4
Fridav. Anril 7,1972
University Daily Kansan
At Rock's Bottom
Rock Chalk Revue is one of KU's remaining anachronisms, a genuine period piece. Unfortunately, unlike sock hops and the Thirties look, it has retained little of its original charm.
Gone for the most part are the inside fraternity-sorority jokes, but bathroom humor remains a staple ("Your dreams are all wet"). Surely all but the most dedicated proponents of the revue will admit that the thrill is gone.
Many of the revue's problems can be credited to the fact that for too many years it has projected the aura of an all-Greek Oscar night. Certainly it cannot be said that the residence halls have shown particular or sustained interest in participating, but each of their several efforts of the last few years has been rejected.
Last year the KU-Y Cabinet adopted a set of guidelines for the production of this year's revue.
Included was a stipulation that at least one Greek and one non-Greek group would be selected to produce skits. This guideline was not followed. For a while the McColum Hall skit was included on the bill, though not in the competition, but it was of such questionable taste that it was cut. Hence, Rock Chalk again was Greek night out.
There is validity to the argument that the four best skits, whoever their authors, should be selected. However, in most cases, I doubt that the substitution of one skit for another would do much to either improve or worsen the evening's overall mediocrity.
What happened with McColum this spring is of secondary importance. What must be realized is that Rock Chalk will remain a sick, tired joke until it attracts representative participation.
—Chip Crews Editor
Joint Resolution
At its Wednesday meeting the Student Senate passed a resolution "urging the state government to remove criminal penalties for the possession, sale or use of marijuana." The Senate also asked that a student opinion poll be conducted later this spring "over the issue of whether or not marijuana should be legalized."
The resolution does not mean that it is now legal to fire up a joint on campus without fearing Vern Miller's heavy hand.
It is, rather, a visible sign of one of the potentially most controversial issues since the Volstead Act. As the superstitions that surround marijuana continue to be stripped
away it becomes an issue to be dealt with.
No doubt the Senate's action will anger, frustrate and confuse many around the state—but the move still must be dealt with at some time. There are those, no doubt, who will see the vote as just another in a long line of puerile mistakes made at a too permissive university.
The resolution makes sense. It forces the issue out into the open at the University, certainly, and should, in turn, put it before the eyes of the state.
The spirit of the resolution encourages discussion, confrontation and dialogue. Which is what universities are about.
—Thomas E. Slaughter
James J. Kilpatrick
The One-Amendment Constitution
WASHINGTON—Pity the Fourteenth Amendment! The poor old thing is taking a beating again.
Time was, and it wasn't so awfully long ago, when judges went at the task of constitutional interpretation with one cardinal rule in mind. They would search for the meaning and the intention of the framers and ratifiers of the Constitution, and they famed Judge Coley once called this rule the very "polestar" or constitutional navigation.
The purpose of this wholesome principle manifestly was to prevent judges from substituting their own notions of desirable outcomes for those the people themselves. What did it mean when it approved a resolution of amendment? What did the ratifying States intend the amendment to accomplish? These use to be the overriding questions. The search for honest evidence was known as judicial restraint.
Well, alas for judicial restraint.
The Supreme Court
a couple of weeks ago took the
battered Fourteenth Amendment
and gave it one more belting
around. The amendment was
framed in 1866 and ratified (or so it was decreed) in 1868. But a majority of the Court last month declared that the rule of meaning and intention
It would come as a stunning surprise to the gentlemen who framed and ratified the Fourteenth to know that they were constitutional right of married persons to use contraceptives." They would be staggered to learn that one purpose of their handwerk was to prevent the States from imposing a one-year requirement on newresses. But is it what the high court has held?
Most of us had understood, back in the days of strict construction, that the Fourteenth Amendment had one broad purpose: It was intended to prohibit the States from denying the black man certain civil rights the States had denied him in the past. These civil rights did not prevent the black man's right to vote; that he was protected by the Fifteenth nearly two years later.
of soft-clay Constitution within the Constitution itself. But that is what it has become over the past fifty years. The judges have molded its words to suit themselves. What the
Surely, we may believe, the Fourteenth Amendment never was intended to function as a kind
magicians can contrive with the incantation of equal protection!
William Baird lectured on control three years ago at Boston University. At the close of his lecture, he gave a young woman
The Funditure Armnetmnt
The Faculty of 1868 has been biony
mimicked with the body
K肌耐痛. *B* the肩 arm netmnt
*B* the肩 arm netmnt
the Funditure Armnetmnt
kills hips. *N* the肩 arm netmnt
Oily hands.
amendment says, in its key provision, is that no State shall deprive any person "of life, liberty, or property, without due process," and thus the person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
a sample package of vaginal foam. He was arrested and convicted for dispensing a medicinal article without a license to do so. On March 22, over Chief Justice Burger's lonesome dissent, the Court voted to deny young woman had been denied her liberty without due process of law.
Behold, what marvels are wrought in the name of due process! See what our judicial
The residency case came from Tennessee, where the State had imposed a one-year requirement on new voters. A Vanderbilt law professor, James F. Blumstein, newly arrived in Nashville, challenged the requirement. By the same 5-1 division, the Court on March 21 held that Tennessee had no substantial or compelling reason for such a protection could not be denied the equal protection of law extended to other persons.
Now, the Massachusetts law may have been foolish; but judges are not supposed to be concerned with folly, but with what requirement may have been unfair. This is not the point. Was it unconstitutional? Was the Tennessee law within the State's power to enact? In 1904 a law was passed that precisely such a requirement.
Who has amended the Fourteenth Amendment? Not the people. Only the judges. And let it be said another ten thousand times: This they have no right to do.
Copyright, 1972 The Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
Readers Respond
Voting, Jayhawk Blvd., Registering, War, Women...
To the Editor:
We often complain that politicians and our government are not responsive to, or representative of, the general populace. Political changes in the Democracy process which were recommended by the McGoven Commission, any person who is registered voter can have a Democrat or an Independent, has for the first time an opportunity to participate in the delegate selection process for the Democratic Party (And you can register this week on campus). This means that you as a registered voter can have a vote in who the Democratic President selects to make the effort. To do this, all you have to do is find out which County Commissioner district you are in whom the appropriate course location (Pinkney School, County 4-H Building, or Lawrence High School) at 2 p.m. Saturday April 17th to speak with the delegates, who will state which presidential candidate they support. The County Clerk or Vote Committee can supply you with more information.
Byron Edmondson, Lawrence senior
Register Now
To the Editor
Americans today are oppressed by taxation and inflation, poisoned by pollution, crime, and deprivation by government.
Extravagant military and space projects have consumed billions of dollars that could have eradicated poverty, upgraded housing and health care, overhauled the present court and prison systems, and improved mental health and educational facilities.
Janiors today pay more taxes than millionaires. The pets of many Americans receive better health and human beings. Unlimited population growth is depleting our earth's limited resources. And our environment is perverting-perhaps permanently.
Each month, organized crime gossips an illegal $3.9 billion—tax on Americans who pump into their bloodstreams. Vietnam bleeds us of $2.5 billion per year, white and black in Appalachia, black children in Mississippi Delta, Chicanos in southern California, Indians on reservations and 42 million Americans live unfulfilled lives.
Nixon continues talking peace
with Russia. Corporations continue conspiring
against consumers. And voters
remain ignorant, issues and
issues.
This Saturday, every KU student, faculty member, and administrator will have a unique opportunity to turn the tide. For students who are unable to participate in the election of delegates to the Democratic National Convention. And your vote this Saturday can make a difference by admitting to the Union by one vote margins: Rutherford B. Hayes was elected as our nation's nineteenth President by one electoral vote; and Adolf Hitler of the Nazi Party by one vote.
Since 1968, many young people have turned from politics to passivity, from engagement to engagement, from RPK to LSD.
Joe Mikesic,
Kansas City alumnus
(class of '71)
The suggestion to convert Jetta cars into electric street lined with parking meters surely rates as one of the finest proposals ever suggested to the automotive industry.
Campus Turnpike To the Editor:
many fine plans, it falls short of the perfect solution.
Instead of merely making car traffic one route, we need a more pedestrian traffic move from west to east? And why stop there? A mandatory daily fee of $30 and then perhaps during final round by my conservative estimate, raise at least $300,000 each year with my plan. I suggest laying mine field in areas where interfere with the permit system.
The feasibility of the Campus Freeway should be greatly enhanced if you can demonstrate I am confident that the same considerations which prompted the KU TURPurek Plan are being pursued with humbly offered suggestions.
Insurance
When the student Senate meets to discuss a new health insurance plan for KU students, I would like them to consider the following options from our company to provide this insurance. My dealings with Blue Cross have been extremely good. I am confident time they own me a considerable
Steve Emerson College of LAS senior
amount of money. Since the end of January I have submitted five claims to Blue Cross. These were bills for my child's care which I paid directly to the doctor because they are $25 which may not seem very important to many people but to a student with a family it is a considerable amount. In each case the doctor marked the bill and paid it and that Blue Cross must to reimburse me directly.
To the Editor:
I have written several letters to various people in the Blue Cross office in Topeka and have a recent letter from them stated that they paid my claim in December. This is true but I do not recall receiving any recent letter from December claim. The latest reply, from the local office, was that student claims were not yet受理, and that I should health insurance in January and cannot understand why Blue Cross should have the use of my student claims and yet not be processing student claims in the month of April for second semester. I strongly urge students to consult elsewhere for student health insurance. In my opinion the Blue Cross plan is not worth the price am paying and furthermore they should address my any claims, to me at least, for
care other than at Watkins Hospital.
-Pamela G. Mehl,
Lawrence special student
The Real War
To the Editor:
Regrettably, the world has not achieved an utopian plateau of peace. Indeed, we have not accomplished it. Machiavelli in our international relations. Authored by Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung, Gliap, and Guerrava, the "power manuals" of the 20th century Machiavelli's, describe the effective use of force in achieving and maintaining power. Their pages tend to omit moralistic views and chivalrous game plans.
Mike Moffet's recent editorial, 'Agnew's False Moral,' derails the Senate's justification of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia as "battant moral bankruptcy" Perhaps a meritless view also recognized a more illusory Mr. Agnew's position and in the candor with which it was charged.
Mr. Agnew's reference to the fact that four American Presidents have shaped the United States so not of belief as reason Mr. Moffet suggests. The fact that these men were elected to the
presidency (the office in whi-
le, our constitution rests the conduc-
tion of the presidency increa-
ingly enlightened enlighten-
dator lends some legitimacy
electorate some legitimacy
It may also be that Mr. Agnew's suggestion that this has been a "moral" war refers to the actions of our enemies against us actions since the Kennedy Administration. The policy that only limited force would be used in wars of aggression indeed have prolonged the war. In any case it is a departure from policies followed in previous years. Our troops and the extent of our bombing has been considerable, we have refrained from several attacks might have involved greater threat than strategic risks for the United States. "Hawks" at one time or another have suggested that we should bomb major dams, or invade North Vietnam. Such actions would also have materially increased cost for the North Vietnamese.
tic alternative. Mr. Moffet's was not
Bv Sokoloff
Griff and the Unicorn
Kenneth Reeves, Lawrence 1st Year Law Student
While I woul'd stop far short of endorsing everything the Vice President says with regard to domestic issues (such as domestic pronouncements), I think it should be remembered that the United States is a great country with a history of progressed to the point where it can resolve its differences without reference to military force. When we come when Mr. Nixon's era of negotiation has been more fully realized, in the interim, I suggest that the United States should ridicule those in positions of leadership who recognize that the United States, as a nation, must view world as it and not as it might be wished to be. It will not be changed by attacking those who believe the attack is coupled with a suggestion of some practical and realis-
Amendment
It is unfortunate that the Kansan (Mary War, March 30) has supported the irresponsible action of the Kansas legislature to overburden its Amendment without hearings. If state legislatures are going to ratify constitutional amendments on the basis of vocal support by the citizens, it is no real need to continue the practice of allowing them to have a voice in the ratification of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. State legislatures are a constituent amendment as being of greater importance than any other measure put before it because a constitutional amendment is a change of the fundamental law of the land.
Such consideration is especially vital when considering an amendment containing a declaration of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged . . on account of sex." The Supreme Court will have to decide whether it should permit a public believer with this phrase and they will decide without regard to what you or I or any other member of the voting public believe is sexual equality should be remembered in that the late 19th century the Supreme Court virtually repeated the 14th amendment, so that respectricial equality should be treated in racial equality. After all sexual differences, unlike racial differences, are internal as well as external and thus it may be appropriate to treat the two sexes differently in order to treat them equally.
—Kenneth B. Lucas, Hutchinson graduate student
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