linda Swander, Fred Zimmerman, Assoc. Vice-President
City Editor; Bill Sheldon, Sports Editor; Barbara Howell, Society Editor.
Short Ones
From the Magazine Rack
The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is—George B. Shaw
The Control of War
By Harrison Brown and James Real
It would appear that the United States is entering a period of several years during which our strategic force will not in itself be an effective deterrent to a first strike by the Soviet Union. During this period, if war does not break out, factors other than relative deterrence capabilities will have played a major role in its prevention. These factors may range from the strong desires of both East and West for peace to a conviction on the part of Soviet leaders that the U.S.S.R. can attain its political and economic objectives without recourse to violence...
The spread of nuclear military capabilities will almost certainly decrease the stability of deterrent systems. The greater the number of nations that possess the capability of launching a nuclear strike, the greater the probability that there will be a strike.
If the expenditure on weapons systems increased during the next five years at the same rate as it has during the last five, even allowing the 5 per cent annual GNP increase, the use of the Keynesian multiplier would indicate that close to 50 per cent of the total U.S. production and business in 1965 may be directly or indirectly war goods and services.
By Harrison Brown and James Real
The elements and conditions reinforcing the war economy are many. Real, justified fear of the mysterious Soviet juggernaut is held by most of the people in one way or another. Substantial disarmament now, or at any foreseeable time ahead, seems emotionally (and, therefore, practically) impossible. On the contrary, the psychology of fear promises to increase to the point where substantial personal economic sacrifices could be asked of the people—and given willingly, if the alternative parades as military vulnerability. Even a full-scale depression would undoubtedly be largely blamed on Soviet actions and pressures. It is conceivable that the public reaction would be similar to that displayed after Pearl Harbor. The butter is more likely to disappear than the guns.
At what point will this kind of economic dependence become so crucial that it cannot be substantially reduced without grave harm to the basic economic structure? It may well be that the time has already come.
Dis
Sometimes at parties he observes the Dean; He giggles, coughs, and turns aquamarine. Yet some day we will hear of "Dr. Fatt, Vice-President in Charge of This or That."
I heard the Dean observe, at tea and cakes,
Face stuffed and sneering, "Fatt has what it takes."
(Reprinted from the May 1960 Harper's Magazine.)
By Donald Hall
Dr. Fatt, Instructor
And why does Fatt teach English? Why, because A law school felt he could not learn the laws. He waddles brilliantly from class to class, Smiling at everyone, and at the grass.
Are there more questions now?" But one can tell That all his will, brains, and imagination Are concentrated on a higher station: He wants to be in the Administration.
"Hamlet," he tells his students, "you will find, Concerns a man who can't make up his mind. The Tempest? . . . It's the one with Ariel.
A group of conservative students at the University who believe in the American way modestly refer to themselves as the minority opinion group. When they get away from the influence of the so-called "liberal" professors and out into the big wide world they will find they are in the majority opinion group even though many of the conservatives do not speak in defense of their idea. They have long since become disgusted with the double-dealing politicians and have quit voting.—Edwin F. Abels
One of the reasons why the New York Times Magazine is so deadly dull is because the innumerable assistant editors up there are obliged to read and express opinions on almost every manuscript. They're all so scared of the autocratic Lester Markel, Sunday editor, that they make suggestions that cause contributors to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
The legend is that Markel, addressing the Times' Washington staff, once remarked: "You people shouldn't complain so much about rewriting. Why, we had a piece from Barbara Ward recently and made her rewrite it five times." Whereupon an anonymous voice from the back of the room replied: "Yes, and you ran all of them."—(Village Voice, Oct. 12, 1960)