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University Daily Kansan Friday, October 6, 1961
The NSA Controversy
Controversy has raged about the National Student Association since its inception at KU. KU students are now about the perennial business of assessing the NSA to determine if KU should continue its affiliation with the national student group.
This question must be answered by the All Student Council. ASC members, no doubt, are impressed with the scanty knowledge the average KU student has of the purposes and goals of NSA. Perhaps some ASC members are even considering withdrawal from the NSA because their constituents do not seem to be informed or concerned about the national student group.
THERE ARE VALID REASONS why the ASC should investigate the role of the NSA on the campus but lack of student concern or knowledge about the organization is not one of them. Regardless of the state of student awareness about NSA, the primary consideration of the ASC in its dealings with NSA should be the possible function that this committee could fulfill.
If the ASC comes to grips with this issue again this fall its decision should be made on the same basis it has been made on in the past. In dealing with this problem the ASC should remember that one of its main objectives is to better the academic and scholastic atmosphere at the University.
The ASC is on the verge of challenging the need of KU's membership in NSA for the third time in as many years. On the last two occasions the council decided that KU should remain in the NSA because of the possible benefit that could be realized from NSA membership.
THE COUNCIL SHOULD ASSUME the leadership in providing an agency which can provide information about national and international issues for the KU student. There should be an attempt to bring controversial issues to the campus for the enlightenment of the entire campus community. It is not necessary and probably would not be practical for the ASC to entertain debate on some of the prominent issues of the day. But this could easily be done by a student committee which would assume responsibility for the task of informing the student on issues that should be of interest to all.
For the past two years it has been hoped that the National Students Association Committee at KU would be able to fulfill this informational
function. The NSA committee has been criticized for failing in these duties.
WHEN THE ASC WAS DEBATING the question of continued NSA membership last fall Ron Dalby, who was then the student body president, said that KU should remain in NSA only if KU could assume a leadership role in the national organization. Last May KU was successful in its bid for the regional NSA conference. But a split between liberals and conservatives in the local delegation prevented the election of two KU candidates for state and regional offices.
The most publicized and possibly the most controversial project undertaken by the NSA committee last year was its sponsorship of the film "Operation Abolition." However, an officer in the Young Republicans said that his organization would have brought "Operation Abolition" to KU if the NSA had not already planned the project.
SO THE LIST of NSA accomplishments is not a long one. But the committee itself should not be required to bear all the blame for its unhealthy record. An unfortunate liberal-conservative split, which bisected the committee into almost equal halves, is partly responsible for the inactivity of the committee. This split reduced the NSA almost to the level of a debating society in which conservative was weekly pitted against liberal.
Lack of funds and an adequate budget also hampered the committee. On one occasion plans to bring a nationally prominent speaker to KU had to be scuttled because the ASC did not approve the speaker's traveling expenses.
THE COMPOSITION OF the NSA committee is different than it was last Spring. The liberal element seems to have bridged the liberal-conservative split and now controls the committee. It is possible that action will now be able to replace the endless and sometimes senseless debate that characterized NSA meetings last spring. It is too early to tell exactly what direction this new majority in the NSA will take. It might be best to wait until it can be determined if this year's NSA will be able to toss off the short-comings of last year's group and assume the responsibilities long intended for it. But if the committee continues along traditional paths the ASC should act to sever the ties that have yet to produce any appreciable benefit for the KU student.
Ron Gallagher
NSA Defended
FIRST OF ALL, most of the
This is an answer to Marick Payton's plea in Wednesday's UDK (Oct. 4) concerning the reasons why NSA doesn't "permit popular election of its delegates." First of all, NSA does not prohibit member schools from electing their delegates. A constitutional amendment, requiring member schools to elect their delegates, was presented at last summer's Congress. This amendment was defeated, for a number of reasons.
... Letters ...
member schools who do not elect their delegates (and some do) have their delegates selected by student government officials who, in turn, have been elected by their student bodies. For example, our Student Body President and the members of the All Student Council at KU are chosen, or elected, by the student body to represent their best interests. The Student Body President then appoints the delegates to the NSA Congress, and these delegates must then receive a 2/3 vote of approval by the ASC. In effect, then, we have the directly-chosen representatives of the student body selecting these delegates. There are many parallels to this situation in our own government, for example, the supreme court, presidential appointments, etc.
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NEWS DEPARTMENT
Managing Editor
Lim Turner Managing Linda Swander, Fred Zimmerman, Assistant Managing Editors; Kelly Smith, City Editor; Bill Sheldon, Sports Editor; Barbara Howell, Society Editor.
Ron Gallagher Editorial Editor Bill Mullins and Carrie Merryfield, Assistant Editorial Editors.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
ONE OF THE OBJECTIONS to the amendment requiring direct election of the delegates was that too often election campaigns become popularity contests. If a person were to run for the position of "NSA Delegates" he might be elected because his living group "really got out the votes," or because he was good-looking, or because he had "contacts," and not because he felt that Cuba should be condemned or that the Freedom Riders should be commended. I'm not saying that all campus campaigns are like this, but a good many are, especially at a large university where no one really gets to meet the candidate and find out what his views pertaining to NSA issues are. But the elected representative of the students (i.e., the Body Student) does get to know these would-be delegates (through interviews, personal contact, etc.) well enough to ascertain their interests and capabilities.
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
um Brown ... Business Manager
Tom Brown
However, since NSA is a confederation of colleges and universities, KU has the right to decide for itself whether its delegates are to be appointed, directly elected, or what-have-you. And so far the decision has been that of selection by the Student Body President and the All Student Council.
Carol McMillen
Coldwater senior and NSA Coordinator
P. S. Does that answer your question?
"To be or not to be?"
—The Tragedy of Hamlet,
The Prince of Denmark
It Looks This Way...
Testing time is upon us. Many, if not all professors, have announced the schedule of tests for their classes. Although nothing like the West Point cribbing scandal has shocked the nation for many years, most students and professors know that cribbing has not gone the way of the dodo. Ever more sophisticated versions of cheating as well as bumbling awkward ones are likely to appear.
Periodic lectures, editorials and campus pronouncements and disciplinary actions attempt to cope with the problems of student morality. It isn't often that a discussion of teacher responsibility becomes loud enough to reach the public ear.
IF TODAY'S STUDENTS are more serious and conscientious then they have been for several years, they are certainly more interested in current practices that promote wholesome learning and testing situations. May we list a few "interesting" professorial practices, making no encompassing charges other than to say that they do exist in "other" colleges and universities (their deans will please clip and post this when it comes in the exchange).
Chronologically, the first practice is that of giving a test fairly early in the year and grading very severely—in fact insisting that not one is worthy of a passing grade. The professor wants to establish an image as "hard" and "tough" or exacting. The students must have a rude awakening.
RESULT: SOME STUDENTS drop the course forthwith, others run scared—college becomes a terrifying experience and the student must try to acclimatize. Still other students shrug off this as one of the evils of teaching in a reaction of "Well, I love you too, buster," or "This guy barks, I wonder if I can be friends with him."
RESULT: STUDENTS MUST FIRST decide whether any type of detective operation or cultivation of an "informer" is possible. The new student and the student who lives off campus must quickly search out "friends" who have had the course before. A good student file built up by forebears is worth pure gold. New professors escape this problem only for one semester. Students with or without photographic minds can soon piece an old test together. Some professors recognize this but consider it merely as one of the facts of life.
Assembly line testing with last year's tools is a rather common practice. The professor has his series of tests made out beforehand—no doubt constructed while he was a graduate student making out tests at another university. The tests are conveniently stored in a file cabinet and the secretary is instructed to mimeograph and refurbish the supply of each test before the semester starts. Some professors are comforted by the lock on the file cabinet and they religiously cremate all test copies that have performed the "life" function.
THE PROFESSOR EXPRESSES HIMSELF—sadistically. He actually enjoys talking about his tests. He dwells at length on the conditions for testing, the type of questions, the complexity and range and encourages the students to try to find out what the test will be like and what it will contain. Great fun—this trying to find out what he is going to ask.
These and many other practices have to do with morality. Teaching practices can damage student morality as well as morale. The teacher may disclaim responsibility for teaching social and moral values but his professional actions may cause the "hot bearing." The good learning situation requires not merely student morality but a high level of student and faculty morality.
—Ervin H. Schmidt, Greensburg Graduate Student