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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Sept. 28, 1961
Football Rivalry
KU is now in the midst of what promises to be one of its most exciting football seasons. This fall's gridiron prospects have been a favorite topic of conversation for students, alumni and other Kansans since the Jayhawks nearly won the Big Eight championship last fall.
One mistake, one departure from the rules forced KU from the conference top spot last year and torpedoed plans for a much anticipated trip to the Orange Bowl. Many Kansans have been unable to forget the post game activities that swept the stadium at Columbia after the Jayhawkers ruined Missouri's chance to be the number one team in the country.
MISSOURI HAD APPROACHED LAST year's game with Kansas full of expectation. Sports writers predicted that Missouri would be able to handle Kansas with a healthy margin to boot. The Tigers had valid reasons for expecting to sweep past KU to the Orange Bowl, the Big Eight Championship and the number one spot nationally. The 23-7 victory the underdog Kansans obtained was reason for great Missouri disappointment, even though a later NCAA decision awarded the Orange Bowl bid and the Big Eight crown to the Tigers.
Thus a rivalry enflamed which still burns hot today. Often the athletic rivalries of adjacent towns or states are colorful and harmless. But, this one has outgrown the boundaries of innocence and good-fun and now threatens to undermine the foundation of good sportsmanship which should be a necessary ingredient in any athletic contest.
ALREADY THE ILL FEELINGS BETWEEN the two universities have demonstrated the proportions this rivalry could assume when the two
teams meet again this fall. Thousands of television viewers were arm-chair witnesses to a fist-swinging brawl that erupted when the Jayhawks met the Tigers in a basketball game last March 11. A rivalry is certainly getting out of hand when the whole country can peer in on the irrational behavior of a group of college sports fans.
But regardless of the negotiations between the Student Councils or administration of the universities, the same type of immature action will occur at Memorial Stadium this November unless the negotiations are supported by the students of each university. Each student has an individual responsibility to maintain order and an atmosphere in which good sportsmanship can thrive.
Both universities should take every step necessary to prevent a reoccurrence of the embarrassing situations they found themselves in last year.
THE INITIAL STEP WAS TAKEN by the Student Councils of both universities when they met in Kansas City last spring. Another meeting is scheduled to be held here Oct.14.
The Missouri game is now almost two months away. If the predictions of football experts hold true this could very well be a crucial game for both teams. But it should be remembered that regardless of how important the game may be it will still be no more than a game. No student or alum can control the outcome of a game once the final gun has sounded. Any action they involve themselves in can do no more than tarnish the reputations both universities have spent many years building.
—Ron Gallagher
Students and Politics
The Daily Kansan printed a letter yesterday from a foreign student who was very much concerned about the political ignorance of KU students. He commented that he was shocked because he had always believed "that America had the education as well as the material power to be the saviour of democracy and free thought." He ended by saying that he would welcome the coming of such groups as the John Birch Society and the Communist Party, U.S.A., in the hope that the "obvious perversions of truth" by such organizations would provoke some political thought among the students.
HE WAS QUITE RIGHT ABOUT THE POLITICAL ignorance of most KU students and his shock at it is completely understandable. The political ignorance shown by so much of the American public is disturbing to many people. But it is especially disturbing when it appears among university students, many of whom will eventually hold positions of influence and responsibility.
The foreign student who wrote that letter evidently learned of the lack of student interest in politics from various discussions with students. If he has attended the meetings of any of the
campus political groups, he probably received a further shock. The meetings of the campus groups representing our two major political parties, the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans, seldom had an attendance of more than 50 last spring. Usually they had less. They have the membership on paper, but it does not participate.
THE UNPLEASANT TRUTH IS THAT THE majority of students are simply not interested in learning about or discussing political issues. In a world dominated by the cold war and its conflict of ideologies and political systems, this represents a dangerous kind of internal dry rot. One of its results appeared in the Korean Police Action, when our young soldiers who were captured were often unable to defend their moral beliefs and political system against the arguments of communist interrogators.
BUT THIS LACK OF KNOWLEDGE AND understanding by students of their political system is not just a handicap-in the many international problems of the United States. It is dangerous to their own form of government. They cannot maintain their political system well if they are ignorant of it.
William H. Mullins
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trieweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press.
Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22,
N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates:
$3 a semester or $3 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon
during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University
holidays and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence,
Kansas.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Tom Turner Managing Editor
Linda Swander, Fred Zimmerman, Assistant Managing Editors; Kelly Smith, City Editor; Bill Sheldon, Sports Editor; Barbara Howell, Society Editor.
Managing Editor
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 McCullough, Circulation Manager; David Weins, National Advertising Manager; Charles Martinache, Classified Advertising Manager; Hal Smith, Promotion Manager.
The ASC had better be careful about its attempt to promote peace with MU or someone will accuse them of pacifism.—Bill Mullins
Short Ones
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We get the impression that the best instruments to use in producing a best selling record these days are a dog and a horsewhip. —Bill Mullins
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It is revealed that a six-year-old Canadian boy drove a station wagon to school during his kindergarten days. We fervently hope the compact sales department at General Motors doesn't hear about this.—Bill Mullins
☆ ☆ ☆
It is strange to see with what feverish ardor the Americans pursue their own welfare, and to watch the vague dread that constantly tormentes them lest they should not have chosen the shortest path which may lead to it. Alexis deToqueville
On Other Campuses
NEW YORK CITY—A poll taken last semester by the North American Newspaper Alliance indicates that America's college students could use some boning up on geography and current affairs. Out of a sampling of 5,000 students at 34 colleges and universities across the country, only $4\%$ could give the approximate population of the earth (2.8 billion). Only $20\%$ could name four European countries behind the Iron Curtain (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and East Germany).
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, N. Y.—The third successful summer in Syracuse University's Overseas Training Program will come to a close at the end of this month when a group of graduate students returns to the U. S. from Nigeria. The program is designed to prepare graduate students for overseas employment with government, business, religious and philanthropic agencies. It combines five weeks of orientation seminars and language instruction at Syracuse with 10 weeks in a foreign country--this summer, Nigeria. The basic idea of the program is to familiarize the students with the practical conduct of American overseas activities.
MILLEDGEVILLE. GA.-A special week-long camp held last month at Georgia State College for Women featured training in new routines, formations, yells, jumps and crowd psychology. The purpose of the camp was not to train students for any new Berlin crisis. Instead, the program was sponsored by the American Cheerleaders Association to teach all aspects of cheerleading. Training also included selection and care of uniforms, chants and songs.
Traffic Plan Supported
There was another part of the Chancellor's speech that met with the approval of the majority of his audience. Next year he plans to close the access reads to the campus and keep all automobiles off the campus with the exception of those belonging to physically handicapped students and visitors to the University. The magnitude of the traffic problem on the campus is easily recognized when we know that an estimated 6,500 automobiles came into Lawrence during the past week or 10 days. That's how many the students brought. In the interest of safety it is no longer possible to allow indiscriminate traffic across the campus during school hours. The Chancellor will certainly have the support of all thinking persons in this action which is designed for best interests of everyone. Traffic will not be blocked during evening hours or when there are entertainment events in which the public is interested.
FORMER GRADUATES OF the University who trudged up the steep 14th Street hill to get to the campus will get some satisfaction in knowing that their sons and daughters are developing a bit of leg power as well as brain power. But the students will not be the only ones to benefit from this change in policy. Property along Tennessee and Kentucky Streets throughout the section formerly known as the student rooming area will again be in demand providing the landlords furnish the comforts and conveniences that are demanded by the students today. The student has the money and is willing to pay the price but he does want the comforts and conveniences he enjoyed at home. The limits placed on the use of his automobile will cause him to hunt for accommodations in the old student section of the city which should be good news to those who own property in that area.
(Excerpted from "Comments on Local Affairs" by Edwin F. Abels in the Sept. 21, 1961, Lawrence Outlook.)
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"HEY SPONSOR—I HEAR YA FINALLY GAVE UP TRYING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS TURNED ON AT TH' FRESHMAN DANCE LAST NITE."