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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Sept. 19. 1961
A Great Man Dies
The world lost one of its most prominent leaders and the Western nations realized a serious setback in the U.N. when a white peace plane crashed into a quiet African hillside yesterday.
Dag Hammarskjold was a truly dedicated man. He was dedicated to an organization that has almost tumbled many times since its founding some 15 years ago. As Secretary General, Hammarskjold has played a dominate role in the U.N. for more than half of the 15 years of its existence. Since his nomination as Secretary General in April of 1953, Hammarskjold's strength has been the U.N.'s strength.
HAMMARSKJOLD DROVE HIMSELF AND his staff of 4,000 hard. His work day frequently extended around the clock. A 20-hour day was almost average for the 56-year-old trouble shooter. His job took him several times around the world and into the lairs of some of the most ruthless men on earth.
Hammarskjold first demonstrated his adeptness at personal diplomacy when he met face-to-face with Red China's Chou En-Lai and successfully negotiated for the release of 11 of 15 American fliers imprisoned in Red China. He advocated personal conferences among world leaders and always wanted to be on the scene of world events. It was this desire that brought him to the scene of his doom when his plane thundered into the soil of the Africa to which he worked so hard to bring peace.
UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP THE U.N. BECAME more than just a propaganda forum in the cold war. The U.N. began to act rather than talk. In November 1956 the first U.N. military force arrived at the Suez Canal port city of Ismailia to keep apart the opposing forces of the United Arab Republic and the Anglo-French-Israeli invaders.
Hammarskjold's attempts to expose the Russians in their repression of the Hungarian people, after their unsuccessful revolution, brought him Soviet disapproval.
RUSSIAN DISAPPROVAL MOUNTED UNTIL Khrushchev personally traveled to U.N. headquarters to demand Hammarskjold's dismissal at the opening session last year. Russia pressed for a three-man group to handle the duties of Secretary General. But the Troika scheme was pushed far into the background by the rousing ovation Hammarskjold received when he vowed he would stay on.
Hammarskjold was a man who believed in world peace as a possibility even in today's chaotic times. He subscribed to the ideals of individual freedom and liberty which form the foundation of our Western system of government. He looked idealistically into the future to the time when a type of world government would be able to meet the needs of all people. He said that in order to do this all nations must be ready to take immediate risks in order to have a better chance of avoiding the final disaster threatening us.
Now with the death of the Swedish peacemaker the tide of world events may take a turn for the worse instead of improving as Hammarskjold had hoped.
THE RUSSIAN'S WILL NO DOUBT WANT to make sure that the man who takes over the "most impossible job in the world" is more receptive to Soviet programs than Hammarskjold was. He is a thorn that Khrushchev is happy to rid himself of.
The Russians surely assume that now it is their chance to have a Secretary General a little more sympathetic to their needs. The West would be extremely fortunate to be able to place another man in the Secretary Generalship with the same devotion to Western ideals that Hammarskjold held.
Ron Gallagher
Another Birch Critic
Editor:
Editor:
... Letters ...
The remarks, which have appeared in recent issues of the Kansan, concerning the possible formation of a chapter of the John Birch Society on campus prompt one to reflect on both their wisdom and their possible effects.
The self-professed liberals who seem to be writing the letters and editorials offer a suggestion which, at first glance, seems quite reasonable and consistent with a liberal point of view. The writers
claim, for example, that "it is a tribute to the sanity of the KU student body (quote from Kansan of Sept. 18) that the previous efforts to form a local Birch Society ended in failure. The same writers go on to say that, because of "smear campaigns" and the Society's "McCarthyism," activities of the John Birch Society are "out of place at a university or anywhere else." Superficially, these arguments seem to be valid ones and the conclusion is drawn that the formation of the Birch Society in Lawrence should be
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
opposed at all costs. Yet these very objections to the Birchers contain assumptions which are every bit as devastating as those of The Blue Book.
I should point out that, in so far as the proponents of the above view point to the possible dangers of an organization structured as the Birch Society is, I am in full and consonant agreement. The almost unobcieveable excesses of the Society seem a threat to civil liberties and a fragrant disregard of American democratic traditions.
Yet the poison in the ointment of the Birch critics becomes clear when we examine their conclusion; namely, that because the Birch Society seems to disregard the right of minorities to the Left, they have no place on a university campus. The clear implication of such reasoning is that everything possible, including the very smear techniques which the Society uses, must be done to keep the Birchers from getting a foot-hold on campus. By overtly frustrating every attempt of the Birch Society, these liberals seem to be resorting to the same kind of intolerant conservatism which they find so repulsive in Messrs. McCarthy and Welch.
The only sensible alternative, that I can see, which is open to the liberals on campus is to attempt to publicize the potential dangers of the Society; yet, at the same time, they must retrain from categorical condemnations of anyone who attempts to organize a Birch chapter. To attempt to fight the Birchers with their own smear and guilt-by-association techniques, is to forsake the traditional role of the liberal and to dangerously jeopardize the very freedoms which liberals claim to support.
Larry Laudan Lawrence Senior
Short Ones
On Other Campuses
All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own fashion. — Count Lyof Nikolayevitch Tolstoi
BOSTON UNIVERSITY—The first professional training program in the U.S. for foreign student advisers is being inaugurated this fall at Boston University. The program, leading to a Master of Education degree, will intensively train candidates to assist foreign students in adapting to American social and cultural life. Upon graduation, they will be able to help students such as the African who accepted invitations to six different homes for Christmas because in his country, it is rude to refuse an invitation.
UNIVERSITY OF THE SEVEN SEAS—The latest thing in colleges is a floating campus. The University of the Seven Seas, a newly incorporated, non-profit school, is signing up students for a 120-day trip around the world. The University plans to charter the SS Jerusalem in September, 1962, to sail from New York. Classes with full academic credit will be given to students aboard ship, and tuition for the semester will range from $2,500 to $3,500. If interested, write University of Seven Seas, Box 71, Whittier, California.
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND—Political science students here are taking advantage of a unique opportunity for gaining valuable practical experience in the art of politics. More than 50 Maryland undergraduates and former students are toiling as volunteer workers for Elbert M. Byrd, Jr., assistant professor of political science, who is the first candidate to toss his hat in the ring for the 1962 Maryland Senate race. Byrd recently announced his candidacy in a letter to 1,500 former students.
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, N. Y.-The University of Rochester's class of '61 has come up with a novel idea for a senior class gift-a scholarship for an African student. Finding themselves with a treasury surplus, the seniors voted to establish a $600 fund to cover the cost of board, books and supplies for a full academic year for one of the African students who will attend the University this fall. They're now busy trying to persuade students on other campuses to adopt scholarship plans in lieu of more traditional class gifts.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.—A recent survey by the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company indicates that last June's college graduates were snapped up rapidly by employers. By graduation day, 45 of 60 engineering schools surveyed had found jobs for at least $90\%$ of their job seekers. Two-thirds of the business schools and nearly half of the liberal arts colleges reported placement of $70\%$ to $100\%$. Starting salaries were up $2\%$ to $3\%$ from last year.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Over nine out of ten of the political science department heads recently questioned by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn.) favor amending the Constitution to change Presidential election procedures throughout the country. Of 254 who replied to a written query, 230 favored and 24 opposed changing the present Electoral College system. Many of those supporting a change want to divide each state's electoral vote in proportion to its popular vote.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA—A University of Florida sociologist has devised a new language "loglan"—which he hopes will become an international means of communication. Dr. James C. Brown has been working on his 2,719-word language for the past six years. At present, he is the only person in the world who understands its grammar, and his wife is the only other person who knows its vocabulary. Backed by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Brown plans to begin teaching "loglan" to University of Florida students this year.
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY—A top administration official here believes that year-round classes will become commonplace in colleges and universities during the coming decade. Lawrence E. Dennis, vice president for academic affairs at Penn State, cites the high cost of college, increasing emphasis on graduate and professional study, earlier marriage and military duty as reasons for year-round operation. "There is no sound reason for limiting college attendance to nine months of the year," he says.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student new pp.
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